Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto - Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama. I do own the plotline of this story.
Author's Note: NejixTen One-Shot. It's always just the little things that really matter to them. I am feeling extreme NejixTen inspiration coming in the near future, so prepare for a flood of NejixTen fluffy goodness. Maybe I should take a chance and use this oncoming flood to finally create a drabble collection for this pairing - something I have wanted to do ever since I first discovered fan fiction. Of course then there will also be an InoxShika drabble collection on the way, and possibly a SasuxHina one... Anyhow! I got the idea for this one-shot after I just showered and had my hair up in a towel and I walked into my room and couldn't find my hairbrush and that somehow made me think of little things mattering the most, and voila: NejixTen fluffy goodness. Don't you just love me? I know I do. Anyways!
Enjoy!!! -xx- Nika-chan
Read and Review, Onegai!
It was always the little things that Neji noticed about her.
Like that night when Gai-sensei had dragged his entire team up all the evacuation stairs across the Hokages sculptured faces up to the cliff. They had looked over Konoha, in peace and silence. It had been right before what was now called the Exam Disaster. Everything had looked so surprisingly peaceful for a ninja village; the town had almost fooled Neji and his keen eyes. He'd almost been convinced to believe it was a normal town: villagers scurrying about everywhere, salesmen closing down their stands and shops at the markets, young couples in love roaming the streets and making pit-stops in backstreet alleys for late night make-out sessions, the seducing, tempting smells and warm, soft light streaming from the several restaurants still open at this hour.
However, his female companion's attention hadn't been on the village below, but on the sky above. He himself had cast several glances up into the air and even he had to admit the stars were shining extraordinarily bright that night, as if someone had tied strings around them and pulled them closer to the face of the earth just for their team's little night out. However, Neji rather spent his time staring at something else: staring at Tenten, for he had the chance just then (she was distracted and he could suck in every knick and curve about her without much problems).
The way her neck stretched out as she marveled at the beauty above, her eyes sparkling brightly, brown eyes reflecting specks of heaven's silver within them.
The way her shoulder twitched when she saw a shooting one, as if she was suppressing the urge to jump up and attempt to grab the pretty shooting star right from the sky with both her hands.
Or that other time in the training clearing of team Gai, when, after a long and hard battle which had worn them both out (although her a little more than him), they had been resting. Tenten was sitting back up against the tree he was leaning on, panting slightly and grasping at her shorts, tightening the muscles in her fingers over and over again. She had been injured before; this was their first practice round after the cast came off. Her injury had caused her fingers to be temporarily paralyzed, so Tsunade had thought it would be wiser to place a cast - she was a danger to herself at that time for she wouldn't be able to feel it if she hurt her fingers or nerve system beyond repair.
He looked over her shoulder at whatever it was she had been doing, and all Neji had been able to think about that entire day was the way she picked that one lone flower growing within the soft patch of grass in between her feet as she stretched her legs tot the max. Hands that should be rough from all the training as were his, but weren't, Neji knew why: She used jasmine-scented skin cream to keep her hands soft and smooth. Soft, gentle fingertips enclosing themselves around the flower's stem and pulling it from the ground with a delightful plopping sound. Next she used her nails to snap its stem carefully, dropping the small clutter of roots on the ground. Ino had probably taught her the flower would live longer when cut diagonally. After all, the Yamanaka knew a lot about flowers and greenery in general. The way Tenten handled this flower, brushing it's soft-blue, dew-kissed petals, made him desire for her to treat him the same, to brush her fingers ever so lightly across his cheek in that caring, loving manner. A foolish thought, of course. She would never.
The way her lips pursed unconsciously into a cute little pout when she didn't get her way. Tenten wasn't stuck-up, self-centered or high-maintanced, Neji knew better than anyone. But deep down inside, there was a small part of her that wanted to be in control of everything and everyone around her. She wasn't aware of this little quirk of hers, but Neji found it a cute trait. There had been more things about her he found cute lately.
The way she targeted her kunai and shuriken, and whatever armory (chains, axes, scythes) it was she used outside of a regular ninja's arsenal. First, her chocolate eyes scanned the area, taking in the surroundings and determining her target (or in Tenten's case, her victim:; after all, her aim was incredible), and any items that might deflect her attack and send her weapons going into different directions were taken into the calculation. In a mere second or so, she calculated the chance of her missing the target, and too her chances of hitting dead center. Tenten was never wrong when it came to this. Then finally the determined and confident flick of her wrist as the weapon she threw released itself from her grip and drilled itself within one of the surrounding's hidden targets with a dead accuracy only seconds later.
The way she walked. Neji had grown accustom to the soft padding sound of her ninja sandals touching the branches as she leaped trees and traipsed behind him. Quite frankly, when he was away on a mission and this ever so faint sound ( she was stealthy, after all) was missing from his near perimeter, he got worried about her safety and uncomfortable at his spot, wanting the mission to be over so that he could make his way back home, and check up on her.
Tenten never noticed these things, these traits and quirks for they were her own and one never knows about one's weirdnesses until someone points them out for you. She was the one who used them; to her there was nothing special about her ways.
But what Tenten did notice was the way Neji blinked three his eyelids rapidly three times before he activated the Byakugan. He did it every time, those pearly whites shut from the world three mere seconds before gaining insight of every secret document and every chakra signature or pattern. And she did notice the way the corner of his lip curled up ever so slightly into a small, yet undeniable smirk whenever she engaged in another beautiful argument with Lee (about the power of youth, perhaps?).
And what they both noticed just a little too well as the way how lately, just recently, their hands seemed to be finding one another an awful lot. Whenever she felt worried or when she felt scared, their hands found each other, fingers entwining nicely. They melted to each other's touch like a pair of fluid rubber gloves. But no one noticed but the two of them. And it was all right that way. No one needed to know of their little joint moments together, not even Lee or Gai-sensei.
After all… It were those little things that mattered most to the both of them.
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