I'm so, so sorry. Please don't kill me. I know I didn't update for a very long time. Please forgive me (

I was stuck with the story, so I stopped writing and kept delaying it. Again, I'm so sorry!

And I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter.

Neji was nervous, a nervousness that had nothing to do with the sharp, deadly claws, nothing to do with the beak that looked l

Neji was nervous, a nervousness that had nothing to do with the sharp, deadly claws, nothing to do with the beak that looked like it could easy rip off his arm, nothing to do with any physical danger.

It was stupid, incredibly irritating that he was so nervous because of something so trivial, so seemingly unimportant like the hippogriff. It was just an animal, powerful, probably deadly to most of the kids standing behind him, but still, just an animal.

But it didn't feel like it. There was wisdom in those golden eyes, a wisdom that was nothing like the one humans acquired. It was simpler, like the hippogriff knew only the answer to one question, knew only one thing besides the instincts that drove him, made him no different from all the other animals. But maybe, that question was all that mattered, maybe there was no need to know so many things when one simple, small bit of knowledge was enough.

Stop it! He ordered his stupid and extremely irritating mind. Shut up and concentrate! Again, he focused on the golden eyes, not blinking even though his eyes were painfully dry. And then, the hippogriff moved.

Neji felt his body tense and had to suppress the urge to attack or move away, staying completely still, not moving before his brain registered what the magical creature did. It bowed.

There where enthusiastic shouts (a certain blonde-haired idiot), some people clapped (Sakura, TenTen, most of the boys) some "Ahh"'s and "Ohh"'s (most of the girls) and some sarcastic comments (some of those annoying and stupid Slytherin boys. Read: Draco Malfoy… Neji had taken an extreme dislike towards the pale boy and he swiftly wondered how sarcastic that spoiled brat would be with a broken neck).

"Good job!" Hagrid cried, and Neji noticed the relief in the man's voice that there had been no injuries yet. Sadly. Sometimes, being known for a very good self-control was annoying. Extremely annoying. It didn't give you even the tiniest excuse to attack a classmate and Neji doubted that his, of course purely scientific curiosity, how long someone with their spine pulled out of their back would live counted as an excuse.

But then again, killing his classmates would blow their cover and he'd be in trouble. Really big trouble. Sighting almost inaudible he dismissed the idea. It wasn't worth it. He had to kill that idiot without anyone noticing. Poison. Yes, poison sounded good. There was bound to be a book about poisonous plants that grew in this area in the library. He would poison that little brat and then watch him die. It had to be painful, he decided spontaneously. Very painful and…

Hagrid's voice brought him back into reality "…go on, you can pet him." Damn it! He had spaced out AGAIN! What was wrong with him? Shinobis didn't space out. And he was a Hyuuga. And HYUUGAS DEFENITLEY DID NOT SPACE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A MISSION!

"Neji?" TenTen's voice sounded concerned. Oh. He had spaced out yet again. DAMN IT! "Is something wrong?" her voice sounded tense and anxious; it was clear that she thought he had noticed something. Something dangerous. That was the good thing about being a Hyuuga. Or known for always being concentrated and never spacing out. Whenever you DO space out, everyone thinks you're just concentrating. On something potentially dangerous. Which brought the subject back to TenTen. Or the fact hat he had spaced out again.

Before his teammate could force him to pay attention with a kunai he quickly shook his head

"No, nothing." he said, then turned towards Hagrid who looked at him with worried eyes. "

Everything okay, kid?" Neji nodded "Yes. I'm sorry, I thought I saw something" He vaguely pointed towards the woods with an apologetic gesture.

Shikamaru wanted to die. Now. Or at least hit his head against something hard. Like a wall. Like a very hard wall. Or he could just slam Naruto into said wall. Hopefully hard enough to make him shut up for longer than five minute.

His irritation grew everyday he spent with the annoying blonde. In the beginning it had been troublesome. Like most of the things that happened. Or existed, for that matter. Then, it had started to be irritating. Now it was annoying. Really annoying. So annoying that anger replaced the boredom and indifference that were usually his feelings during everyday activities.

Damn, he wished his team was here. Sure, Ino was troublesome but not nearly as annoying as Naruto and some percent of his classmates and Choji was, well, Choji.

Shikamaru groaned quietly as he heard another one of Naruto's loud shouts followed by an angry but very quietly hissed "Shut up, idiot" by Neji, trying to stop an already very pissed Sakura from attacking Naruto, thus giving away their identity.

Shikamaru was distracted by a sound coming from the woods. It wasn't quiet enough for an enemy, but that could also be a trap, trying to make them believe that there was no danger. What had Neji seen? He wondered, about the millionth time since the Hyuuga boy had turned his gaze away from the woods he had been staring at and had started petting the hippogriff.

Neji's expression hadn't been his usual tense mask of concentration and Shikamaru had almost thought that the Hyuuga had spaced out. Almost. Because Neji just didn't space out. The only time the Hyuuga had been spaced out had probably been when he was in the hospital, pumped with morphene and other painkillers. Another shout ("Hey, look at this! If I-"), followed by an angry hiss ("Shut up you idiot! And the teacher said Not. To. Annoy. Them.") and a loud thump (a fist colliding with an empty head) and an annoyed groan by Shikamaru later, Neji appeared behind Naruto and Sakura, followed by TenTen

"Could both of you just try to concentrate a bit more? A little less noise and a bit more concentration would be really helpful." The Hyuuga said sharply. At that point, Naruto decided it would be a good idea to annoy an already very angered Neji. Thus, he mentioned that fact that said shinobi had also failed to pay attention a few minutes ago in his usual polite and sensitive way:

"Yeah, as if you always concentrate. You spaced out for about half an hour while the teacher explained something about those hippogriffs." Neji glared at him, while Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

Neji had spaced out? Either Naruto had hidden talents when it came to observing people or he had just decided to piss Neji of. The latter seemed more reasonable. Still, Shikamaru felt an argument coming. A long and troublesome one. Desperately, he looked around for a wall. A really hard one.

Neji's death glare was scary. Scarier than Sakura's, actually. Maybe it was because of the pale, white eyes that seemed to bore into one's soul, even though there were no pupils. Or maybe it was just because while Sakuras death glare was accompanied by an angry expression or an annoyed "Shut up, you moron!" Neji was completely silent and his expression seemed like a cold mask. The mask of death that had come to get you. Like a demon tiger waiting for your next move, so he could jump forward and rip out your throat. Yeah, you get the picture.

Suddenly, here was scream and they whirled around, watching, as in slow motion as the hippogriff raised his deadly claws, and then came down and they all saw the pale face of the blonde boy, real fear in his eyes. Neji reacted instinctively, racing forward, crossing the few meters between him and the boy in less than a second while his thoughts were racing.

He couldn't use his chakra or weapons; they'd give him away. Left only one option. He pushed the boy out of the way as the claws came down, colliding with Neji's arm. Pain shot through his nerves, making him stagger for one second then he had himself under control and tried to calm the angry hippogriff down.

A second later, Hagrid was next to him and after he had managed to calm the hippogriff down he looked at Neji with a worried face, but Neji answered the unspoken question on the mans face before he said something

"I'm fine. It doesn't really hurt. It's just bleeding a lot"

The following hours were annoying. Extremely annoying. Neji closed his eyes, trying to blend out all the annoying babbling in the common room. He was so tired. Just closing his eyes for a second wouldn't hurt. Just for a second. It'd feel good, just closing his eyes for a second.

His arm didn't hurt anymore; Sakura had given him some painkillers, the small red ones that tasted slightly bitter, and had fixed his arm with bandages. He wouldn't let her use chakra even though she had insisted on it during the first minutes of their hushed argument, telling him he was behaving ridiculously and that the wound could get infected or worse. Healer to the core.

It had taken him a while to convince her that it would be too suspicious if it healed so fast, especially with the questions the three wizards were bothering them with already. In the end, she had cleaned the deep gash on his arm and had put an ointment on it that had caused a burning sensation, almost worse than the pain he had felt when the hippogriff had attacked.

She was probably still upset that he had refused to let her heal his arm completely because she had insisted that he'd wait for an hour until taking the painkillers, a painfully slow hour where his arm seemed to be on fire.

Though she'd told him that the painkillers would make the blood flow faster after a few minutes to transport the numbing chemicals into every cell of his body; therefore they had to wait until the ointment had closed the wound to a point where the quick blood flow wouldn't cause any more damage.

Ah, he was so tired. He'd been on guard duty last night, sitting on the windowsill, watching the grounds, the rooms behind him, listening for any suspicious sound. He hadn't been able to see much, at least not in the castle.

There was too much of the golden chakra, but he could see enough to be between their charge and any enemy that decided to sneak into the castle.

Of course, it had tired him. As TenTen had appeared behind him at around 4 in the morning, he had been low on chakra, his limbs heavy as lead and a headache that felt like his skull would split apart any second. They had sat there, next to each other, taking comfort in the others presence in this strange place, in the familiar silence.

But TenTen wasn't stupid. Oh, no. Nor was she blind. And that had been one of those rare moments Neji wished he had a less observant teammate. Because TenTen had very easily noticed is fatigue. And had forced him to go back inside and get some sleep. "I'm not blind, Neji and neither am I deaf. I'll notice anyone who'll try to sneak in." He tried to argue with her, but then again, arguing with TenTen was never a good idea.

Finally, after she had threatened to tell Sakura about it, he had given in and returned to his bed. He had barley managed to change, and as soon as he had closed his eyes he had fallen asleep…

Only to be awoken far too soon. No, sleeping really wouldn't be a bad idea…

Like it? Hate it? My writing style probably changed, so tell me if you liked the old way better...

P.S. I'm soo sorry for not writing for so long ;; And thanks to my wonderful Kitteh for betaing this story