Lee knocked fervently on his teammate's door, apprehensive about the talk he was about to have with her. He shifted his feet from side to side, the weights underneath his new clothing seemingly too heavy for such an emotional day. He could sense her chakra inside; hear the padding of soft feet as she bustled her way to the front door.
She opened the door with a spectacular smile, bright and friendly, just like smiles should be, and ushered him inside. Soot and ash blotched her normally white attire, and Lee wondered if he hadn't literally just gotten to her apartment seconds after she came home from her last mission.
"I just got back so you'll have to forgive the mess," she explained with perkiness that threatened to explode with in her, "You have to tell me everything!" she took his hand and led him into the living room, that cheerful smile hitting her eyes with a feral mischief, "talk while I clean and get dressed, do not spare me any detail I want to know everything!" She emphasized the statement with flattened hand motions into the air like an oath of honor that she had his full attention despite her obvious need to recover from her last mission. She untied her hitae-ate and placed it on the coffee table, quickly followed were her gloves. She turned her attention to her camping pack, picking out a few choice items from her pack that needed special cleaning, and headed into the kitchen to dump them off.
"How was your mission?" he found himself shouting, then decided instead of planting himself on her futon and being useless, he would make some tea for them instead. He joined her in the kitchen, all too familiar with the layout of her place. He put the kettle on and turned to the kunoichi scrubbing a spot on her iron skillet.
"What is with all the singeing?" he asked with a head quirked to the side, "I thought your mission was in wave?"
She momentarily stopped to shrug her shoulders, "some version of Katon, bastard got beat to a pulp if it makes you feel any better." She smiled proudly, almost preening, Lee nodded approvingly. As uneasy as it was to watch her take a solo mission last week, he was glad that she could defend herself.
"So," she lit up again with a renewed excitement, "tell me how your date went!" she rinsed the skillet and placed it on the stove. "You've been planning your move for months; asked her out, made reservations, saved up a ton of money to splurge on her, ordered exotic flowers to give her, got a new haircut, and new threads," she paused as she looked up at him and squinted, then came over and ruffled his hair, "though I can't say I prefer it this way as short as it is; the spiky look is nice, but I'm not sure I like the fact that you changed your self so much just to be presentable to her. The smaller eyebrows are going to take a while to get used to," she ran a thumb over one arch with a critical eye, "but if that is what she wants and your okay with it, then I will love it too." She swiped the other eyebrow quickly before ruffling his tuffs of hair again, "you're just as handsome, just packaged differently. I'll adjust." In order to finger through his hair she had to get on tippy-toe and brush up against ever so slightly against him, and Lee tried to remind himself of why he was there in the first place, which didn't seem to help at all.
"You think I'm handsome?" came the strangled question, an octave lower than where he normally spoke, and she backed away and gave him an odd look.
"I'ma kick her ass if she didn't tell you that on your date," he hands were on her hips with an irritated flare, "I bet you were smokin'. Now quit stalling and give me some deets!"She grabbed the whistling kettle off the stove and poured some water in the mugs before taking out the tray and guiding them back into the living room.
Lee ticked off everything with a headnod, "Reservations at Giovani's, exotic flowers from Suna, Gaara says hi, by the way," he added as a side note. Tenten nodded that she heard, and rolled a wrist for him to continue as she sipped her tea and moved closer to him, "I picked her up at her place, let her put the flowers inside, told her she looked pretty, she replied I looked nice," Lee paused to sip his tea.
"Good girl," Tenten nestled into the couch and closer to Lee. He eyed her somewhat suspiciously before continuing.
"We ate dinner by candlelight, and then took a stroll out by the lake afterwards."
"Did you guys hold hands," she shifted her legs underneath herself and looked up at Lee with sparkles of romanticism and hope in her eyes.
"What is with you Ten?" he shifted closer to her with another raised eyebrow. "I didn't peg you for the mushy type."
She deflated on her haunches at the chastisement, "I know, I just, you know, have to live vicariously, only dated that one dude what's-his-bucket the civvie and he was as romantic as a door knob."
"And as intelligent, you got the knob part right," Lee added, which earned him a wry look from the weapon's mistress.
"Anyways," she directed the conversations back to the subject at hand, "hand holding…" she waved a hand again, motioning for him to pick up where he left off.
"Yes, we held hands, I walked her home. We lingered on her door step and…" Lee shot a breath up to where his normally long bangs would blow out of place, but seen as his hair was spiked up with some kind of hair product the dramatic effect was lost.
"Did you kiss her?" Tenten exclaimed sitting erect on her knees once more. Lee nodded, slowly, with a saddened look.
"Why are you looking sad? Did she slap you or something? I don't get it." Tenten darted her eyes to his face to more properly examine his cheek bones for any kind of recent injuries.
"That's not it," Lee tried to elaborate, but found it hard to find the words, "the kiss was just okay, I had lunch with Sakura this afternoon."
"A second date! Way to go stud!" she playfully hit his shoulder, but Lee still gave her a wary look.
"Wait, I don't get it." Tenten put her coffee cup down on the table. "You don't look happy. Lee, why don't you look happy?"
"Sakura and I had lunch just as friends this afternoon." Lee started, hoping she would catch on.
"Oh, Lee," Tenten's voice soothed as she placed a hand on the same shoulder she had just playfully punched only moments ago and rubbed it gently, "I am so sorry, I know how much you invested emotionally in her over the years. I can't believe she shot you down after agreeing to see you on a date. That just doesn't seem like her, I thought maybe she would give you a better chance…"
Lee cut her off, "I am the one who asked her out for lunch today, as just friends."
Tenten took a moment to take it all in. He could tell that something just wasn't adding up with her.
"You could tell she wasn't interested? Were you trying to spare her from giving you the friend's speech?" Tenten scratched the bridge of her nose with confusion, "Why is this not making sense? Lee, I don't understand."
Lee let out another breath of air, "I gave her the friend's speech, because I just want to be friends."
"Ok, now I get it." She said knowingly, "Who are you and what have you done with Lee?" Tenten got up and pointed a finger at the non-green clad ninja on her couch. "I should have known by the blue jeans and black t-shirt and short haircut that it was an imposter."
Lee gave her a half-lidded look of exasperation, "Ten, it's me," he said as if it was obvious.
"Prove it," she folded her arms over her chest.
"Do you remember the time Gai got you to kiss Neji?"
"Perhaps," she replied airily and cautiously, not giving anything away. Lee continued.
"Gai showed up after lunch and handed you and Neji a sprig of mint leaves and told you to chew them. You weren't paying attention while you chewed yours and you thought Gai had asked you to kiss him instead." Lee remembered her choking and turning beat red from coughing. Lee had gently explained that she was to kiss Neji, not Gai, and he knew she had missed how red the Hyuga had gotten as she was too busy forcing air back into her lungs after getting over the initial shock. And she would have given good money to see that particular Hyuga blush, too.
"That man is an evil genius," Tenten countered in her defense with awe, "offered Neji an ANBU reference and me a shiny weapon. Pft, we were doomed to never say no to his stupid request."
Lee sniffed, "I still don't understand why he just offered, 'humor me,' as the only explanation. I suppose he thought it would either force you guys together as a couple or release whatever kind of sexual tension he thought there was between you."
Tenten scoffed good naturedly, "I began to wonder if someone didn't bet him he could get us to kiss. The man did treat us all out to dinner that evening after disappearing for a while. Money exchanged hands, I'm almost certain." She shook her head conspiratorially, as Lee scratched at the weights underneath his jeans.
"You practically made out with your katana over barbeque pork that night; how could I forget." Lee chuckled at the memories of his teammate intimately cuddling the sword that Gai gave her that evening. So wrapped up in inlay of the handle and the gentle curvature of the blade, she missed out on how Neji would sometimes look over at her and run his tongue over his lips as if remembering the encounter earlier. Lee was certain from that it had been Neji's first kiss.
"That sword woulda made a better kisser than Neji, but don't tell fishlips that, might hurt that good ol' Hyuga pride if it came out that I'd prefer to make out with a goat than with him." She shrugged her shoulders apologetically, as if stating there was nothing she could do about cold, hard facts.
"What about Yucko-what's his face," Lee asked casually enough as he gulped some tea, "You know, that guy you dated before Gai made you suck face with Neji."
"What about him?" Tenten asked returning to the couch and picking up her cup of tea.
"What was kissing him like?" As much as Lee hated to ask, he needed to know.
She shrugged, "Not as bad as Neji, but not toe-tingleing either." She swallowed another sip thoughtfully, "Bland, but not completely horrific. What does that have to do with you and Sakura?"
Lee scratched the back of his head bashfully, "Kissing Sakura wasn't as wonderful as I thought it would be."
Tenten pinned him with a stern look, "Well of course not, you built it up so much in your brain, you can't expect something like that to be perfect, Lee, you just need some more practice, that's all." She smiled warmly at him.
Lee shook his head, and plastered on a cheesy smile. "No Tenten, practice was not going to make that any better, trust me. I know that she was my first kiss, but I could just tell that nothing was going to make that any better. It didn't feel right."
"Really?" she stated lowly, trying to believe it.
Lee nodded emphatically again. "Flat, no chemistry at all." A long pause fell between them as Tenten let it all sink in.
"That blows, Lee," Tenten spoke sympathetically. "How are you handling it? Is there anything you need? Some thing I can do?"
"Actually…" Lee began, then chickened out, "Never mind," he said getting up, "it's silly." He shook his head as if reaffirming his resolve. "Forget I said anything."
"Now hold on," Tenten shrugged out of her over shirt and balled it up, revealing a stark white tank-top in contrast to her outer garment and dirty skin, "You haven't asked and I haven't said no. Follow me into the bathroom; we can talk while I shower."
"What?" Lee gulped.
"Don't be such a baby, I just need to shower. You can close your eyes and turn your back. I smell like a campfire threw up on me, I just need a quick wash, now come on," she led him by the hand and dragged him into the bathroom. He quickly turned around as she started taking off her tank top, then squeezed his eyes shut as he nearly got an eye-full as he had spun around to the mirror which offered him a great view of her leaning over and unhooking her bra.
"I don't think this is such a good idea," Lee said slamming hands over each eye socket, as she stripped behind him, "It's hardly proper."
"Oh please," she huffed, "you and I have shared the same tent for the last six years while were on missions," she paused to hop in the shower stall, "you can't tell me that the way we sometimes were found when we woke up was proper."
Lee nearly blushed at the time he had accidentally fondled his teammate in his sleep, they both woke up wide eyed and shocked at where his hand had ended up, and they nearly ripped the tent apart trying to get away from each other, trampling over Neji in the process.
"Gai made you sleep on the other side of Neji, away from me the next night, and you some how ended up next to me anyways." He chuckled as he remembered her kicking Neji to stay silent on the matter as she got up to make her way across the tent to him.
"That man is as useful as an ant pile underfoot when it comes to sharing body heat. And as I recall, you spent that whole day apologizing to me until I threatened you with a kunai to your throat to make you stop."
"You are quite the scary kunoichi, if I haven't told you lately," Lee mused as he wiped the mirror clean of the fog, taking in the foreign visage he used to try and win Sakura with. It was different, but in a good way, he hadn't decided to keep the new look, just give a good try for the sake of trying out something new and different. The shower stopped and he handed her a towel and waited for her hand to lead him down the hall to her room as he covered his eyes.
"I am wearing a towel, ya know," she complained, "I know you've seen me in less."
Lee tried not to think about the last part of that statement as he sat on the bed, quietly pretending to observe the poster on her wall as she dressed.
"Reminiscing aside," he heard her shuffle through a chest of drawers, "what favor did you want to ask me?" He listened for another opening of a drawer and a pause as she put on an article of clothing, "You know whatever it is, I'd do it for you. You can turn around now, I'm dressed."
Simple shorts and a simple tank-top, and yet she had a way of making the outfit look far more appealing than just simple, especially as she leaned over to towel dry her hair like that; Lee's view down her shirt was eye-opening and he found himself quickly turning away to gain some composure.
"It wouldn't be right of me to ask you," he finally said taking in even breaths, "I should have never brought it up."
He could almost feel her frown as she sat on the bed beside him, "As your friend," she began, "it's my duty to call you on all of your bullshit."
Tenten didn't curse often, only when, okay if Lee was truly honest with himself, she cursed all the damn time.
"Excuse me?" he turned to face her, which was a mistake on his part. Her hair was wet and matting to the front of her shirt, and her eyes were deep and piercing. He got lost in the whiskey depths, and Tenten spoke again, taking his hand in hers with a soft, almost painful affection.
"I'd do anything for you, you know that, right, Lee?" she spoke so quietly that he thought he had imagined it, and he stared first at the flames where her hand was holding his, then to the glistening sable eyes searching his.
"I was probably my fault," he confessed, "I don't have any experience kissing girls."
He hadn't meant it to sound so disparaging, but only wanted to explain what he was going to ask of her.
"No, it's not your fault, Lee," she sympathized with a hand squeeze. "You can't force a connection if it's not there," she smiled a smile that melted his heart, "you'll see when it's with the right person, you will just know."
"But what if I was just bad." He began unsure of how he was going to proceed. "What if I am just a bad kisser."
She scoffed, a derision that made him believe that she believed what she was saying, "I highly doubt it, you're a passionate person, Lee, kissing's no different."
He fidgeted, uncertain how she would respond, "But what if it is me," he tried again, "What if I am not good at kissing, and that is why I felt nothing when I kissed Sakura."
She squeezed his hand again for more reassurance, "Just because you didn't feel a spark doesn't mean you're a terrible kisser, Lee," she smiled and scooted closer to him on the bed, "it just means you haven't found the one that makes your toes tingle, that's all. She just isn't the one." She shrugged as if to explain that that was okay, too.
"I know she's not," he said with relief, "I'm glad she's not," another small fidget, "but I can't help but wonder if it is me."
She shook her head. "No way," she shrugged again, "it just wasn't meant to be with you and Sakura." He nodded, already okay with that outcome.
"Surprisingly, I'm not devastated with just being friends with her."
She looked shocked, but happy at this confession, "That is good," she nodded slowly in approval, "When you kiss the right girl, you will know."
He couldn't wait any longer, and asked with a baited breath, "Kiss me."
Her eyebrows furrowed, but she didn't pull away, "What?"
"So I know that it's not me," he quickly explained, "Please. I have to know."
"Lee, I don't think…" but he was already moving to her, eyes locked on his target, fully ready to get punched or slapped or worse at his upcoming advances as his lips closed slowly, hesitantly over hers, giving her all the time she needed to back out instead of being caught off-guard.
As his lips melded with hers, the sensation surged throughout his body, numbing his brain and making it come alive all at the same time. He pushed deeper, claiming more territory with each brush of his lips and advancing further as he surged his tongue into her mouth and explored hers. Tingling crept over every aspect of his body, and he was certain as they broke with gasping breath, that this was how his kiss with Sakura should have been.
Tenten looked stunned as they both gasped for air. Lee was already pulling her back for more when she stopped him, a fear in her eyes that he had never seen.
"Is that how it was with Sakura?" she panted quietly.
Lee shook his head. "Not at all." He tried again, this time pulling her forward and giving full attention with his mouth the tender slope of her neck and collar bone. His machinations earned him a moan, low in her throat that only served to egg him on further, letting his smart tongue lick while his teeth nipped at her tender flesh.
Her hands held on tightly to his torso, fisting his shirt with one hand and clamping the other on his bicep as if hanging on for dear life. He traced her jawline, intending to pick up on her lips again before she pushed him away.
"'S'not you, Lee," she stood up shakily, "I can't feel my legs," she closed her eyes at the confession, "might be a good indicator that you would be a phenomenal kisser."
Lee crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, the intent as predator to catch his victim written in his eyes. His mouth came down on hers again, hungry and demanding, and let the full effect for what he had been harboring for his teammate pour out into the drudging kiss.
When he reluctantly parted he held her close and explained into her ear, "I want you, not Sakura," his voice much deeper than he had anticipated it would come out, "I realized that when I kissed her, I wanted to be kissing you."
She let out a shaky breath, "All this time, Gai thought I liked Neji. He never once considered that I might like you instead." She let out a relieved laugh, and Lee had to chuckle at the thought himself. All those times they woke up tangled in each other's arms, everyone just assumed that it was because they were best friends. Either Gai was delusional or the man truly was an evil genius. Getting Tenten to kiss Neji proved to Lee that he could see she didn't care for him romantically. He needed to see that. Now he knew why.
He kissed her again, slowly, fervently, with all the passion that Lee had at his very core. She melted into him and he let the sensation of fizzy sunlight wash over every aspect of his being.
"I think we are going to need some take out." Lee spoke as he ran his fingers through her wet corded locks, "we have a lot of time to make up for."
She smiled, "I never did sleep well when I wasn't sleeping next to you."
Lee smiled back, "I think we should remedy that."