Day 9
His knuckles were sore and bloody from the thousands of punches he'd dealt the wooden post before him. He brought his arms down by his sides, breathing heavily. His knees gave out on him, and he fell to the ground.
Tenten didn't bother to ask him if he was alright. Lee always overworked himself. She, on the other hand, had spent the past six hours cleaning her weapons more thoroughly than she ever had before. Their sensei was spending the day with Kakashi, and his students didn't object. The only time the three of them didn't think about the rather large elephant in the room was when they weren't with each other.
Gai clearly needed to get his mind on other things, and Lee and Tenten weren't going to prevent that. But the two students didn't have the same luxury. Kakashi wasn't linked to Neji in any way. All of their friends were also friends with Neji.
Lee and Tenten couldn't face them anyways. They all knew what had happened. They didn't want looks of pity or sympathy. It would just make the truth more real. They hid from their friends as much as possible, though they were both very much aware that that wasn't the right thing to do. Having a circle of support would help them more than having only each other.
"When is Team Kurenai supposed to return?" Lee asked, keeping his gaze on the chipped and crimson-tinted post.
Tenten didn't look at him. She merely continued to clean her shuriken, "Soon."
"How soon?"
"How the hell should I know? Damn it, Lee! Stop crying! You're acting like a four year old who lost her dolly." Tenten couldn't see the tears, but she knew he was crying by the way his shoulders shook.
"I am sorry, Tenten."
She sighed, "Don't apologize, Lee. I'm sorry for snapping. I'm just not feeling really...Chipper today."
"I understand. I hate being here while Team Kurenai is out there looking for our teammate. I am sure they will find him, but..."
"You feel useless."
"Yes."
"I get it." Tenten put away her weapon and rag and stood up. She knelt next to her teammate and leant against him, putting her head on his shoulder. "Want to spend the night at my place?"
"That would be nice." Lee accepted the invitation, stopping his tears for good.
"Remember the first time I invited you and Neji to my place?"
"Yes, I still do not know how you convinced him to come."
"Really? I thought I'd told you that already. I told him if he came I wouldn't tell you about his curse seal."
"You knew of it before he told us?"
"Yeah, I saw it on one of our missions. I asked him about it, he ignored me, so I talked to sensei about it. He told me everything."
"I do not understand. He did not want me to know, but he told us about it of his own free will. Why?"
"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess once he realized that we were all friends he figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if he told us. Or more precisely, you. He's always seen it as a weakness, and he wouldn't want his, as you call it, eternal rival, to know about it until he was sure you wouldn't think of it as a weakness too."
"I would never have thought it a weakness."
"Of course you don't now, but when we were first put on a team together..."
"None of us liked each other very much."
"Exactly." Tenten got up and held a hand out to her teammate, who took it graciously. The pair started walking in the direction of her apartment, "Remember how awkward our first sleepover was? I thought I would choke on the tenseness. It was an awful night."
"It wasn't that bad." Lee started, but the look of disbelief on Tenten's face made him grin sheepishly, "I suppose it was pretty terrible." He agreed.
"Neji spent the whole night up because you talked in your sleep, and I stayed up because I was afraid he would try to kill you. When you would ask questions I would answer you, and Neji told me not to encourage you. But I got mad, and I told him that if you wanted to know where the damn cookies are, I'm going to tell you where the damn cookies are."
"At least I do not talk in my sleep anymore."
"Um, yes, you do. It's just we don't say anything because we're used to it now. I don't think I ever told you this, but one night I heard Neji talking with you. To this day I'm not sure wether or not he was awake. But that's the night I found out he hates the colour orange."
"Because they remind him of pumpkins."
Tenten and Lee shared a smile at the memories. The three of them had done a lot of things together. They had worked together, fought each other, attempted to kill one another, had done stupid things together, had sleepovers together, had watched movies together, had eaten together, had done everything together.
It was like having the siblings none of them actually had.
OoOoO
The bed was far more comfortable than the padding in the room of seclusion. He stretched his aching limbs, glad to have free movement once more. Finally he awoke from a good night's rest.
He turned on his side and stared at the small wooden chest. It was empty, but something had once rested within it he was certain. Why else would it be there? His gaze drifted to the metal door.
An asylum. Of all places.
He pushed himself up into a seated position. His fingers worked on untangling his long hair, and afterwards tying it in a low ponytail. Somehow his elastic had stayed in place. Afterwards he rubbed his face with his hands, trying to get the blood flowing. It wasn't working. He knew he probably looked terrible, but he tried not to dwell on that thought.
He got up and began to pace the room, thinking. All he knew was that he was locked up in an asylum somewhere because somebody wanted revenge against his sensei.
There was nothing he could do. He sat back down on the bed and spent the next hour trying to break the handcuffs that were sealing his chakra. He was unsuccessful. He even attempted to break them by smacking them against the bed posts, but there wasn't even a dent. They were made of a very tough metal.
Maybe...
Neji had an idea. Maybe he couldn't hit with force, but the cuffs could. He was weak, but with a bit of planning he might be able to pull something off.
Remaining near the door, he listened for footsteps. Several times some drew near, but they went by without stopping. Only once did they halt in front of his door, and Neji took it as his time to put his plan into action.
As quietly as he could, he gathered the rest of his strength and chakra. Sending the chakra down to his feet, he jumped up and stuck his feet to the ceiling. He stayed crouched to keep from being seen and used one hand to keep his hair back. He was already exhausted, but he pushed himself. It would probably be his last shot at freedom until he was rescued by his team.
The card was passed over the machine and the door was opened. In the blink of an eye he had flipped down and had dealt the one who'd opened the door a hit. He smashed his jaw with the cuff on his wrist, and he heard a pop as it was dislocated. A cry rang in the hall.
They were two men, Neji assumed samurai. He dodged the second man's attacks and got him on his temple with the cuff. Luckily, he was an expert in taijutsu, or he would never have gotten out of there with such a low amount of energy. He bent down in a dodge and stole a kunai from the man's weapon pouch.
He whirled around and cut the first man's throat as he came up behind him. The second samurai pulled out his sword, Neji dropped his kunai to take the fallen samurai's sword to be on more equal grounds with his opponent.
"Matsu said you were going to be trouble. No wonder Ryo kept you."
They battled with weapons, but suddenly little dark spots started appearing in his sight. He stumbled and dropped the sword. The world began to spin around him, and he fell. He was dizzy, tired, and hungry.
The next several minutes were a blur. His senses were off, and he felt like the world was moving, but he just didn't know why.
Cold!
Was the first thing he thought as he landed in a large ceramic tub filled with freezing cold water. That brought him back to reality fast, and he looked around him. The samurai had brought him to a large room with several other tubs, all of them empty except for the one he was in.
Before he could become fully aware of his surroundings he was plunged back into the water. He attempted to struggle, but was too tired to do so. He accidentally tried to breathe in and ended up with a lungful of water. Coughing and spluttering, he was allowed to resurface. He took in as much oxygen as he could before once more being shoved in the water.
His fingers were numb, but he still clawed at the hand keeping him under water. His lungs were burning and aching and he needed air. After what felt like forever, the hand let him go.
He broke the surface and breathed heavily. His eyes found the samurai's grinning face. He didn't have the strength to glare. "What... What are you doing?" He said through clattering teeth. He was shivering from head to toe, and his blood felt frozen.
"You'll be meeting Takeo tomorrow, and Ryo wanted you clean." The man handed him a bottle, "Wash up and do it well, or else I'm going to do it for you. And I'm not a gentle man."
Neji flushed. Never had he before been so embarassed or ashamed. Having some stranger watch him as he cleansed himself was humiliating. Being treated like a child was worse.
For the first time since he got there he felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes.
AN: Hello. I felt sad writing this chapter. It's getting so angsty... Thank you Just Me for reviewing! It made my day!
So yeah, no pairings. I'm going to make Neji, Lee, and Tenten have more of a sibling friendship between them. I see Team Gai as a family and that's what I'm going to try and portray. Hope I get it right!
Thank you for reading!
-MewMew