Author's Note: YAY I finally managed to connect to this fic! YES! Thank you for those who waited patiently for the next chapter!
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Chapter 3: Explaining and a New Quest
Everyone was sitting in Kaede's hut while Kaede made some soup.
"Okay, you two have some explaining to do!" Kaede said while stirring the soup. TenTen sighed and glanced at Neji before speaking.
"You see, we're ninjas from Konohagakure. Neji and I were inspecting an old well that appeared out of nowhere, and we accidentally fell in when an earthquake made us lose our balance." TenTen said, wondering if it was wise to tell them about Konoha.
"Konoha-what?" Shippo asked, stumbling with the name.
"Konohagakure." Neji said carelessly. But Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha were even more confused.
"Ninjas? What's that?" Inuyasha asked.
"Ninjas are dark warriors that are known for their illusions, speed, and silent assassinations…It's no wonder you don't know, since ninjas appear a few hundred years later." Kagome explained.
"But their clothes…I'd say that their clothes are somewhat from your world, Kagome." Sango said thoughtfully. Kagome went in deep thought. "Hey…what year are you two from?" she suddenly asked.
"Um…2004." TenTen replied.
"What!" Kagome exclaimed.
"What's wrong, Kagome?" Shippo asked.
"T…That's 8 years ahead of my time!" Kagome exclaimed. There was a pause.
"WH…WHAT!" everyone exclaimed.
"How could that be?" Sango asked.
"I don't know…" Kagome replied. "But the year 2004 is really 8 years ahead." Shippo frowned.
"I don't get it! Does that mean that these two are from the future-future?" he asked. Everyone looked at him.
"Uhh…future-future?" TenTen asked, sweat-dropping. Shippo nodded.
"If Kagome's from the future, but you two are from the future of Kagome's time, then you must be from the future-future!" he explained, and everyone sweat-dropped.
"…I guess that's one way to put it." Neji said. Miroku crossed his arms thoughtfully.
"So you two are from the future-future…If TenTen is so pretty, does that mean that all of the girls from the future-future are beautiful, too?" he said, smiling. Before he knew it, he was being pounded on the ground.
"You pervert!" Sango exclaimed, delivering a swift uppercut to his chin. Kagome managed to slap him and TenTen pinned him to the wall with some kunai.
"Now," she said, clearing her throat. "Let's get back to the subject."
"You said that you fell down a well and got transported here, right?" Kagome asked. Tenten nodded.
"Yeah," she replied. "What about it?" Kagome frowned.
"You see, I can travel across two eras back and forth with the help of a well. I actually come from the year 1996. But with the help of a well in my time, I can travel over to here." she explained.
"So basically, we did the same thing." Neji said.
"But if I remember correctly, I recall from down from the sky." Tenten suddenly said.
"I guess that the well you guys fell into just transported you to the middle of nowhere, which was here, in feudal Japan." Kagome said thoughtfully. Tenten looked at Neji with a worried face.
"How are we ever going to go back? From what I've heard so far, there is no well leading back to Konoha." she said, frowning.
"Well, for the time being, we should stay here in this village. It's obviously much safer than traveling around when we don't even know this place." Neji said, and Tenten nodded. Suddenly, Shippo jumped up.
"Hey, I've got a brilliant idea!" he exclaimed, and everyone looked at him. "Kagome, Inuyasha said that we're leaving this village to find more shards, right?" Kagome nodded. "Well, how about we take these two along? During our journey, we might come across a portal or something that will lead them back to Kono-whatever." Everyone thought for a moment.
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Tenten said slowly. Sango nodded.
"Yes, I think that it's the best thing to do." she said. Inuyasha sighed.
"I don't really want to take this arrogant bastard with me," he said, eyeing Neji. "But I guess I have no choice." Kagome smiled.
"Then it's settled. Good job, Shippo-chan!" she said brightly, and Shippo smiled triumphantly.
"When do we leave?" Tenten asked.
"Tomorrow in the morning." Kagome replied.
"You people have a long journey ahead of you, so I suggest you rest up for the night." Kaede said, and everyone agreed.
Tenten walked outside quietly, not wanting to disturb the others. The sky was dark and bright stars dotted it. The crescent moon was out, and Tenten looked at it for a while before continuing to walk forward. She briefly noticed Inuyasha waking up, but decided to ignore him. She eventually stopped at a stream. The stream was at the bottom of a hill.
"Hey." a voice suddenly said, and Tenten jumped and pulled out a kunai, but relaxed when she realized that it was Neji. They walked down the hill, not saying a word. So Tenten was surprised when it was Neji who broke the silence. "What are you doing this late?" he asked, not looking at her. Tenten smiled.
"I should be asking you too. I don't know…I was just taking a little walk." she replied.
"I…was thinking." Neji muttered.
"About what?" Tenten asked, looking at him curiously.
"I was thinking about this place…and those people…I'm not very sure if we should trust them or not." he replied, staring at the shimmering stream of water below them. Tenten looked thoughtful.
"Yeah…I sometimes think that too. But oh well. The plan doesn't seem very harmful. If they do betray us, we can always fight back or run away. But I'd prefer the former. People who betray others should be punished." she answered with a slight smile. Neji couldn't help but smirk.
"Yeah." he said, and the two ninjas sat together in silence with the crescent moon above them. After a while, Neji stood up. "We should return to the hut. I heard that half-dog wake up. They might start looking for us." he said, and Tenten swore she heard a bit of softness in his voice. She nodded, mentally slapping herself.
'Tenten, you idiot…He's Hyuuga NEJI. Why would he act soft towards me?' she thought. Suddenly, she remembered the scene when Neji had shown concern in his eyes when she had fallen down the well. She also remembered the scene when they were falling together, and Neji never let go of her hand. Thinking of that make her cheeks redden a bit. "Um…Neji?" she said quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. He turned around, facing her. "When I fell down the well…thanks for trying to save me." she said, blushing a little. Neji remained impassive, but Tenten noticed some kind of feeling in his eyes.
"Hn." was all he said as he turned to go back to the hut. Tenten had to suppress a wide smile as she walked beside him.
'I wonder what's in store for us starting from tomorrow…'
The next morning after eating a pot of Kaede's soup, the group of Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, Neji, and Tenten got ready to leave. Tenten was studying Sango's Hiraikotsu with an interested gaze while Sango complimented Tenten's sword, Inuyasha was glaring daggers at Neji while Neji pretended to ignore him, and Kagome was trying to calm Inuyasha down while Shippo made rude remarks about him. After the commotion had ended, the group left, not knowing the dangers that were in store for them.
Okay, well here's the next chapter! Just in case you don't know, Hiraikotsu is Sango's giant boomerang. As you can see, I put a little moment of Neji and Tenten. It was nothing romantic, but that moment is a little supporter of the Neji+Tenten that will be appearing in the future. Please be patient about the romance! We're only on chapter 3, after all. There's plenty of time to get the romance started. Plus, this chapter was sort of like an explanation chapter, so there wasn't much action. Suggestions are welcome! Well, PLEASE REVIEW!
Preview of Chapter 4: The Shikon no Kakera ("Kakera" means "shard" in Japanese.)
"Hand over the shards and we'll let you live!" she said, smirking. Tenten smirked.
"Hand over the shards? Yeah, right. Kagome-san, stay back. I'll handle this." she said, and drew out her sword.
"Ha! A sword? No one can beat me in a sword battle!" Rei exclaimed.
"Well we'll just see about that!" Tenten shouted as she charged. Rei also charged. Suddenly, she vanished. "Where is she?" Tenten exclaimed. Kagome gasped.
"Tenten-san, above you!" she yelled, and Tenten looked up in time to see Rei preparing to slash her with her sword.
'I have no choice,' Tenten thought. 'I will have to use "that move"…It's the only way I'll survive!' Tenten dodged Rei's slash at the last moment, and she cut her thumb on a kunai before slamming her hand down onto the ground.
"Kuchiyose: Kengeki!"
