second in a series of linked drabbles for "ten for ten" themes
(listen)
"Tenten – Tenten. Look at me – look at me, don't close your eyes!" He is not shaking her as his voice would indicate he would like to do – instead he is holding her carefully, gently – not letting the slightest motion jar her, protecting her with his arms as though they were as all-deflecting as his Kaiten.
Lee is gone. He's heading back to Konoha at his best possible speed, his ubiquitous weights flung carelessly to the side where they now rest at the bottom of an impact-crater. They crushed several of Tenten's weapons in the process – Neji tries to think about the scolding Tenten will give Lee…later…when they're all gathered in their practice-grounds and Lee is grinning and Tenten is shaking her head and everything will be back to normal.
But it's so hard to think about that when Tenten is limp in his arms, and her blood is spreading warm and sticky through his clothes, forming a clammy dampness on his skin. His Byakugan has activated reflexively, as it does in times of stress, and Neji wishes it hadn't because now he can see how weakly her chakra is moving through her body, faint whispers of energy, trailing off, fading…
He is shouting at her now, his voice loud and wild like it never is, and he is telling her things – like how the mission is complete, and how she killed over fifty men with one attack, and how stupid she was to do so – why hadn't she waited for him? He is telling her that Lee has gone to fetch help, and that everything is going to be all right (his voice trembles, and it is not because he is unused to talking like this)
He is telling her not to leave him – but he doesn't know if she's listening.
next: "white-out"