A/n: I've been sick lately. And sick means stuck in bed. Stuck in bed means boredom. Boredom means SUDDEN INSPIRATION.
This one's for you, Sunny Hinata! Hope you like this!
Love you, all!
Disclaimer: We all know I don't.
Love, Issa
in circles
Roses Rusted
who guards the guardians?
She vowed on the day he confided in her everything. His father, the family that sent him to him death, the mother that soon followed, and of his curse.
The moment had been intimate, but still in a friendship way. She sometimes took pride in herself that among anyone else, she had been the one he told first. The one he trusted above any other. How hard she had worked for such an honor.
But all of her proud thoughts vanished when she finally let her heart absorb all the things trusted to her. She never looked at him in the same way again. For she now saw how he became the way he was. She could read all the previous chapters of his life before she had made her entrance in it.
She saw so clearly in her mind's eye the happy little boy he must had been and the day that same happy little boy disappeared forever.
Tears trickled down in guilt as he let her touch him.
In that one-sided embrace, she vowed to him and to herself how that would never happen again. How she wouldn't let it.
On that day, when Tenten locked that silent vow in her heart, Neji had gained a guardian.
Though his eyes had the talent, she saw all he would not look at. All she would not let him look at. Dead birds still in their rusted cages. Fathers walking with their sons on their shoulders.
And all the scars and burns from her own flight.
He had caught her once, and the look in his eyes stayed etched in her mind.
"You went very high."
She did. And she continued to go very high.
But she promised she would never again go flying unless he came with her.
He didn't believe the Byakugan's blind spot. Those who believed in it were those who feared it to be a dangerous opening of the enemy.
But they didn't have her guarding it.
He had nothing to fear because through everything he knew she would be there, in his blind spot.
Guarding him.
It was inevitable.
Not all missions went well. And this one went horribly wrong.
The client turned against them, the ambush came unexpected. The forces were overwhelming and they were out numbered.
But not out matched.
Grounds were stood and she watched his back the best she could. But miscalculations were inevitable too.
And she landed in the worst of positions. She watched as the enemy's blade draw closer, her limp body pinned against a tree, useless.
Closer and closer.
"You die!"
Then there was a blur, then a scream, then blood. Everywhere.
Then there was nothing,
but darkness.
She woke up to white walls, olive-green curtains, a sea of flowers, and a familiar hand grasping her own.
She smiled down at his sleeping face, inches from where their hand met. She chose not to touch him in case he woke up.
The wounds would heal, and the bones would be repaired. But the wall that had been built now lay in ruins, and she new that neither of them would mind.
Her hand tightened and he was awake, tightening his grip on her as well. A grip he would never to release.
He vowed on that day when she opened the eyes he thought he'd never see again.
She listened whole-heartily as he tried to speak everything she's already heard. He struggled with the words, and fumbled with the emphasizes, but she loved it all the same.
She loved him all the same.
In that warm embrace, he vowed to her and to himself how that would never happen again. How he wouldn't let it.
How would protect her even after his time came.
On that day, when she opened her heart one more time for another vow to keep, Tenten had gained a guardian.
And so, so much more.
FIN.
A/n: I hoped you like it. Especially you, SunnyHinata! Please, feedback is looove.
Looove, Issa