Seven - Heaven - Tenten

Trapped by both an immobilization jutsu and a muscular arm across her collarbone, she glared at the man standing in front of her - an accomplice to the one holding her in place. A super-keen kunai pressed lightly against her throat, the slightest pressure drawing a thin trickle of blood. All Tenten had done was come early for Team Gai's scheduled training; she was beginning to regret that decision.

"I'll ask again," the man behind her growled, his breath tickling her ear. "Where is Neji Hyūga?" Tenten clamped her mouth shut, determined not to tell. After several seconds of silence, the man looked to his accomplice and nodded.

Smacking a fist into the opposite palm, the tall, burly intruder started forward, a nasty gleam in his eyes. "Heh heh. You're going to wish you'd talked, girl. Now we'll just have to beat an answer out of you."

Tenten began trying to break free of the immobilization jutsu - whatever these men wanted with Neji, it wasn't likely to be good. If she could get loose, she'd have to take out the one behind her first, then get him between herself and the other . . . . Things did not look good.

Just as the burly intruder drew back his arm for the first blow, a green blur hurtled out of nowhere, striking him from the side and knocking him to the ground. The man holding Tenten shuddered, giving a pained grunt, before dropping limply to the grass. The jutsu dissolved, freeing her - looking over her shoulder, she saw Neji warily approaching his target, alert for signs of retaliation. Lee stood over the other man, almost daring him to get up again.

"Thanks, guys," Tenten said, hiding her disappointment - she'd wanted to pound the two herself.

"I may have hit him harder than I intended," Neji said, his voice a monotone. He was crouched beside the intruder, two fingers at the other man's throat, checking for a pulse. Looking up at Tenten, he stiffened.

She frowned. "What?" Feeling a stinging sensation on her neck, she reached up, touching the spot. Her fingers came away covered in blood - much more than there should have been. S***, the cut from earlier. The world began to rock, prompting her to sink to the ground, reaching back up to press down on the cut. She was still pressing when everything went black.

-----

It was so bright - brighter than a candle flame, brighter than snow on a sunny day, brighter than the sun itself. Some strange part of Tenten's mind told her that she should be squinting at the light all around her, yet she was able to look at it comfortably. Pearly mist swirled around her, augmenting the brightness. Either it was moving past her, or she was floating past it; she didn't care. All she knew was that she had to follow it.

Abruptly, out of the mist rose a shining golden gate, guarded by a dark shadowy being. Pausing only for an instant, Tenten moved toward it. "Hello?"

The being turned . . . and she froze. It was the man who Neji had killed on the training field. For him to be here, in the same place she was . . . implied she was dead too.

"They won't let me in," the man said, leering at her. "They say I've done too many bad things." Slowly, he drew a kunai from his belt as he spoke. "If I can't get in anyway . . . what's one more bad thing going to hurt?"

Lunging forward, he stabbed down at Tenten, who dodged at the last minute. The kunai stabbed into the whiteness underneath her feet, opening up a dark hole. The whiteness continued to crumble, the hole expanding. Her attacker scrambled back, but Tenten wasn't quick enough. Plunging down into the darkness, she watched the whiteness disappear . . . .

-----

A machine next to the bed beeped in sync with each beat of her heart - she was in the hospital. Neji and Lee were asleep on the two visitors' chairs, she noted absently. Raising a hand to her neck, Tenten gingerly touched the bandage there, staring up at the ceiling.

The white walls seemed off-white now, in comparison. She'd seen the gates of Heaven . . . and she'd come back home.