Hello, I have a new one-shot here. Again, I had no motivation to write CfT or PtH, and this idea stuck when I was riding my bike home. Somehow, when it's late and I am alone, these kind of stories stay with me. It's a Neji/Tenten. It does have lime, but I hadn't been able to write lemon.
I do not quite know if I rated correctly so the reader's discretions is welcome!
Enjoy and review, please.
I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters in any sort of way.
Our Sick Love Song
They had always been team-mates, ever since they had become genin. They stuck through the hard times together, helping the other grow stronger. They complimented.
Of course they had their green-clad teammate, Lee. The young man was still ever as vibrant as always, and Tenten doubted she would ever see him change. She feared for the day she would see the disappointment on his face, that was bound to be there.
He would be disappointed, for what Tenten and Neji had been doing, he would not be able to bring up the will to understand. He believed in love, and without love there wouldn't be anything possible in the sort of thing she and Neji did.
Tenten had been aware of some sort of attraction between them, but didn't explore it further. She didn't want to understand for it would change the relationship they had.
The relationship changed anyway.
She remembered the first time he had ever come to her. Back then they must have been 16 or something. She wasn't sure how old they had been. It didn't matter, for Shinobi were bound not to live very long either way.
She had been on a S-class mission herself, with a duration of about 4 weeks. She hadn't been allowed to contact anyone in Konoha for the mission had been espionage. Contact with the Leaf-village would have raised the suspicion against her. Had she been caught, she would've been killed for sure.
She could have sworn she had told Neji and the rest of her team about the mission, and even though they didn't agree about their kunoichi going on such a mission, they had consented. They all had their own reasons, and only Gai, who had always been the most expressive of them all, had sort of told her what his was. He had actually cried and lamented about how well he had trained her and that her fate would be so cruel.
She didn't ask for an explanation. For some reason she had a feeling she wasn't going to like that one.
Lee had stayed silent for once. But Tenten had been able to see his concern for her, and tiny flecks of pride in his eyes. He had always acted as a brother to her, her team had always been her family. Lee hadn't voiced his concern, or his protests, for he knew she wouldn't appreciate it, and in order to reach her goal of being one of the greatest kunoichi, she would take that mission anyway.
Neji hadn't said anything as well. Not that that was surprising, after all, he only spoke when he deemed neccesary, and this apparently wasn't such a moment. She hadn't been able to read his eyes as well. Neji was the hardest of them all to read, and even if Tenten was usually capable of decivering some sort of emotion or mood he was in, she hadn't been able this time. He had been like a closed book to her.
She had not known, that he hadn't agreed of her going on that mission.
When she had come back from the mission, successfully finishing it, he hadn't been waiting for her at the gates, like Lee and Gai had. They congratulated on a job well done, and told her they knew she could do it. Though they told her such encouraging things, Tenten had seen the relief on their faces.
She didn't take insult to it, as she knew they only meant well, and told them she was glad to see them. She didn't ask why Neji wasn't there with them. There must've been a logical explanation, she told herself. And even if there wasn't, Neji would easily go crazy being stuck with the green beasts of Konoha.
She was surprised when she found him in her appartment late that night. She had taken a long bath, washing the dirt and grime from her body, and soothing the strained muscles. Exiting the bathroom, wearing her shorts and t-shirt for bed, she found him perched on her window ledge.
She didn't question him, instead raising a brow as to ask why he was in her apartment, late at night, while she just had returned from a long mission and was longing for her bed.
The white-eyed shinobi didn't answer her silent question. Instead he chose for calmly observing her. Tenten rolled her eyes at him, but let him. It was his own way of making sure she had returned safe.
"You're done?" she asked when he looked back up at her face, apparently content there wasn't any harm.
Again Neji didn't respond, and Tenten sighed, fed up with her team-mate's antics. "Good night, Neji," she said as she turned around.
The rustling of his robes was the only warning she could've gotten before he had crushed her in his arms from behind. He still hadn't spoken, and Tenten tensed up feeling his chest against her back, his breath in her neck.
"What the hell..!" Tenten all but shouted, thoroughly confused by his uncharacteristically behaviour. She struggled in his arms. Neji had never been the one to give hugs, or receiving them, and now that he was the one instigating one, it was disturbing. He might be an impostor or something. Someone who knew only Neji could safely enter her apartment at any time of the day or night.
He hadn't ever taken up that offer before though.
She spun around in his arms, the only move he apparently let her make. "You'd better have a good explanation!" she bit at him, staring back at him furious.
Neji didn't answer, instead he crushed her lips against his.
It took Tenten a good few seconds to realise that Neji was kissing her. She didn't respond and Neji broke away.
"Tenten," he spoke her name, and Tenten felt her heart skip a beat. He was looking at her with such intense eyes, his white eyes colored to a deep violet. Her name hadn't ever sounded that good on his lips.
Again, he captured her lips in a crushing kiss, and slowly Tenten responded, with all the reasons why this was a bad idea slipping away.
When he felt her responding he forcefully opened her mouth, probing his tongue inside. His hands, that had settled on her low back started roaming now, and left fire over her body.
It had been her first time, but he hadn't taken her gently. He fucked her through half of the night, with a loss for a better word. He had been harsh and forceful. And at the end as the impact hit her, a tear slid down her face: it wasn't meant to mean anything at all. Just relieve.
Neji hadn't stayed with her until the morning.
Somehow Tenten hadn't expected him to.
-()-
It hadn't stayed with that one time. At day, they were acting normal to each other. He did, in any case. She was pretending to act normal.
She wondered how anyone could act normal, when you knew that the guy you trained with at day, could come at night and take you as his every time again.
She also wondered if she should have refused him that very first night, but the answer was painfully clear when he pounded into her. He wouldn't have taken no for an answer.
Tenten could almost set her clock at the times he would come. When she had been away for missions on her own, something she asked for nowadays, he would always come the first night she was back. He didn't care if she was tired.
Even though she knew there would be repercussions when she came back, she was glad to be on the missions alone. Training alone with him was hard enough, she was barely able to keep looking him in the eye, when she knew how he looked when he gazed at her with that intense look when he fucked her. If she had to be with Neji at night during missions, she knew there was no way she could keep up the pretense act.
That she was still doing ok.
-()-
He would also come when he had had a row-in with his clan. He never told her what it was about when he came to her. At day, he chose to train with her, his attacks relentless.
He would always come at night as well after such a day. And then, he wouldn't talk as well. Sometimes her name would roll off his tongue, but he never spoke with her.
And she never dared to ask why, for she feared if she did, that their twisted relationship would end and with it, their even now more twisted friendship as well. So she let him do what he thought what needed to be done. She didn't voice her thoughts.
-()-
She couldn't move on.
Not because she didn't want to. Somehow, she knew that this...thing she was doing, wasn't healthy; not for her. So she wanted to move on. Forget him.
Forget the man she had both come to love and hate. Love him, for he was still Neji, and he always would be. Hate him, for what he had become and for what he was doing to her. Crushing her.
He now came two or three times a week. Screwing her senseless, and leaving right after. She had wished, when she hadn't know better, that he stayed with her. That he wouldn't leave her. But now, she was glad he did leave.
It gave her time to cry in the dark.
And knowing it wasn't healthy, she started going out. Staying out late, dancing in clubs.
Drinking until she no longer thought straight.
It didn't solve anything, but it eases the pain. It was easier to smile at a stranger, when no, she wasn't doing ok, but she was sure he could help her with that.
It was easier for her to let a stranger touch her. She was already stained and by now she could care less. It was easier to get such a person of her mind, especially if she couldn't remember him.
But her plans were short-circuited. The man was ripped off her quite harshly.
Dazed Tenten looked up, and met the furious eyes of Neji. The man had crawled off the ground and quickly moved away, muttering about crazy protective shinobi.
"What the hell are you doing?" Neji hissed at her, grabbing her arm roughly.
Tenten shrugged his arm away lightly, feeling braver than she had for a while now. "Enjoying myself," she answered. She didn't feel that she was able to go to the extent of telling him to leave her alone. That she wasn't able to deal with him.
"Enjoying yourself," he repeated slowly. His eyes flashed angrily, and his jaw set. He grabbed her arm again, and Tenten faintly wondered what he had against her arm, bruising it like that.
He crushed her against the wall in a furious frenzy. "Like hell," he said while he bit her neck. Tenten barely suppressed a sob, and knew that she had hell to pay apparently.
He took her against that wall that night, even if he had never brought their twisted relation outside the confines of her room. She knew it would never happen again. She must have done him wrong, and he would set it right. Set her right.
"Mine," he growled at her at his height. Apparently, that was all he was going to say again. She clenched around him, at this display of sick possessiveness. She didn't understand why he was doing it.
He hadn't told her.
He poofed her home. Tenten kept her eyes closed, afraid that if she would open them, she would know he was gone again. She felt him placing her on her bed. For a moment she was afraid that he would go for another round as she felt him linger for a moment.
But true to her thoughts, when she opened her eyes, he was gone.
-()-
He came again tonight.
Tenten had known it earlier that day when Sakura had told her about the multiple Hyuuga's that had ended up in the hospital today, with the compliments of a certain teammate of hers.
She prayed that Sakura hadn't seen the color leave her face.
She had learned that the times Neji'd sent his clan-members to the hospital were the worst times, and those were the times he definitely wouldn't let her off.
She was getting tired of this sick game he was playing with her. He didn't love her, he'd never voiced he even cared for her. She had come to dread the night the most. Even if she could pretend at daytime, she couldn't in the night when he came for her.
She shivered from his touch. His skin wasn't ever warm, for he always came from the outside. He never waited until she was ready.
There was no ready for her anymore.
As she had predicted, Neji was seated on her window-ledge, when she had been getting ready for bed, and the small hope she had had disappeared.
She was no longer hoping to feel warmth from the coldest man in Konoha.
Neji took her long and hard that night, and had even went for a second round this time over. Tenten kept silent through it all, making sure she didn't make any sound. She wasn't sure how he would react, even if it was to her mewls. He always seemed to like the silence very much.
As always he got up to leave as soon he was done.
He had worn her down, and out completely, and she couldn't hold back her sobs.
She heard him stop moving, and she was glad her back was to him. Even with those almighty eyes from him, he wouldn't be able to see her cry.
"You're crying," he stated. So much for him not noticing it. Tenten didn't respond. The silence hung heavy over them.
Then suddenly, Neji janked her up, her nakedness apparently not bothering him. "You're crying," he stated as he grabbed her chin between his forefinger and thumb.
Tenten didn't respond, looking back at him with her head high with all the dignity she could muster.
"Why?" he growled at her and if she hadn't known better, she would have gaped in incredulouslessness. Why he dared to ask? She wouldn't believe that.
He seemed to have lost his patience, and Tenten felt the two fingers holding her chin increasing their pressure. He never seemed to have much patience with her anyway. "Tenten, why are you crying?" Neji repeated the question, force behind his voice.
"This is the first time you've spoken to me," Tenten murmered. It wasn't supposed to but it slipped over her lips.
Neji narrowed his eyes, "Please explain yourself," he said.
Tenten sighed and stood off her bed, dressing herself. She felt no shame, for it wasn't as if he hadn't seen it all before. But the naked skin made her feel uncomfortable and she desperately needed a warm cup of coffee right now.
Well actually she really wanted a drink now, but she had a feeling that would be pushing Neji's patience with her too much.
He followed her to her small kitchen, and Tenten wondered if he had seen that piece of her house before. The only places he had ever seen, by her count, were the living room, hallway and her bedroom. Not the kitchen.
She calmly made the coffee she was craving now so much. For the first time in years, she felt no turmoil when he was here, and she would get this out of her system.
She felt Neji behind her, "Tenten, tell me what you mean," he said.
Tenten sighed, "I can't do this anymore, Neji," she said. Better to tell it directly then him making assumptions.
"What?" he asked, his face consorted in a sort of confusion and anger.
"This, Neji. I can't do this anymore. This twisted thing between us," Tenten said, waving her hand around, sipping from her coffee.
"I fail to see what is twisted," Neji replied.
Tenten put her cup down, not looking at him, "Just now, that was the first time you've spoken to me, you never said anything while fucking, never after," she said.
Neji crossed his arms, "As far as I know, there's no need to speak," he said softly. Those were the times you'd have to watch out, Tenten knew, but now she could frankly no longer care about that.
"You know, you say!" Tenten bursted, "But you might want to look further then yourself! I'm sick of being played with, of meaning nothing to you!" she bit to him.
She lifted the edge of her shirt, where she knew she was bruised from a few times before. "You never told me why you come to me. And I am sick of these bruises that don't mean anything. You come at night, you have your way, and you leave. And Neji, I can't do that anymore,"
Neji's arms fell from their crossed state, "You never told me," he whispered, even managing to sound broken.
Tenten raised her arms to the sky, "What was there for me to tell, Neji! I'm sorry, but I can't let you fuck me anymore?" she shouted. "I've really come to hate you for what you're doing to me. I ain't worth a thing anymore."
Neji shook his head, "I can't have you hate should have told me," he said.
Tenten rolled her eyes, "Would you have listened Neji? Would you have cared about every tear I cry after every time you come here?"
Neji's head snapped up, "I would," he replied.
Tenten laughed joylessly, "Oh please, do tell why,"
Neji's eyes snapped shut, and he seemed to calm himself. His hands were balled to fists. "Don't hate me," he whispered.
Tenten snorted, "Why shouldn't I, you hurt me, and I don't want to pretend that I mean anything to you anymore," she said.
"You mean everything to me!" Neji shouted, finally having lost his temper.
"You have a funny way of showing it!" Tenten shouted back!
Neji pulled at the strands of his hair, frustrated. "I thought you knew, I thought everyone had seen it," he said.
Tenten stepped back confused, "What?" she asked.
Neji sighed, "Tenten, don't hate me. I don't know if I could ever recover from that," he said.
Tenten rubbed her arms, "Give me a reason Neji, you have been fucking me for quite some time now, and you never told me why," she said.
Neji straightened his posture, "Tenten, I love you," he said.
Tenten wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry, and she turned around to the kitchen sink, leaning heavily on the counter. A choked sob escaped her lips.
"Tenten?" Neji asked.
Tenten shook her head, "Get out," she said softly.
"What?" Neji said, he sounded incredulous.
A few more sobs escaped her lips, and Tenten knew it wouldn't take long for her to start crying full out. "Damnit, I said, get out!" she said, "Stop feeding me lies now."
Then Neji yanked her in his arms, much like that very first time, but much gentler.
"Damnit, Neji, let fucking go of me!" Tenten growled.
Neji shook his head, that could Tenten feel, "I am not letting go, nor am I lying, Tenten," he said, still holding her. "You should've told me how you felt a little sooner. I could have explained," he said.
Tenten bit her lip, "I'd start explaining before I pierce your gut," she said.
"What do you want to know," he asked.
A little disbelievingly, Tenten formed her words, "Why do you always leave after fucking me?" she asked.
Neji winced, "Don't use such crude terms," he said.
Tenten pressed her lips together, "That's what you have been doing, Neji," she said.
Neji seemed to take this in. "I wanted to keep you safe," he said softly.
Tented let out a short laugh, "From what,Neji? Please tell what I can't protect myself from besides you apparently?" she said sardonically.
Neji let out a long breath, "The Hyuuga," he said simply.
Tenten laughed, bitterly and mockingly, and she turned around to the sink again, cleaning her coffeecup. She'd kick him out any second now, and she would be free. "I noticed that, Neji. You are a Hyuuga, if you hadn't noticed yet," she said.
Neji growled, "Not me, not on purpose anyway. It's the main-family ok!" he spat.
Tenten softened a bit, if only slightly. Any trouble from the main-family always cut him deep. She had once been his friend, who knew this like no other. "You'll have to explain that, what does that have anything to do with us? The Main never cared for who you interacted with, let alone who you're sleeping around with," she said. Even if she was asking, she couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.
She heard Neji's robes rustle, but he didn't touch her, nor did he leave. Instead he brushed some strands of hair from her neck. He carefully tradded his hands through it. "I wasn't sleeping around with you, Tenten," he said softly again, "I never did, and you're right if you say that they wouldn't care if I was."
He rested his head in the crook of her neck. "I wish I could have done this correctly," he murmered.
Tenten let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I don't know the hell you're talking about, but if you don't get to the point right this instant, I swear to Kami, that you'll have more trouble then just some kunai sporting in your stomach," she said.
"I want you to be my wife," he said simply, sounding tired now.
"What?" she whipped around, dropping the cup on the ground. She couldn't care less for it right now. Not believing him she stared in his eyes.
Neji's eyes never showed anything but complete honesty.
"What did you say?" Tenten asked.
"I want you to marry me, to be my bride and wife," Neji said, repeating and explaining.
The situation became too much for Tenten and she leaned back against the counter, feeling a sharf pressing against her right foot, and a headache showing its face. She rested her hand against her head.
"And this explains how you've been treating me?" she said tiredly.
Neji narrowed his eyes, "I'm basically proposing, and you are not answering me," he said.
Tenten glared at him, "Let's get one thing straight now! After how you've been treating me, I ain't marrying you. I'm bordering on a strong dislike for you now! You'd better spill the hell your problem is!" she spat.
Neji closed his eyes, "Sleeping around isn't a problem for the main-family. It's when I want to marry someone they're making a problem," he said. "The elders have been pressuring me into marrying a Hyuuga woman, if I wanted to get married so badly."
"You want to get married, because of marrying?" Tenten asked incredulously.
Neji shook his head, "No, I want to be married to you, and no-one else. I've been fighting with the elders over that ever since," he said.
Tenten closed her mouth, that had dropped open after his indirect confession. "Ever since when?" she asked, feeling the need to say anything, no matter what.
"Ever since you went on that reconnaissance mission on your own," Neji replied softly, "It made me realize that you weren't going to be around forever, and that you would begin living your own life," he said.
Tenten blinked away the tears, the remembrance of that night still painful, "But Neji, that's no reason to marry me, I would have stayed your friend even so," she said.
Neji shook his head again, barely no movement this time, "No, Tenten. I wasn't afraid you weren't going to be my friend anymore, and that you wouldn't train with me anymore. At that time, I wasn't thinking of losing our friendship, but losing you to another man, and I couldn't breath with that thought around my mind. I made my resolve and started trying to convince the elders, that you were, are, certainly worthy of bearing that Hyuuga name," he said.
Tenten had never heard him speak so much over how he was feeling, and she couldn't help but feeling that he was honest if he'd even thrown his pride at risk to convince her.
Questions stayed, however. "Then why...?" she asked, not finishing what she wanted to say.
"Why what?" Neji asked, genuinely not knowing apparently what she meant.
Tenten braved herself up again, "Why have you been pushing me around then. Never telling me, or showing me what was going on? Why do I have to stay a hidden dirty secret of yours?" she asked, tears welling up again.
Neji sighed, his breath tousling the hairs on her neck. "The Hyuuga elders would have hurt you. Knowing I am serious about you, they would have tried even harder. They know if they take away the one I want to marry, they have no risk of being argued with. I wanted to protect you from that, by not letting them know about us but by doing so I've hurt you. For that I am more sorry than you would ever imagine."
Tenten swallowed, and tried to progress things. Looking rationally at it, it definitely sounded like something Neji would do. And it was true the Hyuuga elders were anything if ruthless.
"Please, Tenten, say anything," Neji pleaded. It sounded so un-Nejilike that Tenten puffed out a breath.
"Well, first thing tomorrow morning, is visiting those elders of yours," she said.
She felt Neji stiffen, "What?" he asked.
Tenten huffed, "How dare they say I'm not worthy of anything. I'll show them what I am worth exactly," she said.
Neji spun her around, his eyes wide, "Tenten, what are you saying?" he asked.
Tenten raked her hair, "Well, you have a lot to do to be forgiven completely, I don't appreciate how you've treated me," she said. Neji stared at her, his mouth had dropped open uncharacteristically.
"And if you want me to marry you, you'll have to show me, that you do know how to love properly," she threatened.
The threat almost seemed lost on Neji as a small smile graced his features and he circled his arms around her tightly, burying his nose in her neck. "I can work with that," he said simply.
He then kissed her, and Tenten couldn't help but note that he was apparently serious. Instead of the bruising kisses he had been giving her, this kiss was tender and slow, almost sensual. She moaned upon the feeling.
"Let me love you properly," he rasped out, giving butterfly kisses in her neck.
Tenten didn't reply but weaved her hands in his hair and gave him a deep lasting kiss, while he lifted her up around his waist. It was as good as any reply.
While he whispered sweet nothingness, his fingers left prints so very different from the bruises from before, burning his touch in her soul.
That night they made love for the very first time.
-()-
The next morning, Sakura was surprised to find the same Hyuuga's she had sent home the other day back in the hospital again, sporting some very unconventional aimed weaponry. "Back again?" she asked, raising a brow.
Most of the Hyuuga's silently glared at her, but one of them sighed. "It seemed Neji is very much capable of finding a good woman for himself," he said and that was that.
Sakura couldn't help but grin, and hoped this would be one of the last times she would be treating the Hyuuga elders.
Well, that was a lot of work. But I am happy it is finished now. Don't forget to review!