It took a high fever and a bowl of ramen for Tenten to realize that she was in love with Hyuga Neji.
(*)
Tenten is a morning person; she likes waking up with a smile on her face, as long as she hasn't been up the night before. She annoyed her teammates because of this fact. You see, Gai and Lee's collective enthusiasm didn't usually kick in until ten in the morning. Neji was more of a nocturnal being.
That being said, she knows something is wrong with her when she doesn't feel like waking up one morning. Her head hurts, her nose is stuffy, her eyes are watery, and she just feels generally hot all over. She utters a moan. "I'm sick."
She tries to get out of bed, but ends up rolling out of it quite clumsily, aching more than she did before. She sighs; it is out of the question. She cannot train today.
The day passes, and Tenten stays in bed, occasionally shuffling to and from the kitchen to get tissue paper, plastic bags, and bowls of instant ramen to keep her insides warm. She even manages to take a lukewarm shower, and she thinks she's doing pretty well... Until she feels the need to vomit everything she's eaten for the past six hours.
She is half-conscious in bed, trying to go to sleep at four in the afternoon, when she hears her front door creak open. The chakra is familiar, so she doesn't bother getting up. Whoever's inside knows she keeps her spare key in a hidden panel underneath the second window to the right. Only a handful of people know where she keeps it and she hopes it's the one she wants to see.
"It smells awful in here."
On second thought, she doesn't really want to see Hyuga Neji today.
She lets out a loud moan, and turns around to her other side, hiding her face underneath her pillows and blankets. "Go away, Neji."
"We were worried, you know," Neji continues to traipse around her room, and she groans inwardly. She is sure there is used tissue everywhere. "Gai-sensei and Lee will probably kill me if I don't come back with news tomorrow."
"Tell them you came in, saw I was a mess, and left me alone to give me some privacy," she points out. "It's not that hard to do."
"But then they'll really get mad at me for not being a gentleman." She feels one side of her bed dip down, and she stifles another groan. He has decided to sit on her bed.
"Did I tell you you could sit down, Hyuga?" she hisses, poking her head out from underneath her hastily-made blanket and pillow fortress. "You'll get... You'll get pneumonia from me or something!"
The side of his mouth quirks up in a grin. "A Hyuga has a strong immune system," he intones, and looks around her room. "Have you really just been taking care of yourself?"
She snorts (although she nearly chokes herself doing so). "It's not like I have a boyfriend who can take care of my every whim and desire." After a slight pause, Tenten continues. "Or a family, for that matter."
He's quiet. Neji is the only one she's opened up to when it came to family, and he knows that she considers him, Lee, and Gai-sensei to be the only family she has, despite the harsh words she has for them sometimes. She can only hear the sound of his breathing, when he suddenly gets up and starts moving around her room at a faster pace than he was before. "Wha-What are you doing?" she asks, turning around.
She sees him holding a plastic bag and gathering various things, such as her used tissue (she flushes with embarrassment), and looks at her as if she is stupid. "I'm cleaning."
"Why?" she asks.
He sighs, and goes back to putting things in his trash bag. "You can't get well if you're surrounded by your own germs."
Tenten smiles faintly, and relaxes in bed. "Thanks."
He pauses, and simply nods in her direction before continuing to clean up her room.
She lets her eyes drift shut as Neji continue cleaning, the occasional crinkle of paper, or a faint shuffle disrupting her slumber. She and Neji have a special bond, one that she finds difficult to understand.
They are easily best friends, but Tenten believes there are certain things that best friends don't simply do for each other. Best friends are true, yes, but normal best friends don't sacrifice their lives for the other. Normal best friends don't see each other almost every day, and share sleeping quarters when on missions. Normal best friends aren't battle field partners simply because they can read the other without saying a word.
She believes that they have crossed the line of best friends, but the question is, what comes after?
Because she's so sure that best friends don't think about the other all the time. She is certain that best friends don't constantly appreciate how beautiful the other is, especially when he's in his element. Best friends don't fall in love with each other, because that just screws everything up.
Simply put, she does not know what to do with Hyuga Neji, and it's a problem, since she's felt this way for a while. She is sure that this feeling is something she reads about in books, something that centers around three words.
"I have ramen."
Well, not those three words, she chuckles mentally, and opens her eyes. On her bedside table is a steaming bowl of ramen that looks home made. Her heart melts; he's even added eggs, which is exactly the way she likes it. "That smells good."
"Eat up," he intones, nudging the bowl towards her. "I know you have an empty stomach."
She blushes even harder, knowing that the reason he said so was because of the tell-tale after smell of the bathroom.
...Which she can amazingly not smell anymore.
In fact, she looks around her room and sees that it's practically sparkling. He's even sprayed her perfume around the room (which she rarely uses, anyway), and it makes the stale air of someone who's been coughing in the same oxygen all day, disappear. "I should hire you," she says, and Neji smirks.
"It was nothing."
She smiles at him, and reaches out for her bowl of ramen. He passes it to her himself, and their hands touch, but just barely. Her breath catches, and she covers it up by coughing violently. Neji's face doesn't even crack, and he sits down next to her on the bed.
The ramen smells heavenly, even better than the scent that is perpetually hovering around Ichiraku's, and she wonders where Neji got the recipe. She'll ask him another time.
She glances at him before she takes a sip, and nearly bursts out laughing at the tentative look on his face. "Hyuga Neji, are you nervous?"
He immediately straightens his face. "It would be a waste if I went through all of that trouble and you suddenly don't like my ramen," he mutters.
"I'm sure I'll find something nice to say about it," she teases him, and takes her first sip.
The flavors explode in her mouth, and she's floored by the wonderful taste of ramen. She is sure that her pupils are fully dilated, and that she might drop the bowl right then and there. "Oh my God, Neji, I love you," she gasps out, and continues shoveling the ramen in her mouth at an unlady-like rate.
It isn't until five spoonfuls later that she sees Neji's uncharacteristically red face staring blankly at her. "What?" she asks, continuing to shovel ramen in her mouth.
"It's... It's nothing," Neji says in a hurry, reluctant composure coming over his features.
Suddenly, she remembers what she said. "Holy shit!" she exclaims, turning beet-red, as well. Luckily, her ramen bowl is half full, so when she moves up straighter, it doesn't spill all over her bed. "N-Neji. I didn't mean it like... I didn't mean it like that," she says in a hurry.
And as she suddenly feels the need to explain herself, the thought suddenly, slowly, takes her over. Because she did mean it like that. Funny how food brought it out. Well, what could she say? The way to her heart was her stomach. That was how Kiba scored a date with her, anyway.
Oh, her traitorous mouth.
"I mean- well, you make such good food and you practically sent me up to heaven with that bowl of ramen, it's to die for. And-and well, I'm sick, practically unconscious and I-"
"You weren't unconscious eating that bowl of ramen," he subtly points out with a smirk, and she glares at him. Is he flirting with her?
"My body was physically active, but my mind was inactive and sickly, and that is my explanation. Thank you very much," she mutters, and shovels another spoonful in her mouth.
"Your body is physically active, hm?" She hears Neij's musings, but chooses not to do anything about it. Until he reaches a hand out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Her breath hitches. "So you can feel that, correct?" His hand stays near her ear.
"N-Neji, what the f-frick do you think you're doing?!" her voice comes out in a faint screech, and he merely smiles.
"Did you just say frick?"
She rolls her eyes. "I told you, my mind is inactive and sickly-"
Tenten is distracted by his hand, which is slowly trailing down to her chin, leaving her nerves tingling. "You know, I read a study once," he says seriously. His other hand slowly takes the ramen bowl away from her, and puts it back on her bedside table.
"Uh-huh," Tenten manages to choke out a response, transfixed by his eyes.
"I heard that everything that comes out of your mouth, unless it's purposively a lie, has some kind of half-truth, even if you don't know it."
"Uhm-"
"So, Tenten..." Neji leans closer, making her almost hyperventilate. "Was that a half-truth?" She has no words, so she reaches out, bunches the front of his shirt in her hand, and pulls him forward.
Their lips meet, and there is nothing inactive or incoherent about it. She pulls him closer to her, and he allows her to, turning over so that he is on top of her. Both of his arms are at either sides of her body, propping him up, as her own arms finally encircle him and pull him closer to her.
They are breathless; who knew that such a careless slip of the tongue would finally bring them together like this? Her heart is roaring in her ears; his mind is certainly muddled up now. And like the rain, which starts off strong and heavy, and slowly quiets down to a stop, their kisses become less frantic, less hungry, less heavy. He leans away from her just so that their foreheads are touching. She looks up at him, uncertainly, wondering where this will take them.
His eyes are unreadable, as usual, but there's something different about him. He is calmer, and there's a sense of contentment. She breaks into a small smile. "Can you cook me some more ramen?" she asks, as he adjusts his position, settling in right next to her.
His arms wrap around her and she finds himself once again engulfed in his arms. She is close enough to hear his heart beating erratically, while he tries to slow down his breathing. "I just left Hyuga Neji breathless," she murmurs, cuddling closer to him. "That's one thing to check off my bucketlist."
He chuckles; it's a rare sound that only she has had the pleasure of hearing. "I love you," he says in a low voice, leaving her breathless.
It is scary; she doesn't want to lose her best friend, and yet; nothing has ever felt so better than resting in his arms and telling her that he loves her.
But there is no way she's ruining the moment now, not when she realizes that this is what she's been looking for this whole time.
"I love you too."
It's safe to say that both of them are absent from training the next morning.
(*)
The first tandem of the Fournity is DONE!
Ladies and gents, there is a companion fic to this - Jealousy. Adding a bit of timeline to this; I'd like to think this happens a couple of years after Jealousy. Hey, Tenten's a bit slow when it comes to feelings.
For those who haven't read my profile, quick summary; the Fournity is comprised of my four OTPs from different fandoms. I have decided to make eight different oneshots describing the exact moment when one half of the OTP realized that they were in love with the other.
All right, hope to see you all again! For more details on my fournity, you can check out my profile. Toodles!
/flies away with poise