Thump….

Thump….

Thump….

That was what TenTen's head felt like as she felt herself waking up slowly. As she became more awake she began take in her surroundings. She began to hear people whispering around her and felt something warm touching her arm. The clothes she was wearing also felt loose, unlike her normal clothes.

"How much longer will she be out like that?"

"I don't know. She could wake up in a few minutes, or it may be a few days"

"Don't worry my youthfully optimistic pupil. TenTen is a blossoming flower than will endure all weather."

"Yosh! Of course Gai-sensei. If I have doubts again I will do one thousand pushups!"

"Geez Gai-sensei, do you have to encourage him like that? And Lee, be quiet. You'll wake Neji. This is the first time he's slept since he brought her here."

"Oops, sorry."

TenTen's eyelids felt heavy but she began to open them slowly to see who the voices belonged to. Of course, without opening her eyes it was easy to identify two of the voices. It was Lee and Gai-sensei. The third though, that was a mystery. It was definitely a girl's voice. And it sounded familiar. Yes, she was sure she'd heard that voice somewhere before. But, that terrible headache she had prevented her from thinking clearly.

"Sakura-chan look. She's waking up."

Her eyes were now half open and she could see the blurry outlines of Lee and Gai. They were now staring at her from the end of the bed she was in. The third person was at her side. The injured kunoichi blinked a couple times and her vision became clearer.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" she managed to say quietly.

She felt very dehydrated and could barely speak because her mouth was so dry.

"Shhh…. You've been asleep for three days. Lee came to get help from Konoha and brought me and Gai-sensei to help you. When I arrived you had a gash on your side and three broken ribs. I've managed to heal you most of the way, though you'll be sore for a while and need to rest in order to regain your chakra," Sakura whispered to her.

TenTen took a moment to digest this information. She didn't hurt as much as she thought she would. Sure, she felt like she'd just gotten buried by an avalanche, but she could be much worse. There was still just one thing that bothered her.

"Sakura, why are you whispering?"

At that question, Sakura smiled and pointed to the other side of the bed. TenTen's gaze followed the gesture and settled on a person seated beside the bed. Her eyes widened, realizing that it was a very disheveled Neji. His hair was a mess and he was slumped forward, asleep with his cheek resting on TenTen's arm. That must have been the warmth she felt when she first woke up. He also wasn't wearing a shirt for some reason. Then, TenTen realized that she was wearing Neji's shirt. It was way too big for her. The sleeves came down below her hands and it was too long.

Seeing the puzzled look on TenTen's face, Sakura smiled and whispered, "He stayed by your side the entire time. I had to force him to leave the room when I treated your wounds. And since your clothes were ruined by all the blood, he made me put his own shirt on you so that you wouldn't be embarrassed about being in your undergarments when you woke up."

TenTen's eyes widened and she stared at Neji for a minute. He'd really done all that for her? She'd never realized he cared so much. Sure, she knew that he cared for his team, but this was different. She'd never seen Neji openly show such caring for anyone, so why her? She was just another teammate to him, wasn't she? With all those questions floating around in her head, TenTen began to feel more sick. It must have been obvious to the others too.

"Sakura-chan, she's getting really pale," Lee said.

Sakura nodded in agreement and began to heal TenTen. As she did, TenTen felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier until she could no longer keep her eyes open. Her eyelids were so heavy that she closed then, falling quickly into a deep slumber.

____________________________________________

A large open field, that's were TenTen found herself. It was raining but the grass was brown as if it hadn't had rain in a long time. She reached out and touched the rain. It was cold, very cold. No wonder nothing was growing in this place. It was too cold to sustain life. So what was she doing there? She shouldn't be there. She should be with her team, with Neji and Lee. That's when she saw them, standing there so far away. She could barely see them.

"Lee! Neji!" she called out to them.

But they just continued to stare at her. She tried to run towards them, but her legs wouldn't move. It was like they were glued to the ground.

"How could you abandon us, TenTen" Lee said, his voice as cold as the icy rain that poured over her.

"No Lee! I didn't abandon you. I'm right here," she called out.

But Lee just turned away from her and walked away. She tried again to run to him, but she still could. Tears began to roll down her cheeks at the thought of her teammate walking away like that.

"It's a pity. I actually started to care about you for a minute. Maybe I'll just leave the village and go join Sasuke now," Neji said to her.

That really hurt her. It felt like her spirit had just been ripped from her body and Neji had stomped all over it.

"Neji wait! Don't go! Please…"

As Neji too turned away and left her alone TenTen's legs gave out and she fell to her knees, crying.

"No, please don't go. You two are all I have left."

But it was too late. They were gone. She was all alone. She didn't want to be alone. She wanted her team. They were all she had. Without them…. It was something too awful to think about. She just couldn't lose them.

_______________________________________________

"Neji!!!" she called out, reaching out to where he'd disappeared.

That's when her eyes shot open and she sat up. She was breathing heavily and shaking all over. Looking around, she slowly realized that it had all just been a dream. None of it was real. Neji was still sitting next to her like he had been when she fell asleep, only now he was wide awake and staring at her with a look of bewilderment from his seat next to her bed. Everyone else must have been someone else because they were nowhere to be seen.

"TenTen, are you okay? Why did you yell my name?" he asked, sounding worried.

TenTen realized that she must have yelled that last part out loud and looked away in embarrassment.

"It was just a bad dream. It's nothing to worry about."

Even though she sounded calm and collected, TenTen was still shaking from the impact that dream had on her. Apparently Neji could tell and he sighed, shaking his head. But, he didn't say anything to her about it. He didn't want to embarrass her any more. He knew that if she wanted to talk about it then she would. But right now, she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to say that the dream was about losing her teammates, although Neji'd probably already guessed that since she'll yelled his name.

Suddenly the injured girl felt something touch her hand and looked over to see Neji's hand resting gently on top of hers. Of course, the stubborn Hyuuga was looking away, pretending he had no idea that he was holding her hand. TenTen smiled and proceeded to avert her eyes as well, knowing how uncomfortable Neji must be with this simple gesture. But it made her so happy that he did that. She thought that he was just going to be silent, but then TenTen heard him clear his throat, preparing to speak. She looked over at him, seeing that he was still looking away, staring intently at the wall.

After a moment he started to speak, saying, "TenTen, I-"

"Neji! Is TenTen awake yet?" came the loud voice of Rock Lee as he opened the door and came bounding into the room.

Neji removed his hand from TenTen's in a flash and stood up from his seat.

"Yes, as you can obviously see, TenTen is awake," he said, sounding annoyed.

And with that, Neji walked out of the room emotionless as ever and TenTen sighed. So much for the little moment they were having there. She wondered what Neji had been about to say when Lee interrupted. She might never find out now. But she couldn't blame Lee. He'd just wanted to check up on her. So now she'd just have to wait until she and Neji had another 'moment.' Great…. As if that was ever going to happen again.

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Author's Comments: Hehe, a little tiny bit of romance in this chapter, but no action. I expect to put some more action in the next chapter along with some serious drama.

Also, there may be some light LeeSaku later on. I haven't decided yet.

What was Neji going to say to TenTen? Only I know. Well, Neji knows too, but he's not going to tell you. So, you'll just have to wait to find out. ^^

And one more thing, I appreciate reviews. In fact, i absolutely love them. So please, review.