Bittersweet

"Can you even fight without you Byakugan?!", TenTen shouted angrily. He didn't react, just glaring at her.

"You can't, can you?", she asked mean and mockingly. His Byakugan dropped, but he remained silent.

"Well, I see. Without your bloodline limit you're defenseless. Harmless." Oh, now she's going too far.

She was playing with his pride now, and, heck, he had one.

They had been training for a few hours and now dawn was about to spread over the forest. She had been kind of annoyed the second time she had to recollect her weapons.

Neji just made one of his smart comments and … she didn't take it well.

Somehow they got into shouting, arguing, insulting … well, TenTen did. He stood there watching her, glaring, sometimes biting another comment back.

Harmless. Defenseless.

Those two words kept repeating themselves in Nejis ears, hurting his pride, pushing his patience to a limit. That's it, she just crossed the line!

"I'll show you how defenseless I am!", he growled in a deep voice.

She glared at him, her eyes boring into his.

"Yeah, will you?"

"Hn."

He got into a fighting stance, causing TenTen to get ready. She backed away into her long-rage fighting distance.

A heavy silence filled the clearing, the battlefield on which the two teenagers were facing each other was torn and a few kunai still stuck in the trees.

"So, will you start any time soon?" Her mocking tone was there again.

"You may do the first attack." He smiled.

He had completely figured it out. He would let her attack, let the whirlwind of kunai, shuriken and daggers hit him, and just before it ended sprint out of it and…

TenTen threw the first row of shuriken and then another and another, until the air was filled with sharp blades and their swishing sound.

He ducked, turned, deflected with is own kunai. Some grazed his skin, tore his clothes or just flew in a hair's width around him.

The storm of blades faded a bit and he took it as an opportunity to run towards her, kunai ready at hand.

A last blade cut his cheek, but he was already at her.

She attacked him directly with a kunai, which strike he deflected with his own.

Now they were fighting with sheer force, and Neji, being a bit taller and a male, gained the upper hand.

He drove her with one forearm against her chest from shoulder to shoulder, holding with the other hand a kunai against her throat, against a tree.

Having her kept between his body and the bark.

Breathing a bit harder as he used to, he smirked.

"Here goes your mocking." Her eyes widened a bit, she felt like choking, her breathing was staggering and much-needed. Heck, she was staggered.

Neji let go of his weapon, loosened the pressure of his arm against her shoulders, but kept her trapped, not even considering to take a small step back.

Her gaze softened and the hint of a smile lay upon her lips.

"I got to hit you a few times.", she said in a low tone, yet pride.

"But I'm at you neck right now.", he whispered dangerously close to her.

A few moments passed, seconds, even minutes.

The leaves whistles soft in the wind and the sun was peeking over the horizon.

TenTens gaze shifted off into distance, as she lifted her hand, but quickly focussed back on the cut on Nejis cheek, she was about to touch.

He held his breath as her fingertips trailed over his cheek.

The soft caressing stung on the cut, but on his undamaged skin it felt … great.

She let her hand lie on his cheek, blushing lightly.

Her index finger brushed along the cut, it stung and left a tingling sensation.

Bittersweet