Tenten had been pacing back and forth in front of the Hyuuga compound for almost a quarter of an hour, which despite making her less lethargic than she had been earlier that morning, had only served to heighten her stress levels.
"This is ridiculous," she muttered to herself as she pivoted on her right foot and continued wearing a long straight line in the ground, "it should not be my responsibility to chase him and apologise when he was the one out of line."
She turned again and continued, distractedly fidgeting with a blunt kunai she had found in the hidden panel inside one of her winter boots when she pulled them on that morning. It flipped back and forth between her fingers as she waged battle with herself.
"Then again, I am the one who slapped him…but he did deserve it…but I hate not resolving an argument and he knows that!"
Turn.
"If he wanted to work it out, he would have come and found me already."
Turn.
"I know he needs a cool down period but he never takes this long, he likes the make-up sex too much."
Turn.
"Aargh…I can't believe I am even worrying about this!"
Turn.
"He probably doesn't even care that he was a complete and total ass…"
She was interrupted mid-step by a familiar shadow that fell across her path and looked up in time to see the owner quirk his eyebrow to indicate the weapon in her hand.
"If you have come to kill me you are going to need something sharper."
Neji stopped a respectable two feet from her and crossed his arms, "What are you doing here, Tenten?"
Tenten blushed at being snuck up on and then suddenly felt silly for even being there. He didn't look anywhere near as distressed as she still felt about it so when she answered all that came out was, "I'm meeting Hinata for lunch."
She could feel Neji's violet eyes appraising her closely even without making eye contact with him, and for once understood the disconcerted feeling other people got when he directed his gaze on them.
"It's only ten-thirty in the morning. Aren't you a little early?"
He was still staring at Tenten when she looked up and no matter how much she tried to stop it, her cheeks continued to feel hot.
"Obviously that's not the only reason I came here," she snapped, then took a deep breath and added, "I came to apologise for slapping you in the face. You deserved it…but it wasn't exactly my finest moment."
If he hadn't suddenly tensed across his shoulders she would have thought his answering chuckle was sincere, "Wow, that is almost as good as one of my apologies."
"Well I notice one of those isn't forthcoming…" Tenten bristled at his surprisingly blasé response. Clearly it wasn't as well worded as she had intended but at least she was trying to communicate. In fact, as she looked at him, she could not even read his posture in the same way she usually could. Ordinarily, they were both highly attuned to the other's body language and non-verbal cues, but right now he was closed off and she had no idea why he kept staring at her.
"Look Neji, I'm sorry. Okay? I shouldn't have hit you and I could have worded that better but the point is you were awful…you made me feel awful…but I am here now trying to talk to you so we can get past it."
He shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything.
"I know you aren't a fan of talking about your feelings but you can at least normally express them somehow. You usually cool down and come back."
Now he looked more uncomfortable and almost a little guilty but he was still appraising her with an odd expression.
"Why didn't you come back?"
"You told me to get out, remember…" looking around he noticed they were still alone, but he didn't like having this discussion in full view of the compound gates and wanted to wrap it up and get her out of here before anyone saw them together.
"I didn't tell you never to come back…" her voice sounded so small and he glanced up to see her eyes shiny with unshed tears. It was like a knife in the center of his chest realizing that he was responsible for that, but it was not the time nor the place.
"Ten, I can not do this right now. I am busy here, and I don't have time to get into it with you right in front of the compound."
He crossed his arms, schooled his face into a stern, unaffected expression and breathed slowly, trying to stay composed while he watched the most important person in his life swipe surreptitiously at the stray tears escaping down her cheeks.
"Right, of course. You need to be at the place you hate most in the world. Why wouldn't you want to be here?"
Neji could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up – that creepy feeling of being watched only a Hyuuga could perfect – and turned his head to the left to see the last person he had wanted to cross paths with walking towards the compound gates. His traitorous relative had obviously completed his mission and had inconveniently arrived home at the same time Tenten had decided to drop by. His penetrating gaze swept over both of them before making eye contact with Neji and the sinister intent he saw there forced him to unconsciously sidestep to place his body between those eyes and Tenten, who was struggling to keep her breathing even.
"Just go home, Tenten. It's done."
He caught movement to his right and suddenly Hinata was standing beside him, having seen the pair as she passed the gate and come out to see Tenten wiping her eyes. She gave her cousin an incredulous and pointed look before stepping in between them to take Tenten by the arm and turn them about face. As she led her distressed friend towards the village Neji heard her sooth, "Come on, Tenten. Let's get some tea and sit down for a minute."
Neji turned away to face his adversary, who was still watching Tenten and Hinata, fixing him with a carefully blank expression and well-practiced air of arrogance. The bloodline trait was no longer activated but there was a disturbing quality about his expression that unsettled Neji.
"Trouble with the ladies, Neji?"
Neji scoffed and tipped his chin up in reply, "Hardly. She was here looking for Hinata." Then he turned and stalked off towards his quarters, hoping to draw attention away from the women but knowing all the while that he was too late.