Ranting Author (Bow-chicka-honk-honk Version): Red vs. Blue. Classic. Tucker is love.
Anyways, I thought I'd do this chapter too—and not just abandon it as soon as it began. I have done that—written stories on the computer and never posted them. Then when "Deletion Day" comes around, I get rid of them. Of course, I regret it in the end.
Delayed Reaction
Chapter II
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It had been five days since the downfall of Hyuuga Hinata, and Neji, her cousin, sat alone in his dimly lit room on the day she was to be buried in a memorial park dedicated to the members of the Main House. The service had taken place earlier—morning time, and he had purposely missed it.
The guilt had caught up to him finally, making itself known when he was asked to grace the interment with his presence. Instead of attending, he retired to his room, not appearing for the rest of the day and now nightfall was slowly coming.
He had not even considered facing Hinata's remaining family members.
A single candle burned on a stand not too far from the doorway as the setting sun most likely showed. The sun. He no longer respected the eternal symbol for radiance. After all, the Byakugan was good enough to let him see his surroundings—with daylight or not.
His door suddenly slid open, the light from outside streaming in from the background and he turned his back to the person who stepped inside his sanctuary. His senses could tell him that it was his companion—Tenten. She was always the one to confront him about something when he was in a horrible mood.
"Leave me," Neji warned.
Ignoring his comment, shaking her head and sliding his door shut with force. The flame of the candle fluttered and went out from the breeze that followed. "Why weren't you there?" Her voice was commanding, firm.
"Leave me, Tenten. I won't tell you a third time," he spoke again, still not bothering to face him from his position. He folded his legs in the sitting posture, leaning over slightly and sighing. "Let me be alone for a while."
"You've had enough alone time," she retorted, "Answer me, Neji." Footsteps could be heard approaching him, but they stopped. She was only a few feet from him. "You didn't go. Why is that?"
"You know why. I'm…responsible for her death. I can't just waltz in there as if I had nothing to do with it—knowing full well that I could have prevented this outcome."
"Neji. This isn't entirely your fault. We knew too—that it might be a really challenging mission. I just didn't know that it would…end this way. No one could have been certain that there would be such an ambush." She had been hesitant to finish her statement, knowing that whatever said could upset him. Truthfully, that was what she wanted. "So don't just sit there and blame everything on yourself. It's no ones fault—yet everyone is to blame."
"It's my fault—and mine alone. That assault was meant for me," he stated quietly, "Don't try and justify my actions…"
"I'm not trying to justify what you did! I'm just trying to make you feel better. You're so distant! I don't know what to do to help—I can't read your mind! Lee and I have tried for the past four days to console you on this, and you just turn us away or avoid—"
"Maybe I don't want you to talk to me about this. Perhaps I'm just trying to give you hints to leave me alone," Neji interrupted, clenching his fist and straightening up from his hunched over position. His outburst left a moment of silence within the room.
"Sure, I saw the hints frequently, but that's not the only thing I noticed! I don't know what you're thinking!" She lowered her tone, hearing whispers outside the door. Most likely, people were slowly returning home from their duties. "The day after Hinata died, you disappeared from the Hyuuga residence, remember? I found you at the training grounds, just sitting there. You looked at me, almost like you wanted my company—like you were longing for my attention. Knowing you though, I walked away." She paused, eying his back with an angered expression. "All I'm saying is…Don't call me—then lock me out!"
All he was able to hear was Tenten's heavy breathing for an instant, then nothing. She was angry with him.
After a minute, she calmed, no longer speaking with a harsh tone, "Neji…Talk to me. Talk to Lee. Just say something. What are you feeling?" She took another step towards him, now directly behind him. So close that her knees grazed against his back. "Are you sad? Angry? What is it?"
"Tenten, I'm sorry. I can't…don't…" Forming words were becoming hard as feeling of sorrow welled up inside the Hyuuga boy. He lowered his head, forcing out a reply, "Just…go away."
He sobbed, and hid his face within a hand, grateful that she could not see him.
Her expression softened upon hearing his nearly silent crying and she kneeled down, embracing him from behind. Tenten's arms wrapped around his neck, pulling herself closer to him in a comforting gesture. She said nothing. What could she possibly tell him? He was trying to be strong, yet in the end, even the great Hyuuga Neji cracked.
He spoke between barely audible sobs. "Leave. I don't…want you to see me like this."
"Then I'll close my eyes."
That was when the great Neji broke down, expressing misery for the first time in years.
Ranting Author (Tales-of-the-Abyss Report): Yep. It's emotional. Sob, sob, sob. Cry, cry, cry. Snivel, snivel, baby. Reminded me of the TearxLuke moment when Tear found out that she was going to die and Luke wouldn't leave her side. He was such a nice guy. Too bad he sorta, kinda, merged with that one guy in the end.
That was kinda sad. I wasn't expecting Asch to die towards the end and pretty much screw over Natalia's future with him. That really sucked.
Depending on how this goes, I might actually write a third chapter for this thing…well…it was a quickie. I didn't spend much time on this.
I have an idea for it so why not keep it going--at least for a little while. See where it goes, y'know?
Might as well stick with it.
-Vincentre