Ten Ten POV

"Are you ok!" Ten Ten said worry thick in her voice as she rushed over to untie Neji from his bounds. Many thoughts were swirling around in her head. She was happy to see Neji alive, but horrified by the condition he was in. Part of her thought that this was some kind of twisted dream, but another part of her some how knew that this was real. ' who ever did this to him, is going to pay' she thought, as her knife cut through the last of the ropes that bound his hands together.

"I'm fine" Neji said solemnly rising to his feet, using Ten Ten's arm to balance him. "However, the village in the sand may not be. The new village that came up, are a bunch of akatsuki followers. They plan to take down the hidden sand village during the peace negotiations." Ten Ten just stared at him not knowing what to say, after a few moments had past she finally settled on what to say.

"Come on lets go home and inform the Hokage, Lady Tsunade will know what to do." Ten Ten said putting her knife back inside the rim of her black boot. Neji shock his head.

"There isn't enough time!" Neji proclaimed grabbing Ten Ten's attention. Ten Ten looked up at Neji with worried eyes.

"I will send a letter to the sand and let them know." Ten Ten said trying to come to a solution. "But we need to get moving we are like sitting ducks out here." She continued.

" Again there isn't enough time to send a letter besides we don't have anything to send it with." Neji said reaching out for Ten Ten's arm/p

"Than what do you propose we do? in case you have forgotten you have spent the last few months tied up and tortured from the looks of it, you are in no condition to do anything, you need a doctor!" Ten Ten said running her thumb over her eyes to try and prevent herself from crying.

"we need to go the sand village, they can care for me there, with the added bonus of sending the message if it isn't to late. "Neji replied, with a reluctant sigh Ten Ten agreed.

"Fine, we need to hurry before it gets dark the sand village is about a couple's days walk from here maybe more we ought to get going" Ten Ten agreed taking a hold of Neji's arms to guide him through the forest. They walked in silence for a while, neither one knowing exactly what to say to the other. Ten Ten was afraid to ask the only question she had in her mind 'How'. She was scared that maybe this was a figment of her imagination, and by asking such a real question would make everything disappear. It wasn't until later when they had stopped for the night that the silence was broken. The fire was going strong and they both huddled up close to it trying to keep warm from the cold of the night.

"What's wrong?" Neji asked rubbing his hands together, starring into the light of the fire.

"Why does there have to be something wrong?" Ten Ten asked frowning Neji.

"Come on Ten Ten we were a team for over three years just because I can't see anymore doesn't mean I can't tell when something is wrong with you." Neji said turning to face Ten Ten.

"I just don't like how everything is playing out we defeated the Akatsuki, and brought peace to all of the shinobi world, and to think that it might be taken away so soon after we won, bothers me" Ten Ten paused debating whether or not to continue. "That and I don't want to lose any more of my friends. Losing you was hard on everyone including you and now your back, it's a lot to take in"

"Don't worry Ten Ten I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon." Neji smile looking back at the flames that were flickering to life when all of a sudden chills ran down his back.

"What happened you look like you've seen a ghost." Ten Ten asked looking up at Neji with worried eyes.

" They are going to attack a lot sooner that I thought" Neji said his voice grim, and Ten Ten looked up at him, confused.

"Wait. What? How do you know that for sure." Ten Ten asked and Neji shrugged.

"I don't know I just do" He answered and with that they fell silent again staring at the flames. 'One thing for sure' Ten Ten thought 'They had to get to the hidden sand village soon.'

"Shikamaru's POV

"Whats the plan?" A small guy who sat in the corner of the room asked Gara who had turned his back to the people gathered around the table and was starring out the window, into the village below.

" We have to rescue the people they have, before we can do anything else." Gara replied pausing to think " I don't know how we are going to rescue them though" Gara continued turning back around to face the people circled around the table. 'What a drag' Shikamaru thought and idea coming into his head. One that he know would require a lot of work.

"Why don't we make them think we are agreeing to there terms, and when they do the exchange we set a trap, take what is ours back and give them nothing." Shikamaru offered shrugging his sholders. The room feel quite contemplating what was just said.

"That might actually work" Gara said turning to his first command. "Can you gather a team together to go set up the trap and rescue the people who've been kidnapped?"

"Of course Lord Gara" The small man in the corner said.

"If you may I would like to be apart of the recovery team." Shikamaru said eagerly, a trait unusual from his normal indifferent, and lazy demeanor. Needless to say though Shikamaru was determined to get Tamari back, with Nenji as an added bonus. 'what a drag' he thought when he realized failure was not an option, but he knew that he had to do something. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he realized that he actually cared for Tamari and that scared him.