A drabble based on a headcanon by tentenandneji on tumblr.
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Moments
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They were sitting together on the training grounds, just the two of them.
He was meditating, supposedly, and she was cleaning the weapons she'd used during their spar. It was a bit of a ritual after their training, sitting together in silence, the only sounds coming from the clinking of metal against metal as she worked and the occasional rustling of the leaves overhead. Lee and Gai had run off to do Kami knows what, and that always left the two of them to their own devices, as usual.
Neji secretly loved moments like these. Moments where he could crack his eyes open and slant them over to the right to catch a glimpse of Tenten sitting amidst all her weapons, cradling one in her hands as she painstakingly polished every nook and cranny before gently placing it down and picking up the next.
Cleaning ones' weapons was something all ninja had to do at some point if they wanted to keep them sharp and in working order, but for Tenten it was something more than just a necessity. No, Tenten enjoyed cleaning her weapons, almost as much as she enjoyed using them.
It really was a sight to behold, or at least he thought so. The way she'd tilt her head just a little to the right as she worked, the tendrils of hair that escaped her bun during their spar dangling about her face. The way the tip of her tongue would poke out between her pink lips in concentration sometimes as she worked the cloth through a particularly tricky part of the weapon she was cleaning. The way she caressed each and every weapon with those rough, calloused, and oh so capable hands the way others caressed their loved ones.
And in moments like these, when the sun was hitting her at just the right angle to make an almost golden hue come out in the rich brown of her hair, Neji is struck with just how impossibly beautiful Tenten is.
She isn't attractive in the conventional sense, not really. She isn't a stunner like Ino, nor is she an exotic beauty like Sakura. She isn't one of those girls you'd see on the streets and do a double take because she's so drop dead gorgeous. No, Tenten's beauty is subtler than that. Subtle, but no less disarming.
Tenten's beauty is in the way she moves when she fights. The way she flies and twirls. The way her eyes burn with a fire hotter than any other. Tenten's beauty is in her passion and her dedication and her drive. In the way she throws herself one hundred and ten percent into whatever she's doing.
Neji knows this, has always known this. But what he, and most others, often forget is that Tenten is beautiful in other ways too.
There's beauty in the delicate features of her face, in the sharp planes of her cheek bones and the soft curves of her jaw. There's beauty in the fullness of her lower lip and the long swan-like neck. In the soft curves of the body she labours over, in those calloused palms and strong legs and swift feet.
And in moments like these, when she's too immersed in her cleaning to notice anything outside her little bubble, he is free to stare and drink in the sight of the woman he knows like the back of his hand. And in those moments, Neji realizes that Tenten is the single most beautiful thing he's ever seen in his entire life. She takes his breath away and makes him wonder how anyone could ever overlook this goddess among them.
"Neji?"
He blinks slowly, so lost in thought that he didn't even notice her turning those big brown eyes in his direction.
"Yes, Tenten?"
"Is everything alright?" she asks, her brows furrowing in concern and curiosity, and Neji feels a familiar stirring in his chest at the sight.
"Yes," he says lightly, his eyes sliding shut again, knowing that her own gaze will be lingering on him for a couple moments longer. Knows this because he knows her, in a way that no one else ever will.
"Everything is perfect."