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Of Broken Bones and Shattered Dreams	By : Saitochan Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1526 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Yay! My first reviews! And one thousand hits! I guess my story is not as bad as I thought. Thanks to everyone who read it.

Anyway, I gave you all a good scare at the end of last chapter didn't I? Ok, raise your hands if I didn't scare you. No one? Yeah, I thought so. Relax. I can't just kill Ten-Ten since I like her, and most importantly… there haven't been any lemons yet! Sorry about that. I'm sure I'll come up with one soon enough. In the meantime, review and enjoy!

*****

Of Broken Bones and Shattered Dreams

Chapter 4 - Guilt and Eye Drops

"Oh my god! Ten-Ten! Ten-Ten! Answer me!" Neji was kneeling down next to his wounded friend, and though he hadn't completely regained his sight, his Byakugan gave him a blurry and faded image of the bleeding ninja in front of him.

The pearl-eyed ninja felt as he began to lose his cool. If he didn't do something right away, Ten-Ten could be dead in a matter of minutes. Being deprived of his eyes, which he considered the most important part of his body, Neji felt absolutely powerless for the first time ever.

Grabbing the kunai desperately, Neji threw it away and tried to stop Ten-Ten's bleeding with his bare hands. As he felt her warm blood gush through his fingers, the Hyuuga felt as the last bit of self-control keeping him together was slowly fading away. "Damn It! Damn it!" His scream rang through the training grounds, but no one was there to hear it.

Withdrawing his hands from her chest, Neji took a few deep breaths and managed to calm himself down. He knew nothing good would come if he started to panic. Since his Byakugan allowed him a better view than his eyes, he closed them tightly, stood up and ran towards his equipment, and returned quickly with a first aid kit.

Fortunately for both Genin, Ten-Ten had passed out due to the pain caused by the wound plus the fatigue for all the training, so she didn't have to deal with the pain just yet, and she wouldn't make Neji nervous with her painful moans or broken voice.

While still keeping his eyes shut, Neji started to give Ten-Ten emergency treatment. The kunai had struck her on her right shoulder, a few centimeters below the collarbone. To gain better access to the wound, the Byakugan user used a kunai to cut off his friend's top, leaving her clad in white cotton bindings, which were turning red real fast.

Since the blood gushing out of the wound made it hard to see, Neji used his fingers to hit Ten-Ten's blood vessels, just like he would have done with tonketsu (or chakra holes, or whatever), in order to temporarily stop the bleeding. Afterwards, he cleaned the wound and applied some disinfectant, along with some improvised stitches. Finally, he applied some bandages, and used his fingers again, both to reactivate the blood flow and to increase the chakra flow towards the area, so it would heal faster.

Having finished with this, Neji took the kunoichi in his arms and started running towards the village. He was exhausted, and Ten-Ten was a dead weight. It was through sheer willpower that he managed to get to the hospital without losing a second.

As he crossed the hospital door, he shouted "Help! I need some help over here!" Instantly, a couple nurses and two medical ninja came to him, took Ten-Ten from his arms, put her in a stretcher and took her away. As soon as he felt his teammate's weight leave his arms, Neji fell to the floor, too tired to move.

One of the nurses around him spoke to the others: "My god! He must be hurt too! Bring another stretcher!" While he was being lifted from the floor, he realized he hadn't opened his eyes all this time. "I'm fine, there's no need for a stretcher" said Neji while slowly opening his eyes. Everything still seemed a bit blurry, but at least he could make out people's faces. "I just need someone to check my eyes".

*****

Neji walked out of the doctor's office holding a phial of eye drops. He was told his eyes were a bit irritated from the flash, and that he would be fine in a couple days. In the meantime, the Hyuuga decided to do without his eyes and keep his Byakugan activated as long as possible. It would be a good training, after all.

As he walked around the hospital, feeling dreadfully tired, but able to walk normally, Neji noticed how everyone gave him odd looks. He soon realized that it was because his hands and clothes were covered in Ten-Ten's blood. The fact that he walked around with his eyes closed at all times didn't help either.

As he reached the reception, the Byakugan user asked the nurse in front of him, ignoring the weird look on her face: "Excuse me, do you know what happened to my friend? Can I see her now?" Too tired to even show worry, Neji spoke his question in a calm voice.

While she flipped through some papers, the nurse answered: "Hmmm… yeah, I think she's been given a room already. It's room… 204. I'm not sure if she can take visits right away but… hey!" As soon as Neji heard what room she was in, he started walking quickly to get there, leaving the nurse talking to him in mid-sentence. Oddly enough, no one tried to stop him from reaching the room.

When he was getting close to the room, his Byakugan allowed him to see a medical ninja was just leaving room 204. He quickly caught up with him and began asking a barrage of questions about his friend's status. "Whoa, whoa, easy. She's not in danger anymore, she just lost quite a bit of blood" answered the doctor, a bit startled by Neji's appearance and insistence. "She's asleep right now, so you'll have to come back tomorrow".

As Neji turned around and walked towards the room his teammate lay in, the doctor spoke again. "By the way, you're the one who performed the emergency treatment on her, right?" The Genin turned around again to face the doctor and answered plainly. "Yes, it was me". Upon hearing his words, the medical ninja cracked a smile and said in a warm voice: "Well, you did a great job. When we started treating her, there was barely anything left for us to do. You should consider becoming a medical ninja someday".

"… Thank you. I'll think about it". Neji was about to walk away, when he changed his mind and asked the doctor some more questions. "Say, doctor, how serious was that wound? And how long will Ten-Ten be staying here?"

"Well, the wound itself isn't that serious, but as I told you before, the loss of blood left her really weak, so she'll be staying one or two days here at the hospital" said the doctor. "As for afterwards, she mustn't move her right arm for like a week or so, but other than that, she'll be just fine".

"Thank you doctor" said Neji as he bowed thankfully and respectfully to him. As he walked past Ten-Ten's room, his Byakugan gave him a clear view of his friend lying in bed, her right arm immobilized and a pack of blood slowly entering her body through the IV tube. Her chakra flow told him that she was truly out of danger.

Too tired and beat up to do anything else, the young Hyuuga left the hospital and headed home, with a new and dreadful feeling of guilt rising up in his chest.

*****

The next morning, Neji Hyuuga headed for the training grounds just like he would have done any other day. Although he remembered all too well what had happened the day before, he just couldn't get himself to break his routine, and he wasn't about to spend an idle morning when he had training to do.

As he reached the place where he and Ten-Ten had fought the day before, he could see that not a soul had come to the place since they left in such a hurry. Their backpacks and their equipment were still placed under the very same tree where they had lunch, and all of Ten-Ten's weapons were scattered among flowers all over the floor, shining brightly due to the morning dew covering them.

While he scanned the place further, his eyes landed on his teammate's bloody top, which was cut and tossed aside in a hurry. Cut and stained beyond all usefulness, the bloody rags made the usually calm and controlled Hyuuga fall into a deep depression. "Damn…" he muttered as he punched a nearby tree.

Strange workings were taking place in the mind of the pearl-eyed Genin, and as he stood quietly next to Ten-Ten's bloody shirt, a resolution began to form inside of him. Finally, his mind set, Neji started to pick up the various weapons around him, and piled them up next to his female teammate's equipment, in order to clean them and polish them later.

*****

Later that day, Neji headed towards Konoha's hospital carrying Ten-Ten's backpack. Although he was way too proud to apologize often, he couldn't shake the feeling that his closest female friend was wounded because of him. He felt his heart shrink as he approached the door of the medical facility. *Damn, she might not want to see me or talk to me after what happened* thought the Hyuuga, as he dragged his feet to the hospital's lobby. *Though I can't blame her for that. She probably hates me*.

While he approached the lobby, his grim thoughts were interrupted by a strong and cheerful voice calling his name behind him. "Neji! My beautiful and youthful student! You came to visit Lee as well? You'd better not stay too long, remember you have training to do!"

The Genin turned around to face his teacher and looked him in the eye. He had totally forgotten about Lee. Neji's vision was still a bit blurry, so he closed his eyes and spoke. "No Gai-sensei. I'm not here to visit Lee. And I can't train today either". The green clad Jounin gave his student a puzzled look. Neji wasn't one to skip training without a good reason, and Gai couldn't think of one good reason why his student would come to the hospital if it wasn't to visit Lee.

"What do you mean? You have less than two weeks until the finals! You can't waste you days away like that! You'll be sorry if you let your own youth pass you by!" said Gai in a loud voice. The nurses around were starting to stare at them disapprovingly.

Neji answered calmly to his teacher. "Sensei, I can't train on my own. Besides, I'm here to visit Ten-Ten". Although his eyes were still closed, the pearl-eyed Genin heard the sound his teacher's jaw made when it hit the floor. Gai was about to start blabbering and shoot Neji a bunch of unintelligible questions, when the Genin cut him short. "We had a training accident yesterday. Yes, she is hurt. No, it's not serious. She'll be staying here until tomorrow, and won't be able to practice properly for a week or so".

While his teacher's brain absorbed al of what he had said, Neji took out a small phial and poured a couple eye drops on each of his eyes. The guilt he was feeling was far from gone, but he had learned to hide his emotions from everyone, and not even a highly skilled Jounin could tell he was feeling terrible. "She's on room 204. I'm headed there, so why don't you take Lee there as well? It'll be a double visit" added Neji as he began to walk away from his still dumfounded teacher.

As Neji walked through the hospital halls, he was mentally kicking himself for forgetting about his other teammate. *Fate's a bitch* he thought, as he added yet another helping of guilt to his previous grim and depressing thoughts. When he got to Ten-Ten's room, he knocked on the door and came in while trying hard to ignore the guilt in his chest. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view), his rush didn't give Ten-Ten time to prepare for his visit.

The first thing Neji saw when he entered the room was Ten-Ten standing next to the bed. She was facing away from the door, clad only in white panties. Her dark brown hair fell graciously down her shoulders, covering part of her soft and exposed skin, and as she heard the door and turned around out of pure instinct, her long mane swayed over her right shoulder to cover part of her well rounded breasts.

There was an awkward moment in which neither of them moved or spoke, they just kept staring at each other, unsure of what to do. A crimson blush crept over both their faces, and Neji felt as his nose began bleeding slightly. As if Neji's nosebleed was some sort of cue, Ten-Ten grabbed the bed sheets and used them to clumsily cover her body, while her blushing friend turned around facing the door, too embarrassed and confused to say anything.

As he faced the door, Neji felt the urge to activate his Byakugan to catch a glimpse of her white and soft skin, her firm breasts and her well-rounded bottom, but he managed to compose himself. In turn, Ten-Ten didn't know if she was feeling more embarrassed because Neji had seen her almost naked, or because she had been caught off her guard. That was an embarrassing situation for any ninja worth his salt.

Neji was the first one to speak. His voice was shaking and he was stammering a little bit, but his message got through. "Te-Ten-Ten… I'm… I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to…" Somehow, Ten-Ten got a hold of herself and was rather calm when she spoke back to her teammate. "Hey, don't worry. I was just trying to change my bra, but it's quite difficult with an immobilized arm. Call a nurse to help me, will you?"

"Yeah… I'll… I'll do that right away" said Neji as he left the room in a rush. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it while trying to get his heartbeat to slow down. "Um… excuse me…" He said to a passing nurse. "My friend needs some help in here. Could you…?" he spoke as he motioned her to the room. The nurse gave him a strange look due to his persisting blush and his weird attitude, but entered Ten-Ten's room nonetheless.

While he waited outside ten-Ten's room, Neji used a few more eye drops to cool his aching eyes. As he felt the soothing liquid flowing around his eyeballs, he heard the door opening, and the nurse calling him: "It's OK now. You can come in". "Yeah, thank you" said Neji as he looked at her. She was looking rather blurry thanks to the eye drops. The nurse left down the hall and Neji opened the door.

As he entered the room, the pearl-eyed Genin felt his blush started creeping back to his face. Ten-Ten was sitting on her bed, wearing a light hospital gown, which didn't even get to cover her knees. Neji felt half of his mind struggle to see more of her skin while the other half prayed that her gown was not open on the backside.

Finally managing to compose himself, Neji raised his eyes to meet Ten-Ten's. Her face was still a bright shade of pink, but a surprised look covered her features as her eyes met with his. "My god, Neji! You were crying?" she said to her still blushing friend. "Don't tell me I have that much of an impact on you…" she added with a mischievous smile.

It took a few seconds for Neji to get a hold of the situation. He regained his cool, and with a smirk on his face, he said: "Yeah, you wish. They're just eye drops. That flash bomb you threw at me had some nasty effects". As proof of his words, he showed her the phial the doctors gave him the day before.

"Owww…" said Ten-Ten a she pouted. She brought her left index to her cheek and tilted her head to the side. "You mean you have no interest on watching me naked?" She loved to play with him, trying (usually without any result) to make him nervous.

Neji looked away from her and his eyes began to fill with sadness. "No, that's not it. Ten-Ten… I'm… I'm sorry". Ten-Ten laughed softly and answered: "For running into me while I was naked? Come on" she said as she waved her hand, as if to dismiss the whole matter. "I told you it was no big deal".

"No, what I meant was… I'm sorry for you being here" said Neji smiling sadly. Ten-Ten got up and walked to the window, facing away from him. The male Genin was glad to see that her gown was not open on the backside. "Well, I feel bad about it too, but it was an accident" she said while looking down at Konoha's streets. "These things happen".

"Even if it was an accident" said Neji. His voice wasn't shaking, but it was obvious that his feelings were beginning to surface. "I could have prevented it from happening. I knew you were tired, I should have sent you home, I should have…"

"Neji, stop it!" Ten-Ten's outburst cut the Hyuuga short, and made his words die unspoken in his throat. Neji could feel the unusual strength in his friend's voice, and was almost expecting her to turn around and yell at him, but what she did caught him totally off guard.

Ten-Ten turned around quickly, swaying her long, dark hair, walked towards her teammate, and while looking straight at his eyes, she put her left hand on his right shoulder. "It's in the past now" she said with a sweet and soft voice. "Let it go. There's nothing you can do about it".

As his clear, white eyes stared into her brown and shiny ones, Neji felt his guilt melt away to give rise to something else. Ten-Ten didn't notice, but his hands started shaking slightly. His heart was racing, and its pounding on his chest was so hard that the pearl-eyed Genin feared his teammate might hear it.

He had never felt uncomfortable around her before, but something had changed. As his whole body tingled with a mixture of nerves, happiness, uncertainty and confusion, Neji was aware of the fact that his instincts were taking over his body. He noticed his hands began to move without his consent, and realized he would end up doing something really stupid if he didn't stop himself at once.

Trying to get his mind back in control, Neji tried to focus on other things other than Ten-Ten, but he failed miserably. He lowered his sight from her deep and shiny eyes, only to discover the way her lips seemed to be calling out for his. Those soft, slightly parted and beautifully colored lips had him totally captivated, and the image of her naked body, drawn with fire on his mind, wasn't really helping out in his current situation.

Still, Neji's mind wasn't totally shut down, and as he felt his instincts pulling him forward, a voice on the back of his head kept telling him to stop. He had no idea of what to do, and would have probably just gone crazy right there if Ten-Ten hadn't spoken again. "Neji…? Are you OK?"

Raising his eyes to meet hers again, Neji smiled warmly. His feelings of guilt were gone and he was forgiven, but the resolution he had taken in the forest was far from forgotten. He had decided to stand by her, to help her recover any way he could, and to protect from any harm. He would be her friend and nothing more.

Ten-Ten spoke again. "What? Is there something on my face?" she said while bringing her left hand to her cheek. Managing to forget all nervousness, Neji turned back into his usual self and answered in a calm voice. "No, there's nothing on your face. I'm just glad you're OK".

Walking towards the bed, Neji took Ten-Ten's backpack off his shoulders. "I got your gear back" he said as he put the equipment on top of the bed. "I even cleaned and polished your weapons". Ten-Ten gave him a thankful look. "You shouldn't have. I could have done it myself. I'm so bored in here" she said as she walked to the bed.

"Well, with your arm as it is, I doubt you could clean them up properly. You wouldn't like to have a pack filled with rusted kunai, would you?" said Neji smirking at her. Ten-Ten stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on, this is Carbon Steel equipment! That's the best in the market, and it wouldn't rust in a hundred years."

While they kept on talking, Neji forgot all of his worries.

*****

That's it! Man, I went a little crazy with the blood, don't you think? Actually, I don't really know if such a wound can bleed so much. Whatever. Thanks for reading my story! And also, sorry if this chapter's ending is a bit crappy, but it's 3:38 AM, and I've had enough. The next chapter will come up soon, and I'm sure it'll have lemons!

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Of Broken Bones and Shattered Dreams