Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Teammates

Warnings: None

Pairing(s): Neji/Tenten friendship with hints of more

Special Thanks: goes to DarkAnonymous324 and SeiraXD for your lovely reviews and kind words! They brightened my day and bring a smile to my face.

Author's Note: After the angst-filled chapter I gave you before, I wanted to offer one that is a bit more lighthearted. I really enjoyed writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it! Thanks again so much for reading, reviewing, and the adds to faves and alerts!

*~Teammates~*

He knew the moment he woke that he was not alone.

Neji lay quietly for a long moment, eyes closed, taking inventory of the many aches (some more severe than others) all over his body. The last thing he remembered was going out with the team Shikamaru assembled to find and bring back Uchiha Sasuke. Then he'd had to fight an enemy for whom he'd barely been a match, and then… Nothing.

Was he dead? No. He'd thought he surely would be, for it would be nothing short of a miracle for anyone to survive what he'd been through. But the smells meeting his nose - astringent and sharp, like those in a hospital - were surely not present in the afterlife.

Even his eyelids hurt. However, Hyuuga Neji was not the kind to give up easily. He forced them upwards, releasing his eyes from their veiling protection against the sunlight making a swath across his blanketed lower body.

So he was in the hospital. He'd been there enough to recognize the ceilings when he saw them. Neji sighed softly, contentedly, thinking he was surely going mad if he was actually happy to see those sterile white tiles. After what he'd been through, nothing could have looked more beautiful.

A soft sound across the room once more drew his attention to the fact that he wasn't alone. Turning his head carefully, Neji blinked sluggishly in an attempt to focus his eyes on the green blurs sitting slumped in the chairs by the wall. Gai-sensei and Rock Lee were sitting in identical poses: heads leaned back against the wall, eyes closed, mouths slightly open as they snored slightly, hands folded over their stomachs, legs stretched out before them. They looked like they'd been there a while.

"Hmm." The soft, discontented moan from his other side drew Neji's attention away from the two more excitable members of his team.

Tenten sat next to his bed, arms folded on the edge of the mattress, head resting on them. Her face, turned toward his, was pinched slightly, retaining small wrinkles of worry across her forehead and around her eyes, her mouth, even in sleep. Her light pink top was wrinkled, signature twin buns atop her head looking looser, messier, than their usual tight neatness. If Neji's team leader and other teammate looked like they'd been where they were for a long time, Tenten looked like she'd been there forever.

Neji blinked again, finally bringing his eyes into full focus as the patch of sunlight falling across him at last reached Tenten's face. She moaned again, louder, and rolled her head so her face was hidden from the invasive light. Another small, mewling noise (a yawn, perhaps?) escaped her throat before she lifted her head, squinting in annoyance at the sunlight. Turning her head, she looked at him blankly for a long moment, then blinked. "Neji?" Her mouth dropped open, then snapped closed as she smiled. "Neji!"

Her utterance of his name startled Gai and Lee awake. They both reacted at the same moment, in the same comical way, leaping up from their seats straight into fighting stances as they looked around for some sort of threat or danger.

Popping to her feet, Tenten leaned over Neji as she frantically motioned to the other two. "Neji's awake!"

Immediately, the prodigy was all but pounced upon by his sensei and self-proclaimed rival, who looked so relieved to see him awake that Neji didn't have the heart to tell them that he didn't really feel like excitement, or conversation, or much of anything, really. On the other hand, it was nice to see the faces he'd thought he never would again.

Licking his dry lips, he asked the question that had been hovering at the back of his mind since he woke. "The mission?"

Suddenly the room was very quiet, the other three looking everywhere but at him or each other. Neji swallowed hard, feeling the gnawing teeth of disappointment tear at his chest. "Failure." He wasn't sure if he was talking about himself, the team, or Sasuke.

"Shikamaru got out with minor injuries," Tenten said softly. "Chouji, Kiba, and Akamaru will take a bit of time to heal, but are better."

"Naruto…" Lee paused, wide eyes twitching skittishly toward the doorway. "He got the closest. He faced down Sasuke and … and lost." The bowl-headed boy cringed, as if expecting an explosion.

Neji accepted the information silently, not allowing his expression to alter one way or the other. For a little while he had thought, maybe even hoped, that they had a chance. But he'd been wrong. The last Uchiha was too far gone, he had seen that much with his Byakugan when he'd announced that Sasuke was cloaked in darkness. But perhaps not even he had realized the true extent of his own words.

"And you," a new voice announced from the doorway, "were close to death yourself."

Looking past Tenten, Neji saw a blonde woman standing in the doorway, arms crossed, toffee-colored eyes hard and angry. "Lady Hokage?" he guessed. He'd heard that their new Hokage would be a woman, but hadn't had a chance to see or speak to her before he'd left the village.

She ignored him, focusing her glare on his teammates as she advanced into the room. "I thought I said that this was intensive care, which means no visitors." Her arm swung around, pointer finger stopping when it was in line with the door. "Out."

The way Gai, Lee, and Tenten hurried to follow her command left no doubt in Neji's mind that this blonde was the new Hokage. He wanted to protest, to say that it was all right if his team remained, but decided it best if he not cross Tsunade. She looked like a woman that was easily roused to anger: and she had the power to back it up.

When the door had quietly slid shut behind Tenten, the Hokage turned back to him. "How are you feeling?" Once more, her arms crossed over her ample chest.

Neji spared a few more seconds to do another inventory of his various aches and pains. "There is nothing unbearable, Lady Hokage," he said honestly.

Tsunade's eyes sparked. "You were in surgery for hours," she said directly. "We had to cut off part of your hair in order to enable us to fix the extensive damage done to your body. In fact, when the med team found you, at first they thought you were dead."

In all honesty, Neji couldn't blame them. He would have believed the same thing - had, in fact, thought he was going to die right before he'd lost consciousness. "I am thankful such an effort was put forth to save my life," he said. "I would appreciate the chance to thank my saviors in person."

The hard line around the Leaf's newest leader's mouth softened slightly, as did her eyes. "I'll arrange it," she replied. "But, until then, I would appreciate honesty. How are you feeling?"

His eyes trailed unbidden to the drip hanging next to his bed, knowing it held pain medication. He couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud, because it would be an unforgivable show of weakness if a Hyuuga admitted he or she was in pain.

Nodding as if she had expected his reaction, Tsunade fiddled with the bag for a moment. Then she looked at him keenly, at last smiling when she saw his eyelids beginning to droop. "You need rest," she told him. "I'll come back later to check on you."

Neji was almost sure he heard the Hokage mutter something about not needing to because his team would undoubtedly be there again, despite orders, right before he fell asleep.

The next time Neji awoke, he felt stronger, more rested. Immediately he looked around for Gai, Lee, and Tenten, but only the last was there. Her hair was neater, she'd changed clothes, and her face wasn't as pinched as it was before, making everything seem a bit better.

Her expression brightened when she saw him looking at her. "Gai-sensei and Lee both decided that it was too risky for all three of us to come," she said, answering his unspoken question. Then she leaned forward slightly to whisper, "Plus, Lady Tsunade banned them from the intensive care unit."

Neji arched an eyebrow, wondering if Tenten hadn't been included in that ban. Seeing his reaction, she smiled sheepishly. "I was included, too, but I couldn't stay away. We all figured that the Hokage wouldn't be quite as irritated if she found only one of us here, instead of all three."

He nodded once, figuring there was nothing more to say about that matter. Having someone there when he woke was nice, especially considering it was the calmest member of his team, excluding himself. Tenten always instinctively knew when he needed quiet. She smiled understandingly at him and leaned back, pulling her legs up to her chest so she could wrap her arms around them. Then she turned her gaze to the window, which overlooked a beautiful courtyard filled with flowers and centered with a fountain. He had a feeling he was going to get intimately familiar with the view before he was allowed to leave, so he closed his eyes. Only images of his barely-won match assailed him, forcing him to open his eyes again to get any peace.

Before he could say anything to break the silence, the door rattled open, and Neji and Tenten both turned to see Hiashi and Hinata standing in the doorway. The latter smiled shyly at both occupants of the room, but the former's gaze focused solely on Tenten for a long time before moving to Neji. "Are you feeling better?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tenten's knuckles tighten to bright whiteness around her knees. "Yes," he replied, even though he wasn't. Neji had learned long ago that sometimes it was better to lie to his uncle, especially when the truth was something he would not want to hear.

Hiashi nodded once, curtly. His daughter nervously twisted her fingers together, pale eyes shifting between Tenten and Neji as if she sensed the sudden tension in the room. "I-I was going to see N-Naruto," she whispered. "B-But I w-wanted to c-come see how you w-were doing f-first." A bright pink stain spread across her cheekbones, tattling on her crush on the overconfident blond genin. "N-Nice to see you again, T-Tenten."

"You too, Hinata." Tenten looked directly at the shy Hyuuga as if to avoid looking at Hiashi.

Neji met his uncle's eyes, seeing something he couldn't decipher in them. He never knew what Hiashi was thinking, but it was usually a pretty safe bet that whatever it was did not bode well for him. "Thank you for coming to see me, Lady Hinata. Uncle."

Clearly taking his nephew's words for the dismissal they were, Hiashi said goodbye before accompanying his daughter out. As soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, Neji turned to Tenten. "Did I miss something?" he asked tightly.

Once more, his teammate was gazing out the window. Following her line of sight, Neji spotted a small bird perched inside a tangle of branches that almost resembled a cage. "No," she said listlessly. In that brief moment, her eyes glowed with some unidentifiable but very strong emotion.

They'd only been teammates for a couple of years, but Neji had learned to recognize when she was lying. He knew she was right then, but chose not to push the matter.

As if sensing his knowledge of her lie, Tenten stood abruptly. "I should let you rest," she stated. "After all, Lady Hokage said that that was the best thing for you to recover. And Team Gai just wouldn't be the same without you."

Somehow, it was harder to fight back his smiles whenever Tenten was around. This time, he didn't even try. "I'll be back faster than you think," he promised.

The dark look in her eyes vanished with her usual easy, bright smile. "I know you will." She hesitated, her teeth briefly worrying her lower lip. Just as he was opening his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she swiftly leaned over to press a kiss to his forehead, on his curse mark, where the skin was a few degrees warmer than the rest. "I know you will," she repeated.

When Tenten closed the door behind herself, Neji closed his eyes and easily drifted back toward sleep.

"Tenten, correct?"

Neji wanted to open his eyes when he heard his uncle addressing his teammate - apparently Hiashi wasn't as far away as he'd thought - but sleep was pulling at him too strongly. He only had time to smile for a second at the elder Hyuuga's next words before he surrendered once more to the healing sleep he needed.

"Thank you for being there for my nephew. You are a true teammate and friend."

*~The End~*

Author's Ending Notes: It bugged me a bit that Team Gai seemed to be nowhere around whenever Neji was brought back, mostly dead, from the mission where they went to find Sasuke. I wanted to write a little piece about the team being there, but it wound up taking on a life of its own and growing into this. (Originally, Hiashi wasn't even going to be there, let alone stop Tenten after she left.) Plus, I figured you all deserved a bit of fluff after the seriously angst-riddled chapter I posted before this one. Also, I think Hiashi does have a softer side to him, though he might not know quite how to show it. As the leader of the main branch of the family, he probably thinks he shouldn't. But I decided to leave that last little bit in, because I'd like to believe that Hiashi is a good guy and can be a nice person. Sorry for this long ending note, but I hope you enjoyed this oneshot, and thank you for reading it!