Lee
Hiashi never once thought he’d be seeing the day where he would be met with the children of the kazekage and the hokage all at once, in front of his door. It left him rather dumbfounded due to the fact he never thought he’d actually meet these kids in person…at least…not until now.
“Lord hokage, may I ask why these Genin are here?”
The hokage gives a firm response when glancing at the sand Genin, “They are here with me to discuss something of utmost importance with yourself and Neji. If you wish to learn more, get Neji and meet us outside.”
“As you wish.” Hiashi is smooth when shutting the door and telling a maid, “Go get Neji right away. We are needed for a conversation with the hokage immediately.”
“Yes, sir.” she is skittish yet quick when rushing off to fulfill her duty.
Hiashi believes he knows what this is about though he won’t know for certain until he is facing the hokage again. For now, he will at least allow himself some time to relax his nerves as he thinks about the main issue bothering him enough to bring those foreign Genin by his home—the Chunin exams and the marks on the omega’s hands…marks he wasn’t allowed to see thanks to Might Guy stopping him every step of the way in every attempt he made.
Perhaps he is here to strike a deal regarding the omega in the center of this mess. If he is, then he’s out of luck; Neji won’t ever be the type to share and this foreign alpha…okay, he knows nothing about him. He’s still an alpha though, which means he would be open on whatever opinion he has on the situation.
“The hokage is here to speak to us, correct? What is it for?”
Huh, looks as though the maid got him here sooner than he thought she would… No matter, it all works in his favor, “He’s outside, we can ask him more about it there.”
Neji doesn’t say much, though he has a feeling as to why that is. The young alpha may be a prodigy, but his disdain for the main branch is far too powerful for him to properly hide it at times. He has a good idea as to what is causing it, though that is another issue for another time.
All he can do is focus on the current problem now the moment they are outside.
Upon the sight of the sand Genin, Neji tenses and gives them a haughty, “Mind telling me why you foreigners are here? I would like to know so I can know what to do with you for coming here at night and taking me away from my leisure time.”
(Neji won’t ever say that he is preparing for his first rut during this leisure time of his. He is expecting it sometime next month, but he hopes to be mated to Lee before then so he can share it with him.)
Temari and Kankuro are already on edge, not wanting him to do anything to make Gaara snap any further than he has (he has killed two Genin who were on the same team as the one who quit before the sudden death matches could begin, and their father was already deeply upset over that). What they don’t know is Gaara isn’t particularly bothered or annoyed by Neji. He doesn’t trigger him in any way either.
No, to him, Neji is someone to inspect and keep a close eye on. He is confused as to what it is that makes him so special that Lee would be so convinced he’s going to end up mated to him without ever considering that he could be a contender as well. He can tell the alpha’s hostility is taken out through snide remarks and covert—at times overt—inflammatory statements. To him, this is nothing special…so what is it that has Lee not considering him as being a potential mate in any way he does with this guy? Surely it cannot be all about the money and prestige alone…he has both in spades, far more than he does. There has to be something else, something genuinely special about this alpha that has driven him to the point of curiosity and wanting to find out what it he has that he lacks.
Of course, he’s not doing this because he wants to mate the omega. He’s doing it to understand why he wasn’t seen as the automatic victor at something for the first time in his life.
“We’re here to speak about the omega you both left marks on in the hospital. We need you to do something that can get the Chunin exams back on track if you’re willing to help, that is.” Temari answers for them while Gaara keeps a close eye on Neji’s reactions, which only puts the Hyuuga on the defensive in return.
“Listen now, we need to get to the hospital as quickly as we can. There’s no need to worry about Might Guy stopping us from seeing him—he has agreed to take a step back long enough to allow us to look at the marks on his hands so we can start the process of removing the chakra them.” the hokage addresses them before the tension can boil over into a fight.
Neji—the boy with far too much of a strong will in this case, even if Hiashi can sympathize with him in this situation—scoffed, his eyes narrowed on their village’s leader as his hands ball up into fists on his side, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms, “Remove the chakra from them? If I do that, then all of the benefits from the mark will be removed and this foreign alpha could try to make him his mate.”
Kankuro objects to this with a firmly spoken, “What would be so bad if he did? Gaara may have his issues, but he didn’t leave the mark he did on him on purpose like you did with yours. Going off of what we’ve learned about it, it’s a pretty fucked up thing you’ve done to the poor guy for no other reason than you couldn’t win him over in any other way.”
The siblings have learned of the mark and what all it does from Gaara, who had told them what Lee told him at the exams. They may not know what caused Shukaku to mark Lee’s other hand, but they know what Neji did was worse. Gaara didn’t order Shukaku to act; he acted of his own volition while he was in a breakdown state. Neji himself, on the other hand, did it for…okay they don’t know the reason why he did it. They could only speculate he did it because he was so undesirable that he had to resort to such a desperate, pathetic measure.
“Watch what you’re saying.” Neji is calm yet his temper is rising internally as he readies himself to use his byakugan on them, “I did what was best for him and our future together. None of this had anything to do with desperation or being pathetic. I could have won over Lee without trying, but I chose a route more proper and in line with my clan’s tradition.”
“The tradition of treating your own teammate like property because he’s an omega? No matter which way you put it, that’s all it sounds like to us. You can have a problem with our village all you please, but at least we don’t treat our omegas like that back where we’re from.” Temari speaks up, making Gaara incredibly confused by his sibling’s actions.
He’s amazed they’re standing up for him. He never thought they would ever say without any fear in their eyes that he’d be a better choice for someone to be with than a more normal person. Yet here he is, hearing them defend him despite their fear of him and his power.
The hokage steps in before further insults can be hurled, snarling at them as he does so, “Stop it, all of you! This is not the time to make this about yourselves! That poor omega is in the hospital right now in intense pain as his body tries to stop two chakras within him from clashing and killing him! Set aside your pettiness and come together to do the right thing not only for him, but for the others who have had their attempts to become Chunin derailed because of this pettiness!”
Gaara—in order to get this done and over with so the exams can commence and they can move forward with their mission—agrees to this, “I will remove the chakra from my mark. Doing so will remove the mark in general, so the whiny one over there can stop the complaining now.”
Neji was about to say something snide to him when Hiashi cut him off, “Why does Neji’s chakra need to be removed from his mark on the omega’s hand? Shouldn’t the foreign alpha’s mark removal be good enough?”
“It would be under any other circumstance. However, far too many Genin died from a mysterious, uncurable illness after the first half of the exams were completed. What’s interesting is they all died of the same symptoms and according to their teammates, they all had one thing in common: an interest in either courting, dating, or having sex with Rock Lee.” he doesn’t drop his stance once when meeting the eyes of the Hyuugas, “Sakura told us how the mark works. We know what it does and the body count is too high, too severe for you to keep it on him.”
“The mark has kept him safe from what Neji told me about the exams. It sounds to me like you want this omega to be marked and raped by violent alphas if you are so willing to remove the one thing that keeps him safe from such a fate.”
“I am generally not against keeping it on him for that reason. I have only a problem with how Neji did it.” the hokage confesses something to them then, “I was okay with Gaara being the only one to remove his mark, but Lee had begged me to get Neji to do the same. He said he didn’t feel right continuing in the exams if he had the mark still because to him, it wouldn’t have been his victory but Neji’s. For his sake, Neji, can’t you remove the chakra from the mark for him?”
“I won’t do that.” Neji said with crossed arms and a glare in the hokage’s direction, “Lee is an omega from a poor clan. He has no room to be making demands of me like this. If he wants the mark gone, then he’ll have to fight me to get it removed.”
Temari was the one being cut off now by hokage, who struck a deal with the Hyuuga he hoped he would receive well, “Fine you can have it your way. You can fight Lee over the mark tomorrow afternoon, with Hinata’s match with Shino following afterwards. Gaara will advance automatically to the next round due to his not having an opponent to fight anymore now that you’ve decided to mess up the order of the exam.”
Something about this didn’t sit right with Gaara. Maybe it’s because passing onto the next round automatically feels cheap, but there’s also something else bothering him…something else that he doesn’t care for yet cannot pinpoint.
No matter, there’s no point in arguing now. If the alpha wants to fight the omega over the mark on his hand, then that’s fine with him. There’s no reason to care about if the omega gets mated to this guy or not. At least, there is none for him anyway.
It doesn’t stop the jinchuuriki within him from having issues with this arrangement. He knows there’s a risk in all of this that it may act out again, but he doesn’t need to worry about it now.
All he needs to do is keep under control so the mission can move forward as planned.
At the hospital, in his room, Hiashi cannot deny being impressed by the skill it took for Neji to accurately place this mark on Lee’s hand without so much as a single flaw. For someone so young to pull off such a feat, it truly is remarkable, especially since no Hyuuga in the past has used this mark at his age.
Because of this, he can tell the omega in all seriousness, “I cannot remove Neji’s chakra from this mark, neither can Neji himself. He embedded it to your chakra points; removing it by force would kill you if we were to try.”
The news does nothing to help Lee feel better. Knowing Gaara’s mark can be easily removed, isn’t as comforting as he thought it would be at first. He knows it’s a good thing that he can go back to living with this one because it is better for his health. He should be happy—he knows he has no reason not to be but he isn’t. He honestly wishes his mark could have had Neji’s chakra removed so he could face Gaara and give him the fair fight he deserves.
However, if he can’t do that, then he may as well take the alternative route he can. Even if it means he runs the risk of losing his future as a ninja, then he’s fine with it because at least he can get a chance to fight his battle on his own terms and win in the way he finds to be honorable.
On his end, hearing the news doesn’t stop Gaara from removing the mark he had placed on the omega’s hand…it didn’t mean he succeeded.
His jinchuuriki was being difficult, fighting him on his decision, the only option being made known in his mind the moment Lee offered, “When…When Gaara’s mark is gone…I want to fight Neji with everything I’ve got. I know it’s so h-hard to believe that I can defeat him, but it wouldn’t feel right to cheat Gaara or anyone else out of a fair fight.”
“You won’t need to do such a thing. I can still face you in a battle without my mark on your hand.” Gaara can’t say it’s because Shukaku will throw a fit if he so much as allows the alpha to have a chance at becoming his mate—apparently, the jinchuuriki is firm in his belief that the whiny alpha would defeat the omega if they were to fight—but he can at least say, “I have no romantic interest in you, nor do I desire to become mated to anyone. The mark won’t give you an advantage with me. If of anything, it’d be useless in a battle between us.”
“How can we be so sure of that?” Neji presses, wanting to know why the alpha is being so blunt about this, “You did leave your own mark on his hand.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. The sand acted against my will and as such, I will remove the mark, but only if I get my fair fight first.”
Neji finds this offer to be too strange, too perfectly timed… It didn’t stop Lee from interjecting when he shouldn’t have, “G-Gaara, are you sure? I will have to wait a day before being fully healed to fight you after your mark is gone…are you sure you won’t get hurt by the mark?”
“I know I won’t.” Gaara is able to tell him without any trace of a lie, but it’s not what they actually think is going on, “I’ve waited long enough to have my fight at the Chunin exams. All I want is to have my fight and win so I can advance to the next round.”
“If that is what you wish, then we will do things as such, Gaara.” the hokage said as the redhead alpha removed the mark from Lee’s hand successfully, knowing all too well what the demon inside him is planning to do for this battle, “The matches will proceed on as normal then: Gaara, you will face Rock Lee in battle. Neji, you will face Hinata after this. Shino will advance to the next round on default due to there being no one else to challenge him in battle.”
The idea of facing Hinata—someone from the main branch—in battle and winning was too much for Neji to walk away from, hence why he didn’t have a problem with the hokage’s proposal, “I’m fine with that as long as my future mate is.”
“I am fine with it, but I’m not your future mate, Neji. I will defeat in you battle with everything I’ve got and then this mark will be gone from me for good.”
“It will also be gone from you for good when you lose in battle to me and become my mate, so there’s no need to worry about it being permanent.”
The hokage nods and announces to all in the room, “It is settled then: when Lee is fully recovered enough to fight, the Chunin exams will commence and the first battle will be Gaara versus Rock Lee, with Neji versus Hinata immediately afterwards. I’ll be sure to get the news out to everyone as soon as possible.”
Kankuro couldn’t stop himself leaning closer to Temari to whisper, “Am I the only one who wouldn’t care if Gaara killed Neji?”
“No, you’re not.” Temari confesses to him something that has been on her mind ever since this whole mess started, “He’s so arrogant and sexist, like so many of the Konoha alphas and betas are—but he’s pretty extreme even by their standards. I cannot believe I’m saying this…Gaara would make a better mate than that guy.”
“I think so too.” he admits in a smaller whisper yet, watching as his brother reacted to the news with such apathy that it disturbs him.
The last time he was that apathetic, something really bad happened. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he can hope he won’t do something reckless again that will ruin their entire mission beyond repair.