Of the Days
By Kimmy
Summary: Team Gai A short ficlet that tells of the bonds of youth that hold Team Gai together. Minor NejiTen
Notes: I wrote this for my dear friend, Denri. Her birthday is on
May 3 (followed by mine, the next day!).
This piece has been
finished for a few days now. Normally, I would have posted it up
right away, but I waited for Denri's birthday, which gave me a chance
to revise a few aspects of it. -yay-
To Denri: this is for you,
friend! I tried writing you a SasuSaku, but you can imagine
how that played out. It was total crap, I'm telling you. And then I
tried writing a ShikaIno, but my ShikaIno muse has been taking a leaf
out of Shikamaru's book and been being lazy. -sigh-
So I sincerely
hope you like this. It's not my best work, and it's not what I wanted
to give you, but I hope this suffices. Thanks so much for being my
friend.
So here it is, folks: Of the Days!
---
Hyuuga Neji held enough respect for his green-clad teammate to allow some patience with his hyperactive personality.
"Neji! Look!"
After all, Lee had helped Neji out of a few tight spots in some of their harder missions, and it was thanks to him that Neji was still alive and breathing.
"Do you see? Neji!"
Because of this, Neji would even go as far as to call Rock Lee a friend.
"It's a vision of beauty!"
However, there were just some days... Neji's fists clenched as his white eyes surveyed the dramatic scene unfolding in front of him. He resisted the urge to growl. After all – he had set out that morning for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to train, and certainly not to witness...this.
Rock Lee's romantic escapades.
"Good morning, Sakura-san!"
The pink-haired girl walking down the path turned to face the too-energetic-for-the-early-morning shinobi with a slightly surprised smile. "Oh, good morning, Lee-san."
"May I ask where Sakura-san is heading?"
"I'm meeting Kakashi-sensei," she said lightly. She paused for a moment in silent contemplation, and then added, "But he's always late, so I have a bit of time to talk."
Rock Lee was almost literally floating on air.
Neji turned away silently, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, calming down only in the knowledge that Tenten would be along in a little while to quell his urge to train.
...But Neji's patience wears thin very easily, and when Tenten finally arrived a few minutes later, he was almost physically trying to stop himself from defoliating a few hundred trees.
It was also when Sakura finally chose to go – turning on her heel and walking away with a jaunty goodbye wave to Lee. Lee waved back cheerfully.
And he didn't stop, not even when she was far out of sight. He just stared at the spot where he had last seen her, seemingly captivated, and still waving.
"Er – Lee?" Tenten tried tentatively.
The taijutsu specialist was on cloud nine, and therefore didn't respond to his female teammate's call. What he did do, however, was fall to his knees in wistful joy, his hand still doing its goodbye wave to the pink-haired girl probably more than three hundred feet away and whose mind was probably even farther.
Neji's patience was close to nonexistent now. "Lee."
Rock Lee's cheeks were as red as his beloved Sakura's dress as he said dreamily, "So beautiful..." His hand was still waving goodbye.
"Lee!"
"Lee!"
"Lee!" Neji repeated loudly, striding over to the wistful-looking shinobi. "Get up!"
But Lee kept on waving, drifting happily in fantasyland and totally undeterred by Neji's muttered expletives.
It was then that Neji decided he had had enough – he came to train, and train he would – one way or another.
And so the Hyuuga crossed his arms in an effort to look as dignified and as graceful as possible. And then, with as much nonchalance as he could muster, he kicked his teammate squarely in the gut, smirking in grim satisfaction as Lee doubled over his foot. He heard Tenten gasp behind him, but ignored her concern – the kick was nothing too painful. Just enough to make Lee snap out of his infatuation-induced reverie and look up at Neji in awe.
Neji only answered with, "We need to train."
And as soon as those four words hit Lee's ears, his large eyes grew even larger. Suddenly, and as though he had not just been dealt a potentially fatal kick, he sprang up into a determined salute, which morphed seamlessly into the Nice Guy Pose. "You're right, Neji!" he exclaimed, "If I do not keep up with my training, I shall lose Sakura-san to someone better! I cannot allow myself to slip up! YOSH!" and with one final wink, Lee bounded off to the training stump where he started on his six-hundred kicks.
Neji turned to Tenten, who had gotten over her previous concern for her other teammate and was now smiling broadly. "That was nice of you, Neji," she said brightly. But then the smile slipped and she hastily amended, "I mean – not the kicking part – the kicking-Lee-to-get-him-to-realize-he-needed-to-train part." Apparently satisfied with her word choice, Tenten's smile returned.
The Hyuuga only shrugged. "It was my deed of the day."
"Er - you mean good deed of the day?"
"..."
"Neji? You meant good deed, right?"
"..."
Tenten sighed. "You just wanted to kick him, didn't you?"
Hyuuga Neji shrugged nonchalantly once more. "He kept me waiting," he replied, as he strode to the opposite end of the training field. When he had turned around and had assembled into his fighting stance, he met Tenten's eyes and smirked like there was no tomorrow. "And so did you."
---
End
--- Geesh, I hope you got that last line. If you did, then don't spoil it for the other readers by telling me all about it in the reviews, please. Thanks! Hope you readers and Denri enjoyed!