Hello all! You may all remember me from my other fanfic "An Anxious Freedom" to which I am added another chapter immediately. I don't have much to say about this story before I pass it on to you to read it other than I hope you like it, the story line is actually going to be following exactly along with my other fic so they're sort of two "love stories" tied into one I suppose you could say, except now you're going to have a whole backstory on Neji and Tenten. Hopefully you guys don't mind the whole lack of originality when it comes to plot, I just always thought having the two stories intertwine would be great ever since I first started writing it.

Again, review, follow and favorite if you like this story. It gives me hope that I'm not a terrible writer. I love you all, my apologies for my long hiatus!

A low rumble of thunder passed through the empty air, silence filled with its low cry as the sky opened up and allowed drops of rain to fall onto the battlefield. She mourned the loss of her children, cradling and kissing their faces with her tears one last time. The rain that pounded against the ground set a rhythm to the laughter and the cheers of joy that erupted into the air as every ninja from every land threw their hands towards the sky and celebrated a long fought for victory. The thick stench of curdled blood was shed and replaced with the fresh scent of mother earth. If it had been any other day, any other man lying before her, she would have cheered as well.

Her lungs hitched with sobs that she choked back with quick sighs and hard swallows that felt like jagged knives; every so often she would receive a soft slap on the back as congratulations for a war well fought and that sudden touch would remind her to breathe. In and out, in and out, she held behind pressed lips, her mantra was well worn out as she hovered over him wordlessly with his form slumped and his hair splayed all around him like a halo. She bit the inside of her cheek so hard that she felt the warm, metallic taste of blood flow over her tongue and mix with saliva. This isn't a nightmare you can wake yourself from, Ten. It's not a dream anymore. She finally allowed herself to fall to her knees, her hair that was usually tied in two, identical buns now cascaded over her shoulders like a blanket, yet she couldn't bring herself to put in the effort to pull it back together again. Fragile and broken fingers stretched out to touch his, the chill of death shrouded them and she recoiled immediately as if she had touched something painful. She had, though, she had touched something that was taken from her and that in itself was painful. Her eyes searched his as well, as if there would be some other explanation, but they were hollow and empty, showing her nothing but a reflection that stared back at her with the same pained expression that she wore. Her body shook with an emotion that she couldn't seem to pinpoint, yet it filled her so terribly until it boiled beneath her skin and she could feel nothing else.

Her shoulders finally collapsed with the weight that she had been carrying on them for so long and she allowed herself this one moment of weakness, she allowed herself to cup his cheek in her hand and she allowed herself to press her face into his chest. The tears that fell mixed with the raindrops that were thrust against her. Cold and unyielding. Just this once, she told herself, there won't be another chance. The shallow breaths that she had reminded herself to take finally billowed out of her in long sobs that caused her throat to ache and her eyes to burn until she no longer made sounds and simply trembled in silence, gripping at his tattered clothing. She hadn't remembered the last time that she cried and she suddenly remembered why she hated it so much, but she couldn't stop. Her chest seemed to open up just like the sky had, forcing her heart to beat erratically and stop all at once, forcing the tears from her eyes until she shriveled up and died right there too.

A rigid hand clasped against her forearm, softly at first and then forcefully in an act of comfort, as if telling her to rise. Just as she began removing herself from his still form, expecting Lee to be holding a hand down to her, offering to bring her to her feet and a shoulder for her tears to fall on, a second hand ran seamlessly through her hair, pressed her face against his chest that suddenly thumped so rhythmically with a sound of a life she never thought she would hear again. The quiet thumps turned into strong beats, slow and steady as they rattled his chest like it was an old attic being cleared out of death. Her eyes finally transfixed to the face that she had always studied every day as they trained, a face that she knew every stoic purse of his lips, every ranging emotion, every frown, laugh and smile it was capable of, and there it was looking at her just them with a crooked smile formed of lips cracked and caked in blood.

There he was, smiling at her with shaking muscles and there she was, holding him like he was the last good thing that she had on this Earth, as if he was the only thing that kept her tethered to the ground. He frowned and cocked his head slightly, speaking words that she couldn't hear, her heart beating so loud in her chest that her ears were deafened by the sound of her own life. His hand cupped her cheek in return; they were chilled over yet soft and careful and she, too, swore that she was careful at first as she pressed her lips to his, cautiously meeting her skin with his as if it were made of glass, and then forcefully as she wanted to feel every part of him that would tell her that he was still alive and still there to bring in the coming day with her, as if he were the answer to every goddamn question she could ever ask, as if he were the cure to the disease that plagued her every night. Her body was so filled with want and need and as his arms reined her in close and as his lips and body melted into hers, she felt it. She felt those silent boundaries that they had made when they were children fold away, she felt the warmth that she had always dreamt about whenever she spaced as Gai Sensei lectured them on youth, his body cradled her in the way that she thought it would that one time she accidentally saw him shirtless when they were twelve and the same way she thought it would every time since. They parted for just a moment, looking at one another with hooded eyes that no longer asked questions, but were so filled with answers that the trailed down their cheeks in wet streams. He touched her temple with his index and middle finger, pulling them away to show her that they were stained red with blood.

"You're bleeding, Tenten." Neji warned her and for just a second, she could have sworn that his eyes were lavender and not white, the veins around them still tensed. His voice didn't lower with any sense of seriousness, but instead lightened as if he were stating the obvious to bring a smile to her face.

"You died!" Tenten nearly shouted, her brow furrowed together as she fought so desperately to maintain composure as she watched him fade in and out of consciousness before her. She pressed her hand to just below his ribcage, blood slowly pooling below her palm, forcing him to wince slightly but not enough for him to voice any concerns or discomfort. "We have to get someone here to help you."

"I'm fine," Neji grunted, his voice back to its usual calm and confident self. "Just help me stand." He nearly growled at her as she pressed his chest down with a closed fist, but he resigned an argument that he was readying just on the tip of his tongue as he saw her eyes dart to his dangerously, glinting with an overprotective nature that she showed only whenever he or Lee were seriously injured.

"No, stay down. I lost you once and I'm not about to lose you again for something as simple as another stupid injury you could have easily avoided had you just stayed put and not argued with me about it incessantly like you always do." His head that strained to look up at her fell back to the ground to rest, his silence gave her enough of a response to know that he was actually agreeing with her for once.

"I wasn't aware that I was yours to lose." A pink hue rose to her cheeks, her lips forming a thin line as she struggled to avoid defending herself, trying to maintain the silence that they had just moments before. He smirked that typical, Hyuuga smirk that she always hated because he did so whenever he knew he was winning one of their stupid arguments, but she somehow loved it because it was his and only his.

"That's not what I-" She paused and watched as he tried to grasp a small strand of her hair between his fingers and he smiled a strange smile that she hadn't seen him wear since they were children when all they did was laugh instead of cry. He continuously missed and his brow furrowed, but he finally looked towards her with an equally gentle expression. Tenten frowned, his Byakugan was wearing too much on him and depleting what little chakra he had.

"I always thought that your hair looked beauti…" Another small trail of blood flowed past his cracking lips, falling lazily down his neck that went limp. His vision faded slowly at first, haziness lining the very edges of his eyes, and then all at once he plummeted into darkness. He heard her voice shout for a medic, mumbling words into his ear, the syllables didn't make sense and they sounded so jumbled and so frantic, but still he clung to him as if they were the last thing he would ever hear. Her fingertips grazed his jaw, sending jolts of goose bumps down his spine before he finally lost consciousness.

- x -

The hum of monitors and the metronomic beeps that chimed in every three seconds pulled him into slight lucidity, figures blurred together as he opened his eyes and was met by the bright white of a hospital room. An unfamiliar sense of warmth shrouded him, though Neji couldn't understand why that explicitly was what made him uncomfortable and not his inability to see clearly or the fact that he could clearly hear that he was in the hospital. He tried in vain to recall the events that had placed him there. Had he trained too hard like he usually did, overcome with heat exhaustion? Not likely. Overuse of Byakugan? He hadn't remembered the last mission that he had to use it for longer than twenty minutes at a time and yet his vision was entirely absent from his senses. He twitched his fingers, rotated his ankles soundlessly, checking to make sure he had some semblance of limb function. He had always been so careful, he had never been in the hospital before, other than for routine visits that Sakura always insisted on him doing after high ranking missions.
Voices spoke just quietly enough that he couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but he could hear Hiashi's voice, stern and formal, and Tsunade's, much the same. Panic set in suddenly as he heard a word that brought chill up his spine, dead. He fought off the need to shout for Hinata long enough to hear her timid voice as well, settling in alongside Naruto's. He sighed, his distaste for Naruto had yet to subside, especially considering his cousin's soft side for him, but he was a humble man that refused to believe anyone was a lost cause. Even Neji himself.
Neji frowned, the sterile smell of the hospital filled his lungs with every breath he took and he refused to sit there any longer. Pulling the IV from his vein, he felt a slow dribble down his arm as he took a deep breath, readying himself. Shooting, blinding pain shot through him as he forced himself to sit upright, his legs swinging off his bed and falling to the chill floor. His body cursed at him with every painstaking step, but as he traced his hand along the wall to find the door, he heard someone stand up behind him.

"Neji, you're awake!" Her voice sounded exhausted and weathered as if she had just woken up; he wondered if she had spent the night there with him. He held out his hands for her, silently beckoning for her assistance as he often did whenever he really did overused his Byakugan and forced his vision to blur. She rose to him, of course she would, and her fingers tentatively grasped his.

"Tenten." His voice mumbled with a question, though it was forced. "Why am I here?"

"Ah," He could almost feel her disappointment radiate from him. "Tsunade told me that you'd have some memory loss, what's the last thing that you remember?"

"We were returning from Iwa and then.." He frowned, his brow knitting together with frustration. Why can't I remember anything? "Hn."

"That was nearly five months ago, but I guess it's best that you don't remember those things. I'm actually glad you don't, you know? You should really sit down, you're going to tear your stitches." Tenten sighed, pressing her hand against his hip so she could guide him back to his bed, though her touch lingered with no intention of moving him. Neji looked stoic as usual, his eyes unwavering as he stared out the window, trying so valiantly to ignore her gentle touch along bare skin. He hadn't realized he was shirtless, but her fingertips grazing his skin caused his muscles to tremble. He forced a blush away from his cheeks. Tenten merely smiled. She realized when Tsunade had told her about his memory loss that he would forget the things he told her late at night, when he mumbled things about his father in his sleep and his body shook with unshed tears and she held him as his fingers wrapped loosely with her own, when she kissed him and he kissed her back. She realized that there was hardly a chance that he would feel the same, now that he didn't remember. Another sigh passed through her lips and she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Will you take me home?" Neji's voice but a whisper against her mind as he pulled her out of her thoughts and back down to Earth. Tenten smiled, her hand found his again and she squeezed it softly. It looked as if a smile tugged at the edges of his lips as she did so, and yet he never made a move to look at her.

"Of course. Just let me fill out the forms to get you out of here, alright?"

"Tenten."

"Yes?"

"Did you stay here?"

"Oh," She paused, looking to the little make-shift bed she set up alongside his own, blankets and pillows strung about. It had been a few days since he had been carried back to Konoha, entirely unconscious, with Tsunade warning Hiashi that he might not wake up at all. But for some reason she held steadfast to the faith that he would. "It was only a few days and I wanted you to wake up to a familiar face, that's all. I'd be scared waking up alone, you know?" She smiled warmly, despite the fact that he wasn't able to see it. "Well, not that you'd really be able to see me. Good news is that your vision should start returning quickly. Just a little too much of a strain on your Byakugan is all."

"I.." Neji trailed off, his attention caught by the birds chirping. He seemed much more out of focus than Tenten ever remember him being, but she simply chalked it up to his injuries and never gave it a second thought. "I'm sorry I worried you and everyone else. Will I eventually remember?"

"There's a fifty-fifty chance that you will or won't. It'd be better if you didn't." He looked to be deep in thought for a moment, as if he were trapped in his own mind, throwing his hands out at thoughts and memories that just evaded his grasp, but then he nodded in agreement. He reached for her hand again, but he was met with an empty room and no touch.

"Hn. I suppose you're right."

- x -

Crickets chirped softly as night fell over Konoha, stars twinkling softly in contrast to the dark sky. Tenten's fingers drummed along the window sill, her eyes staring into the distance, counting the stars that made up the Milky Way that stretched so carelessly before her eyes. She knew that she should have been asleep long before now, yet if the last few nights were anything like this night, she'd rather not dream those dreams. She blew out a huff of air roughly, her bangs shaking with the sudden gust and she thought to do something productive. Shower, sharpen weapons, literally anything would be better than sitting around, she droned silently.

Knock, knock, knock.

It's too late to be summoned by Tsunade, her thoughts brimmed as she slowly lifted herself from her futon and stretched her aching limbs that were littered with small cuts and bruises, besides, she probably has way too much on her plate than to be sending anyone on missions. She hummed as she made the slow steps down to the front door of her apartment. She opened the door, almost expecting Sakura or Hinata to visit her, their relationship troubles always seemed to include her in their fixing and yet a pale face framed by dark hair looked around vacantly, almost unaware that she had opened the door.

"Neji?" She whispered softly, leaning against the door frame uncomfortably. He rarely visited her at her apartment and she visited him even less at his own compound. It was always an unspoken rule between them that they would meet at a ramen shop at four o'clock every Monday and Friday, save for when they went on missions, and would meet at six o'clock sharp every morning to train. It was their schedule, it was their rule, it was what made them a functional team.

"They rebuilt the village," He began, his voice cracking with an unrecognizable sadness that built in his chest and clumped at his throat, "and I can't remember where everything is. I.. stepped out for a second and I can't see or remember how to get back home." He mumbled the last few words as if he held some disdain for home that he never really spoke to her about. Her fingers flitted softly to reach for his wrist, his wavering eyes finally reigned back in to focus on her. They looked lavender and soft again, but it may have just been a trick of the moonlight.

"Why did you come here?"

"Your apartment was the only place that I could remember how to get to.." He paused and sighed loudly, taking Tenten back at how frustrated he was getting with himself, though his eyes looked much less milky than they had before. "I'd rather not go back home. No one really seems all too thrilled to have to take care of me in this condition." He never got embarrassed and he certainly never asked for help. He looked dejected and ashamed, a soft blush seeping over his cheek bones, but it may have just been a trick of the moonlight.

"Did you want to stay here?" Her question was more or less a statement, knowing that he had only come there for that purpose. He nodded slowly as he apologized for placing such a burden on her. "Alright, you can sleep in my bed and I can take the-"

"No, that wouldn't be right to have me take your bed when you've been kind enough to let me in so late at night." Neji's voice was stern and formal and, for some reason, she knew that there was no use arguing with him at that point, so she merely sighed and let his decision be another rule. She was light on her toes as she skipped over to brew some coffee. Tenten never had a taste for the stuff, but always found herself buying some every so often for whenever Neji would visit. He stood awkwardly in the doorway but traced his fingers along the soft chocolate walls until his knees bumped into the arm of a chair that he slowly lowered himself onto. Tenten watched him carefully, her elbow resting on the countertop as she did, her eyes hazy with the will of sleep but her heart hammered too rapidly for her to even consider closing her eyes. The kunoichi found herself again hopeful, not that he woke up, but that he would remember.

"Tenten." His voice came as a low whisper from deep in his chest and the palms of his hands covered his eyes as he rested the weight of his elbows on his knees. "I can't remember."

"Tsunade said that you might not be able to, remember I told you earlier this morning?"

"Hn." He hummed in a way that she knew he wasn't done speaking, so she remained silent as she poured him a small cup of black coffee. No sugar. No creamer. Just how he liked it. She lowered herself before him and slowly turned his hand over, pressing the warm glass into his hand until he grasped it. "Will you tell me? If I don't remember?"

"Neji, it'd be best if I didn't. Everyone that we care about is alright. Your family is all well and so are our friends. Our village is rebuilding and everything is going to be okay."

"Tenten, I would really-"

"I.. I can't." A slight frown fell over his face as he felt her presence leave him and the soft metallic click of a door shutting echoed from somewhere far from him within her apartment. He held the coffee in his hands until it turned cold and still long after that, listening to her soft sobs carry through the chilly air, chorused by cicadas and crickets humming in the tall grasses. He made no move to comfort her, though he wanted so badly to cradle her and save her from whatever demons haunted her.

- x -

Knock, knock, knock.

For the second time that night she heard his quick call for her, those repetitive knocks against her door, but this time they came much slower as if he were testing new ground and, for just a moment, she thought about not answering and feigning sleep, but she knew he would stand there all night if it meant trying to help her in his strange, albeit gentle, way. Her mattress ached and squeaked with the shift in weight and she brought herself to stand before the door. Pressing her forehead against the wood frame, she tried to find courage to help her stop crying, but she knew she couldn't. The sorrow that she carried in her chest could not be eased and the weight she carried on her heart ached so painfully, she couldn't understand how it would continue beating. Neji listened as the door slid open, creaking with slight resistance.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," He began, but he felt her finger grace his lip softly. He flushed quickly, his body hardly knowing how to respond to her touch, let alone her mere presence. His fingers laced over her wrist and pulled her away, but it burned with her absence. "If you're suffering, I am as well." His breath hitched, it sounded much too sentimental for him. "We are a team, of course." Right, a team. Nothing else.

"It's alright." Tenten hushed, but her words merely feigned strength and she knew it was only a matter of time before he called her on her fallacies.

"I don't remember anything."

"Neji.." She trailed off, her body filled with the feeling of concern. Had he lost his short term memory was well?

"But I remember you and I shared a tent outside of Ame after an intel mission.." His voice was low and but a whisper against her heart. Her fingers grasped his. "..and I told you about my father and I told you stories he used to tell me when I was small." She nodded, knowing he couldn't see her acknowledgement. "You held my hand when it hurt to speak and I never thanked you."

"You don't need to thank me for that." She whispered back. "I was glad to-"

"They force fed me so many antibiotics and medicine that I'm hardly lucid, but I wanted so badly to kiss you that night, yet I couldn't bring myself to."

"Neji." Her voice was thick now with a tone that the Hyuuga had never heard come from her lips before, so much so that he almost thought it to be another woman, but his brow merely furrowed at the force with which she spoke his name. His chest ached and he wasn't sure why, but even in that moment he wanted to kiss her even though her words were dripping in the grime that came along with rejection.

"I'm sorry, I know that you don't see me that way."

"Neji." She said his name again and this time, he felt her fingers touch his jaw softly until she cupped his cheek in her small hands and he leaned into her touch just so slightly that she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't seen his smile. "I've wanted nothing more than you."

"I'm sorry I've waited so long to tell you, then."

"I'm sorry, too." She mumbled as her lips found his in the darkness. It was shaky and it was foreign territory, unconquered hills of hips and bare skin under fragile fingers and hooded eyes. It was far from perfect but she wanted more. More, more, more.

- x -

Muscles ached as his eyes came open to be swarmed by a sea of brown. He rolled over and blinked once, twice, thrice until he could see almost clearly. He rubbed them several times, trying to force clarity into his vision, but settled with the fact that he could finally see the majority of his surroundings. He sat up quickly but suppressed a grown as so when blood rushed to his head and dizziness overwhelmed him. Squinted eyes looked around and his throat groaned when he couldn't identify his surroundings and then, movement. He twitched visibly, Tenten rolled over to face him with her body still curled much like a cat's would. Her expression was calm and relaxed, beautiful even. He thought for a moment and found himself holding back audible swears. His drug-lubricated confession still brewed along his tongue, as did the touch of hers.

He rose quickly, gathering his clothes and making an effort to be as silent as possible to not wake her from her rest that he was sure that she needed much more than he did. Neji paused in the doorway from her room to the living room of her small apartment, staring at her body that rose and fell with every shallow breath that she took as she slumbered so peacefully. A smile tugged at his lips, but his heart hammered with the reminder that things couldn't be like this. They just couldn't be. And so, he left before the sun had the rise beyond the mountains and long before the stars started fading from view. He left her there, her hair a halo around her like an angel, he left her.