Yes, I am very well aware that it's been a good one year of absence. . I am extremely sorry. Sorry won't even make up for what I just did. I DESERTED you. I DESERTED all my wonderful readers and reviewers and I feel EXTREMELY bad about it. :( I am NEVER going to do that again. I PROMISE. Now let's get this chapter up and then the Epilogue next, shall we? :)

Special Thanks to the Following for Reviewing:

tigers-and-dragons - I'm sorry it's late. :( I'm glad you think it's awesome though. x3

KillerMay - You're right! Never thought about it. Gonna make up an excuse for that one. .

Gotta Luv The Name - I received him in my mailbox this morning. o.O I assume you re-send(ed) him. His yelling pushed me into writing this. :)

Angelwings228 - :( I feel guilty. ):

SparkDazzleDuez - O.O I MISSED YOU! O.O

Ripedeath - *glomps* I mish you! T^T

Luna's moon1100 - Will this do? *pretty eyes*

kimbi07 - Oh dear. I'm 11 months late. Oh dear, I'm so sorry. -_-" Oh dear...

saya-plus - And this doesn't deserve any. :( But GAH I MISSED YOU!

OneAcquaintedWithTheNight - No! I am not that, honestly! I always seek to finish my stories no matter how long it takes. I just have a BIG case of procrastination and all. And then I grew out of fanfiction for a short (LONG) while. But it grew back on me and I'm continuing and that's what matters...right? ."

kIte23 - I WILL. :)

silverarrow65 - I MISS YOU. I hope you're still around. .

missy4eva - I didn't update since last year too and I feel bad about it. . You have to update your stories, okay? x3 For me? :3

Pepe Le Pew - You shouldn't be sorry, I should. :(

y-in-flame - OMGoodness, I just kept a new boarder waiting for months! *bawls*

I bet hardly any of you are still around but I just wanted you to know that I still love you. -_-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It's just something I'm not capable of doing.

Chapter 10

Tenten woke up in the morning feeling dull. Today was the day. She wasn't sure if she was to feel happy about it or worried. The fact that he didn't answer her last two letters was worrisome. Either something bad happened to him and he couldn't answer, he was too busy, he found her boring, or worse, he knew who she was and was mad. She tried to track down the address but it turned out to be an old and abandoned construction site with a newerthanthehouse mailbox standing a few feet on front of the door. He must be really smart and cautious. If he was even a he. She wasn't sure of anything about him or her anymore.

Sighing, she glanced at her watch. Still a lot of time before her meeting with this mysterious person. Maybe she should go visit Neji and ask him to spar with her? With slow and little steps, she dragged herself to the Hyuuga compound and rang the doorbell by the gates. Neji had been acting so strange lately, almost as if he was avoiding her...it was almost as if he was...nah, impossible. She pushed the idea away not for the first time. It was just ridiculous. There were LOTS of people in Konoha and the idea that her letters could have reached the one person she ranted about in her letters was next to impossible, topic closed. Now moving on to other things...

"Who is it?" a voice came from the speaker underneath the doorbell.

"It's Neji's teammate, Tenten. I was wondering if he's at home right now." she replied.

"Hold on."

Five minutes went by -longer than she usually waited- before the person returned. "I'm sorry, Neji-san isn't...here at the moment. Come by another day." she could sense the slight hesitation in his voice but thought nothing of it as her mind was too busy worrying over other nonsense.

Ignoring the fact that he didn't give her a reason as to why Neji wasn't there, she nodded to nobody in particular and dragged her feet somewhere else. Maybe she should sharpen her weapons once more...

-X-

The Hyuuga household was quiet as Neji turned the page of his book feeling very comfortable in his position. Hanabi sat to his right on the couch sipping her tea and Hinata sat across them staring curiously at Neji. He was acting very weird lately. He was a bit more jumpy than usual and every time the doorbell rang, he'd freeze for a few seconds before walking away stiffly. And now, she could tell he was barely concentrating on his book as his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was turned down on a slight frown.

Shaking her head and sighing, Hinata excused herself and went into the kitchen. Whatever it was that he was troubling himself with, was none of her business.

-X-

Tenten made her way through the village and to the academy. Sharpening her weapons was quicker than she expected so she decided to practice and train a bit. And still, she was thirty minutes early. She plopped down on the swing under the tree and leaned back a bit to stretch. It was still thirty minutes to their appointed time and once again, she wondered what to do with all the free time.

-X-

"Neji-kun."

Neji turned a bit too fast and his eyes scanned the person on front of him. "Hinata-sama." he nodded. Hinata observed how his eyes that was slightly widened when he turned, relaxed. And his eyebrows once knitted together, raised in confusion instead. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Oh...erm...did you want some more tea?"

"Oh, yeah sure." he said, looking at his watch before turning back to his book.

"Neji-kun, you have a cup of tea that's gone cold on front of you that I gave you less than ten minutes ago..." Hinata pointed out. Neji stiffened and turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked surprised. He opened his mouth to say something but then after a while, seemed to decide otherwise and closed it again. This action was repeated a few more times.

"I'll go warm this up." Hinata mumbled, picking the cup up and walking back into the kitchen. Thunder rumbled and soon tiny droplets of water began pouring down.

"It's raining." Hanabi commented from a chair in the kitchen table as she sipped her tea slowly.

"It is." Hinata replied quietly.

"Something wrong with Neji-nii these last few days..." Hanabi commented casually. "He seems anxious."

Hinata said nothing but silently agreed. It was hardly noticeable but you could tell if you knew him well. He always seemed to be thinking about something, his eyebrows were much more close to each other than normal, and his movements the tiniest bit quicker and more surprised. And why was he always checking his watch? She glanced at the clock. It was only 7:30. Finishing, she placed the tea on a small plate and went into the next room but Neji was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you seen where Neji-kun went?" she asked a Hyuuga who just happened to be in the room at the time.

"Yeah, he stepped out with an umbrella just a few seconds ago." he shrugged.

'Now where would he go in such a downpour?' she wondered staring at the drops of rain dripping down the roof.

Shrugging once again, she went back into the kitchen and sat across Hanabi, taking a cup of tea for herself. "Neji-kun went out." she commented, sipping the tea in silence.

"Ah." Hanabi replied though as confused and curious as she was.

-X-

Tenten yawned as her eyes fluttered open. She felt refreshed. After a while, she had ended up sleeping by the trunk of the tree due to her tiredness. Now she was ready to face whoever or whatever was coming... She glanced at her watch: 7:25. ...or whoever or whatever wasn't coming. Sighing, she leaned back once again and looked up at the darkening clouds. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed through the sky. A drop of rain fell on her nose and others soon followed.

'It sacrifices itself to those in need. Through rain, it gives itself to those who needs to grow.' she remembered reading something along the lines of that. She was so touched at that and hoped that whoever he (or she) was referring to, knows how lucky he or she was to have someone who loved him or her and thought so highly of him or her. 'I wish the both of them luck...whoever they are.' she thought.

-X-

Neji wanted to run all the way but reminded himself to stay calm as he walked to the academy an umbrella in one hand. It wasn't like you'd die from rain anyway. Just maybe get a slight cold...and a fever...and then your temperature gets super high...and then you die.

Oh crap.

-X-

Tenten heard hurried footsteps as she glanced at her watch the 15th time that night: 7:45. She stiffened against the bark of the tree and listened quietly. It could be her mystery man...woman...person. Or maybe it was a random stranger running to his or her house due to the downpour. She was sure she was familiar with the chakra but it was masked so well, she could hardly detect it. Whoever it was, she refused to look back.

-X-

Neji looked around slowly wondering where she could be. The tree was right there, her chakra was there, but she was nowhere in sight. Oh. There was a brown bun sticking out from behind the tree. For a minute he stood there, silently debating but never admitting it, on if he should go talk to her or not. Finally deciding to go because of the previous notreallythoughtouthoroughly reasoning that rain CAN in fact, connect to dying, he took one hesitant foot forward.

-X-

Tenten was confused on why the footsteps stopped so abruptly and for a short while, wondered if the person got hit by lightning and died on the spot. Pfft, yeah right. Almost jumping 3 feet into the air when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she spun around to face the stranger.

"Who are—Neji?"

Neji grunted and shifted his weight to one leg, trying to look casual as though he was just passing by. "Tenten."

"Why were you running?"

"I was rushing home."

"Your house is that way, Neji." she pointed in the direction from where he came from, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Right. Erm..." he cleared his throat as his brain's wheels rolled furiously in his jumbled head. "I dropped something around here and I came back to pick it up."

"Oh." Tenten said as her face fell. Well, she wasn't really expecting Hyuuga Neji to be her mystery guy, no she wasn't. The only things that they had in common with her mystery person is that egoistic personality, the first and last letter of their name, and the fact that they both lived in Konoha and knew both Naruto, Shino, Kakashi, and Ino. And also, there was the fact that Neji had been acting so strange lately. It was totally impossible right? Right?

She was either delusional or in denial and she had to know which one it was.

"Consider this my 20th question..." she started, choosing her words carefully.

Neji raised an eyebrow as though he didn't understand her but the warning bells were going off in his head as all the chibi Hyuugas inside his head frowned and leaned forward ever so slightly to make sure they heard what she was going to say, but at the same time, hoping it wasn't what they thought she was going to say.

She hesitated a bit. He didn't look like he understood. But she had to know for sure. It was worth a try. Bracing herself for the worst, she continued. "Are you Bunny?"

Neji frowned and gave her a curiousbutactuallyworriedshejustdidn'tknow look and chose his words carefully. "Well, I'm not a bunny, as you can obviously see..." he rolled his eyes as though it was nothing and he was just asked something silly.

"No, no. That isn't what I meant...I m-meant...are you Bunny? You know, the guy I've been writing to?" But he already knew what she meant. A tension so thick that was not like the tension during their spars filled the air as both teammates stared at each other. Both in hesitation and worry.

"Well, er...yes..." he mumbled as fast as he could. But he knew she heard it. Neji could've just lied to save his own skin, his sanity, and any further troubling problems. But that was low and pathetic and something a Hyuuga would not, could not do. "Consider this MY 20th question..." he began, watching her reaction closely.

Tenten stood there for a minute or two as Neji patiently waited for her brain to process this new piece of information and sink it in. She was half expecting it, but she never really thought much about it. And now that she did, her eyes slowly widened as pieces of the puzzle began connecting itself and everything began to make sense. Her memories of each and every word his and her letters contained, what it meant, and who was reading it hit her in the face and her face surpassed a tomato and went even farther than Hinata's reddest face and she felt faint. "Oh no...oh dear...oh no..." she mumbled. Slowly backing away and leaning on the tree, she slid down to sit on the mud. "You...I...we-no, us, er..." she pulled her knees to her chest and put her hands on them and tried to bury her head in them in shame and embarrassment.

Neji didn't know what to do. Should he step forward and scare the poor girl even more? Would she run away? Shouldn't he offer a comforting hand? Was his hand even comforting to her right now? Should he just stand there and look like an idiot? Hesitantly he stepped forward and she peeked at him with big scared eyes. Sighing, he sat down on front of her and pulled his knees up. With one hand on his knees, he stretched out his other hand with the umbrella to shield her from the rain.

Neither said a word.

After a few minutes of awkward but preferred silence, Neji decided to speak up. "Er...right, as I was saying...I, no you, er..." Neji Hyuuga did not just stumble over words. No, he did not. He just forgot what to say. Clearing his throat, he closed his eyes and forced himself to gather his thoughts, speak clearly, and get it done with. "My 20th question would be 'was what you said in the letters true and were you referring to me?'."

It was in this moment that Tenten wished she had ran away. That the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Or that something -anything- would come and disturb the moment so that she could get rid of the thick tension in the air, so that she wouldn't have to answer the question.

Another three full minutes passed before she mumbled a silent "Yeah". He nodded although she couldn't see him and they remained silent for another thirty minutes. Neji almost thought she had fallen asleep. Nudging her slightly, she almost fell on her side when Neji caught her. He was proven right. She had fallen asleep due to weariness and probably information overload. She looked really tired and troubled even in her sleep. Picking her up, he was very tempted to just throw her over his shoulder and go but decided it not to be the best move.

He let her stay in his arms for a while and as the umbrella flew away, he didn't care a bit as both his hands were now occupied with something probably more important than a piece of cloth. Slowly, he began making his way to her house.

-X-

Tenten turned over in her sleep as one eye peeked open. She was in her house on the couch by the fire with a blanket over her. When did she get here? Was all that just a dream? Was she that desperate for Neji to be her mystery man that she dreamt it all up?

"Hi." she shot up the bed and turned to Neji who was in the couch across from her helping himself to a cup of hot coffee.

"Kyaa!" she half shrieked, half squeaked as she dove back under the blankets.

After a few seconds, she peeked out. He was still there. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't an illusion. Hyuuga Neji was right there on her couch in her house. So it was true. What happened was just true and he brought her home. Or did he? Maybe she overslept and he was here to pick her up for training. But that would be totally impossible since it was still dark outside meaning it was probably evening or early morning.

She glanced down at her clothes. It was muddy and slightly wet but mostly dry from the fire now. Oh shit. Nah, no denying it now, it was real.

Blushing again, she stayed under the blankets the whole night just as Neji stayed on the couch keeping watch over her.

Both were mentally remembering and reading each word of each letter each sent and received and just how meaningful each was.

Both wondered what they were going to do next and how their future would be like depending on their decision.

The tension was still as thick as ever.

And they were silent throughout the night.

Okay, I'm ending it there. If any of you are still around. Wow, 2,513 words for just the chapter, I'm so proud of myself. *sniff* :')

Oh and I just realized. Neji can't really roll his eyes can he, since he has no pupils and all? Lawl. =_=

I hope this makes up a teensy weensy bit for the lost time? I have a small question for you guys though...I was thinking of putting up a sequel but I'm not so sure of it yet as like how this story contains letters, the next one would probably contain text messages or chat rooms. But then again, neither exists in the Naruto world so it may kinda ruin the glory of this story. What do you guys think? I really need your opinion.

See you in a week (will try),

Your Authoress,

secretmisery05