Chapter 5 - Kunais Taken

Neji didn't sleep at all well during the night. He stayed awake watching the sleeping kunoichi toss and turn. As the dawn light crept through the surrounding trees, Neji took off the blood drenched bandage and wrapped a new clean one around the girl's stomach. Her chocolate eyes opened, and he knew it was time to go. He wrapped Tenten in the remains of his coat. Then he picked up the kunoichi and her now dry clothes. He set off down the mountainside, at a slow pace so as not to jolt the girl in his arms. He glanced at Tenten. Her breathing was even, and her chocolate eyes were closed. Her head snuggled deeper into Neji's forearm. The feeling felt good, but Neji had never been this close to a girl in his entire life. She smelled like fresh roses, with a hint of lemon. Her tan arms hung down limply at her sides, one hand clutching her special kunai. Even in the realms of slumber, she held the most precious she owned. Soon they had passed the poppy field, then Konoha Lake. They weren't in the outskirts of Konoha anymore. They were nearly to Konoha village. Neji could tell because he could see the Hokage faces set in stone through the trees. As they neared the village, he heard the sounds of children playing and adults scolding. As he walked down the familiar dusty lane, the children stopped their game of ball, and turned and pointed and yelled, "The traitor is back!" and "Mom! Dad! The murderer is here again!"

Some of the braver kids even picked up pebbles and threw them at Neji and Tenten. Neji blocked most of the rocks, but one hit Tenten's limp hand, knocking the kunai out of her grasp. It landed point-down in the lane, quivering. The kunoichi didn't even stir. Neji knelt down to pick the blade up, but he never got the chance. A child, a little boy, had snatched out the weapon from under Neji's searching hand. The child ran off with Tenten's kunai, and pretty soon, he was just a moving speck in the distance. He was tempted to run after the thief and use the Jyuuken on him, but remembered the girl in his arms. He couldn't leave her here, because the Konohans would literally destroy her. And he couldn't bring her, because the wound would just bleed more than it was now. So he sighed a sigh of defeat and continued on his way. Then he felt something warm and wet drip onto his hand and shirt. He looked down, and discovered, with horror, that Tenten's wound was bleeding even more. The bandage was not only drenched, it
was SOAKED. She had returned from the realms of slumber, and was coughing. A little blood appeared at the side of her mouth, and Neji wiped it away with a the cloth he had borrowed from Hanabi. Tenten clenched her hand and unclenched it, and her chocolate eyes opened wide with wonder and horror. "Where is it?" she asked weakly.
"Where is what?" Neji asked, knowing perfectly well what 'it' was.
"My special kunai. The one you gave me."
"Um..." Neji said, not knowing how to begin.
"Did I drop it on the trail?"
"No..."
"What happened to it then?"
"OK...these kids were throwing rocks at us and..." But Neji never got to finish her sentence. Tenten had leapt from his arms with agility amazing for someone who had recently been injured, but when she landed on her feet, her knees buckled and she fell to her knees in the dusty lane. Neji ran over to her. Tears were running down her cheeks once again. He realized that the bandage had come off in her hurry, and the blood was seeping through the coat onto the lane. He picked her up once again, and carried her off...ignoring the looks of disgust and indifference the people were giving them. He also tried really hard to ignore the mutters that passed them. But he couldn't. The words were repeating over and over in his head. "The murderer and her friend." "Off with her head! She killed that boy, Hianda!" "But maybe we should give her one more chance." "No...we shouldn't! She's killed someone!!! Are you mad? Do you want to be her next victim." Neji ran away as fast as he could while carrying Tenten. Tenten's wound was bleeding so much at this point, that if she wasn't put under medication soon, she would die! He knew the hospital wouldn't help, because in their eyes, Tenten was the traitor and murderer that didn't deserve to be cared for. But he knew people who would. He rushed into Hyuuga Manor, not even stopping to wipe his feet or knock. Everyone came rushing into the front hall to see what the commotion was. When they saw Neji, most of them left, not seeing the girl in his arms. But two small girls stayed to say hello to their nii-san. They were Hanabi and Hinata. "Nii-san!" they both yelled at the same time. Then they saw the girl in Neji's arms. "Nii-san, what happened to Tenten?" asked Hinata, cocking her head curiously, her brows furrowing in worriedness. "Hanabi, Hinata, I have to ask you two a favor."
"Yes, Nii-san?"
"I need you to take care of Tenten for me. The hospital won't help."
"Where are you going, nii-san?" asked Hinata, running fingers through her blue hair.
"I'm going to argue the case."
"So that means, Tenten's not guilty?" asked Hanabi, head rising suddenly, spurred on by a ray of hope.
"No. Tenten's not guilty, Hanabi. I hope you don't mind that I used your favorite belt to wash Tenten's wound."
"Oh, no. Nii-san, I don't mind. There was a sale and I got a new one!"
Neji smiled warmly at his younger cousin. He knew they would take care of his teammate. But since they weren't exactly first class healers, they wouldn't know how to sew the wound up again. Not like that mattered. All they needed to do was to keep Tenten alive until he could consult Tsunade. She would listen, he knew. He smiled warmly at his two cousins as he went into the bathroom to wash off. He was headed to the courthouse next.

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