A/N: After a long while, I was struck by inspiration and then attempted the first multi-chapter story I have done in...well a long time. This is the result of that idea and, as usual, it is unbeta-ed. Reviews are much appreciated; even if I am quite...quite rusty. ^^;
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this piece of fanfiction.
April - June - Prologue.
The leaves were still green when Tenten went away.
She was to go to the Land of Rice, Tsunade had instructed her, fetch a certain document from a certain person and return home; that was all. So Tenten got to business, packed up her things, gave Gai a kiss on his cheek, and left, all the while contenting herself with the memory of Lee's crushing embrace and the warmth that had coated Neji's fingers when the two had left for their own mission the week before. It seemed, she realized, that everyone was on missions these days and with that thought in mind, at the village gates, right before she set off, Tenten was struck by an idea and promised to herself to be back before Neji. He would never know she had been gone and the four of them -- Gai-sensei, Lee, Neji and herself -- would go for ramen, like old times.
But that was a promise not kept.
A full month later, under the cover of night and Konoha's blooming cherry blossoms, Neji arrived home.
Almost immediately, he noticed Tenten's absence.
Surely she wouldn't have taken that long, he said to his teacher when Gai had informed him of her trip; and then, when Gai had fallen into an uncharacteristic silence and when even Lee look pale and thin and not quite so green, Neji felt something inside him jump. He stared at both his former sensei and teammate, tense and anxious and suddenly all too aware that his hands were fisted at his sides and clenched so tight that the veins beneath his skin had burst to the surface.
He counted seconds, the number of times he breathed; and he was desperate and his heart was pounding but all he could do was stare politely and urgently and do what was Hyuuga-proper.
He waited, and Gai-sensei spoke.
Tenten, he was told him then, had not returned.
Time passed quickly.
Neji divided the hours between interrogating returning search teams and hovering over Sakura, who was always the second to know what information the Hokage received; free moments were spent training viciously, vehemently, or else in a deep and most unproductive meditation. At best, he was wild and sulky, prone to giving above-average glares and slipping into states of brooding -- both habits of his childhood that now, at eighteen years, had all but been abandoned…until now.
His friends and family worried, and Hinata took to slipping him cups of tea and sweet things, but Neji's appetite did not improve and neither did his mood. In fact, as the days and weeks went by, he only seemed to grow more and more disturbed, regressing deeper into what was clearly a throwback to his early days and no one -- Hinata included -- wanted to see that side of him again. Nonetheless, with each passing hour and with each failed search, Neji soured and was bitter and dark, and soon even Lee's antics couldn't draw the usual half-sarcastic, half-amused comment from him. He simply frowned and was clearly not pleased.
And then in June, three months after Tenten had first set off for her mission, ninety-one days after she had missed her rendezvous, and three weeks exactly after the ushering in of early summer, a report came in.
Neji was among those briefed of its details by the Hokage.
Captured.
To Neji, that word was absolutely evil. He hated it, loathed it, and yet, at the same time, he was thankful and grateful and agonized all at once, because she was alive and that was good and there was a chance…,but she was suffering.
Because he had her.
The Bomber. The Terrorist. Iwa's Suicide Doll.
An S-Ranked criminal wanted in all five of the Great Shinobi Nations, murderer of hundreds, member of the Akatuski…
But his greatest crime yet, was that he taken fromher.
"…and it was discovered that there were three witnesses to the event. All swear to the truth of these words and acknowledge and claim that the Leaf shinobi, jounin-class member of the ANBU corps, Tenten, was attacked, maimed and then captured by S-class missing nin and criminal, former shinobi of Iwagakure no Sato: Deidara…"
Silence.
Neji counted seconds, the number of times he breathed; and he was filled with a nostalgic sense of helplessness as he stared politely, urgently, at the Hokage and, this time, his Hyuuga properness did not keep the desperation from his eyes.
Sakura spoke, asking the question that all wanted to know but no one wanted to ask, "How was Tenten-san…'maimed'?"
His fingers twitched, curled into the palms of his hands; Tsunade shifted and stared Neji straight in the eye, as if she knew, as if she knew.
"She's blind."
Suddenly, he couldn't count his breaths anymore.
To be continued...