Defining Beauty

Neji has always wondered how Tenten can look at a sunset or a rose and think It's beautiful.

He could never do that. It's neither beautiful nor ugly. It just is.

Sometimes when Tenten refuses to go home until the sunset is over and he refuses to leave her to walk home in the dark, they will sit on top of a hill and he will wonder how the sunset came to be. He will wonder how the rose placed in Tenten's hair so perfectly will come to an end. But he would only wonder about such things when his mind wasn't occupied with things of actual importance.

One day he was wondering, and he was starting to get irritated with the knowledge that he would never get his answer.

"Neji," her voice flowed over his stillness and he breathed it in. "Why do you always look so serious, even under the setting sun?"

He looked at her very seriously and asked, "Doesn't it frustrate you?"

"Yes," she said and smiled.

"You don't know what I'm talking about, Tenten."

"It doesn't matter. There are things in life that will frustrate you, Neji. And then there are things like sunsets. They will always be there for you, if you catch them at the right time."

A slightly confused expression fell over his features. "Why would I go looking for a sunset?"

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Tenten told Neji something that he should have already known. "Because, Hyuuga Neji, that's where you can always find me; under the sunset. That's where I will be waiting to hear about your frustrations."

Tenten lay her head against the grass by his side, and her pink cheeks faced away from him.

After a moment, Neji lay back too, his hand resting on her arm and a slight smile spread on both of their faces.

Some mysteries can't be solved. And sometimes that fact alone can make them beautiful.

Fin