The Reflection I See In My Kunai
"I can't do this," I say to myself in the reflection my pale skin is casting upon the old and scratched bathroom mirror. It has been abused beyond repair, but I don't care, I am a ninja, not a beauty queen, and I need to realize that. I grasped the kunai that my right arm held, and I slipped it into a hidden pocket of my attire.
"Tenten, hurry," I could here the annoying teammate of mine calling behind my door that has been replaced utmost times. I love Lee, but he needs to shut up sometimes.
I walked slowly to the door and opened it to see him waiting impatiently, tapping his foot up and down. I swear that he is as straight as my hair when I let it down in my own private eye, for it curls around my shoulders and twists into odd angles even when brushed.
"You know that Gai will not like that we will be late. Nor that you are not dressing up," Lee sighed. She noted how he bared dark pants, with a dark shirt, like what he wore to the Hokage's death years previous, so he had always had a bad fashion sense, so he could join me also.
I shifted my weight to one foot, as I felt embarrassed what Hinata and Sakura had bought me to wear. Long, wavy pants that where a mango orange fell down to tickle my ankles, a see through skirt only going down to about my knee a slightly darker shade of orange, that tied together below my stomach with a satin, thick orange strip that looked like a belt, but felt like a corset. They threw on me a tank top orange short with a pattern of orange blossoms in thread and beads that stuck to my body like spandex. I hate Gai, and these shiny heels, for they will surely be the death of me.
"How can you not call this dressing up?" I interrogate him, taking a step closer to him, trying to resist shoving my kunai against his hilly nose.
"Because Gai asked for above semi-formal, not below," he moved, and I saw that under his pants and shirt he still wore that stupid green jumpsuit.
So he can wear his ninja uniform, and yet I can't. I thought deeply to myself.
I started walking wobbly down the hall to the stairs, and wished I could fly down them as I usually could with my sandals on, but of course not, but wearing shoes that cost a larger fortune than my sandals, of course not.
"Are you coming or what?" I asked Lee. He stands there like an idiot, just waiting outside my door, as if I hadn't left.
"I have to take you, but you aren't allowed to see where we are going, unless you want Gai to slice my head off," he told me, and stared at his feet.
Well it would shut him up.
"I know where we are going, to some party celebrating Gai's like 200th Class A missions."
"He just spoke that clearly to me, and I am to follow his rules," Lee said, handing me a blindfold. "Why don't you take your hair down?"
"I have my reasons," I silently mutter under my breath. Lee wouldn't hear of it, and came up behind and snatched one of the hairpins out of its' direct place. I just wanted to go to the stinking party, then leave, and maybe I should let my hair down, it would shock the crap out of Gai and Lee.
"Just go and take it down, and then put the blindfold on, or else we shall be late."
I stepped around him, and going to the first mirror that I see, which is the one all the way in the bathroom. I pull out the hairpins and gently coax the hair from their hold, letting it fall around my shoulders. It isn't straight like Sakura's, but not fizzing out everywhere like Kurenai's. It spread out slightly, giving off a tint of volume, but yet looking silky, but not fake silky. I brushed it through a few times, feeling the bristles run over it smoothly, not tearing out my hair like it did to many others.
I set the brush down, and saw that I looked like a fake, not me. I pulled my kunai out, and stared at myself, and it indeed showed my with a fake look, with my hair being down and actually having some of my skin shown.
I walked out the door and walk past Lee. I slid the black bandana on and held out my hands to where I knew Lee was standing. "I will follow you," I said, trying to find him.
"Lee is gone," I heard a voice behind me talking. It wasn't Lee, but Gai.
"Where is he?" I ask.
"He said he might need reinforcement, so I am taking you instead." I felt my feet being lifted up from the wooded hallway of the hall. I trust Gai, but I thought we would have taken a different means of going, maybe walking, that way I could at least practice walking in these darn heels.
It takes less than ten minutes, but I know that Gai can travel fast, so the time means nothing. I hear someone opening a door, and him setting me down. He walks in front of me so my skillful ninja hearing can hear him. I follow him, and I hear others rustling. I feel Gai's fingers pulling the bandana off, and I see everyone there, literally. I stumble back, and I hate seeing all those faces glaring into me.
"What the heck?" I nearly shout, looking at Gai.
"Its is your 20th birthday," he told me, and back away, for he knows that I will throw something at him.
Instead I storm out the door I just came through, and starting running, even though my heels are screaming in protest the entire way. Tears stream down my eyes, and collapse on the bank of the river. I burry my head into my knees as I pull them to my chest, my knew pants become thoroughly soaked with tears.
I told them last spring I never wanted my birthday to happen again.
March Ninth marks the horror of the rest of my life, I want to forget it, I need to forget it.
I heard footsteps behind her, and knew that by the worry that they held and the soft padding, that they belonged to Hinata.
"Tenten, you need to come to the party," she quietly whispered, sitting alongside me, her purple dress spraying out around her.
"I will never forget…" I begun.
"Oh Tenten shut up and listen to some sensibility," Hinata snapped at her. I felt like crawling under a rock. She had never really heard Hinata mad, but she knew that when she was, they were no stopping her.
"What do you want?"
"I wanna tell you some good news. The Hokage has actually found something, some hope," Hinata comforted me.
"He is gone."
"All the Hyuga clan where touched by his a…disappearance, even though he was a branch member, but a great Hyuga. We all missed him, and we all know that you suffered the worst, but yet my father had the best solution, just let it pass by and honor his memory in every silent prayer we say. Please Tenten, I need you to right now forget everything about Neji, just listen to me," Hinata said. She had said it, His name. she hadn't been able to say it for nearly a year, or be able to have the words be slashed through the air.
"I don't wanna hear about anything Hinata," I scolded her strictly.
"Dang it Tenten, you never listen to anyone but yourself," Hinata said. I got up and started walking away. "All you ever care about anymore is making sure you live in a world of where you are trying to forget him and when you do remember him, you become so depressed that you are likely to kill yourself. So many people out there are scared for you Tenten, so just listen for this, for all of us, Neji could still be alive, Lady Tsunade has some information, and we where going to tell you at your party. She wants to see you when you can go visit her." Hinata sputtered out, she herself looking as though she was going to start crying.
I ground my teeth together, and clenched my fists into my hands, already feeling the half moons that where being engraved into my palms. Why hadn't they told me sooner? I was going to rip out someone's throat soon.
"Why wasn't I told earlier," I stuttered out, afraid to let my voice betray me. I was angry, but a small part of me was happy, but near crying. I didn't want her to know that, for if that light grew, then it would just fall dim again once I was given false information.
"WE couldn't, she wanted you to be in a cheery mood when you came to her, no use of that now," she told herself, and me. She really needed to speak up, but I bet she always kept talking quietly because with Naruto, they probably never talked, just cuddled like two little cupids. Gross.
"I am leaving," I said, and before she could even say a word of protest, I took off powering all the preserve chakra I could to my feet. I felt the wind fly behind me, and realized that she hadn't been this eager to see someone since I sought out help for Neji. The wind whipped my hair around my neck, tickling it as it swept to tease another piece of flesh or just flow in the wind; glad to be free of buns I imprisoned them in everyday. The curls that had been lazily stored in them from the buns where being straightened, taking in the full of the wind and speed.
I quickly ran back into my apartment, the heels greatly protesting, and as soon as I shut the door, I started flinging clothes off in every direction. I heard the heels hit the wall, and while pulling the shirt over my head, I saw one of the heels lodged into the wall.
"Great," I muttered to myself, and grabbed from the top of the laundry basket that was tilted over, most of the clothes folded and then I just ended up getting bored, so I would do it eventually, or once Lee lost a bet and would have to come and clean.
My hair protested being placed back in the buns, but I just ignored it, and pressed the pins into my scalp and hair then took off out the door.
I raced towards the Hokage's office, still debating how to argue with the Hokage, and yet still not being thrown out of Konoha. I knew whatever I said would be chosen carefully, but still forceful.
The building towered over my head, casting my figure into shadow as I neared it. My head felt dizzy, scared and anxious for the information that will soon be bestowed into my head. I knew that Tsunade wouldn't call me here for foolishness, for she knew that the subject I was still touchy about.
I stopped running, and looked at the two guard ninja's that stood outside the building, waiting to throw their lives out to safe the lives of the Hokage.
"Tenten, Lady Hokage is expecting me," I sternly told them. Their faces showed no emotion, and I took a great guess that they where rescued from Root, where Sai had come from. Or they had just been the ninja that I was aiming to be one day, obedient to Konoha, never cry or show emotion over a dead teammate, and be willing to fight for the Hokage.
"We had been told that all remainders' of Team Gai where going to be sent," the man on the left spoke.
"There was a change of plans."
"And we where also informed you where not going to come till late," the other one told me.
"I have come by myself, for the purpose of the appointment was mostly intended for me. Team Gai is no longer a team, for all the remaining members' are nearing Jonin. The information that is to be outputted is about a past performance, while I was still part of Team Gai during the mission, they had not accompanied me on the specified mission. I request to speak to the Hokage alone, without the presence of my old teammate and sensei," I explained, knowing that they would have to confirm that with the Hokage.
"Mao!" One of them spoke sharply, and a girl that was walking into the building carrying a stack of forms for signatures probably, snapped her head up.
"Yes?" Her voice was clear, and sounded a little stressed, but I bet working for the Hokage did make you stressed, even though she looked younger than me.
"I need you to ask Lady Tsunade if she is willing to meet with Tenten."
"Yes, I shall be back," she reassured them, and took off behind the door.
"You can remain here to wait for Mao, or you can leave and we will send a messenger for you once the Hokage makes a decision," the one on the right politely told me. I saw the other ninja cast a sideways glance over towards his partner, and I scowled to myself. I vowed I wouldn't get into a relationship with anyone since I lost Neji, and near never hearing his near lost and last words.
"I shall wait, for it is vital that I see her as soon as she has the time," I told them, and went to sit on a bench, waiting impatiently for Mao to return. Soon enough, Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, came, holding onto a Mao that was clutching her head where a bump was rising and a small stream of blood was coming out between her fingers.
"The Lady Hokage wishes to speak to Tenten," she said sharply, and hurriedly. I walked up to the door, and held it open so they could walk back in. I felt the gaze of the guard's eyes on our backs, mostly the one that had been on my left.
"Is she okay?" I asked, looking at the girl who looked as though she was going to pass out, and I didn't want anything interfering with me talking to the Hokage soon.
"She is okay, the Hokage just through a book at her. She just woke up, and she has a hangover right now, but I sent up someone to move the alcohol through her liver and out of her system. It will only be a few minutes before she is ready, so you can sit outside her office…" her sentence was cut off as the guards where heard wrestling down a body.
"But I JUST saw her go in there!" I heard Lee's voice.
"Let him in," Shizune said.
Lee walked in, getting out of the tangle of the two men's arms, and walked to me. He had changed back into his green spandex, and combed his hair back in its' usual position.
"Lee, leave," I told him, looking him in the eyes. But his yes weren't on me, they where on Mao, who had turned an unattractive shade of green. She turned to the nearest garbage can, and threw up. I think now I am gonna be sick.
"Are you okay?" he went up and asked her, pulling back her dark blue hair. She just continued throwing up. Lee looked up at me. "I am coming with you, once she is okay."
I looked at Shizune for help, and she seemed to understand me, or maybe Tsunade had plans to just see me.
"Lee, come with me and Mao and I can make sure her head is okay, she is just freaked out probably," she told him soothingly.
"No, I am going with my teammate…" Lee started.
"No, you are not. The Hokage had a strict order to just see Tenten."
"I am Neji's teammate!"
"You weren't with him when he died!" I yelled at him. I than ran up the stairs, before Lee had even taken in my scream.
The wind screamed in my ears as I ran faster to get to the top floor of the building, where the Hokage's office would be. The hallway was a dark green color, and a single door lay at the end of the hallway, with 'Tsunade' written in with gold lettering. There was a brown wooden chair that was polished but harassed looking outside the door against the wall. I went and took a seat in it, and waited for the invitation to enter.
A small nurse poked her head out the door, and she had an unusual smile on her face. I scoffed to myself, for medical ninjas always placed fake smiles on their faces to make everything seem better. There where only two people that where experienced with medical jutsu that didn't try to sugarcoat the worse situations.
"Tenten?"
I merely shook my head, not bothering to speak because I didn't want my irritation to be betrayed in my voice.
"Lady Tsunade is ready to see you now." She opened the door wider and stepped in. The Hokage stood behind a sakura wood desk and sitting in her chair as nearly as annoyed as me.
"You can go Kana," the Hokage addressed the medical nin. She nodded shortly, and took her leave, shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door's lock clicked shut, the Hokage stood up.
"We have news, urgent news," she said, jumping straight into the situation at hand.
"Rock Lee said that you had information pertaining to Neji Hyuga, the chunin that went missing on March ninth of this previous year." I kept it formal, for it showed that I had a greater respect for the Hokage, even though I feel she is a drinking coward sometimes, but showed Konoha she cared when Team Hawk came near.
"Yes, Tenten, I do. It seems that the information you gave us and told us about what happened to Neji seemed fatal," the Hokage spelled out.
I remembered, very clearly.
I am tired, I need sleep, but I know that once my eyes close for a minute or peace, that the horrors of seeing his face will strike me again.
"Tenten, who attacked, exactly?" Gai asked me, standing next to Kakashi, Kurenai and her swollen belly, Anko, Lee, all the ANBU captains, and the rest of the Jonin that had a high rank. I felt all their eyes bearing into my skull, setting it afire that couldn't be put out. It was burning me alive, eating away at my eyes that stung with ash and smoke. My head was feeling that lead was injected into my temples, and was pulsing against my brain, slowly and agonizingly blinding my vision.
"Akatsuki," I spat out. I couldn't stand much longer; I could feel acid running like a liquid across my tongue, dangerously threatening to run down my throat, stinging where it left its' trail.
"Which members?" I couldn't place a voice to a face, my vision was getting dark, and his face was filling the blackness. But not clear like a spring day. It was foggy, a mist that was a mix of blood, sweat and salt water. His face as just out of my reach, and I knew that I was going to fall soon.
"Zetsu, sliced his chest. Toby, something heavy and sounded metallic hit our heads." My hand went up and touched the bandage that had been hurriedly placed over my temples.
"They came at us, and smoke filled the air, I think it was the work of Zetsu, for it was brownish, like dust. Toby raced behind Neji, realizing that he was stronger, and grabbed his arms. His knee struck his back, and there was a break. Zetsu grabbed me and my dragon came behind and pierced the ugly covering." Tears where cascading over my cheeks, and my voice was going to falter before anything, then I would fall.
"Was Neji still conscience?" I knew that was the Hokage, it was easy to tell.
"Yes, he was in agony, such pain that none of us could have ever felt. He told me to run, for Zetsu had released me. Toby grabbed his face, and twisted his neck, and it cracked again, not as loud, but just nearly as painful. I ran to him, but couldn't, vines where grabbing at my legs, pulling me down. I yelled, and so did he, but we couldn't get out. I let out my scroll again, before my hands where bound. It pierced Zetsu, and my legs where free. Half of my kunai's landed in Neji, for Toby put him between them and my weapons."
"How could you tell he was still alive?" Anko's voice rang in my head, trapped and not able to escape. It bounced off my eardrum and went back to the other one. It hurts, so much…
"Toby pulled out a katana, stabbed his lungs, and Neji yelled. He fell, and I flung out a shurken at Toby. He fell, for it hit his mask, it fell off, but before I could see it, I through a demon wind shurken, hit his nose, than took off with Zetsu. I couldn't go after them," I was going to cry more, and fall to the ground.
I slumped down to my knees, clutching my head. My vision was still clouded, with terrible colors and images. Everyone moved at once, crowding around me. The Hokage was in front of me, gripping my shoulders.
"Tenten, are you okay? Can you hear me?" her voice was jumpy, but so serious and professional at once.
"I couldn't lift him, he told me to find help, and get to safety," I blurted out, and then fell victim to the blackness that held its' arms wide open for me.
My head jerked free from the horrible memory. I still remember the smell of the hospital that I was stuck in for several months, and the way that the open air of the outside world greeted me when I stepped back outside.
I self consciously rubbed the scars on my calf's that where left from the spiky vines that Zetsu had captured me in.
"Neji we all assumed dead. Massive wounds to his chest, one through his lungs, and his temples also causing deep worries. But there is great news, Tenten, and I have been in your place before. When Dan died years ago, I wasn't going to hear that he was dead, and I feel as thought that you won't believe that your Hyuga friend isn't dead. Tenten, I am glad to say there is a small percentage that he survived the attack." The Hokage smiled, and placed a motherly hand on Tenten's shoulder in front of her.
He could be alive.
He could still be breathing.
He could still be thinking of me!
I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell in happiness, but mostly I wanted to his face again. No cares about the scars that where probably embedded into his face. It would still be him, and I need to see him.
"Where?! How?!" I wanted to blow up. They had waited how long to tell me!!??
"Tenten, settle down, now. A ninja claims to have seen Zetsu and Toby under the Akatsuki robes. They where also told that there was somebody behind them, breathing heavily and his eyes covered with blind folds. He is told to have dark umber black hair that reaches past his shoulders, and nearly touching his elbows. Also, he was limping, and his arms seemed to be bound to his figure." The Hokage seemed relieved to tell me, but then a frown stretched to the corners of her face.
"What?"
"But it could also be another missing ninja from another village. One with similar features. We are sending out an ANBU team to intersect the group, and we have been watching you closely, enough to see that your feelings have made you stronger, more to avenge these two. We want to send you with the ANBU team, but you will undergo some small training for it, then set with the mission to go."
Me? Go with an ANBU? Become an ANBU? This was incredible.
"Of course, Lady Hokage." I was ready to start training, and go avenge Neji, and maybe get him back.
"If you successfully help with the mission and turn out to set out to what the original mission was, you will be abducted into the ANBU quadrate."
"Yes, Hokage, I understand everything. When will I be leaving?" my voice was still steady, but I knew I would start yelling once I got outside.
"In exactly two days. You will have enough time to complete the small amount of training needed, gather what you need, and get the appropriate attire. The captain will be Kakashi. Oh, and we need to make something clear." She looked me straight in the eye, and she sat on top of her desk, tilting my chin and holding it so that her eyes where piercing mine.
"Yes?"
"If it is not Neji as the captive, you are given orders now to not harm him, unless charges are upon him. He could be the nin from the other village, and we can't risk a war upon rationality from a chunin on an ANBU mission." She released my chin, and looked away.
"Is that all?" I inquired. She was acting weird, but I understood this, for she was probably still shaken about his injuries, and wondering how he could have lived.
"Yes. Kakashi is outside, he will lead you to get your robes, mask, and escort you to training." I took that as the dismissal to leave, for she got up to sit back in her chair.
I stood up and walked out, shutting the door behind me. I sensed moving chakra behind me, and turned quickly to pull out a kunai and block the katana that was moving lightning speed at my neck. The holder of the katana was none other than Hatake Kakashi himself.
"Your attentive, that's good, but you would need a way out, or block with another kunai in the opposite hand. You have a lot to learn within the next twenty-four hours." Kakashi back down, strapping his weapon in the holder on his back. He wasn't wearing his usual Jonin gear, but a white shirt with chest armor plate, arm guards, black pants, and a porcelain mask on his head, the typical ANBU gear.
"Tsunade told me to report to you out here, said you would take me to training."
"Yes, but a true ANBU has to prove he or she is strong enough to bend the jutsu we teach at your disposal. Before I even take you near the armor, you will come to the training fields." Kakashi's voice was strict, and very ANBU. I knew he wasn't a true ANBU, but knew the jutsu, and turned down the position after he was appointed to be a sensei. I take it though within the past few months with Team Hawk a mere few hundred miles out, he accepted, to protect Konoha.
We walked through the Hokage's building, and down a set of stairs. We went down, and we spent nearly twenty minutes going down the stairs. I knew that they kept the training field for ANBU under ground, so as to conceal the jutsu they did there from Hyuga Byakugan and chakra sensors, like Karin from Team Hawk.
The end of the stairs came into my view, and I saw four ANBU armored guards waiting in front of the door.
"Speak your purpose," one of them told us.
"I am Hatake Kakashi, and I am bringing Tenten, of the past Team Gai to train for an upcoming mission." He spoke clearly, and with much power to his voice.
"You may pass, Captain Kakashi. No other team is currently in there." We passed, and Kakashi opened the door, which was made of thick metal that was probably as thick as my waist, and stepped inside.
The inside was a normal training arena, dummies stacked in one corner, several weapon sharpeners next to it, and dozens upon dozens of kunai, shurken, and katana where hung up neatly on the wall.
I was amazed at the quantity, I have a lot, most of it from Neji, Gai and Lee, but this was enough shurken and kunai to probably take down the Akatsuki.
"Those are for training. To actually get the shurken and kunai for a mission, you go to the room over there," he told me, pointing to the door next to the case of weapons. "They have several weapon specialist that shoot out more and more weapons everyday. We need to begin, if we don't, then we will not be able to finish by the time we have to leave. Go stand several feet from me."
I stood ten feet from him, and I spread my feet out at a ready stance.
"I am going to come at you, block as much as you can." Kakashi came bounding towards me, and I saw his hands extended towards me. I grabbed two kunai in each hand and spun to my left, one of the kunai making contact with the side of his forearm. He landed, then spun back out at me, and touched my forehead.
I was stunned. I couldn't move, couldn't block, and couldn't strike. All because of him touching my forehead.
"You didn't prepare yourself after you made contact. That is elementary. I do not want to see that again, or else that means you are not fit and qualified for the mission. I am keeping you in a Temporary Paralysis technique. This allows me to strike, or disarm you. It will wear off in less than a minute."
And sure enough, I felt the use of my arms again. I ducked and jumped several feet away. My hand dug into my pocket and placed the shurken between my knuckles, and swiftly brought my hand out. I flung my hand out, and they flew towards him.
"We are not battling," Kakashi said, grabbing them as they flew towards him. "We are here so that I can teach you the Temporary Paralysis Technique. If you do not wish to learn it, then you are at an invitation to leave. If not, then you will listen to what I have to teach." Kakashi seemed annoyed. I deserved it. I needed to learn, not fooling around with an ANBU that could kick my butt.
"Yes, Kakashi."
"What the technique does is that it sends a shockwave through the opponent's skull to their nervous system. This stops them in their tracks of when you touched them. There are only three places that will able you to paralysis them. What are they?"
"The forehead, eyes, and temples." I took a great guess, but from what Hinata and Neji had taught me, that the eyes and temples where the only area to touch if you wanted to grant death with the Gentle Fist.
"Yes, but more of the base of the skull, that will deliberate the entire system. The temple will just cut off physical, and some ninja have the instructions of using physiological techniques. You need to power your chakra to your middle and index fingers, and be fast to tap the intended area of what you wish to strike."
Again he advanced on me, and I felt my body go stiff.
"It will only last for a top of five minutes if you have mastered it, but can last near only to a minute with your experience with it. Once I release you, I want you to come at me. Block the attack I will aim, and try to paralysis me. If successfully accomplishing, back down and release me." Kakashi pulled out his katana, and I ran at him. I hooked the end of the katana in the loop in my kunai and pulled it away from my face. I touched his forehead, and I felt his body go rigid. But then it faltered, and he pushed me off him.
"Fool. You need you concentrate on the flow of your chakra with this. If you do not keep it at a steady pace, I can break away. It needs to be steady, prideful, and strong. Try again."
And I did, several times more. I knew that Kakashi would taunt me until I got it right. I kept following his directions each time, but they each came with a failing result. But then I realized that he is the Copy-Ninja, but hasn't had the great experience to deal with any jutsu to do with just the mind.
"Again," Kakashi ordered. I advanced upon him, and struck his wrist that was holding the katana with my foot, powering slow amounts of chakra to break it, and then I touched his temples. I felt the energy flow through my fingers, touching the soft skin of Hatake Kakashi's head. It was warm where I touched, and he stopped in his tracks. I split my fingers so that only one hand was touching both his temples. I moved my other hand quickly to his eyes, and touched the part closest to his nose. I knew he would have summoned his dogs without words or hand gestures, so I had to cut him off before thinking about it.
I released him, and backed off several feet, ready to block any blows that would be aimed at me. Instead he regained himself and stood tall and looked at me with his one eye.
"Smart. You realized that I couldn't use an offhand disposable jutsu to call my dogs. Leave, for you will need your rest. Meet me at the top of the stairs tomorrow at noon. We will need to have you fitted for the armor and find a mask for you. You will also need to collect your weapons and meet the rest of the team that will be coming. We will go over the plans of going into the Land of Lightning also and the entire mission's statement. Go, rest, and I expect to see you there on time."
I bowed for respect, for Kakashi wasn't a sensei, but a top fleet captain of an ANBU team.
I walked out the door, and the guards still stood there still. I walked up the stairs and saw Lee sitting on the top of the stairs.
"You, have explaining to do my youthful friend!!" he announced. I sighed, and just walked past him.
"I am leaving in two days, and you can't come. This is an ANBU mission, only the Hokage told me to go with the team."
"No, it is to dangerous. You need me! You have to ask the Hokage." He was walking in step with me, and I saw that the young girl named Mao was behind a desk, looking pale but better.
"No, I am going. And I can't have you come also." Who would hold me back, I know he could.
"Please, Tenten, what if sensei talks to you, huh? Then maybe he can talk some sense into you." Lee cast a sidelong glance at Mao, and she smiled at him. Lee blushed several shades of red, and I didn't want to know what was going on between the two.
We went outside, and the guards gave me a small nod, them getting one in return from me. I speed up my pace to reach the Hyuga Compound, for I knew that they would be serving dinner at exactly five, and I would like to present the information I have. Hiashi had given me an invitation to come to dinner and rest at the compound whenever needed. He knew that the pain from his nephew's disappearance had greatly disturbed me, and he thought that having the only family I had apart from my team would be good to have around me. And I have to agree, it was better to have them around, and it made the friendship I had with Hinata grow, for she and Sakura where the only two closest friends I had apart from Lee and Gai.
"Lee, leave. The Hokage gave you the information about Neji, now leave. I am going to have dinner and present what I know about Neji whereabouts to his family."
"But Tenten…" Lee started, but I turned and stopped, starring at him in the face.
"I am no longer a child Lee! Why can't you understand that? I am going out with an ANBU team, and I will not let anything slow me down, and having you around making sure and double checking everything that I come across will hinder me greatly! I want to find Neji! You have no idea how hard it was for me to see him like that, dieing and me not being able to do anything about it! You didn't feel the blood and sweat on his lips on yours, you didn't hear him whisper his near final last words, you have no idea!"
I ran, kept running towards where I was sure that the compound was located. Tears where clouding my vision and I was sure that if it was early in the morning and all the genin would have been out walking to their sensei's, I would have bowled over them all.