Chapter 26

A/N: Warnings for this chapter, there's some dialogue that's a bit sickening, but nothing really graphic.  And I'm even letting Lee be focused on more.  He must really be growing on me.

Neji had been so angry that he hadn't even noticed he was being followed.  He'd smelled the poisonous gas on the wind only seconds before his body became paralyzed.  The next thing he knew he had been hoisted into air and carried between what he estimated to be two people.  After what seemed to be a ten minute journey through the treetops they finally came to a stop.  He felt them leap down to the ground and then his body was thrown against a rock.

"Well well." The low gravelly baritone was not a voice he recognized.  "Looks like we caught ourselves a ninja."

"What are we going to do with this one?" The second voice was almost identical to the first.

His voice became sinister.  "I can think of a few things."

"So can I." The other one replied.

"You first."

"Now that I think about it, this guy does deserve whatever punishment we can think of.  It is his fault what happened to his friend after all, and he did kill our brother."

At that statement Neji fought off the paralysis and tried to jump to his feet, but he was quickly kicked in the stomach.  A clump of blood flew out of his mouth.  "Fucking bastards." He growled.

He was gripped by his long hair.  "Watch your language brat."

"That was quite a show your girlfriend put on the night Honda died.  Fireworks and all." He clenched his free fist.  "We still have the burn marks on our flesh, isn't that right Kenji?"

"Yeah Ryoji.  It even still hurts sometimes."

"You killed your brother you sons of a bitch!"

The fingers tightened in his hair.  "And you've got no proof."

"You ran away from Konoha."

"And so did you." Neji countered.

"Besides, we had to.  Who wants to be caught hanging around when they found the body?"

Neji gritted his teeth.  "Who else did you kill?"

"Our sensei was just like you.  He asked a lot of questions, and constantly ruined our fun.  He was going to rat us out, so we arranged for him to have an unfortunate accident.  He ended up buried twelve feet underground, impaled by fifteen spikes.  If you want, we can arrange something similar for you."

Neji snarled, but he was forcefully restrained by one of them.

"Your girlfriend screams like a banshee." One of them remarked.  "Too bad you're not old enough to put that to good use."

"Shut up." He growled.

"What's wrong Neji?  Don't get upset with us.  We're doing you a favor."

"Since you won't survive to sleep with her yourself, we'll be kind enough to let you know what it was like." His voice got closer to Neji's ear.  "In excruciating detail."

Neji struggled to get up again, but this time he fell down without anyone touching him.

"You shouldn't do that.  The more you move, the faster the paralyzing agent moves through your body and the longer you won't be able to move."

"You know you're curious.  She hasn't told you what she remembers of that night and it makes you wonder.  Did she actually enjoy it?"

"Have you ever heard her moan?"

"I said to shut up!"

They ignored him.  "Her skin is so soft and smooth.  Have you ever touched her Neji?"

"You sick bastards." He couldn't take it anymore.  "You raped an innocent girl and you're proud of it."

"Nobody's innocent."

"She was, and you took that away." Neji could feel the anger surging through him, and with it, his temperature rose dramatically, the searing heat scorching him from the inside out.

The twins looked at the sweat on his skin and laughed.  "It's starting to really kick in."

"We wanted to kill you in the most painful way possible, but we'll just settle for the fastest way.  This will go straight to your heart and collapse it." Neji felt a tiny pinprick in his right arm.  "You'll be dead within minutes."

The boy lifted his head and smirked.  "I won't, but you will." The liquid that had just been injected into him oozed out through his skin.  "You should've just cut off my head." He stood on shaky feet and slipped into his fighting stance, his right palm facing his abductors and his left hand hanging limply at his side.

One of the boys snorted.  "How are you going to beat us if you can't see us?"

Neji smiled.  "I don't have to." He urged his left hand up to meet his right and formed a series of complicated seals.  "Burning Soul Phoenix no Jutsu!"

Ryoji and Kenji knew when they were beaten and before the flaming bird could attack them, they made good on their escape.

Exhausted by the effects of the gas they'd used and from summoning the phoenix, Neji sank back down onto the ground to regain his strength.  He had no idea where he was now, but if he knew in his heart that if he kept still, Gai and the rest of his team would come find and him.

~~~

"Gai-sensei!" Lee ran to his teacher's side as the man emerged from deep within the forest.  "I haven't been able to find him, have you seen him?"

Gai shook his head slowly.  "Iie.  I couldn't find him."

The bushes rustled behind Lee.  He turned around quickly, a wide grin on his face, expecting to see his comrades standing there, smiling back at him.  Instead, he saw only TenTen, her brown eyes rimming over with tears, and her lower lip quivering.  His smile faded almost instantly and he ran to TenTen's side.  "What's wrong?"

"I-I-"

He couldn't help it.  The way she was acting made him nervous.  Before he even realized he had gripped her by the shoulders and was shaking her back and forth.  "What happened TenTen?  What's wrong with Neji?"

A tear slipped down the girl's cheek.  "I couldn't find him." She lifted a hand to grip her forehead.  "The Phoenix.  It told me…"

"What did it say TenTen?  What the hell did it say?  What's wrong with Neji?"

"It said…that if we don't find him soon, he's going to die."

"It's lying TenTen!" He shouted.  "Don't believe it!  Don't let it break your spirit.  Gai-sensei, tell her!"

Gai frowned.  He looked up at the darkening sky.  "It's right.  Lots of dangerous people roam the forests around Konoha and in Neji's condition he won't be able to fight them all off."

TenTen sniffed loudly, wiping her tears away.  "We have to find him."

Gai nodded.  "We will."

"TenTen, you can sense him, can't you?"

She paused briefly, and then nodded.  "Just barely."

"Then we'll have to go with that.  Lead us to him."

TenTen swallowed hard and pressed into the bushes.  'Hang on Neji'

~~~

Using the Phoenix had seemed like a good idea at first, but he know realized that it was a mistake.  His body was too weak to summon something that powerful.  Though he'd been sitting still for nearly an hour now, his breath still came in ragged gulps.  The voice in his head was strangely quiet, leading him to believe that there really was something wrong with his body.

What really bothered him though, was the fact that Ryoji and Kenji had not been injured by the Phoenix, and with him so weak now, they could easily be hiding in the trees waiting for him to fall asleep so they could kill him.  His eyes widened as he thought of something worse.  TenTen was wandering through the forest looking for him.  If they knew that, there was a chance they would go after her again.  He struggled to his feet.  He had to find her before they did.

He made it nearly twenty feet before his legs gave way and he slumped down against a tree.  'Shit.' He cursed mentally, punching the dirt beside him.  Those bastards hadn't managed to kill him, but they'd done a pretty good job of screwing him over.  His legs felt like jello underneath him.  The paralysis effect was lasting longer than usual because he'd let it circulate throughout his whole body just because he was angry.

Neji leaned his head against the tree and sighed.  'Please be okay TenTen.'

~~~

TenTen stopped walking suddenly, causing Lee to walk straight into her.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I heard Neji's voice."

"Then we're close?"

"Hai." Her brown eyes clouded over with worry.  "He's not doing well though.  We have to hurry." The girl sprinted into the bushes.

"HEY!  WAIT!" Lee chased after her.

"AHH! FINALLY YOUR ENTHUSIASTIC YOUTH BURNS WITHIN YOU!" Gai smiled broadly and followed his two students into the forest.

~~~

Neji tried once more, and this time found that he could stand on his feet, and if he took it slowly could move ten or eleven feet without tiring.  Once his strength began to give out he would lean against a tree until he regained it.  On his fifth try sensed TenTen coming towards him.  If he kept going in the direction he was headed in, he would step directly into her path.  Now, even more motivated, he pushed off the tree he was leaning against and placed one foot in front of the other.  If he ever ran into the Shiratori brothers again, he wouldn't spare them death.

~~~

"It won't be much longer!" TenTen shouted behind them.  "He's just up ahead."

As Lee watched, Neji's figure emerged from the trees in front of them.  He looked disheveled and bruised, and blood was crusted on his lips.  He appeared to be stumbling towards them and looked as though his legs would give away any second.

Neji tripped over an upturned root and was too exhausted to prevent his fall, he could only stand there as he felt the ground rush towards him.  In mid-fall he could feel two thin arms wrap around his waist and pull him to a female body.  "TenTen?"

"It's me."

His hands came up and hugged her tightly to him.  "Thank god you're okay."

"Me?" She traced the bruises on his face.  "What happened to you?"

"I ran into some old friends."

"Who were they?"

He shook his head.  "Don't worry about it.  I'm okay and so are you."

She tightened her fist in his shirt.  "They're here, aren't they?"

"I ran them off TenTen.  You don't have any reason to worry.  I told you I'd kill them for you."

Half of her wanted release him and go chasing after the Shiratori brothers, but the other, more reasonable part of her wanted to stay standing here, holding him.

"It looks as though our journey will be delayed.  Neji is in no condition to continue on.  We'll head back to camp." He walked over to the boy, tossed him effortlessly over his shoulder and walked towards their things.

"He's okay." Lee said.  "He just needs to rest."

"Those bastards hurt him."

"They hurt you too."

"He wants to kill them."

"He'll succeed."

"I know, but it'll change him.  Neji has never killed anyone before."

"But he'll do it for you." Lee assured her.  "Doesn't that mean something?"

TenTen didn't reply, just muttered inaudibly and followed Gai.

Lee groaned.  Things were already not going their way, and they still nearly two days of hiking to go.  He clasped his hands together for a moment.  "God, please work everything out for us.  I just don't want my friends to have to hurt anymore."