Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
"So," Ino leaned into the group, smiling an all-knowing smile that made her eyes twinkle. "Which pair do you think is going to get married first?" She stuffed a handful of chips into her mouth and munched loudly.
"You and Kiba, defiantly." Sakura replied.
Ino momentarily stopped her crunching and blinked. Apparently she was not used to such a 'compliment' from her squabbling mate.
Failing to find even a hint of sarcasm or mockery on her face, she felt it was safe for her to accept. Ino swallowed and grinned.
"Why, Forehead-chan, have you finally realized my beauty and charms are…"
"You wish."
The blond stopped; all signs of previous gratification and delight erased from her face. She folded her hands in front of her chest and huffed.
"Well, then, enlighten us with the reason behind your mighty prophecy then, will ya'?"
Sakura giggled.
"Well, Ino pig, I was thinking more along the lines of intimidation and threat."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ino cried. "You think you're so good yourself? You practically forced your way into living in the Uchiha Mansion!"
"Did not!" The pink haired kunoichi shot back.
"Sasuke kun asked me to move in with him!"
"Yeah, you wish he had asked you!"
Sakura opened her mouth to argue back.
"What about Hinata and Naruto?" Tenten interrupted as she walked in from the kitchen, a tray of sesame dumplings in her hands.
Ino gave Hinata a scanning look, which made her blush as she began fidgeting her fingers.
"M…me?" Hinata whispered happily.
"Hmm…I suppose it is possible." Ino commented, tapping a finger on her chin. "I mean, who would've thought that the dweeb could be so gentle to Hinata?" She chuckled. Hinata blushed a deeper shade of crimson, giggling.
"What about… Tenten…?" Hinata suggested, trying to rid the attention.
"Pfft, forget about it, Hinata!" Tenten rolled her eyes. "Neji asking me to marry him would be the biggest joke in the history of mankind."
"Why?" Sakura asked, stuffing a few of Tenten's famous sesame dumplings into her mouth. "Oh, god, these dumplings are heaven by the way, Tenten."
"Thanks." The bun haired kunoichi grinned.
"Well?" Ino pressed. "Why not? He seems to be taking you really seriously."
"Oh." Tenten said, snapping away from Sakura's comment. "I know he takes me seriously, and I take him seriously too; but it's just that… well… I don't know. I guess I just don't feel like he'd ask me. If anything, I'd probably be the one asking him!"
Ino shook her head.
"Tsk, tsk. Poor Tenten." She gave her friend a pat on the head.
"Hey, Sakura, stop hogging all the dumplings, will you?"
xxxxxxxxxx
Ring! Ring!
Neji groaned and rolled over to his side.
Ring! Ring!
He took a pillow and stuffed it over his head, hoping to block out the noise.
Ring! Ring!
Ring! Ring!
RING! RING!
He threw his pillow violently to a corner of his room and turned to grab his clock.
03:07 am, it blinked.
Who in the world would be calling at this hour?
Neji had just returned late that afternoon from a two-week mission. Usually, he would have went straight to Tenten's house before going home; but she had demanded him not to go visit her that day, as she was having some kind of 'Girl's Night'.
Whatever.
She was the one who was going to miss some amazing sex with her boyfriend; the awesome Hyuuga Neji.
Her loss; not his… really.
Anyhow, after handing in his mission report, Neji had returned home, had a much appreciated shower, and then had practically fell unconscious as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He was exhausted, in a bad mood (nothing to do with Tenten, seriously), and was not in the humor of having to answer some witching hour telephone call.
"What?" He grumbled into the speaker.
"…the fuck! No! Not my shurikens! Argh!"
He shot up into a sitting position. Suddenly, he wasn't so tired anymore.
"Tenten? What are you doing? What's wrong?"
"Uh… Neji, I need…ow! …some help here…"
"What? Are there intruders in your house? Are you in danger?"
"No! No, I mean, at least I think I'm not… just get over here."
And she hung up.
Gosh, couldn't she just stay out of trouble without him for one night? Apparently not - he thought, rather satisfyingly to himself.
He did not even bother putting a top on to cover his bare torso. Silently, he slid his door open and crept out of the Hyuuga courts.
Upon reaching Tenten's apartment, he could not help but hear a strange noise. Was that…running water? What was she up to? He knocked.
"Tenten?" He shouted through the door.
"Tenten, are you in there?"
"Neji!" He heard her yell in relief. "Thank god you're…"
Crash!
"Whoops!"
"Tenten, what are you… I'm coming in with your spare key!"
"You do that!" She shouted. He took out the key she had given him when they had started going out, and opened the door.
"What the…"
As soon as Neji had pulled the door open, a rush of water came gushing out through the crack, soaking his feet and hem of his sleeping trousers. He widened his eyes as he studied her apartment. Water had filled the flat up to his knees, and random objects were floating around in the house. Pots and pans, clothes, books… was that a…?
"Neji, stop staring at my underwear and help me over here!" His girlfriend snapped at him from inside the kitchen. He jumped out of his haze and waded his way towards her.
"Tenten, what happened?" He said, watching the woman in front of him trying to frantically block what seemed to be a burst pipe with towels.
"I thought you were having a 'Girl's Night'", he added dryly. He reached over to her and helped her press the wad of soggy cloth onto the opening.
"I was having one!" She sighed, letting Neji take over.
"But this damn thing just went off in the middle of the night, so I told them all to go home while I fixed it."
"As I recall, pipe fixing was not part of our curriculum in the Academy." He snorted. She placed her hands on her hips.
"Well at least I tried!"
"Well, kudos to you then, I guess." He smirked, as he tied a tight knot on the pipe with a dry towel, decreasing its force and damage.
"Stop picking on me, dammit!" she exclaimed. "Look at this place! What am I going to do?"
Neji studied her. She was dripping from head to toe. Strands of hair had slackened themselves from her usually two neat buns. He thought she resembled a lost puppy with those frantic and alarmed eyes. He softened.
"Come here." He whispered, pulling her into him and giving her a tight embrace. She was tense, but quickly relaxed, sighing into his neck.
They remained like that for a few moments, feeling their breaths on each other, him sensing her heart rate slow down, while his quickened. The cold water numbed their feet and legs.
After a while, she gave his shoulders a light squeeze.
"Thanks, Neji. I'm ok now." She whispered. He released her, and she gave another sigh, looking around the flat.
"I'll call the repairmen tomorrow morning." He assured her. "Right now, you're coming to my place."
"What?" She asked. "Can't we…can't we do something?"
He smirked.
"Well, if you insist." He breathed, sliding an arm around her waist. "I've always wanted to try it in a pool, but this is better."
Tenten turned into a few shades of colors before hastily pushing herself out of his arms.
"You know what I mean, Neji." She tried to snap at him, but her voice quivered slightly, which made him smirk harder.
"This is the best I can do, Tenten, you're on your own." He shrugged. She glared at him before treading her way into her room.
"Don't tell me…"
"Just let me grab some stuff." She replied.
xxxxxxxxxx
Letting Tenten stay at the Hyuuga mansion was the biggest, most destroying mistake Hyuuga Neji had ever made in his life.
She was nothing but an annoyance and a distraction. A headache, a provocation, a disturbance, offense, nuisance, irritation… he was running out of words.
The repairmen had arrived the next morning. After checking the damage, they had requested 3 whole weeks for reparations. They had babbled on for ages about how the walls had to be taken down, pipes had to be renewed; the walls had to be re-plastered, repainted, etc. Neji didn't mind, not back then, at least. That was until he realized…
First of all, having Tenten next to him every morning meant he was usually late for his training and missions.
Having Tenten in his house meant that he had less time for training in general. Meditation was extremely difficult, since there was no way he could 'clear his mind' when thoughts of 'the other night' were racing in and out of his head. He would doze off during important clan meetings and ended up not catching some very important information.
After all, Tenten playing with one of his baby cousins was a much better scene… he could watch it all day. Wait…WHAT?
Plus, everyone in the Hyuuga compound adored Tenten. She was a breath of fresh air to the strict family. Even Hiashi seemed to like her a lot.
Insisting on repaying the Hyuugas for their kindness, she had decided to make them all her specialty dishes one day at dinner. She had managed to persuade the possessive chef out of the kitchen and even impressed him with her culinary skills. The whole family fell in love with her since then, and Neji had had the mind-provoking job of glaring at the swarms of male cousins which gave her 'the eye'.
That's why, when the three horrible, horrible weeks had past. Neji was relieved.
After Tenten had swept his room clean of all her possessions and left, he flopped on his bed, sighing in sweet bliss.
Ah… what a wonderful smell. He turned to give the sheets a better sniff. What was that smell? Oh right, it was the smell of Tenten. He smirked to himself, and reached out, preparing to feel her warm skin underneath his…only to be met with thin air. He opened his eyes.
Oh. He had forgotten. She had moved back home already.
He shook his head. He'd eventually get used to her not being here. What was he talking about? Of course he could get used to her not being here. She was not here to begin with, if what, he should have to get used to her being here, godammit! But she was not here anymore, so there was nothing to get used to now… oh what the hell was he talking about?
He slid the door open and walked out of his cursed room. He turned left, towards the gardens, when his younger cousin, Hayao came sprinting over to him.
"Neji, Neji!" The child exclaimed as he skidded to a stop.
"What is it?"
"Where is Tenten? I want to show her something! I've hit the bulls-eye! Where is she? Where is she?" Neji stared.
"She… she's gone home." He stated.
The anticipating gleam in the boy's eye was put out in an instant. His bottom lip started quivering, and his eyes began to well up.
"B…but"
No, no way. Please don't do this, kami-sama.
"But… she said…"
"Eh… now, now, don't… don't you dare…"
" NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"
Hayao had begun wailing at the top of his lungs.
"She said… she was going to TEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAACH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He shrieked. The bawling had alarmed most of the family members, and he could already hear footsteps hurrying over.
"D… don't cry." Neji tried. "Oh, please, I beg you!" He looked around frantically. "H… how about… I teach y…."
" NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" This was louder than last time. Neji covered his sensitive ears with his palms.
"Shut up, already." He gritted under his teeth. If only Tenten were here… she'd know what to do. Maids and family members were coming from all directions.
"I… I swear, I didn't…" Neji stuttered.
Who would've known the awesome Hyuuga Neji would be defeated by a child?
It had taken six hours of cooing, comforting, scolding, bribing, and plenty of hugs and kisses before they managed to quiet down Hayao. They had made Neji promise to take him to see Tenten the next day, which, he did not really have a choice in. He sighed. He was feeling a bit hungry. Maybe Tenten could make him some…
Shit! Not again!
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and decided on a shower as a last resort. He opened his drawer for a towel.
No…no…how could she do this to him? Why did she have to leave a forgotten bra in his drawer? Dammit! That was it. There must be some way to make her come back and live with him, as well as keeping those stupid cousins of his away from his Tenten. That's right. She was his. All his.
xxxxxxxxxx
"Wow, Tenten, I guess Hinata was right after all!" Ino whispered in awe as she, and the rest of the girls huddled around the engagement ring Neji had given Tenten.
They were to be married the coming winter.
The End.
Whoop! My first finished story, and my first oneshot. Please review!