That Faithful Night

Tenten's hands traveled from Neji's back to higher up against his arm to his chest and then to his face. It was night and the cold wind took its part in causing them to see the bitterness of the seasons start to change. Neji could feel the anger surge through his veins. He was frowning, he knew of that. What did Kabuto think? That he was a fool not to see him hidden from beneath, like he had not seen his maniacal gaze watch him scan the area for other evidence.

Did Kabuto really think that his Byakugan would not cause his senses to be aware of his presence, his aurora? In a way Neji wanted to laugh and how easily the disguise that Kabuto wore would not fool him. As Tenten moved in to kiss him, Neji pushed chakra through his palms and used the power his Jyuuken, causing a direct hit into Tenten's stomach. The impact caused blood to be coughed out and some trailed down her lips.

"Do you take me to be a Genin?" Neji's words were harsh, out of control even, very unlike his usual manner. Even placed in any situation he was able to obtain a calm behavior due to the meditation he does routinely to clear his mind. But not at this moment, his tone was similar to a wolf's growl when presented to intruders of his territory.

"Neji what are you doing?" Tenten asked wiping the blood from her mouth, confused at his behavior. Her eyes watched as Neji's lips kept to that frown and the icy gaze he sent back to her. Slowly getting up she walked closer, cautiously this time but still at a steady pace. As she got closer, Neji noticed it and spun around to perform his Hakkesho Kaiten. It caught Tenten in its rotation and pushed her back making her a certain distance from Neji.

"SHOW YOURSELF." Neji snapped at her ready to perform another attack if necessary. Tenten got up and smirked.

"Heh still the same cold-hearted bastard who fought against Naruto huh." With that Tenten was no more. What appeared from where Tenten stood was Kabuto, still looking the same from the Chuunin Exams. He pushed his glasses up with his right hand and smirked at Neji. "I guess you saw through the disguise."

It was true; Neji had easily seen Kabuto change from afar. His Byakugan's range had increased enormously since his Genin days and fighting against that spider Nin of Sasuke's henchman. It was as though Kabuto was taunting him and laughing at him by transforming into Tenten in such short distance before coming out to greet him. Neji would have had to have been a fool not to see through a disguise as pathetic as that, he knew Tenten much better then many would give him credit for. They trained together for countless of hours, all day through all night, sometime not even bothering to eat because they were so focused on not beating the other but to memorize how the other moves, thinks, feels. He was easily able to tell for a fact that Tenten was far from hugging his as the first thing to do when he left without a word.

Now Kabuto would pay for even thinking that he could make a mockery of Tenten, for trying to hurt her and the one that really pissed him off, for trying to fool him with her image.

Tenten continued to follow the birds through the forest, it was still dark and hard to see but she made sure that they were in sight at all times. It had been a while of running and she had to admit she was getting tired. She must have been running for well into an hour but it really didn't matter to her. As long as she would be able to catch up to Neji she would run till she lost all energy and not be able to more an inch.

To and Ri then suddenly stopped their advance to land themselves onto a tree branch. Their heads were turned to face the direction were Tenten saw a clash of blue light. It was best for a slow approach and that's what she did. As she made it through, there on the ground was Kabuto, blood all over. His body and grown pale and his eyes held no life. Easily she could tell he was dead. As her eyes moved from Kabuto's body she saw who it was who stood hovering over the lifeless body. It was Sasuke, but not the Sasuke that she could remember. This was an older version, more maniacal, darker, even so far as to say evil looking.

Tenten was frozen on the stop, eyes widened, unable to move. She wanted to run as something inside her, fear was telling her to move, to get the hell out of here. But her legs wouldn't budge, it was as though they had gone solid and weighted as much as the world. Her body trembled as terror filled every ounce of her body. It was so quiet that Tenten could hear each fastened beat of her heart as it sped up. Memories of that night when she was made to inhale that poison came at her like a wave, mercilessly dragging her into the images that made her body almost break down on the spot. The shadowed figure wasn't Kabuto, IT WAS SASUKE.

Tenten was informed by another ANBU with her that Sasuke and Kabuto were stopped headed toward a near by village as coverage. Tenten nodded and told the other member to inform the others that she would arrive at the village first to perform the investigation. After splitting up and she was making her way something caught her attention. Voices, low and quiet but still voices. Being the skilled ninja that she was her first moved was to get as close as possible without the chance of getting caught. She slowed moved in closed using the tree trunks to hide her presence.

"Sasuke, what are you planning? Orochimaru will be unhappy seeing you make plans of action behind his back like this." Kabuto said in a stern voice, still venomous that Orochimaru enjoyed using Sasuke more.

"So what if I am. Are you going to stop me?" Sasuke said, his voice monotone, not much of a care. Her personality had changed since the Genin days. His emotions were better hidden and ignored with not much of a care for anything; even his own life let alone the feelings of others. His last words had evidence of even urging Kabuto to try and stop him. Kabuto's eyes narrowed at the challenge but decided it was not worth his time, nor would he risk going against a pissed Uchiha.

"No. Tell me this, what are you planning?"

"It has no concern with you. Konoha is something that I will deal with, with my own hands as well as my brother. You'll just be a nescience in what I have planned."

Tenten's eyes widened as she overheard their conversation. Sasuke was planning an attack on Konoha?! She had to go back and warn them before it was too late. As she started to take steps backward to slowly sneak away, her foot placed itself over a small twig that broke into two catching the attention of both Sasuke and Kabuto.

"It seems we have a spy on our hands." Kabuto said and was about to walk closer to give her an example of what he was capable of doing to those who spied on him. Sasuke raised his arm and made him go into a halt.

"I'll take care of this." Sasuke said and started walking toward Tenten's direction. She took another step back before turning around and running. In a flash Sasuke disappeared to reappear just a few feet in front of Tenten.

"I remember you. You're one of Lee's teammates. The Hyuuga's. (Tenten's Neji's property lol)" Sasuke said, his voice still lacking any emotion. Tenten took a step back but was stopped short when her back hit against the tree. A voice of whom she still couldn't pinpoint came, something in her made it hard for her to tell if it was Sasuke's or Kabuto's.

"You have overheard too much for your own good. Heh shame that you're here alone without that Hyuuga of yours. I would have liked going against him. You're not much of a challenge, not the one I want to fight. I can kill you now but Hyuuga will come after me, we don't want that do we. Better yet, I'll just have him suffer." When the voice stopped something, someone came in front oh her and on instinct she closed her eyes awaiting pain that had come. Before she could open her eyes to see why no pain came, smoke filled her surrounding area and it caused her no visibility to what was going on. An outline of a body with his right arm up and holding tube like was seen before it disappeared. The smoke entered her nostrils as much as she tried to cover them and not breathe in the gas. Before long she felt herself losing focus to the sound of movements heading away from her.

Trying as hard as she could to stay conscious, her eyes opened and closed going in and out of consciousness when finally she lost the strength to keep them open as something was heading toward her, lifted her up and placed her against a solid warmth.

"Get out of the way!"