Chapter Text
[Intro:]
Konoha's shinobi have been sent to prevent enemy shinobi from breaking into Konoha. They split up to fight numerous enemies, and go in teams of 2 because of the lack of personnel. Neji and Tenten go together. Like Naruto and Sakura, they are pretty close and work well with each other. Neji and Tenten encounter several enemy shinobi on their way and use their usual method of Neji attacking first and Tenten backing him up.
~
*Neji pants*
“Neji!” Tenten exclaims. “Daijōbu??”
“Hai...” Neji says, but Tenten doesn’t believe him.
“Neji, let’s switch!” Tenten says. “You can be the back up so you’ll have more time for recovery.”
“Īe, Tenten, that’s not necessary—“ Neji starts.
“Neji, you need a break,” Tenten interjects. Then she says gently, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
Neji finally resigns. “Alright.”
“Yosh!” Tenten exclaims. “Ikuzo!!”
As they press on, Tenten encounters many enemies head on and tries her best to fight them off and fall back on Neji. As she is not used to taking the lead in fighting, she struggles, but soon she is able to get used to it somewhat. But soon enough, Tenten becomes exhausted in the process. She strikes yet another enemy shinobi, and to her surprise the shinobi’s armor falls to reveal an exploding paper tag underneath. It explodes, since it was just struck. The force of the explosion vehemently throws Neji and Tenten against a tree. Since Tenten was in front of Neji prior to the explosion, she was flown essentially on top of him. Both are shaken from the hard impact, but Neji recovers first and holds Tenten so she won't fall.
I’m glad that I was kind of a cushion to her fall, Neji thinks, or she would have been in more pain. Even so, she’s not looking too good; the explosion caught her mostly head on...
“Daijōbu, Tenten?” Neji asks, concerned.
“Hai, more or less,” Tenten answers. “I'm fine, so I can keep going."
She tries to walk, but winces. Neji notices she has several rashes and cuts on her arms and legs as a result from fighting all of the enemies and the explosion. Through his Byakugan, he notices that her chakra level is running dangerously low.
“No, you're injured and exhausted.” Neji counters. “I can see that you have very little chakra left. I’ll take the lead now.”
Tenten eventually agrees. “Ok. Arigatō...Neji.”
While Tenten rests, Neji uses this opportunity—as the enemies have seemed to let up for a moment—to use his Byakugan to see if Sakura or any medical ninja is nearby.
Tenten tries to get up but Neji says, "Don’t push yourself. I can...carry you, if you want."
Tenten is a little surprised. He’s willing to carry me? she thinks. That’s very sweet...wait! He’s just offering that so I won’t have to use up the little energy I have left! I shouldn’t think of it *that* way...besides, maybe he just pities me...
Tenten looks away, saying, “You know...you don’t have to pity me. I’ll be fine...”
Neji looks surprised then looks away. “Gomen...I didn’t mean for it to come across that way.”
Tenten looks at him surprised. “Oh! You didn’t mean...”
Neji says, “I didn’t. I wasn’t trying to pity you. I was just saying that you might expend all of your energy by trying to continue traveling by foot.”
Tenten, now embarrassed, blushes. “Oh...” she says. Then she laughs at herself.
“Then I guess I’ll take you up on your offer,” she quips.
Neji then carries her and says, “Hold on tight; I’ll be going faster to meet up with everyone and seek help for you.”
“Okay...” Tenten says.
Neji speeds through the treetops to find the others. Tenten holds on a little tighter.
He’s very fast…she thinks.
"I'm not weighing you down too much, am I?" she asks.
Neji answers, "Īe, you’re fine. Besides, I have more chakra left so I’m able to support us both.”
“Yeah...” Tenten says. I can’t believe this...this is the first time he’s done this, she thinks. This is nice. I’m getting more tired though...and a bit dizzy... Her vision starts to blur.
“You...did a good job keeping off all those shinobi,” Neji starts.
He then notices that her body is starting to feel limp.
“Are you ok?” He asks.
“Yes..." Tenten says faintly. His words echo in her ears, and her vision starts to fade to black.
Neji thinks, Yabai! She’s losing consciousness. She’s reached her limit. I have to go even faster to get her to Sakura!
Soon, Neji finally locates Sakura. Sakura senses someone coming.
“Who’s there??” Sakura yells defensively. Then she sees Neji come with Tenten.
“Oh, it’s just you, Neji-san!” She says. Then she notices Tenten, who appears unconscious.
“Oh no! Is Tenten okay??” She exclaims.
“She’s unconscious due to exhaustion, and she’s gotten bruised by fighting off the enemy shinobi and an explosion we encountered.” Neji says. “Sorry for coming so suddenly, but we needed help...onegai, please help her in any way you can.”
“Wakatta.” Sakura says. “Leave it to me!”
“Arigatō.” Neji says. “I will go find the others in order to confirm that the mission was completed.”
And with that, he leaves. Sakura diligently works with her healing chakra to give Tenten enough energy to at least regain consciousness and also to heal her bruises. Eventually, Tenten regains consciousness.
"Sakura?...” Tenten says as she wakes up.
“You’re awake!” Sakura says happily. “You were unconscious, but Neji brought you to me to help you out.”
“Oh…” she says. “Arigatōgozaimashita…Sakura.”
“No problem, what are friends for?" Sakura answers.
“Did Neji just leave?” Tenten asks.
“No,” Sakura says. “He left a while ago after bringing you to me and asking me to help you. He said he was gonna find the others.”
“Oh,” Tenten says. So he really did personally bring me to Sakura...
Sakura looks at Tenten’s expression and smiles mischievously.
She says, "Hey Tenten, just between you and me...is there something going on between you two that we don’t know about?”
Tenten looks up at her, surprised. “Huh?...” she says.
“I mean...” Sakura backtracks. “It's not everyday I see the usually aloof Neji worrying about someone." She giggles.
Tenten blushes and says defensively, "Oh. Um, it’s nothing, really!”
“Are you sure?” Sakura teases.
“Yep!” Tenten says, standing up. “H-how about we go find the others??” she stutters, blushing.
Sakura laughs. “Ok, ok. Gomen, Tenten!”
They soon receive word from the others and learn that they’ve completed their part of the mission as well. So without further ado, everyone heads back to Konoha. When they arrive, Sakura says she's taking Tenten to the hospital to further recover.
“I’ll go too!” Lee says. “I cannot thank you enough, Sakura-san, for saving our dear comrade!!” Sakura and Tenten laugh. Neji looks at them.
Sakura notices this and asks, “Neji-san, are you coming too?”
Neji says, “I would, but I’ve been called for an urgent jōnin meeting. Tenten, I hope you feel better. Jā ne.”
Then Neji leaves. They all say bye.
Tenten looks at him go and thinks, He left... so much for ‘something going on between us’. She laughs quietly. Well, I guess Sakura will believe what I said now. But he has to go to a meeting, so I get it. Besides, he already helped me a lot back there, which I really appreciate. Next time I see him, I’ll properly thank him. I wonder if he’ll do anything like that for me again…
Sakura and Lee escort her to the hospital. Neji should get checked at the hospital too...Tenten thinks. But he had to go to his meeting. And I have a feeling that he still wouldn’t get himself checked even if he didn’t have a meeting. Oh, that Neji...
Tenten stays at the hospital overnight. They tell her they will let her know when she can be discharged, after they check on her tomorrow.
Neji comes back home late from his meeting. He goes straight to bed, and has a throbbing headache. He removes his forehead coverings and rubs his forehead.
As he is falling asleep, he thinks, I hope Tenten is okay. It was my fault she got so hurt…
The next morning, as he walks to the hospital to visit Tenten, he passes by the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Neji stops and looks at the shop.
Should I?... he thinks. It’s a common polite gesture to bring flowers when you’re visiting someone in the hospital. I shouldn’t overthink this. Shikashi...he looks down. I don’t want her to—
“Neji-san!!”
Neji looks to see who called him. It’s Ino!
“What are you doing here standing outside the shop??” She asks curiously.
[End of part 1!]