2020: Um, well. Here I go again... This is a random series that's pretty much just a set of one-shots. Each has a specific pairing that it is centric around. And of course, Chi and Hai are causing the pairings. I'll do multiples of the same pairings, especially those I like ((coff LeeTen coff)), and some contradictory pairings. For example, one chapter may be ShikaTema. The next could very well be ShikaIno. However, the one pairing that most definitely will not be gracing my literature is NejiTen. And the the only pairing with Gaara will be GaaOC, and the only one with Sasuke will be SasuOC. So, um... enjoy, please!

Disclaimer: 2020 does not own Naruto, Phoenix Wright, Miriam-Webster or their dictionaries, Harvest Moon, Time Stranger Kyoko, DDR, Total Drama Island, or anything else she would like to own. But she does own an omlette pan!

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Synthetic Heartbeats~Always

First Love: LeeTen. The Heat Of Summer Matches That Of Love

The afternoon sun beat down heavily on the three ninja, honing their skills in the clearing that served as their training field. Practice dummies and targets, all looking worse for the wear, were scattered around, each reaching their limit of damage. And yet, they were still not through...

Tenten sighed as she slumped against the tree. It was ninety-five degrees today, even hotter with the sun's torrid heat, and she felt ready to pass out. This was insane- every other team in Konoha had the day off on account of the heat wave. But her crazy sensei insisted they practice today- all day- to 'prepare for any event in which we have a mission in a hot climate!' Idiot. She opened her bag, looking for a particular item, but stopped when she saw her teammate with it in his possession.

"Lee," her voice cracked in the heat. "What are you doing with my water bottle?"

Lee stopped midmotion, the water bottle halfway to his lips. "Oh! Tenten! I did not realize this was your water bottle! Here," he said, walking over to hand it to her. "I am sorry."

Slowly, she reached for it- when had her arm gotten so heavy?- but her arm faltered. It was simply too hot.

Lee shoved the bottle to her mouth. "Tenten! Are you alright?" He looked worried.

After taking a few gulps from the bottle, she felt a bit better. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... it's just so hot..."

Suddenly, a short girl with short brown hair, dressed in blue, crashed through the brush. "It's too freakin' hot..." she muttered. "Oh, hey! I've been looking for you guys."

Tenten and Lee looked up. Neji, on the other side of the clearing, kept his eyes closed, but turned his head in the direction of the girl. "Chi-chan," Tenten said. "Where's Hai? She's normally joined to you at the hip."

"Uh, yeah, that's kind of why I'm here. See, she's having a little functioning in trouble in the heat. So I thought, we should have a beach party to cool her down. Everyone's invited, so I have to go around to tell them all. Lucky me. It'll be at North Konoha Beach in about, oh, two hours. Wear swim clothes," she added before leaving the way she had come. The three teammeates were silent untill the sound of Chi cursing at the heat faded away from hearing.

"Well, that seems utterly pointless," Tenten complained. "I'm definitely not going."

"Why not, Tenten?! I am sure it will be great fun!" Lee urged her to go.

Across the clearing, Neji silently rose. "Let's go. I think we're done here." They made their way through the village to their respective homes, splitting up when the road diverged into three roads, each member needing to take a different road. After making sure Lee had left, he turned to his female teammate. "You are going to that party," he said. It wasn't a question.

Tenten sighed aggrivatedly. She knew what this was about. Both Neji and Hai had been trying to get her and Lee together for some time. Thankfully, most of their plans backfired since they didn't work together well. It's not that she minded Lee, it's just, well... Lee liked Sakura. Yes, that was it. Lee still liked Sakura, and if Tenten was to be with him, well, she would like it to happen out of his own free will, preferably when he was over Sakura. Not that she wanted to be with him, mind! But she had to admit, it would be nice... Ha. If it was even remotely possible. "Neji, I am not going. There is nothing that could possibly be done to get me there. And if you try, you will know just what metal tastes like when it has been force-fed to you by an angry woman." She waved a kunai in the air to illustrate her point.

Neji simply shrugged and began walking away. Feeling satisfied, Tenten turned towards her own path and started down it. However, Neji's voice stopped her... "I'll bet anything Lee would be in his swimming apparel," the surely voice said quietly. "I'll also bet he's ripped, from all that Taijutsu training..."

And that statement, Tenten can assure you, had absolutely nothing to with how she ended up at North Konoha Beach approximately an hour and a half later, dressed in her figure-flattering pale pink bikini that was modestly covered in a strawberry-themed cover up (closed all the way up, of course).

"I still don't know why the hell I'm here..." she muttered. Under an umbrella a few feet away, on top of a towel with a full moon pattern on it, Hai lay in her black tankini, sprawled out and nonmoving in the heat, bearing a slight resemblence to a slug. On another towel, this one bearing an outstretched wing pattern, sat Chi, contrasting Hai's dress with a banana-yellow tankini.

"Oh, Tenten!" Chi called. "You can sit over here with us. The party hasn't started yet, you're the first to come..." Tenten joined them, spreading out her (very plain) red towel. Chi shook her head. "When you force it next to ours, that towel must loose all its confidence. You should get a patterned one."

"Thanks, but I'm fine with this one." She then noticed that, not only had Hai not said anything, she wasn't moving. "Um... Is she all right?"

"Who, her? She's fine. Anything higher than 76 degrees (F) sends her sweating. But it's too bad she's feeling so tired, because..." Chi leaned close to her little sister's ear, "I invited the Sand siblings to our little shindig."

Suddenly, the lifeless mass of skin that had been Hai not three seconds before leaped into the air with all the energy she normally had. Sans the Thursday coffee jolt or the Saturday energy drink spike.

"What?! WHAT?! The Sandsibs?! HERE?! Are you firebirding crazy?! #&#&#^^&!!^#%&...." Hai broke into a stream of unintelligible curses.

Tenten blinked. "Was that even a word?"

"%^%..."

Chi grinned slyly. "Why would it bother you so much, sister dear? Unless- le gasp!- you have feelings for a certain Sand ninja?" She chuckled.

"EH?! No! T-that's completely asinine! What would ever lead you to think that?!"

The older but shorter girl began ticking off her fingers. "Um, well, that reaction, for one. Your tendency to freak out like his anytime the Sand ninja come, that's two. Three, and the final, that cute little poem 'My heart forever belongs to the Sand' in your diary that lasts for five pages."

"Um, well, anyone would react like that when you surprise them li- HEY! You read my diary?!"

"Heh. I enjoy a romantic comedy every now and again. By the way, your sketches are very lifelike. I just want to know how you would know what he looks like witho-"

"ENOUGH! I'm going in the water!" Hai stalked away, seething and embarassed.

Chi laughedas she stretched and looked up. "Oh!" She jumped up. "More people!"

Tenten glanced towards the newcomers, but looked back aay with a sigh- none of them were who she really wanted to see. During the next hour, after Kiba and Hinata arrived, came (in order): Ino, Sakura (in the same bathing suit as Tenten, no less!!), Naruto, Sasuke (to Chi's delight), Shikamaru, Chouji, and Neji. Seeing Tenten, he grinned in a self-satisfied way- if this was a battle, he had just won. And he didn't even do anything. Finally, the much-anticipated Sandsibs made their appearence.

"Hello, Konoha!" Temari leaped onto the beach with surprising grace. She had dressed for attention, in a metallic silver bikini that reflected light in a way that drew attention to her ample curves, and attention was what she recieved, especially from Shikamaru, which made her all the more energetic.

Let's skip Kankuro, because when I tried to imagine what he would look like, I ended up running to the bathroom, yelling for soap to wash my eyes. ((shudder))

And Gaara... was wearing simple red swim trunks. Despite his being the most simple dress, from the water, Hai's eyes seemed to be unable to see anything else. Before anyone could notice, and subsequently embarass her for it, however, she looked away and continued splashing in the water like an overgrown five-year-old.

Laid out on her towel, Tenten began regretting ever coming. Sakura was here?! Since when were Sakura and Hai and Chi friends? And she shows up in the exact same swimsuit I'm wearing?! She had come to this stupid party to try and get Lee's attention, but how was she going to do that dressed the same as the object of his affections (who was not her)?! She rose to leave- she was sick of this already!- but stopped short.

Lee was here.

And, just as Neji had predicted earlier, he was, in fact, quite ripped.

"Tenten! I thought you were not coming!" He was smiling, and for a minute, Tenten didn't know which was hotter- the torrid sun, or the rising heat of her body.

"Uh, yeah. I changed my mind." Slowly, she sat back down on the towel. Happily bounding over next to her, Lee spread out a green towel next to her read one.

"Look, Tenten! It is like Christmas!" He seemed so excited for no reason at all. It made Tenten smile, too.

"Ah, look at that. It's Christmas in July!" Chi said contentedly from her position next to her beloved Sasuke.

"Chi!" Temari called from the water. Tenten noticed a mischeivious gleam in her eye before she stood up. Going down to the water, she walked past Gaara- who it seemed was building a sand castle- to the four-pigtailed girl. The both took running dives into the ocean's waves, and vanished from sight. Hai, completely oblivious to any and everything going on around her, treaded water in the deeper sea several feet out from where the other two had dived. Suddenly, she started screaming and flailing.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Her head vanished under, and all that was left were a few bubbles repidly rising to the surface. Before anyone could do anything, Gaara was in the water, at the spot where Hai had just vanished. He dove, and surfaced a few seconds later with Hai wrapped in his arms, a scared and confused look on her face. Carrying her back to shore, he then gently placed her down on her full moon towel. No one seemed to notice Chi and Temari returning.

"I-I don't know!" Hai gasped, still a little shell-shocked. "I was j-just swimming and all of a sudden Hai-hai go bye-bye! FWOOM! I th-th-thought I was gonna be sleeping with the f-fishies for sure!" After a few minutes of incoherent mutterings and strange sound effects, Chi took over comforting her sister.

"There, there... You're OK, now, Hai... and it's all thanks to Gaara (whorescuedyouandcarriedyoubackhereinhisarms)," Chi whispered the last part so that only Hai could hear her. Straightening herself, she said, more loudly, "You should thank him, liitle sister- he did just save your life."

Hai's face was red as she turned to Gaara, who was standing protectively over her. "Ummm... thankyou."

He knelt down next to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that..."

She looked at his face- so close to hers!- and took a deep breath, then said, "Thank y- mmmfff?!?!" Hai blinked. Gaara's face was much closer now... and something soft and warm was on her lips... Finally, she realized- Gaara was kissing her! Without freaking out- as she was prone to doing in situations like this- her eyes gently drifted closed and she pressed her body against his. Embracing each other, they deepened the kiss. Chi and Temari fist-bumped. It was really a very cute scene.

Except that it was so cute, it made Tenten sick. Hai was lucky- she always ended up on top. This time she managed to get the guy she was in love with, too. Why couldn't Tenten be that lucky? She quickly glanced at Lee, who was standing next to Sakura. She had a polite look on her face, one of someone who wasn't really listening but was merely pretending for his sake, as Lee recounted the details of his last mission. Sakura didn't even want him to be there, while Tenten wanted him to be with her so bad she could hardly stand it, yet he still insisted on being with Sakura. Life simply was not fair.

While Tenten was lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice Neji slip in between Temari and Chi, point to her, then Lee, and the grin that alighted the two matchmakers' faces.

"Saaay, Tenten," Chi slid next to her, "You havn't gone in the water yet. Me and Temari are going in- wanna come?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine..." Tenten protested, but between Temari and Chi, she was dragged down to the water.

"Now we just need take this off..." Temari tugged at the cover up.

"Wha-?! No! It's alright, I don't want to swim...!" Dragging her feet, she kept resisting, until Sakura and Ino came up beside her and assited Temari and Chi in their fight.

"Yeah, come on, Tenten!" Sakura was oblivious to any animosity between her and the older girl. "The water's great!"

Tenten put up an adimirable resistance, but in the end, she stood ankle-deep in seawater, still wearing the cover up. The moment the other girls let her go, she turned to bolt... but ran straight into Lee, who had followed them out.

"Yes, come on, Tenten! You cannot come to a beach party and not swim!" He tried to pull her out further, but she resisted.

"NO! I don't want to swim! Just leave me alone!" Tenten stormed out of the surf and back to her towel. This had stopped being fun... well, actually, it had never started being fun. It started out with the terrible heat, and then she had been late to the training grounds because she had misplaced her senbon that held her hair up. When she arrived late, her psychotic sensei had made her run 50 laps around the village as a punishment. In addition to the 50-lap warm-up that was enforced upon them daily. In sympathy, Lee had run it with her. That had been a good thing, yes. However, training in the ninety-degree weather had given her a mild heatstroke, which ruined any lasting effects of that. Then Neji had forced her to come (she wouldn't admit to coming out of her own free will- best to blame Neji for it all), and her rival had dressed in the same swimsuit as her! The only thing she could do now was to wait in her cover up until the party was over.

Hai, from her position under the umbrella with Gaara, looked up at Tenten, confused. She leaped up towards her friend, and in one fell swoop, had pulled her up, dusted the sand off, and removed the cover up. "Come on, Tenten, it looks like everyone's waiting for you in the water."

Everyone's eyes were on her, and her stupid pink bikini. First, they looked at Tenten, then at Sakura (in the same attire), then back to Tenten. In truth, it looked better on the older kunoichi, who had more curves, and pink complemented better with her brown hair than Sakura's pink. It was very awkward, the way she and Sakura stared each other down, and everyone's eyes danced between the two. Altough, she had to admit, she did enjoy the way Lee looked at her, the way the bikini hugged her ample chest.

"Eh?! Tenten, you and Sakura are wearing the same swimsuits!"

Chi, who had since made her way back to land, whacked her little sister upside her head. "Thank you, leiutenent obvious."

The stare-down continued until Sakura, in an attempt to be polite, said, "That bikini looks nice on you, Tenten."

"Hmph." Tenten grunted, contemplating all the ways in which she could kill Hai- so far, she was up to 649. "Will everyone please stop staring at me before I go insane?"

Everyone looked away- she just might follow through on that threat. Angrily, Tenten grabbed her cover up and put it back on, then sat back down on her towel, knees pulled tight to her chest and arms folded on top of them. The partygoers, divining her bad mood, seemed to migrate away, none wanting to further provoke her temper. Soon, Tenten was the only one left on the shore.

"Tenten?" She looked up. It was Lee. "May I sit down?" Without a word, she waved to Lee's empty towel. Sitting, he stared at everyone playing in the surf. "Are you sure you do not want to swim? Everyone seems to be having fun."

"Hrrmph."

"Alright, I am sorry. I did not mean to press the issue. May I ask you one thing, though?"

Tenten thought for a minute. Well, it couldn't hurt. "Shoot."

"What is the real reason you do not want to swim?"

Ah. He cut straight to the heart of the matter. "I... don't feel like it."

Lee turned to look at her, but she kept looking the other way. He reached over and gently touched her face, turning it until they were facing each other. "I know that is not the reason. Tenten, would you please tell me?"

"I... I..." She couldn't think straight with his hand on her face like this... "Fine, the truth?" This was it. The moment of truth. "I... didn't want to be seen in the same bathing suit as Sakura..."

"Why?"

Tenten took a deep breath. Here it was... "I... well, I didn't want to be compared with her-"

"Tenten!" Her eyes widened at the ferocity of Lee's voice, and the concerned expression crossing his face. "How could you think you could be compared with Sakura? There is no comparison!"

Yeah, there it was. Lee's sick, one-sided love of Sakura. Tenten sighed. This day was slowly becoming more and more unbearable. The sun was setting on what, in her opinion, was one of the worst days ever. Although it was a nice sunset.

She had been in her own mind for no more than a second before she was forced up and whirled around- and then Lee's lips were pressed hard on hers. It was as if time had stood still, and all the good things in the world- chocolate-chip cookies and sweet raspberry soda, and the feeling you get when you get exactly what wanted for Christmas, and the way a soft kitten feels when it purrs in your lap- had joined together in the warmth of Lee's body pressed against hers. After a minute, he pulled away, but still held on to her waist.

"Eh..." Tenten' mind had gone blank. All she could think about was how wonderfully Lee kissed... "What...?"

He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "There is no comparison because you are more beautiful than anyone or thing! I need to tell you something, Tenten. I have recently been feeling... different when I am with you. I asked Neji to help me, and I told him what was wrong. Neji told me that I was in love with you. I did not know how that could be- I was in love with Sakura. But then I realized, I did not really love her. I only liked her. I love you, Tenten."

Tenten looked up into Lee's eyes. "Lee..." Suddenly, she was kissing him with all her might. "I... love you too..." she whispered when the kiss was broken.

A huge grin alight Lee's face. "Well, there is only one thing to say now," he said, stepping back. "Tenten, will you go out with me? I will protect you with my life!" He flashed the 'Good Gai' pose.

Tenten smiled. "Of course, Lee." Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

And so they watched the rest of the sunset together, on that beach. When it ws dark, Chi lit a bonfire, and she and Hai performed some kind of dance around it. Everyone learned the Beaver Song (Hai's personal favorite), ate s'mores, and told ghost stories. Despite the incredible heat of the day, it was very cold when the sun was gone. Tenten leaned in closer to Lee, his body warm on hers. Yes, maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

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2020: And that's it for chapter one, folks. I'm gonna chug a gallon of coffee and maybe have a Red Bull or three, then write the next one. I don't know what's next... Oh well. See ya then.