A/N: This has been long overdue. Hopefully it is worth the wait. I know Neji isn't actually buried in the training grounds, but I felt it fit the dynamic of Team Gai.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
…..
Tenten has bought too many chrysanthemums in her lifetime. It is an observation that weighs heavily on her heart and her arms momentarily tighten around the bouquet she is carrying. Somehow, she had thought- naively thought- she would never have to buy them for him. Her mouth tastes bitter as her lips curve into a frown. Her feet fall silently along the path to the training grounds and she is patterned in filtered sunlight as she moves.
They had buried him in Team Gai's training grounds nearly a year ago, directly beneath his favorite tree. Her old tattered target board, back from their genin days, hangs above his grave as an ornamental tribute. Tenten wordlessly crouches down to lay the bouquet near his marking stone. She finds it strange that she is still alive, yet he, with his impregnable mental walls and unparalleled physical strength, is gone. She has always secretly believed she would be the first to die among her team members.
"Bastard," she whispers, "I can't stand you."
She is lying to herself, doing anything to fight down the panic that is threatening to engulf her. Loving Neji came, still comes, as easily to her as breathing. Every time she leaves his grave, she tells herself she will forget she loves him because loving the dead is a fool's game. It didn't do her any good when she was orphaned and it most certainly won't help her now.
And she is angry, angry for being so helpless without him, so lost and indecisive on what to do with herself. She and Neji had always met at the crack of dawn for sparring. Now she awakes in the dark early hours and curls up in her bed and lets her demons eat away at her from the inside. But she does not cry; crying is for the weak and it has always been her mission to prove to the Hyuuga that she is strong and dependable.
Her eyes, darkened by the scenes of war, trace over the engraving on the stone. 703: that is all it reads. There had been far too many casualties during the war, too many gravestones to be made, and so they had resorted to using numbers. Tenten understands, but something tugs at her heart at the sight of the pitiful thing.
A flock of birds takes flight somewhere off in the distance, and the sound of their beating wings is enough to bring her back to her senses. She rises and glances at the position of the sun; she needs to meet Lee for a mission soon. She turns to leave, then hesitates and turns back.
She kneels down in front of the grave and quickly takes out a kunai. With steady, skillful hands, she crosses out the number and carves his name: Neji. No honorific, no last name, just Neji. Because that is what he is to them.
A/N: I found this sitting in my incomplete stories folder. I don't recall why I never published it; I was probably planning on adding more. But honestly, I like it how it is. Let me know what you think!
Thank you for reading and please review!
~M.I.