Dedicated to @BGauxSRI and @tenny10-10. Your comments are awesome, guys.
~ x ~
It has been two months since that time. Two months since Neji last saw Tenten and those two months were horrible. His engagement with Shion persisted much to his chagrin but what was in his mind was beyond all that. Neji worked towards regaining the strength he lost and spent time making plans for his getaway from the palace.
Leaving the palace was not as easy as it would seem. The first challenge he met was with Hinata compelling him to stay and dispatch soldiers to look for Tenten instead of further worsening his condition but Neji refused. He was able to make Hinata see from his point of view, and besides he didn't have much time to spend in the land of the living so he wanted to maximize the use of his time.
The second challenge was Hyuga Hiashi. Absconding from the palace only invited many soldiers on his tail and eventual house arrest so he had to settle that problem first. The only solution he came up with was to drop his title as the crown prince. Hiashi and the ministers of the land were not too pleased by his sudden announcement but Neji was serious. His point finally got across to Hiashi and the King stripped him off of his position as Prince. That was killing two stones at once.
Now he did not have to worry about palace guards chasing him and bandits attacking him on his journey because he was the prince. It took a month but Neji was finally ready to leave for the journey though he never knew where he was going. There was a destination in mind though, and that was in Tenten's arms.
Neji decided to drop by at Gai's workshop to pay Anko a visit and inform her of his plans so he took a detour. The familiar sound of metal hitting metal reached his ears as he approached the place. What would Anko say? What would Lee yell? Would they be angry at him for allowing Tenten a cruel fate? Neji swallowed all of his anxious questions and opened entered the workshop.
Immediately they set their eyes on him, Lee and Gai stopped what they were doing and gaped. It was understandable because he was dressed rather normally and had a bag of luggage in his hands. "Neji!" Lee was the first to break out of his trance and ran to him. Neji was engulfed in a brotherly hug for reasons he didn't understand but then he remembered that the king stripped him of his title as crown prince.
"Konichinwa, Lee." Neji greeted with a sincere smile on his face. Though Lee was over enthusiastic, loud and boisterous, he was a good friend to have.
"Neji. Are you leaving for a journey?" Gai asked, coming closer to him. Neji nodded his affirmation.
"I am going on a search for Tenten." He said. At Tenten's name, both men fell into profound silence until Lee whispered sorrowfully.
"We would have searched for her but Anko-san's condition suddenly got worse after Tenten was banished." He said in uncharacteristic softness. Anko was shocked and saddened by the news about Tenten's banishment that she fainted when the notice was posted on the walls of the village. She didn't wake up from her unconsciousness for a few weeks and when she did, her sickness only got worse so she was bedridden.
"I am sorry." Neji said solemnly. "I brought this on all of you, I am so sorry."
Gai shook his head and placed a firm yet comforting hand on Neji's shoulder. "Don't be sorry about fighting for love. The courage to continue pursuing your happiness is what makes you youthful." The older man comforted.
"Can I see Anko-san?" Neji asked and the green men nodded. They led him to a room where Anko was lying on a bed. She was indeed in a bad condition and on her death bed. It pained Neji that Tenten would not be there for her guardian when she takes her last breath. "Anko...san?" Neji called as he knelt beside the woman.
"The p-p-rince?" Anko's voice was hoarse and raspy with illness.
"Hai." Neji answered. "I am sorry I let this happen to you and Tenten." Neji said regrettably. "Everything is my fault."
"Ie." Anko rasped. "Tenten knew that this would inadvertently happen sooner or later but she chose to be with you together through everything." A weak cough escaped her mouth as she looked at Neji. "Are you going somewhere?"
"In search of her."
At this, Anko smiled. "Then do me a favour and assist me in writing a letter to her for when you find her."
"Hai."
The two of them spent minutes writing a long letter for Tenten. It was Anko's last letter to her child so there were many things she wanted to say. After the letter was finished and Neji tucked it safely in his clothes, Anko instructed Neji to check under her pillow for something. Neji gently raised her head and did as instructed.
A soft gasp left his mouth as he gently replaced Anko's head. It was the bracelet that he gave Tenten. "It fell from her hand the day she was arrested." Anko explained, watching Neji's face as she did so. The man was close to tears just by holding the symbolic bracelet he gifted to his lover. "I am glad." Anko broke the silence between them with a serene smile on her face. "I am glad that Tenten met you."
~ x ~
Following Lee's advice, Neji went to meet Sai, Ino's fiancé, to get a poster of Tenten done. The pale man was a very talented artist. His drawing of Tenten had Neji gasping and recalling just how much he missed her. After a lot of farewells and parting gifts (mostly food), Neji started his journey to the unknown.
Hinata promised to help Neji by asking Naruto to conduct a search for Tenten in the Whirlpool kingdom so Neji crossed Uzushio from his list of kingdoms to search. He knew that Tenten would never go to the land of Snow because of Shion so he crossed the cold place off too. The first place he went to was a neighboring village not too far from the borders of Konoha, the land of Rice patties.
He searched high and low, through sunshine and rain but couldn't find anybody that saw a woman resembling the one on his poster. He found some good news at a restaurant where a regular customer said that he sighted her.
"She was injured and looked like she would fall if a heavy wind blowed when I first saw her. The two buns on her head were a peculiar feature about her."
That got Neji anxious. He unfolded his poster and shoved it eagerly in front of the man's face. "Would this be her?!" His voice pitched with excitement.
"There is no mistaking it, this is definitely she." The man nodded.
"Where did you see her last?"
"She used to work in this place for some months but I suddenly stopped seeing her again." And just like that, Neji's hope of finding her soon smashed. He appreciated the man with a few gold coins and went to meet with the owner of the restaurant.
The plump woman refused to give any information until Neji had to resolve into bribery. He gave her some gold coins which had the woman's eyes bulging. This was a raise from the usual copper coins that she gained from her business so why not?
"She decided to leave the land of Rice patties. I do not know where she left to for she would not tell me." Was the vague answer Neji got after spending so much. If only he had the magical ability to be able to block chakra points, he would've hit the plump hag with his tenketsu and made her suffer.
Anyway, he had a land less to cross from his map now that he knew that Tenten was not in the land of Rice patties. The next place on his map was the Water kingdom but Neji doubted that Tenten would want to go there. The Water kingdom had a strict no stranger policy so foreigners that entered the kingdom, the capitol especially, without the necessary permission from the king of the land could face a death penalty. Shuddering, Neji crossed Kirigakure from his map and proceeded north east to the next stranger friendly kingdom; the Wind kingdom.
***
Can you guess where Tenten is? Hello, how are you today?
QOTC: whose story (past) in the Naruto series do you relate to the most?
I relate to Sasuke, Gaara and Naruto's stories the most. You see, I was more of an island back at highschool (and I still am sometimes) so the loneliness these characters felt was relatable. Yeah I am smart like Sasuke is but I didn't have any friends to connect with despite having so many of them. It was empty inside for a while so I became the class clown, the weird kid, the unlucky one that gets the bad chair (which I sit purposely on), the awkward kid, you name it (though my grades were good unlike Naruto's), but after seeing Naruto, the way I viewed things changed. From this, I'm pretty sure you've figured how much of a social wreck I am😿. I dislike talking (literally) and express myself better in writing so I can't even have a proper phone conversation😹. Okay, I'll stop now. Get ready for the next chapter of The Girl With Two Buns! I still wonder why I chose that name as the title of the book. *shrugs* meh!
I do not own the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
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-Star.