I was not met by the solace of sleep, rather, maddening nightmares assailing all but the revered touch of your frailty. How should I have expected it to be any different? Peace is something only relented to the angelic mortals who have not felt the refreshing sting of another's blood on their own skin.

At each moment, I morph into a different man, trying to find the one who you want me to be. I want to be near you, protect you – yet I want to taste your blood and feel your lifeless flesh with my fingers. I am a contradiction, as you say.

"Please, tell me what happened,"

you whisper innocently. For a moment, I almost wished I could take you inside my mind and show you, let you feel how real it was for me. But there is no way to do so, and I hang my head, staring at the ground.

"Then…tell me why…"

Your voice seems weaker now, and as I look over at your hunched form, I can see a pool of salty tears gathering on the palm of your hand I once held

"You are not a monster, Neji! You are not a weapon of the Hyuuga clan!"

Bound by instinct, I grab you by the throat, feeling the racing pulse in my hands. I have fantasized this moment many times before, and the exhilaration makes me feel as if I am flying unbound and unhindered by the humanistic restraints which once held me fast upon the earth. I feel my features shifting to s monstrous sneer, my being burning with elation.

But my satisfaction dims as a feel your trembling fingers brush my chin. You try to say something, but you cannot find your voice. Your eyes are not consumed by the fear that my pulsing fingers so earnestly search for in your clammy skin. I can feel your pulse slowing now, as I have invaded your mind and spirit.

I desperately search for the anguish that has so often fueled my inhibitions, but my frustration brews over when all I find inside of your mind is an insatiable peace…I have never felt such an overwhelming emotion before. And just as my incursion has finally succeeded, it is broken by the sudden change of the tide within you.

I have always thought myself a soulless creature with neither vice nor malice, only searching for something that would make me feel relevant and desired by someone. You were the closest thing I had to a companion. What frightened me the most is the why…Why do you appear to care so much for me? What keeps you near me, regardless of what hellish acts I have committed?

And so I release you, fighting the savage inside that commands me to finish it, to not trust anyone or anything. I feel a gentle wisp of surreal energy brush over my disjointed fingers and return to your body. Your chest convulses, and I retreat. Surely, the damage is done, and now I can return to the solace of insanity.