A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!
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Chapter 2: Endurance
Neji suddenly stopped, keeping his balance on the large tree branch. He stuck his arm out to the side, indicating for Tenten and Naruto to stop. Tenten stopped right behind his extended arm and asked, "Why are we…"
But before she could finished her thought, Neji forcefully put his hand over her mouth. She said in a muffled voice, "Neji…wh-what are you?"
Neji shushed her and Tenten understood she was to be quiet. He lowered his hand from her mouth, allowing Tenten to gasp for air. "We're 50 yard away from the enemy's lair…all we have to do is ambush them quietly…and we should be able to…" Neji whispered, but his thoughts were cut off.
A blonde boy rushed past Neji and Tenten in a blur shouting, "SO THIS IS THE ENEMY'S HIDEOUT, EH? WELL WE'LL HAVE YOU BAD GUYS KNOW, WE ARE AT THE TOP OF OUR GAME TODAY AND WE ARE GONNA KICK BUTT!"
Tenten slapped her forehead, embarassed at how little Naruto has learned since he was a Genin. Neji's veins were throbbing in irritation, that dobe, hasn't he learned anything these past 18 years?
Neji started sprinting and called back to Tenten, "New battle plan! We have to attack with full force now that we are exposed to the enemy!"
Tenten nodded, a grin finding it's way on her face. She quickened her pace, making it almost impossible to see her with the naked eye.
They reached the entrance of the Sound Village, and there in plain sight was Keiko and her captor, Aoi Rokusho. Keiko was bound up in a thick rope, a piece of tape over her mouth.
Neji scowled, as Naruto yelled his signature move, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" About 100 blonde haired, blue eyed clones popped out of puffs of smoke.
Tenten smirked, good thing Naruto's improved at SOMETHING.
Aoi Rukusho quickly jumped high into the air and opened a large umbrella, a perpetual smirk on his lips. Naruto's eyes widened, he suddenly remembered who this was…that umbrella, oh no!
About 3,000 thin needles quickly flew at Naruto, but Naruto was expecting this. He quickly dodged all of them and warned his comrades, "Neji! Tenten! Look out, those needles are dipped in poison!"
Tenten smirked, "Weapon user, eh? This shouldn't be too hard."
Neji warned her quickly, "Tenten, don't overestimate yoursel…" bur before Neji had a chance to completely warn her, she took off the ground and started drawing weapons from a large scroll.
Neji sighed, look out Tenten.
She yelled, "Soshoyru (Rising Twin Dragons)!"
Instantly, two large dragons of smoke appeared out of Tenten's large scroll and turned into smaller scrolls. Tenten leaped up and twirled a few times, getting fancy. She drew several weapons and a time hurled all of them at him, controlling them with chakra strings at the tips of her fingers.
Aoi opened his umbrella and the weapons couldn't get past it, Tenten watched in awe. So the umbrella is used as a shield too…
"AHHHHH!" Tenten heard Naruto yell in pain, and she turned her attention in his direction. She saw the fox boy lying on the ground, doubled over in pain. He was clutching his stomach, and his face was covered in blood. Sheezus, what happened to you Naruto?
"Naruto! Did you get poisoned?" Tenten called to make sure her comrade didn't need immediate medical attention.
Naruto was too pained to talk, so Neji explained for him, "No. He just got kicked and stepped on."
"Oh…" Tenten thought. For Naruto's face to be that bloody, Aoi must be seriously strong.
Everyone's attention was turned to Naruto, so the Hyuuga prodigy took this opportunity to try to save Keiko. He swiftly rushed in her direction, but Aoi saw this movement out of the corner of his eye. He smirked, "Oh no you don't!"
A thousand needles, with purple poison at the end of each point, were hurled at Neji. Neji froze, he couldn't dodge them, there was no way. The needles were coming at all different angles.
Tenten's heart almost stopped at the sight. "NEJI!" she screamed.
She couldn't just watch her lover be poisoned to death, and she wouldn't just stand around like…like some useless kunoichi!
She rushed to Neji from behind and wrapped her arms around him. They both ended up skidding on their knees, but Tenten received all the shots. She screamed in pain. Neji blinked a few times, did…did a kunoichi just save me?
He stood up and watched Tenten as she limply fell flat on her face, not able to get up. Her whole back side was covered in needles, and Neji could see the blood leaking out from her mouth. Did she…just risk her life…for me…?
And image shot through Neji's head. He saw the faint face of his dad saying, "Son. Risk your life for the people you love. The rewards will be greater than you think."
Neji clenched his fists, no one hurts Tenten. He charged at Aoi with all his might and 64 palmed him to the ground. Aoi, caught by surprised, looked at the boy that was now ontop of him. Without even giving Aoi a chance to say a few last words, he stuck a kunai in his throat. Honestly, Neji could be pretty merciless at times, especially when someone hurt Tenten.
You could hear a faint gasp for air as Neji pierced his flesh. Aoi died with his eyes open, but Neji kindly closed them for him.
He walked over to Keiko and untied her, he laid his hand on her shoulder, but quickly felt something odd. "Byakugan!" Neji breathed forcefully. He squinted his eyes and intensely looked at the girl's chakra system.
Neji cursed colorfully, "A clone."
He stabbed the girl with a kunai and she dissappeared in a puff of smoke. Apparently, Aoi Rokusho had the ability to create "shadow clones" of other people, which is a difficuilt technique.
Neji clenched his fists as he looked back at Naruto, lying limply on the ground, face still gushing with blood, and then at Tenten, covered in poison needles and blood leaking out of her mouth.
Suddenly he heared a semi-high voice yell, "Neji-san!"
Neji turned to looked at where the voice came from, it was Lee and Gai Sensei. They were hopping along tree branches frantically, trying to reach Neji and his comrades. They landed at the entrance to the Sound Village and Gai froze, Lee gasped. Lee couldn't rip his eyes off Tenten's body.
He stammered nervously, "Is she…"
Neji cut him off, "No, she's not dead…yet…"
There was a long pause of silence and Gai Sensei yelled at the two angrily, "Well don't just stand there! We have to get those two to the hospital immediately!"
Neji and Lee nodded, and said in unison, "Hai!"
Neji picked Tenten up, his arms under her knees and neck. He took a glimpse at her face and winced. Her face was deathly pale. She almost looks like she's…no. She's not dead. She can't die. I've already lost my parents, I can't lose Tenten too.
Neji started sprinting ahead of Gai Sensei and Lee who were trying to handle Naruto's body. Neji didn't have time to wait for Naruto, he had to get Tenten safely to the hospital.
Lee and Gai Sensei yelled at him from behind, "NEJI! WAIT UP!"
But after several failed attempts of yelling, Gai Sensei shushed Lee saying, "We shouldn't stop Neji. We should quicken our pace too. We should double our pace!"
Lee nodded, inspirational tears rolling from his eyes, "Let's triple it, Gai Sensei!"
Gai Sensei pondered this offer carefully and exclaimed, "I have come to a decision, we shall quicken our pace by 4 times!"
Naruto breathed weakly, "Will you two shut up?"
Lee gasped, "Do not tell Gai Sensei to be quiet! His words are full of wisdom and we should follow them. Do you have a problem with going 4 times faster to save your life?"
A slight smirk passed Naruto's face, "Yeah, it's impossible."
Lee mulled over these words in his head and told his instructor, "Gai Sensei, Naruto has a point! That's why I said we should only go triple our normal rate!"
Naruto smirked again, eyes still closed, "Fuzzy brows, you haven't changed a bit."
Neji looked down at Tenten's troubled face, judging by her face, she only had a day left to live if they didn't extract the poison from her body. Neji gritted his teeth and moved his legs even quicker in anger.
Tenten's face twitched, the poison was causing her to have nightmares.
"Okaasan…Otousan…?" Tenten cried. She was in an endless black space that she could not escape. No one was with her, nothing was with her. It was just…black.
She suddenly saw the image of her mother, she screamed, "Okaasan!"
Her mother waved goodbye, and was engulfed in flames. She disappeared.
An image of her father came clear to her right after her mother faded away. Tenten screamed, "Otousan!"
But right as those words came out of her mouth, her dad started fading away in flames. A sad look was on his face, it seemed to say, 'Why didn't you save us? Why are you so weak?'
Tenten cried loudly, "Gomensai! Give me a second chance! I promise I'll train harder!"
She suddenly saw an image of Neji. She saw the scene that had occurred a few years ago. Neji ran into the burning building, and brought Tenten out, her parents were already laying on the floor, dead. The flaming building crumbled ontop of Tenten's parents.
Neji turned and looked straight at her, "Why didn't you save them? If you were stronger they wouldn't be dead."
Tenten cried in her hands and said to no one in particular, "Give me a second chance…I'll train harder…"
Tenten suddenly saw a patch of the black space break off, revealing a clean white spot. Another patch broke off, and another, and another. Pretty soon, Tenten was kneeling in an empty white space. Somehow she felt better.
Tenten opened her eyes and saw Sakura removing a bubble containing poison from her body. I'm in the hospital…Sakura's treating me…wh-what happened…
Tenten suddenly remembered the whole scene. She had shielded Neji with her own body and had gotten terribly poisoned. She looked at her arms, legs, and body. No needles…just several holes.
She looked up at Sakura weakly and said, "Where's…Neji…?"
Sakura jumped a bit, "Oh, Tenten! I thought you were still resting! Neji-san is at his house, resting…"
Tenten seemed a little disappointed, Neji didn't even wait for me.
Sakura continued, "He stayed here with you for a very long time. I finally told him he should go home and rest up, and he hesitantly walked home."
Tenten smiled a bit, how could I doubt Neji like that?
She asked weakly, "So…am I all better?"
Sakura seemed excited at the question and smiled broadly, "For the most part, yes…"
Tenten moaned, please don't tell me I have to rest here for another week, please please please. I've had enough of this place.
Sakura continued, "but we think you just need to relax your muscles."
Sakura extended her hand and gave her a bright pink piece of paper that looked like either a coupon or a ticket of some sort.
Tenten blinked a few times in confusion, "Uh…what's this for?" she asked, taking the card out of Sakura's hand.
"It's a ticket signed by the medical staff that allows you one free visit to the bath house. Now you can relax in the bath house all you want today and that'll help your muscles heal faster!" Sakura said, a huge smile still plastered on her face.
Tenten laughed hesitantly, "Sakura…it's ok…I…"
Sakura shoved the card in her hand and pushed Tenten out the door saying, "Go go go! No time to waste!"
"But…"
"GO!" Sakura yelled as she closed the door and forced Tenten out of the hospital.
Sakura snickered to herself, "Part 2 of my plan complete!"
Tenten walked down the hallway, confused at Sakura's actions. She muttered to herself as she walked down the dark hallway, "My legs…so sore…"
As she walked out the front entrance, many people looked at her with a funny expression. Tenten bit back the urge to yell 'Haven't you ever seen a kunoichi in the hospital?'
Tenten walked to the bathhouse, looking at the bright sky on the way. The sky was a turquoise blue with white puffs of clouds floating freely. No doubt Shikamaru would be envious of the clouds on a day like this.
Tenten quickly recognized the sign to the bathhouse and cautiously walked in. She had only been here once when she was young, and she hadn't had such a good experience…
FLASHBACK
A 13-year-old Tenten stripped off her clothes and walked into the boiling water. She let out a heavy sigh at the comfort the warm water brought. She closed her eyes and let the warm water do it's job.
Suddenlt she felt a pinch on her side and a deep voice say, "Hey beautiful."
She opened her eyes only to find a perverted 30-year-old grinning toothily at her. She screamed and slapped him hard across the face, practically knocking him out. She ran out of the bathhouse with just a white towel on, carrying her clothes in one hand. That was the last time she ever wanted to visit the bathhouse again.
END OF FLASHBACK
But today she wasn't so lucky, she was pretty much being forced to take a bath there. Why can't they just make a boy's room and a girl's room? Then us girls wouldn't have to worry about 30-year-old perverts.
Tenten handed her bright pink ticket to the lady at the main entrance. The lady smiled brightly at her and handed her a small white towel, "Enjoy your stay!"
Tenten took the towel and quickly walked into the "bath" room. As soon as she opened the door, steam came rushing into her face. She squinted her eyes and checked if anyone was in the room…no one was there…no perverted men…
Tenten let out a loud sigh of relief. She carefully stripped off her clothing and removed the rubberbands that kept her hair up. Tenten's silky chocolate hair came tumbling down to her waist. She dipped her slender foot in the water to test the temperature, aw, nice and warm.
She carefully dropped the rest of her body in the hot water and closed her eyes again, forgetting all about her worries.
She felt a few sharp pains from time to time from the holes in her skin. She cursed whenever she felt pain.
She heard a man's voice suddenly say, "Tenten?"
Tenten almost yelped when she heard the man's voice. She looked around to see who had said it. To her surprise…it was Neji.
"Neji?" Tenten asked.
Neji nodded and walked closer to her, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"What are you doing here…" Tenten wondered out loud.
"Sakura gave me a pink ticket here…she said I needed to rest my muscles here or something…" Neji explained.
"Sakura!" Tenten hissed. That little devil!
Neji was about to take off his towel and get in the water with her. Tenten blushed and looked away. She heard Neji smirk, "I don't see the big deal. I sleep with you every night, and you watch me change every morning."
This remark made Tenten blush even redder, "Yeah…well…"
Her eyes suddenly widened as she felt Neji's arm wrap around her naked waist. She looked over at the Hyuuga, who was now sitting in the neck-high water with her.
"Tenten…" he breathed. He leaned in closer to her.
She didn't know how to react, was Neji going to make a move?
She stammered, "Uh…"
When Neji's face was only a few inches away from hers, she felt his hand squeeze her stomach suddenly.
Tenten let out a yelp and twitched in the water. Neji grinned, "Is Tenten ticklish?"
Tenten tried moving away from him but he grabbed her and started tickling her repeatedly. Tenten gasped for air, "Stop…Neji…Stop…tickling…stop…"
She thrashed in the water, unable to release herself from his grip. She kicked him hard in the stomach and he let go of her. Tenten tackled him into the water. They both were now completely submerged under water and Tenten had a firm hold on Neji. Neji felt her lips meet his and they stayed in the water this way for quite some time.
The lady from the front came into the "bath" room and asked, "Do you guys need anything…" but she stopped. She looked at the water with no one in it. She looked worried and ran out to get the manager, incase Neji and Tenten had drowned or something.
Right after the door closed behind her, Neji and Tenten resurfaced and gasped for air. Neji was still holding onto Tenten, their eyes met each others'. They both intensely stared at eachother, searching each others' eyes for something special.
Tenten suddenly realized the position she was in and blushed and pulled away from Neji. The Hyuuga, realizing what they had just done also blushed a little and turned away from her.
He cleared his throat and stammered, "Uh…that was…good…training for uh…holding our breath…under water…"
Tenten quickly agreed and said, "Uh yeah! Endurance…"
Neji smirked and said, "You need to work on it, you almost drowned that one time Gai Sensei was fighting Kisame."
Tenten threw a glare at him but then smirked, "Will you help me practice again?"
Neji grinned and pinned her down under water, repeating the same thing again. Tenten held tightly onto him and kissed him hungrily.
While they were underwater, the lady from the front and the manager opened the door and looked worriedly at the water, void of people. The manager shouted, "They DROWNED?? CALL 911!!!"
They both rushed out of the "bath" room and slammed the foor behind them.
A few seconds after the door was shut, Neji and Tenten resurfaced, a grin on both of their faces. Tenten smirked, "How about endurance training above water?"
Neji grinned and pulled her body close to his. Their warm lips met yet again and his tongue slowly entered her mouth. All of a sudden, the door to the "bath" room opened. The lady from the front, the manager, and the policeman were all dumbstruck when they saw Neji and Tenten making out in the water.
Neji let go of Tenten and they both looked at the people staring at them. Tenten turned bright red with embarassment.
The policeman rolled his eyes and yelled at the manager, "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!"
They slammed the door closed one last time and left Neji and Tenten alone again. She grinned at him.
Neji looked at her face and had to say, "No more."
Tenten whined, "Neji! You ALWAYS ruin the fun!"
Neji gave her a questioning look, "Name one time."
Tenten grinned widely, "Like the time me and Lee wanted to go eat ramen, but you insisted on training for 2 more hours!"
Neji closed his eyes in irritation. How did Tenten think of that so quickly?
The Hyuuga was too arrogant to admit he was overly responsible at times.
Tenten continued, "Or the time me and Lee wanted to enter the Jonin exams, but you forced us to wait another year because you thought we weren't ready!"
Neji quickly said, "Well you guys weren't!"
Tenten continued, "Or the time…" but Tenten couldn't finish. Neji caught her in another kissed and he broke away after a few seconds saying, "There, happy?" Tenten grinned and nodded.
A/N: Thanks to AngeChen, Matahari, LaZyFMAgirl, everyday-snowangel, dwerbiechan, Toko-Nozomi, Starsylvie, WhiteBird95, Liandrid313, and Jomai for reviewing chapter 1! I'll update as soon as I get 10 reviews for chapter 2! Thanks!
