All is Not Lost
Chapter 3
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Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Neji's eyes shot open. His mind was swimming as he began to focus on the unfamiliar ceiling.
'What happened?'
He slowly sat up, his whole body aching, and scanned the room. The room was sparse with only a dresser, a twin sized bed, and a chair that sat by an open window.
Neji had been resting on a small pull out cot. In the bed next to him lay a motionless Lee. Neji jumped up, ignoring his pounding headache, and checked his teammate for a pulse.
Neji relaxed, Lee was alive. His heartbeat was strong and his breathing was neither labored nor weak. All good signs.
But where was Tenten. He began making hand signs.
"Bakugan! Arrgh!" He put a hand to his head instantly deactivating his kekkei genkai, but that split second was more than enough.
In the room next door Neji 'saw' two people. One of whom he recognized as his female teammate, due to her chakra signature.
Hearing footsteps approach, Neji laid down and feigned sleep.
"The long hair should by fine after a couple of hours of rest. The mop-top however is suffering from several fractures and lacerations and will need a couple days to recover enough to travel."
The door swung open.
"Neji! Lee!" Tenten ran over to her teammates and began to shake them awake.
"Tenten! I'm awake! Enough already!" Neji yelled while holding his head, trying to stop the world from spinning.
"Geeze. What I said just went in one ear and out the other, huh?" Neji looked towards the owner of the voice.
It was a young woman, around 25, with long black and white striped hair. She was leaning against the frame of the doorway, arms folded over her chest, her sharp black eyes looked upon her new "house guests" with boredom and disinterest. When she locked eyes with Neji, he noticed a flash of surprised shock in her eyes. She instantly recovered and broke eye contact. She appeared to be contemplating something.
"YOUTH!" Both Neji and the woman's concentration was broken, as the now conscious Lee jumped out of bed, only to collapse again due to pain.
"There's pain killers on the dresser and crutches under the bed." The woman noted dryly. "I'll be in the kitchen down the hall preparing for dinner if you need anything." She turned and walked out of the room.
"Wait! Who are you?" Neji questioned as he stumble off the cot.
The woman made no response as she shut the door behind her.
The three shinobi looked at each other. "Well," Neji began as he settled on the edge of the bed while he carefully examined his freshly bandaged injuries. "Tenten, you seem to have been awake longer than the rest of us. Do you have any information on our current situation?"
"Um, yes. A little." Tenten stated as she helped Lee back onto the bed and went to get the medicine from the dresser. "The woman's name is Cyndra and we are currently in her house. She found us in the forest and brought us here to tend to our wounds. The house is right on the edge of the forest. The nearest village is more than a week away on foot. And at least five days if you use a horse, which she currently doesn't have available. She invited us to stay here for a couple of days as we recover." Her teammates nodded as she continued. "I sensed no ill will from her and she even left all our equipment with us. Nothing appears to have been tampered with." They nodded again as Neji collected and examined their equipment that was set next to the bed.
"Anything else?" Asked the pale eyed man.
"Ah...um...no..." Tenten glanced down, a slight blush on her cheeks. "I got a bit anxious when she told me you two were still unconscious." She admitted a bit ashamed of her unprofessional behavior.
Neji had to fight back a smirk. Things sure had changed so much since they were kids, and yet so many things were still the same.
It was decided early on, when they discovered how easily distracted Lee and their sensai could be, that rules would need to be established in order to keep focus. So when Lee and Tenten decided to start dating new rules were made.
Simply, they could be as lovey dovey as they want in their own time. During training they could still be lovey dovey, just not nauseatingly so (since Neji would be forced to stay in close proximity). But on missions they were nothing but teammates.
It was hard enough to keep one's emotions in check when your friends lives are on the line, let alone your significant other. Cool heads are what keep you and your comrades alive on the battlefield.
Now years later, that rule is still in effect for the now married couple. After all, if Neji couldn't be with his spouse during missions (she was a civilian) then neither could they. It may seem selfish, but it helped keep the tension down and even allowed Tenten and Lee a mental break from each other, something Tenten had secretly mentioned needing every once in a while.
Neji was brought out of his musing by his bowl-haired teammate who was once again on his feet (now with the support of the crutches).
"Worry not my lovely Tenten, we can go to our hostess now and get more information."
He then bounded out the door forgetting the about the pain he was in just moments before.
Tenten smiled fondly at the medicine bottle in her hand.
"Good stuff." She commented softly.
Neji gave a 'hn' in reply. They both knew it was their over exuberant teammate's personality and not the medicine that was the cause for this sudden 'recovery'.
A sudden crash grabbed their attention. Bolting from the room and down the hall, they found their bushy-browed teammate leaning on an over turned dinner table, covered in food.
Moments earlier.
Cyndra was coming out of the kitchen carrying the last platter of food for dinner.
She looked up in time to see her green-clad 'guest' rush towards her with a large sparkly grin.
'Isn't he supposed to be injured?'
A feel of dread washed over her. 'This will not end well.'
She was right.
As soon a he entered the dinning room, one of the crutches he was using snapped in half. Cyndra watch in horror as the male nin tumbled forward and onto the table covered in food. He tired to push himself back up, causing the table to topple over, spilling the food everywhere.
Back to present.
Tenten scrambling over to her husband, checking for new injuries.
Neji looked to Cyndra. She stood rigid holding a tray of food. Her eye twitching randomly.
The Hyuuga looked back to his teammates to find Lee apologizing to Tenten as she scolded him for making such a mess. Neji's sight was once again brought back to their two-tone hostess as she walked towards the married couple.
Her strides were quick and her eyes hard. She stopped at Lee's side just as he turned to apologize to her as well. But before he could utter a word, Cyndra swiftly kick the table out from under him. It landed back on all fours, as Lee crashed back to the floor.
"LEE!"
Neji moved protectively next to the couple. Tenten cradled her dazed husband in her lap, she glared up at Cyndra.
"That wasn't really necess-"
Cyndra slammed the large plate onto the table effectively cutting off the kunoichi.
"Let's get a few things straight." She turned and looked upon the shinobi with cold eyes. "I don't like you. Frankly, I don't like people in general. And I especially dislike ninjas." She eyes narrowed on them. "Damn you for using that smoke bomb. And damn my curiosity for needing to check it out." She practically growled the last part to herself before focusing on the three nin again.
"The only reason I didn't leave you three in the woods to die was because that would most likely bring your allies out here searching for your corpses. The last thing I want is a bunch of shinobi roaming my backyard." She motioned to the food on the table.
"Eat what you like. Stay out of the kitchen." She then motioned towards a large door on the other side of the room.
"That leads outside. Use it to get in and out. You may use this room and the rooms you awoke in. That's it." She glared at them. "Don't go roaming my house."
She spun around and disappeared deeper into the house. Leaving three shocked nin in her wake.
I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, especially the end.
I have chucks of this story already typed up, I just have to figure out how to fill in the blanks.
Let me know if you see any inconsistencies.
Criticism and ideas are welcome.
Thank you for reading.
