I don't know what this is. I wanted prompts. I found none. I decided to make my own and then it developed.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters, not Naruto the anime. No copyright infringement is intended.
1. the sun; it sets; and it settles on your nose
Neji has his knees folded up to his chest and his arms draped around them, chin on knees, eyes on her. Tenten, that is. She's walking towards him, twirling a kunai around her finger with her eyes darting around. She looks like should she be whistling.
In the seconds before she arrives, he can tell by the way she sways that something is wrong.
"Words are funny," she sighs, plopping down next to him on the wet grass, setting the kunai down as well.
"What makes you say that?" He whispers, unfurling himself, and she can't help but notice how long he gets; from the scrunched-up scared-looking teenager to the lazy-ass he looks like, but really isn't.
"So many damn definitions to the word love."
"Whatever," Neji mutters, placing his palms behind him and raising himself up. "Let's train."
"Sure." Tenten flashes a smile but there's something in her voice, something like confusion and love and frustration all bundled up into one befuddling emotion. Nonetheless, she lifts herself off the ground, grabs the kunai, and chucks it at Neji, playfully, and he blocks it, not so playfully.
Sometime during the training, during the now mindless work of throwing and reflecting weapons, of dodging and hitting, of propelling yourself forward and pushing yourself until you just want to break, they drift apart. When you're on that battlefield, there's no one in the damn world besides you, twirling and dodging and throwing shuriken or kunai or sometimes both, hitting and kicking and punching and performing hand-seals at an alarming rate; or maybe you're behind the lines, pressing your hands to a wound and healing it with your own chakra; or maybe you're commanding and scowling and pointing your finger at a map, then dragging it along enemy lines or your battle plan -- and you have to practice for this, train for this, prepare for this. Whatever you're doing, it's for the sake of your village and you're damn proud to be standing there and doing it -- give your life for the village, give your soul for the village, sign your heart and hand it over, because you're the village's now. Training is vital; boring, but vital, and both Neji and Tenten understand this.
Neji turns to a tree and tries to dislodge the tree's chakra points, but it's more like he's hitting random intervals because a tree has no chakra points. Tenten is throwing shuriken after shuriken, kunai after kunai at stuffed dummies, and at one point she advances with a knife and cuts one of their heads off. Neji decides to back up and Tenten decides to back up, Neji practicing the complicated dance of a move, and Tenten getting ready to throw something sharp and shiny, until their backs bump against each other.
Tenten bites down on her lip to prevent a giggle, after the paranoid moment in which she wasn't sure who she bumped into, and Neji spins around, ready to attack -- until he sees the hair and the familiar back of his teammate. A low laugh escapes through Tenten's teeth-and-lip barrier.
Neji sighs and places a head on his forehead, right on his forehead protector -- right above the symbol that binds him, that makes him whole but makes him empty, that makes him a person but makes him nonexistent, if that even makes sense.
Tenten gulps back words and takes a shuriken from her pouch, throwing it at Neji, without excitement and without effort. He reflects it easily. The air is tense and awkward, like they both have something big to say and they both don't know how to say it.
"Love," Neji mutters, "is a damn confusing word and I agree with you. Probably for different reasons."
"Like what?"
"Like whatever."
And that is that. Their discussion is over, finished. They start training with each other, practicing Neji's defensive techniques and Tenten's accuracy. She throws a kunai with dead-on accuracy, and it almost, just almost makes it right in-between Neji's eyes, until he realizes that she could actually hurt him and jumps to the side. He advances on her, with a beastly -- almost sickly -- look in his eyes, veins apparent behind skin, hair a mess, aiming for a chakra point along her arm.
He's going slow.
She pulls her arm out of the way and hits Neji in the cheek, and he does nothing to block it. This is unlike him.
He aims again, and they repeat the process. He's not even really trying.
Tenten takes a kunai and slices, making a gash along his chin. There's something on his mind.
Tenten calls for a break. Neji accepts her request, going to lean against a bruised tree. Team Gai has trained here countless times -- who injured what tree was now a blur, multiple trees sprouting multiple injuries. This specific one looks like either Gai or Lee kicked it hard, roughly in the place where a human's gut would be located, and punched it, the bundle of prickly, destroyed bark just behind Neji's head.
"You're going easy on me," Tenten whispers, by his side when she wasn't there before, in his ear.
He tenses a little, surprised, then relaxes, relieved. "I'm tired," he protests, sliding down the tree, shards of bark and leaves sticking in his hair. He leans forward when he sits, and Tenten takes this as an opportunity to pick the bark and leaves from his hair and fix it just a bit, because sliding down trees can tousle your hair.
She plucks a small piece of bark, not believing a word he's saying, and says, "That's not like you, Neji."
"Yes, well," he counters, "Lee moved in with me this morning."
"Oh." Another piece of bark flies from his hair, followed by a leave sliced in half, Tenten's fingers working with alarming skill around his hair. "But, why?"
"We're older now, Tenten," he says, as if this is explanation.
"But," she whispers, another piece of bark missing from Neji's hair with an 'annoying tree bark' muttered by him, "you're part of the Branch in the Hyuuga clan, right? You told me your job was to protect the Main House. How can you protect them if . . . if you're not with them?" Tenten doesn't try to understand the ways of the Hyuuga -- -she just flows along and keeps up with Neji's cold looks and rare confessions.
"We're older now, Tenten," he repeats. Tenten's fingers drop from his hair, because all of the bark and leaves that were loose on the tree is gone now, littering the ground around them. "My apartment is very near and I am very fast. It's . . . they're giving me some leeway. You wouldn't and you don't understand. There are other branch members."
Tenten snorts, dodging the slight insult he presented. "Nice choice of words."
Neji grunts in response. "Anyway, where were we?"
"Done. I'm done."
Of course, two ninjas in matching outfits, running through the thick forest in order to find their teammates, decide this is the perfect time to pop up for some youthful training.
Gai and Lee smile and wave, and Tenten gets up and turns to run, but Neji replays her motions and grabs her arm with a surprisingly gentle grasp -- it always surprises Tenten just how soft, how gentle Neji's touch really is -- he pulls her back. "Don't," he whispers. "Endure them. For today."
"How and why? You don't like them, either." Her voice is the wind blowing in his ear, and Gai and Lee are staring at them funnily, now. Tenten and Neji suspect an youthful outburst and/or lecture lingering.
Neji, with reluctance, irritation, and annoyance lacing his now-loud voice, responds with "I'll make it worth your while."
Neji scowls; Tenten blushes; Gai smiles; and Lee looks a little bit confused.