Author’s Notes: First thing, I know there were no glasses in this time period. But how else are you going to know Kabuto? Writing this chapter was exciting, and it’s a little longer than usual. So enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

Cutting Water

Chapter Four

By Nessie

It was morning. He was only half-awake and had not yet even opened his eyes. Neji knew from simply feeling the temperature of his chamber that daybreak had just hit. But it was not the arrival of dawn that had inflicted consciousness upon him.

Someone was in his room. In the time it took for lightning to flash, the sword at the edge of his mattress was unsheathed, he was sitting up ramrod straight, and the steel of his blade was hovering centimeters away from the place where the shoulder met the neck of his current master.

Mistress, Neji thought as his eyes narrowed into a white glare. Kneeling beside his slightly-elevated bed was Tenten, her face pale from the light bleeding through the window and impossibly calm. Her eyes were trained on him with a sort of vague curiosity – as though the fact that he had been on the verge of decapitating her was of no importance at all. After several moments, Tenten smirked right into Neji’s scowl.

“What, Hyuuga?” she said. The huskiness to her voice told him that she had not spoken yet this morning. “Were you going to kill me?”

For a fraction of a second, Neji thought he saw something in the depths of her soil-colored eyes…it was like seeing something from a dream in reality, but he figured it must only be remnants of childhood memories toying with his mind. It was still so odd to see eyes he knew to belong to a slip of a girl set in the angles and planes of a woman’s face.

Belatedly he took his sword away from her flesh. “Forgive me,” he replied without nearly as much remorse as anyone else would have been feeling at such a moment. “I do not take well to being approached without warning.”

“Yes, Shino mentioned that to me last night at our meal. He said you took up your sword with impressive skill, and I can thankfully agree with him. Although,” murmured Tenten, “had I any serious concern for my life, I would have pierced you seconds before you cut me.” Her eyes fell downward, and Neji followed her gaze to see a thick, long needle clenched between her right hand’s middle and index fingers. The tip was aimed right at his stomach. If she knew how to use it – and Neji had no doubt that she did – the resulting wound could have proved fatal.

Tenten got to her feet and angled a contemplating gaze down at him, taking in his state of dress – or lack thereof. Neji was suddenly acutely aware that beneath the thin summer blanket which had been provided for him he was entirely nude and he clenched the coverlet more out of annoyance than embarrassment. Tenten herself was dressed in loose-fitting garments – men’s clothing, good for fighting. An instant’s inspection showed that the fold of her shirt was a tad too low, and her breast bindings peeked out from behind berry-colored material. Neji hurriedly shifted his gaze to more innocent places. Her hair was worn up as it had the night before, but instead of the single pile atop her head, her tresses were separated into two buns. On her hip was a sword sheathed in the purest silver with veins of sapphire running in swirls.

His eye stayed on the weapon for the fewest of moments as he wondered why it looked so familiar, but then Tenten was turning and approaching the door. “I know you are used to being the nephew of a rich uncle,” she called, the words doing nothing to ease Neji’s displeasure, “but we in the Long clan begin our training two hours before dawn and end at first light.”

“Why such an odd time?” Neji asked, now remembering how strange he had thought it when everyone had gone to bed so early.

“Here in my home we suffer the threat of being attacked at any time during the day. It is because of this strict schedule,” she went on, “that we managed to catch the Uchiha spy night before last.”

Neji thought about that for a moment; all Hyuugas rose two hours after dawn for their training. There was no war in Japan and Neji’s clan was left mostly to its own affairs. In comparison to this woman leader of men, he appeared almost lazy.

“Rise and dress,” ordered Tenten as she stepped over the threshold. It might have been his imagination, but Neji thought he saw her eyes pause on his bare chest. If so, the two brown orbs met with his so quickly that it could not have truly been called a look. “There is breakfast waiting for you. And I’ve plans to show you our useless spy.”

Neji waited until she was gone before moving. He now caught a distinct scent of something in the air…perspiration mingled with a flower he couldn’t name. As he put on the clothes Lee had given him, he couldn’t help but wonder if his father had experienced the same feeling of confusion in his time here. There had been times when Neji, too young to interpret any the minds of adults, had seen the deepest of scowls etched on his father’s face. He had come to China, to this very compound, to fight for a cause he was not a part of, bringing Neji “to learn.”

But Neji had learned nothing, as far as he was concerned. Unless, of course, one could be taught loss. If that was so, then he in fact had learned all he needed to know.

Upon finishing breakfast, Neji was instructed by a servant to meet Tenten at a nearby building close to the main family’s house. Arriving there, he found a place not unlike a stable – indeed, it was connected by an atrium to one – but rather than horses’ stalls there were cells with iron criss-crossing over the doors. Tenten stood before the cell farthest from the entrance and, getting closer, Neji saw she was engaged in a battle of mean stares with the only prisoner.

“Mizuki,” Tenten said, “I’d like you to meet Hyuuga Neji.”

Neji peered into the human cage and saw a man in dirty black clothes, horribly disheveled, with his pale hair long and scraggly. The man turned his lusterless gaze to him with the smallest sign of brain activity. “Hyuuga…heard that name before,” he croaked. “Might remember where if I had some water.”

“Oh, don’t start acting like we’ve mistreated you,” Tenten snapped. “We’ve given you all the nourishment you require to live, even though you’re so worthless Uchiha couldn’t be bothered to give you a single slip of information.”

That did the trick. Mizuki reared, leaping to his feet and thrusting an arm through a space in the bars in an effort to reach Tenten. The length of his fingers fell just short of her exposed neck. “I’m not worthless! I was sent by Sasuke himself to—”

“Fail?” Tenten leered. “You of the Uchiha clan are barely fit to walk on China’s noble dirt, let alone presume to take my family’s share of it. Do you now rely on Uchiha Sasuke to save your life? Will he come for someone so without purpose?”

Mizuki raged, his arm lashing wildly in his wish to harm her, but Tenten stepped away and met Neji’s frown. “I don’t starve or dehydrate my prisoners like most do – my father taught me to show mercy where I would want mercy shown to me. Even if he did despise common filth like this,” she added sourly over her shoulder so Mizuki could hear.

Neji could hardly believe his ears. Here was the same sweet girl his childhood memories showed him with her dagger and her target, now spouting jeers and throwing barbs so bitterly?

Another voice joined the room, sounding over Mizuki’s snarls and threats. “You might just have starved him for posterity.” Neji looked over his shoulder to see a woman standing in the threshold, the early morning sunlight filtering in around her. Blond hair glowed at the edges, and red lips smirked at them both. “But you’re as capable as ever, Tenten.”

“Tsunade!” Tenten flew toward her but the two women did not touch. They acted as men, keeping their distance, but the questions came more fervently. “What are you doing here? Jiraiya said you both would be kept away for several months.”

“Jiraiya underestimates my ability to take care of business,” Tsunade replied, giving her head a sassy cock. “He’ll be along before another sunrise.”

Tsunade…Jiraiya…neither of these names meant anything to Neji, and he silently waited for someone to explain the presence of this newcomer. Tsunade’s light eyes turned him, then widened.

“Hyuuga,” she intoned. “I would know the eyes anywhere.”

“I’d have told you, could I reach you,” said Tenten, her hair escaping darkly from her buns. “Hiashi of the Hyuuga House offered me this man’s services. He is named Neji, Hizashi’s son.”

Tsunade studied him carefully. “What have you told him?” she asked, not removing her gaze. Her expression seemed cautious but more contemplative than anything. Her eyes flicked briefly to Tenten, then back to Neji.

“Not much,” Neji offered before Tenten could respond.

The woman called Tsunade grinned. “No, Tenten has a poor habit of skipping details. I, however, do not and before I interrogate either of you…” Her jovial expression fell, and Tenten was suddenly the object of a stern look. “You are to be attacked before noon has come. I’ve already given the word,” she added when Tenten made a movement, “and they’ll not arrive for another couple of hours or so. A spy of mine spotted them and told me when I was on my way here.”

“Fine,” Tenten exhaled, seeming distressed even though she continued to radiate calm. Neji watched her for a moment before Tsunade approached him and boldly set a hand on his shoulder. She was very tall for a woman, practically sharing his height, and she peered into his face with a look of amusement.

“The Long clan does not accept help easily. Tenten is hardheaded,” she went on and Tenten made a sound of indignation, “but she knows what she’s doing so there is merit in that. You are as good a fighter as your father, I am assuming?”

“He did not live long enough for me to know,” Neji replied. “I am good enough to survive a battle.”

Tsunade’s dark eyes gleamed. “But to win?”

“That as well.” Who was this woman to question him so?

After a moment, Tsunade appeared to finish her evaluation of the feelings in his eyes, and she stepped away. “Then that’s just perfect, isn’t it?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Tenten said to her sternly. “If I’m to engage in battle in two hours’ time, I’ll need to prepare and check on my men. You too, Hyuuga.” Throwing a look at Neji on her way out, she told him, “You’ll have live combat for your training this morning.”

Neji didn’t resist the smug look that demanded to cross his face. “That is the best kind of training.”

Tenten narrowed her eyes, doubtful of him, but she was gone without another remark. Tsunade folded her arms and sighed. “She is so serious. She’ll die of that before a sword wound, I should think. But Hyuuga…”

Neji blinked the vision of Tenten’s infuriatingly dubious face out of his mind and met Tsunade’s gaze.

“You must prove yourself to her. And you must not take the Uchiha lightly. They are strong, and we only beat them with our numbers.”

“Are you a member of this clan as well?” asked Neji, stepping with her toward the door and into the sunlight.

Tsunade’s amused smile was back. “No. But I am devoted to that woman you call leader now – Long Tai Na. Do you know why she changed her name to Tenten?”

“I know hardly anything.” This fact irritated Neji as much as Tenten herself did.

“Tenten is not a very feminine name. It could easily be mistaken for that of a man’s – which is just what she needed to fool my mistress. Tenten is a ruler in a man’s world, heading one of the most powerful clans in China. My mistress would be terribly jealous of her – she is not the most forgiving woman.”

“And who is your mistress?”

They stopped walking, Tsunade looking into the sky as though she were trying to smile at the gods. “One whose favor this clan is in. The clan of Long has only survived because of that. Surely when you arrived they threw a banquet?”

“Yes.”

“And Tenten wore a stunning dress bearing her family’s symbol?”

“Yes,” Neji said impatiently. The vision of that dragon made him think of Tenten’s slim waist, hidden by today’s choice of clothing, along with…other places. He gave his head a jerk, frustrated with himself.

“That dress was originally a man’s ensemble, to be worn by Long Tao Huang’s ‘son,’ Tenten. Ino, the one daughter in this clan close to Tenten’s age, altered it for her. It was a gift from my mistress.” Tsunade sent him a sideways glance, her voice carrying a hidden laugh.

Neji wondered…and then—

“The ruler of this entire country in this Zhou Dynasty: Empress Wu Ze Tian.”

---

He stood on top of the western wall next to Lee, adrenaline already coursing through him at the prospect of fighting. Neji had experienced his share of combat over the years; he had fought others in his own clan for Hiashi’s entertainment and scrutiny. He had always received the feeling that were he to be anything less than satisfactory, Hiashi would throw Neji from the family compound or send him to someplace where fighting was more savage than a feud between clans.

In Neji’s mind, it was a miracle that he was still living at twenty years old.

To Lee’s right was Tenten, and to Tenten’s right was Gai. The four of them were like some newly-assembled team – even though Neji was the only new one – and were ready for anything to come at them. Tenten had ordered the rest of the clan’s warriors to remain on the ground outside the wall, waiting for Tenten’s word. They would analyze the oncoming force and then report to Shikamaru, the bothered-looking man currently heading the group down below.

“You must know, Hyuuga,” began Lee, and the person he was addressing interrupted.

“Just call me Neji.” Hyuuga from a man his age made him feel old.

“Neji…Tenten is my friend. She does not intend to treat you with anything less than respect. I’m sure her, ah…not-so-warm behavior is only from her desire to be cautious. She has never had to trust her clan to the skills of an outsider before.” The bowl-haired man was in earnest.

Neji’s white eyes scanned the distant forest border for any sign of activity. “She doesn’t bother me.”

Lee gave a breathy chuckle. “She will.”

Before Neji could ask what the other young man meant by that statement, Gai’s voice boomed over them. “They approach! Take guard, my youthful friends!”

Indeed, from the shadows cast by the trees, people were materializing. Neji’s eyes roved over a hooded man, a blond woman, and a reddish brown-haired man standing together, sharing a vague family resemblance. There was a man with light-colored hair and spectacles, and, in front of them all, a man who was dark all over, from his hair and eyes to his very clothing.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” Lee murmured to Neji.

Surprisingly, it was he who spoke first after surveying what he was up against. “You send out the same warriors once more, Long Tenten.” A smirk twisted Sasuke’s face. “And as always, you expect my men to fall?”

“You misunderstand, Uchiha!” called Tenten, her voice powerful from atop the wall. “You are the only one who need fall. I care nothing for your pawns; they can die or live as they so choose.” From the corner of his eye, Neji saw Tenten unsheathe her sword, and the steel gleamed in the midday sun. “Perhaps we will be defeated if you bring that brother of yours back – he killed off the rest of your clan easily enough.”

Neji started at this new information. Something changed with those words. Gai shifted in an anxious way, but Uchiha Sasuke went stone-still, his hand in the lining of his shirt which undoubtedly contained some form of weapon.

“At least,” Sasuke said, “my late father had to be murdered to die instead of being defeated by his own decrepit body.” Tenten went tense all over. “And he left behind a son to do a man’s job, not some daughter who pretends to have strength and doesn’t realize she’s only good for a fighter’s pleasure, not a fight itself.”

“Don’t—!” Gai was yelling, but Tenten had already leapt from the wall, somersaulting on her way to slow the long descent. In a flash, her teacher and his pupil went too, and Neji was last, unsheathing his own sword as he fell.

The Uchiha had moved as well. Hitting the ground, Neji didn’t have time to do a survey of who was where because standing right before him was Uchiha Sasuke, his eyes black as ebony, a Japanese shuriken clutched between his fingers.

“So you’re the Longs’ new arrival,” Sasuke murmured lowly. Neji held stock-still, sizing the possible adversary up even as he was sized up himself. “You don’t look like much. Japanese. Tell me,” he went into a stance, “why do you fight your own people?”

Neji opted for replacing his sword in its sheath and went into a stance as well, hands up. “I’ve a mission to fulfill that involves your defeat.”

The Uchiha lord looked amused. “But this is not your place. Are you so purposeless that you must fight in a battle that has nothing to do with you?” Sasuke jerked, then ran forward. Neji stepped back, preparing for a kick…

A rough, feminine voice assaulted their ears. “SASUKE!” Neji was at once shoved aside by a flurry of brown hair and silk the color of raspberries. Tenten took the place he had been occupying. Rage flared for a brief second before he heard her say, “You’re mine and you know that. How dare you leave me to fight your whore!”

“Temari would be a perfect opponent for you,” Sasuke replied, a seethe coating his tone. “Although I’m willing to bet you to have been to bed with more men than her.” Sparks flew over his face as Tenten furiously pounded her sword against his kunai. As disgruntled as he was by her action toward him, Neji understood her anger, but he couldn’t stay in one place any longer and turned.

The dark-eyed redhead was fighting Lee, Shikamaru fought the hooded one, and the blond woman he assumed was Temari was heading back to the forest, a lax figure slung over her shoulder. Pale hair and a face just as crazy when unconscious told Neji it was a newly-freed Mizuki, and he went after her.

“Stop!” cried Neji, pulling a dagger from a bandage around his leg. Temari did stop and, as he threw his weapon, turned and let the blade’s point sink straight into Mizuki’s exposed chest.

Temari didn’t look the least bit bothered, even when her supposed ally’s blood was running down her side. “Many thanks,” she called to Neji, baffling him enough that he allowed her to escape back into the woods.

He didn’t have enough time to stay baffled, however. A heavy grunting sound nearby had him turning to see Gai engaged in combat with the bespectacled man that had stood beside Sasuke. The stranger’s hand was buried in Gai’s gut, and when he retracted it, blood coated his fingertips and flew in the air. Neji didn’t think but acted, and sped toward the stranger. In a second, his elbow was up and digging right into the enemy’s throat. He stumbled back as Gai fell to the ground. Choking, the stranger took off, motioning to others.

And then the Uchiha clan was retreating, disappearing into the forest until only Sasuke was left. They were close enough for Neji to hear words pass between the two dueling leaders.

“As always, this hasn’t ended, Tenten.” Sasuke’s right arm sported a red cut from his shoulder to his wrist. In response to his threat, Tenten only smiled.

“Every day, Sasuke,” she retorted, her blade bright with his blood, “brings us close to the day I kill you.”

Sasuke spit at her, missing, and then swiveled and dove into the cover of the trees, following his group back to their hideaway. Tenten wasted no time in turning to survey the potential damage. Her eyes first alighted on Gai, and her confident expression changed to one that Neji had not yet seen her wear.

Fear.

“Gai! Gai!” And she was running, ordering for Tsunade to come, and Neji was as confused by her as he had ever been. It was as though this woman could turn her emotions on and off at will, and currently she was determined to be distressed over her mentor.

But before she could even reach him, Gai was standing, holding his stomach. His head came up and a brighter-than-bright smile was twinkling. He removed his hand to reveal only a small cut, but he was still regaining his breath.

“The first strike was nothing,” he told Tenten when he could speak. “But if Kabuto had hit me with another, well…” He turned his dark eyes to the only white ones in the area. “Thank you, Hyuuga Neji. If you’ll believe it, your father also saved my life as well. Interesting how history repeats itself!” And then he was laughing, causing Tenten to slump against the nearest compound wall in relief.

They learned within the next few minutes that the only one with a bad injury was Shikamaru, his left leg broken by the hooded Uchiha named Kankurou. Tenten’s relief turned once more to rage, and Neji saw her punch a stone in the tall wall with her bare knuckles.

“This whole battle of yours,” he told her, annoyed still by her interruption of his fight with Sasuke, “is foolish.”

“You think I do not know that?!” she demanded, rounding on him with passionately bright eyes. “For two years, I have—” She cut herself off with silence, and then took a moment to simply breath, her eyes sliding shut. Neji watched as calm overtook her. “Thank you,” she said, taking him aback. “From what I’ve heard, you’ve saved Gai’s life. That is something I must be grateful for.” Moving back, she bowed to him in perfect Japanese form.

Neji’s eyes narrowed. “That is what I was sent here for. To help you.”

Tenten kept her gaze on the grass, bloodied in places by the recently-ended fight between her clan and its enemy. “This is a burden I bear for my honor, and my family’s honor. I do not ask you to understand, nor do I feel obligated to explain.” She suddenly met his eyes again, startling him. “But I hope that we will endure this together.”

Neji was not swayed by the gentleness in her tone. For all he knew, she was as false as the others in his life had been. “I do not feel we shall get along.” It was an honest statement. Even if the loose hair coming out of her buns did look soft enough to make him want to free the rest and run his fingers through it.

“That’s fine, too, Hyuuga.”

“Neji,” he snapped, endlessly hating his humanity. Tenten shot him a tired look, but then comprehended. She nodded.

“Tenten,” she offered, and he too bobbed his head. It was a start.

And Neji had the feeling that they were nowhere near the end.

To Be Continued…