Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc. The character of Ryo is mine, so I claim him.
Prompt: Heartache
Pairing(s): Neji/Tenten, slight Shikamaru/Ino (though it's subtle enough that you can see it as friendship if you like)
Warnings: Angst, minor character death (but I promise there's a happy ending!)
Special Thanks: goes out to kenzinator, DarkAnonymous324, Franoncrack, SeiraXD, Kratos Wilder, naash, and KNO for all your amazing reviews! You all keep me motivated, and I enjoy reading your kind words over and over again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Author's Note: This idea flowed really easily from my brain to the page, but for the first time, I didn't have a prompt word leading into it. I had to find the right prompt word to match the fic, but once I really got to looking at my list, it didn't take long for the right one to just pop right out at me. I enjoyed writing this one a lot, so I really hope you all enjoy reading it! Thanks again for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting my fic!
*~Heartache~*
What happened? What - was that?
Those questions - and several others - pounded through his mind in tandem with his feet as Neji raced his way towards Konoha. The warm and slight weight of his partner in this average-turned-insane mission rested against his back, head lax against his shoulder in unconsciousness.
Where had everything gone so - wrong?
One minute they had been making their way back to the walls of the compound they had infiltrated, undetected with the target scroll in their possession. The next they'd been spotted, guards descending upon them like the proverbial pack of hungry wolves. He and Tenten had fallen into the natural partnership fighting technique they had developed and perfected over their years of being teammates, easily dispatching the enemy at every turn.
And then Tenten - snapped. That was the only word Neji could think to describe what had happened. With his Byakugan, he saw Tenten get struck across her lower shoulders and back; he heard her scream; and then she went completely berserk. On a normal day she was good, on her best days she was Death in a human body. But on this day she turned into a vessel of pure rage, killing everything she or her weapons touched. Had Neji not been so fast, so familiar with her fighting techniques, and had not had the benefit of the Byakugan, he probably would have been cut down as well.
She had collapsed at the same moment as the final person she had dispatched. For a moment Neji had stood frozen in a sea of dead bodies, unable to comprehend what he had just seen. His teammate was no longer human in that moment … while there had not been a physical manifestation of such power, like with Naruto and the Nine-Tail he carried, that was the only thing Neji could find to compare to what Tenten had just done.
And her chakra levels… Only Naruto's could compare and surpass.
That had been almost a day ago, and Tenten had still not woken. Neji hadn't dared to stop for more than a few minutes at a time to drink some water or eat something to keep his energy levels from lagging. Though there were no physical signs of injuries on the parts of her body that he could see, he knew something had to be causing her lack of consciousness. And he had a horrible feeling that it was caused by her earlier display.
The pair waiting at the gates of Konoha took only long enough to confirm Neji and Tenten's identities before letting the Hyuuga continue on his journey to the hospital. Mission protocol dictated he report straight to the Hokage, but at that moment he was more concerned with his partner's health than mission protocol. The scroll was safely inside the gates of Konoha, and that was what mattered.
Ino was the first to see Neji coming, since she had been taking a break from her duties long enough to sit on the front steps of the hospital and eat some dango with Shikamaru, who had brought them to her. When she saw the state her friend Tenten was in, she leaped to her feet and rushed to open the doors for Neji. "Follow me!" she ordered curtly.
Neji did as ordered, watching as the loud blonde used her volume to call for a gurney. A few moments later she was obeyed, and he carefully put Tenten down. Ino started her examination before he had even fully released his kunoichi partner. "What happened?" she asked, still feeling for broken bones.
"I'm - not really sure," he said. In as few words as possible, he described what had happened as best he could. "She hasn't regained consciousness since."
The blonde's already porcelain complexion went even whiter as her blue eyes snapped up to meet his white ones. Whirling around, she pointed to the closest nurse. "You! Get Lady Tsunade and Sakura now!" she ordered. Grasping the side of Tenten's gurney, she started wheeling it back toward the emergency room with the help of two other nurses.
"What's going on?" Neji asked, following. He tried to stay out of the way, but he had to know what was going on with Tenten.
"I don't know," Ino replied, pausing as the other two wheeled Tenten through the doors and out of sight. "That's what worries me."
A few minutes after Ino had gone into emergency, a blur of pink and yellow passed by without a word - Sakura and Tsunade. Neji sat down outside the emergency and clenched his hands into fists, trying very hard not to burst through the doors and demand some answers. At least Lady Hokage had not seemed upset that he hadn't come to report to her the details of the mission…
"Neji!" Rock Lee burst around the corner in a flash of green and orange, sliding to a halt in front of his friend. He looked anxious, eyes wider than normal as he gazed at the Hyuuga. "Shikamaru told Naruto who told me that you were back from your mission, but that Tenten was injured! What happened?"
It never ceased to amaze Neji how quickly news traveled around Konoha. "I don't know, Lee. Ino, Sakura, and Lady Tsunade are with her in there." He motioned to the doors into emergency. "Hopefully it won't be long before we find out what's going on."
At first Lee opened his mouth as if to argue, but then he turned without a word and began to pace. Neji watched silently, understanding his teammate's inability to sit still, but wishing that just for once, he would learn to do so. His already raw nerves grated a little more, and he locked his jaw to keep from saying something he might regret later.
As time wore on, those of their group of friends not out on missions gathered in the small area outside emergency. Neji silently observed each arrival, not saying a word as they all waited. The others didn't seem too interested in conversing, either. After Naruto finally wheedled what had happened out of Neji, they all fell into an uneasy silence.
He'd been so focused on the doors, willing them to open, that Neji was almost surprised when they did. Everyone surged around Ino, who looked at them all with an uncharacteristically shocked expression on her face. Her blue eyes shifted from person to person, at last resting on those of Tenten's teammates, Neji and Lee. "I…" She shook her head once, hard, as if to clear it.
"Is Tenten all right?" Lee asked.
"Physically, yes."
Neji felt his hands curl into fists. "What does that mean?" he demanded.
Ino's lips compressed into a thin line. "I think it would best if someone else explained that to you," she said. "Lady Tsunade and Sakura are finishing up with Tenten. She should be settled into a room soon."
"Then we can see her?" Lee said anxiously.
Shifting uncomfortably, Ino glanced over her shoulder towards the door, then back again. "I think it would be best if you talked to Lady Tsunade first," she said cryptically. "Now then, you all need to move out of here so we have room to wheel Tenten to her room. Excuse me." With that said, Ino slipped back into emergency, probably to escape the barrage of questions it looked like everyone was getting ready to throw at her.
Neji remained behind as everyone else followed Ino's orders. Lee was the only one who noticed; pausing, he looked back, but Neji shook his head and motioned for the other man to go on. Lee hesitated, nodded once, and then walked on.
Only a few minutes passed before the doors opened again. Ino spotted him as she and Sakura were wheeling Tenten out, while she looked unhappy, she didn't tell him to go away. Neji, for his part, only had eyes for Tenten, who was obviously conscious, but kept her eyes closed and face turned away.
And then the Hokage was standing before him, arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrow. Neji had had few occasions to be truly intimidated by the woman, and he was too worried for Tenten to let this be one of them. "Please, Lady Hokage. What is wrong with her?"
The blonde let out her breath in a long sigh, tired toffee eyes shifting to look in the direction the gurney had disappeared. "Despite the fact that she asked me to tell everyone else, I think she would want to tell you herself," she said. "Honestly, I hoped this day would never come."
That startled Neji. She knew this might happen?
Catching his look, Tsunade sighed again. "Yes, I did know this might happen. You will understand everything when you talk to Tenten. Now go." She made a dismissive wave with her hand, and he barely remembered to bow respectfully to her before she vanished around the corner.
Having always possessed a sixth sense when it came to Tenten, it didn't take him long to find her room on his own. Neji paused for a moment outside, bracing himself for whatever he might find inside before he pushed open the door and entered the room.
Tenten looked much like she usually did, save for the fact that her hair was hanging in soft waves around her face instead of being pulled up in her signature twin buns. She was curled up on her side in bed, blank gaze focused on the window, hands clenched together just beneath her chin. Every now and then, she would shiver.
Tenten… Closing the door behind him, Neji crept across the room and sank down onto the edge of the bed, gently reaching out to take her shoulder and turn her toward him.
She flinched.
Snatching back his hand, Neji felt like she'd punched him in the chest. "Tenten?"
Turning her face into her pillow, she pulled in a ragged breath. "Why didn't you stay with the others?" she whispered.
Unsure of what to do with his hands now, Neji curled and uncurled them into fists in his lap. "Lady Tsunade said you might need me," he whispered. "And I needed to see if you're okay."
Tenten let out a short sound, and Neji was shocked to realize it was a bitter laugh. When she finally rolled over to look at him, he saw that her face was streaked with tears. "Okay? Neji, I'll never be okay again. Not like this."
Neji felt something inside his chest go cold.
Ino had already heard this all before. It was no easier to stomach the second time than it was the first.
All around her, faces registered shock, sadness - but no anger or fear, thankfully. She knew her friends well, and yet she had still been halfway afraid that they would be angry at, or worse, frightened of, Tenten now that they knew the truth.
Throughout the years, Ino had always been proud of her family's bloodlimit, of their special power. She had been satisfied to think that she could do something special to help keep Konoha, and by extension her friends and family, safe. But now she felt the first flash of hatred for her ability, all because of what Tenten had asked her to do.
Turning, she left Sakura to help Tsunade answer all the questions the others had, slipping back outside to sit on the steps and hang her head between her knees to stave off her sudden nausea.
Ino didn't realize anyone had followed her out until a gentle hand fell on her shoulder. Jumping slightly, she looked up into Shikamaru's dark eyes. "Oh," she said flatly.
"Nice to see you, too, troublesome." Sighing, he lowered himself to sit next to her on the step, propping his elbows on the one behind him so he could throw his head back to look up at the clouds. "She asked you to use it, didn't she?"
That was one thing she had always admired and hated about Shikamaru. Not only was he a genius, thus able to figure out things that would take a normal person twice if not three times as long, but he had always been able to read her mind at the most inconvenient times. (Though, to save his life, it seemed like he couldn't read her mind when she most wanted him to.) "What do I do, Shikamaru? She's already lost everything once. How can I take all that away from her again?"
He rolled one dark eye in her direction, studying her with the usual disinterest on his face. But his eyes betrayed the truth: he was as worried about this as she was. "We all experience things in life we'd much rather forget than relive or remember. Some things are worse than others." Now he sat up and turned to face her fully, expression intense. "On that same line of thought, we all have to do things we don't want to. But if it helps someone else, isn't it worth a little discomfort on our part every now and then?"
Ino smoothed her skirt across her knees, fidgeting anxiously until Shikamaru reached to snatch one of her hands to stop her. "Imagine if that were you in there. What would you want?" He didn't let go of her hand as he stared expectantly at her, waiting for her answer.
She let out her breath in a long sigh, feeling her shoulders relax as she let out the tension. "I'd want the same thing Tenten does," she admitted.
Offering her a crooked smile, Shikamaru leaned over and kissed the side of her head. "Thought so. Feel better?"
Letting out a shaky laugh, Ino nudged his shoulder with hers. "I know, it's so troublesome being deep. But I appreciate your effort. And yes, I do feel better. Thanks, Shikamaru."
The tangy scent of smoke stung her eyes and nostrils, and she coughed as she stumbled forward on her tiny, bare feet. She felt warm, salty tears pouring down her cheeks, and she sniffled as she wiped her sooty face on the head of the stuffed bear she clutched in her arms. "Mama?" she whispered, frightened. "Papa?"
No answer.
Now not even her bear could soak up her tears, they were pouring so fast. Between the smoke and her tears, she couldn't see where she was going, and that caused her uncertain three-year-old feet to stumble over the first thing that blocked her path. She landed on her face with a startled scream. For a long moment she lay there sobbing into the ashy grass, wishing she would wake up from whatever horrible nightmare she was suffering from. Her mama and papa would be there, and her big brother, and they would all hug her and kiss her and assure her that it was all right.
Finally she found the strength to push herself to her knees. Scrubbing her arm across her eyes to try to clear her sight, she turned to see what she had tripped over.
"Ryo!" Dropping her bear, she shoved at her brother's shoulder with her tiny hands, trying to wake him up. "Ryo, wake up, I'm scared," she whimpered.
He didn't respond, his face holding that same blank stare in the light of the fires flickering around her. Angry at his lack of attention, she reached out and tapped his cheek, knowing that that always irritated Ryo and brought him to attention in the past. But still he did not move.
As she withdrew her hand, frustrated, she saw something on his face that had not been there before. Leaning forward a little, she was shocked to realize that there was now a handprint on his skin - one that matched the size of her small palm and fingers. Suddenly she began to shake as she lifted her hands and rolled them over to see what was there.
Red stained her hands, some of it dry and crusty, the rest shining with its freshness. She recognized this as the same liquid she'd seen the other day when she'd fallen and skinned her knee - her mama had called it blood, and it only came out when someone was hurt.
"Ryo!" She shook him again, hard. "You're hurt! Or - I'm hurt! Please wake up, I'm so scared and I don't know what to do!"
She wanted to go find help, but she was afraid to leave Ryo. She was even more afraid to leave the small circles of light the fires made, because the darkness was waiting to swallow her up. If only she could get Ryo to wake up, he could protect her…
As if her imagination had created one of the creatures from her nightmares, a shadow appeared out of the darkness, face that of an animal, red streaks on bone white resembling blood. Screaming, she fell back, snatching up her bear as she scrambled to get away.
Stopping a few steps from her, the figure reached up to its face and pushed to the side. Now she realized the animal face was just a mask, like the one her brother bought at the fair earlier that year. The figure was no wraith or animal, it was another person, just like her. Only taller, and older.
"Who are you?" she whimpered, still clutching her bear. "Can you help Ryo?"
Most of the figure's face was still covered in a cloth mask, though he'd pushed his animal one aside. He gazed at her with one dark eye, the other covered by his headband. For a moment he was silent; then, lifting his hands to his sides to show her he wasn't going to hurt her, he knelt next to her brother, across from her. "What's your name?" His voice was gentle, and his visible eye curled into what she realized was meant to be a smile.
"Tenten," she whispered. Lifting a shaky hand, she pointed. "That's Ryo. He's my big brother. Can you help him?" she asked again.
The masked man reached out to her brother, placing two fingers against his neck, then leaning over to place his ear next to Ryo's mouth. He lingered there a long moment, eye closed in concentration. At last, slowly, he straightened, standing to step over Ryo and kneel next to her. "I'm sorry, Tenten," he whispered. "I can't help your brother."
Somehow she'd known this, deep inside her, when she hadn't been able to get Ryo to wake up. "Who are you?" she asked again.
One hand reached up to ruffle his already messy silver hair as he stared at her. "Kakashi," he said at last.
Hiding behind her bear again, she gazed at him steadily. He kind of did look like a scarecrow, except for the cloth mask and the dog one pushed to the side. "My brother is gone, isn't he? Like granny?"
Kakashi's eye widened, and then he nodded. "Yes."
"He's not the only one. There are two more - a man and a woman - over there."
At the sudden voice behind her, she yelped and threw herself at Kakashi, clinging to him as she buried her face against his neck. He fell backwards from his crouch, arms locking around her in a surprised catch. "It's okay," he said, awkwardly patting her. "That's my friend, see?"
Hesitantly, she peeked up to see another man standing there. He'd taken his friend's cue and pulled off his own mask, revealing wide dark eyes and a kind expression. A metal plate framed his face, the insignia on it matching the one on Kakashi's headband. "Who are you?" she asked.
Stepping forward, he knelt and smiled at her. "I'm Tenzou. You're…?"
"Tenten," Kakashi said, gently prying at her arms around his neck. The two men shared a look she couldn't decipher, and then Tenzou turned to look at Ryo, face sad like her mama's had been when granny had gone away.
Kakashi touched her shoulder, drawing her attention back to him. "Do you know what happened here?" he asked her.
Since she no longer could cling to him, she went back to hugging her bear. It was the only familiar thing left in her shaken world. "No," she whispered. "Are mama and papa gone, too?"
Tenzou nodded once without looking up. "I'm afraid so." When he did lift his gaze, he avoided hers. "What are we going to do?" he asked.
She didn't know either of these men, but her fear of being alone overrode her caution, and she grabbed at Kakashi again. "Don't leave me alone!" she wailed.
Once more, he patted her back in a gentle but uneven rhythm. "It's all right," he said. "We're not going to leave you alone." Looking at Tenzou, he said, "You're sure there's no one else?" At the other man's brisk shake of the head, he sighed. "I'll take her to the Hokage. He'll know what to do, and I'll send someone back here to relieve you and - clean up." Kakashi settled her onto his back, and though she wanted to protest their leaving her brother behind, she couldn't stay awake long enough to do so.
Tenten was afraid to open her eyes and look at Neji. She knew what she would find there - anger, disapproval, and, most hurtful of all, probably fear as well. "Do you understand, Neji? I killed my family. My parents, my brother, all that was left of our tiny clan. And the horrible thing is, I didn't even realize it. There's something horribly wrong with me, and up until now, the seal that the third Hokage used to keep my power in check and suppress my memories has stayed intact, though it's weakened slowly over the years. But now it's broken, and - and I can't help but think I broke right along with it."
A warm, familiar hand suddenly grasped hers, and Tenten snapped her eyes open in surprise. "Neji…?"
He wasn't looking at her with anger, or disgust, or fear. Instead, his face and eyes were filled with sadness, touched with realization. "That's why you never had a last name," he whispered. "Why you never talked about your past or your family. You couldn't remember."
She nodded. "And I never knew better. I just believed what everyone told me." Tenten watched Neji warily, waiting for everything to catch up to him, and for him to leave her. Why would he want to be associated with a murderer like her? "Lady Tsunade said that the shock of unleashing my bloodlimit after all these years, combined with all those suppressed memories coming back, is what made me fall unconscious for so long."
Hand tightening slightly around hers, Neji reached out with his free hand to tilt her chin up so she'd look at him. "I was worried, you know."
Tenten turned her head away again, though she didn't pull her hand away from Neji's. "Why?" she asked.
"This doesn't change anything, Tenten. I still care for you as deeply as I did before. You're still my teammate, my friend. And you're still the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, because I still love you." He brushed her left ring finger with his thumb briefly, a reminder of the ring she didn't wear to keep their secret for a little while longer. Back when everything was still normal, when she was still just Tenten, Weapons Mistress of Konoha, an unremarkable girl with a home she loved and a fiancé who loved her as much as she loved him...
Now everything was different. She was different. "You should know, Neji…"
His eyes narrowed slightly in concern, but he nodded for her to go on.
"I've asked Lady Tsunade to seal away my powers again. And I've asked Ino to - to suppress my memories." She shook her head. "I know I'm being a coward. I know you'll hate me for running away, but … Lady Tsunade and I both feel this is what's best for the Village, and everyone in it. She's going to keep a close eye on me, to make sure my seal doesn't break again and recall my memories."
Neji leaned forward, eyes closing as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He did that so often, but this time was different, so bittersweet it brought a lump to her throat. "I'm not going anywhere, Tenten. I promise."
"But I'm leaving you, and everyone else, with the burden of knowing what I am. I'm such a coward!"
Shaking his head, Neji rested his fingers against her mouth. "No. I promise my shoulders are strong enough to bear this for both of us. And our friends are just that, our friends. I promise you that they will be here, too. We all will. Think of it this way: with all of these people looking out for you, there is little chance of anything like this ever happening again. And you are not a coward, nor are you a what. You are Tenten - soon to be Hyuuga Tenten. You are the Weapons Mistress of Konoha - a best friend, a great kunoichi, a loyal and valiant woman whom I love with all my heart, and nothing will ever change that. I promise."
Everyone had stayed to see if Ino and Lady Tsunade's efforts had been a success. Hours passed, and Neji listened to the soft conversations flowing around him, only occasionally inserting a comment of his own here or there. All he could think about was the broken look on Tenten's face, the tear tracks on her cheeks, how she had kissed him like she expected never to see him again right before he had left the room so he wouldn't be in the way during Lady Tsunade's and Ino's procedures.
She would be all right. As he'd told her, she was Tenten, and Tenten would occasionally falter, but she never failed. She was always okay in the end, and he would make sure of that.
The door opened, and once more all of them swarmed around Ino and the Hokage, except this time Sakura was among their numbers. "How is she?" Lee asked for all of them.
Tsunade closed her eyes and nodded. She looked exhausted, but pleased. "It was a success. Her powers are once more sealed away."
"As are her memories," Ino added quietly. She met Neji's eyes briefly, then glanced away.
"You may all see her, but only two at a time, and only for a couple of minutes. She's still asleep, and will be for a while, so please keep it short." Tsunade left, and Sakura and Hinata slipped into the room.
Neji stood back, allowing everyone else to go first. He wanted to be the last, mostly because he wanted to be able to stay longer, and hopefully be there when she woke up. He'd promised her he'd be there for her, and he planned on keeping that promise.
Two by two, they all slipped into the room, stayed a couple of minutes, and then came back out. At last only Neji remained, and it was a relief to slip into Tenten's quiet room and drop into the chair next to her bed.
The hospital settled into the peacefulness of the night shift. Occasionally he would hear a night nurse pass by on some errand, but other than that, he felt like he and Tenten were the only people left in the world. Feeling not the least bit tired, despite the fact that he'd been awake for almost seventy-two hours straight, Neji gathered Tenten's hand into both of his and held it to his lips as he just watched her peaceful face, waiting for her to wake up.
The first brushes of orange and purple were on the horizon when Tenten finally drew in a deeper breath than usual and opened sleepy eyes. For a moment she searched aimlessly until her eyes settled on him, and then she smiled. And in her expression, in her eyes, the old Tenten was back, having lost the crushing weight of guilt over what had happened so long ago. "Neji," she whispered. "What's going on? Am I in the hospital?"
"Yes," he whispered. Leaning forward, he brushed some stray hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. "But you're all right, Tenten. And you always will be." I promise.
*~The End~*
Author's Ending Notes: Another one that was closer to three days than two to update, but it's 11 pages long! I actually woke up with this idea in my mind, and I knew I had to write it, and I've been working on it like a crazy person every available second. This idea of Tenten having a bloodlimit and all that is probably very cliché, but I just had to take a crack at it, I liked the idea so much. And just in case I didn't explain it well enough in the fic, Tenten's bloodlimit unleashed itself when she was three years old, and since she was so young, she had no idea how to control it, so she killed her family. The strain on her young body was so harsh that she actually blacked out for a while, and woke up to the destruction, even though she didn't remember what had happened. That she didn't understand until the events of this fic, when the seal broke and her memories returned, and now she's old enough to understand what happened when she was a little girl. I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope that it turned out okay, and that you liked it! Thanks for reading!