The Caged Bird

Are we strangers now?

Awkward. To put it shortly, that was how their lunch was going. To tell the whole story, awkward, confusing, stressful, quiet, and tense was not enough to describe the heavy aura lingering above the two ex-teamates during their meal. Tenten could barely pick up her chopsticks before averting her eyes to study Neji instead. Each time Neji looked up, Tenten quickly lowered her head, but not before he would flash an unfamiliar smile at her. "Since when does he smile like that?" Tenten wondered. The rest of the meal included silence, silence, and silence. "Argh, it's been so long but it's not like we're strangers. I should probably try to start a conversation next time." 

Tenten quickly stood up as soon as she finished eating. "Take your time. Put your dishes in the sink when you're done, I'll deal with them later. I'm going to go get some more veggies." She scurried out the house before Neji could say anything else. 

Gosh I can't believe myself. First I snap at him when he comes back when it wasn't even his fault, then I act like we don't know each other when I should be making him feel at home and comfortable. I can't even look at him without going crazy. It's like something's different from before. I wonder what it is. Tenten wrapped herself in her thoughts as she headed to the nearby grocery store. Sigh. If only I could talk to somebody about this. 

Just then, a familiar voice next to her spoke. "Tenten? Is that you?" Tenten turned around and exclaimed, "Sakura"

"What a surprise! It's been a while since we've met. Who knew that we would've bumped into each other at the store." Sakura poured her friend a cup of tea once they where at the cafe. "Yes, it certainly has been a while." Perfect timing. Sakura is the perfect person to talk to in this case. "Sakura. I need to tell you something." Sakura looked up. "What is it?" 

Tenten took a deep breath. "He's back. Neji's back." 

When Tenten looked up, she could see the dismay written over the pink-haired girl's face. "B-back? A-as-as in l-like rei-reincarnated?" Sakura stuttered, not believing her ears. Tenten slowly nodded, bringing her cup of tea to her mouth. "H-how is that possible? He's been gone for years, how could he just come back to life?" 

Tenten shook her head. "I wish I knew. He hasn't told us anything yet." "Us?" Sakura asked, confused. Tenten looked up. "Naruto and Hinata dropped by when I fainted and that's when they saw each other" Tenten explained. 

"Hold on, you fainted?! How come you left out so many important details?" Sakura exclaimed, clearly having a hard time processing everything. Tenten shrugged. "It wasn't that important. I was in too much shock when I saw Neji again and fainted. They came over, Neji was there, and a group of people dressed in black came and attacked. I'm pretty sure they were the people that brought Neji back. He didn't seem to want to talk about it though, so I still don't know the whole story." Tenten's mouth became a little sour after explaining, so she brought the tea cup to her mouth again and took a big gulp.

 Meanwhile, not only was Sakura's mouth sore, her head was spinning, along with her entire body going numb. She rubbed her forehead mark, massaging her head so she could think straight. "I can't believe this. How are you not screaming for joy right now?! He came back to you!" Sakura stated. If she was in Tenten's shoes, she would be jumping up and down, screaming, crying tears of joy, not walking around at a super market and drinking tea! 

Tenten stared blankly at her reflection. It was a while while she responded "yes he did come back. He came back after so many years. But he also left. He left for so many years. He left me all alone. I swore I would never forgive him. But now, that's the only thing I long to do."

After finishing up with Sakura, Tenten made her way back. "Shoot. I said I would clean up later, but now it's dinner time, and a whole day has passed by. Sigh, I closed the shop today, but this can't go on forever. I'll have to figure something out. Not a lot of people come to the shop, but I still get a few people every day. Good for business, but it makes it harder to hide Neji.

As Tenten entered her weapons shop, she smelled a fragrance of noodles in her kitchen. Confused, she walked towards the kitchen, peeking her head in. To her surprise, she saw Neji preparing dinner. The sink was sparkling clean, and the table was all set up. "He must have thought I wasn't going to be back in time to cook." Tenten smiled at this thought. Just then, Neji saw her and smiled. "Welcome back. I prepared dinner." 

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that chapter. Just so you guys don't get confused, this will also be explained in future chapters, but Tenten has an apartment, which she was heading to when she saw Neji, but she also lives in her weapons shop. Her apartment is mostly just filled with her precious belongings and paperwork, most of her time is spent in her shop. Neji brought her back to her weapons shop because-------(this will be explained later). Hope there wasn't any confusion. The next chapter will probably be posted next month. Bye!