A/n: Here's chapter 10! Enjoy!

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Chapter 10: Battle

Imoshinai made a move to jump at the laughing Kanroku, but was stopped by Neji. "Neji, let go," Imoshinai stated as calmly as he could in that particular situation.

"No, you stay here with Tenten and make sure that this isn't a trick. It could be an ambush," Neji reasoned. Also, he had no intention of letting Imoshinai kill Kanroku.

Imoshinai huffed and finally consented. He warned, "If you're in trouble out there, I'm coming in whether you like it or not. This clan doesn't support foul play, so I'm sure that this isn't some sort of elaborate plan. Tenten will be fine on her own."

Neji glared at the boy. How the hell could Tenten be fine? And on her own, no less? Was this guy nuts? She was writhing in pain and drowning in hallucinations for god's sake! Finally, with no time to argue, Neji jumped off after a still smirking Kanroku.

"Geez, what died up his ass?" Imoshinai thought, watching the Hyuuga practically bound off after his uncle. He looked down at Tenten, still squirming in her nightmares. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, the sleeve where the needle had grazed her arm was torn and the small cut was still bleeding. "She's not going to last much longer. Neji had better hurry up, or else he's gonna lose a teammate here…"

The infamous and deadly mist had appeared seemingly coincidentally. Neji activated his Byakugan. It was no use; Kanroku had also activated his bloodline ability and now, just as Imoshinai had been, was literally invisible. Suddenly, a strong aura was felt all around him, drowning out any reaction his nerves may have had. Kanroku's chakra was everywhere, seeping through the ground, hanging heavy in the air, even penetrating Neji's lungs. "Damn! What is this!"

As if on cue, Neji noticed a figure to his right, just inside his field of vision, coming at him with tremendous speed. Quickly, he dodged backward and tried to land a punch on the figure. It went by so fast that Neji could barely see who it was, with the mist. But he was sure that it was Kanroku. Just as soon as the overwhelming chakra reading had appeared, it disappeared. Neji felt lank, like a sack of potatoes without the potatoes. It was like the sudden charge of chakra in the area had burned his nerves and now they were being run under ice cold water. Before he could adjust to the new change, he was struck again. This time, though, he didn't see it coming. The mist still hid everything, but his Byakugan… Why wasn't it working? "Oh god…" thought Neji, as he realized what Kanroku had just discovered, "he's found my blind spot. This is bad. Now he knows where to strike. Okay, I just need to keep moving and he won't have a chance t-" Neji's thoughts were interrupted by another strike to the blind spot. This time, it was harder, more confident. The prodigy toppled over slightly, coming too close to the ground for his liking.

The overwhelming sensation of Kanroku's chakra came yet again, and again, while Neji was still trying to adjust, Kanroku struck the blind spot, this time with a kunai, nicking him hard in the back. Attack after attack came, the only constant being that Neji's senses were trying to recover after some aura change right before each attack. Finally, Kanroku decided to speak up from his hiding place. "And you beat that brat? Wow, he must've been weaker than I thought…Well, no matter. He'll be finished off sooner of later, along with that prying little girlfriend of yours, ne?" The voice echoed from everywhere, like Kanroku was literally ubiquitous. The trees that were visible through the dense fog seemed to speak Kanroku's words, as did anything in view. It was like the whole scene was against the slowly fading Hyuuga prodigy. Everything looked so sinister, so evil in the mist. Neji decided right then and there that from then on, he would hate the mist. Provided, of course, that he made it out of this alive…

"I knew it was too much for him," said an extremely wary Imoshinai from the bushes. Neji's aura had weakened significantly in the last few minutes. Each attack from Kanroku was devastating to the white-eyed teen's health. "I have to go in, don't I?" Imoshinai asked rhetorically to a now quiet Tenten. She was unconscious and lying on the forest floor. A pained expression still hung on her face. "Well, hang in there, Tenten," Imoshinai murmured quietly before jumping off to help Neji.

The said teen was in bad shape. Cuts littered his pale skin over the bruises caused by falling so many times. A small trickle of blood was coming from the corner of his mouth, and his right arm seemed slightly limper than Imoshinai remembered it when it was clutching his throat. "Hope I didn't come to late, Neji," he said, making sure that it was loud enough for Kanroku to hear, wherever he was.

Neji's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Imoshinai. Wasn't he supposed to be with Tenten? "What are you doing here?" he asked trying to calm his aching, burning, freezing nerves.

"Covering you," said Imoshinai, smirking. "Let's go, Kanroku!" he yelled blindly into the mist.

Back to back, Neji and Imoshinai stood their ground for nearly ten attacks from the confident Kanroku, dodging, punching, and kicking when they could. Both were breathing heavily after the barrage of attacks. Although Neji still couldn't get used to the sudden and frequent changes in Kanroku's aura, Imoshinai could. It was second nature to him.

"Can you sense him?" Neji asked Imoshinai, turning slightly to see the teen behind him.

He nodded. "Yeah, but I can't get an exact location. Use those eyes of yours. He's over in that general direction." Imoshinai pointed slightly to his right.

Neji turned from his position behind the Reiki and glared in that general direction, his Byakugan needing too much effort. Something moved in the distance, but Neji couldn't tell whether it was Kanroku or not. Concentrating more chakra than was necessary into his eyes, he focused harder, keeping his dying teammate in mind. There! Was that it? Yes…no…yes! It was! "He's at two o' clock exactly," Neji whispered, making sure the figure in the distance didn't hear him.

Before the words were fully out of his mouth, Imoshinai was gone, off into the mist searching only on an instinct. Suddenly, Kanroku's aura became engulfing again. Neji prepared for another attack, this time, with no one guarding his blind spot. But no attack came, only the sound of flesh meeting flesh in a rather hard blow. The sickening sound came from the direction Neji had sent Imoshinai. "He got himself into trouble, didn't he?" Neji thought, going after his new ally.

He was greeted with a scene that looked strikingly familiar. Imoshinai held up a bruised Kanroku by his neck. Imoshinai's right hand was clenched tight around his uncle's neck. "Guess you didn't beat me, huh?" he sneered with enough venom to kill an elephant in two seconds. Kanroku only gurgled out an inaudible reply. His oxygen was being cut off. The mist was disappearing slowly, as was Kanroku's consciousness.

"Imoshinai, stop," said Neji, in his usual stoic manner, "He needs to be alive and able to talk if we want to prove your innocence." Again, the scene was almost frighteningly familiar.

Imoshinai's dark, smoldering eyes never left Kanroku as he dropped the older man to the ground. Kanroku gasped and panted for air. How did he lose? And to this brat, no less…? What went wrong? The boy had never finished his training with him, so when did he become this good…? Did someone else finish the training…? No, that can't be it…can it? Kanroku's thoughts swarmed in his head. He had to come clean. "I'll finish up here," said Imoshinai, still eyeing his uncle, "You go help Tenten. There's a clinic down the road from here. Take her there and hurry."

Neji didn't need telling twice and was by Tenten's side before Imoshinai had turned back to Kanroku, which he did quite quickly lest the conspirator have any more guile left in him.

"Hold on, Tenten," Neji said quietly as he lifted her and sprinted in the direction of the clinic. It wasn't that far, but it was far enough that Neji almost began to believe that Tenten wasn't going to make it by the time he arrived there. The nurse took one look at the girl and called on the emergency room doctors, right there in the lobby. They immediately whisked Tenten away in a flurry of babbled doctor lingo and tubes. In a matter of minutes the empty lobby was quiet again. Neji was left with a slightly surprised look on his face, still standing in front of the counter, arms barely drooping from the position they had been in on the way here. "These guys certainly work fast…" he thought.

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Imoshinai dragged a fading Kanroku alongside himself. He hadn't been back to the compound in a month. It hadn't changed, but it still felt so…foreign? Was that the word? No, the word was empty. The compound was empty. It was missing his father, the Head, the glue that held the family together, the reason Imoshinai consented to his grandmother teaching him about his leneage. The grounds were also missing his mother. Imoshinai fought the urge to kill Kanroku right there in the middle of the courtyard. He was getting stares from everyone, even Sora. "Sora! Oh god, I hope she'll forgive me for leaving, but I had to. She'll understand, won't she?" Imoshinai thought as he pulled Kanroku behind him now. The older man was bleeding from a cut just above his eyebrow, and was sporting a nasty looking bruise beneath the same eye. He stumbled and fell. Imoshinai had neither the patience nor the inclination to pull him up from the middle of the garden. "Let him make his confession here," he thought, as he looked up defiantly at the rest of the clan scattered around on the surrounding deck.

Sora stared back at him from behind Heisei, the little stuffed animal clutched to her heart. She held his eyes for just a moment before running across the garden, trampling the flowers and sidestepping the statues, toward him. Just before she reached him, she tripped rather ungracefully over a small bush, and the young seven-year-old literally flew into Imoshinai's open arms. "Nii-san!" she shrieked, sobbing openly, not caring if anyone did not approve.

"Shh, Sora, its okay. I'm here, and I'm okay. Calm down." Imoshinai tried to calm down the little girl. She worshipped him in a sisterly manner, always offering encouragement and support. When he left, he had the hardest time not telling her out of all of the rest of the clan because she had become so close to him. At times, she would be his shadow, following him around just to bug him. But the truth was that these two were closer than any other two cousins in the entire complex.

"Nii-san, I missed you…Why did you leave? I hate you for leaving, you know…" she sobbed through her tears, which were soaking through Imoshinai's dirtied shirt.

"Sora, I had to leave. I had no choice. If I didn't leave, I might be dead by now," Imoshinai decided to scare her into placidity. But it was the truth. If he hadn't left when he did, he might've been attacked by Kanroku and Eimie, and ended up with the same fate as his parents.

The little child looked at him questioningly and then down at Kanroku who was still on all fours on the ground. "What's wrong with Kanroku-san?" she asked innocently.

Imoshinai turned so that he faced the man on the ground. "Let's find out," he said icily.

Kanroku glared up at him and then at the rest of the family gathered on the decks of the complex. Wiping a dribble of blood from the side of his face, he stared each and every member in the eye for no longer than a second. Eimie wasn't there. Kanroku grinned to himself. "Of course she's not here. She wants to save her own skin and get the hell away from here." But after a second look at the gathered clan, he saw her, standing off to the side, a pained and worried look on her face. "Or not…"

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It had been just over an hour. The receptionist was eyeing Neji with obvious distrust. Nothing ever took her doctors longer than a few minutes to fix, so why was this taking so long? Had he brought in some sort of spying device and tricked them into letting it into the operating room?

Neji noticed the receptionist's look and couldn't help but sigh inwardly to himself. She had told him right after Tenten was taken to the operation room that because they were not from Kirigakure, they had to pay full price for the operation. This was a mess, a huge, tremendous mess. Tenten might be dying, Imoshinai had to extract the truth from an unwilling Kanroku, Eimie had probably fled the country, and here he was getting death stares from a paranoid receptionist. "I'm not a criminal," he said to the lady still glaring at him from behind her computer. She 'hmphed' and turned back to her work. Not only was this lady extremely infuriating, but her continuously clicking keyboard was too. Even while she was looking at him, her fingers were flying across the loud keyboard, making a terribly annoying melody of clicks that sounded something like rain falling on a tin roof. His injuries had been fixed up just a few minutes ago, but still his head was throbbing with each annoying drop of rain from the computer.

Suddenly, a doctor came out of the room Tenten had been taken into. Neji stood up, not wanting to hear the news, but at the same time dying to hear her condition. The two words from the doctor made the entire ordeal worth it. "She's stable."

Neji fought the urge to smile brightly and smirk at the receptionist, as a wave of relief swept over him. "Can I see her?" he asked unemotionally. The doctor nodded and turned back to the room. Neji followed.

It was dark. Tenten was resting on a hospital bed, her hair out of its two normal buns and flowing over the edges of the mattress. Tubes were running all around her, but none were actually in her. They were stained red. Every minor scratch had been covered, and the scratch that Kanroku's needle had made was slathered in disinfectant and then covered with a gauze patch. It was a little much for a minor scratch, but then again, Neji was no doctor. Maybe the wound needed to be completely disinfected lest there be any more poison there. The doctor left, leaving Neji and a sleeping Tenten in the room. He slowly walked up to her, a certain softness coming over him that had never been there before. Silently, Neji took a chair from the table at the other end of the small room and sat it right next to the bed before resting himself comfortably in it. This seemed familiar, didn't it...?

Just as he did so, Tenten shifted slightly and then awoke, startled at first. "Neji, what's going on? Where are we?" she asked alarmed. Slowly, she calmed down as she scanned the surrounding area.

"We're in the clinic, Tenten. They treated your wounds," Neji stated, coolly.

"Oh…" This was the last way she wanted Neji to see her, afraid and overly alert, like prey. She was feeling helplessly vulnerable. "Eh, what the hell, let's see his reaction to a simply thank you," she thought, wondering how she could possibly feel any weaker. "Neji," she said timidly. He looked her in the eye, telling her to continue. "Thanks." There, she had said it. She broke eye contact, looking down, and waited for the inevitable 'hn' that would follow. It never did.

Neji watched her gaze fall from his own. She had thanked him before, many times actually. But this time felt…different somehow. Instead of nodded with his usual 'hn' like he usually did, Neji decided to answer with a real word, a sentence even. "You're welcome, Tenten," he said quietly, still watching her downcast eyes intently. As he expected, she nearly fell out of the bed with shock. Her eyes that, an hour ago were large and unfocused, were now large and focused entirely on him. It was almost uncomfortable being the object of her awe once again. She hadn't stared at him like that since the day she had met him, when she was forced to train with him because Gai and Lee were practicing together.

Tenten stared at Neji like he was some rare specimen of bug that could magically turn into weapons, with pure, untainted awe. Was this the Neji she knew, the cold, aloof one she had come to know and maybe even love…? Was this the same guy who trained with her day in and day out, who didn't seem to give a damn whether she had other plans for the day? Hell no! This guy was blushing…! Albeit slight, it was still noticeable on the Hyuuga's trademark pale skin. Or maybe it was the setting sun in the window across from the bed that painted the normally bare, white room all sorts of shades of burning oranges, soft pinks, and undecided violets. Yes, that had to be it… Slowly, Tenten let her expression fall from utterly shocked to just slightly amused at Neji's three word response. She cocked her head to one side, putting on her funny little smile that she always pulled out of her collection of emotions whenever something amazed her.

Neji noted the strange smile that graced her features. It was one that was rarely used these days, since nothing seemed to completely catch the Weapons Mistress off guard anymore. She hadn't really used it since their first day of training together when he had shown her what exactly a Hyuuga could do. She had simply stood there, dumbstruck with awe, staring at the waves of chakra coming from his hands, while he stood impatiently waiting for her to start, in his battle-ready position. A gurgling noise brought him back to reality.

Tenten looked down at her starving stomach sheepishly. "Hey…Neji, would you get me something to eat…? I haven't eaten since last night…"

Neji was just about to move when he realized a slight flaw in his idea: he had no money left. "I'm broke," he stated matter-of-factly.

Again, Tenten was caught off guard by the Hyuuga. He what? "Wh-what?" she asked.

"We don't have any money, Tenten. I had to dig through both our pockets just too to find enough money for the operation."

"Oh…" said Tenten, slightly surprised. "The clinic must've charged a lot if they cleaned out Neji…"

"We should head back to your family. They will want to know what happened to you," Neji said, breaking the awkward silence that had ensued after Tenten's shock set again yet again. She nodded and began to clamber out of the bed. Her feet, which were bare, had new wrappings. They felt good against the solid floor of the clinic.

After testing out her feet to make sure she could still walk, her cheery, light countenance replaced whatever else was on her face before that, and she proceeded toward the door, Neji following behind her.

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A/n: Eh...I think Neji seemed a little OOC here...well anyway, tell me what you think and I'll fix it. I kind of had fun lightening up the mood after the battle, which hopefully gave away Tenten's condition before you read it... I'm thinking that the last two chapters will be up either tonight or tomorrow. (Tomorrow is the 22nd if you didn't know...)Ok, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!