A/N: Chapters 1-8 are now edited! Chaps 1-3 are pretty much rewritten, 4-6 are heavily edited, and 7-8 didn't have much wrong with them. (It's obvious i started this a while ago, since the beginning used to suck majorly. I cringed so much fixing the suckage of it...) Also, this story used to be called She Who Didn't Know, but the title's been changed to something that is actually kinda relevent. And yes, its an AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. What a surprise.

Let the Last Tear Fall

1. Questions

"Thank you, have a nice day."

Tenten gave the clerk a tired smile and grabbed the two plastic bags he was holding out to her. Frankly, she hadn't been having a very nice day, and now that the sun was beginning to set, her nerves were getting jumpy. She knew that she didn't really have anything to worry about; she had moved away from the big city so that she wouldn't have to worry. But still, night was coming and she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be inside before the moon replaced the sun in the sky.

It was just an acquired habit, one she knew she would have to get over someday. They only roamed large cities, after all. Or so one was told. She was safe here in Aelia. She had been safe for about a week now. And yet, old fears stuck to her like a second pair of clothes.

Lost in her thoughts and with her eyes on the ground, Tenten paid no attention to the tall figure that was peering inside the glass display window of a small shop a few buildings down. She had just decided that she would make spaghetti for dinner, when she ran head-on into the young man and fell backwards.

"Excuse you, watch where you're going," came the annoyed voice from above, and Tenten looked up from her position on the ground. The man was staring down at her with pale eyes that were narrowed in distaste, a frown on his face. His long brown hair was tied into a loose ponytail, and he was wearing a rather fancy white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. He had an air of superiority surrounding him, and an appearance that seemed out of place in the small town.

Tenten muttered a forced, "Sorry about that, guess I should have watched where I was going," though the words came out much less than sincere, due to the look he was giving her.

"What a concept," the man said, and Tenten narrowed her eyes slightly into a glare. Who did he think he was to speak to her with that tone of voice? Nevertheless, he held out a hand, which she took with reluctance, and allowed herself to be pulled off the ground.

The smallest hint of an amused grin twisted his lips as Tenten dusted herself off. and picked the plastic bags up off the ground before turning on her heel and walking right past him.

"You're welcome," he said dryly as she passed.

"Thank you," Tenten said through clenched teeth, though her tone held nothing but animosity and a strong desire to be back in her small apartment where she could just sit back and relax for the first time that day, without the presence of egotistical jerks to fray her temper even more.

She didn't even wait for a response as she continued walking. She knew she was being rude, and she knew that she probably wouldn't have acted this way if she was having a better day, but her day had not been better, and she didn't feel like dealing with annoying people at the moment.

She was a little unnerved to feel the man's eyes on her back as she walked away.

Neji watched the brunette until she turned a corner, and once she was out of sight he rubbed his forehead, his smirk dropping into a confused frown. It hadn't been strong, the prickling in his forehead, but it was unmistakably warning him of one of them.

The uncomfortable needle-like feeling receded slowly once the girl was gone.

Could it be coming from her? Impossible… He argued with himself, but he couldn't deny the possibility. She definitely had a certain presence; it could mean…

But then again, it could just mean nothing.

"How interesting," he said muttered quietly, and lowered his hands into his pockets.

Tenten let out a sigh of relief once she had closed her apartment door behind her. She deposited her grocery bags in the kitchen and pulled out a new bottle of stain remover. She grabbed a rag from the oven handle and headed into the living room.

She glowered down at the large brown coffee stain in the middle of the carpet - which had only marked the beginning of the downward spiral her day had ended up as – contemplating the defilement.

"I am so not in the mood for this," Tenten growled, dropping the bottle and rag, abandoning the stain and instead walked over to the thermostat mounted on the plain white wall. She turned the dial to seventy-five degrees.

Nothing happened. She waited a minute, but the low rumbling of the heater turning on never came.

"Oh come on!"Tenten rubbed her palms over her eyes wearily, letting out a weak groan. "This is definitely not my day…" She trudged back into the kitchen, deciding that the heat from the stove would warm up the room enough while she cooked dinner. She opened the cupboard above the stove and pulled out a pack of spaghetti. Next she dug out the parsley, tomato, and onion from one of the grocery bags, and laid them on the cutting board. She took a knife out of a drawer and placed it next to the cutting board. Everything was there except…

"Tomato sauce." She said the word like it was a threat, like she was warning the bottle that if it didn't appear right then, she would deal it a great load of pain. When she found it.

She slammed the refrigerator door with unnecessary force, having been unsurprised to find it nearly empty when she peered inside.

Tenten jumped when she heard a metallic clanging behind her, and turned to see that the knife had fallen onto the floor, its tip pointing at her threateningly from a few feet away. She furrowed her eyebrows in question, then picked up the knife and placed it back on the cutting board while sparing a glance out the kitchen window.

Dusk was just beginning to fall; if she hurried she would be able to make it to the store and back before night had spread completely. Tenten grumbled and grabbed a coat from the hanger on the front door, and opened the door with more force than necessary, trying to rid herself of her frustration.

The sky was a dark, dusty purple when she returned gladly to the yellow lighting of the apartment complex's halls. Her nerves had her bounding up the stairs to her second floor room; she didn't think she could stand waiting for the elevator. As she turned the corner to hurry up the last flight of stairs, she came dangerously close to running into someone coming down.

She barely had enough time to jerk to a stop and grab the handrail to keep herself from falling forward, a gasp of shock escaping her lungs.

"Two times in a single day?" She wished she didn't recognize the patronizing voice.

"You!" she gasped, quickly taking in the foggy eyes and formal attire that belonged to the man in front of her, a step above. "What are you doing here?" she asked abruptly.

He raised an eyebrow. "I live here."

She scrunched her forehead in surprise. She had never seen him before. Then again, she herself had only lived in the apartment complex for eight days.

"Oh. Sorry. But where are you going?"

"A walk," he said, tone clearly stating that he found her question odd. Tenten mentally berated herself. She wasn't in the big city any longer; people here weren't afraid of the dark.

"Oh, right. Okay. Um…goodbye then." She passed around him swiftly, eager to end the conversation before she made an even bigger fool of herself. She was three steps from the top of the staircase when his voice drew her to a complete stop.

"What are you running from?" he asked, and she jumped, having been certain that he had continued on his way. His question sounded far from innocent; a hint of some deeper knowledge tinged his words. What he knew, she didn't know, though.

She turned and met his steady gaze with her questioning one. "Nothing," she said slowly.

"You seem to be in a hurry."

She furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't like the way he seemed to be analyzing her. "So what?" she asked, a bit defensively.

"You're running away from the Drones," he said abruptly, pale eyes boring into hers in a way that almost left her feeling drained, weakened. She found herself gripping the metal handrail with white knuckles, the palms of her hands damp.

"How…how do you know?" she asked, voice barely above a murmur.

"Do you even know who they target?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.

A flash of anger flared inside her. "Look," she started, voice retaining its earlier clipped tones, "I don't know what you're talking about. And stop acting like you know me. You have no idea what you're talking about."

His lips twitched, a grin just beneath the impassive surface. "It would seem like I do. You're running from the Drones. And why is that? Why would they take you?"

"And why not? They don't care," Tenten said, her anger fueled by the stranger's incessant questions. "I know. They take whoever they want. I know. That's why I came here, so I would never have to worry about them again. So I wouldn't have to think about them again."

She had meant for these words to be her final ones spoken to him. She hoped that he would get the hint as she turned once more to reach the top of the staircase. Only a hushed voice traveled up the stairs behind her, sending a chill down her spine despite the actual words spoken. "Drones have never come around here before; it's safe in this town. It would do you best to stop worrying" She thought he was finished, but then he said, "I must have been mistaken."

She froze just long enough to hear footsteps retreating down the stairs, and then she hurried back to the safe confines of her apartment.

Unbidden questions filled her mind. There was something he knew, she could feel it. But she had absolutely no idea what it was. "Mistaken about what?" she asked under her breath, but of course there was no reply.

Neji stopped once he was outside the apartment complex, and he leaned against the rough, cold wall with a sigh. He took a refreshing breath of the night air to steady his thoughts, and folded his arms across his chest.

He had really thought that she was one. She had a strange energy surrounding her, he was almost certain of it. And yet, she seemed to know nothing about the Drones and their real reasons for attacking people, and he had to stop himself before he let something important slip.

Neji looked up at the small sliver of the moon overhead. "Everything's telling me that you're a sorceress," he said in a tired voice, eyes tracing patterns in the stars. "But at the same time, everything's also telling me you're not. So what am I supposed to believe?" he asked nothing in particular, expecting no answer.

"Then again," he continued, pushing off the wall to head down the dark street, "It's probably better for you if you're not."

A/N: Reviews are always appreciated!