A/n- This is going to be the first in a series of flashbacks to the Older Rookie 9's past. They are not vital to The Pride of Konaha and can be ignored if you get annoyed by fluff. Next post Danzo will be dealt with and the main storyline will continue. I know this because it's halfway written. Unfortunately it's being stubborn about following my story line and getting out of my head and onto the computer. More random info at the end!
Neji lay on field of blood. Sure there was mud, rain, and other also beneath him but it seemed the majority was blood. The hole torn in his chest was making sure that an unhealthily large amount of that blood was his own. Neji, although he was only 18 years old, was a veteran of some of the worst battles of the war. He had been in several very bad situations. He had survived them all.
Neji had the feeling this particular battle was going to end differently.
As one of Kabuto's creatures approached him, Neji was rather absently worried that that he didn't seem to be feeling all that much pain anymore. He was also being to feel cold, which was also not bothering him enough. The last semi rational though he had was "Ah. Shock is setting in then." His mind then wondered to the thought that "War is Hell" was an accurate statement he would have to add "and it smells terrible."
This was followed by a very calm listing in his own mind of things that he had meant to complete before his death. The removal of the cadged bird. Fixing the rather tattered bond between the main and branch Hyuga family. The protection of Hina-chan and Bi-chan. All things that he had longed to see done with his own eyes.
As he watched what he was fairly sure would be his death come closer he regretted that he wouldn't be able to see to them personally. But he wasn't particularly worried. Naruto kept his promises. And Lee knew to look out for the girls Neji thought of as his sisters in his own heart.
While the thought of Naruto reassured him considerably, it also reminded him of his personal vow to support the idiot when the inevitable happened and he was made Hokage officially. Then he shrugged that off as well with the reminder that Naruto was more than capable of watching his own back. So, he thought oddly at peace as he watched the poor creature that used to be human approach with a purpose that Neji knew he would be unable to avoid, he died with no regrets.
He had the random thought as he looked at the grotesque face of the thing raising a kunai to finish him off that it was a poor last view to bring to his afterlife. And dear Kami, the smell. He hoped that last views and smells didn't affect the afterlife, or his own was going to be nasty.
Then he heard his own named screamed with a combination of terror, pain, and rage. The Oto Nin seemed to stumble back as he was hit in the chest with several kunai. Neji watched as Tenten appeared in his line of sight. Her Jonin uniform was slashed and bloody and her hair was falling out of her habitual buns. She was pure grace, as always, in the fight. Neji had done enough damage to the Nin that Tenten was able to very quickly defeat the thing as Neji watched with detached admiration.
Neji watched as she literally tore the thing to pieces and then burned them. When she growled at the burning pile and scanned the area for any more enemies it occurred to him that Tenten was beautiful. One of her buns had come lose completely and she had a cut along one cheek that was probably the source of the blood smeared on her face.
She was dirty and armed to the teeth and Neji couldn't recall a more perfect view. When she was sure that they were not going to be attacked again soon she fell to her knees in the mud beside him and began applying pressure to the wound on his chest.
Neji reached up and caught a tear as it slid down her cheek to mix with the blood and dirt already there. The face that had been hardened with rage seconds ago had collapsed into grief as she tried and failed to keep Neji's blood where it belonged. Neji saw darkness creep into his vision and he applied all his attention to the face he was holding.
A green and pink blur appeared and Tenten's hands were knocked off Neji's chest. Which left them free to hold his hand to her cheek as she cried and spoke. Neji knew he could understand the words and even identify the blurs that had appeared if he troubled himself to think of it. He chose instead to focus on her face as she wept into his hand. Surely his afterlife would be brightened if his last sight was her face. Neji smiled, and the darkness took him.
Neji woke with a start. He sighed and put a hand to his chest. Instead of the bleeding hole he was halfway expecting his hands met scar tissue. He had lived, barely. Sakura, whose reputation had grown exponentially when he had lived through the travel to the healers tent and then through the surgeries that followed had told Tusnade once in his hearing that she had no idea how he was still alive.
Neji smiled a little as he thought of the first team practice Team Gai had held when he had been cleared for duty once again. Gai and Lee had hugged and cried; each other and him. Their declarations of what Neji's YOUTHFUL recovery had inspired them to do was cut short as Tenten appeared.
They had fallen silent as Tenten stalked toward Neji. "So, that bloody hole in your chest is healed? You are clear for team practice?" She had all but snarled at him through her teeth.
"Yes," he had replied stoically.
"Good." She had replied. Then she punched him in the face.
When he had woken a few minutes later Gai was sparring with Tenten as Lee sat beside Neji on the ground.
"What the hell happened? Why did she hit me?" Neji demanded as he sat up with cheerful support from Lee.
"Ah, the beautiful Tenten told me to tell you when you woke that if you ever get that close to being killed again that she will kill you herself. Gai-sensei questioned both the fairness of her punching you and the Youthfulness of her promise to you."
Neji had watched with some concern as Tenten attempted a rather vicious knee to the groin that Gai avoided with a crow of delight at her "Youthful and perfectly executed attempt to unman" him.
That was the only time she ever mentioned his near death. In the year since that practice she had acted as if it never happened.
"Neji?" Gai sensei had of course noticed that one of his team had woken. "Although your Youthful dedication to being on time is admirable, your watch won't start for another hour or so. You should go back to sleep."
"I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep Gai-sensei. Do you mind if I mediate until my shift starts?"
"Of course not, my adorable student!" Gai said as he gave Neji his good guy pose. He then added much more reluctantly. "I only worry because you haven't slept through the night since this mission started. You told me you had completely mastered the ability to break yourself out of nightmares. "
"I was dreaming of the battle at Kabuto's Laboratory. " Neji admitted.
Gai frowned. "I can understand you having nightmares of that terrible battle. You came closer to death than my own Youthful heart can stand to remember at times. However, our profession does not treat kindly those who dwell too long on death. "He put his hand on Neji's shoulder firmly. "Death comes to us all, my student. Do not let him surprise you in the future as you look too hard at him in the past.
"Do not worry too much sensei. It is nothing that a few sessions of meditation cannot deal with. It was not so much a nightmare as it was a reminder of what I need to accomplish before I meet death for the final time."
"A glimpse of death is very often a reminder of everything we haven't yet achieved. Give it time Neji; all your aims will be met before your death." With a gleaming smile Contemplative Gai was replaced with Youthful Gai. "If they are not I shall walk on my pinky fingers until I see them done myself!"
As Gai patted his shoulder encouragingly and left Neji to his meditation Neji had to consciously withhold a sigh of relief. Contemplative Gai and Youthful Gai were both far more observant than Neji cared to deal with after his reoccurring dream. Neji didn't want his sensei to guess that he didn't consider the reoccurring dream a nightmare. In spite of the pain he had been in and the absolute vileness of that particular battle, Neji welcomed the dream. Tenten holding his hands to her face as she cried was his most cherished memory.
Several hours later as his team was moving out from their camp Neji attempted to keep the dreams and the feelings that accompanied it in the deep recesses of his mind where they belonged. While he had loosened up considerably since Uzumaki had, according to him, beaten the Fate out of him, Neji still considered several things unacceptable in a team setting. An obsession with his female teammate's rather magnificent legs was one of those things.
Neji considered himself a consummate solder. He was proud of his village, his Kage, and his team. And he was beyond embarrassed that when partnered with Tenten he had a hard time focusing on his job. Thankfully, his stoic personality and tendency to avoid eye and physical contact was easy to fall back on when he had trouble interacting with her. Unfortunately for him it also left him unable to express his feelings. Not that he was sure he would do so even if he had been able.
Tenten sighed to herself as she landed on a branch and pushed off again. She felt more than heard Neji land the exact advised distance from her on the tree next to her. It was difficult to be partnered with a genius. He was always the correct distance ahead or behind. He not only never failed to complete his objective perfectly he carried out any missions exactly by the book.
While Tenten was more than sure of her own powers as a kunoichi in general, and a weapons mistress specifically it was hard to work with someone who practically oozed perfection. She smiled and then giggled quietly to herself as she pictured Neji actually oozing a dark green substance. "Ack, its perfection get it OFF! Don't step in it!"
Neji watched with some concern as Tenten gazed into the air with a dreamy expression as she giggled. Lee appeared in a blur and shot in front of them. Stopping in his Good Guy pose he informed them as he beamed "Gai sensei has selected this area to stop for our lunch! We will be coming behind you with the ambassador. Gai asks you to have a small luncheon ready when we arrive."
When Neji nodded to show the order was received Lee sprinted back the way he had come.
Tenten jumped to the ground as she pulled off her backpack still wearing that same smile.
"Tenten, what were you giggling about before Lee showed up?" Neji heard himself ask with some astonishment. He had not intended to do so. Whatever made his teammate smile and giggle was no concern of his. And he hadn't felt jealous.
Neji felt his eyes widen and the feeling that was absolutely not jealously rise again as Tenten did two things she had never done before in all the years he had known her. She blushed. And she stuttered.
Tenten felt her face flush as Neji asked what had made her laugh. Oh, kami. She couldn't admit that she had been picturing him at his prissiest. While he was hard to get along with she did respect him as a shinobi and a teammate. Not to mention he was technically her superior. So she made something up.
"I-I was just th-thinking about…Naruto!" Tenten grasped Naruto's name like a lifeline. "He-he just did some sea-seal work on my weapons. He, um, told a really funny joke while we were practicing with them."
As she felt Neji stare she blushed harder. Narutohad applied some seals to her weapons and hehad told her jokes while they were practicing. She just hadn't found them funny. As they had all been very inappropriate she had been a little more vigorous than usual as she used the Kyubi container as target practice.
Neji felt the feeling that he was almost ready to accept as jealousy explode in his chest. When he had gone to inform Tenten of the mission yesterday she had been leaving a practice field with Naruto. They had both been flushed and sweaty. Naruto had looked dazed and Tenten had looked immensely pleased with herself. As Neji's mind jumped to all the wrong conclusions Tenten sped around the little clearing they had arrived in setting up a picnic lunch and avoid looking at Neji. As soon as she was done Gai and Lee arrived.
Tenten laughed as she saw the disgruntled look on the face of the woman Gai was carrying. "Well Ambassador , how is this for a resting place?" She teased.
Haruno Sakura glared as she was set down by Gai. "Tenten, I am not an ambassador. I am a shinobi. I do not need to stop for lunch." She glared at Gai as she added "and I certainly do not need to be carried!"
Tenten giggled again as she sat down next to Sakura and shooed Gai and his young clone away. "It's your own fault you know." She said as she passed Sakura her rations. "You know better than to let your chakra get that low. You're lucky it was Kakashi-sempai who caught you instead of Tusnade. At least he only put a chakra block on you till your reserves are back. Tusnade would have pulverized you first."
"I know, I know!" Sakura complained as she grumpily ate. "I even understand that what I am doing is important. I just don't believe that taking the best field medic in all of Fire off active duty and assigning her to a goodwill mission is what the war effort needs right now. "
"Oh, so Tusnade will be taking your place then?" Tenten asked with raised eyebrows.
Sakura had the grace to flush. "You know I don't mean that. Tusnade is amazing and I will never best her as a medic but she can't be out on the front lines like I can. Besides that, a goodwill mission from Konaha to Suna? There is no point."
Sakura sighed and pouted. "There has never, in the history of the Hidden villages, been a tighter alliance than ours and Suna's. This is just a convenient place to dump me while I recover. Stupid Naruto. "Sakura added quietly. "It's honestly just hard to leave Naruto in the mess he's in. I'll be gone for months and the council is still throwing fits about his appointment."
Tenten smiled as she leaned back on her arms. "Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage. How the hell did that happen?"
Another a/n- So I have had several reviewers comment on how serious this story is. And I read back through and realized that those reviewers where absolutely right. So I am switching from Humor to drama. Also I am bumping the rating up to T as I have been heavier handed than I was expecting to be with language. Thoughts, concerns?
P.S. - Sakura /Gaara won by a landslide to be next in this little mini-series, thanks for the votes! Please review!