When shinobi follow their heart…
"Get up!" Neji yelled at Tenten. Tenten crawled back up. She was tired. Lee came to give her a hand. "We have to get out of here." he yelled at Neji. "I know" hissed Neji back at him. They were in a terrible situation. They were surrounded by their enemies and they didn't have enough strength left to deal with them all. 'Damn it! I can't find a safe way out of here!' Neji thought. "Dynamic Entry!" Tenten gasped. "Lee what are you trying to do?!" "Just run!" he yelled. Neji and Tenten ran for it. If the taijutsu master would get annoyed they would have a lot more problems with him than with all of those enemies together.
"We made it." Tenten sighed. "Yes" said Neji. "Are you okay?" he asked Lee. "I'm all right." he said. But then he gave Neji an awkward look, pointing at Tenten with his eyes. She was out of breath and looked pale. "How are you?" Neji asked. Tenten looked at the two boys. 'They really look worried.' she thought. "I'm fine." she said while she held her breath. Neji turned away. They sat in a cave and they still had to figure out how they would get through that violent city.
An hour later: Tenten sat next to a small river. While washing her face she thought. 'Why do I feel like that when I'm around that guy?' she thought. 'He is so cold hearted… and still...' She couldn't lay her finger on it so she decided to let it go for a while. She stood up and looked at the river. Ping!
She ran to Neji. "I think I know how we can get out of here." she said. Neji looked at her. "How?" he asked. "The river…perhaps?" she said when he looked at her. "Maybe." he said slowly. "Byakugan." Lee looked closely at the river. "Will he not cross the city?" he asked while looking at Tenten. "That is what Neji is figuring out." she answered. "Well, we can use the river, but we will have to face a large waterfall and a wild waterway." Lee looked from Tenten to Neji. "So, what are we going to do?" Neji looked like he didn't feel much for it but Tenten yelled. "We can at least try!" Neji looked at Tenten. "You don't have to yell." he said while looking away. Tenten clenched her fists. 'This guy, why does he have to act like I'm worth nothing?' "Fine" she said firmly and she walked out of the cave. "Where are you going?" Neji asked. It almost sounded like he was worried. "I'm going for a walk!" she yelled back at him. Neji turned to Lee. "What's wrong with her?" Lee gasped. "I think you should be a little more friendly to her from time to time." he whispered. Neji couldn't hide his questioning face when he heard this.
"Stupid Neji." Tenten mumbled "Always making me feel like this!" She stamped on the ground with her foot. She heard something and grabbed a kunai. "It's me!" Lee said when he walked out of the bushes. Tenten looked at him. "Were you spying on me?" Lee looked at her. "No, of course not." "But you know" he began "you should come back, its getting dark out here." Tenten stared at the ground. "Like someone cares." she said silently. Lee felt bad when he heard this coming from a girl who made everything sound fun. "What's the matter?" he asked. A tear fell from Tenten's eye. "Nothing." she said sounding like she wanted him to leave, but Lee didn't. "Its just…, he's always so cold to me." she said after a while. "Who? Neji?" Lee sighed "Isn't he cold to everyone?" Tenten began to cry. Lee stood up walked up to her and placed his hand comforting on her shoulder. "You love him, don't you?" Tenten startled. "No! I don't… love him." she said slowly. Lee laughed at her. "Don't worry, he won't hear it from me."
"There you are." said Neji. "We're going to take the tiny chance we've got." Tenten smiled at him. "Okay, let's do this!" Lee yelled "With the power of youth we will win!" Tenten laughed and Neji smiled when Lee called this out. They didn't have much trouble making a raft. At dawn they were already finished. "When will we leave?" Tenten asked. "At sunset." Neji answered. "We will travel by night." After this they got a bit sleep. Lee was already asleep when Neji walked up to Tenten. "You know…" he started "I didn't wanted to give you the feeling you're worthless, because your not." "How did you know?" Neji smiled at her which made her heart flutter. He stood up and walked away to his own sleeping bag.
"Tenten. Wake up." Tenten opened her eyes and saw Lee. "We're leaving." he whispered. Neji stood on the raft and offered Tenten a helping hand. "Thanks" she said blushing her cheeks beet red. 'What was that feeling?' Neji thought. Tenten looked at her hand. 'He gave me a helping hand.' she thought happily. She looked up 'What am I thinking? I am a ninja!' She tried to focus on what she had to do which was to look out for enemies. Lee looked from Tenten to Neji. 'This could get really hard.' he thought. 'They won't be shouting out their feelings soon.'
"Hey Neji." Lee whispered "Do you think they'll notice us?" Neji stared at the sky. "I don't know." he said calmly. After he said that he turned around and looked at Tenten who stood at the back of the raft looking at the bushes. 'Why am I more worried over her than over this mission?' he thought. "If you are so worried about Tenten, then why don't you tell her that?" Lee asked. Neji looked up. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said sharp. "We must focus on our mission which is to bring these documents to the fifth." Lee nodded. "Understood."
Lee looked around him. Tenten and Neji did the same. 'This town…' thought Tenten 'The people inside it…the people who were attacking us…those weren't just criminals.' She looked at Neji. "Those guys from yesterday…" she started. "Were ninja weren't they?" Neji nodded. "Yes, those were shinobi. And dangerous ones too." Tenten swallowed nervously. "You don't need to worry." said Lee to calm her a bit. "Yes, she does." said Neji. "I'm not sure we can deceive them this easy." He turned around and looked at his team mates. "We will have to be cautious." Lee and Tenten nodded.
The moon reached her highest point. Lee felt as if his body was getting really nervous. "They are closing in on us." he said without thinking. Neji looked at him. "You think they already know where we are?" "Why don't you use your Byakugan for a moment?" said Tenten.
"I see them." he said "They know we're here but they will not reach us for a couple of hours." Tenten became a bit nervous. "When this comes to a fight" Neji started "Don't do reckless things. Only act when you're sure of your course." "Okay!" answered Lee and Tenten at the same time. 'He can be irritating sometimes' thought Tenten 'But he is a good leader.' She blushed slightly.
An hour passed. Tenten checked her scroll, Lee was putting on his sandals a bit better and Neji was looking if there were any escape routes. Tenten startled when she felt something. 'What murderous intent.' Neji thought. "This could get pretty rough!" he yelled at his team mates. He was worried. Worried over this mission, but also over the welfare of Lee and Tenten. Especially for Tenten.
"How many are there?" Tenten asked. "About fifteen." he said. "So, five for each one of us." said Lee. "You can't say that." said Tenten sharp. "They are after those documents and they will assume Neji to have them." Neji nodded. "Either way, we will have to fight with all we have." Neji looked at the water, which was becoming a little wilder. "Oh and in the worst case scenario we'll have to leave the raft." he said. "Understood!" said Tenten. "Got it." said Lee. "There they come!" yelled Neji.
Six men jumped out of the bushes at the shore. One jumped at Lee, two at Tenten and three at Neji. Lee jumped aside when the attacker wanted to squish him. Then he jumped and yelled: "Konoha senpuu!" The attacker tried to block this attack but that was in vain. He was tossed aside but he wasn't done yet. He formed a seal. Lee couldn't see what kind of seal it was. An enormous water dragon came out of the river, overflowing the raft.
Tenten had a rough time dealing with those two ninja. When they jumped to her they had tried to grab her. She had jumped aside and opened her scroll. She threw about 20 kunai to them. Not really effective. The shinobi didn't really had to do a lot to overcome that obstacle. Fortunately for her there was a water dragon overflowing the raft. She jumped aside on time and luckily for her the other ninja couldn't react quick enough.
Neji focused on his Jyuuken. The three ninja who had ran over to him didn't have a chance. They tried to dodge his attacks. That strategy had worked for a while, but couldn't last forever. Neji hit the first in the back, the second in his stomach and the third was frightened and jumped overboard. 'What kind of ninja was that last one?' Neji thought. Then he saw a huge dragon aiming for the raft. He jumped aside.
Lee had become furious. "How dare you attack my friends!" he yelled. He increased his speed. 'Where did he go?' thought the ninja. 'Above? Left? Right?' He was in kind of a panic. "I'm here!" yelled Lee when he appeared right behind the ninja. And before the ninja could take a look: "Konoha senpuu!" He flew against a tree and fell unconscious.
'Finally' Tenten thought. 'My attacks are having an effect.' She had thrown two explosive tags to her opponents. They had tried to dodge, so they had a painful landing on a branch and fell unconscious.
'Where is the rest?' thought Neji. Tenten huffed and Lee felt at his arm. "Are you two all right?" Neji asked. Tenten smiled and Lee put up his thumb while smiling with glimmering white teeth. Neji smiled back. "I think they want to wait until it gets light." said Lee. "I don't think so." said Tenten. Neji looked at her. "What do you think?" Tenten looked at the water. "They want to wait until we're in rougher water." Lee looked from Tenten to Neji. "So, what are we going to do?" he asked. "Let them attack us." Neji said. Tenten looked at him. "Won't that be too dangerous?" Neji shook his head. "We will be able to fight." he said "But will they?" he asked sarcastic.
The water began to flow faster. Tenten looked up to the sky. She saw Neji doing the same. 'What is he thinking of?' she thought 'He can't be nervous, so what does he feel?' Neji looked at the water. 'Is this really the best decision?' He was still looking for a way out for in the worst case scenario. "Nothing." he sighed. He looked at Lee who was daydreaming. Then he looked at Tenten who was looking at the sky. 'What does she think of me?' he thought 'Why do I care?' He tried to banish these thoughts and focused on his mission. The same way he always tried to hide his feelings about anything.
"They're coming." Tenten said. She stood up. This time there were also six ninja running to them. 'They're fast!' thought Tenten. "Kaiten!" Neji was quick enough to rescue his friend from about 30 kunai. "Tenten, take care of the ninja in the back right!" Neji yelled. "Lee take those two in the front! I'll take the three at the left!" Tenten sprinted at the thick ninja she was told to take care of. 'Man, he's really fat!' He looked like he almost couldn't move with all that…grease. She pulled a chain out of her scroll and threw it all around him. At one hard pull, she hoped to get him of his feet. 'Shit, this doesn't work.' she thought. The ninja just stood still and looked at her. When he had totally envisioned her he began to laugh. "Are you, trying to defeat me?" He slowly closed in to her. "To defeat me, you're a hundred years too soon." Tenten looked at her enemy. 'Okay he has the advantage.' she thought 'But I have to try something.' She threw a lot of exploding tags to him but before they could explode he had already crushed them. "Impossible!" Tenten said. "Now I'm really becoming mad!" the huge man said. 'I'm also tired of seeing your stupid face.' Tenten thought. She pulled a huge hammer from her scroll. "Never thought I'd have to use this." she said. She jumped and knocked him on the head as hard as she could. "That is not fair!" screamed the ninja. He fell through his knees, but before falling unconscious he grabbed Tenten's ankle and threw her to a tree…
"Too slow!" said Lee to the second ninja. 'Okay they were though.' he thought after his battle 'but they're not as though as I am.' Lee saw Tenten hit the fat ninja on his head. 'Wow, that must hurt.' He thought while rubbing his own head. He saw the ninja grab Tenten's ankle. 'This is not good.' he thought and ran over to her. Right before hitting a tree, Lee caught Tenten and broke her fall. "Thanks." said Tenten. "Any time." said Lee with a sweet smile which went: ping!
'This is irritating' thought Neji when he gave a ninja his last attack. 'They don't send their best ninja before tiring us.' Neji frowned. 'This is not good, if this keeps up we won't be able to defeat the last ones.' He saw Lee run as fast as he could to where Tenten was. 'What's going on?' Then he saw the ninja throwing Tenten aside. 'Shit!' he thought. He was relieved Lee made it in time. 'She would've gotten pretty beat up if she had hit that tree.' he thought suddenly feeling the great desire to beat that ninja to pulp.
Lee and Tenten came back to the raft. "What's that sound?" Lee asked. Neji looked up. "The waterfall!" Tenten rubbed her ankle. "That bastard." she mumbled. "We're closing in on the waterfall." Neji said "That must be the place they're going to attack us." Lee and Tenten nodded. "When I say so, you leave the raft." Neji said sharply. Tenten nodded again and looked at him. 'Is he worried over us or over the information we stole?' She grew angry with herself. 'That isn't important.' she thought while punishing herself inside her head. 'Is she going to be all right?' Neji thought when he saw Tenten pull strange faces. "She will be okay." said Lee. "Tell her you're worried about her." he told Neji firmly. "I don't know what you're talking about." Neji answered quickly. 'Am I really so worried about her, that Lee notices?'
'Damn it, this ankle really hurts.' Tenten thought. She grew even more angry with that fatty than before at the fight itself.
They saw the waterfall from afar. 'Why are they hesitating?' Lee wondered. It became more and more difficult to hold the raft. 'This is getting rough.' thought Tenten. "They're coming!" Neji yelled at his friends. Lee looked up and saw a violent woman jumping to him. "Aah!" Lee jumped aside. 'I don't think there ever was a woman of which I was this frightened before.' he thought. "Watch it!" Neji yelled when he pushed Tenten aside. "I could have taken that!" she yelled back at him. "Shit!" she felt a ninja closing in on her with high speed. 'Dodge' she thought. She got a huge hit and flew away. She landed on the water. "What is it, darling? Don't you want to play?" Tenten looked up. There was another woman. She looked pretty dangerous. Tenten focused and tried to relax. 'Calm down' she lectured herself. She got up and took her scroll. The kunoichi laughed. "Are you going to tell me a boring story so that I fall asleep?" Tenten smiled…
"Jyuuken!" Neji looked around him. 'Where the hell did he go?' he thought. "Byakugan!" 'Underneath me!' he thought jumping aside right on time. The ninja cursed him for this move. 'This could have been my death.' Neji thought 'I must be a little more careful, and yet my attacks should be more efficient.' He focused on his new attack. He wanted to end it with this one…
'What kind of woman is this?' Lee thought kind of in a panic. 'She can keep up with me at this speed.' He ran over to her and tried to hit her a few more times. 'This isn't working.' he thought 'They knew which ninja they could handle because they saw our last fights.'
"Eat this!" Tenten yelled while pulling a bow out of her scroll. The kunoichi laughed. "You could join us you know. We like strong women." Tenten aimed and shot. 'Impossible!' she thought. The ninja had dodged all the arrows and in one instant stood behind Tenten. 'Damn it.' she thought. She got another hit and she flew into the bushes. The ninja laughed and jumped after her.
'This is not good.' Neji thought. He aimed for his attackers heart. 'Why do I keep missing my target?' He became more frustrated with every try. 'Is this genjutsu? …impossible. I should've noticed that with these eyes.'
Lee was tossed aside and landed on the water. 'Shit, I can't do this for long.' he thought when he looked at the water he stood up. As fast as he could he ran to the shore. The ninja came after him at the same speed. Lee was tired of it. He stopped in mid-air, turned around and ran in full speed around his target. "Open gate! Open!" he yelled. 'Impossible!' his opponent thought. 'How can he, a seventeen year old do something like that?' Lee, looking kind of red, looked angry at his opponent and…
"Take this!" Neji yelled. He knocked the ninja on his toe. The ninja screamed out of despair. "You filthy teenager! Stupid brat!" Neji ran to him. "Jyuuken!" The ninja could only watch at Neji after this attack. "I'll get you for this." he said sharp and really angry. 'The waterfall!' thought Neji…
'Damn it! She really is strong, this stupid woman!' Tenten thought. She opened her scroll once again and took her chain out. She aimed for the kunoichi's foot. She missed. 'Shit' she thought. "Too slow!" The kunoichi gave her a hard hit, Tenten could only dodge. She landed on her feet on a branch. 'Damn, this ankle hurts!' She pulled a painful face. 'Its this ankle! That's what's slowing me down!' she thought. "What's the matter?" the kunoichi asked sarcastically. "Nothing you should worry about" Tenten answered with a voice pierced with anger and pain.
"Konoha Senpuu!" The ninja tried to dodge but that was in vain. She flew to a tree, landed elegant on a branch and looked at a Lee with red face, burning with anger. "Energy gate! Open!" he yelled. 'Impossible!' the kunoichi thought. She got a hit, and then another one. She couldn't even figure out where he was, not to mention how he would attack. Lee was just too fast. 'I've got to get out of here!' she thought.
Neji looked around him. He only saw Lee at first but when he looked further he could see Tenten fighting in the bushes. 'Useless to yell at them.' he thought. He left the raft. It rocked to the waterfall at high speed. It fell down. The last thing Neji heard of the raft was: "Bang, crack!" 'There goes the raft' he thought without a care.
"Why are you trying? You can't dodge my attacks forever!" The kunoichi yelled at Tenten. 'This damn ankle.' she thought. The kunoichi formed a few seals. There was a large explosion at first and then Tenten saw a beautiful, strong samurai sword. 'Dodge!' Tenten thought. She felt an enormous pain. "Aaaaaaaah!" she screamed. "Sorry, did that hurt?" Tenten looked at the kunoichi. Anger filled her body once again. She tried to stand up…
The kunoichi Lee was fighting got major hits. 'Ugh! I've got to get out of here! Right now!' She tried to run away, but the anger of Lee still wasn't gone. "Take this!" he yelled when he knocked her unconscious with the omote renge. "That's for attacking us in this situation." he said after that. Neji joined Lee. "What situation?" he asked. "Well…" Lee said "…we are without our sensei on a pretty dangerous mission." Neji looked at him. "Right." he said. Turning his back at him. "Aaaaaaaah!" They heard a scream. "That's Tenten!" Lee yelled. "Byakugan!" Neji looked around "They strayed off far from us. Let's go!"
Tenten tried to dodge every attack, but because of her ankle and her other injuries she didn't stand a chance. Her vision was already fading and she didn't have much chakra left. "Are we done playing?" the kunoichi asked when she walked up to Tenten. Tenten sat on her knees and tried to breath calm. Her tries were in vain though. "Well, then die!" The kunoichi put up her sword and wanted to attack. When the strike was supposed to fall Tenten grabbed the sword with both of her hands. Even Tenten, who knew how to held her hands, still got hurt from that action. She pushed the kunoichi away and tried to stand up. When she finally got up she took a kunai. The ninja laughed at her. "What are you trying to do? I've won, even if you try something new with that stupid scroll of yours." Tenten fell back on her knees. 'Shit, I don't have any strength left.' she thought. The kunoichi wanted to end the fight. "Say your prayers brat." Tenten closed her eyes. 'Neji…' she thought.
Just when the ninja was about to drop her sword. Lee held it from behind. "You'll stop there." he said kind of cool. Tenten huffed. She felt two strong arms lift her up and bring her to a safer place. Neji laid her against a tree and went to help Lee. He didn't have much trouble but Neji had had enough of risks for the past few days. "Jyuuken!" The ninja had dodged it. "Too slow." she said. Lee appeared behind her. "Look who's talking!" he said giving her a fine hit. "Stop this woman's craziness!" Lee yelled at Neji. And while Lee held her tight. "Jyuuken!" "Now you won't be able to move for quite some time." Neji said calmly. "Damn brat. If that stupid girl there didn't have tired me so much I would've killed you in one second! Hey listen to me!" she yelled as Neji and Lee walked away.
"Are you all right?" Tenten opened her eyes and saw a worried Neji. "I'm okay" she said. Neji gave her a hand and helped her up. "Are you sure?" Lee asked when he saw her face. "Don't worry I…aw!" Even with the support of Neji she fell through her knees. "You're hurt!" Neji said. Tenten pushed her hand at the right of her stomach. The blood came through her blouse. "Let me see." said Neji. "I'm going for a small walk to check everything is okay back there." Lee said trying to act nondescript (he didn't want to bother them, neither did he want to see Tenten's wound). Neji looked at him for a second but didn't say anything. He pulled Tenten's blouse up. "Hey" she startled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to take advantage of you." Neji said quickly. He was kind of nervous. Tenten's body shook. 'This pain is killing me.' Tenten thought. Neji looked at the cut (from the sword). It began above her ribs (at the right side) and went to her stomach. 'This is bad' Neji thought worried. He swallowed. He had to bandage her up. Because of the height of the cut he could almost see her bra. "Don't look like that." she said. "What do you mean?" Neji asked blushing slightly. "Like I'm going to die or something." she said. Actually she didn't like the fact of Neji seeing her belly. Neji took some bandages and winded her up. Tenten bit her lip. "Gees, this hurts."
"So, this should do." he said after a while. Tenten still pulled painful faces. "Come on get up." Neji said while he pulled her up. She leaned against the tree. "Damn it." she said. Neji closed in on her. "Are you okay?" Neji felt like his heart was going to explode! 'Why did I have to come this close to her?' he thought in an unexplainable panic. 'Why am I so pulled on to her?' 'Neji is so close.' thought Tenten. 'If he comes a bit closer I'm afraid he'll hear my heart beat like crazy.'
Neji stared at her. He couldn't explain why, but he didn't want to move. He didn't want to retreat now he was this close to the girl he loved. 'What!' he thought 'do I…really…love her?' Tenten shivered. She saw his silver eyes so clearly and he looked at her so intense. 'Her eyes' he thought 'they are sucking me in.' His face came so close to hers. He closed his eyes. Their lips softly touched one another. Tenten's heart grew wild. 'Is this really happening?' Neji had quite a different point of view. 'She has to know I love her!' was the only thing he could think of. Of course he also thought about her lips. She closed her eyes and felt his pure, soft and gentle kiss. He began to kiss her more passionate, almost crushing her against the tree. She didn't mind though ( not even when it hurted).
Finally breaking their kiss. He stared at her once again. "I…I love you." he said quietly. Tenten pushed herself softly against him. "I love you too." she whispered. "Come on lets go back." he said after a short time, offering Tenten support. She smiled at him. 'He loves me.' she thought over and over again.
"Lee?! Where are you?" Neji yelled. He looked at Tenten. "I'm going to leave you for a minute." he said while helping her to sit down. "Okay" she said. Neji walked a bit further. 'Where is he?' he thought. "Byakugan!" Neji looked around him. "No, not there." he said to himself every time he wanted to look in Tenten's direction. "There he is." Neji walked over to Lee. "Lee we're going." he said. He got scared when he saw Lee cry. "What's the matter?" he asked. Lee looked at him. "Look" he said. Neji looked. "There are holes in my suit!" he said whining like a baby. Neji frowned. "Is that all?" he asked almost as sarcastic like Sasuke used to. Lee looked mad at him. "I got this suit from Gai-sensei, how dare you ask 'Is that all'?" Neji smiled at him. "I'm sure Gai won't mind if you tell him how it became like that." Lee looked up. "The last fight you had, was a tough one." He looked at Lee. "Okay" he said with a small smile. "By the way. How is Tenten?" Neji smiled. "She's okay." he said "but we will have to go back to Konoha quickly, because she needs medical support for those injuries." Lee nodded. "And the rest?" he asked curiously. "None of you business" Neji answered quickly. "You kissed her right?" Lee almost yelled. "Shut up." Neji said embarrassed. "How did he know?" "I'm glad for you man" Lee said. Neji smiled at him. "Thanks." he whispered not really knowing how to react on this.
"We need to go back to Konoha as quickly as possible and you guys just dawdle." Tenten said, already standing on her feet. "She's right, we've lost enough time as it is." Neji said. "Let's go!" said Lee while his teeth went: Ping! Lee offered to carry the bag and the scroll of Tenten because Neji already helped her walking. 'Shit this really hurts.' she thought. But every time she saw Neji's face she didn't mind her injuries anymore. And sometimes when Lee was not to be seen he gave her a small kiss. Which both she and he liked very much.
Now it was only a matter of time before they would get to Konoha. They had to walk slowly because of Tenten's injuries but that was not important, because Neji was there to help her out. The fifth had her (stolen) documents and the three ninja got two days of rest.
"I'm sorry there are some bad scratches on my suit." Lee whined to Gai. "Don't worry" Gai answered. "I have a new pair for you." Lee began to cry. "Thank you very much! Sensei!" he yelled while hugging his sensei. "Let the power of youth flow through your veins forever!" the sensei yelled back crying like a baby.
Tenten walked up to Neji. Who leaned against a wall."We made it back, safe." she said with a sweet smile which made Neji's heart flutter. "Yes" he said with a boyish smile while he took Tenten in his arms. He looked deep in her eyes and gave her a small kiss on her sweet lips.
The end…
"We knew this would happen!" Lee and Gai shouted when Neji and Tenten told them they're 'together'. The duo walked with great steps (they had a new mission and were already on their way). ©"Neji and Tenten are sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N…"© "Will you guys shut up!" Neji and Tenten yelled 'together'.