Fandom: Naruto
Claim: Neji and Tenten
Prompt: 039 Taste
AN: Still exploring these characters, so this is just a short ficlet.
Disclaimer: Neji and Tenten are not mine.
Try It
Tenten could barely contain her laughter at the look on Neji's face. He seemed to be somewhere between irritated and amused and was making no attempt to hide it. She held out her hand to him.
"Come on, just try them," she said, grinning widely. "Me and Lee have both had one and Gai has had one as well. Just see how long you can keep it in your mouth."
Neji eyed the sweets suspiciously. Tenten could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he debated whether to try one of the sweets or not. They didn't look any different from the other sweets you could get from any shop but these were extremely popular and renowned for their odd selection of tastes as you wore them down. Eventually, he sighed and picked one up.
Tenten had to force back a smile when he opened the wrapper and held up the sweet. It was small, maybe a centimetre round and it was jet black. She grimaced at the memory of trying to eat one of them. The small black ones were the strongest and the weirdest out of the range. Neji didn't seem to take notice of the look on her face and she gulped back a warning as he sighed, closed his eyes and popped it into his mouth.
The taste hit immediately and Tenten's grin widened at the look of shock on his face. She hit the timer as he rolled the sweet around his mouth. He managed to last almost a minute before he shook his head and spat the sweet into his hand. She handed him a bottle of water and he gulped it down.
"Thank you," he said, panting. He searched around for somewhere he could throw it and she watched as he rolled the sweet up in its wrapper and placed it in his pocket. "I might try the rest of it later," he smirked at her.
Tenten grinned at him as they started to head away from the training grounds. "No, you won't. You'll just throw it away as soon as you get home and besides, you didn't even last a minute," she said, choking back a laugh. "Lee managed to last nearly seventy seconds."
He glared at her and she gave into the laughter.
"After how many attempts?" he asked, trying to appear nonchalant. She glanced at him and tried to figure out what he was getting at.
"Twelve, I think, or thirteen," she replied, after a moment.
"And how long did he last on his first attempt?" Neji asked.
"About five seconds?"
"Ah."
"Ah, what?" Tenten frowned at him.
"He was able to train his body to accommodate the taste," said Neji, smiling, "whereas I managed to succeed on my first try."
"Show-off," Tenten mumbled under her breath. He frowned at her and she scanned the crowd as they approached the market place. So far, there was no sign of Lee or Gai.
"How long did you last?"
"Huh?" she frowned at her team-mate.
"The sweets," he said, indicating the bag hanging from her wrist. "How long did you last on your first try?"
"Oh, not long," she replied, grinning. "A few seconds."
There was no way that she was going to tell him she lasted nearly a minute and a half.
End