Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, I'm really tired of repeating this…geez. Oh, and just for reference, I do own one thing in this chapter, its Neji's guardian, Akira.

Notes: Thanx for all the reviews, I thought nobody'll read this, um, now that you think of it, Tenten does seem a bit useless…don't worry though, she's gonna come in later. Oh, one more thing, I made Sasuke somewhat cocky…not that much.

            "Lee, Gai-sensei!"

 Gai turned from his game of poker, "Hey, you're—" he cut off abruptly when he saw that her hair was disheveled, and one of her arms had been scratched badly, leaving bloody snaking scars. She was breathing hard as she sank to her knees.

 Lee was instantly at her side, "What's wrong? Did Neji do this to you?" he asked worriedly, "What happened?"

 "Neji's…Neji's…" she gasped, clutching Lee's arm for support, "…he's…"

 "Calm down, Tenten." Gai said, getting up, even though he was now also seriously alarmed as well, "Tell us slowly, take your time."

 "He's…" Tenten gasped again, " In trouble…he's fighting this snake guy, the guy has a cobra…Neji told me…not to worry…to get you guys and get help…he's hurt…"

 "Cobra?" Gai repeated, looking dazed, "Did I hear you right?"

 She nodded,  "He…he…Neji might be dead…all my fault…" tears flowed from her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to prevent them from falling, "He told me to get away…I was

helpless…I couldn't help him…"

 Gai had heard enough, "Get yourself together, we're going to find him."

 Neji and the cobra continued the stareoff tensely. Without warning, the cobra lunged at him, and succeeded in sinking one of its fangs into his leg.

 He crumpled onto the ground, still shaking in fear, "Fuck." Neji's face turned white from the white-hot pain that cursed through his veins, "Akira…"

(Flashback)

            "You turned seven today," said his father, "I haven't given you my present yet."

 "But you already gave me a present, that little shuriken, I like it." Neji fingered his new weapon excitedly

 "That was Mommy's present, remember?" Hizashi looked mildly amused, "I am going to give

you a guardian."

 "A guardian?" Neji felt indignant, "I can protect myself just fine!"

 "I know you can, my son. But at times, you need a friend to help you, your guardian will be

that friend." His father explained patiently, "It will help you become stronger, help you to defeat strong enemies, even though I am strong, I have one too, every Hyuga has one."

 "You have one too? Cool!" Neji's eyes lit up, "How do you get one?"

 "You think very, very hard on your favorite animal and ask it nicely to help you and play with you, if it is in a good mood."

 Neji spent the rest of that day meditating, not a very easy thing for a seven-year old boy to do. Thinking hard about his favorite animal, the dragon. But the dragon did not come that day.

 "Father, how come my guardian didn't come?" Neji had asked the next day.

 "Hm, I don't know," Hizashi looked thoughtful, "Maybe because you have to ask it nicer."

 So once again, Neji went out and sat on his favorite rock, meditating even harder than the day before. It did not come.

It did not come the next day, nor the next, nor the next…Neji was growing very impatient.

 "What's that?" his father interrupted his train of thoughts, "Look, Neji! Your guardian is here!"

 Neji was very disappointed; it was a silver eagle that perched on his shoulder, "Bawk!"

 "But I wanted a dragon!" he whined, "How come this bird came?"

(End flashback)

 "Akira…please…come to me…" Neji lay there in a bloody heap, praying silently.

 Swiftly, the huge fowl swooped down with a fierce cry, pecking the snake in the eye. It gave Neji a pointed look as it flew past.

 "Interesting…" The Enemy now appeared in front of him, "You didn't tell me you kept a little pet as well, Neji-kun."

 Neji groaned, "You…"

 "Heh, how foolish of me, blabbering all this time and not even bothering to introduce myself." He laughed, "I wish you to remember my name…Orochimaru."

 "I happen to have a short term memory." Neji snapped, wondering how long it would take for Gai and Lee to come to his rescue, as bad as it was, he actually admitted that he needed rescuing.

 "Hey! Hyuga!" a new voice called out, "Never take on an enemy alone, got that?" the speaker was someone he knew well.

 "I know that voice." Neji looked up, "Uchiha Sasuke."

 "Can you get up?" Sasuke asked, "Or is it my turn to take on this guy?"

 "Don't come down here." Neji protested weakly, "This guy rivals hokage. Don't be an ass and get yourself killed."

 "Put this on, bastard and quit whining, get up. Stand your ground like a true ninja or you'll end up like I did." Sasuke tossed him a roll of bandages. "Are you a coward? Get up!"

 "Huh, just the insult I needed." Neji smirked, "As you wish."

 "Interesting… Uchiha Sasuke, eh? Indeed." Orochimaru grinned, "This is a fun day for me…"

 "You…" Sasuke now directed his gaze to Orochimaru, "are so fucking gonna die."

            "Tenten," Lee complained, they had been running for a long time, and even he was getting tired, "How far do we have to go?"

 "I don't know, I was just wandering around randomly until I found him, so the marks are pretty much circling around…" Tenten's voice trailed off.

 "We don't have time for this." Gai sighed, "Neji might be dead for all we know…"

  Lee slumped down on the grass, "Then I say we just screw this damn search and go back."

 "I can't believe you two!" Tenten exploded, "All that talk about teamwork was just SHIT! Wasn't it? I don't know what's up with you, but Neji's our teammate, whether you like it or not…it's not fair!"

 "Whoever said the world was fair?" Lee glared at her, "Is it fair that I can't use Ninjutsu? Of course not. What the hell? If anything, I'd say you are madly in love with Neji or something."

 "Damn you." She spat, "Just because he's stronger than you doesn't mean you have to get all pissed." Tears welled up in her eyes again, "It's all my fault, Neji's not all that cracked up to be, I couldn't help him! Don't you realize how helpless it made me feel, Lee?"

 Lee instantly put a comforting arm around her, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were…"

 "It's just…" Tenten put her head on his shoulder and sobbed, "All my fault, I'm the one that should be sorry…"

 "Err, maybe you should go ahead, Gai-sensei." Lee suggested awkwardly after a moment, "I'll stay here with her."

 "Good idea." Gai agreed, "Be back in a minute." He sprinted off.

           "Uchiha, you wanna commit suicide or something?" Neji hissed, as Sasuke landed beside him. "You're crazy!"

 "I'm no crazier than you, Hyuga." Sasuke scoffed, "You fought him first."

 "Well, fine." Neji sighed, limping to his feet, "This is nuts."

 "I don't want to hear you say that." Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Aren't you the one that wanted to pick a fight?"

 "There wasn't anything else I could do." Neji exhaled heavily, "I mean, I couldn't just go up there and go, 'Hey, ol' buddy who wants to kill me, wanna be friends'? Hell, no. I think not."

 " I didn't ask you to do that," Sasuke smirked, "That sounds like Naruto. If you said that, it'd be freaky."

 "I'll take that as a compliment," Neji scowled, "Now, let us screw that fucking bitch."

 "My thoughts exactly…"

 Orochimaru yawned, "You two are very boring conversationalists." He stretched lazily, "Are you done now?"

 "Oh, yeah?" Neji shot back, "old man, welcome to the last hour of your life." At least now he had an ally. Sasuke could protect himself just fine; after all, he had the Sharingan on his side. "Behind." He mouthed to Sasuke, who nodded and lunged at Orochimaru.

 "Fire Element: Grand Fire Flower!" Sasuke cried, and nearly scorched himself in process,

"Hyuga!"

 "Byukagan!" Neji appeared out of nowhere and seized the Enemy, wrestling him down on the

grass, "Gotcha!"

 "Kawamiri!" where Orochimaru had been seconds before was now nothing more than a mere bag of concrete.

 "Damn!" Neji swore.

 Akira, the eagle was still battling the cobra, which had been successfully blinded, but that was just the beginning, since the giant serpents also had a strong sense of smell. It now pounced on Neji, whose leg would not support him through so much excitement.

  Sasuke now watched in horror as the snake swoop down and prepared to devour his comrade. "Kage Bushin no jutsu!" Stupid Naruo, … "You bastard snake!"

 After an intense, but thankfully short struggle, the cobra fell down on top of Sasuke, blood pouring like hell out of his fangs.

 "Good." Orochimaru approved, "At least you show some signs of the noble blood in you…I must say, the blood runs thin in you and your brother."

 "My brother…" Sasuke looked up.

 "Yes, your brother, Itachi, he was even more pathetic than you, didn't even put up a fight when I got through with him."

 "You killed him…you fucking shithole!" the young Uchiha strained to free himself.

 "Yes, I did," Orochimaru answered calmly, "I thought you didn't need the trouble." Walking over to the unconscious Neji, and placed three fingers that glowed a faint purple on his neck,

"I'll spare you this time. Sasuke-kun, be grateful, for next time it will be your turn. Neji-kun did well and was worthy enough of the curse." He paused, "He will become a great killer just like I am, and he will seek me to gain even more power, and I shall help him get the revenge he's always wanted…" he walked off.

  Sasuke, who was nauseated from the stench of the blood, fainted and gave in to the darkness. I'm an avenger, Orochimaru…I will kill you before you kill me. He promised silently.