Tantalus
chapter 1 :: rendezvous

Summary: The youngest son of the Kazekage, sleepless and contemptuous with little regard for life. 17-year-old Tenten respects prodigies the way prodigies deserve to be respected—especially when one is put under her care. Neji is not pleased. Neji x Tenten x Gaara

It was rather irksome how Tenten had accepted a class B mission—this class B mission in particular.

Neji tolerated the fact that the Hokage herself had taken the responsibility of presenting the mission details to his female jounin friend; he (barely) tolerated the fact that Tenten refused to tell him what exactly this particular class B mission entailed; he tolerated the fact that she apparently told Lee, and Lee, being the priggish taijutsu expert he was, waved around that particular bit of knowledge in his face (the fact that he knew—nothing concerning the mission itself; Lee was too damn nice to spill any of his onee-chan's secrets)…

But this was too damn much.

It was rather irksome, Neji decided in so many words, that Tenten wasn't paying attention to him. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Listlessly, the chopsticks in her hand swirled the untouched Ramen in her bowl. He immediately deduced the soup was getting cold, and he signaled for a someone to take the bowl away; he would have commented on it, had he been the type to initiate small talk, so—

…The bowl was gone, and she was still holding her chopsticks. Waving them in empty air.

…This was certainly not his Tenten.

He spoke at last, brow furrowed.

"You look like an idiot."

A pause, and then Tenten blinked, green eyes refocusing; she shot the chopsticks in her hand a furtive glance, and then shot the vacant space on the table yet another furtive glance, before slowly setting the sticks down. She folded her arms and rested them on the table, lowering her head into the small cradle her forearms made—after all, resting your head in your arms is more comfortable than just plopping it onto a hard wooden surface.

…She hadn't noticed he was there.

He cleared his throat noisily, obviously rather put off at the fact she had snapped out of her reverie only to fall into another. As soon as he emitted the sound, she yelped and whipped out her kunai, giving him barely enough time to shift three inches to the left as the knife imbedded itself three inches to his right.

Neji stared some more.

Now, Neji had the nasty habit of staring at Tenten, but this wasn't because of that unfathomable reason he had pondered for many nights as of late. No, he was staring because Tenten was acting…bizarre.

She blinked a few more times, eyes fixated on the edge of her kunai knife before her focus moved to the unmoved (but highly unnerved) Hyuuga Neji. Without removing her eyes from his—or rather, that spot between his colorless eyes, just above the nose—she disentangled her knife from the chair, and in an instant it was back in its holster at her thigh.

Silence. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, attempting a laugh. It came out hoarse and awkward, and she stopped abruptly. She looked down. "Uh…where's my Ramen…?"

"It was getting cold," Neji said shortly as his bowl was taken away and the bill was placed on the table. Tenten began to fish around in her pockets for her wallet, and after about thirty seconds of her searching, Neji relented at last, pulling his own wallet out of his pocket and dropping a fistful of bills on the table.

"Thanks," she said, again sheepishly, shooting him a winning smile. He harrumphed and stood, striding languidly out of Ichiraku with Tenten trailing along after him.

"You're acting strangely."

She laughed, the only expression of her anxiety. "Yeah, you noticed, huh? Well, of course you did, seeing as how you're Hyuuga Neji and all, and…" …and she was rambling. Neji sighed inwardly and attempted to suppress the urge to simply ask for the reason as to why she was acting like—like—well, someone. "…I guess I'm being silly, but…"

"Does this concern the mission assigned to you by Hokage-sama?" he asked tonelessly, aimlessly wondering if he was being too intrusive.

"Umm…is it that obvious? It's just a class B mission…but…"

"A class B mission Hokage-sama personally assigned," he muttered, more to himself than her. He knew she had heard, though.

Neji wasn't stupid. Of course he wanted to know just what this mission was and why it was making her so damn frustratingly antsy, and he knew that if he pressured her enough, she would tell him everything because she respected him. But he didn't want to force it out of her, and it made him somehow frustrated that she had told Lee and Lee hadn't required prior consent—so why should he?

"Neji…" She sighed, rubbing the metal plate on her forehead protector and brushing her uneven black hair out of her eyes. Her hair was drawn into one bun rather than the two neat globes of hair resting atop her head; he was accustomed to her strange hairstyle, but somehow she looked slightly more mature like this—elegant, to an extent.

To an extent. This was, after all, Tenten.

He focused on her words rather than his thoughts. She was still speaking, having moved her fingers from the metal plate to the cloth and massaging the skin beneath. "…and this mission is really kind of burdensome, so I might not be able to hang out with you or Lee for a bit…"

"You're not leaving Hidden Leaf." It wasn't a question, but a statement asking for confirmation. She looked indignant for a fraction of a second, and then caught on rather quickly.

"No…no, I'm not. I'll still be around, but…just…not around, you know?"

"…No." As in no, he didn't know.

Her eyes flitted from side to side gingerly, as if afraid anyone might overhear. Briskly, she trotted to Neji's side, still glancing around. Neji simply gave her a Look—a rather suspicious one at that. She sighed and made a quick gesture with her hand. "Keep walking." And he kept walking, keeping his pallid eyes coolly fixed on hers, willing an explanation to flow from her lips. Lo and behold, one did. "I guess I should tell you about my mission, huh?" she murmured, twiddling her thumbs.

Neji said nothing, and, sensing her nervousness (she was glancing around again), he managed to move his eyes elsewhere. He felt some of the tension leave her shoulders, and she sank from a rigid position to her usual nonchalant slouch.

(Her fingers were still twitching. He pretended not to notice.)

"I've been asked to guard someone," she said slowly, concentrating very hard on the sidewalk.

"…Someone important?" he prompted when she didn't continue.

Tenten chuckled nervously, reflexively scratching the back of her head. "Uh…I guess it depends on who you ask, really. I never really liked the guy." She made a face. "Lee got pretty pissed when I told him, in fact. Asked me why I had to do it. I don't know myself… Well…hmm…" Tenten grinned and lightly smacked Neji on the shoulder; he frowned, but she didn't flinch. "You know, I think I'll avoid telling you outright." He opened his mouth to make a snide remark, but she continued, "Alright, the Almighty Hyuuga Neji. Guess."

"…I hate guessing games."

"You hate lots of things, Neji. Come to think of it, you're a lot like that Uchiha, the one Sakura's dating."

"Don't compare me to him."

"Psh. Right. Whatever. Guess. Come on. Three chances…"

She was being jittery again. Neji sighed. "…Uchiha Sasuke." Lee was a very tenacious person, but the taijutsu master was by no means hostile. However, the mere mention of Sasuke's name was enough to rile him up in an instant.

"Nope."

Neji was mildly surprised to find himself running out of options already.

"I knew you couldn't do it. Give up?" Silence. She took that as a yes. "Starts with a G…"

"…Genma-sensei?"

"You're kidding, right?" Tenten shot him an incredulous look; he had the grace to shrug. "Hokage-sama and some jounin guards found him pretty beaten up and lying facedown in the dirt just outside the village. Not unconscious. Wide awake. He…" She appeared to be struggling with the proper emotion to display—righteous anger or melancholy. He could read these things without the Byakugan; Neji knew the people around him. "Hokage-sama wants me to nurse him back to health…!" She fumed.

"…You?"

"I know! Damn it, I'm not a medic and she knows it! Hokage-sama could do this herself!"

"…Why you?"

Suddenly, a red-hot blush arced across her pale cheeks, and Neji's eyebrow quirked almost to his hairline. Oh, now he was suspicious. So. Very. Suspicious.

Tenten realized the pallor her face adapted and pressed her palms to her cheeks. "I can't believe this," she muttered. "…But that's not important!" Tenten declared, straightening with a resolute expression etched onto her face. "Alright! Give up? Three A's, all after the G…"

G. A. A. A. Now, how many people had three A's and a G in their name? Neji didn't really know. Or care. He was failing this guessing game miserably. He expressed his mild frustration with a grunt, and she snorted derisively. Damn it, she read him far too well and without a damn Byakugan. But, just as immediately, her shoulders slumped in a not very nonchalant way.

"…Just tell me," he urged with a sigh.

"But…argh! You'll just…I… You wouldn't understand!"

"…" What was there not to understand? Did Tenten really think him incapable of recognizing or analyzing a mere name? Neji was insulted, kind of. Except he was more confused than insulted. What was so complex, so aggravatingly above his level of intelligence that he, Hyuuga Neji, could not even begin to comprehend?

Silence. And then, she spoke four words in a steady and neutral voice.

"Gaara of the Desert."

He received an epiphany as to just what was so complex and aggravatingly above his level of intelligence. He, Hyuuga Neji, could not even begin to comprehend.

After a short and unbelievably fast series of flashbacks, Neji decided that if he was ever to be expressive in his life, it would be circumstances like these that would trigger it.

So he did what any Hyuuga Neji would do.

He choked.

He didn't just choke. He gagged on something that wasn't quite there. His colorless eyes appeared torn between widening and shrinking, but to compensate for their indecisiveness his eyebrows shot up and his hand flew to his neck, where something that wasn't quite there had lodged itself in his air pipe.

"Neji? Are you choking!? Neji!"

And just like that, he regained his composure, struggling to return his eyes and eyebrows to a standard and solemn state. He rubbed his throat with his right hand and sank back into his characteristic scowl.

"Oh, you're okay. Thank goodness—hey! Just where do you get off scaring me like that!? Idiot!"

"Tenten," he said at last, voice gravelly because a nonexistent something had only recently left his throat. His voice was that of an authoritarian's, calculated and commanding. Tenten clamped her mouth shut, though her thin eyebrows were still drawn low over her emerald eyes in a concerned frown. Damn it, she cared way too damn much about his well-being. "You accepted…?"

"What choice did I have!? You can't just refuse a mission personally assigned to you by Hokage-sama! It's…just…not right!"

"…Do you know what danger you might be in?"

"It's a class B mission. Hokage-sama would have given it an A if it was worthy of an A!"

"Tenten," he said again, more pleading and more weary. She was silenced again. "You don't know what he is capable of. You will get hurt."

Tenten emitted a scathing sound somewhere between a grunt and a snort. "Don't give me that crap, Neji. Shinobi get hurt every day. He's crippled, for crying out loud! Hokage-sama—she's actually capable of deciding whether or not he can ever use his legs again! And his hands," she added as an afterthought. Which meant no seals, which meant no jutsus.

Neji was not a happy camper. He was angry about the fact she would be perfectly safe. Who the hell gets angry over something like that?

…Hyuuga Neji, that's who.

"You blushed," Neji said somewhat accusingly, some part of his brain noting they were idly standing in peoples' paths. Oh, hell. They could have leapt clear over his head for all the damns he gave. He advanced slowly, almost predatorily with a suspicious look in his eyes. And as he advanced, she backed away, one eyebrow raised and nervousness overcoming her once irritated disposition.

"Neji, don't you dare," she hissed halfheartedly, raising her hands in a very Hinata-like attempt to create a sort of…emotional wall…or whatever. She yelped at the back of her throat as her shoulders were suddenly pressed firmly against a wall she could have sworn wasn't there before. "Dammit!" she hissed again, eyes darting from one place to another.

She was cornered. But whereas Tenten found it a damn good reason to panic, Neji found this a very amusing situation.

"You blushed," he repeated more softly this time, slamming his hands on either side of her and leaning in close. Very close. It was funny when she was jittery like this, fighting the wisp of redness (fury?) that tinged her pale face to no avail and wishing that she hadn't just backed into a wall. "Why?"

His breath fanned strands of black out of her face.

Suddenly, she looked tentatively over his shoulder, and Neji knew the moment was over when relief swept across her face. She splayed her palm on his shoulder and roughly shoved him out of the way (he stumbled away in a very dignified manner, of course) and waved enthusiastically to Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino, sneaking Neji a glance out of the corner of her eye before trotting to the duo.

Neji couldn't help but feel victorious for some reason.

He also couldn't help but feel a profound sense of loss at the fact that the moment was indeed over.

"Hey Ino! Shika," Tenten greeted with a curt nod. She didn't know Shikamaru that well, but still considered him one of her friends. She was just like that, Neji decided. "What's up?"

Shikamaru gave Tenten and Neji a Look. Not just any look, no. Shikamaru's patented I-Have-Arrived-At-A-Startling-Conclusion-About-You-And-Am-Damn-Good-At-Keeping-It-Secret© look.

Ino noticed, too. And she watched him intently, trying to figure out just what it was that Shikamaru had managed to analyze.

And there was silence until Neji just couldn't take it anymore. Those beady eyes of his were—were overly analytical, damn it!

"What?" Neji barked.

And then, Shikamaru spoke.

"Were you trying to rape her just then?"

"IDIOT!!!" Ino screamed, smashing him over the head with a well-placed fist.

"Ow," the genius jounin muttered, having doubled over from the impact. But other than that, he didn't seem too affected.

He gave Neji another Look, and he quickly realized that Shikamaru had yet to voice his real deductions.

Author's Note: Ah, nothing like sexual tension. No love triangle fun yet. Some Shikamaru x Ino in the background, some Sasuke x Sakura, Naruto x Hinata—all your basic hetero pairings. I won't put any Kakashi x Iruka—there's just no room, though I love that pairing dearly.