A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. Oh... I've still got bit of a bad flu, and a case of... cursing the recent Naruto chapter for what they did. For those people who knows what happens... I'll be honest... I am pissed off... that should never happen... I was balling my eyes out too...

Kishimoto... I need answers! Why? WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL?! ... guys I need a minute... I'm crying again... Kishimoto I haven't been this mad at you since the previous chapter... I swear... If you do anything like that again I'll be hunting you in Japan! Your head shall be mounted on my wall!

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 12 ~ Blast from the Past

When his eyes opened again, she was just there… right in front of him with her back facing him.

Tenten? No words escaped the Hyuga Prodigy's lips; his voice couldn't even make a peep. Slowly Tenten had turned her glassy chestnut orbs met his as her hair loosened out of the buns and followed the whispering breezes beside her. Instead of answering, Tenten turned back around and kept her gaze away from Neji. This made a strange loathing sensation swirl up in his chest, like the feeling of regret. When her shoulders shook, Neji found himself stumbling over a foolish question.

Was Tenten crying?

Neji had not seen Tenten cry since the day her demon took over her. She had tried to hide the tears so well, but it was all too much for one person to handle so she let the tears soak her cheeks. He remembered it too clearly – as if it was the day before. He tried to call out to her, but his body remained frozen as she fell to her knees and her sobs deepened.

"Why do I lose everyone I get attached to?" The brunette whimpered, covering her face as she did so. As Neji remained watching Tenten, his chest clenched together tightly and a sense of guilt began flood his stomach for forcing her to go when she could have helped him fight Kidomaru.

Kidomaru.

Wasn't Neji supposed to be dead? He was stabbed twice, the blood loss would've been too much for him to handle. There were some things that Neji couldn't answer, whether he had survived or not. Feeling a sense of warmth touch his shoulder, Neji was able to turn to face the new figure – this one he easily recognised.

Father. Again, Neji couldn't find himself to speak as the Hyuga Hizashi smiled down at him. His dark hair tied back into the common ponytail that his family use to wear, with the familiar snowy orbs. It had been sixteen years since he saw his father's smile. During those years, Neji had grown, now only a few centimetres shorter than him.

"I am proud to call you my son, Neji. Now keep fighting, and go to her…" Neji felt his eyes sting with tears, he couldn't even remember the last time he thought of crying. It showed the weakness that a hunter should never have. "I love you Neji."

"Father…" He managed to croak, clenching his jaw together as everything darkened around him and his body began to weigh him down.

The next thing Neji heard was the beeping of a heart monitor and the sound of faint scratching. His eyes flickered open, cringing to himself when the harsh brightness glared at his orbs; however they slowly readjusted to the light. Neji furrowed his brow when he noticed a pink haired figure had her hands hovering above his stomach with a faint glowing light emitting from them.

His guard went up, jerking himself into reality before shortly groaning from a sharp pain in his chest and stomach. The pink haired girl jumped back in response, before sending a dark glare towards Neji with her emerald green orbs.

"Don't do that idiot! Do you want to reopen your wounds?" She snapped, furrowing her brow deeply. It gave Neji enough time to gaze around the room, assuming to himself that he was in a hospital. After all – it wasn't every day when he would pass out in a demon realm to wake up back in the human world's hospital.

"How did I get here?" Neji asked, unable to recognise the deep groggy voice that sounded out from his throat.

"Your friends… Shikamaru and that Ino-pig arrived and told us of the situation – you were lucky that Kakashi-sensei was able to get you out of there and save you on time." She smiled stiffly, removing her hands from his wounds and keeping them behind her back. "I forgot, I'm Haruno Sakura – demon healer." For a nurse, she seemed quite ill-tempered.

Neji didn't stop his eyes from narrowing suspiciously. "Demon healer?"

"Yes. Many hybrids like us have to defend the humans from something." Sakura responded, picking up a clipboard and checked his responses of hitting certain nerves. When they worked out fine, Sakura wrote the results down.

"How long have I been out?" The Hyuga wondered as he reframed a growl when Sakura got too close to the wound on his stomach. She muttered out a small apology, before shining a light in Neji's eyes – much to his dismay.

"Three and a half weeks." Sakura answered calmly, smiling slightly when Neji choked on his own breath.

"Three weeks?" Neji replied with a raised eyebrow. Were the injuries that harsh for him? They were only two main stab wounds, but then again… he paused when he remembered that the demon had taken over him as well. It would've taken a lot of recovery time just to get back in his normal shape.

She nodded calmly and checked if the machines were working corrected. "Yes: you had faint traces of poison in your body from the one you fought – but no one except for my Master and I were allowed to see you. We didn't want to risk having your demon suddenly awaken if they were on the bedside." Neji's eyes lowered briefly trying to recollect when Kidomaru could've possibly poisoned him. He had probably been poisoned once Kidomaru had his throat, but Neji snapped back up at the sound of the woman's voice. "Alright Neji-san, I'll bring in Kakashi-sensei so he could talk to you and then I will allow some visitors." The woman walked out of the room before Neji could ask any more questions, leaving him to stare at the plain white ceiling.

How did that girl know of his name? Well she knew of Shikamaru and Ino by the looks of it. And what about Tenten and Hinata? Were they alright? Nothing bad had happened on the way back did it? Neji groaned to himself when he realised that he worried too much about Tenten – she was trained by him after all: she can defend herself just fine.

As it turns out, Neji was saved by some mysterious stranger known as Kakashi. Whoever he was, Neji had to sincerely thank the stranger for saving his life. If he hadn't survived then he wouldn't be able to explain himself to Tenten before she beat the crap out of him.

"Yo." A new voice made Neji narrow his eyes towards the silver haired stranger. The man had a mask cover the bottom of his face and a bandana covering his left eye. There was something about the stranger that made Neji feel a sense of déjà vu. "The name's Hatake Kakashi, I believe we met before." He stated, the visible eye narrowing with acceptation when Neji took in a short breath. "Hyuga case sixteen years ago I believe."

"You're… that person that killed the demon. And saved me from my fate." Neji pieced together, his eyes narrowed into slits immediately. He easily recognised the silver as the flash of silver back then, the memory of it all stuck to his head like glue. "Why did you do it? Why save me back then and now?"

The man known as Kakashi exhaled calmly, before he pulled up a plastic chair and sat beside Neji. "Do you think that the Akatsuki are the only organisation that has hunters?"

Neji remained unfazed as his ivory orbs met with the visible eye of his rescuer. "The Akatsuki are only training hunters so they can lure the pure demons here." His eyes then narrowed sharply, lowering his voice to an audible whisper. "Is that your intention? To gain power to control our worlds?"

"Nope. We're just doing what we came here for, to kill off any demon around." Kakashi replied steadily, leaning back on the chair as he observed Neji. "We can't kill every single monster out there." He told Neji, his single eye leered at him with little muse.

"We can try." The Hyuga responded coldly immediately, keeping a tight hold on the sheet that was placed over his body. "I will try to kill every single monster out there – as it's because of them that all of us are miserable."

"You're stubborn." Kakashi concluded bluntly, ignoring Neji's heated glare as he stared at the ceiling. "I hadn't even finished speaking yet…" When Neji lowered his guard, Kakashi looked back at him with a firm stare. "We can't kill every single monster, its physically impossible: but – it doesn't not mean that we cannot get rid of them."

"What do you mean, get rid of them?" Neji wondered, raising an eyebrow and subconsciously leaned forward. "How can you get rid of something without killing them?" His eyes picked up on the fact Kakashi was reaching for the front pocket of his pants, fishing out a particular item.

The silver haired man raised his hand out of his pocket to pull out a slip of folded paper and passed it to Neji. Neji didn't bother to respond out loud as he unfolded the paper itself, revealing the crumbled picture of a small red stone, a transparent scarlet to be exact. He saw that the surface of the stone was smooth, with no cracks in it like most stones had.

"They call it the Shinjomyaku." Kakashi clarified, clasping his fingers together. "If we cannot kill every single monster out there – then we're going to seal them all up with this stone."

Neji widened his eyes in response as he stared at Kakashi before looking back at the piece of paper in front of him. He didn't expect that such a small stone would do so much. His brow furrowed in deep thought as he passed the paper back. "Where do I come in this? Clearly you wouldn't share with me this kind of information for nothing."

From under the mask, a crinkle of the cloth turned upwards to indicate a smile. "We're wondering if you and your friends could join us to help us finally seal up the underworld – well I should say you, considering that they already accepted while you were unconscious."

"Friends?"

"You know, Shikamaru and Ino we already on board when they came to us – convincing Naruto was no trouble either, and little Hinata was too determined to disagree – she definitely has her father's blood in her. Now Tenten, she wasn't too enthusiastic at first but decided to go after a brief moment of encouragement."

"Tenten…" Neji muttered, before sitting up to glare at the man. "Where's Tenten?"

Kakashi raised his hands in defence with a relaxed grin. "You're so protective of her! She's in the dojo venting out her anger, I saw her earlier and she didn't want to see you when I asked if she wanted to join me."

The Hyuga furrowed his brow in confusion as he frown at the man. "Why? Why would Tenten be angry with me?" His answer almost dawned on him the second the words left his tongue. He knocked her out – right after he kissed her so that he could fight Kidomaru on his own.

"It seems you know why." Kakashi muttered, standing onto his feet. "Well, I should be going now! I have things to read and monsters to kill." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to leave, but Neji had already spoken up.

"I'll do it." He decided with a quiet voice.

"That's good, get better and we'll talk more later concerning plans." Kakashi lazily waved and exited the room, leaving Neji lost in his thoughts. He was surprised that they had let Hinata join them, because of her timid nature would get her greatly injured. However if she wanted to help Neji hunt the supernaturals then so be it, he would have to help her train just like he had for Tenten because after all; he was meant to serve and protect Hinata.

Tenten.

He shouldn't be surprised that she was mad at him, but he was. They all came out alive in the end didn't they? His eyes focused on a particular scratch on the ceiling, trying to decide if he should go talk to Tenten as soon as he got out.

"Neji-nii-san." At her voice, Neji turned to the entrance again, where Hinata was shyly smiling at him with a flower in her hands. "I was allowed to visit you today." She explained, taking in his silence as an invitation to enter the room. Placing the flower on the table beside him, Neji found himself glad that she had a change of clothing. Wearing a long sleeved blouse to cover her upper torso and the scars went over her blue jeans. "It's nice to see you awake nii-san."

"Thank you, Hinata-sama." Neji replied warmly, holding back a smile. He felt a sense of achievement when he realised that he managed to save her. It took him sixteen years, but it was worth it.

"I should be thanking you, nii-san – you saved my life from there." She mumbled softly, looking down at the ground again. "You managed to save Tenten-san and… Naruto-kun." Her cheeks turned pink upon mention of the blonde haired boy before looking at him with resolve. The Hyuga Prodigy widened his eyes as his silver orbs connected with his cousin's – he could see that her eyes weren't as shy as they were a few moments ago. "I want to become stronger, and I want peace in our world."

Neji didn't reply at first. He had already decided that he was going to let Hinata fight with him and he could see the determination that brightened the younger Hyuga's eyes. It was just like Tenten's eyes… just like Naruto's. The only conclusion that Neji could come up with was Naruto's determination was contagious, and it spread to a lot of people quickly.

"I will help you." Neji finally agreed, keeping a faint smile on his face. "Because I won't always be around to protect you."

Hinata smiled widely, her bright eyes lightening up with glee. Her innocence was so exposed, Neji wondered if she really was caught in a demon realm, or they were just there at the moment they came. "Thank you nii-san! This means a lot to me!" She reached out to grab his hand, her eyes raised to his forehead and her smile dropped suddenly. "I wish I could help you about your curse. I want to remember on how my father did it so I can get rid of it."

Neji looked up, his brow wrinkled in realisation when he considered on why his brow was so itchy anymore. He found his black bandana on the table beside him and wrapped it around his forehead, covering the curse from the rest of the world. He hated it, but swore to himself that he would get rid of it someday. "Don't worry, we'll eventually find out how to dispose of it. Until then, I am the cage bird that's waiting for its freedom."

The Hyuga cousins stayed together for the next few hours with the occasional check-ups from Sakura, Hinata was catching up on Neji's life and on what he has seen. She only listened with a smile, laughing quietly when Neji would mention his troubles training Tenten. Her smile would only widen as she watched Neji talk about Tenten in the most detailed way. He described that she was one of the most stubborn person that he had ever met, but used that stubborn attitude to his own advantage for tagging together in the unstoppable team.

"I would have to thank Naruto for protecting you and Tenten after you disappeared from the demon realm." Neji stated, smiling softly at the thought of the blonde haired boy. Even as an obnoxious brat, Naruto did keep on his word. That's what Neji liked about him.

"You love Tenten-san…. don't you?" Hinata inquired softly, her smile shrank into a calm beam as she noticed Neji stiffening upon thought. His eyes closed in deep thought, almost as if he was debating with himself whether he should admit the truth or not, before opening his eyes with a mirrored smile.

"Yes, Hinata-sama… I love Tenten."

The next day, Neji was let out by Sakura who proclaimed to be careful if he was going to start training again. He shook the pink haired woman off, and met up with Hinata who finally hugged him after sixteen years of being apart. Neji wanted to push his cousin off, but decided against it and held onto the embrace for a few moments.

"Let's go." Hinata whispered, letting Neji go and led him out of the hospital. He followed along with his cousin silently, trying to consider on the worst situations if he didn't apologise to Tenten.

One case would be that she took out all of her weapons somehow and struck him in every vital point. Another would be that she decided to avoid him for the rest of her life. The worst would be if she hated him. However Neji knew Tenten wouldn't hate him for knocking her out after kissing her. It was too… childish?

As they approached the front of the nearly empty Dojo, Neji had walked to the entrance and found himself stopping just before entering. He could see her, but unsure if she would notice him because of her deep concentration. It was the first time that Neji had seen her wear such clothing; as usual she would wear her chocolate hair in the buns however she wore a black sleeveless Chinese top, neatly tucked under her smooth slacks. She unsheathed a katana and sliced an imaginary opponent smoothly, positioning the blade comfortably before letting out a lunge in the air.

Neji felt captivated by watching her swift movements, unable to hide a prideful smile as she let out a cry of outrage and tore the air behind her. He leaned on the door's edge, hearing it softly creak at the pressure of his weight as Hinata took a few steps closer to him.

"Naruto-kun told me that Tenten-san was taught by a girl called Yagana-san. They apparently grew up together in their orphanage, but she was adopted before everything happened." Hinata softly explained, flinching behind Neji when Tenten let out another war cry and slashed the air. "You should apologise to her now, nii-san."

Neji felt himself gulp in nerves. She did have a katana in her hands, he may be able to use all sorts of weapons but Neji did not know much of the older weapons, to defend himself. He found himself flinching when Tenten lifted the katana high in the air. "But… what do I say?"

"Just say what's in your heart, I'll leave you two alone." She retorted, finding enough strength to push Neji off his feet. Since he had lowered his guard, Neji stumbled over and landed on his hands before his face could make contact with the ground. He whipped his head to send a glare at Hinata but the door had already closed behind him. What kind of help was this? Tenten was going to murder him! Neji turned to face Tenten again, but he found himself only millimetres away from a pointy blade.

"You got a lot of nerve coming here to face me Hyuga." Tenten growled, jerking the katana away from his face. "On your feet." Neji gave Tenten a glare, silently questioning her if she was giving him orders but stood up almost obediently, and his eyes widened when Tenten had passed him a wooden staff. "Take it." As he accepted, Tenten sheathed her sword away and pulled out a spare staff.

"Tenten-" He tried to speak but found himself blocking the brunette's maddening staff attack. She cried out in fury as she swung at him, and he managed to block or dodge the attacks.

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was?!" Tenten snapped, swinging the staff towards his face but he moved the weapon to block the attack. "I said I would back you up, but you knocked me out instead!"

"I know." Neji replied, ducking a swing from Tenten before retaliating. She pushed her feet from the ground and jumped over the ducked Hyuga before attempting to attack again. It led into another block, and the duo faced each other with hard eyes.

"Right after you had kissed me too." She continued through heavy pants, the training earlier taking on toll on her. They pushed each other back, sliding on their feet as they did so.

"I know." Neji repeated with a quieter tone, eyes lowered away in shame. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, raising the staff in front of her again.

"Is that all you can say?!" Tenten growled, swinging the staff to connect with his skull. He sidestepped her, making her widened her eyes at the miss, and this gave Neji the opportunity to move behind her, taking a hold of her weapon to pull it against her throat.

"I'm sorry Tenten. I was selfish, and I acted like a fool to prevent you from getting hurt." His whisper tickled her ear, sending chills down her spine. Her breaths were only left in faint pants as it gave her some time to cool herself down. When he saw her shoulder relax, Neji lowered his weapons however he didn't expect that he was going to regret it. Tenten took the opportunity to elbow his chest, making him flinch from the injury that he had gotten and drop the staffs he held. She twirled on the spot, picking up the collar of his shirt to stare at him dead in the eyes, as if she was expecting him to burst into flames. Neji stared back at her, trying to find some sort of emotion in her eyes. When he did, he had found the glassy orbs that he felt back in the dream the other morning.

"But why?" The brunette wondered softly, tightening her hold on him as she fought the tears threatening to spill. "If you hadn't made it… I would've been back where I started. I wouldn't have been hurt and you would've been gone forever!"

Neji remembered the night that they were staring at the stars, Tenten was furious with herself that she was the only one that wasn't hurt that night. If he hadn't made it… Neji knew that Tenten wouldn't have forgiven Naruto for easily leaving him like that

"I did it because…" If Neji had been nervous before, he definitely was nervous now. "I did it because… I love you Tenten." She held back a short gasp, and Neji found himself continuing. "It's because I love you that I will be selfish and wanted to protect you from anyone, even if I know that you can defend yourself."

Tenten let go of him, but her eyes still remained fixed on his ivory orbs. The silence welcomed them as they stared at each other, still trying to keep their breathing patterns in sync just as the anger subsided. "…You selfish jackass…" She panted, slowly lowering her chestnut orbs to his lips. "But… I love that selfish jackass as well."

Neji felt like time had stopped for that moment, in a moment of happiness. He hadn't been sure of Tenten's feelings, during the time they spent together he couldn't tell their feelings were mutual, not even the kiss they shared before the fight made Neji see her feelings for him. Tenten loved him!

This time, he was aware of his actions and held onto her shoulders tenderly, his ivory orbs softened as they focused on the duo pools of chestnut in front of him. They were still strong, projecting its inner strength that have been through so much. Carefully, he placed his lips on hers, trying to experience the pleasantry feeling tingling on his face. It only flooded throughout his entire body was she responded immediately. They pulled apart, unable to keep their eyes of each other. Neji was finally the first one to speak.

"Ten…" He swallowed nervously, feeling the palms of his hands slowly sweating. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She only grinned ridiculously. "What do you think jackass?" The brunette pulled him into another heated kiss. As they embraced with passionate romance, neither of them were aware that Hinata was smiling through the cracks of the door.

A/n: Cheesy, lame, and slightly retarded way of hooking Nejiten up. Okay it's not my fault, out of my whole life I've only been asked out by four other boys... the first I can't remember, the second gave me a lollypop and asked me to go out with him, the third just asked like our dear Neji did in this chapter and the fourth asked me if he could come shopping with me. The sad thing is... I don't like shopping, unless its for drawing stuff... but anyways, I don't have many options to choose from with Neji asking Tenten to be his girlfriend. I enjoyed writing the last scene for some weird reason... I dunno maybe because Hinata was being evil and pushed him in XD

So stayed tuned for the final chapter... so I can start preparing for my... Sequel but you guys already saw that coming... actually this is only the first part of the trilogy I have planned out

But seriously. I can't believe you Kishimoto... Grr... You better redeem yourself Kishimoto because a lot of Naruto fans are/ will be pissed off at your silly story writing skills...

Ciao, ciao!