The female sat in front of the memorial stone, her shirt clutched in her fists and her head bowed to the ground as she wept uncontrollably. She gave herself this opportunity to do so because she knew no one was around to see her break down. This would be her first—and last—time she would allow herself this weakness.
"Why? Why did you leave me?" She sobbed, punching the ground in front of her. "I didn't even get to say goodbye!" The young female chocked out another sob, unable to control herself. She had been bottling in her feelings for so long; now that she finally let them out she just couldn't stop. Her mind flashbacked to when she was just a Genin and they had recently been made a team. He was such a jerk back then.
"You cannot win against me." The young Hyuga remarked, defeating his comrade once again. "You are a loser. And losers will never amount to anything."
The female who was sitting on the sidelines watching the match stood up to defend her friend. "Don't be so mean Neji! We all know you are a genius but that doesn't mean you have to rub it in our faces! Lee is trying his best, give him some encouragement!"
The Hyuga boy looked over at her, smirking slightly. "How can I encourage someone who will always be a failure? I would just be wasting my breath."
The young kunoichi balled her hands into fists and snarled at her teammate. "How dare you! You may be a genius but you're nothing but a self-centred jerk!" She walked over to her comrade who was struggling to rise and helped him up. "C'mon Lee, let's go have lunch. My treat." She turned her back on the Hyuga prodigy, ignoring him as she helped her friend walk back to the village.
Rain started to fall on the female but still she stayed by the memorial stone, crying. She didn't think she had the strength to stand up anyway. It had been four months since Naruto and his team had defeated Madara and brought peace back to the ninja world. Since then she had been assigned various missions to help out both in her own village and in other villages, repairing buildings and looking after the people. She hadn't had time to let her emotions get the best of her. Besides, she felt like she needed to be strong for the rest of her team who had always been more emotional than her.
"I need you!" She suddenly screamed, throwing her hands on the ground furiously. "Don't you understand that I needed you to live? I can't live without you!" She gazed at his name on the memorial stone through blurry eyes and cried out. You became such a great friend to me. She thought, reaching out to touch the engraved name.
The duo had been training for most of the morning and the female Chuunin was getting tired. She collapsed back onto the ground and grinned at her comrade, the field once again destroyed by his technique.
"I feel sorry for the poor guys that have to come and clean up this mess every time we finish training." She remarked laughingly, motioning for the Jounin to take a seat next to her.
Neji smirked and walked towards her, sitting down gracefully. "Of course you would think of something random like that."
She laughed and bumped his shoulder with hers. "Whatever Mr. Genius. Anyway, I'm exhausted. Do you want to go see how Lee and Guy-Sensei are doing with their training?"
Her comrade raised a do-you-really-want-to-check eyebrow at her. "And get caught up in whatever crazy training plan that they've come up with for today?" He reasoned.
The kunoichi shuddered. "True, I didn't think of that. On second thought, let's not check up on them. Let's go grab some lunch." She grinned over at her friend and he sighed, standing up and offering her a hand.
"Fine, but we're having my favourite. And you're buying." The young Hyuga prodigy smirked at the scandalised look on his comrade's face. Pouting, she took his hand and he helped her to her feet, dodging the punch he knew would be coming his way.
"That's just mean Neji! You should be paying because you're the gentleman."
Said gentleman looked over his shoulder at her as he walked towards his favourite restaurant. "You're the one that wants to eat. I am more than happy to keep training."
The female caught up to her partner and folded her arms across her chest. "I take it back," she declared. "You are not a gentleman." She mumbled incoherent profanities his way and he couldn't help but chuckle at her childishness.
The memories were too much for the girl and she collapsed, curling into a ball at the base of the memorial stone. The rain continued to fall but she took no notice of it, just let it wash away her own tears. She finally managed to rise to her knees again after an hour and she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, her tears finally slowing.
"N-Neji," she sniffled, pulling out a container and chopsticks from her pouch. "I brought your favourite for you." She placed the herring soba in front of the memorial tomb, a sad smile touching her lips. "I don't think I ever had the chance to tell you this Neji, but I always admired you. You already knew you were a genius but you were also a great person and an amazing friend." The kunoichi's eyes welled up again and she let out a sob. "Did you know that sometimes I wish it was me that died in your place? I would give anything to go back and switch places with you. I don't… I don't know how to live now that you're gone." She suddenly laughed softly, shaking her head at her own naiveté. "Y'know, I always figured that eventually we would end up together." She broke out into another fit of sobs and had to wait until she could breathe normally again before continuing her speech.
The young female took a deep breathe, preparing herself for what she wanted to—had to—say next. "Neji, I never told you this but I think you knew for a while. I mean, you were a genius so I'm sure you figured it out a long time ago. But I need to say this otherwise I won't be able to let you go. And I need to let you go. I can't live with this broken heart forever." She took another calming breath, but it came out wobbly and exhausted. "I love you. Oh gosh! I loved you so much Neji!" Her voice cracked and she buried her face in her hands, weeping.
The kunoichi stayed like that for a long time before she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She wiped her eyes and looked behind her only to see Lee hovering above her, an umbrella now poised over her soaked body. She saw the tears form in his eyes and he knelt down beside her, pulling her to him and cradling her head against his chest. They didn't say anything, just stayed there until the sun finally emerged again from behind the clouds.
"Tenten," Lee said softly, touching her shoulder again. "Let us go home." He helped her weakened frame to her feet and kept his arm around her as she stood, swaying lightly. "We will come and see Neji again tomorrow."
Tenten nodded, letting her head fall on her comrade's shoulder as they slowly walked away from the memorial stone. She allowed herself to look back and picture his beautiful form standing by the tomb. She imagined him smiling at her, nodding his head in acknowledgment. Then he mouthed three little words before disappearing, making her sob once again. She clutched Lee's arm as they walked, knowing that she would never meet another man as wonderful and incredible as her Neji. She glanced up into the sky, watching as a bird flew across her vision, a feather coming undone and landing softly in the palm of her hand.
Tenten closed her fist around the feather and kissed it. "Goodbye my beautiful genius."