so you're telling me the two characters that gave us the only slow burn romantic moments throughout the whole god damn series DON'T end up together?? How do these two have more intimate scenes than couples that are MARRIED IN BORUTO??
Every ounce every hint every whiff of reciprocated romance that show had was from Neji and Tenten istg they are my swan song
This ENTIRE scene - The gentleness of him catching her? Her deliberately slow recovery?? The tenderness in that eye contact?? I was invading their privacy when I watched this episode
Arguably the most damning of all - The ending to her perfect dream is Neji holding her while she essentially professes she is finally home now that they are back together?? I was speechless tbh and still am over such an obvious display of affection
And this outwardly intimate moment was simply no accident for such a largely romance-avoidant anime
One of the images that flashed in his mind when he thought he was going to die was OF HER front and center????
She dresses up and wears lipstick for his Chunin match and then brags about him the entire fight?? I swear 90% of my girl's entire dialogue was his name
Then she went to comfort him after his match and he confirms that she already knew about the curse mark? Which means he felt safe enough with her to disclose such a painful secret and shameful part of his life?
Even twelve year old me was like this is clearly a thing. The effort the animators went to keep them close together in almost all of their scenes together as a pair is truly above and beyond
Character designs to match the Hashirama and his wife??
And then of course the meaningful nod to them fighting back to back since childhood so that she can cover his blind spot will never fail to make me sob
I could go on but in essence I'm still devastated the one couple that carried Naruto and early Shippuden in the reciprocal romance department never got their happy ending - a tragedy for certain
