Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Nothing

Part: 1/3

Special Thanks: goes out to DarkAnonymous324, KNO, Kratos Wilder, imjuzakyd, naash, kenzinator, Hysterical Insanity, and Franoncrack for all your reviews! You all blew me away with each one, especially since several of you mentioned that chapter 26 is your favorite so far. I also want to send a shout-out to I-Heart-Hatake-Kakashi, who once again inspired a few portions of this trilogy. Thanks!

Author's Note: I woke up the other morning with this trilogy fully plotted in my mind. I got so excited for it, since it seemed like a neat idea. Usually this is not a line of thought my mind wanders down, but I thought it was intriguing, and who was I to look a gift muse in the mouth? I know this first part might be a bit confusing, but please bear with me - I promise all your questions will be answered in parts 2 and 3! In the meanwhile, thank you so much for reading, reviewing, alerting, and favoriting my story, and I hope you enjoy this piece!

*~Nothing~*

She could sense them watching her from the other side of the room, practically holding their breaths, waiting for her to snap. She could even see them in the edge of the mirror's reflection, four pairs of eyes gazing nervously at her.

Tenten shifted her gaze to the fifth woman in the room, the reflection of herself that wasn't really her. Gone were her weapons scrolls, her headband, her twin buns, her comfortable missions clothing. In her place stood a woman of sophistication, dressed in a beautiful kimono, hair curling down around her shoulders and face, skin painted just right so she looked like a delicate doll, but not a clownish mockery. Many said she'd gone from having nothing to having everything, but meeting her own gaze in the mirror, she knew deep inside herself that she still had nothing. Nothing that mattered, anyway.

One of the women in the back of the room crept forward, her usually happy expression set in an uncharacteristically somber one. "Here, Tenten." She held out a bouquet of flowers, fresh and beautiful and fragrant.

"Thank you, Ino." Tenten accepted them, briefly holding them to her nose to inhale their scent before lifting her gaze to her reflection once more. This is my decision. My choice. If I do this, the pain will go away. I'll forget, and… Did she really want to forget? She wasn't sure. But she had made her decision, told herself a thousand times as she cried herself to sleep, as she allowed him to start healing her heart, as she endured her friends' sympathetic words and gazes, that everything would be all right. That, in the end, this was the way things were always meant to be.

Ino's act of courage brought the other three women to her side, each of them making last-minute adjustments to her clothes and hair. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Sakura went to peek outside before opening the door fully. "He's here."

Turning to face the man who had, over the years since her parents' death when she was four, become her big brother and surrogate father, Tenten forced a smile on her face. "It's time already." Though Tenten hadn't been watching the clock, she'd known deep inside herself that this was coming. That it was time for her to put away the last remnants of her life before, to let the old Tenten die and the new be born.

Kakashi watched silently as Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Temari all hugged Tenten and whispered something reassuring to her before slipping past him and moving to take their places at the head of the wedding procession. When they were gone, Tenten finally looked up to meet the one dark eye studying her intently. "Say it, Kakashi. I know you want to."

He looked surprised that she was letting him say what he'd wanted to for the past few months. "Are you sure you want to do this, Panda?"

The nickname he'd given her as a child, which usually made her laugh and throw a playful punch at him now as an adult, barely made her lips curl in a ghost of a smile. "If I didn't, we wouldn't be standing here."

Sighing, Kakashi entered the room and came to hug her gently but firmly, careful not to mess up her dress, makeup, or hair. "I want to believe you've healed, Tenten," he said. "I've hated seeing you hurt so much these past few months. But-"

She couldn't let him say anything more, or she'd fall apart. She'd been doing that far too much; was secretly afraid that, if she let it happen again, she wouldn't be able to pull the shattered pieces of herself back together this time. "If I do this, it will all be okay again." The lines were intimately familiar to her now, as easy as breathing, since she had been repeating them to herself and everyone else for so long.

Slowly, Kakashi let go of her. Tenten felt like it was for forever, that she'd somehow disappointed him and things would never be the same between them again. But she knew that was irrational - Kakashi had promised long ago that he would always be there for her somehow, and nothing would ever change that - and fought back the urge to cling to him as she had when she was a child. When he spoke, though, he made it all the harder. "I know I can't change your mind. I was never able to. But tell me one thing, Tenten, before you do this. Are you sure this is what you have to do to be happy again?"

Turning, Tenten met the gaze of her reflection again, studying the soul she'd learned to hide behind her masked eyes. "I don't know if I'll ever be happy again," she said at last. "But this way I can forget. This way, things will get better, and maybe eventually…" Guilt stabbed her heart again. She had never admitted to herself that she was doing this for all the wrong reasons. But she wanted to forget, she wanted to heal, and he was the only one who seemed able to help her achieve that.

Kakashi sighed again. "All right. Let's not keep everyone waiting, then."

Tenten slid her hand in the crook of the arm Kakashi offered her. He looked handsome and sophisticated, for once not dressed in his usual mission clothes, though his mask was still firmly in place. Unable to help herself, she pulled him to a stop. Then she tugged down his mask (being one of very few allowed to do such a thing), and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you, Kakashi. You'll always be my big brother, and I'll always love you. You know that, right?"

Pressing a kiss against the side of her head, he said, "And you'll always be my little sister, and I'll always love you. Now come on, before you're late." His voice sounded gruff, and his tone implied that he probably wouldn't mind if she was late. She squeezed his arm, finding it almost ironic that she was having to reassure him instead of the other way around.

By the time she and Kakashi reached the doors, Temari, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata had already made their way down the aisle. Tenten allowed her eyes to rest briefly on each of the four women, then the men standing across from them: Naruto, Kankuro, a shinobi whose name she had learned but could never seem to remember, and finally Lee. They were all looking at her, all with various degrees of anticipation on their faces.

At last she allowed her gaze to move to the man standing by the Hokage, waiting for her. He looked extremely handsome in his robes, his short reddish hair just as tousled as always, sage-green eyes studying her with a warmth she'd become familiar with: Gaara, Kazekage of Suna.

The man who was about to become her husband.

Tenten resisted the urge to cling tighter to Kakashi's arm as he escorted her down the aisle. After the wedding, she would be moving to Suna with him. Though she was desperate to escape from Konoha and the memories that haunted her every step in her home village, she had wanted to have the wedding there. Her marrying the Sand's Shadow allowed her to remain in the shinobi world, something of which she just couldn't bring herself to relinquish. Gaara was offering her everything she wanted, things she was more than willing to grasp with both hands and never let go.

A small voice at the very back of her mind was screaming for her to stop, that this wasn't right, but Tenten ignored it as Kakashi slid her hands into Gaara's and stepped back. Tenten caught another glimpse of his face as he moved away: he still did not approve. She forced herself to look deeper, hoping to see at least some understanding in his gaze. It was no surprise when she found none.

Tsunade looked back and forth between Tenten and Gaara, her own gaze carefully guarded. It seemed as if she wanted to voice a few disapproving words of her own, but she simply cleared her throat and began the traditional speech given at the beginning of each wedding held in Konoha for generations.

While the Hokage waxed poetically about what lay in store for the young couple, Tenten dared to look at Gaara. His head was turned toward Tsunade, but he was watching her from the corner of his eye, the slightest of smiles on his lips. He was not really what she'd call a romantic - he hadn't brought her flowers or written her poems and love notes - but neither was…

Was. Key word. Forget, Tenten. Just forget. That Tenten is dead. This is you now, the new you. You will be satisfied, and maybe even happy. He loves you, and someday, you'll love him, too. She swallowed hard as she chanted those words over and over in her mind, trying to convince herself.

As she and Gaara turned their heads to face each other again, Tenten glanced at the crowd out of the corner of her eye. So many people had come, more than she thought would. Most of them looked happy, but those who knew her best were looking at her with uncertainty, even though they didn't know the whole story. They all knew she had been anguished for a while, but then her mood had changed. She hadn't been happy, but at least none of them had felt like they needed to walk on eggshells around her any more.

Once again, she met Kakashi's eyes. He knew more of the story than anyone else, save for her, but he still didn't know everything. Tenten could never tell him everything. He would never understand why she was doing this, why she was making herself so unhappy so she could make herself happy again.

Tearing her gaze away, she looked back to Gaara. His long fingers squeezed hers slightly, his eyes warming as he smiled at her. It wasn't as hard as it used to be to smile back at him, which gave Tenten hope. Perhaps it was becoming easier to convince herself that everything would be okay eventually…

Tsunade stopped mid-word. Confused, Tenten glanced over at her, noting the way she stood with her eyes wide, face white, mouth opened in a slight "O" of shock.

Then, behind her, she heard the first ripple of gasps from those standing up with her and Gaara. Right after that, the sound spread into the crowd, the shocked sound prompting her to turn and look.

No one, not even Gaara, was looking at her. They were all turned toward the back of the room, hundred-fifty faces all wearing matching pale expressions of astonishment. Puzzled, Tenten followed their pointed gazes, lifting her own to see what had shaken some of the most unshakable people in Konoha and Suna.

Then she understood. She felt her own face drain of color; her lungs seize and refuse to provide her with more oxygen; her stomach roll with emotions she'd been trying to forget for so long.

It was impossible. She was imagining this. Something else was making everyone turn and look to the back of the room, some mass hallucination different from the one she was having.

"Tenten…?" Everything was so quiet that his hurt whisper was not lost before it reached her ears.

This was real. She wasn't having a hallucination, and neither was anyone else. Somehow, the man she'd been trying to run from, trying to forget, had come back from the dead.

"N-Neji?"

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: Please don't kill me! Or hate me, or throw rotten fruit at me... Just please keep in mind, I am a fan of happy endings... I know that this first part of the trilogy is confusing, but I promise all questions will be answered in parts 2 and 3, so please hang with me for a little while. Meanwhile, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!