The Code

by jaggedjacket

He squeezed her leg three times. It was always three times: it was their code. She responded with a half-heartedly huffed, "Keep your pants on, Akimichi, I'm almost done." ChojiXTenten Me no own. One shot. Complete.

A/N: I was too excited to edit this more before posting. That and it feels like some one sat on my brain after my final exam today. (I kicked its $$ by the way.) Enjoy this crack pairing. Cheers! ~jaggedjacket~

(o)

"I knew you would be the perfect height to do this," Tenten expressed as Choji shifted his weight between his legs to accommodate the added weight of the kunoichi on his shoulders, "these peaches are perfect." Choji had a bad feeling about this. The peaches that Tenten was so adamant about picking weren't technically supposed to be picked. The branches of the tree fell on public property, yes, but somehow he figured that wouldn't quite get them out of trouble if they were found out. He knew the old man that tended the trees on the other side of the fence was crotchety and mean and wouldn't hesitate to beat him with his cane if they got caught. If they got caught, Tenten kept reminding him.

But getting into trouble with her was something of a common occurrence when it came to hanging out with her. He wasn't quite sure why they started hanging out together, or how they had become so close. She had the habit of dragging him along on one of her many famous escapades, this being her latest one. He was completely convinced that she was bound and determined to get him thrown in jail at some point. And he could always say no, he surmised, but he didn't. There was a constant fire in her eyes, the kind that she only showed to him when she got excited about doing something daring and usually, like today, illegal.

No wonder why Shikamaru hated her so much. It was obvious how much the shadow user detested her from the beginning. She would constantly steal time away from him, all in the name of she had asked him first, and Choji never said no.

So here he was, holding her legs steady to make sure she didn't fall off of him, grateful that the sun was towards his back, so that he didn't have to squint and hold their position as she filled the basket full of ripe peaches. Part of him loved the feeling of her smooth tanned legs firmly grasped within the pads of his hands, and part of him hoped that she wouldn't notice how much he was relishing the touch. Not in that way.

She was never one to hold back on physical affections with him: always slugging him in the shoulders playfully or quick to jump and hang on him like a jungle gym. She never let anything on that she wanted more, the tomboy that she was, and Choji never dared overstep his boundaries. Their friendship meant too much to him, and he didn't want to scare her away by crossing that line and putting a spider crack in the layer of ice that was their friendship.

She would compliment him constantly, he noticed, too. She would call him handsome and sexy, but not ever as something she was personally perceiving, more like a compliment that you would give to your friend because that is what good friends did, it wasn't like she was personally interested, but merely stating that others should be.

It was all extremely confusing.

The constant flirting and bickering hadn't gone unnoticed, and Shikamaru was growing impatient with Tenten, insisting to Choji that she was no good and that she treated him badly. Girls shouldn't cross boundaries like that with guys if they aren't interested. They pushed and shoved each other in and out of booths at restaurants. They could be found taking care of Kurenai's kid together, teaching him more ways to get in trouble at school. They occasionally trained together. They tended a garden together at his family's complex and even symbolically adopted some ducks at the pond by the park together, one of the few non-illegal things she came up with them to do. They spent far too much time together to be considered normal. She would have that flare in her eyes when Tenten relished telling him of another adventure they would go on, and Choji would always say yes. And she was always finding trouble of one kind of another for them to get into. It seemed today, picking peaches from private property was her latest way of getting kicks.

As the golden tones of the setting sun bleached the field behind him in its flickering hues, the light cascaded on Tenten's left knee, revealing a long aberrant scar. The white flesh was a badge of reminder from one of their earliest so-called missions she had insisted that Choji join her on. That's where he found himself breaking and entering on private property, smuggling out starved and emaciated puppies in the middle of the night. Tenten had called the authorities about the animal abuse, but they stated they could find no such animals as they searched the premises. They hadn't even sent an Inuzuka to front the investigation which only served to fuel Tenten's rage. Infuriorated, the kunoichi took matters into her own hands and raided the litter of pups, carrying them under her arms as Choji held up the barbed-wired fence for her to crawl under. When the spotlight hit them both, she had slipped and tripped on an errant strand of fencing. They ran to the Akimichi complex out of breath and on a euphoric high from making it out of there alive with their prizes. The smile that he received was totally worth it, and they nursed the puppies to health all evening, staying up in the living room with blankets and milk until they were sure the small dogs would make it their first night. She had fallen asleep in his arms, his mom had thrown another blanket around them at some point, and the dogs were nestled comfortably in their lap. He woke up to her incandescent smile, brighter than any sunrise he could remember seeing, as she showed him the visage of the puppy who could not control his licker and was showing his gratitude by way of a sandpaper like tongue all over Choji's face.

His parents wouldn't let him keep the dogs, but they could visit them regularly over at the Inuzuka compound. They had just come from there on their way to this potential fiasco, and Choji wished again, that he could have convinced his parents to let him keep just one. The way that Kiba eyed her lecherously was unnerving, and of course she seemed oblivious to his wondering eyes.

He playfully squeezed her leg three times, aphonically telling her to hurry. It was always three times. It was their code.

She responded with a half-heartedly huffed, "Keep your pants on, Akimichi, I'm almost done."

She was reaching farther now, stretching out past her own limits to pluck one, the branch bending as she tried to break a peach free from its stem on the tree branch.

CRACK!

"Shit! Choji, run!" he heard her say, and as soon as the words left her mouth he heard the slamming of a door and the shouts of an irate old man as he waved his cane at them. But Choji didn't get to see him, because he was already trucking it, Tenten slidding down against his back for a few moments before hopping off and sprinting across the golden field, he close behind her.

When they were a safe distance away and certain that he hadn't gotten a good look at them, or were being followed, she smiled and laughed as they caught their breath, praising him for his speed and strength. She held the basket out in triumph, presenting him with the trophy of all their hard work. But the real prize was her euphoric smile, its beams grazed his heart and he knew he could never say no to the feral kunoichi even if he tried.

(o)

"You stole the peaches so you could make me peach cobbler?" the Akimichi heir stated with a stunned and incredulous tone.

"Well, duh," she brushed off the comment of her gift giving with a silly excuse. "Today is your half birthday, I had to get you something."

It would never cease to amaze him of how many different excuses she could come up with in order to give him something or to do something nice for him. Two weeks ago she had made up another lame reason in order to give him a shirt she thought would bring out the color in his eyes. Something about the anniversary of when he completed his first B rank solo mission. The month before it was a day of archery at one of the more prestigious local ranges, all in the name of nurturing his new found hobby and something about a holiday celebrated in some country he was quite certain didn't actually exist. Choji had no idea what she was talking about, but went along accordingly and treated her out to ice cream afterwards.

Now, he had cobbler in front of him, and a twin-bunned female who tried to look disinterested but was really waiting on him to take a first bite to tell her weather or not it tasted okay.

He could argue with her, stating she didn't need an excuse to do something thoughtful for him. But he didn't. Instead he took a large bite and chewed it thoughtfully before thickly stating with a half-masticated bite that it was excellent.

Because he new the term "good" wouldn't be as satisfying to her. He got up and fixed her a plate of the warm, comforting dessert. "You have to try this," he stated to her and pushed the plate forward for her to indulge.

"Mmm, totally worth it. Those peaches make all the difference."

Choji smiled, he had to agree.

(o)

There was a tapping on his window. Three small taps to be precise. Choji rolled over and looked at his alarm clock. He had gone to bed not fifteen minutes ago, and Tenten was slidding the window open to his room, slipping inside and rummaging through a chest of drawers.

"I thought you were joking about that." He blearily stated as he rubbed his eyes with his thumbs.

"Yeah cuz I joke around like that," she stated sarcastically as she sifted through the contents of a drawer and unsatisfied with what she was trying to locate, shut it and opened another.

There was a commotion below, others were there, waiting for them. He could hear Ino's and Sakura's voices excitedly chattering away, and the boys trying to get them to keep their voices down.

"Seriously, Tenten, you know I have clan meetings tomorrow, that's why I'm at my parent's place to begin with. Can't we do this tomorrow night?" he swung his legs over the side of the bed, trying to let his eyes adjust in the dark.

"I already talked to your father," she explained passively as she threw him a dark colored shirt, "and they agreed to postpone the meetings by two hours. We won't be gone that long, anyways. And how often do you get to see a meteor shower?"

Choji could almost see the twinkle of the imp in her eye at the last sentence spoke, and he could hear the mischief in the sound of her voice. She was excited to share this with him. It was important.

"Alright, alright," he said through a yawn, "now get out before you get an eye full of my tighty whities."

She was on the ledge of the window, about to jump down, "ha, you wear boxers," she announced triumphantly with a superior tone.

"How would you know?" he deadpanned. Tenten had never even seen him with his shirt off.

"I just raided your underwear drawer," she stuck out her tongue, and he threw the shirt she had picked out for him at her as she did. She caught it and threw it back with indignation.

She did not, and he knew it. He didn't have anything but old clan clothes in that dresser, and none of them were underwear. Most of the shirts and pants were not even his. It was a hodgepodge of everyone's clan's clothes, from outdated stuff his father never wore anymore to random articles that his cousins left there. He doubted that there was anything in the drawer that was actually his.

"Hey, you have to wear this tonight, it's cold," she reasoned with a tone that stated that he must.

"Then I will just wear my jacket," he countered with another stifled yawn.

"No, you have to wear long sleeves and your jacket."

Choji rolled his eyes; she was so weirdly persistent about strange things.

"Fine," he acquiesced, "now go, I will be down in a minute."

"And I am stealing a blanket," she smiled, that innocent-don't-be-mad smile and held up a throw that had been hanging over his desk chair before she disappeared backwards in a dive out off of the ledge. Choji rolled his eyes. It was impossible for him not to think about how cute she was, annoyingness and all.

He left through the back door to the complex, finding out from his father, as he shuffled through the fridge for leftovers, that Tenten had spoken to him earlier and to "have a great time." Choji left, a bit stunned at his words but not entirely surprised.

She never was one for getting him into trouble with his parents, and seemed to genuinely try to keep him out of trouble if she truly had the opportunity.

He fell in line with Shikamaru, as the group began walking from the compound towards their destination. The night air was crisp and chilly, giving out puffs of little white clouds upon each breath. Choji and Shikamaru held up the rear, and Neji and Lee walked in front of them as the four men observed the girls walking along in front of them. Sakura, Ino and Temari were line of curvy hips and high-healed boots in front of them, while Tenten chatted affably in front of them, walking backwards and then dodging back to Neji and Lee and finally Choji and Shikamaru. She hugged Choji's meaty forearm, and leaned over so that she could address Shikamaru, the excitement of the evening pouring off of her in waves. Choji couldn't stop the smile that arose within him from the mere proximity of her presence.

"Hey, I'm glad you and Temari decided to make it," Tenten stated with that invincible friendliness of hers, the kind that seemed to repel Shikamaru and create an instantaneous sour look upon his face. But even he had to admit that it was a genius idea to get everyone together to watch the meteor shower. It seemed that team eight was on a mission, and Sai, Naruto and Yamato were as well. That left the rest of the group to forage through the sparse trees before hitting the clearing. They were well just outside the city gates, and if Choji had to guess, this was still probably Akimichi property. The field was vast and the delineation between the forest and the field was clear, as it was probably left fallow for a long period of time. He made a mental note to put this land to good use once he became clan leader.

It was a perfect place to star gaze.

The tree break was on three sides, and the gentle slope of the knoll left them higher to gaze upon the blanket of stars before them, but not completely out of the protection of the trees. As soon as they were in the middle of the clearing, they began to set up blankets to lie down in the grass to shield themselves from the cold earth.

Choji couldn't help but notice that everyone seemed to be paired up. Shikamaru lay completely flat on his back with his head in his girlfriends lap. Temari took out his hair from its usual pony tail to lazily thrum her fingers threw it. Shikamaru was like a kid in a candy store, he couldn't be happier if it were warmer and they were cloud watching. Over to his left was Sakura and Lee. He had pulled an arm around her, after she shivered, and Lee in a very gentleman like fashion kept a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it up and down to keep her warm. To their left was Neji and Ino. Ino was flipping her hair back and chatting away with the Hyuga. Choji could hear bits and pieces of his calm voice carry through the slight breeze. He seemed happy to just be near her as they gazed up at the stars.

Then there was Tenten who decided to commandeer the space occupying his lap. She selfishly unzipped his jacket and pulled herself into his chest before zipping it back up again. She was shivering.

"Seriously Tenten, am I to have no personal space with you where ever we go?" Choji chastised and noticed that Sakura had turned her head to spy on exactly what was going on to her immediate right. When she caught the weapon's mistress's head peaking out of Choji's jacket with Choji shaking his head at her brazen display of blatant abuse of personal boundaries, she couldn't help but snigger.

"That is one way to get warm, Tenten." Sakura couldn't help but tease as Lee continued to stroke the outside of her arm. "Although it looks like Choji has two heads. Good thing that jacket is so big, otherwise I would say you were stretching out his coat and ruining it."

"Tenten got this one for me a few months ago and she insisted I keep it even though I told her it was too big. I see now her ulterior motive." He explained with another shake of his head. "Unbelievable."

Tenten merely turned around and smiled proudly to Sakura as if she were praising her for her cunning machinations.

Choji reached underneath his jacket and poked her ribcage, knowing that was her ticklish spot. She immediately jumped from the touch with a yelp. She reprimanded him that now was not the time as Shikamaru had fallen asleep beside them and she would rather not be responsible for waking the man up. He got in one more finger between her ribs before he called it quits, earning himself another yip that escaped her lips. The noise was very satisfying.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear, nuzzling it just a bit, stating that he would get her back, then squeezed above her knee three times. It was their code. He declared a truce. She grasped above his knee, repeating the same three pulses. Agreed.

She shivered.

He leaned over to whisper close, taking care to let his lips pass over the shell of her ear as he did. "I can warm up your hands if you'd like."

She nodded her accent slowly, and he found it easier to reach her if he just put his arms inside of his jacket instead of reaching underneath and causing the jacket to rise up. His sleeves were left floppy by his sides, and he found that her hands weren't all that much in need of warming up, but he played along anyways. He captured her small hands with his massive paws, rubbing them as gently as he could, and when he was done he squeezed them tenderly three times before settling his hands under her knees. She was curled up in a ball contently in his lap, and Choji sighed.

Ino's squeal of delight brought everyone's attention to the sky. Choji nearly missed the bright streak that bisected it, bringing out awes of appreciation from the group, with the exception of Shikamaru, who on slept peacefully despite the disruption. The sky was lit with tiny bursts of light ranging from almost blinking and missing them, to long drives that seemed to last forever as they trekked their way from one edge of the black sky to the other. There was pointing and laughter at first, mumbled cries and gasps of amazement under breath from everyone a few minutes following the first sighting. Choji could only look up with stunned silence and appreciation. The show was spectacular. He hadn't taken the time to star gaze since his gennin days and he had never been privy to a singular shooting star, let alone a whole company of them. Soon the group was reduced to a hushed awe. Or at least Lee and Sakura were, Neji and Ino were too busy looking at each other and playfully flirting, only half paying attention to the sky or anyone else. They had finally gotten to the point where they were holding hands in a bashful tug of war. Honestly, in Choji's mind, it was about time. They had danced and flirted with each other for the better part of a year it seemed. Tonight was almost a miracle that they were all able to spend this kind of time with each other.

Choji could have kicked himself.

Of course she knew.

She knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get everyone together under the pretense to view the stars. Lee and Sakura would have ended up together eventually…he had seen them together quite often lately, they were well on their way hooking up with each other. Tonight probably just sealed the deal.

He looked to Shikamaru to his right, who was no longer asleep as he was now making out with Temari as quietly as possible beside them. As Shikamaru's hands were roaming under her clothes, Choji frowned at him and cleared his throat just loud enough that he could hear, and he quickly took his Nara clan blanket from the spot and his Suna girlfriend and found a more private place to shove his tongue down her throat.

Good riddance.

Apparently Nara's absence queued everyone else to find a more private sector to pursue each other's company. Lee and Sakura bid everyone good night and stated they were going to walk back, and they left, hand in hand. Neji and Ino were off to find their own private patch of earth further down the field, and the two disappeared, bidding everyone goodnight.

That meant he and Tenten were alone.

Choji strained to hear voices in any direction before asking into her neck if she wanted to go home.

"Everything changes tomorrow," Choji sobered the moment by the vague statement. It was the sentence he spoke instead of saying what was really on his mind: "I don't know what that will mean for us."

She squirmed beneath this thought, "what do you mean?" she asked as if she already knew. She probably did. If she had already spoken to his father, then he probably gave her a breakdown of what was expected of him at the meeting: his roles, his responsibilities, how everything about his life was leading up to this one monumental shift.

Three swift squeezes to her upper leg, "Don't think I don't know you talked with my father; I'm sure you know more about what is going on with the clan elders regarding the meeting tomorrow than I do." He stated this with a tone that praised her keen abilities for intel gathering, half joking that she would be so nosy about his life. He was only guessing, but he kept the mirth in his tone as to lighten the mood.

"They are going to bring up marriage." Tenten stated breathlessly, as if the sentence had trouble leaving her lips, and the cold air let it linger in the miasma of low clouds as if forging a chasm between them. The distance between them was palatable even as their breaths mingled and his hands scraped against the fabric of her pants.

Choji ignored the change of her disposition and kept his playful tone from before, he refused to be drawn in and ruin possibly the last evening they would ever have alone together, "Yeah, but they will give me time to find someone, I don't know what kind of time frame I will be looking at, but I'm sure it's reasonable." He squeezed her leg reassuringly: one, two, three. Always three times. It was their code.

She stiffened, it was almost imperceptible, but Choji knew her disposition so well he took it as a personal insult that she would react in such a way.

Enough was enough.

He leaned in to her ear, holding her body firmly with his against him, and he half whispered to her, "now are you going to tell me what's really on your mind?"

His lips brushed against her neck like a ghost, taunting his senses and better judgment to take a full measure of her exposed skin. He resisted and settled for finding a soft spot on the inside of her arm to slowly rub raw as he waited for her to respond.

Somewhere between the waiting and his hormones taking over, he was placing hot kisses, slowly along her swan-like neck, breaking that thin line of a barrier between them, shattering the delicate layer of ice that supported their friendship and plunged them into a whole new world where he wasn't sure if he knew how to swim. He forged on, nuzzling her head to lean to the side so he could get a better angle, and she complied instantly letting out a small gasp as she gripped his thighs with both hands as to gain purchase from the momentum. He nipped the delicate flesh, teeth and lips unsatisfied with so little contact. He needed more.

Some how she had slipped out of his jacket. Choji had a split second of panic as he realized that he could have misinterpreted her actions as wanting him to continue, with stunned and shocked, because maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see because he was hoping that she would reciprocate his sentiments. Because it would be easier to marry the girl that had captured his heart so many years ago when he was bandaging her knee that fateful night she sliced it open on their first of many illegal "missions" together.

She had slipped out of his jacket and had shifted forward. He needed to apologize before things escalated to irreparable damage. The shock of the fall and breaking through that thin layer of ice is nothing compared to the arctic waters below. Could they survive?

She was turning now, and Choji closed his eyes so he didn't have to see the hurt, shock, confusion, betrayal, anger, and whatever else the kunoichi might be feeling when he looked into her sable colored eyes.

It was almost unforgivable, what he had just done, but Choji couldn't look back, and he refused to feel guilty for his actions as selfish as they were. It was the thought that if he didn't that made him take the sledgehammer to the already cracking ice. If he didn't do it, he would never know, and that he knew he couldn't live with, more than the destruction of their relationship. It was the ifs in life that always got him. If there was a shot it was now, and he took his chance and now that the damage was done he was willing to sink or swim.

With his eyes held shut as he searched for an appropriate apology, he heard her whisper his name, so softly that the spastic beating of his heart almost downed it out.

"Choji," there was a desperation in her voice, some kind of longing, hidden with in a sadness. Choji's heart was breaking at the sound, a constriction in his chest that was amplified by the realization that he was in shock from the cold and drowning at the same time. He couldn't breath.

There was a sudden weight on his chest, and at first was certain that it was all in his head until he was completely knocked over and winded by said weight.

Choji realized that if he was going to take this badly, then she was going to take it badly.

And then get violent.

It was the kunoichi way after all.

At least they weren't in public where there would be property damage and an embarrassing scene.

But there were teeth forcefully tugging open his lips to gain access to his mouth and a slithering female running her hands along his chest in desperation that made him realize that they had tumbled over when she launched herself at him. His foggy mind began to start reciprocating the affections with fervor.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner," she demanded with heaving breaths as she attacked his neck, apparently trying to make up in seconds what she had wanted to do for a long time.

"I did," he finally responded, his blood was heating up as his hands were daring to roam over parts of her body with slight hesitation.

"Everytime," he broke a kiss along her clavicle to state, "I gave you a squeeze," another hot kiss driving up to her ear, "I said 'I love you,'"

She leaned back at this, as if burned from his words, her realization came slowly.

"I," he squeezed a long leg and quickly placed a slow kiss on her lips, "love," another squeeze, another sensual brush of his lips, "you," a final squeeze, a longer kiss.

Choji felt his neck being kissed into oblivion as she broke contact with his lips to trail the same sentiments with her tongue, teeth and mouth.

It was a short walk home, one focused on trying not to crush her delicate fingers with his massive paws as they shook off raging hormones that were pent up and begging them to end the torture right there in the middle of the field.

But there were clan meetings to attend to in the morning, decorum to maintain, puppies to get from the Inuzuka kennel, and there was plenty of time to make up for lost time tomorrow, despite the urge to pull her through the window when she kissed him like that.

One, two, three, kisses.

Always three.

It was their code.