Saving Us (NejiTen Fanfic)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT (3RD PERSON POV)

All eyes turned towards the new voice. And all eyes widened--especially Sasuke's as he stared at a face so alike his. Uchiha Itachi towered over all of them. And his eyes were set into the famous Uchiha glare.

He gave everyone a glance over before his eyes rested on Deidara. The blond man visibly shook in fear. Sasori let go of him and Deidara bowed his head, keeping his silence.

"Where is she now?" Itachi asked. "What are you still doing standing in the middle of a hallway?"

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, his voice strained in controlled anger.

Itachi's eyes wandered towards him. "You've heard, right? Tenten's name?"

"It's Uchiha," Sasuke replied. "Why is she an Uchiha?"

Itachi's expression remained stoic, as per an Uchiha's standard. "You don't remember her? I brought her over to play with you once. She certainly remembered you,"

"You didn't answer my question!" Sasuke yelled, stepping towards his older brother. "What? You up and vanished and now you have a daughter?"

Itachi chuckled as he flicked his little brother in the forehead but did not answer. Instead, he walked towards his comrades and the three of them had a silent conversation, in which, Deidara was obviously being scolded.

A nurse disturbed the small circle the older men had created.

"Are you the patient's guardian?" he asked.

Itachi nodded. "Yes. I am her father,"

"The room is ready. And the doctor had given the green lights for you to see the patient. But the doctor would like to speak to you first,"

"Of course,"

~oOo~

Everyone crowded inside Tenten's private room. The said girl was still unconscious but the doctor had told them that the surgery went well and that there was nothing to be worried about.

Neji sat on the chair beside the hospital bed. While Sasuke was leaning on the window with his arms crossed over his chest, his brows furrowed in definite anger.

The three older men entered the room, with Itachi in the middle while Sasori was on his right and Deidara on his left--forming a triangle. He looked around the room as he walked towards Tenten. He raised a hand and removed a strand of her hair from her face.

"Go back to school, you kids," he started, not looking at them anymore but at Tenten. "Deidara, drive them back and retrieve both of your things,"

"Yes, sir," Deidara answered, taking his keys out of his pocket and spinning it around his fingers as he waved at the kids. "Let's go. You heard the man,"

"Wait!" Neji interrupted, his voice raising. A feat that was rarely seen in the stoic Hyuga. "What do you mean?"

"Effective immediately, I'm pulling Tenten out of this mission. Sasori will be taking her place as your lead protector. Do not worry, Sasori is far more experienced than Tenten,"

"That's not what I--" Neji answered but his voice faltered at the expression Itachi was wearing.

He knew, there was no fighting that. With his head bowed low, he stood up from his position and started to walk out of the room. His friends watched his back but they could not find the words to say.

"I know you kids are smart. But I still want to say this, what happened today; keep it to yourselves," Itachi announced before Neji could exit the room.

The younger man stopped, nodded his head and left. His friends followed suit without another word. But Sasuke remained. He stood in the middle of the room glaring at his older brother he spent years trying to find. Only for him to return as his friend's father?

"Don't I at least get an explanation?" He growled.

Itachi turned to his little brother as he took the seat Neji had vacated. "What more explanation do you need? Tenten is my child. She's an agent of the Akatsuki. She was here on a mission,"

"Why did you leave home?"

"It was not home," Itachi answered. "At least, for me it wasn't,"

Sasuke looked pained at the answer his older brother said. He knew, as well as anyone else, how the Uchiha family never entertained any other path than the ones they've paved for you. It was suffocating. And the reason why Sasuke hated his brother was not the fact that he had left without a word. It was the fact that he had the strength to escape. The strength Sasuke still could not find in himself at the moment.

~oOo~

They all gathered at the field at dusk. All of them staring off into spaces. Deidara took a side trip to clean Neji up and remove any traces of blood before they returned to the school.

Sasuke was more sullen than usual with his eyebrows set into a furrow.

"So... Uh... Tenten's an Uchiha!" Kiba started, trying to break the ice. But even as dense as he was, he knew he failed as he was met with Sasuke's Uchiha glare.

"So, Tenten was lying when she said she was an orphan?" Ino asked, her voice breaking as her tears threatened to fall.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. I asked Itachi to explain. Tenten was telling the truth. Itachi found her abandoned in the middle of nowhere and took her home with him,"

"And then trained her as an agent?" Naruto asked.

"He brought her back to the Uchiha compound. It was then that Tenten met me. But I couldn't remember. He said, he asked the family to take care of her for him but they refused,"

"Why?"

"Because even though she legally has the last name of Uchiha, she was not blood relative,"

His explanation was met with silence as they mulled over the facts and details they had discovered from their friend that reveled in being mysterious. But even with all the new information they had received, Tenten remained a big mystery.

"Then, were you even been dating, Neji?" Sai asked the question they all wanted to ask.

Neji shook his head without turning his gaze away from the tree Tenten liked to sleep at. "No. It was all just so she would have an excuse to cling to me,"

"Really?" Naruto asked, his eyes, despite his usual denseness, was searching for his friend's expression.

Neji sighed, stood up and excused himself. 

All they could do was stare at his leaving figure. After all, they had no idea what to say as well.

Tenten had successfully attained her mysteriousness them all.

It was just like her--

She came in like a bullet; fast and swift that she quickly became so in tune with them it was like she had been there for years.

And she came out like a bomb. She shocked all of them to the core.