Tenten sat on the edge of his hospital bed, holding and stroking his hand with her thumb. What her teammate must have endured wretched at her core. Broken ribs, black eyes, and lacerations, littered his form, laboring his breathing. She looked up at the analog clock on the wall.
3:37am it read, illuminated by the moon. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her free hand, and got up off the bed, unlocking her fingers from his light grip. She walked over to the window, opening the latch, letting a soft summer breeze into his stuffy room. What was left of Neji's hair danced around his face, fluttering about his bruised features.
It had been four days since her teammate had arrived back home from his most recent mission. He had somehow made the journey back to Konoha, collapsing only three kilometers short of the front gates. It had been Kakashi's team who had found him, almost unrecognisable, with the swelling in his face, and all the weight he had lost because of the abuse. Luckily a pink haired medic had been there to quickly administer him life saving techniques in order to stop the bleeding. She had estimated that he had been in that spot for no longer than ten minutes. Though she also said if they had been any later to the scene, it would have been too late.
I will have to get Sakura something. She thought. At the very least, I can take her out for a drink to thank her.
She let out a deep sigh. Her body was exhausted. More so than she can ever remember, but her mind wouldn't let her fall asleep. She envied Lee for that reason. She sat in the chair next to his, watching a thin stream of drool trickle down his chin from his open mouth. She was thinking of slapping him awake to rid the snoring, but she figured the noise was better than deafening silence accompanying her racing thoughts.
She rubbed at her skin on her arm, wishing she could peel away her layers to give them to Neji. She can't remember her teammate ever looking this defeated, even when he was bested by Naruto in the Chunin exams. His skin looked almost grey, covered in blue and purple bruises. His slightly sunken in face proved his malnutrition. His hitai-ate was missing, exposing his caged bird seal on his forehead, something he rarely showed others.
He began to stir, grunting with every move. Tenten shot up off her chair, and found herself leaning over his bed, hands pressed together by her chest. "Neji?" she whispered quietly as to not wake Lee.
Another grunt, a little higher pitched escaped his mouth. His nose scrunched, and brow furrowed. He clenched his teeth and sucked in air as his discomfort had risen.
"I'm here, Neji." she pushed out with the little hope she had. She tousled his hair out of his face, caressing his curse mark in the process.
His lips parted, as his heavy eyes fluttered open. "Hn?" he was able to choke out. His throat was dry and he was desperately trying to summon saliva to coat his vocal cords. He leaned his face to the side of his pillow, resting his cheek in her open palm. He felt the softness of her hands, and her cool touch soothed his aches. Her other hand delicately rested on the base of his neck, trying to urge him to wake. His eyes squeezed closed a few more times with the intensity of his pain.
"Can I get you anything?" trying to convince him to converse.
He gently nodded his head. "W-water."
Her eyes wrinkled, and an apologetic look spread across her face. "The nurses said your body isn't ready quite yet. They gave me these for you to suck on." The simple device looked like a lollipop, but with a pink sponged end, where the candy would have been. She dipped the sponge end of the stick into a cup of ice water. And held it to his mouth. "Open."
Neji opened his mouth as much as his battered jaw would allow. She moved the sponge around attempting to moisten it fully. It was a strange motion, intimate, almost like brushing his teeth for him. She kept looking up into his eyes, to sense any pain. The wet sponge seemed to help a little, though she could tell he needed more than she was allowed to give.
"Do you need Morphine?" she asked while placing the sponge back on the tray table. "They told me which button it was incase I sensed that you needed it." He didn't answer her back, he just looked down at his hands that rested easily in his lap. "How-" She began, understanding that the rest of the question was the furthest thing from appropriate. She stalled. How are you? Come on Tenten, get a clue. She inwardly yelled at herself.
"Tired." He choked, knowing too well what she wanted to ask. Somehow he was able to thrust enough air out of his lungs to answer her question, but not without a few coughs, and God, coughing hurt so bad.
"Lee has been so worried." She tried to carry on the conversation, realizing then how much she missed the sound of his voice.
"Hmm." he moaned softly. It was easy for him to tell that she was only speaking through Lee.
To be honest, she never could get much out Neji in their average conversation anyways. This time she just wanted something to tell her that everything, in time, would be back to normal; from sparring in their favorite training ground, to making fun of their ridiculous teammates.
"Time?" he was able to inquire.
"Um, just before 3:45 am Tuesday morning. You have been out for a few days now."
He nodded once, keeping his eyes on his hands, allowing what little hair he had to cover the majority of his face. Patches were missing, from what seemed to have come from excessive force. The majority of his hair was sliced off. From what she could see, his hair in the back was sticking up, even though the front close to normal.
She sat once again by his side and took his hand in hers, lifting it up to her lips. She held his hand still. There were no words she could think of to console him. Nothing could be said to ease the pain he has gone through. Her anger boiled under her skin. Sensing something was off, Neji gripped her hand as tight as his bruised fingertips would allow, pulling her back to reality.
The next morning Tsunade had stopped by to check all the normal stuff that medics have been doing for the past few days; like, vitals, dressings, and morale. Though his injuries were severe, he seemed to be healing at a normal rate. Tenten couldn't help but stare as the Hokage searched him over. It wouldn't be the first time she'd seen him without a shirt or a hitai-ate. As his teammate, she had seen a lot of skin as a matter of fact. Same unfortunately went for Lee, and her likewise. Although the thing that had bothered her the most was his demeanor. Allowing anyone to poke and prod him seemed unusual and bizarre.
Maybe the thought came from the fact that Neji was rarely hurt enough on missions that she has never recollected him being in this position; so physically and mentally beaten. Not even when they had been sparring in "training ground 2" and she had accidentally drawn a chakra sabre into his upper thigh did he accept medical attention. He had removed it himself, only to get it treated from a Hyuuga clan medic later on in the evening. So stubborn, she thought, and so strange to see his full cooperation.
When Tsunade had left, she had hooked him up to a different type of IV, and had given him the OK to drink fluids as well as meat broth once again. Allowing him a bath later on in the evening as well.
The day went by a little slower than most had previously. She figured it may have been in part of all the uncomfortable visitations he had through the day. He was able to acknowledge a person with a nod or a soft grunt, but that was as much as his visitors could get out of him.
Tenten took a few walks here and there, especially when Hinata and Hanabi visited with their father, Hiashi. She noticed a few thorny gazes from a room filled with byakugans. She took the visual hint and vowed to him that she'd be back in an hour or so. Long enough to stretch her legs and grab a bite to eat. She stopped by the cafeteria to pick up a sandwich for herself and some chicken broth for Neji, although she knew he probably wouldn't touch it, she figured it was a nice gesture.
"Tenten!" A rosette medic called across the cafeteria with an enthusiastic wave.
Tenten waved back with a forced smile, and headed towards her direction. She was so relieved to see an understanding face that she could have cried. If there was anyone that knew about this type of recovery process the best, it would be Sakura. They mutually found a table together to sit and talk.
"I was heading out for my break, and stopped by his room just now and saw his family there. It looked pretty uncomfortable, and I figured you'd be far away from that place."
"I mean the girls are no harm-" Tenten pushed.
"-But it's clear that he doesn't want you around Neji." Sakura leaned in. She had basically finished her sentence.
"There is absolutely nothing intimidating about me! I don't understand his thought process. He's definitely not scared of me, and there is nothing that I have ever done to him, why is he so against our friendship?"
"I mean-" Sakura stammered. Not knowing how to execute the rebuttal. "You guys are together a lot."
"We are on the same team, Sakura. Of course we are gonna be close." Tenten nicely bit back.
"So is Lee." she tried again.
"Well, Lee is a different story." She excused.
"So, you're saying Neji and Lee are different?" Sakura questioned with a knowing smirk.
Tenten was stumbling over her words looking for a defense. "W-well, of course he is, you must sense that. My friendship is less forced with Neji, and he talks less about Gai's 'inspirational quotes' and form than Lee does." Tenten hated the way the rosette looked at her, with a raised eyebrow almost calling out her bluff.
"Have you told him he's 'different'? Does Hiashi know you think he's 'different?'"
Tenten slumped over the table, resting her forehead on the surface, letting out a deep lamenting sigh. Sakura giggled, recounting her own girlhood issues with love. Although unlike Tenten, she had no issues expressing her feelings to the guy.
"Take my advice, and rip off the bandaid. Tell him you like him already and get it out of the way."
"Sakura, that is not the issue at hand at the moment." She shook off her comment.
"When will be the right moment? Who's to say that this isn't the right time? You can do it."
Tenten pushed her chair away from the table, making a small commotion. "I'm not even sure we are on the same page anymore." Standing up she pushed in her chair and grabbed her lunch tray.
"I think you know my answer." Sakura did the same, though she was smiling. "Let me know how it goes, 'kay?" and off she went with a satisfied grin as she made her way back to her office.
Was she really that transparent? Does Neji show the same cellophaned feelings? And who else knows? Too quickly her stomach began to turn thinking of the action of tell Neji how she feels. Even more so, telling him without a clue of what his response would be.