Note: I tried very hard to make it work. This is my least favorite 'part.'

Part III

Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk; pretending
Defending; while our souls are tied
(Denied — Our Lady Peace)

I awoke to the bright warmth of a new sun. This time I did not fall off the bed, a fact of which I am proud. The white blanket around me was wrinkled but Neji was not beside me. I stood up slowly, and without grace. A door I hadn't noticed before was ajar and I could hear faint noise coming from it. I investigated the separate room with interest.

Neji was sleeping at a desk, scrolls half open and piled messily over its expanse. As I approached he lifted his head, apparently awake.

"Good morning," He said, his voice muzzled.

I picked up some of the scrolls and placed them in a pile to the side. After a moment, he helped me, putting ink and pens in drawers with some of the blank scrolls. "Do you always do this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It's just business stuff; reports for different missions and economic values."

"Still…" I trailed off. There was no reaction or reply, so I left it alone.

Neji stood up and seemed to bottle up the weariness I believed I had seen in his stance. He looked older, jaded. Our way of life was hard; our choices seemed to only make things harder. We were fighters though. Destined to swim against the current, fated to die honorably and tragically, or at least that's what we set out to do. But now, we were getting older and life seemed to take a toll.

Pasts that would always come back to haunt us, ghosts that never seemed to really die.

"The ceremony is today." Neji sighed, in my reverie he had walked over to a small window. He stared out as if he was scrutinizing the glass; not gazing at the sunrise.

"When?" I asked.

"Evening; female branch members will come at noon to prepare you." He stated calmly. Neji sounded resigned.

I sat down on the chair from the desk. "I feel like I should be sorry or happy, but I just…." I tried to phrase my mood. "I don't feel anything" I sighed.

It seemed wrong that this dependency morphed into this; a savage bond. It was beautiful and delicate like soft woven lace. And at the same time it was violent and terrorizing as a kunai in the heart.

"Is it wrong for me to rejoice within fear?" I asked, almost rhetorical.

Neji looked a little disturbed at the thought, though very little was offered in the change of expression, I was hypersensitive to his emotions. Maybe they even became mine; it was just so tangled.

I wanted this, but that didn't mean it was right. I could back out now, end it. I could take the honest and simple way out.

Still, I looked over at Neji; I couldn't throw it away and betray him. I would do this; take the fight and the pain.

"Do you want this?" He asked, sensing my doubt. We were so attuned to each other, and that alone wasn't worth giving up.

"I want this." I said affirmatively, my voice coming out with a confidence I rarely commanded. This is who I was becoming.

The morning passed very slowly, lazily. I lay in the circle of Neji's arms as we planned out our secrecy plan.

We settled on an idea of faking a mission. This was going to be hard, we were close, but we couldn't show our affection in public. We would leave and diminish the effects of the curse I would receive. Then I would change my hair to cover the bandages. It would be out of its odango style; I would be changed, for all interests; a Hyuuga. Hyuuga Tenten.

At noon Neji led me to a part of the complex that served as a bathhouse. Silent, stoic women bathed and dressed me, their faces blank. I secretly wondered if they weren't just animated puppets. Their manor was that of resigned slaves. I vowed never to fall into their conduct. I would be no silent mindless female.

I would be proud of my… husband. It was so strange to think the word, not hard, just strange. I would be proud of Neji, and strong in myself. I wouldn't openly rebel, I just wouldn't fall silent. I wouldn't forget who I was.

A silk kimono-style dress was wrapped around me. An obi was secured around my waist in a rich silvery black. The cream of the kimono was cold, reminding me of starless nights. It seemed to have an icy, unforgiving edge in the black inky swirls. It was obviously some symbolic pattern, but never having worn a kimono before, I didn't recognize anything specific.

Navy seemed inter-stitched in the black; it gave the image of a harsh bride, the whole impression was icy. I held my arms as they adjusted the long sleeves straight. It took me more than a few tries to discover how to properly move in the thing.

I didn't hate it but it looked strange on me, these colors. The cream and black were of the Hyuuga clan. It made me feel marked; like property. I shrugged it off since it was Neji I was being bound to. We weren't ready to get married, we didn't have that relationship, but I felt we were headed there. Choices were limited; I tried to make the best ones.

One of the silent Hyuuga's led me to a chair and requested I sit; gesturing with a servant's attitude. Her head was bowed in submission and her hands seemed to communicate her form instead of actual words, she seemed so inoffensive.

A second women, a girl really; younger than me and as mild as a blade of grass… She was already broken before the fight. She took a brush in hand and they combed my long coffee-colored hair.

They sheered the bottom of its split ends and straightened the cut. Aside from my bangs the waist-long expanse was perfectly straight, a waterfall that cascaded fully before the bottom, a sheer line.

With special rags they starved the strands of water, drying it efficiently. A silver colored jeweled pin was brought out. Gathering a roll of curls it was woven through to hold the gathered loops. The chime of beads that hung from the end of the pin swung lightly, a tiny ringing that probably only I could hear. Little midnight and onyx jewels laced together with tiny silver beads, a barely noticeable ornament in my dark hair.

Dark khol and powders were applied to my face as I ignored the fact that if none of this would have happened I would be out training. I would be wearing comfortable clothes I knew how to get on and off. Neji would be huffing, irritated at something or other and using the negative energy to fight me.

For now I was resigned to (hopefully) the one time I would ever have to use the 'manors and etiquette' training on anything other than a mission. Kuniochi were really not expected to be delicate and polite, it made a fantastic cover.

I was directed to a looking glass that showed my reflections. I looked icy; my makeup showing a violent image of dark and light, a screaming contrast. It was fierce, I realized. Strong black and midnight hues over a cool cream; I looked very, for lack of a better word, Hyuuga.

It was completely the image of the stoic clan of fighters. There was a fan stashed in my obi, matching in black and blue with a razor edge that would slice through flesh and bone. It didn't bother me that the contrast was the colors of a bruise. Next to the fan was a scroll, I wouldn't walk unarmed. That wasn't unexpected.

If I were to try to assassinate Haishi, he believed Neji would stand in the way, defensive of his curse. The curse that didn't exist; but Haishi didn't know that. There was no desire to kill Haishi and induce the unjust security. Hinata would vouch for me, I guessed.

Not that I was considered much of a threat. I was loyal to Konoha and had no clan that could use me to steal secrets.

From there my reverie was burst and I was brought to another building. My escorts glided, I have to say I more marched. Or at least next to them I might be considered marching, it probably was just a somber walk.

This building was tall and only seemed to contain one room. There were seating arrangements, but the stiff-looking chairs were empty. A long table was at the end of the hall, seated with four very stoic occupants. The branch member who was older showed me where to sit before leaving.

There was an empty chair on Haishi's right, and from where he sat at the head of the table, I assumed it was for his absent wife. Hanabi was at his left with Hinata beside her. It was a clear show of favoritism. The chair across the youngest sister was also empty, I assumed in memory of Neji's father. Neji and I were seated across from each other. I was seated aside Hinata, him scowling alone on the other side of the table. I doubted he was impressed. Haishi was wearing a 'pleased with himself' classic Hyuuga expression, and I wasn't doubtful about were Neji picked it up.

The entire dinner was eaten in silence. I was dubious about eating what was on the plate, having never had to eat so formally. I settled on a combination of watching Neji and Hinata and copying their manors.

Hinata seemed so openly rebellious and carefree. I finally decided defiantly not to copy her when Haishi sent her an intimidating glare. She pretended to not having notice and continued doing what was so outwardly bad. It was like watching Naruto during school.

I was about to voice a remark about her Naruto-like manor and reconsidered on the dread-filled expression from Hyuuga Neji. It wasn't much aside from a tightening of his mouth and a single crease in his eyebrows. But having seen it before in situations involving Lee's mouth on missions, I reconsidered.

It was hollow, silent. I found it very unnerving; it was no wonder Neji barely said anything. He was practically raised not to. Looking back on Hinata's speech patterns, she honestly wasn't much better.

By the time we had finished, the sun was crimson over the horizon.

The Hyuuga's walked and I followed a few steps behind Neji. It was kind of a ceremony. But it was soundless, and filled with unspoken raw emotion. Neji watched me with a kind of pain, distress showed on his face. Hinata was even more openly distraught. Her father watched her hawk-eyed as she turned to me.

Her hand reached up to create a line, invisible over my forehead. Then they were behind her back, her elbows still though I know her hands were working a jutsu. A torturous expression was on her face as the burning cut into my brain. I bit my lip in pain as a drop of blood dripped from my mouth. As suddenly as it was there it was over.

The aftermath was the feeling of an open wound on my forehead. I knew what it was, and from Neji's pained expression, he knew too. He knew what I had felt, and was feeling. He had already experienced it.

He reached out to hold my hand, Haishi was heard reading writes from a scroll, but I barely heard.

We signed our consent in blood, a document. A marriage bond. I turned to him, pain evident in both our eyes. I could not hide my emotions that well. Not involving something like this.

He led me back to his bedroom as Haishi and his two daughters parted ways. The branch line was on one half of the walls, the western side where the sun fell. The main house occupied the east enclosure, the living side, where the sun rose.

They were believed to be destined for greatness, power and the like. Rising to take their name to unseen limits; or they were supposed to. Neji surpassed them without anything but natural ability, nature versus nurture.

I sighed as Neji put his hands on my shoulders and sat me on the bed. From there he found some bandages in a drawer in the second room. I stared at the grains of the floorboards.

He sat down and shifted me so I sat in his lap, my head leaning into his shoulder. He removed the hairpin and let my hair fall loose. I opened my eyes when his body seemed to shift. Neji held out his hands, I could see two tiny black leather ties in his palm. The ones I put my panda buns up with. I smiled; he knew that I liked things familiar.

He lightly pulled part of my hair into a ponytail. A small portion raised above the rest. He parted the ponytail and made it two, tying both pieces of hair off evenly; a small ribbon of coffee-color falling down on each side.

"It feels so light, I kind-of prefer it," I murmured. The two ponytails kept the hair that fell into my face away. But they left my long mass of hair to fall down my back.

"I thought you might," I heard.

Cool hands wove a bandage over my forehead wrapping it around my head, skipping underneath the new ponytails.

"Wait a moment," I got up, disregarding the arrogance in his voice, he hated to feel pain. So he tried to shut it out. I found the looking glass and lifted my eyes to the pale green, half-bandaged mark on my forehead. It was such a strange sight.

Somehow still, it looked right. "I'm sorry."

It was not Neji's nature to apologize or do anything like this but it wasn't quite the right sentiment. I wasn't sorry.

"Don't be," I turned, placing the looking glass on the bed, sitting down myself. Neji came over and joined me.

"I chose this, remember?" I asked, a little forward. "Besides, I'm yours."

"Hn?" He questioned, unsure.

I looked straight at him. "What is Hyuuga, stays Hyuuga."

He seemed to lose less of the tension. He laid back on the bed, pulling me with him till I was on my side next to him. Our proximity was easily, lazily, closed by my actions of scooting closer to lean my head on his chest. He kicked the covers from the foot of the bed to fall over us. There was a disregard for our formal clothes and my bandages. The mark still felt like an open wound, but I chose to ignore it.

"Hyuuga Tenten." He mused to himself; I made an agreeable noise at his reflection.

He leaned into me, to kiss my lips lightly. It was chaste and teasing.

The disposition changed; from the dark moodiness to the teasing and playful... His hands edged over my hips as mine went to twine around his neck. He kissed me with more of an edge, his tongue sweeping the depths of my mouth.

I pulled away, warm hot breath spiraling between us. He reached up so his fingers could trace lightly over my newly formed scar. "I'm sorry," He murmured. We were so close that his lips brushed mine as he spoke. Little tremors, which I was certain he could feel, ran down my spine. I shuddered closer into him. "Me too," I agreed. He would understand. Neji's insight was remarkable; very much a favorable trait. I kissed him lightly; nothing would advance from this point tonight. We played it safe and sure; positive we wouldn't offend the other in our shows of affection. Then there was the part where we couldn't show our relationship in public. It wasn't something we were comfortable with our enemies or even friends knowing.

It was a mosaic work of disaster and disturbance in our lives. Yet I could not bring myself to hate the development. Maybe it was just my character.

"I love you," I whispered, my voice coming out naturally; easily. It surprised me, but I realized how true it really was. The complete truth was within those words, and it scared me, this dependency.

Neji pulled me a bit closer to reassure me, solidifying the whole idea. "That boy, Naruto, he told me that you had to have a precious person. Or you are not a fighter, because nobody can fight for only themselves…—You are my precious person." He cut himself off, finishing. He never did say a lot; but that speech singled me out as an answer.

"You love me?" I asked, trying to lighten to mood. He sensed my efforts; once again I was thankful for his gift. I never did like it when things that were said aloud got to deep. But Neji was deep, dynamic. Neji seemed to be able to say everything and nothing you didn't already know, and make it sound brilliant. Ordinary people couldn't do that. Then again, Neji never was what anybody would call ordinary. I was ordinary; I had no inhumane talents; no amazing speed or mastery of incredible jutsu. There was no fabled bloodline talent or any talent at all for me to inherit or discover.

I was invisible. Neji made a growling noise. "So what?" his chest rumbled in reply. "I love you. Stop doubting yourself and get some sleep."

I only smiled and laid back down; settling in comfortably beside him.

I had had time to get used to the idea of the curse, as had Neji. It wasn't so much of a deal, maybe we knew it was coming all along. Maybe we were equalized, no barriers between us anymore.

#&#

I woke up to warm arms around me. It was comfortable, a naïve kind of security. It shouldn't comfort me to have somebody so close. Reared as a ninja, I had a little bit of memory before the academy, I was taught defense, how to run without getting tired. It was all simple stuff. I never let anybody close enough to kill me, with the rare exceptions. My genin team was allowed close; I trusted them.

I trusted Neji, and now it truly showed. "I'm hungry." I murmured into his chest.

Neji sat up; leaving me wrapped up in the blanket. He dressed and I made the bed before getting dressed myself. Working on missions, we had to have enough confidence to change and show bare skin in front of each other. Mostly because both Gai-sensei and Lee helped everybody find their inner modesty. And made them cling to sanity.

So Neji and I had hung close, staying around with each other to heal the other when one of us got hurt, or both. By now; there wasn't a part of my body Neji hadn't seen.

I slipped on my rose colored shirt and capris. Neji came over and fiddled with my hair. He slipped it up into those two thin pony tails.

"Do I detect fetish?" I asked. His hands lingered longer than necessary in my hair. He only grunted as he retrieved the bandages. I took it as acquiescence with embarrassment.

He finished wrapping the white material and tied a dark, thick ribbon over it before securing my forehead protector.

He finished by kissing my neck tenderly. His lips gently trailed over my skin, licking and nipping over my pulse point.

I relaxed before we both stood up to form a persona of distance. Together we left the complex; easily jumping over the wall that made the place a practical fortress. Both of us took a linen bag of supplies.

We were walking through town to seek out the Hokage when we were mentally ambushed by Hinata. She seemed to check that there was nobody else around before casually walking up to us. "You two. Lovebirds!" She called, still very lightly. She made sure she had our attention as she approached, obviously to talk to us.

"I already saw Tsunade; I've got my own mission. Anyways, she assigned you two to your own mission. It's all a fake thing of course.

It's just to provide your cover. Uhm…" Hinata trailed off; she cocked her head in consideration. "She also said to say it will blow up in your face if you get Tenten pregnant, Neji-ni-san."

Neji looked livid, his glare was homicidal. Hinata just waved it off and turned to leave. I let her go, holding Neji's arm so he wouldn't hurt her.

She really did have some spunk in her. She had changed. Hell, we had all changed.

He seemed to relax a little as we strode off, a burden in our hearts and heads. I rapidly dropped my hold on his arm as we were approached yet again.

This time it was the girl who Tsunade had taken on; Sakura. I didn't know her personally, but from Lee's never-ending crush, I could easily recognize her. I often wondered why she didn't change the color. It was an obnoxious color for a kuniochi, it made her so easily recognized. I was more into the stealth than her, I guess. I blended in, an assassin, and not a healer like she was. A poison specialist; an easy mark but a hard target, she did have speed.

I never took her as a 'brute force' fighter, but that's what she had become. Maybe it came along with that temper; just like Tsunade's.

"The Hokage-sama asked me to give you this if I found you before you left." She said; it was very business-like. It was the same concoction that she had requested Neji drink when he was in the hospital.

"Thank you Sakura-chan." I bowed slightly.

Neji even gave her a short, dismissal bow. Which surprised me a little, and the healer even more. She was quick to return it and leave.

"You seem different, happier, less self-centered." I observed, cocking my head inquisitively.

"Maybe I just want to impress you." He teased, dryly making a joke.

I laughed a little. "You would never want to do that. Outdo me, maybe."

"No. Never." He said. His tone was very full of sarcasm.

We faced forward, walking beyond even the outskirts of town. We searched; finding an appropriate cave for this mission, and then mentally preparing ourselves for the brutality of our sacrifice.

The forest around us glowed with the brightness of day, but the cave we found was filled with a dark, intimidating silence. It was the weight of knowledge that destroyed our anxious excitement for freedom.

Freedom, for both of us came at a cost and could never have been achieved alone.

The bandages were lifted from my forehead; Neji's eyes were shining with tears he refused to shed. My forehead protector was already on the ground, it was discarded.

His hands began to move in the practiced jutsu that had been Hinata's creation. As scared as I naturally was; I was seeking salvation in this action. This was a remedy for the searing pain of being a slave to a name; a twisting of power. It struck me that my life was one huge lie.

The pain struck harder than any realization. It was pain in body, a tearing, shredding of my mind. It felt like my thoughts were being stripped from my mind. The pain was blank. It was not hot and angry, or cold and vengeful. It was simple pain, not the kind anybody inflicts on you, but the sting of a scrape. An accident, it felt like an accident. I just wanted to give up to the feeling.

I wanted to just let the memories it was tearing away; fall away. I wanted my mind to be washed of all the mental pain I had ever endured. I wanted so badly to forget everything.

"Tenten!" I heard sharply. It sounded panicked. I felt as if I were coughing and retching. I didn't even know who was speaking. And that scared the hell out of me. I needed to know who cared enough to call me from the flood of this reverie. But to know I would have to want my memories, my whole mind back. I would have to want the pain.

"I love you." I heard. It was a whisper, a faint voice dripped with sadness and desperation. A smile before the ultimate destruction; somebody who laughed in the face of death. I needed to know who loved me; so I took the pain back. I begged the power for the pain. I pulled and tugged mentally on my floating memories. Claiming back all of them; the bad with the good. It was like fishing in a river full of pieces of my mind, they all wanted to get away. But I took back every single last one.

I claimed the death of my parents with the torture of loneliness I had felt at the time. I embraced the loneliness. I took back everything Neji had ever said and did to me. When he said I was weak and worthless. When he hurt me. When he became wise, and got under my thick, well preserved skin. I took back the one where he kissed me; the rush of lust following; the emotion of taking it back into my head.

Only one piece of my mind was aloud to flow away. A green ribbon that had been stitched through all of them was removed. I had claimed my mind as mine, not as the Hyuuga curses'. This pain and weight was all mine, and the good parts, the kisses and the fights I had fought and learned from. They were all mine too. I had everything back.

For the first time in my life I was Tenten. Just Tenten. I had a story to tell and a path to walk. And even if I chose the path that was a little too far in the bush and I got lost. I could be found again. Because somewhere; there was a man I completely trusted. Somebody I loved, and if I got lost he could bring me back again. Neji.

I felt safe here, with nobody around but Neji, I trusted him to protect my body, weakened by my mental fight. But for those days I would rest, I had been made stronger. My chakra felt tougher, like sinew or cord instead of the coil of thread I usually felt when I reached for it. It felt hotter too, as if the thin windy feeling I often felt was replaced with a billowing fire. A hearth of power within my body, I wanted to open my eyes to the power. I wanted to see with the chakra, because it felt different; and this strange compelling feeling told me that was right.

So I did. I opened my real eyes to the world, feeling adamantine, unbreakable. The world seemed different to my powerful eyes. It seemed breakable. I could see the being that was Neji in front of me. But what I saw was not the human sight. It was different but I embraced it. Every muscle and vein was visible.

I could see every organ within him as he breathed; I could see his chakra flowing throughout his body, slow and even.

Behind him, or even through him, my eyes seemed to move without moving. It was as if I could feel the presence of the rocks that made up the cave, the trees around it, I could see so powerfully. I was hypersensitive and aware of everything. It didn't scare me. I wanted it.

But the hot strange chakra seemed to melt the blood in my veins. My breathing was faster and my blood thinner. It couldn't take the intensity. I closed my new powerful eyes as the blood started flowing out of my mouth. The thin flow was runnier than even water. My blood was so thin that it burst through my veins.

I opened my simple eyes to a basic sight. Neji looked full of panic.

He examined a drop of my blood before swearing and ripping apart the supply bag we had brought. Neji swore again and took a kunai. I could feel my screaming as his blood spattered from his wrist. He smeared it over his hand.

The jutsu he preformed was one I had seen only once. It was a transfusion.

He placed hand back over a cut that had appeared on my body. His blood snaked into the cut. Like a ribbon crawling under my skin. It hit my heart and I could suddenly breathe. I gave into the feeling of breathing. My chakra was too strong for my own blood. But with Neji's blood that already had withstood his chakra since birth, it diluted into a stronger tie. It was also a sinewy cord. Chakra matched my blood as my veins refilled.

I fell completely down. My back and head against the floor. Neji following with me, the transfusion jutsu cancelled by exhaustion, Neji's body covered mine as we slipped into unconsciousness.

#&#

When I finally drifted out of the haze I only saw one thing. Neji was leaning against the cave wall. He looked beaten.

"Neji" I whispered in the faintest, breathiest of tones.

He came over to me, his hair filled with dirt. Smudges of blood and dirt were smeared across his cheekbones. "I love you so much," He spoke. He leaned over to kiss my forehead. "Drink this." He commanded. He reached down the cradle my limp body, pulling me up with him. He held my head as he slowly tipped the liquid into my mouth. The coolness ran through my body. It seemed to help the fatigue, but I was to weary to stand up and fight the demons of exhaustion. I would retreat and wait it out.

#&#

"Neji?" I whispered. I felt better than before. It was as if the fog had cleared. My vision was perfect, though not the same as I had experienced earlier; it was clear, not hypersensitive.

I moved my arms, I sat up. I was in Neji's lap; he was appearing to be keeping a guard. If we were caught out here, we would both be vulnerable.

I was tired; but it all felt wrong, as if we were under a target. Somebody was near here. Neji looked tense; a mouse in a hole, eyes wide for the cat. Slowly he stood, shaking his head as an 'all clear.' It didn't so much bother me other than the unease. It could have been nothing more than the wind in the bushes, but my body was hyperaware of my husband.

The word just came to me, it was weird since I never had really thought about it like that before; husband. It wasn't bad, just foreign; alien.

"Is something wrong?" I asked hazily, already falling back into the abyss of sleep.

"Not now." He soothed. I never imagined Neji could be soothing, but it seemed to pacify my wild screaming instincts. His hands on my waist and shoulder, his lips pressed against my hair. It was calming and I found myself succumb to the peaceful feeling of unconsciousness.

#&#

I knew the sound of shuriken when they were thrown. It woke me to a scene I had not fallen asleep to. Neji still had me in his arms, running from threatening people that were following us. Ninja I presumed. But I had no idea if we were running from our friends or our enemies.

Neji stopped to let me down, we sat down on the tree branch, I was waiting for an explanation.

"Two following. We can run to Konoha or fight."

I just gave him a look; I didn't ever want to run from those with a grudge towards Konoha, even if he disproved of my course of action. "Fight."

My answer was plain. I stood shakily, it was three days since my curse, and I had slept most of it away. Neji pulled a few soldier pills from his kunai pouch. Two were given to me and I ate one, chewing the nondescript taste.

A quick kiss was given to me; Neji's chapped lips brushing against mine before I retrieved my scrolls from the depths of my pockets.

The ninja in pursuit of us had already caught up. We jumped from the trees to the forest floor, we were to face them. I checked that my forehead protector was in place, the metal reflecting the sun.

They came to face us; but they weren't who we had originally thought. A girl; her grin vicious and mischievous, a boy hidden in the shadows of the woods.

"Who are you to come here?" I asked. I just wanted a simple explanation.

The girl stepped forward, I recognized her, a sand ninja, he kazekage's sister. "We weren't looking for you; we were looking for a set of missing nin. We shall continue with our mission."

One of the boys- men really- took her arm, stopping her. "He's not far off, high-rank, but he may have unknown accomplices."

He looked up, and I was shocked to recognize him, I looked at the girl with realization. The man's eyes were simple and plain, his hair was in a spiked ponytail and it was evident he was Konoha's own, even if she wasn't.

"Nara Shikamaru? Temari of Suna?" Neji addressed; a confirmation of my own thoughts.

"Tenten and Hyuuga." Shikamaru observed. "Wana chase the criminal down with us?" He said. Even his voice had a lazy, uncaring manor.

We nodded and joined the foxhunt. Neji stayed close to me.

"Remember that power you could bring on with your eyes?" He asked me in reference.

I had since examined my chakra and discovered where the weird power was kept. Like a box or a jutsu I could unlock or perform. Use it.

"Yes," I answered positively.

He sighed, a heavy expulsion of breath carried by the wind. "It's the byakugan; it's a component in the curse, a compound, remove the other element and it's left raw." So that was the conclusion he had come to over the time I was weary.

"I have the byakugan?" I asked.

We had come upon the criminal. The four of us faced him. "You can try it if you want, if you feel you can control it."

I nodded as we encircled the missing-nin.

He had stopped running, ebony eyes quickly observing the four of us. Even with us encircling him, he was entirely calm; white shirt stark against the landscape. His black hair was unmoving. I could swear I felt his watching me as I formed a defensive stance.

I didn't know who he was or how to do anything with my new, strange power.