Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to rao hyuga 18 and Celtic-Memories for your wonderful reviews, and to everyone who's added this story to their favorite and alert lists!

Author's Note: Sorry for yet another semi-late update (I seem to be making a habit of this), but I've been fighting a monster sinus headache all day and am just now feeling well enough to get online and post. But I can promise more NejiTen interaction in this chapter, so I really hope you like it! Thanks for reading!


*~Chapter IX~*

~Departure~


"I know you realize the danger, Tenten. And you're right. The s-safest c-course isn't the f-fairest one. If necessary, I'll c-cover for you as long as I c-can. When you d-do find N-Neji again, p-please t-tell him I don't believe it. Not any of it."

Hinata's parting words hovered in the back of Tenten's mind as she retraced her shortcut from barracks compound to main house from the day before. The early morning air felt pleasantly cool, heavy though it was with moisture and the rich smells of earth and greenery. She'd decided where she'd last seen the outcast Hyuuga prince was logical place to begin her search. She reached the stand of ornamental bamboo, her mind's eye conjuring Neji's tall form disappearing behind it. Circling around it she whimsically half-expected to find him waiting for her. But of course would have been too easy, not to mention totally cliché.

On the other side of the clump a narrow track threaded its way behind taller plantings, leading into a verdant maze where similar dirt paths crossed and crisscrossed. It was, she realized with a sense of delight and awe, the hidden network the estate gardeners used to carry out their duties while staying mostly out of sight of the noble inhabitants.

After hours and hours of fruitless searching with never a glimpse of another human, let alone the one for whom she searched, the charm of the twisting byways seriously palled for Tenten. Hot, sticky with perspiration, and hungry she plopped down onto the ground with a huff of aggravation at a point where three trails intersected. The few rays of sunlight slipping into these depths now penetrated from the opposite direction, and were a deeper shade of gold. Dinnertime was quickly approaching and before long she'd have to return to the house. As if to emphasize that point, her stomach abruptly let go with a loud growl.

Tenten glanced around in embarrassment, glad she was alone - then scrambled to her feet as though stung. Of course! Dinnertime! Even the menials have to eat sometime!

The light, never bright in these shadowed trails, was dimming rapidly. She began to run as swiftly as she could through the growing shadows, praying she would emerge close to the kitchens in the back of the main house while calling herself a variety of names.

A lightening of the gloom ahead coaxed her into a fresh burst of speed. She headed full-tilt into a curving offshoot of the narrow path-

-And slammed into a chest, broad and solid as a wall. Reeling backward as much from a sense of deja vu as the actual impact, she gaped at Neji, not sure what to say to him now she'd found him. For his part he stood glowering down at her, one hand lifted above his head. Tenten automatically looked up, and saw he held a bento box out of harm's way.

"Oh, um, hi! I've been looking for you!" she blurted out, and then felt herself blush furiously.

Neji blinked at her, seemingly at a loss for words, before lowering his boxed supper, ducking his head, and moving to step around her as he'd done yesterday. Ready for it this time, though, Tenten instantly blocked his way.

He rocked to a halt, now holding the bento box in front of him like a shield. "Please get out of my way," he grated, his tone at a complete variance from his words.

"I'm Tenten," she said. "I just want to talk to you for a little while."

Neji lifted his head enough to shoot an unreadable look at her from those pale eyes. "Why?" he asked flatly.

Because I saw the pain in your eyes yesterday, and I want to understand it and try to make it better. Who knew how he'd react to that! Because I've only seen you twice, but you absolutely fascinate me. That surprised even her, so she definitely couldn't say that. "Because," she finally settled on, "I wanted to get to know the staff in case of an emergency." She winced at the lameness of that excuse. By the look on his face, he didn't buy it either.

"Excuse me. I have important matters to which I need to attend." He managed to slip past her, moving into the gloom with the confidence of one who knew his way blindfolded.

Determined not to let him get away that easily, Tenten pursued. "Neji, please, let me help," she begged him, following after him.

He stopped so abruptly she ran into his back. Spinning around, he pinned her with another glower. "You can help me by staying away from me," he said, each word snapped off with icy precision. "If you persist in seeking me out, you will very likely be the literal death of me. Ask," his voice suddenly broke. Tenten saw his chest heave once, twice. "Ask the person you guard whether or not I'm telling the truth."

Tenten's eyes grew wet. "Neji, Hinata doesn't believe it. Those were her exact words to me before I left her this morning to come looking for you. She told me to tell you she doesn't believe any of it."

Neji stared down at her, his eyes chips of lavender ice. "I don't believe you. I don't believe you! Now get away from me, and stay away from me!" For the second time in as many days, he fled from her. Tenten stood looking after him, tears slipping unheeded down her cheeks.


On Sunday, Itachi followed Temari across the lower courtyard, watching how the morning sunlight threaded golden fingers through her ponytails. As they approached where her horse waited to carry her back to Suna, he gestured slightly to the groom at the mare's head. The boy bowed and yielded up his place. Taking hold of the bridle, he said softly, "Be careful, Temari."

"I can take care of myself. And, failing that, I've got Baki and Matsuri." Temari jammed the book she carried into one of her saddlebags. She then flicked a hand at her two retainers, already mounted and waiting outside the gates, a cross expression on her face.

"I know," he replied. "But still, to make me feel better, promise you will be very careful."

This time she half-smiled, a hint of a chuckle escaping her lips. "All right. I will be. I promise." Her fingers fumbled with the strap of her saddlebag. Turning her head in the direction of the village, she sighed. "Konoha is so beautiful. I almost regret leaving it."

A twinge of jealousy shot through Itachi's chest. She regrets leaving my village, not me. That hurts. Shoving aside those primal thoughts, he fought to smother the conflicting urges warring within him: One side wanting to speed her on her way so he could return to his ordered life, the other seeking some way to delay her departure. "I look forward to seeing your village in a couple of weeks," he ventured.

Temari lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I'll warn you now, Suna isn't anything like Konoha. It's hot, dry, and mostly brown. And the sand gets into just about everything."

"I'm positive it holds its own beauty. I remember you told Naruto the sunsets are spectacular."

"Yes, the sunsets," she echoed thoughtfully. "I will admit they are more beautiful there than here. I look forward to your being able to see one, finally." Was it his imagination, Itachi found himself wondering, or did he actually sense a similar struggle going on within her?

The chestnut mare suddenly pranced on impatient hoofs, her hindquarters swinging half around away from the two humans. Itachi automatically reacted by tightening his grip on the bridle and making soothing sounds as he ran a calming hand down her glossy neck. Temari immediately joined him, patting her mount and crooning softly as well. He felt a little thrill shiver through him when their fingers accidentally brushed; heard her breath catch as she froze. Only her eyes moved as her gaze cut sharply to the right, away from meeting his.

She was leaving, and he wouldn't see her again for two weeks. Suddenly he couldn't let her go without - without something. Acting on an irresistible impulse, he lifted his free hand to curl his long fingers around the base of her skull, holding her gently in place. The back of her head nested into his cradling palm as if made to fit there. Tilting his head, he lowered his lips to hers and brushed a light, chaste kiss on her mouth.

The moment he broke the kiss, Itachi dropped his hand and gave her some space, all his attention seemingly focused on the mare. As he rubbed and scratched the broad plate of the horse's cheek, he watched Temari from the corner of his eye, noting how pale her face looked under its tan, as well as the blank flatness of her turquoise eyes. He hadn't expected fireworks to go off in the background, or rose petals to shower down from the sky, but still. . . That - did not go well. Did I frighten her? Anger her? Or is she trying to hide how repulsed she is?

Before he could read anything more in her expression or eyes, Temari spun away. He saw how her hands trembled as she checked the tightness of her saddle's girth. The next instant she swung herself up into her saddle before Itachi could move to help her and gathered up the reins, effectively removing herself from his reach: physically as well as, from the expression on her face, emotionally. "I will see you in fourteen days, Lord Itachi. Thank you for the - nice week." Once more the remote sand princess, she offered him a polite, distant smile, then rode off to join Baki and Matsuri. They fell in on either side of her.

None of them looked back.

Itachi watched until the trio vanished around a bend in the road leading to Konoha's main gates. Sighing, he turned to head back to the house. Halfway across the deserted space of the courtyard, he realized someone was leaning in the doorway of the stairs leading up to the main terrace, watching him: Sasuke. He felt his face burn, wondering how much the younger man had seen. However as he drew even with his brother, Sasuke looked at him, an oddly wistful look in his black eyes, and said softly, "I wish I could believe what you do, Itachi; that I'll be able to will myself into falling in love with Lady Hinata. Do you think I can?"

Itachi shrugged uncomfortably. "I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'falling in love.'" He cast a quick, involuntary glance over his shoulder. "Maybe at first we'll have to settle for just 'falling into like,' and pray to the ancestors better things will follow."

The brothers climbed the steps in silence. At the top Itachi tipped his head sideways toward a garden path leading away from the house. Sasuke nodded in agreement. Itachi didn't speak again until they reached a koi pond. "That's assuming, of course, everything goes according to plan." Sitting on the stone edge of the pool, he gazed at the varicolored fish crowding the water beneath his reflection, mouths breaking the surface, gaping in anticipation of treats that didn't come. An odd, lightheaded feeling swept through him as he stared into their empty black maws. For a dizzy, disoriented moment, he felt he was looking into his future.

"For Konoha's sake, it has to." Sasuke's voice pulled him out of his dark imagining. He tore his eyes away from the hypnotic churning of the koi to find his brother standing over him, staring down at him with a worried frown. "Itachi, are you okay?"

Itachi rubbed the heel of one hand against his forehead and got to his feet. "Just tired. It's been a long week." He forced a reassuring smile. "Maybe we should walk again, so I won't fall asleep on you."

"So are we still on for tomorrow morning?" Sasuke asked as they went down some shallow stone steps to a different level of the gardens. And when Itachi hesitated, "You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"

"Second, third, and fourth," Itachi said promptly, "about the arranged marriage part at least. But don't worry, I'll back you up as I promised." The path forked in front of them: one branch leading down to a small, mostly walled-in meditation garden, the other looping back toward the house. Sasuke paused to stare intently at a weeping cherry tree overhanging the entrance to the enclosure as he shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, obviously trying to decide whether to say something else. Making a guess at what it probably was, Itachi nudged him lightly with an elbow. "If you're trying to decide whether to tell me I was an idiot for kissing Temari, younger brother," he said in an attempt to help his brother out of his dilemma, "I'd figured that out on my own."

"If you want to call that a kiss. Not that I'm criticizing your technique or anything," he added hastily when Itachi lifted an eyebrow at him. He paused for a moment, then went on in a rush, "It's just- I've seen the way she's looked at you several times when she didn't know someone was watching. It's like she expects you to snap and go into attack mode, to go from holding her hand one moment to hitting her in the next. Add her short temper to her vaunted ability to take care of herself," Sasuke's eyes locked onto his with a deeply troubled expression, "and I can't help but wonder if you're going to survive this marriage."

Is that really true? Itachi blinked back at Sasuke, feeling shock cascade through him. Did Temari truly wonder if he was going to grow violent with her at some point? He felt strongly about abuse, and would never consider - even for a moment! - hitting her, no matter how angry she made him. "But - I would never hurt her!" he protested a little too loudly, still trying to fit his mind around his brother's words. Either Sasuke's imagination was running away with him, or he was far more observant than Itachi had given him credit for being.

"I know that," Sasuke responded instantly. "I'm sorry, older brother. Just - be careful around her, okay?"

Touched even through this unanticipated worry, Itachi laid a brief hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I will be. Thanks for your concern, Sasuke. Now, if you don't mind, I need to think on this for a while..." Allowing his sentence to trail off, he turned to walk back the way they'd come, while Sasuke continued along the the way they'd been going.

Two weeks equaled an eternity. Itachi burned with the need to reassure Temari of her safety with him. He refused to allow himself to think of the living nightmare their future together would be if she flinched away every time he tried to touch her, even as he hoped the awful theory growing in his mind wasn't even remotely correct.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: Once again, I'm so sorry for another semi-late update (and that I seem to be making a habit of this!), but I really hope you liked this chapter, especially the NejiTen interaction! Thanks for reading, and see you next week!