30 Day Challenge

Day 5

She remembered the first thing he had said to her and Rock Lee, his voice aloof as ever:

"So I'm stuck with you two? I wonder which of the two will be the heaviest dead-weight."

Her blood had boiled and she could barely contain herself as she pulled out a kunai and launched at him. She had been so close to striking him that time before a force interrupted the two. When she opened her eyes, she was met with a tall, tan man with a hideous bowl cut and an even more repugnant green bodysuit. Learning the strange man was her new sensei had only made her miserable day seem even gloomier, not that she had thought it possible. Yet she looked down at the small bump in her high necked shirt where her necklace was resting and it reviltalised her hopes. 

'One day' she thought, 'one day'. Her necklace felt like it was humming in response.

*~*~*~*~*

After 3 years of hanging around with her team and countless amounts of events,  tragic and joyous alike, growth and learning more about each other, Tenten was finally at ease with her two best friends. No matter how odd they may be.

'Best friends, huh?' Since when had her teammates earned that title? she thought to herself. They were walking to their favourite training spot, ready for another sparring contest, this time it was Rock Lee against Neji, Tenten had come along as arbitrage. It had become routine for them to go up the small clearing in the woods to work on their techniques and just to hang around, spending their free afternoons mindlessly messing about with the facilities at hand or just resting. It was surprisingly nice knowing she could rely on the two oddballs she called her friends, and that they could rely on her only helped her feel validated in her ambitions.

The sparring commenced, it had been a while since she had been able to observe her teammates fight, let along against one another. She decided to observe them a bit closer than she would have normally.

'It's crazy how much a person can grow in just a few years' was the first thought that entered her head. Physical changes aside, you could tell just by the two boys' technique they were more seasoned of warriors as they'd ever been. Relentless stamina, strength and speed vs elegance and masterful technique. It was a sight to behold - Tenten's eyes could barely catch up with the movement. It was truly splendid; like art worthy of the most prestigious galleries, like the finest cuisine she had ever even fathomed the idea of. She stood, almost stunned by the grace presented in front of her.

That's when it all went haywire.

A thin metallic tendril glimmered very slightly in the corner of her eye, where Lee had just landed after an incredibly impressive kick his oponent only just had the time to block. She had barely had the time to react before an explosion tag, that had been attached to the wire, detonated. How had they forgotten that Gai had warned them about new trap testings that were going on around the forest? 

Rock Lee had only just managed to jump away from the wire after his foot had been set off, Neji on the other hand, hadn't been as luck. When Tenten's vision cleared up the first thing she noticed was the boy laying on his side a few meters away from her, his back turned to her. Her instincts kicked and before her mind could comprehend what had just happened, her body was knelt down next to the injured boy, carefully turning her teammate on his back to assess his injuries. Rock Lee had run off in the direction of the village, presumably to go get some professional help from a medic.

The boy's cream-coloured jacket was stained red near the middle of his abdomen, the stain spreading by the minute. Tenten could fill panic rise up, in her. Neji half-opened his pale eyes, his pupil-less orbs scanning frantically for something to focus on before landing on Tenten's own panicked, dark hazel ones.