Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or Tenten (a.k.a. Neko).
Author's Note: Okay, here's the angsty chapter. I'm probably going to cry as I write it. Here goes nothing….
WARNING: Character death
REMEMBER… this story is rated T for Teen.
Chapter 9: Murphy's Law
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Gai woke them all up bright and early the day of the official mission. He briefed them quickly again on their roles, and Neko felt that familiar tug that something bad was going to happen. She knew she had to try and get Gai to let her take a different role. Somehow she knew it would be life or death.
"Gai-sensei," Neko began but held up a hand to stop her.
"We really don't have time for this," Gai said and made to turn away, but she caught his elbow.
"I can't be the one to escape with Chihhiro-san," Neko blurted out and Gai looked at her curiously.
"We need your foresight should someone try and get her back-"
"Neji can see 360 degrees around himself-"
"Which is why he will handle more enemies. Why is this so important all of a sudden?" Gai asked.
"You'll regret it if you don't change the plan now," Neko spoke forcefully.
"It's final. There's nothing we can do about it," Gai said and turned away, heading towards their target.
"Neko-chan, why are you questioning Gai-sensei?" Lee looked puzzled.
"Something very bad is going to happen, I know it," Neko felt a chill.
"Don't worry, Gai-sensei won't let anything-" Lee started but Neji cut him off.
"Lee, when was the last time she was wrong about these things?" Neji said, and no one else spoke. They just turned to follow their teacher.
xXx
"Sasuke, would you quit pacing? You're making me nervous," Naruto said but only received a brief glare. He glanced over at Sakura, who was also growing annoyed by Sasuke's constant pacing. "Quit worrying about her."
"I'm not worried!" Sasuke turned at them angrily and they could see the seal spreading across his face. Naruto and Sakura shrank back and he continued pacing.
"What are we supposed to do?" Naruto whispered.
"Guess it doesn't hurt to try…" Sakura trailed off and took a deep breath as she rose from her seat. Naruto watched her carefully as she walked over and came up carefully behind Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun," She said quietly before leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Please calm down, Neko-chan will be just fine."
Naruto braced as he watched the scene, ready to jump in and peel Sasuke off of Sakura if necessary, but it wasn't. Sasuke just sighed and nodded, taking one of Sakura's wrists and gently pulling her arm away. He gave her an appreciative nod before assuming a position under a nearby tree, staring at the grass by his feet. Sakura then just walked back to Naruto calmly, and took a seat. He looked at her in wonder, and she gave him a warm smile.
xXx
"Neji, check for security please," Gai whispered as they stopped outside of the complex.
"Northeast, Southwest, and East entrances all have guards posted," Neji said, with byakuugan activated. "Southwest will be our best bet."
"Alright, Lee and I will go ahead. Wait here for us to clear the entrance, we'll go in and start clearing a path."
Gai and Lee jumped out of the tree and ran ahead, leaving Neko and Neji alone in their stakeout.
They remained silent and kept an eye out for any signs of trouble. Gai and Lee seemed to have no trouble clearing the entrance, and Neji gave them a minute's head start before they attempted to follow them in.
"Do you really think something will happen?" Neji turned to Neko.
"I hope not…" Neko shook her head. Neji placed a hand on her shoulder in a rare display of caring.
"I won't let anything happen to you," Neji sounded confident.
"Thanks," Neko replied, still feeling doubtful but appreciating the gesture, and they left for the entrance.
Neji used byakuugan to find the way Gai and Lee had opened up for them, and they slipped in quickly.
It all seemed too simple, Lee and Gai were waiting at the end for them, and covered the door as Neji and Neko penetrated the room holding Chihhiro. There were at least five guards there; but one fireball later there were only three.
Gai and Lee followed in once Neji and Neko had each taken down at least one guard, and then allowed Neko and Neji to reach the captive. They found Chihhiro easily, she was in an adjoining room and tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. She had long , jet black hair which was tied back in a braid that was now coming undone and her eyes were a brilliant purple. Her skin was pale, probably from lack of eating and sunlight, and there was a certain light lacking in her eyes.
"Chihhiro-san," Neko addressed her as Neji untied her. The woman looked up at her dimly and nodded slightly. Neko undid the gag and Chihhiro sighed in relief.
"Thank you," the woman said and allowed Neko to place her arm around her shoulders.
"Neji, lead us out," Neko said and he obliged.
It didn't take long to see that the guards had called for reinforcements.
Neko tightened her grip on Chihhiro, who moaned at the sight of the situation growing worse. Gai and Lee were already challenging a few each, leaving at least six others for them to deal with. Neji instantly grabbed Neko and Chihhiro, and pulled them towards the exit. Their six enemies took at least a minute to figure out what had just happened, and by then Neji was ready to face them with his jyuuken stance.
"No, Neji, something's not right-" Neko pleaded but he turned to her and cut her off.
"Tenten, go. Now!" He said and began fighting them. She stared at him and felt that twinge of premonition telling her something was wrong once more. And he'd used her old name…
She knew she had to get Chihhiro out of there. It was her duty as a kunoichi. So Neko held on to Chihhiro, and plunged towards the exit.
-left rear-
She rolled Chihhiro down and away from her, turning to block the punch with her forearms. The shinobi looked back at her in awe, but tried a swift kick instead. Chihhiro watched the scene unfold before her eyes helplessly as Neko began to draw out various weapons.
-below you-
Neko jumped up away from the bunshin that was about to grab her ankle and activated sharingan. This guy was going to take more work than was safe, she thought and used a kunai to make the bunshin disappear.
-front, kunai to lower stomach-
Another block, this time with a kodachi. Neko saw that this was a different enemy than the one before, and looked around for the first. They had disappeared, damn… Neko pushed back the current enemy and buried a kunai in his leg and arm. He would not be doing any justus for a long time.
-look up-
Summoning a katana, Neko blocked the aerial assault and drove the attacker down onto the ground. It was the first guy again and she smirked inwardly. Now she wouldn't have to try to find him. Or so she'd thought.
-left, kunai-
With a shuriken she blocked the attack. Glancing over she saw that she was now dealing with another one. Neko also noted that Neji had taken one down, but now had a long range specialist and a short range specialist on his hands.
That was going to be tricky. That's probably what she was dealing with as well.
-right-
She blocked with her katana once more and fired several shuriken at the other ninja, who had gotten a little too close to Chihhiro. Dropping the weapon quickly, Neko blew a ball of flame at him and it gave her a few spare minutes to handle the first guy. He summoned an array of vines and sent them at her, which she just burned to cinders. Doing a few hand seals, Neko did kage bunshin no jutsu and sent a few to deal with each of her aggressors. Not a technique she favored using, but in this situation it was necessary. How the heck did Naruto always saty so energetic after he used it? Even when he taught it to her and Sasuke that one day a few months ago he couldn't explain it.
-right and left-
What? She felt confused and then realized in horror that it was a feint attack. One was a fake and the other would be real. How had they figured it out so quickly? A small scratch on her left arm was her penance for getting distracted too easily.
The first aggressor laughed evilly and she glared at him, her eyes feeling hot. She could hear the second as well, the cinders falling from his clothes were a dead giveaway.
-left and right-
This time she knew what it was. Neko leapt into the air and began forming seals, her Rising Twin Dragons sent a whirlwind of weapons into the surrounding area. Her attackers ducked and she pulled them back with chakra strings, then fired once more. One of the men came at her and she brought up a scythe to stop him, then pinned him to the wall with shuriken.
-up, down, left, right-
Neko froze and held two swords defensively, the attack was going to be a trick. She knew it. It was so obvious, right? Two kunai came at her, one from the left, another from the above her. With her swords she blocked them, then braced for the attack she knew was coming from the man himself. She paused and let herself think for just a brief second, which direction?
Right?
Below?
Right?
Below?
Right?
She had no idea, she panicked as she saw a flash of the man's black cloak and the world slowed down for her. Neko fired a kunai at the target instantly, it was heading for his heart. And just as quickly; the target was gone. But Neko never misses, she still hit something. And to her horror it was one of her usual, dead-on hits.
The strangled yell deafened her. She felt her heart break into pieces as Neji dropped to the ground, a kunai deep in his blind spot. An evil laugh broke the heart wrenching scene; the laugh of the sick man who'd caused this horror.
The laugh of the man who was going to pay very dearly.
"Do you know what you've done?" Neko turned to him slowly, a glare set deeply into her features.
"I think it's more what you've done," He replied, but in a split second found himself pinned to the wall by a sword through the stomach.
The man grunted and she stared him dead in the eye. He was losing his senses as the seconds ticked by, he watched her red eyes transform. Where only two Tomoe had been before, there were now three.
"He is my best friend," She pulled the sword upward ever so slightly, his pain filled groans giving her no satisfaction. "I love him, and I've stabbed him… In the back. You got what he deserved: a fair warning."
With that she used a kunai to cut his throat in a single, swift motion.
Coming back to her senses, she ran over to Neji. Neji was on the ground, blood pooling around him. Neko gasped at the sight, tears spilling from her eyes. He was face down and had his head on one of his arms.
"Neji…" Neko sobbed, placing her hand on his shoulder and pushing back a stray hair with the other. "I'm so sorry…"
"Don't… Nek…Tenten…" He gasped for air.
The kunai was still sitting there in his blind spot, Neko knew better than to try and take it out. It was likely blocking a lot of the bleeding.
"Stay with me," She pleaded, leaning down and holding his shoulders in a half hug as she cried. "Please, hang on."
"Tenten…I…lo-" Neji was trying to look up at her, and she was as close to his face as she could be.
"No, Neji, please… Stay with me," Neko saw his eyelids flutter. "I love you… Stay with me…"
His eyes were closing, and she felt the sobs come even harder. His breathing had slowed, and she couldn't stop the tears. He couldn't be gone, it just wasn't possible. Not Neji.
"Oh, I can hardly stop the tears," One of the thugs mocked her as he stood over the two.
She realized that it was one of the men she'd pinned to the wall with weapons, and he'd probably helped in this plan somehow. That would not do.
A new feeling burst forth within Neko. She let Neji gently slide out of her arms and directed a glare at this new challenger. Here eyes were hot, hotter than ever before, it felt like they were on fire. But it didn't matter, nothing mattered now did it? Neji was gone, and she wanted revenge. This man would have to do.
Neko drew the sword holding up the other man out from the wall and the body. She gripped it firmly and pointed it at her challenger.
She couldn't understand why he was looking at her like that. She hadn't even done anything yet, and he was cowering in fear. What was going on? He couldn't be that afraid of the sword that had killed his comrade.
"Your eyes…" He whispered and she cocked her head to the side.
"What about them?" She put the sword closer to get an answer from him.
"I-I've s-seen eyes like that j-just once. Red like when you fought, and then they changed before doing the worst attack…" He was now trembling.
"And that is?" Neko continued to question.
"Tsukiyomi…" He shook his head in fear. "I'd never wanted to be on the receiving end of mangekyou sharingan…"
"And I never wanted to be the hand that killed my best friend," Neko whispered as she watched him begin to shake furiously, then double over and vomit. She didn't even know how she was doing it, only that it was somehow tied to her emotions. Still, she somehow knew he was picturing that he was on the receiving end of what she'd done to his companion a million times over.