Disclaimer: Naruto and all Naruto related stuff is (c) Masashi Kishimoto. All OCs and original storyline/plot/imagination (c) of ME!!
A/N: Check out some drawings on my dA account for Ryoku and some of the other OCs.
WARNING: It's slightly angsty, and I hadn't even intended for that when I started this… but, like I said… these stories take on a life of their own (although, this is the first time it happens so early on in the story actually). It's a little weird.. not my typical style... but I thought it was interesting nonetheless... Enjoy!
THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!!
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NIGHTMARE
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He was right in front of her. Standing in all his ominous splendor. A demon amongst men. Inhuman strength; indomitable temperament.
That was who he was.
A man with no equal. His barbaric strength, overshadowed by only his fierce and intimidating presence.
He was right there; right in front of her, but she couldn't touch him.
Her voice wouldn't reach him, as he faded into the distance; leaving her behind.
She tried crying out, but that never worked. He would always disappear; and she would always be left alone.
Alone.
"NO!"
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"Dad!" Tenten yelled out frantically; jolting out of bed as she screamed.
It was that dream again.
The one where she was, at last, reunited with her father; with her home. But then he'd fade away, and she'd be left alone in an endless darkness that threatened to swallow her whole.
Tenten had been having that nightmare since the day they arrived in the village. Over the months it had become less and less frequent; as she and Neji became accustomed to being on their own. But just the same, it hurt her deeply. She missed her family; but more than that, she feared the loneliness.
"Tenten?" Neji called to his new wife from the other side of the bed.
"…" Tenten tried not to shake; but she couldn't help it. It was beyond her control; her emotions consumed her, as the tears began running down her pale skin.
"You had that dream again, didn't you?" Neji sat up beside her, protectively wrapping his arms around the kunoichi.
"mhm." Tenten nodded; freely allowing the tears to fall on to her new husband's bare flesh, as she buried her face further into his chest.
"You're not alone." Neji reassured her. "I will always be with you."
Those words were enough to make the nightmares bearable; but just barely.
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Present Day (1)
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"DAD?!" Tenten gasped in surprise.
Neji felt her tightly cling to him; no doubt too afraid to think it was that dream again. It had been so long since she had had that nightmare, but Neji knew it was always fresh in her memory. He knew she feared it. That she didn't want to remember it; she didn't want to be left alone.
"It's alright." Neji whispered; knowing exactly what she was thinking. Gently, the white-eyed prodigy soothingly squeezed his wife back; reassuring her that he was still there. That he would never leave her.
"It's- It's really you, right?" She cautiously asked the looming figure in their doorway; hoping against hope that it wasn't a dream this time.
"YOSH!" An excited mop of hair poked out from behind the gargantuan man standing before the couple. "TENTEN-SAN! NEJI-KUN!" The familiar shinobi enthusiastically yelled out.
"Lee?" Tenten's arms went limp; too surprised to see her former teammate to even hold herself up right.
Had Neji not been holding on to her at that moment, he was certain she would have fallen to the ground from the sheer shock.
"MY PRECIOUS STUDENTS!" Another familiar voice yelled out from behind the large shinobi, before Ryoku stepped forward; allowing for both Gai and Lee to come around and greet the surprised couple. "How has your youth been treating you?" The bizarre man asked his former students.
"…" Neji observed the three men as he held onto his shocked wife's form. He could see that she was clearly still attempting to process everything. "Ryoku-sama, Gai-sensei, Lee." He politely nodded to the three men in acknowledgement. "Please enter." He motioned for them to walk into the house, toward the direction of their living room.
The three men quickly obliged, uniformly walking to the room they'd been indicated toward. Neji felt a heated glare directed at him, as Ryoku walked past. Had it been a few years earlier, the Hyuga would have trembled at the aura emanating toward him from the gargantuan man; but at the present, all he could think about was Tenten.
As much as she denied it, she was in a delicate state. The surprise of seeing the tree men was enough to make Neji feel off-balance; he couldn't imagine what kind of effect it might have on one who was already undergoing an experience where her sense's weren't what they normally were.
"I'll get you some tea." Neji softly whispered into Tenten's ear, as he sat her down on the couch in front of their three guests. "But I'm not leaving. I will be right back."
"Okay." Tenten mechanically nodded.
"Pardon me." Neji excused himself to the other three. "I shall return in a moment."
The prodigy quickly made his way into the kitchen, glad that Tenten always pre-set the tea kettle with plenty of water over the ceramic Furo, so that it would be ready by the time his students left. (2) Neji quickly poured the tea into five cups, before returning to the living room, where Lee and Gai were enthusiastically asking Tenten one question after another, while Ryoku merely observed his daughter in silent unrest.
Neji could tell right away that the intimidating man could see something wasn't quite right with the kunoichi. Ryoku had entrusted Tenten to Neji; telling him to take care of her; the prodigy could only imagine what scenarios the older shinobi was considering. But since at the moment, Neji was still alive and breathing, he figured Ryoku probably didn't think it was anything too terrible; although that didn't stop the large man from glaring menacingly at the Hyuga.
"Tea." Neji placed the cups before everyone, before making his way over to his wife, reassuringly taking hold of her hand.
"What is wrong with my daughter?" Ryoku at last spoke up; an instant jolt of electricity ran down Neji's spine at the words.
Gathering his courage, he faced the man defiantly. "She sitting her before you; perhaps you should ask her." He stated; having always disliked it when people spoke of someone in their presence as if they were not there.
Years earlier, Neji would not have dared to respond to the man sitting before him in such a manner, but his concern for Tenten override his fear of her father. It was ludicrous to think, after all those years, this man could still make Neji feel like a timid child in his presence. It wasn't entirely that Neji feared Ryoku; nor that Ryoku held any particular animosity toward the Hyuga (other than the fact that he taken his only daughter from him), it was merely the relationship they shared.
Ryoku had always been very protective of Tenten, and Neji knew that. While they often found common ground in their love for the kunoichi, it was also the reason there existed a sort of rivalry between the two. It wasn't like they were after the same kind of love from the girl; but just the same, neither was the type of man who liked to share. As such, in the time Neji had gotten to know Ryoku, before his and Tenten's relationship was revealed, and the events leading up to their departure from Konoha took place, Neji had often found himself in situations where he was confronted with an overprotective father angrily glaring at him; just as Ryoku was now.
"No, she is not." Ryoku replied. "Her mind is clearly engrossed in something else." He observed.
Neji was about to explain why the kunoichi was not behaving like herself, when he felt a sudden shifting beside him.
"I'm- I'm sorry." Tenten gently shook her head, as she slowly came out of her trance. "I'm- I'm fine." She tried reassuring her father. "I just…" She paused.
Neji would tell she was still trying to shake the unpleasant feelings from her mind. It had often taken her a while to regain her composure after one her nightmares. It worried him how lost in the agony, she could become. But there was nothing he could do for her when she was trapped in her own mind. All he could do was hope his presence was enough to reassure her that her nightmare would never come true.
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TBC
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FOOTNOTES:
(1) The first scene, in case the whole "Present Day" thing wasn't clue enough; was a flashback! (hence the italics)
(2) A Furo is a portable braziers used in the tea room to heat the hot water kettle to make the tea.
A/N: So not where I was intending to go with this chapter, but it actually goes kind of well with what I've been planning to do… seriously, these stories… life of their own…
Anyway, I'll do what I was trying to do in the next chapter (which should be a lot more lighthearted than this one).