He remembered that day clearly - the day he quite literally trusted Tenten with his life.
They were still young, inexperienced Genin who were still about to take their Chuunin exams. Team Gai, still in their formative years, was not yet the team that was known for their smooth coordination and teamwork, but they were just starting to getting along with each other. Well... as good as any dysfunctional family could get along with each other, anyway.
Neji and Tenten were sparring, and Lee was honing his Taijutsu skills when Gai called their attention with his booming voice. "My youthful Genin! We must convene - there are important matters for us to discuss before we submit your names for the Chuunin exams."
Lee bounded over to his sensei, a fire in his eyes. "Are we going to discuss our team tactics, Gai-sensei? I suggest that we have our own formation wherein all three of us can take on an opponent - have you heard of that Ino-Shika-Cho formation?"
Tenten rolled her eyes at her teammate, a silent and stoic Neji by her side. "And what, do some sort of Neji-Ten-Lee formation?"
"I was thinking that we could adapt a better name for our team, but-"
"No, no, my youthful students, although that is a brilliant idea, Lee!" Gai pronounced loudly. "There is actually a much more serious matter at hand. We must discuss the important issue of Neji's blind spot."
There was a silence, as Neji's eyes narrowed. "I don't have to tell you anything."
Tenten looked at her teammate, surprised. This was the first time she had ever heard of his Byakugan's blind spot. She had never asked him if his kekkei genkai had any limitations, and she always assumed that there were none. But a blind spot? That was pretty serious.
"But Neji, we must know of your blind spot! Besides the fact that the knowledge will be beneficial in me finally defeating you, we must be able to protect you at the drop of a hat!" Lee cried out.
The Hyuga closed his eyes; Tenten recognized it as a sign of exasperation. "Thank you, Lee, for giving me two reasons not to tell you about my blind spot."
"But-!"
"Lee," Tenten frowned. "Look, if he doesn't want to tell us, we shouldn't push him. I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew how to cover it himself, anyway." She smiled lightly at Neji. "Now come on, let's just continue training again. We can make better use of our time by doing that." She briskly walked away, back to the vacated training grounds where she and Neji usually sparred.
He joined her a few moments later, after a few more exclamations of protest from the green-clad ninjas. "Thank you," he muttered as he passed by, and she couldn't help but smile.
"This is the first time you've ever thanked me for anything, so I'm going to treasure this moment!" She laughed. "Now, come on. Let's spar."
Neji and Tenten went through their usual song and dance; Tenten threw as many weapons as she could, while Neji dodged and tried to get in hits of his own. They tried to train each other in the areas where they were decidedly weaker at; Neji was not a fan of long-distance fighting, and Tenten was the complete opposite. It was for this reason that Neji liked training with Tenten. Also, she didn't make a huge deal of something he was weak at; whereas Lee would probably take note of all his weaknesses in that little notebook of his.
"Wait," she held her hands out, breathing heavily twenty minutes later. "I submit. Let's take a break."
He nodded, and gestured towards a cluster of trees where they usually kept their bags. "Ten minutes."
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Hai, hai, Neji-sensei." Neji smirked.
They sat down, listening to the familiar sounds of Gai-sensei cheering Lee on as he murdered a tree stump. Tenten, not for the first time, was thankful that she had been put on a team with Hyuga Neji. At first she thought he was stuck-up, just because he was from a great family, but it turned out to be more than that. Despite the two of them not having a great chemistry at the start of the team, they had ended up being great sparring partners. They might not be the best of friends now, but at least they were getting somewhere.
"Can I practice a new technique on you?" She asked him after a few minutes of silence.
He raised an eyebrow, interested. "What is it?"
"Well, I'm not sure what to call it yet, but the basic idea is that instead of summoning my weapons one by one, I'll summon them directly from scrolls, possibly a hundred at a time." She couldn't help but feel a bit proud at her own genius - hey, with Lee the over-achiever and Neji the Prodigy on her team, she had to at least have some kind of label on her. The Weapons Master had a nice ring to it.
Neji nodded, looking mildly impressed. "I'll look at it once we're done resting."
She nodded happily. "That means a lot. Thank you, Neji."
He grunted, and took a swig from his water bottle. "Not a problem."
Tenten took the next few minutes of silence to ponder upon her friendship with Neji. On the few missions they had been on together, she had found herself drifting towards him. It wasn't anything premeditated, though, it had just... Happened. She naturally found herself next to Neji whenever possible. It wasn't like Tenten could help it, though. One half of her team were probably certifiably insane - she found Neji's calm, stoic demeanor soothing at times.
Other times, it just annoyed her.
"Tenten."
She raised her eyes, and looked at him. "Neji?" She started gathering her things. "Is ten minutes up already?"
He sighed, and closed his eyes again. "I have something of my own to show you." At her sudden silence, he slowly opened his eyes. She was turning a bright shade of red, and he smirked at her discomfort. "It's not what you're thinking of now, I assure you."
She scowled. "I wasn't thinking about that-"
"Give me your hand," he ordered her, and Tenten looked at him weirdly before complying.
"Are we going to do one of your weird meditation exercises? Because-"
Tenten's breath hitched as he took her hand in his, and placed it over the back of his neck. "Are you sufficient in knowledge of the human anatomy?"
She shook her head, feeling his warm skin underneath her palm. "I know the basics. I'm not an expert, or anything." For a second there, I thought we'd be thinking of, ehem, other parts of your anatomy, she couldn't help but think.
He nodded, his hand still over hers. "All right, then, so I guess I'll just have to point you to it directly." He moved his hand slightly downwards, where she could feel a bony prominence she assumed was one of his vertebrae. "My blind spot extends from that point outwards."
His hand left hers, but Tenten's hand remained on her teammates' Achilles Heel, marvelling at the small, blind spot that would be imperceptible to others - unless you observed him really closely. "You... You trust me with this." It wasn't a question, and the fact amazed Tenten all the same.
Neji nodded. "I don't like to admit it, but Gai-sensei is right. With an approaching Chuunin exam, I need someone who knows my blind spot and can protect it."
The rest of the words faded away, while Tenten selfishly hung on to the words 'I need'. He needs me, she thought smugly, and also, with a very content smile on her face. "You're right, you know," she murmured, finally removing her hand from his blind spot. "Even though I'm pretty sure we're not going to be up against ninja who can be able to tell you have a blind spot right then and there... It would be useful."
Neji looked at her. "You're being unusually calm about this."
She snorted. "Are you kidding me? I'm thrilled that you're starting to open up to me. The fact is, I know that you told me specifically because you wouldn't want the men in green to be jumping all over you and handling you with kid gloves."
The corner of his mouth tilted up in a smile. "You're correct."
"And it's natural that I should know your blind spot. We'll make great partners."
Neji raised his eyebrow at her again. "Partners."
She turned a light pink. "Well, it's only logical that we'd make good partners for missions. I mean, can you see yourself being partnered with Lee?" Neji was silent, and Tenten was worried that she had jumped to her conclusions too fast. Neji had just trusted her to save his life in dire situations - it didn't mean that he was tethering himself to her, for Kami's sake. "And... You know, I..." She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I trust you with my life too, y'know. I really do."
He looked surprised, for once, and Tenten seemed shocked at his own reaction. Hyuga Neji was never surprised, he was never caught off guard. But it was obvious that she had. There was an awkward silence between the two of them, that was only punctuated with Lee's cries of triumph in the distance. Tenten cleared her throat. "Well, I think we passed our ten minutes," she said as cheerfully as possible. "Come on, let's spar." She brushed the dirt off her pants.
"I'm glad I made the right decision, then."
Tenten looked at him in surprise; he was already heading off to the middle of the clearing. She hurried to catch up with him. "What?" The two of them finally reached the middle, and he turned to face her, an unfathomable expression on his face.
"Trusting you with mine."
(*)
Hello, hello! I haven't written a lot of NejiTen lately, since I've been experimenting with other couples (that sounded weird). Since I'm getting all jumbled up, I apologize if Neji seems a bit OOC to you, especially since this is considerably before the Chuunin exams, and he is still a bit of an ass.
That being said, I still hope that you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! This is one of my few 'squint and you'll see romance' fics, mainly because I didn't think it'd be right for them to be madly in love with each other at this time.
Ciao!