He owes his life to Haruno Sakura. The medic has returned him from oblivion, forcing life back into his body and air back into his stilled lungs. The gaping holes in his body are mostly shut but the newly mended musculature needs time to fortify. She checks on him in the mornings, tenderly dancing around the subject of his blank forehead and now sightless silver eyes. It's like she's afraid to tell him what he already knows: he's blind. His world has become a colorless, shapeless void of voices in the dark.

It makes him notice how heavily he relied on his sight. He can only identify his family and former teammates by voice; knowing Sakura due to her quiet self-introduction when he first woke. Many nurses trickle in and out of his room during the day and Neji quickly falls into the routine of ignoring them; none of them have anything significant to say and if he lays absolutely still, none can tell he's awake anyway. He speaks to Hinata, Lee, and Tenten when they visit but they all seem to be so grateful for his survival that they fail to see the tragedy of being blind in a clan renowned for their eyesight. His pride is gone, future bleak, and past made inconsequential now.

There are days he wishes he'd remained dead.

He gets a visitor one day, not long after the evening nurse changes his bandages. Their footsteps are light (shinobi, his instincts tell him) and his nose indicates that they've brought a bouquet. They hesitate at the foot of the bed, then come along the side, settling in the chair on his right. Tentative fingers curl around his hand to hold it. Female, his brain again supplies. Minutes pass without a sound and Neji doesn't quite know what to make of his present company. He knows how to react to noise - years on a team with Gai and Lee have made him an expert at handling noisy people. He doesn't know what to do with silence.

Her voice breaks the air abruptly.

"It's not that bad, having your sight lost. It's awful now - it's new and troublesome - but I promise it won't be so bad forever. Take it from me, looks are just a distraction. There's so much more to the world that people never see. The Shintenshin is one of the hardest jutsu to perfect because once you leave your body, nothing looks the same. Signs blur, plants glow, and people don't always look the way they're supposed to. Especially inside of people's minds. A person - a kid, even - can be this little scrawny guy on the outside and this huge warrior on the inside. The soul reflects the nature of the person. Unfortunately, it's not like a whole bunch of people can see into each other's souls. The whole world might as well be blind."

A Yamanaka, he concludes. Female, shinobi, Yamanaka. It's Ino. The vainest girl in the shinobi world is giving him a pep talk on inner beauty. Neji seethes, and Ino continues.

"Whether you stay a shinobi or not, whether you ever see again or not, I think what you did for Hinata and Naruto was a noble move. You have a beautiful soul."

His willpower snaps. He does not need her pity and he certainly doesn't need her bullshit. Beautiful soul! What good is a beautiful soul to him? Will it put food on his plate? Will it bring honor to his clan name?
Does he look like some charity case to her? Or worse, does he look to her like a formerly grand heartthrob, now ruined with useless eyes?

"Save your words. I don't need consolation from someone who prides themself on appearence."

He hears her breath catch in surprise, she had been fooled by his 'play asleep' routine. Her hand uncurls from his and slips away. He hears the light rustle of her clothes as she stands.

"Yeah, I guess you don't."

The door closes with a quiet click as she leaves. Outside his door, Ino rubs at the shoulder where her right arm used to be.