The sappy bug has bitten me. TT
Author: passivesky/Calamity.Fire (Formerly Fire Halo)
Title: A Pause
Rating: T
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: NejixTenten
Theme: Fleur-de-Lis : Message (Credited to 30flowers at livejournal)
Dedication: To the inventor of mascara and yumimaki who led me to themes of 30flowers.
Summary: "The past is a powerful, wicked force."
.A Pause.
The past is a powerful, wicked force. Mistakes and events of long ago can bear a man to the ground, can chain him there and hold him for decades with an iron, selfish grip. It brings to mind thoughts of 'what if' and 'how could I', strangling and smothering the will of a person in an invincible, rampaging tidal wave.
A throat closes, tightens; a scream of agony cut at the source. The future disappears and the past takes hold, blanketing the soul and holding it with a jealous lover's grasp. Whispers of sleep and ease relax the body, the mind, the will; and suddenly the person is no more, and the lovely, quicksilver eyes are dark and impassive.
But this awful power is not invincible.
There is a hand plunging down, down, down into the darkness, into the dim heart. Fingers grip, tighten round the dead, unbeating organ.
"Neji!"
It's as if someone is tearing his body in two, ripping away at his flesh. He writhes in a desperate, agonized dance, flails and then, then - there's that bloody, grasping hand, stretching, reaching for him. He flees from it, terrified of the audacity with which it destroys his defenses and the voice that accompanies it.
"Wait!"
But the voice is equally desperate, equally terrified, but still, it follows him, pleading. Again, the past that lives in him whispers sweet nothings that make him want to agree with the wordless argument, to curl in and away from the pain the voice brings. The voice persists - its a girl's voice, he realizes - and it's so different from the other voice inside, the one born of wrongs and hates and blood.
"I want to say something."
He is listening.
"I don't understand, I don't know what you're thinking, but please, remember your friends!"
And somehow, as the past's murmurings subside, as he reaches for the outstretched hand, as he feels - not pain - but warmth, he understands that she meant to say something more.
"Tenten."
The name is beautiful, bright; it passes through his lips with ease.
"I won't. I'll never forget you."
Then, his eyes are open, wide and expressive, and she's winding her arms round his waist, and he's holding her - because it seems right, not wrong - and somewhere in the deep recesses of his heart, the past flees.
A/N: I am but a poor teenager. Reviews give me something to brag about. -prods- YES. Reviews GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT. ...Yes, that was a not-so subtle hint.