A/N: I wrote this one-shot around Christmas, thinking I would write a Christmas special...but then after I finished it and read it over several more times, I realized how personal some of this story was. My connection to music, that is. What music truly is to me. Also, I realized that there were A LOT of Christmas fics popping up on Fan Fiction, so I just said, screw it.

But now, I'm posting it. Why?

Because music truly is a wonderful thing.

I originally wanted the story to sound poetic, but halfway through I abandoned that for a more descriptive way of writing.

Summary: White snow drifted steadily down from the sky when the sound of a violin met her ears. She swallowed and followed the beautiful noise. There he was: In the park, completely alone. Playing his heart out for nobody. Because nobody would listen.

The Lonely Violin

The snow floated from the dark, dreary grey sky. The streets were silent, though it was noon. The occasional car would whoosh past her, but after that, the silence resumed.

There he was, standing in the park, drawing his bow across the strings of his violin creating a crisp even sound. He kept his eyes closed, doing everything he could to focus on the music alone and not what was happening at the present time.

She on the other hand was on her way home, having gotten sick of the Christmas party her friend was holding. It was a little too hectic for her tastes.

He couldn't afford a Christmas. He could only afford to stand and play his violin to hopefully earn a bit of money.

Then she heard it. Her heart wrenched at the sound of the most beautiful Away in a Manger she had ever heard.

But today, he was out of luck. Nobody was lending him a single ear. Breathing in sharply through his nose, he poured more emotion into his violin, adding a touch of joy and hope to his music.

She gazed at him from afar, his music reaching her ears and touching her heart. Nothing she had ever heard was more beautiful than this. She closed her eyes, listening in.

Music. That was his only escape. Just like that, his sorrow was gone, replaced with bliss and happiness. His lips curled into a smile as he continued. Did he really care that there was going to be no Christmas for him this year? Nah. This was enough.

And just like that, the song ended, leaving her hanging in the air. She opened her eyes to see the violinist standing by the fountain that had been turned off for the winter.

He lowered his violin, letting it hang at his side. What was joy really? His eyes scanned the snowy ground, his fingers numb from the cold, but not feeling it.

She stared at the violinist. She had to hear that violin just one more time. Breaking into a run, she headed towards the stairs that would lead her to the park.

Footsteps. His head snapped up to see a person running through the park. He didn't expect her to stop.

The violinist looked at her, his snow white eyes meeting hers.

Her cheeks were pink from either the cold, or flushed from running. Her brown eyes held a sort of sorrow in them.

"Could you...Could you play another song?" She asked, trying to smile as best as she could to hide how badly she wanted to hear that violin play again.

He gazed at her in surprise. Then he smiled and nodded. He lifted the violin, positioning it between his shoulder and chin before drawing the bow across the strings. The violin sang the notes to Angels we have heard on high in a smooth legato.

Her heart soared. Before she knew what she was doing, she added her own voice to the music.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

His eyes opened to look at the girl standing before him, her eyes closed, swaying to the music, her voice mingling with the violin's easily. As if it belonged there. His heart soared with warmth as his lips curled into a smile.

Like all good things, the song came to an end. She opened her eyes to look at the violinist again.

"That was beautiful." She whispered.

He smiled at her. "Thank you."

She suddenly felt awkward. "I-I'd give you some money for your troubles, but I don't have any cash on me," She laughed uneasily.

"It's not a problem."

She looked at him. His eyes were sad, but at the same time, they were happy.

He smiled at her. "I'm just glad you stopped to listen."

She tried to smile, but she couldn't put her finger on something.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Tenten." She replied. "What's yours?"

"My name is Neji."

Then it clicked.

"F-Forgive me if I'm prodding, Neji, but..." Tenten bit her lip. "It's Christmas Eve. Why aren't you with your family?"

The tiny light in his eyes suddenly went out. Tenten regretted even asking him the question.

"I don't have one." He murmured. "My family died when I was young. I grew up in an orphanage, and nobody adopted me." His eyes avoided hers.

"O-Oh..." Tenten didn't know what to say.

"Please don't take pity on me."

Tenten fought for words. Neji began to pack up his violin.

"Oh, don't go..."

He looked at her with surprise.

"I-I mean...nobody should spend Christmas alone." Tenten's cheeks flushed slightly as she realized what she was doing. "A-And I-I'm not going anywhere for Christmas...S-So...you could join me if you wanted to..."

He turned towards her, his face stern. "Don't you have your own family to celebrate with?"

Tenten looked away. "I-I haven't been in speaking terms with my parents since I came here to go to college..." She scratched her head awkwardly. "So...No worries."

Neji frowned. "Why?"

Tenten looked at him. "They're furious with me because I didn't go to the school they wanted me to go to and didn't enrol in the course they wanted me to enrol in."

Neji's jaw visibly clenched. "That's garbage. They're your parents! They should love you no matter what!"

Tenten flushed awkwardly. "W-Well, they're not really my parents...they're my...foster family...My real parents are alcoholics and drug addicts so..."

The corner of Neji's mouth curled upwards in sympathy. "Well, I suppose we're in the same boat then..."

"So, will you join me for Christmas?" Tenten asked again.

Neji looked up at the dark sky. Should he, or should he not? Now that this was being offered to him, he wanted to take it, but what of Tenten? He was a complete stranger to her.

"I don't really want to spend another Christmas alone, and you seem like a nice person..." Tenten added.

Neji smiled to himself. "I don't want to be alone either."

Tenten's eyes lit up. "So..."

On habit, Neji glanced away from her and reached up to brush a lock of hair from his face, forgetting it was all tied back in a ponytail beneath his hat. His cheeks were flushing slightly as he agreed to spend Christmas with a girl he only just met.

Yet, why was she so charming?

As he followed her, that nervous urge to brush the currently non-existent hair from his face was sending him around the bend. Nobody made him feel like this. He was a musician, and most of the time knew how to handle his nerves.

But girls he was not too good at.

Tenten could feel Neji's presence at her side. She was doing everything she could to keep her walking pace normal. The urge to slow down and walk slowly was quite strong. What was it about this boy that made her feel like this?

She shook off the feeling as best as she could and put on a smile. "We're here."

"Where?" Neji asked, coming out of a daze.

"At my place."

"Oh."

Tenten unlocked the door to the small house that probably only had one room. When the door opened, Neji was slightly startled. It didn't have one room, it had two. Just a main room and a tiny bathroom.

"I know it's not much, but it's home, right?"

"Yeah..." Neji murmured.

Tenten pulled off her boots and hung up her jacket. "Well, come on in!"

Neji pulled off his boots and his jacket.

Tenten went to the stove and filled a pot with water. "Would you like hot chocolate?" She looked towards him and her heart almost stopped. His jacket and hat had been hiding his hair the whole time. Tenten never would've guessed it would be that long. Yet, it suited him so well, only one word came to Tenten's mind: beautiful.

Why would she call a guy beautiful? Because that's what it was. His features were gentle and serene. He probably wouldn't be classified as 'to-die-for' by her friends, but to Tenten, this was the face she could wake up to every morning for the rest of her life.

Tenten shook herself and turned back to the stove. What was with her tonight?

"Did you say something?"

His voice was like velvet on her ears. She shoved the feeling away. "Do you want hot chocolate?"

"Um...yes please..." Neji felt quite awkward in someone else's house. He was being offered hot chocolate too; something he hadn't had for a long time.

And then there was her. There was something about her...

She turned around. "Y-You can sit down, if you'd like..." She said softly.

Neji nodded and sat down on a slightly wobbly chair. His brush-hair-from-face habit returned a second later.

"So how long have you been playing violin, Neji?" Tenten asked.

That small smile crept up on his face again. "About sixteen years I think. My dad started teaching me when I was four..." He trailed off, remembering the times his father took his hands to show him how to hold the instrument and play it. He recalled the first sound he ever got out of it, and how the screech of the strings had made him laugh with delight.

"It must be a great memory." Tenten murmured.

Neji opened his eyes to see her looking at him. He couldn't even remember closing his eyes in the first place.

"Y-Yeah." He sighed.

"My parents were useless. I have no good memories about them, or my foster family."

Neji looked away from her. There wasn't a single one?

"But...how?"

Tenten sighed. "My mother got pregnant from a one-night-stand. By the time she realized she was pregnant, it was too late for an abortion. She never wanted me. I was put up for adoption and adopted by a family, but they already had too many kids and couldn't take me.

"I was passed all over the place like a dog. One family wanted me, then they couldn't take me and put me up for adoption again, and finally I ended up back in the hands of my birth mother who ignored me. Finally, I ended up in my foster family who were so strict, it was ridiculous. They wanted me to go to medical school and become a doctor. But I didn't want that."

"What did you want?" Neji asked.

Tenten smiled softly. "I...I wanted to sing..."

Neji smiled again. "Music."

Tenten's cheeks flushed as she nodded. "There's nothing I love more."

Neji looked towards the wall. "We're the same, you and I."

"Hm..." Tenten smiled to herself, looking back towards the pot which was beginning to boil. "Maybe..." She filled two mugs with hot water and cocoa. She placed one in front of Neji before sitting down.

"Thank you." Neji murmured.

"No marshmallows unfortunately. They don't fit in the budget."

Neji smirked. "But hot chocolate does?"

"Yeah. I make it fit in the winter budget. Just like Freezes in the summer time."

"I suppose there are some things you can't live without, right?"

"Yeah..."

The silence filled the house. It was the same silence she heard while walking down the street. It was the silence that filled you to the soul until you felt lonely.

But the silence was made bearable because of the presence of a friend, even if you had just met.

When the hot chocolate was finished, Tenten was at a loss for what to do next.

"I'm sorry." Tenten sighed finally.

"For what?" Neji looked at her curiously.

"I'm so boring, aren't I? I invite you over for Christmas, and I can't even keep a conversation."

"No, no, it beats being alone any day, right?"

Tenten sighed. "I suppose it's hard to have a nice Christmas..."

"Christmas is about joy. You don't need gifts, or great parties..."

"But they do help..."

Neji threw back his head and laughed. Tenten stared at him, taken aback. But his laugh made her smile. It was a warm laugh.

"Sure they help, but there's nothing better than being in the company of others, am I right?"

"Sure..." Tenten sighed.

Neji felt his sails deflate. "Do you know why I play my violin, Tenten?"

"Because you love playing the violin?"

Neji chuckled. "Well, that's one reason. I play it because it makes me feel good."

Tenten stared at him.

"When I play," his hands formed an air violin in front of him. "I can pour my emotions into the violin, tell it everything through the movement of the bow, and have it play melodies that may or may not gather a crowd, but either way makes me feel like I'm not alone anymore." He lowered his arms. "It's like a friend that takes in my feelings and sympathises with them without judging or mocking me." He looked up at Tenten. "How do you feel when you sing? Why do you sing?"

Tenten bit her lip. "To fill the silence I suppose."

Neji smiled. "I've never had anyone except my violin around this time of year. I would play for hours and hours on end, no matter where I am until my fingers grew sore and I would keep playing, because the music was the only thing keeping me from falling apart."

Tenten smiled to herself.

"You know the feeling too, don't you? The joys of music?"

Tenten's smile grew wider until she couldn't help but laugh.

Next thing she knew, Neji stood in the middle of her living room, violin in hand. He began to play a very familiar Christmas carol that made Tenten's smile widen. She sang along, adding her voice into the mix again.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh,"

Long into the night, the music went on from two musicians brought together through silence. Neji's fingers ached and Tenten's throat was sore, but all they did was set down their instruments for a moment to get something to eat.

"See?" Neji stated with a smile on his face. "We don't need gifts, or parties."

"Oh and that wasn't a party just now?"

Neji laughed. "No, it was a secret concerto for violin and vocals."

Tenten laughed.

She didn't know where the connection came from. Their eyes met, and a second later, their lips pressed together. Neji shoved her into a wall, his thumbs caressing her cheeks. Tenten's hands knotted themselves in his hair.

"Hmmm..." Tenten moaned with satisfaction when his tongue slid into her mouth. She tilted her head to the side and brushed her tongue against his. He bit her tongue softly, making her squeak in surprise.

Nothing she had ever known was like this. Neji attracted her like a magnet, and she seemed to have the same effect on him.

His hands brushed her sides, feeling every smooth curve of her waist. Her grip on his neck tightened considerably, pulling his mouth against hers. He slid his hands around her and held her closer. Her grip loosened, and their lips parted just slightly. Their eyes met again.

"Merry Christmas..." They murmured simultaneously.