They'd never gone to Neji's place before, mostly Neji remarking that they'd make a mess and he wasn't going to clean it, but Tenten had a feeling he just had a privacy problem. Still, Neji held the door for him so he could walk inside, and a traditional Japanese-style home greeted him.

"It's a lot bigger than I expected," said Tenten, trying to find something to fill the space, "is this the original design?"

"Hmm," mumbled Neji, not quite answering anything as he began stalking off and not pausing to see if Tenten would follow. They both knew he would without hesitation. "For starters there's the laundry to take down and cleaning the dove cages."

"You have doves?" He figured Neji was more of a cat person, or a no-pet-at-all kind of person.

Neji in turn made another unintelligible noise. "They're my family's, so I come over to help out every day." Tenten took another look around the house. It definitely was too big for one single person.

He nodded, a mental puzzle piece fitting together. "So that means Hinata lives here." Then, after some more consideration, "it also means you don't live here."

Tenten jogged over to catch up to Neji, getting to his side with a large grin as if he'd figured everything out, looking over and waiting for confirmation. The taller man gave an unreadable expression until it melted into a smirk. "Hmm," is all he said, and that was the end of that.

XXX

Doves were vicious.

That, or Tenten wasn't a bird person, hissing as he slapped on another bandage while Neji helped get the feathers out of his hair.

"They don't like strangers," is all he supplied, trying to find a comb.

Tenten groaned, stinging all over in little cuts and beak bites. "Should've told me that before I barged in. I thought doves were, I don't know, gentle and shy creatures, not blood-thirsty scream goblins."

He earned a soft chuckle from behind him, rewarded further by the feel of a comb smoothing out his tousled short hair.

"Scream goblins…" Neji murmured thoughtfully.

Tenten sighed and slumped, letting Neji comb his hair. He's glad he still had any hair left, one dove having found his scalp the perfect place to latch its little claws into and get tangled. Another bit his nose while several tried to gouge out his eyes. He was glad he had Sunday to recover, but even then, come Monday, someone's going to ask him where all these scratch marks came from, and he'll have to answer that he fought several doves and lost.

The rest of the chores were much easier: taking down the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, washing the dishes, and sweeping the floor of the main room. Once they finished Neji began boiling some tea and they both sat at the kitchen table.

The sun was setting, and even though he didn't do a single pushup or run a mile, Tenten's body felt invigorated as if he had. It reminded him of that nice floaty feeling he got when he was in track team, a languid type of energy that kept his eyes awake even as his heartbeat slowed down. The atmosphere was comfortable as well, despite Neji criticizing how he cleaned and dragging him around all day. Speaking of Neji, he returned and set down a cup of tea in front of him.

Despite the drink, Tenten's throat was dry for a different reason now. Taking the cup he said a swift, "Thank you" before taking a gulp. It was hot but he forced it down. Neji didn't need to know what exactly he was thankful for.

"You look like how you used to," Neji said, also taking a sip at a much more leisure pace.

Tenten paused, looking over at the other, both hands clasped around the cup. "Like how I used to?" Neji met his gaze, as if waiting for him to finally do so.

"Like how you were when you went to track team."

The tea went frigid in his hands, the ceramic creaking in his grip he feared he'd break it. Hot, burning shame flooded his system so much he had to force his eyes to the space between them, to the floor where it's been residing so often that it's become his default point to look.

It's true, this year hasn't been the best for him, but to have it thrown out there so blatantly was the equivalent of being slapped in the face.

It was mortifying to have Neji of all people comment on his problems, so much so Tenten refused to be in his presence any longer. He shot up, feet moving before anything else processed, taking him out of the Hyuga household and down the darkening street at a shocking speed.

With his head held low he could see the pavement moving below his feet, a whirling blur of ground that stopped making sense the faster he ran.

He only stopped when the sun had fully set, leaving him drenched in sweat and in an unfamiliar place. Wiping his brow Tenten looked around for a street sign or something to tether himself to a location.

He was in front of some grocery store. His stomach grumbled so he went in and bought a boxed lunch.

Then he went home and fell asleep.

XXX

He stared at himself in the mirror on Sunday, resolving he was going to ignore what happened yesterday. He'd bury with his own hands if he had to.

Unlike yesterday every bone in his body was comprised of lead now, stiff and heavy, keeping him bedbound. Thankfully there wasn't anyone to bother him about it. Neji didn't call, text, or knock once on his door, and Tenten figured that was the end of their friendship, if it could even be called that.

He laid back into his pillow, wondering where he even made the decision to consciously put distance between himself and the Hyuga. Thinking back he knew they were actually much closer in his starting year, going to the arcade or with Lee to some hiking trail. It was more of Lee dragging Neji around, since he had seen him as a rival, pestering him to races after Neji proved to be surprisingly athletic, not to mention competitive. Tenten had simply followed the mayhem.

When Lee and Gai would get into their antics of running five thousand laps around the field, Tenten and Neji would simply look at each other and sigh. It became routine, and with routine came a comfortable understanding.

Tenten's eyes widened as he realized a crucial part of the puzzle he'd purposefully left out, the shame from before only magnifying into a hard lump in his throat.

Somewhere between those innocent high school days he had developed a huge crush on the Hyuga. It was amazing he'd forgotten about it when before he couldn't think a single day without Neji popping up into his fantasies.

Grieving a low groan, Tenten sat up and tugged on his running shoes.

He adamantly refused to follow that train of thought. Neji had made it very clear he didn't return his affections and Tenten resolved to move on to protect their friendship.

Well… maybe what remained of their relationship, which culminated into knowing each other's names and not much else.

"I'll ask Ino for tutoring," he told himself, giving one passing look into the mirror before heading out.

XXX

He had a panic attack twenty minutes into the run.

Normally he could go ten miles no problem, but for some reason he couldn't get his feet to move as fast as he had wanted. If he couldn't run fast then he couldn't compete, and if he couldn't compete then he was going to let his entire time down. The team he had abandoned.

The thoughts pounded more and more at his head until he was doubled over himself, ragged breathing tearing through his ribcage until his eyes watered. Chest convulsing and vision darkening, Tenten simply curled in on himself and prayed for it to all go away. Away, away away.

After several torturous minutes, eyes opened to find Shikamaru's face floating above him. Tenten was ready to mistake him as a pointy cloud until he began speaking, his voice filtering into full clarity.

"-and you're all cut up," he finished, heaving a sigh and waiting for Tenten to reply.

Dumbly, Tenten continued to stare up at him. He was no longer on the ground. His back was up against a tree and there was a half-empty water bottle in his hands he didn't remember having nor drinking from.

Shikamaru combed a hand through his hair, obviously fed up with him. "You're troublesome, you know that? I can't leave you alone like this though." He squatted down so he was eye-level with Tenten, placing the back of his hand against Tenten's forehead. "No fever. You feeling better now?"

Finally, Tenten's shoulders tensed. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for helping me."

Using the tree he tried to stand, refusing to burden his underclassmen once again. Shikamaru stayed where he was, eyes observing every awkward, jerking movement Tenten made.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, as if speaking to a wounded animal.

Tenten steadied himself and tried to give a reassuring smile. He just felt tired. "I'm alright. See ya tomorrow."

He jogged off only because he knew Shikamaru wouldn't bother trying to catch up, water bottle still in hand. He'll get Shikamaru a drink the next time they met, to repay the kindness.

Tenten doesn't remember much else of that day. He didn't finish his quota of ten miles, he simply went back home and fell back asleep.