Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: They stand on the threshold of life, waiting to be liberated. However, not all things can be ended by Death alone...

Rated for: blood, gore, a suggestive situation, and character death.

Note: Yes, this is a two-shot. Also, it is a highly symbolic and thematic story (with romance), partly inspired by For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, as well as a few other things. I wrote this not as a tragedy but as a triumph in the sense that, even in the face of death, Team Gai will continue to persevere as is their nature.

This was produced from a challenge that I had posed for myself (and a couple of other authors) to include the theme of a "Tree of Life". And indeed, Team Gai is unified by a quality (or state of mind/being) that they all share(d).

I somehow incorporated a great deal of oxymorons.

Don't like, don't read. Otherwise, enjoy!

Forever Bound

Part 1

When you go free, nothing makes you happier.

When you hurt someone you care about, nothing can hurt more...

– Sophocles, Antigone

Neji felt the warm, earthy wind of summer blow against him as his team stopped.

"It is a beautiful day! Don't you agree?" Rock Lee cried and jumped as high as his legs would take him. He skipped out the gates of the village with a greatly evident happiness. Any passerby would think he was going on vacation, instead of a mission to wipe out a renegade bandit camp in the Land of Wind.

Sighing, Tenten, the weapons mistress of Konoha, shouldered her pack of provisions and trotted along restlessly. Neji walked patiently beside her. They were both used to their teammate's antics.

Lee turned back and shouted, "Hurry, and do not let your youth get away!"

Snorting, Tenten said to him, "It's just a typical B-rank mission." Then she muttered quietly to her other comrade, "What's up with him? He's usually not as crazy when Gai-sensei isn't around." Neji just shrugged stiffly in response.

Growing impatient, Lee jogged back to them and tugged on their wrists. Tenten protested in curiosity rather than annoyance, "Why are you rushing us, Lee? We just got back from an S-rank mission yesterday."

"We have to continue to grow stronger and build our endurance!" He faltered when it was evident she did not believe this excuse was the entire reason, for she raised an eyebrow warily. "Okay, well," Lee said in a tone of confession and scratched his neck. "Seeing Naruto-kun and Sakura-san trying to save Gaara-kun as well as Chiyo-sama's courageous deed inspired me to work harder, so that I may also save the ones I care about!" He flashed her a bright grin.

Then, slowing down, he continued, "As you well know, I am an orphan. You two and Gai-sensei are all the family I have. I vow to protect Team Gai with all my heart, or I will run two hundred laps around the village! With double the weights!" Lee promised rather loudly, drawing a wary glance from the guard at Konoha's gate. "And if I cannot do that, I will...I will...do four hundred push-ups!"

Neji nodded in acknowledgement of the Green Beast's good intention, though his way of going about it was silly, as usual. Tenten gave her enthusiastic teammate a half-smile, but a troubled aura emanated from her. "Let's just go," she muttered and leaped into the canopy, weapons in her pack clinking with the action.

Lee was close behind, exclaiming about her rejuvenated spirit, and Neji followed in the back.

When night fell, they were only about a day and a half's journey away from the Land of Wind due to their renowned speed. Settling in after eating some of the rations, Neji elected to take first watch.

Leaning back against the thick trunk of a pine, he lifted his gaze towards the heavens. The ethereal moon cast an eerie silver light on the clouds, which were few and far between. When it was not obscured by the clouds, it illuminated his surroundings in the forest. An owl hooted nearby.

Like Shikamaru, the Hyuuga prodigy enjoyed sitting and observing the Earth, finding appreciation in the stars and the endless blue skies. Whilst the human world bustled with superficiality, he found serenity in the extraordinarily pure flow of Nature around him. Chaos was the bane of his existence, while simplicity was the blessing of it.

After hearing Lee promptly fall asleep and Tenten squirming restlessly, he snapped out of his relaxed trance. He watched her readjust her body to rest comfortably against the tree, then he exhaled briefly and made his way over to her. "Is everything alright?" he inquired, sitting down next to her. Spending time with her had always been a breath of fresh air that blew away his troubles in the midst of his hectic daily life in the village.

Tenten turned to face him and, after a moment, opened her eyes. Rather than clashing, deep amber melted into pale silver. Now, after four years, they were both adapted to the eye contact that had been intimidating and delicately shied away from at first.

She teased, "Just checking to see if your team is functioning at full capacity?" When he blinked slowly, unamused, she smiled uneasily. "Sorry. I guess you're not in the mood."

"It's fine, but you didn't answer my question," he replied curtly.

Tenten laughed and scooted closer to him. Leaves rustled in the biting wind that smelled of pine. "I was just...um, reflecting," she said vaguely, even though she knew he would want a more detailed explanation anyway.

"On?" He often used one-worded answers, but the prompting was always obvious to her.

"The past few years. My destination as a kunoichi," she answered in disjointed phrases. "I'm nothing like Tsunade-sama. I am not skilled in healing, nor can I summon slugs. I realized that I should not emulate her; instead, I will become a kunoichi with my own name. I will not be known as a second Tsunade, but instead as Tenten of Konoha." She brushed away a branch of pine needles that had fallen ungracefully onto her shoulder.

Neji listened in detachment, but maintained a certain degree of interest. Her plans for the future seemed to change ever so slightly every time she related them to him, yet they had developed greatly from when she had been a genin. Her confiding in him never bothered either of them. He admired yet envied her spirit more than anything; his own, generic goals (for example, being selected to become ANBU - what shinobi did not wish for that?) seemed greatly meaningless in comparison to hers. Her dream was simple yet profound.

"I...well, I became something out of nothing, thanks to this team. Like Lee, I don't have a real family. I didn't have anything or anyone to depend on. I grew up alone, under the supervision of the Sandaime and various Jounin who never stayed long enough for me to become attached to them. But..." She trailed off uncomfortably.

A sudden wave of a familiar emotion washed over Neji, even as he heard these words for the umpteenth time. There's a certain fragility to her that I can never place...that I always feel the need to protect. "You, Lee, and Gai all have that in common," he spoke, however, without inflection.

No, that's just it. She's insecure because of her childhood. He felt his throat constrict.

"Yes, but you–"

"I was just as isolated as you three were," he cut her off in an abrupt tone that belied the intention of his words. She knew his manner of saying things was not always meant to emphasize his words. "I had the heritage, but...you know what I was like back then," he muttered thickly. "I may seem to be different from you, but we are all essentially the same."

Tenten smiled angelically and shied away from his intense, yet somehow gentle, gaze. She had never felt at ease discussing intellectual, deep topics. "Well, thanks to you guys, I'm a lot closer to my goal now."

He nodded, allowing her to relax even as she looked back at him. "A dream always seems far off, but it's just waiting to become a reality." Since Tenten was the closest thing that could ever come to being called his friend, he genuinely hoped that she would be successful.

She smiled widely at him. "Of course. I'm going to sleep now," she said, ending the conversation abruptly. She leaned closer, brushing her nose ever so slightly against his cheek. She smelled like the smoke from the fire. The ephemeral, fleeting contact caused something akin to flames to burn throughout his body. He wondered why she didn't simply peck him on the cheek as she occasionally would, but he knew that the platonic action meant she appreciated his presence nevertheless.

"Good night," he said quietly as she leaned back and closed her eyes. He watched as the ashes from the fire were blown away by the wind, and resumed reveling in the beauty that adorned the nature around him.

The end of the second day found them near the edge of the forest. Lee wished to go on further, protesting that they could reach the dunes by nightfall. Tenten told him gently that the action would be strategically foolish, and he relented.

After finding a suitable clearing to make camp, Neji sent Lee off to retrieve twigs for a fire. "There's a stream a kilometer to the southeast. I'll be back soon," he assured Tenten and left for said stream.

Flying through the canopy at a remarkable pace, Neji halted next to the river a few minutes later. A snake made its way along the banks, and the sunset bathed the scene with a warm glow. A flowering dogwood stood near the edge of the pool, and sycamores dotted the other side.

He bent down to refill his team's water bottles, tensing a bit when some leaves crackled to his left – he had not detected any foreign chakra signatures within his Byakugan's radius. He relaxed when a white bird fluttered through the trees towards him harmlessly. However, its wing got caught in the branches, and it let out a small squawk.

A messenger bird, Neji registered as he took in the small note attached to its leg and the Konohagakure brand on its underside. He got up with the bottles and liberated the bird from the tree's impeding branches. Untying the strip of paper, he set the creature gently down.

It was a letter from the Hokage. The bandits have relocated their camp to a place north of their previous location, he read. However, you may want to take a look around the abandoned area if you want pointers. Her signature was tiny, in flowing script at the bottom but slightly smeared. Neji took a glance at the white bird, which pecked at seemingly nothing on the ground.

"I guess it wasn't trained to return to sender."

Neji looked up, unsurprised to see Tenten appear in front of him. She picked the animal up with a gentle but firm grip as it stared at her curiously. Then, she looked at Neji carefully. "This is a nice place to rest," she stated offhandedly, referring to the clearing by the stream. She didn't ask about the message, knowing he would rather explain it to both Lee and herself at the same time.

"I don't think we'll be able to find a place this serene again," Neji agreed. "Let's return to camp."

Tenten inclined her head, holding the bird tenderly. They leaped into the canopy together.

By the time they got back, Lee had already kindled the fire. Ever the curious one, he gestured at the bird and asked immediately, "Is that a messenger?"

"Yes," Neji replied as he dropped off their water bottles. "The bandits moved their camp. But I'm planning to travel to the old location first to see if there's anything left that we can utilize."

Lee then inquired, "When can we arrive there?"

"Early afternoon tomorrow, if the first location Tsunade-sama gave us is correct," Tenten answered as she absentmindedly stroked the snowy white bird.

Lee nearly jumped in excitement at the prospect of having action the next day. "Okay! I'll take first watch tonight." Two nods of affirmation met his gaze. "And what do we do with the messenger?"

They all turned to the bird, which remained silent and unaffected by the attention, even emanating a rather haughty aura, as if their lives depended on the message he carried – a far cry from most other messengers that they received. Tenten lowered it to the ground and said, "Give it some of the rations for now. It's free to go if it wants to."

The Green Beast saluted with a grin and ran to get their packs. The evening droned on softly as they took a respite.

Tenten had calculated correctly: they arrived at the desolate camp, hidden in the valleys of the dunes, sometime after noon the next day. It was quiet, with only the gust of the sandy wind audible. A whinny from a horse cut through the air, the only sign of life other than themselves and the white messenger bird that had not yet flown away.

"Lee and I will go search for anything that could be useful. Documents, stragglers, or weapons, for example," Neji directed towards Lee, who nodded. "Tenten, go check on that horse."

"Roger," the other two affirmed. They split up to complete their tasks, Lee electing to bring the bird with him.

Tenten trotted quietly to where the horse's cry had sounded. Chained and standing in an open pen, it whinnied again as she came near, stomping the sand and rattling the chains nervously. "Good horse," she whispered, reaching a hand out to gently pat its mane. It snorted softly, seeming to find some temporary sanctuary. It was a beautiful white stallion. Rare around these parts, Tenten thought to herself.

Inspecting it for wounds, she came across a deep gash, conspicuous and bold against its white flank, which prevented it from moving too much. The cut was not a major wound, but the horse had already lost a lot of blood. The bandits must have left it here after it was injured, Tenten concluded. She then looked at the now dead grass that littered the ground. And a lack of food, she added mentally.

"Tenten," Neji's voice called softly from the dirt road. She looked up as he approached. Silver melted into amber. "Hey. Can you come check this out?"

He nodded when he arrived and bent down to examine the gash. The horse jerked, whinnying again and rattling the chains when he ran a finger gently down its side. Then the Hyuuga prodigy straightened and said over the pained noises and thrashing, "It's no good. We can't spare the bindings, and it's already near death."

Putting a hand on the horse and gazing at the injury again, she said absently, "Then – what do we do?" The horse let out a snort and stopped jerking.

When no reply was forthcoming, she looked up and saw him staring at her in – what seemed like, but probably wasn't – wonder. He mentally shook himself and said thickly, "I guess we have to put it down." How did she calm it down so effortlessly?

Her eyes (which he often thought were truly windows to her soul) became shrouded and closed to deciphering by him. They were at once fathomless depths which saw nothing but knew everything. A silent wraith, she backed away from the horse. Putting her discomfort out of his mind for now, he activated his Byakugan, anticipating the horse thrashing again. It didn't, and he located the particular tenketsu he needed to seal, knowing what he had to do. But is it right?

What he didn't expect was for Tenten to speak as he bent down. "Hurry up, Neji. I would want to be put out of my misery too," she said quietly and placed a hand on the back of his neck, causing him to tense with the contact. Her fingers were icy despite the warm air around them, and they sent shivers down Neji's spine.

Ignoring her hand, he put two fingers against the tenketsu point and pushed chakra through as rapidly as he could. The horse let out a small whinny and jerked violently, desperately, before finally falling to the ground with a rattle of chains. He barely noticed Tenten retracting her hand during the ordeal.

Neji got up and took a step towards Tenten. He saw her distraught expression, his throat closed up, and suddenly he was embracing her before his conscience could succeed in telling him otherwise, as it had all those times before.

He held her tight against him, protecting her fragility, and time stopped for a moment even as thoughts whirled through his head of her scent that smelled of trees, pine, soil, and everything earthy – an endless, compassionate, gracious moment at the end of nowhere, and he could feel the end never coming as there would never be a beginning and oh god, he loved her, had always loved her, and that moment served as both the end to an endless circle of doubts and the beginning of a new one and none of it mattered because they were there, still are there, lost, together, disjointed, united, separated, in what others call isolation but what they call loneliness.

Neji pulled back, his brain struggling to function again, and placed a hand on her cheek even as he tried to slow the palpitation of his heart. Trying to memorize every feature and every plane, his fingers gently, tenderly, traced her cheeks, her nose, along her eyes – no, yes, just the eyes, and not the emptiness that lies within them, because that would never be what he had associated and would associate with her in what future he had after this – and her chin, her jaw, her lips, everything.

Then, suddenly, she grabbed the hand that was on her face, and she quietly threaded her fingers through his. But her eyes were still empty and forlorn, and he despised it but loved it at the same time because it was her, and also because it wasn't.

As she pulled away completely, time slowly started again and he understood why she did so a second later. "Neji-kun! Tenten!" Lee cried as he bounded up the road and accidentally stepped on the chains, which rattled again. "I found a – oh, er, um..." he sobered up as he registered the dead horse at their feet.

"Don't worry about it, Lee. It had to be done," Tenten spoke without inflection. "What did you find?"

"A blueprint of their other hideout. It also tells us exactly where guards are posted." Lee grinned, immediately regaining his usual happiness in the midst of tension. "We are very lucky to have come across it! Now we can devise a battle strategy."

Neji nodded, half-hearing what he had said. He forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand and accepted the map that was held out to him. He studied it for a long time. Then, he finally said, "It's mapped out to be on a mountain, as indicated by the jagged edges of the clearing."

Lee's eyes widened and he looked around, gesturing at the flat, endless desert around them. Neji responded to his questioning gaze, "Tsunade-sama told us it would be to the north. The direction should be correct, as there are more mountains near the border of the Land of Earth. We'll travel that way for now."

The other two followed as he made his way to the edge of the desolate bandit camp, Lee still holding the white bird. The dry desert wind continued to blow.

TBC