Disclaimer: Not. Owning. Naruto. Eek!
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Secret Santa
Dedicated to NejiTen lovers. They sure are lovely, ne?
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For centuries Konoha had chosen not to celebrate Christmas day because of the small population there. Among the years, however, the population grew into a large number. Therefore, for this year and the next few years, The Fifth had arranged a special event in order to celebrate this holiday season and yet the very first Christmas day in Konoha: Secret Santa.
Secret Santa was a very unfamiliar item to the shinobis and kunoichis of Konoha. This tradition, strangely enough, came from Sunagakure. It was Gaara, the Kazekage, who had suggested this idea, however confusing it may seem. He was on a meeting with the Hokage to rearrange Konoha and Suna's alliances, and The Fifth had complained about this.
This Christmas tradition had been believed to bring some people of Suna together, regardless how random and troublesome it might be. People will be chosen randomly to be someone's Secret Santa - meaning they will have to give a Christmas gift to that someone in the next three days. And in the last celebration party, they will reveal the truth - who was somebody's Secret Santa?
It really was as simple as that.
The event was a must, Tsunade had stated, and there's no escaping it.
Tenten had seen how her contemporaries reacted about this. Shikamaru had groaned and muttered a "Troublesome" under his breath. Lee had felt very happy and did some tearful Hugs of Youth™ with Gai, involving scenery change from the Godaime's office to the beach behind them. Only God knows how they did this, as over the years Tenten and Neji had lost interest in their teammates' unusual stuffs. Speaking of Neji, Tenten had also seen his response as Tsunade-sama explained about the event, almost unwillingly.
His response amused her. His usually pale, cold pearly eyes had shone mysteriously and Tenten could almost believe that there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes - whilst that his lips curved into a mocking smile which you really couldn't call a smile. It was more of a smirk.
Tenten thought that it was a good sign - probably the stoic Hyuuga Neji had chosen to give away more of his cold exterior, but who was she to talk? Even if they had spent more than seven years training together, side-by-side, strengthening each other, she was still just his teammate, and a best friend of his. That was probably the best title he could ever give her, anyway. He didn't look all that capable of loving someone, really, even if he was claimed as a genius by everybody.
So when she realized that on the paper she took from Tsunade-sama was written 'Hyuuga Neji' in big, bold capital letters, she freaked out. Yes, she really did. I mean, what the hell you could give to someone practically as Neji-ish as him? He had, like, basically everything! He had the most expensive things with their highest qualities. In fact, all of his things were ordered especially for him! What could he possibly doesn't have?
Love?
Bleh. How could she offer him that, too? She didn't have that option. At least, not yet.
Neji had seen Tenten freaking out, and he had kindly asked her if she needed help in finding a gift. She had refused his offer, mentally smacking herself for almost accepting it as she blushed. Hello, she was looking for a present for Neji, and having the very same Neji to help her was, she decided, plainly stupid.
It was not even sane.
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Chapter One: Twinkles
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It was quite a cold morning, but thankfully it wasn't snowing. The sun had just woken up from its peaceful slumber and was setting up against the cold, damp air, behind those dark clouds setting upon Konoha.
Nara Shikamaru must love this kind of days, Tenten thought as she wrapped herself tighter in the cream-colored jacket she was wearing as she stumbled inside her favorite weapon store.
She was out searching for a good gift for Neji after brainstorming for three hours at night already, but didn't really find anything interesting to give to him except weapons. She zipped her jacket up again, sighing profusely.
As Tenten stared around the weapon store quizzically, she couldn't help but complain about how it lacked variety of weapons, when there were over a hundred of them in actuality. This store was her last resort. She couldn't find anything for Neji!
Well, it didn't have to be a weapon, but look... if you give something useless to a cold prodigy; chances are that your efforts are futile. They simply didn't need it. But weapons? Any shinobi needed it, even Hyuuga Neji.
"I'm sorry, Miss. But we don't have anything you want here." The owner of the shop sighed tiredly, his hand twisting a blade with expertise. "If you really want something that has never existed, let me just advise you, okay? Forge it yourself."
Tenten's eyes widened as she heard the advice. Yep, she could forge - it basically was one of her skills, actually, but there was not enough time. If she was going to forge, she will have to find the ingredients and materials first: metals, pommels, and searching for one that will suit Hyuuga Neji was a very hard job. She needed precisely more than a month. And she still had to design the structures first - nope, she didn't have this option either.
"Whatever." She shrugged at last, eyeing the shopkeeper, "Thanks for nothing." With that, she stormed off away from the shop, clearly feeling more than a little troubled.
As Tenten stumbled upon the park and managed to squeeze in between two unknown couples on the bench, she realized something. What a lovey-dovey Christmas this is, she thought, eyes wandering around the park. There were couples everywhere, holding hands, and sharing sweet endearments with red but clearly happy faces.
She turned away. Eek. Konoha had suddenly turned into a village with lovesick people. She eyed the girls again and wondered in her mind about what will they give to their boyfriends. "I bet it isn't hard for them." She muttered under her breath, turning away again and sighing heavily.
"What's not hard?" A rich, baritone voice asked.
As a couple sniffed uneasily and walked away from the bench, the weapon mistress looked up. "Oh, Neji..." She smiled at him. He looked at her, raising his eyebrows as he sat beside her.
"What's not hard?" He repeated again, this time firmly.
"Nothing." Tenten replied sedately, pulling out a kunai and twiddling it with her fingers, somewhat nervously. Hyuuga Neji could be very intimidating, especially when his eyes were glued to your face for what seemed like forever.
"Hn." He grumbled, turning away as she let out a breath of relief. Neji looked straight back at her once more, "Have you found anything?" He asked carefully.
Tenten arched her eyebrows, puzzled. It was not often that he tried bringing up a conversation with her, and when he does usually it was all about their spar matches schedules. It was basically the only reason why he was interacting with her, actually.
"Huh?" She mumbled, not clearly getting what he meant.
"Have you found a gift?" Neji repeated slowly and clearly, his flat tone ringing towards her ears.
"A gift, huh?" She mustered, smiling in defeat. "I am not quite sure if I could give him one, really... He basically has everything that I don't have." She rolled her eyes and turned to Neji, "How about you?"
He nodded silently. "Well, do you have anything to do after this?" He asked after a moment of silence.
She looked at him quizzically, wanting to know what he was asking for. "Free time? Loads." She gave a bitter laugh, "Let's just go and spar, okay? Maybe it could get my mind off some things like this whole Secret Santa event." She stood up, stretched her arms freely in the air and grinned at him, pulling him up. "Come on!"
Without waiting for his response since she knew he didn't always give any response, she half-dragged him away from the park, heading towards their oh-so-familiar-and-youthful training grounds.
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She landed on a steady but snow-covered branch carefully, her hand holding the cold branch to gain balance as her eyes concentrated on the figure standing all highly and almighty on the snowy ground, his arms crossed. She panted desperately, trying to catch her breath. It had been two hours since they started their spar match and she hadn't even laid a scratch on Neji, let alone wound him badly. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes, her mind working hard.
Then an idea tickled her mind as she took out two scrolls out from her waist pouch. She set down, putting the scrolls near her foot firmly, as her hands moved swiftly forming a set of hand seals. She closed her eyes to boost her concentration, her hand still busy.
With a yell of "Soushouryu!" she opened her eyes leaped out from the trees into the crisp air, the scrolls spiraling around her in a graceful manner. As the wind gushed around her, following the manner of the scrolls, her hands touched the scrolls chastely, summoning two kunais on both of her hands and flung them at her sparring partner.
He remained calm as he turned into a spinning, blurry vision of a circular chakra wall, and deflected most of her weapons, sending them back with tints of white snow to her as she extracted her chakra strings and pulled them back, flinging the blades to him once more.
"Don't you dare to underestimate me, Hyuuga Neji!" She yelled, her fingers moving in a blinding speed as her weapons flew around him. He kept real calm, turning into another chakra wall and deflecting her weapons again. Tenten breathed, leaping backwards and landing on another branch.
"I'm never underestimating you, Tenten." He replied, suddenly appearing behind her as he held a kunai close to her neck. "Give up." He ordered flatly, the blade of his kunai only three millimeters away from her neck. She smirked, pulling out a kunai secretively and using the kunai to flick away his kunai.
She turned at him, "Yeah, right, Neji." She rolled her eyes, leaping backwards to another branch away from him.
He smirked, twirling his kunai professionally as he measured her every movement. "Give up."
"Oh, right." Tenten said with full sarcasm, "I will be giving up, Neji, but that is in your dreams." She planted another two summoning scrolls beside her feet and looked at him with full determination. "What will you give me if I win?" She asked slowly, eyes twinkling.
He looked at her strangely. "What do you expect?" He asked back, "Ice-creams?" Hello, it's winter!
"Yep." Tenten agreed, making his eyes twinkled in slight amusement, "That would be nice. Oh, and make sure that the flavor is cookies and cream. I love it." She smiled at him and set down, her hands forming another set of hand seals hastily. She stood up swiftly and leaped to mid-air, her two scrolls dancing around her as Neji watched in mild amusement. This must be her newest jutsu - Twins Rising Dragons were also quite similar, but the sense of chakra was a whole lot different.
"Sogu: Shikyu Geki!" The weapon mistress cried, performing in a barrier that was encircled by thousands of spiky orbs. The weapons flew at our Hyuuga prodigy in almost an invisible manner as he chuckled lowly and yelled, "Hakkeshou Kaiten!" to defend himself.
(Sogu: Shikyu Geki means Weapon: Circular Battle Attack)
He opened his eyes, looking at the spinning figure of Tenten as her barrier faded away. She had almost mastered it to the max - that he couldn't deny, but he still could see some weaknesses in her last blow. As his head worked his analysis of her attack, he flicked out a kunai and ran to her, leaping and catching her close by the waist. He smirked and again held the kunai, this time sticking on the back of her neck and drawing little drops of blood. "You lose." He said quietly.
She smirked as they both leaped down to their honorable places. "Then what would you like?" She asked, taking out band-aids out from her waist pouch. Oh, crap. She could feel the wound, but she really couldn't see it. She rubbed the back of her neck, slowly wincing.
Neji had seen her difficulty. He leaped to her branch and took the band-aids from her hand without saying anything, his eyes glued to her slender neck. "Come 'ere." He retorted, pulling her down to the snowy ground and to the sink prepared for their training grounds, in case someone gets hurt. He pulled out his white handkerchief and rinsed it under the freezing water, and turned back to Tenten.
As he wiped the blood of her neck, she winced. Neji eyed her scratch quietly, "I'm sorry for that." He said quickly, taking the band-aid and sticking it on the back of her neck.
"Nah, it's okay." Tenten replied indifferently, feeling slightly confused. "Getting wounds are a part of training, Neji. Since when you started feeling sorry for my each and every wound?" Her voice was slightly joking, but he was nonetheless concerned.
"Hn." He replied, feeling also a bit confused. Since when did he really started caring for her, anyway? This was plainly un-Neji-like. He sighed inaudibly and eyed those warm eyes of hers. Suddenly he smirked, "Still up for ice-creams, Tenten? It's winter." And it's freezing.
"Of course!" She grinned. "Don't worry, Neji. I'll pay for it." She rolled her eyes, "I lost, remember? All you have to do is just wait and eat."
He shook his head as she pulled him to the nearest ice-cream cart. The keeper looked a little shocked to see a customer, but nonetheless he served them with a cone of cookies and cream flavored ice-cream and a vanilla one.
As they sat together on the bench, he was eating his vanilla ice-cream without protesting (even if he says he hates sweets), and she was licking her pint without arguing too.
Tenten glanced sideways at the Hyuuga Neji. He was so... cold. Winter matched him. His eyes never seemed to be burn in any kind of passion Lee's eyes had always shown, nor had they shone showing love like Sakura's or Ino's had. His thin lips were one of his most great features, but why did he stayed single most of the time when love blossomed everywhere?
Suddenly Tenten realized something.
Apparently, there was something this close-to-perfect Hyuuga prodigy didn't have.
She grinned and licked her ice-cream more. This idea was perfect. All she needed was one or two hours to search, a little flirting, and Hyuuga Neji will be a complete man.
"Tenten, what's with that look?" He asked, interrupting her running thoughts.
"Neji, I have found the perfect gift!" She said cheerfully to him, her eyes twinkling happily as she licked more of her ice-cream energetically.
He titled his head and arched his eyebrows, uninterested. "Oh." He replied calmly.
She grinned again. He will just have to wait...
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End Notes
It's nowhere near Christmas, but I have recently watched Christmas videos, so this is what I came up with. It might be a little confusing at the start, but I promise you there will be explanations! Anyway, this ficcie is mainly NejiTen, with very slight hints of other usual pairings. What do you expect, anyway? (grin) I'm a die hard fan of NejiTen!
Reviews are most appreciated! Thanks!
Next Chapter: Chapter Two - Breezes