Chapter Six
A/N: Well here goes the new chapter and a warning beforehand, there are some dark themes ahead, mostly cause a happy ever after in the sixth chapter is a bit too premature for my tastes. But that said, I hope you won't decide not to read anymore, cause that would make me sad.
"Now, isn't that cute?" A dark figure muted the power on a television. "Honestly, the happy reunion of a man and his wife after time apart always gets me every time."
"Very funny Ryoji. For that to happen, you'd need a heart."
The Ryoji in question was of course Shiratori Ryoji, who contrary to popular belief was not dead. In fact, he was very much alive and well. Now that could be confusing, as he had been reported dead by Hyuuga Neji who had claimed to kill him with his bare hands. How was it possible? Easy. Hyuuga Neji hadn't killed him. In fact, Hyuuga Neji hadn't even returned home. The last surviving member of his ANBU squad was sitting in a cage, smoldering with rage as he watched some other person, a fake who had taken his face, touch his wife, cry with her and hold her and his daughter.
Kenji looked up from where he was digging in the refrigerator. No, he wasn't dead either. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Didn't we already tell you that that cage restricts the use of Chakra. Unless you're in the mood for an electric shock I'd suggest you keep your anger in check."
"I'm still amazed. Fuyuki is able to reproduce a person he has only seen for a few moments, straight down to his every mannerism. We've been planning this for years, ever since we met up with him and the others. It took a long time to come up with the perfect revenge. You see…" His calm looks twisted to reveal his inner psychosis. "…just killing you wasn't enough anymore. You needed to suffer just like we had to. For five years you were living the perfect life with the girl that we broke. You were lucky enough to put her back together, which fit right into our plan, because now we're going to shatter her again, but this time it'll be impossible to find all the pieces."
His brother returned to the living room, slipping a poorly made sandwich between the bars of the small cage, placing it in front Neji. "Eat up. We don't want you to pass out and miss out on any second of this." He walked over to the couch and smacked Ryoji on the back of the head.
"What the hell?"
"Don't be an ass Ryoji. Why are you telling him our plan?"
"He can't get out of there. The most he'll do is work himself into a frenzy and injure himself some more. Besides, we're going to kill him after we're done with his wife anyway."
Kenji spoke in the direction of the cage as the images on the screen entered the bedroom and TenTen placed the sleeping baby in the crib. "I can only begin to imagine what must be going through your head right now. Thinking about Fuyuki sleeping next to your wife, kissing your daughter goodnight, holding her, feeding her. A murderous bastard like him being so close to your precious family, and you can't do anything about it. We don't have any control over him you know, he outranks us. He may decide to do things to her that'll make you squirm."
"And we'll enjoy watching every moment of it."
"The best thing is that through the whole thing she'll be thinking he's you. If we do decide to spare your lives there's no way either of you will be able to move on past this. She'll never forgive you for getting captured and letting this happen to her and you'll never forgive her for essentially cheating on you."
"You don't know anything about us." Neji countered, somehow words making their way past the bile collecting in his throat.
"You messed up Kenji, he can still talk."
"Even I have a limit to how much I can beat up a defenseless guy."
"God Kenji, can't you even do such a simple thing?" He climbed up out of the seat and stumbled over to the cage.
"Careful Ryoji, those bars are pretty wide. Just because he can't use Chakra doesn't mean he can't fight back."
"Yeah yeah." The Shiratori squatted in front of the cage. "I bet by now you hate us a whole lot. I mean, just when you think you've gotten rid of us we just sprout up again to screw you over in a whole new way, just like cockroaches."
His brother groaned. "Do you have to compare us to that? I'm not an insect."
"Whatever, I'm creating a metaphor here." He ignored his brother and refocused on Neji. "To think, this all started with the Chuunin exam. You could've avoided all of this if you'd just ignored us and went on your way, showed up some other people who didn't have a knack for vengeance."
Neji continued to just sit, trying his hardest to block out Ryoji's words. He wouldn't allow whatever they showed him to hurt him, instead he would wait, biding his time until there was a way for him to get out of here.
"Resolute, isn't he?" Ryoji turned to his brother. "Probably coming up with a plan, and this time he's going to make sure he kills us."
"Can't blame him for trying."
"She won't fall for it."
"For what?"
"Fuyuki. It may take her a while, but she's going to see straight through it. TenTen knows me. No matter how much he's watched me there's no way he can emulate me perfectly."
Ryoji's hands shot through the bars of the cage and wrapped around the neck of his captive. "I liked him better when he was unconscious."
"Careful Ryoji, if you kill him you'll ruin the plan."
"I'm not going to kill him." He hissed, squeezing harder on the younger man's neck. "I'm just gonna mess up his vocal chords a bit."
Neji struggled for air against the vice-like grip of the older ninja, the whole time staring defiantly into his eyes, channeling all of his anger and rage and frustration into his white orbs.
Moments later Ryoji released him. "You're right Kenji. It's no fun beating up someone who won't fight back."
"Told you." He motioned to the TV screen. "You might want to come back and watch this. They're going to bed."
~~~
TenTen knelt over the wheelchair and helped her husband stand to his feet. The hospital staff had been kind enough to change him into the pair of pajamas she'd had Kotetsu bring over, and she was grateful to have that ordeal avoided. At this stage with most of his wounds still raw, even barely brushing her fingers over his bandages brought him immense pain. In perfect Neji-like form, he'd refused to take the painkillers he'd been given by the doctors and she'd rolled her eyes but went along with it. If he wanted to feel the pain then that was his prerogative. "Can you stand by yourself?"
"Of course."
"Okay." She pulled the sheets down from the top of the bed to create a spot for him to lie down and then returned to his side, helping him ease into bed. She then lifted the covers and arranged them around him gingerly. "Are you comfortable?"
He grunted.
"Neji, I'm going to sleep in the guest room. The last thing I want to do is for you to open your stitches because I was sleeping restlessly."
He reached out and took her hand in his. "That's okay, you don't have to sleep out there. This is your bed too."
"That's very sweet Neji, but you won't feel the same way in the morning when your whole body is in pain." The last thing she wanted to do was have to deal with an irritated ranting and raving husband first thing in the morning. "Besides, I have to wake up early to get Outarou-kun ready for school and I don't want to bother you then. Your Mom will be over in time to make breakfast for you, okay?"
He sighed in resignation. "Fine." He waved her away. "Goodnight."
She smiled at his expression. "I really am glad you're okay." She bent over and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight."
She walked over to the closet and took down the next morning's uniform and carried it with her out of the room. When she checked in on Outarou he was already sound asleep and she didn't have the heart to bother him especially after everything he'd seen, and resigned herself to her fate, another night spent on the lumpy couch. Once she'd settled down onto the couch, her head resting on one of the cushions she remembered faintly that the air conditioning was on the fritz, sending the entire house into sub-zero temperatures, and that she had forgotten to bring out some sheets and that those were back in her room in the closet. She didn't want to go back in the room and disturb her husband's attempt to sleep and it was already four-thirty am, so she wouldn't have to suffer through the cold for that much longer anyway. Besides, some things were worth the sacrifice.