Chapter Two: Antidote
Tenten woke groggily the next morning. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the red skin around Neji's eyes- he hadn't slept much at all during the previous night. She lifted her arms which felt cumbersome and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yawned and stretched. She felt the necklace she'd been wearing last night still on her skin and she took it off, placing it on the bedside table slowly. She felt her limbs begin to work again and the weapons expert found it to be an extremely welcome feeling.
Neji sat up, and looked around wildly before his eyes settled on the kunoichi.
"How are you?" he asked hoarsely.
"Fine," Tenten smiled. She tilted her head to the side, and Neji slid into the bed, gently pushing her bangs out of her eyes.
"Do you still feel dizzy?" Neji asked.
Tenten shook her head.
"No," she smiled, but the look faded away as she remembered what had happened the previous night. Neji knew what she was thinking about, and placed a finger on her lips.
"We're on holiday. They're made for sleeping in and relaxing. Considering that we haven't really been doing the latter, we might as well do the first," he kissed her lips sensuously, seductively.
The Hyuuga ran his fingers through Tenten's hair, slightly knotted from sleep, and gently freed the small tangles. He fixed his mouth on her neck, slowly licking and rubbing the soft skin of her collarbone with his tongue.
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Neji lay contentedly underneath the sheets and looked down at the lightly dozing figure that was lying within the protective circle of his strong, lean arms.
"Stop staring at me-it makes me feel uncomfortable," Tenten sighed blissfully and opened her eyes slowly. Neji smiled and kissed her. It was just a soft touching of his lips against her pink, petal soft ones which lasted for a brief moment.
Tenten smiled up into his face and moved closer to him. She loved the feeling of his skin against hers: smooth, warm and perfect in every way. The kunoichi gently kissed the Hyuuga's collarbone, and many followed in a long, frustratingly slow trail up to the waiting mouth.
There was a sudden tingle in Tenten's stomach, followed by an embarrassing rumble.
"Well, I guess my body couldn't go any longer without food- there's only so much it can take… how long has it been?" Tenten glanced at the clock, and her jaw dropped. "24 hours!"
Neji grinned, and gently pushed the kunoichi's mouth shut. She hissed and snapped at his digit, and missed, luckily.
Tenten narrowed her eyes. It was too much, and Neji burst into laughter, and Tenten rolled off his chest.
"You're terribly immature," she said primly and slid out of the bed wearing not a single article of clothing.
She chewed on her bottom lip and walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a silk pink robe. Tenten pulled on some underwear and then the robe on top, tying it together with a matching sash, and slipped on her bangle.
"Come on… Neji," Tenten sat back down on the bed, and kissed Neji's forehead. "Get out of bed…"
Neji smirked up at her, and Tenten rewarded him with a cuff to the side of the head. He quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down onto the bed with him. The weapons expert squealed and squirmed as Neji spread her arms out and pinned down her wrists.
Tenten pushed her feet up onto Neji's bared stomach and pushed him off her body, then they flipped over and their positions became reversed with Neji on the verge of falling off the bed. Unfortunately, Tenten was in the same boat and due to Neji's satin boxers which he had pulled on while Tenten was dressing, they fell off the king-sized, white Egyptian cotton clad bed into an ungraceful heap.
Tenten was laughing hysterically.
"I don't think there's anything funny about this, especially since the cuts on your stomach and back just reopened," Neji informed her calmly.
Tenten sighed, stood up and lifted her hand to where one of the cuts on her stomach was located. The kunoichi gingerly placed her hand on it and the bandage did not stain. The cut must have been shallow; otherwise it would have continued to bleed during the night as she slept in Neji's arms.
"Shut up," Tenten smiled and walked out of the room, down the stairs into the kitchen, leaving Neji on the floor without bothering to aid him in standing.
Ten minutes later, the pair were enjoying their meal and looking out to the ocean from their view on the balcony that hung a few meters away from and above the pool.
Neji had procured a bottle of white wine from somewhere, and they were slowly making their way through a large bowl of fried rice.
"I think everything tastes batter when you can smell the ocean." Tenten thought aloud, leaning against the railing of the balcony.
The large bowl sat about a third full on the table behind the kunoichi and Neji was pouring out glasses of wine. He stood and turned around.
A mild sea breeze blew gently through her satiny hair and blew back her silk robe, revealing her toned stomach. Without a word, Neji handed her the glass and Tenten thanked him with a gracious smile.
"Cheers," the two said in unison, and their glasses met with a melodic chime.
Tenten tilted the glass backwards towards her mouth and the golden liquid spread a small tingle down her throat as she sipped at it.
"Happy anniversary, Tenten," Neji said. "I think I forgot to say it last night."
"Well of course you did," Tenten smiled happily as Neji bent his head and kissed her.
The combination of the wine and the sensation of Neji's tongue dancing with her own and exploring her mouth was each as intoxicating as the other.
A low husky sound escaped from the back of Neji's throat when Tenten abruptly broke away with a cheeky smile on her face. Within moments, the kunoichi's lips returned briefly to the Hyuuga's before softly kissing and licking the base of Neji's pale throat.
"You know, you two should save stuff like that for the bedroom."
Neji opened his silvery white eyes.
"Have you anything better to do than to annoy us on our holiday?" Tenten asked the newcomer, sighing tiredly, without turning around.
"Well," Temari leaned on the balcony and propped up her fan beside her. She looked down, held out her hand and inspected her nails critically. "Not really," she finished after a long time.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Tenten asked, smiling.
"Mmm… nothing, really. I just had a bit of an argument with Kankuro and left the house." Temari shrugged.
"And travelled three hours to get to a particular spot on a particular beach?" Neji asked, raising an eyebrow in doubt.
The sand kunoichi ignored his comment.
"I need to get him a girlfriend," Temari said, in regards to her brother. "He's like twenty-five or something- I can't remember anymore, unmarried, single and crashing at his younger sister's house. It's so sad."
Tenten laughed.
"So… can I stay here for a few days?" Temari asked suddenly.
"Sure. There's plenty of room," Tenten said, without a moment of hesitation.
"Let's get inside then, a storm is coming." Temari said, picking up the bowl of fried rice and her fan as she entered the house.
The kunoichi's prediction came true at sunset. A few hours later, a heavy mist blew in from the sea and Tenten had decided to bake a cake to warm up the house. Temari was making cookie dough from the top of her head, and Neji was sitting on a kitchen stool, watching the two women move purposefully around the kitchen.
"You know," Temari said as she mixed the oats, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie dough together with her hands, "there are a few hundred guys camped around the house- do you know what it is about?"
Tenten separated the last egg yolks and discarded the cracked eggshell in the bin.
"Something happened last night," she said softly.
"We were in town, and we were going out for dinner. Someone attacked us," Neji explained simply, watching as the electric mixer wound around and around in the steel mixing bowl.
"What did they look like? Have you gone after them yet?" Temari asked her tone somewhat casual.
"It was a man. He had royal blue hair and eyes that were a kind of bruised violet colour." Tenten replied, adding sugar to the egg whites.
Neji looked at Temari, a steely glint in his eyes that were slowly shifting to match the stormy grey of the clouds outside.
"Why do you ask? What was the real reason you left Sunakagure? You really didn't 'fight' Kankuro, did you?" Neji asked.
Temari avoided his gaze and looked at the flour falling through the sieve as Tenten sifted the white powder. Her own hands lay idle in the mixture, and she started rolling the dough into balls, then lay them flat and put them onto the greased baking paper on the tray.
"Kankuro, on a recent mission, heard some report that there was some trouble down here, and it had been the source of a new tenant in the area," Temari began.
"When did they move in and where do they live?" Neji asked abruptly.
"A few months ago, on the other side of the bay mouth to the west."
"What's this newcomer's name?" Tenten asked, feeling the tension in the room slide up a few notches.
Temari sighed.
"He calls himself a Hyuuga, and that's all we know."
Neji's face did not change, or twitch in any manner. His hands stayed relaxed, as did his body's posture and language.
A few minutes dragged sluggishly by as Temari looked down at her hands, realized that they were grabbing at only air, and the bowl was empty, and the several trays she had put out were full.
Tenten slid the three trays into the oven, along with the cake tin for her sponge cake, and started to load the dishwasher with the dirty utensils they had used in their cooking.
The weapons specialist briskly washed her hands and dried them quickly on her apron, which she threw off and hung back up in a broom cupboard.
A tense moment passed between the trio, and Neji spoke first.
"What crimes has he committed?"
"None as far as we have found out, but there's been several complaints that people have had their money stolen, but family members and witnesses say that they saw the person collect all of their money and disappear for a few hours, then be found hours later in the middle of nowhere, their money and memories gone of what happened, with no sign of a struggle upon them. Does it sound familiar to either of you?"
"I…" Tenten struggled to form the words. "I had an experience last year- there was a man in the market and there was a weird thing that happened. I can't remember what it was, but there was something telling me to give him money or something like it."
Temari looked at her keenly.
"What happened? Did you find out his name?"
"No."
"We need to find out more," Temari said.
"You don't say," Tenten replied sarcastically. "But we can't go out- everyone will recognize me and Neji."
"Fine- I'll do some undercover work then." Temari sighed.
"But even if they don't recognize you, you have come out of the house- which makes you a target." Tenten said, frowning.
"There is a secret passage beneath the house," Neji said suddenly. "They apparently built it for situations like this."
The three walked down to the basement of the house. Neji pressed a panel in the wall and a hole opened up in the middle of the floor. It was lit on one side with soft, glowing lights, and the other wall had rings on it.
After a long moment, Neji jumped down to the bottom- the length of the tunnel was similar to that of a ten story building, but then extended horizontally for about two hundred meters.
Pressing yet another panel, another hole opened up, but this time, it was on the dead end of the tunnel. The roar of the ocean echoed in the tunnel, and the rain and wind filtered in, the wind howling eerily. Tenten suppressed a shiver.
"The sun has already set- besides, the rain would have made it impossible to stay on that narrow path on the cliff there," Neji gestured to the left, and the two could only just make out the terrace carved into the rock face.
"So what do we do, then?" Temari asked.
"We wait-and we'll plan tomorrow," Tenten replied simply and began to walk down the tunnel, back up to the living area of the house.
It wasn't until much later that Tenten recalled her thoughts.
"Neji?" she murmured softly. She lifted her head from his chest. Neji was lying back on the bed with his silvery eyes wide open, reflecting the moonlight and the stars.
"I'm sorry," She said softly.
"For what?"
"It's our anniversary, and we're going on a mission."
"It's not your fault," Neji said softly, putting his hand on the kunoichi's soft hair, and gently laying her head on his shoulder. "It's no one's fault."
Tenten sighed, thinking about Neji's words, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. She stared out the glass door by the bed, and gazed upon the stars in the indigo skies.
"Goodnight, Tenten," Neji murmured. The sound of his voice was like rumbling thunder in Tenten's ears.
The kunoichi fell into a dreamless sleep, and was suddenly awoken by rough hands that grabbed her shoulders in a vice like grip. The kunoichi kicked and screamed, but to no avail. Her assailant licked her face roughly, and something within Tenten snapped, releasing a torrent of adrenaline into her system. The weapons specialist snarled like a cat and she jerked her hand free and clawed the man on top of her across the face. He had his revenge moments later by kissing her with a brutal and bruising violence, and Tenten felt the metallic tang of blood in her mouth.
She screamed and tried to writhe out of his grip once more, but he did not relent, pushing her up against the bed, pinning her wrists down to her sides, and straddling her waist. He bent down and kissed her gently, mockingly and whispered in the lusty voice of a lover, "Its okay, Tenten, I won't hurt you."
Tenten looked up, her pupils dilated with fear, and the adrenaline rush was going to waste in her veins. All she could see was a pair of clear, blue eyes glittering maliciously in the darkness.
"Don't worry," he said softly by her ear. Tenten tried to turn to look at his face, but something kept stopping her. "Our time will come, and you will meet me."
Tenten jerked awake, bolting into a sitting position. She took several shuddering breaths and tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably, sweat leaking from her pores. Then, she took notice of her surroundings.
The lights were on in the room, Neji was sitting up beside her, rubbing her back, and Temari sat on the side of the bed, looking upon her friend concernedly.
"Are you okay?" Neji asked, knowing full well the answer.
The kunoichi registered the taste of blood on her tongue, and the throbbing of her swelling lip. She licked her lips nervously as she held up her shaking hands. Her wrists were purple and bruised, almost until breaking point, but the thing that scared her most was the blood on her nails.
"What happened?" Temari asked.
"I dreamed," Tenten replied faintly, shutting her eyes dizzily.
E: Yeah- lots go cut out of this- like 2 pages. I hope you liked it better…
E2: Even more got cut out. Wow.