In the hospital, the nurses were all familiar by now and they bowed as he passed. He knew the hospital better than his own plantation. The smells, the sights, the people, it was like a second home. Her room, number 423, the door was open. His brows knit when he caught Lee resting TenTen's still body back onto the sheets. Lee's large black eyes met his and the man smiled, lifting a blanket over her, "Changing the sheets." He explained.

Neji now noticed Sakura who was fixing the blanket, tucking it in at the feet. "And she just got a bath."

Neji snapped his eyes back to Lee and the man quickly waved with a sheepish uneasy smile, "I didn't help, I swear."

The Hyuuga let out a short relaxing breath and stepped further into the room.

"Did you hear about our mission? I tried to say I was sick but Tsunade said I couldn't see TenTen until I was better." Lee shrugged defeated.

"You're sleeping here tonight? I'll bring breakfast."

"I'll go then. Good evening, Sakura." Lee leaned down and kissed TenTen's temple, "I'll be back soon. Wait for me." Lee walked past Neji with a smile, but his attention was already transfixed on TenTen.

Neji took a few more steps till he stood right beside the bed, in front of the heart monitor. Her hair was wet, her cheeks a bit blushed-

The heart monitor.

Neji swung on it, hearing no beeping for the first time in a month and a half.

"I'm about to hook her back up to it. She's okay." Sakura interrupted his thoughts and swiftly stepped in front of him and placed a small sticky pad upon TenTen's chest. The sharp high pitched beep echoed the room. Neji's limps loosened immediately and he swallowed deeply to quell the aching bubble in his belly. He had never realized how much that sound meant to him and how much he needed to hear it.

He took a rough seat in the chair across from the monitor and watched it blindly for a few seconds, assuring himself again that everything was fine. Neji forced his gaze on the sleeping woman, catching sight of Sakura who lazily brushed TenTen's tangled wet hair. "TenTen, Neji's here. And it looks like he brought you another gift."

Neji intensely scrutinized TenTen's features, his body stiff in the hope of any type of reaction. But when none came he spoke almost bitterly. "Do you think she can hear you?"

"Definitely." Sakura smiled. "Just because her body can't react, doesn't mean she's not conscious."

He grit his teeth, fisting his hands, "It's cruel." He whispered. When her green eyes rested on him, he continued, "To be unable to respond. To live in a body that won't move. I'd much rather believe she is asleep."

Sakura shook her head, "What's more cruel: being unable to respond, or being treated like she doesn't exist, cut off from the world and everyone she cares about because they believe she can't hear them?"

Neji hadn't thought of that. What if she felt all alone in her world? Just like he felt all alone in his? He nodded once, approving.

Neji watched Sakura braid TenTen's hair while saying anything that came to her mind. At times he felt uncomfortable about being a part of something that he had no business hearing, but Sakura would quickly make fun of him and anger was a quick replacement.

When she finally left, he was a bit thankful. Neji liked his time alone with her. He leaned over her to place a small shy kiss on her cheek. He stared at her still features, his large hand cupping the opposite side of her face and he wondered humorously what response she would give him if her eyes popped open right now. Embarrassment would wrap itself around both their faces but Neji didn't think he would move. He would like to believe if that event were to happen he'd lean down and touch her lips with his own. Something that he has wanted to do since she first kissed him.

Neji moved to sit on the side of the bed, the way he had seen Lee do several times before. Opening the lotion, Neji took TenTen's tiny hand and dabbed a bit upon her skin. He slowly rubbed it in between her fingers, watching her face and listening intensely to the heart monitor. The feeling of her smooth skin made him realize the calluses that normally adorned her palms had faded. He glanced down to them. He felt along her long nimble fingers, running the tips of his over her lengthy nails.

It was awkward to see her with such faminine hands. And though they were lovely, he despised them. They didn't fit her. She was a ninja, a weapon's mistress, not a fragile little girl. She belonged with a kunai in one hand and a chain in the other. She didn't belong in this bed, hindered by a dreamless sleep. She deserved to be alive and free, smiling and fighting with everything her heart possessed, not wasting away like an empty shell!

Neji took a deep breath to calm his rapid breathing. He was getting angry over nothing. Once she wakes, everything will go back to the way it used to be. Everything.

Another deep breath and he inhaled the vanilla scent that now encompassed the room. It helped make the world set itself straight again. It cleared away the dreadful thoughts that always seemed to bother him recently.

The scent reminded him of the first time it had greeted him in all its potency on the day he first entered her small apartment. She had invited him back to her place for a quick drink before heading out with Gai and Lee for their monthly 'group date'. He had felt so out of place and thought he had no right to be in her private quarters but she had only scoffed at him saying friends go to each other's places from time to time. She had called him a 'friend'. That had meant much to him at the time considering.

Neji wondered briefly if she still thought of him as such. He knew she meant so much more to him now. And when she wakes, he's going to show her even if he can't outright tell her.

After he finished rubbing lotion in her other hand, he folded them upon the sheet on her stomach. Neji stared at their hands touching one another and wondered softly what it would feel like for her to grip his. Never once in all their years as sparring partners and teammates, has he ever held her hand for any reason.

It was frustrating to know how much time had been wasted. Two years he has liked her and never once indicated anything. What if all that time they could have been with one another on a higher level of 'just friends'?

No more. The moment she wakes up, he was going to tell her. If she reject him then fine, at least there would be no more bothersome 'what if' to follow him around.

Neji pulled himself away and sat lightly in the chair, his arms folding over his chest. It was anger that made him distant. Anger for himself for taking so long to realize how blind he had been and anger for her for allowing him to go on living so blindly.

Neji shut his eyes, breathing in deep her scent, matching her intake of breathe with his own. The steady rhythm of her heart, he forced his heart to beat unison with hers. It was a strange comfort that allowed his body to rest.

Everything will be perfect when she finally wakes.