Hello! Thankyou for reading! This is my second story and I hope it's good enough for you readers, I tried to make it slightly funny - it's up to you to judge my success. It will include NaruHina and NejiTen aswell. Sorry if the characters are OOC too much but I'd like to think they're a lot like themselves - but remember people develop emotionally and characteristically over time and due to certain events.
Neji was sat on the grass in his regular training area having a quick rest from training. It was quite peaceful as it was still morning.
Hmph. I'll be 16 in a week's time... Well, at least no one outside the family knows or they'd plan something stupid like a surprise party. His lips curled upwards slightly as he imagined it. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard his name called.
"Neji! There you are!" Tenten stopped running when she reached him and brushed her fringe out of her eyes. "I've been looking for you everywhere."
"Hmm?"
"Naruto wanted to talk to you about something and he got me to help find you. Do you know what he wants?" She asked curiously.
"I have no idea. What's he up to now?" After a pause he continued, "Do I even want to know?" With a sigh he left the training area in search of Naruto.
Eventually he found Naruto at the Hyuga compound, waiting for him.
"There you are! I have something very serious to talk to you about." Naruto did not look too pleased.
Oh bother, what is it now? As Shikamaru would say, 'How troublesome.' "What is it Naruto?" He grunted.
"Not here!" He got a conspiratual look on his face and beckoned Neji to follow him, then headed off into town.
Neji let out a sigh and followed. What's so important that he would disrupt my training?
Naruto slid to a halt near team seven's old training area. "Neji, I am ashamed of you!"
He was taken completely by surprise when Naruto scolded him. He adorned a look of bewilderment on his face as he said "What!?"
"I can't believe you haven't noticed that there's something wrong with Hinata! She must be seriously ill. Every time I see her, her face is all red so she might have a fever, and she faints so much! You really should take her to see Tsunade or Sakura. And your clan expects her to fight like you when she's so poorly. Hinata is amazing at fighting, imagine how great she could be if she was cured?!" He glared at Neji with his arms crossed to accentuate his point, although he probably didn't know what that meant.
Slowly as Naruto watched Neji's expression turned from one of bewilderment, to puzzlement, calculation, realization and finally he started laughing. This confused Naruto even more. "Why are you laughing, your cousin is ill?! How can you be so cold Neji?"
Between bursts of laughter Neji managed to answer. "Don't worry Naruto, she'll be ok. However there's only one person who can cure what she's got, and I'm sure they're too stupid too realize." At this he walked, away trying to keep himself from laughing. So Hinata likes him? What an interesting turn of events. For her sake I hope Hiashi doesn't find out. What strange taste, they're opposites. He chuckled and went back to his training.
Naruto was far more than confused, he was beyond confused. What did Neji mean? He didn't seem at all worried about Hinata, maybe I misunderstood him, and he can't actually be so cruel. Can he? And who is this person who can cure Hinata? Why would anyone be too stupid to realize they can cure an innocent girl? Hmm… I have never seen someone display so many expressions in so small a time, let alone someone as emotionless as Neji. When he recalled Neji's face he too burst out laughing. When he calmed down he decided to track down this person who could cure Hinata. I mean, how hard could it be?
Naruto had decided to ask Tsunade about it; since she was Hokage and a med nin she should surely know who could cure her.
"Kaa-san! I need to talk to you really bad! It's serious, Hinata might be in danger!" Naruto declared loudly as he sped into Tsunade's office.
"What!?" She said jumping up, obviously caught off guard, having been sleeping on her desk.
"I think Hinata's ill, Neji didn't seem to care either and he said there's only one person who could cure her."
"Quickly tell me the symptoms!"
"Well, almost every time I see her, her face is red and she faints a lot, especially when I touch her. What do you think is wrong with her Kaa-san?" As he explained the symptoms Tsunade got a wider and wider smile on her face. When he finished she burst out laughing, and hit her hand against the table.
"He's right, there is only one person who can cure her," she smiled at him. "Thanks Naruto I needed that, the paperwork is so boring. Ok go now, I have work to do!" He started to protest as she pushed him out the door.
"But what about Hinata? Who can cur-"
"Shut it! You'll have to find them by your self; they may be closer than you think!" The door slammed behind him and he shuffled away, mumbling under his breath. Why do they all laugh, this is serious. Well, I'll get her cured without them! Who needs them anyway?
I wonder what Naruto wanted with him; he didn't seem too happy. I'll ask Neji, they must be finished by now. Tenten jumped across the roofs of Konoha, enjoying the warm afternoon sun on her back. Eventually she reached the training area where Neji resided.
"Hi Neji, how's training going? Mind if I join in?" When he turned around she saw with surprise that he had a big smile plastered on his usually expressionless face, "N-Neji?"
"Yeah?" When he realized she was looking at his mouth in confusion he quickly stopped smiling. "Of course you can join in; it's better practice that way anyway." Am I not allowed to smile?
Now Tenten was even more curious. What could put such a smile on Hyuga Neji's face? It must have been something Naruto said to him – I have to find out what!
Tenten jumped high, flicking some kunai out of her sleeves. When she reached the peak of her jump she threw them at Neji who, naturally, dodged them perfectly. She knew he would do this so whilst he was blocking them she activated the exploding tags on the kunai. However Neji knew they were there and hit the kunai away before they had time to explode.
Damn that Neji. Damn that byakugan. Well, at least it's good practice.
Tenten quickly whipped out a summoning scroll and summoned a sturdy metal pole with engravings on it. She needed to practice her close weapon combat a bit more, she could of course already hit anything with throwing weapons – well, except Neji. She got a good grip and stood in a comfortable stance which gave her the most advantage. Neji ran at her and started striking her with his palms. She managed to block these but he came at her with increasing speed making it more and more difficult. After half an hour or so of sweaty sparring Neji struck her in the head just as she was about to jab him in the kidney. Argh! Every time he gets me first. I was so close!
"Do you want to go get something to eat? I'm starving." Tenten said rubbing her stomach.
"Hmm…" He thought about it and suddenly realized how hungry he was. "Ok." Naruto had distracted him from having lunch.
They sat down in Tenten's favourite food place. "They have the nicest rice balls you'll ever try," Tenten said licking her lips.
"If you say so…" he retorted.
Ignoring Neji's foul mood Tenten carried on cheerfully. This is my perfect chance to find out what happened, I just need to get him talking. Everybody loves a bit of gossip or a good rant, right? She gave Neji a quick glance. Well maybe not everyone. "Neji, what would you like to eat and drink? I'll go order it."
"I'll have some rice balls with soy sauce and some tea." Neji said after glancing at the menu. "I'll see if these rice balls are as good as you say they are."
"M'kay." Tenten stood up and went to the counter; behind it was a very handsome young man. Look at those gorgeous eyes! The rest of his face isn't too bad either… I'd say he was even as good looking as Neji.
Neji glared at the man behind the counter, he didn't mean too or even think about it.
"Hi there, can I order some food?" Tenten said trying to sound sweet.
"Why of course! Such a pretty young lady such as yourself wouldn't be here alone, would you?" The man said sounding concerned. Just at that moment he felt the death glares of Hyuga Neji, he slowly looked around and wished he hadn't. If looks could kill… "Oh I see, you, err, are with your, your boyfriend." He finished off glancing nervously at Neji.
"No, of course not! He's just a good friend." She said looking round at Neji with a barely noticeable blush brushed against her cheeks. "Anyway can we have two portions of rice balls and some soy sauce to go with them? Oh, and can we have a teapot and two cups? Thank you." She left the counter and sat down, keeping her composure. Why had Neji been glaring at him? Maybe he wanted to know what shampoo he uses. She suddenly got this image of Neji being really camp and fluffing his hair with shampoo. At this image, she obviously burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Neji said accusingly.
"You don't want to know, don't worry."
"Tell me what you were laughing at. It's impolite to laugh without a reason, people may take it offensively."
"Fine, but only if you tell me what Naruto wanted to speak to you about." Yes! This is perfect, I'll get to find out why he was smiling and I get to embarrass him.
"Ok, deal. You tell me first." If I tell her about Hinata and someone over hears it might get back to Hiashi. It's not really any of my business… Well what are the chances of him finding out from this anyway? Naruto's probably gone telling half the town that Hinata's ill or something.
"Well, you've got to promise not to be angry."
"Fine." Why would I be angry?
"I suddenly got this image of you in my head and you looked really camp. You were fluffing up your hair with pink shampoo." Tenten hung her head in shame as she unsuccessfully tried to keep herself from laughing.
Neji's face turned very pale. For some reason the very thought that Tenten might think he was gay made him feel unwell. He got the most overpowering urge to prove how masculine he was but he managed to hold it down, but only just. "Ha ha. Very funny." He looked at Tenten sternly with his creamy eyes. "If I did that I would have got the name of your shampoo years ago, it's so soft." Shit! That was meant to come out mockingly not- not like I was paying her a compliment or like I sneak strokes at her hair. Which I don't do. Obviously. It's very tough having an argument with yourself when you know you're going to lose because it's true. He was in denial.
Tenten's eyes had gone wide at this compliment, she was taken aback. Neji, complimenting someone? Wow.
Things just get better and better don't they? Now Tenten thinks I'm camp or gay, and I complimented her. She didn't even have to work hard for it.
"Was that a compliment, Hyuga Neji?" Tenten said raising her eyebrows in disbelief.
"No, no it wasn't. Forget I said it."
"Oh." Tenten's face fell for a split second before she recovered control over her expressions. "Anyway, it's getting late; I have to go home now." With this she took off jumping over the rooftops, leaving Neji with the bill.
What did I do wrong now?
The next day Tenten had mostly forgotten about the night before, luckily for Neji. Otherwise he might not have a sparring partner for a while.
What a lovely day. A perfect day for buying some more weapons! Do I need any more? I have always wanted to get a nice katana… I haven't really used one a lot but there's no motivation like a shiny new weapon. Right! It's decided then, today I'm going shopping.
When she was heading to the shop she bumped into Hinata, who appeared to be buying training equipment. "Yo, Hinata! Are you doing more training?"
"No, I uh, I'm buying Neji a birthday present."
"Oh? I didn't know his birthday was coming up."
"He didn't tell you? He's going to be sixteen in six days, that's Saturday"
"Thank you for telling me, now I can buy him a present when I go buy a katana. If I have enough for a present and a katana, otherwise I'll just have to get the present. Would you mind helping me pick out what to get him?"
"No, of course not." Hinata smiled at Tenten encouragingly. It's good that Neji has friends that care about him, maybe he'll loosen up a bit for his birthday. "I think he mentioned needing more shampoo… Although that's not a very good present is it?"
"Ah ha!" Tenten exclaimed.
"Huh?" Hinata said looking confused.
"Oh, err, never mind." I can't believe I said that out loud. Tenten's cheeks were a few shades darker by the time they reached the best weapon shop. They had everything, all really good quality as well. Tenten's dad was good friends with the blacksmith who owned it so she would usually get a 10% discount. She had to stop herself from drooling as she walked past some of the things they had on display. "Look at this beauty!" she exclaimed as she saw a katana with a black scabbard. It had red dragons painted on it and all the colours where matt so they would not reflect light. The handle was comfy and a deep wine red. As she pulled the blade out she gasped, it had the same dragons carved into it and inlaid with silver. The blade was deadly sharp and brilliantly made. "Look at the workmanship on her! She's so beautiful." She gazed at it longingly, imagining how amazing it would be to use such a magnificent blade.
Hinata had never seen anyone drool over weapons or go gaga over a sword before. She didn't really know how to react. "Uh… Tenten?"
After looking at the price tag Tenten retreated quickly. "It's far too expensive, oh well, I have more saving up to do, and maybe I'll buy a bokken first."
"Bokken?"
"Oh, it's a type of training sword made of wood, they're usually quite heavy. If I perfect the art of using them I should already be two thirds to mastering the katana." She got an evil sort of glint in her eyes as she imagined herself finally beating Neji.
Eventually Tenten bought Neji a bottle of shampoo and a gorgeous set of kunai and shuriken. He didn't use weapons a lot but Tenten was confident that he'd pick it up. After all, he may need to know more long ranged attacks someday.
On the way out of the shopping district they passed a party shop and suddenly Tenten got an idea. "We'll throw Neji a surprise party! He'll love it!" The evil glint once again appeared in her eyes as she plotted Neji's 16th birthday party. "Hinata would you like to help me?"
"Hai, I hope he likes it."
"Great! I'll start planning it tonight, I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow at…. 11ish? Is that ok with you?" Hinata nodded in agreement and Tenten carried on, "If you get any cool ideas tell me then."
Oh boy, this is going to be so fun. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he realises that he couldn't foil our plan in time, by the time he realises he'll be at the party.
Hope you enjoyed and that you'll read the next chapter when I upload it - sorry if it takes a little while but it's near christmas and family are coming round.