She Kissed Me.
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Setting: Pre-Shippuuden. Before the Rookie nine are introduced. Same old Neji, ignorant. Tenten bubbly, strong feminine personality.
"It's futile, Lee. You can't defeat me." says some stoic boy to a bushy brow lad.
Lee, with all his might, trying to stand up after being beaten by the number one rookie, Hyuuga Neji.
"You maybe the number one genin of our batch, I will make sure someday, that this man you are referring to as a boy who can't even perform ninjutsu, will defeat you right in this very ground. Wait for that time, Hyuuga Neji, my eternal rival." says Lee as he pumped his fist in the air.
Tenten is just watching them argue and she's getting a full of it.
"You do not even deserve to be called my rival. Defeat me first, then you will be one." Neji didn't even bother to roll his eyes.
Lee was about to reply but someone called him.
"Lee! Lee!"
Lee turned around then tears started to stream on his eyes.
"Gai-sensei!" he screamed back.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
Then they ran towards each other in slow motion with a sunset and ocean background...
...well it was just an imagination.
"Lee, my favorite student, you and I shall maintain the heat of the burning power of youth inside you! We shall train until dawn to improve our taijutsu!" says Gai-sensei.
"*sob* Gai-sensei, thank you for making me feel the power of youth!" Lee said.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sen-"
"YOU TWO! CUT IT OUT WILL YOU?! "
They were almost in a night with starry sky background when Tenten screamed at them.
"My precious flower-"
"Don't call me a flower, Gai-sensei."
"Tenten-"
"Just continue your scene on some other place, Lee. I need to talk to someone..." she glared at Neji then turned her head back at her sensei and her teammate, "...privately."
"Well then, Lee let's go!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei."
Then the two left.
"Now you mister. Care to explain everything?" she started talking to Neji.
"Why would I explain to you? You annoy me." Neji replied.
"You know what; you are much more annoying than I do, so stop being such a big fat meanie and play nice, Hyuuga."
"You just called me annoying, big, fat, and meanie in just a single sentence. Very nice. Hn. You pity that lad? How touching. Should I cry now?" he said in an emotionless face.
"You sound like a seventy-year-old man. Don't pretend that you know everything, Neji. You can't even get a perfect 100 in target practice." she grinned at him.
That hit him. Indeed, he can't get a perfect score in target examinations back on the Academy. He oftenly gets a 97 or a good 99, but never a hundred. And this girl perfected them all.
If he graduated number one, she graduated number two. She was the second best. But Neji's taijutsu is much more powerful than hers so she ranked second.
"What do you want?" he asked, starting to feel irritated.
"I wanted to know why you are like that."
"You don't have to know." he replied icily.
"I am not asking about your story. The seal of the caged bird? Your grudge to the main family? Your father's death? I already knew about that."
"Who told you that?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You don't have to know, Neji. I'm not the kind of person that you can take down with just a cold stare and a monosyllabic reply, because if you do, I will punch you right on your face."
"Hn. Do I need to feel threatened?"
"It's up to you. But since I am not in the mood to punch you due to your narrow mindedness, I will just ask you this, what about your past that can't make you move on for the present?"
"It is destiny that allowed everything to happen. You can't defy what destiny is given to you. That is a painful fact."
"Non-sense. You are the creator of your own destiny. You hold it tightly right on your bare hands. You are the master of your fate. You are the one making your own decisions so your destiny may be fulfilled. That is how life goes."
"You don't understand. You don't know anything." he said.
"Of course I won't understand. I don't give a damn about your hatred. But can't you see how much luckier you are than me? You have your own family. You once had a father that guided you for even a short period of time. But what about me? I never knew where I came from. I don't even know who my parents are. I don't know who I am. I never had anything right from the very start! But you, you despise your own flesh and blood. Life is unfair. Destiny is unfair. Fate is unfair."
"You don't have the right to say that to me."
Her face softened.
"Yeah, who am I to say these things to you? Right, because I am your friend. I wanted you to be free. I wanted you to-"
"I will only have freedom until death."
"No, you are the only one who thinks you are not free. I wanted you to be a better Hyuuga Neji..." she looked up at the clear sky, "...so your father will be proud of you."
He looked at her. How can she say something as if she knew everything about him? She doesn't know what is it like to have a family but it feels like she already had one. He hates to admit it but, all she had said was right.
He can see how the few strands of her hair dance with the wind. The natural blush her cheeks emit whenever sunlight touches it. The authentic glow of her sweet smile that captures every heart including his. The glimmering sparks of her eyes that reflect all of her emotions.
She's so... beautiful.
"Why are you doing this?" he blurted out.
She turned her head to meet his gaze.
"I don't know either. It feels like, it is the right thing for me to do."
"Why me? Why not Lee?"
"*chuckles* to tell you honestly, Gai-sensei, Lee, you... you are my family now. The three of you are precious to me. I have Gai-sensei as my father while Lee and you... are like my brothers."
He doesn't know why, but he felt his chest tighten when she said she considers him as her... brother.
Just the thought of it, him being a brother to her, it feels wrong. He feels like he wanted him to be more than a brother in her eyes.
He cannot understand. But then she said, he is precious to her. That lightens up his feeling.
"You don't know me, how can you say I am precious to you?" he asked coolly.
"Because you are. It feels incomplete without you."
"Where are you getting all the guts to say that right to my face?"
"You know what, just stop asking..." then she walked towards him, "just do it. Be the greatest person you can be, Neji..."
In just a split of second, he found his lips were touching hers. For those seconds, he can't think as if his mind stopped functioning. He can't contain the fact that there is a pair of soft lips pressing against his. He doesn't know what to do.
Before he could respond, she pulled apart leaving him in the state of shock.
"...because you are such a great man." with that, she left.
As she was walking away from him, it was as if she was taking his heart with every step.
He stared at her as she disappears from his sight.
He knew, from this day forward, that girl took his heart, and he don't want it back.
Then he touched his lips, the feeling is still there. He can still feel her lips on his.
It sounds so pathetic but, he did not even bother to care and he unconsciously said,
"She kissed me."
