A/N: Sorry again for the prolonged absence! This piece is a bit choppy and I'm not happy about the shifting narration, but I hope you still enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"You're not here."

Tenten blinks away the distracted haze that has settled over her eyes and raises her brows at her companion.

Neji stares intently, never one to repeat himself, turning the glass of sake between his hands.

Tenten lifts her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug, returning her attention to her own cup of sake. After a moment's thought, she downs it in one gulp and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. She reaches for the bottle they are sharing while trying to avoid Neji's expectant gaze, but her former teammate is not one to be easily deterred.

"Tenten." He moves the bottle out of her reach. "Talk to me."

This is Lee's doing, Tenten is certain, and the knowledge that Neji has not come to see her of his own accord leaves her bitter. Neji had joined ANBU two years ago, and since then, has only spoken with her thrice.

"There is nothing to talk about. I'm fine."

Neji snorts. "Lee has been pestering me for the past month about you. He's worried. Clearly something is amiss."

So she had been correct in her assumption. "Tell Lee that if he's so worried, he should come talk to me himself. No need for a liaison."

Neji eyes her sternly before his features soften. "Lee came to me because you kept shutting him out."

"And why do you think I would let you in?" Tenten bites, watching with secret satisfaction as Neji pauses, clearly taken aback by the venom in her voice. She takes this opportunity to reclaim the bottle of sake.

It is a while before Neji speaks again. He studies her quietly as she pours another cup of sake, and his concentration doesn't break until she proudly places the empty bottle between them. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes have become glassy and distant once again.

"What are we, Tenten?" he asks in a whisper that is barely audible above the din of the bar. Their friendship had always been muddled by mutual attraction, though neither had ever formally acknowledged it.

Another silence settles over them. The reflection of the tea light candle they have pushed to the side of the table flickers unsteadily in Tenten's eyes as she mulls over his question. She doesn't look at him when she finally answers.

"I don't know. I don't even know what we were before."

"We were teammates," Neji offers," and friends."

Were they ever more than that? Could they have ever been more than that? Could they be more than that? Tenten wonders.

"What is this really about, Neji?" she cuts as coolly as she can.

"You're upset with me."

Tenten lets out a frustrated laugh. This conversation is going nowhere, and they both know it. "I don't understand why you're bringing this up after avoiding me for two years."

Neji opens his mouth to clarify that he hasn't been avoiding her, but thinks better of it when he catches the telltale signs of tears building at the corners of her eyes. Guilt settles uncomfortably in his stomach and he doesn't stop her when she loudly calls for a waiter to order another bottle of sake.

She's crying and she doesn't even understand why. For months after Neji had left the team, Tenten had grappled with the question of what might have been had she and Neji dated, but it has been two years damn it and she really should be over this- over him-by now.

"You say I'm not here, but every time we talk you are the one that seems so far away," she tells him, her gaze returning to the candle. "It didn't have to be this way. You chose this, Neji." She glances at him briefly, at those full moon eyes she feels so stupid for loving even now.

She holds her breath under the weight of his stare, wishing the waiter would hurry up with the damn sake.

"Is it too late to change my choice?"

Yes, is Tenten's angry knee jerk answer, but she does not grace him with a reply. Does she really want to end their relationship completely?

Neji waits patiently, but when Tenten stubbornly refuses to answer, he prompts, "Is it too late to at least apologize?"

Tenten has half a mind to get up and run as far away as she can, and half a mind to reach over the table and kiss him. She is paralyzed between the opposing pulls of logic and emotion.

"You're right," Neji concedes, "It doesn't have to be this way. We shouldn't end like this."

The waiter finally arrives with the bottle of sake, and Tenten doesn't even bother with the cup. She manages to finish a quarter of the bottle before Neji wrenches it from her grasp.

"How long have you been drinking like this? This is what Lee has been worried about, isn't it?"

"I'm not a drunk," Tenten glares, "And I can take care of myself."

"But you haven't been taking care of yourself," Neji asserts. Tenten can feel her temper rising at the disappointment in his eyes.

"How can I?" she seethes, "How can I when the person who was supposed to be my best friend, the person I've loved since I was 13, just abandons me? How am I supposed to act? What am I supposed to do?" Tenten's voice reaches a hysterical pitch as hot angry tears trail freely down her cheeks.

She swipes for the bottle, but Neji refuses to give it to her, and instead grabs her hand with his. "I'm sorry," he tells her, eyes shining with regret, but Tenten is too blinded by her tears to notice.

"Forget it, Neji. I don't give second chances." She pulls her hand away from his touch and rises from her seat. Neji doesn't follow suit, knowing that stopping her would only aggravate the situation.

Tenten gives him one last glare before she exits the bar and tries to ignore the feeling of finality as she steps into the cool night air. She feels as if she has just finished reading the last chapter in their story and has finally closed the book for good. She clutches the bottle tightly to her chest as she heads home.

Neji's words "You're not here" ring in her head in a smooth baritone.

And she wishes she really wasn't.

A/N: Thank you for reading and please review!

~M.I.