Okay, I know I haven't writing in over a year so I might be a little rusty. I really liked writing this story and I hope you like reading it. If you see a typo or something like that, please tell me so I can fix it. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Dee! (Dee's my best friend and today is her birthday.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters….darn.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Neji was able to ignore when Tenten came back from her solo mission looking beat up and scared.

Neji was able to tolerate her progressively isolating herself from him during the weeks following said mission.

Neji would not stand for what his closest friend was asking of him today.

There was no way, no way in hell, he would just leave her alone and pretend they didn't know each other. She was his best friend. The friend he went to for advice. The friend he went to when he just needed to rant. The friend he had slowly began to love over their years as teammates. No matter how he tried to ice his feelings, she found her way into his heart, but that wasn't good enough. She went to the deepest part of his soul. Without her, he would crumble.

How could he just pretend she wasn't there? How could she expect that from him? In her defense, Neji would not tell her how he felt. But still, how could she ask her best friend to never talk to her again, to pretend she didn't exist?

It was unfair!

It was insane!

It was impossible!

It was what she wanted. So, despite of his feelings and wishes and hopes, and after an argument with several choice words, he complied. He would act like she wasn't there unless they were forced to work together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A tear slid down the lavender-eyed boy's cheek as he thought of his friend, only to be quickly wiped away. After all, a Hyuga does not cry over such things.

It's been exactly one week and 5 1/2 days since Neji last saw Tenten. At the time he had been so torn between pain and anger that he hadn't really thought to ask why he was being shunned. But now that the pain had been forcefully numbed and his anger over the loss of a friend left to cool and harden into a rock in the pit of his stomach, all he could do was wonder why Tenten didn't want to be near him or anyone else for that matter.

Quickly Neji figured that her mission had something to do with her change. The question that bothered Neji was what could the mission have been or what could have happened to his Tenten? It was one thing to be up set about something you had to do, but to have a change in personality like that, it must have been traumatizing. So, he went to the one place he thought he could get an answer without talking to Tenten herself, as he would follow her wishes no matter how they made him fall to pieces.

~*~*~*~*~

"You are well aware Neji that I'm not supposed to share information about missions." Tsunade told him in a professional voice with an apologetic undertone.

"I was hoping you would make an exception for me Tsunade-sama. I'm worried about Tenten. She hasn't been acting the same since she got back. In fact, she's acting like a completely different person. She has completely cut off ties with everyone." Neji explained mildly proud that he kept his voice even and clear of the despair that was slowly infesting his body.

Tsunade looked at Neji with insightful eyes. She could see how upset he was behind his careful façade. He cared more about Tenten then he let on and that was what was causing his worry, a worry that was much more than the normal concern one felt for a teammate.

"Neji, I have been worried about her as well, but I what to ask you something. What is it you are really upset about? Her change or the fact that the change has made her push you away?" She asked with a knowing smirk.

"Is it that obvious?" Neji asked looking down, not even bothering to deny what she had implied. He knew she knew of his feelings. It was written all over her face as soon as he voiced his distress. She had read him like the book on her night stand.

"No Neji it's not really" She said with a bit of a chuckle. Becoming very sober, a grim frown took the place of the knowing grin. "Neji, Tenten…"She paused, not quite sure what to say or how to say it. Tsunade knew, and she felt the utmost sympathy for the brown haired kunochi. Regardless of her feelings, Tsunade knew she had rules to follow. More than that, she had promised to let Tenten deal with it herself. "Tenten needs some time to herself. She needs to come to terms with some things. If being in solitude is what she feels she needs, then you should respect that. She'll talk to you when she feels she is ready."

"I'm already respecting her space, damn it!" Neji exploded before he realized what he was doing. "I am leaving her alone! I want to know what the hell happened! No matter what has happened in the past, she would always talk to me about it! Something really bad happened to her and I want to know what the fuck it was!" He finished.

Tsunade sat there in shock. Never had she seen Neji lose he cool. Never. No matter what was going on, he was always in control. It was disconcerting. He was ripping at the seams right before her eyes and for the first time and a long time, she didn't have the slightest idea what to do. "Neji calm down for a minute, plea-"

"No! I won't calm down! I want to know what happened!" he interrupted absolutely livid. He was tired of staying clam when he wanted to scream. He would not tolerant the answers the belonged to him being side stepped.

"Neji! Remember where you are and who you are addressing." She gave him a hard look. After a few seconds, she took a breath and sighed. "I will say this once and only once. Tenten was to deliver some important papers to a leader of a small village. She completed the mission, not without incident."

"What do you mean? What happened to her?!" Neji didn't understand what happened to make her react this way. Delivering important political documents wouldn't leave her like this. Being ambushed by ninja shouldn't be responded to in this way. What could have happened to his beautiful Tenten?

The answer he came up with left him staggering.

Before he could respond there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Tsunade called, almost rejoicing the interruption.

"I heard screaming and was wondering what was going on," Sakura said as she closed the door. Once becoming aware of Neji's presence, she asked warily what he was doing there. She couldn't imagine the screaming voice she heard belonging Neji, but it was too low to be Tsunade's…

"It doesn't matter. Thank you Tsunade-sama," Neji said in a quiet, unnaturally calm voice. With a respectful bow, he turned on his heal and quickly left the room.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked staring over her shoulder at the door.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. "He is worried about Tenten."

"Oh." She said, understanding immediately. "That reminds. I was heading this way in the first place because Tenten came to see me at the hospital today."

"Is she…?"

"No." Sakura said in as happy a voice as she could, considering the circumstances.

"Good. That's good." Tsunade stood up and looked out one of the windows to see Neji exit the building. She sighed. "Sakura, should he know?"

"I don't really know" Sakura answered.

She sighed again for the umpteenth that day. She sympathized with Neji. She would be just as devastated if it was Dan who pushed her away like that without any explanation. After a moment or two, "Was there anything else you needed Sakura? I have a lot of things to do."

"N-no" Sakura responded a little stunned. Tsunade wanted to work?! 'She is really worried about them,' she thought to herself. "Excuse me," She bowed and walked out of the room, leaving Tsunade to her own thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~

That had been useless. All he found out was what her mission entailed. Ok, so it wasn't completely useless, but to Neji…

'I don't get it. What happened?! Tsunade said that the mission was completed, not without incident. If she was ambushed maybe she had to kill someone? No, she has killed before. She felt guilty but never reacted like this. Did she witness something so unspeakable? She's too strong to react like this. Sure, she might want to be by herself, but never so isolated.' Neji thought to himself confused. Going to Tsunade had raised more questions then it answered. The only thing left was what he didn't want to believe.

How could that happen?

"Neji!"

Neji looked over his shoulder to see who was calling his name. For a moment he actually allowed himself to hope the feminine voice belonged to Tenten, but that hope was ripped and burned when he saw it was Sakura running toward him.

"What is it Sakura?" Neji asked icily when she finally caught up to him.

"Tenten-"

"If you're not going to tell me exactly what happened, I don't want to hear it!" he snapped.

"I'll tell you, but can we go some where a little more private?" Sakura said as she looked around at the walking villagers.

He looked at her as he tried to judge if she would really tell him anything useful. After deciding that it was worth a shot, he made a motion for her to follow him as he lead her to an old training ground by a small lake that no one ever used anymore.

"Private enough for you?" Neji asked when he reached the shade of a giant oak tree in the middle of the field.

"Yeah, how'd you know about this place?"

"Tenten and I used to come and spar here when we didn't feel like dealing with the spectacle that is Lee and Gai." He replied with a ghost of a smile.

"Oh." Seeing him there like that, Sakura didn't know what to say. 'Oh' just seemed so inadequate, but there wasn't much that she could say. "Look Neji, Tenten was-"

"Raped" He said with pain and anger and anguish clear in his voice. He didn't bother to try and cover it up.

"How did you know?" She was shocked! If he had known then why was he giving Tsunade such a hard time when she wouldn't tell?

"I didn't. I was hoping that I was just thinking wrong." He looked down at the ground. He had lost the control he held over his emotions, but he'd be damned if he let Sakura see him cry.

"If it's any conciliation, she isn't pregnant." She went to put her hand on his shoulder, but half way through decided against it. She hardly knew Neji and what could she really do to comfort him? The woman he loved, whether he would admit it out loud or not, had been raped. What do you say to someone in the situation?

"That's…that's good," Neji whispered.

"Neji, I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything, so don't apologize."

"I know but…," She sighed. What could be said? "No one should have to go through accepting that they have been raped. And no one should have to go through accepting that someone they love has been raped. I'm sorry that Tenten was."

"I appreciate the sympathy." He said, finally looking at her face.

"What are you going to do now that you know?" Sakura was getting a little worried. There was determination in his eyes, and she couldn't quite tell what it was aimed at.

"I'm going to go talk to her." He said simply.

"You can't do that! Neji, she wants to be by herself! You can't just go barging in there and expect it to make her feel better!" Sakura cried.

"I don't expect her to feel better. I don't even expect her to not slam the door right in my face. But I can't just sit here. I need her to know that I'm here for her."

"Neji, she knows that!" she tried to reason with him.

"Sakura, I was going to go see her after I saw Tsunade anyway. Now, I just know exactly what happened."

"Nothing I say is going to change you mind." She said as she saw the spark of determination grow in his eyes to a roaring fire.

He smirked. "Not really."

"Jeez. You're like Naruto."

"I am not like Naruto."

"Yes you are. You have something to go do and you just got distracted by me."

"…Shut up."

"Get going." She said and he ran in the general direction of Tenten's apartment. "Tenten, he's a good one. Don't lose him."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Neji knocked on her door. After a few minutes, he knocked again. After a few more minutes, he knocked again, but I wasn't just a hey-please-answer-your-door knock. It was an okay-open-the-fucking-door-already knock. A horrible thought came to Neji.

What if she wasn't home? Would he just wait there? If she was out, what would she do when she saw him?

"Jeez, what do you want?" She said as she opened her door, saving Neji from his imagination. When she saw it was Neji, she gasped a little.

"Hey, Tenten." He said with anxiety forming little streams in his voice.

"What are you doing here?" She asked when she found her voice.

"I know."

"Know what?" she laughed nervously. Damn that Tsunade! She promised!

"I know what happened on your mission and Tsunade didn't tell me anything." He answered.

"How did you know what I was thinking? Never mind, you've always been able to do that."

"May I come in?"

What was Tenten to do? She didn't know if she could face Neji yet, but here he was waiting for her to make up her mind. 'Tenten, it is as simple as yes or no. And it's Neji. He's been there for you since you met and now he knows so you don't actually have to tell him,' she though to herself. "Yeah, come in." she said as she opened the door for him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked before he fully realized it.

"Neji, it's complicated. I mean, how does someone just come right out and say that happened to them?" She sighed and sat down on one of the chairs in her living room area.

Neji stayed silent for a moment. The pain in her voice smashed his hard into million little pieces. How could someone do that to his Tenten? She never did anything to deserve this. "Tenten, you can tell me anything. You know that so why did you try to keep his from me. It hurt to have you say you didn't want to be with me and I had no idea why. I thought of a million things tht could have happened, but I never knew which one it was." He said everything that had been building in him for weeks without giving it the order to come out. It was like the words just came falling out of his mouth like a waterfall and he couldn't have stopped it if he tried.

"Neji, I was a shamed." She said and the ache in her voice nearly killed Neji again." I'm a ninja. I've trained for years to become strong and a drunken man was able to rape me! I couldn't even protect myself when I needed to.!" Tenten began to cry is her sit. Neji always hated to see women cry, but Tenten crying was worse than anything that he had ever gone through. He hugged her and whispered comforting sweet nothings in her ear.

"He took something from me Neji and I couldn't stop it. What kind of Ninja lets that happen to her. It's my fault and I am shamed."

"Tenten, nothing is your fault. None of it."

"How can you say that Neji? I let it happen! And now I'm a used women that no one could ever want!" She cried harder. She cried so hard she almost could not breathe.

"Tenten, I still want you. I could never not want you.' He said with a quite voice, looking her right in her puffy red eyes.

"How could you want me now?" She asked in disbelief.

"Because you are the most amazing person I've ever met. You're smart and beautiful and strong and kind and caring and I've never met someone who can put with Lee and Gai like you can."

Tenten laughed a little at the end.

"And you laugh can make anyone smile."

"Neji I'm just a broken girl." She said looking down almost crying again.

"Then we'll just have to get you some tape."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I love the ending. Let me know what you guys think please. If you don't, I might not write anytime soon. Is my guilt trip working? Oh well.