You'll have to forgive me, but this chapter is a good bit shorter than some of the others.
I just didn't really have anything else to put in this chapter, so I just kinda . . . ended it. :/
In other news, I hope all of you are well! :)
HeavensPheonix561: Thanks, very much! I put a lot of thought into the timing. . . :D
LiL sPoIlEd BrAt: I guess you'll just have to wait and see! ;D Thanks!!
Neguru Sucashi: Muahahahahah! KNO strikes again! ;D
piixiiestiix: I'm interested in your guesses too. :)
Afictionado: No problemo! :)
Nhelsea Caylor: Thank you very much. :D
xCrazyKindOvWeirdx: Very importante factor. :)
:))): Thanks so much! That's a very nice compliment! :D
Drea1284: :D Me either. Me either. ;)
DotsOnAWall: Thanks! Wait no more. :)
chibinejiten: First of all, your two reviews made me lol all over the place. :D Secondly: Too much passion makes your head rot. . . So, no, not yet. ;D Thanks. I got the pic from an artist off deviantart.
Disclaimer: That was an awful chapter, Kishi, no offense. Where is your regular awesomeness?
Rain.
Neji had just completed packing when TenTen wandered into his room.
She watched him silently for a few moments in the doorway.
Neji stared back, settling more comfortably on the edge of his bed.
TenTen finally entered completely, and with a quick look of doubt, arranged herself on Neji's lap.
Neji's brow wrinkled, but before he could ask what she was doing, TenTen was kissing him.
It surprised Neji how easily he lost himself in TenTen.
He had been almost certain that his mind would protest against his physical closeness to her. There was none. His mind and heart and body yearned for everything TenTen possessed.
TenTen drew away from him, too soon, in Neji's opinion.
He dazedly took in her flushed cheeks and bright eyes, feeling his chest swell with fervor.
TenTen bashfully broke their gaze, her face reddening a bit more.
"Please reconsider," TenTen murmured softly, thoughtful of their proximity.
Neji, still preoccupied with the way TenTen's body hugged his, said, "Reconsider what?"
TenTen glanced back at him, hope in her brown eyes.
"Please take us to the front," TenTen pleaded.
Neji sighed, considering her.
"TenTen, I can't. What if there was another attack like the one on your birthday?" Neji gingerly pressed his fingers against TenTen's injury along her side. "I can't afford to lose any more soldiers than necessary."
TenTen frowned, but nodded, leaning her head against Neji's forehead.
They sat there for several minutes, not saying anything, just listening to each other's breathing.
TenTen was the one to break the silence, saying, "You promise you'll at least write this time?"
"Yes," vowed Neji. "Whenever I have a spare moment."
TenTen smiled slowly in appreciation and pecked Neji's cheek, sliding off his lap.
"I'll walk you back to the barracks," Neji murmured, following her outside.
TenTen drew him behind the barracks and kissed him some more, enduring Neji's sweet words.
"I'll come see you off in the morning," TenTen promised before entering the soldier's barracks, leaving Neji standing in the dark with a smile.
-
The morning of Neji, Moegi, and the soldiers' departure brought with it low, gray skies. Rain looked certain.
Still, Neji was not deterred. Their leaving would proceed as previously decided.
After a generously extended breakfast, Neji had the other four captains usher their selected soldiers outside to their horses.
Neji attended to Moegi, checking over her things to see that she had packed everything she would need at the front, including her bow and a set of throwing knives TenTen had given her.
After seeing to it that Moegi was mounted securely on her roan pony, Neji climbed atop his mare, barely able to disguise his searching for the one person he had neglected to see all morning.
TenTen had not stopped by earlier as she had promised the previous night, nor had she been at breakfast.
Neji had no idea where she could—
Neji stopped, his eyesight straying back to where he'd seen a familiar face.
There she was, up on the western rampart, looking down on everything. Her focus was on Neji.
Puzzled as he was, Neji still raised a hand to wave, ignoring the empty ache in his chest.
Above, on the rampart, TenTen waved back sadly.
She had not kept her promise that morning to say goodbye to Neji. Goodbyes were too hard, and she would just break down crying if she was forced to go through with one again.
TenTen sighed, seeing over the slow moving group.
She was glad Neji was so far away. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes.
-
Genma chewed irritably on his toothpick.
For some reason, every soldier had been completely incompetent that morning, unable to even follow the simplest of orders.
Genma huffed and rolled his eyes, his jaw clenching.
Stupid soldiers. . .
From down the path between the captain tents, Genma noticed a prior lover he'd kept. He smiled, not a little bitterly.
There were no hard feelings between he and Anko; their break had been logical at the time, what with the war just starting and everyone's differentiating assignments.
Besides, Genma was a restless soul and he knew it. His pleasure was fleeting, as was his patience.
"Anko," Genma greeted brusquely.
The dark-haired woman glanced suspiciously at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Genma," she responded, confusion coating her tone.
Genma smirked.
"Has Hyuga made it back yet?"
Anko nodded.
"Yes. He's just returned."
"With the new soldiers?" probed Genma.
Anko nodded again, her expression slowly losing its guarded disposition.
Genma briefly recalled their short-lived romance.
To be truthful, he had always thought Anko was special. Not many women had come as far as she had in the army, and she was only one of a few who had reached a captain's status.
Yes, Anko was certainly remarkable, both physically and intellectually.
Genma's thoughts were redirected as Neji Hyuga himself came down the row of tents, a small orange-headed girl trailing him.
Genma snorted a little.
Neji's peculiar white eyes flicked to Genma, who lazily stood at attention as Neji passed.
Genma caught the almost imperceptible shake of the Commander's head as he went by.
He smiled.
Messing with Hyuga was really too easy.
-
TenTen irritably kicked an inconveniently placed stump outside the southern gates.
The rookies stood before her, anxious.
TenTen had not requested this current task; rather, it had been mandated by force by none other than her own captain and the Fifth Squad Captain, Naruto.
TenTen gritted her teeth and finally glanced at her charges. She placed her hands on her hips, instantly summoning strong presence.
The rookies snapped to attention.
"Unfortunately, the attention of the captains has been replaced by other pressing matters. Now, however, their distractions have diminished, which is why we're all here. I am Lieutenant TenTen of Squad Two, and I have been established as your examiner."
TenTen met the rookies' eyes directly, measuring their willingness.
"Now, we'll start with drills. Where are your swords, gentlemen?! If you were this unprepared in battle, you'd be destined to a grave!" TenTen loudly called out, striding firmly between the rows of rookie soldiers.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, but did as he was told.
It wasn't the particular fact that he was being taught by a woman that bothered him so, but that he was classed with such base idiots as these.
Simply glimpsing around, Sasuke was aware he completely outmatched his peers, some of them several years older than he.
Impatiently, Sasuke removed his sword from its sheath.
"Find a partner. We're going to simulate a one-on-one situation in battle," TenTen was saying, wandering through the rows of soldiers.
Sasuke's spying had not been going as well as he had hoped.
He had now been at Fort Minato for a total of three weeks, and with little information to show for it. He had not yet dispatched news to Itachi, and he wouldn't until something satisfactory came his way.
Sasuke knew his objective—to focus primarily on the Commander, Neji Hyuga. But seeing as Hyuga had left merely days after Sasuke's arrival, his plan had not gone as well as he'd hoped it would.
Currently, Sasuke was left to his own devices of asking soldiers about their Commander. Most had only good things to say about him. And Sasuke couldn't give his brother accolades on Neji Hyuga's behalf.
Exposing Hyuga's weaknesses weren't so easily divulged either. Most of the soldiers knew little or nothing about his past, other than he had trained as a page in Queen's City, like the rest of them.
Sasuke could care less about these insufficient details; he needed secrets, not common knowledge, to supply to Itachi.
So, Sasuke had devised a plan to draw these secrets out. He was going to use truth serum.
With his many years of being a hermit, Sasuke had learned several things about the uses of plants, not only for medical purposes, but for their psychological properties as well.
In his bunk inside the soldiers' barracks one would find a sizable amount of a wiry, ashy green plant. This plant's juice counteracted in the brain, causing a chemical reaction that lowered a person's inhibitions and allowed them to tell things they normally wouldn't.
Sasuke smiled a little as he started sparring with his partner.
The four captains would never know what had hit them.
-
The thing Pain liked most about his country was the frequent rainfall.
It was sustenance, rain. A source of life in its humblest form.
Pain smiled a little, watching outside the window of his home.
"Nagato?"
Pain turned, successfully stowing away his smile.
His partner and childhood friend, Konan, stood in the entryway.
Konan stared at him impassively for a moment then walked forward to stand at his side.
"What are you so pleased about?" she inquired listlessly.
"Everything is going well, Konan. Itachi and Kisame have been doing everything I ask at the war front. Commander Hyuga and his forces will perish soon."
Konan's gray eyes scanned Amegakure.
"Come, Konan. At least try and be cheerful. Our dream will soon be realized."
Konan did not reply, sweeping some of her blue hair behind her pierced ear.
Pain pursed his lips, considering his friend.
She was truly a beautiful specimen; the most mundane of men would covet her.
Suddenly, Konan flicked her eyes to Pain's, reading his expression.
Wordlessly, she slipped off her dark dress, leaving nothing but herself.
Pain studied her in silence, as he was accustomed to do every time he took her to his bed.
Companionship was a physical need even Pain was unable to forego, despite his distant countenance. And Konan had offered herself willingly to his utilization. Pain was not one to waste resources.
He glanced away from her for the time being, turning back to the large window.
All was grey and colorless outside.
-
Neji kneaded the skin surrounding his pale, intense eyes.
It had been another rough day.
Downpours had been surfacing frequently, no doubt owed to the early spring months that accompanied such occurrences.
Neji sighed.
Still. It made for difficulties.
Mud was everywhere. Soldiers and horses alike could barely stand their ground anymore with the slick muck everywhere.
But Itachi prevailed. There would be no resting period.
Neji closed his eyes briefly.
Unsurprisingly, TenTen was immediately brought forth to his mind.
Neji hadn't had much time to write her, but since he wasn't needed currently. . .
Neji pulled out a sheaf of paper from his desk drawer and his ink pot.
Ignoring the expanding in his chest, Neji began writing his faraway consort.
-
I miss you were the first words Neji Hyuga had decided to pen to TenTen.
She smiled a little, biting her lip.
Neji continued, Things have been awful here, what with the awful bouts of weather and the morale, which is about as low as it could be. I wish you were here. I can't help but feel drained and exhausted all the time. I know if you were here, I could at least find some comfort in you.
How are you, TenTen? Are things well at Fort Minato? I hope that Naruto and the rookies are behaving as well as they could and not making trouble.
Moegi is well, though she's been incontestably angry at the sky for keeping her confined in a tent for the last few days. She wishes you well and instructed me to impart that her knife-throwing has gotten better.
Writing to you makes me think of you more and more, and that's a dangerous thing to do, when such a distance separates us.
So, for now, I'll end this letter and wait for your reply with impatience.
Neji.
TenTen exhaled, suddenly tired.
Her heart hurt with the refreshing of Neji's absence brought up in the letter.
It was even worse now, the pain in her chest. TenTen clutched her tunic absently, forehead creased.
Carefully, TenTen folded up the letter and placed it in a concealed pocket inside her tunic.
She would write her lover later, after she'd worked with the rookies.
-
It was surprisingly easy to taint Naruto Uzumaki's drink.
Sasuke was smart to have picked him as his first victim.
In Sasuke's opinion, Naruto was an idiot. He had no idea how the man became a soldier, let alone captain of the Fifth Squad.
Sasuke got lucky one night when he found Naruto to be the last soldier in the mess hall after dinner.
After ensuring that the captain's drink was indeed low enough to be refilled, Sasuke sought a replacement drink from the kitchen, dumped the juice of the truth plant into it, and sat down across from the blonde.
Naruto glanced up at Sasuke, trying to place a name to his face.
"You're the messenger turned soldier, right?" Naruto finally muttered, accepting the drink Sasuke had given him.
"Yes, sir."
Naruto watched him as he took a draw from his cup.
Sasuke resisted the smile pushing at his lips.
The juices only took several minutes to go into affect.
"I was wondering if there was any news from the front. . ." Sasuke alluded casually.
Naruto got a confused look in his blue eyes, but his mouth opened as he replied, "Morale is pretty low from what we hear. Neji's doing his best . . . but he can only do so much."
Sasuke frowned slightly and tapped the rough wood table.
"Can you give me the Commander's background?" Sasuke posed.
Naruto blinked several times, a confused emotion passing his face. Nevertheless, he answered, just as Sasuke knew he would.
"Neji's father died when he was young, and he's been in his uncle's custody ever since. And now Neji's uncle is pressuring him to get married. . ."
Sasuke's mouth tightened slightly.
He wasn't sure if this was an important bit of information or not.
"What's the woman's name?" Sasuke inquired, staring at Naruto.
Naruto's face twisted; he was fighting the serum.
"Hanabi. Hanabi Hyuga."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but other than that, his surprise was disguised.
He stood from his bench, leaving Naruto staring after him confusedly.
Gah, this chapter sucked. I know, trust me.
I hope the next will be better.
'Til then, please review. :)