Finale! Yay.
Stronger
by iJutsu
Chapter 6
It was now morning. The sun shone brightly upon Konoha with it's gentle rays. Birds chirped and random bells chimed. The sun's rays seeped through the blinds of hospital window of Tenten's room, making her slowly wake up from her slumber. She opened her eyes and rubbed them slowly before sitting up. Tenten blinked. She didn't remember falling asleep. All she remembered last night was getting back with her teammates, and the kiss.
The kiss.
Tenten blushed deeply as she lightly touched her lips. It really did happen. Neji really did kiss her. After many years of her admiration and love towards him, he finally kissed her. A small smile formed on her thin lips when she put down her finger. She looked outside, and suddenly, her smile disappeared. "Oh no," she thought, "Oh no, oh no. Did they already leave...?"
"Good morning, our beautiful blooming flower of youth!" said a predictable voice.
Tenten swiftly turned around and her smile formed yet again. There stood Lee and Neji, with Lee holding a tray of food. Tenten sighed in relief, for they didn't leave yet for battle. She looked over at Neji, and smiled. He seemed to have catched her glance, for he looked at fully and smiled back. Neji smiling gave her a warm feeling, for it was kind of rare for him to do so. Tenten took a deep breath and stretched her arms. Then, she moved her legs where they hung from the sides of her bed. Lee blinked.
"What are you doing, Tenten?" he asked, as he placed the food on the small table next to him, "You shouldn't be moving..."
Tenten gave him the same look, "But we have to fight Asuka today, right?"
Neji and Lee's eyes widen a bit as Lee quickly walked over to Tenten. He put his hand on each of her shoulders. She looked up at him confusingly.
"W-w-whoa, hold on," Lee said, giving her a serious look, "You're not going anywhere! You're going to stay in this room and rest until Neji and I get back."
Tenten stared at them for a moment. She eyed at Neji, who surprisingly was agreeing with Lee. She glared at Lee and pouted. "W-why not?" she asked, "I thought..."
"Tenten, your hurt," Lee simply said, "You can't fight."
"I had enough rest!" she said stubbornly, "I could still fight. Watch!"
She then punched Lee in the stomach to prove herself, of course not meaning to hurt him. Although, she ended up hurting herself. She drew back her arm, held it with her free hand, and winched quietly. Lee sighed. Tenten sighed as well, facing the fact that they were right. She was in absolutely no condition to fight. Lee patted her shoulder lightly before standing up straight.
"See what I mean, Tenten?" he asked, face dropping a bit, "You'll easily get attacked and...and..."
"We can't lose you again," Neji continued simply, stepping up closer to her. She looked up at him and Lee, then looked down, face dropping as well. She really did want to help fight, but what kind of help would she be? Nothing. Lee sensed how she was feeling. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Please understand. If you were in good condition, we'd be more than happy for you to come with us," Lee said, giving her a smile, "I promise you this, we will be back good and alive!"
Tenten flinched, at the word 'alive', thinking that it's a possibility that they could die. Neji sighed and whacked Lee's head with the back of his hand. Lee grunted and rubbed the back of head as he stood up. He then picked up the tray of food and placed it in front of Tenten. She looked up at him and back at the food. She really was to stay.
"Besides! You're a sensei now, Tenten. Your students are urging to meet you..."
Her eyes widened. "I'm a...what?"
"A sensei!" Lee repeated, happily. "You became a sensei about a couple months ago. And you have 3 lovely students by the names of Kai, Kimiko, and Ryo. They've been dying to meet their teacher."
She continued looking at Lee in surprise. Suddenly she smiled and looked down. She was happy, for she finally had her own team. Her own mini family that could grow happily as Team Gai did. After a few moments of staring at the food before her, she looked back up at her teammates. She gave them a small smile.
"Promise me you'll be careful," she whispered, "Take her down."
"Yosh!" Lee said, pinging a smile, "You could count on that! I am getting so worked up! Let us go now, Neji! The quicker we defeat her, the better!"
With that Rock Lee marched out of the room, and Neji followed.
"Neji," Tenten whispered, making him stop mid step and turn around to face her. She was clutching onto her blanket tightly, face again down, obviously not happy. Shaking slightly she spoke, "Is there really nothing I can..."
Neji sighed and walked up to her. He placed his thumb under her chin and lifted her face up slowly, like he did the night before. He looked into her eyes, then moved up slowly, merely giving her a soft short kiss on the forehead. Neji then stood up and patted her gently on the head.
"Just get some rest," he said soothingly, before leaving the room. Tenten stared at the door and empty hallway in awe, then back down at the floor pitifully.
There was no way she was staying.
--
Lee and Neji were finally out of the hospital. Neji looked over at Lee strangely, for he had been smiling at him ever since they left Tenten's room. He glared.
"What?"
"Nothing," Lee hummed.
Neji sighed. He didn't bother to go any further than that. Lee stretched, then thought about how the battle was going to be like with Asuka. Suddenly, he remembered he had to tell Neji about happened during their previous battle with her. As the walked out the exit, Lee stopped him. Neji looked at him questionably.
"Neji," Lee started, thinking that it was more reasonable to talk about the battle before they reach their destination, "Remember when I was able to attack Asuka when you stopped her from attacking Tenten? She was too distracted by you stopping her weapon, she didn't notice me. That's a weakness-she's easily distracted."
"And by that..."
"Yup. We can defeat her if we focus on her weak points. We both have to be distractions at certain times. You catch my drift, and I'll catch yours."
Neji nodded, understanding. "Plus," Neji said, "Asuka's moves are quite similar to Tenten's, meaning we're mainly against weapons."
"They don't call her the Weapon Mistress for nothing," Lee replied.
They continued their way deeper into the forest. They headed towards the underground base, though hoped that they didn't have to enter the base, for swimming underwater to enter seemed pretty obvious and could easily get trapped. Neji shivered at the thought. Asuka, after all, was the unpredictable one. How she's able to block their attacks is something they have to watch out for. It then got to him that if Asuka was able to block their attacks, so was Tenten. He smirked a bit and then looked at Lee, who was tightening up his protective tape. He was most likely also thinking about the upcoming battle. Lee then stopped for a moment and removed the weights in his leg warmers, leaving it behind as they continued walking. Neji looked back at it for a moment, then back forward. Lee was really going to get fierce in the battle. This time there's no holding back.
At this point the began to run. Finally getting themselves together the ran towards their destination as quick as possible. They then jumped onto a tree and hopped from a tree branch to another, finding it easier to see where the empty spot of dirt is. Finally spotting it from a distance, they hopped back down onto the floor. They were about 50 meters away now. Lee's heart beats seemed to have been increasing as they continued walking closer and closer. Neji was already pacing himself. Finally, ending the suspense, the reached the area. Slowly, the walked to the center of the circle and looked around. No one was around. Neji grunted, not wanting to take the lake route. Lee sighed, feeling the same way.
"Might as well continue on," Lee said, taking a step. Although, he was stopped once Neji placed his arm in front of him. Lee looked at Neji strangely, who was looking around frantically.
"What's wrong?" Lee asked.
For a moment, Neji stayed silent. That made Lee more worried. Neji closed his eyes for a fairly long time. Before Lee was able to get impatient, Neji opened his eyes and spoke.
"Jump," he whispered.
"P-pardon?" Lee said, quite not catching it.
"Jump!" Neji said sharply at Lee as he quickly jumped high. Lee blinked and felt the ground shake. Eyes growing wide, Lee jumped and landed on a branch next to the one Neji was standing upon. Lee caught his breath and looked down. He then gasped loudly when the ground that they were just on 'blew up', making rocks and dust head towards them. Lee and Neji placed their arms in front of themselves, blocking it, though with multiple pebbles hitting their heads. The dust cleared out bit by bit, making it clearer every second. Both ninjas looked down the same time they placed their arms back to their sides. Lee growled.
There she was.
Asuka was standing in front of the giant hole that was caused by the explosion. Her arms were crossed and a smirk was planted on her lips once she looked up at them. Neji was confused, but a bit amazed about what had caused that big of an explosion. The hole was pretty huge. Lee grunted and they both jumped down, landing perfectly in front of her. She shook her head, laughing.
"I told you it wasn't over," she said, still grinning evilly.
"It's about to me," Lee muttered, glaring at the girl, and then raising his voice, "You're going to regret all that you did to ruin Tenten's and our lives! Without Tenten, you're nothin-"
"Nothing?" she giggled, "Ho, ho I beg your pardon. She's the one that is 'nothing' without me."
"She created you," Lee snarled, full of words, "You're nothing but a fake!"
Neji began to worry. Lee was already losing his temper, and they didn't begin fighting yet. He might forget about strategy and fight effortless. And making just one mistake may ruin everything for them. Asuka just continued laughing, like the whole thing was a joke. That made Lee more angry. Not being able to help himself, he grabbed Asuka by her collar and lifted her up surprisingly easy. He looked deep in her eyes that shown hunger for kill. She grinned down at him, even though he was nearly to choking her. Lee let out a breath and gave her the same grin as he threw he down, making her almost land on her behind. She slowly removed her katana from her back case, with her eyes still fixed on Lee. In an instant, she stabbed Lee in the stomach and quickly drew her blade back to her. Lee numbly fell down to his knees, with his head down. Asuka's smile grew and she stood back up straightly.
"That was too easy," she said, moving a strand of hair away from her face. Suddenly, Lee lifted up his head slowly and smirked towards her, making Asuka's smile fade away.
"Pitiful," he whispered, before turning into wood. A substitution! Asuka gasped and looked around. She then turned around, only get the kicked on the side of the head by no other than Rock Lee. She flew back, and hit her back against the tree. But the moment she did, she turned into wood as well. Lee grunted, finding himself stupid for thinking that this battle may be easy. All of sudden, Lee felt the swift motion of Asuka come from behind him. Knowing that she was going to attack, Lee ducked making her target now towards Neji. Neji just stood there smirking. She lifted up her katana and aimed it towards him. Neji, in less than a second, dodged and attacked her from behind with a kick to the side. Asuka coughed as she fell hard onto the floor, and rolled multiple times, not being able to control that. After skidding across the floor, she, as fast as she could, stood up. Neji and Lee backed up and stood next to one another, staring at the Tenten replica. What she did almost drove them made.
She was chuckling, with that mischievous grin on her face. She wiped the trail of blood from her lip with her hand slowly, eyes still not leaving the two. The grin was surely getting on their nerves. With her katana still in her hands, she jumped up and disappeared into the sky. Neji and Lee jerked back, looking up at the sky.
"Where is she?" asked Lee, still looking at the sky and seeing nothing. Neji looked around then pointed.
"There!"
Lee looked up to the direction Neji instructed and gasped. Asuka was headed down with her katana's blade towards the floor, or rather, towards Neji. She was too close to them for them to escape the attack. Not having enough time to use a strategy for this, Neji held his kunai with both hands before him, blocking Asuka's attack. Sparks flew once she hit the kunai, seeming to have made one of the weapons weaker. It was the kunai. Asuka grinned and attacked the kunai once more, causing it to break in pieces. Neji didn't have enough time to take out another weapon, for Asuka again attacked towards him. She attacked, only to find that she attacked thin air. Her eyes widened and she spun around with her katana, to slice those behind her. She striked Neji, and later finding out that it was again a substitution.
Asuka cursed under her breath and looked around for the Hyuuga. She let out a breath once she saw him standing on a branch before her. His arms were crossed and his was looking down at her with the same smirk she gives them. She glared and jumped back up, with her blade towards him. She got closer and he was still grinning.
"I'm going to slice that grin off your face!" yelled Asuka angrily as she lifted up her kunai to do a direct hit on his head.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
Asuka gasped hearing the voice of the Konoha's green beast from behind. Neji's smirk grew as Lee spun around kicking her on the side with both legs. She ducked, but that didn't stop him. Lee yelled and kicked towards her lower legs, causing her to fall back onto the ground towards the giant hole. She almost made it in, to their disappointment. Her head hung from the edge of the hole, knowing that if she didn't move, she'll indeed fall. Kicking her legs up, she shakily stood up. There was now a deep bruise on her leg. Neji nodded at Lee. Distracting her with one person was working so far. Lee panted deeply. "Hope she doesn't realize what we're doing..." Lee thought, taking in a final breath before getting back into battle stance. She just stood there, looking at them deeply with her right leg shaking a bit. Neji hopped down the branch and stood on the ground with Lee. She flared.
"Guess I have to try harder than I expected," she whispered, placing back her katana into her back case. The two boys gulped. Taking a deep breath, stood up as straight as she could and pulled out a scroll. She jumped up once again, though not as high as before. Finally accessing chakra into it, she flipped in the air and faced the unrolled up scroll before the two, making various kunais and shurikens go towards them. Neji's eyes flashed.
"Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin!" he yelled, causing all the weapons bounce off the chakra shield that was created to protect him and Lee. Asuka grunted, then pulled up the weapons that were blocked with invisible strings that hung from her fingers. Lee jerked backwards. "That's what Tenten did when she fought with the sand kunoichi during the Chunin exams..." Lee thought, shielding himself with his arms. Neji seemed to notice, and since he already knew the attack, he could find a way to again block the weapons. Neji then looked at Lee, mouthing a word that Lee seemed to got. Lee nodded and they faced Asuka. She pulled them fully up and again threw them towards Team Gai. They didn't move. The weapons hit them perfectly. Her face beamed happily.
After a few seconds, the attacked Neji and Lee turned into smoke. The smile on her face faded. "They were clones!" she thought furiously. She landed on the floor standing up, almost falling due to her leg. Panting, she looked around. There was no sight of them. No one above. No one to the left. No one to the right. She gasped. That means they must be...!
Below.
Before she could do anything else, Lee popped out from underground and punched her on the chin, imitating the move Naruto did on Neji on the Chunin exams. She flew up towards the sky, coughing out blood that rained on Lee's arms when he stood on the ground watching her. She flipped backwards in the air, making her land on the ground a couple feet away from Lee on her feet. Although, she only stood for a couple seconds. She fell down on her knees, though with one knee up to help her again stand. She glared at Lee, who just continued staring at her with determination of victory. She hated that. Shakily, she stood up and walked towards him.
"Now, Neji!" Lee said, not leaving sight of her. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened. She completely forgot about the Hyuuga. Not even being able to blink, Neji was suddenly in front of her, with the same look Lee had in his eyes. He then closed his eyes and opened them, revealing no other than the Byakugan. He knew exactly where her chakra points were. Without hesitation, Neji attacked.
"Eight Trigrams, two palms!"
Neji attacked, striking two of her chakra points. It continued as it increased in speed and numbers.
"Four Palms!"
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Palms!"
"Thirty-two Palms!"
"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-four Palms!"
Neji has now closed sixty-four of her chakra points. Asuka began coughing dryly out blood and stumbled backwards. Trying to keep her balance, she pulled out her kunais, again with five in each hand. Amazed that she was still standing, they had to continue on. Neji's eyes flashed.
"Lee!" he started.
"Got it!" Lee grinned, running towards her in such speed that was hardly seen with the human eye, "First gate, open!"
Tremendous amount of chakra came across his body as he got close to Asuka like he wanted. He skidded towards her and before she was able to look down and attack, he kicked her high into the air. She was lying in air, giving Lee the perfect chance. Lee jumped and appeared behind his oppenent and smirked.
"Got you," he whispered, wrapping her up with his arm bandages before he grabbed hold of her. With arms and bandages around Asuka, he spun around towards the ground dangerously.
"Front Lotus!" he yelled, when he drove her into the ground hard. Letting go, he jumped backwards towards Neji, leaving her within the dust clouds caused by the attack. Lee panted heavily and fell down on his behind, sitting on the ground. Neji also couldn't help but sit down on his knees, for he used one of his most powerful moves. They both grunted. They were both numb and tired. If that didn't destroy her, they don't know what will. The dust began to fade away by the wind, giving them a clearer image of what happened to their opponent. Lee gasped.
She was standing.
Blood traveled from her forehead to her neck, which then traveled down her arm. Scratches and bruises were easily seen on her legs and arms and parts of her clothing was shredded or torn. She was shakily terribly and panting heavily. Neji flared, "How is she able to be standing after all that?" Her eyes slowly shifted at them, eyes filled with hate. Keeping her eyes on them, she slowly started limping towards them. They flinched and tried to move but the couldn't. Their bodies were holding them down. As she walked towards them, she pulled out both her katanas, holding one in each hand. One almost slipped out her head, due to the numbness and pain in her body. Finally, she stood before them, trying to keep her balance. Shaking, she put the katana's blade up to Neji's neck and the other up to Lee's neck. They let out a breath. They didn't have enough chakra to move fast enough to stop her attack. She looked down at them in fierce.
"N-now," she panted, "N-now I understand why she wanted r-revenge. You guys r-really are...strong."
Neji glared. "Is that the reason..." he thought doubtfully. Lee seemed to agree with Neji's thoughts, for his eyes shown disbelief. She chuckled quietly and pulled the katana from their necks and held them above their heads. She was going to kill them no matter what it takes. And now, they had no way to escape. They closed their eyes. It was over.
"Die!" she yelled and aimed a hit towards their heads.
Suddenly the sound of metal against metal made them open their eyes wide in shock. Both of Asuka's katanas flew out of her hands and towards the left of her. Asuka gasped.
"What the...?!"
She turned to her side where her weapons were thrown, revealing a girl wearing a Chinese themed kunoichi outfit holding onto a kunai with her long brown hair covering her face from the wind. Her eyes shot up wide. Neji's and Lee's eyes did the same as a grin formed on their faces.
"Tenten," Lee whispered.
Tenten just smiled and grabbed hold of one of her kunais. That was all she needed. She walked towards Asuka, causing Asuka to step back every time she took a step forward. She growled and as fast as she could, which was pretty slow due to her pain, grabbed shurikens from her pocket bag and threw them at her. Tenten continued walking towards her, moving her head and body to block the weapons like it was nothing. Her eyes didn't escape hers. Asuka cursed and coughed and reached into her pocket bag. She gasped, feeling that it was empty. She was now defenseless against Tenten. Tenten was now very close to her. Asuka turned around and moved her foot to run.
Too late.
Tenten got her before she was able to take one step further. Lee gasped. Tenten has stabbed Asuka from her back, with the blade cutting right through her heart and body. Asuka was now in the center of her own katana. Red streamed out of her body and out her closed mouth. Tenten let go of the weapon and she fell unconsciously on the ground. Tenten looked at the lifeless body before her, then at her blood stained hands.
She had killed someone.
Neji and Lee remained quiet, with their shock expressions still planted on their faces. They didn't know what to say. All of a sudden, Asuka's body poofed into viewable smoke, making Asuka and her blood on the ground disappear once the smoke faded away. Lee blinked.
That was the same way clones disappear when destroyed.
After minutes of staring at nothing but dirt before her, she wiped her hands on her pants and turned around. Lee and Neji were still sitting down, staring at her in awe. She walked towards them and let out both her hands. She managed a smile.
"Let's go home," she whispered.
--
"Say," Lee started, walking with his teammates, "Why do you think she disappeared like that?"
"She's a clone," Neji said simply, hands in pockets, "She's not real."
"Then why whenever we hit her before, she would still be...alive? Usually clones would disappear if we strike them once."
"She has a heart," Tenten whispered, who was walking a couple inches behind them. Neji and Lee stopped and looked at her questionably. Tenten looked up at them and sighed, "Something went wrong when I created her. She was almost human. And I killed her..."
Her eyes started to water a bit and Neji sighed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Lee smiled softly and nodded.
"It's not like you killed someone innocent, Tenten," he said comfortingly, "If it wasn't for you, Neji and I would be dead gone by now."
Tenten couldn't help but give in a small smile.
"You've gotten stronger as well, Tenten," Neji added, "In so many ways."
Tenten's smile grew and her face grew warm and red. Lee noticed and smirked, "You've also become more beautiful and you're loved very much by Mr. Prodigy. Right, Neji?"
Neji let out a chuckled sigh, going along with Lee, as he lightly kissed her on the head, "Yes. Very."
Tenten couldn't take it anymore. She covered her face with both her hands, not wanting to show her huge smile that they made her do. She started giggling, and she removed her hands from her face. She covered her mouth as she giggled and her eyes shined with happiness.
"S-stop!" she said with a smile, trying to catch her breath, "You're embarrassing me. Okay, I've gotten stronger. I'm back with my team. I'm loved. And honestly, I couldn't ask for anything else. Happy?"
Lee laughed and stretched, "You're forgetting one thing. You're back with us-your teammates. Team Gai forever, right?"
She slowly removed her hand from her mouth and stared at Lee in astonishment. She then looked at Neji, who smiled and nodded at her. Her eyes glittered with tears as she smiled that smile. The smile they missed the most.
"Right."
FIN
BLECH. You could tell that the ending was rushed. And I could tell that this wasn't one of my best fan fictions, but please look forward to my future writing! I think I'll set aside action and adventure for a while xD. Thanks for reading ! Please R&R! (: