Summary: What was originally a simple bet had turned into so much more when her feet left the board… [Nejiten]
A/N: In an attempt to get the creative juices flowing (and because I think my writing has improved since this) I am re-writing this story and my other oneshot "The Pianist". Hope you enjoy what I've done.
Oh, and I know that at traditional Japanese hot springs they don't have diving boards… consider it a bit of a creative license.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my thoughts.
-The Diving Board Experience-
It had been a relatively easy mission in terms of the objective. What was really tiring out the three-man team was that it had been the tenth straight mission they had been assigned. Usually shinobi were given at least one day off between missions to recover, but Konoha had become particularly swamped in recent months. This influx in mission requests had meant that a team was lucky if they got twelve hours between missions. All shinobi were desperate to have this demand end. They were all tired.
It was for this reason that the usually focused team, on their way back from their latest mission, stopped at a small hot spring just outside the fire country. The team had been worked ragged and, due to the unexpected ease with which the mission was completed, had a few extra hours before they were due back in Konoha.
The warm temperatures and soothing teas were just what the team needed. As they were relaxing in the room they had booked for the few hours, Lee suddenly jumped up, excitement written all over his face, and dashed out the door onto the patio that led to the pool. Tenten, who had been sipping her tea, stopped mid-sip and looked at Neji, a thin brown eyebrow quirked in inquiry. However, Neji had no more information on Lee's odd behaviour than she did.
Their question was soon answered when Lee returned only moments after leaving.
"I have just witnessed the most youthful thing! It seems that beautiful flowers have found amusement in jumping off a small wooden plank into the youthful waters! I must attempt this as well, to gain knowledge in such a youthful expression!"
Tenten snorted into her cup in an attempt to avoid laughing at her naïve teammate. However, Lee took this as interest and grabbed Tenten's arm and pulled her out of the room. Not wanting to miss out on whatever deranged plan Lee had concocted, Neji stood and followed his other teammates. Neji may have been stoic, but even a refined Hyuuga deserved to let loose and laugh once in a while.
Once outside, Neji and Tenten too saw the girls. There were about three off them, taking turns jumping off a small wooden plank set above the waters of one of the hot spring pools. As each took off from the small board, they would perform an intricate flip, or something similar and then descend into the waters below, barely disturbing it's surface.
Lee's eyes had grown wide with excitement and Tenten turned to Neji, a look of absolute terror plastered on her face. Whenever Lee became excited about something, it never turned out well for his two other teammates. Tenten was just glad that Gai wasn't with them to egg Lee on. The two of them together spelled unimaginable embarrassment.
Lee grabbed Tenten's wrist once again and pulled her right up to the wooden plank.
"Youthful flowers, would you mind if my youthful friend and I partake in your expression of youth?" he asked, rocking forwards and backwards on the balls of his feet in anticipation. The three girls gave him a look that said they thought he was insane before leaving the pool, laughing as they went.
Lee, who knew very little about social interaction and social cues, took their laughing departure as a joyful acceptance. "Excellent!" he cried before scrambling up the rocks to the plank, running it's length and throwing himself off the end. However, instead of performing an intricate flip like the girls had, he fell like, well, a rock towards the water and hit the surface with his stomach.
Neji rolled his eyes and muttered 'idiot' under his breath so that only Tenten could hear him. She was having a very hard time not bursting out laughing. When Lee resurfaced, his face beet red, Tenten lost it. She wasn't sure why, maybe it was all the stress she'd been under lately, but she began laughing and couldn't stop.
Finally, she was able to get her laughter under control and she turned to face her teammate. "I'm sorry Lee, but that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen."
"That is perfectly all right, my youthful flower, for I meant to land in such a way!" Neji rolled his eyes, obviously not believing the green loving shinobi but he didn't say anything.
Lee once again mounted the wooden plank and tried again to imitate the girls. He kept trying, in true Lee Fashion, until he was able to master a simple flip. When he resurfaced after successfully completing his single flip, a wide smile of accomplishment had crossed his face. He walked over to his teammates, still smiling.
"I issue you a challenge, Neji. Complete a youthful flip much like mine and I shall purchase your youthful lunch for an entire month! However, should you be unable to match my youthful challenge, you must concede that hard work beats genius!" Lee finished his 'challenge' with a nice guy pose and waited eagerly for Neji to accept.
"No," he stated, "I would never compete in something so… juvenile." Lee's face dropped immediately and he began dragging his feet back towards their room. Tenten rounded on her stoic teammate, a look of anger emblazoned across her porcelain face.
"How could you be so mean to him, Neji? Lee was only trying to have fun! I know you don't find fun to be important, but it is to him and he is an important member of this team. You could at least humour him. Besides, there's no one here but us!"
Neji turned away from his female teammate to survey the immediate area. She was right. They were alone. Nevertheless, Neji wasn't going to concede his point. He would rather have to deal with a moping Lee than embarrass himself. He turned back to the brunette, a plan of action forming in his mind.
"If it means so much to you that he be happy, why don't you accept his challenge?" He quirked an eyebrow smartly at Tenten.
"I might just do that," she replied, before turning to face the direction Lee had left in, "Hey Lee! I'll take you up on your challenge!" She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before he reappeared next to his two-team mates. He hurriedly embraced Tenten in a bone crushing hug and proclaimed her youthfulness to the entire resort, before stepping back to let her mount the wooden plank.
She sighed. Why did she have to make everyone around her happy? Why couldn't she have just let Lee mope? It would have only lasted an hour at the most. He always found something else to be excited about. She slowly climbed the rocks towards the plank, buying her time before she had to attempt to flip off of the end. However, in her lack of haste to get the task over with, their particular pool suddenly filled with guest.
Scanning the crowd, Tenten saw the sneering faces of the three girls from before. 'Ah, so they must have told the entire resort that some idiot was 'youthfully' jumping into the pools. Fantastic…' She took a deep breath and then continued on, there was no turning back now. She might as well make it worth their while.
She got up to the top and prepared to dive. All eyes where on her as she gracefully got into a handstand position. She walked on her hands to the end of the board. As she fell, the eyes followed. She entered the water with no splash and came back up, slowly swimming to the other side of the pool.
Neji, whose gaze had, only moments before, been riveted on the brunette instantly shifted to the substantial number of males who were leering at his team mate. Neji had long ago admitted that he had feelings for Tenten that went beyond those team mates should have for each other, he had just been too proud (admittedly mostly afraid of rejection) to tell her how he felt.
While he may not have acted on his feelings, that didn't mean that he still didn't have the right to feel protective of his teammate. So what if it was because he wanted to be the only one to look at her like that?
The crowd of males began to move towards the end of the pool that Tenten was swimming to and Neji knew he had to do something about it. Using the speed that he normally reserved for training or missions, he beat the others to Tenten and helped her out of the pool, hastily wrapping a towel around her.
They turned to return to the place where Lee was standing, and Neji shot a look over his shoulder to the crowd. Instantly they all backed off and left the pool area. A smug smirk crossed the Hyuuga's face. He had succeeded in keeping others away from his Tenten once again. Now if only he could get up the courage to tell her how he felt…
-The End-
A/N: Nearly unrecognizable thanks to the addition of a bit of back-story, but the core part is all still there. Tenten jumps off a diving board and guys try to get at her but Neji stops them… now it's just a little better written. I hope you liked this rewritten version! Tell me about it in a review, 'k!