Characters: Tenten, Neji
Summary
: Fate is never certain.
Pairings
: NejiTen
Author's Note
: There's not a lot to say here. Only that I love this pairing when it's written well.
Disclaimer
: I don't Naruto.


Things that have not come to pass have not yet been written. The future is not a story set in tone, but a river moving onwards, always flowing. Where the river leads, the traveler can not know until they come to it, and there's always more than one path to follow.

At least, this is what Tenten's been trying to tell Neji for years now.

His belief in fate is strong, though Naruto's done his best to start tearing down the walls—it's amazing; even though he has no comprehension of what he destroys he still manages to efface it.

Or at least, only a little bit.

It's more than a little depressing when Neji gives his excuses, again and again and again. Tenten, canny and pragmatic, sees only vacillation, not what he tries to project, nothing of what Neji claims. None of it.

Tenten will never see any more than what is before her eyes. Neji is half-blinded by the strictures of his life, bowed to what he sees as scripture, but Tenten will never wear blinders, will never subject herself to the sort of servitude the reins of "fate" requires.

She knows things are in motion.

Now if only she could get him to see it too.

But she will, some day. Tenten is patient, and like all good kunoichi, she knows how to wait.

Neji doesn't have to die in the service of the Hyuuga Main House, no matter how many of his Branch House kin have in the past.

He doesn't have to sequester himself to service, away from her and everyone else.

The river is always in motion. She'll stand in the water, waiting for him to come forward with her.

Tenten will always wait, with a hand outstretched.

Because some day, Neji will be willing to take the plunge, and swim down the river with her.