A/N: Ah, my story returns. I hope you like it. Read and review, please.

Disclaimed: Don't own anything but the idea.

My eyes fluttered open. There was light streaming through my bedroom window. I squinted; it was really bright. And kind of annoying.

Judging by the weather outside, I'd say I've been down for at least a few weeks, at most a month. I sighed, and moved my arms.

The felt stiff, like I hadn't moved like this in a while. A month in bed can do that to you.

I rubbed the back of my head. To my relief, there was no hole. It healed up nicely. I didn't feel sore, but the stiff-ness was aggravating.

Glancing around my room, I saw a very lovely flower in a vase, along with a picture of our team. Gai-sensi never fails to give us a picture when we're in the hospital. He thinks that we'll forget him if he doesn't. The picture made me smile; Neji looked so unamused, I looked happy, and Lee looked insane. Ah, I love my team. I turned my attention back to the flower. It was a red rose, the flower of love. I wondered who had given it to me.

Lee, or Neji? My question resurrected itself in my brain.

I heard a shuffling out in the hall. My first thought was it must have been the nurse, checking up on me.

The pink hair surprised me. As far as I knew, Sakura only treated long term patients. A month was a while, but still. I was no long term patient.

I raised an eyebrow, watching her shut the door behind her as she came in. She turned and faced me.

When her green eyes found their way into my brown ones, they widened in shock. Sakura looked different. Really different. Her hair was longer than I remembered, and her outfit was different. Her hair was now a little further than her shoulders, and her outfit comprised of a nice red short sleeved top and white Capris. She looked older, her body looked more developed.

Maybe I had been down for two months...

"Tenten..." she murmured softly. "You... This... I... You... wow..."

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

"Well..." She sighed heavily, taking a seat. I was getting really curious by now. What was so hard to tell me?

"Come on Sakura. I've been in here for a month or two. I'm out of the loop." I grinned. I felt restless, like I needed to go run. That made her frown, like she was agout to cry.

A second later, the frown was gone, replaced by a fake smile. She was holding something back. Had someone died when we were fighting?

"It's good to see your acting normally. We were afraid you'd never wake up. Much less act normal if you did. You've made a great recovery, Tenten." She smiled weakly. The alarm in my head was going off.

"Never... wake up?" I stammered. My eyes were the ones to widen in shock. What was she talking about?

"Tenten..." She looked away. "It's hard to tell you this." That made me more fearful than anything so far. Why was it hard? It shouldn't be hard. I was only out for two months, at the very most. Nothing could have changed that much. And never waking up? Ninja have stayed in he hosipital for half a year, and there was no worries. Why so much for a short term patient like me?

"I mean, after what happened..." Sakura wasn't making any sense to me. What had happened? "You were so bad off when you got here.." I figured I must have been. The kunai in the back of the head and the poison were hard to forget.

"Sakura, just tell me already!" My anger was rising. She was a doctor. Doctors always tell patients bad news! If someone died, I want to know.

Sakura took a few deep breaths, not looking at me at all. I was getting nervous. I wanted for her to tell me what was going on, why was she so worried? Her eyes started tearing up, and she tried to smile, but failed miserably.

"You've been in a coma for the past year," she responded, chosing not to look me in the eye.

My eyes welled up. A... year? I hung my head, not able to say anything. I felt sick inside. I've been dead to the world for a year.

"Tenten..." Sakura same over, and gave me a hug. I didn't respond. I just sat there. We sat like that for about twenty minutes.

"Don't you have to go report to Hokage-sama?" I asked weakly. I felt like being alone right now. To think about it. Being in a come for so long was... depressing.

"Right," she said, giving me one last sad smile. She probably knew how much it pained me.

"Oh, and Sakura?" I said, not looking at her.

"Yes, Tenten?" she questioned, standing in the doorway. I couldn't tell whether she was looking at me or not.

"Please don't tell anyone else." It was then that I looked at her. She was staring straight back, nodding.

"I'll keep it a secret." I don't know why I wanted it to be a secret. I just didn't want to see a ton of people right now. I didn't want to see what the year had done to them, who they had become while I laid here, all alone in my bed. I especially didn't want to see my team. I didn't want to see Neji, or Lee, or what they looked like now. I just wanted to sit here, staring at the wall.

After a while, I stood up. I had even changed over the year. My hair was longer, and I looked older. My face, my body... All of me looked older. And I didn't like it. I wanted to go back before this all happened. I looked at the regulation hospital clothes. I wondered how many people had come to see me since this happened. A lot, most likely. I felt alone.

Seriously alone.

I slunk back to my bed. I was starting to feel terribly depressed, something that hadn't happened since my parents died. And I couldn't figure out why. Being in a coma for a year isn't terrible. Sure, you miss out, but at least it's only been a year, and not a lifetime. If I had died...

I wouldn't have woken up to find out everyone else had probably moved on.

Tears welled up again. I guess that was my worst fear. That everyone would forget about me. That everyone would have moved on. I would hold everyone back, I just knew it.

A soft knock came from the door. I quickly wiped away my tears, and fell back onto my pillow.

"Tenten." I was relieved to hear Hokage-sama's voice, and not another person my age.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Good, you're awake." The blonde haired busty woman came into my room, pulled up a chair, and sat next to me, files in hand. "I trust you've found out how long you've been in the unresponsive state?"

"Yes ma'am," I spoke, voice quiet and devoid of any emotion.

"Okay. Sakura tells me you don't want anyone else but us to know of your condition. Any reason behind this?" She peered down at me. I felt like I was a test subject, being studied.

"I don't know." I sat in thought for a moment. Why didn't I want anyone to know? "I... I guess I want to see everyone without them acting fake around me. I want to see what they've become without me in their lives."

To my surprise, Tsunade nodded. "You want to see how everyone has changed without you in their lives. I can understand." She looked down at her clipboard again. "I feel the need to tell you that coming out of a coma can be psychologically damaging. We were afraid you might have had brain damage, but after a month, all of our fears were erased. The only one left was that you would never wake up."

It was my turn to nod. So that's why Sakura was so afraid... her mentor even doubted that I would rise again.

"Standard procedure says we should wait at least before letting you out. But, your not an ordinary patient. You've been gone for so long..." her voice trailed off, showing hints of sadness. "You've been gone for so long, I think I might let you out today. As long as I can set one ANBU to follow you. That way, if anything happens, they can take you straight here. They will not interfere with anything, and no one will see them, so if you don't want anyone to think something is up, they won't. Unless you want to be recognized."

I shook my head. "An ANBU would be fine, Hokage-sama." I didn't want to be recognized by anyone.

"Then I'll have your clothes sent right down. Your forehead protector and pouch are in the drawer in your nightstand." She stood up, moved the chair back into place, and left. I slowly stood up, and opened the drawer. My headband and weapons pouch were dust covered, but they were the same as I had left them. The pouch looked as though it had been touched, but I didn't really care. I took it out of the drawer.

I flipped open my pouch, and my MP3 player fell out. Hm... the songs were now outdated, huh...

Curiosity besieged me. I slipped the buds into my ear, turning it on.

'Step one, you say we need to talk. He walks, you say sit down, it's just a talk.'

'How to Save a Life' blared into my ears. I saw that the battery was full. As far as I remembered, this was not the last song I was listening to. And the battery was full. Someone had been playing with my MP3 player.

To me, this was more than a music player. I never kept a diary, so some of these songs represented memories in my life. They reminded me of that day. Others represented moods, or people. It was like my diary. And someone had been listening to it.

'Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend. Somewhere along in the bitterness and I would have stayed up with you all night. Had I known how to save a life.'

'How to save a life...'

I turned it off, and slipped it back into my pouch. At that moment, Tsunade came into my room, carrying clothes.

"We couldn't find your old ones, Anyway, they probably wouldn't have fit." Probably not. I took the clothes from her hands. "You are to return here after you feel you are finished. Is that understood?" I nodded, and then her tone changed completely.

"Tenten, I want to warn you. Just because your friends have changed doesn't mean they have done it because you weren't here. If someone has improved, don't think you had been holding them back. And if they don't recognize you, don't feel-"

"It's okay, Hokage-sama. I'll be fine," I interrupted her speech. If someone didn't remember me, I'd be okay.

Right?

I could tell even Tsunade was trying to be nice. Normally, if someone interrupted her, she'd be furious. But she just frowned, and left. That's why I didn't want anyone else to know who I was; I didn't want them to feel sorry for me and act differently. I didn't need to be babied. I was not a child anymore.

I quickly got dressed, looking at myself n the mirror. I was wearing a dark blue Chinese styled shirt, like my old one. It fit well. I also had on a black pair of Capri's. Not my favorite color, but it would suffice. I cleaned my headband with the edge of my shirt. It gleamed. I hooked the pouch on, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. Two buns would be too suspicious.

I quietly walked toward the door, and stopped out, shutting it behind me.

"Tsunade-sama sent me." I jumped to hear a voice next to me. Looking up, I saw the ANBU promised to me. All I could see was the mop of spiky white hair, one eye, and a mask.

"Kakashi-sensei?" I looked up at him. Yep, it was Kakashi. He wasn't trying to hide himself.

"..."

"Aren't you a jonin?" I asked. Had he been reassigned...?

"Yeah."

"Then... what are you doing here?"

"Tsunade decided it would be fine if I trailed you. I am a former ANBU, after all." I sighed, and shrugged. "It's good to see you walking, Tenten."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." He just nodded lazily, and followed me out of the hospital. When I left the front doors, he was no where to be found. So, he really was going to stay out of my way this whole time. That's good. I started out on my trek around Konoha.

It was different, too. The same village, but there were subtle differences. I walked in front of a few stores, seeing people I knew. Ino was talking to Hinata about something while shopping. As far as I knew, Ino and Hinata weren't that good of friends. But then again, things change.

I slipped through a crowd, making my way toward who knows what, when I bumped into someone. I turned, startled by the contact, to see Shikamaru. "Sorry, ma'am." I just nodded, and continued on my way. I hadn't known Shikamaru that well, so I didn't mind when he didn't recognize me. I just continued on my way, spotting a friend of mine, Shino. He and I had gone on a mission with Sakura and Ino a while ago, and had become friends when I was bored, and didn't want to talk to them.

I walked by him, and he turned to look at me. When I glanced back, I thought I could just barely see the shock on his face, but it quickly disappeared. His logical mind probably wouldn't let him believe that a girl who was in a coma was walking by. I wanted him to shout my name, but he didn't. He didn't do anything. Another friend who didn't remember.

Letting my feet lead me, I made my way to my old training ground. This was about the time we were finishing up from sparring, so I hoped I'd see Neji or Lee there.

Kakashi landed beside me.

"Are you sure you want to go this way?"

I looked at him, and nodded. "I'm sure," I said, with a confidence that belied how I was feeling inside. He noticed this, but did not say a word. In the blink of any eye, Kakashi was no where to be found. And I was almost at the training grounds. Decided it would be best not to let my presence know, I hid. In a bush. I felt like a little kid again, trying to spy on the older ninja.

When I adjusted myself so I could see the clear field, I spotted a tall, black haired man standing next to a tall, brown haired man. It took me a moment to realize who they were. Neji and Lee stood before me, talking about things in a calm manner. I felt out of place, even if I was hidden away.

"Tenten, what are you doing here?" The whisper made me jump a little bit. I turned to see a man with spiky blonde hair. Naruto.

"How did you...?"

"I went to visit Sakura, and noticed your room was empty. When I asked if you had died, I go a 'no' in response. She wouldn't tell me anything, so I figured you were awake."

I turned my attention back to Lee and Neji, holding my finger up to my mouth to signal for Naruto to be quiet.

"Neji, that is great!"

"Yeah, I know. ANBU... I've really gotten better this year."

Lee nodded his agreement. My heart sank. This... year? He's gotten better without me...?

"With my promotion to jonin, and yours to ANBU, we both have done well."

I drooped my head, making a rustling in the bushes. They both turned to where Naruto and I were.

"Who's there?" Came the demanding voice.

Both of us stood up at the same time. Neji and Lee's eyes softened when they saw us. "Naruto, I did not know you had a girlfriend," Lee said, smiling.

It took all of my willpower not to twitch. I glanced over at Naruto, who was grinning. "Yep, this is her!" I could tell he was lying to save my ass, and I was grateful. But I was also more depressed than I was before. Neither had recognized me.

My own teammates didn't recognize me.

I could feel Neji's eyes on my as I moved over to Naruto's side, slightly blushing. I just wanted to get out of here.

"She's pretty." Neji commented. I blushed even more.

"Yeah! Well, we've got... erm... things to do. See ya." He grabbed my arm and pulled me away. When we were out of earshot, he turned to me. "Sorry about that. I just figured that would be the easiest way to get us out of there..."

"It's fine, Naruto. Thanks for getting me out." He asked me if I was okay. I guess he could tell that I was depressed. Naruto always had a sense for these kinds of things. I just nodded, and made my way back to the hospital. Kakashi landed next to me.

"You don't look fine."

"How would you know?"

He looked at me, then shrugged. "I wouldn't. But still." I trudged on to the hospital, ignoring him. He took the hint and shut up. Why couldn't I have gotten him for a sensei instead of Gai-sensei? He was so much better at shutting up.

Back at the training grounds, one Hyuuga boy sat on the ground, still staring at the letter. He was now officaly an ANBU. He couldn't believe it.

"I should go tell Tenten," he murmured. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to achieve this. Tomorrow, then."

I prepared for bed in my hospitial room. A slight shuffling noise was hear, and Tsunade came in. "How did it go?"

"They didn't recognize me..." Is all I could say.

Tsunade gave me a hard look, and then did something unexpected. She hugged me.

"They probably saw the likenesses. But Tenten, you have to realize... They've been told for a year that you wouldn't wake up. Ever." I started crying.

"They've done better without me there!"

"They've done better, but not because you were gone. For the first few weeks, Lee and Neji didn't talk to anyone. They didn't train. They just were depressed. They had lost a best friend. It was after I told them that they needed to become better ninja to make sure nothing like this ever happened again that they started training again. You motivated them."

"You motivated them!" I shouted through my tears.

"They came to visit you every day they were in Konoha." That shut me up. "Sakura convinced them that talking to you might help you wake up. That you might hear them. But it never weilded any results. Regardless, they kept talking to you. You helped them get through hard times by being there.

"But I wasn't there." I said, in my defense.

"No. But you helped them become better." And with that, the Hokage let go of me, and left.

That night, I had the strangest dreams. I could faintly hear Neji talking to me.

'Tenten, you won't believe it. I might be becoming an ANBU soon. All this work paid off..."

I could hear Lee's voice, too.

"Tenten, wake up soon. I have missed you so much..." Lee's voice was also far away, and very sad sounding.

I heard Neji's voice again.

" Wake up. Wake up! I don't know what I would do if you die, Tenten..."

A/N: Yay for new chapters! Squee! I hope you like it, please review.