Neji quickly ran towards the group surrounding Tenten, taking them out quickly and mercilessly. As the sand came off of Tenten, she collapsed, and he quickly caught her and ran behind a tree.

More rebels came, and the shinobi were retreating due to low chakra.

'For the love of Kami, the rebels can't win!!' Neji thought.

He was more frightened than he had ever been in his life. He looked down at Tenten, who wasn't in good shape. Her breath was heavy and the open wound continued to bleed heavily.

She looked pale and lifeless.

Neji shivered at the sight and held her close. More than anything, he realized, was that he didn't want to lose her.

Tenten's view cleared up a little and she could clearly see what was going on. They were losing quickly.

'As long as I can move and breathe,' Tenten mentally declared, 'I will fight!'

She tried to get up and continue fighting, but Neji pulled her back onto him and held her head to his chest. "Don't move." He said. "You don't need yourself injured anymore. Stay quiet and don't move or you'll further open your wound."

Tenten looked up at Neji with great confusion and then looked around. Lee was also pretty beaten up and leaning up against a tree, but he looked at his teammates with a smile of hope.

Tenten slightly shook her head. Hope was something they needed but didn't have.

Tenten tried once again to get up and cried out, "Let me fight Neji, I am still perfectly able to move!"

Neji pulled her back down and hugged her tightly to him. She blushed hard at this action and felt a sharp pain around her waist.

"Tenten please don't be stubborn this damn time! You've already ripped your wound open even more."

He loosened his grip and was breathing heavy. To him, the whole situation felt more like a war than a battle. He ached all over and couldn't keep a very steady grip on Tenten.

He knew she'd try to move again. And eventually, she did.

Neji couldn't stop her, but he could fight by her side to keep her from getting any more hurt than she was.

He turned his head away from her for no more than ten seconds, and her scream could already be heard. He cursed himself and quickly came to her aid.

Another gash was found on her waist. He lifted her up quickly and jumped up to a nearby tree, staying out of sight. Tenten was no longer in condition to fight, and Neji couldn't help her in any way. Hinata and Sakura could do no help, as they were too far away to try to help.

He looked helplessly at Tenten. She looked up at him with a painful, faint smile, and said, "I-I'm sorry, Neji.." Her body went limp as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Were they not in the middle of a battle, Neji would've lost it. It wouldn't be long before Tenten's breathing stopped altogether, and he knew it.

'Anything but that,' he thought, holding her close and protectively.

Her body was going pale and cold before his eyes, and he started doing something he hadn't done in a long while; Neji started to cry silently.

He continued to say her name over and over, begging for her to keep fighting; to stay alive and that he was sorry for hurting her earlier. "Please Tenten, I'm sorry, please don't go. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

But his words did not get to her.

Tenten was slowly fading, slowly ceasing to exist.

And all he could do was watch. 'This,' he realized, 'is my weak spot.'

He caressed her cheek and started crying again.

'Anything,' he thought, 'anything but my Tenten.'

Lee painfully forced himself up a nearby tree and landed next to his teammates. Neji didn't even try to hide his tears. Lee didn't bother to ask what happened; he didn't have to. Lee rubbed her forehead as both men sat in silence.

Lee finally asked, "Is she gone?" Neji almost wanted to nod. It didn't sound like she was breathing at all.

Lee checked one of her eyes and found that the usual brown spark was gone. Lee shuddered. "Tenten can't die..... Could she?"

~

The duo stayed by her side for what seemed like an hour, making sure enemies stayed away and hoping to Kami that help would arrive soon.

The battle was becoming too fierce, and Neji thought that no help would come.

He was more than wrong.

Standing right in front of him was Gaara, Temari, and Lady Tsunade herself.

"Neji, you and Lee get her to the hospital quickly. I'm sorry it took me so long. So many rebels..." She shook her head and cleared her throat. "We're ending this now. I will not have a dead kunoichi on my hands, especially one so skilled. Go quickly, and don't leave her side until she opens her eyes."

The moment she stopped speaking, Lee and Neji were off, sprinting desperately trying to save Tenten in time.

~

Lee was the body guard.

Neji was the carrier.

They worked their way around the flying, knocked out rebels, sprinting as fast as they could. Neji was holding Tenten tight to him, silently praying that she'd make it.

When they had finally gotten to the hospital, the nurses quickly took her, and all the duo could do was pace the floor and pray, and hope, and wonder.

After an hour of treading the floor, a nurse walked out into the hallway with a smile on her face.

"She's doing fine now. The wounds have been cleaned, the metal plucked, and she's gained consciousness. She'll be awake in a while. In the meantime, you two need treatment as well. Come."

Neji and Lee had their wounds treated, and then sat near Tenten's hospital room. After a while, her faint voice could be heard, and both young men rushed in quickly. She was sitting up slightly, barely awake and crying.

Neji and Lee wrapped her in a gentle hug, and proceeded to shed a few tears as well. "I'm sorry," was all Tenten could say. Neji looked at Tenten, very glad that she was alive, but still feeling very guilty over what he had said to her.

"Lee," he said, "Can you give me and Tenten a moment alone?"

Lee looked at Neji and smiled slightly. He then nodded and left, making sure to shut the door behind him.

Neji waited until Lee left, then grabbed Tenten and hugged her tightly, to her surprise. Out of everything that had happened in the past few days, the way Neji had been acting and reacting had shocked Tenten greatly.

"Tenten," he said, "I'm sorry for saying those cruel words to you. You're not weak and you're not an idiot. You're none of those things to me. I thought I had lost you. I realized that at that moment, I don't want to lose you. Never ever. If I have to, I will knock on death's door for you, Tenten."

He stopped to catch his breath and look at his teammate. Tenten looked at him, many emotions running across her face. She finally gave in and cried harder.

Neji had held her for over an hour, Lee only checking in once, for he was off to help with the rebel mess afterwards. Not long after, Neji tilted Tenten's head up, wiping her tears away from her face. She looked right in his eyes, and his heart lurched.

'Just like yesterday,' he thought.

He hesitated, then leaned down and kissed her forehead. For a split second, he almost wanted to touch lips with her, but shoved the thought out of his head. He had to wonder why he wanted to kiss her like that.

It wasn't love, was it?

'Tenten's a teammate,' he thought, 'not just a girl. Not only that, she wouldn't want to kiss me anyway.'

However, the look in her eyes said otherwise.

Tenten stared at Neji, and he looked away before blushing faintly.

"Neji," she said, "Look at me" He sighed and looked at her again. She was smiling wide, and Neji's heart lurched again. That feeling inside him was growing and growing every second he stared into Tenten's eyes.

The room suddenly felt more intimate; more enclosed. All it took was him to say, "Tenten," and she shut him up quickly.

Their lips were pressed against each other softly and all sorts of emotions swelled in both of them. Neji's face was quite red, but only a slight blush came across Tenten's cheeks. When their lips slowly parted, all they could do was look at each other.

Right before the door slammed open.

"Yo!!" yelled out Naruto.

Neji quickly made some distance between them and gathered himself together. Tenten fixed her face and greeted the incoming shinobi and kunoichi. As the room became full, almost everyone expressed their worry and concern.

Tenten was happy and surprised that they cared that much to visit her. Lee tackled her in a hug and cried his heart out. Tenten winced, but despite the pain, she was indeed laughing.

Temari and Kankuro walked in the room, while Gaara waited at the door. "Tenten," Temari said, "Not bad. I'm glad you're alright. But next time, try not to almost kill yourself." She grinned and held her hand out. Tenten took her hand and shook it, grinning right back.

'Maybe she can be a friend,' Tenten thought.

As Temari and her brothers left, Lee started playing with Tenten's hair, and it was tickling her.

"Leeee? Stop it. Now please!" she said through gritted teeth.

Naruto decided to mess with her other bun just for fun. "You guys!!!" Tenten screeched.

Sakura and Ino were giggling their heads off, while some of the shinobi almost left the room. Tenten yanked hard enough to where both her buns fell apart, rendering the whole room quiet.

Shikamaru said "Well I'll be..."

Everyone stared, even Shino and Sai, who had never seemed to really care.

Neji seemed to be the most dumbfounded.

Her hair had curled down like a large lava of chocolate, and was in a bundle at her shoulders. Tenten was blushing furiously.

"Tenten...," Neji said. "Your hair..."

~

NOTE(11/22/15): Chapter has been edited; image has been put up ^ ^ Enjoy the chapter.

~Nimo #IFanonNotCanon