A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story.

Wow... I feel exhausted and the sad part is that it had nothing to do with school. I was just walking around my area handing out resumes, fixing up files and loaning a book to one of my friends... All before shaving my thick haired Border Collie (Inwardly curse thick fur) :) But I finished this chap quite easily. But man... I had to wait until twelve in the morning to get be able to post this chap?! Gr... at least I'm not that tired anyways...

Onwards to the chapter!

Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images

There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all

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Living Dead of the Night

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Chapter 9~ Onwards

"But don't wait too long."

The final words said by Yagana repeated for hours in Neji's head. He was lying on the bed, staring at the plain ceiling above him next to an unconscious Tenten as he thought of the Innkeeper's final words to him the evening before. It had been long ago when Neji gave up the sleep, though his body and mind lacked the energy for him to think. He shouldn't have had the nap the day before.

What did she mean? The woman had obviously referred to Ino and Shikamaru the previous evening… right? Don't wait for them too long to figure everything out? What would that mean anyways? He shook his head in denial. To him, Neji felt as if Yagana's message had a deeper meaning to it. Tenten mumbled something in her sleep, making Neji quickly assume that she was awake but sighed in relief when she snuggled deeper into the pillow.

She was cute; Neji had to give Tenten that. Just one innocent look from her chocolate coloured irises made Neji get all nervous and feverish. Was that how love felt like? Neji felt confused, groaning silently as he pulled off the bandana around his forehead, revealing the cursive green mark. The damn thing just got too annoying sometimes. He remembered when he forced Tenten to hold the gun to his head, ordering her to shoot him – and she declared that she would never shoot him… because he was her friend…

Tenten was crossing the same path that he had crossed many years ago, so she knew what it was like for him to be…

"Alone…" He whispered to himself out loud. It all dawned on him instantly; Neji was in love with this girl. The brave, innocent, star-gazing girl that he had to train – he fell in love with. It was as if the fate was against him, making him fall in love with her after everything they have been through. Tenten softly shivered and slowly shuffled her body closer to him, Neji stiffened nervously as her head curled on his chest and her arm wrapped around his figure. His heart pounded frantically, shivering to himself when her breathe tickled his skin. He raised his eyes and noticed the buns – those buns he had gotten so used to seeing, were threatening to come out into chocolate locks.

Something made his arm rise up to the closest bun, pulling the weak hair tie out and he let her dark hair form into smooth curls. The Hyuga didn't bother fighting a smile as he reached out for the other bun, letting it fall gently onto her shoulders. She wriggled closer to Neji, if it was even possible and her slumber deepened as she relaxed in Neji's hold.

Neji wrapped his arms around Tenten, as if he wanted to shield her from the harshness of reality. "Don't worry Tenten, we will save them together." He swore, gently pressing his lips on her head and went back to staring at the ceiling before complete darkness overtook him.

There was nothing worse than to not expect a high pitch scream in your ears. Well that was how poor Neji had felt as soon as he shut his eyes. He snapped opened his eyes in shock, jumping out of his skin and falling off the bed in response, which ended up as a huge thump.

"What?" Neji snapped, clearly annoyed at Tenten who was still trying to catch her breath for screaming on top of her lungs and making him fall off the bed. His back ached and he hit his head quite roughly.

"I was… I was…" Tenten was stammering, Neji hadn't ever seen the brunette stammer! "Cuddling you. It just scared me…" She looked towards the ground with a faint blush of embarrassment. He groaned at his pain, but paused when he noticed the light in the room. It was morning already?

But Neji still wasn't happy that he got suddenly woken up, checking the time based on the sun. Right now, Neji didn't care that he loved Tenten – he was worried for a moment that the group had gotten ambushed again. His anger quickly evaporated at the sight of her red cheeks and he sighed in exhaustion, "It's seven, we should eat some breakfast."

"But-! Aren't we going to talk about this?" Tenten gestured to herself and him.

"There's nothing to get worked up about." Neji replied calmly, pushing himself off the floor and onto his feet. Though on the inside of his mind, chibi Neji's were running around and going to the point of insanity. "It's not like we were naked or anything."

Once again, Tenten's cheeks went red. "Whatever, fine – I was just trying to help!" She ran a hand through her hair, combing out the loose knots before tying it up on a lazy ponytail. With a grumble, Tenten stormed out of the room and slammed it shut behind her.

Neji sighed again, and followed her out with a faint smirk. How did Neji have a life before he met her? Oh wait… he didn't have a life; it was only full of hunting underworld monsters. As he reached the door handle, an omen began to creep up his chest. He certainly hadn't felt this strange since Asuma's final mission.

"Tenten!" The Hyuga panicked in revulsion and pushed open the door, as he ran into the reception room, the sight made his ivory orbs widened in recognition. "You."

"Don't move, pretty bastard." Neji recognised the figure with silver hair slicked back, and unforgettable purple eyes, wearing the cloak of ebony and crimson. "Or I'll fucken sacrifice the panda-chick!" The figure lowered his scythe to the trapped Tenten's throat, as she hissed in fury.

"Let go of me you lunatic!" Tenten growled, trying to struggle around the head lock that he was giving her.

"If you'll do that Hidan, I swear on my father's grave that I will kill you." Something within Neji stirred, while Neji cursed to himself silently. It was a bad timing for his inner demon wanting to come out. He had to repress it for as long as possible.

Hidan snarled sadistically, as he held a wide cackling grin. "As if you'll kill me fucktard, you swore on your families' grave that you find your baby cousin – but she's still in that realm, shit scared in there."

"Do not bring Hinata-sama into this!" Neji shouted furiously, feeling slightly dizzy for a moment. It was happening, if Neji lets his darker side take over then it would be over for Tenten. He would probably kill her if she was in the way. "Just let go of Tenten, are you a coward who hides behind a human?"

"I'm not fucken retarded like you are!" Hidan stated with a glare. "We knew that this bitch was a hybrid from the moment we saw her." Tenten widened her eyes, but kept the glare. "Now Jashin-sama, shall taste the flesh of two demon hybrids-"The silver haired man was intermittent by a loud gun shot.

He groaned in pain, while Tenten slowly turn around and noticed his ebony cloak slowly turning scarlet. Her breath got caught in her throat, finding this the opportunity to escape his grip and ran towards Neji.

"Stay with me, he isn't dead yet." Neji explained, coldly glaring at Hidan as he hissed at the sharp pain. "It's virtually impossible to kill him that easily."

"Who shot him?" The brunette questioned, shuffling close to Neji as she watched Hidan reach out and pick the bullet shells out of his stomach that went through his back and ended by his gut.

"You fucken bitch!" Hidan whipped his body behind him to notice the new figure, who glared at Hidan with so much ferocity that Neji could feel the anger just through the air itself.

"Those are my customers you're threatening bitch." Yagana declared, reloading her shotgun and shot at him again. Hidan swore out loud and crouched over due to the pain, cursing the Innkeeper as she fired again. She gave a serious look to Neji and Tenten, furrowing her brow with fury. "You two, get out of here! We'll take care of this sad excuse of a zebra!"

"What about Shikamaru and Ino? We can't just leave them!" Tenten protested with wide eyes.

"Did you not hear her Tenten? She said 'we'll take care'." Shikamaru spoke as he appeared behind Yagana with Ino, cocking his pistol towards Hidan while Ino held a revolver and hissed under her breath. "This would've been too troublesome, but I've got to kill the one who killed my godfather."

"So Hidan was the one who killed Asuma?" Neji growled, about to join in the fight when he heard another fire from Yagana.

"Neji, get the fuck out of my Inn – we'll deal with him." The violent tomboy ordered, as Neji raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She did not just order him around like that.

"Come on Neji, we don't have time to deal with your bruised ego!" Tenten hauled his arm and they left for the front door. He had to give one final look to his comrades – no… friends that were risking their own lives so that he and Tenten could save the ones they lost – before he turned away and left the building.

Yagana smirked cockily. "But don't wait too long…" She whispered, crying out in shock when Hidan lashed at her, her blood gently spilled on the end of the scythe. "Ah shit…"

The hunting duo jumped into the car, Neji realised that he had left keys in the room. "Shit!" He paused and looked around curiously. "Tenten? Have a knife on you?"

Tenten frowned at her companion. "Now do I look like the kind of woman to have a knife on her twenty-four seven?" Neji only responded with silence and the stare that basically told her to get on with it. "Yes, I do." She passed the very familiar pocket knife.

"I thought you dropped this?"

The brunette shook her head slowly in response. "I couldn't, it was never mine to take." Neji gave Tenten a soft smile, but the loud gunshot distracted Neji, making him pull out the blade and shove it in the ignition. The car roared itself to life, making Neji step on the accelerator. It screeched noisily, the tires burned to the road as it started to speed in the car.

"Make sure you have your seatbelt on Tenten." Neji muttered, while Tenten slowly grinned and buckled up. He smirked back, but their moment was disturbed by a human sized black figure soaring above them with loud shrieks. "It's some incomplete flying demon; make sure you shoot it down before it gets to us."

The monster hissed, diving in for the car and swooped over them, making them duck swiftly. As it approached, Neji noticed the scaly skin that covered its human like body with ebony outstretched wings. Its blood lusted orbs narrowed deeply as it scowled towards them, teeth expanded in its mouth as it pulled back a snarl.

Tenten reached out for the closet gun to her, wielding out her nambu to point at the monster. If Neji hadn't been in such a rush, he would've demanded Tenten to swap weapons, but he had to focus on the road. She narrowed her eyes and gave one look towards Neji. "Neji, where's its weak spot?"

"To be honest I don't know. I've never seen such a thing – just fire at any venerable spot you find in a normal demon." He explained with s scowl. The one time that they are in a rush and they had to fight a monster that he didn't know well of. It was just his petty luck.

Tenten growled under her breath and took aim, firing in the centre of its chest. The bullet went through its heart and it howled in pain, but Neji could see that it wasn't going to go down yet. He grumbled in annoyance and picked up the speed, making Tenten roll her eyes and took aim again - only this time, right in between its eyes.

The incomplete demon screeched the air, and the duo had to hold their ears back to not listen to the agonised cries from the monster. Its eyes caught on Tenten, and it's clawed like hand clutched onto Tenten who yelled out in horror. Before she could fire away, the creature forcibly pulled her out of the seat, easily ripping off the seatbelt off her.

"Tenten!" Neji shouted taking his eyes off the road to grab his own gun. He not was going to lose Tenten now, not after discovering that he fell in love with her. Picking up the speed, Neji raced the demon on the road as he prepared his aim.

Tenten shouted out in horror as she noticed the car shrink, the gun still in her hand. She declared inwardly that they were at least fifty metres in the air. The monster suddenly dropped her and she scream out loud again as her body began to descent to the earth. She nearly got to the twenty-five metres when the demon had grabbed her again, toying with her.

When Tenten was caught again, her eyes widened as she noticed the fresh scar tissue being torn from the throat. The idea morphed into her head instantly, as she pointed her gun at the hand and fired. Once again she was dropped and Tenten found herself flying down quickly. Her chestnut orbs slowly counted the metres that she was dropping.

Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen. She looked back at the demon as it swooped in for her again. Eleven, ten, nine-

The demon wrapped its claws around her arm and attempted to haul her up again, but Tenten had other plans. She lifted the nambu towards the creature's throat and fired two times before the gun declared itself out of bullets. It didn't have any time to screech, but headed towards the earth, faster than Tenten due to its weight. She made sure that she was above the demon's body as it landed in the ground, feeling the world come back to her.

Tenten stood weakly back up, only receiving minor injuries due to the fall. It probably had to do with her demon side. The adrenaline rush slowly died down, and the exhaustion got the best of her.

"Tenten!" Her gaze picked up on the bright blue car as it halted into a stop and Neji sprinted towards her with a hint of worry in his ivory orbs. Before she would lose her balance, Neji caught her and softly stared at her. "Are you okay?" He wanted to hold on to her as if she was weakened, but he knew well that she was strong enough to take care of herself. Neji found himself fascinated that she kept fighting.

"Thanks Neji…" Tenten replied with a faint smile, pulling herself on to her feet. "We should go save them."

The Hyuga took one disdained look towards the demon and held back an inner snarl. "Sure – let's go." They went in the car and drove off again.

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It had been sixteen years since Neji stepped foot in the town, for sixteen years he had loathed this place because it had brought back horrible memories. Now that Neji was only in the place for one purpose, he couldn't find himself any happier. Tenten looked around the town, staring at the building with slight interest.

People walked through the town, Neji noticed that they had given him and Tenten strange glances but he paid them no mind. He parked the car, pulled out the baggage filled with weapons and gave Tenten a small nod as he shoved his pocket knife in his pocket.

"Didn't you say we had to find the past Hokage monuments?" Tenten wondered as she put her gun back in the bag. When she saw her partner smirk, she shook her head with a faint smile. "You already know where it is, don't you?"

Neji slowly nodded, and grabbed her hand automatically, making his own heart pick up its pace. "Come with me." He muttered, hoping that he would hide his embarrassed tone as he looked away from her and dragged her all the way to the edge of town. After they climbed on a large cliff, the brunette forced herself to let go of Neji's hand and took a minute to glance at the town below them. The Hyuga pretended that he didn't feel hurt when Tenten rejected him.

"Where is it?" She questioned, squinting her eyes towards the town before looking at Neji who had the pocket knife on its way to digging into his arm. "Neji! What are you doing?!"

"We're here Tenten." He replied calmly with a smile, fishing out another knife and holding it out to her. "We have to prove that we are demons by giving blood."

Tenten gave an uncertain look off the cliff, noticing that they had the faces of the Hokages, before she looked back at Neji who nodded. She smiled softly and accepted the knife from Neji, "I trust you Neji."

His heart soared as he stared back at Tenten's chestnut orbs. "On the count of three…" Neji decided, taking a step closer to Tenten, faces millimetres apart. "One, two, three-" The duo both dug into their skins, and they hissed in pain as the blood dripped from their arms and onto the cliffs. Neji noticed the world going dark around him, even Tenten flashed out of his vision as they disappeared from the cliff.

A/n: Here is the second chapter I had promised. Also, it was the first time I put a part of it in Tenten's point of view. Remember when Neji told her about demons throwing their prey around? Yeah... that idea came into my head back then... Once again, I like to thank everyone who takes their time to read it - I really appreciate it. Anyways, have fun reading.

Please review.

Ciao, ciao!