Tenten POV

I woke up and I was being carried over someone's shoulder. Blood was dripping from my shoulder onto the ground, and I could see it. At least it would leave a trail. Once my head stopped spinning, I began to squirm and yell, remembering what Neji told me. "If you ever get grabbed like that, kick and scream, and I'll come save you." I thought that was so sweet of him, but at that moment, all I could do was try to get myself rescued.

"Hey, let me go!" I shouted. Whoever was carrying me laughed.

"Oh, yeah, like saying that will make me do it. Why does everyone always say that? Do they think people listen? I swear, you're just as bad as the cops. Who's gonna freeze when they're being chased by the police?" He rambled on and on about the subject.

"Let me down, I said!"

"No! I've got orders!"

"From who?!?" I demanded. "Who gave you orders to kidnap me?" I pounded his broad back with my fists, though it did little. He only threw me up in the air a little and caught me again, hitting my stomach with his shoulder, knocking the breath out of me. I coughed and he laughed, knowing he'd hurt me.

"Ow..." I managed to say through gritted teeth.

"Well, that's what you get for squirming, so cut it out!" My captor yelled back at me crossly. I went limp, obeying for a few minutes while listening to him babble on about various topics I didn't care about, all the while assessing the danger level of the situation.

He was easily twice my weight, and a few good feet taller than I was, and, at the moment, he had me captive. If I could somehow escape his grasp, I would probably be able to outrun him, with a bit of a head start. I figured it was worth a shot, Even if he caught me and hit me, I'd had worse, no doubt. I might as well try it.

"Hey!" I shouted, interrupting the man's monologue.

"Hmm?" he said, obviously annoyed that I interrupted him.

"Let me go!"

"Not that again...I told you already!" In the middle of his sentence, I started kicking, nailing him right in the stomach, making him bend a bit in pain. I saw my chance, and I kicked again, this time getting in a hit a little lower than his stomach. It worked as I'd planned, and he dropped me.

I fell on my butt and rolled a few times before I could get up. Then, on shaky legs, I started running.

I'd never been the best runner in P.E. I'd almost always come in last place until this year, when I'd started getting better, and faster. My legs were a little longer than the other girls, so I should've been the fastest, but even then I wasn't. I'd made it halfway back down the street we were on before the man recovered from the kick.

Whereas I thought I could outrun him, I was very wrong. He was a lot faster than I was, even after being kicked in such a sensitive place. He grabbed my wrist, and with the other hand, my hair. One of my buns came undone under his hand as he dragged me back forcefully with him.

"Ow! Ow!!" I screamed as my hair was pulled by the roots even more.

"This'll teach you!" the man spat. I spun so that--even though he was still dragging me--i was walking forward. "Let's go," the man snapped, and pulled my head along a little faster, despite my protests.

I was pulled back down the street and through a bush, which scratched my arms up till they bled. Then he forced my ahead of him by my hair up a dirt path. We were in a forest, from what I could tell. My eyes were tearing up from having my hair pulled so much, making it nearly impossible to see.

"Ow!!!" I screamed again, and I was shoved through a door to a small building.

"Shut up. We're here." The man said, and the door was closed behind me. I was alone.

Or so I thought. I sat up, swearing under my breath and clutching at my head with bloody arms.

"What a dirty mouth," a voice purred from one corner of the room. I jumped, startled. The voice was so familiar, yet it had a quality to it that I was unused to.

"You never swore like that around me," the voice said again, taunting. "Why's that?"

"A...Akira?" I asked tentatively. It was his voice, but he'd never sounded that sober to me. It was almost unbelievable.

"Yes, dearest Tenten. What took you so long to recognize me?"

"You were always drunk," I spat, my hatred welling up and making me brave.

"That's not true at all! You were just never there when I sobered up."

"I have a life. I go to school, and I have a job. I even have friends, but because of you I was too busy working to pay the bills, so I couldn't hang out with them. Then when I actually came home with the paycheck, you went out and spent it all on booze." Akira laughed.

"Yeah. Well, I got what I wanted. That's why I picked you."

"What?"

"I picked you because you were gullible. I knew that if I promised to work and support you, then you'd trust me in a heartbeat. You were such a stupid child." He laughed. He was starting to sound like a freaky mastermind, but I knew he wasn't capable of this kind of thinking, no matter how sober.

"So who's pulling your strings?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"Akira, you can give me all the logic you want, but I REFUSE to believe that you're smart enough to come up with it all on your own. So who's behind it all?"

"Impudent bitch!" he shrieked, and out of nowhere I felt a hand connect with my face, knocking me to the ground. I felt his foot in my ribs. He only kicked me twice, and then crouched down to meet eye-to-eye.

"I make my own calls. No one controls me."

"You can say that all you want," I said, spitting blobs of blood between words, "but it doesn't change the fact that you're too stupid to--" he punched me mid-sentence.

"Too stupid, huh?" He said. I could hear the anger building up. It probably wasn't the best of my ideas--to get him riled up. It was actually very imbecilic of me, and I knew, but I couldn't stop once I'd started. I finally felt strong enough to stand up to him, and even thought I was just exacerbating things for myself, I couldn't stop.

"I'm not too stupid. What makes you think I can't get what I want by myself?" I didn't answer. I couldn't. My nose was bleeding, as well as my gums, and I could feel the bruises setting in my arms and legs, making them feel heavy.

"uhnn..." I groaned in pain as Akira pulled me up by the lapels of my shirt, popping a few buttons off in the process.

"No..." I thought. "No. Let me go. Don't do this."

"I get what I want, Tenten. I always do. Especially when it comes to you. You're powerless to stop me. You give things away too readily." It was true. I gave things away too often. I was too generous at times, but I only gave things to those who deserved it. What he was trying to take...he didn't deserve it.

"Let me go..." I whispered. I couldn't say it any louder. I was still on the ground, flat on my back, but now he was straddling me.

"Get off!" I said, as loudly as I could. Tears were coming, and I didn't stop them. They mixed with the blood on my face. "Get off!!"

At some point in our relationshit, I'd started to fear this happening. It was a little while after he started beating me. I'd known it would eventually get to this level. But when Neji had come along and rescued me, those fears had fled. I'd thought I was safe. I'd thought that Akira couldn't get me anymore. Some part of me still knew it wouldn't end when I was taken away.

"Tenten..." Akira said, pinning my arms above my head with his hands. "Tenten, shut up! I'll get what I want! You can't stop me, stupid bitch!"

My shirt was already half torn off. He finished it off with his teeth. I closed my eyes and tried to block everything out. Tried to leave my body. Tried to will myself dead. Anything other than this.

Wherever I'd willed myself, I was happy. I could hear a familiar, comforting voice.

"Tenten!" It was a soft cry. It sounded sad. Or worried. Or angry. I couldn't rightly tell. It wasn't something I wanted to hear. That voice. I wanted to hear it happy. Not full of anguish. "Tenten! Answer me!"

Neji. Neji was calling to me in my dream. I smiled. At least I could be happy in dreams.

"Tenten! Tenten where are you!?!?" Something made me realize this wasn't a dream. Maybe the intensity of the voice. The true fear of the beautiful voice I'd grown fond of. I knew that it wasn't a dream.

"Tenten! Tenten!" He knew I was around here somewhere. But he couldn't find me. I opened my eyes to see the scum that called himself Akira fiddling with my pants, trying to get them off.

This one time, I'd impose on him, just a bit. I'd apologize later, but I didn't want this to happen.

"NEEEEEEEJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

Akira's fist struck me again to keep me quiet, but the damage was done. The door to the hut we were in flew open, and light streamed in, as well as the silhouette of just the man I wanted to see.

Neji.