Chapter 16

Tenten looked through the supplies. 'There aren't any nice colours,' she thought to herself, and sighed. Her initial desire to get a red-purplish thread disappeared, and she headed to the other sections in defeat.

Once again, she looked at the available choices for fabric dyes, and once again, she was disappointed.

Nothing was going her way that day. Firstly, fate decided for her to let her trip over a flat floor in the middle of the campus, during lunch. Everyone watched her smack her face onto the ground; some even guffawed and walked past her without giving her a helping hand. So much for having faith in humanity.

Secondly, Neji seemed to be in a 'Hey-let's-ignore-Tenten' mood, which explained why he hadn't texted her for three days. Tenten was hurt to say the least. The worst? Well, she felt like buying a stun gun and shooting him.

In the midst of her thoughts, she hadn't noticed her surroundings, and definitely didn't take note of a certain pineapple haired genius walking straight towards her. Unceremoniously, her face made contact with his man-boobs, or chest.

"I am so sorry!" Tenten looked up bewilderedly, expecting an angry old man breathing fire onto her. Instead, she found herself staring into the dark eyes of Nara Shikamaru. "Oh hey, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru Nara then wondered whether his friend's girlfriend was a weirdo. However then, his own girlfriend was one too, and finally concluded that birds of a feather flocked together.

"Hey," he drawled. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Tenten smiled cheekily. "Skipping classes is one of the benefits given if you are a scholarship student."

"Well, that's lucky," he chuckled while putting some colour paints inside his shopping basket. "I never knew scholarship students got such treatment."

"Uh huh, even I didn't know that too. Basically, they provide you with everything you need. Fancy getting some lunch?" she proposed. "I do need to get to know my best friend's future boyfriend after all."

Being shocked was an understatement when Shikamaru heard that he wasn't Ino's boyfriend yet.

The duo had headed to McDonalds for lunch. "It was greasy, cheesy, oily and utterly fingerlicious," quoted by Tenten as they settled down with two huge set meals of Big Macs.

"Funny, I never imagined you as 'eating fried food' kind of girl. Like Ino," Shikamaru said.

"Ino is a nutcase for not enjoying this. She loves tacos though, like the fat count makes a difference," Tenten replied. "Speaking of which, if you give a life supply on tacos on her birthday, I think she will marry you."

He nodded. "I would take note of that. Thanks. You should try to give Neji the same, except it is doughnuts. He loves doughnuts, regardless of anything else."

Grinning, she helped herself to the fries. "Yeah ok, I would try that one day, after I come back from Paris."

Shikamaru frowned. "Does my dear Hyuuga friend know about this scholarship trip thing?"

Feeling guilty, Tenten looked down at her uneaten burger. "Yeah a little, I haven't had the chance to tell him the details."

"Then, when are you going to? Oh, maybe you would tell him when you are flying there, and break his heart," he couldn't help but sound harsh.

Hurt, she avoided looking into his demanding gaze. "We have just gotten together, and with all the ignoring he does, there is practically no chance to tell him."

Shikamaru had to stop himself for pointing out his suspicions about Karin and Neji, and decided to leave the matter to another day. He had noticed the strange behaviour between the couple these few days, which consisted of the male feverishly whispering to Karin at every chance they met. Hey, it's not like he slept in class every day.

"Sounds like a douche," he muttered, referring to Neji silently. It was wrong for a boyfriend to ignore his beloved for a few days, let alone a week. He had known about Ino's confrontation with Neji, however, there seemed to be more.

"Anyway, enough me accusing you of not telling him. What are the details?"

Stunned, Tenten dropped her fry. "I thought you knew, that's why you were being an interrogative bitch and asked me all those threatening questions."

Waving away the slight mistake that he made, he gobbled down part of his burger. "Maybe that should have been first."

"Honestly, I myself haven't been able to absorb all the information yet," she admitted. "I would be in Paris for longer than you think."

"How long? I need specific details, troublesome woman."

"Er…maybe three years. I wouldn't be able to contact you guys too, since I am on a scholarship after all. I know everyone thinks that it's a year, but after looking over the new conditions that Gai-sensei gave me, I have to stay there for two more years."

"That sucks balls. Three years is a long time; we will all miss you."

Tenten gaped. She hadn't expected a guy, except Neji, to say this to her. Even though it might be an obligation since she was his girlfriend's best friend.

Blushing furiously, she thanked him, and took a huge gulp of her Coke to calm herself down. "I think we should head back to school soon. My next class is starting."

"Sure."

However, then, as the duo walked out of the fast food chain, they didn't notice a camera clicking away as they walked towards the campus, chatting merrily.

Neji frowned in deep thought.

A week ago, he had heard about the scholarship from Karin, and had asked around. Then, he had questioned Tenten whether the scholarship meant a lot to her.

What was he thinking? Of course it meant a lot to her. The only sole reason why she would try to survive hell in university was all because of that scholarship.

It was her dream.

It would be unethical of him to stop her from going.

Annoyed, he slammed his hand onto the table. No one seemed to take notice, and continued looking at the lecturer. It was the deadline for Karin's proposal, and it was evident that Neji had no idea what to do.

This proposal was the reason for many sleepless nights throughout the week. He was almost tempted to say no, however, his rejection would endanger her scholarship, her dream.

And he couldn't afford to do that.

Just then, a pink post-it was passed to him. He looked at the title on the post-it, and stared at the passer weirdly.

Quickly flipping open the note, he first took notice of numerous insults that the girls in the class had written.

Ew she's such a slut, flirting with her best friend's boyfriend.

I know right, I saw her today with Shikamaru at Macs. The way she was looking at him, batting her eyelashes, gross.

Anger boiled inside Neji rapidly. He knew they were referring to Tenten, and that just infuriated him to no end.

I heard that she was dating Hyuuga Neji.

That hot guy, no fucking way. She doesn't deserve him.

If the rumour is really true, I would go on a protest to strip her off the scholarship.

Ditto.

The last two sentences of the conversation fuelled his decision to say yes to Karin.

It was then when he realised that he himself was the one who was making Tenten suffer. She didn't deserve to be insulted like this. She should be praised for being a scholarship student, one that excelled in every area. She was not a slut, hell, he knew that first-hand.

However, all because of him, she had been degraded to this level.

'If I leave her, will this all end?' he wondered.

The answer was already there in his heart.

"Yes it will," he mumbled.

Neji entered Tenten's apartment. At that moment, he was glad that he was given a key, because it would take everything to settle down his nerves.

Not long after, Tenten entered. "Hey Neji, I didn't see you there."

"Hey," he forced a smile, and approached her.

His clammy hands were sweating profusely. Not knowing how to break the news to her, he stood there and enveloped his arms around her.

Tenten noticed his strange behaviour, and asked, "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

He tilted his head, "Yeah I am perfectly fine."

Leaning into her, Neji stared and admired her mahogany eyes. He would never admire those pair of magnificently-coloured eyes this close again. He would have to stay away from her until the end of time, so that her dreams could sail.

He shut his eyes, and decided that he was indeed making the right choice.

Resting his lips on her, he led her into a deep, smouldering kiss.

Tenten already knew that something was wrong, but didn't dare to question it. As he kissed her, she tasted heaven once again, parting her lips for acceptance. As it progressed, she felt his lips becoming more urgent, more worried, as if he was kissing her for one last time. All the passion conveyed into the kiss was intense; she felt his heat, his reckless worries.

As if it was telepathy.

Finally, they broke away. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stepped away from her with a sad smile.

"Tenten, let's break up."

Those three words were like a blow to her. She had expected this, judging from the kiss.

Instead, she smiled. Tenten grinned, and gazed into her ex-boyfriend's eyes.

"It's ok, Neji."

Unshed tears welled inside her eyes, and she tried desperately to blink them away.

She had expected this to happen after all.

Looking down, she found herself unable to look back up. Mustering the courage, she tried her best to meet those lavender eyes with all her will.

"It's ok, Neji. I understand you have other…circumstances."

It pained Neji to watch her become like this. She was smiling, instead of crying. Wasn't she heartbroken? Wasn't she feeling like how he was feeling now?

Then, he wondered, had she really loved him after all?

Unable to say a word, he walked out of her apartment, and her life forever.

Tenten laid her back against the wall.

In her left hand, a glass of cranberry juice resided. She looked at it and frowned.

Love was not suited for her.

"It's ok, Tenten. He hadn't loved you anyway. You are just one of his conquests. You should be flattered to be one," she told herself.

She had not cried since he left. Not a single tear shed at all. She had wondered why, but, nothing came to her mind.

Approaching her study table, Tenten took out a piece of paper. She had to voice out her unsaid feelings.

Maybe she would send this letter after she had left. She would probably put this in his letter box, however slim the chances of him reading might be.

Whilst writing, the salted water dropped and stained the paper.

Hey guys, yes, I have been gone for almost one year, /guilty as charged/. This story was too nice for me to give up on. It was a sad chapter; I almost felt like crying as I wrote this.

I am sorry for being on hiatus for so long. Many things happened. I got into my desired subject combination, Trip. Science and Art, so I am quite happy. There are subjects that make me want to rip my hair out, but I am still standing here.

Three to four more chapters more until the end.

And I am sorry if I was not specific enough, in Chapter 13, when Neji questioned Tenten whether she would be happy if she went on her scholarship, that actually happened after Karin had told him. So yea, to avoid more confusion.

I am sorry for being such a bitch, requesting for reviews. Um, forgive my one-year-younger persona.

Thank you for reading. I really love you guys.