Magnetising Tenten, Attracted Neji
Author's Note: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I only own the humour, new techniques, and romantic ideas for couples. I had originally planned this story as a one-shot but decided to separate it into a few chapters! It would elongate the story much better, spreading it out and allowing a suspenseful pause. Hope it works...
Summary:
Over 8 years of being on Team Gai together has taught them many lessons, one being that people are always changing... except perhaps Neji. Tenten's hoping she can break through his brick facade like Naruto partially did in the Chuunin Exams.
A shower of shurikens cascaded onto a hundred small circle targets, all arranged periodically around the forest training area. The sound of metal piercing into wood rang out in harmony as all shurikens hit their targets at exactly the same time. All except one.
"Dammit," muttered the long-brown haired leaf ninja. Even after his intense concentration he missed a target? Hyuuga Neji never missed a target! After learning to angle a blade perfectly behind his blind spot, he had never missed a target. It startled him beyond recognition.
"Good one, Tenten!" An excited Lee's voice was heard echoing through the forest. "The power of hasty youth is surely with you!"
Confused and slightly agitated, Neji lifted an eyebrow, turning his head to follow his team-mate's outburst. Byakugan still active, he noticed what the compliment was all about.
"Ah, Rock Lee you spoiled it!"
Neji saw the chakra system of an exasperated, weary Tenten twirling a shuriken in her hand, now walking towards the center of the training area smugly. The Hyuuga released his bloodline limit and stared stunned at the brown-haired girl.
"You caught my shuriken." The statement wasn't exactly a compliment the way he said it. He was stunned. Utterly. Never before had Tenten stopped one of his shurikens during this particular practice, or even attempted to. At the time, he wasn't even aware that Tenten or Rock Lee were present. He had left that morning, by himself, to perfect the control of his eye technique. Spontaneity was definitely one of Tenten's traits, he noted.
Tenten smiled lightly at Neji's observation. She could tell he didn't know the all of it, seeing how stunned he was. "A hundred shots, ninety nine bull's-eyes." She smirked then quickly was about to admit she cheated when Neji spoke.
"What-"
"Congrats, Tenten!" Though Neji was interrupted as the flamboyant bowl-cut dressed in green spandex joined their company with a broad grin.
Tenten giggled at her team-mate's praise. "Thanks, Lee, but I cheated."
"Really, didn't know you had it in ya. What'd you do?"
"Yeah, Tenten. I'd like to know," added the Hyuuga, his intense gaze penetrating the girl's modest turned smug look. "Whatever you did, we can use it in real battles."
'He's not offended in the least. Strange Neji, as usual... Honest, but strange. And very arrogant.' thought Tenten.
"Well, I made a magnet of one of your targets."
Rock Lee started laughing. Neji lifted an eyebrow, whether at the bushy brow's boisterous response, or her prank-like idea she wasn't sure.
"Wouldn't that attract the shuriken?" asked Lee. He wasn't the one to have brains for anything other than taijutsu, and the power of youth, so the question didn't strike him as dumb, just ignorant.
"No," answered Neji, understanding perfectly well what his team-mate did. Impressed by Tenten's smarts, he continued to explain to Lee the physics of magnets. How a magnet can be charged to repel certain metals depending on the protons and electrons, or how a magnet can be charged with magnetic chakra, and other various techniques. "Tenten used the old-fashioned way because of my Byakugan."
Tenten tensed to hold back the desire to roll her eyes, though a small sigh escaped her lips. 'Always so brutally honest. I think it would kill him to let someone else have the lime-light. It took me weeks to figure out the exact calculations and sneaking behind Neji was not the easiest thing. He acts like it is the simplest thing in the world to make an undetectable magnet target.'
"Wow, Tenten, you really did that?" Asked an ever more amazed Lee.
Tenten nodded, all smugness gone, another sigh. "Yup, I'll show you how to do it later, Lee. After Neji's done with his practice."
"Alright! Thanks, Tenten! See you, Neji!" Lee didn't seem to notice his team-mate's rapid expression change as he left the area to leave Neji to practice on his own.
"I still have nine rounds to go. Might as well stay to catch the other nine shuriken." said Neji as Tenten was about to leave.
The young leaf ninja shrugged putting on a half-fake smile for show. "I'll just replace your target."
"No," said Neji, suddenly getting an idea.
Tenten stopped to study her team-mate for a bit before replying. There were no signs to indicate he had just practiced intensely for half an hour before Tenten's arrival. His hair was almost exactly the same as he had fixed it, long and clasped at the very bottom. His breathing was normal, there was barely a drop of sweat on his skin, and his lips were moving ever so rapidly as he talked. Tenten was the complete opposite, already out of breath, sweat dripping from her nose, and her hair in disarray, the buns barely clasped in their black ribbons.
"Tenten, are you okay? You seem distracted. You shouldn't let your guard down so easily."
"Oh?" Tenten's eyes widened as she realised the solemn brown-haired teen had been talking... and that she had not been listening.
"Something is bothering you."
'How do you know everything?' she thought bitterly though she couldn't help but admire his attentiveness.
"I... wanted to explain my technique. You make it seem so much more simple than it is."
"Well, it is very simple, Tenten." answered Neji, not phased by her disappointment.
"It is to you, maybe. It took me... a while to perfect it so that you would not detect it." She had been about to say 'weeks' but was afraid that much time spent on something so 'simple' would be down-playing her intense study. "Even then you knew exactly what I did as soon as I said magnet."
"It was a brilliant plan, Tenten." A matter-of-fact answer, expression plain.
"Even so, Hyuuga, you don't act like it is!" A tinge of pain escaped through her voice as it rose. "It's all a physics exam with you. I swear you sound like a Professor all the time. Doesn't anything amaze you? Doesn't anything knock on the door of your perfect psyche and say 'WOW' or 'Amazing'?"
It dawned on Neji just what exactly might be bothering Tenten. She tensed and looked down from his scrutinising white lavendar tinted eyes, now regretting her outburst. For the life of her, she didn't know why she was acting this way. She was twenty for Kami's sake, already used to Neji's ways sense the Genin days. Why now? Uh-oh, she realised, remembering one little incident the night before when she had gone out partying with Ino and Sakura and they had decided to play Truth or Dare. One lesson learned: NEVER go out partying with Ino without bringing your own drink.
"Tenten... the fact that your technique is so simple is why we never thought of it before.
"I've been raised to think 'necessity', plain raw facts, to take my responsibility very seriously, to protect Lady Hinata, my cousin, and the bloodline limit of our clan. I have no time for useless praises or for games, so excuse me if I seem passive. I'm not an ego-stroker."
"My ego is not wounded, Hyuuga," this time her response was tense, his name soaked with venom. 'But soon you are about to be,' she added mentally.
He had noticed long ago that she called him by his last name when she was upset. It was extremely obvious now how upset she was, and he tried not to let that bother him. But it was getting extremely difficult to ignore the dark brown pair boring into his as if to burn them out. Her anger radiated from her body so vibrantly it made a wave of goose-bumps travel over his entire body, even through the heat of practice it made him shutter.
"Tenten-"
The ninja's words were cut off as he ducked, dodging a shuriken headed straight towards his head. Tenten was fuming while Neji was stunned once again. 'What the hell has gotten into her lately? Last month she was being very secretive, last week she was clumsy on the mission to the Rain village. And now today...'
The young Hyuuga had no time to think as Tenten attempted another blow, this time an explosion scroll headed straight for his arm, and he jumped 5 yards away in the nick of time. She grunted displeased and changed to taijutsu, running straight for him. She knew he wouldn't use a gentle fist technique on her, not during practice, not ever. He wouldn't, however, stay on the defensive side.
After several attempted strikes to his shoulders, arms, stomach, and legs, Neji finally got ahead of Tenten and extended his arm in a side attack straight for her wrist. She dodged and lunged for his legs again. He dodged and countered with several kicks to her hips. She leapt out of the way and sprung forward with two raging fists towards his face. He was still too quick for her, dodging that easily.
This continued for several more minutes, Tenten's rage intensifying as she could not land a blow, and Neji's annoyance rising from the girl's persistence. Two more raging fists headed towards his head and he ducked easily, but what he had not expected were three shurikens firmly laced between the fiery girl's knuckles. A few strands of his hair were clipped from the sharp blades. Neji watched the dark brown strands swept up by the wind and slowly float to the grass nearby.
'Dammit, I've been going too easy.'
"Byakugan." It was as soon as he had said the word, an exclamation left his rival's lips.
"Cheater! I'm not using chakra!"
"You cheated before." Neji's voice now held a ghost of a growl as he easily evaded the girl's ongoing advances with his eye technique.
"I had kid gloves on! That was practice!"
"And this isn't? Besides you aren't supposed to be here anyways. I was taken unaware."
"I still got. Past your senses. I just wish. I could get. Past your thick-head!" She swung furiously for his head, yelling now in between breaths.
Again he dodged easily. This time instead of simply ducking, he brought his body backward to do a back flip and kick Tenten's extended arm. She immediately dodged by twisting to her right and doing a air cartwheel, landing 4 yards away. They were now about 9 yards apart, both fuming. Arms at their sides, fists curled. Neji couldn't remember when or how he had gotten riled up but he was.
"Maybe you can explain to me why you've got a sudden change of opinion about me."
"Oh, so you want me to explain? I thought you knew everything. Why don't you tell me?" She grunted and headed straight towards him again.
Instead of downright dodging her attack this time, he advanced forward as well. His body easily slipped towards the ground and sliding sideways on the grass for a split second his feet crashed into Tenten's un-expecting legs. She tripped and tried to catch her fall with her arms but was caught by Neji's already standing body and her wrists pulled behind her back in one swift motion.
'Damn' she cursed to herself. 'He's good, then of course, you weren't really giving it your all, and he IS cheating.'
"Let. Me. Go." Tenten struggled against his grip, face now smashed into the grass below.
Neji's eyebrows furrowed as he released his eye technique and held tightly onto the girl's wrists. "You will tell me why you are acting like this."
To his surprise her answer was instant. "I took a draught of truth!"
His eyebrows lifted in amazement, then furrowed even further as he looked at the struggling girl beneath him. Her brown hair was splayed all over her back, having fallen out of her neatly tied buns sometime during their fight. Her resistance really was making him strain to keep her down and she insisted on staying mad at him. Writhing beneath him, he realised, was his strong, charismatic team-mate who never failed to speak her piece during practice. She worked hard and earned her respect as part of the team, even if Neji sometimes worked so hard she couldn't keep it. She always tried to and never wanted to give up. Her willpower had striking resilience to Lee's. 'Why would she need to take a draught of truth?'
"It was mostly Ino's fault but I agreed to it. Because I wanted to tell you, Hyuuga Neji, that I like you."
Neji didn't realise he had spoken aloud and he was sincerely puzzled by her answer. It seemed too simple an answer for such complicated, harsh emotions pouring out of her at this very moment. "I like you, too, but is this any way to treat a friend? You weren't practicing..."
"Idon'tlikeyouasafriend-now get off me!" Though Tenten was being completely honest, having spilled the beans, she was aware of all her actions and thoughts. Trying to hide the intense blush creeping across her cheeks by staying angry, she attempted to change the subject.
"No! Not until you calm yourself!" Neji had barely stifled the sharp inhale of air as his heart skipped a beat. 'She had to take a draught of truth, to tell me she likes me... more than a friend? Damn, you're really sharp, Hyuuga Neji, really sharp. No wonder she's mad. And that magnet display was to impress you. What the hell is the point? I'm not special. What does she want with me?'
"I want you to let my wrists go, Neji, and to tell me your true feelings."
"I like you more than a... What! I did not speak aloud, Tenten. How did you-"
A crooked smile appeared on her face as she looked up at his startled eyes. "The draught of truth affects those I touch, just not as strongly..."
With that sentence the leaf ninja released his hands from the girl as if she were poisonous, immediately taking a few steps backwards.
"You tricked me," muttered a confused Hyuuga. He furrowed his brows trying to remain angry at her for trapping him like she did. His whole body heated severely, his jaw tensed as he tried not to say anything more. Who knows what else would fly thoughtlessly out of his mouth, even without touching her?
"You had no right to do that!" added the now infuriated leaf ninja, intense pale eyes watching his team-mate as she straightened herself and tossed her tasseled hair over her shoulder. The action made Neji blush, as it always did to see her hair down. He tried to ignore it by insulting her and causing her utter degradation. That would put him on the higher ground. That would make him appear less unstable and more worthy.
"How else would I get you to admit your true feelings?" Tenten did not admit that she hadn't intended him to express any feelings for her. Until a moment before she hadn't even been certain of his feelings. It was just a lucky chance, an opportunity sped up by Ino's tricky ways. The lingering draught of truth was definitely turning things into a roundhouse of confessions, a messy start to a well-planned day. If only she hadn't finally said yes to that little shot of whiskey that smelled funny... and burned horribly!
"That's debauchery... and cowardly..."
"I'm not a coward, Neji!" The Hyuuga heir loved how his name rolled off her tongue. He could tell that she was not angry anymore, not using his last name. She was teasing and he would tease her back, for revenge. He would not let her get away with tricking him so easily. He continued over-confidently, hoping to ruffle her feathers even more:
"And downright sneaky!"
"Sneaky!"
"I would never do that to you or anyone else! If someone wants to keep something to them-self, I respect that. If someone wants to share, I'll listen. But manipulating-"
"I did not manipulate you!" Tenten had already taken a few steps closer.
"-and taking advantage of the situation-"
"Maybe I did! You might think that's wrong-"
"-completely off guard-" By now Neji had already advanced several steps forward and they were 10 paces apart, each exclamation leading them closer.
"-but it was for your own good."
"Woman, I know what's good for myself-"
"Not all the time! Keeping all those feelings bottled up-"
"It's none of your concern, you stubborn-"
"Prick!"
"-dramatic-"
"Egoistic!"
"-prying-"
"Self-centered!"
"-mouse of a woman!"
SLAP.
The tasseled hair ninja gasped loudly before her hand hit the enraged male's cheek soundly.
The slap sent a shock wave of hard-hitting truth through his system, making it impossible for him to think straight. Instead of dissuading him from continuing, it furthered his need. The need for payback, though, had long gone, as the next sentence came out rushed, and thick, and raspy with desire. "Just shut up and kiss me already, Tenten."
Their lips crashed into each other, not sure who advanced forward first but neither seemed to care. Passionate lips fought to dominate the other, sucking, prodding, pulling. The male's hands furiously grasping and tugging Tenten's wavy locks, hers clasped behind his neck tightly as if to keep him from leaving.
Both their mouths opened at the same time to flick their tongues forward. It sent a jolt of drowning heat down their throats as their tongues touched, causing their breath to hitch. Their tongues caressed lips and inside of their mouths, sending tidal waves of pleasure coursing through their bodies. Every breath that was lost another heavy one was gained as they harmoniously danced in tingling desire.
Neji's desire swelled as he felt and heard every quick intake of her breath. Tasting her moist swollen lips with his tongue only made him want more. Every few seconds his teeth grazed her lips and sent a small moan from her throat, causing a moan to escape his as well. It made him pull her closer and kiss harder, bite harder, suck harder, as if he could swallow her whole. The intense craving was almost too much, creeping down his neck, his shoulders, travelling downward, and downward, and downward. Kami, he wanted her bare hands against his skin, and it frightened him how strong the longing was. It was an excitingly pleasurable feeling, and made him dread the bandages on his hands. Even through the gauze he could feel the heat radiating off her body, her neck, but it was not enough.
He buried his face in her sweet-smelling hair, wanting to swallow himself up in her strong, so feminine scent. Everything was happening too fast, too suddenly, yet not fast enough! His lips pressed eagerly against the pulse of her neck, teeth nipping and grazing softly, causing vibrating pants and moans to escape the passion-ridden woman's throat. Kami, her reactions were enough to send him off the edge. He hadn't done barely anything and the tension was already raging. If this is what it truly felt like to share passion with someone you truly love, he didn't know if he could ever go another day without having it. Without having something as simple as a kiss from Tenten.
But something tugged inside of him! A threatening voice that pulled him away from any close connection, attraction, love... His duty, his destiny. He was a servant, merely a servant. Naruto, that energetic blond spiky haired kid had made him see he could fly free from the ties of destiny, but it didn't erase doubt. Doubt still pierced at his soul every day, every hour, every minute, and every second he looked at Tenten. How could he tie Tenten to his destiny? How could he let her share his insufferable fate? What if something happened to him and she was left alone? And what if this draught of truth was playing with his mind? He had to stop. He didn't want to, but he had to!
Now the question was, could his stronghold win out?
"Tenten!"