A small bird sounded in the distance as she stood on the supposedly empty training field. With the peaceful atmosphere surrounding her, Tenten found it humorous that the only things on her mind were the troubled thoughts of her emotionless teammate. Unceremoniously, the two finally had enough common sense to confess their growing affection towards each other when she was seconds away from having a dangerous operation on her spine. But there were no regrets about their untimely admission. Her only regret was allowing herself to love him as much as she did, to open herself up to an even greater pain than him not returning her adoration.

In the middle of her toxic thoughts, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. There was no need to turn around; she already knew who it was. After years of training together and nights of secret rendezvous, she knew every aspect of his behaviors as well as mannerisms inside and out.

“Well, if it isn’t the pride of the Hyuuga clan,” Tenten said as she glanced at her usually stoic teammate, seeing his mouth set in a hard line of foreboding.

For a split second she was in a state of panic, not ready to face the white-eyed Hyuuga prodigy. She had yet to sort out her own thoughts on the matter let alone prepared to discuss them with the soon to be heir to the Hyuuga clan. But being the strong-willed person she was, Tenten swallowed her anxiety and turned to face her problem head on.

“Tenten, there’s something I need to tell you,” Neji said, seeming more concern than he would usually show.

There was a pause as the kunoichi took this fact into consideration. Taking a quick glance at her teammate, Tenten swiftly assessed the possible reasons behind his uncharacteristic behavior and reached only one conclusion.

“So it’s true then?” Tenten asked gravely, turning her back to him once again.

“How did you…?” the prodigy began to say.

“I have my ways,” she interrupted, making sure to send a glare his way for even assuming that she shouldn’t have known.

She had heard the rumors floating around Konoha about the preparations being made in the Hyuuga clan. With such people as Ino and Sakura talking about nothing else, it was hard not to hear the news. And even though she knew that this day would come, she hadn’t expected it to come so soon.

“Stop stalling and just tell me what you have to say,” she said sternly, unwilling to wait a moment longer in this agonizing state of unknowing.

But despite the way she felt, Tenten leaned casually against a nearby tree. All the while, the kunoichi kept her back to her soon to be ex-boyfriend as the two of them mutually and silently decided not to train today.

“The engagement will be announced in a month and the date has been set for the wedding,” Neji explained with a sigh of what seemed to be defeat, “I am to marry Hinata a week after my eighteenth birthday.”

“And if the negotiations between Hidden Leaf and Hidden Mist haven‘t been resolved and we have a war?” Tenten asked flatly.

“Then we will still have the wedding,” Neji replied simply, “Hiashi has made it clear that everything is to go as planned no matter what happens.”

“Typical Hyuuga diplomacy,” she muttered to herself. Then as an afterthought, she stated, “You’re barely even an adult let alone fit to be married.”

Instantly she mentally reprimanded herself for such a harsh comment. Her bitterness towards the situation was one thing, but Tenten knew that questioning his abilities in anything was crossing the line. But rather than becoming angry with her for it, Neji sighed his defeat and understanding.

“The family has been preparing for this since Hinata proposed the abolishment of the Main and Branch houses,” the Hyuuga prodigy explained calmly, “They want an heir to be produced as soon as possible.”

“What do they think you are?” she commented cynically, “A pair of rabbits?”

“In order to eliminate the caste system of Main and Branch members, the two bloodlines must be joined,” Neji clarified, hoping to make his teammate understand, “A child would symbolize that agreement.”

But he knew that nothing he could or would say could ever make sense of all that was happening. Despite the reality of their lives as shinobis of Konoha, everyone grew up believing in happily ever after including the seemingly cold-hearted Neji. It was that belief that fueled is desire to pursue a relationship with his steel-clad teammate. Now that was being taken away from him and there was nothing he could do about it.

“If that’s what it takes, maybe things should remain the way they are now,” the steel-clad kunoichi mumbled.

“I doubt you honestly believe that,” he said knowingly, “You hate social classification as much as I do.”

“Maybe,” she whispered somberly with a sigh, “But where does that leave us?”

“…I don’t know,” the Hyuuga prodigy replied, truly at a loss for words.

“Yes you do,” she protested, “You just don’t want to admit it.”

There was sadness in her eyes as the weight of her words laid heavy on both their heart. Hyuuga Neji was a genius and knew how to get out of any situation that the two of them had faced together. For him to not come up with a solution to this was like putting the final nail the coffin of their relationship.

“So, this is how it ends between us,” Tenten said meekly, more as a statement than a question, “Not with a fight, but with a whimper.”

Unable to remain another moment in his presence, the kunoichi attempted to leave, only to be stopped by a hand from the Hyuuga prodigy.

“Let go!” she demanded as she struggled to free herself.

“Where are you going?” he asked with concern.

“Anywhere but here,” she replied logically, “This matter is closed so let‘s just leave it at that.”

“This matter is not closed,” Neji stated, a little spark of hope still remaining in the depths of his heart, “We still have time to change their minds.”

“If that were possible we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” the kunoichi snapped, unintentionally taking on a bitter tone once again, “You know as well as I do that when the Hyuuga Council makes a decision, there’s little chance of changing their minds.”

She had a point of course, something Neji couldn’t deny. The Hyuuga Council was just as stubborn in their mindset as the prodigy himself, a family too prideful to change thousands of years of tradition so easily. It always puzzled him how a clan so mindful of showing respect towards others could so easily and completely disregard the opinions of their two heirs.

White-eyed hypocrites, Neji thought with a frown.

“We’re only delaying the inevitable so why prolong our suffering any longer than necessary?” Tenten added on a solemn note, “Just end it now before it gets too hard to do so.”

“So you’re going to give up just like that?” Neji asked in disbelief, “I’ve never known you to be so submissive to anything.”

“You can’t give up on something you never fought to keep,” Tenten stated, holding with it a bittersweet tone.

“…Is this really what you want?” Neji asked hesitantly, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“What I want doesn’t matter in this,” Tenten stated calmly with a sigh, despite her urge to throw a barrage of weapons at her teammate.

“…It matters to me,” the Hyuuga prodigy said, taking her limp hand into his own in a gesture of comfort.

For a moment, it seemed like the kunoichi would welcome his touch and embrace his comfort when a soft smile appeared on her face. But just as quickly as it had appeared, the smile was gone, replaced by the hardened expression that she would only show on the battlefield. Neji knew that face well. It usually donned the face of his teammate when she was hiding her emotions, something that was necessary when facing an army if enemies during their missions.

“You must follow the will of the Hyuuga Council,” she stated somberly, quickly slipping her hand away from his touch, “We both knew this would happen when the relationship started.”

“But that was when we assumed the Council would eventually approve of our relationship,” he protested.

“Then it looks like we assumed wrong, Neji,” she said in response.

Seeing the sadness that was apparent in her eyes, the young man wanted to reach out and pull her into his embrace; comfort her through this. But in doing so, it would only make their parting all the more difficult. So the Byakugan user took the only road that was left to him.

“I’m sorry, Tenten,” he said softly, barely audible but the weight of what it meant still present on both their shoulders.

“Don’t be,” she said with a sarcastic laugh, “Like you always say, it was fated to happen…why fight it?”

“Tenten,” he called evenly.

“Have a nice life, Hyuuga,” she cut in, leaving before he could utter another word, “I hope the two of you have a long and happy marriage.”

Watching her retreating back, Neji couldn’t help but reach out to her to try and comfort her through all this. But he knew perfectly well that no amount of words or actions would ever be able to fix this. Because though this was the end of their relationship, it was only the beginning of their pain.

“Hm,” he mused sorrowfully, walking back into the cage known as his existence, “So this is what it feels like to have a broken heart.”