It took another ninja for Hyuga Neji to realize that he was in love with Tenten.
(*)
"It has been such a long time since we sparred together, Neji!" Lee chatters happily as they meet in the center of a large clearing. "I am grateful to Gai-sensei for letting me spar with you!"
Neji's eyes narrow, but by only a fraction. "Yes. Grateful," he repeats thoughtfully.
"Are you not excited for us to spar, Neji? I want to show you much I have improved through my trainings with Gai-sensei!" Lee proclaims, pumping his fist.
"Hn." Neji gets into a fighting stance, determined to let his fighting do the talking.
"Huh. Are you all right, my youthful team mate?" Lee questions his team mate. After spending nearly seven years together, the three can easily read each others emotions, although some, more easily than others. Lee notes that Neji is unusually quiet today. Well, his team mate is quiet most of the time, but there's a certain unease about him that Lee can't really decipher.
"I'm fine, Lee. Now let's spar." Neji's voice is firm, and Lee shakes it off, getting into his own fighting stance.
"Alright, Neji! Let's do this!"
Just as they are about to fight, Neji twitches, veers to the right, and completely ignores Lee as the green-clad ninja flies past him, missing a kick entirely. "Neji, that was not fair! I thought you were going to..." Lee's voice fades off as he sees Neji staring further away, his attention certainly not on their sparring.
Lee doesn't have a Byakugan, but when he turns his head in the same general direction that Neji is facing, he can see two figures in the distance. One is obviously a girl, the other is obviously a boy. No, scratch that, there are three figures. The last figure is closer to the ground. A dog?
As the trio draw closer, Lee realizes that the female in the group is none other than Tenten, who is accompanied by Kiba and Akamaru. "What is our lovely flower doing with-" Lee falls silent as he looks at Neji. Suddenly, he realizes what Neji's rotten mood this fine afternoon is all about.
For all their years together, Lee has never seen Neji jealous.
The Hyuga's eyes are narrowed into dangerous slits, and his fists are clenched so tightly together that his knuckles are turning white. Lee has never seen Neji that angry, and that was saying something.
In fact, Lee is not the only one confused. Neji has never felt this way before. Tenten is his comrade, his best friend, his sparring partner and confidant (although most of the time, it is her sharing to him her deepest thoughts). No force had separated them for the past seven years, and he'd be damned if he hadn't realized that Tenten was actually very striking.
But for Neji, feelings were a distraction, a weakness, a curse. There was no way he was going to admit it to himself, or to anyone, for that matter, that he felt different when he was with Tenten. So he swallowed his emotions, and just let them bubble and stew inside of him, refusing to say anything about it. He would often pass the time by thinking up reasons why they shouldn't be together. If enemies knew, it would destroy them. If they broke up, the team would never be the same. If they-
"Thanks for dropping me off, Kiba!" Tenten's light voice interrupts Neji's thought, and he forces himself to look away... With great difficulty, Lee notices.
The Inuzuka boy gives her a toothy grin. "It wasn't a problem, Tenten. I can be gentlemanly, too," he teases in return. She smiles, and Neji wishes that he had deactivated his Byakugan.
A Hyuga is not supposed to be weak. He is supposed to be calm, commanding, and deadly. He is not supposed to get angry at a simple display of affection. His heart is not supposed to clench at the thought of losing the person he loved to some... To some dog lover.
What?
Neji faces in the other direction, trying to appear busy fixing his outfit, but the look of shock on his face is enough reason to hide. He loved?
So this is what his cousin feels like whenever she looks at Naruto. This is the infernal feeling that Lee speaks about when talking about Sakura. This is what Gai-sensei insists on experiencing to fully enjoy youth. This is why children are born, why wars start, and how revolutions begin.
Love.
"Hey. Hey, Neji. Are you all right?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Neji growls, and turns around to realize that the person he's snapping at is Tenten.
She stares up at him with a no-nonsense look on her face. "What the hell, Neji? Are you on your period or something?"
Neji looks around; Inuzuka Kiba is nowhere to be seen, which is for the better. "You're late for training," he states, hoping that it will distract her from her train of thought.
"Yeah, maybe because I was on a date?" Tenten stresses, making the whole situation worse without realizing it.
"A date?" Neji repeats. Somehow, the four-letter word sounds worse spoken out loud.
Throughout the conversation, Lee is just a wallflower, an observer that has become aware of Neji's feelings just by watching him for the past five minutes. The green-clad warrior slips away, giving them privacy while simultaneously planning on how to report to Gai-sensei the youthfulness of his comrades.
"Yes, Neji," Tenten replies slowly, narrowing her eyes. "Is a seventeen year old ninja allowed to go on a date? I think so."
"Hn," Neji grunts, and turns away from her. "It will distract you, you know."
His team mate makes a frustrated growl from behind him. "You... There's something wrong with you! Jeez, can you stop acting like you're my older brother, already?"
Neji sighs. Love was tiring, and made everything confusing; but he would rather chew off his arm than admit it to her out loud. "My head hurts. Let's spar."
Tenten shakes her head, wondering what's going on in Neji's head. "Fine."
There will be another time to deal with this, Neji reassures himself, and begins sparring with the girl he realizes he's fallen in love with.
(*)
Alright lovelies, it's up! My first one-shot in the 'Realizations series' for my Fournity!
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.
They will not be posted in the same story, however, so just a bit of warning: Tenten's part will not be posted as a chapter 2, so don't follow this story.
For more details about my Realizations series, check out my profile, since I don't want to make my end A/N too long.
Toodles! And Tenten's part will most likely be up tomorrow.
/flies away with poise/