NejiTen Oneshots And Drabbles

Crossing Battle Lines

Lee stumbles into the medical tent, blood dripping from the jagged gash slicing through one bushy eyebrow to rend his forehead.

Tenten jumps up from her seat on the cot, yanking out the IV (again), and rushes to his side in just enough time for him to press a warm bundle from under his cloak into her arms. She is simultaneously snaking one arm around him and holding the other close to her body, just now realizing that there is warm breath fanning against her throat and tiny arms winding about her neck. She almost shoves the bundle away – in guerilla warfare there are no compunctions about how to or not to use children - but Lee catches her eyes knowingly. He knows what she is thinking, and is quick to reassure her.

"Pulled her from the orphanage wreckage," Lee says on broken breaths, holding Tenten's gaze until her pupils contract again, and the old ghosts and monsters are tucked away. Sakura comes running over, pushing past the medic that is still starring dumbly at Tenten, clearly unsure about the procedure for demanding that a superior officer return to have their treatment completed.

"Don't just stand there," Sakura snaps at him. "Can't you see this soldier is in need of help?" In a nanosecond, the other man is supporting Lee's weight and Sakura is wiping away the blood from his face, trying to get a better sense of the severity of his injury.

"What happened, Soldier," she asks, her tone professional but not unkind. They all knew that this was a necessity of war. Compartmentalize. Stay on task. Don't look back.

"Booby-trapped," he says, his normally exuberant manner toned to an assured stillness. "Exploding tags and shrapnel. Gai-sensei and I were fast enough to get the three remaining children out."

Sakura works quickly, and two other medics come to assist her.

A kindly nurse guides Tenten back to her cot, and takes the child from her. "I'll make sure there are no injuries," she assures the kunoichi, whose eyes are fixed on her friend. "Sit and finish your treatment."

She gives a curt nod of acknowledgement, not even registering when they re-insert the IV.

Eventually, she is finished, Lee is patched and stabilized, the child is deemed as uninjured, and is back in Tenten's arms.

Lee looks wearily over to Tenten.

"Thanks for grabbing her," he nods to the bundle of chubby limbs and large eyes in her arms. "I'll take her over as soon as I'm cleared."

"You have deep internal injuries, and significant blood loss," Sakura says pointedly to Lee. "You are relieved of all duties until further notice, Soldier."

Lee is on the brink of a heartfelt objection, but Tenten stills him with a hand to his sleeve. "I'll take care of her, Lee," she says quietly, "And I'll check in on the others."

Lee's face melts into a curious hybrid of relief and gratitude and some message encrypted in their own private cypher learned in the walls of an institutional childhood, and perfected as whispers between narrow bunks when they should have been sleeping.

"Thanks, Tenten." He allows Sakura and the other medic to prop him up on the raised back of the cot. She gives him a nod, and leaves while Sakura's glowing chakra-infused palm begins mending his wounds.

~♥️~

He finds her in an abandoned apartment in the secured area. He hears her before he sees her, confused by her tone, although it is undoubtedly her voice. He instinctively activates his Byakugan, only to immediately turn it off, putting fingertips to his temples. He strained his Byakugan through overuse after being exposed to that flash-bomb, and now he has to wait a day or so to use it. It makes him feel unnerved – he is far too accustomed to being able to see everything on command to be comfortable in this state.