Note: The author of this fanfic story only borrowed from the characters of Naruto.
Moments Alone
Rain pounded the glass window with such ferocity that Tenten was forced awake from a dreamless, deep sleep. Lightning tore into the scene of black cotton clouds while the wind whistled through the eaves of the old yet comfortable inn where Team Gai stayed in the Sea Village. They have just finished a mission and went to the Sea Village for some bit of vacation, which the Godaime said that they could have.
They stayed in the village for three days already with Lee and Gai enjoying the waves, swimming to their hearts' content. Neji, on the other hand, dwelled in the inn and has hung about in the town book store to browse some titles. He could not be persuaded to stroll on the sand and look for collectible seashells and smooth white and black stones, which Tenten mostly did.
Tenten shivered as she drew her blanket tighter around herself. She sat up and removed Lee's left leg, which was insinuated in the space between her legs. She stifled her resentment as Lee could not help being a restless sleeper who has a tendency to thrash about his legs and arms. There was one time when he almost gouged out one of Neji's eyes while sleeping. Neji did not lie down beside Lee ever again, for obvious reasons.
Tenten slid her hand inside the cover of Neji's sleeping bag. Its coldness conveyed that its occupant has long left its cocoon. Where could he be, Tenten thought. It's past midnight and he has not slept much.
She stood up, wrapped in her voluminous thick blanket lined with fleece. It was a luxury she could not resist and saved up enough ryos to buy it. As soon as she had the amount she needed, she burst into the shop where she first glimpsed it and delighted the kindly Toshi-san with her extravagant purchase, since Tenten was known in Konoha Market for her frugal and haggling ways.
After looking into the dining and bar area to see if Neji is basking beside the fireplace, which Lee oohed and aahed at for several embarrassing minutes, Tenten could not get out of there fast enough because of the discomfiting gaze of two men sharing a table and a bottle of liquor. She ignored their calls for Girl with the Long Hair join them and followed an impulse to go back upstairs and trudge up to the unlit rickety stairs that end up into a long, rambling room.
"They really need to repair these stairs before someone injures—"
The roar of lightning drowned out the rest of Tenten's words and her sense of self-preservation took over. Due to the static electricity the ends of her hair stood up on end, Tenten scrambled down the stairs and was about to go back to the team's rented room, vocally damning Neji to electrocution and a sleepless night. The racket she made alerted the one upstairs.
"So I'm to be skewered, rained upon outside, hit by lightning and left behind?" that voice commented, stopping Tenten's flood of litany and her tracks back to the sleeping quarters.
"What are you doing up there without a blanket? It's cold, if you did not notice?" Tenten looked up to Neji who was lounging against the open doorway of the room, his white eyes glowing in the dark like a cat's. She was surprised to see that he is smiling. Smiling! Hyuuga Neji does not smile if he can help it. He likes to keep a touch-me-not and stoic expression. The Neji she sees now is relaxed and openly showing his amusement, almost as if he has downed half a bottle of something alcoholic.
Tenten put her hands on her hips and frowned, almost dislodging the blanket from her shoulders. "Are you tipsy, Neji? You know wine does not agree with you at all." Climbing up the stairs, Tenten peered at her teammate's face and saw that his complexion is tinged with a rosy pink that made him look like a girl more than ever, especially with his long, straight, coffee-brown hair, long lashes, marble-white skin and thin, rosy lips. He looks like a model for a painting of a young lady ready for bed and dreams, Tenten whispered mentally to herself, as she took him in in his sleeping robe. Looking further, she measured the width of his shoulders with a look and mentally visualized his magnificent (as Ino has said one time) chest and six-pack belly. Nah, he looks a god, she refuted, ready to engage in intimacy for the night with a chosen consort.
Upon reaching the landing, Tenten sniffed at the air close to Neji's mouth. At his surprised, 'What are you doing' and stepping back like a scalded black and white-spotted cat, she answered that she's smelling for whiffs of alcohol fumes, neglecting to mention the woodsy scent of his aftershave, the fresh fragrance of his hair and a smell that seems to be strictly his.
Another round of lightning clapped and appeared outside the window behind Neji. The sight of the forked electricity and the deafening roar startled Tenten to step back unconsciously to the stairs. She almost slipped and fell down, if not for a pair of hard-muscled arms with their leashed strength encasing themselves around to the middle of her back, trapping her unbound hair with his hands.
Ignoring the awkward moments as Tenten's face was forced to nestle against the crook of Neji's shoulder and neck, the both of them separated slowly from each other.
"Let's go back to sleep. It's cold here." Tenten picked up a corner of her blanket and swathed it around herself. "Besides, you felt like ice. You must be frozen already."
"I feel warm inside. I drank some sake to be able to stand the cold." Neji turned his back and went inside.
"I knew it." Tenten shook her head at herself and followed Neji. Why she feel compelled to be with him, she cared not to think over. It might have something to do with hearing Lee and Gai-sensei's combined concert of jarring snores, caused by a cold after cavorting in the beaches for long hours day and night.
/////\\\\\
Neji motioned to a pallet he scrounged from the linen closet and waited for Tenten to make herself comfortable before joining her. He offered her an o-choko of sake, before pouring his own measure. The flask was near gone, with only five swallows left behind. He passed the flask to Tenten and left the sake for her to finish. He went back to looking out to the majestic sight of nature fighting it out as the wind tried to whop the earth into submission with rain pouring down and down like an endless falls coming from the seas in the heavens. The lightning joined in trying to frighten the motionless and stoic earth with its trees swaying with the wind. He saw Tenten close her eyes and cover her ears in his peripheral vision.
"How can you stand this noise?" she asked, popping a nut into her mouth when the lightning stopped and the thunder grumbled like a child deprived of a longed-for sweet.
"Don't you see the beauty of the world outside?"
"No. All I see are black blobs of shape that could be trees and feel the draft of this room that must be nearing the freezing point."
Neji felt small just sitting there beside Tenten. Of course she could not see what he does, as her eyesight is inferior to his and could not look at the things he beholds now. He noted her sarcasm, and realized that she is sleepy. Tenten was always snippy when she could not get to sleep outside the time of her missions.
"Why don't you get back to our room, lie down and slide into slumber?"
"Can't. Lee and Gai-sensei are snoring each other to sleep." Tenten lied down on the pallet and closed her eyes. "Wake me up when you're ready to go back." Moments later, she succumbed to sleep.
Neji arranged the blanket around Tenten more securely. He pinned the edges around her sides, leaving only her head uncovered until she looked as if she were swaddled. Unaware that he was smiling with an utmost tender look in his face, Neji brushed away with his fingers some of Tenten's hair which fell over her face. She looked as plain as ever, with her skin bronzed by the heat of the sun and her hair like the chocolate she loves so much. She's as comfortable as a well-loved hobby when she's hanging around with him or training with him. She can also be as tedious as a bratty Hanabi-sama when she nags. In fact, she can be more tedious, he thought as he smiled wider, for she knows how to push his buttons and make him bow to her wishes. She could work him like a puppet, even unaware as she is of that tidbit. He knew for the rest of his days that he would be haunted by the memory of snapping golden eyes that looked at him straight, unwary and unafraid of his eyes that are strange for the rest of people outside his clan.
She is his wildflower, one who grew despite his lack of encouragement to the friendship she offered when they first met as new teammates. She persisted in staying with him even with his cutting remarks on her meager skills in their genin days and cold shoulder treatment.
Neji smirked at the poetic bent of his musing and tapped the tip of Tenten's nose. Her forehead wrinkled a little and her hand freed itself from the blanket and slapped at the hand that touched her. He chuckled at Tenten, his fierce teammate, friend and—what? Neji could not ponder further what Tenten is to him. His lids fell on eyes tired from its vigil and his limbs went down beside Tenten's form as he snatched back his own blanket to stave off the cold.
/////\\\\\
Tenten woke up to find Neji's face close to her own. Her nose wrinkled as her mind registered the reek of sake from his breath. His lips were curved in a smile, as if he was dreaming about something that amused him. She reached to touch his face but decided not to, afraid that she would wake him. She would miss seeing this relaxed side of him, this facet which enabled him to sleep so close to her. The only times he got as close are their taijutsu sessions.
Tenten smiled. He sure is funny when he goes tipsy; more so when he's drunk. He loosens up and tells witty jokes. In this situation, he became quite cuddly. Thank goodness that only she witnessed his one accidental overindulgence when a harried server mixed up their drinks with hard liquor. They just got home from a mission and were very thirsty then, so they drank with quick swallows. Having no experience with alcohol, they continued to drink except Gai-sensei who quickly incapacitated Lee with one blow and led him away from the crowd. Tenten was left with Neji, whom she took to her apartment to give themselves something for the tipsiness, since he'd never live it down if Naruto and Kiba saw his lapse in dignity and austerity, especially the Godaime who would have delighted in making side comments about her most uptight and prissiest and also, newest and youngest jounin.
The soughing sounds of the sea and the faint sunbeams made Tenten snap out of her thoughts. She gingerly took off her blanket and went still and steady when Neji stirred and moved on to lie on his back, his left arm covering his eyes. His lips quirked into a downside curve as if irritated.
Tenten slowly stood up and walked to the window on the side wall where the sea could be seen. Her eyes became glued to the sight of the sea crashing its waves against the rocky cliffs. Over and over, the sea sent her waves to pound against the craggy rocks as if to dare them to fall down. The sunlight streaked across the sky into a mosaic of colors from blue to violet, then to pink and yellow.
AS the dark blues and violets faded and yellow brightened, Tenten took a deep breath and sighed as she saw Lee in his spandex already outside, looking for something. Or most likely, two someones.
Time to join the throng.
Gai-sensei would not like it if she and Neji were late to breakfast. He and Lee were planning to race back to Konoha and do not like it if the sun gets too hot. But then, Tenten sat back on the ledge of the window by the sea and looked back at Neji. She would sometimes glance back to the sea and gaze at the blue sheen of the waves, then back to her slumbering teammate. She waited for the sun to come out of her shroud of clouds before shaking one of Neji's shoulders gently.
A/N: Should I add to this or stop it at this point? Please read and review! :-)