Chapter 1

TenTen looked up at the stars. They were so familiar. Even though today's training session with Lee and Gai had left her depressed, the stars calmed her and lightened her mood. Thinking about Lee and Gai made her sigh. Why was it that two...well...freaks like them could find someone to live for, but she couldn't? She sighed again. The stars' effect was wearing off, and she had become more despondent. Looking around her to make sure nobody was near the bench she sat on, she put her head in her hands. After a while, she took one of her hands off her face and slowly let down the buns in her hair, letting it flow down her shoulders. Her thoughts turned to Neji.

Neji.

Why didn't he realize that she loved him? Why didn't he see the glow in her eyes as she spoke to him, feel the way she felt, realize that there was more to life than fighting? She buried her face further into her hands and began to sob. Her worries and fears, her dreams and desires, her love for Neji, all came to the surface of her thoughts. She sat there, weeping, for a long time.

Eventually, she stopped. She sensed another shinobi's presence near her, and she wanted to get away. Far away. Before anyone could see her, the stone wall of TenTen, break down. She abruptly stood up, gathering the weapons and miscellaneous other things she had laid beside her on the bench, tears still running down her face.

"TenTen." A voice spoke behind her. TenTen spun around to see a shadowed face, dark glasses, and a high collar.

"Shino?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" Her bewildered expression turned to one of anger as he replied.

"I can see you've been crying. Do you need any help?" This was the last thing she would possibly want him to say. She hated it when people saw her crying.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, turning around to walk away. She barely knew him, anyway, so why should he care that she had been crying? His next words stopped her short.

"Your hair is beautiful when you let it down." With that, he turned and walked off, leaving TenTen frozen where she was. If he had still been facing her, she would have seen a blush creep over his face.

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The next morning, a thick mist was dissipating over the training ground where TenTen and Neji were training. Lee and Gai had gone off somewhere. Neji didn't quite know where. All he knew was that they had promised to come back by the middle of the day. He looked up from the tree stump he had been shredding with his Jyuuken. The sun was setting. Lee and Gai still weren't - his thought was broken off by a shuriken sailing into the stump he had recently been attacking.

He looked in surprise at TenTen. She was facing a tree with a red X on it, her head down. In a wide circle around the tree, TenTen's weapons were scattered. This concerned him. Normally, TenTen would've been able to hit the target with one weapon, then split that weapon in half with another thrown just as precisely as the first. Today, every single weapon had missed, and by a long shot. He looked up at TenTen's face, only to be met with a look of defeat. This completely startled the Hyuuga.

Something is definitely wrong here, he thought. Then something clicked in his head. It all added up. She had been acting strangely all day. First, she had come to training with her hair down. Ever since Neji had known TenTen, she had worn it in buns. Then, she hadn't reacted at all when Gai and Lee had started kissing and ran off somewhere, all the while talking about that "springtime of youth" crap. And now, every single weapon had missed its mark and TenTen looked defeated. Defeated by a tree.

Neji walked over to her and asked "Is there something wrong?" She ignored his question and walked away. Neji stared after her in complete and utter amazement. This was definitely not like TenTen. He ran after her and caught up.

"TenTen, answer me!" There was no response. He kept pestering her for a while. Suddenly, she turned to face him.

She stared into his eyes, and asked him "Neji, what do you think of me?" Her voice was low, unlike her usual high-pitched, annoying chatter. Neji was unsure how to answer this seemingly random question. He decided to compliment her and see where that led.

"I think you'll become a great ninja if you keep working hard" he said awkwardly. The look in her eyes pierced him to the heart.

"You know what I really mean" TenTen said bitterly, as if she had already guessed what his answer was going to be. Neji didn't actually know what she meant. He guessed.

"TenTen, I think you are worthy of my respect and I consider you a friend."

"You're avoiding the question!" she yelled, tears barely held back. Wow, she has a short temper, Neji thought. He cursed under his breath.

"Neji!" TenTen continued, sounding sad and furious at the same time, "I love you!" Her voice got softer, more fragile. "Do you think you could possibly love me?"

Oh no. thought Neji. This is not good. For he knew he didn't love her. He could never truly love anybody, no matter how hard he tried. He also didn't know how to answer the question. Best to make it as simple as you can. He decided upon a one-word answer.

"No." TenTen looked up at him with anguish in her eyes, as if she expected him to add to or take back his words, as if she loved him more than he could possibly understand.

Neji's eyes met TenTen's, only for a fleeting moment. TenTen turned and began to run. Fast. Her hair still down, bouncing on her shoulders. Tears running down her face. Neji watched her run, feeling truly horrible. He should've found something kinder to say. Especially since there had been something troubling her earlier.

"Byakugan!" Neji activated his Clan's bloodline limit in the hope of finding TenTen and watching her, to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes found her and he realized where she was headed. He began to run after her, knowing that he would blame himself forever if she threw herself off the cliff.

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TenTen kept running. Her thoughts were miserable and heartbroken. He didn't love her! He didn't even care enough about her to explain, to tell her why, to try to remain friends. And now, as she was running, she realized that he had lied to her about some things.

He didn't respect her. He didn't consider her a friend. What kind of friend would be that cold? What kind of friend would hurt her that way?

As she neared the cliff, her thoughts turned to her impending death. It was as tall as a thousand kunai strung end-to-end, and TenTen knew that no human could be expected to survive that fall. She braced herself to lose everything she had known, just to relieve her pain, and to make one person responsible for her death. Neji would be sorry he had wounded her. She was close enough to the cliff to see over it. At the very edge, she stopped her flight. Memories rushed through her head. An entire life full of memories. Then, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she stepped forward...

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Ika: Well, that was interesting: ) I love cliffhangers! (And no, that was not meant as a pun, but I guess you could take it that way...)

New chapter soon: )

Please review...and constructive criticism only, please!