I Am You?! (NejiTen)

8- He cares?

Who has noticed that the chapter titles for this story start with the letters of the English alphabet? If you did...

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>🍪 You deserve a cookie!

Xxx I am you?! xxX

Shikamaru sighed. He was not used to being on the hot seat, literally. The chair on which he sat was practically boiling because of Neji and Tenten's anxious gazes on him.

This was a drag! How did he involve himself in this?! He was not the one who messed with a juju master. How troublesome.

"Shikamaru?" Neji...no Tenten anxiously called, snapping him out of his half sleepy daze. The lazy man visibly cringed at how nervous 'Neji' sounded. It was not technically Neji but still...

"I asked about and my girlfriend fortunately knew old Chiyo." Shikamaru announced.

"Ugh thank God!" Tenten exclaimed in relief.

"Wait...what do you mean by 'knew'?" Neji asked, being the only one among the two to realize that Shikamaru spoke in past tense.

"Chiyo was a voodoo practitioner and...she died."

The silence that followed was scary to Shikamaru. He expected a frustrated yell from Neji and an angry storm from Tenten but all he got was eerie silence.

"Well..." Seeing this as a good opportunity to escape before the dam of frustration and anger broke, Shikamaru stood up in preparation to leave. "I'll see you guys around, I have to get to 'Mari. Bye."

The two sat frozen for three solid minutes after Shikamaru left. Neither even took note of the deer leaving their side, they were petrified.

"She died." Tenten rasped, finally thawing. She was flabbergasted at the news. If Chiyo was dead, how would she return to normal?! She could not stay in Neji's body forever!

"Tenten, are- are you okay?"

Even if Tenten wanted to give a snarky remark to that stupid question, the look on Neji's face made her freeze on the path. She wasn't talking about her own face now but Neji's. It was as though she could somehow see his face even though she was staring at hers.

From the look he gave, Tenten deduced that he knew how inane his question was. There was no way she was fine. He was just concerned. Neji Hyuga was genuinely concerned.

"No." Tenten admitted with a small voice. "I am not okay. This is overwhelming. Old Chiyo is dead and we might get stuck like this forever, how can this be okay?" Unbidden tears dropped from her eyes and Tenten sniffed in an attempt to stop them but failed.

"Come here." Neji instructed. They were currently in Tenten's house as per weekly ritual. Tenten scooted over to Neji and the man gently placed her head on his shoulder while she sobbed on it.