Shipwrecked
"Ok, Lee you and Ino head out and look for some supplies. Most of what we had was lost or ruined in the crash. Shikamaru, you and choji try and see if you can build us some form of shelter. We've only got a few hours of day light left and it looks as if it will rain tonight. Tenten and I will try to scavenge what we can from the wreckage." Neji tells the others.
"OK Neji! Come Ino! Lets do this!" Lee shouts, then he runs off along the beach.
"Did you really have to pair me with him?" With a sigh a disgruntled Ino trudges off after Lee.
"Ok come on Shikamaru, i'll need your help getting shelter set up." Choji jogs off to look for a suitable area for them to set up their camp.
"What a drag." Shikamaru follows after Choji, a look of carelessness drawn upon his features.
"Tenten." Neji turns to her.
"Yes Neji?"
"We need to get started."
"Oh right." They walk along the beach to where some of the wreckage is. "How could this have happened?" Tenten muses aloud.
"I'm afraid I don't know." Neji admits. After a short moment of silence between the two Neji says, "Well in any case we must try to find what we can in the wreckage." They spend a good hour scouring rigorously through the wreckage that washed up on the beach, only to find virtually nothing.
"Why don't we take a short break before we search for wreckage in the water?" Tenten proposes.
Neji stands up from the crate he was looking through. "I suppose that would be advantageous. Ok we'll take a short break."
"Good!"Tenten flops to the sand and releases a sigh of exhaustion. Neji walks to where she is and takes a seat next to her. She sits up and turns to him. "So Neji..." She begins.
"Yes?" He turns to face her, his face lacking emotion.
"Well its just..." Her voice fades out.
"It's just what?"
"This mission."
"What about it?"
"It's taken an unexpected turn hasn't it?" She asks with a laugh.
"That could definitly be said." A grin starts to form on his usually stoic face. An occurence that seems to happen the more he talks to his female companion.
"I mean, this mission was relatively simple." Her voice fades out as they recall Tsunade assigning them this mission.
4 Days Prior
"Lasy Tsunade?" Tenten calls from outside the Hokage's door.
"Come in Tenten." Tenten enters the room to find that Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were all already there. "Sorry I'm late."
"It's fine, I was just explaining your mission to the others." Tsuande gestures to the assembled shinobi. Tenten takes her place next to her teammates. "As I was saying. Your mission is to take a boat from the Naruto Uzumaki bridge, and proceed to the land of Rivers. Once you arrive you'll meet an associate of mine who will give you further details. Other than his orders your mission is to stealthily learn as much as you can about the happenings there."
"Why do we need to take a boat? That will take us out of our way. It'll be such a drag." Shikamaru sighs then leans his back against the wall.
"My associate lives nearer to the sea so this is a faster route. And since this mission is meant to be subtle, traveling through their land will attract unwanted attention. Going by sea you avoid most of this attention. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am!" Comes the unanimous call from the assembled shinobi.
Neji takes charge after a short moment, "Ok we'll depart for the bridge in one hour. Everyone meet at the gates then."
"Ok Neji! Come on! Lets get going!" Lee calls out enthusiastically, before running out at full speed.
"What a drag." Shikamaru stands up straight and saunters out of Tsunade's room, gesturing for Choji and Ino to follow him.
"Thank you Tsunade!" Tenten bows and turns to exit Neji at her side.
Present Day
"Well thats enough time wasted." Neji grunts as he stands, his muscles sore.
"Right!" Tenten stands up after him. She turns to look at what they'd already gone through, and what they had left. Most of the remaining wreckage was in the water so they'd have to swim and search in the water. As she turns back around to ask Neji something her voice is caught in her throat. Neji had taken his shirt off, as to prevent soaking the only clothes he had, and his finely chiseled body was open in the bright sunlight. Tenten could feel her cheeks beginning to burn at the sight. Throughout her years in Team Guy she had formed a crush on Neji and recently her feelings had increased exponentially.
"Is something wrong Tenten?" She quickly looked away, realizing she had been staring at him.
" No! Nothings wrong." She managed to get the words out while keeping herself from staring at Neji's shirtless figure.
"Ok, come on then. We need to work faster if we're to finish sorting through the wreckage today." Without another word he runs to the edge of the beach and dives into the water. Tenten remains standing on the beach thinking about Neji for a short moment until Neji calls out to her, "Tenten, aren't you going to help?"
"Oh right!" She says with a start. She pulls off her shirt, leaving just a thin undershirt on. She then joins Neji in the water and they begin to scour the wreckage to find anything of use.
After roughly an hour searching Neji surfaces and calls out, "Tenten! Over here!" He dives back under the surface as he waits for Tenten to get over to him.
"What is it Neji?" Tenten swims over to where Neji is and waits for him to resurface. As he resurfaces Tenten feels her cheeks redden. His hair is dripping wet and something about that turns her insides to mush.
"Tenten." Neji's tone is one of dead severity.
"What is it?" His tone frightens her and any thoughts in her head other than the task at hand disappeared.
"I found the captain." His voice says it all. They dive under the water to try and free him, to try to find something, anything, on his person to indicate what caused this horrid turn of events. And if they couldn't find anything, then to at least give him a proper burial. The water is crystal clear so it doesn't take too long for them to find the body. Tenten gasps and has to return to the surface after what she saw. The captains body was decimated, his arm was torn off and the his cloak is covering the spot where his shoulder once face was hidden by his cloak, which was torn and caught on a piece of the boat. The majority of his body was held down by a large piece of the ships hull, and she dreaded to see what his torso and stomach looked like, or at least what was left of them. Neji rises to the surface, "Tenten." His voice calm, and comforting, "Are you ok? we can wait for the others if you don't want to do this."
"No!" She snaps. Not wanting to seem weak in the eyes of Neji. "No! I mean, I'll be fine. I'm just tired."
"Are you sure?" Something about making her do this if she didn't want to, just didn't sit with Neji. He couldn't bring himself to make her do that. he didn't understand why. He should be making sure his teammates were strong. But something about her.
"Yes i'm sure! Come on!" Tenten dives under the water, followed soon after by a confused Neji. They move to opposite sides of the wreckage pinning the captain down. Tenten looked to Neji for confirmation on when to use her strength to move it. She was shocked by what she saw. Neji! Neji, her strong confident teammate, looked troubled by something. Before she could think on it more he nodded, the signal to start lifting. They heave and together manage to lift it off of the captain. Once they'd moved the wreckage Tenten releases her grip on it and returns to get the captain. She hauls his body to the surface then to the shore. Once they get to the shore they lay the captains body down and inspect it.
"Oh no..." Neji's voice fades out as he realizes what they're looking at.
"Is...is that what i think it is?" Tenten's voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.
"Yes." That one word said it all. Neji stands up and walks away, his head filled with troubled thoughts.
Tenten leans closer in, to confirm that it is indeed what they believe it to be. After a moment she stands and shakes her head, and mutters two words. "A puppet."