Prompt for NejiTen Month 2017: Week One - Missions/Let me hold your hand for a second. Set in canon AU, five years after the Fourth Shinobi War. Neji not dead.

Your Hand in Mine

Life in the years following the Fourth Shinobi war was a curious thing.

Everyone had been affected differently, but it was safe to say everyone had been affected. With five years of relative peace, it was sometimes easy to relegate the war as a thing of the past.

But for some, the war was still a very real thing.

Sakura had seen each of them at least once for counselling, or coping with post traumatic episodes. Neji would have said that they were all dealing well in their own ways, and if asked that morning he would've pegged Tenten as having coped the best.

She'd always been a cheerful sort, and if she was a little more cautious or even more prepared than before, well then that was to be expected, wasn't it?

She'd never given him cause to think otherwise.

Not until that afternoon.

Neji and Tenten were co-captaining the team escorting a medical caravan, serving as both security and scouts. The locals told them about old traps lingering in the woods, so their team had gone to investigate. The two of them did the preliminary scouting, and discovered an abandoned base, probably once used by missing nin. The two of them sealed away any weaponry or evidence they could, checking for protective jutsus or anything that could pose a threat to the civilians. The network of traps they discovered was large enough that they decided on a calculated mass detonation, preferring to clear an area of the forest and destroy the underground base rather than to risk tragedy on a larger scale.

Unfortunately, an overly eager member of the team had disrupted Tenten's carefully plotted and alternating series of stabilizing and exploding tags, triggering the detonation prematurely. She launched into the fray, shoving the boy back and expertly flinging several kunai with exploding tags to interrupt the detonation so she could restabilize it. The entire affair lasted no more than five minutes, and save a few trees, there were no casualties.

Neji had been about to inform her of as much when she'd emerged from the billows of smoke, stalked over to the chunin, and snatched him up by the front of his shinobi vest with a vicious snarl.

"Do you have any idea – any idea at all – what you could have done?" she tightened her grip, and her eyes blazed fire.

"It…it was only a couple of trees," he argued weakly. "Nothing to be upset about…"

"Captain," she growled.

"Ca-captain!"

"That's right," she narrowed her eyes, and lowered her voice. "And that means I decide if it's worth being upset when someone stupidly risks the lives of those under my command."

The others looked to Neji then – clearly hoping he would say something as he had known her the longest and was the least likely to be skewered for stepping in.

Neji, however, stood silent, watching her every move.

"Y….yes Captain," the man practically whimpered.

"Get out of my sight," she half shoved half threw him back. "The rest of you. I'm going to detonate the remaining traps properly," she glared at the chunin trying to will himself into invisibility. "Get back to camp. Radio when you are all there and accounted for. Understand?"

They chorused their assent, and disappeared into the canopy, racing back to their camp.

"You, too, Neji," she said, her back to him (making him wonder who it was with the 360 vision). "Someone needs to make sure they don't get themselves killed."

He left without a word – because he sensed there were no right words to say – easily catching up with the others.

The journey back was quick and silent, and their collective disquiet did not go unnoticed by the chief medic.

"Wow," Sakura blinked, stepping out of the main med tent, and catching sight of the young man still pale from his confrontation with his Captain. "Something happen out there?"

"Small mishap with the detonation," Neji answered coolly. "Might be worth looking this one over," he nodded to the chunin.

"Come on in," she stepped to the side and let him pass.

The ground began to tremble and in the distance a massive explosion cleared a good part of the forest. Instinctively, Neji activated his Byakugan, scanning for his partner.

"Sounds like Tenten's work," Sakura grinned. "Neji…? Is there something wrong?"

"No," he shook his head, turning back to her. "I believe I will send the teams ahead with you to the next site. Tenten and I will follow once we've done the final check and dismantled any remaining traps."

"Alright," Sakura watched him, her intelligent green eyes reading the set of his jaw and the inflection in his voice. "I'll see to our patient, and then we can begin to break camp."

The caravan was packed and ready in short order.

Sakura stood next to Neji, who was watching the horizon.

"She's still not back?"

"No. Not yet."

"Neji… I spoke with that chunin and he told me what happened."

Neji turned pale eyes to her.

"And?"

"And that was a rather severe reaction for Tenten, don't you think?"

"She doesn't suffer fools well," he shrugged. "Unless she's known them since she was a genin and they have a thing or spandex."

"That doesn't sound like her," Sakura murmured. "She was always the most patient with the new recruits - and I've never known her to pull rank on anyone, well... ever."

"Is the caravan ready to leave?"

"In about ten minutes," she glanced back to where the others were loading the supplies.

"Do you have time to do me a small favor?"

"Of course," she turned back to him. "What do you need?

He hadn't seen her face to face since he'd left her on the edge of the soon-to-be clearing. He'd radioed to fill her in on Sakura's plans and their own arrangements, and she'd agreed with his agenda. Between the two of them they finished locating and dismantling any traps - none of which were as extensive or deadly as the ones she'd already destroyed.

She arrived back at their new campsite after Neji, surprised to see the tent and bedrolls prepared, and a fire already lit.

"What's all this?"

"Camp," he shrugged. "And dinner if you are hungry."

"We should catch up with the caravan," she looked to the skies. "We can make it before they need us."

"I had the scouts keep an eye out on their way with Sakura. They radioed back with a few locations that bear closer inspection, so I told them to give me the coordinates and to proceed. We can leave at first light, if that makes you feel better."

She didn't answer – her eyes fixed on the horizon and the setting sun.

"In that case I'm going to reset my traps."

"The ones around the camp?"

"Yes?"

"Any reason to reset them considering you already moved them from the original camp?"

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Byakugan," he tapped his temple.

"No," she muttered. "I suppose not."

He handed her a plate of food, and she perched on one of the fallen logs he'd rolled nearer to the fire.

They ate in silence as the skies darkened and the stars swirled above them.

He waited until their meals were done and the dishes stored to hand her the small scroll.

"From Sakura."

She unrolled it and unsealed it mechanically, but when the small box appeared on her lap, bafflement lit her features.

"What is this?"

"First aid kit. It's for those wounds on your arm."

"I'm fine," she abruptly set it to the side, standing. "I'll be back in time for first watch."

"What are you hiding from me?"

"My underwear," she said flatly. "I'm going to the hot spring we found."

"This would be more convincing if there wasn't blood seeping through your sleeve."

"It's fine," she bit back. "It isn't your concern, Neji."

"Since when are you not my concern, Tenten?"

"I can take care of myself."

With that, she disappeared, leaving Neji to pick up Sakura's scroll, and ruminate on the words of the doctor and his teammate.

He heard her return to camp, wet hair twisted up in a single bun, cheeks red from the steam. She assumed he'd gone to bed – which he had. He simply hadn't gone to sleep. With a sigh of what he supposed was relief, she sat on the log, wearily, and set her lantern nearby. The fire was still warm, and she sat as near as she dared, unsealing her own set of supplies.

Despite the chill in the air, she removed her long-sleeved shirt to sit in a tank top. Without a word, she unraveled her bandages and inspected her arm. She grimaced at the red, angry flesh, before unsealing several medical supplies – not the ones Sakura sent – and setting to work.

He suspected that the tears that streaked down her cheeks, ignored, were not ones of physical pain, although there would've been a good enough reason for them to be. The flesh on her arm was angry and irritated, and the splinters she was pulling out were thick and deep.

"I would have helped you, you know."

"Go back to sleep, Neji," she kept her eyes on her work. "I'm almost done here."

"Not from what I can see," he sat next to her and held a hand out for the tweezers. She continued to ignore him.

Finally, he waited until she was twisted at a disadvantageous angle to pluck the tweezers from her fingers and hold them up, Byakugan already in place.

"If you'd like to go to bed sometime before tomorrow, you'd might as well let me help."

She glared at him before turning her chin away, stubbornly giving a single, terse nod.

"So," he carefully studied her arm. "Get into a fight with a tree?"

"Something like that."

"I saw your arm two days ago and it was fine," he continued casually. "For your arm to be this angry it had to have happened with a good bit of force. Say – today perhaps? When that chunin triggered the traps?"

The bouncing muscle in her tightening jaw might as well have been a declaration of assent.

"Mm," he gently pulsed chakra into several points on her arm, numbing the pain so that he could gently cut the skin and remove the deeper pieces of wood. "That would explain your outburst. Although I've not known you to react so violently over personal injury."

"I wasn't reacting to the personal injury," she gritted her teeth. "I was reacting to the fact that he could've killed himself and the rest of us."

"Not the way you set your traps," Neji shook his head. "You always have lead time on the detonations – even though he triggered it early, you still caught the mistake in plenty of time."

"Once that kind of setup is disrupted, there is no telling what instabilities can arise," she clenched her fist. "He could've taken out an entire village. He could've disrupted the stabilizing jutsus that contained the shock waves so there isn't an avalanche fifty kilometers away."

"Tenten, I hardly think – "

"He could've killed YOU," she snapped, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes locked onto his - and he saw the horror and the terror and the memory there.

The memory of a night of launched wooden spears – the ones that had impaled him and nearly taken his life.

Correction - it had taken his life.

It was only when Orochimaru and Tsunade realized his life force had been absorbed and sealed by the God Tree, that they managed to find a way to bring him back. When he woke up, it had been Tenten's turn to watch him, or so she had explained away her presence.

"It was always her turn to watch you," Sakura told him when he requested her help. "In those early days I lived at the hospital - and I saw her there more than I saw just about anyone else. Just... something to think about."

Suddenly he saw the wisdom and warning behind the doctor's words, and the reason why she always had them all drop back when she detonated traps.

"Tenten," he ventured.

"I ...I won't…," her whisper was harsh and forlorn. "I can't watch you die like that… not again…"

She dropped her eyes and looked away from him and her injuries.

A single tear trailed firelight down her cheek while others beaded in her lashes.

Neji quietly returned to removing the last of the splinters, seeing them now as she saw them, his own heart rate rising. Deftly he spread Hinata's salve on her arm (which he knew Hinata made sure to give her and Tenten carried without fail) before bandaging it.

He stood and tossed the old bandages and splinters into the fire.

"There now," he watched the sparks rise to the sky. "They're gone."

"This time."

Her whisper chilled his heart even as the fire leached through his shirt to warm his skin.

Without turning around, Neji removed his shirt. When he did turn to her, she stared stubbornly at her hands, looking small and alone. He crossed to her, and tipped up her chin, making sure she met his eyes.

Quietly he took her hand and placed it on his heart.

"I'm here, Tenten," he covered her hand with his own. "This," he drummed on the back of her hand in time with his pulse. "This is real. This," he dragged her other hand to the uppermost scar on his chest. "This is in the past. It's everything I left behind. It is ugly and uneven, but it is healed, Tenten. It's over with."

He let her fingers trace it, feather light with hesitation.

With a gentleness his younger self could never have accomplished, he cupped her face in his hands, thumbing away her tears while her small hands rested on the solidity and warmth of his chest, his heart beat still thrumming under one of her palms.

"We're here, together, Tenten. Just as we've always been. You are the one part of the past I won't – and can't leave behind."

Neither would ever be able to say if he dipped his head to her, or she raised hers to his, but the resulting kiss was something long-remembered and cherished by them both. They succumbed to the undercurrent that had always flowed between them - an inevitable pull of gravity and fate and freedom and faith. Two parts of the same whole, they reclaimed their other half, and chased away the last of the ghosts between them.

The first wan tendrils of light crested the horizon to find them as a contented tangle of limbs in a shared tent. Habit and years of training brought wakefulness not long after, and Tenten was first to stir.

"It's early," Neji murmured against the nape of her neck, holding her tightly to himself. "Stay."

"Thought we covered this," she turned in the circle of his arms to press her forehead against his own. "I'm not going anywhere, either."

"And if I hold you to that?"

Her smile was slow.

"I'd expect nothing less."

Neji pressed a kiss to her palm before gathering her close, and winding their fingers together in a sacred and ancient knot.

"Mm," she hummed drowsily. "Just like that – hold my hand like that – for just a second longer."

He smiled and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

"Yes, Captain."

She soon drifted into a weightless and blissful sleep, and Neji followed, content to sleep and wake with her hand in his for as many mornings as he had left to rise.

I have a headcanon that for the remainder of her life, splinters and plants with thorns always catch Tenten off guard with a quick jolt of fear she never quite acknowledges. This was originally going to be set while they remodeled their home and Neji got a splinter sanding the floors. Tenten totally overreacted, and it took him a while to understand why - and then let her hold his hand to remind him he was there. Then this story showed up and I ran with it. Thanks for reading!

- GL