A/N: Oh. My. God. Editing this story took FOR EVER. Chaps 1-3 were pretty much torn apart, and then rebuilt piece by piece. I took out scenes, added scenes, fixed a buttload of grammar, and then i wanted to do nothing but eat chocolate to recover from the shock of reading (and knowing that i had once written) something so terrible. I fixed up to chap 7, since 7 and 8 didn't have much wrong in terms of grammar and stuff. Basically, Neji and Tenten's initial meeting in chap 1 is the same, but then i changed some stuff up until the 4th chap. I'm guessing some of you won't go back to reread it, so i'll summarize it here.

Tenten doesn't almost break Neji's nose. They meet for the second time as she's returning home after grocery shopping. It's dusk, and she runs into Neji on the stairs. He asks her questions, and she has the feeling that there's something he knows about her, but she's not sure what. Basically, he weirds her out. The next chap, she's walking around town reminiscing about random stuff, and spots Neji and some random girl (ack, a Neji OC fangirl). He's annoyed by the "waspish girl," and it's only when the annoying girl says Neji's name that Tenten finally learns his name. Neji notices Tenten, Tenten passes without a word, and the OC asks if Neji knows Tenten. Then the same stuff happens: the attack, the various forest scenes, etc. That was a very very breif outline of the changes. And i probably forgot some stuff.

On to this chap. First of all, i know there are disagreements about the color of Karin's hair. According to my beloved wikipedia, it's red. But i've always pictured it as black, so that's how it is in this story. I just don't see the red...

Also, thanks to everyone who has been waiting as i fixed up the beginning of this story/thought of a new name/added chapter titles and finally got to this chap. And thank you for reviewing! I hope you all had a great Christmas/a happy holiday, and a wonderful new year's! Phew, i think that's all i wanted to say. Please forgive the insanely long author's note...

Let the Last Tear Fall

9. Reuniting

"You have really nice hair, you know?"

Tenten gave her reflection a small, embarrassed grin. Over her shoulder, the woman named Karin was brushing a comb through her hair in long, even strokes, gently getting rid of tangles.

Tenten shrugged. "I guess."

Karin clicked her tongue. "Don't you 'I guess' me. You know it is. I mean, look at it! Naturally wavy, beautiful color." She shook her head and grabbed a lock of her raven-colored hair – a strand from the left side, which was straight, while the right side of her head sported a choppier style – and twirled it around her finger, eyeing it with a small frown.

"Your hair's pretty too," Tenten offered to the Karin reflected in the mirror truthfully. It was a bit strange, the style, but it wasn't at all ugly.

Karin let the lock fall from her fingers as she resumed her brushing. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's not like I ever have the time to do anything with it. One of these days…a haircut would be really nice."

Tenten hummed a polite agreement, and studied herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were slightly flushed; she still had a slight fever. But the dark circles under her eyes were vanishing, and in her eyes' brown depths she could see an inner strength returning faintly. She was healing, from everything. She hoped. They told her she was getting better – Kiba and Sakura and Karin – and she believed them with as much faith as she could.

But she had also been told by someone else that she may die, and that possibility always whispered in her ear, though it had become quieter recently.

Karin was the one who had found her on the ground three nights ago, slumped against the wall with her head in her hands. The girl had pulled Tenten to her feet, and Tenten had seen the same fear reflected in the taller girl's eyes that she herself felt turning in her stomach.

"I'm Karin," the girl had said, and then she had grabbed Tenten's hand. There was blood on her fingers, but her grip was strong, so Tenten let herself be led away. "Let's get you out of this place," Karin said, referring to the blood-dotted floor. Tenten heard the shaky edge in her voice, but she also heard the determination.

.

.

.

Karin led her into another room, filled with only two old armchairs. The raven-haired girl dragged one over so that it was facing the other, and then she motioned for Tenten to sit down. Tenten did as she was told, and then Karin sat in front of her.

"What's your name?" the girl asked, bluntly but not harshly.

"Tenten."

"Tenten…" she said quietly, seeming to be mulling over the name, but Tenten noticed that the far-away look in her eyes still had a tinge of fear in it. She was still thinking about the man. As was Tenten.

Why him?

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Karin said abruptly, focus snapping back to the present. She looked down at her palms. "It really is…a terrible thing to see."

Tenten wasn't sure what to say, so she opted to stay silent. Her eyes traveled to the floor; the boards were dusty.

"Are you okay?"

Tenten's head snapped up. "What?"

"I mean, after seeing that. It was probably a shock to you, just waking up and everything."

"I'm fine," Tenten lied. She felt numb, like time was passing sluggishly, too slow for her brain to absorb what was going on. Then again, numb was probably better than sharp and painful and confusing.

Karin smiled tiredly and rubbed a hand over one arm. The blood was drying; it smelled coppery. She noticed Tenten's gaze and looked at her arms, and then her shirt, stained the darkest shade of crimson. "I hate blood," she muttered. Her hand hovered over the damp fabric of her shirt, almost as if she was contemplating whether wiping a hand over it would magically clean it.

"Why do you work here, then?" Tenten asked.

Karin looked up. "There's usually not this much blood." Her eyes looked haunted, and her shoulders were slumped. She pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. "There's usually not this much blood…" she repeated, voice cracking. "But…there was so much. All over him. Everywhere…"

"Is… is he going to be okay?" Tenten asked. She didn't know what answer she was hoping for.

Karin shook her head. "I don't know. He lost so much blood. When I found him, by the river, he was in a puddle of it. The whole time I was carrying him back, I could barely see where I was going. I dropped my flashlight when I saw him, and it shattered against a rock. It was so dark. But the entire time I could feel his blood dripping down my back and my arms." She buried her face in her hand. "I don't feel good."

Tenten pressed her lips together, at a loss. Tentatively, she hooked a hand through one of Karin's – the one lying limp on the armrest – and gave it a gentle squeeze. Karin didn't pull her hand back, and suddenly Tenten found herself the one doing the comforting.

.

.

.

The whole encounter had been a strange one, but not something that she wanted to forget particularly. She supposed it had been the first step in the loose friendship the two women had built. Karin was nice – loud, usually, with a very determined attitude, but kind all the same. She was sturdy, or had been ever since that night.

She kept Tenten company when Kiba and Sakura were working. Karin wasn't especially skilled at doctoring, like the other two were, but she had moved in with them a while ago because they were her friends. And she had nowhere else to go. They entrusted her with small tasks, and she was happy to help, for the most part.

"Ouch!" Tenten gasped suddenly as the comb snagged into a particularly nasty tangle. She reached for the sore spot on her head, but Karin batter her hand away, a contemplative frown on her face.

"Okay, so maybe your hair's not perfect. It does have a lot of tangles."

Tenten pursed her lips. "I didn't ask you to be my personal hairstylist," she muttered, wincing as Karin fought with the not.

"Yeah, yeah," Karin waved her off dismissively. "I have nothing better to do. And just a question: whose shampoo did you use?"

"Kiba let me borrow his when he showed me where the shower was. It's not like I had any of my own," Tenten answered a bit defensively.

Karin wrinkled her nose. "No wonder you smell like a guy."

Tenten didn't supply an answer, and sat in silence until Karin announced, "All done! Perfectly tangle-free. I'll take my money now."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Do you have a hair tie?"

"What, why? Just leave it down."

"But…it'll get in the way."

"Of what?" Karin asked. But she raised her hands at Tenten's narrow-eyed stare. "Okay, okay, just hold your horses."

Tenten subconsciously ran a hand through her hair as she waited for Karin to find an elastic. The raven-haired girl was digging through drawers noisily. "Oops, wrong one," she said lightly after a minute, and Tenten looked over.

"What's that for?" she asked slowly. Karin had opened a drawer that held a small silver gun. She shut it and opened another one.

"Protection. Against the occasional unwelcome guest to this town. We get a Drone every now and then. Their blood doesn't bother me as much as human blood. It's a good workout, taking them down."

"Drones come around here?" Tenten asked. "But why?"

Karin shrugged, and stuck her hand into a drawer filled with various hair brushes and combs. "I dunno. But when they come – which really isn't that often – it's at night, and most of the villagers are asleep. Kiba's good at tracking them, and I'm good at getting rid of them."

Tracking them? Tenten wondered what they tracked them with, but asked a different question instead. "You can kill them with a small gun like that?"

At this, Karin grinned and looked at Tenten with gleaming eyes. "That's just a backup," she said, tapping on the drawer that held the small gun. "My real baby's somewhere much safer. Oh, got one!" she exclaimed, retracting her hand, which now held a beige hair tie.

Tenten wasn't sure she wanted to see Karin's baby, or know anything more about it, for that matter. She accepted the hair tie and pulled her hair into a ponytail. But the talk of Drones brought her thoughts to something else.

"Um, that guy…" she started tentatively. "You know, that you found…?"

Karin stood and furrowed her eyebrows. "Yeah?" she asked. She twirled a finger into some of her straight hair. She seemed to do that absently when she thought, Tenten noticed.

"Well, I was wondering if I could talk to him maybe?" Tenten said, and it came out more of a timid question.

Karin looked at her for a moment, and then asked, "Do you know him?"

Tenten glanced away, and then back. "No, not really." It didn't sound at all convincing.

It looked as if Karin was going to ask another question, maybe call Tenten out on her lie, but in the end she let go of her hair and headed toward the door. "Alright, come on, let's see if he's awake," she beckoned, heading down the hall. Tenten smiled a silent thanks and followed.

Her smile didn't last long, however.

Why did she want to see him? Why did she want to speak with him? A large part of her didn't want to do those very things, but still she felt as if she had to. For the past three days her thoughts had strayed to him, and she felt odd knowing that he was in the same building as her.

He had condemned her. And then he had saved her. She wasn't sure what to think of him. But she felt that she owed him her thanks, at least.

She followed Karin down the hall in a silence that was broken by the rhythm of their footsteps. Her heart began to speed up, and she thought of telling Karin that she had changed her mind. But she couldn't. She didn't quite understand it, but she knew that she had to see him.

Karin stopped in front of a plain white door, and glanced at Tenten before turning the doorknob and poking her head inside. Tenten hovered behind her, biting her lip. She was beginning to regret asking for this. But Karin turned back to her and nodded, holding the door open for her, so all Tenten could do was step inside.

"Thanks," she mumbled under her breath, and Karin nodded again and left, and Tenten closed the door behind her.

The room was white and mostly bare, just as she remembered hers to be when she first woke up those three longs days ago. There was a bed against the far wall, and sitting up in that bed, his back propped against the headboard, was someone she knew all too well, though not at all.

The bleached white blanket pooled over his waist, and whatever gruesome injury he sported on his stomach was hidden under the equally-blinding white shirt he was wearing, no doubt covering a plethora of bandages underneath. His skin was pale, his eyes icy, and his hair shockingly dark amid the pallor all around.

Neji looked at her, pale eyes wide in surprise. She stared back, not knowing what so say, and as the dense silence progressed, Neji finally let his face fall into an expression that betrayed the slightest bit of exasperated amusement. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and shook his head.

"Fate is a funny thing," he breathed.

Tenten wasn't sure who he was talking to. It scared her how familiar his voice was to her. She still had a hand on the doorknob, and when she let it go it turned back into place with a click. She took a breath.

"I'm not quite sure why I came to talk to you…" she began, telling a partial-lie.

Neji peered up at her. "I didn't know you were here."

"Oh. Um…" It was an odd thing to say, so she didn't know how to respond.

"I couldn't sense you anymore. Or, I can't, I guess I should say."

He was speaking in that strange, hard-to-understand way of his. Tenten felt the similar, wearying sensation of dozens of questions popping into her head. Whenever he spoke, much of what he said felt to Tenten like a riddle she was supposed to solve. But she never knew where to start.

What do you mean, 'I couldn't – can't – sense you anymore?' How did you get here? What happened to you? Why here, of all places?

"Why did you help me?"

It wasn't what she had meant to say. She had intended to veer away from questions, because they always made things more complicated. But the questions would never veer away from her.

Neji looked at her with a stoic expression, and she didn't know what to make of it. Did he not want to discuss it? Did he not understand her question? She doubted the last one.

She took a step forward; he didn't blink. "Thank you, for doing it," she said. "Really, thank you so much for letting me out of there. But…" She felt her forehead wrinkle and her eyebrows furrow at the painful memories she saw all too vividly. "But…why? Why did you let me go? Or…why did you keep me in there for so long if you were just going to let me go in the end?"

Her voice was getting thick with emotion. More questions were springing forth, too many. Her brain was overloading, she felt herself crashing. She wanted to know so much, needed to know so much, that she couldn't even keep track of all the different thoughts in her head. They were jumbled together in disarray, a confusing mess of fears and hopes and maybe-s and maybe not-s.

"What was the point of it all? You said I had no choice, and that I couldn't disagree to what you wanted, but then you helped me do that very thing. Why me, and not anyone else? And then what about you?" she asked, motioning towards him with a jerky flick of the wrist. "What happened to you? Why are you here?"

His gaze did not falter, his blank eyes did not leave hers, but he offered no answers. His mouth remained shut, as if glued that way. It was almost as if he wasn't hearing anything she said.

Tenten's frown quivered. She needed answers. She needed to hear him speak, just to prove that he was really there and really listening and that she wasn't just talking to her self. But all he did was look at her. She curled her hands into fists.

"Neji, say something!" she yelled. "Tell me something! Anything! I deserve answers from you! This is all your fault! This is all your fault!"

For a moment he looked taken aback by her outburst; his eyes widened an infinitesimal bit, and his eyebrows twitched up, but the mask of stony impassiveness soon returned to his features.

"Or are you just not going to talk?" Tenten asked, tone suddenly becoming very tired.

He sighed. She felt herself tensing, anticipating. "I expected questions like those," he finally said. "You asked so many. Which one do you want me to answer first?"

A strangled laugh choked through her windpipe. "All of them would be nice."

"I can't –"

"I know," she said, cutting him off. "I know, I know." She suddenly noticed that somewhere along the line she had crossed the rest of the room to the foot of the bed, and was now gripping the metal handle there with both hands.

She was looking down at him now, just barely. It was strange; she felt little power noticing this. And he still stared back at her, waiting, silent.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. The last word came out as little more than a squeaky exhale of air.

"I'm not sure."

"No, you know," she responded, voice rising again. Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned a bit further over the metal bar. "There has to be a reason. Don't lie to me anymore."

"It's complicated."

"I don't care! You're just making it even more complicated! You asked for a question; that was it. I want my answer."

He closed his mouth once again, and matched her angry glare with a similar one. But his was more tired, more reluctant.

"Please," Tenten urged, not expecting it to do much.

Neji finally let his gaze slip from her face, and as it went Tenten knew that she wouldn't be getting anything. Her hopes came crashing down. She briefly wondered why she still had any.

As he stared over her shoulder at the far wall, he said, "I'd rather not answer that one."

She laughed, or maybe it was a dry sob, and shook her head. "Okay." She took a few steps back. "Okay," she repeated, not feeling okay at all. She regretted ever entering the room, because now she would be leaving even more lost than before.

Her answers were right there, right in front of her! But he wouldn't give her the ones she wanted the most. She knew he could explain it all, everything and more.

Why won't he?

She reached back for the doorknob, and her hand fumbled over the door for a moment before coming across the cold, steel protrusion. "Well, thank you Neji," she said in a flat voice. His eyes snapped to her form again as she opened the door.

Why won't you tell me anything?

"The story is too long," he uttered, maybe realizing what it was she was asking him with her eyes.

"Hm."

Of course.

Even as she closed the door, she knew she would be talking to him again soon. She needed him. She just wished she didn't.

A/N: I'm hoping the end of this made sense, since i wrote it yesterday, after getting about 4 hours of sleep. And usually when i'm sleep deprived, i say/write very incoherent things... Reviews are appreciated!