Disclaimer: Naruto and all Naruto related stuff is (c) Masashi Kishimoto. All OCs and original storyline/plot/imagination (c) of ME!!!!!
A/N: I'm afraid some of you may find this chapter slightly anti-climactic since there was no real fight scene…. Sorry… hopefully though the epilogue (next chapter) will make up for that… again, sorry…
WARNING: 1 flashback… come on, I went crazy with flashbacks in this story, how could I NOT end the story with at least one flashback?
THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!!!
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INEVITABLE
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"This way." Kiba indicated toward the left corridor.
The building was like a labyrinth. Without the use of his Byakugan, or Kiba's nose in its place to follow Tenten's scent, Neji wasn't sure how they could have managed to work their way through it. The good thing about the building's confusing structure was that very few guards were necessary to protect such a difficult-to-navigate enclosure. Most of the shinobi they had run into, had been located outside the facility; but those had been easily and quickly defeated with Naruto's shadow clones. The few guards that they had run into while inside the building, they had easily managed to detect with Kiba's sense of smell. But as they continued through the maze, fewer and fewer shinobi were left to stand in their way. Neji reasoned that perhaps the distraction created by Ryoku and the others had served to remove all the remaining shinobi from inside the building.
"We're almost there." The Inuzuka reassured Neji. "Tenten's scent is getting stronger."
"Hn." Neji gratefully nodded as the four proceeded down the dimly lit corridor Kiba had motioned to.
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"ah-eeh-eeh." Tenten suppressed a scream as yet another contraction sent horrible pain shearing through her petite frame. "hah, hah," She grasped for breath; preparing herself for the next one she knew was coming any second now. "N- AHHHHH!"
"TENTEN!" A familiar baritone voice panicked yelling from outside the kunoichi's cell.
For a moment, Tenten almost allowed herself to believe that it was really Neji yelling out her name. But that couldn't be. The white-haired man had told her that he had not yet sent his letter of demand to Konoha; and he assured her, without it, there was no way they could know the location where she was held captive.
"N- Neji." Tenten quietly sobbed; wishing he really were there to be with her. The pain was becoming unbearable, she was sure, any moment, she would pass out.
"Tenten." The voice called out again; this time closer than before.
"She's in there." Another voice followed.
"Open the door." A female voice ordered.
"Okay, let's do it!" Another male voice that sounded an awful lot like Naruto, exclaimed just before Tenten heard a loud rumbling on the other side of the door.
"What?" Tenten brought her hands up to her face, as the first rays of light to touch her eyes began breaking through the wall where she'd often heard the white-haired man speak.
It was a dimly lit light, but to her unaccustomed eyes, it was much too bright to bear.
"Tenten!" The familiar baritone voice called out again.
Through squinted eyes, Tenten turned in the direction of where the door should have been. Directly in front of a rectangular hole cut out in the wall, stood a shadow in the shape of the man Tenten had so longed to see.
"Neji?" She cautiously asked; wondering if perhaps her pain had caused her to become delirious. "e-eh-eh" The kunoichi tightly shut here eyes to will the pain away; hoping when she opened them again, the shadow standing in the doorway would not have disappeared.
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"Tenten!" Neji rushed to his wife's side as he witnessed her bend over in pain.
"Neji, are you really…" Tenten turned up to look at her husband.
"I'm here." Neji assured her. "I'm here." Speaking into her loose hair as he held her tightly in his arms, Neji wished they could stay close like that forever, but knew it wasn't the time. Hesitantly, he pulled away to look down at his beloved wife.
"I-I" Tenten openly sobbed; pulling Neji back to her as tears began running down her face at her joy of being reunited with her husband.
"I promised I would always return to your side, did I not?" Neji held the kunoichi comfortingly; attempting to reassure her that he was in fact there.
He was certain, for Tenten, the entire experience had been a terrifying nightmare come to life. Remembering the dreams she had had weeks, even months, leading up to their return to the village, Neji wondered if perhaps she had somehow seen this coming. But how that was possible, he could only imagine.
"Neji?" The pink-haired kunoichi reluctantly interrupted the two lover's reunion.
"Hai." Neji stepped aside to allow Sakura to attend to his wife; who once more winced in pain, as another contraction shot through her.
"Neji!" Tenten reached out for Neji's hand. "Ah."
"I'm here." He reassured her; softly squeezing her hand as another labor-pain pierced into her.
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"You came." The white-haired former ANBU glared hatefully at Ryoku; without even looking at the other ninja who were with him. "But you are too late. As we speak, your precious daughter is breathing her last."
Ryoku removed his mask; returning the man's glare as the two faced each other for the first time in years. The surrounding landscape littered with shinobi that the three Leaf ninja had easily managed to defeat in an effort to get Tekinai's attention.
Ignoring the white-haired mans comment, certain that Neji would protect Tenten; Ryoku icily faced his former friend and teammate. He needn't worry for the pregnant kunoichi; all that mattered was that the younger shinobi be able to escape unharmed, to take Tenten and the child that was being born, back to Konoha where it was safe.
"What are you after, Tekinai?" Ryoku asked; though he was already certain revenge was all the man was after.
"What am I after?" The white-haired man repeated angrily. "What am I after?!" The protective electrical shield Tekinai had developed as a child began spiraling menacingly around the Raiden clansman.
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"Okay Tenten." Sakura addressed the brunette from beneath Neji's long shirt, which they had used as a make-shift blanket to give the kunoichi some privacy as she delivered her baby. "You're fully dilated." She informed her friend. "When I tell you… I'm going to need you to push."
"Okay." Tenten nodded; her breathing labored by the pain and exhaustion she was feeling.
"You can do this." Neji reassuringly smiled down at his wife upon seeing a fearful shadow briefly cross her features.
"Okay, push." Sakura instructed.
"Ah - AHH" The kunoichi screamed as she pushed with all her strength. "Hurts."
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"This is the end for you." Jolts of lightning began shooting out of the angry Tekinai as he glared at the statuesque ANBU. "Today you will pay for what you did to me."
The white-haired shinobi slowly approached his former best friend. He had waited a long time for this moment; finally he would have his revenge.
"You had everything." Tekinai continued as he slowly approached the taller man. "A family who loved you, friends who admired you, talent, skill, genius…" The bitterness in his voice while speaking was more than evident, as Tekinai accusingly glared at his old teammate. "You had everything, and still you took from me the one thing that was mine."
Menacingly, Tekinai began gathering the electricity around him into his left hand; ready to aim it at his former friend. The same attack he had used to attack the Furi-iki clan many years earlier.
"You are wrong." A voice from his right interrupted the white-haired shinobi just as he was about to attack.
Tekinai had been so fixated on Ryoku that he had scarcely taken notice of the two others who stood over his defeated shinobi. He had barely made note of Oushi's Ox mask, but he had not taken much notice of the smaller masked ANBU standing farther out of his line of sight… until now.
"How dare you?" Tekinai angrily glared at the kunoichi wearing the mask of a crane.
The bolts of lightning surrounding him began wildly shooting out in random directions as he glared at the woman wearing his sisters ANBU mask.
"You." He turned towards Oushi. "She was your woman was she not?" He accusingly demanded of the Ox ANBU; disclosing to the older man that he had known all along about the two teammate's affair, despite their attempts to conceal it from him. "How could you allow someone else to wear her mask?"
Angered by the sight of such disrespect towards the memory of his sister, Tekinai immediately prepared himself to attack. Once more gathering the surrounding lightning element in the air around him, he charged at the kunoichi, determined to punish her for first, for such an insulting transgression. He would deal with the other two after.
"Wait!" Oushi panickingly shouted as he leapt toward the kunoichi; attempting to intercept the lightning attack aimed at the kunoichi. "No!"
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"Agh." Oushi painfully opened his eyes only to be faced with a blindingly white light above him. "Am I…"
"It is a hospital light." Ryoku's voice clarified before the older man could finish asking.
"Oh." Oushi groaned, as he turned to face the other man. "What happened?" He asked his old friend.
The last thing he could remember was jumping in front of a lightning bolt aimed for Tereya. At the time, he hadn't been thinking, when his body had acted of its own volition. Regardless, however, he would have done the same thing whether he had had time to think or not.
"Tereya-" Oushi shot up from his bed, remembering the danger his beloved had been facing, when last he had been conscious. "Agh." Shearing pain shot through the ANBU head as he the soreness of his body reminded him he had received a near deadly attack.
"She is fine." Ryoku assured him, pushing against the older man's shoulder to lay him back down to rest on the hospital bed.
"Where-" He began asking.
"Resting in the next room." Ryoku replied.
Oushi nodded. "And Tenten?"
"Maternity ward."
"So the baby...." Oushi cautiously began.
"A girl." Ryoku answered. "Mayuki."
"Hn." Oushi smiled. He glad to know everything had worked out in the end. "And…" he hesitated. "Tekinai?"
"Dead."
.:..:..:..:..:.:..:..:..FLASHBACK..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:.
"OUSHI!" The Navy-haired kunoichi ran to the side of the fallen shinobi; removing her mask as she fell to her knees and lifted the man's head onto her lap.
"No." Tekinai took a step back as he saw the woman in front of him clearly. "That… impossible." A terrified expression marred his features as he looked upon Tereya; refusing to believe it was really her. "You can not be…"
"I am." Tereya cut in; discretely pulling out the deadly electrical charge her brother had shot into the unconscious man.
Oushi had been reckless.
She was a Raiden, a lightning bolt would not have harmed her, as she would have been able to dispel the charge out of her without much difficulty. Even though Tekinai had always been more skilled at lightning jutsu then she was, Tereya would still have been better able to protect herself from an attack then Oushi.
"No." Tekinai disbelievingly shook his head.
"It is me." Tereya repeated. "I survived."
"How?" Tekinai anxiously asked. "Why…You died."
"I did not." Tereya replied.
"Then…" He hesitated; almost as if he knew he would not like the answer to his question. "Why did you not return?"
"Because…" A mournful expression crossed the kunoichi's face as she looked up at her brother. "It was too late."
"Too late?" He repeated questioningly.
"Do you not see, brother?" Tereya asked. "You are not well." She added. "Your mind had been corrupted."
"No." Tekinai denied. "I…"
"You massacred the Furi-iki clan. They treated us like family, and you killed them." She accusingly reminded him. "You incited a rebellion; you released a demon to destroy the village; you tried to eliminate your best friend; you tried to kill me."
"I… I…" The expression on the white-haired shinobi's face became distorted, as his thoughts raced through his mind, thinking of what his sister had said. "NO!" he angrily shouted; his expression one of pure hatred as looked upon the woman kneeling on the floor. "This is a trick. Genjutsu. You can not be her. She died… she…" Lightning began shooting out of his eyes as he venomously glared at the kunoichi. "NO!" He shouted before heatedly charging at the woman in blind anger; pulling a kunai from his coat to ensure the kunoichi's death. "DIE- ack, ack."
Silenced, Tekinai slowly fell to his knees. Behind him, Ryoku pulled the dagger he and Neji had found, out of the white-haired shinobi's back, before turning apologetically at the blue-haired woman looking up at them.
"Gomen." Ryoku apologized to the kunoichi.
"It was inevitable." Tereya replied; running her fingers through the hair of the man in her lap as attempted to hold back the tears.
It had ended the way it had been meant to.
She did not fault Ryoku. But it still hurt.
He was her brother after all…
.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..END FLASHBACK.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..
"How is she?" Oushi asked concerned.
"She will survive." Ryoku replied; still evidently pained by what he had had to do.
"And you?"
"It was inevitable." He repeated the kunoichi's words.
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"She's beautiful." Tenten smiled down at the tiny girl resting comfortably in her arms.
"She takes after her mother." Neji replied; wrapping his arm around his wife as the two sat snuggly together on Tenten's hospital bed.
It was the day they would finally be released. So much had happened in so little time.
Tereya had recovered and filled in all of the gaps that had been left undisclosed. She informed the Hokage that her clan was still very much alive; most of them living in scattered throughout the five nations. It was disclosed that Neji's own mother had been sent to Konoha by Raiden elders who possessed the Yochigan. There, she had met Neji's father and subsequently fallen in love and married; leading to the birth of Neji, who was revealed to be half Hyuga, half Raiden. The Byakugan, being a dominate trait, had concealed the Raiden genes Neji carried. Genes, which Mayuki had apparently inherited in the Yochigan eye; resulting in the prophetic dreams Tenten had been experiencing during her pregnancy.
"I love you." Tenten pressed her head into her husband's shoulder; watching their precious daughter sleep.
"I love you too." Neji tenderly cupped her chin in his hand before bringing his lips down to meet hers in a deep and passionate kiss.
"Umm." Tenten blissful smiled as she looked up into his pale eyes. "And now we live happily every after?" She asked.
"Hai." He smiled back remembering the promise they made the first day after they fled from Konoha.
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AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER…
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A/N: OMG, it's done!... well I hope that this ending was to your liking. Even though there wasn't a big fight scene (which I warned you there wouldn't be), I kind of did end up liking the ending… I want to thank everyone who has been following this story from the start (WIND AND DRAGON), and everyone else who's joined. Thank you all for reading, and especially for those of you who have reviewed… I might do a 3rd part to this story about the Konoha 11's kids, but it all depends on what you all think… I have a poll on my profile where you can vote (or you can send me a PM or review)… but I suggest you wait on deciding whether or not a 3rd part will be necessary until after I've written the Epilogue… it should be up no later than tomorrow morning… or late tonight… again thank you all for reading this story… and I hope you like the Epilogue. ;)