Nemesis' Judgement
Last time: "It's you."
And while the two kept starring at each other, the world outside of them kept their silence before Lee asked him what was wrong, and the café's owner told him to let go of her.
Author's Note: I think I'm going to update every month if that's okay? I'll probably write the 'next chapter' a month ahead though. Hehe. Other than that, unless I'm busy, than I won't update. F.Y.I, midterms are during December, and I have a Chemistry exam every quarter, so updates might be a little late till then. I hope this has been what you've been waiting for :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (the manga, anime and plot) or their characters.
- - -
Lee continued to ask Neji what was wrong, while the café owner demanded him that he let go of Tenten.
That was until Lee decided to state something. "Oh! She's your girlfriend!"
Both Neji and Tenten stared at him for a long time until Neji had to break the silence. "Right… My girlfriend…"
Suddenly, Neji dragged Tenten outside of the café as he told Lee to shut up and wait for him inside.
When they were outside, he threw her arm down and said, "We need to talk."
Tenten rolled her eyes as she rubbed her wrist. "Well obviously."
"Let's get straight to the point. Have you told anyone about what you saw?"
Tenten gave him a long stare. He was definitely the same person with the same white eyes. "No."
For a second, he raised his eyebrows at her in confusion. "Don't lie to me." He threw his knife by her throat.
"I'm not. I haven't told anyone. Besides if I wanted to, I would've told the police by now, and they would have aired it on the media."
As she stared at him, he stared at her for a long time. No one could possibly resist the hard stare of a Hyuuga and held their lies while having a knife pointed at their throats. However, Tenten was not one of them.
But then at the same time, it was dangerous to have someone alive and knowing one of the world's darkest secret.
Neji dropped his knife onto the ground. "If I find out that you're lying, I'll be sure to hunt you down and torture you to death."
"Mm… I think not." She slowly changed her direction and walked back to the hand when he grabbed onto her again.
"I need my mask back."
She turned around. "Oh right… Uh… It's at my place. I have a day off, so I really don't want to go back home. How about we meet at 12:35P.M by Tokyo Central Hospital. I'll dump your mask at the hospital's upper-right-handed corner's trashcan. I'll put it in a box, so no one will notice either."
He was hesitant, but nodded. He wasn't sure if she could be trusted. "I'll hold you to that. Make sure no one is around you."
She nodded back at him. "Sure." She walked back into the café with him.
As the door opened and the bell chimed, Lee asked, "Keiji. May I speak with you outside now?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes, but nodded. "What?"
"That's your girlfriend?" He kept his silence for a while before nodding. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Didn't Tsunade-sama tell us not to interact with citizens or get close to non-ANBU members? What if she exposes our secret? Then you'll be executed, and ANBU will have to kill everyone else!"
He grunted. "Don't you think I know that? Yes, she knows about us. No, she won't tell."
"How can you be so sure? When did you meet her anyways? How long have you two been seeing each other? What makes her so special?"
Neji gave Lee an irritated look. "All you need to know is that I will hunt you down and kill you if you tell anyone else about this. Not even Gai-sensei can know."
Lee gave him a hard stare. "You're really serious about her aren't you? Okay. I promise not to tell. In return, you tell me everything about you and her. Oh, and does she have your mask?"
"Yes, she does. Other than that, there's nothing special between us." Neji left Lee dumbfounded as he walked back into the café, as Tenten was about to leave. "12:35P.M. If you're early, I'll stab your heart out, and if you're late, I'll shoot your brains out."
"Yes, yes. I know 12:35P.M. The garbage can on the upper-right-hand corner of the hospital." She found Raki Lee staring at her when she exited the place. "Uh… nice to meet you too."
Lee watched her as she walked away. "She's not that pretty. Sakura-san is more beautiful and smarter. I bet Sakura-san could heal 10x's more people than she can. Oh, Sakura-san. How I wish you were not blinded by that Uchiha, and see my undying love for you." He made a whole heartily sigh.
Neji, apparently, was disgusted. "Get over her. She's been in love with him since the day she noticed him. And he's been getting close—
"Never say that! I will never give up my Sakura-san to someone like him! She deserves someone more like me. Loyal, grateful, friendly…"
Neji walked on without him – never completely hearing what Lee had to say about himself.
- - -
After they separated, Tenten decided she'd go back to the hospital for the day. Many of her patients and some of the nurses greeted her. "Sorry I came by late. I figured my life revolves around saving people's asses, so I didn't really find any interest in shopping or whatever."
She laughed a little. "I was so sure you weren't going to come by today. I guess I've been mistaken. But a young woman like you shouldn't be spending so much time at the hospital. You should be going out and having fun. It's not common to find people of your age who actually want to go to their jobs and work."
Tenten smiled a little. "I guess so… That reminds me of when I was in high school. I was so obsessed with doing well in school and becoming a doctor that I didn't really have time for friends." She put on a sad smile. "I miss them now, and I wish I could've spent more time with them."
Mrs. Yamashiro did not further into the conversation. She knew that she had three really close friends. And somehow, she lost them all. Ino Yamanaka became a famous Hollywood star. She was a beautiful actress and model. Then there was another two. One is dead, and the other one is missing.
She cut off her thoughts when she heard Tenten yelling at her to get ready for a group of people coming in from food poisoning.
- - -
When Neji returned to the headquarters, he found himself being lectured again by Tsunade. "Fuck it, Neji. I thought you said your mask was at the dumpster or whatever. And now it's gone?!"
"It's not gone, it's just not there. It's probably at another dumpster or something. I can't really remember where I put it."
Tsunade growled. "Lee. Where the hell did you search?"
Lee saluted her. "Tsunade-sama, I have searched through some big dumpsters, but I could not find anything. I am sorry for my failure. I will be sure to look harder next time."
"Haha. There won't be a next time if someone has it already. Neji. You are on probation and will not leave this place until someone has returned with your mask."
Neji stood there and verbally defied her orders. "No. I am going out tonight to search for it. I will go out around 12:00A.M and return around 1A.M. If I do not have the mask by then, I will listen to your orders and remain here."
Tsunade massaged her temple. "Who do you think you are giving me orders? I am not in the mood to go bargaining with you. But I will make this exception if you take Lee, Sasuke, and Sakura with you. If the four of you cannot find the mask by then, I will have Lee, Sasuke, and Sakura kill you on the spot. Is that clear?"
He had enough guts to prevent him from fearing death. "Yes."
"But Tsunade-sama! Neji is one of our best fighters! You cannot get rid of him so easily! You will surely regret it if we do kill him!"
Tsunade glared at him. "No, it would not be. We would still be able to uphold our missions with the amount of members we have. Yes, he is an excellent member of our team, but if he cannot follow the rules, then just like anyone else who has rebelled, we will kill them."
Neji stared at her and nodded. "I will be sure to find it tonight." He bowed and left the room with Lee following him.
"But Neji! How can you be so confident that the girl will show up and drop it off? What if she doesn't? You'll surely die!"
"Lee, she's my—" he coughed, "girlfriend. I should hope I know where she lives and what her job is and what her phone number is."
Lee grinned. "Okay then. Don't mess up now."
Lee stopped following him as Sakura passed by. Neji continued onwards to the Nara's room.
He opened his room and said, "Hey Shikamaru. I need you to do me a favor." He stared at the snoring man on the floor. He kicked him a little, "Wake up you lazy ass."
And surely, he woke up. "What the hell do you want Hyuuga? Can't you see it's rude to wake someone up who is sleeping?"
"Do me a quick favor, and I'll let you go back to sleep."
"Psht. I don't need you to tell me when to sleep and when not."
Neji hauled him up really fast and shoved him to his chair. "This is an emergency."
Shikamaru grumbled and lazily glared at him. "I hate you conceited prodigies." He sighed. "Fine. Truce. What do you want?"
"Find me a girl named Tenten. She's a doctor at Tokyo Central Hospital."
Shikamaru typed out the information as fast as Neji told him. "Bingo." He grinned. "She's a pretty one. What do you want now?"
"I want her address, and cell and home phone number."
Shikamaru gave him a weird stare. "Uh… You know I always believed that we ANBU people were more of murderers who only stalk people to kill them. I never heard of us being stalkers who chase after young woman. What has gotten into you?"
Neji glared at him. "She stole something from me. Now, will you hurry up and give me all the details?"
"Alright, alright." He quickly typed in some data and moved to show Neji the screen of her information.
"Thank you." Neji said as he left the room. Within his mind, he secretly prayed that she'd show up so that he wouldn't have to go through the troubles of chasing after her.
- - -
Tenten slumped onto her desk. It had been four hours since the food-poisoned people came in, and four hours since she had been able to rest. She was running around all afternoon saving people from here to there.
Her personal assistant came in and slumped to the ground. "Thank Kami you came. Without you, I think that would've stretched to about five hours of saving people."
"Oh really? Now I kind of wish I hadn't come. I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble running around." She took off her coat. "I swear. We need to change our outfits. Nurses need to stop running around in dresses and showing what underwear they're wearing today. And doctors need shorter coats."
Her nurse laughed with her. "It's alright I guess. I think it makes us look a bit cuter." She giggled.
Tenten sarcastically giggled with her. "No, not really. You still look the same to me."
Mrs. Yamashiro rolled her eyes in a funny way. "Well how about after our shifts are over, we leave to go out and drink."
"Are you sure you're suppose to be drinking? Because I think a mother should not be drinking."
The nurse whacked her head. "You're too young to be saying no to drinking. What's with you? You're by far the strangest young woman I've ever met."
Tenten sighed. "Fine. How about we go there at 10:00P.M and leave there at 11:30P.M."
Her nurse nodded. "I'll be going out to take a smoke now." The nurse left and closed the door.
"And you're by far the strangest mother I've ever met." She sighed. "I don't think I'm going to drink tonight though. I can't get drunk and sleep on the way back home and totally forget about the mask."
She took another deep breath and rubbed her head. "Tonight will be an interesting night. I hope nothing big happens."
- - -
Unfortunately, Tenten was persuaded into drinking. "Shit. I can't even walk properly and see where I'm going."
She heard the person next to her give her a drunken giggle. "Oh, Tenten. I think we've both drunken to our graves." She hiccupped. "Oh! There's a taxi. I'll be going now." She watched her personal assistant step into the taxi and waved goodbye.
"Now if only I could get a taxi to drive me back home and back here." She stared at her watch. 11:47P.M. She sighed as she attempted to run back home despite her heavy headache.
- - -
It was now 12:00P.M. Neji, Lee, Sasuke, and Sakura were geared up and ready to go.
"Remember Hyuuga. 1:00A.M or you're dead."
"I don't need an Uchiha to remind me."
"Can we please stop bickering and get going?"
"Yes! I completely agree with Sakura-san!"
Neji and Sasuke 'hmphed' before they all separated. Sasuke headed up north, Sakura went down to the south, Neji went over to the Westside, and Lee left to go for the east.
Neji stood on top a large building near the hospital. From his point, he could view the trashcan. She had 20 more minutes before he would have to leave his spot.
- - -
Tenten struggled all the way back home. She collapsed onto her bed and couldn't think straight. "Okay. Now isn't the right time to feel drain. I have to walk back and drop off his mask before I'm screw."
She willed herself back up only to find herself squinting at everything she couldn't see.
"Shit. This does not look good." She walked up to her clock. 12:20A.M. "Shit. This isn't good at all."
She quickly dug through her table shelf. She grabbed the mask, put it into her purse, and headed out the door.
- - -
It was now 12:25A.M. He was hoping she didn't take him seriously about the coming too early and I'll stab your heart out part. He didn't care if she was early. As long as she wasn't late, he wouldn't need to panic.
He eyed a bunch of people walking through the streets. None of them dumped their trash in that trashcan.
He grumbled. "Shit. It was wrong to trust her." He stood there waiting patiently. "10 more minutes."
- - -
12:30A.M. She had exactly five more minutes, and she wasn't even close. She got onto the train station, but probably would not make it there until 10 minutes after 12:35A.M at the pace she was moving at. "I hope that guy is patient."
She thought silently as she walked off the train and onto the streets once again.
- - -
Neji look to the left side of him. The clock tower officially called it 12:35A.M. "That bitch."
He left his spot in search of her. "Time to hunt the bird down."
- - -
Tenten turned off the alarm on her watch. "Shit, shit, shit, shit… I'm so screwed."
She quickened her pace and started to breathe quicker when she started to notice she was being followed by a couple of guys.
"This could not have been a worst time."
Soon, she stopped and looked around her. She was surrounded by a bunch of guys who looked women or sex deprived.
"Hey there Miss Pretty Lady. You look pretty drunk yourself, and I must say that we're pretty drunk ourselves. Let's go over to my place."
Tenten gripped her head. "I don't have time for shitty people like yourselves. Go fuck with yourself."
She tried to run pass them, but was stopped when a man grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "Now, now, that wouldn't be any fun would it?"
She struggled out of his arms. "Let me go!" She stepped on his foot, but with no effect to him as the other guys laughed.
"You think you're pretty tough yourself, don't you? Well I've got news for you lady. You're not going anywhere but to our beds."
She started punching him and kicking him, but it would not do any good. He started to kiss her and bite her around the neck.
She screamed.
- - -
Neji quickened his pace. He did not find her at her place. Her co-workers said she left a long time ago. She would not pick up her phone.
It was 12:42A.M now. At the same time, he heard someone screaming. "Shit. That had better not be her."
He sprinted across Tokyo's cities to find her screaming
- - -
"Forget the bed. Let's do this right here and now."
She screamed and cried for someone while the other men of the crew laughed at her. Her clothes were being ripped until he felt the guy above her slump onto her and cough out liquid over her.
In a split second, she heard the other men yelling. Some were charging at something or someone. Some were running away. Two seconds later, there was no noise at all.
She tried to push the man over her, off of her. It was no fun having someone twice or three times your weight over you.
She felt the body over her being lifted off her as she covered her bare skin with what was left of her top. She pushed herself to the wall in the back of her. She sniffed a little before she was able to control herself. It didn't matter if she cried or not. She was still humiliated. She shifted herself before she still felt the presence of the stranger who had saved her.
She looked up at the stranger. It was the ANBU who had spared her life the other time. "It's you…"
He stared at her. Surprisingly, he felt sorry for her. He bent down as Tenten avoided his glance and tried to cover herself even more. He took off his cloak and covered her with it. "It's almost winter."
She took his cloak and fully covered herself with it. She was speechless.
He stood up and turned away. "You can put on the cloak." He didn't hear her move for a while. He guessed it was because she was still self-conscious and humiliated. He looked at her when she was done. "It's 12:48A.M. I need my mask back before I can return."
She didn't move for a while until she nodded as she dug through her bag. She found the mask and handed it to him.
He was hesitant to take it. This would probably be the last time he'd ever see her. He still had no choice but to grab it. "I'm leaving now. I'll come back for the cloak some other time maybe. Until then, try to stay sober and don't give the cloak to anyone else. It's kind of special."
He put on his mask and started to walk to the end of the streets. Within a second, Neji swiftly took a high jump and left her to herself.
She stared at the space where he once was. She looked at the people around her. All of them were deeply injured, but not dead. As a doctor, she would have stayed to help them. But as a humiliated woman, she stood up and left them injured to walk back home.
- - -
Author's Note: La-la-la. What to do next time? I hope I'm still keeping these character intact and not OOC. As usual, please give me your suggestions and how I can improve. Thank you!