Burning Courage: Hinata Shines! - 1

When the hospital came into view there was no relief. The panic that was swelling in her chest was still as heavy as it had been on the hurried journey back to Konoha. Tenten looked to her left to see Hikune sliding the unconscious Hyuga heir from his shoulders.

"Forgive me, what was your name again?" The Hyuga boy asked her, "Hayate-taicho had mentioned it earlier but I do not recall."

"Tenten." Her voice sounded dead.

He nodded, "Thank you."

She could see he was beginning to tire and she didn't blame him. Running nonstop for over five miles with dead weight on your back was exhausting, she knew. Hikune slipped Neji's arm over his shoulder, careful not to widen any of the wounds near his chest or back. When the younger boy's weight was distributed properly they moved ahead again and crossed the street.

They were so close and yet they moved so slowly that the hospital seemed impossible to reach.

Medic-nin were already outside awaiting newcomers. Their eyes simultaneously closed in on the genin slung over Hikune's back and they darted forward in a group of three. Tenten could only watch Neji: the way his back heaved laboriously with each breath and the aggrieved expression on his face made her insides boil anxiously.

Neji did not show pain because Neji never got hurt. He was the victor of every fight: a born leader who was cunning and powerful and swiftly threw down any opposition. He was like a shard cut from a perfect gem, she had once thought, so unattainable and striking and could not be scathed by anything.

This was beyond that, though. Neji was hurt so badly that he was dying. It didn't register in her mind that it was even possible, and reality seemed to warp so that everything she saw felt like a dream. It felt like Sakura's genjutsu all over again.

'When I wake up he'll be just as invincible as ever.'

"His name? What team was he with?" The medics bombarded Hikune with questions as they swiftly took Neji from him and laid him on a stretcher.

"Hyuga Neji, part of Nara Shikamaru's retrieval cell dispatched nigh two days ago." He had his facts straight since Tenten had briefed him on what had happened after they separated from Hayate.

The medic scribbled the information down on a clipboard sloppily, "Right, we'll take him into surgery immediately."

'Surgery?' Tenten turned her head to the side inquisitively, wondering how exactly they intended to repair Neji.

The medics seemed to vanish back into the building, shouting code names at each other and telling people to move aside. Hikune stared after them for a long moment and then turned to the silent kunoichi, "Tenten."

She looked up at him.

He was devilishly handsome, she noted in that moment, but he didn't resemble Neji at all. Instead of the classic long, dark hairstyle of the Hyuga, Hikune's hair was a light brown and cut short against the neck. A few chestnut strands framed his sharp face, making him majestic-looking, typical of the Main House.

His eyes were not like Neji's. Round opals that were calm and gentle and Tenten then faintly recognized them, 'I've seen him before, haven't I? But where?'

"Are you going to be alright?" There was strong evidence of compassion in his voice when Hikune spoke. Tenten had only ever received such a mild tone of a Hyuga from Hinata, and she was a case unto herself. "Do you want me to stay here with you, Tenten? You look unwell."

"I am unwell," She replied, folding her arms, "My friends are out there without me; that makes me sick to my stomach! Can't you just let me-?"

"Hayate-taicho ordered me to keep you in this village." His voice rose a margin above her's, then softened again, "You are very brave, but right now you belong here with Neji-sama. Running off again will do no good to your comrades."

'A typical Hyuga…' She thought, and yet he was still unique, somehow, 'He's right though. I'm in no shape to go back out there again. I won't be able to track the others.'

"I know." Tenten lowered her eyes and stared at the grainy concrete of the sidewalk so she wouldn't have to look at the marvelous, iridescent eyes staring at her, "Thanks for everything though, Hikune, but you don't have to stay with me. I'm sure you've got a lot of work to do."

"Very well then. I do have to speak with the Hokage about this and Hayate-taicho's progress." Hikune smiled smoothly, "Should you change your mind I will be at the Hokage's tower or my home. Don't try to act too brave, Tenten."

He made a hand sign and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. She recognized it, 'Showoff! I could master the Body Flicker if I wanted to…' Tenten was miserable but she refused to admit to it. If she had asked Hikune to keep her company she was unsure of how she'd handle herself.

It had been a long time since she had last allowed herself to cry, and the sinking feeling that preceded such a wretched ritual Tenten could feel settling in her throat and shaking shoulders. She refused to let another human being see her cry, though. It had not happened, not even with her parents. It was a sort of egotistical trait she had inherently.

And perhaps Neji had strengthened that quality in her.

'Neji!' Tenten jogged into the front entrance of the hospital, cursing herself for dawdling like she had. At the front desk she asked for him, and was told he was in the emergency center. They then told her to stop shouting (she was frightening the other visitors) and to take a seat.

She didn't want to sit with all the normal people in the waiting room. They were not like her. They were average citizens with young children who had sprained wrists and elderly folk with circulation problems. They knew nothing of the horror's shinobi faced; the atrocities they inflicted unto each other.

Neji had holes in him. As in, see through to the other side, holes. Normal people couldn't even imagine such a wound, and Tenten could not bring herself to sit among them calmly and quietly because she felt like screaming in a panic.

With the stealth of a skilled ninja, she slipped down a hallway unnoticed and went upstairs, near the E.R., and found an empty marble corridor with a bench that beckoned her to sit and relax. It was silent and bright and it made Tenten feel more at peace. Here no one else could presume to relate to her heartaches. Here was where she really was and no one else.

With a deep sigh Tenten stretched out on the seat, loosening her tense muscles. This temporary tranquility wasn't bound to last. It wouldn't be long before more bad news came to greet her, 'I didn't want to think about it before but it's…it's real. If Neji does die then what have I been working for? Where does that leave me, Lee or Gai-sensei?'

Her nose itched and she crushed it against her shoulder in irritation, exchanging the tingling sensation for pain to distract herself, 'But where does it leave me? There is no me without Neji. He defines me, or at least, sharpens what qualities I have. Literally…' Tenten frowned against her skin, fighting the rising dread in her stomach, 'I guess I never really did have plans for the life I want to lead. I never had a goal in mind until he came along, really…'

She felt so selfish and yet was being completely honest with herself, 'I don't really want to live if it means he won't be there anymore. When mom and dad died I didn't want to live, but when I was assigned to a team I felt needed again. And…and Lee can get by without me. He and Gai-sensei would…and I'd…'

Tenten sat up and stared at the wall across from her, 'So it's settled then. It's a lose-lose situation. It's not as if it's 'me or Neji' it's 'me and Neji.' Okay. That's not so bad. If things don't go well I'll see him after a quick jab with a tanto and I won't have to put up with this world's bullshit anymore.'

But that wasn't how she really felt. Not really. 'The truth is I don't want anything to happen to Neji because life is brief for shinobi like us, but it's still great! He could really be happy in the future with so much going for him. And maybe I could…make him happy?'

Thinking about lives in the balance had her itching to get up and go reunite with her lost teammates, "Lee…Sato…you better be alright!" Tenten sighed to herself, "Everyone better be alright, or I'll march all the way to Sound myself and give them what-for!"

With a very emotional, very aggravated huff, Tenten crossed her legs and straightened her posture. Composure. Calm. Approach everything as if it's inconsequential and hopefully, her mind concluded, everyone she cared for would return unharmed.

A door clicked closed down the hallway, but the nurse who had left the room hadn't even seen Tenten as she went back downstairs to the main level. After a short while of scrutinizing the message board on the wall across from her, Tenten drifted off into a light sleep, the emptiness of the hospital echoing around her.