Disclaimer: Needless to say, I do not own or claim to own Naruto or any of it's characters. It belongs to Kishimoto. With that being said, what you are about to read is a product of my imagination. Enjoy!
Status: Single
"All my friends are getting married." Tenten sighed. "And here I am, single and bored." She was sitting on a branch of a tree swinging her legs through the air. It was an uneventful day. No mission, no Lee and Guy-sensei as they were off doing their youthful exercises, and there was nothing on the agenda, except training, which Tenten was definitely not doing at the moment.
"What are you doing Tenten?" Neji asked. He was on the ground talking up to his teammate, who was unusually unenthusiastic. "Why aren't you training?"
"There's got to be more to life than training." Tenten mumbled to herself. Neji overheard anyway.
"That doesn't sound like Tenten," Neji thought to himself.
"Are you sick, Tenten?"
"Yes I'm sick," Tenten said dramatically. "Sick of being single. Am I going to grow old alone? Is there nobody for me?" Okay, now Neji was starting to worry a little.
"You should go see Sakura," Neji suggested. "She can help you."
"Is she going to find me a boyfriend?" Tenten asked. "Because I feel like I'm the only single person in tis village. All our friends are pairing off."
"You're not the only single person in Konoha." Neji interjected.
"I find it hard to believe," Tenten disagreed. "Even Lee found a girl that can put up with his—well everything. Am I just not attractive or-or desirable?"
"Tenten, you're overeacting."
"Am I?" Tenten asked in a half-frenzy. "Naruto's with Hinata. Sakura is still waiting for Sasuke. Shikamaru is finally admitting to dating Temari. Then there's Sai and Ino, Kiba and Tamaki,oh—and Choji and Karui. There's only Shino left, and you know how much I detest bugs, so that'll never work. Or maybe Gaara, but there's always been this nagging feeling that makes me wonder if he's gay. Maybe Kankuro. I guess he's sorta okay…" While Tenten rambled on, Neji listened impatiently.
"…And Me." He finally added, successfully getting Tenten to stop. "Is there a reason you're purposely excluding me?"
"N-no," Tenten stuttered."It's just you would never like me that way."
"Get down here," he said. Tenten reluctantly did so."Did I ever say that?" He asked, when they were face to face.
"Well, n-no—"
"Then you're just putting words in my mouth?"
"W-what are you saying Neji?"
"That I'm not against starting a relationship with you."
"Neji…"
"But if you expect flowers and chocolate and cheesy romantic dates, I'll tell you right now it's not happening."
"Are you asking me out?"
"Only to get you to shut up about being single. It's annoying." He turned his head to hide the tint of red on his cheeks. Tenten stared at her teammate, as if trying to figure out whether he was being serious. Then, she realized that this was Neji Hyuga and he's always serious. And cute. She didn't use to think so, but now she couldn't stop. Neji paused, waiting for a response.
"On some conditions." Of course, she wasn't going to just run into his arms.
"Conditions?" Neji was confused. He didn't know dating was so complicated.
"Yes, first of all, I'm not the type of girl who wants cheesy and cliche, but there should be small romantic gestures here and there."
"Why?"
"Because if there's not, we'll just be Neji and Tenten, the teammates."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Don't tell me you don't know what dating is." Tenten said flabbergasted. "Do you even like me?"
"Fine. Agreed. Is that it?" he gave in.
"No, we should tell our friends."
"Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"Why do you want all that unnecessary attention?"
"Because they're our friends."
"We're not telling them."
"Then you want us to hide the fact that we're together?"
"That's not what I said. I'm just saying, why tell them. When we can just let them figure it out on their own." Tenten beamed.
"Okay what about couple's stuff like kissing and hugging—"
"I'm not talking to you about that." Neji said firmly.
"Are you saying you're against it?'
"No. Again, you're putting words in my mouth."
"Then what?" She pushed.
"If it happens, it happens." Neji finally said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, one more thing. How often should we go on a date?"
"Does it matter? I spend most of the day with you anyways."
"But it's not the same!" Tenten insisted. "Dates are supposed to be just the two of us."
"Fine. How often do you want to date?"
"Between missions and training, how about once a week?" Tenten suggested.
"That's it?"
"What do you mean that's it. Won't you get tired of me if you see me too much?"
"It's been 7 years and I haven't gotten tired of you yet. Tenten's cheek colored.
"How 'bout 3 times a week?"
"I say as often as we can." Neji offered. TenTen bobbed her head at his satisfactory answer.
"I like that."
"Is that it?" he asked.
"For now." she said slyly and quickly added, " We should seal it with a kiss."
"Ten—" He tried to say.
"I'm waiting!"
"Not now—"
"I'm not letting this go until you kiss me." The only thing deadlier than Tenten's incredible weapon skills, was her persistence. Knowing full well that she meant what she said, Neji caved and gave her a swift peck on the cheeks. Tenten's eyes widened by the suddenness of his kiss.
"There, let's get back to training." He muttered, clearing his throat and avoiding eye-contact. Tenten smiled brightly at how cute he was being.
"I'll let it go for now, since it's your first kiss." She teased.
"And it's not yours?" Neji's brow shot up.
"You'll never know."she giggled and started running.
"Tenten!" Neji shouted after her. "You better tell me!"
—
2 weeks later…
"Tenten-chan!" Hinata waved at Tenten, when she saw the brunette across the street. She was with Ino and Sakura, in front of the cafe. Tenten made her way to them.
"Hey, what's up?" she asked.
"The girl's and I are planning an outing with the guys. It's kinda like a group date." Sakura said, "You should come!"
"You mean alone?" She asked, pulling up a chair to sit down.
"No silly," Ino laughed. "Bring Neji of course." Tenten blushed, she couldn't believe the girls caught on so fast.
"You all know?" Hinata nodded, pouring her a cup of tea.
"It's so obvious," Sakura said, "Everyone knows." Wow, they actually managed to figure it out.
"Sure, I'll ask Neji." Tenten brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.
"I bet it'll be weird for you guys being around new couples, since you two have been together forever." Ino felt compelled to add. Much to her friends concern, Tenten began to violently choke on her tea.
—FIN—
Author's Note: Just something short and sweet for one of my favorite ships in the Narutoverse.