(A/N: My first ever fanfic! Be kind. Do review. 1000 brownie points for the first reviewer. Haha. I really want to know what y'all think :) )
Disclaimer: I own nothing (That should do right).
Strange Impulse
Tenten silently checked her scrolls and weapons in preparation for Team Gai's training session. Team Gai was always the first on the training field. She looked around and spotted Neji meditating in his usual spot under the Sakura tree. The pink blossoms were in bloom, casting a splash of color on the otherwise bare grounds. The tree was somewhat sacred, no one dared put a scratch in its bark unless they wanted to deal with an extremely deadly Hyuga's wrath.
She smiled at the deceptively calm scene. Neji's flowing white robes were arranged neatly around him, his palms on his knees, as he sat in the traditional lotus position. The early morning light threw a golden halo around him, highlighting his high cheekbones and the angular planes of his face. His long hair was unbound and cascaded down his shoulders. In a word he was as perfect as a new sunrise.
She felt downright scruffy in comparison. She had just got back from her first A-rank mission. It had been rough and she had barely four hours of sleep till she was back at the training field.
She could've skipped it, given her schedule, but this was almost like tradition to her. Lately, she had been seeing less and less of her teammates. They each had been going out on separate missions with other teams. Neji especially was quickly surpassing them. He had twice as many high ranking missions as both Lee and her put together. There was talk of him giving the Jounin exams soon. To be honest, it made her a little sad but they had to part ways eventually. She started fussing with her weapons again wondering why the rest of Team Gai were taking so long.
After fifteen long minutes of twirling a kunai around her little finger, Tenten had had enough. Admittedly, the Hyuga could rarely be classified as talkative but Neji hadn't even so much as batted an eyelid to acknowledge her presence. Normally, she wouldn't be that bothered. But today she had vainly wanted to atleast be acknowledged by her teammates. Admittedly it was nothing new to Neji, who had already been on an A-rank mission six months ago but it had been a big step forward for her. Any reaction would have been nice. Instead all she had was a stony, disinterested silence from Neji. More than anything, she wished Neji could be a bit more demonstrative like Lee and Gai Sensei who would've slapped her on the back and congratulated her, if they were here that is. All her excitement at coming together with her team again was leeching out of her bit by bit.
Frustrated, she grabbed a handful of kunai and tossed them unerringly at the logs lining the ground at spaced intervals. She whirled in a graceful arc, seamlessly pulling out kunai and striking each log in turn. A thought came unbidden into her mind and the next instant her fingers had acted on it. She stopped with a gasp, as a curtain of Sakura blossoms rained down around Neji from the force of her strike. A kunai was embedded upto its hilt, a couple of inches above Neji's head. Neji's 's eyes locked onto hers. To make things worse, she looked away like a chastised school girl. Just what was wrong with her today? Tenten never gave in to impulses and she never missed. Both of which Neji knew perfectly well. Right now his eyes were taking in her deepening blush, looking for the reasons behind her behavior. Tenten suddenly felt very little, like a child crying for attention.
Tenten and Neji were alike in some ways. Their actions spoke volumes. In Tenten's case, she let her weapons do all the talking. If the viciousness of that strike had been any indication, she was most definitely angry and angry at him in particular. However, her expression indicated embarrassment, perhaps guilt? Tenten watched in dismay as Neji dislodged the kunai with some difficulty, his back turned towards her. This day was not going well at all she thought as she approached him.
"Neji", she said bowing her head in greeting. She noticed her kunai was now tucked into his belt.
"Tenten", he nodded back in response.
She should apologize but her mouth stubbornly refused to move any further. There was that strange impulse again.
"Gai Sensei and Lee will not be joining us today" said Neji, as he watched the little pout on her lips and the sullen expression she always got when she was trying very hard to do something but couldn't.
"Oh", she looked up at him dismayed, broken from her thoughts.
He stood fingering the kunai at his belt absently. An awkward pause followed.
"Perhaps, we should train together, if you so wish", he said at last.
To Tenten's already riled temper, Neji's matter of fact tone, sounded like reluctance. Admittedly, their fighting styles were as different as oil and water. The Hyuga did not rely on weapons and they were deadly in close combat. Tenten's strong points were mid and long range weapon attacks. Neji's ultimate defense was exactly that, there was no getting past it though Tenten never stopped trying.
"No", she replied curtly, though inside she really wanted to try out a new technique on him, the one she had used to defeat the Nin on her last mission. Neji was in a word surprised by her denial. For the most part his teammates were easy to read. He had been sure a good spar with him would cheer her up from whatever it was that was troubling her. It always worked before. If anything, the pout on Tenten's face only increased. Neji looked at her intently, checking her for injuries. By all reports, her mission had gone well. It had been a decisive victory. She had even earned a nickname for herself, the "deadly flower maiden". How that had come about was a mystery to him. But that's what the Ninja gossip grapevine was buzzing with. Giving her another once over, he frowned perplexed, she seemed physically fit, just a little worn out which was to be expected.
Tenten, on the other hand, was looking downright annoyed. She felt a nervous flutter in her stomach with the way he was looking at her. It was almost as if, he was checking her appearance and found it wanting. That decided it. She would call it a day, all this thinking was giving her a headache. In her excitement to see him after so long, she had conveniently forgotten how infuriating the Hyuga could be sometimes.
"So, I'll be going then. I'm sorry about earlier. It was..", she faltered as Neji took a step closer. He merely crossed his arms and stood towering over her. She cleared her throat, staring at the kunai at his waist. The fact that he had not offered it back to her yet struck her. Maybe he was angry after all. She had been petty, maiming his special tree. Why was it special anyway? Besides it wasn't some irreplaceable family heirloom to get so touchy about. Neji stood fingering her kunai in his hands contemplatively. The hilt had the craving of a dragon's body, the eye of which was embedded with an emerald. There was only one such kunai in all of Japan, the one her deceased mother left her, she realized with a sharp breath.
"Neji, that kunai is..", she started to say.
"Mine", he interrupted.
Neji watched with a smirk as Tenten realized he had no intention of letting her off that easily.
"But, .. I must have it", she said firmly.
"You know the old saying, to the victor go the spoils."
She looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"It looked like you wanted to start a fight back there. If you are not going to finish what you start, it is as good as conceding defeat", he said coolly.
"You want me to fight you for it?", she ground out.
"Yes, if you still have it in you", he replied condescendingly. Her cheeks burned with indignation.
"All right, be ready to taste defeat", she said at last, closing the distance between them and looking up at him defiantly, mirroring his posture. Neji's eyes warmed imperceptibly. This was the Tenten he knew, he thought, appreciating the fierce glow in her large brown eyes and the determined line of her lips. He basked in the heady feeling of the chakra in her body strumming with energy. Perhaps he was enjoying this a little too much. He took a step back stiffly.
"You may try", he said,a little more gently than he intended to. Tenten merely huffed and went to gather her weapons.