A Thousand Miles
Written by BokchoiBaboy
Prologue – Autumn Memories
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
A/N: This takes place when Rookie 9 && Team Gai are in late teens (19 ish)
I don't care what I have to do just to see you again...
...I'll walk a thousand miles...just for you...
Tenten's delicate fingers grazed the golden locket hanging around her neck as her weary eyes closed to reminisce. Every inhale brought her pain all over her cold body, and she had long given up trying to break away. Her tired eyes opened once more, staring in the familiar darkness. She knew she didn't have much time left; the conditions she was forced to live in had determined her bleak fate. A sorrowful smile graced her chapped lips, as reality continued to pain her.
I can't...ever see him again.
Hyuuga Neji carefully opened his eyes from a long mediation session. His pearl orbs stared at the falling leaves of autumn, his body surrounded by an array of reds, oranges, and yellows. He slowly began to become part of the surrounding environment, forgetting all his troubles, his worries, and his sorrows. His mind began to clear, but a fading image was brought into it after a leaf gently blew by his cheek.
Tenten.
His usual frown grew larger and deeper, as the fading image began to grow clearer. More autumn leaves rushed by him, seeming to make more images and memories of her appear in his mind. He had lost all sense of meditating, and opened his eyes to try and make her image go away. Ever since that day two years ago, he was on the edge of insanity, and everybody in Konoha knew it. It made them the smallest bit weary, having one of their best ANBU captains so close to losing himself. But he paid no attention to them. He continued carrying on missions, leading his teams to victory and success all the time. But each step taken felt like he was walking closer to falling off a cliff.
Autumn had just only started. The leaves began to fade into the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow, adding the calm flurry to a season of change. Neji slowly got up from his place on the grass, his eyes gently staring at the autumn scenery. It reminded him so much of her it pained him to linger and watch the beautiful array. Not able to take the reminiscent scenery, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, and began his journey home.
When Neji had entered the large Hyuuga estate, he met Hinata in the gardens. He noticed her confused state, but was too dismal to pry into her daily life. It wasn't his style, anyway. When Hinata had noticed her cousin, she was about to speak with him, but refrained when she felt his dreary aura. Instead, the Hyuuga heiress stared as the trees within the large garden began to shed their leaves, the leaves being torn and swayed by the gentle breezes.
Tenten.
Tears were almost brought to her eyes when she had realized what was making her cousin feel so dismal. However, she quickly shook away the salty liquids from her eyes, and continued to stare at the dancing reds and oranges. She knew that it would be faulty of her to begin to cry outside of the estate, in the gardens. The elders and unkind Hyuuga members would surely speak to her father about disgrace. Hinata simply let out a sigh, gently catching a red-orange leaf in her small, delicate hands. She would give anything to see her cousin happy again.
Neji quietly sat on the chair sitting near the window, his eyes lost in the autumn beauty. His room was empty, let alone a few decorative items here and there. He felt that it suited his current mood and personality – loneliness.
Loneliness had long since become his best friend. After what had happened two years ago, there was nobody there to welcome him home from a tiring mission the same way she did. There was nobody there to free him from his cage and the cursed seal the Branch family had to bear. However, the feeling was there long before her arrival in his life. It was there when his father had died, protecting Hiashi. It was there when he had so much promise, strength, and intelligence that wasn't recognized when he was still a blossoming ninja in his Academy days. Loneliness was always there for him; the Hyuuga household wasn't a caring one, at least not as much one would expect. The only apparent reason that had caused loneliness to become so familiar with the young man was simple: when his father had died, he had fallen even deeper in a locked cage – a prison.
But that was six years ago. When he was placed in the same cell as Gai, Rock Lee, and Tenten, a simple, unnoticed change was going on within him. He was slowly climbing up from the darkness, aid from his team keeping him going. His ambitions, his limits, his needs, were met by them, but the most thanks he had to owe for his change was to his female teammate – Tenten.
She had unknowingly crawled into his heart the first time they had trained and sparred. She allowed him to unleash his full power on her, full knowing that it was dangerous, and could prove fatal to her health. She allowed him to perfect his deadly techniques, knowing that she may lose feeling in any part of her body, or her chakra flow could be permanently stopped. She knew that he could kill her. But she still didn't mind; she let him perfect his techniques until she collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. She never complained she was tired or in pain; she continued to move on until he ended the spar. But most of all, she loved him for who he was; she didn't care that he was cold, arrogant, and cocky and times, and his vocabulary only consisted of a few words. She loved him for who he was with all her heart.
And he knew that nothing could ever change that. The feeling for her at first was simple: she was a valuable friend and sparring partner. Soon, after many more spars, missions, and days forced together, his feeling blossomed into something greater than anyone could have ever expected: he loved her. He kept his feelings hidden from her, well enough that she had had to confess to him herself, nervous and scared that he wouldn't be able to return her love. However, her first confrontation was so unexpected that he was unprepared, and gave her an undesirable answer. She left him for a few days, locked up in her room. He knew she wasn't crying or moping around; she was just thinking, left to herself to find out how to fix what she had done.
The few days she had gone, Neji had begun to feel alone. Gai and Lee were too busy training with their youthful selves to prove to be good sparring partners as Tenten had. He soon felt the familiar loneliness again, and after the third day of being alone, he casually made his way to her house.
When she had opened the door, he was surprised to see her hair down, and only clothed in her pajamas. She was embarrassed to know end that he had to see her like this: in some loose pajama bottoms and a green tank top. She asked him what he was doing, and before he answered her, he stepped into her house, and closed the door. She looked at him questioningly, ignoring his rude gesture to go into her house uninvited.
He took in the smell of sesame balls coming from the kitchen, but quickly averted his mind back to the girl in front of him.
"Neji?"
She had asked questioningly, almost in a seductive whisper. A smirk was present on his lips, and he leaned forward, closing the gaps between their lips for a few minutes. She responded timidly, her heart overflowing with joy. When they had broken apart for air, a puzzled yet blissful look appeared in her eyes, and he gave her a small, genuine smile.
"I love you," he simply said.
He could never say that in public, at least not until the ice around his heart mellowed out around everyone else. And she knew that. She didn't care one bit. His weird ways of caring for her was enough to keep her going.
Neji remembered those days bitterly, cursing his mind of wandering into a topic that pained him to even think about. That day two years ago – if only he had known that what happened, would happen, he would have told her he loved her out loud, in front of everyone. He would have given her the best day of her life. He would have loved her openly, like a lover should.
It seemed as if she knew what great task she was taking on. Her personality the last few hours before departing were quiet and distant, thoughtful about the things that could happen to her. He remembered the last look, the last smile, the last kiss, and the last words to him from her were.
He remembered her eyes gleaming from held-back tears, but held the glint of a promise unsaid.
He remembered her smile being full of sorrow, but reassuring him that everything would be okay.
He remembered the savory taste of her lips when she reassured him she wouldn't stray.
He remembered the last words of promise before she disappeared.
I'll come back to you. I'll come back, and I'll be fine...
I promise you Neji.
...I love you.
He felt his heart lift slightly, a tiny, upward curve of his lips forming.
He knew she didn't break her promise. He knew she didn't lie.
Tenten.
He opened his bedroom window, letting the fresh breezes bring the fresh air into his empty space. He sat up, and reached out, catching a brilliant red leaf gently between his fingers, a small smile gracing his lips.
Tenten...I'll walk a thousand miles just to see you again.
A/N: Yayy, another fanfiction. I hope you like how this one turns out!