Thicker than Blood Chapter 8

"We'll stop here." Neji said as he landed on a thick branch and seconds later Tenten landed next to him. He instantly began scanning the darkness again for any sign of pursuers. He didn't know how long they'd been running for or even how they managed to stay on the trail in the darkness, but how long and whys didn't matter. What did was saving his frie...his teammate. Neji forced himself to push away from the situation as best he could. If he thought of Lee as anything but a teammate right now, he could loose the grip on his ice that had been so hard to get. During the fight, watching Lee open so many of the gates, it had been the hardest thing he'd ever done not to struggle as much as Tenten and try to stop it. Part of him hated himself for what he'd convinced himself of during the fight.

That Lee didn't matter. That if he killed himself for them it wasn't important. Only the mission mattered. Not the individual. If Lee died...it wouldn't matter.

Past the ice he knew it did though. If Lee had died...if any of his team died...

Neji gripped the ice so hard he felt as if it were real and shooting spikes throughout his body.

"We need to get his fever down now." Tenten said as she eased Lee to the ground, and began making seals. "Keep an eye on his pulse."

Neji said nothing as he picked up his teammates' limp wrist and watched as Tenten finished making the seals and placed her palms on either side of her. Bark began to crackle underneath and on instinct Neji's other hand grabbed  Lee's. Then he let go before it had a chance to break past his defenses, and pushed his emotions further down. With his Byakugan, Neji could see more than just the chakra networks in the darkness. He could also see how Lee was gasping for air worse than either he or Tenten had and how sweat mixed with blood covered his body in a thin sheet. Apparently, his forehead hadn't been the only place where capillaries broke. His chest was covered in a fine mist of red, and as Neji removed his gloves and armguards, he could see the same slick coating right down to the fingertips.

He shook his head and looked over at Tenten as water from the tree began to gather around her hands and crystallize till it was almost a solid. He recognized this technique. It wasn't exactly medical ninjitsu, but it was similar in a way. Like Sakura could draw poison from a body, Tenten had learned how to draw heat. In a battle, if she could make physical contact with an enemy, she could freeze them from the inside out. But if she just hovered, or her touch was gentle, then she had more control over what happened and how much she took.

"Here." Neji pointed to several pressure points on Lee's body on instinct. As soon as he did, he expected Tenten to snap at him and tell him she knew. She didn't. Just went where he said and then spread her hands out from there.

He felt his mouth go dry. Tenten not snapping was worse than when she did. It meant she was more shaken up about this than she knew.

They probably both were, even if Neji would never admit it.

Lee just...he looked so young right now. Even with the blood, even with the sweat and the battle scars, he looked like a child. True, he was the youngest out of all of them, but it was more than that. Despite what life had shown him, he was the most innocent out of all of them; the last to suspect bad in a person, while being the first to give second chances. Foolishness is what he called it most of the time, but there were also times he envied Lee for it. There were times he felt as if despite being a ninja, Lee truly didn't belong. Not because he wasn't skilled or because he was foolish enough to think of Lee as weak anymore. When Lee was hurt, he always seemed to look so much like a child. A little boy playing an adult's game and facing death when he shouldn't be. He looked like someone that needed to be protected.

Neji knew it wasn't true though. That was something deeper than the ice talking. The thing that was making his throat swell and breathing harder as he tried to keep himself from thinking about what had almost happened. These people that had killed his father, that had taken Guy...they had almost killed Lee as well. There was no doubt in his mind after seeing the lightning who these people were, and he had to wonder why. Why pull them into this? They had what they...

But they didn't. Neji's eyes widened.

They...they didn't have what they wanted. They wanted Hiashi-sama's body so they could learn the secret of the Byakugan. Instead, they had been giving his father as a body double. The curse mark had erased all signs there ever was a blood limit to start with and they knew Hiashi was still alive. It wasn't a secret. Especially since almost everyone knew he had two daughters now.

So now...werre they holding Guy hostage as a way to draw him there?

Neji's grip tightened around Lee's wrist so hard he didn't realize he was hurting him until he heard a soft moan. Then he loosened his grip, but his other hand clenched so hard every muscle hurt. He could feel his arm shaking and it took everything he had not to let out a scream of rage. If that's what this was all about...these...

Then why involve Tenten and Lee? Why not just have him come?! Why put them all in danger? There were to many questions and none of them made any sense! If they were just after the Byakugan, maybe they knew it'd look to much like the trap it was if they did that. Or they could be planning on using Lee and Tenten as leverage like they were using Guy as bait.

Neji's heart sped up and his teeth ground against each other as he tried to keep his breathing even. The questions wouldn't stop. If they were just after the Byakugan, why attack them like this? It would only slow them down. Where they hoping to see it in action?

He didn't know. He just didn't know, but he felt hatred. He felt pain and rage, and a bloodlust so thick he could taste the copper.

If that's what these people were after...

"Neji." Tenten's voice cut through his thoughts and his eyes locked onto hers. There was a concerned look in her eyes, but also a confused and cold one. "How's his pulse?"

Neji swallowed hard as he forced himself to focus on Lee's wrist.

"Slowing down." he managed.

"Good..." Tenten sighed as she brushed back Lee's bangs with a cool hand. "As soon as he wakes up, I'm beating him senseless."

"Save some for me alright?" Neji said as he tried to push past his thoughts. He'd need to talk with his team later, but right now they needed to focus on Lee.

"Maybe. I have a lot I need to say to this..." Tenten bit her lip and shook her head. The loose strands of her hair flew around in a childish manner. "Why would he do that?!"

"He didn't know what I was planning."

"That's not the point!" she snapped. "Even if he didn't know, he should have still thought about what he was doing. Did he really think dying would help us?! Or that it wouldn't kill Guy when we found him? We wouldn't even have been able to bring his body. It'd just be..." she was shaking but before Neji could say anything she slapped Lee upside the head. "And he thought about apologizing right before he died?! Like I would even care about that?!"

Neji wanted to reach out and comfort her. He wanted to tell her it was alright and everything would be fine. But the mixture of his rage and ice were holding him back. Making his mouth go dry and his movements stiff.

"What is it with you huh?!" she yelled at Lee. "What...I swear you have the worst case of a heroes complex I've ever seen! No...it's not even that! You're just stupid!" she was yelling and crying at the same time. Though she'd never admit she ever did the latter. To her, crying was a sign of weakness. At least when she did it. There were times she couldn't stop herself though.

Lee made no move to answer. His heart was beating slower than before, but he wasn't completely out of the danger zone. He began to shiver against the cold from Tenten and the wind.

"What I don't understand..." Tenten bit her lip. "Is why none of his attacks got through. He was using everything he had and still..."

"Because it wasn't what he thought." Neji said softly.

Her head shot up.

"What?"

"He thought he was just aiming for one person, but the person controlling the tree wasn't even there."

Tenten's eyes widened.

"Lee was fighting a mix of clones, and illusions. It's why he'd be close one second and then miss." even with his Byakugan, seeing the entire fight had been a challenge. Seeing Lee had almost been impossible. But among the real ninjas, he also saw ones that had no chakra networks at all. Just clones made of air. It was one of those Lee was fighting. The one that seemed to capture them in the tree was just another clone. Whenever Lee got to close, another clone would form several feet away while the other one moved in that direction before disappearing. It wasn't a genjutsu exactly, so much as an optical allusion mixed with things to keep Lee from seeing the transition clearly. Plus, with what Lee was focused on, Neji doubted he was really thinking that much.

Idiot.

"So...he almost killed himself...fighting illusions..." Tenten's voice was choppy and there was a dark laugh bubbling up underneath. "And the coward who was pulling the strings wasn't even there..." a twisted smile scrawled over her face, and her body started to shake. "I can't wait....until we find whose doing this...and kill them!"

Neji nodded. He couldn't either.

As enraged as both were though, the second Lee let out a soft groan, both their attentions snapped to him, and Tenten began gently patting his face.

"C'mon, Lee. You gotta wake up." she said.

"He'll probably be out for awhile." Neji said as he brought out his blanket and once getting the okay from Tenten, covered Lee with it. It was the only one they had now. "Opening even some of the gates is exhausting. He's lucky his muscles aren't permanently damaged." he remembered seeing Lee at the chuunin exams against Gaara years ago. How after he'd opened five of the gates, he didn't have the strength to crawl away fast enough. He'd gotten stronger since then, but he had never opened so many gates before.

"But..."

"We'll keep moving, but there's a good chance he won't wake up for at least a few days."
Tenten said nothing, but the gentle patting of Lee's cheek turned into her simply smoothing back his hair.

"I'll carry him then." she said, not bothering to look up.

"Te..."

"I'm perfectly capable of it!" she snapped. "Besides..."

She didn't have to say anything else. He knew why she wanted to carry Lee. So that when he woke up, he would know everything was alright between them. He would know she wasn't angry.

"Alright...but let me know if you need he..." he cut himself off, and instead directed his questions to how she was feeling. Her answers were all short, somewhat clipped, but her voice shook all the same.

Even with the ice, he managed to find a way to reach over and give her hand a squeeze before convincing her to let him finish his watch. Out of all of them, he was the least injured...and now had the most on his mind. As he stood there, waiting for Tenten to fall asleep and Lee to wake up, he felt his hand tighten around his blade and wished for nothing more than to watch those he hated die by it.

X

"Would you just get over it and ask her already?" Junichi groaned as he walked besides Guy, continuing to stretch his sore shoulder from where it'd been hit in sparring.

"There's nothing to ask. You know where just friends." the thirteen year old rolled his eyes at his teammate.

"Yeah...so how come you were trying to sneak a peak at her in the bath ho..." he didn't get any further before Guy threw an arm around his shoulder and it tightened into a headlock. "ACK!"

"I told you I wasn't doing that! I was looking for something!"

"You mean at somet..." Junichi's smart remark was cut off as his friend's grip tightened. "Remember...we're in public...can't kill me..."

"No one would convict me." Guy snorted but let his friend go all the same and tried to ignore how his ears burned. He hadn't been trying to look! He really hadn't. It...well...he was right there and he heard her voice and he thought he'd say hi was all.

He didn't like Kaori like that. At least...he didn't think he did. She was his best friend since before they started at the academy. They'd grown up next door to each other and after their first meeting become inseparable. They spent every chance they had together and every year seemed to grow closer. Now there were times he swore he knew what she was thinking before she did and she got all his jokes no matter how stupid.

They were the first ones each other turned to during a problem, and when they pulled Junichi into an insane plan with them...well, they were still trying to figure out how to help their sensei with her graying hair.

But that didn't mean he was in love with her or was going to ask her out! He did love her, but not like that! Or...he thought he didn't. He didn't right?

"You know she'd say yes right? If that's what you're worried about you don't have to be." Junichi continued to needle.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in my dating life?! What about yours?" he growled.

"In case you forgot, I have a very stable relationship!"

"Since when did a girl trying to kill you translate into stable?" and people said he was weird?! Junichi was the insane one. When it came to girls at least. Other than that he was usually more reserved, quiet, and when he decided to stop being lazy and procrastinating people could actually see why he was the top rookie. Of course that wasn't often, but Guy and Kaori were working on that. Usually telling him Kakashi could do something and he couldn't was the easiest way to get him to push himself. Guy shook his head. How this challenge thing with Kakashi got started he didn't understand. Sure, it was fun beating the genius at stuff, he didn't get why Junichi made such a big deal out of challenges.

"Look, some girls profess their love in strange ways. Other girls, like KAORI," he ducked away just in time from having his throat caught. "React differently and need to be asked out!" his words were rushed as he started running as fast as possible through the streets.

"There's nothing to ask!" Guy snarled as he gave chase. Everyone around them raised an eyebrow or simply shook their heads. They'd given up on trying to understand.

"Ask her!"

"Shut up!"

"ASK HER!"

"When I get my hands on you Junichi I'm going to..." that was as far as Guy got before Juichi skidded to the side just in time and Guy slammed full force into none other than Kaori. They both went rolling over the stones and spinning through the dirt and puddles from the earlier rain. When they finally skidded to a stop, Guy found he was on top of her in a rather...awkward position. His face turned blood red as he stared down at her face.

Blonde hair covered it like a mask and she folded her arms as best she could.

"There had better be a really good reason for this."

"Ehhhhh..." that was all Guy could get out before he jerked back like he'd been lit on fire and turned a snarl towards Junichi. His friend was laughing so hard he was doubled over. That little runt...he planned this! One of these days he was going to strangle that annoying little...

"Ehhhh? Since when is that an answer?" Kaori smirked as she sat up and brushed her hair away. "Or is it in code. Let me see if I can get it." she tapped her chin with her finger before looking at Junichi. "He did something...and now you're going to murder him, right?"

"Right!" Guy managed to squeak out.

"I'll help!" she sing songed.

Junichi said nothing as he shot off. The chase was on again and with Kaori on his team, Guy knew Junichi was in more trouble than he bargained for. But at the moment, his mind was split between extracting revenge...and the fact that he didn't mind what just happened between him and Kaori as much as he should have...

As a cough broke through Guy's lips, he felt bile rushing up his throat and just managed to swallow it back down. His eyelids were crusted over with so much dried blood that it hurt to open them. When he did, he wished he hadn't as it only brought the memory to a complete end. He knew it would eventually...but he'd wanted it to last a little bit longer. Not just as an escape from the pain, but ever since Satouri brought her up, she'd seemed to haunt him more than ever. He swore there were times he felt her hand around his or her breath on his neck when the pain was the worst.

It was all a hallucination though. None of which could be trusted. Even that dream couldn't be. The longer he kept silent, the worse the torture became. Poisons were administered to him almost hourly and while some made him see things, others messed with his mind so that on top of confusion, he felt things and would mutter out loud. As much as he tried, he couldn't stop himself either. But he never said anything that they wanted to know. Somehow...he never did.

He was tired though. Not tired enough to stop holding out for his students...just tired. There were times breathing hurt too much and he had to force himself to take in one after another. He had to force his heart to keep beating when it went too slow...

How much more they could do to him he wasn't even sure. His vest had fallen off long ago in tatters because of all the knives and needles he'd been slashed with, the metal from his headband had been heated until it was red and then held to his stomach, and he wasn't even sure if he could still see out of his left eye anymore. It was all so blurry.

'Just keep breathing...' he whispered to himself as he curled up tighter on the stone floor. 'Just breath...'

He tried to close his eyes again and slip into another dream. Tried to think about his team when they were children and the small record book and photo album he had at home of them. There were pictures in it from when Tenten was a little girl and he'd taken her out to do things so she wouldn't have to be at home. His favorite was probably the one where she had tried on a green jumpsuit for the first time. Her expression then was an indication of the fact that years later she'd once again refuse to wear it. He had others to of Lee and Neji. Lee when he'd be running around and practicing, or just looking at something with a puzzled expression on his face. Neji's expression was almost the same in every picture, but there were hints of smiles in a few. In the record book...it wasn't so much a real record as little things he'd noticed about his team. The number of times Neji had almost smiled, how many questions Lee asked in a month, and how many weapons Tenten could fire simultaneously while hitting the targets. He would have also made a section for when she missed if it wasn't so serious. Last time that happened she was fourteen and had been trying a new scroll technique. Lee and Neji wound up pinned to a tree.

His chuckle turned into another vicious cough, but he still managed to hold onto a smile. He remembered that. It would have been funny then if it couldn't have ended in impalement.

"Wouldn't it be easier to kill us in our sleep?" Neji had groaned as he tried to pull himself away from the tree.

"Oops." Tenten shrugged.

"It could have been worse Neji."

"Thank you Lee."

"She could have been blindfolded."

Lee always knew how to dig himself deeper with Tenten, that was sure. Nothing had really changed in that area.

Neither had the fact changed that when he was tired then, when the anniversary of Kaori and Junichi's death rolled around or he was in a situation like this one, his team kept him going. Even if they weren't there...and he prayed they'd never be where he was now. He prayed something would keep them from being hurt like this or even finding him. Especially Neji. It might sound like a foolish prayer but...they had Hizashi's body. Satouri had shown him the dismantled corpse, and told him in detail how it was studied. He emphasized the fact that the study worked better on living subjects.

If it would save Neji from seeing that, he would offer himself to be studied in that way. Neji had worked so hard to break free from his cage. He was still working and there were times a hatred so deep would flash in his eyes that Guy would try and keep him out longer until it dissipated. Seeing something like this though...it might undo all the work he'd done to escape.

Guy swallowed despite the dryness in his mouth and turned over on his least bruised side, away from the bars. Just then, he heard the door open and burning light flooded the stinking hole. He made no attempt to move. Sometimes if they thought he was sleeping or under a drug's effect, they didn't do too much.

"I'm telling you, nothing is working." Satouri snarled. "We need to take more aggressive measures."

"More aggressive? If we do any more..."

"Do you honestly think anyone's going to know? His students are on their way and once here they'll..."

"But they're members of the Leaf's Black Ops. We can kill them just fine. We can hold them, but their Hokage knows they're coming. She won't wait long to send someone after them if they disappear. Then we'll have a war on our hands and the Ra..."

There was the sound of a fist on flesh.

"I know what I'm doing. Once we have them it won't take that long to find what we need. Besides, we have those dolls ready don't we?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then if we need them longer we can leave those to be found. No one will know the difference between one corpse and another. Nothing will lead back to the Raikage. It didn't the first time. That was the one thing that fool did right." Satouri snorted, then laughed.

Guy fought the urge to shudder.

"We'll get what we need soon enough. I have no doubt...besides, there's only so much even Konoha's beast can take before he whimpers like a dog. He's already started."

Something metallic struck the ground. Guy could hear it dig into the stone as Satouri walked closer. That wasn't what caught Guy's attention though as much as what Satouri said. If the Raikage was involved...why would Satouri mention it? Even if he thought was asleep or out cold, any ninja knew enough not to say something like that. Satouri was no acceptation.

"Go see how far away our guests are, while I have a little talk with this one. If he keeps this silence up...well you know where it is. Set it up just in case."

"Yes sir." the sound of footsteps scuttling away echoed off the walls and the door closed behind them, leaving only darkness.

Now they were alone.

"I know you're awake, Guy-san." the metal item raked through more of the ground. "I know you heard everything."

Guy turned over to face him, forcing the most defiant sneer he could to his face. At best, it looked like a mangled frown.

"Then...y...you should...kn...know my answer..." he gasped, but his eyes locked onto the item Satouri held. It was a four pronged spiked hook that was covered in thick rust, dried blood, and from what Guy could smell, some kind of alcoholic solution.

That wasn't what made his heart start racing though. He saw the water skin at Satouri's side. The same one the water he was forced to drink came from. No. No. NO. Not that again... Anything...he would take being drowned over being forced to drink that or being cut into again. They had already taken chunks of flesh from his arms and legs. He would let them have more instead that water. He would take dying over that...

"For now. But do you know what's at stake this time?" he set the metal claw just outside bars and began to fill up a small hole inside cave with the water.