E2: Wow. My second computer to die on me in two months, and my cat ran away and came home!!!!! He's my fat amusing muse XD
Chapter Sixteen: Choices
Tenten woke up the next morning feeling sore and stiff- she'd fallen asleep the previous night with her arms beneath the pillow as she slept on her stomach. Her eyes were puffy from tears and her eyelids had seemed like they were glued together.
The bed beside her was vacant, as was the rest of the house- it was always the same every morning, after he left her in the night. She'd just be left feeling achingly alone and empty, like the house, her body covered in numerous bruises, her lips swollen and her tongue heavy from bleeding.
Some days were slightly better than others but today was the worst morning she had experienced within the past five months, especially since her thoughts kept returning to Neji- and Hiroshi had known it, so he had mocked her, kissing her gently and caressing her skin with feather light touches, all the while letting her know that she was completely under his control, and she was powerless against him.
The kunoichi swung her feet over the side of the bed, her toes touching both wooden floorboards and the silk dress.
Sighing, Tenten bent over and flicked it out several times, and draped it over the foot of her bed. The weapons expert gingerly picked up a yukata to change into and, minutes later, stepped into a relaxing bathtub full of hot water.
The weariness seeped out of her pores as she washed her face and all of the lingering traces of the previous night. The doorbell rang with a cheerful, albeit incredibly unneeded, trill, and the woman sighed. She wanted to be left alone, and ignored the repeated attempts to get her attention.
All Tenten wanted to do was just sink into the luxuriantly lovely water and forget about everything, Neji and Hiroshi especially. It was strange, she thought, how everything had just spiralled out of control in the time it took her to blink- maybe… if she and Neji had never taken that trip to the beach house… maybe they'd still be together…
Then, she sat up with a bone jarring jolt as she realized the person ringing her doorbell at this ungodly hour had been Neji- her senses had been too numbed by nightmares to register that the Hyuuga was… now in her bathroom.
"I'm in the bath!" Tenten shrieked. "GET OUT!" she roared, flinging out her hand. Neji, moving thanks to Tenten's will, wheeled about sharply and strode out of the room into the hallway, the door slamming shut and locking by itself behind him.
A few minutes later, the kunoichi had reluctantly left the water and pulled on her lilac cotton yukata as she dried her hair quickly.
She opened the door and Neji was still standing in the hallway, a sarcastic expression on his face.
"Why are you here?" she demanded.
"Well, I was hoping for a more pleasant 'Good morning, Neji- how can I help you?" Neji replied sardonically, then something caught his eye. "What happened last night, after you came home?" he asked her, his voice so soft Tenten had to strain to hear it.
Tenten looked away.
Neji gently placed a hand on her cheek, and suddenly Tenten knew why- her chin had bruised from where Hiroshi had held her, and Neji could see it. He could see … everything.
"Who was it?" Neji asked. The tone of his voice was enough to make her flinch and she moved her hand away.
"It's none of your business!" she snapped. "Neji- why did you come here? I'm sure it wasn't to ask about my health. You could have done it six months ago," Tenten said briskly, moving his hand gently, but firmly away from her face.
"I'm not telling you anything until you tell me what I want to know," Neji said stubbornly, blocking her entrance to her bedroom.
Tenten sighed and quickly glanced into his eyes. He was troubled, that she knew for certain. In a split second, she had her answer.
"It's Emi, isn't it?" It wasn't a question. "Someone's taken her," she said softly. Neji glared at her.
"I don't appreciate you prying into my mind."
"Hypocrite," Tenten spat. "You know you did far worse to Hinata when you were thirteen. I can beat you ten times over without raising a finger," she hissed. She pushed past him, going into her room. When she re-emerged, the bruise was gone, and she'd changed into her shinobi outfit.
Tenten had evidently cooled down.
"I'll help you, if you want me to," she said softly.
Neji said nothing, turning and walking out of her house. She followed.
----x----
Upon their arrival in her office, Tsunade immediately began her mission briefing.
"Tenten, Neji," The Godiame began. "As you are aware, Takumi Emi has been kidnapped and there has been no mention of a ransom as yet from the kidnapper." She paused and looked at the other occupants of the room, namely Shizune, Neji, Tenten and Aimi.
"Takumi Aimi has requested that we send a three man jounin cell to rescue her sister, but we are, unfortunately, very short in supply."
"Why were we chosen?" Neji asked, still as sharp on the uptake as he was when Tenten had first met him. "Who has taken her?"
Tsunade sighed.
"The head of reconnaissance in Sunakagure has informed us that their targets, located on Mt Yuki, had shown signs of suspicious activity yesterday. At about four o'clock this morning, their suspicions had been proved, and Emi was seen taken up to the summit- but that was only as far as they could see. Men were sent up the mountain, but it was dangerous with traps and, near the summit, four soldiers ambushed them."
Tenten felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew by the tone of the Godaime's voice, and the look in her eyes what was coming next.
"Their names are Hideaki Akane, Hotanu, Asuka and Hana. We have sent the two of you, firstly because Neji's Byakugan is invaluable in order to avoid or disable the traps, and secondly, because Tenten has had dealings with the four, and we need as much as an advantage as we can," Tsunade explained.
"But who was at the summit? Who has taken my sister?" Aimi demanded her voice shrill with panic.
"Hideaki Tetsu- the oldest, apparently, of the five, and she has been known to be able to shape shift and change any part of her appearance at will- but it cannot be fooled by the Byakugan, nor is it a genjutsu. Her talents are largely unknown, but as Tenten has had some experience with that field, she must go because we need as much of an upper hand as we can get against these people."
"Shikamaru's…" Tenten said tentatively.
"That course of action was immediately invalid as soon as Emi was taken," Tsunade snapped, and Tenten made no move- not even to flinch, Aimi noticed.
"You must leave immediately," Shizune said, coming out of the corner. She handed Neji and Tenten their mission details and maps. "Are you familiar with the location?"
"Yes," Tenten replied firmly. Neji nodded.
Mt Yuki was east of the village. It took three days to walk there and two if they jumped the entire way, but that was very energy and chakra consuming. Once at the foot of the mountain, it took another five days at least to reach the summit. Somehow, it was always snowing on the mountain, even in summer, hence the name Yuki. All in all, it would take five days at the most to get to Emi.
Team Gai had often travelled there for weeks at a time to practise bonding exercises that usually resulted in Lee and Gai-sensei getting distracted by squirrels in the forest, leaving Neji and Tenten to traverse up the mountain by themselves. The pair had memorised the safer and more dangerous paths and trails to find and follow, but they would most likely be the paths that would be swarming with traps and exploding tags that would cause avalanches.
Tetsu and her accomplices had chosen the most opportune time to hold someone hostage at the summit of the mountain.
"Be careful," Shizune said. "And remember, this is only a rescue mission."
She might as well just have said 'Don't harm them because we want more information from them about their kekkei genkai.'
Tenten sighed.
With those words ringing in their ears, Tenten and Neji glanced at each other and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
They reappeared at the gates of Konoha, looking out to the wide road in the middle of the forest. They began to walk at a normal pace, Tenten's strides matching Neji's every step of the way.
When they got to the top of that mountain, Tenten thought it would be the last fight with Hiroshi (and possibly those other sisters) and she knew she had to come out on top, even if it meant her own death.
"What are you thinking about?" Neji asked, looking down at her.
"It's nothing …"
"I don't think so." Neji said. He knows me a little too well, she thought.
"Do you expect me to tell you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," he snapped. "You've been nothing short of a stranger ever since you came back! I don't even know you anymore- you've changed so much I'm afraid that if I say something, you just won't understand me like I'm talking another language!"
Tenten remained silent for a few moments. I take that back, she sighed mentally.
"You know what?" she shouted back. "You're right. You don't know me- and I don't want you to! And the same goes for you too- I don't want to know you anymore. I just want to go away, and leave all this behind me and start somewhere new… not as a shinobi. I want to forget everything. I don't want to be Miyako, or even Tenten anymore! Everyone just keeps expecting me to be the way I was… but I can't go back!" She took a deep breath. "I wasn't here for Hiashi's funeral, I couldn't even go to my best friends' weddings, or be there when they had their first children! And you just came waltzing along, playing all of your little games with Emi, saying all of this crap about how you still wanted to be friends with me but you're not- and quite frankly, I'm sick of it. As soon as this mission ends, I am leaving Konoha for good."
"Fine."
"Yeah- enjoy your marriage!" Tenten snapped.
"I will now!" Neji retorted.
The words left the both of them feeling resentful towards the other, and neither felt inclined to make any kind of conversation.
At sunset, they kept walking until the moon rose. At around nine thirty, they stopped and set up camp by a clear lake, a willow sheltering them from prying eyes. Tenten quickly bathed in the dim moonlight, ignoring Neji's eyes on her. She realized that that was a mistake moments later.
He appeared at her shoulder and Tenten glared at his clear reflection in the lake.
"Why did he do this to you?"
"It's a clan mark, Neji," she snapped, holding up her hand with the other crossed over her chest. They heard her pack unzip itself and the towel flew into her outstretched hand.
Neji laughed dryly.
"And I know all about them. I have yet to encounter any kind of seal that does not require pain of some sort and for all I know, you were forced to endure more than a few days of pain."
"Turn around," Tenten snapped.
Neji acquiesced quietly with a smirk on his face. The cross kunoichi wrapped the towel around her form and ran her fingers through her hair, shortening it without a second thought as she warmed and dried her locks in a matter of seconds, the towel falling away she clothed herself in an instant.
Neji turned back around and Tenten was gone, already beneath the willow tree and unrolling her sleeping bag.
The Hyuuga sighed.
"Tenten," he said softly. The sound travelled across the water, but Tenten would have heard him regardless. Habits so deeply implanted within her mind came easily as a second nature. She would hear him, whenever he said her name.
"You just need to know… They don't make you who you are now," he whispered as he approached her. The dappled moonlight caught the amber flecks in her eyes, hard with hostility.
"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you? That curse seal shaped your beliefs in early life!"
"No," Neji retorted quietly. His calm voice was beyond infuriating to the kunoichi. "My beliefs were shaped by my desire to avenge my father's death. The curse seal was a symbol of my anger. I was marked when I was three, and grew up without love and joy. You did."
"Oh save your crap for some one who cares!" Tenten snapped. "Okay, sure- you've had them for longer, but you don't have two minds constantly trying to merge and failing! Memories scattered in places I can't reach and trying to come to terms with a completely different world which I had been forced to leave behind…" She shut her eyes tiredly and opened them again. "I need space, Neji. Just leave me alone."
Not another word was spoken between them as they woke after scant hours of restless sleep and continued on their seemingly endless trudge towards Mt. Yuki, eating breakfast on the go.
They reached the foot of the mountain at noon on the third day. They'd been travelling eighteen hours straight since yesterday, and were utterly exhausted- but they would have to rest and conserve energy for what would be coming on the mountain.
They threw down their packs in their usual spot by a river that ran through the grasslands and ended, obviously, before the desert.
Tenten left Neji to set up the campsite as she quickly stripped off her outer layers and entered the river. The current was cold, dull and sluggish, causing gooseflesh to sweep up her skin from her toes.
She swam deftly around for a few moments, briskly running soap over her skin when she found a sheltered area. When she was done, she drifted lazily in the water, a slow euphoria creeping over her senses. With a stupidly happy grin on her face, her eyes slid shut and she fell asleep in the river.
"Tenten… wake up… Tenten!" someone hissed.
The first thing Tenten realised was that it was freezing cold; enough to lead to frostbite. Without opening her eyes, she quickly summoned a heap of clothes to her person, including a hooded jacket.
"Tenten!" Again, there was that insistent hissing.
The weapons expert opened her eyes with a snap and sat up in a fluid motion, taking in her surroundings as she did so. She was in a dark cave with an opening to her left through which an arctic wind blasted along with a harsh white glow. The kunoichi turned her attention to the other apparent captive in the cave- it was Emi was sitting on the floor, bound and gagged with chakra rope, and surrounded by a ring of white light. She was on the top of the mountain, Tenten realised.
"I wouldn't step any closer if I were you," an insidious voice stated. "You're here only to watch and listen."
Tenten sealed her mind and summoned her kodachi to her slender fingers and turned around, prepared for a fight.
"Who are you?" she demanded, squinting against the snow. The woman did not reply. The weapon spun like liquid metal in Tenten's fingers and whistled as the kunoichi held it to the woman's throat.
"Well, you might not remember me so well, Miya... but I suppose that's because I was only ever your maid, right?"
There was a sudden flash in Tenten's mind- a firefly, trapped in an amber pendant. The kodachi blazed with a white hot heat and the kunoichi winced, feeling the power of the younger girl course through the metal.
"Hotanu," Tenten said quietly. "You know that's not going to work on me."
"I know," Hotanu shrugged. "It's just a lot more fun to annoy you." She stepped into the cave, and away from Tenten's blade. Her blue hair was hidden under a hooded jacket that was thick and had fur trimmings around the hood and sleeves. Her face was pink with cold and her grey-lilac eyes shone almost feverishly in the light snow, and Tenten glared back.
"Now, now, Hotanu... Make sure you play nicely. Tetsu wants to make sure that she can talk to her." It was Hana. Tenten remembered the green hair immediately. The other sisters followed her into the cave- Akane, with her fiery red hair, and Asuka, with her distinct scent of the sun, wind and orchids.
"Tenten- you have answered our summons," Akane said, smirking.
Tenten growled, and another kodachi appeared in her other hand, crackling with electricity.
"We have a message for you, from Tetsu," Asuka continued.
"She says that if you do not arrive at the summit, in three days, Emi here…" Hana smiled at Emi.
"… Emi will die!"
At these words, Emi's eyes widened, and her skin paled even more, despite being slightly blue with cold.
Tenten woke up suddenly, and breathed in an entire mouthful of water when she remembered she'd fallen asleep at the lake; the sisters' combined will had been too much for her to resist.
She kicked feebly, but the current was too strong, and kept her head below the water, and she couldn't change anything from happening- she felt the sisters' intervention, but she was too weak to fight them off yet.
Suddenly, strong hands grasped her own, and tugged her out of the river's current, and onto the dry land. Neji cursed- Tenten hadn't woken up completely yet; she wasn't even breathing very well.
He placed a hand on her neck and felt her pulse. It was faint and erratic. He pinched her nose and placed his mouth on hers, and breathed air – breathed life – back into her body, and Tenten tore her mouth away from his, rolling onto her stomach and getting up on all fours as she retched and coughed out the water from her body, tears clouding her vision.
Neji rubbed her bare back soothingly, and wrapped a towel around her shoulders. After her ordeal, Tenten dropped to the grass once more and rolled onto her back breathing deeply, tears still streaming down her face. When the tears subsided, and her breathing returned to normal, Neji brought Tenten her clothes, that had he had fully dried, and helped her to dress.
"Thanks, Neji." Tenten met Neji's eyes, and he found he couldn't look away. He could see no trace of the colours in her eyes that he had seen several nights ago, but her soft chestnut coloured eyes were irresistible, and he was just losing himself in the rich colour…
"Neji- there's something I have to tell you," Tenten said softly, her voice breaking Neji out of his thoughts. "The sisters called to me, and I couldn't resist them- I fell asleep, Neji… and I was taken away from the river, to the cave at the top of the mountain, and Emi was there. She was bound, and gagged, and within a circle of white chakra. They told me that if we didn't get to the top of the mountain in three days, they'd kill her."
"Tenten," Neji said firmly. "I know what they did to you- but … rushing is going to get us nowhere. That mountain is fraught with dangers- some natural, and some set up by the enemy. We need to think this through, because if we don't, all three of us could end up dying."
A heavy silence fell between them and Tenten yawned, stretched out on the grass, and breathed in the sweet tang of the earth. Neji joined her moments later, and his hands conveniently fell so that both his and Tenten's littlest fingers touched, gently.
"Do you love her, Neji?" Tenten asked after a while.
Neji rolled onto his side to look down at her, propping up his head with his elbow. He resisted the urge to use his other hand to caress her face and sighed.
"Didn't we have this conversation six months ago?"
"We never finished it, and you were not fit to answer the question at the time," Tenten replied. "Just, please Neji, answer the question."
"I don't love her."
"Do you like her?"
"I guess I have to, don't I?"
Tenten was silent, and her eyes drifted shut. Neji watched her, and was almost surprised when she spoke again.
"So… how do you feel about me?"
"You? I think that's a question that we both know the answer to, Tenten," Neji replied sarcastically.
"Why did you avoid me, then, in those six months?"
"Why did I avoid you?" Neji echoed disbelievingly.
"Well that was the impression I got from it."
"You were the one who had vanished when I woke up that morning- and the one who didn't say anything at the party… and then, you … ran off… later, and you've hardly been speaking to me at all!"
"I was ignoring you." Tenten said bluntly. "That's the point."
Neji smirked.
"Well," she said to fill the silence. "Thank you."
----x----
After half an hour, they picked up their bags once again and began to walk up the mountain, with Neji scouting up ahead for traps, and Tenten casting out her mind for any other human presences circling around to follow them, weapons drawn and poised to strike at any moment.
After about six hours, they had taken fifteen detours to avoid precisely twenty-seven traps and ambushes that had been set up for them, and encountered seven scouts sent to find them- all had been dealt with in a matter of seconds- and rendered half of the men in an attempted ambush incapacitated before they had even known that Neji and Tenten were among them.
Tenten's bangs were hidden by her forehead protector; they'd frozen because of sweat. Neji seemed as calm and cool as ever, unaffected by the past six hours. They were, however, tired, and knew that they had to find somewhere to sleep soon because there was only a small sliver of light on the horizon where the sun was meant to be.
Neji found one- it had been very commonly used in their team, on the first night- and he was surprised to find that it had been left alone. Tenten knew that someone would come for them in the evening- and wordlessly conveyed her thoughts to Neji. He nodded, and they both began to create several traps around their area. Neji took the first watch, saying that Tenten needed her rest more. The kunoichi's eyes narrowed- had she been in any other situation, she would have challenged him to a fight of some sort, but she figured that, for now, a glare would be enough. Nevertheless, she spread out her sleeping bag and laid a pair of katana by her fingers, keeping her scrolls in the holsters on her thighs and her weapon pouch directly next to her katana.
Neji watched with some amusement. She could never sleep without those things by her side whenever they went on missions like these. It was a ritual, almost, she went through every time. He nodded when she passed him the food pills and simply sat there, listening to the sounds of the night mingling with her quiet, even breaths.
----x----
Two nights later, Tenten was huddling in the cold, taking the first watch. The summit was a day's journey away. They would make it in time.
But try as she might, she could not feel any kind of satisfaction from the thought. Losing Neji was hard. Knowing that it was her duty to save the woman he had to marry; a woman who would break and bend him to her will was harder.
There was a flicker of a mind somewhere above her and the kunoichi did not even have the time to move. An incredible force had taken over her mind and body, and she was completely immobilised. Her feet no longer touched the ground, Tenten noted wryly.
It was like being under Hiroshi's control, but five thousand times more powerful. It had to be Tetsu.
"I'm glad you've noticed," Tetsu said wryly. Her voice was low and husky, sultry almost.
The kunoichi tried to fight back but it was like punching a wall made out of diamond.
"Well, I am the strongest person in the Hideaki Clan, by all accounts," the other woman bragged. Tenten glared. "Such insolence…" Tetsu scolded and Tenten's mind was taken over by an insufferable pain. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, the weapons expert still tried to fight back, but it only sapped her energy, giving Tetsu the opportunity to throw her pain barriers right open.
"Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me, Tenten," Tetsu said. Tenten heard the smugness in her voice and vowed to kill her.
"You might be able to hide your thoughts from Hiroshi…" Tetsu said calmly, thinly veiling her delight, "but not from me."
The world went black.
So did Tenten's rage.
Tenten woke, once again, feeling groggy and stiff. It was then she realised that she was tied up and gagged. She opened her eyes- but couldn't see a thing. She'd been blindfolded, ironically, by her own forehead protector.
"Tenten!" someone hissed her name, and Tenten turned her head towards the source. She tried to use her powers to raise the blindfold back up onto the top of her head, and found that she could not reach her powers- chakra included.
"Tenten- it's me- Emi. Listen- we have to get out of here- they're coming back any minute now- but this is our chance! You have to do something!" Emi whispered loudly.
The kunoichi shut her eyes and relaxed, trying to find her power, or some sliver of chakra. It was all gone. How she had even woken up was still a mystery to her. Tenten's head began to ache terribly- it was a hundred and fifty times more head splitting than a migraine and, somewhere in her mind, Tenten wondered if this was what it felt like when a curse seal was activated. The pain grew to be too much, and the kunoichi passed out yet again, feeling helpless, weak and, above all, furious that she had not been able to even put up a fight.
----x----
Neji woke in the middle of the night to find that Tenten had vanished without any tracks to reveal where she had gone, or who had taken her. The kunoichi's chakra signature was no where near; after a moment of searching, Neji found that he could not feel her presence at all. Her pack, sleeping roll and weapons were gone, and there were no signs of struggle, hardly an indent in the snow to mark where she had sat previously. However, Neji knew where she was, and who had taken her.
The prodigy packed up his belongings and shouldered his pack, running up the mountain lightly and swiftly. He saw the small shadows flit around the summit, knowing that they were the guards, and that Tenten lay somewhere within that cave they were protecting. Emi crossed his mind for only a split second, and Neji felt the slightest pang of guilt. He would have to get Emi first, he reasoned, and then rescue Tenten. Or he could rescue Tenten and they could rescue Emi together. After all, two against ten was more favourable than one against ten.
As he thought, the Hyuuga snuck silently past the stationed guards at the entrance to Tetsu's encampment, keeping his guise- a camouflage technique that allowed him to blend into any back ground. Using chakra, he made sure he made no prints in the snow, and made no sound as he breathed- but that last jutsu had been slightly unnecessary, as it was far too windy on the summit of the mountain to hear anything other than the screeching winds.
He activated his bloodline limit and saw Tenten, in the cave up ahead- she. She looked like she was asleep, judging by the chakra patterns in her body- but there was something wrong with her- like she was poisoned, because the flow of chakra had just about stopped circulating, like her tenketsu had been sealed.
Steeling his resolve, Neji entered the cave and saw Emi, gagged and surrounded by a line of white chakra, as Tenten had said, but Tenten herself was tied up and suspended by a chain attached to a band at her waist above a crevasse. Both women were on thin ice, and any movement would send them plunging to their deaths.
Someone pushed him from behind, and dispelling the technique, and Neji whirled around, slapping the hand away. A man with blue hair and electric blue eyes leered at him and Neji glared. Behind the man stood four women, whom he assumed were the four sisters Tenten had been talking about.
They walked into the cave, pushing Neji backwards as they sealed the entrance. The women removed their hoods, and they all looked different- except for one. One of them was blonde, and looked just like Emi- Asuka, Neji remembered. Tenten had thought that Emi was Asuka, when she'd first seen her on the beach. He couldn't help but agree.
"So, Neji- you've finally come," the man said. "You've finally come to rescue Emi! Or was it Tenten?"
Neji tried to snap something back, but his mouth was sealed shut.
"Why don't you take a closer look?" The red head prompted.
Neji was forced to turn around. The chakra was beginning to eat away at the ice, and the rocks above the weapons specialist were beginning to crumble.
"Pick one," the youngest one said, sounding and appearing genuinely disinterested in the choice that he made.
Neji felt the feeling in his body returned and his eyes narrowed, a plan already formulated in his mind.