By the time I decided it was time to go home, it was past two in the morning. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto were passed out in the basement, and the latter was snoring so loudly that I half expected the glass in the coffee table to rattle with each breath.

"Oh, Naruto," Hinata sighed, shaking her head. But her pale eyes were gentle as she pushed back his unruly blond hair and kissed his forehead. Neji and I waited near the stairs. We didn't say anything to each other, but I wouldn't call the silence that lay between us one of awkwardness; we may not have exchanged much on the front steps of Kiba's house, but it had been enough.

The silence continued for the entirety of the car ride to my house. Hinata dozed a bit in the front seat, leaning against the passenger side window. I could find no excuse to tell Neji and Hinata that they would easily believe, so I had no choice but to give him the directions to my dead-end street. The darkness was thick and heavy, save for the twinkling of a few lonely stars overhead; I inwardly hoped that it would obscure my house enough.

The car cruised to a stop. I shouldered my bag and opened the rear door. "Thank you for the ride," I said as I scooted out into the chilly night air. I couldn't help but shiver a bit as my eyes fell on my house, and with more than just cold. No lights flickered in the windows; all was eerily dark and silent.

"You're welcome," Neji said, and I shut the door. I trudged along the short pathway, up the front steps to the door, and still Neji sat in the car at the sidewalk's edge as though waiting for something. Waiting for me, I realized. He was making sure I got inside safely. At the same time this inexplicably pleased me, I wanted nothing more than for him to drive away.

My heart pounded loudly in my ears as I leaned against the door, trying to deduce any sound coming from the living room, TV or otherwise. I took a deep, shuddering breath. It was now or never, no getting around it. Finally I pushed open the door as quietly as it would allow. I heard the soft, rolling crunch of leaves under the wheels as Neji pulled the car away from the curb, U-turned, and disappeared down the street and into the thick darkness.

A strange feeling seeped through my stomach as I watched him go. I may have put it off until then, but I was beginning to feel the weight of the loneliness. Day after day, week after week, month after month. It was the same routine, never a hiccup or surprise. Not anymore, at least. Sasuke was gone. Kohaku was gone. And I could feel myself going, too. Suffocating under the secrets and lies, putting on a show that only I could see. Little by little I could feel the facade beginning to crack.

I gritted my teeth as I closed the door behind me. It wasn't fair. None of it was. It wasn't fair for Sasuke to leave me in the way he did. It wasn't fair that my father hated me. It wasn't fair that I had to lie to my friends with the continuous hope that things would get better. It wasn't fair that my mother had died and left me with this shell of a human being I once knew as my dad.

Mother. Mom. I could still smell the faint traces of her perfume, even though my father had gotten rid of almost everything of hers. For weeks after her death I would wake in the night and feel her sitting at the edge of my bed, the soft pressure of her hand rubbing my leg atop the blankets. I would hear her voice sometimes, calling me to dinner or telling me that she loved me or asking me to help do the chores around the house. It was funny how I never realized how much those small things mattered until, one day, they were ripped out of my life in a collision of steel and flashing red lights.

But of course, feeling sorry for myself had never accomplished anything. Still, I wanted nothing more than to pack my things and run, never come back, erase every memory of this horrible place. Maybe one day. But for now, I had to focus on keeping what little threads of my life I had left woven somewhat together.

The house was silent and still. I stood there in the darkness, listening, before making my way up the stairs to my room.

It rained for the entirety of the weekend. If my father had been aware of my absence Friday night he didn't mention it; he was exceedingly disoriented, no doubt because of the alcohol. He could barely manage a few words without slurring, and finally he just trudged up to his room and slept for hours on end. For what felt like the first time in months, I had a normal, beating-and-yelling-free weekend. I read, I cleaned, I did my schoolwork. And I was grateful to no end.

I sloshed through puddles to school Monday morning. The sky was a somber, gloomy gray, occasionally letting loose a brief bout of drizzle to voice its discontent. My bangs were plastered to my forehead by the time I made it to the paved entryway, just in time for Neji's car to pull into the lot. For a moment I stopped in an internal debate: wait for him or keep going? But the instant I saw him emerge from the car, long hair waving softly in the damp breeze, I no longer had any choice in the matter. I simply stood rooted to the spot as he approached.

Again with that maddening, small smile. "Good morning." He had faint shadows beneath his ghostly white eyes.

"Morning," I said, falling into step beside him. "You don't look so good."

He made a dismissive gesture. "I'm fine. A little tired."

It was only from experience that I was able to see he was lying. I made no comment, resolving only to nod in understanding. "Yeah. And the weather is hardly helping."

He gave me a once over that turned into a slight double-take. "Did you walk here?"

I nodded slowly, raising my eyebrows. "Yes. What's the matter?"

"You're shivering."

"It's cold."

"You'll get sick."

"Probably."

"That's hardly a pleasant notion."

"Nope, sure isn't."

He looked at me a moment with a mixture of what appeared to be amusement and irritation. "Did you copy my notes?" he asked finally.

"Oh, yeah." Still walking, I shrugged my backpack off one shoulder and rummaged around for the notebook as we entered the building. Thankfully the rain hadn't seeped through. "Thanks, again."

"Of course," he said as he took it from me. Silence fell as we continued walking.

The first bell sounded; I faltered a bit, wanting to continue our not-conversation. But Neji took an opposite turn down the hall and left me alone. I heaved an inward sigh and found myself looking forward to lunch.

"Tenten, sit with me!" Ino greeted me upon my entering my first classroom. With barely contained surprise I took an empty desk beside her and dropped my bag heavily onto the floor. "How're you?"

"Um...pretty good," I said slowly. She looked impeccable as usual, though she made a habit to push the dress code as far as it would go. Her off-the-shoulder purple top dipped erratically as she leaned over toward me. Her flowery perfume filled the air around me; I tried my best not to cough at the pungent smell.

"Sakura told me she had a fight with Sasuke the other night."

I blinked once, twice. How low I had sank, to be gossiping. And with Ino Yamanaka, of all people. I shook the thought away, but I couldn't resist taking the bait. "Really? About what?"

Ino arched one perfectly shaped blonde brow. "You, of course," she said incredulously, like she couldn't believe I had even asked.

My heart dropped into my stomach. "What about me?"

"Come on, Tenten, you're a smart girl," Ino said with a wave of her hand. Her aqua-colored nails gleamed in the light. "Sakura is nearly positive that Sasuke has feelings for you, and she thinks he's lying about it."

"Well then, she'll just have to get over it, because that's not the case," I said numbly. "Sasuke took a step back from me to try to fix things with her, didn't he? Because she was jealous that we were so close?"

Ino drummed her fingers against the desk. "The thing is, I agree with her. I think Sasuke does have feelings for you, and he did this not only to please Sakura, but to keep those feelings a secret from the both of you. It's because of the fact that you guys are so close, and that despite that closeness he could remove himself from the friendship, that would ultimately prove to Sakura that he doesn't like you." She sounded so casual, like this entire hypothesis was nothing more than a casual statement about the weather. "Simple, really."

She had to be kidding. I pressed a hand to my forehead. "This is absolutely nuts."

"Hey, I remember back to when I'd be fucking ecstatic if Sasuke had a thing for me," Ino said with a toss of her long hair. "It's a good thing I got over that a long time ago." She looked at me, at my apparent misery, and her face softened. Her teal eyes were gentle as she said, "Hey, I know what you must be thinking."

"Do you?" I shook my head. I was in no mood for the sudden appearance of Ino the Shrink.

"Yes. That you've screwed up their whole relationship." All right, maybe she did know. "But that's not true at all. You did nothing wrong here. No one did, really. People can't-well, mostly-control how they feel about others. If I'm right and Sasuke does like you, imagine how this must be making him feel."

"If he isn't happy with Sakura," I said, closing my eyes for a moment, "then he needs to break things off with her. It's not fair to either of them." How many times I had I said that to him before?

Ino paused, glancing toward the front of the classroom where Mr. Sarutobi was writing on the board. She lowered her voice. "I'm going to tell you something you probably don't know about me." She pushed her long bangs back from her face. "Do you remember when Shikamaru was dating Temari?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Keep in mind, he and I are really close, too," she said. "You wanna know why they broke up?"

It didn't take me long to figure it out. "You're kidding."

"I was a bitch to you last week," she said. "But then Sakura told me what happened, and I realized how sucky it must be for you, because I've been there." Then she shrugged. "But, one way or another, it works itself out." I nodded silently, processing this. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," I said, surprised.

"Do you think," she said, running her fingers along a strand of her hair, "that it's possible to love two people at once?"

The question shocked me into silence for a long moment. Finally I asked, "Do you?"

She nodded wordlessly. And truth be told it was all I could think about for the next class period, and as I sat down at the lunch table, surrounded by the cacophony of chatter, I felt horribly isolated.

"Tenten, helloooo?" Naruto waved a hand back and forth from across the table. "You in there?"

"What?" I blinked, trying to shake the thoughts away. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm a little out of it today."

"Obviously." Shikamaru pushed his food around with apparent disinterest. But despite the devil-may-care attitude, I could feel the weight of his stare, silent and questioning. I gave a little shake of my head and that seemed to satisfy him for the moment.

"Where's Neji?" Choji asked suddenly, and only then did I become aware of his absence. All eyes scanned the room for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Beside me, Hinata folded her hands in her lap. "He's...with a school counselor."

"Wait, what?" Kiba blinked. "Why?"

"Think about it, you nimrod," Shikamaru sighed.

Kiba rubbed the back of his head with an uncomfortable expression. "Oh, right. Sorry."

We were all quiet for a few agonizing seconds. I thought back to that morning, just hours before. Neji had looked so exhausted, like he was barely holding it together. I knew it, because I felt it. And he shouldn't have to feel it alone.

"I'll go wait for him," I said finally.

Hinata looked at me, surprise clear in her pale eyes that so resembled her cousin's. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea…He may be awhile." She seemed to hurriedly tack on the latter statement as an afterthought, as she looked visibly alarmed by my words. Part of me wondered if she was afraid of Neji, or at the very least intimidated by him.

Then again, I was reasonably sure that everyone was intimidated by him, myself included.

"That's okay." With everyone staring at me with varying degrees of confusion, I picked up my bag and made my way out of the cafeteria. I took a seat on the bench across from the main office; through the pane of glass I spied Ms. Shizune at the front desk, typing away at her computer. To the left was the door to the counselors' offices.

Minutes ticked by. The dismissal bell rang, then the warning bell, then the third period bell. I considered leaving and going to class. It was none of my business, being here, and I doubted Neji would be thrilled to have me know where he'd been. But before I could ponder it any more, the door opened and Neji stepped out. In his hand was a small square of blue paper.

His eyes alighted on me almost instantly. "Tenten," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh..." Suddenly I realized how stupid this whole situation looked. If Neji didn't think I was strange before, he surely thought so now. "Hinata-"

"-told you, I presume," he said, and the chilliness to his voice caught me off guard. The shadows beneath his white eyes looked even sharper in contrast. When I opened my mouth, to say what I didn't know, he silenced me with a shake of his head. "Please. Don't."

"Neji," I said, standing up. "Believe me when I say that I don't feel sorry for you. I had to do this when my mother died last year, and I know how degrading it feels. It goes without saying that it didn't help me very much."

"Why are you here?" he asked quietly. He stood very still, barely even blinking. "This isn't any of your business."

The words stung, but I knew they were true. "We don't know each other very well, I know that. And it's none of my business to pry into your life." I held up my hands, palms facing out in an I-surrender motion. "All I'm asking is that you consider me as an alternative to a shrink. Because I do understand how you feel. You don't have to believe me, but I do."

"You make it seem as though you can cure all of my problems," he said dryly.

I scoffed. "I can't even cure my own." A little too much to share, but I shook it off. There was no taking it back. He simply looked at me for a brief instant.

"You're very up front," he said finally, expression bland as ever. I didn't know if that was meant to insult or not.

"I'm not trying to proposition you or anything, not at all," I said hurriedly.

His eyebrows raised. "I never said you were."

Stop talking, you moron. Just shut up, apologize or something, just get out of here. For a moment we stood there, staring at each other, and my face felt as though it was burning with the energy of a miniature sun.

"I'm sorry," I said finally, straightening a bit. This seemed to catch him off guard: his eyes widened ever so slightly.

"For?"

"Sticking my nose in where I shouldn't."

My eyes may have been deceiving me, but the hard, stern lines of Neji's face seemed to relax a bit. "If people 'stuck their noses in' more, I don't think we'd have such a profound need for therapists."

My mind wandered back to my earlier conversation with Ino. She had put herself out there, reassured me, confided in me even though we were as intimate as strangers. Yet we had found an inexplicable common ground. Standing in front of Neji on another such ground, I knew there had to be some hope of us becoming friends.

"Maybe," was all I said.

He looked down at the blue paper in his hand. "We should get to class."

I nodded, and together we walked silently down the hall to the classroom. I fumbled for excuses as to why I was late; Ms. Yuhi was not one to accept most without some form of evidence to back them up. But before I could open my mouth, Neji held up the blue note.

"We were in the main office," he said calmly.

Ms. Yuhi nodded without perusing the slip of paper. Neji crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash as he walked to his desk. I again made the decision to sit behind him; this time he didn't say anything on the matter.

"Thanks," I whispered to his back.

"You're welcome," came the soft reply, and he turned just enough to glance at me over his shoulder. "Can you try to pay attention this time?"

"I'll do my best." I folded my arms with a small huff. "But I like your notes better."

He only shook his head and resumed facing the front of the room. Ever the diligent student. But I did as he said and wrote down nearly everything I could. I found that, with the help of Neji's notes, I grasped the concepts with much less trouble, and I told him so after class.

"Is that so?" He looked only mildly interested as we walked to fourth period.

"It is so," I replied, mimicking his bland tone. He narrowed his eyes at me but said nothing. "Maybe you could let me see your notes again? Or tutor me?"

"Another proposition?" he asked, and I realized with some degree of surprise that he was joking. He resumed his serious demeanor almost instantly. "I wouldn't say I'm that great of a teacher."

"I'd really appreciate it if you tried," I said innocently.

"I'm sure you would."

"I'm serious!"

"I never said you weren't."

"So you'll do it?"

"i never said that either."

"Neji! Please?"

"I'll consider it."

"Fine."

"Fine."

I narrowed my eyes, but I couldn't dismiss the feeling of warmth in my stomach as we walked the rest of the way in silence.