Glass of Water
By: Panda-chan
-
Summary: Like a glass of water, everything spilled out into the open and dripped off the side where it was forever lost.
-Standard Disclaimer Applies-
-
For everything gained;
Something is lost
-8-
-
She increased her pace upon hearing the battle grow more and more violent with every kick and punch delivered by her comrade. As she sprinted from branch to branch, she grew sloppier; her feet slipping and sliding over the moist bark of the trees.
"Shit!" She cursed and held onto the branch, not wasting any time and letting herself fall onto the one right below her.
Her trained ears caught the clashing of knives easily. They were slowing, why? Tenten fought the urge to call out to her loyal teammate. If she did, who know's what kind of chaos that might elicit.
Growing frustrated by the way her feet would not cooperate, she leaped down the tree and proceeded by ground. Though it was harder; the ground uneven and riddled with potentially lethal setbacks, she deduced that it was the safest way... for now.
Her feet sunk into the muddled ground. She could hear her heart beat in her ears and her lungs gasp for air, all while concentrating on the acute sounds coming from just a few yards beyond her.
Come on, stay with me! She urged silently. Please... Don't die!!
Tenten broke through the greenery of the forest wall and searched for her teammate. The rain made everything difficult. All the figures out in the open field were distorted and hazy as they flashed at imperceivable paces from place to place.
But she couldn't miss him. The flash of green that leaped around a hooded man wielding a sickle. The man spun the sickle before jumping up and throwing it forward, avoiding several powerful kicks.
Tenten could feel dread leak into her stomach.
"LEE!" Lee had been struck. His body crashed to the ground and the sickles strong chain wrapped around his whole upper-body before inserting it's sharpened point into his shoulder... or was it his neck?
She could feel herself running to save him now. Ignoring all the other ninja that flickered their eyes to her, in their hands deadly weapons. She reached down and pulled out the sword strapped onto her waist, her eye's dark with unleashed fury.
"Bastard!" She shrieked as she swung her blade. The man blocked it easily with his metal-plated arm. He took out another blade from his back and countered hers again. She could faintly see the smirk hidden by the blood drizzling down his lip.
He was injured.
She gave him no sympathy and swung again, managing to slash his arm and leg. She could sense the other ninja behind her grow anxious at their leader's pained face. Tenten stopped for a second, her eyes widening at Lee's suddenly peaceful expression.
No... She felt her opponents sword cut into her ribcage and tear out her side. "Argh!" She clutched her bleeding stomach and leaped back, panting while her mind tried to register why the facial expression on his face looked so familiar...
Oh, please God no. Tenten let her hands dip into her kunai pouch and quickly open up a small bottle of clear liquid. She did a full circle, in that short time lapse, drenching her blade with the innocent-looking chemical and throwing the bottle to the ground.
She could feel several kunai's pierce her leg and arm, one even managing to knick her on the cheek. She struck the sword through the mans stomach and ripped it upward after a couple of missed shots. A small laugh of success rode up her throat when she tore the sword out and glanced at his unfocused eyes.
"Wha...?" The Sound Ninja inquired weakly before falling face-first into the wet ground.
"Oh, crap!" She was soon assaulted by several sloppily wielded swords. In order to finish up fast, she summoned a long metallic chain and strung some of the boisterous ninja together, making swift hand signs and crushing the unlucky ninjas caught in her trap to death.
She still managed to fail.
"Take this, bitch!" Tenten let out a strangled cry. She crunched her teeth together, making the warm, tangy and irony liquid inside her mouth pool only to be spat out when another sharp hit was aimed for her stomach.
She lost grip of her Katana. It hit the ground and she to her knee's. The pounding hail that was once dull in the background became clearer and louder. Tenten's weak, outstretched arm slid from under her and her cheek slapped onto the rough terrain.
No.. Lee, he's still injured. She thought hazily. I have to save him... where's Neji? Why—Why isn't he here? He said he would help after he took care of the Sound Ninja! She protested feebly.
As the small balls of hail hammered into her back, she could see that she had taken care of more than half of the Sound Ninja gathered in the plain. She was a bit smug. They were all Jounin level, and she had only barely gotten Jounin Ranked.
It was an accomplishment short-lived.
It had become hard to breath now. The sharp pangs of pain that came from her lower section had become so acute that they couldn't be ignored. Being a Ninja, she had a high pain tolerance. But this was too much... it hurt too much.
Someone came up to her, her eye's could only see up to his waist. He was wearing a long, ink-black cloak. An enemy. Right in front of her. While she lay on the water drenched ground. Unable to protect herself because her arms wouldn't respond and she could start to see the blood spread around body as it leaked out from within her.
"Hehe, not so tough now. Huh, bun-head?" He jeered. "Don't worry, you'll join your little Konoha friend soon enough."
But... no, this can't be happening...
"I'll put you out of your misery, hehe,"
But—Sakura! She's the Medic nin in our group... where is she? Saku... ra...
"After I have some fun with—what the hell?"
Sakura... Neji—Lee needs help... and—so do I... where are you... guys.. I-I—
She closed her eyes at the warm water that splattered onto her face and dripped down to her mouth.
Warm...?
Arms picked her up and all noises were distorted by the sharp tapping of the hail pounding onto her and another body.
"Sakura...! Sakura! Tenten needs immediate assistance!" A baritone voice called with an undercurrent of panic. "Sakura, dammit!"
"Wait, Lee—he! O-Oh..."
Where were they when we need them the most?
She felt hands inspect her and, for a split second, the pain of a needle stabbing into her arm. Tenten felt the morphine flow through her system and the pain dulled to a ignorable simmer. She felt someone roll her on her back and then a warm and fuzzy feeling filled her, which could only mean one thing.
Someone was healing her.
"She's—She's going to be alright!" Tenten heard a melodious voice cry. "She's lost a lot of blood, but her injuries aren't as grave as they look! Several kunai punctures... wounded in the ribcage by a sword... Several punctures by kunai on her arms and legs... and she probably has some broken ribs and internal bleeding..." Sakura concurred with simple touches and visual analysis. "I'll take care of the internal bleeding first!"
But what about Lee...? What's wrong with Lee?!
"And... Lee?" She heard the velvet voice of the man holding her close ask cautiously.
She heard the woman a few steps below her utter a pained, throaty sound. "He's... He's not going to make it... I'm—so sorry, Neji-san. He was your teammate after all..."
"... I see."
With the darkness of sleep slowly starting to consume Tenten, she managed to give a small prayer in his name. Lee was dead. And she wasn't there in time to save him; just fractions of seconds too late...
And he was upped Jonin just days before too...
.x.
Hmm, didn't like the way I ended it. Well, at least I managed to make it short. I got the idea from watching the movie, "Waterworld". Yeah, I get my inspiration from the oddest things... sorry if the prompt was a bit—off. But in my head this made sense!... Then again, I ain't the most sane woman out there, ehehe. Well just have to see how many of you out there got the point and thus prove we have the same mentality!
R&R! Give me some feedback and I give you the next chapters of Personal Assistant? and Criminal Intent! I've almost finished them! It's just that Spanish and the frigid Weather have me nearly dead.
A bit angst-dosed? I was hearing the bands "Staind" and some slow-paced "Slipknot" and "System of a Down" songs. Yup, full metal and rock fanatic here XD
Anything with guitar, I shall hear! Teehee.
Panda.
