AN: So I do these things based on prompts, and the prompt for this one was Breakup. So I ended up writing angsty romance even though this is a humor and friendship fic. Sorry. Next time will be lighter.

Neji still sometimes felt the ghost of Tenten's lips against his. He still sometimes felt her hands caressing his back the way they used to when he was tense after a mission and she felt the need to make him relax.

He still saw her all the time, of course, and that was not his imagination. They were still on the same team, and even if she hung out with Lee more than him these days, they were still friends.

And no hard feelings.

He didn't hate her for falling in love with that boy from the sand. Certainly he had never expected it, but when he saw the two together, he could not help but notice that they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

Only that was how Neji used to feel about his own relationship with Tenten. She used to be the one that would balance him out, give the playful side to his seriousness, back him up when he made stupid boasts or ended up in ridiculous arguments against Lee.

One day he talked to her about it, when they were sitting at a campfire alone, feeling nostalgic because this was the way it had begun too.

He told her that she had been perfect for him, he had always felt that way, and he had never wanted her to leave.

"We fit together so beautifully," he whispered. "Tenten, why did we break up?"

She smiled at him, sad and playful at the same time. "Just, it never went two ways, you know. I always loved you so much, but it never really felt like you loved me. I got tired."

"But of course I loved you!"

"I know, I know," she soothed. "It's obvious now that I look back. I guess I knew it even then. But with Kankuro, I don't have to wonder, Neji. He lets me know."

"I showed you I loved you too. Didn't I?" He'd held her and kissed her and sweated in training with her and shielded her in battle. He didn't know what more he could do.

"But you see, Neji, Kankuro doesn't just show me. He tells me." Her smile grew a bit fainter.

"You barely know him."

"I'll know him better in time. And you know, he actually tries to get to know me."

"I tried!" Had he? It didn't take much trying to get to know Tenten. She'd been his teammate first, and he knew his whole team as well, probably better than he knew himself.

"Maybe," Tenten murmured. "Look, I don't love Kankuro because of something you did, okay? It's just…natural."

Neji held back from protesting further, that it wasn't natural, that they were from two whole different villages and Kankuro was a puppet using freak and that Neji and Tenten were on the same team and they had been natural. He knew it would just annoy her, probably not even hurt her except for some offense on Kankuro's behalf.

She didn't care what Neji said anymore.

And he…he didn't care about her. Not really.

He knew he would find someone else, probably someone that the clan would accept more easily than the crazy, playful, tomboyish and yet girly kunoichi that he'd dated for months and who had still refused to tell him her last name. He knew that it wouldn't be long.

But sometimes, he felt the ghost of Tenten's hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears of frustration at a miserable fate, and sometimes, he felt her voice in his ear, whispering that it was all right if everyone else saw him as worthless because she loved him.

And sometimes he cried for reasons that had nothing to do with destiny and everything to do with a girl with brown eyes.

...

AN: Also, I originally meant for this fic to have Gaaten, not Kankuten, but that's a story for another day.