Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
Moondust
He cannot explain it but Neji finds himself utterly fascinated by her porcelain skin in the moonlight. He wanted to touch those pale ridges running down her arms, to trail his fingers over them. What would they feel like, he has wondered more than once. Was it silky smooth? Or like touching sand, too slippery for him to hold? But he feared his coarse touch might break and crush her beauty, shattering it beyond recognition. He was unworthy to touch such delicacy and yet, he is made prisoner by it.
Neji shakes his head, inwardly sighing to himself. He doesn't understand. No man would be interested in this characteristic about a girl. They rather chase after their pretty, heavily makeup-covered faces or their voluminous chests or the way their curvy hips sway when they walk. Men don't lust after goose bumps in the flicking firelight. Nor do they try to discover which ones have a creamy hue or a milky white tint. But each time their team rests during the night after a long mission, Neji catches himself staring at her goose bumps in a manner that it sometimes frightens him.
He has only known TenTen for about a year - eleven months and a couple of weeks in total - not counting the time they were in the same class back in their Academy days. Oh, Neji wasn't stupid and he certainly isn't blind to TenTen's reserved gazes or her dulled blushes when he glances her way. He preferred to ignore her, thinking her infatuation was prejudiced like all the other girls.
But as Neji discovers, he was wrong. He finds out she admired him because the way his eyes glowed different shades, from emotionless white to exasperated grey to disconcerted silver. She respected him because he managed to carry her on his back up a mountain after she had twisted her ankle and the two of them were lost. She revered him because he was her goal, her obsession, her idol, to become equal in precision and strength with him.
Tonight happened to be one of their quieter nights. Usually, Gai and Lee would be with them but tonight, they went to train a little longer. So they left Neji to keep an eye on the camp and an exhausted TenTen, who didn't bother to stay awake for them. Both she and he knew once those two get in the mood, they'll probably be up till sunrise. It was better for Neji. This way, he can watch her without one of Gai's loud, boisterous comments on the "youth of love" or Lee's indignant accusations about seducing TenTen while she was defenseless.
She shifted in her sleep, unconsciously curling deeper into her blankets for warmth, even though Neji had offered his blanket to her. The fire cast an eerily radiance on her face, rendering TenTen into an ethereal being. Her eyelashes were as black as vast emptiness of the night skies. The dimple on her left cheek reminded him of a crescent moon. A pale memory of a scar on the back of her hand was frightfully similar to a fleeting comet, too quick for eyes like his to see. It was as if the splendor of the moon and stars themselves had come down and enshrouded over her, fabricating the goose bumps into the enchantment that they are.
It puzzles him. She has managed to mesmerize him, capturing him, mind, body and soul without much influence. He was impressed with her ability to be able to hit a moving target ten out of ten times. The calculations and preciseness TenTen must consider, in order to perform the Soushoryu, the Twin Rising Dragons, her most powerful and deadly attack, are simply phenomenal when she has to leap in the air and at the same time, hurl her multitudes of projectiles while she twists in midair to add confusion to her enemies. She's the middle-man of their team, the sanity to Lee's absurdity and the foolishness to Neji's logic. She is the balance and backbone of the team, able to fit through the solemnity of Neji and the lack of it with Lee and knock some hard sense into Gai when he needs it or else it would have driven Neji crazy and excite Lee too much. Without her, Team Gai would surely fall ...
He was bending close towards her now, too close for comfort. Those goose bumps have him hypnotized; he couldn't control himself even if he wanted to. These feelings - these emotions, he didn't understand them. Was it merely lust or truly love? Did he only want TenTen because she was the only female he really knows? Weren't they friends? Just comrades? Or was it something more?
A crack of a twig and supposedly whispers boomed to the camp, startling the normally composed Neji. He withdrew quickly and regretfully. By the time Gai and Lee entered the glare of the flames, it would seem he was merely adding more wood to the fire. " Still up I see?" Gai asked jovially, brushing sweat off his eyebrows that Neji has come to despise. He shrugged, watching the flames crackle merrily, in contrast to his disgruntled attitude, as he listened to the Jounin and Genin squabbling for blankets and plans for more training in the morning.
Closing his eyes against the exasperating commotion disturbing the once peaceful night, Neji leaned against the mighty tree trunk. He silently cursed the horribly ill timing of Gai and Lee's return. TenTen simply continued to sleep soundly, oblivious to the activity and voices around the campfire. Her goose bumps radiated tauntingly at him, daring him to try and come closer, to finish what he had unwittingly started.
His mouth twitched in amusement. Neji jerked his head up at the goose bumps, accepting their challenge. He has been playing this game far longer than he realizes, falling for the same trick over again and again. Going too far in, he finds himself unable to escape, trapped in the maze of an endless cat-and-mouse pursuit. It was like a drug: he hated it for breaking him, stripping him of his dignity and pride and yet he needed it to survive.
But someday, he will beat those goose bumps at their own game. Someday, he will.