Chicken Soup NejiTen

When I first fell for my now girlfriend one of my favorite things about her was that she didn't cry; she just stayed strong. I was so used to girls being weepy but Tenten always kept a stiff upper lip.
However the night I made my resolve to have her as my own she did not have such a stiff upper lip.


"Where is Tenten-chan?" Lee asked worriedly. We were supposed to be heading out on a mission in a few minutes, a simple B rank messenger job which I thought was below three jonin but kept my mouth shut. I shrugged apathetically, but was secretly becoming more and more worried.
"Her brother died." Sai said, coming up behind Lee and I. I looked at him in disbelief. The only member of Tenten's family she had left had died.
"How?" Lee asked.
"S ranked ANBU mission. His teammates buried him out in the wind country where he died and Tenten just got the news last night." Sai responded, "I'm here to take over for Tenten."
"I need to go see her." I demanded, striding over to the strange messenger. He nodded apathetically.
"I will not tell the Hokage. I find you passion for love fascinating." he responded, and I growled at him briefly but didn't bother correcting him. I had a teammate to go see.



I reached Tenten's door, knocked softly, heard some shuffling on the other side before the door was opened to reveal a distressed Tenten. Her cheeks were ruddy looking and eyes bloodshot. Her hair was down and messy and I couldn't help but notice how wet her cheeks were.
"Neji." her voice sounded horse. I stepped inside her apartment, not waiting for her to respond to me. I shut the door behind myself and wordlessly picked up Tenten bridal style and carried her onto the couch. I sat down, my teammate settled on my lap as I pulled my arms around her shoulder and pressed her head towards my chest.
"Rest Tenten, I'll be the mourner for today." I whispered into her ear as she nodded, and I felt her tears stain my shirt. I didn't care, I just held her as her breathing slowed and sleep took her.
I laid her down once she was thoroughly out cold, placing a pillow under her head and grabbing a quilt from her closet.
I decided to make my friend some hot chicken noodle soup, the kind my aunt (on my mom's side) used to make me when I was upset. In the end I slightly burned the noodles and the broth ended up too strong but I cut up some sliced of bread and brought it over to the sleeping girl on a small card table with a spoon for each of us.
"Wake up." I said softly, shaking her shoulder a bit. Tenten's eyes flicked open, looking at me with much pain and sadness. "I made some soup."
"You- you didn't have to do all this." she said, sitting up and running her hand through her messy hair.
"I did, because you're my friend." I said simply.
"Thank you." she said, forcing out a bit of a smile.
"You might want to hold off on the thank you until you try it. Hyugas aren't really taught to many household skills." I said, smirking at her.


Time as a ninja is fleeting and that night I realized I had to make the most of my short time on earth. But even though tragedies were apart of ninja life I always hoped to have my bun haired girl to come home to, to make chicken soup with and learn the pains and triumphs of our world.