Chapter Text
It was, and has been, obvious TenTen held strong feelings for Neji. He was powerful in his own ways, intelligent, strong, and very handsome. TenTen liked to pretend he was the 'good version' of Sasuke. But Neji was her teammate, her family away from home, it would never be her intention to ruin that for some silly crush.
They had stopped at the Hyuga complex for Neji to freshen up and TenTen had been taking in the sun rays and loving breeze that cooled her nerves. She was use to him. Use to the sight of him. He showed up in the same uniform, easing her with familiarity yet the closed basket in his hand made her blood pressure rise, "Watcha got there?"
"We're going on a picnic.", he said in matter of fact.
TenTen gave him a skeptical look before allowing him to lead. After walking for awhile out of the complex and down the road TenTen broke their silence, "What's the occasion?"
"What do you mean? Does there need to be an occasion to have a picnic?", Neji stated in his normal monotone voice.
TenTen lowered her head a little and bit her lip," I guess not.", she conceded, allowing him to let his event unfold as he pleased.
They reached their grassy spot in the Hygua complex with a large willow tree shading the area decorated with tiny flowers. She was breath taken by how beautiful and secluded the area was, helping ease her anxiety so she also didn't have to worry about their friends passing by to pick on them.
It was a perfect day with a perfect man she kept reminding herself to be grateful for. While she was nervous she wouldn't allow her insecurity telling her to run ruin this. Before she took her teammate for granite and almost never got to see him again. This time she would take advantage of every moment she received of his, no matter the frightening emotions and insecurities that followed.
"It's beautiful here, Neji.", TenTen admitted as they laid the corners of the blanket together, prepping their seating area.
"I thought you'd enjoy it." he said as he sat down and started unpacking the food.
"Is Lee not meeting us?", She noted when she saw the sets of food only for two.
"No, just us.", he confirmed blankly, focused on unpacking the lunch, "I told you we would eat together.
"I thought you meant at a restaurant...", TenTen sheepishly spoke.
"You don't seem to happy about this?" He replied with a questioning brow, "We can leave if you'd like."
Her eyes grew wide and she shook both her hands, "No! I like this! This is great. Everything's... perfect.", she blurted, then sat herself down to try to act normal. She gave him a shy smile. She didn't know what to say. She was expecting to visit him in the hospital and call it a day or even get a casual lunch like they use to do, but this? It was almost like he was setting her up for a surprise date. She had to keep reminding herself to enjoy the moment even if it felt like he was pulling at her heart strings.
After eating and acknowledging how great Nejis sandwich making skills are, they stayed like that in tranquil silence, enjoying the green grass, the towering trees, and light breeze they had missed of their home.
"How did you find this place?", she questioned, fiddling at the grass next to the her side.
"It is a place I've been going since child hood. I use to come here with Hinata to play away from the higher ups scrutiny."
TenTen hummed in acknowledgment as she found a flower and picked it, twirling it in her hand and admiring its beauty, "I'm glad you're able to enjoy it again. Thanks for bringing me here to see it."
"I too am glad to be able to enjoy it and you again, TenTen. Please take this as my appreciation towards everything you've done for me."
"That's what teammates do.", she shrugged, her voice slightly wavering.
She wanted this to hold more than simple gratitude towards a teammate, but she was being greedy. Thinking too much into it. He was just thanking her for being there for him. That was all.
"TenTen, I promised I wouldn't leave alone you.", he said, reaching his hand to place on top of hers.
TenTens eyes softened, soaking up his gentle touch, "I know... and I'm holding you to that promise, Hyuga."
Neji picked a flower of his own in follow of her twirling one and held it in front of him, "When we were kids in school, we had a mission to collect flowers. The girls of the class played a game the boys found ridiculous, but Hinata would always play it when we came here and I secretly always wanted to give it a try."
TenTen burst out into laughter shaking her head at the growth that has come from her previous too prideful to do anything fun of a teammate, "No way, Neji Hyuga wants to pick flower petals?"
He gave her a stupid grin as he picked a petal, "How does it start?"
TenTen rolled her eyes and picked her own, "You start with 'She loves me'"
"She loves me", he repeated and it made TenTens face grow hot from how soft his gaze was at her while saying that. She turned her head and picked her own petal as a distraction, "This is childish.", she giggled.
"She loves me not.", He plucked again, with almost a slight sad tone.
She peaked a look at him through her peripheral to catch his expression, one that grew a slight turn of his lips upwards with the next picking, "She loves me."
He continued as she followed in suit with her own flower. They did this until he reached his last one, while TenTen bit her lip disappointed with hers having two left, "She loves me.".
She felt embarrassed as the one of the remaining two she picked mimicked his. It reminded her of how it has always been. An unrequited love everyone knew about making her feel so lowly for staying committed to him. It was obvious how hurtful people could be when it came to waiting for love. She witnessed how terrible people were to Sakura, and when word got out about her crush on Neji, she would surely be treated the same as a delusion girl with no chance at a good love.
'He loves me not', she smiled pitifully at the thought, not picking the last petal out of denial. He was in her life again, but what if he didn't want her back in his in that way? What if this was just him being friendly, or making up for the time he could have lost if he didn't come back to life from the war.
She stared at the sad petal that was chosen for its role. He really could not love her back. He had every right not to. It was his life, and after coming back from death, he should be with the person he truly wanted to, not someone who guilted him into it.
She gave him a smile, happy for him ending on a good note, always wishing him the best before turning back to her own flower getting ready to pick it, but he put his hand over hers - stopping her from finishing the flower.
He grabbed the petal she had dropped and showed it to her again, "He loves her."
She stared at the petal in his fingers confused, "He loves her?", she repeated, not understanding. He offered it again and she dropped the whole flower to take the petal, looking at it like she was missing its meaning.
She presented his petal back to him and repeated, "It is 'she loves... him...'"
Neji lifted his hand up to grab his petal but left his hand on hers. He stared at her intently, searching her brown eyes so she would understand, "Tell me, TenTen. I may be intelligent, but I don't accept rumors. I need to know if they have been true all this time."
TenTen froze, feeling a rush of heat she blamed on the sun peaking through the leaves and looked away, "You don't need to hear that from me. All rumors start with a little bit of truth."
"I want to hear it from you.", he pressed. He was hoping for a specific answer, hoping the rumors he chose to ignore most of their lives for the safety of their shared feelings was true. Because while he ignored it all those years, he was proven with the war that all his effort was for nothing. When he sacrificed himself for Hinata, he knew that was what he had been preparing his life for, but when he gained a second chance to life and the first thing he saw was TenTen, he realized how much of his life he wasted.
Now that he was free of the burden of his past life he wouldn't allow that anymore.
"I can't. It's too hard for me.", TenTen confessed. How could she tell the man she loved exactly that when she was forced to suppress it for all of that time?
"It uh... looks like we're all done! I'll help clean up then I should get going", she said trying to change the subject, beginning to usher things back into the basket.
"No.", Neji demanded, stopping her hand from putting things away and shifted in front of her, clearing his throat, "I want you to stay.", He confessed nervously. It was very apprarent that while he and Sasuke were the heart throb of their time, Neji has never had any experience in this type of thing.
"D-do you have more planned?", She awkwardly stammered, feeling the pressure of his hand tighten to stop his own shaking of nerves.
"Yes.", he lied.
She eyed the place for their next event while she waited for him to speak but he was slow to finding his words.
He finally confidently took her hand, "TenTen, I want you to be in my life."
"Neji, I am. I've been here.", She giggled and tried to take bet hand back but he stopped her again.
"No. I mean from here on out. I was blind to everything before but I won't allow it any longer. TenTen. I want to be with you more than just a teammate and a friend. With this new chance I have, I want it to be with you. I always have, but now I have the chance. I want to spend the rest of my new life with you. Will you let me?"
"Of course. She smiled with the brightest one she had to offer, "Is this what you've been meaning when you kept promising you'd never leave me alone again?", She realized, feeling the closure she's actually been searching for.
"Yes.", Neji smiled and moved his hand to the back of her neck. Their lips met soft and sweetly for a light romantic kiss. Both still holding their last petals of their flowers.