~G r a v i t y~

NejiTen FanFic

Chapter 29: Technicolor Phase

This was really odd. It wasn't weird. It wasn't strange.. It was odd because I didn't know how to classify it. The feeling that was inside my body was unknown to me and it was almost warm. Despite the fear, I had that feeling and I couldn't shake it.

"N-Neji . . . I thought you hated me." I mused, my voice extremely shaky.

Neji didn't respond.

Drawing in a breath, I sat back, my arms falling from his neck and dried my damp eyes with my bare arms.

"Are you alright know?" He asked, his tone unreadable as always.

I nodded, my eyes shutting.

"Yes . . . I am." I answered.

Neji sighed.

"They're really trying to push you to the limit." He said. "Osamu."

"But it wasn't Osamu!" I argued immediately.

Neji raised an eyebrow while we sat on our legs.

"Are you sure?"

I shivered.

"I'm positive," I remarked. "He was like a snake! With slit eyes and a coiling tongue!"

Neji narrowed his eyes.

"Orochimaru," His voice was now filled with disdain . . . anger.

"Who's that?" I gulped. It better not be someone that would cause us anymore trouble.

"It's who Osamu works for . . ." Neji trailed off in thought.

My eyes widened. Osamu had a boss?

"Well does this Orochimaru have a boss too than?" I asked Neji sarcastically.

"Yes," he replied. "The Akatsuki."

"What?" I demanded. "That's two more problems!"

Neji shook his head.

"No," he answered. "The Akatsuki won't care. It' Orochimaru we have to worry about."

"What will he do to us?" I questioned nervously.

"That's the problem." Neji replied. "I have no idea what he'll do. That bastard is unpredictable."

"How did he know about my parents?" I demanded. "How did he know what they looked like?"

Neji shook his head.

"He must've read your file or-"

"My WHAT?" I cried, springing up.

"Quick recovery," Neji mumbled, standing. "Osamu has a file on all of his victims."

I grumbled something incoherent then sighed.

"Great but what about Keiko . . . you just left her?" I asked.

Neji nodded.

My mouth dropped and I was about to say something but he cut me off.

"Be happy I considered your screaming more important than a battle." Neji said.

"Hmph." I crossed my arms. "Keiko's probably dead." I told him.

"No." Neji protested. "The others are with her."

"The others as in . . ."

"Shino, Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Tsunade, Kiba-"

"Yeah I get it." I mumbled, unhappy because I wasn't the one who had found them. "So are we going to help them or not?"

"I suppose," Neji replied. "Let's go."

I followed him out the door. It was a bit annoying that he was considering me as weak because I could see it in his eyes. He seriously thought I was useless. Adding on to that, his emotions changed way to much. I mean honestly. He switches off from saving me to hating me, to opening up to me, then acting like I was a nuisance, then comforting me. That Hyuuga needed to make up his mind, and quickly too, because I was starting to get pissed.

We arrived at the familiar door with a stylish handle in little time.

"That's strange," I uttered. "They're fighting pretty quietly.

Neji nodded in agreement and pushed the door open.

"AGHHHH!" I screeched at the top of my lungs, so loud Neji covered my mouth.

I thought I was done crying but with the scene before me, tears were coming down.

Laying in front of us were all our friends covered in blood, barely breathing.

"G-Guys . . ." I muttered. "Wh-what . . .?"

"You shouldn't be able to use your chakra!" Neji hissed at Osamu who was sitting behind the bodies, meditating.

The fear that was slowly leaving my body, returned quickly and I felt my body tremble in terror.

Neji glanced at me, masking is obvious worry.

"How could you do such a thing?" I cried.

"What?" Osamu shrugged. "They're not dead."

Sakura's eyes were struggling to stay open and it looked as if she were trying to tell me something. Because she was right below me, I bent down and rested my hand on her back.

"Sakura you can't heal yourself?" I asked quietly.

"Chakra . . ." She murmured. "Not en..." Coughing, blood squirted from her mouth and splattered in the floor.

I gasped. Osamu just hit one of my gaskets. It popped.

Picking up the kunai on the left of Sakura, I charged at him, Neji failing to grab my arm. Drawing the weapon back, I launched it at Osamu, who dodged easily.

"Child's play," He muttered.

"Don't drop your guard!" I shouted, pulling out the concealed shuriken. The kunai was only a fake.

Skillfully, I leapt into the air, pushing off of his reaching arm and dug the kunai into his shoulder, which I bounced off of, landing behind him.

"Beat that," I grumbled.

In about a second, he poofed into smoke, a tree stump taking the place of his body.

"A substitution!" Neji exclaimed. "Tenten-!"

I suddenly felt a lot of pressure connect with my back, sending me into the air and flying across the room. The wall met with my stomach and I felt blood trickle down my body.

Dropping downwards, I felt Neji's hand stop the impact.

"Don't be an idiot." He muttered.

"T-Tenten," Tsunade uttered, reaching a bloody arm. "R-Run please!"

"I'm n-not gonna run away from you guys!" I cried back. "That's not the true meaning of being in a circus right?"

Tsunade's eyes twitched, her body struggling to try and sit upward.

"It's about being able to apply techniques everywhere!" I said loudly. "Even in battle."

"Aren't you a brave one?" Osamu chuckled.

"WAIT!" Next to Osamu, a feeble voice piped up. "This is m-my battle!"

Keiko struggled to stand, tears streaming down her face.

My heart was literally squeezed as I watched her barely manage to face her father.

Blood oozed from the corners of her lips, one of her eyes was barely open, her nose looked as if it were broken, and pretty much a lot of other shit that made her look like she had just fallen over the side of a cliff.

I watched her, my lips parted in amazement. Neji observed quietly, showing zero emotion.

"Keiko," I commented. "You . . ."

"Dear daughter," Osamu said. "How do you expect to beat me?" He asked. "You hardly have an chakra and you know your hypnotism jutsu is suicide inside of my head. You're too tired to apply any taijustsu. And genjustsu is impossible.

"I'm not your daughter," Keiko argued. "There's no way I can be related to you!"

Ouch. But Osamu only stared at her blankly.

"Well you're not." He replied plainly. "You're . . . adopted."

"Wh-What?" Keiko cried.

My eyes widened in surprise.

"B-But m-my father-" Keiko was interrupted.

"I killed him." Osamu cut her off.

"HOW COULD YOU?" Keiko jumped up with adrenaline, and launched a fist towards her "father".

Osamu, moved to the left and caught it with his right hand. He easily twisted it, kneed her in the stomach, and brought his other leg up high and kicked her just below the armpit.

Keiko screeched, falling hard against the floor behind her, completely knocked out.

I stared completely horrified.

Shit this is bad.

You THINK?

Yeah I do. I don't think you'll get out alive if you decide to fight him.

Oh gee thanks!

Just saying.

"N-Neji," I said, scared. "What do we do?"

"Apply circus techniques," Osamu mimicked in a high voice.

I growled.

"Shut up! It's harder than you think!" I cried. "Besides we can beat you!"

Osamu laughed in amusement.

"I'd like to see you try."

Neji glanced at me angrily.

"Are you suicidal?" He hissed lowly.

I bit my lip.

"I'm pissed actually." I told him.

Neji rolled his eyes.

"You're stupid emotions. They're as plan as color." He grumbled. "You always show them! They go through phases constantly! You have way too many mood swings. Five minutes ago you were sobbing!"

Neji crossed his arms.

"You're impossible."

Okay. He's the one with the mood swings, changing his mind about me so much.

"You're one to talk." I protested. "You're mean to me, then you save me, then you hate me again, then you're nice and show a soft side, then you hate me, then you become the crying shoulder! What's wrong with you?"

Neji and I stared each other down, faces close, forgetting about Osamu for a moment.

"Should I kill you now?" Osamu mused.

Neji's clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Look what you got us into now. . ." he sighed.

"You look! Look around you!" I turned, pointing to all of our friends, half awake and half unconscious, trying to speak to us.

It hurt watching them, looking at Hina-chan laying covered in blood, or sweet Chouji panting heavily, or Sasuke and Naruto trying to stand up and fight.

"We have to fight for them!" I told Neji.

Neji pondered this.

"Well we have no choice anyways." He said.

Osamu watched us, smirking.

"I won't try to kill you." He commented.

"Oh no," a voice from behind Osamu agreed. "Don't kill them."

Osamu sighed.

"Orochimaru leave this to me." He mumbled.

"Of course," then the voice disappeared just as quickly as it came.

"The files . . ." I muttered, gulping.

"Hn." Osamu remarked. "Sasuke burned them." he motioned towards a file cabinet that had gone up in flames.

I smirked. Atta boy, Sasuke.

But my smile faded when my eyes returned to the enemy.

"I better have my chakra returned." Neji mumbled, closing his eyes. "BYAKUGAN!"

We both took a defensive stance and stared down our opponent.

Osamu watched, amused.

While Neji charged towards him, I picked up the weapons that were laid on the floor.

Osamu jumped over Neji, smirking, but ran right into my kunai.

"Don't get cocky," I muttered.

He poofed though.

"Oh really?" The voice came from beside my ear.

With that, Osamu slashed at my back.

Crying in pain, my knees crashed into the floor before me.

But another scream came from behind.

Neji landed a blow on the back of Osamu. This time he didn't poof away. It was the real him.

"Trivial mistake for a master like you," Neji mumbled, he grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

Just then, I felt a great pain towards my ankles. Osamu had grabbed them and I didn't know why it hurt so bad because he wasn't even pulling.

"Ow!" I shrieked.

"Chakra," Neji uttered, kicking at Osamu's hands.

I fell over again, unable to stand.

Osamu guffawed, on his feet again.

"That, my dear, was trivial." He explained.

I still couldn't get up, my ankles impaired.

Neji stood in front of me, his hands flowing with chakra. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it.

He used his gentle fist technique again but it wouldn't work on Osamu.

Neji panted heavily, raising his arms once more, defensively.

"It won't due," Osamu informed him, running past Neji and straight into me.

He landed a kick to my chest and it hurt like HELL. The kick pushed my back and I gagged, struggling to breathe. The wind was literally knocked out of me and it felt like the pipes had closed.

"Tenten!" Neji cried.

"Focus." Osamu coolly told him, kicking Neji's knees with his own.

My partner crippled downwards next to me.

I stared in terror as Osamu advance towards us.

Why did this stuff always happen to me? Was I just that unlucky? If I had never accepted Tsunade's offer months ago this never would've happened, but then again, I wouldn't be the person I was now. I wouldn't be as strong and have as many friends. So this situation was clearly my fault. Why did I let my emotions always get the better of me?

A/N YES! CLIFFHANGER! I haven't had one in a while so sorry but I HAD TO! I HAD TO! I HAD TO! I know I'm cruel but I decided to spice it up again. Sorry for the lack of updates. Saturday I babysat, and Sunday was REALLY fun. My dance studio participated in our city parade and we got to dance for two hours straight in 99 degrees Fahrenheit weatherish, to awesome music and yeaaaah. It was sooo much funnnn! And extremely tiring so after that I had a loooot of pizza, water, and then homemade vanilla ice cream with toffee. Yesterday was awesome. Totttallly awesome. So I wanted to make a fun and intense chapter allll about emotions XD So thanks for reading and please review ^_^