A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: tiffanylicis, blackpelt7, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, maniackiller12, smileforme x3, Seyann, Karen Trujillo, Nuttythegothicsquirrel, cyberwing, redsoul, AzNAnGeL07, Dog of the Dead, windsoftiti, liandrin, X-275 Strike Fisha, Uchiha Aimee, lanie-chan, seguha, elwing59, Sarah Rebecca, ShiokuXRose, Iloveinuyasha44, puppy444219, iamNOTafangirl3221, rebel-girl, Link Fangirl01, Getemono, I-have-issues-deal-with-it, mechman123, duckichan87, Twilight Dragoness, Kawaiibaka10, confuzzled239, luvdaalchemist and SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR. Read and Review!
Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto
Chapter 11
For a moment, neither Hinata nor Naruto moved, the only sound being Neji's small hands still tearing at the metal shelves. "I swear Uzumaki," said Neji, teeth gritted as he worked. "You'd better hope she wakes up. Because if she doesn't…"
He didn't finish his sentence but it was implied…Naruto would be as good as dead.
Finally, Hinata was shaken out of her shock at seeing the tomboy Kunoichi rendered so helpless and she helped her cousin, lifting the shelf as best she could, allowing Neji and Naruto to drag Tenten's body out from the precarious position it lay in.
Out in the open air, she looked even paler than she had lying under the shelving; and was lying still as death.
Neji reached out a shaking-yes, shaking- hand, allowing the tips of his fingers to brush against her pulse point at her throat.
His entire body visibly relaxed when he felt the steady thrumming beneath his fingertips and beneath Tenten's soft skin.
"She's alive," he breathed to the other two.
Even as he said that, her brown eyes fluttered and opened. She coughed, a hacking cough to clear the fluid out of her lungs, before sitting up and breathing heavily. The first thing she saw, when she had completely recovered her senses was the milky white eyes of Hyuuga Neji. She colored slightly-which actually made her look less pale-and say "Wh..What happened?"
Neji snorted quietly. "Uzumaki happened. He knocked over the shelves and…one landed on you." Tenten groaned and sat up.
"Are…. are you okay Tenten?" asked Naruto uncertainly. Tenten glanced over towards the blond haired blue eyed, pain and annoyance in her glance. "What do you think?"
Now that Tenten was obviously going to survive her 'ordeal'…Neji turned to Naruto and ripped into him.
"How could you have been so inanely stupid as to risk your life for that piece of metal junk?" demanded the Hyuuga. "And not only that, you put other people's lives in danger merely….I'll bet, merely because you thought it looked shiny."
None of them had ever seen Neji so angry-his child like eyes flashed. And what made it worse for Naruto was that Tenten looked at him with equal anger, as she brushed the dust off of her clothes. "Jeez Naruto, next time don't try to kill me."
Maybe it was the fact that he had been a child for almost 24 hours now. But whatever it was his emotions…. well, let's just say that he was a little more sensitive than he would've been normally. His blue eyes watered and he looked to the ground like a chastened child, muttering, "Sorry Tenten." He turned on his heel and walked off into the store.
"Yo-you know, maybe you tw-two were too hard on him…" said Hinata quietly, shooting both her cousin and his teammate as close to a glare as she could manage, before going after the little blonde boy.
Neji and Tenten watched the two of them go off, Hinata's last remark sticking with them somewhat. "Maybe she…"
'is right' is what she was going to say, however a mechanical beep interrupted her.
Groaning, Tenten dug into her pocket and pulled out a small mechanical handheld device. "Great it must've restarted when the shelf fell on me. Now I'll have to reset the time and the date…"
Neji's eyebrow twitched. "You had a cell phone this entire time?" Tenten looked up at the Hyuuga, pushing some of her brown hair out of her eyes to see his face better. "Yeah…I decided to get one last year in case of emergencies…"
"And you didn't see the fact that you had one as important before because?" he asked his annoyance clearly showing through.
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The three who were currently at the Haruno residence weren't doing anything except sitting around staring at each other…. unless you counted Shikamaru's sleeping as something. Finally, Sakura opened her mouth to say something to Ino…
And the phone rang.
Shikamaru cracked a black eye lazily. "Will someone get that so I can go back to sleep."
The pink haired girl hopped off of her seat and reached for the receiver. "Haruno residence," she said, trying to make herself sound as old as she could. "Sakura?" "Tenten is that you? Where are you? What are you?"
Sakura heard Tenten laugh at what she had just said. "We're fine for the most part…I mean Naruto and I were in an accident…" "Naruto's there too?" "Yes, Naruto, Neji, Hinata and I are all here." "Where is here, exactly."
"The Konoha Department Store." "Seriously?" "Yeah…Sakura you do know how much security they have on this place after closing." "Yes I do." Sakura sighed.
By this point, Sakura had, at least, attracted the attention of Ino with her words and Shikamaru was soon up to see what the fuss was about. "Sakura we've gotta get out of here before tomorrow morning." "Okay Tenten…you and everybody else sit tight. We'll….figure something out. By the way, how many of you are still…" "I am. Neji is. Hinata turned back and Naruto hasn't. About Naruto…is there anything in that book that says exceptions about what happens to demon vessels after taking that potion?" "I think I might've read something about it…hold on."
Sakura looked around the kitchen and found the book on the floor where she had abandoned it earlier. "Demon vessels…demon vessels, demon vessels…." She scanned the page. "Here it is. If the person who ingests the botched version is a demon vessel, well then….until they figure out what they're missing they will act more and more childish…and will continue to do so until they turn back." "We've already seen that starting. Okay…Sakura, hurry. I don't think we'll be able to take the insanity of being locked in here for much longer."
Sakura laughed. "Okay Tenten. We'll work on something."
Hanging up the phone she turned back to the blonde one and the lazy one. "Now what?" she asked, all traces of laughter gone from her countenance.
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"N-Naruto wait!" called Hinata as she tried to catch up with the little boy. "It's sniff always been like that," he said softly. "People chew me out….and they don't even let me explain that it was an accident. They just scold me…"
'And you always had to deal with that alone?' she thought to herself. Just then, in that moment, she had a thought flash. 'Maybe…just maybe…he needs to be comforted.'
By this time, Naruto had stopped and was sitting on a lower shelf. "I just wanted the slinky…" he murmured softly before his blue eyes filled with tears and he buried his face in his hands. Hinata slipped down beside him…and did something that would normally cause her to flame red but in this case was merely a comforting gesture not a romantic one.
She slipped both of her arms around him and held him as he cried. A soft white hand rubbed his back as his body shuddered with sobs and her quiet voice spoke soft assurances.
Eventually his sobs subsided and he was left just in her arms. They stayed like that for a few moments, Hinata comforting Naruto.
Suddenly, they both heard a popping sound…and Naruto turned back to normal in Hinata's arms…causing the Hyuuga too, after a moment, turn bright red and faint.
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"While we wait," said Neji, striking up a conversation. "Just out of curiosity, you never mentioned exactly what it was that you were missing. Care to tell me?"
Tenten flushed. "I didn't want to have to tell you this. I wanted to fix it on my own without your help."
She sighed. "When we were all young, I seemed to have the most together. But I was jealous of all of you….because…" she cast her brown eyes to the ground.
"Promise me you won't laugh Hyuuga Neji." The brown haired boy nodded and looked at his teammate seriously. "I promise."
"I'm missing a last name."
A/N-LOL! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, read and review! I just posted a one-shot drabble about team 7 called 'Broken' please R&R that one too...:)