Vulnerability is a sin

A/n: Thankee everyone for the wonderful reviews!!! I really didn't expect any...but here you are! Well...I don't mind if you give me flames, violent reactions or death threats...all that matters is that you continue to read this humble fic. Thank you!!

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"Neji...Tenten's missing."

Those words brought Neji to a stand still. He just stood there, frozen, unable to move. As Rock Lee stood beside him, he noticed the different emotions that played across his face. In disbelief, he saw what seemed to be panic, frustration, then, a great anger pass across Neji's usually calm countenance. The imperturbable Neji was soon losing his control.

That unnerved Rock Lee a bit.

Then before he knew it, he realized that Neji was already gone. Neji was running in the opposite direction, and going about in full speed.

"Neji... Wait!!" Rock Lee yelled as he tried to follow the other boy.

"Wait for me..."

Meanwhile, Neji kept on running. He didn't answer. In fact, his brain did not seem to register Rock Lee's presence all along. All he could think about was one thing---and all his emotions seem to explode on that one thought:

Find Tenten...

He continued to run, going about in no direction at all, until finally his common sense took over. And he stopped. Rock Lee, who had been desperately chasing him, slammed him right from the behind.

"Oww!! That hurts Neji..." Rock Lee yelled, "Why did you stop?!!"

Neji didn't answer. He only stood there; his head low, panting softly, more because of the emotional overload than exhaustion. He only stayed in that state; while Rock Lee stood beside him in great confusion and wondering what on earth happened to the great Hyuuga Neji to change him into this.

After a few more minutes, Neji, finally looked up.

"What happened?" was the first words he said.

"YOU ran!! Didn't you remember??" Rock Lee replied, definitely confused.

"NO...I mean...what happened...to her......"

"To Tenten?"

Neji lay, motionless for a while, still out of breath.

Then, he said "Yes...to Tenten..."

After hearing that question, Rock Lee, grew silent, as if gathering his thoughts, then, when he looked ready, he said, "I visited her a while ago..."

"You told me she was sick, so I came there, and I gave her Gai-sensei's world famous herb extract..."

"What do you mean, herb extract?" Neji inquired, a frown creasing his brow.

"OH!! Sir Gai's World Famous 101 Herb extract... He said it could heal about a hundred illnesses ranging from toothache, varicose veins, Arthritis, tuberculosis..."

"AAaaarggh!! Shut Up! Just continue with the blasted story!!"

"Ah well...I found her conscious, the second time I came, and she looked pretty normal. But when I came back she was gone."

"That's all?"

"No...I looked for her outside the building...but she wasn't there...

I started to get worried, especially when the nurses found this thing in her bedside." Rock Lee, then, handed Neji a roll of bloody and used up bandages. "It's hers...I checked the blood type, and I confirmed it was hers..."
Rock Lee paused for a while. He had become a bit unsettled by Neji's silence. Then, he continued, "I figured since you brought her there, you'd know where she is..." And yet, Neji remained quiet and still.

Rock Lee sighed, and looked away. "Also, I knew that you're probably her closest friend, and..."

At this, statement, Neji raised his gaze to the other boys face, and looked at him intently.

"...and I thought you wouldn't mind... But I'm sorry I bothered..."

"Shut up."

Rock Lee raised a pair of startled eyes.

"You're turning yourself into a bumbling sentimental idiot..." Neji continued.

But, what about Tenten?" Rock Lee answered.

"She's fine... She's stupid, but she's capable... She can take care of herself."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure" was his immediate affirmative.

"But-"

"Just go back..."

Neji then, turned away for emphasis.

Finally, Rock Lee relented. "Alright, if you say so..." he muttered with a shrug. He was till worried and uncertain, but he was willing to trust Neji's infallible conviction. With a brief farewell, he bounded off.

Meanwhile, Neji stood alone in the corner.

He gazed at the retreating green figure of Rock Lee.

Then, when he saw that he was already out of sight, he turned on his heel and walked on the opposite direction.

As fast his lower limbs could carry him, he went purposely to the original route he had walked a while ago.

He had a goal, and no one was gonna stop him.

He is going to find Tenten.

And, he is going to bring her back...

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Neji sat in a low seat near Hidden Leaf village's river. Leaning his head back, he let the biting cold of the night air take away the fatigue that seemed to envelope his whole body. He was exhausted. He knew that.

It was already close to midnight, and he started to look for Tenten seven hours ago. He still hadn't managed to find a trace or a sign of that girl, and now he was still bewildered about her whereabouts.

It was his fault really... If he had sought another person's help, he could have found her hours ago. This place wasn't a ninja village for nothing.

But peculiarly, something inside him wanted to find her alone.

His logic dictated him twenty-four-seven but oddly, he wasn't following it now... He couldn't explain it... That same weird feeling he experienced a while ago was back again. He did not know what he was supposed to feel about it.

Everything was just...well...weird.

Opening his tired eyes, he gazed at the roll of bandages he had taken from Rock Lee. The blood had already darkened to the normal brownish hue. Lying there in his palms, it seemed as if it was just an ordinary piece of gauze that he had managed to pick up from somewhere.

But it wasn't.

And, that was what troubled him the most.

This bandage reminded him of that afternoon, when he had seen Tenten in her most vulnerable. The blood that stained that piece of cloth was also the same blood that stained his own fingers as he held Tenten in his arms, while she lay unconscious, while he carried her to the hospital. That same blood was the same blood that he watched the nurses clean off Tenten's flesh as he sat beside her that night, as he stayed close and watched as she slept.

So many things were inside that simple object.

And somehow, strangely, he felt responsible for it all

"Tenten...where are you?" he whispered to the night air. In answer to his question, the night air seemed to grow colder, as if it too was confused about her disappearance. Then, suddenly, raindrops started to fall.

"Shit!!"

Standing up, he cursed the heavens as he looked for a shelter for a while.

Finding none, he continued to swear at everything that came in sight.

As his temper mounted and all his frustrations came in, he walked off the spot and almost immediately found himself stumbling in the dark.

"Damn it...Tenten..." he swore under his breath.

"When I get to find you... I'll slay you at once."

Limping up, he tried to walk away again, but found that he couldn't.

As he stood there, practically disabled, and angry at the world, and especially at someone named Tenten, he didn't notice the figure that was approaching him.

That someone soon came into view...

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Frustrated, disabled, and alone, that was how Tenten found Neji...

Gazing at him from under the brims of her umbrella, she trembled softly... Tenten was grinning from ear to ear.

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AN: Sorry that was a bit of trash... I have been suffering a bit of that lethargic syndrome for some days now.

And because of that, I give you leave to give me all the death threats I deserve... Don't worry I'm used to it. (ToT)