Full Summary: As children, they played. As teenagers, they loved. Oblivious to a trap set by her childhood friend, Tenten is captured by Orochimaru and forced to help him with his evil plot. Three years later with Orochimaru dead, Sasuke brings Tenten off on a journey to help find his revenge. But things never go as planned when Sasuke himself is captured by a mysterious person, and Tenten is sent on a wild goose chase to find him. Will their love eventually win out, despite the lies Sasuke's kidnapper is feeding them? Or will they fail to win against the odds?

There was a thing as mysterious and as beautiful as time itself. One could hear it calling from deep within the depths of his soul. This feeling strengthened as it lasted the pain of time's hurtful teeth.

Full of twists and turns as complex as a canyon's layers, it could sweep someone off his feet—to be caught or to eternally fall into the abyss. The feeling was overwhelming and large. Weaker ones would perish at its force. Stronger ones would long to become even stronger.

And if one succeeded in returning the feelings forever yonder, he would be happy.

Very few could succeed. Because fate controls the outcome. And fate is decided by a great many things—including time.

Will someone catch me as I fall?

Love is a Terrible Thing
By SpacePirateGirl

Chapter I
Friendship's Last Hold Is Weak

OOO Present Time: September 5th OOO

(Normal POV with Tenten)

The brown leaves fell to the ground. Autumn had arrived. The season was gorgeous, beautiful, yet not spring. Spring was when new life was created, when things began anew. The season of fall was when everything died—when it "fell."

Sasuke was lost, deep within autumn, deep within the very thing he had sworn to destroy. How many times had he promised to avenge his clan? How many times had she watched as he failed and failed? She only wanted to see him succeed. But one never received what they wanted, right?

Wrong.

Tenten wouldn't let Sasuke's promise crumble as the leaves did under her feet. Tenten refused to let this one desire, this one wish, vanish before their eyes. Sasuke needed to be saved, and she would save him.

If only . . . If only things hadn't happened the way they had.

If only she'd been smarter, and hadn't made foolish mistakes that imprisoned her from preventing misery. She could have saved him before he had ever needed to be saved.

If only . . . she had known she loved him from the very start.

OOO Nine years ago: March 22nd OOO

(Tenten's POV)

Today was the second day for second-year ninja in training. Today would also be the first day for the first-year students, whereas yesterday was the introduction ceremony. I knew that this year would be quite the same as last year . . . People making fun of my hair, my looks, my name.

After all, what parents named their own child Tenten? What kind of a name was that? And as for the hair, I had tried putting it in several different ways. It never seemed to work up or down. And so I cut it short, and left it barely below my ears. At least, it wouldn't get in my way. Besides, I wasn't the prettiest girl in the bunch. In fact, I came closer to the more ugly looking.

I was only a tiny girl, yet I loved running. Most seven-year-olds were beginning to grow tired of always racing, always climbing, always running. At least, the ones I knew. They were more interested in the boys of the academy whereas I never really cared.

I just wanted to run around everywhere.

People thought I was a joke of a girl who didn't love boys but loved running. My female classmates always made fun of me. Even the boys didn't particularly like me because I wasn't that pretty.

Last year I had always made sure to leave at the last minute to go to the academy so that I wouldn't run into my classmates on the streets. Though I could take most of them individually, I didn't really have the guts to try attacking four or five at once. Besides, that only gave me another excuse to run to school. I hated being late, so I made it a game to try to beat my record of getting from home to school.

It was about a mile, and I could run it in no more than eight minutes at the moment, but I was trying to get under seven. Little did I know that this day would be the day I met someone who loved running, possibly even more than me.

OOO Five Years Ago: October 8th OOO

(Tenten's POV)

We were sitting by the waterfall, Sasuke and I. This was our last day going to school together for the year. I had started earlier than most—when I was six. So though I was Sasuke's age, I would graduate a year before him and become a Genin. But there was still one more year left.

"Sasuke, let's make this last year our best one, okay?" I asked hopefully.

He shrugged.

Although it had been a long time since I had heard about the deaths of his family, he still seemed lonely and unwilling to talk very much. Maybe he was just going through "hormones," something where one went through drastic changes. I didn't know much about those, but my legal guardian said I was going through them, too.

Besides, three years was plenty of time to mourn for family members, wasn't it? I bit my lip resentfully. "Sasuke, is this about your broth—"

I found myself pressed up against the cliff next to the waterfall, gasping for breath as he had his hands around my neck.

"Don't you ever mention him again," he whispered with remarkable volume. "Got it?"

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't answer.

His grip on my neck tightened. "Got it?" he demanded again.

I nodded as best I could until he released me, and I crashed to my knees. Once I got the precious air to enter my lungs again, I looked up at Sasuke fearfully. He had resumed his spot of sitting on a rock, staring at the water crashing down beside us.

Rubbing my neck with a hand, I sat next to him nervously. Today was the day I had promised to ask him something really important. But after what had just occurred, I wasn't sure of the answer anymore. To be truthful, I felt like crying. The only thing driving them back was my need to appear strong in front of Sasuke—just for today.

"Um, Sasuke?" I asked quietly, fearing his reaction.

"What?" His voice was irritated, but at least, he had acknowledged me.

"Uh . . . Do you think things will stay the same?" I asked miserably. The doubts had been clawing at my mind, and I had heard a true friend was one who would give me confidence when I felt lost. Besides, he wasn't acting the same as usual, and I needed to make sure they were still friends.

The words seemed to torment Sasuke as if some hidden memory was hurting him over and over. "No," he answered finally, "things are never the same."

Tears sprang to my eyes. "Wh-what?" I jumped of the rock, away from him, and stared at him in surprise. This was not Sasuke! He was being so rude, ever since I had mentioned his brother.

"I said things are never the same," he repeated coldly.

"Oh." I couldn't say much else. His words had broken my heart. "Um . . . Sasuke?"

He eyed at me impatiently. "What now? I have to go soon."

"Well, I . . ." I attempted a half-smile weakly, but it disappeared when Sasuke made an irritated gesture. "I wanted to ask you if . . . Well . . ." Why couldn't I just get the words out? "Do you think Neji will ever like me?" Sasuke would know what I meant. I had loved Neji from the moment I saw him, and had told the Uchiha everything. "You think I should ask him?"

I wouldn't have asked him if I had the courage to go up to Neji myself. But even I, a complete tomboy, would never do something like that.

He finally answered, but it was nothing like what I had expected. If only I had realized how much saying Neji's name hurt him. If only I had truly known what "hormones" really were. But I was still a child, still eleven years old. I didn't notice things like that until much later in my life—a life full of regrets. "How would I know?" Sasuke said bitterly as if he envied something about what I said. "Ask him yourself." Sharp and angry.

When I heard what he said, I ran away, never wanting to hear his perfect voice ever again. But the next day I couldn't help but return to following him around, acting as though he was nicer than he really was. Without a friend, I felt helpless. And Sasuke was the only one I knew who didn't tease me about who I was.

OOO Three years ago: September 2nd OOO

(Tenten POV)

As a little girl, I would play with flower petals, tossing one and claiming yes, then tossing another and claiming no. When I reached the last petal and stared as it flew to the ground, I would have discovered my answer.

But I was no longer a little girl. I dealt with things by acting, not guessing. Neji Hyuga was standing in front of me, watchful with his light, lavender eyes. I couldn't bring my mouth to speak. I couldn't move at all.

"What is it, Tenten?" he asked finally, hoping to start a conversation.

How could I start? How could I even begin to describe emotions I had felt for years, even since I met him? "Um . . ." I began. A strange sense of uneasiness clutched my stomach, and I remembered my most dreaded question: what if he did not return the feelings as I hoped?

"Go on," he urged. I knew he had no idea what I could be asking, which only made the uneasiness clutch my stomach more tightly.

I couldn't even recognize my surroundings. All I could see was his patient face, awaiting my words. "I—" My teeth sank into my lip before I realized I couldn't talk anymore. I stopped biting my lip. "I wanted to tell you something important," I managed to say.

"Yes," Neji agreed.

After I recounted my words, I struggled not to hit myself in the face. Hadn't what I just said already been made perfectly clear? By my actions, Neji would only assume this was important . . .

"I have to go, Tenten," my teammate said, and he began walking slowly away.

This was it. Now or never. "You've always been here for me, even when no one else was," I explained slowly, suppressing the adrenaline rushing through my fingertips, begging for me to run. "You and I have always called each other best friends, and . . ."

Neji stopped and turned his head back to listen. "And?"

"And I just wanted to say . . ." I paused, nervously twiddling my fingers. "To say that . . ." I repeated. What would his answer be? "That I love you so much, Neji!" I burst out, almost allowing tears to stream down my face.

Neji's white eyes stared at me in silence, in blankness for a long time.

I could almost feel a burden lifting itself from my shoulders, no longer plaguing me with doubt. The die were cast . . . I stood, patiently waiting for him to say something. Looking to the huge moon above my head, I blinked as the white light shone in my eyes. Fear no longer touched me.

"Tenten . . ."

He was finally responding! What would he say?

"I'm sorry, Tenten," he continued, "but I do not feel the same."

For a moment, his words did not reach my mind. For a moment, he was speaking a different language that I couldn't understand. For that single moment, the adrenaline won over.

I ran.

Tears gushed down my face, and once again, I could no longer see or hear anything. Only steady taps from my feet, the same feet racing to get away—one step and another rang loudly in my ears. I could no longer hear Neji behind me, yelling for me to stop. I had no control; my body had decided I was in danger and had chosen to run far away. Neji was nowhere even close to me anymore. I was too fast.

"Where are you going?" a familiar voice demanded. It was not Neji, I would have known if it was. But it was someone I knew . . . Someone I hadn't heard for a long time. Someone I had promised never to see again . . . Who? Maybe I would have figured it out if my soul hadn't been shredded to pieces.

I stopped running and glanced back, but the teenager's face was hidden in shadows. I didn't know who he was, and I had no way of finding out.

"Where are you going?" he repeated in that so familiar voice, deep and dark and cold.

I shrugged before realizing I was in the moonlight. This familiar stranger could see rarely fallen tears streaking down my face. I knew he wouldn't take a shrug for an answer. "I don't know where I'm going," I elaborated.

"It's the middle of the night," he told me as if I didn't already know. "You should be asleep. What are you doing?"

He was asking personal questions, but I didn't care. My life was nonexistent, ever since Neji had broken my heart. I had known it would be broken from the beginning, but knowing in advance didn't ease my pain. "I was training . . . He was going to walk me home, but . . ." I didn't have the heart to continue or even mention Neji's name.

Still somehow he understood what I was trying to say, whoever he was. "You're on the road leading out of the village," he stated suddenly as if he were some police officer chiming off my criminal rights. "You don't want to be heading this way."

I shook my head in confusion, rather than disagreement. I had no clue where I was supposed to be going. I only wanted to get away.

The figure stepped forward slightly and held out a hand. I still could not see him. My vision was blurry with tears. "I'll take you home," he said emotionlessly.

I took his hand without hesitation, and finally I could breathe again. He had saved me from my plunge into nothingness, rescued me from the perpetual darkness entering my mind. And I didn't even know who this person was.

He led me in silence, somehow knowing the way to my house. I didn't bother to wonder why. It was late, and I was tired, tired from rejection, tired from tears. Minutes passed, and I found myself at my doorstep, a light turning on when it sensed movement.

Abruptly I could no longer feel his hand in my grasp. He was leaving me all alone to fall again! "Wait!" I called out, realizing he had only taken a few steps away.

He glanced back at me, his onyx eyes, the opposite shade of Neji's, staring me down. His raven hair framed his face perfectly and blew in the gentle breeze. Uchiha Sasuke.

My mouth hung open when I finally identified him. What was he doing, helping a stupid girl like me, a girl whom he hated with a passion? "Sasuke?" I asked for need of clarification. The past didn't stop me as old feelings rushed into my heart.

"I have to go," he responded coldly, impatiently.

I shook my head. He couldn't leave me like this! Not again! "No!"

"Get some rest," he commanded before turning away.

Thoughts and facts clicked in my head, and I suddenly realized what he was doing up all night, how he had "happened" to be on the sole road out of the village to save me, and why he seemed so urgently leaving me.

I ran to him quickly, hoping he would stop, change his mind, elude from his plan for my sake. Why now? Why would he leave at the time I needed him most? Why had he even led me home in the first place? "Sasuke, why?" I asked simply.

He ignored me and kept walking away, back to where he had come from.

"Sasuke, why?" I repeated. "Why did you—"

"Go back home."

I stopped in my tracks, stunned as he continued to leave. Hesitantly, I spoke, draining any emotion from my voice: "You're leaving the village." It was a statement, not a question.

His feet continued to take steps away, far from my reach.

"To Orochimaru," I continued emotionlessly.

He still took his meaningful steps away.

"I won't see you again," I concluded sadly.

He stopped but never looked back. "Go home," he said again. "This is a new beginning for the both of us—for everyone."

His words made sense. I looked up at the moon, the same way I had when Neji had rejected my confession of love. I could no longer be friends with Neji anymore. It would hurt far too much. My life had just taken a new beginning. A new beginning . . .

When I looked back to Sasuke, he was gone.

He was gone.

I sank to my knees with no one their to stop my plummet to the ground. Sasuke Uchiha had saved me from most of the fall, but now I was alone to deal with the rest of it.

My dream of Neji was gone.

Sasuke was gone.

I was alone.