A/N: I'M SO SORRY! I haven't posted in a while! School has been really overwhelming these past couple of weeks. So here's the newest chapter. Its sort of uneventful but I needed an intro chapter to whats going to happen next. And I also felt guilty about not posting for a while...heh heh. Without further adieu, Here it is!
After getting about an hour and a half of sleep Tenten was roused by her somewhat agitated parents. She blinked her crusty eyes until the face of her mom went into focus.
"Tenten, someone is here to see you."
Tenten could hear the urgency in her mother's voice and shook off her sleep and walked downstairs, her parents in tow.
God, I hope its not Neji.
She thought as she descended the creaking wooden stairs. But standing in the doorway was the exact opposite of Neji, it was Lee.
"Lee? What the hell are you doing here? Its 3 AM!" asked Tenten stepping outside and closing the door behind her.
"Tenten, I know it is early but we have been summoned."Said Lee.
"What do you mean 'summoned'?" asked Tenten wrapping her bathrobe around her more snuggly. The early morning chill was starting to seep through it.
"I mean we have a mission. The hokage has sent for us." Said Lee, jerking his head towards the Hokage's office.
"Ok. I'll be right down." Said Tenten nodding her head firmly.
As she gathered her things in a hurry she tried to tame the growing anticipation in her stomach. Why would the hokage send for them at such an hour? It had to be very serious, she knew that, but what could Tsunade possibly have in mind? Tenten shrugged and slipped her backpack over her shoulders. She put on the bravest face she could muster, hugged her parents goodbye, and then exited out her front door where Lee was waiting.
"Ready." She squeaked.
"Hm." He nodded.
As they walked through the desolate streets of Konoha she listened. The air around her was humming. A sign that something was about to happen. The air always buzzed before a life changing moment. It was too quiet and then BAM! Something would come along and disperse the silence. Tenten blew her bangs out of her face and looked over at Lee.
He was unlike his usual self, happy and energetic. Now a cloud of seriousness surrounded him, and in it lie duty and focus. His eyes were staring straight ahead and he held his head high. She looked at his hands, they were balled up into fists. Tenten sighed, he did look like a man with a purpose.
She then studied her own body language. Her hands were nervously twittering at her chest, resembling a Hinata move. She kept her eyes on her own feet and nothing else and she seemed to shrug inwardly.
Tenten shook these thoughts of low self esteem away by focusing on her feet.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
She thought to herself. She did this for a while, listening to the gravel crunch under her feet. She practically collided with Lee when he made an abrupt stop.
Tenten looked up to see the famous entrance to the Hyuga compound. The anxiety she had just managed to tame flared up inside again, but with more power.
"Lee, what are we doing here?" she hissed. Lee stared at her blankly.
"To get Neji, of course." He said returning his gaze to the door. He brought a bandaged knuckle to it and wrapped three precise times. They echoed loud and reverberated against Tenten's
inner ear. Then she heard the sound of soft footsteps and then the creaking of hinges, Tenten looked up.
It was Hiashi.
"What do you want?" he hissed.
"We have come to get Neji." Said Lee, blatantly.
"Well, you can't have him. He's sick." Said Hiashi, staring down the two teammates.
"But it is of the utmost importance, sir. Neji must come with us." Persisted Lee.
"He's too sick to move. Now leave." Said Hiashi, losing his mien of niceness. He turned to shut the door but another hand stopped it.
"Nonsense Hiashi-sama. I am fine." Said a voice from behind him. Hiashi spun around to find his nephew already dressed and ready to go. Tenten snuck a peak at him.
"Neji, you have pneumonia! You can't leave!" snarled Hiashi.
"I am fine. Just let me do my duty." Said Neji.
"No." said Hiashi with finality. Neji pushed past his uncle and stepped behind Lee.
"I will be back." Neji said, sort of smiling. Hiashi just simmered. He turned and slammed the door behind him.
"Now that we have everyone, we should go to the Hokage." Said Lee turning in the direction of the Hokage's office.
"I agree." Said Neji following close behind Lee. Tenten was the only one who hung back.
Her feet wouldn't move. He limbs were frozen in place. She couldn't even figure out why she just froze up but she guessed it was a combination of fear of the mission and fear of Neji. Her inner self screamed to move but she ignored it. A cold hand on her shoulder broke her from the trance. Opaque eyes with staring concernedly down at her.
"Is everything ok?" he asked softly.
"Mhm." Tenten muttered closing her eyes and willing herself to walk forward leaving a somewhat confused but not entirely fooled Neji.
He did not walk ahead of her this time which made her feel more self conscious. Tenten could feel his eyes glued to her back and could hear the closeness of his step. So she sped up. But as she did that he also sped up. It was like a little game.
It came to an end as they reached the looming Hokage's office, where surely they would finally know what they've been craving to know.
They could hear angry whispers as they got closer and closer to the big busted kunoichi's office. They abruptly stopped as Lee pushed the door open.
"Ah, yes. Good you're here." Said the big busted Hokage sitting on top of her desk. Tenten watched as Jiraiya slowly slipped out the window. She couldn't help wonder what they had been arguing about.
"Now, This is a very important mission I am assigning to you. It's an A rank mission." She said capturing the little focus the team had.
"I did send another team before you, but I received a distress call," she pinched her sinuses, "And I needed another team, short notice. So you guys were the only ones available not on other missions." She said. They teammates nodded. She released her sinuses and looked them all fiercely in the eye.
"This mission can't be failed. You're going to have to risk your lives and push the limit. I don't need any babies."
A/N: Review please. :)
