A/N: I know it's been a year… give or take (ah!), but I honestly thought I'd never go back to my stories or to this site for that matter. I reread the one chapter I did for this one, though, and I just connected to it like I imagine I did when I first started writing it. The idea of soul mates will never leave me it seems, especially when it's NejiTen. I'm not sure about Beauty and the Not So Beast, though, so sorry about that! Also I don't own Naruto. Or a certain somebody would still be alive and having babies with Tenten.

Chapter Two

"I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not."

Robert Green

Hyuuga Neji's voice cut through the silence, deep and commanding- warning anyone who might be compelled to ignore his words. Although the porcelain hawk mask veiled his eyes, his team knew he was fixing his pearl gaze intently on each of them.

"I will not attempt to stress to you what you all already know," he spoke quietly, his eyes connecting with each of his members in turn. "The secrecy of this mission is essential. Protect it as you see fit."

He didn't need to tell them what they all already knew. Their lives were dispensable- the success of the mission was not. Neji felt almost guilty for insinuating to his comrades that if they were caught they were expected to die for the success of the mission, but it was necessary. His throat tightened when Naruto- blonde hair flopping as he nodded determinedly- stared back at his captain with steely resolve. When had it become so easy for them to consider their lives so easily disposable? He turned away from the fox mask. Pausing to stare at chocolate brown eyes behind the porcelain mask of a dragon, he clenched his fists.

"Be safe."

The six figures crouching in front of him disappeared.

x-x-x-x

Tenten chuckled quietly as Neji passed her perch atop a large oak tree. She wondered if he realized how …regal he came off in the midst of battle. The unbelievable silk that was his hair flowed with his sharp movements effortlessly and it almost seemed as if he was dancing.

Well, if dances ended in piles of dead bodies.

He had naturally placed the most dangerous part of the mission upon himself, but she had expected no less. Neji was high and mighty when he spoke of a ninja's duty and death as inevitable, but the Anbu Captain saw to it that any feigned ambushes or risky infiltrations were carried out personally. He was the distraction this time. She sucked in a breath as the telltale signs of hundreds of feet rushing towards the clearing where he now stood could be heard.

He would do his best to fight them off single handedly while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura infiltrated the palace, but she knew even for him it'd be a tough task. Her eyes narrowed as an enemy nin sent thin senbon flying towards the Hyuuga as the thin waves of chakra begin to dissolve around him. Intercepting it with a shruiken, she waited.

Her duty was with Neji and her place was wherever Neji was. And she would be damn well sure not a single blade would come within a hair's breadth of him.

Or they would see just how dispensable a life could be.

x-x-x-x

When Tenten had woken up that morning in Neji's arms, he could tell that she was only slightly embarrassed at her actions with one Uchiha Sasuke the night before. He hadn't said anything, only pressed his lips gently against her forehead as he moved over her towards his closet. Their mission was a dangerous one and they had to be out early.

Pulling the defensive vest over his head, he glanced back at her. "I understand you had a busy night, but we do have a mission."

She sat up, raising an eyebrow and blushing slightly. "I'm still me you know."

He tied the black pants. Raising an eyebrow, he said nothing as she stared defiantly at a corner of his bed. "Kissing random people… letting people grope me… It makes me feel so dirty Neji. I keep telling myself I'm the same person but it doesn't feel that way. I feel cheap."

Before he could open his mouth, she had gotten up and walked out the door mumbling something he could barely make out to be "how could anyone love me?"

He had wanted to pull her back, reassure her, tell her she was blind for not being able to see her true worth. But they had needed to prepare for the mission and as always, in front of their teammates Neji had been professional. His relationship with Tenten was always professional publicly and they kept their affection secret.

It wasn't that they were dating really. It seemed too childish to call her his girlfriend. But she was his, whether official or not.

A kunai grazed his cheek and his eyes narrowed. If something had managed to hit him that meant... Tenten was in danger. Landing a kick hard enough to crack the attacker's skull, he scanned the clearing to make sure it was devoid of all life. Satisfied, Neji rushed to the top of the tree where he knew she had been covering him.

She was crouching, her mask was cracked and the corner of her mouth bled profusely. Her arm clutched a gash spanning across her stomach as she stared up at the man before her. There was something defeating in her eyes as she slouched, allowing the enemy to raise his katana-

One hard palm to the chest and the man's heart stopped beating. Neji ignored the goose bumps trailing his arm as he caught the last weak pump of a handicapped heart and watched the man's eyes glisten over and he fell the hundred feet to the ground.

"I was going to kill him Neji, I swear I was. But a picture fell out and his wife and kids and I just-," she began to cough, blood splattering the bark in front of his feet. "How could I be the one to take away someone's father?"

He glared at her, wrenching his mask off and taking her chin in his hand roughly. Pointing her face up so she couldn't look away, he clenched his teeth. "You could have died Tenten. We're not at some party and we're not at home, you can't just give up and sacrifice yourself every time you realize the person you're fighting is human."

Wrenching her face away from his grasp she grabbed the hand that had been holding her. Tracing his fingers slightly, she looked up at him. "How many lives have you taken with this hand alone Neji?"

His eyes widened slightly, but he had no time for answers because suddenly her eyes went cloudy and she was falling.

"Tenten!"

x-x-x-x

She could feel the sharp cut of air against her cheeks, but even then she was extremely warm. She was moving, fast, and someone had a death like grip on her body.

"Neji?"

At the sound of her voice, determined pale eyes looked down at her and seemed to soften with relief when she spoke clearly- displaying no signs of weakness or slow recovery. He had caught her as she was falling, instantly bandaging her wounds loosely until Sakura had returned and taken over.

The pink haired girl had clicked her tongue at Neji's messy bandages that did nothing to stop the flow of blood escaping from the lean brunette. He had stood, standing tall despite his exhaustion. "Fix her," he had said, and fix her she did.

He had never felt more grateful for the pink haired medic.

They were heading back to the village- their mission a successful one despite Tenten's mistake. He was carrying her bridal style, ignoring the looks his teammates were giving him because he had chosen not to disclose the details of Tenten's incident. He had merely asked about the scroll and announced their immediate departure home.

"You called me a murderer," he said quietly, eyes fixed back on the path ahead of him.

She blushed, fidgeting slightly as she buried her nose in his chest. "I didn't-"

"You're right. I have killed more than I care to remember with my right hand alone- I'm sure that makes me a murderer," she had stared up at him with wide eyes, but he didn't take his eyes away from the path leading to the village. "But when faced with the decision of someone else's life or yours, I would be a murderer again and again."

She looked down sullenly. Would he still be so faithful to her if he had seen the way the lord's lips had caressed her neck, stroking her in places only Neji should have? Would he still fight for her had he seen the children she had slaughtered because they would not reject their allegiance to the enemy? Had he felt this loyalty when drunken and stumbling she had willingly walked into the Uchiha's room? Not for the good of her village, not for 5.000 yen, but because she wanted to.

She was a kunouchi. By description alone she could not be loved in the way Neji wanted to love her.

His grip on her tightened and this time he stared down at her.

"No matter how many men you've killed or invited, willingly or unwillingly, my choice is with you."

x-x-x-x