A/N: First fanfic!
Eep.
Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief, I do not own any characters in this story. Masahi Kishimoto does. D:
Twelve.
"Shhh." Her finger touches her lip, motioning to shush. They reach down onto the road, slender fingers picking a pebble, smooth and round. It is almost perfect; the streak that runs through the rock destroys the smooth surface and dark black tone.
He wonders why she picks it up, although not questioning her actions.
Thirteen.
Another pause in the road. Now, he is used to her 'collection' of pebbles. Every mission, they stop to allow her to pick one up. It's always different. Large, flat, small, sharp. He never sees the stone after she tucks it into her back pocket.
She winks and grins, running to catch up with their teammates.
Fourteen.
"Hurry up." He beckons in his monotone, his hands clenching his backpack straps. "Tsunade-sama is expecting the scroll."
"..hai." Another pebble, this time a white one, not like the countless black ones he's seen before.
"Why the difference?" He asks, confused.
She giggles, and shakes her head. "Nothing."
Fifteen.
She continues to pick white ones, a black one occasionally.
He now waits for her; he enjoys seeing her bend down on the side of the road and examine all the choices, before brushing the dirt off one, and dropping it into her pocket.
"Arigato." She whispers as they soar through the trees, on the way back.
Sixteen.
Bloody, tired, and beat. Their team stumbles along the road, exhausted and bleeding themselves dry.
"… you forgot your pebble."
"Oh!" She responds, a shadow of a grin spreading on her face. "Arigato."
"…" He doesn't respond, only watches her repeat the process again.
Seventeen.
There is no more team. He has registered to become an ANBU; she plans on staying a Jounnin.
"…are you sure?" He asks, frowning with his eyes.
She nods exuberantly. "We'll be fine!"
He reluctantly applies, and is finally an ANBU.
Eighteen.
He's on a mission. Blood is flying everywhere, and he is losing his chakra rapidly. And just like that, a miracle.
There are no more enemies.
He collapses, and stares up at the sky, words at the tip of his tongue, yet he is too tired to talk.
The rest of the ANBU squad pick him up, and soar home, bringing a victory.
The next day, he awakes, and sees a white pebble on the bedside table of the hospital room. Confused, he ignores it.
Nineteen.
He picks up a pebble during practice, a faint smile. He remembers her, for the first time in years.
Her name is on his lips, yet it sounds foreign and distant. He says it again, then drops the stone and starts to train once more.
Twenty.
It's his birthday, and he's spending it alone inside his apartment. A knock comes on his door, and he goes to answer it.
"…yes?"
A green-clad figure, woebegone and crying. Not the tears that he used to cry with his sensei. Real tears. Tears of sorrow.
The man who answered the door stares.
He barely remembers the green man.
"…Lee."
The man in green lifts his head, the tears trickling down his cheek.
"She died, Neji, she died."
It hits Neji. His partner.
Tenten.
She's moved on. He's forgotton her entirely.
"..what?" He asks in disbelief.
The next day, he manages to go out and search her home with Lee.
Inside her tiny apartment, they manage to stumble upon a small, black book, and a trunk full of pebbles.
He flips open the book.
The entry is from six years ago. The day she collected the first white pebble.
He looks back at the trunk, which Lee is trying to move.
The curly handwriting from so long ago.
He turns to the last page, six days before she died.
He murmurs the last line.
"…and all those white pebbles, from the day I loved him."
A/N: If you didn't get it, Tenten picked all the white pebbles on the days she loved Neji.
:3 Pure FLUFF.
R&&R
