The stars were bright that night. Ironic, Tenten thought, to be shinning so brightly-much like living things tend to do-despite the fact that they were dead. Despite the fact that they were thousands upon thousands of miles away. Already dead. And although people tended to admire stars, were at awe at their likeliness, Tenten couldn't help resenting them. Couldn't help being reminded of her long-lost friend, ached at the thought after all these years.

It had been years since the war, since all the horrible things happened, everyone moved on. Even her. For crying out loud she had her own weapon shop, doing what she loves best and yet… Every time she would look at the stars, she couldn't help thinking how stupid it all is. How pointless death and stars and war are.

But, Tenten figured quite a long time ago too, most than anything else she felt jealousy. Bitter envy because they are dead, and she isn't. Because they are beautiful whilst doing it, admired by all for their brightly demise. And she is just here, wishing she could join them or wishing the sky could be consumed by darkness just so she could have them in her grasp, alive.

They reminded her of Neji.

It wasn't that late at night, actually. Tenten just felt like closing up shop early this time of year. She always closed up early when the anniversary of the war and Neji's death came around. And every time it circled back, she couldn't help thinking that if they had arrived three days earlier, they could have prevented all these bad things from coming about, all these deaths. But, of course, they couldn't have, she couldn't have, for two people couldn't change the fate of war, of the world, of death, of fate. Even more so with the scroll burned to ashes, carried by the wind…

But, perhaps, if she was close to him, if she was be his side like she always had been, if they had just stuck together… Perhaps it would be him who would have to deal with her parting. She always knew he was the stronger one.

Tenten thought the dread she felt would go away once she set foot in the Leaf Village, but it wasn't so. For the war had already begun.

It was complete chaos. They were split almost as soon as they anchored the ship. It wasn't until days later that they could see each other again. After death and lost and lack of sleep and utter exhaustion, there in a tent set for quick resting, for gathering just enough strength to keep going that they saw each other again.

They were surprised that they even ran into each other. They hadn't in the past few days at such close proximity. Bumping into each other now felt like a tease.

Tenten couldn't utter words, for what words could even sum up what was happening around them. Neji nodded as if he understood her silence as explanation enough. War and death have no explanation.

After standing, looking at each other and the ground, Tenten mustered enough courage to say, "I haven't seen you in so long. I thought the worst." Her voice betrayed her, the thing she feared would happen. Whilst she tried to control her emotions, a single tear escaped to damn her efforts. She chuckled, as if the situation they were in was mere nonsense. She wiped at her tear, looked him in the eye. "But then I though, 'Neji is too clever for death. He would tease me if he heard me say I thought he could be bested.'"

Instead of teasing he said, "I feared the same. I couldn't bring myself to look at the bodies sprawled on the ground." He was still looking at his feet as if he couldn't believe they were in each other's presence.

Tenten was shaking. Be it of exhaustion or relief, she didn't know. She tried to shake it off. She breathed in deep and walked over to him, glad the place was deserted because she didn't know if she would otherwise. Still, at such close proximity, Neji wouldn't stop looking at his shoes.

"Maybe tomorrow will be the day…," she couldn't even finish the sentence. Rather, she took one of his hands, trying to insert some of his strength into herself. She always knew he was the stronger one. She squished his hand, making him lift up his gaze. "But, tonight, we rest. Fate has brought us together somehow, so let's rest together as teammates. Gather strength. Tomorrow we might not have that chance."

Neji nodded but did not say a word. Tenten took that as her cue to take charge and lead the way. She found two cots in a corner where they could rest. Neji laid first in his and Tenten took the one right next to him. They stared at each other in silence. Once, Tenten thought Neji's scrutiny was too uncomfortable to bare but now she just felt nostalgic. Tomorrow she might not have this delight.

Neji must have thought the same because he outstretched his arm to her. Tenten only stared, stricken, didn't quite know what was happening. Neji sighed. "War has left me hollowed and cold. They didn't teach this in school and no matter how best they could have tried to prepare us, we could never be equipped. Maybe this is too much to ask but let me feel the warmth of something living and remind me that I am alive."

Tenten couldn't utter a single word. This was too out of character, even for Neji. For him to say something like this… War really did shock him. They were truly not prepared. Suddenly, she understood the cold that he was talking about and felt herself shaking and shivering.

Tenten dragged her body to his outstretched arm and sank into his chest. She marveled at their closeness. At their mingled breaths and heartbeats. Never in her wildest imaginings could she muster such a thing.

Thinking nothing else to do, Tenten pressed herself to him, hugged him fiercely. Feeling quite melancholic for their unsure tomorrow and their possible demise.

To her immense surprise, he hugged her just as fiercely.

The next day was starting just as usual until Naruto's daughter, Himawari, came in. Although, her being in the shop wasn't a strange occurrence. She became quite fond of weapons just like Tenten herself and frequented the shop as much as she could after her doll incident. When she found out Tenten was one of her uncle's teammates, ever more so. Her visits would often end up with her asking things about her late uncle. To which she would immerse herself in explanations. Any other day, she would have welcomed the young girl, but today she couldn't bring herself to fake a smile.

After a while of gazing and parading-picking up, looking and placing back- around the shop, Himawari finally noticed Tenten's dim spirit.

She came up to the counter where Tenten was currently at, her mind in the past while her body was in the present.

"What's wrong?"

Tenten came to, seeming to look at her for the first time although she was aware that she had been inside the shop for more than half and hour.

"Nothing," she said as she sighed. She was sure she wasn't convincing.

"It doesn't seem like nothing," young Himawari pried, her worry making her wrinkle her nose.

She looked at Himawari. She looked so much like Naruto and Hinata…and somehow like her Hyuga friend.

"Tomorrow is the…anniversary."

Despite the vagueness in her explanation, Himawari seemed to understand. She nodded, pondered for a moment. She looked up at her, mouth firm. "I think uncle Neji would want you keep living, don't you think, Tenten-sama?"

Tenten only stared because words escaped her at the moment, feeling her heartbeat pick up the pace. "I am not… stuck," was the only thing she said.

Himawari shrugged and kept moving on through the aisles. "If you say so."

Tenten frown. Neji would keep his opinions to himself.

It was like all the stars in the sky dimmed out. She half-believed she was dreaming. She felt hollowed, cold, asleep. Only when she saw his dead body did she believed everyone. How she wanted to believe it was a lie. This wasn't reality. This couldn't be.

Fate had a way of making everything feel ironic.

How ironic that last night was their last night together as teammates… maybe even as something more. And now…

She didn't let herself cry out, sob, throw things, fight. No. She mourned him in silence. Only letting a few tears fall at a time. Even after war, the pain was still raw. It still gnawed at her. She never realized how important he truly was and how his absence would crush her somehow.

One thing she understood with his lost. It was that life was fragile, intangible, it came and went like running water through finger cracks. Like dying stars.

She understood that she was never honest with herself and with her feelings…

"What is this?" Himawari's voice made her startle back into the present.

Tenten shook her head, trying to focus on what she was showing her. She felt her heart sink all of a sudden.

"I read it but can't seem to understand it," Himawari went on. But Tenten felt like she was hearing her through thick glass.

She started to shake. She thought she had misplaced it at war-

"Maybe you will understand," Himawari offered her the scroll. "It's weird. It was inside another scroll. Maybe somebody was trying to pull a prank. Sometimes Boruto does that. He-"

"I'm sorry, Himawari," Tenten heard herself say as she took the scroll from the young girl. "I am not feeling that well today. Anniversary and whatnot. I am going to close up now."

"But it's not even that late!" Himawari protested. "What's wrong? Did I upset you?"

"No, no, no. No such thing," she assured, but she was pushing Himawari out the door and turning the key on the lock.

They were on the clear. It was obvious that they were not being followed. Although, Tenten should be feeling relieved, all she felt was dread.

Why aren't they being followed? Wasn't this scroll important? Wasn't this able to shape a war?

"What's wrong?" Neji asked.

She tore her gaze from the horizon to look at him. She sighed. "I am worried."

Neji shook his head as if he couldn't understand the reasoning behind it. "Why should you be? We are not being followed. We burned the scroll. We are safe."

Tenten stared at him, debating whether she should say the truth or not. "You are right," she lied.

She was looking at the scroll since she got out of the shop. The sun was still out when she got to her house in the secluded part of town and stared at it, contemplating. Now it was night, noises died down. Her heart was still racing just as fast, her fingers twitching with the effort of not doing the jutsu. All she heard was her pitched breathing.

It's true that she had burned a scroll that fateful night many years ago. A random scroll, that is. One Tenten didn't mind parting with, one that looked similar to the one Neji wanted to destroy. She had been planning on going to Tsunade-sama as soon as they docked on the Leaf Village, and although she truly felt for her friend, she felt she needed to respect her ninja way and code of honor more. She was going to give the scroll to the Hokage, being careful not to mention the part about Neji wanting the burn the scroll and their only chances of winning the war with them. She was going to do what was right. So, she cried that night, yes. Not for turning her back on what was required of them as ninja (though her friend didn't seem fazed by it at all), but because she felt like she was betraying Neji. She had never, up until that point, kept anything from him.

It wouldn't mattered at the end, though. Once they docked, they her both thrown in the middle of war. And amongst all chaos, exhaustion and dread she had misplaced the scroll somehow. She thought it was lost forever, perhaps destroyed in the battlefield or stolen. Now, after all these years, it had resurfaced like it was trying to mock her.

Maybe if the anniversary wasn't tomorrow, Tenten wouldn't feel the need to use the scroll. Maybe if he wasn't haunting her so much, it would be an easy decision. Now, she just pondered.

There was nothing to lose. The jutsu didn't require much either. She recalled Neji's word that day. There were no strings attached, not like with other Reincarnation Jutsu's that he had read about before. It was just a life tied to a life, Tenten kept confirming as she read the line over and over again. Life tied to life.

"It seems like an abomination to life, a crime even, to mess with something so precious." His other words came to her suddenly. If she were to do this, she would be going against his wishes. And she couldn't want that, would she?

She sighed. She was losing her mind. She need rest, sleep, food. She couldn't believe the thought had even crossed her mind. The thought of dishonoring Neji even after his death, discourage her enough to put the matter to rest.

Tenten shook her head. No, she wouldn't do something he was so adamantly against. Tomorrow she will finally deliver the scroll to the Hokage. Only, this time it wasn't Tsunade, but Naruto.

Tenten knew she was dreaming because he was there.

She wished it wasn't a dream. She wished it was as real as this feverish nightmare made it out to be.

He was in front of her, staring. She might have felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny but all she felt was nostalgic.

Neji moved his lips, but no words came out.

"Huh?" she heard herself say.

He moved his lips, but again his words were soundless.

She got closer although she could already make out the words.

She faintly heard him say, "Life tied to life." When she looked up, his eyes were devoid of life.

Tenten startled awake, a screamed caught in her throat. She felt her breathing come in fast and in big gulps. She was sweating, shaking. Her room was spinning. Breathe, she commanded herself, just breath.

Tenten breathed in deeply, feeling tears trickle in her eyes. She tried to find the scroll next to her nightstand in the dark. She had placed it there last night before she went to bed.

She breathed in again, opening it with shaky hands. No, no, no, no! She looked at the content inside and shook her head. Stop!

Tenten placed the scroll back in the nightstand and sank in the bed. She stared at the ceiling, trying to focus on one thing. Or at least not focus on the only thing she really wanted to do.

She shut her eyes hard, willing herself to sleep and fall to sweet unconsciousness. Eventually, she felt herself let go. That didn't mean she found rest, let alone peace. Her dreams were haunted by her late friend, by the past, the would-be future, about things said and done, and does never spoken. She dreamt that her unease let her to unlock the scroll, binding life with life like he was insisting she do when she first woke up that night.

In fact, she was consumed by nightmares all night. They made her wake up sporadically throughout the night up until dawn. There came a point where she couldn't even distinguish dream from reality. To her, they were one in the same. Finally, when morning came, she exhaled out of relief. The sun always drove the shadows away.

Tenten laid in bed for what felt like half an hour, her body aching due to lack of rest. Her mind equally as tired. When she stretched and decided to get up, she heard something thud on the floor. Even before she knew it, she saw what it was.

The scroll had been unlocked.

Not all her nightmares were actual creations of her imagination. No. Some of them were real. She did do it.

Life tied to life.

Author's note: Hey. I know it has been too long. I wish I could have updated sooner but collage and work have taken up most of my time. I don't plan for this chapter to be so short and vague. In fact, I thought it would be a two-part fanfiction, but it seems it's not going to be like that. Hopefully, I will have an update soon. Please review and let me know what you are thinking so far!