Title: Blood Thirst

Author: Moonlight Music Mistress

Pairing: Hyuuga Neji x Tenten

Summary: A wrist bite leads to a real-life horror movie.

Neji and Tenten are at age sixteen, thus being teammates for four years.

Disclaimer: Since Neji and Tenten aren't together, it's kinda obvious that I don't own Naruto.

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Flashback:

The Hyuuga gasped as he noticed the blood draining out. He squeezed her right hand so tightly that it was the color of his eyes. "Tenten!!" he hollered to let her know he was there.

"Neji..." Tenten mumbled quietly. "It...hurts..." With this, Tenten fell over onto her sleeping bag, into another sleep. Actually, Neji couldn't tell if it was sleep...or unconciousness.

"TENTEN!!!" he hollered, hugging her and shaking her fiercely as his embrace was tightly locked. He gently pulled away and swiftly yet carefully wiped the blood away with the back of his palm...and that's when he noticed it...

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The second his pearl orbs led to his teammate's pale, blooded left wrist, he gazed with such intensity and hatred at the small black marking implanted on her wrist. Carrying his teammate's unconscious body to her sleeping bag, Neji gently placed her inside the covers and slid into his own sleeping bag, all focus on the mark on his teammate's wrist. "That is...that's..." the Hyuuga mumbled in concern. "Th-that's some kind of kanji..." the Hyuuga thought as he drifted into sleep, his hand squeezing his teammate's left wrist until both awoke.

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When morning arose, the Hyuuga immediately sprung up out of his sleeping bag to check on Tenten. Noticing her to be sleeping soundly, Neji smiled a smile of relief to notice her condition. Carefully leaning over her sleeping bag and gently shaking her back and forth, the Hyuuga soothingly whispered, "Oi, Tenten? Wake up, are you all right?"

Arising from her sleeping bag, the weapons mistress stretched slightly and looked into her teammate's eyes. "Neji...my wrist hurts..."

Neji frowned and looked towards the sky as if the demon was there. "So, you're not feeling much better?" Tenten shook her head no.

"Tenten, is there anything I can do to help?" Tenten shook her head no again.

"There isn't much you can do, Neji. I don't believe that you can do anything at all for me..." Neji looked hurt at this comment.

Tenten looked ready to cry from how much it hurt; Neji could see that this was the reason that her eyes were squeezed closed and she was biting her lip.

"Tenten, you know you can cry, right...?" Neji asked her.

Tenten uttered, "No!! I won't cry!! I...I can't cry!! It's only a little bite, correct? It'll go away within a while..."

This was the perfect moment for Neji to recall the words "Don't think you'll get away without side effects..."...

Neji store, conernedly and with guilt at letting this happen, at Tenten. Something was definitely wrong. Yeah, like it was a minor wound.

"I wish Sakura or Tsunade-sama were here..." Tenten complained. Neji felt guilty again that he couldn't do anything for his teammate.

"T-Tenten, I think that you..." Neji started.

"Huh? Think that what?"

"..." Neji didn't know how he should put this. How could he tell her that the wound was anything but unimportant?

Leaving a confused, worrying, and unhappy Hyuuga Neji, Tenten got on her feet. "Come on, Neji," she mumbled. "We're going home."

Neji nodded as he and his teammate whizzed through the trees; Tenten whimpering slightly. Neji could her her weep.

His attention was put on his teammate when she suddenly announced, "I feel drowsy, Neji..."

Neji gasped and kept a close eye on his teammate as he glanced at her wrist. He noticed a black imprint on it, and squeezed his hand into a fist. However, he didn't know what to think when the mark started glowing a bright red.

"It can't be..." the Hyuuga snapped under his breath as he chased after his teammate. "She'd better be okay..."

As the Hyuuga's mind drifted to the endless possibilities on what could happen to Tenten, he clenched a fist silently. On his life, he swore. "Whoever you are, you who bit my teammate, I will kill you. I swear to you, on my life, that the next time I see you, you will die!!"

His solemn swear was interrupted by the sound of his teammate's whisper. "Good night, Neji..."

And with that, she began her fall to the ground. The side effects had begun.

"Tenten!!" Neji immediately called her name and caught her before she could hit the ground, hopping towards the ground.

The person that he was greeted by, however, was anything but helpful.

"Why, hello!! It's you two again!! And, oh! Look who's sleeping!" the figure that had bitten Tenten smirked.

The Hyuuga's face turned into a scowl bent entirely on retaliation. What would happen to his teammate? Would this marking on her wrist take over, like the Uchiha's did at first? Would worst actually come to worst?

"YOU'D BETTER NOT HURT HER!!" Neji hollered, hugging his teammate.

"I cannot make any promises."

And with this, Neji could have sworn his heart disappeared.

"I'll just be taking her now..." the figure mumbled as it held a kunai against Neji's neck. "Give her to me, unless you have a DEATH wish!!"

Neji wasn't going to give his teammate to the likes of...this figure. "Kill me then."

"Very well then..." The figure gently scraped the kunai across Neji's neck, leaving slight blood driplets dropping onto his robes. Whilst the blood was dripping, the figure grabbed Tenten and flitted off. Not before Neji noticed the kanji on Tenten's wrist read. Blood...

"COME BACK HERE!!" Neji hollered, chasing the figure and his teammate.

But the two were too far off into the distance to ever hear a slight audible sound from Neji.

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TBC.

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