Break Free

"Byakugan!"

Neji activated his technique and observed his surroundings. His teammates, Lee and Tenten, hid themselves well from his ordinary sight, but with Byakugan, he could see everything. Neji was trying to work on his Byakugan skill so he could rid himself of his blind spot located at the top of his spine.

"We can begin," Neji confirmed the start of training with his two teammates.

Once he said those words, five sharp objects, followed by forty more, were soaring at him from different directions.

"Kaiten!" Neji yelled as he spun around, creating a blue chakara dome around him.

As the weapons began to cease, the speed of Neji's spinning slowed down. As the rate began to decrease, an object flew out of the shadows to attack him.

"I know Lee all too well," Neji thought to himself and avoided Lee's sweep kick.

Lee and Neji began a taijutsu battle against each other. Most of Lee's attacks were deflected Neji's chakara counterattacks. At times, silver kunais were thrown from different directions while the two teenagers were fighting. Neji was able to keep up with Lee and deflect the kunais at the same time.

After an hour, Lee was tired and called it quits. Neji was exhausted but was still standing. His hair was frayed and most of his pulled back hair was not contained in the tie he had placed in his hair earlier. His robe was tainted from the few attacks Lee was able to land on him. Lee was battered and was running low on chakara. While they were in mid-conversation, a large object started to shadow Neji from above. Not knowing if he would be able to dodge the shadow figure in time, he automatically placed himself in position for…

"Neji, don't! That's…"

"Kaiten!" It took the last burst of strength Neji had in him to cause a huge repelling attack.

The unknown object crashed into the chakara dome and then flew in the opposite direction. The scream became unheard and unknowing to human ears; the scream sounded familiar to Neji. Lee stood in shock as to what Neji had just executed. With anger, Lee latched his fists onto Neji's clothing and pulled him face to face with his own.

"What the hell did you do that for? … There's no time for that!" Lee released his grip on Neji and rushed over to the fallen and wounded object. "Tenten!"

"Tenten?" Neji muttered to himself.

Now that he thought about it, he had not seen her since they began their training. He knew she was up in the treetops and he only knew her location when she launched her ninja stars and kunais. But why would she attack him from above when they concluded their training? Maybe she did not hear Lee? But what if she fell out of the tree? The latter thought made him feel worse about what he had just done.

Wait. Why was he thinking about this now? He should be seeing about his fallen comrade, right? Or getting Sakura or Gai-sensei? Neji's thoughts were all over the place and he was barely able to recall what had just happened. He had hurt Tenten unintentionally and did not know whether to see her or listen to his legs and run away from the situation.

"You've hurt the person who meant the most to you. The one who you had forgotten in your little ideal person who could change you." Now his teenage mind began to mess with him. His conscience loved to play and toy with his emotions, or only the ones he had left or never had at all.

"What are you talking about? I don't care about Tenten like that. She's useless to me and would only hold me back from what I need to accomplish in life," Neji replied to his conscience to fight and rebel against it.

"That's what you think about her, but that's not how you really feel. You know she's the one who can change you… set you free…" Down inside, he knew his conscience was right.

"She's just… I don't…" Neji tried to defend himself but was helplessly losing.

"Stop trying to fight it. You know you've always wanted to give her a chance."

"I do… but…"

"So you've finally admitted your feelings. Now go to her."

"No!" Neji exclaimed and ran away from the scene.

"Neji? Where are you going?" Lee screamed at the fading Neji.

In the mid-evening, Tsunade and Sakura were tending to Tenten in the emergency room. Tenten's condition was critical with physical injuries and damage to her internal organ system. Neji's Kaiten did more damage than anyone would have believed it could. Tenten's organ system and muscles tissue were severely damaged. The tissues and muscles around her vital organs were nearly ripped to shreds.

"You! Get Shizune in here now!" Tsunade commanded one of medical nin.

"Yes!"

"I didn't think that this much damage would be done. Sakura, put your all into this. We will save her."

"Yes, I will do more than my best," Sakura confidently replied.

Gai and Lee met up later on in the night to discuss what had taken place earlier in the day between Tenten and Neji. As usual, when Lee was in the middle of explaining the event, Gai burst out in a loud ruckus.

"Neji did what! Did he apologize! Is Tenten okay! What if she can't be a ninja anymore? Ah! What am I to do? Have I been that bad of a teacher?"

"Gai-sensei, please calm down! Tenten will be all right. She's unconscious right now but Sakura-san, Tsunade-sama, and Shizune-sama had done all they could for her. She's recovering and stable… but she is just unconscious."

"I am going to the Hyuuga house right now!" Gai exclaimed and rushed out the restaurant, leaving Lee, the customers, and the shop owner in disarray.

"Gai…sensei…" Lee ran out of the restaurant to catch up to Gai, but before leaving he left the money for the food they had been served behind.

"Gai-sensei, please wait!"

"This cannot wait Lee!" Gai stated while still storming off into the night.

"Gai-sensei!"

Lee executed Front Lotus (Omote Renge) to wrap his arm and hand bandages around his teacher to stop him.

"Gai-sensei please! Give Neji some time! Understand how he feels! He has hurt someone who is really close to him and now he doesn't know how to deal with it. Give him a few days to think about it. I'm sure his mind can't handle with what happened earlier. When he hit Tenten with Kaiten, Neji could have gone over to see if she was okay. Instead, he ran away. He's always serious, and now, something serious has happened. He'll apologize and confess to Tenten." Lee tried his best to hold the ranting Gai back and explain the situation.

"So, she was the one you were talking about. The one who will change him?" Gai spoke softly, finally understanding the situation.

"Yes!" Lee shouted with eyes shut tightly, "please… Gai-sensei! I didn't want it to come to this to make him realize, but…"

"I understand Lee… I won't go," Gai replied while Lee loosened the bandages that had been wrapped around Gai.

"Thank you Gai-sensei," Lee said with a smile on his face. "Now you owe me for the dinner you just ran out on."

"What!"

As the days passed, Neji refused to leave his room. Naruto, Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba, and even Hinata tried to get him to at least leave his room, even if he stood outside. But Neji, being stubborn as usual, refused and never left. When Lee stopped by, knowing Neji wasn't going to leave his comfort zone, he just slipped notes through his bedroom window to update him on Tenten's condition. His mind was on Tenten and the event that took place earlier in the week.

"I can't get her out of my head. Why?" Neji interrogated himself for the past five days. Tenten still wasn't awake and all he could do was thinking about her condition and what happened, although it was slowly fading into a blur.

"Maybe because you have feelings for her and you've finally admitted to that." His mind replied to his rhetorical question.

"Tenten, I am so sorry…" He whispered while putting his face into his cupped hands. Neji's mind and body always denied him of feeling the emotions of sadness and regret. Now these feelings had hit him for the first time, and hard. "If I knew it was you, I would have caught you and held you in my arms for as long as time would allow… I cannot burden you with my curse. I never knew I had these feelings for you; had an ability to feel like this… But I can't allow you to come into my life.

The next day, Neji dressed in his usual attire and pulled his long black hair into a ponytail. The first time in a week, he was leaving his room and the Hyuuga house. His destination was Konoha hospital and he let his legs lead him there. Once he arrived, he asked the receptionist what room Tenten had been residing in. The receptionist greeted him with a smile and kindly told and led him into the room she was being held in. He nodded as a sign of thanks and let himself in. When he closed the gray sliding door behind him, all he could see was white and IV lines everywhere. He found something to place in front of the door to deny anyone access to the room. It was now or never.