The Drawing Pads

Ch1: Day 1

TENTEN POV

"Don't worry, she'll be awake and completely healed by the time you return from you mission. Now go!" I heard Sakura's voice followed by a "Hn." and a door closing.

"Where am… oh. Oh shit I HATE hospitals!" I thought/groaned in my head, remembering the B ranked mission that me and Neji had been sent on that turned into an A ranked mission.

"You're awake?!" Sakura, the now 16 year old medic, asked.

"Hai, was that Neji?" I asked.

"Hai, he's been here everyday waiting for you to wake up." Sakura watched me as she checked the machine strapped to my arm. "You've been in a coma for 6 days from the blood loss. You want to tell me what happened? You've never been hit dead on like this before. I asked Neji and all I got was a 'the enemy was stronger than we anticipated'."

I chuckled at that. It was so like him, "Promise you won't tell anyone or mention it to him that I told you?"

"Doctor-patient confidentiality. You have my word as a medic." She swore, sitting on the foot of my bed looking at me like a school girl waiting to hear the newest gossip.

"The mission went from B to A rank and I jumped in front of an attack Neji couldn't dodge." I said. It wasn't a complete lie. "Neji could have dodged the attack, he just wouldn't have because well… it was directed at his blind spot. But I can't tell Sakura that. Heck Neji doesn't even know that I know. Well he probably does now but still…"

"Wow, what a blow to his ego. No wonder he wouldn't speak." Sakura laughed. "You should be out of here in 3 to 4 days. You want anything before I go make my rounds?"

"Kunai and a dart board." I said immediately but my answer was her smacking me upside the head. Not as hard as she does with Naruto but it still hurt. Over the years all for of us 'kunoichi' have gotten pretty close. Now that Neji doesn't hate Hinata anymore we are free to be friends. Ino's a pain, always trying to get me to lose my tomboy look and wear ('insert shudder') makeup. And Sakura encourages her most of the time, but now that she's the apprentice of Tsunade, she's become a great sparing partner as well.

"Baka, you'll be out of here in a few days, but your not to TOUCH a weapon for at least a week, probably two." Sakura yelled in a somewhat joking manner.

I sighed, "Fine, can I have a sketch pad and pencils then?" I asked. She seemed a little taken back by this but she nodded her head and left the room without another word. I almost laughed. No one knew that I drew and normally I wouldn't have told her, but if I'm going to be weaponless for a week, and trust me Sakura will find a way to keep them from me, I'm going to want to draw at least.

Sakura returned and tossed me the pad a box of pencils along with a hand pencil sharpener and ran out of the room. I heard a lot of yelling down the hall so I guess she was needed.

I laid back, propping myself up on a few pillows and closed my eyes. I thought back to our mission and the fight where I was injured. I replayed the whole week over and over in my head until I knew which 'scene' I wanted to draw. I picked up the pencil and started…

"MY YOUTHFUL FLOWER!!!!" I heard Lee shout from down the hall. I guess I fell asleep because that's what I woke up to. My finished drawing was in my lap and I still had the pencil in my hand. I quickly pushed everything under my pillow and waited for Lee's grand entrance.

I didn't have to wait long. Lee made his usual entrance, with a lot of noise and yelling and his freakishly blindingly white teeth going 'PING'.

"The flower of our team has awakened at last! How are you feeling? No worries!!! With the help of the beautiful Sakura-chan, I'm sure you will be out of here in no time!!!..." he started to go on and on until I finally interrupted him.

"LEE!" I yelled to get his attention over his own yelling. When he stopped I continued in a normal voice, "I'm fine, I'll be out in 3 to 4 days and I'll be back at training next week. I've already seen Sakura. Where's Gai-sensei?"

"Gai-sensei is on another YOUTHFUL jounin mission with Neji." Lee exclaimed, but I could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Don't worry Lee, when we take the exams in two months we'll be right there with them. We all know you're more than ready for Jounin." I smiled at him and he smiled back, the fire returning to his eyes.

Then he turned to me sheepishly, "I actually have a mission right now. I was just checking in on you before leaving…" Lee trained off.

"BAKA!" I shouted at him, "GO! I'm fine! Don't be late and disappoint Gai-sensei!" I yelled at him playfully. The second I mentioned Gai, he disappeared. I barely heard his "Arigato Tenten! Ja ne!" as he left.

After I saw him leave through my window I retrieved my drawing pad from under my pillow. I looked at the scene I had recreated on the paper. It showed Neji fighting off 5 ninja at once. You could see my hand throwing 3 kunai at another nearby ninja. I always did this. At my house there are at least 15 pads of these drawings. One or two for each mission I've ever been once since I graduated the academy. Sometimes I draw two if I have the time or if I feel I need more than one to get the point and memory of the mission across.

There are other pads too with other things in them but I won't go into those. My drawings basically show my entire life. And no one knows about them but me. Sakura knows I draw but she doesn't know how good I am or that I have my own pads at home.

I decided that this one picture with the enemy ninja's headbands and the giant scroll on Neji's back was explanation enough for the drawing o the mission. I looked over at the calendar out of boredom. Then I saw the date. "March 1st huh… WAIT WHAT?!?!?! Damn it! I'm such an idiot! How could I forget?! Sakura said I was out for 6 days! Now I only have eight days. Not to mention I'll still be weak from the mission. Shit shit shit!!!"

Reluctantly I looked back down at the pad in my lap and flipped to a clean page. "It'll be in a rush but I can't do anything until I'm out of here." I thought trying to calm down and figure things out. I decided to draw something different. I went back into my memories. I went back years and years before my academy days. Then I opened my eyes.

"8 days huh? I hope you all get back in time for me to say goodbye. I'd hate to disappoint you guys but I'm facing reality here…" I thought and started to draw.