A/N: Okay, this is my first Naruto fan fiction and I’ve been obsessed for a pretty long time.:) Okay, cutting to the chase, I’ve been a NejiTen freak for how long? I guess my obsession has somehow come to a fan fic XD

Warning: NejiTen, if you dislike this pairing in any way, please step away from the computer or simply click the ‘back’ button to leave this page, thank you :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto whatsoever, the all-mighty Kishimoto Misashi owns it!!

Italics are for Quotes

(Italics with brackets are author's notes)

Bold are fore heading

Italic Bold are for flashbacks

I feel so insecure, standing in front of you makes my sins burn under my chest.

You are the only one who can break my chains, but you can’t see them…

It hurts me…

Fate

Chapter 1: His Precious Person…

By: ShenLi

17 year old Hyuuga Neji’s eyes shifted from side to side, dodging each and every single kunai that has been thrown at him by the weapon master, Tenten. Rock Lee’s speed aided him to dodge them as well. Mito Gai was nowhere to be seen, but his students, excluding Lee, wouldn’t care less for his presence. After a series of ninja stars attacking the genius, Hyuuga, Lee suggested taking a break for 5 minutes and they all agreed.

They’ve been training for the last 3 hours and Tenten seemed to be a little distracted from her work. Neji, having his I-know-everything-once-I-look-at-you-in-the-eye attitude, stared at her and felt somewhat curious about her distraction but being his unique self, he shoved it away from his mind. Fortunately, Lee noticed this as well and spoke;

“Tenten, what’s on your mind?” He asked politely. The Auburn haired girl, who was staring up at the blue sky, looked at him and blinked.

“What do you mean?” She responded, confused.

“You don’t seem to be paying attention during our training session, you wondered off after an hour and you may not have noticed,” Neji started and continued. “You’ve mostly been aiming for a tree.” Lee nodded and pointed at an over abused tree across their sitting position. Tenten blinked at the poor tree and laughed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I guess my mind was off or a second. I’ll be serious next time.” After that sentence, she stood up and smiled at Neji and Lee. “Let’s get started again.” Lee nodded happily and jumped up from the earth to stretch his body. Neji got up as well and as Lee walked to the center of their training grounds, the Hyuuga walked up to Tenten’s side. Not talking his eyes off his over excited team mate, he spoke to the female ninja next to him.

“If your mind must be somewhere else, you shouldn’t be here.” Neji said with a stern face. Tenten stared at his pale and pupil-less eyes. Was he worried about her? Was he about to show kindness towards a team mate?

“Neji…”

“During a fight you cannot leave the moment by wondering off. It shows you’re weak.” And with that, he walked off. Tenten froze for a second. She watched the genius walk away from her. She grunted.

‘So much for worrying!’ She thought in a disappointed manner. Pretending she didn’t hear that weak remark, she took her position in front of the genius and the Taijutsu specialist. She glared at Neji. Right now, she really wanted to somehow jab a kunai or two into his gut! She snapped six kunais out of her hostler with both hands, each carrying three. She aimed at Neji and Lee and without warning, she attacked swiftly. Before any of the weapons could reach her team mates, they were deflected by another kunai that was being held by, none other than their sensei, Mito Gai.

“Tenten, my youthful student, why such a cross face!” Gai said cheerfully as he smiled. Tenten pouted, he just ruined her dream of piercing an extremely sharp object into one of Neji’s random body parts.

“Gai sensei!” Lee called out happily and skipped towards him. “Where have you been all afternoon? We had to train without you!” Gai placed his palm on Lee’s hair and shook it playfully. (Not that it would change his hairstyle.)

“I’ve been called for by the 5th Hokage, she said that she has a mission for both sensei and the students!” Gai said. “This mission of yours is important and will need to be taken care of straight away.”

“What is it?” Tenten asked. Gai handed Lee a brown scroll.

“You have to deliver a message to a team of Jounins at the outskirts of Konoha.” The team nodded in response of understanding. “The 5th said that the team will be waiting for the scroll over the east, close by the waterfall.”

(Note: I have no idea whatsoever if there’s actually a waterfall there…)

“I’ll need you to leave immediately for this mission, I have a mission of my own, and therefore I won’t be escorting you to your destination.”

“Understood.” They said in unison. Lee and Tenten went off to get started, but before Neji could join them, he was gently stopped by his sensei.

“Neji, I have a special job for you.” He said looking serious. Neji was interested, but showed none. “I need you to watch over Tenten.” Now the genius was confused. “We all know that she’s been a little distracted, though we don’t know why, I think it’s best if you looked after her. For all we know, something bad might happen.” Gai smiled. “She’s very important to us, and I’m sure you know that more than anyone here.” Neji’s expression didn’t change.

“Since you are our assigned Jounin, I shall take note to your request.”

“Neji!! Come on! We’re leaving!” Lee shouted excitedly. Gai and Lee sent each other good guy poses, and with that, the three chuunins set off to their mission.

The mission was a success. Having the help of Hyuuga Neji and his Byakugan, it was really easy to find out where the Jounins were at. They were pretty far from Konoha village, so it would consume a lot of time to get back and therefore, they decided to stop training for the day.

Leaping from tree to tree, the Chuunins were quiet. Lee decided to break the silence by starting a rather pointless conversation.

“I think I’m going to ask Sakura-san out!” Lee said happily believing that he would actually have a chance today.

“Like yesterday?” Tenten said with no interest.

“And the day before yesterday, and the day before that. Honestly, you’re wasting your time.” Neji said with a tint of irritation in his tone.

“To him, nothing is a waste of time when it comes to Haruno.” Tenten sighed. Neji smirked.

It was a long trip back to Konoha and the conversation began to waver away. Lee and Neji basically had nothing to do but make their way back to the village, but for Tenten, her mind began to wonder off once again. Noticing this for quiet a long time, Neji spoke with a straight face.

“Tenten,” He spoke. His deep voice caught her attention. “Like I said earlier, do not wonder off even after a mission… it shows weakness.” Tenten growled.

“Are you saying that I’m weak?” Tenten asked coldly. Lee blinked at his teammates. Neji simply smirked. This was seriously getting on Tenten’s nerves. Before she could say anything back, the team heard a loud cry.

Hearing this, they quickly shifted their heads to the direction to where the cry came from. They recognize the voice to be small, it was a child’s voice.

“What do you think was that?” Lee wondered. “It came from the direction of the waterfall.” Neji closed his eyed and performed a hand seal. As his eyes opened, so did his Byakugan. He focused his Byakugan to the direction where the cry was heard. Soon, his eyes widen with shock.

“What is it?” Tenten asked.

“Children.” He said. His eyes saw that three children were holding on to a boulder that was resting in a raging river that led to a waterfall! “They’re in immense danger.” Understanding, all three chuunins rushed to the children’s aid.

Reaching their decided destination, the team spotted two boys and one girl clinging on the bolder that was keeping them from being carried away and down the waterfall. A number of logs her visible on the surface and was being washed away by the current.

“Help!” The children cried. They were no older than 10 years old, and the current was far too strong for them to swim in.

“We’ll get you out of there!” Lee cried back as the three ninjas leaped into the air, trying to land on the boulder. Suddenly, one of the logs was pulled so hard that it was heading for the children! This caught the team’s attention.

“I’ll show you weak…” Tenten whispered, loud enough for Neji to hear her words. She changed her direction and headed for the log. Before it could reach the children, Tenten landed on the log and forced it away from them. Once she drew the log away, she jumped on the boulder with her team mates, but due to the moist of the boulder, it cause her to slip for a split second and her foot was misplaced between the large rock.

“Nice, Tenten!” Lee said giving her the good guy pose.

“Get these kids back to the shore.” Neji commanded. Lee nodded, lifting the girl from the water, Neji took the boys and both jumped back to shore. Just as Tenten was about to jump to follow her team, she realized something. Her foot, it was stuck!

‘My foot!’ She winced in pain once she tried forcing it out, cause her ankle to get scraped by the rock. ‘It must be when I lost my balance… Damn!’

Over to the other side, Lee noticed something and looked around.

“Eh? Where’s Tenten?” Neji turned his head towards the boulder and found the female ninja trying to yank her foot out the boulder.

“Tenten, what’s wrong?” He called out. He was about to jump to her aid, but was stopped by her reply.

“It’s okay! Stay there, I’m just stuck, I can deal with this.” Neji hesitated a little. He heard her cursing the rock, calling it names and kicking its surface mercilessly. She gave him a signal to stay right where he was and that she’ll be there in a minute.

Neji shook his head and rolled his eyes, waiting for the stubborn kunoichi. Suddenly, he heard a loud snap.

“What was that?” Lee asked, alerted. With a loud screeching sound, the tree that was close by the children began to wobble, and the tree was large. It wasn’t about to endanger the children, but it was aiming for something else. Tenten.

“Tenten!!” The Kunoichi was alerted and looked towards her team mates, only to find herself facing a huge tree that was about to tumble and fall, right over her. Her hazel eyes widen. She turned back to her ankle that was getting nowhere from being released! She began forcing her ankle free harder and harder causing it to bleed as the tree continued to wobble from side to side. The sound of the tree roots being forced out was noticeable and was getting louder every second!

“Tenten!!” Lee shouted out and was about to jump and save her, but the child that was in front of him began to cry, partly was because she almost drowned, and partly because of the tree. Lee panicked. “Eh? What? No, don’t cry! Please be quiet!” He tried comforting the child, Neji swung his head back to find out what was the problem with Lee and the girl. Suddenly, the tree’s roots were completely torn off and was falling!

Tenten slowly looked up, the tree was being pulled down by gravity, and she was stuck, right under it’s spot. Her lower lip began trembling, terrified of what would happen to her. She froze, her whole world froze. The shadow to the tree began to swallow her, she couldn’t do anything.

Neji swung his head back to his team mate, his pale eyes widen. It was happening so quickly…

“Neji, I have a special job for you. We all know that she’s been a little distracted, though we don’t know why, I think it’s best if you looked after her. For all we know, something bad might happen.

Neji’s breath grew heavier as he forced all his chakra to his feet. The tree fell deeper and closer to his…

“She’s very important to us, and I’m sure you know that more than anyone here.”

His precious person.

Tenten’s instincts brought her hands up in defense. Shutting her eyes, she screamed. Suddenly she felt a gust of wind went by in front of her, her eyes slowly opened only to find a man’s long raven hair in front of her, arms extended to his sides in a position of defending her. And as if in slow motion, she watched him slowly jolt up, turned around and grabbed her close.

And in a matter of seconds, tree crashed to the river, creating an enormous splash.

“Tenten!! Neji!!”

When you turned around, I wanted to run. Your warmth haunts me and I know it.

I have tried so hard to stand up, to stand with you… and suddenly, you reached for me…

A/N: … uh very short, I know…. Yeah, this is my first time writing a Naruto Fic, SEW ME! I hope it’s good, and if you’re actually interested in this, please review!! I somehow breathe on reviews… Hehe, anyway, I think I made our favorite Hyuuga Neji a little OOC…neh? Anyway, I’ll update this… if I get any reviews… XD