Whew! Only two more chapters to go. I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out. While writing it, I'd had doubts about who he would talk to etc etc etc. Still, I'm hoping the end result was satisfactory. ^_^

I'd like to thank everyone who's stayed with me so far, who's reviewed, favorite'd and added my story to their Alert lists. I'd especially like to thank DarkAnonymous324 for his continued encouragement and support. This chapter is dedicated to you. ^_^

I'd also like to add that the contest from Chapter Four is still ongoing.

Oh, and for you anime fans, there's quite an obvious (other) anime reference in this chapter. I'm accepting any requests from the person who finds it. (short story, pairings, theme, whatever you can think of).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Eight – Explosion

It had taken Neji several hours to wake from his fever-dreams. Hinata had gone home long before, but Tenten was still seated at his bedside, holding his hand. The only time she had left the room was when the medical staff had come in to change him into the green hospital robes. Her feeble protests at their intentions were easily overruled. She knew Neji would hate to be dressed like that, in a color that even matched his seal, but she couldn't argue with the nurses; his clothes were unfit to be inside a hospital, stained by dirt and grass, as well as impractical in case he needed medical attention.

No, the only thing Tenten could do was to leave the room, preserving as much of his dig3nity as she could for him.

When she returned, her heart cried out for him, seeing how truly frail and thin he looked now that his Hyuuga robes weren't fanning around him. "Oh Neji…" she had sighed, taking his hand once more. She talked to him softly, knowing that he probably couldn't hear her. Still, she felt as if she might be soothing him with her gentle words and touches. She had been told he was dreaming and, judging by the occasional grimace or grunt, his dreams weren't always pleasant. It was at those times when she made extra efforts to placate him, hoping to take away his nightmares and give him healing sleep.

"Neji?"

It was the first thing Neji was aware of hearing hours later, when his pale lavender eyes opened fully. He blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, trying to place where he was. He tried to remember, but his recollections were still fuzzy and unclear. He knew that voice and the place he was in, but he couldn't immediately recognize either. He closed his eyes briefly in an attempt to gather his thoughts. It was then that he became fully aware of how bad he felt; his head was pounding, his throat was dry and sore and there was a gentle ache behind his eyes. The rest of his body throbbed quietly to the beat set by his heart.

"Neji." the voice repeated, no longer a question.

At the sound of his name, he turned his head in the direction the voice was coming from. He blinked slowly when he saw Tenten at his beside, looking at him with worried and relieved fudge-colored eyes. The lost, forlorn look in his eyes made her want to hug him tightly and stroke his hair.

She didn't.

"It's about time you woke up." She told him, emulating older times and a better setting. Though her tone wasn't the same as it used to be, Neji's eyes closed and the corners of his mouth quirked up in slight amusement and appreciation.

"The clock must be too fast." He countered hoarsely, bringing a smile to her own lips. It was the first time that he'd joked with her since before Lee was killed. Perhaps, now, he'd be alright. Her hopes were dashed the moment after, however, when he sighed heavily, gazing up broodingly at the ceiling through half-closed eyes.

"Are you alright?" It was a tentative question.

"I am feeling recovered." The answer was just as tentative. The kunoichi new he was making progress; though he'd begun to talk more and more, they'd still never had a conversation. Tenten didn't know whether it was a sign that he was recovering, or a sign that he was really out of it.

"The med-nin would disagree with you." she answered softly, still holding his hand. She became aware of her gesture when Neji glanced down at their intertwined fingers, then up at her. She blushed, but didn't let go. "You were pretty bad when we carried you in." she explained. "Fever, malnourishment, exhaustion. You've really let yourself go." it was something both of them knew, but hadn't breached. Before now, Tenten had decided on letting him snap out of it himself, but after the scare he'd given her, she had opted to snap him out of it herself. "You could have died."

"But I didn't." he protested softly, not looking at her anymore. His face was turned away from her, looking in the opposite direction.

"You didn't because Hinata and I found you." she countered. "If we hadn't, Lord knows where you would be now." Her voice shook slightly at the thought of losing her other teammate, the only person left that fully understood her. "You could have killed yourself!" she added, thinking of the kunai he had been clutching when they had found him. She had avoided the thought for fear of starting to cry at the prospect of him ending his own life.

Neji sighed and said nothing more. The two sat in silence until Sakura came in to examine him, Tenten left then for the night after promising Sakura to return come dawn.

After all, she had a duty to do by him.

Over the next few days, everyone was on high alert around the Hyuuga Konoha Eleven visited regularly to keep an eye on him. When their comrades weren't there, Hinata and Tenten were sure to keep him constant company. The only time Tenten and Neji had to their selves was when they strolled out in the morning to the training grounds near the north wall of the Hyuuga compound.

After the hospital incident, Neji had made a small effort to be less of a worry. He ate and slept more to ease hisfriends' and family's worry and tried to keep his hair in a more tidy state. He usually just tied it back in a ponytail, but it was better than the neglected tangle it had been.

One morning, as they reached the Hyuuga training grounds, Tenten turned to him and planted her feet shoulder-width apart. "Fight me." she told him decisively, already readying her scrolls.

Neji looked back at her, then sighed. "I'm not in the mood to." he told her in a quiet voice and turned to take their usual seats. He had only taken three steps when a kunai came flashing past his face, he froze and another passed over his shoulder, this time clipping his ear. Shit, she's serious. He thought to himself horrified as the soft 'poof' of more summonings reached his ear.

Instinctively, he lunged to the side, rolling to his feet as several senbon struck the ground where he'd just been. Facing Tenten, he saw the mad, eager gleam in her eyes that always accompanied the use of her beloved weapons. He barely had time to register that thought before she had him dodging again, weaving in and out to evade the waves of kunai she was using.

Tententook to the air, swirling and twirling as she unleashed a fresh barrage of weapons upon her fleeing teammate. Unknown to him, she was the one who had the control over their spar for once. She dictated where he would go and how. Having sparred with him for so many years, she knew how long it would take his muddled mind to assess a threat and dodge. Thus, she wouldn't injur him seriously. Just give him a run for his money.

Neji panted heavily as he ducked a spinning fuuma shuriken, his form drenched in sweat from the exertion. As he straightened, is vision blurred for a moment and he stumbled slightly. The kunai passed harmlessly over his shoulders. Suddenly, his vision snapped back in focus and, seeing a hail of senbon aiming straight for im, he placed one foot over the other and, screaming out as the pressure in him released, spun into his signature Kaiten.

Tenten smiled in satisfaction at the blue chakra dome as it deflected her weapons. She hadn't been sure Neji would do it, but she had been hopeful. She landed a few feet away as he kept up the rotation needlessly, burning the excess chakra out of his sistem. She could just hear his agonized voice over the roar of his chakra. Then, as soon as it appeared, the blue dome collapsed into itself and Neji stumbled, falling.

She was there to catch him. She always was.

Lowering him gently to the ground, shesmiled at the serene expression on his sleeping face. His expression was soft, his lips parted slightly in a half-frown, his eyebrows relaxed and arched. He hadn't looked this peacefully asleep in weeks, forever haunted by some nightmare or worry. Her warm fingers stroked his cheek and eyelids softly, almostas soft as her smile.

"Sweet dreams, Neji." she whispered as she sat down on the ground, his head and shoulders cushioned in her lap.

"Neji-niisan?"came Hinata's voice, soft in the rainy night. She had pulled open the shouji that led to the outer verandas, peeking out onto the wooden walkway that surrounded the main house. The patio was shielded from the rain by its roof, but still some raindrops splashed onto the polished floor, born by the wind. The Hyuuga heiress' eyes could only make out her cousin's silhouette as he sat and meditated in front of the raging storm, as he was wont to do over the past week.

Ever since that initial spar with Tenten, the two teammates had returned to their previous routine of daily spars. It warmed the young woman's heart to see her cousin flushed from the exercise and the wind. The spars had really seemed to help him recover; he ate and slept normally these days and engaged in more active conversation (as much as 'active conversation' could be called concerning Hyuuga Neji.). Yes, she thought, her cousin's physical form was well recovered and active now. The only thing they were all still worried about was his soul and conscience.

Hinata winced as a thunderbolt tore through the sky, briefly illuminating the inner gardens of the Main House. The med-nin knew her cousin cherished these solitary moments of meditation, like he always did. However, she also knew that, at the present time, his meditations only gave him time to brood and wallow in self-pity and loathing. Those emotions wouldn't do him any good; they might even knock him back into his previous downward spiral. No, it was their job as his friends and family to try and bring him out of it, to help him ease his guilt.

When she received no answer, the lavender-eyed woman sighed and padded out into the night, sitting down by him. "It's late and windy." she told him as if a thunderstorm wasn't raging right in front of them, as if the rain wasn't being blown onto them as they sat.

"I know." he answered calmly, his eyes closed. Droplets trickleddown his face and shine in his hair. As a new wave of droplets began to streak down his face, Hinata suddenly realized that they were tears, tears masked as raindrops. Looking respectfully away, she gazed out into the night.

"It's raining." Neji told her.

So he sensed me looking. Hinata thought to herself and, gingerly, reached into his lap to put her warm hand over his cold one. "Yes, it is." she agreed quietly, allowing him to retain his dignity. "We should get you inside before you catch a cold." Neji didn't answer her for the longest time; she was convinced he wouldn't answer, that's how long he paused before, with a grunt, he got to his feet and allowed her to guide him back inside.

"I'm worried about him." Hinata told Tenten quietly as she greeted the kunoichi at the Hyuuga gates. As she knew what time her comrade usually arrived to meet and spar with Neji, it was easy to meet her at the gates. "He's been growing more mellow in the evening, when he meditates. I know it's so obvious why and I know that it's completely natural, but I'm so worried... It's eating him up from the inside, Tenten."

Tenten sighed and nodded in agreement. She had also noticed Neji's low mood. When he was physically almost back to normal, it was all the more easy to see how low he was mentally and emotionally. However, being the stubborn, proud blockhead that he was, he would not allow them to help him with his pain. Not until they forced him to.

"I'll talk to him." she promised the obviously relieved Hyuuga. Deep down, she always knew that it would fall to her to give Neji his 'talking to'. Hinata was too shy and nervous to do it and Naruto... Naruto might have been a good idea, but she wanted to do this herself.

The only thing that scared her was that, in talking to him and drawing out his pain, he'd see how bitter and acute her own pain still was.

"Neji?" she asked him tentatively twenty minutes later. Her thistle-eyed teammate turned to glance her way, then returned his eyes to the road in front of them as they headed through the streets of Konoha towards their training grounds. During the last week, they had moved from the private Hyuuga training grounds to where they usually trained as Team Gai. Neither had proposed it. Simply, one morning they met up and headed in that direction in silent agreement. They didn't have to use words to communicate.

"Hn?" he asked back, arching an eyebrow slightly in question. Tenten took a deep breath, then let it out too quickly.

"Nothing." she told him, looking straight ahead even when he turned to glanced at her agan.

"Ah." he answered monosyllabically. The rest of their way was spent in a tense but companionable silence until the peace of the woodland area around Konoha soothed their slight nerves.

Once in their clering, Neji dropped to his usual position while Tenten took to the trees, eager to get the previous awkward moment out of the way. He had almost seen her waver, had almost felt her pain. No, she couldn't burden him with her own anguish, not when his was so much more consuming.

Thus, they sparred. Weapons met chakra, fingers touched skin and metal drew blood. They flitted from one position to the other, from one jutsu to the other, from spot to spot and branch to branch. As always, they were equally matched. Now especially, when both their minds were distracted, they were more alike than ever before. However, as Tenten was more distracted than him, Neji had the slightest of upper hands in their fight. When he knocked Tenten off her perch for the third time, he stopped and eased out of his Juuken position.

"What is it, Tenten?" He asked her firmly. His tone left no opening for excuses and lies. He knew something was up, and she knew he knew. In response, she sighed and dropped down from her branch, fiddling with the kunai holster strapped to her thigh. "Tenten?" he prodded her again, closing the distance between them. She forced herself to look up into his curious mauve eyes, then sighed.

"Neji, you can't carry on like this." she began roughly, wincing. I should have come up with something better!

Neji raised an eyebrow, then frowned, his expression closed. Instantly defensive. "I don't know what you're referring to." he answered her flatly, crossing his arms. Despite herself, Tenten found herself irritated with his ever-present Hyuuga pride. It was that irritation which fueled on.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." she retorted acidly, also crosing her arms. They were like mirror images; arms crossed, face blank and eyes filled with irateness and contempt. "ou can't continue bottling everything up, Neji! It's going to destroy you! Why can't you let down your stupid pride for just once? We're all here for you!"Perhas it was not the best way to draw out his pain, butdeep inside, Tenten knew that the touchy-feely way just wasn't them. What she wouldn't admit to herself was the reason she was so angry with her sparring partner; she saw herself in him.

Her words seemed to cut through Neji, who sighed and allowed his hands to hang loosely by his sides. The lack of fight in him made Tenten pause and assess the situation: for once, she was the only one who wants to quarell, the only one that was caught up in anger.

"I'm fine." Neji mumbled, but by the way his eyes looked at the ground in front of him and his soft tone, Tenten knew he wasn't even fooling himself, much less her. She'd rarely seen him so vulnerable. Relaxing, she took several steps closer to him so that she could touch his arm.

"Come on, Neji." she crooned coaxingly. "I know you. I can tell when you're in pain." she told him softly, the hand on his arm beginning a soft, regular stroking motion. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

The shinobi in front of her sighed and grit his teeth, his hands balled into fists. "No one else should have to feel as crap as I do." he said hoarsely. That little admission gave the kunoichi ground to work on. At least he had admitted he was, indeed, in pain.

"Neji." she called. "Neji." The young man looked into her eyes unwillingly, melted lavender meeting warm chocolate. "When you're in pain, we're in pain. Us, your friends, your family. Hinata's absolutely out of her mind with worry about you. So am I." the latter was said softly, in a whisper, almost.

Gazing into her warm eyes, Neji could see the genuine concern and honesty in them. With another sigh, he allowed his muscles to relax slightly.

Tenten smiled encouragingly and patted his shoulder. "Why don't you tell me? I'd rather share your burden than watch you torture yourself alone, Neji." she added softly, never breaking eye contact. Her friend sighed and, closing his eyes, he jerked his head to the side away from her.

"No." he said flatly.

"No?" she repeated, disappointed.

"I deserve this pain." he muttered darkly, his eyes pools of liquid sorrow. "It's my fault... If I never stop hurting, it's only what's right..."

Tenten could feel her heart swell in sorrow at his words and, placing both hands on his shoulders, turning him to face her. The sudden bodily pressure made his eyes widen in surprise. Her fiery expression only added to his shock.

"Neji." she growled, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes flashing. ":Never say that again. You aren't to blame for what happened to Lee." she stated firmly.

A flash of irrational fury swept over the Hyuuga's face and, with a swift push, they both disengaged and stood six feet apart, glaring each other down. "You know nothing." he spat acidly at her, his fists shaking. "You have no idea! No idea about what pain means, or about what I'm going thro-"

He never finished his sentence, as Tenten lapped him hard across the face, bridging their distance in one leap. The young man staggered back a step, his eyes wide in shock again as he gingerly fingered the red mark left on his pale cheek. In front of him, Tenten stood, panting, eyes almost wide with fury.

"How dare you! How dare you!" she almost howled, her whole body heaving. "I have no idea what pain is, huh? Huh? You fucking idiot!" she screeched and, throwing several kunai at him in a rage, she leaped into the treetops and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.

Neji was left, rooted to the spot in the middle of the clearing. Shock, pain and a feeling of dread were written across his face as his mind tried to process what had just happened. Part of him was furious with Tenten.

The other part told him he'd messed up. Big time.

Author's note: Whew again! That was a lot harder than I'd originally thought it would be! Like I mentioned, I was torn who would be the one to talk to Neji. In the end, I decided on a sequence. For those of you worried about Neji and Tenten, I promise all shall be sorted out.

Please look forward to the next chapter, Juxtaposed!

Also,reviews make Kari happy. ^_^