Authors Note: I hope you enjoy this story because I am quite proud of it! Even though it's sad… Anyways don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Tenten stood on the marble balcony, her white nightgown blowing in the wind behind her and her long brown hair flowing in her face.
She walked over to kneel on the marble bench. She looked over the side of the railing hoping to see hi enter through the gates of Konoha once more. It was something she did every night. She watched, waited and hoped for her lover to return to her. The thunder boomed in the distance followed by a flash of lightning. But Tenten didn't care. She only cared about seeing him again.
When the rain finally started to pour she decided that it was time to go back inside.
Tenten closed the double door behind her as she entered the black, white and blue bedroom that they had put together years ago.
She opened the door to the walk in closet that the two of them made into a nursery only a month before he went missing. She leaned over the crib and kissed their daughters small nose.
She was seven months pregnant when he took the mission with Shikamaru and Lee. The two of them had looked for him for hours. When they returned to the village with the news that Neji had disappeared, a search party was sent out. The team looked for a month but came up empty handed. Tenten was so heart broken that she locked herself inside until the day she went into labor. She immediately called Sakura and their daughter was born.
She was six months old, she had his eyes, his dark hair, and she was half of him. Just looking at her made Tenten want to break down and cry. But she needed to stay strong for their daughter.
She refused to declare him dead. Everyone said that he was, but there was no proof that he wasn't…except for the fact that he was gone. But she couldn't bring herself to do so. It hurt too badly. She liked to think that part of her knew that he was still alive. But honestly, she didn't know what she thought.
She kissed her daughter one last time and half closed the door behind her.
She climbed into her sky blue and black bed and curled up with his pillow and sobbed.
Every night was exactly the same. She would stand on the balcony and pray for hit return, and then she would check on their daughter and curl up with his pillow and cry herself to sleep. Only in her dreams would she be happy. He was always there with her. They would kiss and talk for hours. They would just be with each other until the sun woke her or their daughter cried signaling that she was hungry or needed a diaper change. But every morning she would wake up with the same thought; it was only a dream.
But tonight was different. Tonight she cried until a light familiar touch swept across her arm, jerking her away from his pillow and causing her to sit up right. She sat face to face with her beloved. "Neji," she whispered, "is it really you?"
He nodded and took her hand in his.
"Where have you been? You've been gone for so long, why didn't you come back sooner? You could've seen our daughter. She's beautiful, she looks just like you."
"Shh…Tenten, you need to sign the papers declaring me dead."
"But you're not dead! You're sitting right here!"
He shook his head sadly, "I'm not, and I needed to see you one last time so I visited you in spirit."
"You're not a spirit, I can see you, I can touch you, and I'm talking to you right now! You're not dead!"
"Tenten, I am. I was killed eight months ago. I was separated from Lee and Shikamaru during the mission. I fell into battle with a formidable foe and I was pushed off a cliff. The rushing river below carried me to a different village. Right now my body is underneath an old willow tree in the land of shadows."
"And you want me to find you and bring you home?"
He nodded.
"So you're really…dead?"
He nodded again, "yes Tenten, and I'm so sorry," he said caressing her face gently.
"I love you, I love you so much. I…I don't want this to be true."
"I know. And I love you too. You were the only thing on my mind when I was falling. You and the fact that I would never be able to meet our child…"
She started to cry again.
"Tenten, you don't need to cry anymore. You know what happened to me. You can move on."
"But I don't want to."
"But you have too. For our daughter and all of our friends," he kissed her one last time and said, "I need to go now. My father is waiting for me. I love you Tenten."
"I love you too," she whispered as she fell into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning she was awoken by her daughter crying in the make shift nursery. "Hey baby," she said picking her up our of her crib, "lets go get something to eat."
After the two were fed, Tenten dropped off her baby at Hinata's and went immediately to the Hokage.
"Lady Tsunade," she said barging into her office, "I'm sorry for barging in but, I know where Neji is. I am requesting you let Lee, Gai Sensei and I find and bring him back to the village."
"How do you know where he is, Tenten?"
"He told me. I…I had a dream last night. He told me where…where his body is…"
"Alright, you, Lee and Gai can go. Where did Neji say his body is?"
"The lad of shadows…"
"That's pretty far away. Is Hinata watching the baby?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Alright, you can go as soon and I brief Lee and Gai on the mission."
"Tenten, are you sure you can do this?" asked Lee, "We're on our way to find his body after all…"
"I need to do this Lee. I need to move on. And knowing exactly what happened to him will allow me to do so."
"He's been missing for eight months…the sight could be pretty gruesome," said Gai.
"I don't care. I want to see him. And besides…its winter there…I'm sure his body is fully in tact."
"Is this the place?" asked Lee when the three of them arrived at the cliff.
She nodded.
"How do you know?" asked Gai.
"I can feel it."
Butterflies started to flip around in Tenten's stomach. This was it. She was about to find him.
"Are you ready Tenten?"
"Give me a minute Lee." She got down on her hands and knees to look of the side of the cliff. She couldn't see anything, there was a very big willow tree blocking her view of the surroundings.
She took a deep breath, "I'm ready."
The three of them scaled down the side of the cliff and from where the three of them were standing when they reached the bottom, she could see him. He was there lying in the snow.
She whimpered as the tears started falling down the sides of her face.
She took off running.
She reached the body of her lover and fell to her knees, "Neji…" she pulled him onto her lap, put her forehead to his and kissed his nose. His body was cold, naturally and from the snow. Tenten removed his headband, the curse mark was gone.
"Oh Neji," she cried, "Lee…w-will you help me?"
"Of course," he said lifting Neji's body onto his back, "Lets got back to the village."
Hiashi and Hinata were waiting at the gates with Tenten's daughter for their return.
As soon as the three entered into the village, Hinata quickly handed the baby over to Hiashi and broke down crying. She ran over to Lee who was carrying her causin. "No! Neji! It can't be true."
Seeing Hinata cry made Tenten break down once again. Lee and Gai started to shed tears for their lost student, team mate, and friend.
Tenten was handed hers and Neji's child by Hiashi and trying to hold back her tears said, "Hi sweetie, I missed you. This…this is daddy."
Their daughter smiled then touched her mother's face where the tears had stuck.
"Tenten," said Hiashi, "I'll take Neji back to the Hyuga compound. You can come over later to help with the funeral arrangements."
She nodded, "alright, I'll go over to the Hokage's office and let her know what's going on," said Tenten wiping the tears from her eyes.
"No Tenten," said Gai, "Lee and I can handle that. You go with Hiashi."
"Okay Gai Sensei."
Tenten took her daughter and left with Hiashi to the Hyuga compound. She couldn't keep her eyes off of her lover's body. He looked at if he was sleeping. She wished that was all that it was.
The funeral was huge, the entire Hyuga clan along with all of their friends and almost the entire village attended. She wished that their daughter could understand what was going on. But she was too young. The thing that hurt the most about Neji's passing was that he never got to meet their baby.
After the funeral Tenten decided that no matter how much it hurt her, she would make sure that their daughter knew everything about her father and she would never allow her to call another man "dad".
Tenten will always love him. Sometimes she still stood on the balcony and waited for him to come home. She still curled up with his pillow every night. Sometimes she cried herself to sleep. But she wasn't nearly as sad as she was when he was missing. After time, Tenten stopped dreaming about him, but every once in a while he'd still make an appearance in her sleep. But the curse mark was gone. Neji was with his father. He was finally free.