A/N: My first update in months... Thank god it's finally winter break. School was just about to kill me. This is just a spur of the moment, little NejiTen piece that i thought of while listening to Sweet and Low by Augustana. I recommend listening to it while you read this, but you don't have to... It's such a nice song, though.
Though it starts kinda sad, this fic's not meant to be sad overall. Which is surprising, since NejiTen is usually my victim of angsty stories. Well, enjoy! And feedback is much appreciated.
Summary: In his arms, she was safe. It was the one place she never wanted to leave.
Disclaimer: Yeah, wouldn't that make a good Christmas present...
Carry Me Home
They stood among the wreckage of battle. Among the dead, their bodies littering the dirt like grotesque ornaments. Among the half dead: the trees that were splintered and the flowers that were trampled that would soon join the list of casualties, but would be overlooked. Among the few alive: a person lingering here and there.
The rebels had outnumbered them by more than double. The little village had barely survived. It was completely by chance that Neji, Lee, and Tenten had been passing through on their way home from their latest mission. If they hadn't been, a much more terrible end would have come, without a doubt.
Townspeople – shinobi and ordinary people both – milled around, some attempting to clear the streets of death, some simply mourning for all lost, others at a loss for what to do.
And then there were those looking. Searching through the dead for a loved one gone unaccounted for.
A long, terrible cry assaulted their ears from amid the houses; someone had been found, but they could not be taken home.
Tenten winced, head lowering in remorse. "How could someone do this?" she said in a cracked voice. She was asking anyone who would listen; her teammates, the wind, God, herself.
Someone sniffled to her left. Tenten looked over, past Neji – who was supporting her, with one arm around her waist – to Lee, who had a few silent tears trickling down his face, unabashed as ever to make his sorrow clear.
"They had no chance. They posed no threat to anyone. This was an act of evil," he said, sniffling louder, and Tenten had to agree.
The town, its name still unknown to her, was small. Tiny. It couldn't have been home to more than ten shinobi, their levels chuunin at most. The attack was apparently random, and was a complete surprise. Families had been destroyed, and the pain was visible in everyone's manner.
It was so quiet, almost ghostly. Only the occasional wail pierced the silence, adding to the eerie ambiance. Crimson blood soaked into the dirt, making sickening puddles of sticky mud. Never before had the weight of death – and living – been so crushing to her.
Tenten didn't cry after killing, nor after seeing people kill and be killed. She had been desensitized after years of it, because, being a kunoichi, such madness was written into her contract.
But as she looked on, she felt as if time had slowed all around her so that she could stop and watch what she so often forgot happened after the battles were over.
The cleanup. The regret. The wish to go back and time and find a way to avoid the bloodshed. This was what all the townsfolk were wishing; it was visible in their lonely, far-away gazes.
She had forgotten that victory could be so much worse than failure. Because the victors sometimes lost more than those who had been defeated and lost their lives. They had to live with the wish that they could be among the dead, so that their grief would end.
Her fingers tightened into the white fabric beneath them, and she swallowed with a struggle. She saw Neji turn his head to cast a worried look at her, and she met his eyes with a frown.
"Is it always like this?" she asked, barely whispering.
"You two head back," Lee said, not having heard Tenten's question. "I will stay and help…clean." He wiped a hand across his face. "Neji, take care of Tenten."
"I'm fine, Lee," Tenten protested weakly, though she shifted her arm slung around Neji's neck so that she could hold on tighter. She had done something to her ankle, twisted or sprained it badly so that she couldn't put any weight on it without collapsing.
"I'll get her back safely," Neji told Lee, a promise in his tone.
Lee attempted a small grin, though it was more sad than happy. "Thank you. Please tell Hokage-sama why we are late." He offered them a weak thumbs-up, and then darted into the town to find the area that needed the most aid.
Tenten inhaled deeply, watching him go. The air smelled faintly coppery, and did little to comfort her. The lump in her throat rose again, and it stung at the back of her esophagus. She swallowed past it.
Neji tightened his grip on her waist for a brief moment, gaining her attention. "Shall we go?"
Tenten looked into his silvery eyes, and then back at the wreckage, sending a silent prayer out to those who had lost so much. She paid her respect to the deceased with a heavy heart, and then forced herself to tear her eyes away from the ruined town.
"Yeah, let's go," she murmured.
She felt Neji shift beside her, and looked over to see him holding his free arm out, bent slightly. She gave him a questioning look. "What?"
"You can't walk," he stated.
Despite their surroundings, Tenten managed to choke out a disbelieving laugh, though it held little mirth. "What, you're gonna carry me?"
"Yes."
She bit her lip, finding no signs of a joke in his expression. "Fine," she breathed, looping her other arm around his neck, his hair soft as satin against her skin. "Carry me home," she mumbled, wincing as he bent down to secure his arm behind her knees, causing her to lose her balance a bit and put too much weight on her injured ankle.
"Sorry," he said once he straightened, and he looked down at her with genuine concern.
She felt idiotic, draped in his arms like some princess. "It's fine," she said stiffly, embarrassment threatening to tinge her cheeks a rosy pink. "Let's –"
"Excuse me."
Neji turned to the source of the voice, and Tenten looked down at the short man a bit awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his bald head a bit shyly, and Tenten noticed the wisdom in his stormy gray eyes, though there were few lines on his well-aged face. He wore a row of daggers on his belt, but some were missing.
"Thank you," he blurted out abruptly, looking up at both of them with a steady gaze. "We owe you our deepest thanks for your help. If it hadn't been for you Konoha nins, we would have had no hope."
"I'm sorry that…we couldn't do more," Tenten said, all earlier awkwardness forgotten as she was once more engulfed by a strong feeling of loss.
He shook his head. "No, please don't apologize. Because of you, we can still rebuild. You will always hold our gratitude."
Neji bent his head. It was his turn to show thanks. "Thank you. We will send help from Konoha once we return home."
The little man nodded, and Neji turned. As he walked away, Tenten peered over her shoulder at the man. He hadn't moved from his spot, but his head was turned towards the side, surveying the skyline with a look of the deepest sadness. Tenten looked away.
"I feel so bad," she said quietly.
"That's natural."
She looked up at Neji. His stoic gaze was directed ahead, and he had yet to pick up his pace from that of a steady walk.
"But…" Tenten began, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I just feel…so bad. It's never like this after a battle. Why now?"
She looked up at Neji for answers, but he merely shrugged. "I don't know." It wasn't meant to end their conversation, and Tenten knew this. She knew he would listen.
"I could feel it," she continued. "Their pain, I could feel it in the air. In the way they stood, all broken-looking. It was so overwhelming, much more than I've ever felt. They were all so close…Why would someone do this to them?" Her voice died in an uncharacteristic squeak, and she blinked repeatedly.
"You can cry. I won't stop you," Neji told her. Tenten knew he was keeping his eyes lifted from her face because he knew that she didn't like to be seen crying.
She shook her head. "I don't want to," she said, though the tremble in her voice gave away her lie. She couldn't stop thinking about the people, so lost in the ruins of their own village, and the keening wails that sounded like ghosts crying.
"You want to," Neji said soothingly. "I don't mind."
Her lip trembled, and when she blinked a hot tear traced a path down her cheek. It was so unlike her, to break down like this. This thought only spurred more tears forward, and she pressed her lips together to keep any sobs from breaking through. They quaked silently in her throat.
With a rustle of fabric, she buried her face into his chest, fingers fisting into the cloth in a desperate grip. He smelled like musk; the sweat and blood of battle and the underlying scent of Neji, something like crushed pine and worn leather.
"Thank you for being okay," she gasped. "If you weren't, then…"
A soft pressure on the top of her head kept her from having to finish the terrible thought. "A few bandit ninja couldn't bring me down," Neji murmured, warm breath tingling against her scalp. Tenten's tears fell faster, hotter.
He pressed her lips against her head one last time, and Tenten took a deep breath. "I know," she said quietly. "I know."
She let her tears run out in silence, the weight slowly lifting from her heart. She didn't know how long it took, but suddenly no more tears would come, and she took a shuddering breath to calm herself.
Her eyes stung and felt heavy, the fatigue of crying and fighting finally catching up to her. Neji's steady pace lulled her into a light slumber. Now that she had shed her tears, she felt more at peace, like she had rid herself of a draining poison. The even rise and fall of Neji's chest was soothing, and she could feel his strong heartbeat beneath her cheek.
In his arms, she was safe. It was the one place she never wanted to leave.
She woke when he breathed her name into her ear. The village gates rose ahead of them as she cracked her eyes open. Familiar buildings towered over them, and the mountains painted a majestic backdrop.
Home.
"Neji, let me down," she said groggily. "It'll be embarrassing if people see me like this."
Neji cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because," Tenten said, "I don't wanna look completely helpless. What'll people say?" She shifted in his arms, but his grip was unrelenting.
Neji grinned slightly. "I'm not letting you down," he told her with finality, and she frowned.
"What? Why not?"
He looked down at her, white eyes trapping her and stealing her breath. "Because. You told me to carry you home. We're not home yet."
Tenten felt the color rise in her cheeks, and she saw the pleased look Neji wore. She pressed her face into his collar once again. "Fine," she muttered, lips brushing the smooth patch of bared skin. "Carry me home."