Disclaimer: Naruto and all Naruto related stuff is (c) Masashi Kishimoto… All OCs and original storyline/plot/imagination (c) of ME!!
A/N: Totally bummed about my exam… I won't get the results for 5 weeks, but I already know I didn't pass… I just couldn't concentrate… my brain didn't seem to want to grasp the words… oh well, I can retake it in November… so I'm not going to worry about it… XP
WARNING: I don't think I should have to say this anymore, but for those who aren't used to reading my stories yet, I warn you all now… prepare yourselves, for I am the Queen of all Cliff-hangers .:.muahahaha.:.
THANKS FOR ALL THOSE WHO REVIEWED!!
You make my torturous days so much brighter (and make me want to write even more XP)
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MISSING
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A part of her knew they were no longer in the village.
Since their arrival, six months earlier, Tenten had been aware that they wouldn't be around forever. After all, it was their way; sooner or later, the seven orphans would eventually leave. Tenten had always tried to prepare herself for the possibility that they might one day disappeared, and never return.
According to some of the villagers who had seen the orphans in their various travels through neighboring towns, the kids rarely stayed in one place for very long. They were known to come and go as they pleased; without informing anyone of their next departure.
However, this time, things had been different. Since arriving in the village of Tokuhogo (1), the seven boys had left a number of times already. However, in those instances, when the orphans went off somewhere, they had always returned a day or two later. This time, however, Tenten wasn't so certain they would be coming back. It had already been an entire week since their disappearance; chances were, they were already far from the village, likely never to be heard from again.
It made her sad to think that way. Tenten had really hoped the reason the boys had stayed in the village longer than they usually did was because maybe they had finally found a place to call home. She had really wanted that for them.
Truthfully, though, Tenten had seen herself in them. More precisely, she had seen herself and Neji in them. The boys reminded her of when the two of them had also been wandering orphans; moving from village to village, attempting to find a place for themselves in the world. It had been difficult for them in the beginning because no matter where they went, Neji's white eyes always stood out. And if that weren't bad enough, the fact that he had a very noticeable air of nobility to him, made Neji stick out all the more. It shouldn't have surprised them though; Neji never had been good for undercover missions, he was just much too noticeable. People couldn't help but stare at him.
.:..:..:..:..:.:..:..:..FLASHBACK..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:.
"You're just too pretty Neji." Tenten snickered as she saw the Hyuga attempt to conceal himself from the gawking crowd.
"Tenten." Neji icily glared at the kunoichi. "Men are not referred to as 'pretty.'"
"That's because most men aren't pretty." Tenten continued laughing. "And definitely not as pretty as you." She teased; wrapping her arms around him as they rounding another corner; attempting to lose the crowd of fan girls chasing after them.
"It seems it will be quite difficult to blend into a crowd with my Byakugan." Neji observed; choosing to ignore the girl's teasing comments.
"Yeah." Tenten agreed; becoming more serious about the conversion, then she had previously been. "Not to mention the fact that you can't wear the leaf headband, so we can't hide your curse seal either." She pointed out.
"Hn." Neji nodded.
"What about a hat?" Tenten suggested.
"No." Neji shook his head; he didn't like hats.
"Then we'll just have to keep going." Tenten sighed. "I'm sure we'll be able to find some remote village where the Hyuga name and eyes won't be recognized."
"Hn." Neji's face denoted an expression of disbelief.
"Don't worry so much." The kunoichi tried to reassure him; she knew he was feeling slightly guilty that they couldn't just settle down anywhere, but that just wasn't his fault. "Remember what you told me… as long as we're together, it doesn't matter where we go."
A smiling Neji bend down to lightly kiss his beloved's lips; gratefully that he had her by his side.
.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..END FLASHBACK.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..
In the end, they had found a place.
A Haven.
A village in the outskirts of nowhere; where none were familiar with Hyuga, nor Byakugan. It was a small village; remote. Everyone seemed to know everyone, thus being rather weary of outsiders. But they had also been very kind, and warmly welcomed the young couple all those years ago.
.:..:..:..:..:.:..:..:..FLASHBACK..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:.
"You two look like you've been through a lot." The village leader commented upon seeing the two new arrivals in their quaint village. "We won't ask you where you've come from, or why you left, but we're not looking for trouble."
Unfortunately, trouble was exactly what they were running from; and what they would likely bring to the village, should they ever be found out. So Neji and Tenten had decided not to remain for very long. They had been warmly greeted upon arrival; given a place to stay and a meal to eat. They didn't want to burden the people who had so kindly taken them in.
"Oh, relax Saitou-sama." (2) A woman called out to the village elder. "Can't you see they're just kids?" The woman turned to look at the young couple. "Let me guess, you two have been cursed by a cruel fate that has made your love for one another forbidden, and you've run away, leaving behind everything, just so you can be together?"
Neji and Tenten turned to look at each other; stunned by how close the woman had been in her guess.
"Wife, you read far too many romance novels." Saito chided the old woman.
"Oh, but I'm certain of it." The old woman confidently declared. These two look like star-crossed lovers. Am I right? Am I right?" She eagerly waited their response.
"Oh, so this crazy woman was right for a change?" Saito smirked at the surprised expression on the young couple's faces; as well as the annoyed look directed at him from his wife.
Neji nodded.
It hadn't been exactly a lie; but it wasn't the complete story either. Nonetheless, it seemed like a good idea to keep their story as close to reality as possible; so as not to have to work at remembering it later on..
"Ano." Tenten hesitantly spoke up. "You're the village leader, correct?" She addressed Saito.
"That is correct." The elder man responded; watching as the girl nervously chewed on her lip.
There was a timidness to her that Neji rarely saw, but always found quite endearing. Until his cousin's fainting or blushing spells, whenever Tenten was feeling shy about something, she merely remained quite; unable to speak.
"Then can you marry us?" Neji spoke for the girl; knowing exactly what was on her mind, as it was the same thing he had been thinking for the past couple of villages.
Unfortunately the opportunity had not presented itself until that moment, and now that it seemed they had found a place to settle down in (if only momentarily), Neji wanted to make their union official, and finally keep the promise he had made to her.
"I can do that." The old man warmly smiled at the couple; remembering what it was like to be that young and in love.
"Welcome to Tokuhogo."
.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..END FLASHBACK.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..
They had only intended to stay a little while. But eventually Tokuhogo had become their home. No longer were they wandering ninja; orphaned from their village. Together, Neji and Tenten had started a new life; in a peaceful place, with friendly people. Tenten had hoped the orphaned boys might also come to think of Tokuhogo as their home, but sadly it didn't see like that was going to happen anymore.
"The list of people to miss just keeps growing longer and longer, doesn't it Bu-Mu?" Tenten sighed deeply.
Giving the surrounding area of the forest one last glance over, Tenten's eyes stopped on the oversized dog.
"What is it girl?" The kunoichi asked; noticing Bu-Mu was acting rather peculiar.
The dog's ears were standing up right, as if she were on alert for something. For a moment, Tenten wondered if perhaps the girl had picked up the orphan's scent. It didn't seem likely, however, because for some reason the dog had never been too good at picking up any scent but those of two men…
Tenten stared at the confused looking dog. There was almost a sadness in her eyes, that Tenten hadn't seen in a long time; not since they left the leaf village. It was almost as if the Bu-Mu was remembering something.
"I swear, the dog's got more expressions to her face then Neji!" Tenten mused to herself; attempting to suppress a giggle as she considered the possibility of Neji being as expressive as Bu-Mu.
"Hey." The kunoichi called out to the large dog; still unsure as to why Bu-Mu was acting so weird. "Come on, let's go home. Neji's probably just about ready to dismiss his students anyway."
'ARF' Bu-Mu happily barked; taking one last look into the forest, before chasing after Tenten as the kunoichi began walking back toward their dojo.
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"Sensei, Sensei, Sensei!" The hyperactive boy standing next to Neji enthusiastically yelled out, as the last of the students quickly filed out of the dojo, before the final rays of the day's sun began fading into the horizon.
"Yes Seishou-kun?" Neji looked down at the energetic boy; thinking his name was quite fitting to him. (3)
The kid reminded him of a certain blond he'd known. Actually, he almost even reminded him of a certain spandex-wearing boy Neji had known, as well; though really, could anyone ever be compared to Lee?
"When are we going to train again?" The boy bounced up and down excitedly; eager to know when he and his older brother would return to the dojo.
Recently, a lot of the students of the Hyuga dojo had caught an adventurous fever, and decided to leave the village to go in search of various tournaments; attempting to show their worth to the ninja community. Neji supposed it was that they were at that age when a youthful desire of seeing the world drove them to seek out distant lands in search of adventure.
'Youthful?' Neji thought to himself. 'I'm starting to sound like that old lunatic.' He shivered at the very idea that his insane sensei may have rubbed off on him more than Neji had realized.
"Jeeze, why do you have to ask that?" A lazy voice complained from behind the hyperactive boy. "Then he'll go talk to dad, and we'll have to get another set of lessons. And we finally finished these." The boy groaned in frustration.
"Hn." Neji smirked; the kid reminded him of someone else he had known long ago. Just as bored with the world, but just as persistent; never giving up when it mattered.
"But I want to keep trying. I really like training." The boy cheerfully declared.
"I am glad to hear that." Neji smiled down at the boy; amused as his enthusiasm and proud of all the boy's hard work. He had started out farther behind than all the others, but over the years had grown tremendously. "I will discuss it with your father."
"See, I told you." The other boy scoffed, as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled his way out of the dojo; his younger brother not far behind.
"See you later Hyuga-sensei!" The energetic boy yelled out.
"Seems like he really admires you." The familiar feminine voice he loved to hear commented from beside him.
Neji hadn't even noticed her presence.
Even as far as they were from their shinobi village, Tenten never stopped growing. That made Neji very proud; because it was a sign of her determination and strength. She never gave up.
"Hai." Neji nodded.
"Well as long as he doesn't start dressing like you, I think we're good." Tenten teased.
"Hn." It amused the white-eyed man to know she always seemed to have a knack for instinctively knowing exactly what he was thinking; even when it was something completely random.
"Although, I think you're fashion sense is probably a lot better then Gai-sensei's was." Tenten smirked. "Plus, I don't see any of them becoming your clones… they're much too lively for that. Well, except for the space-head." She looked over to the boy slowly walking away with his hands in his pockets, as he gazed up longingly at the sky. "Remind you of anyone?"
"Hai." Neji smirked. 'Always knows what I'm thinking.'
"haah." Tenten sighed deeply. "I miss them." She stated, in a deeply somber tone.
"…" Neji lovingly wrapped his arms around her; empathizing with what she felt. Their home, their families, their friends… all of it; Neji missed them all.
"But…" Tenten whispered; looked up at compassionate his eyes as he held her in his arms. "As long I've got you and our boys, I guess I can't complain." She smiled up at him reassuringly.
He felt the same way. As much as he missed them all; just being there with his wife and twin sons, nothing else mattered. Together they were all they needed.
Bending down to breach the tiny distance between them, Neji firmly pressed himself onto his wife's warm lips. Even though he was aware they were standing in front of the entrance of their dojo, with the doors wide open, Neji didn't care. Their home was distant enough from the rest of the village that he wasn't too worried about anyone seeing them.
Running his right hand up to her hair, as he wrapped the other arm tighter around his wife's not yet noticeable, growing abdomen, Neji smirked into the kiss. Yes, this was his home, and as long as they had each other, they could endure anything.
"Ahem." A loud, exaggerated cough shook Neji to his very core.
A sudden sensation of déjà vu overtook the twenty three year old man. For some unknown reason, Neji felt himself a small child again, as a cold shiver shot down his spine; reminding him of a long ago sensation of impending doom.
Looking up, over his beloved's shoulder, Neji spotted an eerily familiar shadow looming over their dojo's door frame; blocking out the little sun-light that was still out. Every nerve in his body stiffened, as his shinobi instincts told Neji to run; screaming at him that he was in terrible danger.
"aha!" A surprised gasp escaped the woman in his arms. "DAD?!"
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TBC (4)
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A/N: RYOKU!!... lol…
FOOTNOTES:
(1) Toku and Hogo both mean Shelter. (Toku also means Shield and Hide, and Hogo also means Care and Protection)… if you're not already aware of this, every name I use (in any of my stories) have some meaning to them… even the OC names in the previous chapter have meaning to their names (which I didn't state because it would tell you TOO much about the plot, but believe me, they play in… and I will tell you eventually what they mean XP)
(2) Saitou remember him? Chapter 20 in W&D (doesn't matter if you don't remember him… not really important).
(3) Seishou means Energy.
(4) Did you seriously expect me to end this anywhere else?... lol… You were warned… lol..
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A NOTE ON UPDATING
Just so you all know, I probably won't be updating this as quickly as you (or I) might want… and I apologize for that since that's not going to stop me from leaving you all with killer cliff-hangers… (Though I do have the next chapter planned out so I'll try not to keep you waiting too long). Still, I don't want to hear any complaints about my updating take too long since I am giving you all fair warning right now…
School's starting in 2 weeks and I need to start doing my readings for that… plus I have to do all my moot court stuff now… really need to focus on that…
Even though I love writing so much more than I love school… (which is the only reason I MAKE TIME to update)... really it's like my only relief… (no idea what I was thinking with this summer), but unfortunately I have to prioritize, and school must come first… but likely I will actually be writing more just because I am SO stressed.. agh… I want to cry, but the tears won't come out, THAT's how stressed I am… ack… someone shoot me… If I could, I would go back in time to that moment when I decided to cut back on writing classes to go for law classes… Oh, if I had decided to pursue writing instead of law, I would have been so much happier right now (probably not… once some something becomes a "must" rather than a "may" I tend to loose all enthusiasm for it… so for now, I'm perfectly happy having writing as a hobby and nothing more).