A Meaning In Life

By Natsumi Mizuki

Chapter 10: Realization

Alright. Either Haruka's eyes were betraying her mind or the sight in front of her was 100 percent reality.

... Sasuke on top of Tenten... somehow lip locking... ohmai.

Both of them turned red, once they opened their eyes and... feeling each other's soft, tender lips. Immediately Sasuke ended the little kiss and rose up, all red and shy. Being a gentleman he helped Tenten up and walked away for some alone time. Tenten just stood there, touching her lips. Sasuke in the meanwhile, was doing the same thing... and both of them were thinking...

'... HOLY SHIT MY FIRST KISS!!'

Their minds were taunting them and replaying those somewhat angelic moments over and over. But all that stopped once they heard giggling. Sasuke turned around and met Tenten's eyes... turned red and closed his eyes, following the sound... and he saw Haruka bent over trying to restrain her giggling. Tenten had followed him and looked over his shoulder, seeing the same thing. Why was she laughing...? '... Shit. She saw us.' That rang in their heads and for the 3480571432057498 time they blushed.

"HARUKA CHAN!!" Tenten yelled hitting her head with a kunai.

"OW! What the hell was that for?!"

"You saw us didn't you?!" Silence. Red faces. Sounds of Haruka's laughter... except it was more louder... "HARUKA!! THIS IS NOT FUNNY!!"

-Konoha-

"NUUUUU WHY HARUKA CHAN WHY?!"

"Just shut the hell up. I'm leaving, Godaime san." And those were the last words she had heard her speak and lock up the scroll safe in her. Groaning in frustration she wound up the scroll and threw it at the wall out of frustration. Shizune had been with her and calmed her down by finally giving her some sake. Taking it gracefully she yanked it from her hands and gulped it down in one sitting, slamming the bottle on the wooden table heaving.

"Hic... how dare she... do this..."

"Well... she was never one to take things like these lightly."

"She's a freakin runaway from some unknown voodoo-ey dimension that throws freaky glowing ass scalpel knives from within her hands!"

"Godaime san... you know what happened to her, it isn't her fault." Tsunade huffed out a small sigh.

"Well... ugh... so?!" Now it was Shizune's turn. "At least they're coming back to Konoha... I've got Tenten to deal with already and the Uchiha joined in... what should I do to Tenten?"

"She has a reason, and that very reason is mainly loneliness..."

"Hmm..."

-Back to the Journey...-

It was now late nighttime and already they were about a day ahead of their schedules because of Sasuke, who just wanted to get this over with a red-faced girl constantly yelling at another face giggling all the time. Tomorrow morning they would probably be in Konoha right now. It was quiet, just the sounds of the fire crackling in front of them. Haruka's jaded green eyes wavered around, gazing from Sasuke to Tenten frequently.

"... So... anyone mind telling me what happened back there?" Haruka asked trying to break the silence.

"It was a simple accident." Sasuke replied immediately. Giving a little smirk, she decided to poke some fun.

"An accident that led your second kiss in your life... right? I recall your first was back in your academy days, with... what was his name... Uzumaki Naruto?" O.O

"THAT WAS THAT IDIOT'S FAULT!! ... AND HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT?!" He yelled, his face mysteriously turning pink yet again. Tenten was only in the background witnessing this event wishing she had some popcorn with her...

"Ooooh I hit a nerve there, didn't I? Your first kiss was with a boy." She taunted even more, dodging his last question.

"... I'm hurting you." He threw a kunai at her, but she caught it before it did any harm.

"Well, well someone's grumpy." Haruka taunted him playfully. Just before it got any more out of hand... giggling was heard in the background. Both Sasuke and Haruka looked behind them to see Tenten trying to restrain her giggles... and she did once she felt two pairs of eyes staring at her.

"Anou... good evening Haruka san, Sasuke kun." T-T

"You're a part of this too, panda buns. You're the first girl that's ever to kiss Uchiha Chicken Butt Head here, what do you think that pinkette medic kunoichi will say?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke cut up, glaring even more daggers at the dark girl.

Pinkette kunoichi... Haruno Sakura... she loves Sasuke... Tenten's screwed if she ever finds out...

"... damn you... damn you to hell..." Haruka smiled.

"Thank you!" 'She reminds me of that kunoichi proctor in the chuunin exams... Mitarashi Anko...' Tenten thought with glaring eyes.

-Konoha-

Hyuuga Neji was out staring at the moon, thinking about his teammate. Ever since he came back he thought of her... her and the Uchiha together... making out... and doing...

"N-no. That wouldn't happen. Tenten isn't that kind of person!"

"Ah... thinking about Tenten, I see?" He turned around to meet a blinding green jumpsuit-wearing nin... the one we all know and... well, yeah.

"Lee..." Neji mumbled, his eyes gazing at the round moon once more. Lee frowned slightly and dug in his jounin jacket, and revealed a thin piece of paper and threw it at him. He caught it immediately and glanced at it... his eyes widening and heart calming. It was a picture... of them in their genin days before the chuunin exams. Lee and Gai looked... blinding... Tenten just smiled casually and Neji had his usual frown. He remembered the picture vaguely, recalling everything that happened then...

'Neji, why don't you ever smile? Smile just once, please?' Tenten whined.

'No.'

'Aw c'mon Neji, listen to our youthful teammate for once!' the younger green dude spoke up.

'I said no.'

'Just let it be, but thanks Lee.' she sighed.

'OMG that youthfully rhymed!'

'I know! Let's celebrate this youthful occasion my dear pupils!!' Gai just popped out of nowhere and...

... and then the crushing bear hug... Gai sensei always became excited about the most weirdest things that goes on in this troubled world... another memory came into his mind. Not too long ago Tenten had showed him this very same picture...

'Hey... Neji, remember this?'

'... No.'

'I know you're not forgetful. Why didn't you smile then?'

'You know...'

'Tenten.'

'Well...' her eyes glanced over to the side. Neji huffed and stood up from his spot and glanced at her.

'... go ahead and take your picture...'

'Will you smile?'

'... yes.' She smiled and stood next to him and held the camera up high. 3... 2... 1... and the shutter flicking a white blinding light. Tenten was smiling, holding up a peace sign...while Neji just blankly stood there. Her cheeks puffed slightly. He didn't frown but he didn't smile either... when she turned around to glare at him, her eyes widened. He smiled at her. A sense of relief swept over her and she smiled back at him, giggling.

'What's so funny?'

'You look.. well... it's quite unusual for you to smile...'

It was... that smile was for her and for her only. That was the first time in years his lips made that simple gesture... and actually had feeling in it. She was one of the few girls that didn't swoon over him and didn't act all girly just for him. She was the only one that could stand up to him and didn't call him in a flirtatious way. She was his teammate... a friend. A sane, true friend. That just made him yearn for her even more... what was he to call this feeling? Could it be...?

"... why did you show me this picture, Lee?"

"To make you realize you're in love with Tenten." His pale white eyes turned around to meet odd pachinko-like eyes... was he right? Was Sakura right? Did he really love her...? His eyes glanced at the moon once more and saw Tenten's angelic face. His heart pounded every second he thought about her... that saying was true.

You really don't know how much something is worth to you unless it's taken away from you.

He took Tenten for granted and look at what got him. His eyes were now truly opened...

Hyuuga Neji loved Tenten for so long and didn't even know it.