Ok, now before you point that knife at me and start going on a rampage due to my lateness, think about all the blood sweat and tears I shed to write this one! ... ¬¬u Oh whatever – look down! You have a chapter to read!

Chapter 5 – A Village Near The Mist

Through the waves she heard a voice. A voice so soothing and gentle, that it filled her mind completely, making her disregard any of the worries and fears that had begun to surface. There was only that melodic voice calling out to her. She listened to it intently, and like a child, it had her captured. She felt she would do anything for that angelic voice, anything for it to continue talking to her. She couldn't understand what it was saying, but she didn't need to. The sound was enough. And like a child, she never noticed the undertone.

Every one of her muscles ached. Tenten couldn't remember ever having suffered so much pain upon opening her eyes. I thought they said that all your pain goes away after death. Damn liars. The first thing she saw was… well nothing. It was pitch black. So much to the theory of a bright light guiding your way to heaven…Underneath her she felt cold stone bite at her skin. She shivered. Slowly her fingers wandered to her right side, just under the ribcage where she knew she had been hit. The area was hot like a fever, but instead of an open wound and ripped clothes, she felt the firm material of a bandage. And no clothes at all, well at least no top. Her entire torso was bandaged. I am starting to get doubts about whether I'm dead or not…She was also completely dry, which meant that she had been out of the water for quite a while. Gradually everything came back to her - the ship that had attacked them, the kunai that had hit her, and finally her fall.

So, if she had gone overboard and been positively sure that she had been drowning, why was she here on land and, presumably, quite alive? Her need for answers became suddenly urgent. With difficulty, she managed to sit up. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could finally distinguish her surroundings. She was sitting in a stone cave, obviously just by the sea as she could here the calm waves hitting the cliffs nearby. The smell of saltwater lingered in the air and soon the outlines of stalactites and stalagmites emerged from the darkness. She tried to stand up.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' a male voice echoed through the cave.

Taken by surprise, she shot upwards, only to be knocked off balance by the pain in her side. Two strong arms caught her fall. 'Are you alright?' the man said by her ear. Gently he let her down.

Shortly thereafter, a candle lit up. It revealed a young man, maybe in his early twenties, with strawberry-blonde hair with such a reddish tint Tenten could have sworn it was almost light pink. His eyes glowed amber in the flickering light and he gave her a warm smile. 'See? I told you, you shouldn't try to get up,' he said. His tone was friendly.

'How would anyone not try to get up if they heard a spooky voice ricochet off the walls in a cave of which they had no idea how they got in? It's instinct!'

The man laughed. 'I'm sorry to have scared you. But it seems you're feeling better, am I right?'

Tenten hesitated. 'Why am I alive?'

He looked slightly surprised by her question. As if he thought she would know. 'Actually, I think you have to ask yourself that. I found you floating in the water when I was out fishing. I could have sworn you were dead. You gave me quite a shock, young lady.'

'I was floating in the water? How is that possible? I was sure that I was drowning,' Tenten said, more to herself.

'Well then thank the lord for saving you! Quite frankly, I wonder why the sharks didn't go after you.'

'Thank you, I appreciate your support,' Tenten said, slightly irritated at the whole situation. There were still too many unanswered questions.

'Oh, I'm sorry miss. I didn't mean to offend. I was just …'

'It's alright. Don't worry about it,' she said quickly and smiled. 'Anyway, I'm Tenten.'

'Nice to meet you, I'm Ryuu,' he smiled back. 'I see you're from Konoha?'

'Uh, yeah. I was on a mission with my team. We kind of got split up.' How did this happen? First Lee, then me…

'That's unfortunate... Were you here to stop the mess in town?'

'What?' Tenten blinked in surprise.

'You don't know? The village nearest to the Mist is in complete chaos.'

'And the Mizukage is not doing anything?'

'Apparently, they have problems of their own,' Ryuu said, obvious distaste in his voice.

'Are you from that village?' Tenten asked cautiously.

'Uh… yes, I am.'

Tenten took a while to consider. 'Could you take me there?' If it's near the Mist, there's a possibility of finding Neji somewhere around there…

Now it was Ryuu's turn to stare at her in revelation. 'What?'

'Well if the Mist isn't sending any ninjas to your village, I might as well have a look at the situation.' Call it intuition or instinct, but something was telling her not to mention Neji to him quite yet.

'In your current condition? Look, as much as I appreciate your good intentions, I can tell just by looking at you, that you will get yourself killed.'

Well thank you for your bluntness...'You're underestimating me.' Tenten certainly didn't like being told that she was helpless, regardless of whether it was true or not. And she definitely didn't like sitting back and waiting for a recovery while her team-mate was probably worried sick about her. Or… was he? She quickly pushed the thought aside. Of course he's worried. We're team-mates!

'I may be, since I'm a simple fisherman and you are, by the looks of it, a full-fledged ninja. But my gut feeling tells me that you are in no state to fight. Especially as even something as simple as getting up proves difficult for you,' he said firmly.

His statement hit Tenten's pride like a punch but she quickly calmed her emotions. In her head, she weighed her options. She could trust this stranger of whom she knew virtually nothing about and therefore risk being backstabbed while she was vulnerable, or she could go seek the Hidden Mist in search of Neji and die along the way due to her brittle condition. Either way, the outcomes of both didn't look necessarily rosy, but if she stayed with Ryuu, there was a possibility of him helping her.

And truthfully, he really only looked like a normal fisherman who found a near-dead girl on one of his outings. Clearly not a very everyday scenario though.

'Fine. It looks like I don't have much choice,' she admitted. 'Though, why are you so willing to help me?'

'Lady, my village is being attacked, probably by shinobi. The lives of my family and friends are on the line, and finding you gave me a little bit of hope.'

'Wait, what? You didn't say they were ninjas, nor that you were being attacked by someone.'

'I did say now. And anyway, does it make a difference?'

'It depends on the attackers,' Tenten replied. She didn't feel like explaining right now. Exhaustion still hung over her and her body was screaming for sleep.

Ryuu seemed to noticed. 'Ok, I think you've taken up enough information for tonight. Take a rest, your body needs it,' he said, his soothing voice urging her to comply.

She let herself sink down into a comfortable position. Well, as comfortable as you can get on cold stone. A question dawned on her then, 'By the way, Ryuu, where are we?'

'Oh this? It's a cave I use when I need to stay at sea overnight. It's too dangerous to stay on the boat. It's about an hour away from the village.'

'So you need to sail back then?'

He smiled. 'I tend to do that, yes. However there is a way by foot from here. It may be slightly shorter, but imagine carrying a load of fresh fish all the way there.'

'I see…' Tenten said dreamily. She was already half asleep by then.

It had been three days. Three days of thinking, pondering and regretting. Neji had allowed himself forty-eight hours to get himself together. He knew he would never be able to hold that deadline. But he also knew that he had to focus as there was another problem to deal with. They had exceeded the time limit of the mission.

The schedule had been tight. Two days to travel to the Water Country, one day to get to the Mist, and an additional day to deliver the packet. Neji hadn't even dared to count how many days they were overdue by now. He was surprised however, that he still hadn't gotten word from Tsunade. Logically, this mission would have been a failure. And right now, what he wished for the most was to just go home.

But since he hadn't been advised to do so, he had no choice but to continue with this mission. He had made up his mind. He would go to see the recipient of the object by today and he would make sure to get some answers out of him.

He tucked the box safely into his backpack and shouldered it. A guide was sent to accompany him to the feudal lord that had issued the mission. According to the guide, the man lived not far away from the Mist, in the outskirts of a nearby village.

The two men travelled in silence. Unlike Neji's usual pace, they were walking. Well, since his guide was no ninja, flying through the trees would probably prove to become a slight difficulty.

'I must warn you, shinobi. The Hidden Mist is in a fragile situation. Ambushes are not a rare occurrence,' said his companion suddenly.

Neji glanced at him. He wondered when the last time was that he had made actual eye contact with anyone. 'Thank you for your warning, but I am aware of the crisis in the Mist. Your Mizukage is in bad health, I heard, and rebels are beginning to break through your defences.'

'You are well informed. And it seems that these rebels are using the small fishing village to get to our weakest point.'

The conversation ended there, and neither of them spoke again. After about an hour's walk, a few wooden houses replaced the constant fields and marshes. The guide led him to a tavern at the edge of town. The last thing he said before he left was, 'Follow the main road all the way through the village. It will take you to the feudal lord's mansion on the other side. I apologize for not being able to lead you there, but I hope you can manage. Good luck.'

Neji didn't waste another thought on why his guide wouldn't take him through the town. When he advanced further into the village, he was met by a rather worrying scene however. He hadn't really noticed it before but he was now fully aware of how deserted the streets were and the deathly silence that enveloped the area. Windows and doors were shut, shops closed and it seemed as if the people were hiding from something – or someone. Well this is rather odd… He continued cautiously, hiding his chakra and casually resting one hand on his weapon holster. He didn't activate his byakugan, afraid that it would alert anyone who saw him. Moments later, he wished that he had.

The only thing that warned him of the weapon that was rapidly approaching from behind was the hissing sound it made. Neji crouched and rolled to the left just in time, although the sharp object still managed to rip the fabric and taste the skin of his arm before sinking into the ground. He glanced back and confirmed it to be a fine wooden arrow. He didn't have time to analyse the weapon as another two soared towards him. He dodged one and deflected the other with ease, his chakra-puffed eyes now anxiously scanning the surroundings. There were five of them.

Rushing footsteps drew near, but he had seen the man before he had heard him. The attacker advanced from the right as Neji remained static. A split-second before the man brought down his blade onto his back, Neji swung round to lightly strike three chakra points, rendering him immobile. The knife clattered to the floor and the man sunk to his knees, clutching his stomach in pain.

Another two ran at him from behind and he gracefully fended them off with simple taijutsu. The last two however, emerged from the side-street slowly. Each pointed a crossbow at him. Unlike their comrades, they wore a dark green uniform. Neji straightened up. These two were different from the other three, plain taijutsu would not suffice against them.

'Who are you and what do you want from me?' Neji inquired. He kept his voice controlled.

The two men exchanged glances. 'We form part of this town's military protection squad. You are from Konoha, I presume,' one of them said. He was blonde and had deep grey eyes. Eyes of doubt and distrust.

This place has a military? Neji noticed however, that the two men in front of him were not ninjas. They may have been skilled in fighting and in the use of their weapons, but if he used juuken on them, they wouldn't stand a chance. Nevertheless, this encounter might even prove to be useful to him. 'Yes, I am from Konoha. What do you want from me?' he repeated.

'We'd like you to come with us please.'

Neji was beginning to wonder what they were planning. They know I'm from Konoha, they know I'm a shinobi. So why are they acting as if I'm some kind of wanted criminal? He nodded slowly and followed them, still having his byakugan activated.

'Gasp! Neji gets detained?? Or does he? Will Tenten recover? And who's this Ryuu guy??' …is probably what you're all asking now.

Ok, I'm sorry I left you with another cliffy, but I didn't want this chapter to become too long. I hope you enjoyed it though, and that the story is still keeping you interested!

Reviews are always welcome.

Until next time,

Quill of Jade.