Burning Flames

Chapter 14

"Unveiling"

August 26, 2006 10:59 am

Miley and Tenten were cleaning up the attic that weekend, and in the process Miley found all sorts of old toys that she had forgotten about. Of course, she wanted to keep everything she saw; otherwise, she wouldn't have stashed it there in the first place.

"Please, mommy?"

Tenten rolled her eyes, when was the last time she needed a princess doll, just about so insolvent it could barely be recognized? "No, Miles." Tenten said for about the 50th time.

But of course, after standing over Miley and prying her hands off of every item that she encountered, Tenten finally convinced the little girl to haul all of her broken toys to the trash.

After most of the attic seemed free of old junk, Tenten decided the two needed a break.

"TENTEN PHONE!" her mother shouted from downstairs. Tenten couldn't help but to roll her eyes.

"COMING!" She called back up. "Let's go Miles," She said to the little girl. "We'll finish this later, it's time for lunch anyway." Grabbing her hand, they walked down the creaky stairs together, coming up to the kitchen.

Her mother stood over a pot of noodle soup, and she pointed to the phone when she saw Tenten come through the door.

"Your boyfriend's on the line,"

At her mom's teasing tone, the brunette shook her head. What was she, sixteen?

Miley giggled loudly at this. "Daddy's always calling!" A week before when they all went to the beach together, (her mother included). Just as she had feared, Miley took it upon herself to tell Neji about her show and tell incident, and THEN proceeded to ask him to call him daddy.

She was so humiliated but it warmed her heart when he only patted Miley's head and accepted. Her mother thought it was the cutest thing and was crazy about Neji ever since.

It was weird living with her mother again; especially after all of that time they spent apart. It was definitely different from the time she lived with her as a teen. But living with her mom still meant having someone who cared about where you went, what you did, and when you were coming home.

It was strange for her to adjust to all of that; Strange in a good way. It was nice to come home after a long day to someone that loved her and wanted to talk for a change. She had grown so accustomed to coming home with Miley, eating dinner, playing a game and then going off to sleep. So much so that when an adult came into her life like that it was different, and welcomed.

But moments like now, when Neji (whom her mother was fanatical over once again) was involved; the mother role got to be annoying.

"Hi Neji," She greeted happy to hear his voice.

"I'd like to take you out tonight," He greeted upon hearing her. She knew from his tone that he was smirking. It was routine by now that they go out every weekend. And every moment they spent together, to Tenten was time well spent.

She smiled hugely. "Yeah, where?"

8:00 PM

That night, Neji came to pick her up. Her mother eagerly answered the door for the Hyuga and as Tenten finished getting ready, Miley and Elaine kept him more than busy.

Across the street from all the laughter and joy, a man sat in his car. Behind what could have been a normal evening, waited a sinister force ready to strike.

Sally's brother, Jero counted the minutes as they ticked slowly away. By Hiashi's order, they waited three weeks before striking.

'Tonight, we make our move.'

The moment that Neji would pay for his crime, was soon, which meant, so was his paycheck for serving his head to the clan on a silver platter.

20 minutes later, with his sister by his side, (who was keen on breaking the duo up without knowing of the true reason beyond the 'I want to make the bastard pay for how bad he's hurt you reason) he watched from the black car across the street, unsuspected.

A large creepy smirk plastered on his face as he watched the foolish Hyuga Neji take away the one person that could have protected the little girl.

8:36 PM

Back at the house, once the couple had left Elaine decided to go out for dinner with Miley and rent some movies. After all, just because her daughter was out on a date did not mean she had to sit at home and be miserable.

"Miles?"

"Yes, Grandma?" called the little girl from the living room.

"Let's go get some fun movies to watch, what do you say?"

"Yay, I like Movies!"

She grabbed the keys to her daughter's car and turned off the kitchen light as she went and locked the house door behind them.

From across the street, Jero watched as they climbed into the car before driving away. He cursed at their luck and slammed a fist at the wheel.

"What's wrong?" Sally asked, oblivious to the downfall that had just occurred. If only they'd gone out later. If only that old lady had just fallen asleep like they'd planned!

"The kids getting away, that's what!"

Confused, the blond placed on her seat belt as Jero took off after the car that had just turned the stop sign up ahead. "I thought we were trying to break up Neji and the brunette bitch? What does the kid have to do with anything? You better not be planning on hurting anyone!" She screamed at him as their car followed at a safe distance in the dark night.

"I didn't agree on hurting anyone Jero! But that bitch of course…"

Her brother rolled her eyes. "Trust me ok? No one's going to get hurt."

'Except for Neji of course.' He thought to himself but first he had to get his hands on that girl.

9:06 PM

Back at the restaurant things took on a lighter atmosphere. They spoke of work and how they had missed each other as they waited for their food.

And as they ate, Neji caught sight of the ring on her finger. Unable to help himself, he asked her the dying question that's been on his mind since the moment they became friends at the coffee shop.

"Sorry if this is too inappropriate. But that ring….is it the ring he…."

Nearly choking on her food, she was able to swallow and keep a straight face.

"Umm yes…I know it's not fair to you, that I still have this on." She laughed humorlessly. "It's mostly out of habit, though."

A silence took over their table. And Neji was sure that that would be the end of their date.

"It felt like one big nightmare, when he died." she said to him, finally. "I used to think: 'Maybe I will wake up, and he will be in bed with me.' But I knew it was not going to be so. Would you believe it? I use to take his aftershave lotion and spray it on his pillow just so I could smell him. Just the smell of it made me feel like he was there with me."

He watched her as she continued. "But, I think….I think it's about time I faced the facts."

She wiped the corners of her mouth and proceeded to take the ring off and place it in the safe corner of her purse. Neji noticed her discomfort at his mentioning it, and he quickly regretted ever bringing it up.

"Are you sure? You don't have to take it off. I was only curious…"

She gave him a determined smile that set his heart beating faster than he knew possible. "No. It's fine. Trust me I needed to do that a long time ago. Besides, I'm here with you, on our date. It would be way out of line."

Gratefully, he nodded at her. He didn't bother to ignore the relief he felt as their dinner continued pleasantly. He couldn't help how pleased he felt that she would take the ring off just at his mentioning, and not only that, but their dinner didn't seem to crash and burn like he feared it might. He knew it was fate. He knew that night was a sign. They were meant to happen.

9:53 PM

Deciding to skip their planned movie and go to his condo instead, they rode in comfortable silence until arriving at his complex.

Conversation did the opposite of stall once they got out of the car. It flowed easily as she talked up a storm, explaining how she dealt without her mom over the years after he asked how she was enjoying her mother's company. She spoke of her younger years, which he listen attentively to and appeared genuinely interested about. As she spoke she didn't fail to notice that he spoke very little of his own childhood.

If he related to something in his adult life he commented, but no stories of parents, home life, and school life ever popped up. Just as Tenten was getting ready to ask him about his best memories from his childhood, he spoke first.

"Where did you go for College?" He asked as they walked up the stairs hand in hand. The elevator was nearby but wanting as much time as possible with each other, they took the stairs.

"Konoha State University," She responded. "Home of the Fire Dragons"

He smirked. "Ah," he said. "You were one of the mighty Dragons. That was my home school."

"Yeah? It's funny that we never met before this. How long ago did you graduate?"

He chuckled loudly, and the sound bounced off the hollow room of steps. "A while ago, about 4 years."

"Wow, 2 years my senior." She shared a meaningful look with him. They both laughed at the hidden humor. "I majored in English. I'm working on being a writer someday."

He nodded in approval, and at his interest and impressed expression Tenten felt her heart swell. "Many people that attend there go for law and medical," he answered. "I'm not sure why. It's not like we need thousands of people in one field. It's good to know you're branching out."

They climbed the last few steps together in silence, and when they got to his apartment level, he said. "I know you'll be great as a writer."

She blushed at that and said quietly, "Thank you,"

At his door he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, and at the delicate action she smiled lightly. "What about you?" Her smile turned sweet as he unlocked his door, but he didn't reciprocate.

His face simply grew wary as he fought with his key. "What about me?"

She paused at his tone; confused, she wasn't sure why he seemed so guarded about such a simple topic. From the moment they became friends Neji always bombarded her with questions about her life but rarely spoke of his. She figured that by now, that they were technically together, he would have launched into his life story without her asking but it was obvious that that wasn't the case.

"Well, I know you were raised here. But where are your parents from?" She began carefully.

"I'm not sure," he answered, surprising her. They walked into his dark, silent condo with him at the lead. He hung up his jacket, and took hers off as he continued, "They died when I was very young."

Mouth agape and speechless, Tenten felt her heart hurt for this man as she pictured this person whom she loved, suffering as a child; orphaned, with no parents, or siblings that she knew of.

"Neji I'm—"

His voice was cold when he interrupted her. "You're sorry… I know. So is everyone else I meet."

The room then filled with an awkward, tensioned silence as they stood near the front.

"I'm sorry," he sighed gently pulling her to him. "It's just a hard topic for me. I didn't mean to sound childish or obnoxious. It's not something I talk a lot about. But I know you meant to be caring and respectful to my loss."

"No, no. New subject, I'm sorry for even bringing it up. I know what it's like to mourn for someone you love."

He pulled her back to see her face, and without any exchange of words, he bent down to kiss her. She was just too perfect! She had to be the most understanding, loving, and kind person he'd met in a long, long time. He found it harder to resist her by the minute. His lips pressed to hers softly, and he ran his tongue over them for an instant before pulling away. Her skin felt warm and soft to his fingertips and he knew he could caress it endlessly.

Reluctantly he let his hand fall to his sides.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Water's fine." She insisted as she sat down on his leather couch. Anything cold to help simmer down the heat he was building within her.

10:03 PM

It was a block away from home that Elaine began to suspect someone following them. She had the uncanny feeling on the way to the DVD rental, but now on the long drive back she was almost positive at the theory.

Putting it to test, she turned a different corner and then another at a street light and then another….all with the same outcome. The silver car behind her was by no mistake the same vehicle behind her an hour ago.

Suddenly the sleeping Miley in the back began to fidget. "Help me…" She mumbled.

Confused and not sure on what she should focus on the most: her granddaughter or this person on her bumper following her every move?

When Miley burst to full out screaming Elaine knew she needed to call Tenten. What started off as a normal day was starting to get out of her hands. She needed Miley's medicine. But she needed to do her part first.

"Miles…" The screams died down at the familiar soothing voice.

Elaine did her best to stay calm when she noticed the car behind her speeding up. "Miles…this is grandma baby wake up."

By instinct as the car sped up, Elaine did too. "Miles this is…..grandma!"

As fear started to set in at this mysterious car suddenly speeding up too much on her bumper, the calm voice mandatory to set Miley off from her night terror was gone. Instead, as Elaine found herself hitting 80 miles, pure yelling and panic set in. "Miley wake up! MILES!"

Unfortunately that did nothing to help Miley's situation. The shrieks turned to screaming again and fidgeting. Hard tossing and turning as she yelped. "No! No! It BURNS!"

Almost from nowhere the car behind her sped up to her bumper and purposely hit the back of Tenten's car.

That hit was what Elaine needed to realize. This wasn't a game, this person whoever it was, had no good intentions. He was dangerous, and what he wanted from them she knew nothing of but she realized she had to get away from this silent neighborhood where everyone was asleep. She needed to get to a place with people!

The silver car slammed into her bumper again, harder this time. And the rough jolt woke Miley up from the night terror, but to hysterical crying.

"Oh kami, I need my cell!" But the small device was buried deep in her purse. Far from her reach, and there was no way she could stop now to get it.

Suddenly she had an idea.

"Miles, Neji….you like Neji right?"

By now she was hitting 85-90 on the empty streets. No one seemed to be around, and she was moving too fast for those around to do anything.

"Where does Neji live miles?" Only crying came from the back.

An inch away from her bumper she saw the driver of the car. It was a dark haired man and a blond at the passenger seat; they looked to be yelling at each other.

"MILES! Please baby, I know you know just point for grandma."

Another collision came to the back. Elaine was almost afraid to picture how badly bent it must have been.

"MILEY!"

10:03 PM

Back at Neji's condo after endless sessions of making out, shirts were off and the temperature kept rising.

While nibbling on her earlobe, Neji said. "You're beautiful Ten. You had to be made just for me. An angel; you're my Tenshi."

She groaned at the feelings he was making her feel and at the sweet words he whispered in her ear. They hadn't even gotten to the best part yet and she still felt like exploding.

He stopped suddenly. "If we don't stop now, I don't think I'll be able to hold back much longer." His breath was heavy and at the feel of her plump breasts heaving up and down on his chest, he groaned softly.

"Then don't stop, I love you." she said bravely, in tears. Where they had come from she didn't know but she was just so scared.

"I love you too…" His heart soared at her confession. That was the first time they said it to each other. "But are you sure? We can't take this back," he warned.

She nodded her head. "I know." She whispered their lips a centimeter apart.

She was scared yes, but the desire in his eyes matched the passion in hers so she knew that she wanted to take the next step with him.

Wordlessly his lips were back on hers as they grinded to the feel of each other. The tears kept slipping beyond her control. Neji wiped them away and they both stood to their feet.

"Shhh….." he said, leading her to his room, and closed the door behind them. "Just let yourself feel me. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, but I…"

"Tenshi, just let yourself feel this and enjoy it. I love you; sorry it took so long for me to say it. But I've loved you since the moment we first met at the hospital."

She smiled up at him in his arms. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. From then until the moment we met at the coffee shop and until now. You've become my best friend, ironically."

He shot her a sexy smirk through his lidded eyes.

"You are my world now…." He kissed her and she kissed him back with equal passion. They continued the battle of tongue. And before she could tell Neji to stop, or before she could decide if she wanted him to stop, he was undressing her and she was undressing him…

10:52 PM

She slept in Nejis arms. But dreamt she was outside in a meadow, kneeling by Saito's grave. At first, there was nothing but a few flashes of color, and a shadow dancing away. And then, as if someone had magically lightened a light bulb, she could see everything.

Saito, his hair swinging from the wind, and a light smile on his face was running away from her. 'I see you've found someone else,' he seemed to say. 'You don't need me anymore then,' Tenten just stood there in her dream, desperately trying to understand his confusing words. It wasn't until he grinned and whispered a 'bye' and started to jog away, that she finally understood what he meant to say.

She instinctively shouted at him to stop, pleading for him to just listen to what she had to say. She broke into a run, but found herself moving in frustrating slow motions. Tenten tried screaming to him again, to tell him to stop, but her voice was overpowered by the wind, and he didn't hear her. She felt a stinging pain in her right hand and looked down. For the first time, she noticed that her hand wasn't empty, and that she held a broken picture frame of her wedding picture. Red blood oozed from her cut to the green glass below, and Tenten cringed away in horror from the sight.

Her eyes snapped open to the quiet darkness of Neji's bedroom, and she quickly bolted to a sitting position. Her breathing was hitched, and horribly uncontrolled, but she barely paid attention. Her mind was briefly replaying her dream.

The first thing she realized was that she wasn't alone in the room when Neji moved to a sitting position next to her. He wrapped his strong arms around her waist in comfort and she turned to bury her face in his chest. The sweet, masculine smell of his skin would dim the nightmare away to an effective dull pain, instead of an outright horror. He would chase the horrible pictures away better than anyone else.

"Did you have a bad dream?" he whispered running his fingers gently through her hair. There was the sound of the bed creaking under them as they laid back down to face each other. And then again, her shaky sigh as she shook her head yes, her head still buried deep into his smooth warm chest.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No," Tenten declined. "It's something that I rather not relive through words."

"I respect that then," he agreed. "Let's just try to get back to sleep."

She agreed, sleepily.

Yet, even with his contenting arms, tight and protective around her, she couldn't shake off Saito's voice. His words just wouldn't leave her mind.

'I see you've found someone else.'

'You don't need me anymore, then…'

Suddenly, a loud pounding on the front door startled them both into a sitting position.

"Who's that?" She whispered holding on to him but he was already throwing a robe on and handing her his shirt.

"I don't know. But I'm about to find out."

The minute he opened the door, Elaine and Miley came tumbling from the opening..

The little girl ran to Neji gripping his thigh.

"Neji!" She whimpered and Tenten came following behind worried.

But Miley only saw Neji. "I was so scared…I'm glad you're my daddy. I-I luv you…"

She was so sleepy and tired; she didn't really understand the things that were happening. Grandma had been driving so fast, and she had tried so hard to remember where Neji lived.

A brief shocked silence filled the room, Miley was just glad that she had a chance to see his smile and catch his response before fading into heavy darkness, right before her grandma started talking real loud and fast about not having enough time. "I love you too Miles."

11:00 PM

8 minutes later, Miley opened her eyes at the sound of raised voices and crashing glass, rubbing her eyes she sleepily got up. Mommy and Daddy were fighting? They woke her up.

No, that's not Mommy's voice she realized, it was Neji and someone else, somebody she didn't know. She rubbed her eyes some more and climbed down from the bed. She wanted Mommy. She wanted to tell them they'd woken her up and that she was scared. She hated all that yelling.

Before she could get to the hallway, she heard the sound of more glass shattering like fireworks to the floor. Her Mommy was the first to come into view as she screamed "Stop it!" over and over. Peering into the living room the sight before her almost made her cry. Her breath only caught in her throat as the devastating scene in front of her unfolded.

Daddy and another man, one she didn't recognize, were smashing on the walls and yelling at each other. Her Mommy was on top of another woman, one she remembered seeing once before, and they were rolling on the floor hitting each other; smashing glass down as they did. Everyone looked real mad but her Mommy looked afraid.

Her first instinct was to go to her Mom. Hold her, and stop that blond haired lady from hurting her. But she couldn't move, and she knew she was too little to do anything. Without knowing how or when, she heard herself start to cry. "Mommy." She whimpered. They all turned to notice her immediately, but her Mommy was the first to catch her eye.

She saw fear, for the first time in her eyes and knew she should just go back to bed or they would be really mad and scared for her. She shouldn't have got up, she had to leave.

Just as the connection registered in her brain however, the man had pushed her daddy over the counter and was headed straight for her. Turning quickly back down the dark hallway Miley tried to run back to her room, small legs trembling and unsure. But try as she might to urge her feet to move faster or make all the yelling disappear, someone had grabbed her from behind and was clamping a rough hand over her mouth.

She fought and screamed with all her might, her legs hitting and kicking the air furiously as the person carrying her turned to run for the door. Heart beating so quickly she thought she was still dreaming, Miley screamed even more as the man open the front door and she yelped in surprise as the hands carrying her went limp and she fell to the floor.

Wide eyed, and trembling she turned to see the man slumped over on the ground with pieces of glass and flowers around his head and her Mommy standing above him breathing heavily with blood running on the side of her forehead. The other lady was on the floor by her feet. She looked ready to jump on Mommy again but Daddy was yelling at her so loudly and so angrily before she even had the chance to…..she'd never heard him yell so loud before.

Someone else had come into the apartment before Miley could notice anything else. It was grandma and a short old man she'd never seen before. The man was shocked and the little girl barely heard it when he asked. "W-what's going on here?"

Mommy had come over to her and scooped her up safely into her arms. She ran her hands through her hair and told Grandma and the big man that entered the room, "Call the police, these people trespassed in here and they were trying to take my daughter."

ToBeContinued~~~…

A/N: Want to know what happened in the time that Miley closed her eyes? R&R! It helps me upload faster. And the faster I update the faster you get to find out…..:)

And let me know what you guys think should Tenten annoy Neji about his past until he tells her or let him tell her when he's ready?

Arigato~

-AH