Transparency: Transparency

            In his many missions in his four-man cell with Kiba, Shino, and Neji, Naruto had never seen their squad leader fall asleep so quickly. The minute he shoved past Naruto to enter their hotel room, the Jounin tossed his bag aside, removed his head protector, and stripped out of his clothes. Not bothering to change into pajamas, he climbed into bed and lay on his back under the sheets. Within moments, he was sleeping soundly, the only sign of life the slow rising and falling of his chest.

            After standing by the threshold in shock for a few seconds, Naruto closed the door behind himself and took off his knapsack and jacket. Walking across the room to his own bed, he changed into pajamas and folded his clothes, for once neater than Neji, whose typical Hyuuga attire carelessly littered the floor.

            Naruto admitted to himself that he was tired despite his vast reserves of chakra, so Neji’s exhaustion was understandable. They had been tracking a criminal, a Konoha missing-nin, for the last few days, running on a few hours of sleep a night. Kiba and Shino were probably already asleep in the next room themselves. But Naruto wasn’t used to seeing Neji this worn out. Granted, ever since Neji had accepted that one could mold his own destiny, the Hyuuga had gotten better at letting some emotion show through his reflexively protective exterior. Still, he was not easy to read, even by those who were supposed to know him best.

            Now, in his sleep, Neji was more transparent than Naruto had ever imagined possible. The younger ninja stood over his teammate in wonder, unable to find the words to describe all that he saw behind the Jounin’s face. Neji’s long onyx hair framed his pale, delicate face marred only by the prominent curse seal on his forehead. Naruto simply couldn’t look away, awed at the complexity below the surface of the other teen.

            Even in his sleep, the Hyuuga must have sensed the presence of someone too close for comfort. Neji’s eyes shot open, reflexively hardening into the Byakugan. He allowed them to return to normal once he realized it was not an enemy standing over him, only his teammate.

            “What are you doing? I’m trying to sleep,” Neji said, annoyance mingled with curiosity in his voice. He sat up slightly to look the other teen in the eye.

            Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts. “Sorry… You just looked so…”

            The words he had been seeking suddenly rushed through his head; vulnerable, peaceful, fragile, human… the list went on, dozens of words and concepts jumbling together. Though he knew any of these would have elicited annoyance or amusement from Neji, Naruto couldn’t help but blurt out something.

            “…beautiful.”

            After a pause, Neji cocked an eyebrow. “Do I look that much like a girl?”

            That brought Naruto back to his senses, and he grinned sheepishly. “Well, from the neck up, yeah… but that’s not what I mean. There’s a lot more to you than you let on. I never realized it before.”

            “That’s beautiful?”

            Too embarrassed to tell Neji how he had looked moments before, Naruto simply replied, “Yeah.”

            “And you came to this brilliant conclusion by looming over me and watching me sleep.”

            “You make it sound creepy,” Naruto said, “but I guess that’s what I was doing. Sorry.”

            Neji sighed. “Whatever. Just go to sleep, we shouldn’t waste the luxury of getting six hours of rest tonight.”

            “Yeah,” the younger teen replied, getting into his own bed. He still felt awkward. “Sorry,” he repeated, not knowing what else to say.

            “Staring at someone sleeping is a strange way to get to know them,” Neji acknowledged. “But I know you hate not getting a read on people… Probably because you broadcast everything about yourself by simply existing.”

            Not knowing whether to be offended, Naruto simply gave in. The older ninja was right. “Yeah, I’m the exact opposite of you.” He didn’t expect a response. “Anyway… goodnight.”

            “Goodnight,” Neji replied, relaxing back into his pillow. Naruto could have sworn that it only took the Jounin a minute to fall back asleep, judging by the change in his breathing.

            Grinning into his pillow, Naruto closed his eyes and snuggled deeper under the covers. He didn’t regret invading Neji’s privacy to find that there was much more to his friend than met the eye. It was a comfort to know that under his normally opaque shell, Neji was indeed very human.