A whole month and a half had passed since Hinata's baby shower, and Neji hadn't changed his attitude toward me in the least bit. I rarely saw him, that was true, but we did occasionally bump into eachother in the streets, and he always gave me that same icy glare, which I returned with equal venom.
Each glare was a lie. I didn't feel the same hatred toward him as he felt toward me, but I did what I had to in order to look unaffected.
I did, however, feel that hate and anger rise within me whenever I saw her. That woman who wasn't me. She would laugh, tossing her head back and letting those beautiful curls tumble down her back, and he would do that smirking thing that made him look so incredibly sexy and handsome.
I watched her sometimes, but no I wasn't a stalker of any sort. I just wanted to see what she had that Neji thought to be so much better than I could ever give. I could tell she was funny by the way he always cracked a smile. She was outgoing too, always making an effort to talk to everyone and speaking her mind about everything.
I envied her terribly. It was an emotion I'd never felt so strongly before. The hate bubbled inside me and lit my bones on fire until I seriously thought I would melt. She was perfect and wonderful, and worst of all, she had him.
The fact that he knew about the whole misunderstanding and still didn't come back to me was overwhelmingly painful, and many nights I had to fight the tears that always wanted to come. And they always did, despite my efforts.
On top of all that, I constantly worried about when their wedding would take place. Soon, surely, but I heard she wanted one of those ridiculously huge weddings with the extravagant dress and expensive as hell center pieces. So I had some time. Possibly.
Hinata and Naruto's wedding was in three weeks, and I had been busy helping her plan every little detail. She didn't seem the least bit concerned with the fact that her large belly would be visible, and I respected her for that. How she looked was not a concern of hers. The only thing that mattered was that she was getting married to the man she loved.
I smiled faintly as I watched her hum lightly and practically skip down the aisles of the grocery store. She probably would be skipping if her stomach wasn't so huge.
"I need to get some more ramen," she said, and I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe Naruto still ate that stuff every day. Some things never change. "Oh, hey, Neji."
My head snapped up from the all the different sorts of ramen there were, resulting in a painful whiplash. Sure enough, Neji was standing there in front of Hinata, who looked very uneasy, and he was actually alone. Wow, that's a surprise.
"The fox boy still eats that shit," Neji commented, though lightly, and Hinata smiled. "I'm sure you'll set him right, Cousin."
This was the side of Neji that I had once brought out from the shadows, the softer more gentle side that no one had before witnessed. That side wasn't available to me anymore.
"Is there something you wanted?" he asked with that damn smirk on his face once more. How could a man I love so much infuriate me to no end?
"Why don't you just-" I began, but Hinata suddenly gasped.
She was clutching her stomach and turned her gaze to me with fear filled eyes. "I…think…it's time," she gasped.
Neji and I forgot our previous argument, and we glanced at eachother before springing into action.
"Kami, we have to get her to the hospital!" I all but screamed, and Neji lifted her into his arms and took off.
I knew she was heavy, but Neji didn't let that faze him. I don't know how I was able to even run with the panic rushing through my body. Villagers paused to stare at us as we ran by, some in amusement and others in curiosity.
We burst through the hospital doors in mad panic, and Neji immediately began shouting at the nurses about the problem at hand. Hinata was whisked away from his arms, and we followed her but weren't allowed inside the room.
So, instead, the two of us sat silently and impatiently in the waiting room. The people and medics bustling around made the hours pass by too slowly for my liking, and I jumped every time I thought a medic was coming our way.
The sun had vanished, replaced by a velvety black sky and brightly twinkling stars. I grew weary, and my eyelids drooped heavily. Finally, a medic stopped before us, and Neji and I jumped to our feet.
"It was a false alarm," she said, and I released an irritated sigh. A false alarm! You've got to be fucking kidding me!
By some crazy coincidence, Naruto came running up. "Did I miss it?" he asked breathlessly. His hair was in complete disarray, and his eyes were unfocused. He had, undoubtedly, ran here as fast as he could and dropped whatever he had been doing.
"No," Neji responded before I could. "It was a false alarm."
Naruto let out a sigh of relief and let his body sag against the wall. "Man, I thought I was going to miss the most important day of my life."
I noticed for the first time that Neji and Naruto were actually standing side by side, and they looked totally at ease with eachother. Of course they would have met up in the month and a half Neji had been back, but I didn't expect Neji to act so calmly around the boy who had gotten his cousin pregnant even after all this time. Would it have been the same way if I had told him eight months ago?
"I'm going to go see Hinata," Naruto announced after the medic gave us the okay. "You guys coming?"
Neji and I nodded and followed him to the stupidly white room. Hinata was sitting up, propped up by two white pillows and her eyes shut. She slid her eyelids open when she heard us enter the room and focused her opaque eyes on us.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Naruto asked, sitting on the edge of her bed and taking one of her dainty hands in one of his large ones.
"That was the most nerve wracking thing I've ever experienced," she said, and Naruto and I laughed while Neji chuckled softly. "I actually though I was going to have the baby without you here." She squeezed Naruto's hand, who smoothed back her hair.
"No," he said softly. "I promise I'll be here next time."
I shifted, feeling awkward standing so close to Neji and witnessing such a sentimental moment. I chatted with Hinata for a few moments before announcing my departure.
"I'll walk you home," Neji stated, and I froze.
"I think I'm capable of walking myself home," I snapped, not believing he just offered, no stated, that when he has been being such an ass to me all this time.
He snorted. "You won't make it very far with your eyes half open, and there are plenty of men who would love to take advantage of a girl walking alone at night. Just stop being such a stubborn ass."
I clenched my fists and took deep breaths to hold back the anger rising inside me. "I'm not a girl," I stated. "I'm a woman, and I also happen to be a ninja who is perfectly capable of fighting off some drunk bastards if the time came."
"Some of those men might not be drunk," he stated in that damn know it all tone. "And they may not even be civilians."
I opened my mouth to retort, but Naruto cut me off. "You know, he's got a point, Tenten. Just let him walk you home. What harm could it do?"
I glared disbelievingly at Naruto before remembering that my mouth was still open and snapping it shut. "Fine," I said dejectedly and stomped from the room.
Neji manage to catch up with me in a few strides, and we walked out into the streets together. The awkward strain was tight and hung over our heads with an unbelievable weight. We used to walk together all the time at night, but we usually held hands or at least talked. This was so much different.
I was filled with that all too familiar longing and ache for him, and I fought down the urge to reach out and run my hand along his strong jaw, to press my body into his.
I snuck occasional glances at him, loving the way the moonlight hit his face at an angle that made him look handsome and dangerous and completely irresistible. His features looked stronger and sharper in the light, and I snapped my eyes back ahead.
We had finally reached my apartment, and he took the liberty of walking to me to the door. I'd planned to go inside without another word or goodbye, but I only managed to open the door when he spoke up.
"You could have told me." There was an angry edge to his voice, and I turned to face him.
"Really, Neji?" I said sharply. "You would have gone straight to Naruto and beat the shit out of him as soon as the words had left my mouth."
"And how the hell do you know how I would've reacted," he said, his voice rising, and I let out an exasperated sigh and stormed inside with Neji in hot pursuit. "You're the one who couldn't trust me enough to keep a secret and act maturely about it!"
"No!" I whirled around and shouted. "I couldn't! Because I've known you for most of my life and it's not in your character to take something like that so lightly. And you obviously didn't trust me when you found that damn pregnancy test!"
"How would you have reacted!" he shouted back, and I winced. "Dammit, Tenten, I was scared as hell when I found that fucking thing. How the hell was I supposed to know that it was Hinata's if you didn't tell me? You didn't make an effort to tell me then, and you didn't bother with me when I got back."
I felt the tears gather thickly in my eyes, and I drew in a shaky breath. I was hurt and angry, but I wasn't sure which one was stronger. They both seemed to grasp my heart in an iron grip and barrel through my body at an amazing speed.
"Are you kidding?" I said in a soft, hoarse voice. "I was more than happy that you were coming back, and then I saw you with her-" I stopped and turned away. "It's pretty damn obvious that you didn't give a damn about whether I told you or not. You were too busy fucking your new fiancé!"
I could practically feel the anger radiating off his body, and I expected him to yell at me or shout some nasty things. Instead, I found myself being jerked around and shoved against the wall. His hands were planted on either side of my head, and his eyes flashed dangerously.
"You don't know the hell I went through after that day," he said venomously, and I felt like shrinking away but stood my ground.
"You?" I said. "You're the one that left me. How the hell do you think I felt! I'm in love with you dammit! Do you know how hard it is for me not to just kiss you right now!"
The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them, and we both froze. If it was possible for time to stop, then it did in that moment. My words seemed to have more of an impact than I intended them to, and we both just stared at eachother like we'd never seen eachother before.
I opened my mouth to say something else, but I instead found it covered by Neji's. My senses went wild at the once familiar touch, and I responded immediately.
His hands were now deep in my hair, and his tongue probed my lips and plunged into my mouth. Our tongues danced madly, and our breathing became hard and heavy.
Closer! Closer! Closer! My mind was screaming at me, and my body was begging me for more touching, more contact. The heat in the room had suddenly gotten unbearable, and I struggled to breathe.
His lips left mine and began to plant hot open mouthed kisses along my collarbone, and I threw my head back and withheld my moan. My hands fisted in those gorgeous, silky locks of his, and I gently nibbled on the shell of his ear.
The ball of heat in my stomach grew, spreading form head to toe, and the tension in my stomach tightened. I was in heaven right now. The sensations I was feeling were intense and pleasant, and I didn't want them to stop anytime soon.
All too soon, I became aware of everything: my shaking hands, his harsh breathing, and his lips now poised above my pulse point. And here, with my body pressed flush against his and the heat from our bodies mingling, I realized that I was doing exactly what he had accused me of doing all those months ago.
He seemed to realize that too because he stilled, and I pushed him away. Shame flooded through me, and I couldn't gain the courage to look him in the eye. Here I was, a Konoha kunoichi who had fought members of the Akatsuki and killed other men, and I couldn't even look my former lover in the eye.
Even though he wasn't touching me now, I could still feel his hands in my hair, and my lips still burned from the kisses he gave me. My body still begged for more.
He didn't look at me as he walked through the door, and I slid down the wall to sit alone on the floor. Alone. The word echoed through my mind. Why was I still alone?
A/N: Aww, Neji does care. Well, there's a few more chapters to go, and then it's over. Poor Tenten. It seems like it never ends for her, but you'll see what happens.