Title: Same Old, Same Old
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Neji/Tenten.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 598
Summary/Description: Some things will never change. Within Team Gai, it seems that nothing ever will.
Warning/Spoilers: None.
A/N: NejiTen with a bit of Team Gai-ness thrown into the mix. I've never written this pairing quite like this, I think. Slightly bitter, a little one-sided. Depends on how you look at it, I guess.
Dedication: This was written for dear Celira-chan for her birthday last year. (huggles)
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.
He was already waiting when she arrived in the appointed clearing.
Tenten collapsed against a tree, nodding in sharp greeting. She waved him off when he made a move as if to come to inspect her. Of course, she didn't expect him to pay any attention whatsoever to the hand signal, but it was worth a try. He was next to her in an instant, taking her gently by the elbow. She took deep breaths in an effort to calm herself, wishing he wouldn't touch her so tenderly, while he questioned her tersely, but softly.
She recounted her part of the mission for him with more or less efficient ease. Except for an ambush that they had not anticipated, it had gone well enough. Now, they had only to wait for Lee, and then they would be able to leave for Konoha.
He did not move from by her side, and she remained mutely grateful for it, while simultaneously wishing that he would just leave. His fingers still clutched at her elbow, as his gaze became deeper, more personal. Afraid as usual that her eyes were pristine windows into her heart, she trained her amber-flecked eyes on the leaf-speckled floor. The silence remained unbroken but by her harsh breathing.
It was Neji who broke the peace, somewhat reluctantly.
"You're injured." He stepped back, and eyed her bleeding thigh pointedly. Tenten glanced at the laceration, and shrugged it off. She had forgotten about that. One of the ronin in the ambush had been quite good. Nevertheless, it did not pain her; it barely tickled.
"Oh, don't worry about that; it's nothing."
Neji glowered at her suddenly, in that mulish way that said he would not take no as an answer.
"Give it a few hours, a little dirt, a little inflammation, and it'll be something."
Her sigh of acquiescence probably wasn't necessary; he was already pushing her into a sitting position, the trunk of the tree supporting her back. He dropped to the floor also, and unceremoniously, pulled her foot into his lap. After taking a few things out of his pouch, he regarded the wound with his usual solemnity. Soon, cool, deft hands were touching her skin, swiping away at the wound with antiseptic, veined eyes searching out what hers could not uncover.
"Thank you," she blurted out suddenly in a strained whisper. Any softer, and he would not have been able to hear her.
His eyes flicked to her momentarily.
"For what?" he asked, and busied himself anew with her injury.
The answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she pulled it back, and settled for a smile that he did not see. Same old, same old.
"He's late," Neji commented as he finished up a few minutes later, tying a knot on the bandage.
She nodded. Tenten could usually set her watch by her energetic team-mate; a fifteen minutes lapse in schedule was incredibly atypical of him.
"You think he's found trouble?"
The Hyuuga sighed, getting to his feet. Tenten hurried to do the same before he could offer to help her.
"That, or the other way around. You never know, with Lee."
That made her smile, a mite wanly. No, one never did know, with Lee.
"I suppose we'll have to go look for the idiot." He said it resignedly, with only the barest modicum of irritation. It made her smile widen all the more, losing its tilt of melancholy. At least everything had stayed the same, and not only the things that made her heart seize and harden.
"I suppose we shall."
A/N: Sorta ambiguous, I think. Sorry.