Author's Notes: Alright. So this story has taken me a full week. This is by far, the longest it had taken me to write anything. There was just too many ideas for this inside of my head at once, but I'm pretty content with what came out of it. I just registered for sophmore year of highschool this morning, and thought that I would finish this while I was up when I got home. This is only my 3rd story, so be sure to review and let me know how I did. I've read what could be considered as an unhealthy amount of Nejiten (my favorite couple), but never written it before. The characters get a little OOC as the story progresses, but I feel that at having been a team since they were 12 (they are 17 in this story) they would be more comfortable around each other, and be a little different. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sad, but true.
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The sky was dark. It was as if someone had spilt ink over the night sky. The moon was dull, the clouds from the previously sunny day making their appearance, intercepting the light of the moon. The trees around them were turning bare, the signs of Fall already painfully apparent. The wind was howling through the trees, and stinging the wounds she had already accumulated throughout the night. Everything looked dark, she could barely account for Lee and Neji fighting maybe 10 yards away, the only reason she could see them was their choice in clothing. Striking green and stunning white were hard to miss in this particular lack of lighting. Unfortunately, that also meant their enemies were able to see them just as well. Which is why Tenten was set on killing as many as possible before they could attack her boys. Her own clothes consisting of a navy blue long sleave shirt with black pants kept her much more well hidden.
But when enemies started to rapidly fall, their comrades got the hint, and after that keeping herself hidden was made drastically more difficult. Which explained her current situation. Parry. Strike. Duck. Parry.
She was currently tradeing blows with one of the last enemies. Despite common belief, Tenten was very capable at close range fighting (You had to be when training with Taijutsu specialists and Neji Hyuuga). Strike. Duck. Jumping up from the ground, she barely blocked the kunai comming for her head. Her hand jolted, almost completely on instict, and the kunai held within her tight grip came into contact with her attacker's kunai, forming a 't' that was not 3 inches from her face. The clouds shifted, moving past their previous spot infront of the moon, giving the scene laid before her a few more shades of light. She could she her attacker's crooked, yellow toothed smile, his face illuminated by the moon, the clouds passing casting shadows on his face.
There was the glint of steel caught in the light as she pushed his kunai back forcefully, making him land firmly back in his fighting stance. She took hers as well, and they began trading blows again, knowing that only one of them could walk away from this. Parry. Strike. She couldn't take much more of this. Her back and stomach ached. She had been forced to fight close range, and while she was more than capable, fighting in these conditions would be like fighting with a blindfold on (not that Gai hadn't tried training like that before). Because of this, any blows landed on her had even more of an impact on her body. Most of these men used their hands, and she had taken countless hits on her back, chest and stomach, resulting in some nasty bruises she could already feel starting to form.
She needed to finish this off quick. Neji and Lee weren't in any better shape than her, maybe even worse. Duck. Parry. She chanced a look back at Neji and Lee. Stri-
She felt a searing pain in her abdomen, and fell to the ground, unable to handle the pain while standing. She had given her enemy an opening and he had taken it, no one was to blame but herself. Gritting her teeth together to keep from screaming, she looked at his arrogant smirk of truimph, and swiped it clean off when her kunai found the main artery in his thigh. Slashing it, his knees buckled, his deadweight pushing her flat on her back and the kunai up to the hilt in her stomach. A desperate cry of pain that not even she was able to stop, filled the air.
Not 30 seconds later, the sound of bodies hitting the floor and hurried footsteps reached her ears. Turning her head she saw Neji and Lee rushing towards her, fresh bodies littering the ground. The man on top of her was dead, but still bleeding out ontop of her. Neji lifted him up and threw him to the side with the others. They had been assigned to take down a few rouge ninja. A few dozen rouge ninja. The ninja were posing a threat to a shinobi-less town in the Village Hidden in the Stone. Their A-rank mission was to take them out stealthily. No one counted on Lee's over excitement to cause him to jump into battle before Tenten and Neji were in position. While his intentions were good, but by no means stealthy, he did catch a few by surprise. Until the rest caught on.
Lee took a look at her and frowned. She gave him a reassuring smile-as much as she could while fighting the intense pain-and got up letting him lean on her while Neji returned.
"Neji, there is no way, in our condition, that we can return to Konaha tonight. We need to find some shelter and take care of our wounds." And it was true. By the time they had finished off the last of them, they all had some heafty damage. They all had dirt, dust, and blood splattered on their clothing, and in this light, it was impossible to asses the damage, or tell whose blood was whose.
Neji nodded. "I know Tenten." He activated his Byakugan silently and Tenten and Lee waited patiently. "There is a small cave 40 yards from here. I think we can make it and seek refuge there." They nodded and started slowly, but steadily making their way to their temporary home.
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By the time they made it to the cave, the moon was high in the sky. They built a fire, assed the damage, and tried to make do with the limited supplies. Neji had a large gash on his side and a deep cut on his thigh. Tenten had bruises and cuts covering her back and chest, accompanied by the kunai in her stomach. Lee had taken the worst of it. He was sporting a broken leg, a stab wound on his shoulder, and a possible concussion. The mission scroll had underestimated the the number by at least a dozen ninja and they didn't have nearly enough medical supplies to support all three of them. However, Tenten had been taken basic healing classes at the hospital since she became a genin-5 years ago. She had wanted to be able to fix, as well as cause, wounds. Currently, all of them were trying to divide the supplies, to meet everyones needs.
"3 jars of disinfectant, 4 cleaning clothes, 2 jars of healing ointment, and 2 rolls of bandages." rattled Neji, listing their supplies and their amounts.
"But-but! That is not nearly enough!" exclaimed a concerned Lee.
And he was right. It wasn't. But maybe-maybe she could help. She would do anything for those boys, and she would find a way to make this work.
"Relax, Lee." The calm voice of Tenten almost startled the boys. She had been quiet, and contemplating, leaning against the wall of the dark cave, holding a hand on the hilt of the kunai, still embedded deep within her stomach. They all knew that it was dangerous to still have it in, but also knew that it would have been even more dangerous to take it out on the battle field, where they had no access to their medical supplies."We just have to divide up the supplies to whoever needs it most."
"What, exactly, are you suggesting? Even unevenly, the chance that we will have a suitable amount of supplies is slim to none." the always practical Neji quipped. His voice lost it's usual harshness, due to the panting from the exertion his wounds had given him...and the fact that it was Tenten he was talking to. His voice always lost its edge when adressing her. Maybe not soft, but it lost the offending edge it had on most people.
She took no offence to the comment, knowing Neji was tired and frustrated -they all were- and it was only in his nature to be practical, he just wanted all of them to survive this. Instead she casually leaned her head back and closed her eyes calmly. She was thinking. They could both easily tell. She looked like she was having an internal battle with herself, and while they knew they were right, they didn't know what it was about. But they could see it, the moment the decision was made.
"You two just lay down. I've got everything worked out." Neji got a sinking feeling in his gut. He didn't like that tone of voice at all. It sounded like she was going to play hero again. She was always playing the hero. Never looking out for herself. No. He definately didn't like that tone of voice. He looked over at Lee, only to see the same look in his eyes.
"But Tenten-chan!"
"Just trust me Lee." Her gentle voice was enough to quiet him. It had always been enough to quiet Lee. And if Neji wasn't so worried about what that gentle voice meant, he might take the time to be amazed.
But they did as they were told and layed back, because it was Tenten and they trusted her. They were almost side by side, but not quite.
"Good. Now, I'll be back." If Neji wasn't worried before, he was definately worried now.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" It came out snarled and harsh-it was his way of being worried.
"Tenten-chan! It is dangerous! At least let one of us accompany you!" Lee's voice was the opposite. It was gentle and oozed concern.
Neither had an effect on the determained kunoichi. Her eyes became hard.
"You guys are over-reacting. I'll be fine!" Oh, like he's never heard that before. His eyes conveyed his annoyance and he eyed the kunai inside of her skeptically-as if to prove a point. She released a long breathe that seemed to make her shoulders slump. She continued in a much softer voice. "Okay, okay. Listen. You guys need to rest. You lost more blood than me-at least until i pull this thing out. So if we need something, I will be the one to get it. I love you guys and frankly you are in no condition to stop me. I will be fine and I'll be back in 30 minutes."
They nodded reluctenly. They didn't want her to go, but as they both knew, when it concerned their well-being, Tenten would do whatever she had to do and no one could stop her. Kunai in stomach or not.
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She exited the cave, took a deep breathe and closed her eyes. She held her breathe, just listening to the silence around her, her eyebrows furrowed and a deep look of concentration entered her features. The sound of rushing water reached her ears, and she opened her eyes, a satisfied look on her face.
The river was 20 yards away, and it was cold. She frowned when she reached the bank. It was too far away from the cave to move Neji and Lee but they needed clean wounds before anything, but in their condition it was impossible to bring them to the water. While comming up with possible solutions, she surveyed her surroundings. There were large rocks laying atop of pebbles, making up the river bank. Her eyes fell upon the crystal clear water and onto her reflection. She wasn't looking at it, but through it. It was then that she saw the large rocks in the reflection. Her eyes immediately lit up and a slow smile made its way onto her face.
She would just have to bring the water to them. She reached into her back pocket and retreived an explosive tag. Taking the tag and releasing a good amount of explosive powder, she placed the now almost empty tag into one of the slight cracks of the rock. She lit it and a barely audible explosion reached her ears. Because of the lack of power from the tag, the rock did not explode but merely severely cracked. She pried away the biggest piece and smiled. She then took the piece and turned it upside down grinding down the jagged edges making it smooth, and causing the rubble filling it to clump uselessly on the ground.
Holding it up, proud of her work, she put it to the test, dumping it in the river and a large grin found its way onto her facial features-it held water.
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When they felt Tenten's chakra enter the cave their eyes were automatically drawn to her, almost like magnets. They saw the stone that she was carrying and their confustion was apparent until she set it down in between them. It was-It was a bowl. How the hell had she managed that? Not only that, but it was filled with water. A proud smirk was on Neji's face, opposite to the gentle yet proud smile on Lee's-sometimes they underestimated her. She just smiled that smug smile of hers before sitting down next to the bowl, yet still between them, before becomming completely serious.
She took the rock and held it close to the fire for a good 5 minutes, making it hot, but not unbearably so, or boiling. She then set it down again, kneeling next to it, and steeling her features for the next part.
"Okay. First thing is first. Clean the wound." She sounded like she was reciting something-something she must have memorized for long amounts of time until it was well rehearsed, both forwards and backwards. Then her words sunk in, and Neji found himself slightly concerned and annoyed. Of course she would be trying to take care of them with a kunai still embedded inside of her.
"Tenten." Her head snapped in his direction, as it always did when he spoke."This is ridiculous. I am perfectly capable of doing this myself, and you are still wounded."
He made a move to sit up, only to grunt with the effort and recieve a look of i-told-you-so from Tenten, though she made no noise. She then gently helped him back down and gave him a pleading look.
"Please Neji. Please. Let me do this. I need to do this." Her soft and agonized voice reached his ears and he knew he was a gonner.
He closed his eyes and gave a defeated sigh with a slight nod of his head.
She took the first cloth, dipping it in the hot water and, as gently as possible, cleaned up the blood on Lee's broken leg. She then took the second and cleaned off his shoulder, continueing to use the last 2 clothes to tend to Neji's thigh and side. Both boys had their eyes closed. As gentle as Tenten was being, the hot water stung, but they knew it was killing bacteria and such, so kept their eyes closed and mouths shut.
"This is going to sting a bit." Her voice was formal with a slight hint of remorse. She uncapped 2 jars of disinfectant and waited for their consent. Her face was determained and she seemed to be in professional mode.
Lee nodded and Neji did his best to prepare himself. The sensation was a strange one. While it did sting, it was more like a cold burn traveling throughout his wounded leaving them cold to the slight wind, both relieving and painful. Before long, they felt the boiling feeling of the heated healing ointment, and the opposite feelings mixed, creating just a burning sting.
Meanwhile, Tenten was doing a mental inventory. She had used all the cleaning clothes, all the healing ointment, and 2 jars of disinfectant. That meant that now, all she had was 1 jar of disinfectant and 2 rolls of bandages. Not to mention, that the water she had used to help clean the wounds was now bloody. She still needed to bandage them, which is the hardest part of healing, for both the medic and the patient. She had low chakra and was trying to figure out what she should heal and what she should bandage. She only had enough chakra to heal maybe one wound before becomming exhausted. Her strategic mind was comming up with all possible solutions.
"Lee? I'm really sorry, but we need to set your leg."
He could hear the regret in her voice, for having to hurt him, so he gave her a small smile and nodded.
"This is going to hurt, but it will help you stay awake, and after that hit to the head, we can't let you fall asleep. You might have a concussion. Are you ready?" Her gentle voice bounced of the walls of the cave and her ruefull voice was all that was heard.
He once again nodded. A sickening snap echoed throughout the cave and Lee's face was contorted in pain while he was desperately trying not to scream. Tenten's face held visible regret and remorse, even if she knew it was for the best.
"I'll be right back. Just let that leg set and don't move it." Her voice was soft, as if by talkins louder she might cause him more pain. Neji nodded for Lee since he was in too much pain and Tenten took the bloody water and left the cave.
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Twenty minutes later she returned with fresh water in the stone again, but this time assorted herbs were gathered in her pants pocket and in her free hand, while balancing the water with the other against her hip. She set the water down in it's previous position, put the plants next to it, and then kneeled down, pleased to see that neither had moved.
She looked at the 2 rolls of bandages and tried to decide how she could divide them to make them fit everyone's needs. Neji and Lee reguarded her with caution once the determanation was once again set into place. It took half of a roll to bandage Neji's thigh, and the other half of that roll was used to bandage Lee's shoulder. The whole other roll was used to bandage Neji's side, considering that out of all three wounds it was bleeding the most. The only wounds left unattended were Lee's leg and the kunai still up to the hilt in her abdomen. It was pure agony to move at all and she was sure it would leave a nasty scar if it wasn't tended to soon, but right now her boys needed her.
The boys watched as Tenten used the hilt of a kunai she had pulled out of her back pocket to smash the plants, making a paste, before pouring roughly one third of the water from the bowl over it and mixing it, making it more smooth, rather than have the texture of paste. Color rose to Tenten's cheeks as she realized what she had to do to tend to Lee's leg. Lee gave her a questioning gaze, while Neji stared at her, squinting, his eyes filled with suspision. Without saying anything -for fear of further embaressing herself- she began cutting her clothes. Lee and Neji's eyes widened considerably before politely looking away. When the sound of tearing cloth ceased, they both looked back over at her, their confusion evident. They both had color rising to their cheeks as they took in her appearance. Her -once long black pants- were now black shorts that reached mid-thigh. Her long sleaved thin blue shirt was now cut all the way around her, the bottom completely gone, revealing her stomach, but still covering her arms and chest all the way down to the bottom of her ribs.
It was then that they realized Tenten was still hurt. With her stomach revealed they could clearly see the wound. The kunai was buried all the way up to the hilt, an angry purple and black bruise making itself known surrounding the entry, while irritated burning red and yellow skin surrounded that.
"Tenten!" For the second time that night her head snapped in his direction. "What are you doing? You are injured!"
"Neji I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Nothing serious." She turned her head, and gave him that fake smile that he always saw right through. He was about to retort, but Lee beat him to it.
"Tenten-chan! You are most certainly not fine! Your stomach is black and blue and the kunai is still-" He was cut short by her forced nonchalance.
"I'll be fine once I know that you guys are okay. Besides there are just a few scratches. It doesn't even hurt."
She was lieing and they all knew it. Just looking at her stomach made them hurt all over. There was barely an inch of skin anywhere that wasn't cut or bruised. The skin would be tender and sore for weeks. Lee felt guilt for not being there to protect her from that wound, it looked like agony to endure, yet Tenten was doing it with a smile. Contrary to Lee's guilt was Neji's anger.
'Those bastards are lucky they're already dead.' Just looking at it made Neji want to hurt someone. No one hurt Tenten like that. It just wasn't right. Of course leave it to her to worry about them while she was looking like THAT.
"Look can you stop staring!" She moved her arms to cross infront of her stomach. They realized that they had been staring, lost in thought, but also remembered how self-counsious Tenten was. She was always self-councious, though she had absolutely no reason to be. She was beautiful. They muttered their apologies without bringing up that particular arguement and respectfully directed their gazes elsewhere.
She then began to rip the neglected peices of her clothing that she had cut off into long strips, before dipping them into the smooth greenish liquid. She then placed them around Lee's broken leg, streching from below his knee to covering his foot. She then started cleaning up the supplies, before attempting to finally tend to her own wounds.
"Just keep still and let that dry, you should at least be able to put a little pressure on it."
They turned their heads to look at her. Currently she had both hands on the handle of the kunai inside of her, while leaning against the wall. She took a deep breathe and yanked letting a small painful cry escape her mouth. Neji and Lee both winced and if they could move they would have both been over there assisting her in a heartbeat. The bloody kunai fell to the floor and she soon followed, for the pain caused her to slide down the wall, next to the two-thirds full rock of water that she had placed there. For a moment, she just lay there panting, but after awhile found the strength to dip both of her hands in water, covering them with an unnatural glow. The remaining third of the water sat next to her while she used her remaining chakra to try to stop the major bleeding.
Neji and Lee's gazes were wide and amazed. They knew she had taken basic healling -she had put it to use before- but they also knew how little chakra and energy she had to be trying to heal herself. The glow was mesmorizing and when it finally stopped they looked up at her face, taking in the painfully obvious exhaustion. She blinked a few times, just breathing before used the remaining jar of disinfectant on her stomach.
Just seeing the angry burning flesh made Neji and Lee wince. They looked down on their own wounds to see them neatly bandaged and felt them to be, while still painful, not nearly as bad as it could be, or as bad as Tenten's. They turned back to her as they heard her yawn.
"Lee can you take the night watch? I'm beat and you can't fall asleep because of that concussion anyway...?"
"Of course youthful-Tenten-chan." Normally that phrase would have been accompnyied by a yelling voice, this voice was soft, afraid to break the badly beaten girl.
"Thank you" She smiled one of her only genuine smiles. The soft ones. "Goodnight Neji, Goodnight Lee." They said their goodnights and within 10 minutes Tenten's breathing evened out, indicating she was sound asleep.
"Why does she do it, Neji?" Lee's soft voice questioned. They were still laying down, side by side, encouraged by Tenten not to move. Though they were laying on the ground their eyes seemed to always be watching the petite form of their female teammate, whose injuries seemed to make her appearance even smaller. Their eyes never left her sleeping form, by the fire, having the irrational fear that if they did her breathing might stop, or she might disappear."Why?" They both knew what he was talking about. No questions needed to be asked.
"Because she's Tenten." Was Neji's simple answer. And he was right. If she was the type to always worry about how something would affect her or take her well being into consideration, she wouldn't be Tenten. He would start to worry if she didn't worry about them first. That would mean that something wasn't right. He had gotten so used to her just being there, and just being Tenten, gentle, strong, selfless Tenen, that he wasn't sure what he would do if that was taken away from him. It scared him slightly. To think that he has come to rely on another person for the first time since his father's death, but it was also comforting to know that no matter what, he would always have her there. She would always be a constant in his life. His rock. His Tenten. Which is why he was so terrified tonight. Just the idea of someone other than himself or Lee touching her at all made his skin crawl. But THAT -he looked over at the angry irritated skin surrounding a purple and black bruise with a hole at the center crusting over with dried blood- was sickening, infuriating, it made him physically sick and emotionally livid. It reminded him that as much as she pretended, and as much as everyone -includeing himself- believed that she was invincible, she was human. It seemed like a silly thing to forget, but all too easy once you've been around Tenten long enough. He was going to show her later just how human she was. It was long over-due.
"Mmm." was the responce he got. "We need to protect her Neji. She is....well...she is...Tenten. She is special." And though the words were bland Neji knew exactly what Lee meant.
"Hn." Silence followed then...
Bonk.
"Owww! Neji! What was that for?"
"Oops. I thought you fell asleep." was Neji's dry remark.
"Bu-My eyes were open!"
He shrugged with a sarcastic - "My bad." And maybe Lee would have accepted that... if Neji was able to say that without the smirk.
"That was very unyouthful! Gai-sensei-"
Neji rolled his eyes-and the speach stopped. Neji's eyes widened and briefly wished Lee stopped his ridiculous speeches everytime he rolled his eyes. He glanced over at his side at Lee, to see his eyes wide and a horrified expression on his face.
Sigh. "What is it, Lee?" a bored voice echoed throughout the cave.
Lee could do nothing but stare and limply lift his hand to point in Tenten's direction. Neji's eyes were immediately drawn to her form and with startling clarity he realized what had caused Lee to abrubtly stop his speech on how disapointed Gai would be. Tenten's back.
Sometime during their conversation she must have turned to face the wall, leaving her back exposed for them to see. And they didn't like what they saw. A few long vertical cuts ran from the small of her back continueing up and hiding beneath her shirt, it looked like something a whip would make. Acompanying them were imprints comming in fours -knuckle marks, Neji concluded- beyond that was an old wound of burnt skin on one of her sides, and various cuts and bruises. How was she able to move? Why hadn't she collapsed? It occured to both Neji and Lee that she must have been riding on pure determanation alone. It was sick. It was sick how much pain she could endure. Just what the hell had made her like that? What happend? They knew almost nothing of her past, other than her being an orphan. There were so many questions they had, but that barely registered over the sympathy -a rare emotion for Neji- and the anger. The pure anger running through his veins made his blood boil, he felt hot and had he not been injured he would have left and gone back -just to be sure- that every single one of them was dead.
There was no way in hell she would even be able to move tomorrow.
"Neji, Tenten...she...why would?..." Lee couldn't comprehend that someone would do this to their Tenten. Unless on a mission, she would never hurt anyone. She was always calm and never bothered anyone. She certainly didn't deserve this. She always took care of other people, especially him and Neji. She was like a sister to him and he was supposed to protect her.
"I don't know Lee, but tomorrow it's our turn to take care of her...weather she likes it or not." Neji gritted out from behind his clenched teeth.
Lee only nodded. "Of course. Get some rest Neji. I have the watch, don't worry."
Neji gave a slight nod and closed his eyes, wishing that the pictures of Tenten's wounds would stop flashing from behind his closed lids.
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With the sun rising just behind the trees, stray beams of morning light shone in the cave illuminating it and giving everything inside and out a soft glow. Lee watched the rise just a little more before going to wake his teammates, they should be able to make it home today if they start soon.
"Tenten-chan? Its time to wake up Tenten-chan." Lee's gentle voice met her ears and she gave a soft smile before opening her eyes, still foggy from sleep. He almost regreted waking her. She wouldn't have to feel pain when she was asleep and she looked so peaceful for once. Almost. Tenten was the only one allowed to wake Neji up without getting thrown into a wall with a chakra blast. It was an unspoken rule. And while Tenten needed her rest, he wasn't willing to risk his life. Because who would protect her then? His rival? Psh.
"Mmmkay Lee." She turned over with a tremendous amount of effort and help from Lee. Her stomach was trobbing even when she was still, but when she moved it decided to punish her with stabbing jolts of pain. "Neji? Neji, come on, wake up." She reached out and touched his shoulder gently, so as to not startle him.
His eyes slowly opened at the same time his hand met Tenten's on his shoulder. The ghost of a smile appeared on his face when he looked at her and she smiled back. Lee smiled at the scene infront of him. He knew they loved each other. Of course they did. They just didn't know how the other felt. It was painful to watch, really. They were now 17 and Lee thought that this incident gave Neji the final push he needed to finally tell Tenten.
"Alright lets get going. If we start now we could make it back home around-" Neji's strong voice was interuppted by Tenten's.
"Wait! My chakra is replenished, just let me heal you and Lee before we set off."
"Or you could use that chakra to heal yourself." quipped Neji's voice not two seconds later.
"Lee's not gonna be able to go anywhere if he can't put pressure on that leg, and with that cut on your thigh neither will you." Tenten's voice was smug and although she was right, he still didn't like the idea.
"And what about you?"
"The last time I checked, my legs work just fine. And knowing you and Lee, you guys are going to try to carry me home anyway." Her bored and bland statment was accented with the roll of her eyes as she mentioned her over-protective teammates -not that she didn't like it, just not in these situations.
Neji smirked, she knew him too well, because that is exactly what he was going to propose. Even though she didn't like to be the damsel in distress, she would have to deal with it this time.
"So how about this, we let you heal our legs and we take turns carrying you. Deal?" Neji was pursuasive and Tenten imagined this is what he was like when he went with his uncle to business meetings about their clan.
But she could negotiate as well.
"You let me heal all of your wounds and you can take turns carrying me."
Neji smirked. She was fairly good at this. She was just full of surprises wasn't she?
"We let you heal all of our wounds and I carry you home. Take it or leave it." Neji's smirk grew in size as he saw a blush spread across her cheeks, even as she tried to cover it up with an annoyed huff.
"Fine." She stuck out her hand and Neji shook it, before laying back down next to her, so she didn't have to move much. She took the remaining third of water that had sat over night and formed her water gloves starting with Neji's side and moving her way down to his thigh. The wound closed up under his bandages -it was a strange feeling- and the ache left. Neji got up and nonchalantley leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed, watching as she and Lee, smiled and joked as she mended his shoulder and the torn muscle and skin in his leg.
"Alright, that's everything. Lee you can put pressure on your leg, but not all that you normally would, the bone tissue has to heal naturally, and on its own, I would also go to the hospital once we get back just to be sure, but for now that cast I made you last night should allow you to at least walk while we travel." Her smile was bright and proud at having helped them, and having accomplished her task.
"Yosh! Arigato Tenten-chan!" He gave his trademark grin and thumbs up, while she wiped the sweat from her forehead, taking deep breathes.
Neji pushed himself off the wall. "Alright, lets go. Hop on Tenten." He said all of this with that arrogant cocky smirk, while crouching down in front of her. Piggy-backing wouldn't jar her wound as much as bridal style would.
Tenten hesitated, suddenly becomming painfully aware of her state of undress. Her shorts only reached mid-thigh and her shirt only covered her arms, bust, and ribs. Her face heated up. She wasn't used to showing this much skin, and it was beyond embaressing to be dressed this way in front of Neji and Lee. She hadn't ever quite gotten over her childhood crush on Neji, in fact, if anything, it had grown, nurtured by spending hours conversing (Yes, Neji can say more than 10 words a day. It surprised her too.) and training with him. What would he think of her, jumping on his back half-dressed? And in front of Lee. Her little brother figure. What was he thinking right now?
Neji pivited his head over his shoulder to look at her after he hadn't felt her get on. She was still kneeling on the floor, slightly bent over where Lee had been previously laying while she had healed him. He took special notice in the red tint to her cheeks as her eyes seemed to be fixed on a certain point somewhere on his back, while she was lost in thought. He took this time to subtly study her. Her clothes that she had torn to make Lee's cast were fraying at the edges, and she was definately showing off more skin than she usually did. Her long, tan legs were visible along with her flat, toned stomach, and Neji felt proud for having been a factor in her life that had produced that. She was modest and self-consious. Lee and he were well aware of this fact, and tryed their best to respect her for it, though she had no need to be as she was easily more beautiful than over-done Ino and tempermental Sakura. They were both pretty girls, even he had to admit, but they shone far too bright and tryed far too hard. Tenten's beauty was simple and subtle, something that you had to look for. She was beautiful in his eyes.
"I know I'm amazing, but it's not polite to stare."
His voice caused Tenten to snap out of her embaressment-induced coma and her eyes found his, as she found that his eyes were trained on her.
"Well, when your done being impolite, I think we're ready to leave."
Her response was just so sarcastic and witty, so Tenten that it caused Neji's smirk to grow.
"Yes, we are. We're waiting for you to stop fawning over me and get up."
Her blush increased ten-fold as her face heated up and she looked down, hopeing to cover it up before anyone saw it. Too late. Neji's chuckle indicated that he had indeed had already seen it, which only caused her to blush even more. Realizing that the best way out of this situation was to comply and do as he asked, she attemped to straighten herself. Her legs were folded under her, and she was leaning backward, so her back rested against the cave wall for support. She tryed to use her hands to push herself up but the strain it put on the still torn and sore muscles of her stomach was too much to bear. She let out a scream, and succeeded in pushing her legs out from under her, only to fall back down against the wall in a different position. Her back was now fully against the wall as she sat with her legs bent so her knees were infront of her face.
Lee, who had been watching the exchange of conversation between his two teammates previously, frowned as his eyes grew wide with worry. Neji had a look of concern and visibly flinched when she cryed out from the pain. Her breathing was uneven, harsh, and comming in fast pants as sweat started to accumulate on her forhead from her efforts. They looked at the wound to see it in the same condition as the night before. It started with a good sized scar where the hole had been, still crusted with dried blood before spiraling out to black and a deep purple before topping it off with angry irritated red tissue and yellow bruising. They both took steps forward, intent on helping her, when she shook her head from side to side, gathering the courage to try yet again. The pain was agonizing as she pushed her feet outward using the pressure to press her back against the wall, slowly climbing up, inch by inch. She held back a cry, and fell back down. It was heart breaking to watch, their strong and always reliable kunoichi, was falling apart right in front of them. This repeated itself 3 more times, before Neji and Lee finally stepped in.
Neji put his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from trying to get up again, although with the way she looked it didn't even seem like a possibiliy. One of his hands lifted from her shoulder to softly stroke her hair and he looked at her with gentle eyes, and a string of soft scoldings for putting herself through that, and for making him watch.
Lee looked onto the scene aknowledging, not for the first time, that Tenten was the only one Neji would be this gentle with. They really needed to come to their senses soon, and talk to each other. Tenten was too shy and unsure. Neji was too stubborn and wanted to do it when he was ready. They needed a push soon. He turned his train of thought back to the situation at hand, and stretched out Tenten's legs infront of her.
"Okay, Lee is going to pull you up and onto my back alright? Then we're going to try to make it home." explained Neji, as if talking to a frightened child. There was a gentleness and softness added to his voice that was only present when talking to Tenten.
"Ok-ay." Her voice came up as a hoarse whisper, interrupted by a dry sob, as she was trying to hold back her tears of pain.
Neji looked at her and his eyes became regretful, looking into those soft, dark, painfilled mahagony eyes. She never let the tears fall. Never. They only filled with the substance if she was extemely upset or in extreme pain, and even then, the tears never fell. Knowing that fact was a double edged sword in itself.
Neji backed away a bit, and crouched down in his previous position, hesitant for her to be out of his sight. Lee put his hands on her under-arms and, with one swift and painful pull, lifted her up as if she weighted nothing-which she did. Once she was up, he manuevered her in a piggyback position on Neji's back.
"Let's go. We'll travel as much as possible until dark. After that, we will set up camp and continue to make it back tomorrow. We will arive home tomorrow." All of this was said looking out onto the path they would soon take. His voice was steady and hard with a determination learned from the kunoichi on his back. It was a vast contrast to the gentle Tenten voice he was speaking with before.
Tenten just pressed her cheek into his back, exhausted and falling into a deep slumber. Lee nodded, comming to stand next to him, face made of identical determination to Neji's. Lee had no trouble translating the true meaning of his words.
"Let's go. We're going to take care of Tenten, like she always has for us. She will be home tomorrow."
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They had traveled a great deal making it two thirds of the way home before deciding to set up camp. They had been walking through the thick forest for hours, only stopping at a creek once in awhile to take a 5 minute break before setting off again. The jungle-like area was rittled with creeks and caves, which while good for survival, made traveling around them annoying and time-consuming. Tenten had been sleeping since they had set off, and the few times she had woken up, she had been quiet and distant. It was understandable, for the previous night she had tossed and turned, jarring her wound, causing her pain which in turn woke her up. Lee was exhausted from the lack of sleep. He had kept watch all night, and after Tenten had looked in his pupils and other small tests and confirmed he did not have a concussion, he couldn't wait to fall asleep. Neji's legs were aching, and although Tenten didn't weigh much at all, carrying another body for miles was starting to wear him down.
They had found a stone structure, jutting out from the ground. It appeared to have been made by someone from the Village Hidden in the Stone(understandable, considering thats where they were), but had long since been abandoned. Neji found it safe enough to stay in for the night, although it was a little smaller than the circumfrance of his Kaiten, it would do. Upon entering Lee started making a fire while Neji lay down Tenten, his eyes never leaving her, even as he sat next to her, propped against the wall.
Tenten awoke about half an hour later. Lee had fallen asleep almost immeadiately after providing a fire, leaving Neji to take watch. She felt his eyes on her before she saw them. She carefully sat up with some trouble, leaning against the wall, and took in her surroundings. Lee was asleep, they were in a small earth structure, they had built a fire, and Neji was on watch.
"I'll take the watch from here, Neji. Get some sleep." Her voice was dull and only proved Neji's suspicion that something was bothering her.
He did nothing, only sat and stared at her. She turned her head so she wouldn't have to look at him and instead stared into the fire. When she had still not said a word, and seemed to be in her own world, after a half hour, he decided it was serious and he needed to take action.
"Tenten." It was said in a calm and neutral voice-to anyone who didn't know Neji. She knew what he wanted.
"Its nothing, Neji." Her voice was just as neutral but not quite calm. He knew she hated admitting troubles, thinking she was a burden.
"TenTen." It was said with more force, as his curiousity and concern grew. Her head pivoted to look at him, as her eyes snapped to his.
"Its just....I mean you..." Her eyes were then cast towards the ground. He sat patiently, waiting for her to continue. And then in her smallest voice, barely above a whisper came the answer he was looking for. "You...you must think I'm weak." She sounded like a lost child, and it caused his heart to shatter. That was what was bothering her?
"You know what I think of you." he replyed in an equally soft voice.
"No." she whispered. "No I don't." And she left it at that, turning her head back to face the fire.
She did not press him to inform her what he did think of her. She didn't try to continue the conversation to talk about his feelings. Even though he thought he had made both of these things perfectly clear. He searched her eyes for a hint of dishonesty -that she had known and just wanted him to say it- but he found none. The shame that was said with those words echoed inside of his mind. Did she truly not know? Now, he decided. Now is the time to take the final step. They were both 17 and they had both been dancing around each other for too long. It was time. Repurcussions be damned.
"Hn. You should know that I think you are perfect."
Her head snapped back in his direction so fast she almost had whip-lash. She knew Neji well enough to memorize and translate his cryptic way of talking. Almost everything he said had another meaning, the kind that you had to read between the lines to understand what he truly meant. And she had always been able to understand.
"I think I might be in love with you."
He could swear that it was her smile lighting up the room, not the fire. And he had a hard time tieing down his own goofy smile when she responded.
"I don't know what love is Neji. I don't know weather if it's the feeling I get when I'm around you, or the ache I get when I'm not around you." she carefully turned to face him as her hand found its way onto his cheek, and he leaned into the touch, nuzzleing her hand. "But this is the closest I have ever come. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. You're brave, loyal, handsome, powerful, intelligent, you're everything that I have ever wanted and more."
She could swear it was the light that roared to life in his eyes that was lighting up the room, not the fire. His hand covered her own still lying on his cheek, he brought it down, cradeling it in both of his.
"You are the most amazing, beautiful, kind, gentle, selfless woman I have ever met. You're perfect."
They were leaning towards each other slowly, with all the uncertainty that came with a blossoming relationship. Their eyes never left each other as they rested their foreheads against each other. Tenten looked the perfect picture of serenity, while Neji's eyes had a defined excitement ignited beneath. They were so close their noses brushed up against each other, their eyes locked.
"Fall in love with me?" came his breatheless whisper.
She could feel his breathe gohsting across her lips, and if it hadn't been for the resounding echo, she wouldn't have beleived it. She let out a short breathe of disbelief, franticaly searching his eyes for dishonesty, proof that this was all some sick joke, while tears of happiness threatened her own. Finding nothing but complete and utter sencerity, her gentle smile grew into a full blown smile of joy.
Neji watched as her features changed from disbelief, to utter joy and couldn't stop the gentle upturn of his lips even if he wanted to. To be honest, he didn't know what love was either, and she knew that, but he wanted nothing more than to find out with her. To find out that, that's what the feeling in his chest was, to find out that that's what the pull in his gut meant. He wanted nothing more than to fall in love with her.
"I'd love to." her whisper was soft and steady, even as she, herself was shaking.
They sealed their promise to eachother with a soft kiss, as Neji's lips decended upon her own. It was gentle and every bit of perfect, and although it went no farther than that one picture perfect kiss in the lost light of the fire, it was the start of a love that would one day be legendary for generations to come.
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Author's Notes: This is the longest story I've ever written. It's given me a new respect for multi-chapter authors who have stories that are like 100,000 words long. I truly respect and look up to them. Anyway, I'd like you all to notice the different style I went for in this story. I went into more detail with the situation and characters than I did in Broken. So if you've read it, I'd like you to review telling me which style you prefer. If you haven't, I would recommend that you do and review both stories xD I'd also like people to notice the comparisons I made in refrance to Neji and Lee. Tell me what you think about both of these things and the story in general. Thank you so much for reading and I look forward to any and all reviews I get! They really give me inspiration to continue writing! Thank you so much!
Fun Fact: For the entire last portion, all I could think about was having hash browns and a sausage Mcmuffin from Mcdonalds!