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piixiiestiix: I'm not working off any sort of time schedule. I don't wanna rush it. But I'm thinking maybe around fifteen chapters total. It's open to flexibility though.
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Nokito-chan: I bet you're a whiz at symbolism papers. Really, you've got that art down. :D I'm under the firm impression that sometimes words just get in the way. It's easier sometimes to write without them having to gush their feelings into words because then it makes everything seem hopelessly cheesy. Real life isn't like that. Shivers? Really? Sweet! :) Thanks always for the amazing review. :D
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- Cold Night -
Neji returned a little over an hour later, a set of foxes in his grip.
TenTen examined them with a keen eye.
When she was finished, she glanced at the taller shinobi, attempting to hide a smile.
"You don't hunt often, do you?"
Neji started at the insinuation, his eyes narrowing.
"Why do you say that?"
TenTen gestured to one of the foxes, running a finger down its belly.
"You cut too deep. Some of the intestines fell out. When you kill an animal, slit their throat. It's cleaner and nothing goes to waste then."
Neji pursed his mouth and withdrew his knife, holding it out to her insistently.
"You should skin them then, since I'm so incapable."
TenTen rolled her eyes, but smirked as she set to work.
Neji untied his ninjato from his back and set it against the wall, crouching to spark a fire.
"It must have been fairly difficult to find these. The rain washed all the tracks away," TenTen commented, swiftly freeing the fox of his fur.
Neji shrugged, focused on the smoke emerging from his small pile of twigs.
TenTen bit her lip, thinking.
"I could show you how to find them quicker without tracks, if you want," she offered casually.
Neji blinked at the fire, tempted to read her expression.
He kept his eyes forward, not registering the climbing flames in front of him.
Finally he murmured, "If we have time, perhaps."
TenTen let the subject drop.
—
Thoughtfully, TenTen examined the slowly healing scar from her poison assault.
The rough line was fading, rising only a little above the surface of her skin.
She'd recovered the majority of her strength also, which was part of the reason for the bath.
TenTen had successfully found and led them to a hot spring.
It was a relief to Ino and Shizune, who were so used to receiving baths every day. It was a welcome luxury for Neji and TenTen.
On the bank, already finished bathing, Shizune sat behind Ino, braiding her long blonde hair.
TenTen stayed in longer than necessary, waiting until her fingers were completely wrinkled before getting out and dressing.
"Sparrow, how far are we from meeting my father?" Ino called.
TenTen considered the question as she wound her wet hair back into their traditional buns.
"I'd say about a week and a half, if the weather cooperates," she ultimately answered, sliding her pins cautiously into her hair.
Ino seemed satisfied enough, wincing a little as Shizune tugged at her scalp.
"What will you and Hawk do after you've completed your mission?"
TenTen blinked, eyes downcast.
She couldn't inform Ino of her plans to eliminate Neji, because the blonde would not comprehend the hostility. She was a town girl, and she would never understand the demands of shinobi life.
So she said, partly truthful, "We will go our separate ways and return to our shinobi houses."
Ino pondered on this while TenTen rearranged her gear.
"I'll be right back," TenTen said to her charges. "I'm just going to go find Hawk."
Ino and Shizune waved her on, talking away.
TenTen nimbly climbed up into a pine, thankful that the trees were thick enough to where she could leap.
Neji had bathed several yards downstream from the place where TenTen, Ino, and Shizune had been.
Slightly tentative, TenTen approached the area, hoping he was dry and dressed by now.
She needn't have worried; Neji was standing on a higher tree branch, a yard or two from TenTen.
He appeared to be studying something.
Neji did not look at her when TenTen alighted on the branch next to him.
"What is it?" she prompted, slightly concerned that an enemy was ahead.
Neji pointed through the branches and TenTen followed the line of his finger.
Her eyes widened.
"Is that—?"
"Yes."
TenTen peered a little closer, brown eyes taking in as much as possible.
"That's snow. It's March, why is there snow—?"
Neji leaned against the trunk of the tree and shook his head.
"There's snow because this is the mountain pass we're supposed to take. We must have reached the top quicker than we thought."
TenTen sighed.
"It's going to be awfully cold tonight," she muttered.
Neji nodded in agreement.
TenTen pursed her lips, searching for an out.
"Is there no other trail we can take?"
"There is, but they'll add an additional two weeks to our journey."
TenTen remembered the time frame she'd given to Ino, somewhat regretful.
She clenched her teeth.
"I suppose that this is our only choice, then," she said liltingly.
"Unfortunately," Neji agreed.
—
TenTen bit back a shiver, silently cursing the cold air of the mountain.(1)
The fire that Neji had built up was doing little to warm her person, despite her proximity to it.
Wind hailed across the side of the mountain, aggressively the four humans.
TenTen gritted her teeth.
They had built the fire in the middle of the mountain pass, away from the trees that could provide some wind cover.
They were in the open, freezing to death.
TenTen sent an eye to see how Ino and Shizune were doing in the small shelter she and Neji had constructed for them. Girl and nursemaid huddled close together, their heads ducked against the wind.
TenTen glanced at Neji to see how he was faring.
He was also sitting close to the fire, jaw clenched, skin paler than usual.
Above, the moon cast alien shapes on the pass. The snow looked blue and sparkly.
For dinner, the four ate the leftovers of the foxes that Neji had caught that morning, saving only a few strips for tomorrow.
TenTen figured she could do some fishing before they started into the pass, back at the stream where they'd bathed.
As the moon arced across the dark sky, Ino and Shizune fell asleep in their small makeshift shelter.
TenTen and Neji looked at each other, trying to read the other's expression in the darkness.
Neji swallowed and took the initiative.
"We'll both be warmer if we pool our body heat," he murmured, barely audible over the wind.
TenTen chewed on the inside of her cheek.
"I suppose it would be improper for you to do it with Ino or Shizune," TenTen muttered fruitlessly.
Neji didn't answer.
After a long silence of TenTen still deliberating, Neji said firmly, "It's either this, or hypothermia."
TenTen rolled her eyes and stood, going over to where Neji had laid his bedroll beside the fire.
It was close quarters with both of them inside the bedroll.
Neji and TenTen tried desperately to refrain from touching each other, though it was nearly impossible.
After a while, the stiffness in TenTen's cold limbs softened, warming up slowly.
She fell asleep with her hands clenched firmly at her sides.
—
Upon awakening the next morning, TenTen realized her posture had slackened considerably during the night.
Her arms were slung across Neji's neck, her face pressed close to his chest. The other parts of her were also touching Neji, a jumble of legs and torso.
TenTen felt the added pressure of Neji's strong arms encircling her waist, his chin level with her forehead.
TenTen pressed her lips together, slightly panicky.
She moved in tiny increments, attempting to extricate herself from her enemy.
Neji surprised her when he spoke, his voice reverberating through her.
"You talk in your sleep," he informed quietly.
TenTen froze, anxiously trying to view his face.
"What did I say?" She was embarrassed to hear a note of desperation in her voice.
TenTen couldn't see it, but Neji released a smile.
"You said that you were sorry. . . and that you weren't a good person. And then you mumbled a few things about how it wasn't fair, nothing was fair."
TenTen blushed, and the crimson that spread across her cheeks was dark against her pale skin.
"I'm sorry you had to listen to me," TenTen muttered, finally succeeding in getting a glimpse at Neji's face.
He looked amused.
"I don't mind," he confided. "It was intriguing."
He held TenTen's gaze for longer than necessary, slightly disappointed when she broke it to start removing herself from the bedroll.
TenTen's cheeks were still inflamed as she looked toward the mountain pass, still coated with snow.
I will conquer you today, she mentally told it.
The wind picked up, as if it was accepting her challenge.
(1) In Japan, the normal weather for the Kanto region in March is around forty or fifty degrees. However, in the mountains, the temperature naturally drops. The mountains that TenTen and Neji is fifteen degree weather with the snow and the height. So, it's pretty dang cold for March.
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