Tragedy strikes like a great venomous snake and then you fall down.It's an instant between life and death, held between the emotions of friend and foe. It's a spike through the back of your true love in the midst of a battle.
It's not true, it's not true, it's not true, she thought, running frantically to the scene of most commotion. Her long, brown hair was slipping out of the tight buns kept on either sides of her head, usually a habit and a comfort, they couldn't comfort her now. Nothing in this war could be comfortable. Not now. Not ever. This was unbearable pain, like a thorn through the center of her chest, alerting her to what might have happened. This was paranoia.
She ran faster than her feet could bear to carry her. All those years of training almost constantly were doing wonders for an foolishly high pain threshold; her mind could drift from her motions, which was the worst thing that could possibly happen. She could see it now, a group of medic ninja surrounding someone obscured from view.Not Lee, not Gai sensei. . .Not Neji. It couldn't be them, she couldn't bear to even think about it. It was too much. A glimpse of long, dark hair caught her eyes as she rushed further into the scene. Not possible! It's not possible. . .It would only take a minute to be by his side, would she be able to do that? Could she even bear to accept that it was truly him lying there?
"No. . ." A plea heard by no one but herself broke from her mouth, she could feel a loss of strength as it became more obvious who the injured man was, losing thought. . . She was losing him. Just a couple meters from the protective barrier set up around the med nin, she let out a soul wrenching scream, alerting them to her presence. A look of pity was worn by all of them and they allowed her through, falling instantly to the side of the man she had loved for so long, hair tumbling out of the ties that bound it. It didn't matter any more. The lack of the curse mark on his forehead proved her dread causing her head to spin once more. This time, she didn't fight the blackness creeping up from behind her eyelids.
Hush, my love. You must not cry anymore.
She heard his voice through the dark like he was calling her from within a dream. That wasn't a dream. Not that gruesome war. That was reality. A nightmare, but reality. No matter, this felt more real than anything else she had experienced since the Great Shinobi Alliance was formed to fight Madara and Obito. From the spot where she lay she could feel the cool grass underneath her hands, something completely different from the dry, dusty rock that she had just been sitting on not a minute ago. It was quiet and peaceful, the only sound was the wind and the sweet voice of a bird. It seemed to be sitting in the branches above her. . .A tree? Was she in a field? Curiosity was getting the best of her and she opened her eyes. She'd been crying, the harsh sting behind her eyes and a dull mask clouding her vision proving that fact.
"Tenten, are you awake?"
Who? It couldn't be. . . She had seen. . .More tears made their way from her sore brown orbs, running down her face on tracks laid by the tears that she had shed before.
"You should stop crying, it's not very befitting of you."
That proved it. It was him and this wasn't a dream. Dream Neji never said more than what she desired, but in reality it was his blatant honesty that made her smile, strangely. She could never seem to replicate that honesty on her own.
"Neji?" She said quietly, without sitting up or looking around. It broke from her lips like a last hope, because he was her's. To see him one last time. . .
"I'm right here, right beside you."And he was. As she turned her head she saw him, sitting there peacefully, without a scratch, at her side. He wore a white kimono and his hair fell gracefully at his back free from a tie, his leaf headband was missing and a bandage didn't lie in its place, but his forehead was bare. In the moment she was lost in his perfect angelic image, he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. The warmth she felt was not an illusion, he really was there, warming her cold hands; her bleeding heart, so she sat up to face him. She needed to look into his colorless eyes and feel his embrace before she lost him forever.
It was then that she realized that she was completely refreshed as well, the torn regulation Chunin uniform from the war was replaced with her usual red and white outfit. Apart from the fact that her hair was still falling down past her back, it was like none of it had happened. She knew better. She was going to take advantage of however long she had left with him.
Looking in to his eyes was almost too much for her recently mangled heart to take. Unable to stand it for long, she fell into him frantically pulling him closer to her and just stayed there for a minute before speaking. "What are we going to do without you, Neji? What am I going to do?"
"Tenten. You're going to live. Live for the both of us. Whatever happens, you won't grieve forever." His relaxed tenor brought more ease to the kunoichi's mind than she thought possible, her breathing now slower and more controlled. If it was possible to hold him closer, she did. "This war could still easily turn easily either way. Even the strongest of enemies have weak spots. I want you to be strong and fight on. You can fight in my honor if that's what your heart desires, but do not kindle hatred to anyone."
With a weak nod into his chest, she raised her head, lips level with his chin. Keeping them against his face, memorizing his scent, the feel of his skin against hers, the warmth of his body. Without hesitation or embarassment, Neji leaned into her as well, gently placing his nose against her soft ombre hair.
"We would have been wed, I'm almost positive about it. My uncle already told me he thought you a magnificent kunoichi and a proper woman..." Neji's voice slowed, becoming uncharacteristically emotional. It was clear that he wasn't being as completely rational as he'd hoped to be, knowing that this would truly be the last time he saw the girl he had grown up loving. Knowing that he had never been able to show her that he loved her too. "I think you're a magnificent kunoichi and an even more magnificent woman. The most beautiful..." The rest of his sentence was broken off by the girl he was confessing his love to lifting her face to his and placing a quick, rushed kiss on his lips, still quivering from nervousness.
"Neji, I love you, you dork. I've loved you the whole time." Tenten couldn't really tell the difference between her tears anymore. Were they from her grief of losing her best friend, or the fact that she was seeing him again? They were finally telling each other the truth about their feelings and a smile was spread across her face as the thin rivers of salty water tracked their way down her cheeks. It didn't take much more than a second for Neji to pull his team mate's lips back to his, love and happiness overflowing. Years worth of suppressed feelings and passion were demanding that they be let lose, being expressed through lips moving together and hands intertwined at their sides. Neji lifted a hand back up to his love's face, gently brushing her long, brown hair behind her ear.
"I'm so happy that I got to wake up next to you just once. To see you asleep there, so peaceful, with your hair down. You truly are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. A single tear ran down his cheek from his clear eyes, but his expression remained strong, if slightly melancholy.
"Thank you, Neji. For letting me know you love me. I'll live for the both of us, I'll make sure we win this war, and the most important, I'll love you forever." The green trees and grass around them began to fade to white again, but they both remained as Neji helped his one love to her feet, holding both of her hands in his, sharing one last kiss before fading into the soothing light.
Tenten opened her eyes from the kiss to the scene on the battle field, kneeling at the side of the man she loved. "I'll love you forever, Neji Hyuuga," she whispered to herself and kissed his bare forehead. "You're free."