Senbon Kisses

A/N: Genma is one smexy, smexy man …

Anyway! Genma is notorious for his metal pocky, Tenten is the weapons mistress. Much like Kakashi's mask, Genma's senbon is his safety net – and something to be removed when kissing. throws flowers up in air and runs mad To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to procrastinate.

Disclaimer: I love crack, leave me be!

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Shiranui Genma was a legend.

Not legend like the genius of Hyuuga Neji, Uchiha Itachi, or Hatake Kakashi. Legend in the sense that he managed to get himself in the worst situations were the odds were piled against him, but he always made it out alive.

He blended in, even though there was nothing plain about him. With his metal pacifier firmly between his lips and almost too-casual stroll, Shiranui Genma could easily be spotted in a crowd, sauntering with his hands in his pockets. But Tenten noted that it was his eyes that gave him away, that told her that his indifferent air was a front- they were alert and sharp.

At first glance, nothing distinguished her from the rest of the kunoichi. She wasn't tall like Sakura, nor slim like Ino, or even curvy like Hinata. She didn't have their vivid coloring, and she was always overshadowed by her two teammates, overpowered by her flamboyant sensei. Any other day, Genma would have ran his practiced eyes over her and dismissed her – but what he saw in her smile made him understand that she had what the other Rookie 9 kunoichi didn't – confidence.

She was frank too, he found, when one day she stopped him in the Hokage's tower. Polite, but still assertive, she had walked up to him with that easy smile of hers, "Shiranui-san?" He looked down at this slip of a girl, bandaged hands and torn pants, "yes?"

"I'm Maito Gai's student, and he told me that you could help me with my weapons control," she said. Any other of the kunoichi would have piled words of flattery and small talk before meekly asking for help, as if they weren't allowed to. She wasn't admitting weakness in her statement – she was seeking strength.

She was good, he had to give it to her, she was more than good. As clueless Gai might be when it came to fashion, he knew what he was doing when it came to his pupils' training. Genma imagined that having two of the most ambitious rookies as teammates didn't allow for her to sulk and be insecure, either. They weren't exactly the type to cut her slack just because she was a girl – they were a team and if they needed to advance, they had to do it together, or she'd be left in the dust.

But then there was her personal drive to contend with, a white hot steel surer and sharper than any blade she could produce from those never-ending scrolls of hers. Most shinobi found a weapon they preferred and stuck to it, but she had forced herself to become compatible with as many as she could. Many would have settled for a competent skill with her range of weaponry, but both Tenten and Genma knew that mere competency could cost a life on the battlefield. So she had trained, and trained harder still, until she could handle anything that came out of her arsenal with ease and expertise.

"Ne sempai," she called as she began storing her weapons away, tightly rolling up her scrolls, "I have a question about your senbon."

Genma stuffed the last of his kunai into his thigh holster before sitting down in front of her. He had been expecting her to ask about his pacifier any minute now. Her question however, threw him off.

"Aren't you afraid that you'll hurt someone if you try to kiss them?"

Honestly, of all the questions.

Many had asked him questions about the hygiene of carrying a weapon in his mouth, or if he was recovering from a smoking habit. Kotetsu and Izumo liked to joke that he just liked the feel of a phallus in his mouth. Kakashi once accused him of trying to up his "mystery appeal" to intrigue the ladies (like Kakashi's mask). Others asked if he had been through a traumatizing nursing experience as an infant, or if his teeth managed to stay intact after all those years of carrying a metal object between them.

But kissing? That was a first.

Genma surveyed the girl kneeling before him, binding her scroll. Her hair had become loosened in their sparring, and her bandages were dirty from pushing herself off the forest floor and grabbing branches to avoid his missiles. Those long fingers of hers were dexterous and at the moment running through her hair right now, pushing it off her face. For a moment Genma wondered what they'd feel like in his hair, fumbling with his pants, or intertwining with his fingers before he shook off his madness. But it wouldn't hurt to try… the lecher in him goaded.

He was ashamed to admit that he was startled out of his wits when he realized that the girl had scooted closer to him – so close that those brown eyes of hers were inches away from his, hands on his shoulders to balance herself since she was leaning up to match his height, senbon clenched in the right corner of her mouth. It was amusing to listen to her mumble around the senbon, trying to work those unused muscles in those full lips to hold it still as she tried to articulate her words.

"Like, if you were to lean in after a date or something, and the girl was short, wouldn't you poke her in the eye?" she mumbled as she leaned down to demonstrate her point. Sure enough, her senbon swiped at his cornea. That's when Genma decided that her curiosity was quite enough.

Tenten felt the senbon firmly plucked out of her mouth before Genma's hands gripped her by the collar. For a moment she thought he was angry at her being so cheeky, until Genma fell backwards, pulling her down – to meet his lips.

She squeaked – or would have, had it not been for his full lower lip that caught hers, caressing them and finally coaxing them open. Without her prompting, her hands slid from his shoulders to his chest as she leaned in deeper.

Genma pulled away, letting his head fall back to the forest floor, his lips parted and grinning. He decided that he rather liked it when her cheeks were flushed and her lips were red and wet – from his lips, from his tongue. "That's how you kiss – without a senbon," he said.

Sure enough, it had been cast aside, lying discarded in the dirt. Tenten looked at it before turning to him, eyes twinkling. "Oh I see," she said, grinning. Genma sat up, still keeping her drawn to him, hands on her back. "You don't kiss with a senbon – what kind of a lunatic would keep that in his mouth? That's dangerous!" he lightly chastised. Tenten rolled her eyes as she broke away from him, standing up and brushing off her pants, "how was I supposed to know? It's like your pacifier or something – you do everything with it."

Genma grunted as he bent down to pick up his elongated toothpick, "no. I'm a gentleman, and gentleman don't do that."

He was about to lift it into his mouth when she shot him a disproving glare, "don't you dare put that back in your mouth – it's been in dirt for crying out loud!" She offered him a new one instead, "this one's clean."

She received a warm kiss on her temple for that, before he popped it into his mouth.