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Serendipity

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She watches as the moving truck parks in front of the neighbor's house and a white-eyed, long-haired man steps out of the driver's seat, a younger boy similar in appearance stepping out of the shotgun. A smile lights up on her face as she closes her book, stands up, and strides over to greet the newcomers. She knows that there would be new neighbors occupying the empty house next door, but she doesn't expect the people to be so peculiar.

The boy, who seems to be about her age, attracts her attention more than the man who is presumably the boy's father. He leans against the truck, his hands crossed over his chest. The confidence he exudes draws her to him, like he is a magnet and she is a metal that cannot remain calm in his presence.

She approaches him, but he does not seem to notice her, so she says, "Hello."

He merely flicks his gaze over toward her, and as they make eye contact, she shivers and a chill runs down her spine.

"Hello," she repeats, hoping he would speak up this time. "I'm Tenten. I live just next door from you." She extends a hand for him to shake.

He grunts in acknowledgement. "Hyuuga Neji." He stares at her hand for a brief second before seemingly approving and accepting it.

"So, you guys are the ones moving in?" she asks, but she doesn't wait for an answer. "Where did you and your father move from?"

"Why does it matter to you?" he retorts sourly.

She feels like a knife is being plunged into her chest. "Hey, I'm just curious."

"Be more aware of what you ask for." His words are like poison, but he doesn't seem like he cares.

He looks away and stares into the sky aimlessly, ignoring the hurt look on her face as she trudges away and back to her house. It isn't that she is disappointed by his lack of a proper response, but her excitement at meeting new neighbors is not satisfied by her first impressions of Hyuuga Neji, because she was hoping for someone who was kind, charming, smart, funny. Someone she hoped she could be friends with, but those wishes and desires are stripped from her in an instant, only to be fulfilled in the world of her dreams and fantasies.

(But she is unaware that the future has yet to be written.)

When she walks into her classroom the next month after summer break, she's taken aback when she sees him sitting in a desk in the far corner of the room, deep in thought.

She clenches her fists and then releases it, taking in a deep breath, before taking the seat to his right, because that's the only unoccupied seat available. He notices her, for he looks in her direction and says, "You again?" His voice is neither annoyed nor excited; he is simply neutral.

"I didn't know you were enrolled in Konoha High," she says, trying to sound pleased but with great effort.

"I didn't know you went here either, Tenten."

She raises a brow incredulously. "You remember my name?"

"Of course I do," he refutes. "It's not easy to forget."

She sighs in exasperation as class begins and she is forced to concentrate on her teacher's words, but her focus is constantly interrupted by his mere presence. Her eyes always seem to find their way over to him.

(Because, unknown to her, Hyuuga Neji has left a strong impression on her.)

It's been two months, and their complicated yet almost nonexistent relationship has made no progress. As she heads out to the field in the back of the building for track practice, she doesn't expect him to be warming up with the school's track team.

"Neji?" she says in disbelief as she approaches him cautiously.

He looks up to meet her eyes, and if he's surprised, it doesn't show. "Yes?"

"You're in the track team, too?"

"Yeah. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Her lips part slightly, but she doesn't know what to say, for his implication is right: There is nothing wrong about this. Her surprise is simply her own paranoia.

She shakes her head with fervor. "No, nothing. I'm just surprised you got in and you haven't been here for too long."

He shrugs nonchalantly. "The coach said they needed someone to replace the guy who left just a little while ago and there were tryouts, so I decided to give it a try."

She huffs loudly. "Okay then." She looks back up to him and offers a smile. "We should be practicing right now. We've got a track meet in a couple weeks."

"Yes, we should." And, if her eyes aren't deceiving her, she catches the shortest, quickest, briefest of smiles before his expression becomes just as indifferent as always.

(And, she realizes, maybe Hyuuga Neji isn't always such a bastard.)

Day after day passes by and the track meet approaches quickly. She's participating in the 100-meter run, pole vault, and discus throw, while he is competing in 110- and 330-meter hurdles and the 1600- and 3200-meter runs. Even now, she is surprised that he is in four events, for he is only a new member of the track team and hasn't been training as much as the rest of the team has.

As she waits with her friends for the bus to arrive, she sees him in her peripheral vision and excuses herself. She makes her way up to him and asks, "You ready for today?"

He smirks. "I don't see why I shouldn't."

She's usually annoyed by his arrogance, but today, she lets it slide easily. It's a big day, and everyone should show some confidence.

So instead, she smiles at him. "Well, good luck. You'll need it."

His expression softens into what seems to be a genuine smile, but it is so faint that she barely notices it. "Then good luck to you, too."

(As she walks away, she feels his eyes staring into her back, but she doesn't bother to make sure of it.)

She sits in the front row of the bleachers and watches the boys' 1600-meter run come to a close, for he is the first to cross the finish line. Every Konoha High student around her screams at the top of their lungs, congratulating their fellow athlete's victory. She cannot help but smile, because she is proud of him, and she likes the sense of pride that settles in as she sees a rare sparkle in his white eyes. She would be joining in with her classmates' cheering, but her expression is clouded with the remains of her misery that is still obviously there.

She lost. She lost. Oh, how those words sound so bitter to her. And right after winning first place in the pole vault and discus throw, too. She lost. First place was so close, so close that she could literally feel it in her grasp, but it was so slippery that she lost her grip around it and it slipped from her fingers.

But it's apparent to her that Temari, a student competing for Suna High, has the right grip that can hold it firmly in her hands.

She rubs her hands on her thighs and exhales deeply. It'll be fine, she tells herself. It'll be fine.

She notices him walking up the stairs and taking up the empty seat next to her as he takes a sip from his water bottle. "Good job," she compliments him.

"Thank you. You did pretty well yourself."

She frowned. "No, I didn't. I lost the 100-meter run."

"But I was just talking with Kankurou, one of the athletes from Suna High, and he said that Temari is eighteen–two years older than us. She's much more built and experienced. You should be proud of yourself."

"But–"

"Tenten, there is always next year, and this is only just one loss. You'll be fine."

And, suddenly, a smile creases on his face. It's the kind of smile that can reassure you that everything will be fine, that the whole world doesn't matter but you do because you are the important matter at hand and nothing matters more right now than you. It's a smile that only a handful of people in the world possess, only belonging to the most beautiful of people. It's such a rare sight, so rare that anyone would die to see it because he is actually smiling.

(She doesn't expect Hyuuga Neji to be one of these people.)

"Tenten."

She looks up from her book. "What is it, Neji?"

"Can you tutor me today after school?"

She almost drops her book as she comprehends what he said. "You actually need help?"

"Not really, but I've noticed that you get better scores than me, and since finals are coming up soon, it wouldn't hurt to get in some extra help."

The casual tone in his voice as the words escape his lips catches her off guard, but she tries to maintain a calm front and contain her surprise. With a quick nod and a smile, she responds, "Sure. I'd love to."

So she waits for him after school in front of her house, but she feels her eagerness gradually crumble down as she waits there for hours, waits for him to come home.

He never does.

(As she walks back into her house, she feels like a part of her is missing, but she just can't find it.)

She doesn't find him at school the next day, or the next day, or the next. She's tried knocking on his door several times, but neither he nor his father is ever there to answer. She's not sure whether to feel mad, frustrated, or downtrodden regarding his absence.

But she's lucky to find him standing in front of his house one day, and she seizes this opportunity the moment it appears in front of her.

"Neji, where have you been? I was going to tutor you but–"

She doesn't finish her words, because she realizes that it's not him she is talking to, but his father.

She comes to an abrupt halt as he tilts his head to the side and finds herself staring into those mysterious white eyes. She tries to find words to say–something, anything–but she is beyond clueless.

He finally says, "You must be looking for Neji." Not waiting for a response, he continues, "He is not here today."

She purses her lips in dismay. "You aren't Neji's father."

"Smart girl." His white eyes continue to observe her. "You're curious about where Neji is, aren't you?"

And that's all she needs to approach him, slowly and cautiously.

(It's hard to contain the overwhelming shock as he finishes his words.)

She finds him at school the next day in the morning before class has started, and she immediately pulls him aside to a corner of the hallway.

"What the hell is it?" he hisses vehemently, his white eyes narrowing into slits.

"I know why you've been gone," she states firmly.

"No, you don't." His answer is immediate, quick, and she knows his façade is already crumbling, for there is a waver in his voice and a quiver of his lips.

She ignores this. "You and your father moved from your home to get away from your uncle, Hiashi, when you were young because you used to live under him until your cousin Hinata started getting older because she isn't as physically strong as you are, and he started physically and mentally torturing her."

"This is a load of crap," he mutters. He attempts to stand, but she places her hands firmly on his shoulders. He simply narrows his eyes. "Get off me."

"I'm not done yet."

"Yes, you are. Now go."

But she persists. "Because of this, you and your father have been on the run and Hiashi keeps coming after you two for reasons you don't know."

"False." He clenches his fists tighter, so tight that she can see his nails digging into his skin, and grits his teeth.

Ignored. "But you found out from your secret letters you and Hinata have been sending each other that she's being forced to marry Uchiha Sasuke for the status and wealth, since his father is the CEO of Uchiha Inc. Even though her father wants this, she doesn't, because she's in love with a guy named Naruto."

He opens his mouth to object, but immediately closes it. She knows she has him cornered. "But you don't know the truth behind what Hiashi's doing. He does care about Hinata, and he does care if she's doing well. He wants her to be a much stronger person, and that's why he makes her go through so much physical and mental pain: he thinks it'll help her grow. And he only wants Hinata to marry Sasuke because, despite the wealth, he still wants what he thinks is the best for Hinata while putting the fact that the Hyuugas are an elite family. He thinks Sasuke will be able to help her become stronger.

"He also wants you to come back. He's realized that what he's done to Hinata wasn't right, and he should have tried to help her out in a different way. He thinks you'll be able to help her, because you're the only one who really understands her, and he's lost in faith in himself as a father."

He looks down and to the side in an attempt to hide his face, for it's gone pale, and she knows that he's at his breaking point, even if he just won't admit it. But she has already known him for a few months, and expects nothing less from him.

Gingerly, she caresses his cheek and finds a scar across the left one. She makes contact with it, and he flinches from her touch. This causes a smile to tug at her lips. "I'm not mad at you, Neji. Sure, I was frustrated, but I wasn't one to speak. I didn't understand what was going on at all then."

And then, her heart leaps into her throat.

A tear makes a trail down his cheek, and then another, and another, until streams of the salty water mar his face. He's not at his breaking point, not sobbing and bawling with all his emotions poured into those tears, but a gentle kind of crying, like the soft patter of snow onto a grassy field.

She wipes a tear with her thumb. "That's why you were gone, right?" she asks soothingly, because his pain is her pain, and she doesn't want him to dwell on it.

He doesn't respond, but there is no need to. The answer is obvious, so obvious that it's like the silence itself is screaming it in such ear-piercing shrillness.

Yes.

"Promise me that you and Hiashi will clear this up."

He hesitates, but eventually, he nods. "I will."

She leans in and places a chaste kiss on his forehead, because anything to cheer him up will cheer her up.

And he does.

(She recalls her confrontation with him as she watches him and his uncle smile at each other for the very first time, and she know things are settled, and she knows he doesn't have to worry about his problems anymore.)

They sit in the moonlight on the roof of her house, and only silence is exchanged.

Every time that solemn look is plastered on his face, she inwardly cringes, because she knows what he's thinking of. She tells him that the past, his childhood, is no more, tells him that everything will be all right, tells him that now is all that matters. He listens with open ears, but the memories haunt him in his sleep, his thoughts, his everything, and there is nothing she can do to help him, because he is Neji and she is Tenten, and they aren't the same people.

(Love is not a simple matter, she has realized time and time again.)

She leans against his shoulder and entwines her fingers with his. It snaps him from his past, focuses him back into the present.

"I love you, you know," she whispers as a shooting star streaks across the sky. It doesn't go unnoticed, for she closes her eyes and wishes, wishes for the best.

(It's a complicated relationship, she tells herself.)

He doesn't look back at her, but the sincerity of his tone is enough for her. "I know," he says.

She can't see him, yet she knows he's smiling.

(Because he's an enigma. A tragic, beautiful enigma.)

They watch as the stars twinkle above in the night sky, looking down on them and reassuring them.

The future has yet to be written, after all.

(But it's worth it.)

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fin

A/N: This is very different from anything I've ever written, so sorry if the language sounded kind of awkward. Aside from that, this is also my very first Naruto fanfic, so I'm really new to the fandom. Any constructive criticism is welcomed. Depending on how well this does, I'll write more Naruto fics.

I really wanted to take a different angle on the high school AU cliché. They're always full of fluffiness, but I wanted to take a more deep approach, you know? And NejiTen just seemed like the couple to do this with.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated.