Disclaimer: I no own Naruto
She liked to call them the sunshine days.
They were the days of sunshine, the days of light and laughter. The days when she could spar with her team under the hot summer sun until dusk, until they were all sweaty and exhausted, and still have the strength to smile with them afterwards. The days she when could leap through the trees, the wind in her hair, and feel like she could fly. The days she could lie in the grass listening Neji and Lee arguing about the smallest things - having long since given up trying to stop them - and know that this, this was where she belonged.
Those were the days when life was simply about living.
Now they are older, and the sunshine days come less often. Things have changed; they have grown up and, though she does not like to think about it, apart. But for all that, they are still a team. And when the sunshine days do come, she treasures them carefully, knowing that Neji and Lee do the same. It is something they have learned - that days like these are made all the more precious by the fact that there are so few of them. So they hold on to those moments, never letting go, because sometimes it is all they have.
Once in a while she goes outside and looks at the stars, remembering what it was like to be able to reach up and touch one. They are so far away from her now, glittering high and cold in the night sky. And she thinks that maybe it is better this way, so that there will always be something to reach for, even if she will never come as close to them as she once was. At least this way, she can never stop reaching.
The sunshine days are no longer part of her everyday life, the way they used to be. And Team Gai no longer takes many missions together. But once in a while, she'll find herself in the forest with Neji and Lee, blocking their blows and sending her weapons back at them. Lee will pump his fist in the air and keep up an endless flow of encouragement for all of them, and Neji will stay silent until he finally runs out of patience snaps at his teammate to please, shut up. And Tenten will find herself smiling, the way she used to during the sunshine days.
Because some things are never meant change.