It was a quiet morning in the Leaf village. No upcoming battles, no fear-filled screams or potential war threats at all.

It had been this way ever since the end of the war. For most people, it would have been a wondrous change, but for Tenten, it just meant for an increasing number of boring days.

Don't get her wrong, she was happy that the village was no longer in danger and that there were less people suffering, but it also didn't do well for her weapons shop.
Just like the name entailed, her little store consisted of the best homemade weapons in the Leaf Village. She had started it not long after the war ended, having needed something to keep her busy. However, that may have been the worst time to open, as she didn't get that many customers.

Business wasn't dead, per say, but it was no where near booming. At least the ANBU troops still needed weapons, but once they bought, it would be a while before she saw them again.

Today though, was her off day. She had closed the store and met up with Sakura. They had made plans to go training, just to let off some steam. Sakura had become a full-time medic at the hospital and was steadily making a name for herself. Tenten wasn't sure how the pink-haired ninja had gotten a day off, but she was more then happy to spend it with her.

Normally Tenten would spend her off days with Lee, who seemed to always be training. So a girl-only day was a nice change in her routine.

It was now noon and the two girls were strolling through the town, bodies tied and sweating. It had been a good workout, Sakura had become a lot stronger over the years and an hour ago, she had proved that she still had it.

Wiping away some sweat from her forehead, Tenten thought back on their spar and smiled with pride at the memory. She had certainly kept up with the medic. She didn't think that she was Tsunade-level yet, but she had also come a long way.

"We should do this again some time," Sakura suggested with a smile as they walked. Turning to return the smile, Tenten envied slightly at the fact that Sakura didn't look half as ruffled as she did.

Maybe it was just a Tenten thing, but she always came out looking like a scruffy mess after a fight.

"You got it," Tenten agreed, more then happy to go against her again soon. It was nice to fight someone different. "Though next time, maybe not aim to crush my bones?" She requested jokingly.

Sakura laughed sheepishly. Maybe she had gone a little overboard, but she would have healed anything she broke! "Done, want to get something to eat? I'm supposed to meet up with Ino for dinner."

"As much fun as hearing Ino Gish about Sai sounds, I think I'll pass," Tenten said. She didn't have anything against the blonde, they were friends, but they had totally different interests in conversion topics.

"Ow, come on!" Sakura pleaded, stepping in front of the brunette. "Don't make me go see her all by myself!"

Tenten laughed at the plea, but remained strong. "I thought you two were supposed to be best friends?"

Huffing, Sakura rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "We are, but if you were there, maybe I could get her to talk about something else once in a while. If I have to hear about how cute Sai's butt is one more time, I might just stab myself with my fork!"

"He had got a cute ass though."

"So not helping!"

Shaking her head at her, Tenten said, "It can't be that bad. Shouldn't you be happy that your teammate found happiness?"

"I am," she insisted. "I just don't wanna hear about it."

"Oh cause hearing you gush about Sasuke was so interesting."

A blush made it's way on Sakura's face, clashing with her pink hair, but somehow she still looked pretty, Tenten noticed dismayingly. When she, herself, blushed, she looked like a fried tomato with buns.

"That's different.."

Giving the medic a gentle punch on the arm, Tenten winked at her and started to walk on. "Sure it is," she said looking back at the still blushing girl.

Sakura quickly caught up with her, a pout present on her face. "Okay, look there's maybe..possibly...another reason I'd like you to come with me.."

Raising a brow at the girl next to her, Tenten waited for her friend to continue.

"Ino knows this guy..."

"Oh no," Tenten blanked at the words. "Sakura no, no-no!"

"Just give it a chance," Sakura continued, trying to stay in step with Tenten, who had started to walk faster.

"I said no!" Tenten stated, getting annoyed.

For the past few months, it had become Sakura and Ino's mission to get her a date. She had hoped this little training session would exclude all that, but she guessed wrong.

"You haven't even met him yet!"

"And what? I should walk over to the cafe looking like a flushed pig?" Tenten asked sarcastically.

"He won't be at the cafe!" Sakura corrected quickly. "Ino just wanted to tell you about him a bit. You can meet him tomorrow, apparently he's really nice."

"Well you just told me about him, I'm good."

"It's not the same, just come with me," Sakura pouted.

Stopping, Tenten turned to look fully at the other girl, letting out a tired sigh. "Why can't you two just drop the whole boyfriend thing? Is it so bad that I'm single?"

Sakura at least looked a bit apologetic at that. "No Tenten, it's just-"

"Just what?"

"We're worried about you, not just us, but Lee too."

Tenten frowned at the indication. "Lee? What's he got to do with this?"

"N-nothing bad," Sakura said, frantically waving her hands. "But he thinks you spend too much time by yourself.. And so do we."

"I run a weapons store!" Tenten defended. "So obviously I'm not gonna be out partying all day!"

"We don't expect you to-heck I don't get to do that either, but the only time you aren't in your shop, your training."

"I am a ninja."

Sakura just stared at her, not taking her reply seriously. And Tenten knew it wasn't a good excuse, but so what? It was her life and she had her reasons for not dating.

"Look," Tenten breathed. "I appreciate the concern, but I really am happy," she smiled to try and convince the other. "I'm just not ready to get into anything like that right now, but when I am...I'll let you know."

Sakura took a moment to examine her face, before reluctantly nodding. "Okay..but you can still come have dinner with us?"

"Sakura."

"Just for dinner, this time."

"Thanks, but I'm just gonna head home, take a bath and head to bed," Tenten shrugged, before smiling at Sakura. "I'll be seeing you?"

Accepting defeat, Sakura nodded and pulled the other into a quick hug, ignoring the smell of the sweat that clung to both of their bodies. "Sure, just think about it okay?"

"No promises."

Letting go of the hug, Sakura waved goodbye, before jogging off into the direction of the cafe.

Shaking her head fondly at the fading pink figure, Tenten turned around and started her walk to her destination.

She had lied to Sakura, when she said she was heading home. She felt bad, but it was only a small, harmless lie. Not something that the other girl or anybody else needed to know.

It had gotten darker now, the sky going black. Tenten walked slowly along the path, not needing to hurry. She knew nobody else would be there at this time, she didn't need to rush. She could stay there as long as she wanted.

The wind blew and Tenten rapped her arms around herself to shield her bare arms. She didn't mind though, ninja's were trained to deal with the cold and it wasn't even that cold out tonight. Just like the day and every other day before that, it was peaceful.

Eventually the young weaponist found herself in the graveyard. Its fields went on forever, hundred of thousands of grave stones stood proudly next to each other. Many of these had come from the war, Tenten thought grimly as she carefully walled through the yard. She had been there when many of them were dug and buried.

It took a while before she made it to the grave she was looking for. The gravestone was still in good condition, not having been there for too long. Flowers were placed in a flask that sat in front of the stone. Tenten had made sure there were always fresh ones. There were some extra ones, she didn't recognise. She guessed Hinata must have visited the gravesite today. Sometimes she would go with her during the day. It didn't happen too often, but it was nice to have the company.

But too be honest, Tenten preferred coming alone. She could talk freely to him, without being judged or pittied. Fuck, she hated to pittied by them and she knew they did, some of them. Those that knew her well enough.

Kneeling down to rub some dirt away from the top piece of the grave, Tenten stared at the name ingraved into the stone.

'Neji Hyuga'. That was the name on the stone. Nothing else was written on it, like all the other gravestones.

Settling down to sit next to the grave, Tenten pulled her legs up towards her chest and held them as she looked up at the sky. She could see stars starting to come out. Not a sound could be heard, except for the crickets in the field. She was all alone here.

"Hey, Neji," Tenten whispered to the sky. "Sorry I'm late. Got into another a bit of an argument with Sakura..."

Turning to look down at the grave, she gave a little smile, almost as if it had forged itself to become her old teammate.

"Don't worry though..we ended it okay."

Silence was the response, but Tenten carried on anyway.

"Sorry, that's probably boring you, huh? My girl problems.."

Again, silence.

"I went training today," she changed the subject, her voice soft. "I've gotten really strong, you'd be impressed. At least, I hope you would be."

Minutes dragged on as she talke d about her day to Neji's grave. She talked about her shop, how she wished the business would pick up. She talked about Rock Lee and how much of a goof ball he still was, but she was happy to have him. How sensei-Gai was doing, even without his legs. He seemed to be okay.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but it was nice.

"You know Lee really misses you," she said softly. "Gai-sensei too. They don't have to say it, I can tell."

The silence that followed was almost deafening to the weaponist.

"Hinata too, they all do."

Silence.

"...Why did you do, Neji?"

Silence. She knew why.

"You didn't need to do it, it would have worked out. It always does somehow. You could still be here," her voice starting to rise.

Silence.

Taking in a shaky breath, Tenten said, "You just had to be a hero, didn't you?"

Silence.

"They took it real hard, you know? Lee wouldn't stop crying for days," she said, her hands tightening into fists.

Silence.

"Did you even think about how they would feel!"

The silence only made her angrier.

"And you left me to deal with it!"

Silence.

Clenching her teeth Tenten looked away from the grave, away from where Neji was buried. It always ended up like this. Every time she visited, she would keep up her own conversation, pretending that he was listening. Neji had always been quiet, so it helped her, but eventually her emotions would get the better of her. Hurt, betrayal and anger would slowly creep up inside her, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.

But she knew it wasn't fair on him. He had done what he thought he needed to do. Naruto had told her everything. She should have been proud of her teammate, who had sacrificed himself for another, he had helped win the war and most importantly, Neji had got what he had always wanted...freedom. She just hated that it took him dying for him to get it, for the world to know how much of a hero he really was.

She had always known he was a hero. Why did he have to prove it?

She was selfish and she knew it, accepted it. She knew he hadn't done it for the fame he would receive after death. He had done it because it was the right thing to do.

But why did it have to be him?

"You left me," Tenten whispered, the fight leaving her. What was the point anyway?

Letting out a deep breath, Tenten swallowed down the her cries and pulled herself off the ground.

She wasn't sure what time it was, but it wasn't like someone was waiting for her at home.

She dusted herself off and after one last looka at his grave, she decided it was time to go.

"Naruto, you can't keep barging in here," Kakashi, the village's Hokage said, rubbing his temple. That headache had nothing to do with the endless amount of paperwork he had been busy with the whole day.

"Don't act like you don't look forward to my visits," the blonde beamed at his sensei as he continued to chow up his ramen.

"I'd look more forward to them, if you didn't do them so frequently."

"It isn't exactly Hokage-like, dobe," Sasuke commented next to the blonde, sipping on his tea.

"You came with me!" Naruto protested, narrowing his eyes at the Uchiha.

"Hn."

"Look you two, don't you have other, more interesting things to do?" Kakashi sighed, watching the two men have their dinners in his office. He had to stay late to finish up the paper work, when Naruto had burst inside, with Sasuke behind him, offering dinner.

Now usually he wouldnt turn down a free meal, but these little visits were starting to rapidly increase in number. It was starting to feel like the blonde had moved in with him.

"Nah, besides what's better then catching up with your sensei?"

"Ex-sensei," Kakashi corrected tiredly, but he didn't understand why he really bothered anymore. "And I don't know..why not take Hinata out to a nice dinner?"

The suggestion caused the blonde to choke on his noodles, blushing at the same time. The colour reminded the elder ninja of the blonde's girlfriend. Perhaps she was rubbing off on him?

"What did I say?"

As Naruto hastily grabbed at his tea to fix his throat, Sasuke took it as his cue to answer in his stead.

"He's scared of being alone with her."

Naruto sent a betrayed glare at the raven, as he golped his drink.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "Trouble in Paradise? And I thought you two were doing so well."

Naruto nearly nocked over his plate to defend himself. "It's not like that, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Hmm?"

Scratching his nose awkwardly, Naruto avoided the eye of his Hokage. "It's just..been weird arownd her lately.."

"Weird?" Kakashi repeated, utterly confused. "You, Uzumaki Naruto are accusing your girlfriend of being 'weird'?"

"She did voluntarily chose to be his girlfriend though," Sasuke added, easily dodging a flying fist from the embarrassed blonde.

Kakashi hated to admit it, but Sasuke did have a point.

"Shut up teme! Its not Hinata," Naruto glared, but the blush defeated the look he was going for.

"So then, what is it?"

Turning back to Kakashi, Naruto avoided his gaze as he admitted the problem, mumbling out the words.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kakashi asked, not understanding the gibberish the blonde just voiced.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto whispered, "I'm worried she might want me to kiss her."

It was quiet for a few moments as Kakashi tried to process the sentence, only making the blonde grow redder.

"Heh," Sasuke smirked, resulting in Naruto exploding out words like, "SHUT UP!", "STUPID TEME!" and "YOU WANT TO FIGHT!?"

"Alright, alright," Kakashi firmly said pushing Naruto away from the other boy and back into his seat.

Once Naruto was seated and more calm, Kakashi said. "But I don't see the problem? Didn't you kiss her on the moon?"

Pouting, the blonde admitted, "Yeah, but that was a spur of the moment kinda thing, you know? I didn't think about it, I just did it."

"So do that."

"It's not the same!" Naruto said exasperated, falling back against his chair, defeatedly. "I don't know how I'd even start!"

"Hold on," Kakashi paused, actually thinking it over. "You mean to say, that you haven't kissed her since then?"

Naruto blinked at him confused. "..yeah, so?"

"You've been dating for months, idiot."

"Oh like you are all lovey dovey with Sakura!" Naruto screamed.

"None of your business," Sasuke calmly said and Kakashi had to sigh as the two started another argument. Did they ever stop?

It was going to be a long night.

Tenten walked slowly through the yard, on her way back to the village.

She wasn't bothering to keep her steps quiet or keep up her gaurd. She knew she should, but they barely ever had any intruders anymore and to be honest, she just didn't have the energy.

Suddenly stopping her footsteps, Tenten felt for her bagpack, only to realise that it wasn't there anymore.

Cursing, Tenten swiftly turned around and started to march back to the graves. There wasn't really anything important in it, but if Lee or someone else found it, they would know it was hers and then know she had been there last night.

She didn't want them to worry any more then they already were.

It didn't take long for her to reach Neji's grave, but this time, she chose not to look at it, feeling guilty for yelling at it-Neji for her own problems. Quickly, she reached for the raggy bag and flung it over her shoulders.

Before she could change her mind, Tenten turned away from the grave and once again started the walk to the village.

But not before too many steps, Tenten heard a faint groan. Instantly the weaponist looked behind her, scanning the area for anyone nearby.

It didn't nessasarily have to be an enemy, Tenten told herself. It could be someone from the village, that had the same idea as her to visit the graves.

The night's shadow made it difficult to see anything in the area, besides the graves. She couldn't hear anything else either.

Had she imagined it?

Taking one more look around, Tenten decided that it had been all in her head. She really needed to get some sleep. These little night visits weren't exactly agreeable with her body.

Turning back towards the Village, Tenten proceeded to walk, but than an unmistakable grunt was heard behind her. Automatically, Tenten took out two small daggers and ran towards the sound, going behind one of the graves.

What she saw though, had the weaponist drop her daggers in shock, her own body suddenly frozen still.

There, sagged against the back of a gave stone was the Hyuga she had been 'talking to' for the past few years.

Pale, confused eyes slowly opened to look up at the girl and Tenten almost fainted.

"N-Neji?"

Hi everyone!

I love this couple and I never got over how Neji died, so I decided to write this story.

Please let me know what you think!