A/N: This was written, like two years ago. So it may be crappy, it may be cheesy. Whatever your opinion, I hope you enjoy and have a few laughs. That was I was going for. . .
Tenten's Hair
"Neji, what are you staring at?" Tenten asked with a hint of annoyance when she caught her teammate gazing at her, his eyes following her everywhere with that dumbfound expression on his face.
"Neji?" There was still no reply. Now he was really getting on her nerves. Tenten waited impatiently for an answer, but Neji still seemed too distracted to give her one.
"Neji! Answer me, dang it!" Tenten's fist collided with Neji's head, sending the boy to smash his face into the hard forest floor. That seemed enough to wake him up, as he turned back to his teammate with a scowl implanted on his face.
"What was that for, Tenten?" Neji asked irritably, rubbing his head from the bruise now forming on his skull.
"What were you staring at?" Tenten asked again, a little less angry now that she had seen one of the priceless moments of a Hyuga's blunder. Neji's expression changed from stoic to shy as he dusted off his robes, denying Tenten any proper explanation. Tenten looked confusedly at her comrade. Was that . . . a blush on his face?
"I-I was just noticing that you have a lot of dirt on your face."
Tenten's brow rose quizzically.
"Of course it does. We just trained, remember?"
Neji scowled at his teammate again and turned to pick up his pack. Tenten sighed and turned to pick up the fallen kunai that had been targeted at, and of course deflected by, Neji's rotation. As soon as she did, Neji quickly turned back towards Tenten.
It was a lie. Neji had been staring at, not Tenten's face, but her hair, her silky, brown, angelic hair, the hair he had been obsessed with since the day he met her. He had never seen her take those buns down, no matter how much she was ridiculed for it. He had to admire his teammate's resolution, but at times like this it was the last thing he wanted. What did she hide in those buns of hers? Neji wanted- no- needed to see. But he had refrained. He was a noble Hyuga. Imagine the embarrassment if he were to harass a girl just to see her hair. But the want was far too strong to deny. And now the time had come. He needed to know what was hidden in that hair.
Neji inched close and closer to Tenten, trying to be silent while doing so. As he came as close as he could, he stuck out his hand to take the ribbons out of the buns. Once he grabbed hold of them, they were swiftly pulled out.
Tenten had suddenly realized what her teammate was doing, and sharply turned towards Neji to stop him.
"Neji!"
It was too late. The ribbons had fallen to the ground, revealing the true image of Tenten's hair.
Neji had never dreamed of such hair. The chocolate waves of silk fell down to Tenten's back, covering her bust as if that were the only thing to protect her. The hair was wavy, and it matched Tenten's eyes perfectly, emphasizing the beautiful glow in her chocolate pupils. It was too extraordinary, like everything Neji had ever thought to be beautiful came form that hair, Tenten's hair.
"Neji . . ." Tenten spoke his name softly, crimson covering her fair cheeks, which only made the scene more attractive to Neji.
"Y-yes, Tenten?" Neji stuttered, overpowered by Tenten's beauty.
His fantasy was severely disrupted by the sharp sound of cracking knuckles. In that moment, Neji knew his life was over.
"You have three seconds to run."
"Oh . . . crap."
Neji made a dash for the village, with Tenten following close behind.
"You're dead, Hyuga Neji! Dead! You hear?!"
Neji ran faster.
"The power of youth lives on!" shouted a very jovial Gai.
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, shooting his fist up in the air, making a ridiculous pose with his sensei. Kakashi sat beside the two, obviously not amused at being interrupted from his novel.
"I swear, I'm going to Raikiri your asses all the way to . . ." He couldn't even finish his threat while the two jolly men ignored him and went on shouting.
"I don't know if you have youth or are just total idiots trying to make up for your lonely lives."
Gai readied a comeback, but was hushed by the sound of two people running almost as fast as light, one he recognized as his prodigious student, Neji. However, the woman flinging kunai behind him was a mystery. After being passed by the two, Gai and Lee's mouths literally dropped to the ground, while Kakashi looked confusedly at the people running down the street.
"That was Neji!" Lee shouted.
"Being chased by a beautiful maiden!" Gai shouted after him.
"Who was that woman? She was certainly very good-looking . . ." Kakashi commented, raising his brow at the longhaired girl with the murderous aura.
"Oh! Whatever Neji did to her must have been horrible! I will save her to show her the amazing ability of the Konoha ninja!" Lee shouted, giving his "Nice Guy" pose.
"Yes! Go save her! Though I have never thought Neji to be very rude towards women . . ." Gai mumbled as Lee ran off at top speed to save the "maiden".
"I will accompany you, my youthful student!" Gai yelled, dashing after his student.
Kakashi shrugged and decided it would be fun to watch the show. Quickly tucking away his novel, he dashed towards the show.
"Die, Neji, die!" Tenten screamed, flinging a never-ending string of kunai at Neji. He deflected them without too much difficulty, but was still fearful of the impending doom if Tenten caught him. There was a life lesson to be learned. Women are crazy, no matter how you put it.
Neji ran and ran, his energy leaving him quickly. However, as soon as he thought to make an escape, he caught sight of a dead end. He looked back at the nightmare walking towards him slowly, the murderous intent seething from her.
"Get ready to die," Tenten hissed, drawing out a scroll of summoning weapons and a flail. Neji shivered. Just where the hell did she get this stuff?!
"Fear not, beautiful maiden!"
Tenten and Neji looked to see an over-hyperactive Lee and Gai, as well as Kakashi, running towards them. Lee skidded to a stop, eyeing Tenten with burning passion. He took his teammate's hands, his eyes sparkling with delight.
"Beautiful maiden, please forgive my rude teammate! He does not know common courtesy! I am sure that he must have done something horrible to hurt you! Please, let me be of assistance!"
Tenten blinked, then shook away from Lee's grasp, disgusted by his outburst.
"Cut it out, Lee! That's just creepy!" she demanded, punching Lee on his head, knocking him down of his "prince-like" stance.
Lee rubbed his head and stared at the girl in amazement.
"How do you know my name? Are you some beautiful maiden who has mystical powers?"
Tenten blinked again, then punched Lee even harder.
"No, you idiot!"
Neji, what did you do to this poor woman?" Gai stepped in, guarding Tenten by blocking her from Neji with his arms.
"What are you doing?!" Tenten shouted, more than ready to kill her look-alike sensei/teammate.
Neji straightened up as he readied his reply, sighing a heavy, Hyuga sigh.
"I wanted to see what Tenten looked like with her hair down, so-"
"Where's Tenten?" Lee and Gai asked, looking around for their kunoichi. Tenten growled and collided their heads together. They looked at her, then towards Neji, who was pointing to their "maiden".
"Tenten?!" they both shouted in amazement. Tenten scowled at their blatant stupidity.
"Yes, you retards," she hissed venomously.
"Ew . . ." Kakashi said, not believing that he had thought erotic images about the tomboy kunoichi.
"It-it isn't so! The beautiful maiden I was about to sweep into my arms and take to a far away meadow where we could caress each other and frolic in our youth was Tenten?!" Lee cried.
"You were going to what?!" Tenten shouted with a look of complete disgust and fear on her face. The two screamed over and over, shaking and shivering in their reality. Neji walked over to them, punching Lee in the face to quiet him, and giving an annoyed look to Tenten.
"Quit obsessing about it."
Lee and Gai cried as they walked back towards Ichiraku, while Kakashi ran home so he could get all of the perverted images he had of the teen out of his head, leaving Tenten and Neji all alone.
After recovering from the shock of the events that they had seen, Tenten turned towards Neji and glared at him ferociously. Neji twitched and averted his gaze, just now remembering the reason why they had done all this in the first place.
But rather than the beating he had expected, Tenten just leaned and whispered in his ear.
"Don't do that again."
Neji looked at her, surprised, and began to walk with Tenten.
"I don't see why you hat your hair so much? If you don't like it, just cut it," he said as Tenten wrapped her hair in their buns again. She paused, sighed, and looked down, sadness masking her face.
"My mother always loved my hair. She would spend hours just to fix it up and would be so upset if I even mentioned cutting it," she said, running her hand through a few loose strands, "It's a beautiful memory of her. Even though things are different between us now since I'm older, I know that this is something that makes us both happy.
"But whenever I would let it down, people always acted strange around me. Like with Gai-sensei, Lee, even you . . ."
Neji looked at her remorsefully. He was at a complete loss for words. If anything, he wanted to tell her how he really felt, what he really thought.
"I want people to like me for who I am. Not my stupid hair!"
Hearing this, Neji turned Tenten to look at him, tilting her chin up for a better view of her face.
"I know it's impossible to believe, but it's possible for people to do that. I've always loved you for you, Tenten. I wouldn't care if your hair were cropped. I'd still care about you the same way."
Tenten studied Neji's lavender eyes, trying to find any trace of a lie in them. But there was none. She smiled contently, taking Neji's free hand in hers, blushing as he kissed her forehead lightly. This moment was like one she had dreamt of her whole life. To be happy just being herself with someone she loved. She had never been more satisfied with her life.
Neji smirked and whispered into her ear.
"But it's way too fun to make you mad."
And with that, the ribbons were whisked away from Tenten's hair, sending the lovely waves of brown free. Tenten turned even redder, but this time with anger. However, the happiness in her eyes was still obvious. She smiled sweetly at her lover, a sparkle in her eyes.
"You've got three seconds, Neji."
Neji smirked and made his way towards the Hyuga Estate, with Tenten, his new girlfriend, following at his heels.
A/N: And there you have it. Frankly, I think Neji was too OOC, but in that situation, what can you do? Drop a review, please. Constructive criticism always welcome. No flames!
By the way, for those of you who may be wondering, I have written more on "Memories", but I'm still editing it. I did warn that I am slow at this type of thing, didn't I? But don't worry, it'll continue! Until next time! Bye-byes ^-^!