Endless Tears

テンテン（Tenten)

Today couldn't be any worse. I woke up late to work!  My stupid brain stayed up late overthinking about stupid stuff. Who cares if he only sees me as a comrade. Not like I am interested in love anyway...right?

Ever since the reconstruction, I have my eyes on a certain area to open a weapon store. The negotiations have been going downhill, the owner keeps changing the date of when the store will be available and the price of the store. The money that I saved up will not be able to buy the place if he keeps increasing the price. I have been working my butt off to earn more money on every kind of mission I can get my hands on. It has been a while since I seem my teammates. We have been busy and Lee is still healing in the hospital. I stayed up last night thinking about how Neji is doing. 

We had a fling... I am sure we did but after the war, he disappeared and acts as if it never happened. If I do not keep myself busy then my mind starts to swing toward him. That's why I did 10 small missions today. 

"Thank you very much. This is the only picture I have left of my husband." A lady in her 60s holds my hand and keeps thanking me. 

"Ma'am don't worry about it. I understand that this war put a lot of toll on everyone.  It is my job to help everyone the best I can. If there is anything you need help with then just request for me and I'll help you." 

Last but not least, I am late for orders at the weapon store. I ordered some weapons and they were customized by me. I want to specialize in weapons and create a legacy. I felt out of place when I used to attend the academy since it seems like I was the only girl who was a weapon freak. However, I am glad that I was put into a team that was not judgemental about me. 

The sky turns orange as I finally get home. I quickly gather some scrolls before heading out again for the weapons. As I get closer to the store, the owner flips his open sign to close and was about to close the door. 

"Hold up! Don't close." I yell as I get closer. He turns to me and crosses his arms. 

"Took you long enough." I bow and apologies for wasting his time. "Enough of that, I have nothing to do anyway. Follow me." As I enter the room and see the weapons I start to feel energetic again. I rush to look at my weapons with admiration. "Are you sure you will be able to carry all of these weapons by yourself?" 

"No worries! This is nothing to me." I took out the scrolls and use fuuinjustu to store the weapons. "I just can't wait to put these on display." As I see the hard earn money goes to the seller my energy is back to almost zero. My stomach growl as I get out of the store. Instead of cooking after a long day, I decided to get some takeout. Time to go home and eat!

I got distracted by my hunger and I didn't see the shadow that is in front of me. 

THUD

I watch as my foods and scrolls fly in slow motion in the air. When I realized that I am also falling it was already too late to react. I close my eyes hoping it will hurt less. When hitting the ground took longer than expected I slowly open my eyes.

I was taken by surprise that I am 1 inch away from the ground. I push myself up as I realize that I am laying on top of someone, but halfway through my eyes are locked with Neji's eyes...

NEJI?!

"Ehh?" My scream seems to bring him back to earth. 

"If you don't want your food to fall to the ground you should get up." I got up and saw lady Hanabi holding my scrolls... while smirking 

"Don't mind me. Continue whatever you two are doing. I'm mature enough." I can feel my ears starting to heat up and I was taken back by what she said. She was not this laid back. This is the first time she joked around... well at least it is my first time hearing it from her. 

"Gomenasai Neji, I didn't feel your presence. I was lost in Foodland." I grab my food from him so that he can get up." 

"It is getting late, you should walk her home Neji-nii-san. I will be fine, I am going to just go back home." Lady Hanabi hand me my scrolls with a smile. "Besides we got all the information we need to confirm our suspicions." 

"Lady Hanabi!" She ran off from the direction they came from and wouldn't listen to Neji calling out to her. He turns to me and apologies. "I am sorry about that. Let me help you carry your food while you carry the scroll." 

I tried to decline the offer but he was more stubborn than me. I put most of the scrolls away and carry a few with my hands. 

"So umm... have you visit Lee lately?" He asked me as we walk next to each other. 

" Well, I went to visit him twice the last two weeks. I would like to visit him more but I have missions to do and everything is hectic at the moment." I look at him and realize how glad I am to see him next to me. There is a feeling in my heart that I should cherish this moment. I felt as if I lost him and got him back. " What about you?" 

"I haven't visited him yet. There's a lot of things going on in the Hyuuga compound." For a moment he looks hopeless. " For the past two weeks, I barely have any sleep."

"You should take care of yourself more." I brush my bangs to the side and purposely blocking my face as I do so.  "Then what do you think about visiting him this weekend together. It is time for our team to come together and I am sure he misses us."

"Hm, let's visit him this Saturday." He nods and continues to stay silent afterward. Right as we step in front of my house the sun disappears from the horizon. 

"Thank you for walking me home. I am sure you're busy." I turn to my door and unlock the door. As I open the door Neji replied.

"I'm not busy tonight." My heart starts beating and I can feel myself blushing. Is this a sign to ask him to stay for dinner? UGH here goes nothing. I turn around and smile.

"Neji, would you like to stay over for dinner? Oh...Well I mean if you don't want to it is fi-"

"I would love to..." He walks closer to me. "...Tenten"