'Broken' is my first story, and chapter 1 here has been tweaked a bit since it was first published. Enjoy!
Rated T for violence
Disclaimer: Naruto Belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
Chapter 1
It had happened, in the middle of Konoha streets, in broad daylight.
19 year old Hyuuga Neji, captain of his ANBU cell, was walking with one of his team members, Uzumaki Naruto. They had been arguing about nothing in particular, as always. Neji weaving himself easily against the current of people, dodging men, women, children; stall keepers and their customers, his tunic rippling against the wind and his body; while Naruto followed, slightly lagging behind and with less grace. The sun was about to set, casting a warm, orange glow onto the streets and flushing the people with a tint of color.
That day, they had been arguing about ramen. Naruto claimed he was starving, but Neji refused to stop. They had just returned from a three week mission, and the only thing he had in mind was to go home, shower and sleep.
Until, that is, when they ran into them.
Naruto had walked into a large figure, knocking him backwards.
"What the…" he said. Neji stopped too. After all, Naruto did not just walk into people. He was an ANBU, for goodness sake. A closer examination revealed that the 'figure' was, in fact, two people. The sight was very strange indeed.
It was a girl, with a man on her back. She was slender and tall, dressed in typical jounin armory as well as the green flak jacket. She wore a large straw paddy hat, which shadowed her face and hair. The body she carried on her back wore the same outfit, apart from the hat. Upon stumbling into Naruto, the girl swayed slightly, before she promptly dropped the body onto the floor. The body was limp, and lay sickly motionless on the floor. He was dead.
People walking past stopped and stared in morbid fascination. Some gasped, some shuffled quickly away from the unholy scene.
Naruto knelt down to examine the body. It had scratches and bruises all over its limbs and face. The right arm was gone, and blood still dripped from the torn sleeve onto the ground, glinting in the setting sunlight. An opening in the shirt revealed a long, deep gash stretching from the abdomen to the chest. The injury was probably the reason of the death.
Naruto looked in awe from the body to the girl who had fallen to her knees. She made no movement whatsoever.
Meanwhile, Neji stared at the corpse, and recognized it as one of Tenten's teammates. Fear and dread rushed through his body in an instant.
"Tenten?" He croaked? The girl remained still and silent.
"Tenten!?" Naruto exclaimed. He squatted down to come face to face with the kunoichi, but she never looked up.
"T… Tenten? What's wrong?" He lifted her hat up a little so he could see her face. Naruto cursed under his breath.
The first thing he noticed was that she was covering her left eye with a hand. Blood was slowly seeping out through the cracks of her fingers. Her right arm had a deep slash running down its length. The dark cloth near her abdomen was reflecting light, which meant she was bleeding heavily there as well. That added with cuts and bruises all over her body. Her face was dangerously pale; consciousness far away. Tears were running down her face, but she wasn't crying. She was just sitting down, wide-eyed, tearing.
Naruto noticed her clutching something tightly in her hand.
"What's this?" He asked, trying to pry her fingers open. She did not budge.
"Don't just stand there, you moron!" Naruto turned to Neji.
Neji had also noticed Tenten's deadly grip. He had activated his Byakugan, and what he saw made him gulp. That could not be…
Suddenly, Tenten coughed. She choked, and then coughed again, splattering blood all over the floor. The crowd gasped.
"Hey! Tenten, are you alright?" Naruto could feel her consciousness drifting as she started to sway, and her visible eyelid began to droop.
"Tenten, don't sleep, stay with me, STAY WITH ME, GODAMMIT!" She fell into Naruto's chest. In one fluid motion, Neji was at Tenten's side. Her grip around the object had loosened, and he grabbed it, wrapping it delicately into a handkerchief. He hid it from view.
"What was that?" Naruto asked.
"We have to take her to the hospital. You take the corpse." And with that, Neji had disappeared, landing himself from one roof to another, Tenten in his arms.
Tenten's head lolled around, and he tried not to jerk around as much. His heart pounded against his chest, from the adrenalin and the physical activity.
"Don't Tenten… please be OK." He thought to himself. He was being too slow. He needed to be faster. He pushed his legs to move more quickly; jump further, until the hospital came into view.
He arrived at the hospital, rushing in through the glass doors, out of breath and gasping for air. He had pushed his limit to get here.
"Oh my… Neji, what happened?" Sakura had suddenly appeared at his side, horrified by what he held in his arms. Naruto burst in a few seconds later, and Neji watched as Sakura face, if possible, turned even paler.
"She just got back from a mission." Neji managed to pant. Sakura nodded, and immediately sprung into action.
"Bring me a stretcher!" She yelled at a nearby medic nin as she began observing Tenten's wounds. "I think we'll need a surgery room for this. You there, go …Yes Neji?"
Sakura stopped abruptly as she felt Neji place a hand on her shoulder. Hyuga Neji never touched unless it was extremely necessary.
"I need to… tell you something." He said.
Now was an extremely inappropriate time to blush, but Sakura could not control that when a gorgeous clan prodigy was locking your gaze so intently. He grabbed her hand and placed something into it. One look was all it took for the previous blush to drain itself from her face, if not, tenfold.
"Oh… my…" She stuttered. It had been the 'thing' Neji had wrapped into his handkerchief. Taking a deep breath, she stopped a medic nin rushing by,
"Go… go get me the Hokage. Now." She ordered. The medic nin rushed off in obedience, and Sakura turned back to her patient.
Naruto was starting to get nervous as two medic nins came over and took the corpse away from him. He had seen Neji and Sakura mumbling something, and he had given her that thing. What was it? Sakura's face had turned pale, and Naruto knew Sakura had seen plenty of sick things in her life.
Tenten was pushed into the operation room, and Neji plopped himself onto a chair.
"Um…Neji, what did you just give Saku…"
"I cannot believe this! Ripped right out? Sick bastards…" Tsunade sama was walking in long strides along the hospital, two medic nins trying to catch up with her. She looked grimly at Neji and Naruto before entering into the surgery room herself.
"W… What's going on?" Naruto asked, sick of being in the dark. He turned to Neji, and gulped. Neji was frowning…hard. The emotionless, ice-cube, apathetic Hyuga Neji was showing emotion. Not a good sign. He gave up, deciding he'd rather not know, and turned quietly back in his seat.
The next moments came as a blur for both of them. Friends rushed in, one after another, after hearing the horrible news. Word had spread fast, considering the incident had happened in the middle of one of the most crowded streets of Konoha.
The tension in the air was thick, increasing as more and more people came. Lee and Gai were no longer bouncing around, flashing their teeth; only waiting silently. Medic nins rushed in and out, looking stressed and sweating.
It had seemed like forever, but finally, the lights of the operation flicked off. Tsunade and Sakura stepped out, with a few medic nin.
They held their breaths.
End of Chapter 1
This is it, Chapter 1! Did you like it? Please review!!