Silence had fallen upon the group of ANBU as they made their way through the trees back to the village. It had been several hours since Neji had said a word to Tenten, causing an awkward silence to come between them, but even that could not continue.

"Karasu," said Tenten, finally breaking the silence, "wasn't your group on a mission before you found me?"

"Yes," Neji answered simply.

"So, what happened?" Tenten asked.

"We're completing it as we speak," said Neji.

"What do you mean?"

"Our mission was to find you," said Neji. His voice suddenly seemed to hold an odd note of emotion.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He seemed to push off of a branch much harder than needed as he said this, causing Tenten to feel a slight jolt.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. We both know that something's bothering you," urged Tenten.

"Its nothing," Neji replied stubbornly. He knew where the conversation was headed and he couldn't let it go there.

"I don't believe that. Don't lie," she replied.

Neji let out a long sigh, "This is not the time…"

"Fine," Tenten said, falling silence once more.

She watched as Neji's cloak fluttered through the air, reminding her of the day they had first become ANBU. Lee had decided to stay with Gai-sensei, Neji and Tenten had decided to take a different route with their life.

Sensing a disturbance, Neji suddenly looked up to find its source. Tenten watched him intently, knowing what he was thinking by reading his body language.

"Put me down so that you can fight," she said softly.

"No," he replied sternly. Tenten couldn't put her finger on why he was acting so stubborn, but it was a quality that he had seemed to develop quite recently.

"Look alive," he called to the other cloaked ANBU. "We have a watcher."

The ANBU immediately split down the middle and went in opposite directions. Neji followed the right side of ANBU.

"Why did you go right? You were further left," said Tenten curiously.

"I didn't want to get stuck on Kaze's team," replied Neji. Tenten could almost swear that she heard a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Tenten ventured.

"She gets on my nerves," said Neji.

Tenten was taken aback. Neji, the man with infinite patience and a constant calm attitude since he turned sixteen, who almost never talking bad about anyone anymore, actually found someone that he couldn't stand. Not only that, but he actually went to lengths to avoid being around her. If Neji thought she was intolerable, she must be the biggest annoyance on the planet.

"Neji," Tenten began, changing the subject. "you never told me why they transferred you into this unit."

"They needed a temporary replacement for Ino and Choji," said Neji, trying to push the thought as far from his conscious mind as possible.

"Oh, I didn't realize that this was her group," said Tenten.

Her gaze fell down to the branches passing below her, not really seeing them. Ino, Choji, and another older shinobi that she didn't know had been killed earlier that year when their team had fallen into a deadly ambush near the sound village. In their honor, the entire ANBU squad showed up to their funeral, fully cloaked and masked. Shikamaru cried hard that day. His beautiful wife, Temari, stood at his side. She had come down from the sand village to offer her support to Shikamaru when she got word of the tragedy. While it was true that Shikamaru didn't often get to see her due to each of them belonging to their separate villages, when he did, they were inseparable. Still, Tenten began to wonder how much more he could take. First his team's teacher and now his two remaining teammates from his early teen years. If anything every happened to Temari, Tenten feared that Shikamaru may just give up.

"He's fine, Tenten," said Neji softly, knowing what was on her mind.

"How do you know?"

"I talked to him the other day between missions. He's taking it a lot better than even I expected, but it has been a few months since they were killed. Then again, Temari's been around a lot more lately too," said Neji.

"Kind of strange, isn't it? Everyone we know…they're all hooking up. Shikamaru and Temari got married, then Naruto and Hinata started getting serious, and even Sakura and Lee are giving it a try…"

"I suppose so," said Neji uncomfortably. He had been avoiding this subject for as long as he could. His heart belonged to the small woman sitting on his back, but he could never get up the courage to tell her.

"But, you were saying about your new group? Who are the ANBU in this group?" Tenten asked.

"The leader is an older, more experienced man that we call Gure-taka. I already mentioned our assistant leader, Kaze. Then there's Inakamono, the joker of the group. He always makes it a point to lighten the mood, but he's in Kaze's group. There's Maimu, the quiet, intelligent one in the group. She's with us now. There's Takai, the guy who flanks this group. Then Nouzui who's usually the one who comes up with plan 'b' if we need one. He's currently one Kaze's team. Then Nezumi is a shinobi that relies on her speed to get by. She's in Kaze's group. Then there's me. I act as their eyes," he said.

"Interesting," she said. "Back in the group I was put in, they were all named after plants. Some were flowers, some kinds of grasses, and a few were names of trees. I guess I fit right in with them. You on the other hand, were always the odd ball."

Neji smiled under his mask.

Tenten slowly changed the position of her arms so that they encircled his chest instead of his neck. Surprised by her sudden change in position, he looked back at her. Her head was resting on its side behind his shoulder as her arms held on around his chest tightly. He couldn't help but smile at this. He wished that he could take off his mask and kiss her, but he knew it was just the foolish desire in his heart talking.

It was then that he sensed something coming towards him at an alarming speed. He turned his head just as a kunai sailed past his right ear. His heart suddenly leapt into his throat as he came eye to eye with an enemy ninja. Dodging a punch, he missed the next branch and came crashing through the brush. Tenten's hands flew apart at the sudden change in rhythm. Twigs and small branches snapped as they fell. Just as she grabbed onto the back of his shirt to brace herself, he got his wits about him enough to pull Tenten from behind him into his arms just before he hit the ground. He fell on his back with a loud thud.

After they hit the ground, it was a moment before Tenten opened her eyes. She was staring straight at Neji's mask. Waiting for him to ask if she was ok, just like he always did, she waited, unmoving. He, however, never said a word. As she tried to roll off of him, she became uncomfortably aware of how easily she could move Neji's arms. They didn't hold her down to him but simply fell away from her as she rolled off of him. She turned and looked up just in time to see an enemy ninja coming towards her. She pulled out a kunai, swiping at him angrily until she nailed him in the neck with its sharp part and the ninja fell back lifeless. She turned back to the unmoving Neji, becoming suddenly aware of the tears running down her face. She shakily pulled off her mask, and did the same with Neji's. She couldn't bear to be so impersonal, not like this.

"Oh god…" She pleaded, choking on her tears and panic. "God…no…NEJI!!!"

Her hands flew towards him, and she bent down until his head was cradled in her left arm, her right arm was looped around his shoulder and she was bent down to him, completely still. As tears streamed down her face in silence, she would occasionally turn her head to kiss the side of his face and she began to whisper softly to him.

"Neji…come on…wake up…I love you…I love you…you have to wake up…Neji," she whispered softly.

As Tenten became completely absorbed in Neji's current condition, she became unaware of the fact that she was not alone. The remainder of Neji's most recent team had landed on the ground, circling her. None of them said anything for a long time in an effort to be sensitive to her pain. They just watched in silence as she quietly grieved for her unconscious love.

"Ayame," said a man at last. His voice was gentle and careful. Tenten guessed that this man was Takai. "We should get him to the village."

Tenten said nothing, but just clung to Neji.

"Ayame…" he repeated softly.

Tenten continued to cling to Neji, not replying to the other ANBU. It was then that Neji let out a small cough, followed by a low moan. Tenten leaned away from him, tears still streaming down her face. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes. At the sight of tears running down her face, he shakily reached a hand up to her face and wiped them away.

"Why are you crying?"

"I thought that you…" she said, her voice trailing off.

"Always so quick to jump to conclusions," said Neji, giving her a weak smile.

She smiled sheepishly and Neji stared at her calmly. He knew this was a time to keep quiet and let her cry. As a lock of her hair fell in front of him, he pulled it towards him, kissing it.

"You are so beautiful. You know that?" he said softly. His gaze returned to her and he watched her in way that you would only if you loved the person.

"Neji," said the man that Tenten thought was Takai. "We should get you to the village so that you can get medical attention. After all…we still have a full day ahead of us."

Neji nodded, signaling that he understood.

At last, Neji spoke to Tenten, "Are you ready to get up and move?"

Tenten nodded, taking a deep breath and wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. With that, the young man thought to be Takai, stepped forward and eased Neji onto his back as carefully as he could. Neji still, however, let out a loud howl, indicating that the change in position had been quite painful. As Neji's and Tenten's masks were both put back on their faces, another ANBU stepped forward.

"I'll be you're transportation from here on out," he said. His voice was significantly older sounding than most of the people in the group. It had to be Gure-taka.

Tenten nodded, standing up awkwardly as she put all her weight on one foot. The man pulled her up onto his back. There was no doubt that he wasn't as comfortable as Neji, but he was quite sturdy all the same. Seconds later they were back in the trees. The speed seemed to have increased to make up for lost time.

She watched Neji being carried on Takai's back, just in front of her. Her eyes were glued on him. Every time something happened to him (which wasn't very often thankfully), she always came completely unglued and started to fear the worst. That was the problem. Neji always kept everything bottled up inside, so when anything did show, it was serious. And while it was true that Tenten was better at keeping her emotions under control than Sakura. If she thought that someone she really cared for bit the dust, she was no better at holding it in than the next person. She just hoped that she would never actually be right.

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A.N. - gure-taka - gray hawk

maimu - mime

inakamono - clown

takai - death

nouzui - brain

nezumi - mouse

Thanks for reading…hope you like it so far. Going a bit slow, I know, but its taking some time to write this fic the way I want, so hang in there. Anyway, thanks for all the positive comments on the first chapter, I enjoyed reading them. So yeah, until next chapter! Bye all!