Chapter 5: Live With Me

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Lee still seemed to be pondering what Tenten had said when he and Neji left the hospital. Because Tenten was scheduled for another evaluation, Gai had elected to stay and he sent off the other two to resume their training. But Neji, being the shrewd observer he was, could see that Lee was clearly in no mood for that. His expression was flat and he hadn't said a word since they left the hospital. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have bothered Neji in the least. In fact, he would have found it quite relaxing. But the way Lee carried himself -- with shoulders slumped and almost dragging his feet -- was enough to stir a flicker of pity in even in the Hyuuga.

"Lee..." began Neji awkwardly, though he trailed off when he realized he didn't know what to say.

He wanted to say something insightful. Something from which Lee could draw both comfort and wisdom. Unfortunately, while Neji was quite adept at demoralizing people to the point of contemplating suicide, he had little practice in the art of cheering up.

Lee turned to him. "Yes?"

"These things... happen," said Neji, finally. "There was nothing you could have done to prevent it."

Lee sighed and focused his attention back to the street. Neji sighed, too. That clearly hadn't worked. He decided to change tact.

"How about a spar?"

Lee shrugged. "Okay."

There was another long moment of silence as the two made their way to the training fields.

"I had no idea," Lee suddenly murmured.

"Hm? What's that?"

"I had no idea Tenten's injury was that bad." Lee sighed. "With a severed Achilles' tendon, she cannot walk, let alone train. Even after surgery, Tenten will probably not be at her previous level." Lee paused for a while before adding, "I am still not."

Neji stared at him. Lee had never made an admission like that before. He had always been Mr. Optimism, Mr. I-can-still-be-a-great-ninja-even-though-I-don't-have-ninjutsu-or-genjutsu. Sure, Neji found that annoying most of the time. But the sudden absence of Lee's optimism felt almost like a dark cloud of despair enveloping the entire team.

"Lee..." Neji began again, but still found himself at a loss.

Lee turned to him, his expression unreadable. Like Tenten's had been when she had told them that they were out of the chuunin exams. Then, it suddenly made sense. Neji realized that Lee's false cheer with Tenten at the hospital had been just that: false cheer for her benefit. Now that they were out of the hospital, Lee didn't need to put up a front anymore.

"Neji?" Lee prompted. They had been staring at each other for a while now.

Neji shook his head. "Sorry. It's nothing."

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Another boy was already at the training fields, though unlike Lee and Neji, he was there quite against his will.

"The chuunin exams," sighed an unhappy Shikamaru Nara. He gazed longingly at the clouds. "How troublesome."

"Idiot!" came an angry exclamation. His teammate Ino Yamanaka suddenly appeared out of nowhere and smacked him hard upside the head.

"Damn it, Ino, what was that for?" grumbled the lazy-nin.

"For being an idiot! What are you complaining about anyway? You're already a chuunin! It's not as if YOU need to exert yourself."

Shikamaru sighed. "Well, as long as you and Chouji are STILL genin, Asuma-sensei will be riding my ass to train with you guys, all day, everyday, until the stupid exams are over..." Another desolate sigh. "And then, come next exam, he'll make me do it all over again..."

Shikamaru, unfortunately, didn't notice his female teammate turning redder and redder.

"All I can say," he continued, "is that you two better pass THIS time."

An inhuman shriek suddenly erupted from the clearing and poor Shikamaru found himself on his lazy ass. Again.

"So troublesome..." he muttered, rubbing his jaw.

"I don't know how I put up with you! Day in and day out!!" Ino fumed. "Now, if I had a more helpful teammate like, say, Sasuke, I KNOW I would have been a chuunin by now!"

"Way to blame other people for your problems," Shikamaru muttered, but, thankfully, not loud enough for Ino to hear. He wisely also chose to leave unmentioned the fact that Sasuke was currently AWOL.

Ino might have started ranting about something else, but her attention was focused on two figures that had just entered the clearing.

"Oh, it's Neji and Lee," she said, her rage apparently forgotten. She turned back to her lazy teammate, only to find that he was gazing at the clouds again. A vein bulged in her forehead. "Hey! Shikamaru!! Why can't you be like them? They train all the time!"

He scowled. "What's your problem, Ino? Chouji and Asuma-sensei aren't even here yet." With that, Shikamaru lay back down and closed his eyes.

"Fine!" Ino snapped. "Maybe I'll just train with Tenten's group instead."

Shikamaru's eyes opened briefly and he sat up to ponder this statement, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, he grinned and laughed out loud.

"What's so funny? I was serious!"

"Do you even know Tenten's group?" he queried.

Ino turned red. "Well, I know Tenten! And she says that all they do when they're not on missions is train. Day in and day out."

"Fine," Shikamaru grinned. "Go for it."

"Fine, I will." But, instead of chasing after Neji and Lee, she folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"They're getting away, you know," Shikamaru pointed out. He had apparently taken quite a vested interest in Ino's threat.

"Don't you have some clouds to watch?" she snapped, stomping angrily away.

Ino sneaked a look behind her and found Shikamaru still watching her--perhaps making sure she made good on her threat.

"Fine, Shikamaru," she muttered and changed direction to follow Team Gai.

All in all, she felt like a supreme dumbass. Shikamaru was right, of course, when he questioned her familiarity with Team Gai. She was friends with Tenten because being among Konoha's few genin kunoichi had that kind of bonding effect on them. But Neji and Lee? The longest conversation Ino could recall with them was when she'd tried "seducing" Neji in the forest of death. The memory still made her cringe in shame. She glanced at Shikamaru again and saw that he was grinning at her.

"Bastard probably planned this," muttered Ino, finally catching up with Tenten's teammates. Of course, she HAD to do it now. She might make an idiot of herself, but Shikamaru would never let her live it down if she didn't follow though. Ino cleared her throat. "Um, Neji, Lee?"

They stopped and turned to her. Ino was especially dismayed to find that she had no idea what to say. Should she just randomly ask to train with them?

'Damn,' she thought miserably. 'I wish Tenten were here. She'd help me out!' Then, it struck her: where was Tenten?

"Hey, what happened to Tenten? Don't you guys always train together?"

"Are you looking for her?" asked Neji.

Ino nodded, relieved to end their staring contest. But she was confused by the significant look that Neji and Lee exchanged. Oh, no! Could that mean...?

"Did something happen to Tenten?" she blurted out.

"She's in the hospital," murmured Lee, eyes downcast.

"THE HOSPITAL?!"

"Relax," said Neji, looking mildly surprised. "It's nothing life-threatening."

"Let's go see her," said Ino, turning in the direction of the hospital. But she stopped when she noticed that Tenten's teammates hadn't moved. They apparently weren't as accustomed to getting bossed around as Chouji and Shikamaru were. "Aren't you guys coming? She's your teammate."

"We were just there," said Neji. "And Tenten's only being evaluated."

"Actually, that is not a bad idea," said Lee. "Evaluations usually only tell you what you are no longer capable of doing and that is depressing for anyone. Tenten could probably use the company."

Neji made a small murmur of assent and the two turned back to the hospital, leaving Ino looking extremely confused.

"What kind of evaluations? You guys still didn't tell me what happened." But Lee and Neji had already left. "Hey, wait up!"

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Lee's observation about evaluations was apparently accurate. Though Hiroko the OT was certainly less intimidating than the PT, Tenten felt infinitely more discouraged. Hiroko had spent the better part of the hour evaluating her functional capacity. And nearly every area of Tenten's life had been affected by her injury. Cooking would be difficult, getting dressed, horrendous--and going to the bathroom? Tenten didn't even want to go there. But, the fact was, all those things required either standing and/or shifting body weight. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the evaluation seemed to be drawing to a close. At least, the OT was putting all of her weird equipment away.

"So, Tenten," said Hiroko when she seated herself again. "How would you describe your current living situation?"

'What the hell kind of random question is that?' Tenten thought. 'Does she think I'm homeless or something?'

"Tenten?"

"Sorry, my living situation?"

Hiroko nodded.

"Well, as I've said before, I live on my own in an apartment. Though I don't know how I'll be able to pay the rent if I can't go on missions."

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Hiroko, waving a hand. "That's surprisingly common and there's a fund in Konoha for injured nins who are temporarily inactive."

"Oh... yeah, Lee said something about that," Tenten recalled. "But, why is my living situation relevant?"

"Well, when you can't climb stairs, it makes a big difference whether you're living in the ground floor of an apartment, or the penthouse," explained Hiroko.

At this, Tenten seemed to visibly deflate.

"Are you all right, Tenten?"

"I live on the fourth floor." she muttered.

"Is there a--?"

"No elevator."

Hiroko tapped her chin. "And there are no relatives you could stay with?"

Now that, Tenten thought, was a dumb question. If she really had relatives, wouldn't she also have a last name?

"No," said Tenten, trying not to roll her eyes. "I don't know of any relatives."

"Hm," murmured Hiroko. "Perhaps your sensei could help us reach a solution? He was a big help when your teammate went through rehab."

Tenten shrugged. "I guess."

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Ino frowned as she tried to keep pace with Lee and Neji. Lee was apparently under the impression that his female comrade needed immediate consoling because he was sprinting full-pelt toward the hospital. Even Neji couldn't keep up with Lee when he was really running. So he and Ino sort of jogged behind. Ino tried again (unsuccessfully) to find out what had happened to Tenten, but Neji was about as close-mouthed as a person could get. She quickly came to the conclusion that ALL male teammates were pains in the ass--whether they were her teammates or not. When they reached the hospital (in very little time), Ino leaned against the door frame and clutched at a horrible stitch in her side--only to find that she'd been left in Lee's dust. Again.

A vein bulged in her forehead. "Wait. For. Me!!"

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"So, that's the situation," said Hiroko, having explained the entire "living-situation problem" to Gai.

'As if I couldn't do that myself,' thought Tenten angrily. 'What a know-it-all bitch that woman is!'

And, again, she was amazed at the weird swings her moods seemed to be taking lately--in denial one moment, then desolate, then flat, then enraged? It was all just too damn weird and too damn... not like her. After all, Lee was the sensitive one, the one who experienced and expressed emotion to an almost comical degree. And then there was Neji who never seemed to process emotion. Tenten thought of herself as a sort of middle ground between the two: someone who experienced emotion, but dealt with it rationally.

'Yes, rationally, rationally,' Tenten chanted to herself like a mantra. 'I will be calm and rational... as everyone I know ruins my life...'

"Tenten? Tenten?"

"What?"

She surfaced from her reverie to find that she had the undivided attention of both the OT and her sensei. She laughed nervously, as she often did when embarassed--though laughing was the last thing she felt like doing.

"You've been awfully spacey during this evaluation, Tenten," said Hiroko. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Now that, Tenten decided, was the dumbest-ass question of all. Sure, she was seriously injured, couldn't participate in the chuunin exams, AND had to move out of her apartment. But she was fine. Just fine, thank you!

Tenten managed a strained smile. "I'm fine."

"Then, what do you think about Gai-san's suggestion?"

"Um... sure, sounds good."

Gai flashed his blinding smile. "Excellent, Tenten! I'm sure you and my sister will get along splendidly!!"

Tenten did a double take. "Wait. What?"

"Didn't you just agree to it?" Hiroko asked.

Tenten shook her head, partly to say no, and partly because everything was happening so fast, her head was about ready to explode! The whole situation didn't seem real to her.

"Could you... run all that by me again?"

Gai gave her a sympathetic smile. "I was actually talking to my sister about this the other day, Tenten. She had offered to take Lee in while he was going through rehab. He also lived in an upper-floor apartment and had to move. Mai told me that she would happily extend the same invitation to you."

Tenten smiled, touched by her sensei's kindness, but... "Doesn't your sister live outside the village?"

"Not far," Gai assured her. "Just in the outskirts, really. It won't affect your status as a ninja here, or your ability to receive therapy."

"Oh."

'But it will affect everything else,' Tenten thought miserably. Mai would certainly take her for therapy and checkups but... 'What about my training? What about my friends? Will they forget about me? What about...?'

However, Tenten's wildly careening thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

Hiroko stood up. "I'm with a client right now. I'll be out shortly."

"Please excuse me," came a very familiar voice. "I could not help but overhear. May I make a suggestion?"

Tenten blinked. "Lee?"

Gai crossed the room and opened the door. "Lee, I thought I told you and Neji to resume your training."

"Forgive me, sensei!" exclaimed Lee. "But we thought that Tenten could use some team support."

Of course, with that logic, Gai couldn't stay angry at Lee for too long. And, though Tenten would never admit it, that simple gesture meant a lot to her.

She managed a small smile. "You're just using this as an excuse to blow off training, Lee."

Hiroko smiled too. "How are you doing, Lee? Not over-exerting yourself, I hope."

"Not... too much," he said, looking uncomfortable.

Tenten snorted. "Then you're lying through your teeth!"

"I thought you were the patient here, Tenten." He folded his arms across his chest and pouted slightly.

And Tenten couldn't help but laugh. An indignant, sulky Lee was a comical sight, indeed.

"So, Lee," said Hiroko. "You said you had a suggestion?"

"Yes," he said. "Tenten could... live with me."

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A/N: Ah, the plot thickens! Sorry for the slower-than-usual update. School's been uber busy, and oneshots kept calling me! Well... no... they didn't really... Never mind ;. You might notice that I've added ShikaIno to the little story summary. I just couldn't resist; I love them almost as much as LeeTen! I'll add the other pairings, too... when I finally decide on them. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!

-Andrea

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