i.
"You did that," she said exhaling, "and you lied to me."
"That is false, I never said anything I did not mean," was his response, low and serious.
"Bullshit! Fucking bullshit. But hey, you know what why shouldn't I listen to you. You're always so goddamn right all the time," she fumed at him, receiving nothing in return for her taunts. "So I guess I was wrong, when we kissed that wasn't anything was it? And when you fucked me, that was nothing either? But that's alright because it was just me reading the signals wrong, wasn't it?"
"I never said-" he begins, tries to start at least making an effort to defend himself but she's gone.
ii.
He found out through Guy that she'd become an Academy teacher. They had all known she had a proclivity with children but he knew her dreams were bigger than just teaching Academy students.
"I have nothing left to say to you," was her immediate reply when he entered her classroom after her pupils had left.
"Please," he half-commanded, "listen."
Her laugh echoed through the room, sharp and high and ugly, "To what? You slept with another woman and you want me to hear you… what? Talk about it some more?," her tone is exasperated now.
"You said you loved me," he is hanging onto her by the narrowest of margins now. "If you love me, let us work through this."
"I loved you when I thought you had it in you to love me back. I thought… you can't just undo this or snap your fingers or fix things this time. I thought that you loved me and you would never, ever hurt me," her voice, having cracked on every sentence, she begins again. "I was wrong. You ruined me Neji, I don't even know what to do now."
He was the one to leave first this time, you really do have a heart like ice, Hyuuga.
iii.
She's married now, to a man he fucking hates. They have children, twin boys with smiles like their mother's and he hates them too.
They're two different people now, him and her; they aren't friends and they don't talk. Even Lee has stopped trying to fix the rift between them. But sometimes when he sees her, he can't help but imagine the possibilities they had together.
iv.
It's in his eyes when he sees her, that she knows the difference. There's no hard gaze when he looks at her, it's all gentle and quick smiles at her that she just knows he'll stay with her.
They fight, like all couples, but they are always arguments in which he is just as passionate as she. The fights usually end with her biting her lip and a roll of his eyes and come here with a warm embrace.
Their love is not fierce or scary that she and Neji had, but it is safe love.