Saturday, March 9th, 2013: TENTEN'S BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday, Tenten!

Okay, so I lied. This chapter is all about Neji and Tenten, instead of going into Temari and Shikamaru's fight in the end like I promised. When I finished the NejiTen stuff, the chapter was almost 3k words long, and adding the author's notes at the beginning and end like I always do, that'd make about 3k words - long enough already.

I hope the NejiTen I added in here makes up for the lack of anybody else.

So, if all goes well, the next chapter will be all about the beginning of Temari and Shika's fight, and the start of Kiba, Kankuro, and Hinata's.

2-3 more chapters, and we'll finally see Naruto and Sakura finding Sasuke and Gaara! Hopefully, Matsuri, too.

More SasuSaku then, too!

So review, and I'll update faster! I have a break the week after next so who knows...

BTW, I actually went to my first school dance. It was the last middle school one of the year, and since I'll be in high school next year, it's the last middle school one for me period.

I only went for that reason (hardly an incentive, though), my friends begged me, and extra credit for Drama. So voila.

I've been to another dance, but that was a Daddy-Daughter dance for the elementary part of the school (that was hosted in the Middle-High school gym, since it's the only one for the whole campus) on my birthday like 2 years ago, and it doesn't count since I was staying after school for a club anyway, and volunteered to help the Dance Committee thing, too. And was in there for like, 10 minutes.

Anyway, I mostly sat and drank soda for almost 3 hours. I don't dance, and I'm awkward sometimes. I'm the loner type at parties, the one with friends who aren't and try to pull you in but fail. It was fun though. Sorta.

Yeah...that was my Friday.

Disclaimer:

Me: Tenten, you do it.

Tenten: If she owned Naruto, Neji wouldn't have died. I would get wayyyyy more screentime and character development, and Neji and I would be together. Seriously. Or at least, almost together. She doesn't own World of Warcraft, either.

Me: Thank you.

Tenten: Your welcome. So...how much NejiTen romance is there in this chapter?

Me: Read and find out, hun.

READ ON, MY LOVELIES!


Chapter 23: Believing


Tenten POV

I-I can do this…I can d-do th-this…then why can't I freaking get up?!

Here I was, cowering and shaking behind a [conveniently] large tree, kunai in my right hand, shuriken in my left.

I felt Neji's harsh breathing beside me, and I berated myself from being so useless to him. Is this how Sakura used to feel?

When we first found Kidomaru, I thought the fight was going in our favor.


TENTEN'S RECAP


I was able to deal with Kidomaru's extra limbs, (he has 8 in total and it reminds me of a spider) and together, Neji and I were able to inflict some significant damage to him. (2 broken ribs; 2 fractured hands, a fractured elbow; a cracked upper arm [the bone]; kunai to the foot and arm; broken nose; scratches, cuts and bruises here and there)

However, that didn't leave us unscathed. (I had a fractured upper arm, near my shoulder, as well as a stab wound in my left thigh. Neji had a nearly dislocated jaw, and a broken foot. Luckily, it wasn't the foot he normally spins on while using his Kaiten. We both have scratches and bruises all over)

We were better off than Kidomaru, though, so we had hope.

But.

Things were going almost too easily. Kidomaru may have been heavily injured, but I thought he was planning something. His fondness of games (as he stated himself) only increases my suspicions.

What kind of gamer doesn't have a trick up his sleeve, always planning something? Especially in a fight?

I would know. I'm a gamer myself. Though I'm more of a weapon geek. And I'm proud of it.

I told Neji my suspicions, and we agreed to stay on our guard.

Right after, Kidomaru entered his Stage 2 Curse Mark form.

The asshole didn't even stop at Stage 1, with the marks all over his body. Nooo, he went straight to Level 2, kicking our asses like it was child's play. Have I ever told you how much I detest him?

And what's worse? His new form terrifies me. And he hardly looks like a spider!

Earlier, it'd take a couple seconds to cut a web with a kunai or shuriken.(I made sure to pack special ones, this morning, preparing to face Kidomaru) Remember: I also have to give the weapons a layer of chakra or else they won't cut the webs.(1) It was longer than I'd like.

So, I took out one of my favorite katana. It was ridiculously sharp, and the metal is much harder than that of normal a katana. Perfect weapon for those damned spider webs.

Neji took much less time than me; it was a good time in a fight.

However, after Kidomaru's transformation? The webs strengthened I took nearly twice as long. I'll get killed trying to cut those things!

Kidomaru's wounds didn't heal, but the way he moved, it wouldn't have made a difference whether they were or not.

He was throwing us around like dolls – slicing us and piercing us like it was nobody's business.

As if it couldn't get any worse, the bastard had to be smart, realized, and found Neji's only blind spot. That guy…I'd be happy if he burned in hell. I. HATE. Him. So much!

Without much choice at the moment, Neji and I had run deeper into the forest and behind the large tree, to catch our breath and clear our heads.


END OF RECAP


I returned my katana and its sheathe to my scroll, knowing it would be of no use to me now. What we need to do now is mid-/long-range combat. Close-range will get us killed.D-deep breaths...deep breaths...deep breaths...

"Get your bow and arrow out. Your best one. Hurry." Neji's whisper jarred me out of my depressive trance, and I hurried to follow his instructions. I should be thinking clearer, like Neji. I can't be of any use to either of us if I don't keep my head in the game!

I pulled out a crossbow of mine; I figured the power of it would be useful. It was a custom-made, lightweight, black, sleek, crossbow. (2)

The arrowheads of the arrows were also tipped with a metal normally used to build steel buildings, for extra strength.

However, I couldn't stop the quaking of my hands, and decided to set the weapon down, hoping Kidomaru didn't find us anytime soon.

This was much harder than I thought it would be. I clenched my hands and leaned my back fully against the tree.

I'm so afraid and I can't do anything! At this rate, I'm going to get both of us killed!

I was jarred out of my thoughts when I felt a hand against my cheek. I turned to the owner of the hand.

"N-Nej-ji…" I muttered, unable to stop my stutter.

Neji continued to wipe tears I had no idea were falling, then set his hand to rest on mine, on the ground, rubbing circles on it, and the action calmed me.

In the back of my mind, I registered the romance that normally was part of these types of actions, wondering if they meant anything to Neji…the way it meant to me, deep inside.

"Don't cry. You're doing your best, and so am I." Neji said, his expression soft, even with the absence of a smile. "That's all we can ask for."

"But I've hardly been able to do anything!" I whisper-yelled, remembering to keep my voice low, lest our enemy finds us. "I've just been shivering hear like a scared little chi-"

"Stop that. Now." The strength of his tone cut me off, rather than just the words themselves. "Quit insinuating that you're weak. You are strong, Tenten, whether you believe it or not. And together, we can win this. We just have to believe that we can at the same time. My fight with…Uzumaki taught me that much." Neji looked down in almost shame for a second, then quickly looked back up and penetrated my eyes, as if looking into my soul. "I believe we can do this. I believe- no. I know you can do this. Question is, do you?"

I looked down. I was ashamed that Neji could see my insecurities so easily, but I was also still unsure.

Can I do this? Can I really?

"Believe in yourself, Tenten." He whispered this into my ear, taking me into his arms. The fear that was engulfing me slipped away, as if frightened by Neji's presence.

For a moment, we just sat there, enjoying the warmth of our embrace.

Finally, I gently pulled away –though I didn't want to – and looked into eyes of the boy- no, man who holds my heart. I smiled. "I can do this. I will do this. Ready?"

He gave me a light smirk; the one that always resembled a smile, in an almost loving way. The one I always adored, not that I'd tell him that. Sakura once told me Sasuke used to do the same thing. We both fell hard, didn't we, Sakura?

My heart fluttered. "One more thing."

Before I knew it, Neji's face was nearing mine. Huh?

He placed a lingering peck at the corner of my mouth. Kissing my cheek more than my lips. So close.

I flushed anyway, my heart running a marathon.

Neji gave that soft/loving smirk again. "For good luck."

Cue quickened heartbeat. He's going to be the death of me one day…

I looked at Neji again. …not that I mind.

I opened my mouth to say something -what, I don't know- but was interrupted by the sound of a loud voice.

"Found you!" Kidomaru had discovered us.

Springing to action, as Neji quickly run his plan to me into my ear, as we gathered any weapons that were on the ground.

We charged the Spiderman-wannabe-fallout. He disgraces the name of "spider men".

"Ready to die? You did well to reach this level, but now it's game over!" Now that I was calm, I had more clarity for sarcastic comments. What's with this guy and games anyway? Even I'm not that bad! Did he used to be some computer geek that spent all his time in his parents basement, playing World of Warcraft day and night or what?(3) Ugh. And he had to be smart, too...the gaming geniuses are the ones you always need to look out for.

I notched my bow, replaying Neji's instructions in my head.

"Fire at him with normal arrows, to drive him into the giant tree we saw earlier with the large "X" on it.(4) Then, use your stronger arrows to pin him to the tree, and I'll use my new technique, 8 Trigrams, 128 Palms to incapacitate him.(5) There will be interference from him of course, but no matter how long it takes, pin him to that tree."

I cheered up at the thought that it reminded me of when Kikyo had done nearly the same thing as I plan to do to Inuyasha in the anime series, Inuyasha, despite the circumstances of that event. (6)

"Unfortunately for you, Mr. Spiderman-wannabe, I'm not dying today. Today's victory belongs to Konoha." I responded. I wasn't only talking about my own fight, but the others' fights and the village's against the forces of Sound and Sand. We will win this not just because we have to, but because the Will of Fire burns in all of us, and it's time we showed others our flame.(7)

"Enough chit-chat, let's kick your ass." I was a little surprise to hear Neji curse (he doesn't do it often), but I nodded and ran to catch up with Neji and Kidomaru.

The next few minutes were spent attacking, slicing, blocking, and leading Kidomaru to the tree.

I felt confident – now! I notched the special arrow into place, aimed, and fired.

Now, why were they only "few minutes"?

Because Kidomaru lost it. As in, went ballistic.

The nsecond I released the arrow, Kidomaru roared in anger and caught it, indenting the metal with his hand, and threw it at Neji.

Neji barely dodged the bent arrow.

"ENOUGH! I told you! GAME OVER! Die now!" Kidomaru was officially done playing.

The monster regurgitated an arrow he explained to be his technique called, "Spider War Bow: Terrible Split,"(8) claiming it was completely unavoidable, and notched it at us.

"Bye-bye, now," He said, and released the arrow.

Suddenly I got a flash of one of Neji's memories, of facing this arrow before in the other past; Itachi must have sent the memory to me before, but I had not acknowledged it until now.

I looked at the path of the arrow.

Neji's blind spot.

He was about to use Kaiten, but I took his hands and stopped him. "Don't! You can't get away from it! It will follow your blind spot!"

"What do I do then?!"

I didn't respond.

I took a quick glance at the incoming arrow and spun Neji quickly, then pushed him down to the ground, so he was falling forwards.

I stayed where I was, standing in front of him, arms out.

He tried turning while falling; turning to me.

"Tenten, what-"

The arrow that was coming to his blind spot couldn't change course quickly enough to follow Neji again and had pierced me instead. The bottom right side of my back.

The arrow was faster than I thought, so Neji, instead of being on the ground by the time the arrow came, was also hurt by the tip of the arrow that went through my body. It didn't go through him, but it had gone very deep just below the middle of his torso.

We were pierced together, almost like dango balls on a stick. Nothing…wrong with a little…humor to lighten things…up, right?

The two of us coughed blood as we fell to the ground, the arrow still in us. The impact of falling onto his back had driven the tip of the arrow further into Neji's body, and he painstakingly reached around us to pull it out.

"AHH!" I couldn't help but scream at the pain of having the arrow pulled out. Neji couldn't hold his screams back either. "AAGH!"

When the arrow was out, Neji through it aside, and let his hand fall limp. I rolled off of him and onto my side, trying to keep my breathing steady. N-no…this can't happen.

"He he he. Die together, you pathetic pieces of Konoha trash," Kidomaru said, dropping from the branch of the tree he was in, jumping to the ground. The curse mark receded and he slumped against his tree, breathing heavily. I-is he…resting?

He closed his eyes as well. "You put up a good fight, I'll give you that much. But now it's time for you to die slowly, bathing in the agony of my attack. See you in hell." He laughed, then stopped, his breath hitching. He closed his eyes again. Maybe we hurt him more than any of us thought…

"Tenten," Neji whispered. "Can you move?"

Next to me, Neji was staring at me, awaiting my answer, his expression not portraying any of the pain I know he was feeling. I have to stay strong…for Neji.

I nodded.

"Do you think you can fire your last special arrow at him?"

I reached for my crossbow (that had fallen to the ground when we were struck) and did my best to maneuver myself against the tree near us, Neji (he was the most mobile) helping get the both of us leaning against it as quietly as possible – we may have hope to win now, but if we alert Kidomaru we're through.

I lifted my arms as best I could, with the arrow in place and aimed at our foe. However, with the pain I was feeling, I couldn't support my arms, and they fell.

I was about to turn to Neji and tell him I couldn't fire the arrows when his arms moved to lift mine in the air, in a position I could fire with.

He whispered to me again. "Let's do this Tenten."

Neji…

I nodded, and aimed my arrow at a point of our enemy's body that would possibly kill him -though that's not my intention- but definitely incapacitate him: the right side of his chest, opposite his heart.(9) The arrow head is small, so he won't bleed out easily, but not tiny, either.

I released.

The arrow successfully tore through Kidomaru's body and pinned him to the tree, waking him from sleep and forcing him to cough blood.

"W-wha…" He tried saying, but shut his mouth when it was too much for him. He opted for glaring viciously at us.

"Don't…*cough* underestimate Konoha." I said.

Kidomaru, with the last of his strength, tried to pull out a kunai to throw, but Neji hit him with his own kunai in the stomach, stopping Kidomaru completely and making him fall unconscious from the pain and exhaustion.

Neji and I breathed ruggedly from our injuries, but I was stubborn to finish my mission. "Neji…*cough*…inside my… pouch…flare gun…fire…up."

Neji reached over to my left side and pulled out the desired object. (He was to my right, and I was leaning on him) He fired it into the sky and a lime green stream of smoke shot through the air. He then let the gun fall to the ground when he was finished.

"We…we're done now." I said, fully resting my body on Neji's, unable to support myself against the trunk of the tree we were on. Now that I'm not trying to move, the pain from all my wounds are coming back tenfold.

"I'm sorry…couldn't protect…*cough* you." I said to him, looking up at Neji, my hand resting against my largest wound; the one from the arrow. Since I can't do anything else, I should at least put pressure on it to keep myself from bleeding out.

Neji shook his head. "All that matters…*cough* is that we're together and alive. *wheeze* For that…*cough* I'm grateful."

I lost myself in his eyes, and subconsciously muttered his name. "Neji-kun…"

"Tenten…" He dipped and softly captured my lips with his.

It was a short and soft -more like weak- kiss, mingled with blood from our lips and panting from our wounds. Nonetheless, it was filled a sort of hope and relief - relief that we made it, and together, and hope for...something. Something that makes my insides twist in both anticipation and fear.

When we pulled away, we slid down the tree and unto the ground. Neji was on his side. He wrapped his right arm over my body and pulled my body to his with the last of his strength.

The action pulled my hair out of the already greatly loosened buns.

I melted into his warm chest and closed my eyes, nearing unconsciousness. I can finally…rest.

He rested his head against my own, resting against my brown hair.

"Tenten…"

In the back of my mind, as I fell asleep, I registered one thought;

Third kiss, November 8th, 2012.


(1): Whether or not you remember, in order to cut Kidomaru's webs, Neji had to exude chakra into his hands and slice the webs (that had chakra running through them) at their weakest ponits. If it helps you understand, it reminded me of the Chakra Scalpel technique.
(2): Remember Io (look him up in Narutopedia) from that filler episode in Shippuden, where Tenten had a flashback where she led Neji and Naruto to a weapon maker's place? She got her Jidanda and I think a couple other weapons from him. In my fics, Tenten had been getting weapons at a discount or even free from him since, as long as she tested his weapons, promoted them, and visited him. She even continued to receive them in the future. And since most of Tenten's weapons are from the future, the crossbow was one of many she had gotten from him. I made the crossbow up, btw.
(3): No offense to World of Warcraft fans. It was one of the first popular online games I could think of.
(4): Like in the last chapter, you did not see the whole fight, so that tree was part of the fight that Tenten didn't recap - therefore, you don't know it. So don't feel confused that you don't know what tree they're talking about.
(5): Yes, I had Neji learn that technique early. Let's just say he did a shitload off training to master it.
(6): I'm almost done with Inuyasha. I literally have like, 10 episodes left. Though I still have to watch the movies and that afterstory thing.
(7): Sorry for the cheesy line. I made it up on the spot.
(8): Straight from Narutopedia, folks. That's the English translation of that attack. Look it up if you don't remember it. That was one grizzly attack.
(9): I'm pretty sure a normal person would still die or at least bleed out from something like that, but this is Naruto and they're ninja - they're not normal people. But yeah...I'm not doctor so I don't know the exact effects of doing that.

I'm going to start asking you guys questions after every chapter. I'm just curious to the answer to these random questions. (They vary)

Love you all!

-EOC

Don't forget to review!

Question of the chapter: Who do you think is the most ideal boyfriend from the Naruto series and who would you date? Like, if Sasuke wasn't all revengy and actually got a girlfriend, do you think he'd be a good one? Neji, too, if...you know. If the characters didn't love anyone, (namely Naruto), certain circumstances were changed, (*cough* Sasuke, Neji, Sai's lack of emotions) and they sat down and got a girlfriend, who'd be the best boyfriend, in your opinion?