*Seeing is Believing*

Neji & Tenten

"Tenten, no!" shouted a weary and frustrated Lee.

Neji growled in pain, "What are you doing? Get to safety!"

"No Neji!" the brunette replied, "You're injured and no matter if you admit it or not, you can't take on all of these guys by yourself! Especially in your state!" she yelled, twirling and twisting to dodge attacks and make them as well.

"The battlefield is too hot! Pull back team!" Gai grunted.

Gai was their sensei and no matter if he could take all the enemies on himself, he couldn't risk any further damage to his pupils. After all, it was bad enough that one of his best had gotten injured. Good thing that he forced Tenten to become somewhat of a medic ninja. Knocking a couple enemies out of their way, Tenten and Neji caught up to Gai and Lee who were fleeing.

Their sensei seemed to be on edge for the past couple days. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be on edge ever since they had gone on this mission. None of his pupils, not even Neji could figure out let alone himself. Trying to hide his frustration, he decided to look for some suitable shelter to hide out in for the night since dark was nearing. They ran for 15 minutes and stopped when Gai had jumped to the ground, discovering a small clearing.

The team followed suit, deciding not to question their leader, but rather to just follow. Seeing their sensei squeeze himself through the small and barely noticeable hole and watching Lee do the same, the two left outside grunted. Hurrying into the small opening of what seemed to be a cave, they all managed to squeeze through the barely wide enough entrance by army crawling.

Each one of them figured out first hand that there was about a 2 foot drop at the end of the small tunnel like entrance. Appearances are quite deceiving, so this "cave" proved. They had stumbled upon great cover; it was a hollow tree, but it was real and blended in quite well. Tenten helped Neji to sit down against the bark on the inside of the tree while Lee helped his father figure to stuff the opening with the dried up sticks and leaves that had been lying near the opening.

Once Lee and Gai covered the hole, they decided to sit down as well. The inside of the hollow tree provided the perfect cover; soft and clean enough ground to sleep on, bottled the heat up to keep it just right, unnoticeable and even had branches on the inside the further up the tree went. Taking a couple of minutes to regain themselves, Gai took a stand and let his pupils know what was going to happen.

"Alright team, listen up," he bellowed loud enough for them to hear over what sounded to be rain pouring down, "We are to camp out here for the night. No one goes anywhere without my permission! Lee!"

Lee straightened, "Yes Gai-sensei!"

"You're coming with me to scout around up top. Neji needs to rest while Tenten attends to his battle wounds. Neji, Tenten."

"Yes?" Tenten asked.

Gai watched as she performed hand signs before replying, "If Lee and I don't return within 3 hours, just stay put."

"You can't be serious." Neji retorted, grunting at the pain surging through him as Tenten tended to his wounds.

"Sorry Neji! I have to do this." She apologized, continuing.

"If you are to be discovered then flee east. Lee and I are going to head in that general direction. Keep your guards up! Let's move out Lee!"

Lee smiled and shouted back, "Yes Gai-sensei!"

Within a flash the green suited twins were gone, leaving the fellow team members behind to rest recuperate. Seeing the blood soak through her fellow team mates wrappings, she whipped out a kunai and cut the bandages off with even grazing his skin. Those fell to the ground and she quickly put her glowing hands over the gushing wound; it was a lot deeper than she had initially thought it was.

Keeping pressure on his wound, she managed to pull out some gauge and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and quickly cleaned the cut. Showing more gauge onto it, she held it in place. As the kunoichi finished up with her green glowing hands, she removed a wrap from her back pouch known as her medical supply stash. Since she had officially become a medical ninja, she kept her medical pouch as full as her kunai and shuriken pouch. Little did anyone know that it sure was a lot more weight to be dragging around then anyone would think because she never let any weakness show.

"I know you don't like your scars showing so this is the longest wrap I have. Bear with me here." She warned.

Pulling tightly, she managed to wrap it all around his arm, keeping the gauge in place so that the blood wouldn't soak through the wrap. Neji grit his teeth in attempts to deal with the pain as best as possible, waiting for her to finish. Once the torture was over, he let out a long sigh of exhaustion. Tenten settled down beside him doing the same in attempts to relax a bit. It was silent between them for a few moments but Neji decided to break the ice.

"I didn't need your help back there. I had things perfectly under control."

She chuckled, "Neji, look, I know it's a male ego thing, but you're welcome."

Silence once again.

Neji turned his head away from her, "Thanks for patching me up although it wasn't necessary."

'Are you kidding me?' she screamed to herself, giving him a blank stare.

Deciding that it'd be best to keep her mouth shut and bottle things up even more, she shifted her weight around until she was in a comfortable crisscross sitting position. Not bothering with her secret crush any longer, she threw her head back, resting it against smooth bark supporting her. They kept quiet as they did most times when they were alone unless of course they were sparring because it seemed to keep things simpler and less stressful.

Although the 20 year old woman was slowly growing weary of the silence they've always shared because that's ALL they've ever shared; especially considering that she was no longer 16 yet still had something as silly as a crush. She was certain that this developing crush had molded into something more passionate with much more bold and hidden emotions that still baffled her after 3 years.

The reason she still referred to it as a crush was because she didn't nearly have enough courage to convince herself what it really was: love. She was 20 and was still a virgin, still never had her first kiss, still had never been on a date and hadn't really lived her life. As far back as she could remember, she always played it by the rules, keeping herself completely reserved for studying, training and the focus she needed to achieve even greater. Hating to admit it, but she just wanted to break free; let loose and have some fun.

Life had so much more to offer then constantly training and studying and she was about fed up with the blandness that had settled. Oh boy was she ever ready to add spice to her life and she knew exactly where to start!

"You know Neji, how come we've always kept so quiet when we're around each other?" she boldly announced.

Thrown off by her question, he thought about it for a couple seconds before replying, "Does it bother you Tenten?"

Standing up, she walked a couple steps ahead of him debating on the right thing to say to him. As she paced around in front of him, he watched her hips sway with each step, flabbergasted by her exotic beauty. His team mate had always fascinated him in so many more ways than he could explain. They way her oh so perfect lips moved together and apart when she spoke, the way she would walk off with confidence in her sway and watching her train was such a privilege he had the honor of having.

When she would spar with their awkward team member, he loved how her body twisted and twirled like a majestic dance unknown to him. Perfect control in every shift in position and step and the way she would attack was so graceful in every spin that he would sometimes forget she was sparring. Neji Hyuuga was attracted to Tenten in every which way and not just physically. When she would perk up after she got a good hit in or helped someone out seemed to be able to put a small smile to the hard ass Hyuuga's face.

He had so much respect for her too; unlike most females, she was very modest about her clothes. Never once had he seen something on her too revealing or that brought attention to her. She was a natural beauty and even that was an understatement. No matter what mess she had ever gotten herself in to, the brunette always took responsibility for it and bettered herself later on.

Now that he started to think about her more, he remembered all the times she had kept the peace between not only the people she knew and cared for, but others known as strangers to her. Never once has he seen her frown, upset or angry: she really was well composed for the female gender. The more he came to realize that she seemed to be perfect in every way built with a heart of gold, the more he found himself attracted to her.

This was something he had been fighting for years now, trying not to complicate things or put the either of them in jeopardy because of emotions. He lusted after as much as he seemed to be falling into a deeper love with her.

"I don't even know where to start Neji, I really don't." she complained.

Attempting to stand up, he had forgotten about his arm as he hissed in pain. Tenten rushed to his side, steadying him to his feet. Before anything more could be said, Neji sensed that they were being watched and looked around, hearing leaves crunch under feet. He pulled Tenten up with him to perch on a branch, giving her the signal to keep quiet. She nodded, trusting in Neji's cautious assumptions.

"Byakugan!" he whispered, activating his special ability.

"Neji, look out!" Tenten screamed bolting off the branch to his.

'Oh shit, this is not gonna end well.' They both thought to themselves.

TO BE CONTINED!