Author's Notes We arrive at a turning point. "But Nessie," you say, "what were the big dramatic events before this?" PRELUDES to a turning point, my dears. XD This chapter was difficult for me to write, but I hope you all enjoy it as you can. Take care and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

Cutting Water

Chapter Eleven

By Nessie

The silent hush over the whole of the Long compound was unwelcome, unnatural.

It was as though a sublime hand had passed over the many little houses, quieting the wails of newborns and muting the gossipers whom, at this time of night, would usually be talking of their fate within the clan. There was no need to talk now.

The Longs had what seemed to be a clear view of their fate.

It was inside the main house that the candles burned to throw bronze shimmers over the polished wood floors, forcing on the interior of the building an atmosphere of hopelessness that was inescapable. Neji, a victim to that atmosphere, withstood the suffocating climate between the four, suddenly quite close walls of the Long family's ancestral shrine.

The shrine consisted of stone tablets bearing the names of deceased Longs. An eleven-headed Guanyin sculpture in grey sandstone appeared to shiver behind sheets of smoke rising from burning incense. A scroll depicting the coiling dragon of the Long family hung high on the wall above the shrine.

It was not this that kept Neji's rapt concentration but rather the scene unfolding between his place at the doorway and the shrine. On elevated bedding, chest rising high and falling low with the effort it took simply to breathe, was Gai. Lee stood close to his knee, watching him in case there was a call for his help. From behind Gai's bed, Tenten dabbed at Gai's glistening brow with a damp, chilled cloth.

The man had been made as comfortable as possible. Tsunade had done what healing she could – regrettably little – and had left afterward with Jiraiya. It had been explained that they needed to return to the capital, Cha'an, so as not to provoke royal suspicion or risk questions being asked.

Tenten's face to Neji was a study of fortitude. No, he corrected himself, it wasn't strength so much as limited reserves of only temporary solidity, all brought to her eyes, which had yet to produce a single tear.

Presently, as though on cue, Gai's eyes fluttered open. His fingers quivered, then rose to brush across Lee's exposed wrist. The young man reacted as though he had been burned but had no fear of further pain because he moved closer.

"Gai-shi fu," Lee breathed, kneeling at his side. "You are…"

"Dying," Gai supplied when it seemed that Lee could not form the word. "Yes." His tones were soft, as though lined with velvet which muffled the sound. Somehow, though, his voice held the same power for which Neji had always remembered it. "Kabuto achieved a magnificent strike."

"I shall kill him!" Lee cried suddenly, shooting to his feet. "I shall."

Gai's response to this vow was mellow at best. His expression, tired in its look, remained the same, but a new light entered his eyes. Neji saw it for what it was: endless pride. Perhaps Lee did not see it in that moment, but people tend to recognize that which they have rarely received more easily than those who have been a regular recipient. "You may," Lee's teacher allowed, "but if you do not, know that I can only be pleased by you, Lee."

Lee's shoulders trembled, but from his vantage point Neji could not see if he were actually crying. Lee stepped back then, and Gai held his unsteady hand out to the side. "Tenten…my Tenten…"

At once, Tenten went to him, hurriedly catching his outstretched hand between both of hers as if she anticipated the sudden collapse of his arm. Her hair shimmered, her lips shone in the candlelight, but what reflected most brightly was the combination of grief, fear, and denial that had managed to breach the mask she had kept over her face. It was as though a secret dam had caved in. Neji had never expected such raw emotions to be found inside of her gaze.

Gai, however, seemed to know every ring of color in the young woman's eyes, and the smile he now gave her showed that nothing before her had ever made him happier. "Tenten," he repeated. "Do you already mourn my passing? You see me as though I were gone."

"Never gone," Tenten replied, but there was weakness where stalwartness normally occupied. "Only hurt. Gai…." Words fled from her, and she went to her knees as Lee had done, bending her head so that her cheek pressed to the back of Gai's hand.

"You did that when you were a child," her guardian observed, "and yet you've not been a child for years. I apologize for that." He took a deep breath and was punished for it by a shuddering series of coughs. Neji saw every muscle in Tenten's body tense. "There was a time, I knew, for this night. I had selfishly hoped to see you wed."

"I was not strong enough," Tenten began, straightening to meet his eyes as her voice took on a feverish pitch. "I could not drink that wine – I felt it was a poison that would not kill my body, only my gladness. It was my selfishness that brought you to this!"

"Be careful of what you so quickly judge to be wrong. It has taken suffering, not just to myself, for me to see now that Sasuke had other reasons for wanting you as his wife. Remember Itachi." Tenten's sudden surprise was forgotten when Gai set his palm on the crown of her head, feeling the curtain of tangled hair but no doubt recalling how beautiful she had been only hours ago. "I have lived half a century, Tenten. Even Hyuuga Neji's father was not gifted with such years."

Neji inwardly flinched at the unexpected mention of Hizashi's death. He knew that Gai meant no offense, however, and strongly doubted that the invalidated man was even aware of anyone else in the room besides Tenten.

"Surely it is bearable that I go now?"

Tenten's lips pressed together into a thin, white line. "Must I watch two fathers die before my eyes, Gai?"

The older man only continued to smile. And Neji wondered if that was who Gai had truly been to Tenten; the one to remind her that smiling was not an impossible thing to do in this life. "Your father, as I've told you, was a very great man, my Tenten. There are few who can live with the honor that he did, but you are among them. His true dying wish – and now, my own – was not only that this clan remains together in the storm of hardship which you now stand in the eye of."

"Your…your wish?"

"You must bear children. If there was anything Long Tao Huang desired most, it was that the Long family continue – that you continue with it." Gai was stroking her hair now, and with each brush of his hand Tenten's barriers seem to thin a bit more, like water evaporating into a cloud. "Know the joy your father felt the day you were born. Know the laugh your mother gave in the moments before she left you with him. Know the fulfillment I have had in watching you become the vision of wonder that you are."

"I…"

"You must say it."

"I will…have children."

Neji saw Tenten's head shake, but Gai only nodded, content, just before flicking his eyes to him. "Hyuuga Neji…will you not protect her when I am gone? She has battles ahead." So it seemed Gai was aware of him after all.

Neji could not be sure, but he thought he saw a familiar glint of mischief twinkling from deep within Gai's half-closed eyes. "I…" He saw Tenten kneeling at Gai's side, saw the way she appeared on the verge of breaking in half. "I will," the Hyuuga heard himself say. "I shall protect her for you." When Tenten turned her head to look at him, he purposefully avoided her.

"Then I've no need to remain any longer."

Tenten whipped back around, pressing her fingers to the side of his face as though her touch would erase those words. "Gai!"

Love made Gai's dark eyes glimmer wetly, contrasting with the clinging despair she was radiating. "My lady…Long Tai Na."

And then those eyes closed…not to open again.

The next full minute in that room was spent in the most spectacular of silences, where dripping wax and flickering light were the only movement whatever. Tenten was the first to break the spell that shock had cast, slumping to the floor and beating the wood once with the side of her fist. Lee moved toward her, but she shook her head violently, stopping him.

"Please just…." Her voice cracked. "Just give me some time alone with him. Won't you?"

Lee deflated with the rejection, but he smiled as his teacher had done and answered with difficulty: "Of course, Tenten. Neji?"

Neji felt her eyes go to him, as though she had forgotten his presence until his name was brought up. He did not dare look at her for utter lack of wanting to see what he would find. Obediently, he began to follow Lee out. Passing the double doors that would seal her off from the rest of the clan, Neji was rooted to the spot when he heard a sound, foreign and unexpected – a sob.

He pivoted and almost broke the skin of his palms with the push of his short fingernails into the flesh. Tenten's hair had fallen around her face in shining waves of brown, but he could see the hand she had pressed to her mouth in a vain attempt to keep the sorrow at bay. She had no lack of tears now. The physical form of her grief ran down her cheeks and over her fingers in rivulets, spotting the floor.

Above her, Gai rested, peaceful and still warm. Neji was simultaneously filled with an unparalleled respect for the now late warrior. He had been, Neji reflected, a man of both talent and heart…something rarely found in most combatants.

He felt it again, that inexplicable longing to reach out to her, to hold her until her the tremors subsided and her eyes were dry. Not only did he know that he could never do such a thing, but it also was true that Tenten was not approachable at the moment. If she turned those grief-stricken eyes on him, he expected it would be enough to fell him right there.

Uselessness again encroached upon him. But this time it seemed he was not alone in the feeling. Nearby, Lee was despondent, staring at the bare walls and the night outside of the evenly-spaced windows. Neji could not help but feel as though he was misplaced, as though his admiration for Gai was ill-timed…there had to be pain and tears first, honor came later. It was much the same in Japan.

He realized that all he would be able to do was wait until the healing process ended. Some would take longer than others, but the sorrow would pass, and if he was lucky he would have a purpose in being here again. There was still the matter of the Uchiha to consider.

"Remember Itachi."

Neji did not know the significance of that warning. Glancing one more time at Tenten, he did reach out – but only far enough to grasp the handles of the doors and pull them shut, leaving her alone with the father Tenten had known and loved.

To Be Continued…