(Log) Stop! In the name of Love! Before you break my heart! (Active/Closed)

[youthfulpassion]

Who: Hyuuga Neji, Maito Gai
Where/When: Konohagakure, a training field, 07/09, after the whole Akatsuki fiasco and Kakashi reprimanding Konoha.
Status: Closed
Style: Action
Warnings: Probably bad sparring? Guilt? IDK.

Comments

[wingedascension]

[ Training.

Cresting the hill to the sight of Gai-sensei, he can't deny the wave of conflicted affection washing through him as he witnesses today's regimen: squatting. Neji understands the summons to train is an enticement, the offer a medium his sensei father-figure uses to discuss the matter of Neji's mistake.

For all that he allowed personal discomfort and frustration to spill into a quick and few slicing statements, what a grave error of judgement he had made. Neji spent the night berating himself for that moment of weakness, for baring his teeth, showing his incisors.

He is Hyuuga Neji: he knows better. Or he should know better.

In retrospect, he shouldn't try to consider the whys of his behavior, but simply accept responsibility, because he is responsible for the outcry on the part of the Kohona shinobi. His example set the pace, and neither Anko nor Sakura could be faulted for choosing to follow his lead. After all, he is a Jounin

[youthfulpassion]

Good morning. [Gai straightens from his workout as Neji arrives, nodding a warm greeting; it's certainly not the excited shout Neji might have gotten just a day or two ago, and that, perhaps, is more telling than anything. After all, Gai is a man of resilience and cheer, of boundless energy and faith, who metaphorically holds himself with his back straight, his shoulders squared, and his head high even in the worst of circumstances. For him to be bothered, the issue obviously has to be more personal in nature.]

[Regardless, he chooses not to spring the issue right away, instead settling into a more appropriate stance and watching his student.] Ready when you are, Neji-kun.

[wingedascension]

[ For now, Neji puts aside the questions of last night to concentrate solely on their sparring, because Gai-sensei is not a shinobi to be underestimated. Not by far. There are times when Neji wonders if the "youth" his sensei obsesses over is a facade to hide his true nature to his enemies, and then he wonders WHAT IN THE KOHONAGAKURE he is thinking.

They aren't serious in their sparring, not yet. He wants to wait to activate his Byakugan, to reserve it for later. It strikes him as disrespectful to not use it however, unless, of course, his teacher comes after him less-than-seriously. Because when Gai goes all out sparring with him, Neji never fails to be struck with awe and that yearning for family: not the family who branded him, that tried to control him. Gai-sensei means more to him than that, for he has never forced anything on him. Never.

And the exception for occasional calls of team spirit hardly counts...

So Neji murmurshouts. ] Byakugan!

[ As always, Gai's chakra rushes strong and hearty through his system. Neji springs

[youthfulpassion]

[The chakra flows with a rush and a roar, as strong and bright as the man it churns through; it spreads through him, passively lighting up his body as he prepares for the spar. He's accustomed to this half-use of chakra, touching his senses with it to heighten them, his body to ensure that he can quickly draw upon a shinobi's superhuman strength and speed and resilience.]

[But present though it is, he's not using it--not yet. He'll allow them a bit of time to warm into things before he gets serious and he starts talking. And so he moves confidently to meet Neji's assault, making a quick sidestep and sweeping a hand out to try and knock Neji's arm wide enough to admit a potential blow to the chest.]