Inner Turmoil
She laid her head gently in the crook of his neck and slung her arm loosely over his shoulders. It was nice, she had decided after much consideration on her part, that sitting in his lap beneath the shady tree in their training field had become her favorite place to be as of late.
The breeze was slight, but it kept the heat from becoming stifling, so she was grateful for it. She slid her fingers through his long, cocoa colored hair, and after a brief moment of jealousy for the luscious locks, smiled gently. He hummed deep in his chest, and she felt the vibrations through her fingertips.
His eyes were closed, she noticed, and she instantly missed the warm look that had just been on his face. She breathed the clean air in deeply and sighed in contentment.
Neji looked down at the beautiful girl in his arms through cracked eyes. Her forehead protector was on the ground beside his shirt, which, he noticed abruptly, that she had folded once he had sat down. Tenten always found some small way to make his day, he realized.
"Tenten," he said while shaking her gently. His only response was a growl and something that vaguely resembled a 'shuddup' from the girl before she attempted to snuggle her face farther into his chest.
Neji chuckled quietly before he attempted to sit up. Tenten grumbled again, but obliged, and rose slowly to her feet, popping at least 3 vertabrae in her spine along the way.
"You're such a mean man Neji, it's been weeks since we've been able to just spend time together." Tenten laced her fingers with his as they walked from the shade of the trees that surrounded the field.
Neji pulled his shirt back over his head and tied the belt around his waist. He slipped his larger palm back into hers as they walked towards town.
"Could I make it up to you by paying for a quick dinner before I report to the Hokage?" He bumped her gently with his elbow, and smirked slightly, ignoring the growing smile on her face. She suddenly took off, dragging the poor Hyuga boy -man- behind her.
. . . . .
"He's gay! I mean come on, it's really obvious." Tenten all but shouted from her seat at the ramen stand, her finger shoved in Neji's glowering face.
"I offer to pay for her food, and all I get is caught in an argument of my sexuality." Neji grumbled angrily to himself. 'And my own girlfriend is pitching her vote against me!' He closed his eyes and tried to drown out the background noise of their argument; he could feel a headache creeping up on him.
Neji vaguely registered that the argument between his favorite kunoichi and a certain big-mouthed, pink-haired, current cause of his headache had ceased. He sighed in appreciation. Tenten spun her stool around to face the wide bar just as a steaming bowl was placed before her; she all but squealed in excitement.
Neji was torn between smiling in amusement at her childishness or grimacing in preparation for the messy eater that was Tenten. He opted out on his choices and rather just turned to his own bowl and, after a quick word of thanks, began his meal.
He brought the chopsticks to his mouth almost mechanically as he went over his report in his head. The Hokage wasn't the sharpest kunai in the holster, but it wouldn't hurt to have a speech prepared for the situation. 'Plus it's entertaining to watch him struggle with the bigger words.' Neji smirked before bringing the chopsticks to his lips once more.
Tenten had finished after a few minutes, and the momentary silence was soon over as she began chatting about anything and everything to the young jonin beside her. He listened, without actually having to LISTEN to her while he attempted to finish his meal in peace. That is until she wrapped her pinky around his beneath the table.
He smiled warmly into his napkin as he wiped his face with the scratchy paper. Neji's gaze slid to Tenten, and the blush she carried on her cheeks made him feel honestly better about having been gone on a two month long mission as a standby for ANBU. It was great to be back.
But when Tenten's hand was suddenly wrenched, as weird as that sounded to him, from his and tucked back into her lap, he felt his headache grow. Tenten spun around to face Sakura, who had obviously dragged his younger cousin Hinata into the argument as she was standing awkwardly to the side.
'I knew going into public with her was a bad idea. Everyone assumes it's a date, and it is, but she always flips out like this.' Neji sighed, but pulled the necessary amount of money for both his meal and his 'date's' from his wallet and stood.
The three young women had scooted over to the entrance of Ichiraku's and he needed to leave without incident. 'Or... I could have a little fun. Dear Lord, I sound like Naruto. I've officially lost my mind.'
Neji rolled his eyes at his own line of thought before walking over to Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten just in time to have his hair pulled almost roughly by Tenten as if it's length would prove, as she put it, his 'gayness.' It felt good, good God it had, and he couldn't help it as a growl escaped his lips.
'Did I just growl out loud?' Neji thought, hoping by all luck that he hadn't.
'Was that Neji?' Tenten questioned.
'Neji-niisan?' Hinata wondered, shocked by the oddness of the situation she had randomly been dragged into by Sakura.
'...That was sexy.' Inner Sakura thought, while shining a whole new light on Neji in her less-than-innocent thoughts.
Neji blinked owlishly twice at the confused/appalled looks on the girls faces before a sly look overshadowed his face. He leaned in to Tenten until their noses touched and closed his eyes as he slipped an arm around her shoulder to bring her close.
He purred her name from deep in his throat and kissed her neck once before an erotic growl rumbled lowly from his chest as he pulled away from her. Her face lit up a bright red.
"Feel free to do that any time you like," he spoke slowly, deliberately, a drawl, the complete opposite of his usual clipped tones drew his words out. He turned to Sakura and winked at her, tipping her chin to look up at him as he walked by. He licked his lips, and slid his hand down to her back pockets as he passed her, with a resounding smack flying through the air to greet his ears. He smirked to himself widely.
The girls stared after him in shock, blushing when he raised a hand over his shoulder and flipped his hair from his face. He left, in the direction of the Hokage tower, his smug satisfaction radiating from him like a light in a dark room.
. . . . .
"Was he drunk?!" Sakura asked as she poked at Tenten with the bottle of water in her hands. The three girls had rushed down to the park a few blocks away shortly after the incident with Neji, all three sporting a decent blush.
"He's never been like this before, so improper I mean. It's like he was possessed." Hinata's muffled voice added to the discussion from behind the sleeve of her violet colored jacket she had clutched in her fist.
Tenten shuffled around in her seat on the bench while she ran through the night in her mind. "It''s like he and Kiba switched personalities! There's no way Neji would ever drink enough to act like that, and I've been with him all afternoon. I think he's finally just lost it."
"He'll probably be upset with his behavior later, but for now, I'm just going to say between us girls that he's got himself a new fan." Sakura whispered suggestively.
Tenten scowled. 'Whatever game you're playing Neji, enjoy it while you can, because I'm going to be the end of it!'
On the other side of Konoha, Neji was feeling rather pleased with himself. 'Let the games begin.'
End chapter 1
. . . . .
Author's Note:
1. I'm so glad I've gotten started on this story. I'm a first time author, just so y'all know, and I'd appreciate if I got some recommendations or reviews for support.
2. Alright now that I can be done with being all professional author and stuff, it's time to get down to what I wanna say! The story'll probably be around 3-5 chapters, but they'll probably be on the longer side.
3. To help my summary out a bit since it's probably a bit lacking, the overall plot is basically along the lines of: 'Neji and Tenten are secretly seeing each other, but Neji wants Tenten to be open about their relationship. After his suggestion is denied, he begins a game to get her to admit that he's hers. The game? Flirt with everything in a skirt, and even a pair of pants (but just that one time!), until she gives up! It's game on.'
3. That's a bit of an alternate summary if you will, so for anyone with a question about it, I hope that helped!
4. I love you all for reading so far, and please stay with me here as this goes along it's merry little way!
5. And yes I'm aware Neji 'seems' OOC, but he's not. He's being conniving and basically getting a 'revenge' on Tenten. The flirty Neji isn't really his personality for the story, but his alter ego for the game.
Enjoy, R&R!