Tenshi no Hoshi
"Out of the darkness and into the light
Together, we pray for the end of this eternal night."
The following days didn't pass so quickly for neither Tenten nor Neji. Traumatic memories of the threatening hidden ninja happened in what seemed to be a blink of an eye. Those people were up to something and it was up to the both of them to find out what they were scheming.
"Hey, stay sharp! Don't lag behind." Belri threw a swift punch to Tenten's face.
Tenten, who had not been paying close enough attention, took the damage, almost knocking her out. She felt crimson blood ooze out of the corner of her mouth.
Belri rushed over to he aid. "Uaah! Are you ok? You weren't supposed to take the blow, you know."
Neji, who in the meantime say above the fight, jumped down to assist. "You should have gone easier on her. She isn't too quick yet."
Tenten sat up, holding her fist up to his neck. "I will become stronger. I'll beat you until you beg for mercy."
"Hmph, you're all talk. If you really wanted to prove it, you would have challenged me right not."
"I'm in the best condition."
He snorted. "Heh, whatever. It's been set as your destiny already, why bother defying it?"
Belri cut into their heated conversation. "W-well, why don't we just let Tenten rest for awhile?" She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him behind the shadows of the trees. "What's wrong with Tenten? She's been spaced out for the past couple of days. She hasn't been talking much either." She tightened her grip. "What do you know?"
Neji kept a stern face on. Everyone seemed to be suspicious of him lately. "What I know stays between me and Tenten. It doesn't concern you."
Belri was shocked. "You would choose her over your own cousin?"
"She's the same as you. You really aren't my cousin, like how she isn't really my friend."
"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Belri retorted. "So what if I'm not your cousin? She's our friend, and you know that. Why are you trying to deny it?"
Neji crossed his arms. "She may look at me as a friend, but I don't look at her the same way."
"Well, I wouldn't have said that aloud," Belri shot a glance over her shoulder "If you keep raising your voice, others might here."
Tenten, who had been listening through the whole conversation, covered her mouth with her hands. Had they heard her sneaking up to them?
He had regretted his words. "Know your place, Tenten." Neji whispered loud enough for her to hear.
She summoned all her energy to dash away from the scene. Distraught by his hurtful words, she quietly slipped away into the shadows.
From behind, a firm hand swiftly clasped Tenten and brought her into the shadows of the setting sun. Struggling to be set free, she kicked and squirmed in vain. If only she hadn't strayed from Neji and Belri.
A sinister voice cooed. "If you want to be free from the shadows, I can help you."
Tenten ignored his words and continued to struggle. Her muffled words would be useless in calling for help.
"Don't you want to know who you are? Or where you come from? I can help you."
Her eyes widened as she halted her rampage. Since entering the village, in hardly ever occured to her about her origin and her past. Why was it coming up now?
"You've been suffering, haven't you? Knowing that there really is no place where you belong." He pointed to the two arguing traninees from the trees. "They aren't who you think. Keeping secrets from you is all they do. The village doesn't really want you here, though they say they don't mind. It's such a pity."
Tenten never thought of it that way. Would the village really do that? Even after the months they had spent together? And then there was Belri. She wasn't originally part of this village to begin with! Why would they picking on her? Questions continued to swim in a whirlpool in Tenten's mind.
The man came closer to her ear. "Why stay in the dark? I'll bring you to the light. Your answers lie there, not here."
As soon as he loosened his grip, Tenten jolted straight for her friends, screaming her at the top of her lungs. She was within 2 feet of their space before feeling a sharp pain in her leg. Her screaming died down as she slowly sank to the floor. The forest became a blur of green and the sky was no longer visible. What was that throbbing pain?
Both Neji and Belri came to her aid. "H-hey, what's wrong?"
"Don't lay a finger on her."
Emerging from the shadows, a husky man stepped forward. A scar ran down his face from his eye to the corner of his lip. The forehead protector tightly fastened around his head had a unique symbol inscribed on it. Neji could just about make out the wings and the eye of the symbol, appearing to be a rising phoenix. The same symbol flashed before his eyes.
It was the same symbol he saw from the hidden ninja.
Belri hastily drew out a kunai and held it up in front of her in a defensive position. "Xiao Lang," she whispered, not looking over her shoulder. "Don't tell the elders of this. Get as far away from here as possible. Even it if it means crossing the border, got that?"
Neji nodded. He understood what he had to do. He faced the opposite direction. "You better make sure nothing happens the either of you." With that said, he pushed himself to race against the wind. It was a formidable match for someone such as himself. He knew without a doubt that their race would mean nothing, but it was a way out of his cage. It was a way for him to defy fate, something he had always wanted to do. Now, he finally had his chance. He would make sure to use it wisely.
Belri smirked. "You chose the wrong person to mess with," she growled, a tint of vengeance in her voice. "I don't know what you want from us," she retrieved a scroll from her weapon pouch resting at her hip, "but this is as far as you go."
His furrowed brows shot back a stern glare. "Now, is this the way you talk to your elders after all we've done for you?"
She refused to waver. "You know nothing about me."
"You know nothing about yourself."
"You have no right to force us to do anything related to your plans."
Glowing chakra swirled in the palm of his hand. "Your time here is up. So is your friend here." The chakra ball grew larger by the second. "Both of you know too much. We're sending you back to your home."
Her eyes widened. He couldn't be referring to the Kiokukagure, right? A village that no one thought existed could finally be proven as a real place, not just a forged memory. She looked back down at Tenten, who was still in a peaceful slumber. Why hadn't she known? Both of them are from the same village. Yet, they knew nothing of their home, or each other.
There was a missing link in this chain. Belri knew that nothing would make sense without it. But the task was to find that piece to tie together the final answer. Who held that piece?
"Step away from Tian, and you will be taken unharmed." The man cooed, his unscarred eye narrowing in on the kunoichi.
"Belri onee-chan," a weak voice whimpered from behind.
"Stay down, Tenten. You remember the signal. Go after him."
She nodded, tears forming in her scared eyes. Tenten was caught of guard by all of this. What was going on?
Belri hesitated, slowly lowering her weapon. If she succeeded in her plan, perhaps they had hope in finding out who they really were and where they came from. After all, it was her only goal as a kunoichi.
"I'll…come with you." Would she regret this later on? "It's a risk I'm willing to take."
A triumphant smile came across his face. "Good girl. Don't worry though, we won't do any harm either of you. After all," He softly tossed what looked like a smoke bomb in the middle of their field, exploding into a haze of orange mist.
"RUN!" Belri tossed her scroll to the sitting girl.
Tenten stumbled to her feet and scurried away like a frightened animal. She had to keep up with Neji.
Belri covered both nose and mouth. "Dammit…sleeping powder?" She sank to the ground, feeling the effects of the dust. "Y-you liar…"
As the smoke cleared, the man stepped over the sleeping body. "We need you, Xia. After all, both of you hold the key to unlocking the past. Bring us to a secure future."
&&The Village&&
Tenten felt as if she had been running for at least half an hour. Their practice meet was held far from the village. At times like these, she wished they could have been closer.
The main house could be spotted from the distance. Perhaps Neji had stopped by or took shelter there. There was only one way to know now.
"Tenten! Over here!"
The voice belonged to Neji. Tenten was thankful for him at this time. She waved her hands in the air, jumping up and down (on her unhurt leg) to signify that he received his message. She charged straight towards him in the pursuit of a friend.
But then again, he didn't feel the same way, did he?
"Neji!" They made contact, Tenten's arms tightly embracing his waist.
He jumped back in response. Never during their time together had he seen her so upset or scared. Not knowing what to do from there, he pushed her away, knocking her to the floor. "Don't ever…use that name out loud, understand?"
She rubbed her bruised back. "No, I don't." She replied bluntly. "I never understand anything you say. Everything is always a secret with you and Belri onee-chan."
Neji's expression hardened. "We have to discuss this later. Where's Belri?"
She sulked. "That man took her away."
"Dammit, that's not good! We have to get her!" He looked down at her. "Listen, I'll explain everything to you once we get back, ok?" A lending hand offered her help. "Trust me."
Tenten felt a sense of hypocrisy among his words. They weren't friends, yet he was asking him to trust. "Xiao Lang," she solemnly started to say, "I trust you. But in return," she took his hand. "I want you to be my friend."
A faint smile leaked out from the corner of his lip. "I'm glad to hear that."
&&Nightfall&&
It had already been five hours since Belri's kidnapping and Neji had yet to appear at their bedroom doorstep. The crescent moon had already started to rise with the stars in the night sky on that cool evening. Fall had started approaching, with all of the traces of red, orange and yellow dying the village's surroundings. It was the perfect evening to finally have a heart to heart talk.
Tenten paced back and forth in the hollow area of the room Belri and she shared. Around that time, both of them would usually be getting ready for bed, and on occasion, talk about their day. That day, however, there was no one to talk to, and for Tenten, it felt incredibly awkward and lonely.
Squeaking resonated from the rusted door. She spun around to meet Neji's eyes, tired from their seemingly endless day. He closed the door behind him without a sound, and then there was utter silence.
Tenten broke the silence. "A-are you ok? You don't look to well-"
"I'm fine," he abruptly replied, walking forward and taking a seat on his "cousin's" bed. "If anyone should be unwell, it should be you."
Tenten sat down on the floor facing his direction in front of the bed. "As much as I don't know what's going on, I'm still being kept in the dark. Who wouldn't get tired of it?"
"I'm sorry. This must be fate's cruel ways. It's our fault for allowing the both of you in."
Tenten looked away from him as much as she could. Her eyes strayed to Kagura and Kioku, sitting next to each other innocently. They had both become worn out and dirtied from their rowdy playing, but they held many memories in the short amount of time they've spent together.
Neji caught her staring at the stuffed kittens. "Do you know what these are used for?" He held Kagura in his arms. "These are devices used for extracting memories. Users need specific requirements for handling them, I heard."
She stared at him in disbelief, her eyebrow lowering. "How do you know?"
"Belri." His reply was short and simple. "The reason why both of you posses these so called plush toys is so the Zyranin could eventually harness that supremacy. You two are the only known people who could possibly utilize it."
Tenten didn't like where their conversation was going. "Does that mean…that the man from earlier…and the hidden ninja are all…connected?"
"Exactly."
She thought to herself in silence. Everything was coming together now.
"They've been trying to get your hands on you first came to this village. Our country made an agreement with the country of lightning. They would protect us from other countries searching for the secret of our bloodline limit, the Byakugan. In return, we would carry out experiments for them." He avoided her gazing eyes. "The Angel Experiment. Both of you are said to have divine blood flowing through you."
Another moment of silence followed. "Well," Tenten spoke, "First of all, what's a Byakugan?"
"Our clan," He started, "holds the power to see the chakra circulatory system in one's body. In addition, the Byakugan gives the user a 360 vision."
She nodded, satisfied with his answer. "And what's all this about the Angel Experiment?"
Neji knew that his words must have been a burden on Tenten. Was it really worth telling her all this? Her past would tie with her present, affecting her future. If she refused to accept who she was, he could be placing his entire clan in peril.
"The experiment was sought out to bring heavenly descendants to our planet. They wanted to use people like you to control memories of others."
Tenten, instead of being distraught was curious. "What good would that do?"
Neji couldn't believe how many questions she was asking, "Well," he calmly replied, "If you use those stuffed animals over there to capture memories, then enemies could use it to gain hidden information. Do you get it?"
She nodded, although still suspicious of how much information everyone hid from her. "I understand. But then why did you guys have to hide it?"
"You were being deprived of your right as a human. Everyone had treated the both of you as lower animals. In my position…I had to do the same. I'm sorry."
"Your position…what is it exactly?"
The corner of his lip tugged upward. She could tell he wasn't enjoying this. "I'm a member of the branch family. That's who I am. Nothing more, nothing less."
Tenten started growing impatient, not realizing the same with Neji. "Hmph, if you say so."
"You done with the questions?"
"No, not yet." There was one last question she needed to ask. "Xiao Lang, who am I exactly? If they were searching for Belri and I, then that means we must have something that other people don't. What is it exactly?"
He shrugged. "I can't answer that for you. You gotta find that for yourself. I just know that you might have the potential for memory extracting."
He got up from the bed. "Tomorrow, we set out for Belri. I've informed my uncle about this, and have located where she might have been held."
Tenten nodded. "Gotcha. I'll be ready by sunrise."
Neji started for the door. Tenten didn't know what else to say, but she knew what she had to do. "H-hey, Neji!"
He halted, giving her a deadly glare. "I told you not to-"
"I just wanted to say that I wanna get to know more about you." She managed to say without being interrupted. "If we're friends, I want you to trust me, like how I trust you. If we're friends, I want you to know that you can count on me for anything." She gave him a quirky smile, seeing that she placed herself into an awkward position very much unlike her. "I won't let you down."
"Ok. That's good to know." With that said, he calmly left the room.
The clicking sound of the shutting door gave relief to Tenten. "Phew, glad that's over," she said to herself as she plopped down on her bed with Kioku in her arms. She replayed his last phrase in her head. Those words made her cheeks blush vigorously. She had even felt it burn. The kunoichi raised her toy in the air. "Kioku…so it seems you're nothing more than a tool for me, as I am nothing more than a tool for a warring country."
The young girl simply closed her eyes and hoped to drift away from her predicaments. When she would awake, she would complete her journey out of the elusive shadows, and begin a new one into the lucid light. There, perhaps she would find all of her answers.
Ending Note: Woot, I'm happy with this chapter, despite the length. Thank you for all those people who have stayed in tune and have bothered to review this story. I promise to update sooner! No preview this time, though. You'll just have to wait and see!