E2: Slight alterations… mm… the plot starts changing more from here on, so if the story doesn't make sense, don't read it unless it has a tag at the top like this. Lol. I still think it's tacky.
Chapter Four: I Love You
Tenten watched the man hit the ground with a sickening thud, blood staining his clothes with an alarming ease. She was puzzled- he hadn't even put in the effort to try and stop or dodge the weapons- but then again, that was something Kankuro would pick up on as he watched the footage.
The weapons specialist heard a noise. She looked at her enemy, lying in the shadows of the trees and felt her eyes sting slightly as her glasses refocused to show what she wanted to see. The man was taking a pill.
Tenten drew her weapons out of the man's flesh and, taking a deep breath, plunged them in once more, even though she was standing a few meters away. The stranger coughed up more blood, and the life left his body in a thick gurgle, a twisted smile upon his face as his fingers twitched, shaped like a claw.
The weapons expert retrieved her weapons from where she stood, wiped them clean on the grass, and walked silently over towards the body. His features were slack and lifeless, but his eyes, even in death, still retained their evil glint. A moment later, a bright flash burned Tenten's eyes through her glasses, and she staggered backwards. She cursed loudly and wrenched off the gadget, rubbing her eyes. Tenten sighed and opened her eyes slowly, still staring into the cool, cold shadows. They seemed soothing.
"Tenten? We can't see anything, just like you," Kankuro said.
"Sorry. The flash bomb was still a shock to me." Kankuro breathed in sharply. "What is it?" the weapons expert asked.
"The body is gone."
"What?" Tenten looked and, sure enough, her enemy was not lying on the ground; not a trace of blood or bent grass to mark his fall or death.
The kunoichi brushed a few strands of hair away from her face with her right hand, stopping the transmission of video streaming.
"Was it necessary to kill him?" Kankuro asked in her ear.
"I have a feeling… he's not dead. He can't be. People like him never die easily- it takes many, many battles, even if you don't get kill yourself first," Tenten said, starting to jog again and ignoring a tingling feeling in her spine.
Kankuro shrugged. "Proceed with mission as planned."
The kunoichi found comfort in the steady motion of her feet pounding against the ground. She found that her heart was beating faster than it normally would while running- and Tenten knew why. She couldn't shake off the feeling that this man had not died.
Something hit her. The scratch marks on his face had not been present- the wounds he had afflicted upon her still remained, so it only made sense that the wounds she had caused him, by rights, should still be there. But they weren't. Tenten was beginning to stress- and when she stressed, she had a tendency to lose her temper very easily.
The kunoichi crashed into something, and fell backwards.
"So much for reflexes," Tenten groaned to herself. She suddenly realized that there was a man around her age lying on top of her. He was dressed casually in jeans, a blue shirt and a black wool blend coat that fell down to his knees. His blonde hair seemed to shine like platinum, with the sun behind him, and his green eyes sparkled good-naturedly.
Tenten blushed. The stranger quickly scrambled up but tripped on a stick he had originally tripped on and fell onto the young woman again.
"I'm so sorry!" he stuttered, mortified to no end as he stood, this time placing his feet firmly on the ground. Tenten stood and rubbed the back of her pants, her face still red, looking determinedly on the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said again as Tenten said, "It was my fault."
"It's okay," they said in perfect, unrehearsed unison, and laughed, the awkwardness leaving them.
"Um," Tenten felt the awkwardness creep back into the atmosphere.
"I'm Hideaki Hiroshi," The young man bowed as he introduced himself.
"I'm Miyako," Tenten smiled.
She rubbed the back of her head.
Hiroshi caught sight of the bandage around her wrist and he frowned, but remained silent.
"So… what brings you here today?" Hiroshi asked.
"Oh- I'm heading towards the town, for a night out- I'm new, so I wanted to just get used to the area," Tenten smiled.
"Ah… I see," Hiroshi nodded, not noticing Tenten's pointed look.
"Um, yeah- I'd better get going," Tenten smiled and shook her bangs out of her eyes. "I'll see you around sometime then, Hiroshi."
Tenten began to walk slowly once again. She almost smiled when she heard Hiroshi call her name.
"Miyako!" Hiroshi sighed. "I don't usually do this, but would you like to go out and get some coffee with me?"
Tenten laughed. "You don't normally do what- ask out a girl or ask out a girl you've just fallen on?"
Hiroshi laughed nervously.
"When were you thinking about?" Tenten asked abruptly, throwing the young man off.
"Is tomorrow night okay with you?" he asked.
"Go for it!" Temari yelled in her ear. "He's cute, and nice and you know, this could be a great opportunity to gather some information… he could become a permanent source!"
Tenten shook her head.
"I think I'm doing something tomorrow night…" Tenten rubbed her forehead. It felt a bit naked without her forehead protector there. She noticed the sting of rejection in his eyes, and quickly added, "But I'm not doing anything tonight, so how about it?"
"Tonight? Seriously?"
"Yeah, well, my roommate tells me that I need to get out more… she's extremely annoying," Tenten said, more for Temari's sake than Hiroshi's.
"I hope this… meeting won't get you caught by someone in the village," Neji said softly in her ear.
"You're just jealous, aren't you? Don't worry- you can trust her, she's not someone like…" Temari trailed off.
"Yourself?" Neji suggested, and Tenten smiled when she heard Temari's dry, sardonic laugh.
"Miyako?" Hiroshi was a bit worried. This young woman seemed perfectly fine, it was just that she seemed to space out quite a bit and smile to herself.
"Yes? I'm sorry, I was just wondering if I left something at home…" Tenten smiled.
"Well, do you have it here?"
Tenten drew the keys from her pocket, and jangled them, smiling.
"Yes."
They were silent for a few moments, and the all too and unfortunately familiar awkwardness began to settle between the pair.
"I see… so do you want to get going, then?"
"I guess so," Tenten couldn't help but notice that fact that it was extremely uncomfortable between them- not the smooth ease in which she and Neji got along in, even in silence.
"Whereabouts are you staying?" Hiroshi asked as they walked.
"I'm staying in town- I've only been here for a few days, so I'm trying to get my head around things," Tenten quickly improvised. "Do you live around here?" the kunoichi quickly shifted the topic off her.
"Well," Hiroshi bit his lip. "I moved in a few months ago- I'm living on an island."
"An island?" Tenten wasn't sure if she had heard correctly.
"Yes- I live on Lion Island, out to the east from here."
"Is there anyone else living on Lion Island?"
"Not really, unless you count a few servants- I own it, you see," Hiroshi shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh okay, then. That's interesting," Tenten smiled as she did a quick mental calculation. Hiroshi had moved in a few months ago, and he lived on an island out on the water to the east- it was a possibility that he was linked to the supposed Hyuuga who, after all, did live in the house near the bay mouth which was east from where they currently were.
"You are quite a mystery to me, Miyako," Hiroshi smiled at her, and Tenten, puzzled, tentatively returned it.
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The walls were a dark reddish burgundy colour, the carpet was scarlet, and the furniture in the room was dominantly made of mahogany wood- even the kickboard and trimming of the swirled wallpaper was of the same timber. The lights were not bright and not dim- it was supposedly 'romantic', the kunoichi thought as she took in her surroundings. There were only a few patronages so far in the coffee shop- a man in a black trench coat hunched over a dark mug of a curiously bubbling liquid (it reminded Tenten of the Curry of Life); a woman with long blue locks and a bubblegum pink streak that was plaited into hair that had once been a part of her fringe that had grown out and, extraordinarily enough, a shinobi from the Wave Country. Tenten quickly looked in the other direction, then remembered that she was not wearing her forehead protector, and relaxed slightly.
The pair sat down in a booth and ordered their drinks- Tenten ordered jasmine tea (coffee wasn't something she liked to drink if she hadn't made it herself) and Hiroshi ordered a strong black coffee.
"So," Tenten began. "Tell me something about you that no one else knows about you."
"That's a strange question." Hiroshi said, fiddling with a napkin as they waited for their drinks to arrive.
Tenten smiled.
"But… let's see. Something about me that no one else knows," Hiroshi mused for a while, watching the woman he knew as Miyako as he thought. She had braided her gleaming chestnut hair and wore an amber pendant around her neck which was contrasted by the bracelet she wore around her wrist. He could tell it meant a lot to her- she constantly fingered the accessory absentmindedly and her eyes clouded for a few moments, like she was thinking about something- or someone.
"I …" Hiroshi began.
"Sir," a waiter placed their drinks on the table and tapped Hiroshi on the shoulder. "You have a phone call." The man motioned towards the phone, located a few meters away in a shadowy corner.
"Excuse me," Hiroshi stood and walked over to take his call.
Tenten toyed with her bangle as she stared at something in the far distance that only she could see. She heard someone sit on the seat beside her and she looked up, expecting to see her companion.
All she could see was a pair of blue eyes gleaming from the depths of a black hood.
"Listen to me," he said, grabbing Tenten's bruised wrists. She winced, and glared at him. "Make a noise and this knife is going into your stomach." Tenten felt the blade through the cloth of her shirt and jacket and nodded.
"I'm here to deliver a message. Hyuuga Hiashi is dead. His will has been found, and your precious Neji will leave you for the woman he has to marry- and he will grow to love her, in a way that he never loved you."
Tenten froze.
"I don't believe you," she said, her voice as icy as a bitter arctic wind.
"See for yourself- go and run home to him, and he will tell you and watch as diamond tears run down your face…" the man sneered as Tenten's eyes gleamed with an angry fire. The kunoichi picked up her cup of jasmine tea from the table and held it to her lips. In a swift, fluid motion, she flung it into the man's eyes and flicked her hair, the chopsticks flying into her hand. She wrenched her wrist out of his grasp and stabbed the man in the chest with the poisoned senbon, and ran out of the store, ignoring the shouts of the people in the bar and the angry and scared tears that were streaming down her face as she jumped on the building rooftops.
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Tenten pounded frantically on the front door, and it opened in mid-knock. The kunoichi fell, face forward, onto Neji's chest.
"Hi!" Tenten beamed, hoping that the tears she had recently cried were not discovered. She reached up and brought Neji's face down to her own and kissed him gently.
"Did you-" Neji was interrupted by a ringing phone.
Tenten felt a chill of premonition and the slight sheen of sweat on her skin turned to ice and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
"Yes, Hinata-sama - I understand, Hinata-sama," Neji said emotionlessly. He placed the phone back into its cradle and Tenten shivered.
"What's happening?" Tenten asked, feeling that her voice was too high pitched to be normal.
"Hiashi-sama has died."
At these words, Tenten's senses began to shut down.
"I am required to leave for Konoha as soon as possible."
The words echoed in Tenten's non-responsive mind.
"To meet my future wife."
Tenten was in shock.
"Your future… wife?" she echoed.
"Yes."
"How can you be so calm?" Tenten asked in a curiously detached voice.
"Because it was my fate."
"Your… fate?" Tenten echoed once more.
"Yes."
A heavy silence settled and Tenten's heart began to pound.
"Did you know?" Tenten asked softly.
"Know what?"
"Did you know that this day would come?"
"I had hoped not."
The kunoichi began to feel an unfamiliar ache in her throat, and her tongue turned to lead.
"Was this all just… nothing to you? If you knew that this would happen, why did you… put me through this?" the kunoichi could barely string together words to form proper sentences in her current state.
"I love you. I will always feel the same about you, and nothing will ever change that."
"Not even marrying a stranger? Not even having children? Not even…" Tenten's voice broke- and Neji's heart along with it. He felt helpless.
"Tenten, I-" he took Tenten's small slim frame into his arms, but she stood as stiff and rigid as a board against his body.
"Can't you fight… fate?" Tenten's vision began to blur as the ache in her throat increased.
"Not this time, Tenten."
"Why not?" Tears spilled over and Tenten began to cry.
"They'll kill me."
"Won't you fight for me?"
"Tenten, look at me." Neji's voice was raw and emotional. He slid his finger under her chin and lifted her face to look at his. They stared into each other's eyes. Tenten's deep amber eyes were made even more beautiful in a sad way because of the diamond tears that graced her cheeks. Neji's eyes were a stormy silvery lilac, stripped of its emotionless mask, and Tenten could not read the tumult of emotions within its fathomless depths.
The kunoichi could not help but tremble slightly as Neji wiped away her tears with his thumb. She sensed his intention to kiss her and succumbed to it, feeling the same electric tingle run through her body every time he touched her, the delightfully secure warmth that his body seemed to lend hers, the passion that swept over her senses- and for a split second, everything seemed perfect in the world once more, but she knew it wasn't. She could not ignore the tears on her cheeks that were mingling with the ones she had cried.
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Later that night, Tenten woke up and left Neji's arms. It had been a bittersweet farewell, but the kunoichi knew she had to leave. She quickly dressed and slipped on her bangle and arm bands. Before leaving the room, she walked silently over to Neji and gently kissed the teal cross on his forehead and lips.
"I love you Hyuuga Neji," she whispered- in the same manner that Neji had before she'd fallen asleep within the curve of his body. At the time, she'd wondered why his words had sounded so much like goodbye, but now, she understood- it was too painful to say anything else.
She left the room with nothing else and shut the door silently behind her. Tenten glanced at the clock in the hallway- it was 2 in the morning- and quickly walked down the beautiful staircase and the lights clicked on in the foyer, the chandelier casting rainbows on the cream coloured walls.
"Going somewhere?" Temari asked, leaning in the archway that led to the kitchen and living room.
Tenten turned around. Temari was still dressed in the clothes she had gone out in, which consisted of an extremely short, ruffled skirt with a pink, white and yellow print on it, a white low cut singlet top with beading details along the top, a wide pale pink fabric belt that was tied in a neat bow that rested on her hip and golden shoes. Her hair was unbound and fell, in soft waves, down to her hips, like golden silk.
"I'm leaving," Tenten avoided the other kunoichi's gaze.
"Why?"
"Neji is getting married."
Temari's eyes narrowed, like a cat's.
"And you're going to let him go without a fight?"
"You can't fight fate, Temari."
Temari shivered at the haunted tone in the weapon expert's voice.
"And the entire Hyuuga clan," Tenten added with a ghost of a smile on her face.
"Right," Temari rolled her eyes.
"Don't try and stop me from leaving," Tenten said, her eyes flashing.
"I'm not. I'm leaving right now, tonight."
"Well… I guess this is good bye, for now…" Tenten gave a sad smile. Goodbyes were always painful.
Temari nodded and Tenten jumped over the banister and left the house without a backwards glance, her destination unknown.