Work Text:
The village was coming together again. People were helping each other, working together, rebuilding all that was destroyed in the war. The sight of so many of her favorite places demolished made her heart ache and she felt like crying and grieving for all the moments she would have to bury deeper in her mind so she could remember, without the visual reminder there.
But in the middle of the chaos and rush, there was this warm feeling. People where helping each other, building something else, something new. It was scary to think of change, especially after a war, but as ninjas, this is something you get used to quickly.
Things change, like people; they come and go, like leafs. Like the village.
Tenten thought about what they could be, what they were supposed to be since the beginning, and the promise of that made her smile. She would hold on to that, to the promise of a place without young kids living alone, without seals that are cages, without secrets who protected no one but the guilty, without child soldiers.
Neji would say it was naive. He would br mumbling something about destiny.
But that was what he said before he was chosen to be the heir of the Hyuga. Before the changes made by himself. Before the seal was taken down. Before the elders began discussing the old ways, changing traditions, defying fate.
Before he began smiling.
Tenten saw him, with Hinata by his side, and they were helping a old couple move their mobile for sale. It that was new, too, the future heir of the Hyuga, a former member of what once was called the Branch. And Hinata, that sweet girl who moved like the weight of the world where at her shoulders, now had the brightest face in Konoha. No wonder they called her a princess.
Tenten realized she was smiling like a fool, for no reason other than pure, unexpected happiness and she let herself wander through the streets, looking for something to do.
These days, they had a little more time to be human.
"Tenten."
She turned around, a little startled, but quickly enough to attack, a reflex of her training.
Her eyes landed on another pair of eyes, the oddest shade of green.
Temari looked different, different from the time in the battlefield. Not that they had a lot of time to chat. But she remembered glimpses of her, with that ridiculous big fan, growling while she hit the enemies, screaming at people, blowing her hair out of her face. Her acts and mannerisms were too enchanting and Tenten avoided watching her even when there was no fight, even when she was in front of her eyes.
Now she had her eyes glued on her, the smile still on her face. She couldn't help it. She felt like an idiot, but it didn't bother her at all. She thought about Naruto, and how carefree he was, and how people - her included - used to roll their eyes at that. Now she felt so silly, so light, just looking at the face of the prettiest girl she knew after months apart.
"Hi, Temari." She answered softly, and she let out a laugh. The world was slowing down, the sun was moving in the sky, being chased by the clouds. Everything felt good, everything was changing.
"Hi." She could see Temari's lips fighting a smile and she saw how her cheeks got redder. She suddenly felt more alive. "I'm here on a mission with Gaa- the Kazekage. We'll be here for a few days."
"Long enough for that rematch?" Tenten teased, referring to their fight years ago in the chunin exams, where they were nothing but strangers.
Temari chuckled.
"Maybe longer."
Her eyes moved, looking behind Tenten, and she suddenly waved, looking a little lost.
Tenten turned around to see the Hyuga cousins waving at them and making their way back into the compound.
"Are they Neji and...what was her name, again? Hinata?" Temari frowned, searching through her mind.
Tenten laughed.
"Yeah, it's them. Neji cut his hair and he doesn't hide his forehead anymore...he also has a new pack of expressions." She bit her lip not to laugh at her own joke at the expanse of her best friend. "Hinata's just happier. But she's still the same cutie."
Temari's eyes suddenly dropped to the floor and she nodded, absentmindedly.
"Do you like her?" Her eyes found Tenten's again. "Hinata, I mean."
"Of course. Who doesn't?" She shrugged, holding herself not to touch the Temari's forehead and tease her about her frowning.
"And...she likes you back?"
"Uh? What? Hinata likes everyo-Oh. Wait." She stopped, shocked, and then opening her mouth to say something, just to burst out laughing. "Not like that! Hinata is in a relationship and I don't like her that way."
Temari laughed, looking embarrassed. It was all comical to see Temari acting like that. She wasn't used to this dynamic.
"Do you like anyone that way?"
Why are you asking? She wanted to say.
"Maybe. I should figure it out." She smirked.
Temari's eyes got darker, then lighter, then warm. She wanted to know what her eyes were saying.
"You should."
Without thinking too much, maybe carried by the feeling and the wind, she took Temari's hand, and ran.