(Nothing has changed, I'm simply updating the stories to get them back into circulation.)

Chapter

Neji and TenTen stood on separate sides of the room as the counselor sat between them. Her foot rocking in the quiet as her gaze flipped between them. Neji leaned against the wall with his arms crossed while TenTen stared out a window. He never thought in his life he would be in position where he would need a third party to help him talk to his wife. But he was out of options. This past weekend proved she was more distant than normal. She slept in a spare bedroom. Even when he tried to apologize for walking out on her at the spa on Friday, she disregarded him, leaving their situation stagnant. What else was he supposed to do? Not talking about it, sweeping it under rug or keeping it locked behind doors isn't an option anymore. Not when he knows she is suffering because of it.

"TenTen." The counselor began. "Why do you think you're here?"

"I was raped."

"And how are you dealing with that?"

"Like anyone else I guess. I'm moving on."

"Are you?"

TenTen scoffed. "Why do I have to talk about shit in order to process it? I'm a ninja. I've been a ninja my whole life. I don't need help. I'm fine."

"If you're fine. Why are you here?"

She shrugs and keeps her vigilant stare on the window.

"Your husband has shared a bit of what's been going on. And with our conversation on Friday, I'm beginning to understand what's going on. But I'm afraid you're not ready to hear it. Your temperament isn't suggesting you are open to conversation."

"Just talk. I'm here, aren't I?"

"Unfortunately counseling only works if you are willing to participate."

"I'm here!" She snapped. "What else do you want? This is so stupid. Why are you making me do this?" She whispered to Neji but he continued to look at the ground, keeping silent.

"Neji, do you want to say anything?"

He shook his head. "I've said it all."

The counselor sighed, pressing a finger against her temple. "I've never dealt with two people completely unwilling to talk. Do you want this marriage to fail?"

TenTen held her head. "He's pissed because I told him a few little lies."

"Little." Neji scoffed. "You've lied to me everyday for two years."

"Stupid, inconsequential lies."

"TenTen, you can't have children anymore."

"It's my body!"

"It's a discussion we should have had as husband and wife." He bites brutally that she cuts herself off, having never heard him raise his voice in such a tone before.

She swallows her emotion and turns her back.

The counselor began, "TenTen, you broke trust. Eighteen years of trust. And you don't seem to care."

"It's not that serious."

"Yes, it is." Neji replied tired.

The counselor sits up, "Let's put it in perspective. You were raped and your husband had to stand there and watch it. How did that make you feel?"

"He couldn't do anything."

"That's very true. But it doesn't mean you don't feel anything."

TenTen shifts uncomfortably. "I was upset. But I know how much it hurt him. I know he would have stopped it if he could."

"Because you trusted him. He would have done anything if he could have. What if he showed no remorse? What if he didn't care you were raped? What if he just shrugged his shoulders, and said, sorry but oh well? Wouldn't that upset you?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"That's what you're doing TenTen. You don't care that you betrayed him."

"I care." Her voice was distant now as she hung her head.

"Then stop trying to convince us that your lies were meaningless. There is no meaningless lie in a marriage. What the question here is, why did you start lying to begin with? What happened to make you afraid of him? Or to lose trust in him that you couldn't tell him the truth anymore?"

Neji watched her face, her expression, the way her shoulders sank. What happened? The answer is simple because her lies started after a specific event they have been unable to talk about. "Hisaya." Neji answered for her.

TenTen's brows knitted and her hands fisted at her side.

"Hisaya." The counselor whispered. "Do you blame him?"

Her head violently shook, "I don't want to talk about this. Aren't we done yet?"

"We're done when you are."

TenTen took that as an invitation to leave and she rushed to the door, ignoring when Neji attempted to touch her arm and slammed the door behind her.

Neji rushed to open the door, to follow her, stop her, confront her but the counselor advised him to let her go. She was right of course. TenTen runs when she's backed into a corner. It would do him no good to follow.

Leaving without her, with their problems still unresolved left Neji depressed and miserable. How much longer would they be distant? How much time must go on before he can look at his wife again and feel her emotions, know her thoughts, share her laughter, and understand her pain? It was dragging him down, his concentration barely able to survive the days without her.

Walking home, Neji was barely aware of anything around him. People attempting to say hello and he just walked right by. It wasn't until he heard a familiar sound that caught his attention. Fists meeting flesh and soft muffled groans with each hit. He didn't care for the most part, but the cries were of a child and even those suppressed cries seemed familiar. Neji shifted down another lane, back behind a building and found the problem.

His son was surrounded by older kids, taller kids, and each of them were taking turns hitting him, kicking him, pushing him. Neji kept his arms folded as he approached, watching with knit brows as his son seemed to simply take it. He was allowing this humiliation to occur. There was no fight back. He just stood there and let him happen.

As he got closer, the kids noticed and they scattered in fear. Souji fell to the floor, spitting blood and rubbing at his tears. Neji stopped a few feet in front of him, observing him, waiting for acknowledgement.

It took a few moments before Souji got strong enough to get back on his feet and when he looked up, horror shined in his face, "Dad." He sat back on his heels, exhausted.

"Why are you doing this?"

His brows knit in pain and he dropped his head down, ashamed. He shook his head, unwilling to answer.

"Tell me. Or do you want me to finish what they started?"

Souji's fists clenched against his thighs.

Neji kneeled down in front of his child, grabbing his chin and forcing his head up. He was thrown back by tears pouring down his bruised and swollen face. "I don't understand, Souji. Why are you doing this?"

"I pushed him." His lip trembled as he tried to suppress his tears.

"Pushed who, son?"

"Hisaya."

Neji's body froze. Every muscle tense, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. Souji's confession wasn't the surprise. Neji always suspected it. Assumed it. But the fact that Souji still held onto the guilt after so many years and allowed himself to be punished for it, shocked him cold. His poor boy.

Neji pulled his son into his arms and held him against his chest. "It doesn't matter." He murmured into ear. "It wasn't your fault, Souji. I don't blame you. Your mother doesn't blame you. It was an accident." Souji clung to him, his sobs muffled against his kimono and Neji only tightened his hold. It was words he should have said two years ago but the words that had been so difficult to find in his grief. Now he couldn't allow one more day of suffering for either Souji or TenTen. "Let this go, son. Forgive yourself." He pulled Souji out of his arms to grip his face, "Do not punish yourself anymore. Souji, you are all your mother and I have. We cannot lose you, do you understand?"

He nodded rubbing his eyes. Neji kissed his forehead, pulling him back into his arms. His eyes distant as he picked him up, carrying him back to their house as his tears continued to fall, long awaited forgiveness weakening him and he fell asleep before they got through the door. Neji rested him in bed, wiping any more tears from his damaged little face.

With a purpose, Neji left the house and searched for TenTen. She was easy to find, like she always is, training at their old grounds, fighting invisible enemies. He rushed to it, coming upon her suddenly that her knife was raised and he grabbed her wrist to keep it from burying in his skull.

She blinked surprised. "Neji?"

"I don't blame you."

Her brows knit. "What?" She whispered, though he was sure she already knew what he was talking about.

"I don't blame you for what happened to Hisaya."

Tears sprang to her eyes but she shook her head, licking her lips. "Don't do this."

"That night. When he was acting strange. When he wouldn't eat. I remember I asked you if we should take him back to the hospital."

She squeezes her eyes shut, and tears drip down and off her chin. She was shaking and yanking her hand away but he couldn't let her go. Not now.

"You said he was fine."

"Stop. Stop." Her hand fell out of his as she collapsed to the ground, burying her face into her thighs. Her fist smashed against the ground and she let out a deeply buried cry.

He kneeled beside her, waiting for her to calm down.

"I should have never been a mother." She whimpered. "How could I not know? He was dying and I was sleeping!"

"TenTen, neither of us believed he was hurt. A simple hit on the head. We have seen so much, survived so much, we were immune to it. We didn't understand how fragile he was."

She popped up, "I should have known! What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing."

She buries her face in her hands. "Why can't I be like you? Why can't I move on? I wanted to be normal. To stop crying all the time. To be myself again. I'd stand next to you and try to get your head, try to forget him as easy as you did. But I can't. I can't, Neji and I'm sorry. He died, and I can't find myself again. I thought those pills would help but I was afraid you'd see weakness in me. I killed our son. How much longer would you force yourself to love me?"

"Force myself?" Neji reached out for her arms, pulling her hands away from her face and hefting up to her knees. She kept her head down but he maneuvered to meet her miserable gaze, "You did not kill Hisaya. You and Souji are too much alike, it is ridiculous." She smiled but it was weak and fell. "You think you are lost, TenTen, but I have you. You are grieving and to expect yourself to simply move on is absurd. I have not forgotten Hisaya. It is a struggle every morning. He is an ache in my heart. I see him playing in the gardens. I hear him in the quiet of the halls. His memory soaks in our floors. If it is weakness than I have an abundance."

Her eyes softened and she sniffed as her hands came up and rested on his chest. "You think about him?"

"I have his blanket."

A pained giggle past her lips, "You kept his blanket? Where?"

"It's under the floorboards in the bedroom. I also have three outfits, his toy car, and his shoes."

She laughed through her tears, resting her head on his shoulder. "I can't believe you. I threw all that out and you went behind me and hid it." Her smile faded and her hand touched his cheek, "Thank you."

"I was under the impression you did not want to remember him. We should have spoken about him more. Two years later and we are no further from our grief. Do you understand why it is important that you talk to the councilors? It will not be instant, but it will not take years for you to heal. You are not lost, TenTen. But neither are you the same and it is illogical after all that you have experienced to be the same. As I am not the same. We have changed. But do not think anything else has changed. I am standing here now, because nothing else has changed. It was never an obligation to love you." He cupped the side of her face, his thumb brushing over her wet cheek. He rested his forehead against hers.

"I don't want to talk to anymore councilors." Before he could protest, she clenched his kimono, the way she always used to and looked him dead in the eye, "I want to talk to you."

It was the best thing she could have said. It was the moment they managed to find the same page.

He kissed her lips to hide his smile. He grabbed her hand and led her to the tree, where their initials were craved eighteen years ago and sat beneath it, to talk to each other the way they used too and begin to refurbish a connection that could never be severed.

That's it guys! What do you think? Heartbreaking? Perfect ending? Or did you want the suffering to last a little longer ;) Let me know. Be sure to check out my other stuff. I have a bunch of Neji and TenTen, all different, and Sakura and Sasuke dramas. Any ideas you want to see in action? Toss them my way. YOLO!