Disclaimer: It's not mine…

Author's Note: Okay it's been a while, be gentle. I had this chapter sitting around on my computer for about forever now… I just didn't know how to finish it. I'd love any advice anyone has to give.

By practice, shinobi who went off on missions never said farewells to their friends and family. Of course, the danger was always there that they might not come back. There was always the possibility of death, and in some cases it was more than just a possibility. Nevertheless, shinobi tried not to look at their upcoming mission as their fated last mission.

On rare occasions, without reason, a shinobi will say his goodbyes. Of the few who have, only a handful have ever come back alive.

The battle had started out as nothing more than a chaotic attack by an enemy who tried to use numbers to trample the four ninja. Or at least that is how it was meant to seem. Neji had his suspicions from the start, and he was finding out now that he was right. The enemy acted like a stream of water hitting a rock. After a long enough time with constant, never ending pressure, the rock would show cracks. Neji was learning the hard way that even the perfect defense he made had weaknesses. Hiro was now stranded in a sea of attackers far away from any support that Neji could provide.

Determined, the three ninja fought on trying to recover their friend, but the walls of ninja that stood in their way let them know that such a goal was going to be impossible, or at least, not as possible as Neji had hoped. One of the smallest drops of water fell from the heavens and hit him right on the bridge of his nose. It had just started raining when Neji felt sick to his stomach with déjà vu.

"Something's wrong."

"I know something's wrong, we need to get Hiro back. That boy can't fight by himself against these numbers. I'm amazed he's lasted this long." Akiko answered back. After all, having grown up with the boy, she was the one who knew him best.

It's true, Neji thought, Hiro was a talented ninja, but not this talented. Quickly playing back the enemies movements that drew Hiro out of the formation Neji came to a nauseating realization. The mobs of ninja that he fought had stayed just out of his usual reach. They had made a play to make Hiro logically move to the direction and distance they wanted.

It wasn't a moment later that he saw it. In the distance, through massive amounts of bodies that stood in his way, Neji saw Hiro again. He stood in a clearing, surrounded by a ring of enemy ninja that just stood by, not attacking. Then one man, walked into the circle with Hiro. From what Neji could see of his chakra, this was not a man to be trifled with.

The world went into slow motion, the rain slowed its fall to the earth, and yet, even then it was happening all too fast.

"Get out..."

"What did you say!"

"GET OUT NOW!"

Neji abandoned the formation first without caring about breaking the perfect defense, and made his way dangerously fast towards Hiro through the crowd of blood thirsty ninja. Rusty kunai and claws seem to shriek forth from all directions. Even though most were dull and old they had no trouble slipping past mere skin, imbedding themselves deep into Neji's muscles. One kunai went right into his arm and would have sliced through to the other side had it not gotten caught nicking his bone.

The next thing Neji knew, he was flying through the trees holding Hiro close to his chest with Tenten and Akiko trailing behind him trying their best to keep up. After a few minutes of out-running his pursuers, Neji stopped to take a look at the boy in his arms. The two girls were only a moment behind and both paled at the sight of their men painted red. It took a second for them to realize most of the blood was Hiro's.

Akiko near jumped back when she first saw Hiro's wounds. A large chunk of flesh was ripped messily out of the boy's chest revealing scrapped clean ribs that floated in a sea of red blood. She dove at the boy not wasting any time to inspect the wound, knowing that delaying too long would allow the enemy to close in on them in no time. She carefully pulled the boy away from Neji' and into her own arms before assessing his wounds.

"He's hit, badly. It's deep. It ... his lung is punctured."

"Hyuuga-san." Hiro's voice came with a sputter of blood through his tired lips.

What Neji saw as an outsider in his dreams last night, he was experiencing first hand now. In his dream he was speechless, and now, living it, he understood why.

"His wound isn't closing; it looks like there's chakra residing in this hole. His body isn't healing on its own, and he's going to bleed to death." Akiko said just before whipping out tape and applying it directly to the wheezing hole in the man's chest.

"Hyuuga-san?"

Neji turned his head to look at Hiro's face. The desperate eyes of a ghost colored boy looked back at him. Hiro's expression bordered between validation and panic; even now, Hiro's thoughts were trying to focus themselves on the mission and the regret of failure. The boy who grew up always being called "sleepy-head" truly wanted to become a great ninja. Now, that future seemed to be slipping away as quick as his blood drained into the earth.

"Hyuuga-san?"

Hiro continued questioning; he called out his team leader's name as if asking if death was his fate. Neji had no answers for the boy.

"I can't heal him here. I'm not even sure I can heal this wound at all. I need to get him somewhere with more medics."

The veins surrounding Neji's eyes flaring visibly as the Byakugan activated. The enemy was off in the distance waiting, seemingly enjoying their wounded prey.

"Tenten, take Hiro and Akiko and get to safety, I'll keep the enemy here."

"We're not leaving you, I'm sure Akiko can do something as a quick fix..."

The clouds rolled in quickly and overcast the sky, darkening the forest like an artificial nightfall. The glowing coils of the enemies' tenketsu appeared like blue flickering candles all around him that failed to illuminate their surroundings. They pulsed like wild blue flames hanging in mid-air, staying at the edge of his vision.

"Leave now." Neji's orders left no room for questioning.

"Fine, Akiko can take Hiro and leave, but I'm not leaving you."

"Yes, you are." His pupil-less eyes glared right through Tenten and made her breath catch in her throat from the shock of his unabridged anger.

"Why do I have to leave?" Tenten's worked hard to keep the strain from showing in her voice. What Neji was telling her was too much; it went against everything she ever thought was possible. Neji was ordering his own suicide by telling them to leave.

"They're coming." Akiko was beyond fear and spoke quiet words resigned to fate. In normal circumstances she was a know-it-all ninja. The only thing that kept her quiet and humble was her admiration for Tenten, her former Sensei. She was an intelligent ninja who excelled in ninja medical arts from a young age and had every reason to tout off her accomplishments. She was destined to be a great ninja, but her youth was showing now. No matter how much she held it back, it seemed as if hopelessness was closing in from all directions. Holding her dying friend, she seemed to flinch at each drop of somber rain that fell on her. Every drop that hit her head and shoulders echoed her death.

"Because I said so."

"Just tell me why!" Tenten wouldn't let those foolish words drive her off. She couldn't go back to Konoha with the explanation of "because." They would definitely not be the last words she heard from Neji.

"Hyuuga-san, Tenten-san..." Hiro's whispered his last words before letting the shock of blood loss pull him into unconsciousness.

"Because if you stay you'll die!"

Beyond the walls that guarded his emotions, beyond the armor of his heart, Neji's fear abruptly burst forth.

The enemy was racing towards them and the noise of their battle cry was almost deafening. The shouting got louder as they drew near but all Tenten could hear was the repetitious sound of a forest in a downpour of rain. She stood there, face to face with Neji, numb; numb from the words he spoke, and numb from the flood of his emotions that swept her away like the swift current of a massive river. She was frozen, she couldn't move even if she wanted to.

Neji assumed his infamous jyuuken style attack stance and took a step to close the distance between himself and Tenten. He would get Tenten to leave even if he had to make her do so by force. Tenten had only ever seen a semi-serious Neji while fighting him in training, now she was experiencing just how ferocious his eyes looked from the viewpoint of a real opponent.

When she originally met him she couldn't help but stare into his silver eyes. After a while, she could tell what he was focusing on, even though his eyes had no pupils. The first time she saw him activate Byakugan, she couldn't look directly at him for a week. It was something about the veins on his face that seemed inhuman. Over the years she was able to not only see Neji and accept his frightening, yet hauntingly beautiful eyes, but in some ways she found them to be special to her.

This was different. What she saw now were the eyes, the veins, and the danger the lurked behind them all. Every other day that she knew him, he was always a friend and teammate, but at this moment in time when he was ready to attack, Neji showed he could truly be a fearsome opponent. In the back of Tenten's mind there was a quiet whisper that spoke up as she took a panicked step backwards.

Monster…

"Leave now…" Purposefully left out was the unspoken 'or else' that was clearly visible in his eyes. Neji stayed low, prepared to attack his teammate. He had to let her know that he was serious about what he was telling her to do. In his head, she was dead if she stayed. Something told him the way she died would not be pretty, and so, if she refused to go, Neji would finish her himself.

Tenten lingered only a second before spinning on her heals and grabbing Akiko's arm. The Tenten began throwing weapons into the darkness to carve a way out as the medic-nin held Hiro tight. The two made their way through a thin wall of enemies before bounding away through the trees to escape.

Tenten turned at the sound of the words that slipped out of Neji's mouth. Her last image of him was of the anger draining from his face to be replaced by sorrow.

"Goodbye Tenten."

Two hours into fighting solo, Neji first started showing signs of fatigue. In the back of his head he was becoming vaguely aware that this could have something to do with the fact that he hadn't gotten decent sleep in the past three days. Luckily, the Jyuuken style of taijutsu was extremely chakra efficient.

"Stop underestimating me! Heavenly Spin!"

Neji rotated his body emitting a small, continuous amount of chakra out from all of his chakra holes which sent the rain and seven surrounding enemies flying away. Immediately as the spin ended, Neji was already in his stance. He stood there, slightly leaning forward over his right leg with his arms held up into the air at length, one in front of him, the other behind him. In the span of a second Neji went from defending himself to initiating an attack. There were multiple opponents, each with multiple chakra holes that needed to be closed if they were to be defeated.

Neji went after them all. "128 Hands of Hakke!"

In a flash of speed, Neji dashed in between raindrops towards the largest group of attackers. As he sped by one of the ninja opposing him, he jumped with a reverse spin through the air towards the foe. In mid-jump, Neji planted a kick imbued with chakra towards the ninja's heart, making him crumple after grabbing his chest. Neji landed crouched low in the middle of three ninja that had not yet even registered his presence. The Hyuuga's hands flew to specific points on the ninjas' bodies so fast that his limbs blurred. Neji was like a multi-armed beast.

From that point on, it was a highly intricate dance that Neji had been practicing constantly over the years. The enemy ninja tried to counter attack, but they were non-moving statues compared to Neji's speed. Some were nearby, some were at a distance, some stood in clumps, some were by themselves; they were all just targets.

It was a dance of numbers and Hyuuga Neji its master.

At any given time during the attack, he was only vaguely aware who or where he was attacking, all he knew for sure was who to attack next, and how many more attacks he could get off before the dance ended. Blood spilled out of the edges of the opposing ninja's mouths as Neji made their hearts burst inside their chests.

Yet no matter the rate at which Neji could drop his opponents, more would come back to fill their spaces. It was dawning on him that this never-ending battle would finish when he ran out of chakra. The only thing that tore him away from his thoughts was the kunai flying into the back of his vision. Being so distracted before realizing they were incoming, there was nothing he could do to change their course.

They flew through the air as if they were cutting the wind itself. The shiny daggers whistled all the way to their target, piercing flesh and bone; the song it sung was death.

To be continued