Disclaimer: Yeah, no.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune- without the words,
And never stops at all
- Emily Dickinson, Hope is the thing with feathers
So he's dead now. So they say.
It's night time.
She's crying silently into her sleeve, and she can't sleep because whenever she closes her eyes she sees him, his forehead and eyes blank. All she can feel is overwhelming despair, like a gaping abyss in front of her, a blank hole where her future should be, and there's just this ache in her chest, a dull pain that hurts so much she's doubled over.
It's still not real. She still can't believe it.
She wants to punch something.
… She misses him already.
(I should've been there.)
She can't help feeling like she will see Neji walking around, strong and silent, and he'll smirk-smile at her and everything will be alright.
(I should've been the one who died, protecting him.)
It's just not right. This isn't real. This can't be it.
(I should've been there.)
But all signs point to him being dead: he was impaled with a wooden stake. His juinjutsu disappeared. He is pale and cold, literally dead to the world.
… But this can't be it.
Tenten can't believe he's dead. She can't believe it. She doesn't believe it.
So she won't believe it.
(Somehow it seems that, if she just believes that he's not gone, he won't be.)
This can't be it for him. She can't help but think there's something more- there has to be, so much more. How can there not be more for someone like him?
So she refuses to believe he's gone.
After all, everyone thought he was dead when he came back from the Sasuke rescue mission- with two huge arrows impaled through him. This scenario is so similar to the one almost four years before, Tenten muses.
Look at Gaara. He actually did die.
And besides, there are so many things he still has to do. He's supposed to stalk Naruto and Hinata on their dates when the idiot finally realizes he likes her. He's supposed to be there, smiling a rare true smile, when Naruto becomes Hokage and does change the Hyuuga. He's supposed to finally beat Naruto, and finally be beaten by Lee, at least once. He's supposed to complain good-naturedly about Lee and Gai with her.
He's supposed to come back, to Konoha. To their friends, to their team. To her, like he promised.
The sun is coming up, painting the sky pastel and sending the stars away with the night. And Tenten makes her decision, hardens her resolve: she won't give up. Neji is not dead, because she won't believe it.
She will find a way. She won't just sit there and cry- what would Neji say? She will push and push, and hope and hope, because sometimes, hope is enough.
So... I realize this is almost the exact opposite of Moments. But since everyone was all cut up over chapter 614 (including me), I decided to write this, to maybe inspire a little bit of hope in everyone. It's basically my thought process, from Tenten's point of view.
I'M NOT GIVING UP ON NEJI(TEN) YET.