I'm still alive~ I know it's been forever. But, I'm alive. Not only am I alive but I have more to the story.

Enjoy!

As It Should Be

Mewmewmemint

Chapter Four

As Shikamaru met with the Elders and Hokage in a conjoined room, Lee, Tenten and Neji sat waiting in the next room. No words were spoken as the guards watched over the room. The three had been sitting on opposing benches on each side of the room, Lee and Tenten to the left of the door and Neji to the right. It was strange for the comrades to be sitting in silence in such a closed space. In the past Neji would be passively provoking Lee, Lee would be challenging Neji, and Tenten would be trying desperately to defuse the tension. But today it was almost as if they were strangers. Neji staring down, Lee looking at Neji and Tenten looking towards the door. The situation was different now.

Lee had been looking for anything to give himself doubt about the situation, a stray feature, any puppet strings, or even for an odd birthmark. But almost everything was the same. Ahead of him was the man he remembered, his frame, his hair, his eyes… Then Lee's eyes found the man's forehead. It was unmarked. Not a scratch nor a bruise, and even more odd, there was no mark. The Cursed Mark of the Hyuga Branch family was gone. The mark that represented so much to Neji and the Hyuga clan was just missing.

Lee cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all but one. As Lee prepared to speak, Tenten's heart began to race in anticipation. The still air thickened with it. Lee organized his thoughts under the gaze of Tenten and the guards. Lee opened his mouth ready to ask his question but the tension was suddenly disrupted by Shikamaru at the door.

"Come in," Shikamaru let out a sigh. Lee's words were forgotten.

Neji was first to go in, followed by the other two after few hesitated seconds. In the room sitting around a table sat Naruto, the village elders and a scribe taking some finishing notes.

"Have a seat and we can discuss the terms of this agreement."

After being seated, Tenten looked towards Shikamaru expecting him to continue. Instead, it was Naruto's words that came next.

"Neji… as stated earlier, there has been no evidence in your tale to incriminate you. You seem to be the true Hyuga Neji. However, Konoha is still recovering. For the village's safety, precaution must be taken. A probationary contract has been suggested in order for you to return." Naruto said looking at said man. He then reached over to the scribe for the papers traced out, "in this contract the elders and I have come up with a few conditions."

The papers were passed out to everyone at the table. It was copies of the contract, its terms listed amongst the words.

"This probationary period," Shikamaru continued, "will be supervised by Tenten and I. During said period you will be placed in a Konoha owned living quarters. You will be responsible finding yourself a job and paying for your own needs. You will be limited to only selected areas: your house, your job, and to the shopping district. Areas outside your home will only be accessed under the supervision of one of your parole officers. Weapons will be prohibited in your ownership. Along with the following rules on this contract, if any are broken, you will be immediately treated as a threat and to be returned this facility. Any questions?"

"How long?" the young Hyuga inquired. Despite the question's lack of details, the people in the room knew he was referring to how long his probationary period would last. Shikamaru answered him.

"The period of the contract will be indeterminate. It will all depend on how the circumstances change with time." Shikamaru looked Neji in the eyes. For a moment, Shikamaru was sure he detected a defiance in the pale orbs. But it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The man closed his eyes with a soft sigh, acknowledging the term. "As needed you will be subjected to check-ups to determine if any terms need to be changed. If there is no disagreement, we shall all sign at the bottom."

Naruto was first, after biting his thumb, the man marked the contracts with his bloody print. He passed them to Shikamaru who did the same. The contracts then were passed to the elders then they came to Neji.

Tenten notices him give the sheets a quick scan before adding his own thumbprint to the paper. Then the paper was offered to her next. Tenten hesitated. Looking at the papers in the man's hand, she didn't dare to look at the expecting eyes of the hand's owner. She then reached for them only giving the man previously holding it a quick glance before looking to the sheets herself.

Paper is so weak yet these papers held a lot of meaning in the words scribed in black ink. To be one of his parole officers? Tenten couldn't figure out why Shikamaru had chosen her. Wasn't she too close to the situation? Then again a lot of things were not making sense to her. Everything kept on happening. It made it hard to grasp the situation going on. The brunette girl was troubled with worry after worry and no time to think about the situation at hand.

"Tenten," Lee quietly spoke to her. Tenten hadn't noticed how lost in thought she was until his voice made her look up. The room's occupants were eyeing her with curiosity. Tenten quickly pressed her thumb into the papers in the effort to deflect the eyes from her. She passed the papers to Lee and the room looked towards him in turn.

After the last mark was pressed in the papers, Lee handed the sheets back to Naruto.

"Well, now that that is settled," Naruto said as he tucked the papers in a folder, "Shikamaru will lead you to your temporary home. Everyone is dismissed."

...

"Shikamaru?" Tenten questioned, looking towards said man.

After parting with Lee, Tenten made her way through town following Shikamaru. Only small words were spoken amongst the three. But that didn't stop the stares and whispers from the townspeople who passed. Soon the group was in front of Neji new apartment.

"Neji, this will be your new studio apartment. It already has the basics: a bed, fridge, a stove/oven combo, a small table, and a bathroom. It's small but it will serve." Shikamaru said, tossing keys to Neji, "And Tenten, it was best to keep him close to one of us. And this apartment just happened to be conveniently available. It's right under yours. what else could you wish for? Well, see guys tomorrow."

"Wait! Shikamaru!" Shikamaru returned Tenten's plea was hold up a hand over his shoulder saying goodbye as he walked away. Tenten grumbled to herself, "That guy! How could he be the Hokage's advisor and still be the laziest ass I know."

Tenten turned to look back at her companion. They were alone. When had this last happened? There must have been a time during the war but she couldn't seem to remember it.

Neji broke her out of her thoughts when he gave her a curt nod and walked to the door to unlock the front door. Tenten stared as she notices Neji slightly fumble with the keys.

"Do you think," she was startled when his lavender eyes met her's, "Do you think they got you any food? The probably didn't… I'll be back down in a second, let me get a few things."

With that, Tenten rushed up the stairs to her apartment, only taking a breath after closing the door behind her. She talked to him. It was silly but she was surprised. She actually got a chance to talk to him again. Tenten moved away from the door and began looking through her cabinets to look for something suitable.

Why had she volunteered to get him food? Was this really happening? Was Neji, the man who had been her teammate for almost half her life, just downstairs? And she had so many questions for him! Why hadn't he at least sent word when he was able to? Where was his cursed mark? What had he been doing for the past years? She felt angry. Tenten had felt betrayed. She was his teammate and yet he didn't even try to contact her or Lee. Where they nothing to him? Were they simple part of fate that was frickin' fated to pass by? How could he?

Tenten gave herself a moment to gather herself after bagging the food she was going to bring down. There was no point in becoming mad at a time like this. She would get answers out of him. Eventually…

Tenten calmly went down the stairs and stood in front of his door. Was she really still in the habit of waiting for him to open the door? Had the habit been that strong where she still expected him to sense her presence?

So Tenten raised her hand up to knock. Only to have the door open right before she could make contact. Neji stood to the side. Allowing her room to step in.

Upon entering the room, Tenten found the room to be as Shikamaru said, holding only the bare minimum.

"I, uh, didn't have much but I figured this could last you until tomorrow at least," Tenten said. She set down a wide of assortment of prepackaged noodles. "I know they're not your favorite but-"

"Thank you."

There was silence. This was the first he had spoken to her in years. His voice as she remembered it. It was soft and yet firm.

"I hope you at least have some cooking supplies." Tenten started looking through the cabinets. "Ah-ha! There's the kettle."

Understanding her actions, Neji took a seat at the table, watching her prep water on the stove."

"I figure you'd prefer the sesame flavor." She spoke more to herself than to him as she grabbed two packages.

Another silence ensued as she waited for the water to boil. As the kettle's whistle started, Tenten peeled the lids off the packages just wide enough. She then turned off the stove, grabbed the kettle and poured the water in. She was used to doing mundane stuff like this in the past. They used to let the quiet wash over them as she would prepare their meals. And when Tenten set the meals down in front of them, she knew the meal was also going to be a silent task as well.

Tenten studied Neji as he ate his noodles. She used to be able to tell by how he ate how he was feeling. But here… she couldn't figure out what he was feeling. He was neutral.

As the finished their noodles, the silence continued. How long have they been sitting there? It was probably on for a minute or two but it had felt like an hour. Then he looked up at her.

"Your hair… it's longer," Neji stated. Tenten blankly stared at him. And soon she couldn't stand it anymore.

Tenten laughed.

It was one of those full on belly laughs too. Where no one could ever in their right minds view the laughter as elegant. One of those laughs that brought small tears to your eyes, that could make you feel as if your stomach was going to explode from a lack of oxygen. Tenten just laughed.

She laughed for a full minute as Neji stared at her. Soon she was starting to get a grip on herself. Composing herself as she tried to catch up on the oxygen she had lost.

"It has been over 10 years and the first thing you mention is my hair?" Tenten was smiling, wiping a tear from her eyes, "Have you seen your hair? What have you been doing these past years, burning your hair? Your hair looks terrible! You could probably be disowned by your family by your hair's condition alone!"

And she laughed a little more as Neji stared at her. And again, she took a minute calmed down and stared back at him with a smile.

"Hold on, let me get some scissors. I'll fix it." Tenten made her way to her apartment to retrieve her scissors.

When she returned she found Neji in the same spot she had left him. Walking behind the chair, Tenten studied his hair. It was frayed from the ends up to his shoulder. Its brown color lightened at the ends with damage.

With her scissors up her sleeve, Tenten began to smooth his hair to the best of her abilities, attempting to get some tangles out. The last time she had cut his hair had been right before war broke loose. It had just touched his shoulder blades then. Now it almost reached down to his lower back.

"Your hair is really damaged," Tenten stated. "I'm going to have to cut a lot off."

Slowly, Tenten started snipping away at his ends. His hair was coarse and knotted. Nothing like Neji's usual soft hair.

"Remember when I first did this? We were still genin then. It was one on that one long mission… to the Tea village? Or was it to-"

"Tea village," Neji reassured her, keeping his eyes forwards.

"Man, your hair had gotten long! Your hair was almost as long as it was then as it is now." Tenten's hands worked with familiarity, gathering the hair together to cut right above the damage. There was no getting around it. "I only had a kunai to do it at that time, but I thought it turned out alright, for my first time anyway."

"Better than Lee or Gai…" he mumbled

"You would have been converted for sure if that happened." She giggled.

"But it didn't."

The hair piled around her feet, cluttering the floor.

"Hey, Neji…" Tenten began. "Can I ask you something?"

Neji didn't respond but Tenten took it as an approval.

"When you were gone," her hands stopped moving as she began to speak, "Did you… did you miss us?"

It was a silly question. Tenten knew that.

"Yes."

"We missed you too," Tenten said as she began finishing her work on his hair. "You heard about Hinata and Naruto right? I was happy for them when I heard they became engaged. You should've seen the wedding. Hinata was so happy. So was Naruto, of course. It was beautiful."

Tenten noticed his muscles tense at her words. He would have wanted to be there.

"I have photos if you would like to see them?"

"Please."

"They're in my apartment. Come on," this time they both made their way up to her apartment. There was no use in staying in his empty one.

It took Tenten a few seconds to sort through her disorganized bookcase to find the album buried under some dusty scrolls. It was a simple and small album. She had asked for the Uzumaki's for one so she could show it to Neji's grave… well, a headstone. She made her way back into her living room to find Neji casually seated on the couch just like he used to. It was weird how old habits stuck.

Taking her place beside him she began turning the pages through the album with him. She told the story of how Lee had accidentally pushed Gai into the remains of the cake, of how Naruto had kept on stepping on Hinata's toes during their first dance and how Hinata handled it with grace, smiling at her new husband with encouragement.

And Neji sat there silently listening as time passed them.

"And your uncle gave Naruto the deadliest glares I have ever seen a Hyuga give. And that says A Lot!" Tenten said, turning to the next photo.

"Tenten," Neji's voice stopped her. Hearing her name voiced by the man beside sent shivers down her back, ghostly shivers. But that didn't stop her from holding his gaze with her own. "Tenten, I wanted to-"

A knock interrupted them.

"Ah! Hinata?" Tenten opened the door to greet their visitors.

Hinata rushed into Neji's arms as soon as the door opened. Her sister soon followed suit after a brief nod towards the brunette closing the door.

"I'm so happy," Hinata cried into his shoulder. "We thought you were dead."

"I was," Neji said. But Hinata only hugged him tighter.

"I missed you so much." She let a few more sniffles escape.

"I'll make you two some tea," Tenten left the three as she readied the kettle again. Hanabi was first to pull away. A huge grin was plastered on her face.

"Let's sit down," Hinata said she released her cousin. They sat on down just as Tenten brought the tea to the coffee table. Hinata repeated, "Neji, we missed you so much."

"We brought you some groceries," Hanabi pointed to the bags that were dropped by the door. "We can't have our cousin starving on us. We just go you back."

It was a happy sight. Tenten watched as the two cheerfully chattered about the groceries they brought by. It looked like it was just any another day.

"Tenten, could you help me put away these groceries?" Hanabi stood up looking at the girl seated on the chair next to them.

"Oh, yeah. I'll help," As they walked to the kitchen, Hinata began pulling out photos of Boruto and Himawari.

"It's as father expected," Hanabi quietly said when they got into the kitchen.

"What?" Tenten looked at the girl putting the bags on the counters. Over the years, Hanabi had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her hair as long as Hinata's teen years and her eyes held intelligence in them that Tenten hadn't seen in many.

"His forehead. He's missing his cursed seal." Hanabi said. Tenten's brows knitted as she took a sneak peak at Hinata and Neji talking on the couch.

"What…" Tenten gathered her thoughts, meeting the younger girl's eyes. " What does that mean?"

"He probably can't use the byakugan anymore."Hanabi started taking food from the bag. "The cursed seal is supposed to seal away the byakugan after one dies. Neji died and it's gone."

Tenten did nothing but stare at Hanabi as she began putting the food in cabinets. If Neji no longer use this byakugan, then what about his life as a ninja? He has shaped his whole career around the byakugan.

"Does this mean…" Tenten asked.

"I don't know." Hanabi interrupted. "I don't know what he's going to do. This has never happened before. No Hyuga has been in this situation before. To not be able to see the world around you like the way you have since you were born? I… I can't imagine." She gave Tenten a sad look. After putting the last can into the cupboard, Hanabi headed back to the couch, leaving Tenten to process the situation.

"I still can't believe how similar Boruto and Naruto are. At times they are too similar for their own good," Hinata giggled as Tenten took a hesitant seat on the opposing couch with Hanabi.

"They're… They're beautiful." Neji said. He brought the picture closer, letting a small smile escaped. "How old are they?"

"Himawari is 5, she'll be joining the academy soon. And Boruto just turned 9 a couple of days ago." She replied. "You should keep it. The photo, you should keep it."

"Thanks"

"Hey, you'll never believe who else has kids!" Hanabi exclaimed, catching everyone's attention. "That Uchiha guy and the Haruno girl! They had a girl only a couple of months after Hinata, only, they weren't married first."

"Hanabi!" Hinata scolded, an embarrassed blush reaching her cheeks.

...

"We'll visit again. If there is anything you need just let us know." Hinata said. "And please have dinner with us this weekend. The children would… The children would love to finally meet you."

Smiling, Hinata gave her cousin's hand a final squeeze before leading Hanabi and herself out the door.

"See ya, Bro!" Hanabi shouted on her way back before Neji closed the door.

"You were quiet," Neji said, looking at Tenten.

"I… Um… I guess I'm just was a little overwhelmed." She awkwardly looked away. "I mean, it's not every day your comrade comes back from the dead. Well… at least not in the past 10 or so years."

She felt his eyes watching her has she cleaned up the tea, just as he used to. Even without the byakugan, that hadn't changed.

"So, uh, I guess I should go, unless you need anything else," Tenten said. "I'll just leave the album her. You should look at it."

Tenten made her way to the door only to stop. Neji kept his eyes on her, giving her that same look that said there is more to it.

"Tenten, I know," Neji said.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Tenten began fiddling with her sleeve.

"I saw you and Hanabi talking." He walked to sit on the couch. "My byakugan is gone."

"I-" She was lost for words. All Tenten could do was sit beside him. Looking at the table in front of them. "I don't know what to say."

"It's just how it is now."

"Are you okay?" Tenten asked.

"I'm fine."

"What are you going to do?" Tenten allowed herself to glance at him. "I mean, won't It be hard to figure what's next?"

"Well, I guess I'm going to find a job tomorrow."

"That's not what I meant," Tenten smirked. Tenten turned to him and rested her hand on his shoulder, "but you're right. One step at a time."

"It's late."

"You're right. I guess I should go." Standing up, Tenten made her way towards the door. "Oh, and, um, if you'd want, you could always come work in my store."

"Thanks. Goodnight." Neji made his way in front of her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." And Tenten left.

...

In her room above, Tenten had been lying awake in bed staring above. The whole situation was surreal. In one day, Neji was back, he was here in his own flesh and body. She felt the warmth on her very own skin. Tenten clutched her hands together on her chest. Here they were in the same habits. They were talking, his expression, even posture was the same.

At the same time, everything was different. It had been years. It was in the way he looked when he was listening. It was as if he wasn't there but somewhere else. But where had he been? She couldn't get past it. Why didn't he return when he was able? Was it because of his byakugan? Or was it something else, was it because of the brother and sister he was with? There were too many questions.

That night, Tenten struggle to find sleep.

Welp, there it is! It's not as long as the last two chapters, but it's still longer than the first. I am still working on actually structuring this story with a sequence and all. If you'd like a longer explanation about how long its taking me to update, you can find it on my page. But really this past summer was an emotional rollercoaster. I kinda failed my internship and it hurt. Plus I'm also in the phase where a lot of my friends are becoming distant with their lives getting busy so I really haven't be at my best lately. But writting is definitely something I am still working on.

Thank you for reading! Follow and Review if you liked anything! And don't be afraid to let me know about any of my mistakes or inconsistancies.

Till next time. :)