E2: Looks like this one could be a bit longer, ne?

So, read, review and I do hope that you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Ten: Welcome Home

Miyako walked along the streets and quickly found the place she was looking for- an inn, one with a respectable image and reputation. She had conjured up an emerald green hooded cloak, changed her appearance, and entered the building, ringing the small bell at the desk. A young girl with blonde hair arranged her room and Miyako paid her some money, once again, summoned from somewhere else- Hiroshi had never told her, but he'd only said it was from a vault but hadn't specified which one.

"Thank you," the teenager said, handing her the change and key. "Dinner will be served at-"

"I'm eating out, thank you," Miyako cut in, and smiled. She walked to her room and sat down on the bed, feeling rather at a loss. She needed to think about what she'd do next- would she return to the island? Would she do as Hiroshi had said, and run away?

Miyako paced the room impatiently and kicked up sparks with her shoes, a million thoughts roaming her mind- one of them being the difference in time. It was past sunset on the mainland, but morning on the island- what was going on?

Finally giving a frustrated groan, she changed into a rose pink singlet top and jeans with a snap of her fingers and removed her cloak. She untied her plait of corn yellow hair and ran her fingers through her locks, turning it a jet black, and made her eyes bright blue. Pulling on a black jacket, she left the inn and the door chimed as it shut behind her.

She was fuming inside. Some part of her said that she should go back. He was her husband, her family. But… that had not been the way that she'd felt these past eighteen months. He had left her in almost every way. Just like she'd been some tool for him to manipulate- she'd danced for him, been by controlled him… and for what? She didn't know for the life of her…

The young woman entered a bar and sat down, massaging her temples as her new jet black hair fell across her face, layered and long.

"Rough day?" A man asked, taking a seat beside her. She smiled.

"You don't want to know."

"Try me," he challenged her and she flicked back her hair, hearing the catch in his breath as he saw the colour of her eyes.

"I'm Daisuke," he said, offering his hand. She took it, shaking it.

"Miyako," she smiled back.

"So, Miyako. What brings you to this part of the coastline?" Daisuke looked around the trendy bar and at the panoramic view of the ocean. Miyako looked out- the sky was kind of cloudy, the island a few kilometres away and shrouded in mist. She shivered.

"Nothing in particular," she smiled. "Just… taking a break."

"Oh, really?" Daisuke inclined his head. "A break from what?"

"Everything," Miyako leaned back on the counter. "I've just come from a place of complete… mystery and isolation- and I've broken free of my gilded cage."

"A poet," he murmured, and Miyako smiled.

"No," she said, "It's just something I heard a long, long time ago."

She was silent for a moment, turning to her new companion. He had brown eyes and chocolate brown hair that was short and spiked neatly.

"So, do you want to tell me about your day?" he prompted.

"I just did," she smiled, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket.

"May I buy you a drink?" he asked, motioning for the bartender to come over.

"Sure," she nodded.

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Miyako and Daisuke left the bar a few hours later.

"So where are you staying?" he asked her, drawing her close to his body.

"Mmm… I'm in the inn on the main street," she replied, pointing. "Right there."

"Do you want to know a secret?" he asked, pressing his lips against her ear.

"What?" she smiled looking into his eyes.

"I think you're beautiful." He said softly.

"Thank you," she smiled sadly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"No. I just…"

"Let's stay out a bit longer. There's somewhere I want to take you," he took her hand and led her through the village to a club. It was almost eleven and the line extended behind the block. They were given immediate admission, much to Miyako's delight, and her thoughts faded away as they danced.

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Five hours later, Miyako sat on the sand, laughing to herself softly. As the night had progressed, Daisuke had become bolder and bolder, kissing her repeatedly and his hands roaming freely around her body. She had, of course, retaliated and sent sparks jolting down his spine, but he'd been too drunk to care. Then he'd tried to get her to invite him into her room, and then tried to get her to go to his house but she'd seen fit to just knock him out on the spot with a lot more energy to spare.

"Pretentious git," she muttered to herself.

She got up, and stumbled slightly, still inebriated. It seemed like she'd gotten herself more drunk than she'd liked to admit. She ambled along the beach, the surf nipping at her feet, numbing them.

She stumbled, her foot cutting on a shell. And then strong hands gripped hers. Miyako looked up, taken aback in an instant. The young man who had stopped her from falling… His eyes were infinitely sad- and Miyako's heart broke for him, whoever he was. Then, she realized the peculiar hue of his eyes. They were white.

His eyes lit up upon seeing her.

"Tenten!" he said hoarsely. "Tenten- is that you?"

"I'm not Tenten." She said, standing properly.

"You're drunk," he said irritably.

He leaned in- he couldn't help it- and then felt an excruciating amount of pain in his head- it rivalled the pain experienced when the curse seal was activated.

"Tenten…" He gasped, and gathered his strength, and delivered a Jyuuken hit to her chest. She slumped forward, coughing up blood.

And that triggered something within her.

The black colour bled from her hair, leaving it brown and suddenly lifeless. She looked up at him, wiping the blood from her mouth, her eyes brown once again… glassy and blank. Neji shivered.

"Tenten," he murmured. "Tenten," he placed his hands gently on her shoulders and drew her close. "You're back."

"I don't know who you are," she said blankly, and Neji held her an arm's length away.

"Tenten? It's me, Neji."

She shook her head.

"I don't know who you are!" she cried frantically and tried to push him away, but found she couldn't move. She shut her eyes and found the problem- her tenketsu had been shut in some places, so she used her mind to ease them open once again. Neji activated his Byakugan and his eyes widened in shock when he saw what she was doing.

"Tenten?" he whispered. "Who have you become?" He thought of all of those times they had shared: as Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin- the times they had shared as team mates, friends and lovers… a thousand memories passed through his mind, and into Miyako's. She fell to her knees, her mind overloaded. Tenten's memories- her mind- was trying to take over, but that would leave all of Miyako's memories behind… everything in her brain going back to normal- and she didn't want that.

She met Neji's eyes, her own flickering with a million memories and he suddenly couldn't help it- he kissed her on the lips. He couldn't control himself. His heart was ripping from being so close but so far away from her.

Every cell in Miyako's body seemed to explode. She was complete now, she knew it. Everything fell into place. She was Tenten… and she was Miyako. Time would tell who she would become… but for now, for Neji… she would be the kunoichi who had stolen his heart.

Neji sighed. Her lips were sweet, tasting of summery cocktails with a darker tinge of blood, and just having her in his arms was just as intoxicating. Tenten smiled.

Neji almost died, but he was alive- more alive than he had been for the past five years. He was pushed over the brink of sanity, and Tenten was bringing him out of a downward spiral which led to madness.

But it was a contradiction, hypocrisy, only pretence.

Every moment of it was also an eternity of excruciating pain and soul searing ecstasy. Every sensation was heaven but also hell. Every heart beat was one that brought them closer to death but they were only alive because of this one other human being. It was bittersweet and short lived, for the kiss brought back Tenten's memories – the rest of them. The moment when they had first met, the moment when they had first kissed, the moment when they had both been so complete and whole that they had never wanted to be any further apart than they were ever again, and the moment when they had both simultaneously ripped each other apart and she left him.

They broke apart, but only barely. Tenten's faintly shaking hands were around Neji's neck and Neji's slightly trembling hands were caressing Tenten's face- like they were so used to.

"I love you," Neji said, his lips brushing against Tenten's with each syllable. Tenten's knees buckled and she broke down and cried for so long on Neji's shoulder. She cried for the time that they lost, the fact that they still loved each other, and for everything they had hoped for, lost in one instant.

She met his eyes yet again and there was a flash before her eyes. Hyuuga Hiashi… sleeping… and within his dreams, a murderer killed the Hyuuga's free spirit. She saw him write a note with his eyes closed, his head lolling like a broken puppet's and she sobbed. Behind him, Hideaki Hiroshi appeared and he smirked.

Then the images were gone. Tenten was left standing in Neji's embrace, her mind reeling with shock. Of all the things to see…

"Tenten…" Neji whispered.

"Neji," Tenten whispered back. "I didn't know. I never knew," she babbled.

He caressed her shoulders, and they realized that she was both Miyako and Tenten now, changed.

"Neji I need to talk to you…" she whispered. "I …"

"Neji?"

Tenten stiffened. It was another female voice.

"Neji… what are you doing down here?"

Tenten quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and held on to Neji, as if she could stay in that way forever with him.

"T- Tenten?" Emi stuttered, catching sight of the brunette in Neji's arms.

Tenten thought that she was seeing Asuka.

"Asuka?" she said flatly. She had the same fairy-tale princess kind of hair and long lashes that framed her beautiful hazel eyes. She was completely beautiful, and she knew why Neji could love her in a way that he had never loved her.

"My name," said the Asuka-look-alike proudly, "is Takumi Emi and I am going to have to ask you to get away from my fiancée."

Tenten ignored her and looked up into Neji's eyes, a mixture of stormy grey, silver, and lilac, and knew she was home.

Neji knew what she was thinking and murmured softly in her ear, "Welcome home, Tenten." Before gently letting her go, with a gentle look in his eyes that shot envious pain into Emi's heart. Neji had never looked at her like that! And why was Tenten back all of a sudden? Why were they looking at each other like that?

Emi calmed down. They only had a few months left before she and Neji would be finally married. Nothing this little drowned looking rat could do would sabotage her carefully laid plans.

Tenten met his eyes yet again, Emi vanishing from her line of sight.

"Neji," she said, and suddenly sensed a kind of… wrongness within him. "I need to talk to you," she said, her voice quavering.

Regardless of the unsettling difference in him, Tenten did not look away from Neji's eyes, her mind reeling from the so many memories that were flooding into her brain. She was mesmerised. She felt that if she left him, then everything would just go away- and she didn't want that to happen, fiancée or not.

Neji could not object when Tenten just kept staring into his eyes, like she had not seen them before, and could not help but just gaze back, trying to sift through the emotions in her eyes. The most alarming thing of all was the indecision in her eyes- a … blankness, almost like she was not whole, like there was a vital part of her that was missing and had been for so many years. Neji did not realize it then that it had been him.

Emi glared at the two of them, silent and breaths in sync. They had completely forgotten about her!

Neji's eyes began to roam around Tenten's body. Her skin was bronzed and a few freckles adorned her cheeks, but she'd lost weight- he could see that her curves had been slightly reduced. She seemed so… fragile. Neji mentally smirked- if he had said that to her, she would have done something to make sure that he took it back and never said it again. A moment later however, a fierce desire- a fierce need- to protect her surged through his body, sending tingles to his finger tips.

Neji's eyes continued their observations. The most noticeable change of all however, was her hair. It no longer fell in beautiful, silky cascades down to her waist but was short and spiky, falling to her shoulders. The Hyuuga touched it.

"It's different," he murmured hoarsely.

"I hate it," Tenten replied, surprised by the hatred in her own voice. It was… just spreading through her body and made her vision blur. "Well, I like it a little," she said before she could snatch back her words.

Neji looked once more in her eyes, saw the utter hatred, and frowned. These past three years had changed her more on the inside than it had on the outside, he supposed.

Emi smirked. Tenten was a basket case! She'd have no trouble keeping them apart.

Tenten just kept thinking about what Hiroshi had done and she swore to avenge Hiashi's death, and the time that she and Neji had lost- the life that they had lost. This time, her vision blurred with tears, dizziness swept over her, and her knees buckled once more.

Emi watched as Neji smoothly gathered the kunoichi in his arms in one motion, his left arm behind her back, and his right arm hooked comfortably behind her knees. Tenten murmured something inaudibly and snuggled closer to his chest, sliding her arms around his neck like it was something that they had always done. Emi could only feel that feeling in her stomach – the feeling one gets when they are plummeting straight into the ground.

Once the trio arrived at the beach house, Neji quickly placed Tenten on the bed in the main bedroom and helped Tenten take off her clothes which smelled of smoke, alcohol and sweat and change into thicker and warmer pyjamas, drying her hair with chakra-heated hands. When he was done, Neji pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and murmured softly in her ear. Tenten smiled sleepily and nodded. Her breathing deepened and slowed as she drifted to sleep peacefully.

Next chapter: 'She Talks to Angels'

Tenten needs someone to be nasty to, but Lee will be coming back in (Yay!) and the kids. You have to love the kids.