Chapter 21: Epilogue

Tenten

It took a long time for the village to heal.

While we had smothered the attempt to overtake our village, it took a long time to track down the people responsible. It turns out the soldiers who had attacked us were mercenaries hired by a rich feudal lord who wanted to expand his empire and have access to the resources a hidden village like Konoha has available. We found him and brought him to justice, and a new, fair feudal lord was put into power.

Beyond that, we had to put together the pieces of our lives, both tangible and intangible. There was massive damage to some of the city walls and infrastructure, and it took a few years to restore everything fully. And then there was Shikamaru.

In the month following his sacrifice, every ninja, both from Konoha and Suna, were researching the kinds of jutsus that would be able to create such a rift. Everyone came up empty handed.

After that month, the research was no longer a village matter. Only a few volunteers remained in the search for answers. All those Shikamaru had saved, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Temari, plus some of Shikamaru's closest friends like Choji, Kurenai, Naruto, and even Temari's two brothers spent countless hours pouring over texts and travelling across the land. Nothing was discovered.

After six months, Gaara and Kankuro needed to direct their effort elsewhere. Naruto resumed his search for Sasuke. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata spent more time on missions than on the project. Neji helped, but I think only to support me in my fervor to find Shikamaru as fast as possible.

After a year, only Choji, Ino, and I remained to help Temari.

Temari was relentless. She barely slept. She rarely visited her brothers. Whether the obsession was because of her honest love for Shikamaru or her guilt at leaving him behind, no one could tell.

I held out for two years. Ino and Choji gave up after four. Temari never did.

I will never forget him, of course. He had been a good friend, and excellent strategist, and the reason I am here today. No one in Konoha will forget his selfless act and his many years of service.

But eventually, we had to move on.

Neji and I began our campaign to convince the Hyuga family to recognize a marriage between us. We fought tooth and nail against their deep-rooted sense of tradition. It took a long time, and countless clan meetings, but they finally relented.

Hinata vowed that when she took over the clan, many outdated practices would be reformed, including the curse seal that Neji still bore.

That wasn't soon enough for the two of us, however, so we decided to adopt a young girl. She had no Hyuga bloodline, so no seal had to be applied. When I asked Neji why he had been open to the idea of adoption, he told me it was because of me. He had watched me grow up as orphan without a family, and he wanted some other little girl just like me to never experience the pain of not having anyone.

I will never stop loving that man.

Both of us still went out on missions. Hinata often looked after our daughter when we were away, and it was a source of great pride to me to see Neji's daughter grow up loving Hinata as strongly a Neji grew to love Hinata himself.

After five years had passed, I finally sat down to have a talk with Temari.

She had her nose buried in a scroll and was frantically scribbling something down in a notebook.

"Temari, may I speak with you?" I asked softly. She didn't look up from her work.

"I'm busy," she replied.

"Temari, this has to stop," I said forcefully. "He's never coming back. He's gone. And as much as that hurts, you have to move on. This is no way to live. You cannot spend the rest of your life trying to absolve guilt that you don't need to bear."

She carefully put her pencil down. "You think this is guilt?" she murmured.

"I do. You don't need to be guilty. It was his choice. He knew the consequences, and this is what he wanted to happen."

I tear slipped down her cheek. "I know people think I am crazy. This is not guilt, Tenten. I just can't accept that he is gone. I cannot accept a life without him. That sounds stupid, and short-sighted, and unhealthy, I know. But this is how I have to be in order to live with myself. Take it or leave it. I won't give up. I'm close to an answer." She picked up her pencil and continued reading.

I sighed. There was nothing I could do to change her mind. "Temari, for what it's worth, I understand. Love is a powerful thing. You two loved each other. But you are not required to love someone for the rest of your life. We are all waiting for you if you change your mind."

With that, I left.

To some degree, I understood. A life without Neji is unthinkable. If he were to disappear, or Kami forbid, die, I would never stop loving him.

I just hate to see her wasting away and not even trying to move on.

I will spend the rest of my days dedicating my life to my family, my friends, and my village. I have a beautiful life, and I thank Shikamaru every day for it.

Shikamaru

Five years is a long time.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by bodies. Most were unconscious, but there were a few who looked mostly dead. I high-tailed it out of there so I wouldn't be held accountable for what happened.

I never figured out what became of those soldiers, whether they lived a new life here or got arrested or what. I packed up what little I had and hitchhiked across the country. I never finished school, so I worked some dead-end jobs. On the side, I wrote books. Mostly about ninjas, of course. A small publishing company found them amusing and I gain a little revenue that way.

I live in New York now. I like the hustle and bustle of the city, and how that lends a person a certain amount of anonymity. I work long nights at a bar and sleep during the days. I write in my spare hours. Currently I'm working on a novel about a blond-haired woman who lives a long, happy life doing the things she loves, protecting the city she loves. Maybe it's self-punishment to imagine Temari's life on the other side, but thinking that she is alive and happy and with her brothers is what gets me through every day.

Today is a day like every other. It marks five years since I sealed the rift permanently. Trust me, I tried redoing the jutsu, but it's a kind I don't understand. I long ago accepted that I will live out my life here.

It's 4pm now, before the bar gets busy, and I'm mostly doing inventory and carting glasses from the dishwasher to the shelf. Doug, one of our regulars, is sitting at the bar, as per usual. He'll be gone by 6pm, but I've grown to appreciate his company. He's wicked smart, and, like me, has had some rough luck in the past years. Sometimes he'll bring in a chess board and we'll play. He tells me I should apply for a competition, but that would be too troublesome.

"Been meaning to ask you," Doug pipes up. "That's a mighty strange tattoo you got there, what does it mean?"

I glance down at the Konoha leaf, still there after all those years. "It's a leaf. It reminds me of home," I answer.

"And where's that?" Doug pries.

"Far from here," I sigh. Doug quiets down, pensive, and I continue going through the motions of work.

It's a long night. I watch people drink away their problems and pretend the world is fine. I wish that worked for me.

The sun is rising by the time I get off. The city is by no means quiet, but it isn't quite as boisterous as is it is the evenings. I relish that. I take a moment to stand on the sidewalk and observe the world: the passing people, the heavy traffic, the call of sirens.

I pull out a pack of smokes. I wish I had Asuma's lighter with me. I wish I had something more than this stupid tattoo, something tangible to hold on to. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt so much.

There's a girl with her back to me, and her hair is a golden color that I recognize. She turns, and I see brown eyes and freckles and know I was mistaken. That happens a lot. I see Temari everywhere.

I smoke the cigarette until it's entirely burned out, then head home.

I wonder if Naruto ever became Hokage. I wonder if Tenten and Neji were allowed to get married. I wonder what Kurenai and Asuma's daughter looks like now. I wonder if Temari has stopped loving me. I wonder if I will ever stop loving her. Questions that will never have answers.

As I turn the corner I see this girl. I know it's unfounded hope again, but her hair is in four freaking ponytails, which I've never seen anyone else do. Her legs are long and toned and her shoulders are buff, probably from lots of lifting heavy objects. It's uncanny how much this poor girl looks like my lost girlfriend. As I pass her, I notice her eyes are even the same teal color as Temari's. This world is not being kind to me now. There is no way to reopen the rift. There is no way to go home. There is no way—

"Shikamaru?"

I freeze. Kami, I know that voice. I turn. I know that hair, I know those legs, I know those eyes. It can't be possible.

There, smiling wider than I ever thought possible, is fucking Sabaku no Temari.

She runs toward me, as I'm still paralyzed with shock, and envelops me in a bone crushing hug.

I wrap my arms around her for the first time in five years. I bury my head in her hair and feel her body against mine.

It feels like home.

Author's Note:

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed and supported me throughout this piece. I have been developing this story for upwards of two years, and I'm proud that I finished. This work has a lot of influence from my own personal life and personal struggles, and I'm glad I could take those experiences and make them into something worthwhile. Thank you to those who have stuck with it for months, to those who read to the end, and to those who gave it a try, even if they didn't finish it. It means a lot.

If anyone is interested, I have uploaded a short companion fic that explores Shino and Kiba's relationship. You can choose to read this fanfiction with or without that particular ship, as I know it is not one of the more popular ones, but to anyone who wants to understand how I view that relationship, check it out. It's entitled "A Rainy Day in August."

So, the question is…what's next? If any of you are Young Justice fans, I'm in the works of creating a fanfiction for that series. It may be a while before it goes up, as I want to get my ideas fully developed, but I hope to get it started before the end of the year.

Again, thank you for reading this story.