There has been a slight change in chapter 9; Bunny. Neji's age when Hinata was taken from him has changed from 8 years old to 11 years old.

Btw prepare your minds for...

The NejiTen action you all deserve!

***

Blood.

Medicine.

Machines.

0903.

***

Tenten's gaze on the picture in her hand didn't shift as Anko spoke.

"His name is Yakushi Kabuto. You should know his company, Se'in Jashuu Pharmaceuticals."

She nodded affirmative. They were popular enough that even a socially oblivious person like Tenten knew about them. She dropped the picture in favour of taking a look at the other information files in the folder. What she saw creased her brows a bit. The frown only deepened as she read further.

"They announced the medical testing of a new medicine, BTR-200 a few months ago; I don't know if you heard the news back then."

"I hear." Tenten hummed while absently flipping through the document pages. Anko paused.

"Heard." The older woman corrected, being unable to resist doing so this time.

"Uh?" Tenten lifted her gaze from the papers in her hands to Anko, face scrunching in confusion.

"The correct statement is 'I heard' not 'I hear'." Anko sighed. "Anyway back to pending matters. Recently, there has been a number of reported deaths from the police and all victims were accounted to have died from excessive bleeding and hyperactivity of the heart. These people have something in common though; they were all test subjects for the new medicine."

From what Tenten read just now, some people offered to be the test subjects for the new medicine and were paid for it under guaranteed safety. This turned out to be false as the subjects died months after the experiments.

Se'in Jashuu denied all accusations and claimed that the subjects' deaths were not as a result of the medical experiment. Their claims were backed up by medical reports on the subjects which recorded that they all had genetic diseases so Se'in Jashuu was legally innocent.

The victims' family faced mass criticism for their claims by the press and media who painted them as greedy peasants that wanted to leech off their deceased. Hurt by the blasphemy, one of the families hired the help of a lawyer to plead their case but nobody wanted to get involved with Se'in Jashuu except one man.

Umino Iruka was a passionate lawyer who fought tooth and neck for his clients until he won their case, which was honestly a few times because bribery made it difficult for judges to make just verdicts. Iruka was determined to expose the deep secrets of Se'in Jashuu– the man had a great sixth sense when it came to illegal practices– but doing so without evidence was difficult.

Hence, Tenten's help. Iruka had done a little bit of information gathering on his own and from what he had gathered, it seemed like Guren had a hand in whatever Se'in Jashuu Pharmaceuticals was doing illegally. The man also suspected Yakushi Kabuto to be working hand in hand with one certain man but neither of these were proven yet.

Tenten, being a foreigner, could infiltrate into their business cycle as Guren's bodyguard. Since she doesn't understand Konohanean, as Kakashi informed Guren albeit falsely, it would be easier to let their guard down around Tenten than with anybody.

"Iruka-san ask you for help?" Tenten asked curiously. Why would any sane lawyer ask a professor of all people for help in gathering information?

"Iruka and I go way back." Anko clarified. Ah. So this Iruka person knew of Anko's days in the T&I. "You really should work on your past tense." Tenten gave her a deadpan face and she acquiesced. Learning a new language was not as easy as tutorials made it seem.

"I do my best for the mission. I take my leave now." When Tenten realised that Anko had nothing left to inform her after a few extra mission details and some tips, she packed up the manilla folder and made for her house.

• Weeks before Se'in Jashuu's anniversary event... •

Sai's usually expressionless face contorted with surprise just for a brief moment when Neji walked into his art studio unannounced. He was in his painting attire which consisted of a dark crop top on low waist leather pants.

His tattoo was on full display because of his choice of clothes. The inked feathers of the Tori's wings stretched across the skin of his stomach and the side of his lower waist, running downwards until they stopped just above his V-line.

"What brings you here, danchou?" Sai resumed his painting when his surprise, no matter how brief, wore out.

Neji strolled languidly across the studio, admiring Sai's new paintings. He was so good at what he did that his paintings could come to life were they in an alternate dimension. The pale man made his money by drawing and painting for galleries and models, and they were not speaking of a small sum.

"I need the blueprints of Se'in Jashuu's medical research facility, can you please help with that?" Neji requested. It was more of an order than a request but he had been raised to be polite even to his subordinates, hence the nature of his speech.

Sai's head cocked sideways in mild curiosity as he stopped painting in favour of turning around to meet Neji's eyes. The other was too engrossed in one of his paintings of Amegakure to look at him though. In it, two boys held each other under a soaked cardboard box in despair as the unforgiving rain torrents beat down on their frail, skeleton-esque bodies. One of them, Neji recognised as Sai. The other...

"Of course. If you don't mind me asking, why do you need the blueprints?"

Amegakure.

As ironic as it was, that place was more of a home to Neji than Konoha ever was. Despite the things he went through in that place...

"Yakushi might have something to do with my family's downfall years ago." Neji replied Sai's pending question. Being one of the oldest members of the Tori, the pale man knew what his leader talked about and nodded in understanding. Shikamaru must've figured something out.

"Reminiscing?" Sai chose to steer the topic away from Neji's family to the painting he was looking at.

It was then Neji lifted his eyes from the picture. "Not really. I should ask you the same question for keeping this hanged here."

Sai gave a false smile like he always did to avoid sensitive topics. "Well there is no way to wipe Amegakure from my blood, is there?"

"No." Neji chuckled softly. "No there isn't." The torturing years spent in the Weeping City could never be erased from their bodies, souls and spirits no matter what they did. "I shall be expecting the blueprints. Keep up the good work." With that Neji left as silently as he arrived.

Luckily for him, Yakushi Kabuto made investigating the medical experiment facility easier by announcing the tour. Shikamaru sent him a copy of the invitation email and Sai, the blueprints. All he needed was a nice suit and he was good to go.

"Boss, there's something I'd like to tell you about the facility." Sai had called him over the day he sent the blueprints and the things he heard were certainly unpleasant.

-

"You were invited to Se'in Jashuu's anniversary event?!" Hinata's slippers slapped against the floor in hurried footfalls when Neji made that announcement.

"Yes I was." Lying was second nature to Neji so it flowed like a spring out of his mouth. If he wasn't careful, he could even believe his own lies.

Hinata was astounded. To think her brother was so high profile that he knew the chairman of Se'in Jashuu Pharmaceuticals!

"I would not be around throughout that day, decided I should inform you before hand." Neji was currently preparing dinner for them both and while it excited Hinata any time Neji cooked, this time something else lifted her mood.

"Can I choose the clothes you will wear?" She asked timidly. Neji paused to look over his shoulder- his fashion sense was perfectly fine- but his protest died out at the big eyed look his sister was giving him. He made a noise at the back of his throat, something akin to a whine before finally conceding.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Hinata clasped her hands gently while Neji chuckled and faced what he was doing. Dressing one another up was a way the sex pets used to cheer up when she was still in the cage. Chino-san liked always to style her hair and choose her outfits even though they were nothing to be proud of.

Those moments, where all of the pets would forget how broken they were to comfort each other were one of the only things Hinata cherished at the cage. Dressing up became a habit cultivated over years of doing so every night so she was often behind the vanity mirror. The only different thing was that this time, she wasn't dressing for anybody but herself.

Neji tapped his finger against the underside of Hinata's chin to get her attention. She had spaced out for over five minutes while he was unaware. "You're slipping."

Hinata blinked awake. "Oh. Sorry." She apologised.

"Don't be. Do the memories of that place plague you?" At that, the midnight haired girl huffed. Neji always had a way to know the exact things in her mind, it was scary to a level.

"From time to time." She confessed with a shrug that she hoped would strike Neji as indifferent. She should have known that Neji would see through her act because the man only pursed his lips.

"I know that it is beyond 'from time to time' but I would not push further. How are your appointments with her Ibiki-san going?" Neji thankfully did not delve into her trauma. In a way. Asking about her psychiatric therapy sessions was still delving into her trauma but she rathered it than direct confrontation.

"He was scary at first but I can relax around him better now." Hinata replied.

"Good. I want the best for you." The conversation died there much to Hinata's relief and shifted into something lighter and less moodier.

• Se'in Jashuu's anniversary, Neji's mansion... •

Hinata suddenly volunteered to fix his hair on the day of the anniversary event. It was downright suspicious– she had chosen his suit already– but what harm was there in letting her do his hair? So he agreed.

She ended up changing the colour of his tie from the light blue that she had chosen earlier to burgundy. Okay, what was the fuss about him having to look good about? Neji chalked it down to his sister wanting him to impress Yakushi Kabuto not knowing that she wanted him to impress another person. A certain neighbour that he currently despised.

"There." Hinata adjusted his tie after Neji had knotted it (because she knew nothing about knotting ties) and wiped some invisible dust off his shoulders. He was perfect! Too bad he covered his unique eyes with brown contacts but it was okay at least. "You look handsome!" Hinata gushed shyly.

"That, I do." Neji smirked arrogantly at the full body mirror that reflected Hinata's work as he checked himself out. "Thank you, Hinata."

His sister flushed in embarrassment. "N-no need to t-thank me. I just hope this works..." She had no idea that she said the last part out loud until Neji questioned it.

"What works?"

"Eh?! N-nothing!" Hinata reddened deeper as she shook her head so frantically that Neji had to grab the top it so that it would not spin off her neck. His now brown eyes bore into her pale ones amusedly.

"I don't know what is going on in this head," he ruffled her hair for emphasis, "but I would see you tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want me driving you to Ino's place?" She had wanted to sleepover at Ino's to avoid staying alone.

Hinata nodded. "Yes I am. Have fun at the party!" She emphasised on the 'fun' part as she practically kicked him out. What gives?

Neji easily infiltrated the gala with the invitation email Shikamaru sent him and chose a seat at a table far away from attention. It didn't matter where he sat though because his good looks soon attracted women to his table like flies to honey.

The man politely kept the conversation going, making up lies about a big foreign industry that he owned (a business card Sai once made him came in handy for this) and about how he wanted to settle in Konoha. At least he could keep conversations, but that was until a sight knocked the breath out of him.

A new guest had arrived. Neji would not have given the woman a second glance had he not recognised her hairstyle and her earrings. It was none other than his short tempered neighbour, Tenten. But this Tenten was a far cry from the one he saw almost everyday at the Curry of Life.

Neji had no idea she was capable of looking this...he had no idea which adjective to use to describe her.

One thing he knew, however, was that he had been wrong when he told her during one of their incessant arguments that there was nothing worth taking a second look at in her. Very wrong. Maybe it was the make up. Yeah, it was the make up! Or could it be that he just didn't see what Tenten hid behind her traditional clothes and snappy attitude?

Why was she messing with his brain?!

"Mr. Tchai? Mr. Tchai?"

It took Neji a while to realise that Mr. Tchai was his new alias for the night. He came about with a blink and reluctantly shifted his attention from his neighbour to the flirty woman sitting next to him. That didn't last for too long as Neji's eyes found themselves drifting back to Tenten's table. Again.

Yakushi Kabuto's speech buzzed somewhere at the back of his mind as the most part of his focus was on Tenten. Said woman remained completely oblivious to the eyes that ogled her (except him, Neji wasn't ogling– he was just...surprised. Yeah. Surprised) as she sat very uncomfortably at a table.

The clothes make a person but you couldn't take the crass out of them with just a dress, so it seemed. But Neji didn't mind that, she was funny to watch. He almost burst out laughing when she downed one flute of champagne like it was a sake shot. Wine was meant to be sipped and savoured but Tenten didn't know this and probably didn't give two shits about what anybody thought and continued downing flutes upon flutes until Kabuto's speech was finally done.

Neji knew his neighbour was not one to sit still for too long– that much she made known by the constant tinkering and footsteps he heard coming from her apartment– but still, the way she bolted off her seat at the very opportunity elicited a chuckle out of him. It was too bad that he had some work to do, otherwise he would have approached her to mess with her.

Neji slinked away sometime during the tour of the facility to commence his investigation. It was easier to walk around when Shino had altered the surveillance cameras before hand until he found the place of concern Sai informed him about weeks prior.

...

Neji was back at Sai's art studio, this time on the pale man's beckoning. "You said you had something to tell me about the facility."

"Yes." The other nodded. He gestured for Neji to come over to so that they could both overlook the floorplan he had drawn from scouting the research facility. "The only place I could not scout was this wing here." Sai pointed at a narrow hallway which led to an elevator.

"The elevator is the problem." Neji predicted easily and Sai nodded.

"Hmm. Only specified workers can operate the elevator, I tried using a regular worker's ID but it didn't work, and even then the machine reads biometrics so unless you have access to whatever is hidden there, you can't even get the elevator to work."

As Sai talked, he used a pencil to sketch an X on the elevator symbol. "My guess is that whatever you are looking for in the facility is right here. It might look suspiciously straightforward, that this could be a decoy, but that's just what they want people to think. It's right here."

Neji nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you Sai. I would take your advice." He appreciated.

...

"It would take a while to deactivate the elevator's security system. That's because I can't deactivate the security system without shutting the whole elevator down." Shino informed Neji from the other end of his earpiece. The tech savvy member of the Birds was stationed outside the research facility to work his magic on the elevator.

The time allocated for doing it exceeded their expectations so Neji had to wait patiently and be on the lookout. However patient Neji would have liked to wait, the sounds of approaching footfalls caused him to bug Shino a bit. "I don't mind waiting a bit but it would be great if you hurried the process a little."

"Give me a few more minutes." Shino's monotonous voice replied him. Neji wished he had a few more minutes but he didn't talk. His calm demeanour remained even as the footsteps got closer but there was tension on his shoulders. This was the part of his job he liked best– the thrill of escaping getting caught.

When, after what seemed like hours, the elevator dinged open, Neji breathed a word of thanks to his bespectacled technician and walked inside. The elevator doors closed just as patrolling security arrived at the place.

He was led underground to a basement that revealed Sai's hypothesis to be true. Neji could not bring himself to be surprised at the things he was currently looking at no matter how much he tried. A corporation as big as Se'in Jashuu had to have one dirty secret or the other.

A young boy was strapped to a medical bed feet ahead of him. His skin left no imagination for what his skeleton looked like and he was sickly pale. The little strands of hair that was on the boy's head showed that he was blond. Neji wasn't sure if his eyes were naturally pink or if they were just side effects of whatever he was going through.

A man in a lab coat was beside his bed, tinkering with some syringes and drugs. Neji instantly recognised the morbidly pale skin, black hair and menacing yellow eyes that belonged to the man. He knew at once that the boy was not a patient. Not when he was his 'doctor'.

Orochimaru.

For all their name's worth, the Tori were not as notorious in crime as the man in front of Neji. Orochimaru had a bounty exceeding the Tori by a good ten million bills but nobody dared to hunt him– they ended up in a state worse than death.

Neji remained hidden as he watched Orochimaru inject the boy with the ominous looking syringe. The effect was immediate, the boy started screaming and thrashing around- not because of the pain of the syringe shot but because of whatever drug was coursing through his veins.

This didn't stop Orochimaru as he gave the boy another shot. The boy's screams increased but Orochimaru kept injecting him with whatever drug that was in the syringe, unbothered.

Neji's attention shifted from Orochimaru and the boy briefly when the elevator dinged open. The mad scientist didn't hear the ding as he was occupied with what wickedness he was doing, which was good because the person that walked in was the last person he thought he would see here.

What was she looking for in this place?! Neji watched as his neighbour's body went rigid at the sight presented before her. Oh no.

Orochimaru kept on injecting the drug into the boy's body despite that he was already spasming and bleeding from his ears. "You're doing well today, 0903. How much can you take?!" The man's snake like voice hissed with dark glee as he kept on administering the shots.

The heart rate monitor attached to the boy raced loudly in high pitched screams as the boy started convulsing. Blood erupted from his mouth like a volcano, splashing all over his body and Orochimaru's face.

Neji anticipated Tenten's move so he was quick to act when she lunged forward in an attempt to save the boy. The girl's short fuse would one day end her. The Hyuga covered up her surprised protests with his hand and dragged her over to the elevator before Orochimaru could notice their presence.

Once the doors slid shut Tenten yanked Neji's hands off her mouth and turned to face him angrily. Her fur scarf lashed him a little bit harshly on the face as she did so. "Why you stop me?!" She demanded angrily. "What you look for there?! Why you stalk me?!" Her grammar had deteriorated as it always did when she was upset.

"Do you know what you were going to get yourself into?! I saved you from death, stupid!" Neji retorted calmly but the bite was still as sharp as a razor in his words. They just didn't see eye to eye, the both of them.

"I no need to be save! You stop my work! I could have help the boy but you stupid ero-jiji follow me and stop my work!" Tenten poked his chest harshly with every word she said.

Neji batted her hand away, frown deepening in frustration. "You're just so stubborn! Do you know who that man was?!"

"I do!" Tenten yelled.

"Then why do you want to foolishly throw your life away on something you didn't think through?! Baka, you baka!" Neji's voice carried all through the hallway as the elevator's door slid open the moment he raised it. "Shit." He cursed. That must've alerted patrolling security staff to this place.

"Leave me ero-jiji!" Tenten yelled and struggled in his hold as Neji dragged her out of the elevator and threw her back against the wall. His body pressed against hers, hands slamming down on the wall on both sides of her head, effectively trapping her in his hold.

Only the sounds of their agitated heavy breathing and distant footsteps could be heard. Now that he was close to her, Neji could not help but roam his eyed over her body. Tenten's scarf no longer covered the open chest of her cheongsam, giving him a full view of her creamy, slightly tanned supple skin. Neji suddenly found that his throat was dry.

He liked her this way, flushed and flustered beneath him, Neji decided. Their eyes met. Wide natural brown eyes melted into the other's half lidded coloured contacts like butter on a hot pan. Tenten's flush traveled all the way down her neck and chest from her cheeks when Neji leaned in so that his lips brushed against her ear.

"You keep calling me that name..." His voice died out into a whisper. A whisper that travelled through Tenten's body and left goosebumps at its wake. "I'd show you what Ero-jiji really means, Coconut."

A gasp tore out of Tenten's mouth as Neji's lips attached itself to the skin beside her earlobe. She tried pushing him off but he just held her hand against the wall and continued nibbling her ear. Tenten had never felt this way before. Her heart slammed against her chest as all she could feel was Neji. What was this?

"Oi lovebirds, you weren't supposed to be here."

Neji's lips were gone as suddenly as they attacked when some security men that had noticed them arrived. It all came crashing on Tenten in a flurry of realisation that Neji had used her as an alibi for being in a restricted area. Bastard. He deserved a kick in the nuts for not warning her beforehand that the security was onto them.

Despite the nature of her thoughts, Tenten could do nothing but allow herself to be dragged away by Neji. When she finally came to, she snatched her hand away from his and kicked him on the foot. Neji foresaw this though, and shifted to avoid it.

"You're always so quick to resolve to violence." The man tutted. His only reply was a string of irritated foreign words and Tenten stormed off somewhere. Before long though, she was back.

"Come." She commanded and started marching off like she expected him to follow. Neji did anyway. The tour was over so he had no business with Se'in Jashuu again for now. He could humour Tenten with whatever she wanted to tell him.

The woman led them away from onlooking eyes and stopped when she felt that they had enough privacy. Neji couldn't help but tease her a bit for this. "Oh? Do you want to continue from where we stopped earlier?" He smirked seductively, eyes falling half shut.

Tenten became red at once at the memory and moved to kick him again. But like the first time, Neji saw it coming and moved away from the attack. She huffed. "You are not a artifact collector. What are you doing at that place?" Down to business, she went. Neji knew she would definitely ask because she saw him at the basement and was expecting an interrogation any time from then. She didn't disappoint.

"I could ask you the same question." Neji threw her interrogation back at her even though he was sure that she was most likely investigating Se'in Jashuu as Meigui. What Tenten said next baffled him a bit.

"Help me."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Help me." Tenten repeated. "I no know what you really are but you find it easy to sneak into places than me. You will help me with this case." She wasn't even requesting, she was commanding!

"I refuse. I'm not about to let someone who can't control her temper work with me and get me killed." Neji found the way Tenten's eye twitched in irritation amusing for some reason. She was clearly trying not to lash out if the way she pursed her lips were any indication.

"I will not lose my temper." Tenten solemnly promised after calming herself down somewhat. She wanted to rescue that boy from Se'in Jashuu's clutches but with her being stuck at Guren's mansion, she could do nothing. Apparently, Neji was also investigating Yakushi Kabuto and he was not bound by anything. If only he would stop being an ass and help her!

"I want to save the boy."

"Forget about the boy, Coconut. He's as good as dead in the hands of Orochimaru. My only concern is to find dirt on Yakushi Kabuto, not play detective with you." Neji said dismissively which caused a bitter reaction from his neighbour.

"But he is not dead yet, he could be save! Do you not care for innocent boy?!" She spat.

"No. He's not my family, why should I care?" It wasn't that Neji didn't want to save the boy but as he had said earlier, he was as good as dead with Orochimaru. There was no need trying to save the living dead. All he wanted to do was to find out if Yakushi Kabuto actually had something to do with the Hyuga downfall.

"Heartless!...fine." Tenten began to yell but she trailed off to calm herself. She just promised not to lose her temper. It took several breath exercises to actually retain her even tone as she struck a bargain with Neji. "If you help me, I give you one favour."

The other's brow only raised condescendingly. "Right. Like you have anything I actually want."

Tenten's face was close to spasming with how much her eye twitched in annoyance. Hyuga was just so– "Forget!" She yelled and stormed off. "I do it myself."

Neji's longs legs were swifter than Tenten's angry strides so he soon caught up with her. "Alright fine." He acquiesced. Goodness knows what she might do if left alone to her devices. He didn't like her too much but she was still useful for the Tori, he didn't want her dying.

"Hmph." That was just Tenten's inexistent way of saying thanks to him.

"Well then," Neji stopped in front of her, subsequently bringing her to a halt too. Just to mess with her (and maybe see her blush again), Neji leaned in till his face was just centimeters away from hers. The red that dusted her face at the proximity was satisfying. "You owe me."

Tenten was frozen to the spot even after Neji had left. Oh how she regretted her life choices sometimes. Why did she think it was a good idea to owe Hyuga anyway!? But it was for the sick boy so she would suck it up and do whatever favour Hyuga concocted in his dark mind. For the boy. Only for the boy.

***

Thanks for reading!

Today we had a brief insight about Neji's life before he created the Tori. Apparently, he once stayed at Amegakure and he knew Sai from there too. What does this fact mean to the story plot? Any theories? If yes please comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Don't forget to leave a vote as you go. Thanks again for reading. Bye!

-Star.