There he was, sitting alone in the darkness.

She called his name, repeatedly but the void had stolen her voice.

Sweat rolled down her oval-shaped face as her mouth formed the shape of his name.

Nothing but the emptiness of the void filled her ears.

She reached forward, stretching her arms to their full length.

But he was out of her reach.

Despair lingered as he began to descend into the dark abyss, his body disappearing and at the last moment, he turned around and stared at her with his pale eyes.

"Neji, Neji, Neji!" She shot up, her bangs covered her eyes as she found herself wide awake, her tanned skin covered with cold sweat.

She blinked and blinked again. In her room, decorated with weapons and scrolls, she was alone.

The same nightmare had come to plague her again, it was happening much too often.

As she always was.

How many years has it been?

The last time she saw him, his white, milky eyes were shut, sealed forever while the curse mark that bared his fate disappeared.

His face was pale, the blood having drained from his wound, from which the large spike sprouted, as if it grew from within him; he looked calm, as if he was asleep - there was even a tiny, tiny smile on his face.

She wobbled, not sure whether it was because of her being just woken up from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, or that she was holding back the tears she had.

Lee was crying, he pressed his arm against his eyes as he heaved up and down.

Guy-sensei was on the verge of death - it was a miracle that he was still alive.

She needed to stay strong, for her team - it took her all her might to hold back her tears, for there is no time for weakness, no time for tears. She tightened her fists, bit down on her teeth as hard as she could.

"Goodbye, Neji," she whispered as she saw the medic-nin carry his body away on a stretcher.

The next time she saw him again, rather, his name - it was carved on a plaque, amidst the sea of graves.

His face was carved in her memory.

She slapped on her face, a loud pang rang through her ear as the pain began to kick in, she pressed onto her stinging face.

"Snap out of it Tenten," she muttered. "He's gone."

She shut her eyes tight as she forced herself to sleep.

"No, this wouldn't do," she said to the Chunin next to her. "Kids nowadays have much better training than we did back at the day, so the track needs to be more complicated - or else we won't be able to test their abilities."

"Yes 'mam." He replied as he walked away.

She held her clipboard against her ribcage, jotting down another note as she paced around.

"The traps needed some more fine-tuning, gotta tell Shino about that…" She muttered to herself.

She jolted and turned around swiftly, feeling someone touching her shoulder. Instinctively, she pulled out a kunai and glanced around warily.

"Oh, it's you." She frowned and smiled, putting her kunai away.

"Was it really necessary?" The man behind her smiled briefly, his eyes wide open as he did.

"Sorry Sai, old habits die hard," she shook her head, waving her hand towards him apologetically. "What's up?"

"Lord Seventh is asking for you at the office, I just got back and got the extra mission as a messenger." Sai said, blinking as his smile hung on his face. "Better not keep him waiting."

"Got it, thanks." Tenten leapt onto the roof and began hopping. It took her little less than twenty leaps before she found herself at the window of the Hokage's office.

"Ah, it's Tenten," said Shikamaru, looking up and nodding at her.

"Sai just told me to come," she jumped in and stood in front of the table, amidst the stacks of documents and instant ramen cups, behind the computer screen sat a blonde man who was frowning quite deeply, his oceanic blue eyes looked up as she steadied herself.

"I know you're busy with the preparation of the upcoming Chunin exams," he began, his voice clearly raspy from deprivation of sleep. "But there's something strange, and I think you should look into it."

"I'll do whatever that needs to be done, Lord Seventh." She nodded at him.

Naruto turned his gaze upon Shikamaru, who was holding his chin. The man cleared his throat, as he nodded at the Hokage.

"The matter's basically this - there've been some strange occurrences at our northeastern borders, there've been strange attacks on small villages by a rogue, the patterns and methods are quite peculiar." Shikamaru carefully observed Tenten's expression. "More precisely, as we have learnt that his attack patterns are quite similar to someone we know."

"And that is?" Tenten asked, prompting as she glanced at Shikamaru.

"Well," he cleared his throat. "It's gonna get troublesome - the rogue apparently had similar skill set as Hyuga Neji."

Tenten felt her heart jolting inside. "It's impossible, Neji is…"

"Dead, I know," said Shikamaru, stroking his goatee. "But given that piece of information, we wanted to send someone who is familiar with his skillset, as well as someone who can counter his attacks."

Tenten nodded. "So you picked me."

"Yes, you'd know Neji if it was him, though unlikely," Shikamaru said. "But if it wasn't him, given their similarities, you'd be able to identify the flaws in his attack and help your teammates."

"I see." She nodded obediently. "And my teammates…"

"We aren't taking any risks, the best option is capturing him alive if we can, but if we couldn't, then we would have to terminate the threat permanently." Shikamaru seemed to stress the word permanently a bit too long for Tenten's taste.

"Your team will assemble at 0500 hours tomorrow at the gates," Naruto said, nodding. "Shikamaru will make the necessary arrangements, go home and rest up."

"Yes, Lord Seventh."

Tenten left the room and closed the door behind her. There was a strange feeling burning inside of her as she left the Hokage tower, as she looked around, each and every face began to remind her a little bit of him.

Her steps quickened, her walk soon turned into a run, as she dashed through the crowd, and finally, she reached her home.

She quickly unlocked the door and slammed herself shut inside, panting from her hastened pace.

Her heart was racing as she sat herself down on the floor against the door of her apartment.

She was well-trained, well-seasoned on the battlefield; yet for the first time in many, many years, she was frightened of this upcoming mission.

What if she had been lying to herself? What if everything she had tried to cope with in the past years changes overnight?

What if Neji was alive the whole time, and she did nothing?

She buried her face against her knees, sitting in a foetal position as she wept silently.

She knew it, cursing herself as tears rolled down her face.

Dammit, dammit, dammit … She slammed her fist onto the floor out of frustration.

She had been lying to herself for almost the past twenty years, from every day when she woke up and to every night when she fell asleep.

She had never, never gotten over him.

She still loved him.

Author's note:

A first attempt on writing a slightly AU story on NejiTen - one of my favourite couples after Shikatema ... I hope this story will be interesting, although it will be a bit dark ._. I just came up with this plot randomly and I thought that Neji and Tenten would be a better couple to fit this story in an AU closer to the original universe.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story! Be sure to review or PM me if you have anything you want to tell me!

V.S.V xoxo