Burning Courage: Hinata Shines! - 2

"I didn't think that birds could smell weird…but they do." Chouji slid down from Kutaiku's back and down to the pavement, "Man I'm hungry."

Kiba followed suit behind the considerably slimmer Akimichi, with Shikamaru sluggishly doing the same. Gyorai landed beside his fellow owl and cooed in greeting, allowing Lee and Sato to return to solid ground.

Each boy was completely exhausted, eyes dim, and they moved ahead to the side entrance of the hospital as medics ran out to meet them. Seeing that Chouji and Kiba were in the worst health, they were quickly taken inside for treatment. A medic walked up to Shikamaru after getting a glimpse of his chunin vest, "Are you the leader of this team?"

The Nara rubbed his aching neck while he answered, "That is the deplorable truth."

"Good. Will you please follow me? There are some forms you'll have to fill out on behalf of your subordinates."

"Oh man…" Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and walked after the retreating intern. He looked back over his shoulder, "Lee, Sato; you did good so go get some rest. I suppose I'll be stuck doing mission reports for the next six hours…"

Lee nodded genially, "Thank you, Shikamaru-kun!"

Sato watched Shikamaru trudge irritably into the hospital and then scratched his head, wondering what to do with himself, "Hm. Something tells me we still fucked up on this mission pretty bad even if we're all still alive. What do you think, Lee?"

"I think I must agree with you, Sato-kun," Lee frowned slightly, "Though I might have used different language to convey such a thought."

"Sato!"

They turned in unison when the pattering sound of footsteps sounded in the air, and the young Hatake barely had any time to brace himself as he was struck by an alarmingly fast moving Tama, who quickly ensnared him in an inescapable headlock, "Oh, heh…hi Tama!"

"Are you crazy? When I heard that you ran off I nearly had a heart attack!" The tall girl howled, purposefully choking him, "You're reckless, you're stupid, but you're alive! Don't ever do anything so hasty again!"

His face was rapidly turning blue, "…kay…"

With the affirmative response she released him and he gulped air in, but found himself grinning stupidly somehow, "It's good to see you too, Tama. You know I would've told you, but with you not being a ninja and all Tsunade-sama wouldn't have liked you helping out. It's too risky for you."

She put a hand on her hip, "Well we'll never know that now will we? It's all over and done with…" Tama looked over to Lee, "Thanks for keeping him out of trouble, Lee. I know I can always count on you."

He smiled uncertainly back at her, "I really did not do that much, Miss Tama."

"Nonsense!" Tama waved a hand dismissively and then hooked it around Sato's elbow, "Come on you! I'll take a look at those wounds and patch you up!"

"Yes ma'am!" He was in no place to protest. It really would be a relief to have his injuries inspected, even though Sato did sense she was going to chew him out about it.

Lee could hear their loud, squawking chatter even after he had gone into the hospital. He smiled to himself, glad to see that they got along so well even under the most critical of times. He spotted Shikamaru near the front desk tapping a pen against his chin in boredom, staring at the stack of papers laid before him.

He turned and upon seeing Lee, snatched up the pile of forms and dropped them in Lee's arms that outstretched reflexively, "Thank you for volunteering. You take half and I'll take half."

"I am afraid I do not have a-"

Shikamaru tossed a spare pen he had stolen over his shoulder as he strolled down the hall, and Lee, ever obligated, caught it in his teeth and walked after the lazy Nara. Passing doctors and interns paid them no mind as they crossed the corridor and took the stairwell to the second floor.

All the while Lee couldn't help but feel like he had been taken advantage of. Of course it wouldn't have been the first time, but he still felt like his moral ideology was something most people mistook for eagerness. There were times where he felt like taking a break too, he hoped they realized.

In retrospect, Lee was also unduly aware of the great amount of stress Shikamaru was under. Three team members were still missing, as far as the Nara knew, and they had not gotten very far before most of them had copped out and failed to retrieve either Sasuke or Haku.

The entire debacle had been questionable from the very start, but Lee supposed Shikamaru trusted Naruto enough to leave him in charge of whether or not the fugitives would be brought back to Leaf.

'Naruto-kun will succeed for sure!' Lee thought, a fiery glimmer waking in his eyes. He adjusted the pile of papers in his arms and remembered to breathe through his nose, for fear of choking on the writing utensil still clenched in his teeth.

Lee bumped into Shikamaru's back after he'd paused abruptly. Since he was unable to ask what had caught his attention, Lee looked ahead to see Tenten on a nearby bench with her legs crossed in high-fashion and her head tilted back slightly as she dozed.

Restraint ceased to exist.

"Tenten!" The pen went whizzing through the air after Lee cried out happily, clattering to the floor helplessly alongside the stack of papers that he had discarded. He ran over to her and encompassed her in a genuinely joyous hug, "You are alright! It was all left to speculation when we searched for you but you are here and well!"

She woke up right around the part he had said 'speculation when we…' and 'well!' and she blinked up at him, bemused, "Hey, Lee…"

Hugging Lee was always enjoyable, she remembered after a moment. He was always sincere and glad to embrace her, and it was in those brief moments of friendship where Tenten could share in physical contact with another human that was not remotely violent.

She let her eyes close again, contentedly, taking in the smells on him. Traces of wind: he'd been moving fast, as well as scents of forest and dirt and…slightly singed, 'Another explosion maybe? Good grief…'

Tenten broke the contact, seeing Shikamaru had been watching their exchange with an uncomfortable expression, 'Surely he and Ino get along like this? Is it that strange?' She didn't know. Perhaps her friendship with Lee was something unique to only her team.

"Where did you go after the blast went off?" Lee inquired, standing again, "Sato-kun and I looked everywhere for you!"

"I headed north like we planned, but I suppose I got a bit knocked off course." Tenten admitted, then her voice lowered, "I found Neji while I was out there."

Shikamaru had finished retrieving the scattered documents from the floor and looked over to her, his face stern, "So you did meet up with Neji? How'd that go?"

She stared at them for a long moment blankly, the horror of her discovery flooding her memory. Lee felt dread descend into his stomach at her reluctance to answer. He knew Tenten, and when her answers weren't pleasant, there was always a short pause before the truth was revealed.

"He's in critical condition right now." Tenten said with a surprising amount of aplomb, "When I found him he was a mess. He was in a really bad fight."

A look of guilt washed over Shikamaru as she spoke.

"Is he…going to be alright?" Lee asked slowly, not sure if he really wanted an answer.

Tenten frowned, "As long as Tsunade-sama is here I'm not worried at all. You'll see Lee, Neji's going to be on his feet again soon."

He could still pick up on the doubt in her tone, as miniscule as it was. Lee sat down beside her on the bench, deciding he could go look for Gai-sensei later. With his team in crisis, he felt strongly compelled to stay with Tenten for as long as she needed him. "I will wait here with you, Tenten, until we receive word on his condition."

"Thanks…" She sighed, trying to relax, and blinked as Shikamaru handed a pen to her and Lee.

"We're not getting any younger," Shikamaru's voice was a bit shaky as he handed them each an equal stack of forms, "If you're just gonna sit there, make yourselves useful."