Tenten remembered the first time she kissed Neji.
It was the day he'd been promoted to Jounin instructor. A small gathering held in his honor which was really just a bunch of head houses showing off and boasting and using his promotion as an excuse, the idea of which bored her endlessly, and she'd long since run off to sit in the sturdy branches of the giant oak she'd grown up climbing.
Not that she needed to bother actually climbing anymore, but she did so anyway out of ritual and nostalgia. It seemed like cheating if she didn't, almost.
She felt him before she heard him or saw him, as she often did, smiling faintly at her in his tan yukata, which had gone askew slightly from climbing. He didn't want to cheat, either. He sat beside her, offered her a piece of melon bread which she took, and they ate in silence for awhile. A pleasant silence that was undemanding and peaceful. One that allowed you to simply be.
It was after they'd finished eating that she kissed him. He tasted like sugar mixed with a unique spice that she couldn't place and could only assume was just i him, /i cool and crisp like autumn leaves. Their tongues touched hesitantly at first, almost like they were greeting one another, i hello, how do you do? /i Then they were pressed against each other, still sitting, just... kissing. No groping hands or stripping or stradling. It just happened.
And then she'd pulled away, very slowly, and asked if he wanted to go with her and see if there were any more meat buns left. He'd looked perplexed a moment, his lips looking slightly bruised, before nodding and hopping down from the tree in a way only a shinobi could.
She also remembered the first time she'd kissed Lee.
It was almost a ritual, really, the sunday meetings. She, Lee, and Neji would all come to her place, and they'd talk about things that seemed of no importance but really meant everything, had important double-meanings and hidden symbolism. They'd stay the whole day, forget the world outside that room existed, leaving their jounin vests by the door. Forgot that they were supposed to be cold-hearted souless killing tools fighting a losing battle, forgot that more and more of the people they'd grown up with were being buried in the swiftly-growing graveyard.
The three of them lay on her fold-out couch, watching some program on the TV that none of them really liked, streams of sunlight filtering through partially-closed blinds, warming them and making them lazy. She was nestled in the middle of them both, the three of them all entwined like sleeping kittens. Lee had an arm over the two of them, one hand playing with Tenten's long, brown hair for a while after undoing her buns before cupping her face gently and pressing his closed lips to hers. She let him. Neji just rolled to face her, an almost-smile on his face, content. He'd kissed her afterward, the taste of cool river waters and earth and nature mixing with Lee's own unique brand of flavor. One that reminded her of spice and sugar and oddly, like springtime. She decided she liked it.
And then they were all just... kissing. Just kissing, and caressing. A hand sliding along her shoulder while one began rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back, Lee's fingers running his hands through Neji's dark locks and planting a trail of kisses on his strong jawline as Neji did the same to her clavicle, her own arms pulling them both close to her. Because it felt right. Because in some fucked-up way, it made her feel like a human being with the capacity to feel. Feel anything at all. And it had progressed, until they were all one and no one was sure who belonged to whom anymore. They all just felt as though they belonged. To something.
i Hello, how do you do? /i
She still visited the oak tree, on her way back from the memorial. She'd climb its great, protective branches and stare out into the vast blue sky, and she'd talk to him. "Lee..." she'd start, "Do you remember..." He never answered her back, for the dead rarely do, but she still felt as though he'd heard her.