Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Scars

Special Thanks: goes out to rao hyuga 18, DarkAnonymous324, naash, KNO, Awaiting My Prince, and kenzinator for all your reviews! You've helped me break 150, and I am so, so thankful to you all!

Author's Note: Quick thing about the last chapter - a couple of people were wondering if it was canon that Tenten knows Neji's blind spot. I'm not sure if she really does, but I like to think she does. As for this chapter, it was enjoyable to write, so I hope you all enjoy reading it! Thank you all again so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting my story!

*~Scars~*

Neji activated his Byakugan for the fourth time that hour, carefully scanning their surroundings before deactivating his bloodlimit once more. The fact that their three-man team had even set up a night watch was more habit than necessity, since they were only a day away from Konoha and almost two days away from the destroyed enemy stronghold they'd left behind them. Tenten had done a most excellent job setting her paper bombs to execute maximum damage.

Across the fire from where he sat, his and Tenten's teammate for this mission lay on his stomach, gentle snores the only sound besides the crackling flames. It was Naruto's last mission before becoming Hokage, and he'd practically begged Lady Tsunade to be allowed to come along, though the mission technically only required two members. But Neji had to admit that the blond shinobi's presence had been useful, since his ability to create several shadow clones had helped them cover more distance and complete the mission with fewer problems than just he and Tenten would have run into.

Sighing, Neji set his back against the log they'd been using as a bench earlier and stretched his legs out in front of him. They had discussed traveling through the night to make it back to Konoha sooner, but since it was Naruto's last mission, they'd decided to extend it a little longer for his sake. Neji had volunteered for the first watch, and in another hour or so he'd wake Tenten for hers.

His eyes were beginning to get a little heavy, and he was considering getting up to walk around a bit to keep himself awake when a soft whimper caught his attention. Now wide awake again, Neji sat up a little straighter and tilted his head, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the sound. It was close - really close. When the noise repeated, he realized it was coming from Tenten, who was twisted in an awkward position on the sleeping pallet she'd made herself, her face drawn in pain.

Nightmare? Neji went to kneel next to her, making sure to keep out of punching distance as he said her name softly, trying to wake her without doing the same to their sleeping teammate. He had to repeat, "Tenten, wake up," several times before she finally reacted.

Tenten shot up, kunai appearing in her hand as she tried to shift into a defensive position. Neji had anticipated this reaction, which was why he kept his distance, but what he hadn't expected was the way she hissed in pain and curled her free arm around her ribs, face distorting once more in agony. "Is it time for my watch?" she asked, voice slightly choked.

"No." Neji narrowed his eyes, smothering the urge to activate his Byakugan and check her over. "Tenten, what's wrong with your ribs?"

Light pink brushed her cheeks as she guiltily looked away. "I might have broken a couple of ribs during the mission," she admitted.

Might? Neji just kept himself from roaring the word back at her. "You've traveled all this way with broken ribs and you didn't bother to say anything?" he demanded.

This time Tenten scowled at him. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she snapped. "I wrapped my ribs myself on one of the breaks we took." She looked like she'd like to sink her kunai in him, but instead spun it a few times around her finger before making it disappear back to the place from which she'd originally pulled it.

Neji had suffered his fair share of broken ribs in his life as a shinobi, and he knew how difficult it was to wrap them correctly by oneself. Stiffly, he stood and went to his own bedroll, where he'd put his pack earlier, retrieving his medical kit before returning to Tenten.

She watched him warily, eyes narrow and face pale with pain now that her adrenaline and embarrassment had worn off. Her jaw was set with a determined expression he was very familiar with, but he was equally determined not to let it influence him. Kneeling between her and Naruto, effectively blocking her from the other's sight, he said, "Turn around. I'm going to rewrap your ribs."

Tenten's cheeks flushed again, a bright red that had nothing to do with how closely they were sitting to the fire. "Absolutely not!" Her voice squeaked a bit on the last word.

Unable to keep himself from scowling, Neji held up the med kit. "I know how hard it is to wrap your ribs by yourself. It's next to impossible to get the bandaging tight enough to offer sufficient support. Now turn around, Tenten, and let me help you." Why was she making this so difficult? And, more importantly, why was he taking all this so personally? It wasn't like they hadn't patched up each other before after a mission. In fact, he could recall several times he had accepted her help when his own ribs had needed wrapping after he'd cracked or broken a couple during past missions. Why was it so difficult for her to accept the same assistance when she required it now?

His teammate stared at him for another long, tense moment. Then she sighed, all the fight seeming to drain out of her as she turned her back on him, carefully pulling up her loose white shirt so he could get to the wrap she'd applied to her ribs herself.

Kneeling behind her, Neji unwrapped the bandages, careful not to apply too much pressure lest he hurt her further. She didn't complain, though he could see the tenseness in her shoulders.

As the last of the bandages fell away, revealing her bare skin, Neji felt his breath catch in his throat. Every shinobi and kunoichi carried several scars on their bodies, but for some reason he had never thought of Tenten as having any. Especially none like the angry red and white lines criss-crossing her visible skin, mottled black-and-blue from her fresh injuries. "Tenten, what…?"

She suddenly yanked her shirt down, groaning again in pain which the sudden movement had caused her. "Give me the fresh bandages, Neji. I'll rewrap my ribs myself." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"What happened?" he asked evenly. He realized he was maintaining a death grip on the new bandages in his left hand and the old ones in his right, and had to force himself to relax his fingers.

"It's part of life as a ninja," Tenten replied. "Scars come with the territory. Now please give me the bandages." She was hovering her hand over her shoulder, waiting for him to place the roll in her palm.

So that was why she was refusing his help: she hadn't wanted him to see her scars. "How did this happen?" Dropping the old bandages, he gently rested his free hand against her shoulder, not letting her withdraw from him like she obviously wanted.

"A mission." Tenten impatiently wiggled her fingers, making it clear she wanted nothing more than for him to give her the bandages and then go away.

Neji was already mentally reviewing the missions he'd gone on without Tenten, and the ones he knew for sure she'd completed while he'd been on his own. The scars looked mostly healed, but had not yet started to fade, so it had been a little while, but not a long time. He tried to remember a time when she had turned down training with him, or seemed to have been in pain during their strenuous workouts. He could not remember even a single instance, even though he knew she had to have been training while those scarring injuries had been healing. How could he have not known, instinctively, that something was wrong? And why had she never told him that she was hurting, that she needed some time off to heal? "Why did you not tell me?" Had he just been imagining things when he had thought they had become more than teammates to each other? When he had started to feel like she was his closest friend and confidant, and vice versa?

At last Tenten lowered her hand, her head bowing with it. "It would have served no purpose. What is done is done. I still have a job to do, and so do you." Her tone made it clear that was all she was willing to say about the matter.

It was a bit of an opening, anyway. "I wasn't there to help you then, and you didn't let me help you later. Let me help you now." He gently squeezed her shoulder, practically holding his breath.

Sighing heavily, Tenten shook her head in exasperation. But she did tug up her shirt again, allowing him to wind the new bandages around her injured ribs to support them until they got back to Konoha and she could go to the hospital. When he was finished and had made sure the bindings weren't too tight, Neji backed out of her personal space and looked away as she pulled her shirt back down over the fresh wrappings. "Thank you, Neji." The words were said so softly he almost missed them.

"You're welcome." Turning back to the med kit, he searched through it until he found the small packet of pain pills kept in each one. Breaking the blister seal on the back, he dropped the two small white pills into his hand and held them out to Tenten. "Here. They'll take the edge off the pain and help you sleep."

Eyes narrowing in disapproval, Tenten shook her head. "I've got next watch. If I take those, I'll sleep through it." Despite her determined words, the lines of pain bracketing her mouth and the way she tenderly cradled her ribs tattled on how much she needed the medicine.

Neji silently arched one eyebrow and extended his hand further, holding out his canteen of water with his other hand to further emphasize the point.

"All right. But I'm only taking one. We have to make it back to Konoha in the morning." Grudgingly, Tenten took the canteen and one of the pills from him, swallowing it with some of the water before handing the former back. "Thanks."

He quietly repacked the med kit, throwing the used bandages into the fire as Tenten laid down on her left side, taking most of the pressure off her broken ribs. He admired her greatly for making it as long and far as she had without letting on like she was in pain. Neji had had broken ribs himself and knew how painful they were, how hard it was to move and function normally as Tenten had been doing for even a few minutes, let alone a couple of days.

The last hour of his own watch passed quietly, with only the sounds of Naruto's snores and Tenten's even breathing to keep him company. As he moved into the first part of what would have been Tenten's watch, he added a little more fuel to the fire after scanning the area with his Byakugan again. As it had been before, all was quiet.

Halfway through Tenten's scheduled watch, he woke Naruto. In quiet tones, he explained the situation, then allowed the Uzumaki to take over the last half of that watch, then his own that led up to breakfast. It was standard procedure for the other two members of the team to split the injured member's watch in half, though Neji privately wished he had just taken the last two hours himself.

As Naruto settled in with a container of instant ramen that he'd brought with him, Neji checked on Tenten before settling into his own bedroll. Tomorrow was going to be a long day for Tenten, and he planned to help her as much as she would let him - and more.

Neji and Naruto dropped Tenten off at the hospital before reporting to the Hokage tower to debrief with Tsunade. Before being taken away by Sakura to have her ribs examined and treated, Tenten had summoned their target scrolls from one of her own, where she had hidden them for safekeeping until they returned to Konoha, and handed it off to him. Now that the mission was over and they were home safely, Neji felt most of the tension drain out of him. He was ready to go home, take a long shower, and then sleep in a real bed for a while. But first, he was going to the hospital to make sure Tenten was okay.

Naruto stayed with Tsunade to discuss "Hokage business" after extracting a promise from Neji to let him know how Tenten was doing. Somewhat relieved that the blond wouldn't be tagging along, Neji took to the roofs to get to the hospital faster. He wanted to get there before his teammate was released so he could walk her home and make sure she was fine, since he knew she would tell him she was even if she wasn't.

Fortunately, he arrived just in time. Sakura and Tenten were standing in the entrance hall when he arrived, the former handing the latter a small bottle of pills. "Take one of these every six hours for the pain," she was saying. "It also wouldn't hurt to put some ice on your ribs, and some time at the springs might help with the pain, as well." The pink-haired medic turned to Neji as he approached. "And you. Don't let her do anything strenuous for a few days. I've repaired most of the damage to her bones, but they have to finish knitting themselves back together on their own. And Team Gai training definitely counts as something strenuous. Strict rest and relaxation for the next five days. Got it?" She shifted her stern green eyes from one to the other, arms crossed.

"Understood," Neji said as Tenten sighed heavily. "I promise I'll make her follow your orders."

Satisfied, Sakura nodded once and then bid them both goodbye. Tenten tucked the pill bottle into her pocket as she followed him out of the hospital, moving somewhat gingerly since she was still in pain.

"Did Sakura give you one of the pills while you were still there?" Neji asked.

"Yes."

"Did you take it?"

Tenten scowled at him. "I'm not a child, Neji. Of course I took it."

Neji wisely allowed the subject to drop, and they spent the rest of the walk to her apartment in silence. Tenten invited him in, and for once he accepted, brewing her some tea and preparing an ice pack as she went to change out of her dirty, bloodstained mission clothes.

After he settled her on her couch with an ice pack, a cup of tea, and a blanket, Neji updated her on what Lady Tsunade said, then told her that Naruto had asked about her.

"Sakura will probably tell him about me," Tenten said, her eyelids drooping as her pills finally began to take effect. "Honestly, Neji. I'm fine. You can go home, get some - sleep - because that's what I'm - going to be - doing…" Her eyes closed, head rolled to the side, and breathing evened out as she fell asleep.

Smiling lightly, Neji quietly returned the ice pack to her freezer, refilled her tea cup and left it next to the couch, then pressed a kiss to her forehead before he headed for the door. "I'll come back in the morning," he whispered to her sleeping form. "And you had better still be here when I do."

When he showed up the next morning, refreshed after a shower and good night's rest, he did find her still on the couch, grumpy about her forced vacation but happy to see him.

She was surrounded by several "get well soon" bouquets of flowers and balloons, and once more Neji found himself amazed at how quickly news traveled around Konoha. He had a feeling Naruto was responsible, particularly since he saw a package of instant noodles sitting next to one thoughtful but slightly wilted hand-picked bouquet sitting on Tenten's mantle.

He was, however, secretly happy when she had him move three vases of flowers off her coffee table to make room for the bouquet he'd gotten her. She plucked the small stuffed panda bear that had come with them out of his arms, hugging it to her uninjured side as she gave him a bright smile. "Thanks, Neji, for taking care of me."

Settling down next to her on the floor, back propped against the side of the couch, Neji leaned over so he could kiss the side of her head. "Always, Tenten."

Perhaps neither of them would mind their forced vacation as much as they thought they would.

*~The End~*

Author's Ending Notes: I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. While enjoyable to write, I think the ending fell a little - flat. But I really do hope that you all liked it, and thanks again for reading!