AN: I said the next one would be fluffy, no?
When Neji arrived for practice early in the morning, Tenten was already there, firecrackers in her hand, a partially unraveled scroll beside her, and a luminous smile on her face. "Hey," she said casually as she ignited another one of the firecrackers and watched it explode with a bang and a flash. He was enthralled by the casual, almost mechanical way she set off more of the firecrackers. Her facial expressions, though, showed everything but feelings associated with perfunctorily completing a boring tradition. Each new explosion brought a smile of pure bliss to her face, the flash multiplied a thousand times in her wide eyes.
A few moments into this, and she touched the back of her head sheepishly, grinning. "I'm sorry. You probably want to get started, right?" she asked, her grin turned diminished to a small, soft smile. A few quick hand motions later, and she had sealed the last of the explosives back into the small scroll, which was summarily tossed to the side. With a quick stretch of her arms and a roll of her head, she sprang backward, her arms up to guard. "Come on, Hyuuga," she challenged, her eyes bright and her hands on her scroll.
Amidst the clashing of the two ninja, everything else was forgotten. It was just them and their weapons as the rest of the world melted away. Two minds became one, one goal shared between the two of them as they strove to reach each other. Flash, clash, whirl. Just them and their odd dance, their traditions.
They lost track of time as each tried desperately to win against the other. Chakra and kunai drew patterns in the now-noon sky; sweat beaded down both of their bodies. A perfectly executed roll with a windmill shuriken attack at the end caught Neji off balance enough for Tenten to leap forward, a knife in hand, and pin him to the ground, giggling and flushed with victory. Adrenaline- and love-drunk, she giggled again and pressed her lips to his.
Time slowed almost to stop, a few hour-long seconds passing before Tenten pulled away, gasping. "Uh, um, Neji, I'm sorry. I really don't know what the hell I was thinking. You must think I'm such a freak," Tenten muttered, her face turning such colors as would put Hinata to shame. Damn emotions and hormones and Valentines Day and all those stupid, ridiculous, completely embarrassing things!
"And why would I think that?" Neji asked cooly. But Tenten was spared the propriety of answering his question when she felt lips on her own, Neji's strong hand wrestling the kunai out of her own calloused one and tossing it to the side.
She was the one to pull away first, gasping slightly for breath before the slight hypoxia made her giddy–giddier. "Where did you learn to kiss like that?" she demanded, a bright grin on her face and her fingers intertwined with his own.
"I could ask you the same thing, Tenten," he said, slightly disheveled but not looking totally the worse for wear. Her eyes fell to careful examination of his face, and she was pleased to see a small smile on his lips, ruining the rest of his mock-stern expression.
Tenten laughed breathlessly and placed a quick, chaste kiss on Neji's lips. "I asked first," she said pertly, "and we could argue about this all day. Or we could do something a lot more fun," she said, her voice soft and sweet. An instant later, she had rolled to the side and produced the scroll of firecrackers. "I've got a few hundred of these left." After a brief surveillance of his expression, she laughed outright, making a joyous sound. "Don't look so disappointed, Neji; I'm sure we might be able to fit a few more kisses in."
"Good," he assented, taking the firecracker she handed over.