Author's Note: Sequel is up (been up for a while hehe) Called Waking

Waiting

It was his turn to keep watch. Four-hour shifts were divided up between Gai, Lee, and himself and it had been this way for over two weeks.

Neji took a seat in the chair beside the bed. It faced the door and the heart monitor that beeped deafly in the silent hospital room. He folded his arms over his chest, leaning back, trying to get comfortable, but even as he did so, he knew it was impossible. Being relaxed while being so close to her had never worked out well for him.

Neji skimmed his eyes over the room, skipping over the woman in the large bed that dwarfed her stature. He took note of the fresh lilies on the table beside him and read the small note. 'We've been waiting for you. Sakura and Ino.' On the opposite bedside table were also flowers, but these were bright blue tulips and the note read, 'You had us worried, TenTen.' signed Hinata and Naruto.

The first week after the accident there had been big bright balloons and hundreds of cards from all the villagers that lay unopened, waiting for her. The second week Gai unwrapped those letters and read her the contents before taping them to the wall.

Now that the third week was beginning, hope was fading. Less and less were coming to visit her. Only a few friends still showed up but that would soon stop as well. Neji didn't blame them. Friends will never be as close as teammates. It was a fact of their ninja life.

Neji tightened his arms over his chest, finally dropping his eyes to gaze upon the young weapon's mistress. Her long brown hair was draped over the white sheets of the hospital bed. Just above her left ear was a small shaved area where Sakura had fixed the wound.

He tried to pay no attention to her complexion. To her once vibrant red lips now devoid of color, just as the rest of her skin. She appeared to be made of wax now that she no longer held her training tan.

He shouldn't have been surprised. Deaths happened all the time. They were nearly eighteen years of age and so far, had been lucky to not end any missions with a serious injury or worse. It was bound to happen. He just hadn't been prepared for it to happen to her.

Neji was furious. If she woke now, he wasn't sure he'd greet her with relief or the rage he had been keeping inside of himself since that day.

It had been a normal mission. One that they had performed numerous times before. But this time their opponents had been a bit too strong, a bit too clever. Neji remembered telling his teammates to stay close. He could see with his bloodline limit just what type of chakra they possessed and it was dangerous.

But TenTen had purposely taken it as an insult. 'I'm not weak, Hyuuga.' He had smirked at that comment because just the day before they had a training session that proved just how weak she was against him. He would always be stronger because that was the way he was. It didn't mean she was weak like she perceived…and that had been something he had eventually wanted her to understand. She was strong in so many ways…

Before he had realized it, she had darted off, taking on two opponents on her own and disappearing from sight. There was no opportunity to go after her because the three men were also attacked. He had tried to keep his eyes on her with his bloodline limit, but it wasn't possible. Their opponents had been so surprisingly powerful.

Neji didn't know when, how, or what had happened, but when the rest of Team Gai found her again, she was slumped against a tree, unconscious and bleeding so profusely from her head that her hair had matted and turned an ugly shade of black. The mission had failed only because instead of continuing on like they should have, they rushed back to Konoha to get Sakura to heal her. It had taken five hours and by the time Sakura and Shizune exited, they were beyond exhausted.

He could still recall the pity that shone in her eyes when she told Gai the news. TenTen was in a coma and there was a chance she wouldn't wake up. The three male members of Team Gai had been devastated.

Tsunade had punished them for abandoning their mission. They were not allowed any missions for a whole month. They were more than grateful, however. Leaving TenTen's side was not an option for them.

The first week had been too painful to remember. Even though the three males were connected by their grief, the distance now placed between them was the size of the biggest valley. They didn't talk together, didn't eat together, the only time they saw one another was upon switching posts. They blamed each other for not looking out for her. Because the reality of it all was it really was their fault.

Now that the third week was beginning, they felt more hopeful that TenTen would one day awaken, and so in honor of her, they pretended to be friends again. But until she actually opened her eyes, their teamwork would never be strong again.

Neji lifted his pale lavender eyes to the door that slid open. Sakura smiled softly but he snapped his gaze away, hating the pity that shined in her orbs. She shut the door silently, stepping over to the sleeping woman and leaned down while running her fingers through the woman's hair; "Hey, TenTen, when are you going to wake up, huh? You have three loving men waiting for you."

She smiled almost adoringly, moving her green eyes back up to Neji. "Would you like to help me?"

He knit his brows in question.

"She needs exercise."

He nodded once, standing as Sakura flicked off the blanket. "Take her arm and bend it, like this." She showed him with the opposite appendage.

With caution, Neji placed his fingers against her, yanking back just in inch upon touching her cold, deathly skin. He wrapped his hand around her bicep, holding back the sickness that swirled in his stomach. Her arms had always been so toned and muscled, and now it was practically only bone.

"Good." Sakura interrupted his troubled thoughts. "Do that about twenty times."

She took the notepad that rested on top of the monitor and quickly wrote several things and check vitals and the IV. Sakura sat down on the bed after placing the clipboard back on the stand. Her hands glowed now with bright green chakra and she rested them on TenTen's forehead. Neji kept intense watch, wondering just what the medic was doing before he placed the arm down after the twentieth rep. He was unsure if that was all Sakura wanted him to do and was about to sit down when she squeezed out, "Her leg."

Neji sidestepped and finally caught sight of the long appendage. The hospital gown she wore ended at mid-thigh and the long leg warmers she had on went past the knee. Though barely any skin showed, it was still a bit awkward for him to touch her so intimately, especially without permission. He could almost hear her scream, 'Hentai!' the way she had once scolded Lee for accidentally touching her chest.

Swallowing, he lifted the leg and bent it, wincing when the gown rose a lot higher than he was ready for. He was thankful that at his position, he couldn't see anything; however, he did feel a heavy blush rise to his cheeks when he took note of the tubing that went up between her legs. He chided himself and even heard Sakura mumble, "Oh, grow up."

He tightened his resolve after that and kept his eyes connected with the wall in front of him instead of the leg between his fingers. When he was finally done with the reps, he let out a sigh of relief he had not known he had been holding, and then switched to the opposite side to do the same to the other leg.

When he finally reached the last bend, Sakura pulled back from whatever trance she had put herself in. She braced herself against the monitor, panting so heavily one would think she just ran a mile long race. Neji watched her with confused interest again.

Sakura must have felt his gaze, for she turned around and smiled through her deep breaths. "She's almost completely healed."

His brows knit with question. He had thought she had already healed all that could be. Maybe there was something he didn't know yet and that led him to voice it.

"What happened to her?"

Her green eyes fell instantly, but Neji recognized the guilt quick enough. She shook her head, turning it from him before she stood, but he gripped her arm tightly, refusing to release her when she tried to pull away. When she stopped struggling, it took several moments for her to surrender the information. "You thought that she just banged her head. But the truth is, she was stabbed with a 2-sided blade."

The news struck his nervous system and left him incapable of strength in any of his muscles. His hand dropped to his side, his eyes wide and unblinking as he gazed down upon the bed unseeing. How he managed to keep standing he would never realize. A hand touched his shoulder but he was numb and empty, incapable of acknowledging it. "It's taking time to recover because the brain is much harder to fix then bone. But she will wake up. I promise."

When he was finally able to blink, Sakura was long gone. He used the constant beeping of TenTen's heart to lure him back to conscious state. His eyes blinked up to her face. It was amazing she was alive at all.

He managed to bring the blanket up over her form, reaching under the bed to grab another sheet when he felt her cold skin. Neji finished the exercise with her right arm before placing it under with the rest of her body. He collapsed in the chair, exhausted.

It was rage that filled him again. Words almost escaped his lips and he clenched his teeth shut to stop himself but it became impossible to withhold it any longer.

"I'm mad at you." He ground out, feeling a bit foolish about speaking to a sleeping woman. He was too angry, however, to care. "You kiss me and then you leave before I can respond. You ignore me the whole day and then we go on a mission, never once giving me the chance to talk with you again. That wasn't fair, TenTen. If you would have just listened to me, you would have been safe."

He paused, fisting his hands in his lap. "I know you were upset with me. That's why you went off on your own. But if you would have let me explain my actions, we-" He stopped himself, too enraged to keep his voice calm any longer. He didn't want to tell her anything while she slept. He needed her to respond. He needed to see her eyes, to watch the emotions fly across her gaze like always before.

It was unlike him. Speaking to her like he just had. He had never needed to justify himself, never needed to make her understand anything. She instantly knew when something upset him and did everything in her power to fix the problem. Neji dropped his eyes away, the disgusting feeling of guilt overpowering his anger.

He needed her to look at him and say, 'I know, Neji,' because she always knew everything there was about him. He felt incomplete now, and that left him speaking about things he never wished to share.

Neji closed his eyes and forced the memory he last had of her to the forefront of his head.

"Neji." He turned to her swiftly, his arms dropping to rest lazily at his side. She smiled softly, a bit nervously it seemed as she stood before him. Nothing about her gave away her anxiety but it shined brightly enough in her chocolate eyes.

"You wished to see me?" He questioned, holding up the tiny slip of paper between two fingers. Neji watched her as she stepped just a bit closer.

"Um…Yeah." Her eyes dropped. Neji's brows knitted, finding it a bit disconcerting that whatever it was it was troubling her. She never had any problems speaking to him before.

"What is it?" He questioned, tightening himself, preparing for whatever blow she was about to give.

Until the gap between them closed so swiftly and her lips were pressed tight against his own. The deadliest blow she could ever give him. And he didn't even see it coming.

Neji gently opened his eyes. The fresh lively picture of her gorgeous face was brutally demolished by the pale, colorless skin and bones that now greeted him. He leaned forward, his elbows rested on his knees to get a few inches closer to her.

How to get her to wake? How to get her to respond? He needed hope. He needed to know he wasn't sitting here for nothing. Did she know he was here, waiting? Just waiting for her to fix the devastating hole she caused in his heart?

Would he ever get to tell her just what it was he felt for her?

It wasn't fair. His hands fisted again when the rage bubbled in his chest.

The door opened and Lee waved to him in greeting. Neji sat back, calming nearly instantly so Lee would find no emotions lying in his pale eyes. He glanced to the clock and knitted his brows. Four hours had past by so fast, adding to the injustice he felt about the whole situation.

He watched Lee come over to her, rest a small kiss on her brow while whispering, "Hello TenTen, I brought you a gift. It's a picture Gai-sensai took on our expedition to Wind Country last year."

Lee placed the frame down upon the stand next to the tulips. Neji caught TenTen's smiling face and turned his eyes away without looking at anything else.

Neji wondered if he should have brought her something, if he should have kissed her when he walked in. He blinked suddenly, noticing Lee's eyes on him, and he caught the gaze. "It's your turn to sleep here tonight, would you like me to bring breakfast? We can eat with her."

Neji nodded in answer and in gratitude. Maybe feeling a bit jealous that Lee sat on the bedside with TenTen's arm in his lap, Neji reached under the covers and grasped a hold of her tiny hand.

Lee touched her forehead and her hair; "She looks so different. You think she will be angry when she finds out how much we're caring for her?"

Neji tightened his hold on her fingers, desperately pleading with her to hold his.

"Remember when she got hit with that kunai three years ago? Gai-sensei and I fussed over her, making her lie still while we treated the wound and spoon-fed her. She cursed so much and got so angry that her ears turned red."

"It had been barely a flesh wound," Neji chided in remembrance of that. He had tried to help her get rid of the two whackos, but after they saw blood, there was no saving her.

Lee laughed lightly, "She's probably cursing us wherever she's hiding. But it gives her more incentive to wake up." He finished rubbing her arm to bring warmth back to it.

Neji stood, knowing his time was finally up. He slid the door open only to be stalled upon hearing Lee's voice.

"She's in love with you, you know?" His hand didn't drop. "She has been for a long time. That's how I know she'll wake up. She's just trying to get you to admit that you love her too. I bet the moment you do, she'll open her eyes as if it was all a big prank."

Without answering, Neji stepped through and shut the door, walking down the hallway. A smirk played on his lip as he tried to figure out just what he would say the next time.

Well, there you go! What do you think? Thanks for reading.