Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm back with another Nejiten just for you!
Ugh. Writing this was so much harder than I thought. It was so perfect in my mind...
Anyway, please let me know what you think, constructive criticism is always appreciated!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they rightfully belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I only claim the (awfully) short plot of this story.
Excerpt
She had gotten up at the usual early hour to train with Neji. She had obtained a good night's sleep content with the new plans and strategies she had drawn up to defeat her partner. She had awoken with a bright smile on her tan face and determination deep in her earth brown eyes.
Today was the day she'd beat Neji.
What's she up to? Neji wondered amusedly as his female teammate entered their training grounds, a smug grin on her face.
Neji felt a smirk perk up on his lips. This will be interesting…
"Ready?" Tenten asked, her smile broadening every passing second.
Neji rose from his seated position and immediately launched into the familiar rhythmic motions of their sparring matches. The spar continued as any other until…
Tenten felt her heart soar as her kunai made contact and actually left a long gash on his left arm. Although most people wouldn't enjoy inflicting an injury on someone they care so much about as Tenten did Neji, Tenten had only been able to cut Neji once the very first time she sparred with him and it had never happened again.
Neji looked down at his arm, as if to check if the stinging pain in his arm was real. He then looked up at Tenten and sent her one of those heart-melting smirks of his. She could feel her face, already flushed face due to training, blush all the more.
"You are improving immensely, Tenten." He commented.
"So are you." She responded, determined to keep her calm composure.
"Thanks to you."
Neji took pleasure in seeing a look of shock overcome her features.
All composure was lost in Tenten, he- he's thanking me!
His smirk grew as he looked at her square in the eyes. "With your weapon techniques you easily root out my weak spots, causing me in turn to strengthen my defense. So this leads you to think of ingenious methods to break through my defense just as you successfully demonstrated today. All the while your attacks grow stronger every day. In other words, you are very valuable asset to me Tenten."
Tenten felt her jaw dropping slightly. Of course she knew she was a vital part of Neji's training, she just didn't know that he knew that.
Before she could respond, Gai walked in with Lee announcing that Tsunade wanted to see them.
The rest of the Rookie Nine were gathered outside of the Hokage's office, apparently waiting for them. Everyone's eyes were inadvertently drawn to Neji and Tenten, specifically the bandage on Neji's arm.
Before leaving the training grounds, Tenten remembered about the cut on Neji's arm and insisted on bandaging it. Neji scoffed and stated that whatever Tsunade had to say was more important than a small cut. But neither would hear any of the other so in the end Tenten bandaged Neji's arm on the way. It was done perfectly despite the fact that they had been moving (her mother was a medic-nin, after all). Neji acted irritated that Tenten was insisting on healing him and Tenten feigned annoyance toward Neji because he was making things so much harder than they had to be.
Neither said anything about doing things on purpose. Like how Neji pulled away only for Tenten to reach out and grab hold of him again, to feel her hands pressed firmly on his arm before they went back to their task and transformed into mere whispers of her fingers and hands as she bandaged his arm. Or how she "accidently" dropped the bandages just so she could enjoy touching his strong, muscular arm just a little while longer.
Neither said a thing about such actions or about the feelings that were beginning to bubble up to the surface. They both walked into Tsunade's office and continued their daily lives with their normal actions and feelings. And yet by this point they had both begun to realize that what was once just an excerpt of emotions was quickly becoming a part of normal daily life.
They shrugged it off. What would be would be. For now, Tsunade called on them.