Tenten stayed quiet until they heard the sound of the guards' footsteps wane. She knew the importance of staying silent until sound was absolutely necessary. Being partnered with the ever-stoic Neji helped greatly in this practice. It was only after she could no longer hear the sounds of footsteps that she allowed herself to speak.
"Neji, where have you been?" she asked at last.
"After I woke up, I was tied here into this room. What about you?" he asked her out of politeness. He didn't really care to know in case the guard hadn't been bluffing.
"Uh, I was captured and lead to the head of this place. He interrogated me, but I resisted," she seemed to shy away from the subject and Neji felt that it was best to leave it at that.
There was a moment of silence while he contemplated the information that he had already gathered.
"Have you found any useful information?" Neji asked her suddenly.
"No, not particularly. Although, the room that I was being kept in was one floor above here and on the right side of the hall way, thirteen steps until after the stairs if you need to know," she explained.
Neji took this all into account when he inwardly groaned. It looked like the guard hadn't been lying after all. Quickly, he explained to her the information that he had been able to ascertain and she nodded, already used to his information gathering abilities.
"So the question now would be how to get out of here, right?" she asked.
"That's right," he confirmed.
"You said that there's an ocean below us. If we can hear the waves, then the entrance should be on the floor below us then!" Tenten exclaimed.
"The problem with your theory, Tenten, is that you are basing that on the idea that we are trapped in one building structure. However, you forgot to take into account our captivity. When we were in the cell, we couldn't hear anything. Also, the dirt wasn't damp enough to have come from the ocean. No, we are trapped in a building that is two parts, one on the east side, facing the ocean and the other on the west side, facing dry land," he explained.
Tenten sighed. She never could keep up with her genius teammate.
"Have you taken into account our altitude?" he asked her and she shook her head.
"Think about it for a moment," he told her and became silent.
Panic ran through Tenten's mind. Neji wanted her to come up with a strategy? What was she going to do? No, calm down. She needed to focus. It was then that she heard it. There was the soft cry of a bird and she immediately understood what he was trying to say.
"Birds!" she said without really understanding his point.
"Exactly," he said. "Based on the sound of their calls, those birds are flying from east to west and because birds always fly toward land, we can infer that we are on the eastern side of the land,"
"Let me get this straight, we're on the east side of the land, on the east side of the building, and somewhere high up?" she asked.
"That is correct," he told her.
"And because you said that the plumbing flows to the left wall, the pipes must run south-west," she said slowly.
"Correct," he replied.
"Great! So what can we do with this information?" she asked eagerly.
At this, Neji had to let her down.
"Nothing yet. We're still missing too much information to be able to make a safe escape attempt. For starters, we need to go around this base a little more. I need to know if there are any other points of entry, a window perhaps," he explained.
"Right," Tenten answered a bit crestfallen.
The two sat in silence for a moment as Neji fervently tried to come up with something, anything that would help them escape.
If we managed to get through the vent, it's safe to infer that it goes to at least the middle of the building. Once we drop down, it should be a relevantly easy task finding an exit, so long as we avoid any persons. That must be the only way out. Now, how do we get up there? Even with Tenten on my shoulders, there's no way that our height would be sufficient. If I could-
Neji's thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from his teammate.
"What is it?" he asked, slightly irritated.
"Neji, don't you understand?" she asked.
"Understand what?" he replied, not even trying to mask his irate voice.
"We can hear the sound of birds and waves through the wall!" she exclaimed. "That means that the walls are thin! Also, we have to be really close to the outside! If we can break through this wall, we're free!" she explained happily.
Neji was in masked shock. He had always knew that his teammate was resourceful and intelligent, but to figure out something so simple? How could he miss such an important thing? Something so simplistic?
"Gai-sensei was right," he mumbled.
"What?" Tenten asked him.
"Nothing. Good job, Tenten," he had to give her credit for her brilliance.
Tenten took his compliment with a laugh.
"So now the question is, how are we going to get out of here?" she told him.
"If we could break out of these binds and if I could get rid of the chakra inhibiting band on by wrist, I'd be able to get us out easily with the Gentle Fist," he said.
"The only matter is how to do that." She chimed.
A voice overhead of them caused Tenten and Neji to jump.
"It seems that I've underestimated you two. Forget starving you, you'll probably be too resilient and I'm not a very patient person," he said and another hooded guard walked toward them.
Damnit. He can hear us in here too? Neji cursed.
"Let's go, you two," the guard said and untied the two leaf ninja.
They were quickly secured with a rope and he led them to another room six paces to the right of their location.
The guard tied her to a pole in the middle of the room, much like she was before. Neji, however, was once more tied to a chair. The guard left for a moment and returned with a basin full of liquid. He dipped Neji's hands in the basin and Tenten could only guess as to what it was. However, she understood with a mortifying clarity when the guard left and came back with a candle.
"You understand, girlie?" the guard taunted.
"That's oil," she gasped, not daring to look at her teammate's face.
"Good job. Right you are," the guard gave a sadistic smirk from behind his hidden face.
"You know what will happen right?" he seemed to enjoy making her squirm.
Tenten couldn't believe it. Usually the tortures were alternative between her and Neji, but Neji had just been subjected to electrocution. It made no sense and she voiced so.
"The boss wants what he wants," was all the guard said. "But anyways, I'm gonna ask you some questions and you're going to answer them. Otherwise," he made a point by brining the candle as close to Neji's hands as possible.
Tenten watched as the brown haired ninja's face contorted with pain.
"Now, we're gonna start easy. What's your name?" the guard asked the kunoichi.
Tenten turned down, looking away from her captor. She needed to make a decision right now.
If I don't tell him, he'll burn Neji. If I do tell him, he'll think that I'm going to comply. What should I do?
She turned anxiously to Neji to see if he would give her any kind of signal as to what she should do, but the guard blocked her view. Soon, she decided that there was no harm in telling him something that he already knew.
"Tenten," she choked.
This seemed to please the guard and he smiled.
"Very good. Now, what's his name?" he inclined toward Neji.
Tenten scowled. Why did he ask them questions he already he knew the answer to? She voiced this thought, though he seemed unfazed by her question.
"You need to teach a dog to lie down before you can teach it to play dead," he answered coldly. "Now, I was the one asking questions and you still haven't told me his name," he added impatiently.
"Neji," Tenten told him raggedly.
"And where are you two from?" At this, Tenten wanted to shout. He was asking such stupid questions just to agitate them!
"As if you don't already know," she hissed.
Right after she said that, she heard Neji cry out. The guard was holding the candle right by his hands and the oil was reacting negatively to it.
"Ok, stop! I'll tell you!" she exclaimed, unable to watch her teammate suffer. "We're from the Leaf Village," she choked, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady.
The guard took the candle away and turned to her.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked cynically. "Look, I'm not very patient either so you had better answer my questions, lest you want your friend to get hurt," he sneered.
Tenten could hear the sound of Neji's gasps, punctuated by her own shakiness.
"Who sent you here?" the guard asked.
The bun-haired girl felt that it would be unfair to subject Neji to any unnecessary pain. So long as they were being asked questions that didn't danger the village, she felt no need to withhold ever bit of information. The fact that the Leaf Village was headed by the Hokage was no new fact.
"Lady Tsunade, the fifth Hokage," Tenten breathed, still shaking.
"How long has it been since she sent you?" the questions kept coming.
At this, Tenten clammed up. The true intention of this question was to determine how much information they had been able to obtain.
"No answer? You have until the count of three," the guard threatened and Tenten shut her eyes, silently apologizing to Neji.
"Three,"
"Two,"
"One,"
Tenten waited for a scream, but Neji was prepared as well and took the brutality of being burned rather silently. For this, Tenten was grateful. She didn't know how long she would be able to take it if Neji was voicing his pain.
"How far into the mission were you before getting caught?" the guard tried again.
Tenten refused to answer this as well and this time, she could hear Neji's suffering.
"I'm sorry, Neji," she whispered to him.
Somewhere in front of her, she could hear his ragged breathing.
"What information have you gathered?"
He was met with more silence and brought the candle to Neji's hands once more. This time, Neji gave a cry of pain.
He's getting second degree burns because of me. Tenten thought hopelessly, although she knew that he would never forgive her if she gave away any information.
"Do you not care about your teammate very much? Because it sure seems that way," the guard chuckled and dipped Neji's hands in the basin of oil once more.
"Stop it. Once you give him third degree burns, the nerves will be killed. He won't be able to feel a thing. You operate on the basis of pain, without it, you won't be able to function. Just stop now before you lose your edge," Tenten bargained weakly.
The man seemed to have already known this and merely chuckled.
"What he doesn't feel now, he will later. Without any medicine he's sure to get an infection. If the burns don't kill him, that certainly will. Now answer me girl. What do you know?" he asked more forcefully.
Tenten still did not answer, instead she hung her head in an attempt to keep her sanity.
He's right, but if I give him any information, who's to say that he won't kill us afterward? She thought desperately. Neji, what should I do?
She desperately wanted to ask her teammate for advice, but was afraid that if she heard his voice, she would completely fall apart. And so, she suffered in silence.
A stifled shout made Tenten want to tell the guard everything she knew, but all her willpower and training as a ninja told her otherwise.
"This is getting real old, real quick. I want an answer, now," he emphasized the last word.
Tenten's thoughts raced through her mind. What am I going to do? She thought fervently. It's always Neji's ideas that get us out of a jam. What good am I? She thought for a hopeless moment. But then, a new idea came to her head. What the hell are you saying? You aren't on team Gai because of your looks! You didn't make it to jounin because Lady Tsunade liked your hair! No. You got here on your own skill. You've never dragged the team down. You're Tenten! You have perfect accuracy and amazing friends at home to fight for. You have a reason, a will to keep fighting. Don't think for a moment that you have anything that you didn't earn!
The new voice of reason shouted over the old one and gave Tenten a new hope. It gave her t he courage to finally speak.
"No," she told him, finally able to form a coherent word. "No," she replied more firmly. She finally looked up at him and met his gaze. "I am a shinobi of the Leaf Village and I'll die before giving you any information!" she told him.
"Funny, you aren't the one in danger of losing his life," the guard replied easily.
Tenten was breathing more erratically now. The speech she had given the guard was more for her benefit than his and she guessed that he knew as much.
"I'm going to ask you one more time. What do you know?" the guard threatened, holding the candle extremely close to Neji.
Tenten felt her leverage ebb away. What she thought was an advantage turned out to be nothing but bluff. She didn't know how much longer she could endure burning her teammate. The flame grew closer to flesh and in a moment, the acrid smell of burning oil reached her senses. By this point, Neji had third degree burns and there was nothing that she could do to ease his pain. The only up side to the disaster was that now, with the nerves dead, Neji wouldn't feel a thing.
"I can't feel anything, you know," Neji told the man in an eerily calm voice.
Tenten wanted to shout with joy. He was alive! She had known that he was alive, of course, but it was one thing to believe so and quite another to hear and be able to confirm his relative safety. She watched the guard scowl before pushing the candle closer to his hands. Neji remained unfazed by the gesture.
"Damn," the hooded man swore and extinguished the candle.
He dropped the object on the floor and walked out, coming back a moment later with a rope. Tenten knew the drill by now and waited as he attached it to her wrists. He left Neji and led her to the unknown. As they walked down the hallway, their captor appeared.
"Are you going to deal with her friend?" the hooded man asked.
"Yes. As for her, take her to the darkest room you can find and toss her in. We'll see how long she lasts," he told him.
"You're going to pay for this," Tenten hissed at him.
"Funny. You weren't saying that just a few hours ago," the man taunted and Tenten fought against her restraints.
"Hey, easy!" the man holding her jerked the rope which caused her to yelp.
"I'm not a dog, you mindless freak!" she yelled at him.
"We'll see. But I hope you had a nice last moments with Neji, Tenten," the other man said before disappearing from her view.
"Come on," the hooded man replied and forced her to walk to areas unaware.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked fiercely.
"Like the boss said, somewhere dark," he replied.
"You'll never get away with this," she said resolutely.
"And just who is going to save you? Neji?" the guard laughed.
"Don't count him out yet," she retorted.
The man grinned.
"You had better hope so,"
A/N: Yes, I know it has been a while, but I hope this chapter was satisfactory enough! Honestly though, it didn't come out the way I had wanted it to. I'm actually having a bit of writer's block right now, so if anyone wants to give me any suggestions, feel free to! And as always, thanks so much for sticking with me and reviews are appreciated!