Chapter Eight: Shockulating

The road provided Neji a variety of emotions and feelings, some of comfort and some of pain. In ways, leaving the Artsuma mansion felt as if he were running away from his problems and his pain, which was a blessing and a curse in it of itself. Neji was constantly reminding himself that their destination, Onashi, held further clues to Tenten's kidnappers, her whereabouts, and perhaps even Tenten herself.

Neji looked at Lee who was running beside him. He was still a bit angry with his friend, who when they were packing for the trip had dumped a bucket of water on his head and forced him to take the time to shave the stubbly beard that had been growing on his face.

All threats of hygiene aside, Lee's arrival and continued presence at Neji's side was probably the only thing that prevented Neji's bad mood from turning into an outright killing spree reminiscent of the Uchiha massacre.

The hard-packed dirt road felt good under his feet. Each step was a step closer to Tenten. With the goal so close, Neji finally began to wonder what exactly would happen when he found Tenten. Embarrassing memories of how he let his emotions get the better of him and her humiliating rejection flashed through his head. An unwanted blush crept into his pale cheeks and his brows knitted angrily. He would do better this time, he promised himself. He would control himself and most importantly, he would apologize.

And yet, with such strong resolve in mind, he could not stop his mind from wandering and playing out cheesy fantasies in which Tenten ran into his arms, they got married, and had a "crap-load" of mini-Nejis and mini-Tentens. Someone slap me, Neji thought miserably, realizing with a pang that if Tenten was there, she would have "jokingly" complied with that desire of his.

Sleeping had quickly become a difficult task for Tenten. It was extremely difficult to attempt the feat in the cramped confines of her closest which did not enable her to assume anything resembling a comfortable position. Tenten's discomfort was further advanced by the rope which bound her hands awkwardly in front of her. Even worse was that Ren, Nonako, and Tomui had only very reluctantly after much hysteria provided her with a shabby excuse for a blanket to keep back the cold.

As a result of these combined conditions, Tenten's slumber was restless and disjointed. She dozed in short bursts through the night and through the day considering that there was little else to do after she discovered that she wasn't learning anything useful by pressing her ear to the door and listening to Ren's and Nonako's arguments.

Tenten's dreams were also of a disjointed, sporadic, and often confusing nature. She could comprehend little of such dreams…

The crisp air of fall hung over Konoha like a gauzy veil. Bright eyes caught the sun from every direction from within the safely guarded walls of the Leaf Ninja Academy which with the turning of the seasons had flooded with students, some new, some old, once again.

Tenten was beginning her second year in the Academy and to mark the occasion, she had persuaded her older sister to arrange her hair in twin buns that forever after would become her trademark style. The classes and many of the students were new to her and the day passed in the blissful awe of new experiences until lunch.

Admittedly, Tenten was rather lonely. All her friends from the previous year had been switched to another class and no one seemed to show any interest in her at all. Determined to change all that, Tenten set her sights on a black-haired girl laughing with a few other kids in the lunch yard. She decided that this girl was going to be her friend this year. It would be great.

She ignored the groups of boys she passed. All they ever did was compare the size of their biceps and grunt. Such boys with no common sense were not suitable friend material. Tenten was feeling nervous now, standing so close to the girl, especially when the girl gave her a weird look.

"Um, hi, I'm Tenten," she said brightly. "Can I eat lunch with you?"

The mystery girl looked her up and down. "Why would I let someone who looks like an underfed panda bear eat lunch with me?" she replied snidely.

"What?"

"I said you look like an underfed panda bear. Seriously, is your hair supposed to be a joke?"

Tenten felt the color rise in her cheeks, but anger felt more important than embarrassment. "So," she said, eerily calm, "am I to understand that you're making fun of my hair?"

"Oh, so you finally understood? Wow, you're slower that I thought."

A small crowd had gathered around Tenten and this girl whose name she didn't even know. One extremely long-haired boy with pale eyes pushed his way to the front. Tenten vaguely remembered from role call that he was from the Hyuga Clan. He was supposed to be the best in class or something like that, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was interrupting her in the process of getting revenge.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked nosily.

"Not at all," Tenten said brightly. She took a pair of kunai out of her pocket, enjoying the way the girl's eyes popped in fear. And she was going to be a kunoichi? How sad. "You see, this girl has a problem with my hair, so we're just going to settle it right now with a little blood loss, or maybe some SEVERE BLEEDING!" she shouted, adding a morbid laugh. "GO ON BACK TO LUNCH!"

The Hyuga boy sighed. "Your hair is fine and you don't need to kill this stupid girl to prove it."

Tenten turned toward him. "Huh?"

He shook his head and walked away, muttering, "Girls."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Wait up! Where are you going? Don't run away from me!"

Tenten was sitting in what looked to be a waiting room. For the life of her she could not even begin to figure out where she might be though she had a feeling that someone was going to show up and perhaps tell her rather soon.

A tall figure with a curious mustache was walking towards her from down a long hallway. When he got close, she realized that the mustached stranger was in fact none other that Hyuga Neji.

"Neji," she called, "what the hell is up with the lip fur?"

"Lee's eyebrows invaded my face," he replied.

"Oh," Tenten said, wondering why she hadn't realized it before. "Of course."

She felt warm. Maybe it was the blankets. Maybe it was the pair of arms she hadn't yet identified wrapped around her. Maybe it was the hot breath of her neck. It was nice.

"Tenten," a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

Now she knew who the mystery arms belonged to. Tenten rolled over to see Neji lying next to her. "I miss you," he said.

"I miss you too," she said. The look in his eyes frightened her. It was the look of a man hopelessly in love. She knew because that was the way her father looked at her mother and they were the most successful couple she knew of. "N-Neji," she breathed, trying to control her fear of his eyes and the promises they made without words.

Neji kissed her, trailing his fingers tantalizingly down her cheek and neck to her collar bone. "Yes?" he asked finally after he was done sending waves of delight through her body.

Tenten was breathless. "What are you doing to me?" she accused.

"What I've always wanted," he said huskily, making her melt in ways that were completely unfair. His hand slid down the curve of her waist to her hip. "And what you've always wanted," Neji added, planting another kiss on her forehead.

"This is like a cheesy romance novel," Tenten moaned, giving up on having any kind of normal sensations. "And it's not even real."

"Yes," Neji said, "but girls don't complain so much in cheesy romance novels."

"How would you know, Neji?"

"Shhh," he whispered. "I want you now."

"Fine."

No, Tenten's dreams were terribly confusing, disappointing, and just plain bizarre. She could not make heads or tails of them knew only that they seemed to carry one common thread: They were all about Neji.

The Lantern was not a bar that disappointed if you wanted a place that smelled blatantly of sweat and alcohol. Neji did not bother with asking Lee to "keep watch" as they entered with the evening rush of working men. He just would have to make sure Lee did not consume any alcohol. It was all fun and games ("youthful hijinx" as Lee called it) back home in Konoha, but abroad and more importantly on a mission, Neji needed to keep Lee sober.

Before Lee could even respond to the barman's casual inquiry as to what they wanted, Neji replied, "Sake for me, water for him."

"Neji, my friend, that's not fair!"

"Say that again when you can actually hold your liquor and I might reconsider," Neji replied without mercy. Lee sniffed but made no reply.

When the bartender returned, Neji said, "I'm looking for Nagano."

"That would be me," the man said guardedly.

"Muzichiro sent me," Neji continued.

The man relaxed visibly. "Oh. What can I do for you?"

"We're looking for information on these three people," Neji said, puling out the sketches and moving his sake glass, which Lee had been eying. Alcoholic, Neji thought.

"Ah, them," Nagano said, a pained look entering his countenance. "They come in here every week, pick fights, and only pay half their tab. Are you after them?"

"In a sense," Neji replied evasively. "Is there anything else you can tell me about them?"

"Yeah, sure. Their names are Nonako, Ren, and Tomui. They work for this really eccentric fella' called Nazuki. They're a bunch of thugs and the scourge of the town," Nagano said angrily.

"Where can I find them?"

"No one really knows where they operate from, but they come in the same night every week. Day after next."

Neji smiled, barely. "Thank you for all the help. We'll be back in two days," he said, paying their bill quickly.

"If you need a place to stay, there's a good inn down the road," Nagano said. "Mention my name and they'll give you a discount."

Kind as the offer was, Neji and Lee chose not to accept it. They didn't want word of them to spread and ruin their chances of catching the minions who had kidnapped Tenten. They selected an inn that was a bit farther down the road than the one Nagano had suggested.

Lee fell asleep first and Neji lay awake for a long time, listening to his friend's snores and thinking. All in all, Neji felt far better than he had felt the previous day. Tenten felt so close. He didn't even try to resist his dreams of her. There was nothing his tired mind could do.

Neji was awakened the next day far earlier and noisier than he would have liked, but shouting "yosh" at five-thirty in the morning was Lee's way and nothing could be done about it (Well, nothing but shouting, which didn't faze the spandex warrior, and throwing things, which had a result similar to the shouting).

Feeling annoyed and disgruntled, Neji abandoned Lee before he did something he would regret. He instructed Lee to stay in their room while he went out and "scouted the terrain." In a way, the scouting story was true. Neji needed to have a good sense of their surroundings if he was going to successfully pursue Tenten's kidnappers.

And that was how Neji found himself strolling the streets of Onashi with nothing to do in particular except to try and calm himself again. How bothersome.

"Hey, you!"

Neji walked onward, assuming the shout was for someone else. "You with the long hair!" Neji turned around, annoyed and highly vexed.

"What?"

"Aren't you the shinobi from Konoha to protect the shipment?" the shouter, a portly, middle-aged man in grease-stained clothes, asked.

"Different shinobi," Neji told him. "Shipment of what?"

"Metal that amplifies chakra," the man replied. "The last few shipments got swiped so the Hokage was going to send out an escort." Neji nodded remembering one of the other ninjas he worked with frequently complaining about how one of his weapons hadn't been fixed yet because of the shortage of the metal in question. Neji had said something snide about not breaking your weapons in the first place in reply which had immediately ended the conversation.

"I'm sure the escort will show up soon," Neji replied and left. He didn't care much for missing shipments of metal. He never used the stuff himself. It was useful for ninja with less chakra to spare because it made the chakra they did have more potent. It was also useful when a ninja completely lost control of their chakra, which though rare, could happen in extreme situations. The metal proved to be a good medium for capturing and controlling the overwhelming chakra in such an instance.

Neji forgot all about the metal when his stomach growled pointedly and he set out for lunch.

Author's Note: Hello, all. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. Just a heads up, you've two, maybe three more chapters left before this fic is finished, so it'll be wrapping up very soon. On a sentimental note, a big thank-you to everyone who has been reading every chapter and an especially big thank-you to those of you who review consistently. I love your support. On a small advertising spot, my friend Sonja and I are back with our humor fic, "That's What She Said," so if you've read it before, it's being updated again (though slowly because we have lives) and if you haven't read it before, I encourage you to read it (especially if you like my humor cause this is even better). You can find it in my favorites. We write under the co-penname Tragedy of Madnes. Okay, so I'm going to stop now. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!