Author's notes: Just trying to get back in the swing of things after Christmas. :D This is a - gasp - Gai reflection drabble! And maybe NejiTen?

Without a Sound

Tenten didn't like to cry. He knew this because she had once told him so after breaking her leg in one of their first missions. His precious little swordslinger, the little girl who at eleven years old had amazed him with her talent with any weaponry and her ability to keep up with the prodigy, Neji, and the apple of his eye, Rock Lee, had refused to cry over broken bones despite the obvious pain he knew she was going through. She had bravely sat there, biting her her lower lip and her eyes very bright as they hovered over her, off balance. It had been early in his team's time together as a true cell and they hadn't quite been sure how each of the others would react to being injuried or watching someone else be hurt.

Tenten hadn't made a sound.

Her silent suffering though had been almost too much for Lee, who never liked to see his teammates in pain. In fact though, it had almost been too much for Gai himself who had never had a kunoichi as stubborn as his Tenten. As for his third student, Gai sometimes wondered if Neji hadn't been the one most affected that day. He and Tenten had always had a sort of tenous connection, one that made her tolerable in Neji's eyes, while Lee annoyed him. Whether it was because of her quiet, unspoken devotion to him or something else, he had never been sure. Even now after all these years he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Still, back then, Neji had said nothing, simply kneeling in the dirt by her side and holding onto her hand as Gai set her leg. The image of that stayed with Gai throughout the years, and as he looked upon them now he knew that Neji was still somehow holding her hand in support and Tenten was still holding in her tears.

Even if she didn't know it yet, he knew that Neji would be the one to make her weep. Whether over some emotional slight or a mission gone wrong, it was Neji that held that power over her.

Until then, she still refused to cry.

The End