After a long and successful mission, team Gai finally returned back to their village. Exhausted, but with their bags full of money, they made their way to the Hokage's office to report.
"Congratulations, Team Gai! Another mission accomplished." Tsunade looked at them with bright, joyful eyes.
"You deserve a long and relaxing break."
She pushed back her chair a little and reached for her desk drawer, taking out a piece of paper and gaving it to TenTen.
"Uh.. Tsunade-sama, what is this?" the girl asked.
"This? Well, consider it as a little gift for all of your hard work." she smiled.
"Wh-What?" everyone's eyes were wide open, waiting for an explanation from the kunoichi.
"A Two-Days-One-Night vacation at the Hot Springs of Aiko."
"EEEHHH?!" surprised and confused, they all looked at their Hokage with questioning eyes. Lee and Gai were having an emotional moment and Neji facepalmed.
"A-Are you sure, Tsunade-sama?" TenTen looked at the paper again and just couldn't believe they would be going on a vacation to a Hot Spring. A truly generous present from the Medical Ninja.
"Enjoy your days off, you four!"
"TH-THANK YOU, TSUNADE-SAMA! YOU'RE TOO GREATFUL!" Lee and Gai were crying out of happiness, pushing Neji aside and showing their gratitude towards the Fifth.
Ariving at the Hot Springs, «Aiko Inn», the four shinobi gulped in front of the entrance in surprise at how big the Resort was.
"H-How much money do you think Tsunade-sama paid for us to stay here?" the weapon master was quite dazzled from the heavenly view of the inn.
"Maybe it's the wrong place.." Neji became doubtful.
"No, we're right. These are the Hot Springs of Aiko. A truly magnificent place, don't you think, youngsters?" Gai smirked at his students and gave him thumbs up. Neji and Tenten sighed, while Lee supported his sensei by doing the same.
"Then let's go already!" TenTen couldn't wait to get soaked in the hot water.
"Welcome to 'Aiko Inn'. You must be our special guests from the Leaf Village. Please, follow me." the employee smiled at them and bowed to greet the ninja.
Still amazied by what their eyes were seeing, they followed the young woman to their rooms.
"Here you go! An extra Large Suite for Team Gai, booked by the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, herself." The woman opened the door to the suite and showed them their room.
"W-Wait!" TenTen gasped.
"You mean we're all going to stay… IN JUST ONE ROOM?" the girl slightly raised her voice and glared at the employee.
"W-Well, Lady Tsunade said you wouldn't have any problem with that." She shyly replied.
"It's ok TenTen, we've been in the same team for so many years.." Lee patted her shoulder and looked serious.
"We're not going to peep on you." He said and smiled.
Groaning she raised her fist and punched his face with all her strength.
"YOU MEAN YOU HAD THE INTENTION TO PEEP ON ME IF WE HAD DIFFERENT ROOMS?"
"N-No.."
"TenTen!" Neji reassured the girl that she would be fine and managed to calm her down.
"Oh, well.. we're here to enjoy the Hot Springs, so let's not fight.." she said with a crooked smile on her lips.
The boys laughed and altogether they entered the room to unpack their stuff.
"Ahhh, this feels like heaven!" the kunoichi was enjoying the hot water which made her body feel relaxed and her skin softer.
"Oi, Tenten! We want to take a bath as well! Hurry up and finish!" Neji shouted from outside the bath, knocking the door several times.
The resort didn't have a public bath devided for men and women, but each room had its own bathroom. The suite's bath, in particular, was the largest and TenTen enjoyed every minute of being in there.
"It's not my fault that we have to share a bath!" she yelled back at her teammate and grinned.
He crossed his arms in anger and sighed annoyed. He had no other choice..
"Ok, that's it! We've been waiting for two hours!" the Hyuga was already undressed and ready to take a soak, if only his teammate wouldn't take so long in soaking herself so much.
"TenTen, are you done?" he knocked the door again.
"O-Oi, Neji.. Maybe you shouldn't make her angry. We really don't mind staying outside a while longer." Lee said to his friend.
"In fact, we're going to exercise a little bit, since we've got nothing else to do, right Lee?" Gai sensei jumped up from his seat and encouraged his student to tag along with him.
"Gai-sensei is right! Let's train!" he enthusiastically responded.
"You guys, we're on vacation! This is not the time to train.. Oi, are you even listening to me?" Neji tried to get their attention and convince them to stop thinking about training, but those two were addicted to working out, so it was useless to even try to hold them back.
"Teme!" the boy sighed.
He sat down on the wooden bench before the bathroom and pulled himself together to patiently wait a little longer. Then, TenTen suddenly spoke from within the bathroom.
"Neji? Are you out there?" she asked.
"Huh? Of course I am, I'm waiting for you to come out!" he replied with a somehow angry tone.
"Hmm.."
"What do you want? Are you done?"
"N-No… Uh.. say, Neji. Are you alone?" she blushed a bit and her voice became lower and revealed a bit of shyness.
"Yeah, the two dumbasses went outside. You know how they are, training here, training there. They're obsessed!" he said while being a bit worked up.
"Uhm… you… you can come in if you like." She hesitantly said, getting even redder than before.
"Huh?"
He stood up and went closer to the door. He thought he hadn't heard right.
"Then, that means you're done?"
"Eh..n-no.. it's just… well…" she begun to stutter all nervous.
"I… don't really mind, but is it ok with you?" he asked confused.
"Y-YEAH!" she abruptly shouted.
She really didn't mind being in the same bath with him since they're teammates. Besides, she had a towel, so he wouldn't see anything he shouldn't.
"Uhm… o-ok…" he closed his eyes and slowly opened the bathroom door. The hot steam from the boiling water hit his face and he didn't feel cold anymore.
Tenten had lowered her body almost completely into the water, only her big shining brown orbs were showing, looking at the Hyuga who just stepped inside.
"Bbbrrrrr..brr..bbb.." Tenten said something, but forgot that her mouth was underwater and the boy couldn't make out her words.
"Huh?"
She blushed and raised her head a bit.
"I..I said… I can go out if you want."
"Hm..?" he had a puzzled expression.
Her hair was open. It was the first time he'd seen her with long hair. It was almost as long as his and It had a brown, chocolate-like color. She had pushed it in front of her, covering her chest. He could see that the kunoichi was blushing.
"Is something the matter?" he asked concerned as he leaned back on a rock, relaxing his body in the hot water.
She gasped for a moment and quickly noded negatively.
It was an awkward situation for her. She couldn't even look him in the eyes. Why did she even agree to let him come inside and take a bath with her?!
"Eh?"
she felt something tickling her back and turned around to see what it was. Neji opened his eyes to see what was wrong and suddenly the girl started screaming.
"Eeeeewwww! TAKE IT OFF ME!" she yelled while jumping up, holding her towel very tight to her chest.
Neji stood up immediately and tried to make her stop screaming.
"Oi, Tenten! Hold still, it's juts a harmless bug! I thought you were a kunoichi, not to mention a very skilled weapon master!" he held her wrist and made her hold still as he took away the bug from her shoulder, throwing it over the stone wall behind her.
"Y-Yes, but when I don't have my weapons with me I feel unsafe!" she sulked, calming herself down after the shock.
"Jeez.." he sighed and let go of her hand.
"Ehh..khmm..!" she cleared her throat and looked at him anxiously.
"I..uh.. I think I should get out of here!hehe" she nervously laughed and scratched her head. Neji didn't even notice that she was now exposed in front of a man, almost nude, so he didn't understand her odd behavior.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, no no! Everything ok, I just…" she largo went up the steps of the hot spring, looking at him and not knowing where she was walking. Her foot slipped on the last step and she was about to fall.
"TenTen!"
"Whaaa!"
She closed her eyes, afraid of hitting her head somewhere, but she felt two hand holding her. Neji catched her, inches before she hit the hard marble floor.
"Be careful, you idiot!" he looked down and lectured her while the girl had opened her eyes and looked at him relieved.
'Was he always that handsome?' she asked herself.
She couldn't get her eyes off him. His hair stroke her shoulder and his chest felt warm.
'Gaaahhh what are you thinking of, Tenten? PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!' he inner self spoke again.
"Hm?" he frowned.
"C-Could you carry me inside? I… I think I twisted my ankle.." she said with a flirty tone.
"Uh, sure.."
He took her in his arms in bridal-style and carefully stepped forward.
'Great, TenTen! Just Great!'
His arms were so muscular, it felt so good to be carried by him.
'Hehe now that Lee and Gai-sensei are not here, I'm gonna take advantage of the situation!' she thought.
"Neji…" she placed her arms around his neck and leaned closer to his face. Her hand touched his cheek and turned his head around to look at her.
"Ten..ten…?"
He didn't know what her intentions were, but this meant definitely no good.
She begun to slowly close her eye lashes, with her eyes focused on his lips as she approached them. And just when she was about to make her move…
"OUT OF THE WAY!"
Lee and Gai came rushing in, heading to the bathroom at full speed, passing by those two like a tornado.
"What the-!" TenTen glared at the duo and jumped out of Neji's hands.
"YOU TWO, SERIOUSLY!"
'WHAT THE HELL! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO COME IN NOW?!'
She clenched her fist and cracked her fingers, ready to give them some free punches, but the two of them had already taken over the bathroom and closed the door.
Neji stood behind her with crossed arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Say, wasn't your ankle twisted just a few seconds ago?"
"Huh?" she turned back with a poker face.
'This can't be happening…'
The next day they were all ready to return from their vacation, having relaxed, more or less.
TenTen couldn't sleep at all. She was so embarrassed about what had happened that she kept thinking about it the whole night. Lee and Gai were as energetic as always, though. They didn't even notice that Neji was holding her in his arms yesterday night, while both of them were half naked and coming out of the bath. Normal people would have suspicions after seeing something like that, but those two were a different species, as it seems. Neji also acted as if nothing had happened. He wasn't the type to hold on to situations like that, and although she knew that, she still couldn't talk to him.
On their way home, though, it all seemed to be back to normal again and she started laughing and smiling at the awful jokes of Gai-sensei.
'Oh, well.. maybe next time.. hehe!'