AN
Another drabble courtesy of the all-too-awesome meme run by BC at the LJ comm. Prompt: Blindfolded Neji.
Blindfolds usually didn't mean much to Neji. His Byakugan could render them useless easily. But his Byakugan was not invincible - there were ways to nullify the all-seeing vision of his white eyes, and the enemy had apparently prepared for him. They'd stitched tiny ofudas into the cloth, seals that made it impossible to see through the fabric of the specially-made blindfold. He was as blind as any other ninja, in this case.
It was the Cloud. They wanted another chance at the doujutsu, and they ambushed him and his team on their way back from another mission. They'd overwhelmed him with surprise and sheer numbers and an electricity jutsu to the back of his skull to short out his nervous system. Then they'd tied him up and blindfolded him and hurried off with him trussed like a pig to market.
Despite the unaccustomed darkness, he felt little fear. They had, unfortunately, spent most of their forces to account for him. They had to, of course, but - they'd forgotten to account for his team.
He smiled a little grimly as they abruptly stopped, and he kept smiling even as he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. He smiled because around him he could hear the sounds of his team beating his would-be kidnappers like they were dirty rugs. He even grinned a little as he heard a familiar feminine snarl, followed by a wet 'crackkkk' and the breaking-voice scream of a man in severe pain. Oh, he hoped it was the one who'd said things about his father.
And then it was all over, and he felt hands pulling him up to a seated position. The deft way that his bonds were sliced through identified Tenten as clearly as if she'd announced herself. Last of all she removed his blindfold, and grinned at him. He found himself wanting to grin back, despite it all.
"Hey."
"Took you long enough," Neji commented dryly, glancing around at the fallen bodies carpeting the ground.
"Soooo sorry for being slow about rescuing your skinny ass," Tenten retorted, only to giggle as he shot her a disgruntled look.
They continued to bicker quietly as they set about tying up the Cloud-nin for a later patrol to pick up (they would bring the leaders back themselves) - a way to re-establish normality again, so Neji could forget about the Cloud and Tenten could forget about being afraid for him.
What wasn't normal was the fact that, unnoticed, Tenten had pocketed the blindfold for her own personal use - later. She grinned to herself again in the dark, and the Cloud-nin she was tying up moaned in fear at the predatory look on her face.