6 Months with the Hyuuga Family
By: Whipped Coffee

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Disclaimer
I don't own Naruto.
If I did, I wouldn't be here, now would I?

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Month Three
Day One

Chapter Thirty-Six—Only You

Tenten had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she couldn't take it anymore. The talk with Misaki had gotten her thinking—her friends were there for her, always there, by her side, and yet she couldn't talk about this simple thing with them. Tenten bit her lip as she chewed on the grapes nervously. Things had gotten so complicated—she wished that none of this happened.

Even though she wished for it, she knew it could not go back to the way it was. She sighed as she pushed the plate of grapes away. She looked through her contact list on her cell, and paused over the highlighted name, Yamanaka Ino. She thought about it—calling her now and asking her to go out to the café would be odd… Tenten sighed as she put away her cell phone. She would have to call Ino later.

Popping another grape in her mouth, she chewed on it thoughtfully. It was Friday night, and she had nothing to do. Truthfully, she didn't want to stay home tonight. She didn't trust herself to be alone. She'll only think of endless thoughts if she was.

Tenten got off her chair, and stepped out of her bedroom. It was the first time she'd been so willing to go out in a few days—the others had to either bribe her out or drag her out. She stopped walking in front of Neji's door. She was quite nervous: she didn't know what to do, she had only acted recklessly.

As if they had ESP, Neji opened his door. Surprise was written in his eyes—but it went as quickly as it came. Tenten smiled sheepishly at him, not knowing what to say. She scratched her head and made a gesture with her arms.

"Wanna go out somewhere?"

-

"I should've paid for you since you paid for me last time," Tenten whined as she licked her ice cream.

The two had left the house only a few minutes after Tenten's random request. Neji was unsure as to what was wrong with Tenten—and he didn't know how to approach the problem. They had gone to the same ice cream store that Neji had brought Tenten the other day.

"It doesn't matter," Neji said, not even looking at his ice cream.

He hadn't taken a lick since he had bought it—Tenten wondered if he even knew how to eat an ice cream. She giggled at that thought as her spirit brightened immensely.

Neji raised a brow, as he looked at Tenten giggling to herself. He had come to one conclusion: Tenten was very moody. One day, she would be sulking over something. The next, she would be laughing and talking with her friends and him. He didn't know what to make of her actions, and it was safe to say that he was confused.

All of a sudden, Tenten stopped giggling. She sighed as they sat on a nearby bench in a park. She knew that turning away from her problems wouldn't work—she knew that, and yet she continued to do so. She stretched, looking up at the dark night sky. No stars could be seen, since this was the city, and the lights prevented stars from being seen.

"What's wrong?" Neji's perceptive voice cut through the silence.

Tenten looked at Neji. She shrugged, shaking her head as she continued to lick her ice cream. "Nothing's wrong," she said.

'That's a lie,' Neji thought, but couldn't voice it out. He was never the one to voice out his thoughts completely.

"Why do you ask?" Tenten asked curiously.

"You're acting weird," was his blunt reply.

Tenten smiled a bit as she continued to lick her ice cream, which was an excellent excuse for not being able to retort back. She saw from the corner of her eye that Neji took a bite of the ice cream. They sat in silence for a while—just licking (or eating, in Neji's case…) their ice cream. It was a serene silence, one that Tenten (and possibly Neji) enjoyed.

"You didn't answer my question," Neji said.

"I thought I avoided that question fine," Tenten muttered to herself as she bit her cone. "Nothing's wrong, Neji. Are you actually worried for me?" Tenten asked teasingly, looking at Neji.

Not showing any trace of emotion of his face, he continued to eat his ice cream. "What's wrong, Tenten?" He asked sternly as he lowered his ice cream.

Tenten sighed as she too, lowered her ice cream. She looked up at the sky again, as if she was waiting for the stars to appear even though she knew they weren't going to show. "I'm just… confused," she said, trying to choose her words carefully so that she doesn't let anything slip up. "I don't know what to do sometimes."

Neji was still silent, as if that was his way to urge her to continue going. And it worked, too.

"Everything's so… confusing," she used the same word again, for the lack of better adjectives for what she was feeling. "It feels like I can't tell anyone anything, because I'm afraid that they'll misunderstand me…" She unconsciously licked her ice cream, thinking about her thoughts, and trying to word them correctly. "Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much. I feel like Hinata, Kairi and Ino will get," Tenten didn't want to use the word 'hurt', since that would provoke questions from Neji, "in trouble if I tell them everything."

"Just what is happening?" Neji asked.

"I don't know," Tenten said truthfully. "There's so many things going on, even I have no idea what's happening. It just doesn't make sense—a girl shows up out of no where, and I have no idea what her connection is to anything!" She said in frustration, chewing on the rest of her cone. "I could be paranoid, but I feel like anyone I see on the street is going to jump me any second if I make the wrong move. I don't know what to make of it, and it's so frustrating knowing that there's something missing in my head that I know that I can do to stop everything!"

"Calm down, Tenten," Neji said, his voice soothing Tenten somewhat.

She made a noise of annoyance as she finished up her cone. Neji finished up his cone as well. He stood up, slowly walking towards the swings with his hands in his pocket. Tenten watched curiously as he sat down on one of them. She wondered why he did this, but followed him nevertheless. She sat down in the swing next to him, remembering the day that she had been at the park.

"You really can't tell me what's happening?" Neji asked as he watched Tenten swing a bit.

Tenten bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't want you to worry." It was a lame excuse, but Tenten hoped that he would buy it.

And of course, things never went her way.

"Does it matter?" He asked, also swinging to his slow momentum. "I'm already worried even without you telling me what's wrong."

She should be shocked to actually hear this come out of his mouth—since everyone knew that Hyuuga Neji would never admit to something like that. But not Tenten: she felt warmhearted that he would admit something his emotional to her, since after all, all his confessions were written down.

When Tenten made no move to explain why, Neji sighed inaudibly. He didn't know how to help her. He wanted to do something for her just once—something to make her happy. If he couldn't help her, at least he could indirectly help her. "Talk to your friends," he stated as he stopped swinging.

Tenten blinked at Neji. Did he just give her advice? "What did you say?"

"If you're having troubles," Neji said, stating his advice in a different way, "then talk to your friends. Forget about what will happen to them for a bit; they're worried about what's happening with you."

Tenten blinked at him once again. "I think that's the longest sentence you've ever said." Neji narrowed his eyes at her, not finding her remark funny. Tenten broke out in a small smile, but it vanished as she realized something. "What do you mean that they're worried about me?"

"Hinata-sama has been worried lately," Neji explained. "Her stuttering has gotten worse when I spoke with her at times. I overheard Yamanaka and Hinata-sama talk over the phone about you, and what you've been hiding." He raised a brow at Tenten. "What have you been hiding?"

Tenten cursed under her breath. "I'm not hiding anything," she lied, looking at Neji in the eye. When she saw that he didn't believe her, she sighed. "Okay, fine, I've been hiding something. But I can't tell you just yet," Tenten said nervously.

Neji seemed satisfied with that—he was fine with her just telling him the truth of the matter. "Talk to them," he said again.

Tenten smiled. Coming out tonight with Neji was a good idea.

-

She rubbed her hands together before stuffing them in her jacket pocket. It was cold tonight, and it had gotten a lot colder when they left the Hyuuga Manor. As she breathed, she watched puffs of her breath in the air. She smiled at it, remembering the times when she was a kid.

She had been awed by the new discovery she made. It was probably when she was around 7, or 8 years old. Tenten had been confined to the orphan for most of her life, (until she was 9), and they were usually taught in the orphanage. The lady in charge hadn't let them go out in the winter time—she had said it was, "too cold" to be playing in the snow. Tenten had though otherwise, however. Even at a young age, she had the mind of an adult, knowing when they lied and when they were telling the truth.

When she did step out during the winter time, however, (she had snuck out when they weren't looking) she had made the discovery of seeing your own breath. She had hours playing in the cold, just breathing and watching her breath. She was eventually caught though—and had gotten quite sick after that adventure. Tenten hadn't regretted it at all, though. It was just another memorable memory at the orphanage.

"About the… park thing," Tenten started. She was nervous—she wanted to talk to Neji about his confession, but she always avoided it. "What you wrote on the playhouse…" Her heartbeat sped up, and her hands became clammy.

Neji didn't say anything, and Tenten didn't know whether he looked surprised or embarrassed. She was too embarrassed herself to look at him, so she kept it at that. "And what you wrote on the bandage… Did you really mean it?" Tenten asked.

Neji still didn't say anything. Tenten was got worried—she knew she shouldn't have said anything in the first place. "Yes," he said at last, breaking Tenten out of her frantic thoughts. "I did mean it," he said quietly.

Tenten smiled a bit as she brought up her hand to her face and swept the loose bangs away from her face. Her arm fell beside her, trying to cool it down by letting the icy wind hit it continuously.

"You have an answer?" Neji asked, turning around to face her.

Tenten bit her lip. She had been wondering this for a while now—she wanted to, yet she didn't want to. Which one to choose? She still didn't know by now. "…I think," she said slowly, her eyes were directed to the ground. "I still need time to think about it for now," she said, slowly looking up into Neji's eyes. She saw that he had no expression on his face—as if he knew that that was coming. "But," she said, as Neji started to make a move to walk again. "I think I like you too," Tenten breathed out, whispering it so softly that if the wind hadn't died down when she said that, it would have been missed.

The corners of Neji's lips seemed to quirk upwards. "Let's go," Neji said.

Tenten smiled at the fact that Neji didn't continue to stay on the topic—she would have died from embarrassment if Neji had pestered (which she cannot see Neji doing) on why she liked him. She can see why Neji only confessed in writing.

Their hands bumped together, but Tenten took no note of it. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts, happy that she had at least gotten something off of her mind. She felt the weight on her shoulder dissipate a little, and she was grateful for that.

When she felt a hand wrap around her own, she looked up in shock at Neji. He continued to have the façade—there was no emotion on his face. "Your hand was cold," was his explanation.

Tenten smiled as they continued to walk back home, hand in hand.

-

"N-Neji-niisan?" Hinata's voice came from behind Neji and Tenten. "T-Tenten??"

The two of them turned around, and saw a shocked Hinata. They were already in the Hyuuga Manor, but Neji hadn't released his hold on Tenten's hand. They were in the hallway of their rooms, to be more specific, and Hinata was just arriving from a visit to her father's office.

Hinata didn't know what to say—she didn't even know how to react. It was just odd—she had always hoped that this would happen, that Neji would come home with Tenten's hand in his hand, but this quickly? And especially after Tenten's avoidance of him? It was just confusing.

"A-Are you two…?"

"Good night, Hinata-sama," Neji said curtly, cutting Hinata off.

He let go of Tenten's hand, and went to his room without a second glance at Tenten. Tenten didn't mind, however—she was too busy trying to think of an excuse to tell Hinata. When she realized that she had Hinata's full attention, she laughed sheepishly.

"Uh, I can explain everything?" She said unsurely. She suddenly had a grin on her face—this was the perfect moment for her to invite Hinata to the café. "Hey, Hinata!" Hinata blinked at Tenten, wondering why there was this sudden burst of energy in her. "Come tomorrow to the café we went to yesterday, at 12," was all Tenten said before disappearing into her own room.

Hinata was left alone in the hallway, wondering what had happened. "Neji-niisan and Tenten holding h-hands," she repeated to herself softly, as if she didn't believe it.

Tenten sighed in her bedroom—at least she could wait out the explanation to Hinata till tomorrow. No doubt about it that Hinata would probably call Ino and Kairi to inform them what she had just seen. Taking action quickly, she grabbed her cell phone as she jumped onto her bed. She quickly called Ino and Kairi telling them the same thing that she had told Hinata just minutes ago.

"Oh my god, is it really you? Tenten? Calling me? Kairi? Are you serious? I'm not dreaming right? This is real? Oh, pinch me Misaki, I think I'm—what the fuck, why the hell did you pinch me?! (You said to pinch you!) I was fucking kidding! I've got a fucking retard for a brother that's just great—fuck my eye!! Did you just throw a fucking book at me?! You bastard—"

"As much as I love to break up your sibling arguments," Tenten said with a smile, "but I have something to tell you, Kairi."

"Shut up!" Kairi screamed over the phone. There was a shuffling sound, plus a slamming of what seemed like a door. "Okay, I got rid of that idiot. Now, what did you want to say?"

"Meet me by the café that we went to yesterday at 12."

"Ohh, finally you're going to tell us something," Tenten could imagine the grin on Kairi's face right now. "Okay, I'll be there ten minutes earlier just because you're finally spilling to us."

Tenten laughed as they both bid their goodbyes. She called Ino next, who was just as sarcastic as Kairi.

"Wow, I must be dreaming. Tenten calling someone? That's new. And you're supposedly avoiding everyone, too! Is it just me, or what?" Ino's sarcasm came through the speakers.

Tenten smiled, "Kairi's sarcasm is rubbing off of you, Ino. How many times did you hang out with her?"

"Too many times to count," Ino said tiredly. "Seriously Tenten, please come back to us! Do you know how many times I was the victim of Kairi's boredom? Do you?! Well if you didn't know, it was too many times! Just look at the way I talk now! It's all sarcasm, and it's because of her!!" Ino cried over the phone.

"I-Ino," Tenten said, quite amused that her friend was in this sort of predicament. "Calm down. You won't become the victim of Kairi's boredom anymore—meet me by the café that we went to yesterday at 12."

"Yes! Finally!" Ino cheered.

Tenten laughed as they said their byes. She hung up, and laid on her bed, not wanting to change out of her clothes. Slowly, she felt her eyes droop—it was a tiring day, with schoolwork and all, and she just wanted to sleep. With that in thought, sleep took over her body.

-

"Where are they?" Tenten muttered to herself as she drummed her fingers on the intricately decorated patterned table. "They're twenty minutes late!"

"Don't worry," Hinata said quietly. Though she wasn't as angry as Tenten, she was sort of nervous for Kairi and Ino. They weren't the type of people to show up thirty minutes after the planned time. "T-They're probably stuck in traffic," Hinata said, offering an acceptable excuse.

"They better be," Tenten grumbled.

Not a second later did Tenten hear the bell jingle signaling that someone had entered the café. "Sorry we're late," Ino said breathlessly as she rushed to sit down next to Hinata. "The traffic was horrible," Ino said, with a roll of her eyes to exaggerate the fact.

Kairi followed shortly, sitting down next to Tenten with a snort. "That's a total lie right there; I met her on my way here and she was busy shopping," Kairi said with a sly tone, smirking at Ino. She glared back at her for ratting her out. "Well, you should've seen all those sale posters!" Ino cried, trying to defend herself. "And the traffic was bad, since I could've made it on time if those stupid cars moved out of the way," Ino grumbled.

Tenten laughed, her previous annoyance disappearing. Hinata smiled out of relief, knowing that they were alright. "I'm going to go get something," Kairi said as she frowned, "I didn't get the chance to eat breakfast yet!" She whined as she left for the counter.

"Get me something too!" Ino shouted to Kairi, who only gave a wave back. Ino leaned closer to Tenten and Hinata, eyeing Kairi's back. "Since she ratted me out, I'll rat her out too. She barely woke up on time—I met her when she still had bed head and when she was still carrying her shoe." Ino sat back with a satisfied smile as Tenten tried not to laugh.

"I-I don't get why you two have this rivalry," Hinata said with a soft smile.

"When she stops her sarcasm, I'll stop this," Ino said with a smirk, similar to the one Kairi had before. "And besides, Kairi's always the one starting it."

"I beg to differ," she said, sitting back down in her seat. "It wouldn't be that much of a big deal if someone," she said dryly, staring at Ino, "didn't take things too far."

Before Ino could say things, however, Hinata interrupted them. "Kairi, I think your food is ready," she said, pointing to the counter.

"Go get your own food," Kairi said, standing up. "I don't have four arms."

"But you do seem to have four mouths," Ino muttered her breath as she followed Kairi.

Choosing not to answer that, Kairi pretended that she didn't hear. Tenten grinned at Ino's remark, and Hinata giggled a bit. Satisfied with her comment, Ino flaunted to the counter.

"So, why'd you call us here?" Kairi asked when they came back with their food. The previous argument seemed to have vanished into air, without a trace of it in their tones as Ino and Kairi looked and spoke to each other.

"Well…" Tenten started, not sure how she was going to tell them. She bit her lip and sighed as she saw that the two of them (Ino and Kairi) were staring at her intently. "I saw… a person that I knew a few days ago," Tenten said, not sure if she should call Ami her 'friend'.

"Was that why you dropped your cup yesterday?" Hinata asked quietly as she stirred her cup of hot chocolate.

"Kind of," Tenten admitted. "I thought that I saw some of her people—it's a long story," Tenten said as she saw Ino's confused look.

"People?" Kairi raised a brow as she chewed on her food thoughtfully. "Do you mean the people that took you into that warehouse?"

"Well, those were Ayama's people," as Tenten said this; she noticed that Ino's eyes narrowed. "The people that I thought I saw were from another person."

"Who's the other person? You make her sound so mysterious," Kairi said, not noticing Ino's odd quietness. Or rather, choosing not to ask about it.

"Her name was Ami," and it all came pouring out. "She was one of the daughters that my adoptive parents at that time had. Her parents—they were… kind of stressed out a lot," Tenten said unsurely. It was rather hard to describe them in words. "They had four children, three girls and one boy. The boy was about 11 at the time I was with them, and he had a twin. The youngest was a girl about 9. Ami was the oldest, at 13. Ami and I were close—almost like best friends, but not really," Tenten chuckled at the memory of them fighting and arguing with each other. "Then one day… she found out that her youngest sister was diagnosed with some sort of disease. Something like cancer, but I'm not really sure. Her parents freaked out, like any other parents. When her sister died… I guess her parents just couldn't take it anymore."

"They committed suicide?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah," Tenten said. "They came to me to ask for help with something. They asked me to go to the pharmacy to get them something, and it was already too late when I realized what they were planning…" Tenten trailed off as she reminisced what had happened.

They were pleading her to get it for them. Tenten didn't know why, and she didn't really want to go to the pharmacy to get them something when they themselves were doctors and could get it easily. She had been annoyed—they looked like they were on the verge of death, like they couldn't live without the pills that they were asking her to get for them. It was only then she knew what she bought. She hadn't paid attention to the weird look the pharmacist gave her when the pharmacist had given her the pills—Tenten had just wanted to go home and sleep.

It was only then when she ran to the sound of Ami's screams that she found her adoptive parents dead, on the floor, with a bottle of bills laying next to them.

"Ami never forgave me," Tenten said as she drank her own coffee. "She blamed me for her parents' deaths, and had somehow brainwashed her siblings to think that way, too. I guess I was the reason why they died…" Tenten said as she sighed.

"It wasn't your fault," Hinata said quietly as she tried to comfort Tenten. Kairi nodded along with Hinata, and Ino stayed quiet. "You were just a kid," Kairi said.

"Well to this day, she never forgave me. And apparently, she made new friends," Tenten muttered. "Ayama?" Ino quirked up, finally saying something. Tenten nodded. "She said an old friend was going to see me—I had no idea she was talking about Ami. When I did meet her, she was just so… eager to see me break in front of her eyes," Tenten repressed a shudder as she continued. "And I saw her goons yesterday."

"Did you fight?" Kairi asked with bubbling excitement.

"K-Kairi!" Hinata semi-shouted.

Kairi shrugged. "What, I'm just asking! I bet you ran away though," Kairi gave Tenten an all-knowing grin.

Tenten nodded. "It was like what, 15 against 1? I'm amazed that I even ran out of there alive," Tenten muttered, playing with her napkin.

"W-Why are you so quiet, Ino?" Hinata asked, looking over at Ino's thoughtful expression.

"I was just thinking…" Ino said softly. "Sakura was also targeted by Ayama…"

Kairi looked down and Hinata looked away. It was a memory that the three didn't want to remember—which Tenten was confused to.

"She couldn't defend herself, unlike you, Tenten," Ino explained quietly. "It was probably fear. Hell, if I was in that situation I wouldn't move anything for the fear of getting killed. But they would never beat her to death—they would always just injure her enough to land her in the hospital for a few days." Ino frowned as she looked up at Tenten with worried eyes. "It was scary how they knew where she would be at all times."

Tenten lowered her eyes. She was somewhat right about her suspicions. It was obvious that the same thing had happened to her and Sakura—the girl that got close to him only got hurt. Was this another one of those reasons why she moved?

"Be careful, Tenten," Hinata said softly, her tone full of concern.

Tenten gave her a smile as she nodded her head. "I'll just beat them up like last time," she said with a grin, trying to lighten up the mood.

It didn't work out so well.

Tenten sighed quietly as she slumped down in her seat. The topic of Sakura made everyone silent and depressed. The only sound in the café that Tenten could hear was the jingle of the bell—and it jingled a lot as time went by. The silence though, was broken as Kairi asked a curious question.

"Ami still holds a grudge on you, and she would go as far as to send people out to get you. But why? I think there's a deeper meaning to this than just revenge for her parents…" Kairi trailed off, as she thought of the possibilities.

"She did say something about Sakura," Tenten said, remembering the words she said about Sakura.

"She knows Sakura," Ino concluded, sitting up straight. "And she probably thinks that you're interfering with them if she saw you two together a lot, which explains—"

"Which explains why she's sending people after you," Kairi cut into Ino's thought as she nodded her head, not noticing Ino's glare. "It makes sense."

Tenten didn't believe how obvious the reason was. "And since Sakura's coming back soon… I'm guessing she wants me rid of sooner, so Sakura doesn't have any troubles," Tenten said to herself out loud.

"That makes sense too…" Kairi said, nodding again.

Ino sighed after a minute of silence. She wasn't really the type to brood over things—but she did have her share of a depressed state once in a while. Even when Sakura left unexpectedly, she had been back to her normal self in a week, which was less than it took the others to get over. "Let's get out of this serious mood," she said. "So Tenten," with a sly smile, she leaned in, "what's happening with Neji?"

Tenten blinked at Ino. It was weird—one minute she was sad over Sakura, and the other minute she was trying to pry out information about Neji from Tenten. Kairi rolled her eyes and Hinata smiled a little. The depressed mood disappeared.

"Uh…" Tenten looked around nervously as she wondered what to say. She hadn't planned on talking about this with them—but she might as well do.

"Oh, just spill it, Hinata told us everything," Kairi said with a wicked grin.

Tenten looked at Hinata with wide eyes. "How could you??" She cried. "I thought you didn't gossip!"

Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but Ino cut her off. "Oh, don't blame Hinata. We dragged it out of her," she said with a proud smile. "It's pretty obvious when Hinata's trying to hide someone's juicy secret. She stutters a whole lot," Ino said with a laugh.

Tenten frowned as she poked her bread with her finger. She lost her appetite when they were talking about Ami and Sakura. "Well, you know what he did so…"

"Oh just tell us," Kairi said. "We know that you left the house in the morning two days ago and then Neji left after you, and Hinata told us that she saw you two hold hands in the hallway~," Kairi said in a sing-song voice.

Tenten blushed—she knew that Hinata would tell them. "It was nothing big," Tenten muttered as she looked down at her unfinished food. Trying to make an excuse that she couldn't talk, she stuffed bread after bread into her mouth.

"Stop eating like a pig, Tenten!" Ino cried out of disgust.

The food was done—there was no more excuse as to why she couldn't explain. Tenten sighed as she sipped her coffee. "It was cold," Tenten said, shrugging. "So he held my hand…" She blushed again at the memory. His hand was gentle when he held her hand—no, she wasn't going to think about something like that around here.

"She's blushing!" Ino cried with happiness.

"No I'm not!" Tenten said as her face got redder. "Let's go somewhere; it's too hot in here."

"Suit yourself," Ino shrugged as she grinned at Tenten. "Let's go shopping!"

"Nice job Tenten, you got her on a shopping craze."

-

"You seem a lot better today," Neji commented as they walked down the park.

It was the second night that they had done this. Tenten had came to him again after she came back, immensely bored with nothing to do in the Hyuuga Manor. It was to her luck that Neji seemed to be finished with whatever he was doing.

"Yeah," Tenten said with a smile as she sat down on the same swing she sat on yesterday night.

They sat in silence for a while, before Tenten spoke up.

"What would you do… if Sakura came back?" Tenten asked in a quiet voice. She wanted to know the answer, and she wanted to know the answer now. It was selfish of her to want to know Neji's innermost feelings.

Neji didn't seem shocked by the question, nor did he seem to hear the question. Tenten peered over him curiously, wondering if he heard her or not.

"If she came back…" Neji started. "I don't know what I would do," he admitted.

"Do you still like her?" Tenten asked curiously.

It seemed like it was the longest silence of her life. She didn't realize that she was holding her breath until she released it after he said that one word.

"No."

-

"And then he screamed a very girly scream," Tenten concluded, nodding her head with a smile. "I don't see why he's so scared though, it was only frog juice," she said while rolling her eyes.

The two were walking back home to the Hyuuga Manor—quite slowly, too. Tenten didn't want to notice the fact that five minutes had already passed and they still weren't on the next block yet. Neji didn't seem like he was bothered by the fact—though, Tenten could never tell what he was thinking.

"I wanted to shove the frog up his nose when I heard his scream," Tenten commented with a slight laugh.

"And you were expelled from school like that?" There was a hint of doubt in Neji's tone.

"Of course not. I got expelled for starting a frog fight," Tenten laughed at the memory. "I got lectured about how that was animal cruelty. If they know about animal cruelty, why dissect dead frogs?" Tenten rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the idea.

"Frog fight," Neji mused. "That's something new."

"And the principal didn't like that," she said with a sigh. "Next thing you know, I'm back in that office because my adoptive parents disowned me," she said wistfully. "But, I didn't like them anyways. So, all ends that ends well, right? Or else I wouldn't have gone through all those foster homes and end up here with you," Tenten said with a wide smile. She stopped herself from talking even more when she realized what she had blurted out. It sounded too—what was the word? Corny? Romantic?

Thanking the world that the sun had already set and it was dark it, Tenten stared at the ground, not wanting to talk anymore. She buried her mouth into her scarf—or rather, Neji's scarf. Tenten blushed furiously as she inhaled Neji's scent on the scarf.

Tenten waited for Neji to break the silence (even if it was unlikely). She took advantage of the silence—she thought about how she could tell Neji how she felt. She didn't want it to be overly embarrassing—telling him that she wanted go out with him was too humiliating for her. Not to mention that she'd turn tomato red like how Hinata turns around Naruto.

She looked around a bit, to see where they were. They were near the Hyuuga Manor now.

Walking up the through the gates silently, Tenten still debated on what she should do. They were in the hallway now—she hadn't noticed that they had climbed up the stairs already. They walked silently through the hallways, hearing only the sounds of their walking.

As Neji nodded to Tenten as a farewell gesture, Tenten acted on impulse as she grabbed him when he turned around. It was a little shocking for Neji—since he had no idea that that was going to happen. He didn't let it show, however. He was only confused as to why she grabbed him. She could've called out his name, but instead, she grabbed him.

Swiftly completing what she thought up on impulse, Tenten tiptoed and gave Neji a light kiss on the lips. She blushed a bright red as she turned away quickly, running to her room. Neji was left in the hallway, shocked at Tenten had given him a kiss. The slam of Tenten's door brought him back to reality.

As he walked to his own room, he pondered. He wondered what had Tenten been thinking when she was doing that—or, if she was really thinking at all.

Unbeknownst to him, a small smile worked its way to his face as he shut his door quietly.

-

"I must be crazy," Tenten muttered to herself as she threw herself on her bed. She closed her eyes, waiting for her thumping heart to calm down.

She herself didn't know what she had done—she merely did it on impulse. She didn't want to see a perfectly good chance like that wasted, even if it was poorly done. Tenten opened her eyes and stared at the white ceiling.

Very much like Neji, a smile made its way to her face as she drifted off to sleep.

-

"We'll be home soon, don't worry. We have pizza for dinner—I know how much you love that."

"I'm sorry. We were too late…"

"This can't be happening."

"Don't worry; they're in a better place…"

"How can this happen? I was talking to them just a few hours ago!"

"Don't cry, I'm here for you. If you cry, I'll cry."

"I want to die, Ami… How can they leave me by myself?"

"I'm sorry. We were too late…"

"We were too late…"

"…too late…"

She gasped. She gripped on her blanket, and gripped it harder as she tried to grasp what had happened. Her knuckles turned white quickly as her hands started to shake. She released her grasp as she sat up slowly in bed.

It was another nightmare—the same as the nightmare from a week ago. How she remembered her nightmares, she had no idea. It always seemed like she remembered them right after she was awaken by them—but when she woke up after she went back to bed again, she never remembered.

She sighed softly as she got up from bed. She needed milk.

She could hear her slippers hitting against the wooden floor quietly with slight rain in the background. She looked at the window as she passed it—it was hard to see anything in the dark at this time. She thought back to the weather she watched on the news. Yes, it was going to rain—thunderstorm, if one wanted to be accurate.

Opening her refrigerator, she noticed that she was out of milk. To this, she sighed with annoyance. She had forgotten to buy it two nights ago. Between juggling school and a part time job, she had no time to buy groceries. Looking through the food, she sighed as she grabbed a pen and paper. Listing what she needed for her next grocery trip at 3 in the morning didn't seem like a nuisance to her—she need something to get her mind off of.

"Tomatoes, carrots, eggs, milk…" She muttered to herself as she quickly scribbled it down.

She yawned as she left the piece of paper on the counter. All she wanted to now was sleep. Sleep all day and all night was once her dream, but she knew that sleeping more than 5 hours would trigger something in her mind to replay her nightmares.

She felt the same way she did a few days ago—when she had wanted that extra glass of milk. Instead, there was no milk there anymore. She could tell that this was a sign.

Milk was her comfort source. The milk wasn't there.

Did that mean her comfort source—other than milk—would be gone?

Even though she had a strong desire to sleep, that thought kept her awake all night, worrying about what other horrible thing would happen next.

-

Reviewers!(:

chigirisasaki ll Gaara- aishiteru ll CatxRock07 ll HPMagicLuvr ll SnowCharms ll Hiwiwy ll foxflyer ll naruto watching freak ll FrozenVoices ll Malika-chan ll ll XoTentenXgurlXo101 ll RUNOS SISTER

I would've gotten this out earlier today, but I got distracted along the way… hey that rhymed d; Well anyways, this is an oddly long chapter for me (: I want to clear something up for you guys: at the last scene, in italics, that is when (censoredbecauseofspoiler) is having a dream. And also, each quote shows isn't like a continuing scene, it's just like random parts (or dialogue, in this case) of an event. Also, some I think one quote is repeated, so don't get confused! Even though I think some of you might… I didn't really write it in a clear way, did I? ;x

This chapter is so… bleh. Some parts of it I didn't like, but I'm keeping that to myself(: What those parts are, I mean. The title is Only You by 2PM. Korean bands have the weirdest group names ever. Oh well, they're still cute d; If you google Nichkhun from 2PM, you won't regret it! That Thai is too cute for words(: Eheh, they were another reason why I couldn't finish this chapter quicker—they kind of distracted me (: Watch Idol Show Season 3 if you're bored and have nothing to do; it's hilarious xD

Ahh, I'm totally scared of the swine flu): If I don't update in a year (and that includes updating my profile!), then you can assume that I caught the swine flu D:

d; Okay, I seem to be excited about questions these days; so who cares if they're rhetorical, I'll still answer them!

When is Sakura coming back?
She's coming back… in a few weeks (in February). The exact date is (censoredbecauseofspoiler). (:

And SnowCharms, if your question hadn't been answered in this chapter, then… it will be answered in the next chapter! :D

Only you~ can review, lol. My poor attempt at fitting the lyrics in with my plead… d; please and thankyou!