Tenten studied her teammate's face as he flipped through the book that he had pulled off her shelf. With each page he turned, the frown on his face deepened ever so slightly. Tenten had to resist the urge to giggle.

After a few moments of having her gaze fixed on him, Neji glanced up.

"So what do you think?"

"Your choice of reading material is… interesting." He finished, unable to say anything else. He flipped the tome over in his hands, examining the cover.

"Which is to say you think weapons theory is totally boring." She couldn't manage to stifle the laugh that bubbled out of her throat.

Neji looked consternated. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." She grinned, grabbing the book out of his hands. "It gets really tedious at times, but some of the formations in here are just incredible. Of course, they could always be improved upon…" She flipped through the book, her finger finally coming to rest on the diagram she wanted. She held it out to him.

"See, like this one. They say it's better if you have a long-range and a mid-range fighter, but actually, if you just shifted the position of this trap about thirty degrees…" her finger traced the line. "… you could accommodate a short range fighter too."

The last part of her statement was followed shortly by a yawn; she tried – and, much to her chagrin, failed – to hide it behind her hand.

And of course, her ever-watchful teammate noticed.

"You should sleep. You've had a strenuous day." Neji peeled the book from her hands gently, setting it down on the coffee table.

Tenten held up her hands in protest, shaking her head.

"I'm fine, really." The statement was followed by another undisguised yawn. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance, and vaguely wondered what it would feel like to actually win an argument with Neji for once.

"Come on."

Neji stood up and offered her his arm, which she took reluctantly. She was pleased to note that rather than offering to carry her – or simply doing so without her permission, as he had this afternoon – Neji allowed her to lean on him for support and walk the short distance. As apologies from the Hyuuga went, this was probably as close as she was going to get.

They reached her room with surprisingly few problems. Tenten settled herself in carefully, adjusting her bandaged leg until it was comfortable.

She watched her teammate as he dimmed the lamp, and checked the windows, fastening the latches. Her smile faltered just slightly when she realized that it was likely because if an intruder broke in, he knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself. She tried not to let that thought sour her mood.

Tenten closed her eyes and leaned back, reassured by Neji's muffled footsteps. It was only when they began to recede that her eyes shot back open.

"Where are you going?"

Neji turned slightly to find Tenten staring at him. She had all the innocence of an ill child, and if he hadn't known any better, he almost could have sworn she was pouting.

His hand fell away from the door handle, dropping back to his side.

"Nowhere." He came back, surveying the room. There were no chairs, so he was either going to have to stand or…

"You know, you can sit. I don't mind." Tenten gave him a quizzical look, patting the comforter next to her.

Neji eyed it dubiously. It was a small bed, certainly not large enough to accommodate two people. He sat tentatively on the edge at first, but that was distinctly uncomfortable. Finally, he simply caved and arranged himself next to her.

Tenten failed to hide a smile.

"So, you're gonna tell me a story to put me to sleep, right, Neji?"

Neji looked down at her impishly grinning face. He sincerely hoped that he knew her well enough to assume that she was joking, but...

At a loss for words, only his tradition 'Hn.' came out.

Tenten's grin widened, and she poked him in the arm.

"I was only kidding, Neji."

She closed her eyes, and Neji regarded her for a moment. The faintest strains of moonlight were just beginning to leak through the window, and they lit her pale face with a ghostly light. It glinted off her eyelashes, highlighting the dark brown against the pallor of her skin. They were so delicate and lovely, just brushing the surface of her cheeks. He marveled at the fact that he'd never noticed it before, and then scolded himself for even being so foolishly sentimental.

Still…

"Once upon a time, there was a kunoichi, who lived in a village full of the most prestigious shinobi in all the lands."

Tenten's eyes shot open for a moment, her expression both surprised and pleased. It was such a relief to see the expression from her. Tonight was the most he'd seen her smile in weeks –and not the strange forced smiles that had so often graced her features lately.

"She had many ambitions, and many talents. Through her years of training, she met with many challenges, but she faced them all with determination, slowly improving herself to become the best shinobi she could possibly be."

Tenten's eyes fluttered closed again. As he spoke, her head lolled against his shoulder.

"She was admired by many for her talents with weapons. Some even said she had the best accuracy they'd ever seen. As she trained, she became increasingly skilled, until she was lauded without exception as the best weapons master in the village."

Shifting in her sleep, Tenten wrapped her hands around his arm. His initial reaction was to stiffen at the increased contact, but after a few moments, he realized that he really didn't mind.

"But one day," he continued more quietly, "her teammates were careless, and they allowed her to get hurt. She was badly injured, and they thought they might never forgive themselves."

He paused, waiting to see if she reacted, but nothing happened. Her only motion was the steady rise and fall of her chest.

His voice reduced to a whisper, Neji resumed his story.

"She would prove all their doubts wrong, however, because she was stronger than they could even have imagined. She recovered wonderfully, and came back with even more determination than before."

Neji paused, noting that a stray hair had fallen into Tenten's face. With the gentlest touch he could manage, he brushed it back.

"And that lovely kunoichi went on to do incredible things until the end of her days."

Tenten wondered if he knew that she wasn't quite asleep yet, but when his fingers touched her forehead, she decided he definitely thought she was. Her blood surged at the touch, but she didn't move, not daring, lest he realize. She could almost guarantee that such a gesture of affection from the Hyuuga would never have occurred had he been aware that she was still conscious.

"And that lovely kunoichi…"

Tenten heard nothing beyond that. Every bit of grogginess fell away from her, and it was all she could do to keep her breathing steady.

Lovely?

Even as sleep slowly began to claim her, the word echoed in her mind.

Something pulled Neji from the depths of slumber, and for a moment, he couldn't figure out where he was. Not even the pale light of the moon broke through the window, casting the room into penetrating darkness, and he realized that it must be much later than he thought. The room itself was unfamiliar, and there was warmth emanating from a figure on his right.

But then, as he discovered the source of his return to consciousness, he remembered.

Tenten was sitting up next to him, and tears were rolling down her face. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, as though she were trying to keep pain at bay. The smallest of cries escaped her lips, and she hastily covered her mouth, but when she felt Neji move next to her, she realized it was already too late.

He was instantly alert. "What's wrong?"

Tenten shook her head, trying to give him a weak smile.

"It's nothing."

The admission was followed by another squeak of pain, and she doubled over, pulling her working knee up until it touched her forehead. She clenched her teeth against the pain, but it didn't help.

"Tenten?" In her haze, she missed the alarm that had crept into his tone.

In too much pain to respond, Tenten simply shook her head.

Ignoring what Tenten would have wanted him to do for the second time that day, Neji scooped her up and was out the door within moments.

How is she?

Neji spent most of the first half-hour pacing the length of the hospital waiting room, impatiently awaiting any news. His blood surged through his veins at full tilt, still thrumming with the adrenaline of running all the way to the hospital. Halfway there, Tenten had passed out from the pain, which had only caused him to move faster.

Fortunately, when they had arrived, the Hokage's assistant had been on duty. Shizune immediately sprung into action, whisking Tenten away to an examination room with a few cursory questions about what precisely had happened. Neji, even in his addled state, was able to answer them calmly.

But now, he had to wait. And Neji, even being the patient person he normally was, was not coping well.

After a while, he finally willed himself to sit down, realizing that his pacing was doing nothing aside from causing him to become even more agitated. As he sat, the accumulated weariness of the day descended on him gradually. For the next few hours, he drifted between varying levels of consciousness.

Eventually, he settled into a state of half-meditation. Though it wasn't entirely effective in assuaging his worry, it did help him to relax. Only when Shizune came striding down the hall did he snap back to attention.

He shot out of his seat; later, it would occur to him that he might have seemed overeager, but he mostly attributed it to his utter exhaustion.

Shizune gestured for him to sit back down, and he did so with considerable hesitation.

"How is she?"

"She's much better." Shizune reassured, taking the seat across from him. Her expression was curious, but Neji didn't bother to question it, too eager to hear news of his teammate's condition.

"What happened?"

"Well, it seems that the chakra therapy we've been doing actually did have an effect. It was just… delayed." Shizune shrugged equivocally. "We had been administering the therapy in the hopes of gradually returning the nerves to working order. It didn't work quite as we had anticipated."

"So, the feeling returned then?"

Shizune nodded, a slight frown wrinkling her face.

"To the tibial nerve, at least. All at once."

Neji didn't know whether to be relieved or worried. The nerves returning to their normal state was a good thing, to some extent, but that the therapy hadn't been working up to this point… why had Tenten not mentioned it?

"It's good that you brought her in when you did." Shizune continued, and Neji noticed that the curious look had returned. "In that much pain, I doubt she would have been able to get here by herself, and it was imperative that we know about this as soon as possible."

Neji nodded. He didn't dare consider what would have happened had he not been there.

"Neji-san…"

He looked up, hearing the concern in Shizune's tone.

"We're doing the best we can for her."

Neji processed the statement with some skepticism. Had he implied otherwise? Certainly not.

"I know you are concerned about your teammate."

"I…"

Neji started to reply, but he faltered, the words falling flat before they even left his mouth.

Shizune smiled gently at him.

"It's not as though you can pretend to be unaffected. You brought her here at two in the morning."

He frowned, but it wasn't as though he could deny the truth in her words.

"But she'll be alright?"

Shizune nodded.

"She'll be fine."

A/N: Hello, my lovely readers!

First of all, I have to give a shout-out to my awesome new beta, Melodies Unwritten. Thank you so much! (You all have Melodies to thank for this chapter making quite a bit more sense than it originally did.)

Also, thank you, thank you, thank you to bearhead, .me, Kratos Wilder, DarkAnonymous324, Diananananana, eternalsmiles, Fearless Rider, lovedisease, Melodies Unwritten, steenta112, angel03618, Ani, and SeiraXD for the reviews I got for the last chapter! I'm still floored by the success of this story and all the alerts/favs/reviews I've received. Keep them coming, and I'm so glad you're all enjoying the story!

Happy reading!

Senka Hitomi