Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"No."
Neji clenches his fists to keep from flinching at the piercing harshness of her voice. The oppressive summer heat is suffocating, and under the spotlight of the full moon, Neji feels much too self aware. He had been foolishly confident that his teammate would reciprocate his sentiment of love, and his mouth tastes bitter as he swallows his disappointment. Still, because he is not used to being refused what he so desires, he presses on undeterred.
"May I know why?" he asks, trying to sound collected, though his inquiry is punctuated with notes of frustration.
Tenten exhales slowly, and her features become set with apathetic hardness. Her eyes regard him coolly, and for a moment Neji cannot recognize her. Right before him, she has transformed into a stranger; she is nothing like the woman he loves.
Neji will not admit that he is frightened by this metamorphosis, that her gaze makes him feel hollow right where she always made him feel whole. She is the only one who has ever understood him, the only one who has cared enough to understand him. She is all he has, and he does not understand how she has managed to slip away.
"You're lost. You don't love me, Neji. Ever since you stopped believing in destiny, you've been searching for something to hold onto. I will not be that for you."
Dressed in all black, Tenten's form blends in with dark forest lining the clearing. Neji acknowledges that he does want to hold onto her, because he's afraid she'll disappear. She is the one who is lost, he thinks, led astray by too much ambition. He tells her so, his tone a mixture of anger and concern.
Her laugh is unnatural and jarring in the stillness of the night. Neji's brows furrow. She is too far gone, and panic sets in as he realizes he might never be able to bring her to her senses.
"Tenten, give us a chance. I won't hurt you, " he pleads softly, knowing that her heart has grown so callous from being ripped open, bled, and scarred many times over. She deserves better than this, deserves a better man than he is, but he knows that at least with him, she will always be loved and protected. And he vows that he will become better for her, that he will heal her. He owes her that much at least, for all the years that she has kept him from becoming what she herself is now. She no longer even seems human. She is a snake, bound to slither in the dirt, rather than the dragon she had always envisioned herself to be, untethered in flight.
Tenten shakes her head, and something in the way her posture shifts tells him this conversation is nearing its end.
Still he tries.
"Tenten, please. I-"
"I don't deserve love, Neji. You and I both know that. I am too tainted to ever deserve to be loved. Love is for the innocent and pure. For those who are brave enough to look their foes is the eye. For those that don't operate in the shadows. For those that Konoha regards as valiant. You are one of those, Neji. You attack from the front while I attack from behind. This is why you and I will never work."
Neji's heart cracks. Foolish girl, he thinks. How dare she think so lowly of herself?
"But we did work," he reminds her, desperate for something, anything to say. "For so long we did work. We were partners."
Tenten's features twist, and though her lips are still pressed firmly together, Neji can hear her screaming. For a moment her brown eyes are filled with a sorrowful apology. The Hyuuga's breath hitches as he catches a glimpse of the part of her that is struggling to break through the walls she has erected. A part that is trying to run to him. For a moment, Neji can see her again, as she was in their genin days. She isn't gone, he realizes with a rush of relief, she's just hidden and chained somewhere in the depths of her soul.
"We are nothing now, Neji. Let me go. It is best for both of us." Her words are spoken in an impatient whisper. She also knows that her true self still remains somewhere buried deep within her, and it is becoming harder to subdue her with Neji so close. She is angry with herself, for slipping and giving him hope.
"We are done," she repeats with an air of finality, and evades Neji's reaching hands. In a flash, she turns on her heel and sinks into the shadows of the forest. Neji does not follow her though there is a lightness blooming in his chest. What he has seen tonight has strengthened his resolve, has only made him love her more.
He will give her time, he will be patient, because he understands that is the kind of love she needs.
Her shackles can be undone, she can soar once more, and just as she was his key, he will be hers.
Thank you for reading and please review!
~M.I.