Author's note: So, August has indeed come and gone. Yet here I am - posting my last oneshot for NejiTen Month 2023. I did some research into Tanabata for this prompt, but please let me know if I didn't represent anything accurately. Hope you enjoy! :)
The heady smells of flower petals, smoke and fryer oil stung Neji's nose as he walked the village's bright streets with Ten-ten and Rock Lee trailing behind him. Chin upturned, he kept ahead of them with his spine stiffened and stubborn gaze forward, away from his teammates. Neji couldn't resist venting some of his resentment on them, not when the festive atmosphere so grated on him. He avoided Ten-ten for another reason, but he cast that humiliation from his mind.
"Hey, slow down, Neji. Are you really trying to ditch us again?" Ten-ten called from behind him.
Her voice sent pinpricks to his heart. He wanted to scream at her – her, especially – to shut up and leave him alone. Her presence only compounded the pain that accompanied every word she spoke, every memory of their mistake.
In her high sandals and tightly wrapped silk kimono, Ten-ten Sato couldn't move with her usual speed. Neji huffed at the clack, clack, clack of her wooden heels on the cobbles. Next to her, Lee joined her calls for Neji to slow down for just a second. Unmoved by either teammate's appeals, Neji escalated his pace enough to put a few clusters of revelers between them. In this crowd, neither Lee nor Ten-ten would sprint to pursue him.
"His avoidance of the two of us does not surprise me, considering how much he hates occasions like this," Lee remarked to Ten-ten. "However, I do not know why Neji seems intent on avoiding you in particular."
Blood rose to Neji's cheeks when he thought of the true answer. He trusted Ten-ten not to betray their shared downfall so readily, but still dreaded her response.
"Some drama between us," she muttered. "I mean, he still trains with us and goes on missions just fine. Don't worry about it, Lee. This'll blow over in a week."
His teammates' conversation filtered through the din of laughing and chattering villagers. Neji registered Lee's little gasp of concern, followed by silent apprehension. A few paces later, Lee suggested buying sticks of dango and Ten-ten agreed, her voice shrill with false excitement. By virtue of his higher rank, Neji held the several hundred ryos that Might Gai gave the team to spend on street food and trinkets. He begrudgingly paused to hand Lee a few bills.
"I will be back with dango for all of us!" Lee exclaimed with a thumbs up, turning toward the dessert stand before Neji could decline.
"Thanks, Lee! I'll just be...over here waiting." Ten-ten's voice trailed off as she cast a sideways glance at Neji.
He imagined she wanted to say something like please don't leave me, Lee, not with him. Neji's gaze lingered over Ten-ten. He scanned the pink blossoms in her hair, the floral print of her kimono and the pucker of her painted lips. She was beautiful. Even without a trace of clothing or adornment on her body, she had been beautiful. Her lips curved into an involuntary smile, and he tore his eyes away before Ten-ten could find an opening to address him.
"Are you still...hung up over what happened a few weeks ago?" she ventured.
A growl sounded from the base of Neji's throat. Couldn't she sense the wrenching pain she inspired? He needed every shred of resolve to not flee in the torturous minutes until Lee returned.
"Nothing happened," he countered. Both of them knew it wasn't true, but Neji's coded appeal said pretend it didn't, for both of our sakes.
"If you still say so."
Her shoulders hunched forward, fingertips toying with the sash of her kimono. Ten-ten resembled a self-conscious young girl rather than a woman.
"Indeed I do," Neji insisted.
Ten-ten hummed and pursed her lips. She sounded almost disappointed – like she didn't wish to forget, or cast the incident aside as a mistake. For a fleeting instant, remorse struck. He burned to see a smile spread across her lips like it did that night. But circumstance demanded they move forward from a night of poor judgment prompted by his near-death. If Neji could have burned down the inn where it happened, he would have torched everything starting from the sheets on the bed.
"I simply find this entire holiday silly. It's best suited to children and idiot lovers, who are effectively children."
"Oh, I get it. I mean, this was never your kind of scene either."
"I hate this one especially. I think you know why."
Neji didn't put any stock in sentimental myths or the beauty of forbidden love. The stars barely visible above the brightly lit streets certainly didn't seem to yield for anyone – let alone two lovers cast apart across the skies. Ten-ten strangled the yell that began in her chest, probably realizing that screaming among throngs of people wasn't wise. Her eyes jerked away from his unyielding face to watch the dango line and Rock Lee's shuffle toward the counter.
"Hey! Can't you just not be an asshole for once?" she choked out, flowing sleeves flying to her face. "Just maybe, maybe it's nice to have hope once in a while."
Tiny needles drove into his heart and for a moment, he wished to apologize for her heartbreak. But Neji needed to maintain his resolve because Ten-ten couldn't resist this thing she considered love. If she hated him for his practicality, so be it. So long as they remained cordial enough to complete their shinobi duties, mutual enmity would serve their interests by killing any stubborn temptations.
If he fell back into her arms, the forces tugging them apart – family, clan and village – would make the separation all the more painful.
"I am not being an asshole, as you say. I simply am telling you the truth, and I refuse to apologize."
"Yeah, right. You're a coward, that's what you are."
Ten-ten pivoted on her high sandals to face him, her lip curled in a disgusted snarl. She shook her head so forcefully that one of her hairpins almost flew to the cobbles at their feet. Lip paint, rouge and eyeliner failed to conceal her tears or the flush on her cheeks.
"Hm."
"Just forget it."
Once again, she pivoted away from Neji but refused to leave his side. Leave, he wanted to scream at her. Find someone else and forget I was ever more than a friend. Together, they listened to the scattered conversations of passing pedestrians. They were quite possibly the only festival attendees not high on the joy of love and reunion – either mythological or earthly.
A few minutes or hours later, Lee returned with three sticks of dango and handed one each to his teammates. Ten-ten wrangled her painted lips into a smile and stuck a sweet dumpling into her mouth. Neji muttered a thanks to Lee and followed suit. The sticky, sickly sweet dough sat thick on his tongue, and he needed to force himself to swallow.
"These are excellent!" Lee exclaimed with a thumbs-up. Sighing, Ten-ten forced herself to nod.
The rush of sugar galvanized Lee's cheer to near-unbearable levels as he declared this the best night ever! Every dumpling down Neji's throat roiled his stomach more, but he forced himself to finish his skewer. Ten-ten's grimace revealed similar repulsion to the sweet treats she normally loved. Though Lee's mindless happiness often annoyed Neji, he now wished he could share it.
"Lee! Your aunts and uncles haven't seen you in so long. Oh come over and say hello!"
Behind Lee, a stout woman waved to him. Neji recognized her as Lee's mother. She gestured for her son to come where she stood with a cluster of older men and women – Lee's extended family, presumably. Lee grimaced and asked his teammates to excuse him for the rest of the night.
"The way these things usually go, a quick greeting will keep me occupied until midnight at least. But this is a night for reunions, so I suppose I must not neglect my family."
"No worries, go ahead," Ten-ten answered, a quiver in her voice.
"Gai-sensei will understand! I will see all of you at training tomorrow!"
Once Lee joined his mother, Ten-ten muttered a curse about Neji's stubbornness, how he brought her nothing except misery. The sting of her words made him flinch, though his rational side insisted that she needed to let him go. And what better way to cleanse her lovesickness than to have it sour into hatred? He reiterated that her anger was good for both of them. Yet when Neji stepped back into the main flow of street traffic, Ten-ten's sandals clacked after him.
"You're welcome to leave," Neji said without glancing her way. "You know, I can handle Gai-sensei if he's unhappy about our lack of team camaraderie."
He counted the remainder of Gai's money and held the bills out to Ten-ten in his open palm.
Behind him, Ten-ten's little gasp caught in her throat as she faltered in the middle of the street, hand half-extended to accept the money. Her abrupt stop almost put her on a collision course with a middle-aged couple.
"Hey, what's your problem, miss? This your first time ever being out in public?" the man snapped. "Get a move on, and stop blocking traffic."
"S-sorry."
"You fucking should be. Tell you what –"
The interloper waved a fist in Ten-ten's direction, and Neji moved between them on instinct. Faced with the glare of narrowed white eyes, the angry man and his wife ambled onward. Ten-ten caught Neji's shoulder in her perfumed hand and prompted him to look down at her. People curved their paths around them and a few whistles sounded from a distance.
"You know, I had that handled. He's an idiot for messing with a kunoichi like that."
"It didn't appear you did."
Neji told himself he would have protected Lee in the same way. He was only doing what years of teamwork drills and missions conditioned in him.
"Ugh, you're unbearable."
She didn't try to argue with him. If she had the will and intent, Ten-ten could overwhelm or kill almost any civilian, but the temper of upset strangers still melted her.
Ten-ten released Neji with a light push and crossed her arms.
"I told you, you're free to leave me behind," Neji stated, enunciating each syllable. "I was planning to find someplace quiet where I could meditate by myself."
"Um. I'm actually getting a little tired of the festival stuff myself."
"Then take the money and go home."
He thrust his hand in Ten-ten's direction again. She shook her head and waved it away.
"Hey, mind if I tag along?"
Yes, I do mind, he tried to say. But he couldn't force his thick tongue to form the words, and his resolve buckled before snapping altogether.
"I would rather you not, but I suppose I can't stop you," Neji answered with false apathy.
All the protesting voices in Neji's mind couldn't kill his desire for her to follow.
He took a single step backward – away from the bustling festival stands – and watched Ten-ten. Her brown eyes darted side to side before she drew a sharp breath and stepped forward. They wove through lantern-lit streets full of villagers until they reached a park on the outskirts of downtown. The park overlooked the dark river, which shimmered from the lanterns strung across the opposite bank. Neji settled on a stone bench among a cluster of trees strung with colorful slips of fabric and paper. A gentle breeze from the river made the strips billow in the warm summer air.
Each strip represented a wish, written in snippets of characters that were visible as they twisted. Neji wasn't superstitious or gullible enough to believe tying strips of fabric or paper to a tree could buy him any special favor with fate. Even so, he could appreciate the tree's otherworldly quality as it caught the glow of distant lanterns.
Ten-ten sat at the edge of the bench, one ankle crossed over the other. Something drove Neji to sit with his outer thigh inches from hers.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Ten-ten said. "So much better now that we're not surrounded by people everywhere. I can actually think now."
Without the interruption of festival noise, Neji heard every up and down in her voice. The slight quiver and upward lilt reflected the hope and the pain she carried with her.
"Yes. I agree."
"You know what, Neji? I don't think you want this to fade away," she said with sudden conviction. "I mean, I think...you know I've developed some pretty strong feelings for you."
Her breath rattled. Ten-ten brought her fingertips to the corners of her eyes to dab and wipe tears away. Neji set a hand on her shoulder blade, a gesture of comfort that straddled the balance between friendly and loving. Beneath layers of silk fabric, Ten-ten's warmth radiated into his skin.
"Hm. I can tell. I would advise you to abandon those feelings. I'm sorry I was so foolish during that mission. It was really unacceptable for me to lead you on."
"You want it, too."
Neji flushed with uncomfortable warmth.
"But what I want doesn't matter when you and I can never be together in the way you want."
The reasons were obvious to both of them – and enumerating every one would be an act of excess cruelty. A Hyuga in good standing couldn't marry beneath his station to a clanless kunoichi, regardless of their love. Ten-ten's parents wouldn't allow her to spend her life alongside a Hyuga. Their prejudices flared whenever they saw one of the dark haired, white-eyed clan members around the village. Neji had felt their resentment burn into his back on several occasions.
"But you want it, don't you?"
Ten-ten seized his shoulders and watched him with shining eyes. He'd only met up with Ten-ten and Rock Lee after dinner, so Neji had no idea whether she'd written her wish on paper and tied it to a tree. Perhaps she wished for their love to prevail against everything casting them apart. Maybe her wish now hung above their heads.
"I do."
"Then let's do it," she cut in, seizing either side of Neji's collar. "Fuck what anyone else thinks of us. I don't think you could live with yourself if you let this go."
Neji's childhood anger had now largely subsided, replaced by quiet resignation to his station. Enjoying Hiashi Hyuga's favor wasn't a bad position for a branch Hyuga, and he trusted his uncle not to sacrifice him like an animal. Yet Hiashi's good graces wouldn't shield Neji if he spat in the face of Hyuga tradition so brazenly.
"I'll have to live with myself. You have no idea what the clan can do."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I don't want you to get hurt, and I love you enough to accept…"
To accept that it can't ever be.
Ten-ten traced the bandages wrapped over Neji's forehead and caressed his face. When the seal lay covered, it was easy for outsiders to forget its existence.
Ten-ten's downcast eyes spoke of shame. Consumed by her own infatuation, she'd allowed herself to forget everything that kept Neji from doing as she so desperately dreamed. A familiar fire stirred in Neji's core. It flared every time he shielded her, admired her glow in the morning sun or reassured her with a squeeze to the shoulder.
He owed her thanks for enduring his hostility and opening her heart to him nonetheless.
"But I'd miss part of myself if I couldn't have you," he confessed. "I love you, and I've loved you for quite a while."
Animated by the same heat that possessed him the first time, Neji dipped his head to plant a close-mouthed kiss on Ten-ten's just-parted lips. He withdrew to watch her reaction, his heavy breaths filling the air between them. Her fingertips brushed the spot where he'd pressed his lips moments before. She cupped the outer curve of Neji's jaw and kissed him back, deeper. Their lips and tongues intertwined in a dance that felt entirely natural.
Ten-ten drew back for breath. A sigh passed between her swollen, red lips.
"This won't be easy, I get it. You're giving far more than I ever could."
"I'm willing to risk it for you," Neji declared, clasping her hands.
Far from the bright downtown district, the stars glowed in the dark blue sky. Maybe two lovers united in the sky over their heads. The thought elicited a smile from Neji. At least he and Ten-ten didn't have an entire sky's worth of stars keeping them apart. He shuffled along the cool stone between them to wind his arm over her shoulders.
"We'll work out," she said. "I promise, okay?"