Neji awoke to the sound of whimpering coming somewhere beside him. His instincts kicked in and he bolted upright, causing pain to shoot through his still-bound arms. Their sadistic captor hadn't even untied him when he was thrown in the cell. Nearby, the source of the sound was barely visible in the dim light, but Neji could infer as to who it was.
"Tenten? Is that you?" he still feels remorse for so willingly sacrificing her last night, although relieved that she is still alive, regarding the ordeal.
Her back is facing him so all he can see is that her long, chocolate brown hair is still untied and unruly from what appears to be a fitful sleep. She doesn't respond, but only moans in pain. From what Neji can see from his angle, there are visible scratches on her back and arms, and although there is bruising to her upper torso, nothing is too serious.
"Tenten?" he calls a little louder and she stirs this time.
"Neji? Is that you?" her voice is raspy and cracked, as if she is using all her strength to speak.
"Yes, I'm right here," he tries to maneuver himself closer to her as best as he can in his predicament.
As he moves closer, he can see that Tenten is trembling slightly and that her breathing is short and ragged.
"Are you alright? What happened last night?" he asks calmly.
"Nn…nothing that I can remember," she manages to croak.
The pale-eyed shinobi glares at her back, not believing her, though now he feels even worse for abandoning her because of the obvious pain it has left her in.
"It wasn't nothing, Tenten," he states.
Tenten doesn't reply, but curls up into an even more severe fetal position. A moment later she is wracked by coughs and he can see that she is coughing up blood.
"What did he do to you last night?" he demands, wanting so badly to decapitate the man who had so obviously violated her.
"I told you; I don't remember," she gasps and turns over to him.
Neji was absolutely shocked, to say the least. While from behind she appeared whole, Tenten was not. Her stomach had swollen to a huge size, not something that would realistically occur over-night.
What's going on?
Why is this happening?
How did this happen?
Is this even possible?
All these thoughts run through the Hyuga's mind and he can slowly feel himself become lightheaded. His vision is blurring, his mind is becoming as empty as his memories, and he cannot feel his body…
"Neji! Neji, wake up!"
-o0o-
Neji's eyes shoot open and he jolts upward, giving himself a rush of dizziness from inadequate blood flow to his head. Beside him sits Tenten. Her arms are still bound behind her and she has cuts and scrapes on her arms and upper torso; she even has bruises identical to the ones in his dream. However, the part of her that brings him the most relief is her stomach. It was the same size as it usually was, not engorged like in his nightmare.
"Bad dream," he told her, breathing harshly.
She nods, waiting for him to speak.
"How badly are you hurt?" he asked her subtly.
He wanted to know if their captor had raped her or did anything to worsen her condition, though he wasn't going to be blunt and blatantly ask her. Tenten bit her lip and thought for a moment.
"My back stings and so do my arms, but other than my torso hurting like hell, nothing too bad," she grimaces at him.
Neji gives an audible sigh of relief; at least she didn't seem to be in too much pain, considering all that she had been through. Albeit, Neji is still curious as to what exactly went on yesterday night.
"What did he do to you?" he turned his eyes on her deeply scarred form and she blinks in response.
"I didn't get a good look at him because the room was so dark, but I do know that he built very lean; not like Shikamaru, who's skinny, or Choji who's, well you know. He seems like you, in the body shape anyway. Personality-wise, you and he have nothing in common other than your apathy," she doesn't realize that she hasn't really answered his question.
"Did he try to do anything?" Neji pressed.
He wasn't sure what he wanted her answer to be, but he wanted to gauge the seriousness of their captor. For all they knew, he might be bluffing about everything he said. Tenten closes her eyes to think for and a moment later, her eyes shoot open.
"He kissed me!" she exclaims. "That charlatan! I'm gonna wring his neck when I get the chance," she seems to have forgotten her pain and her teammate could see the fire in her eyes.
"Tenten, calm down. What do you mean by that?" he asks her calmly, though inside he is furious that their captor would stoop so low.
"He said that because he couldn't get information out of me through pain, that he'd try another method. Then, he kissed me! He kissed me! That idiot STOLE MY FIRST KISS!" She vented. "And not only that, but he had the audacity to tell me that he would have all night to get the information out of me! That sleazy ass!"
Neji's eyes narrowed. He had never paid attention to Tenten's romantic life, and was surprised that she had never been kissed before. Sure, she wasn't as girly as most, but she was still female and he assumed that a first kiss meant a lot to her.
Tenten, by now, was fuming. She had hopped to her feet and was now pacing around their small cell.
"And what about my hair? It's all over the place! You sleazy asshole, when I get my hands on you, I'm going to strangle you!" she threatened.
Again, another piece of information that Neji hadn't been too keen on. He knew that she always wore her hair in buns, but was never sure why. He didn't bother asking her though; why bother when there were more meaningful tasks at hand? His comrade had finally calmed down and sat on the floor beside him, breathing angrily all the while.
"If you don't like your hair long, why don't you just cut it?" he asked, looking at her long locks which, when let down, were as long as his own.
She smiled and for a moment his cheerful teammate was back.
"The same reason you don't cut yours," he didn't know whether to take it as an insult or as an explanation.
A moment later, a rustling sound came from somewhere outside their cell and the guard from the day before appeared. He still wore a mask to cover his face and neither ninja was able to ascertain the identity of the man.
"The boss wants to have a little chat with you," he chuckled evilly as he walked over to unlock the cell.
After he pulled open the iron gate he stepped in front of the entrance, blocking their exit. He quickly stepped inside before shutting the gate him and walked over to Tenten.
"Are you going to just stand there?" she asked haughtily.
The guard grinned from behind his mask and chuckled.
"Heh, you're pretty hot," he flattered her.
Tenten flinched at his words; no one had ever called her pretty before. A moment later, she felt the cool metal of manacles and heard them click in place.
"The boss says not to untie you," the guard was talking to Neji now.
The stoic boy gave no response, but remained still as the manacles were attached to him as well.
I could try to escape now. The though ran through his head instinctively. But what if this is the better way to obtain information? An instant contradiction. He shook his head and they were soon led up to another part of the lair.
They walked up a flight of stairs before being taken into the second room to the left. As soon as they entered the room, Neji noticed that there was nothing in the room at all. It was painted a dull grey, though painted was not the right term. It seemed a barren white that had just dirtied over time. The only pieced of furniture came from an odd looking chair and a camera with a speaker attached mounted on the far right wall.
Neji heard the guard unlock Tenten's constraints, but left her hands tied by the ropes. The guard made no move to undo his.
"The boss heard you bitching earlier about your hair. How'd you like a hair cut?" he grinned sadistically as he pulled out a kunai.
"Touch my hair and die," she stated simply.
"Calm down," the guard chuckled. "First, it's not as if you can actually do anything to me in this state," he motioned to her constraints. "Second, I happen to like you with your hair down, but orders are orders," he said and brought the knife down on her bound wrists.
"Here," he handed her two rubber bands and she quickly put her hair up.
"So your boss is compassionate after all? And here I thought he was just a heartless bastard," she replied tartly.
"Heh, you wish," he said and quickly grabbed her arms, twisting them behind her back and tying them back up.
"Ass," Tenten grumbled, though she knew that immobilization was common of prisoners.
Meanwhile, Neji hadn't spoken a word and had simply been observing their surroundings. Only when the guard dragged him to the chair did he react. The guard secured him to the chair before turning to leave.
"See ya, sweet cheeks," he taunted Tenten.
A moment later, the speaker attached to the camera crackled to life.
"Tenten," the voice was synthetic, as if the owner was just now being cautious.
"As you can see, Neji is tied up and you are unable to do anything," it mocked as Tenten shot the camera where the voice was projecting from a look of death.
"Listen carefully. Neji is strapped to an electric chair. I have the remote that controls the intensity of the shocks as well as the frequency. If you want to save yourself the pain of watching him in agony, I would suggest that you respond to my questions accurately."
Neji raised his eyebrows, but did not feel distressed. At least he would be able to repent for his sins from the other day.
"Tenten, whatever happens to me, don't tell him anything!" he told her harshly and she nodded in understanding.
"Keep in mind that I can see and hear you," the voice came out again.
"It doesn't matter anyway. I didn't talk yesterday, so why would I say anything now?" she seethed.
The voice chuckled over the speaker.
"You may say that now, but when Neji is begging for his life I think you'll be telling e everything I want to know," the chuckling came out again. "First question, we'll start out simple. How long had you been observing this area before getting caught?" it asked.
Tenten shook her head and crossed her arms in defiance while Neji smirked. Whoever their captor was, he obviously did not understand the kunoichi. She was a woman of her word and Neji knew that when he had told her not to say anything, that she would stay true to his wishes. Their trust in each-other had been what had kept their relationship so strong over the years.
"I'll give you two more seconds before giving Neji a taste of voltage," there was a sadistic tone to his voice now.
"Say as much as you'd like. Neither of us will talk," the white-eyed ninja spoke back.
A moment later, he felt a searing pain in his body. The current surged through his body at lightning speed and he couldn't breathe. After a minute, the current had ceased and he was left gasping for air.
"Neji! Are you alright?" Tenten rushed over to him.
"I'm fine," Neji managed between breaths. "Don't worry about me. Close your eyes if you have to," he ordered her.
She bit her lip in anxiety, but respected his wishes none-the-less.
"Let's try this again. What intelligence have you gathered?" the voice spoke again.
Tenten was a little shaken, but managed to keep a clear head and refused to answer him. As a consequence, she heard Neji give a yelp and knew that he was being electrified again. At this point she had to turn away. There was no way that she would be able to watch her teammate be tortured and endure it for long.
Neji was burning on the inside. Whenever the current surged through his body, he could feel it through every one of his neurons. The painstakingly slow speed of the electricity made him wonder just how long he would be able to keep this up. At this rate, it wouldn't be for long. It was a good thing that Tenten seemed to be obeying his orders. Neji knew enough about the human body to know that he would soon pass out, and as long as Tenten didn't reveal any information until that point, their captor would not obtain any information.
"I can keep increasing the voltage, you know. Next question," and thus it went by for an hour.
-o0o-
"Ten..ten. Don't…say…anything," Neji was on the brink of unconsciousness.
Tenten had been doing well at not saying anything, but it seemed that her will power was about to leave her. He knew how painful it was to watch the one you care about be tormented in front of you; that was what he had gone through yesterday, but he also knew how important resilience was. If she gave up information now, all that he had gone through would be lost. He wanted to tell her this, but he could no longer manage the effort to speak. All of his willpower was being used to keep breathing and it felt that at any moment that action would fail him as well.
"Neji," her eyes glazed with tears as she turned to face him.
She had done her best not to say anything to their captor and had been successful, to her joy. But now the time was approaching when she would have to make a choice between life or death.
If it was my life on the line, there'd be no doubt about my answer, but this is Neji! I don't want to make the decision to end his life. No one has that right, not even him! So what do I do? If I give in now, everything we've done will have been in vain. But if I don't do anything, Neji might be killed! Tenten's thoughts raced through her mind and as smart as she was, all logic left her and she didn't remember that he would simply pass out before dying.
"Ten….ten," Neji croaked before falling limp.
"What?" she thought for a moment before suddenly understanding.
The body has its own form of self-preservation. When introduced to small periods of pain, it registers the dangers and becomes slightly tolerant. After that tolerance has been exceeded, the body, which has had enough time to prepare for survival, will shut down meaning that the person will become unconscious!
She smiled knowing that Neji was safe, for the moment at least. Though, she had to admit, that was no easy feat to accomplish.
"What are you going to do now? It seems as if your bargaining tool has just passed out," she declared triumphantly.
The speakers made an irritated noise.
"You may have succeeded this time, but it won't be long until you succumb to my ways," and with that the speakers turned off and the guard walked back in.
"Someone's stubborn, aren't they?" he mocked, grabbing Tenten's wrists and shoving her out the door.
"What about Neji?" she asked.
"I guess the boss'll just have him thrown to the fishies," He grinned evilly. "You are so much more worthy of being kept," he chuckled as Tenten shivered in anxiety.
A/N: This is just a heads up that for quality control reasons as well as time constraints, this story will be updated whenever. There is no set time as to when the next chapter is up, the only notice is that it will be at least a couple times a month. Definitely do not expect an update every week. This goes back to quality control.