Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. There.
Kiseki
NejiTenten
-by Alena S. Anigor
She is walking down the street, carrying a bag filled with apples and vegetables in one hand, looking around at the amount of people at the market, the fingers of her free hand toying with the sharp end of a kunai.
She is 7 and she is still a child of innocence; her eyes bright and curious, her hands and fingers fragile and her soul untainted.
And still, her hands have already touched the most dangerous of weapons, her skin in already slightly calloused due to the constant exposure to the cold metal, her mind is already made up and she is adamant to become one of the best kunoichis Konoha has ever had.
A child adamant to grow up to defend, fight and kill.
She smiles slightly at the sight of other children her age playing by the street, marbles rolling around them playfully.
One of them rolls up to her foot, the other one rolling away slightly. She reaches down to pick the dusty marble, offering it back to a young boy with a smile.
And as she turns to see where the other one has gone, she stops and stares at a young boy her age with a long, dark hair and white, striking eyes, his mouth set in a firm, thin line.
He hands the marble to the young boy and walks away quietly, making her turn and stare after him in wonder.
She thinks about the boy on her way home and why he was so serious. And even though his eyes were expressionless and his expression indifferent, she can still remember seeing sadness and pain in his pearly orbs.
She wonders if he ever smiles.
She is sitting next to him at the Academy, diligently marking down notes.
She glances his way occasionally just to see him frown at senseis words, his arms crossed and his lips set in a firm, thin line again. She knows now that his name is Neji and that he is a Hyuuga, a member of one of the most powerful families in Konoha, famous for their bloodline, Byakugan. She also knows that that is the reason why his eyes are so ghostly white and what he can do with them.
He looks at her suddenly and she jerks involuntarily, quickly turning her head back to stare ahead, her back stiff. She can feel chills running down her spine.
There is something else besides sadness and pain in his eyes now...
The sensei says something funny and all students laugh at his joke except her and him; she misses the joke because she is lost in her own thoughts, and he does not smile, anyway.
They are teammates now and she is training with him, doing her best to keep up with him and his strength and vigor.
The ground is crying under sharp kunai and shuriken tips and needles and her body is crying for some rest but she does not yield to the urge to fall down and let him kill her if he wants to.
She vows secretly to train with him until the end, until there is no energy and chakra in her left to even lift a finger.
For some reason, she wants to prove herself to him, prove that she is worthy of his vigor and time, of his attention and trust. She wants to be there to witness him acknowledging her skills and her strength, to finally accept her as more than just Tenten, as more than just a teammate.
She wants to be his partner, his companion and his friend.
And someday, she wants to see him smile.
She can no longer control her emotions and she hates herself for it.
She knows his ever keen eyes can see everything and so she avoids eye contact with him until she buys herself enough time to smother the feelings somewhere deep inside where he will not be able to see them.
She has finally won his respect and trust and she knows he considers her as equal to any other shinobi that has worked with him. Further more, because now she knows all about his childhood, the cursed seal on his forehead and the reason why he never smiles and why his eyes always hold a note of sadness and pain only she sometimes manages to see. She does not want to ruin what they have now, but...
She wonders when it has really happened; when she started having feelings for him.
She ponders on that thought while lying in a hospital bed, staring at the blank ceiling above her, her eyes fixed on barely visible stains there, but looking distant, her right shoulder bandaged.
She has almost blown their cover amidst a very important mission, luckily, ending up with just a superficial wound, Neji and Lee managing to do the rest and complete the mission successfully.
She still remembers the look in his eyes he gave her after Lee and him dragged her to a nearby tree and helped her sit down slowly...
He barks at Lee to inform Sakura they are coming and to prepare a room for her. The younger replica of Gai nods and starts to run, deciding to leave out a dramatic response.
He crouches next to her, tearing a piece of his shirt and pressing it tightly to her shoulder to at least lessen the hemorrhage. There is anger and confusion and worry mixing in endless white in his eyes and she has to look away, not being able to allow him to see just how pathetic, miserable and useless she is.
"Tenten", she hears him say, his voice firm and deep, and she gasps slightly when his fingers grasp her chin and make her lift her head, forcing her to look at him.
She feels like crumbling and falling apart and dying when he gathers her in his arms gently, letting her sob uncontrollably into his shoulder, the blood seeping out of her wound and smearing his shirt.
"I'm sorry", she whispers and he tightens his hold on her, not saying a thing as he stares at the trunk of a tree gravely, something intense glimmering in his eyes.
"I know", he says quietly after a few moments and she is not sure what exactly he means by that.
She pulls away, her right side aching but she grits her teeth, determined not to show pain in front of him. She has let him him enough already today.
She looks at him and her eyes widen because she can see something completely unfamiliar in his eyes; something completely unknown and unseen and she wonders why it makes her feel so elevated and why her heart beats so madly in her chest and why is everything turning white in front of her eyes and...
Tenten passes out in his arms and he lifts her up quickly, running through bushes and grass swiftly, his eyes fixated ahead, his hands holding her pressed against his body firmly...
And when she wakes up a few hours later, she sees him by her side, together with Lee and Gai-sensei.
She is happy to see them as they beam at her, and congratulate her on her power of youth. She smiles at their exclamations and then looks at him.
And her eyes widen again, for she could have sworn she has seen his lips quirking upwards just barely.
"I know", he says to her one evening as they walk down the street after having a quick, late snack at Ichiraku and after they have completed a mission.
She stops and he stops and they stare at each other mutely; his eyes fixated on her, something flickering in them. She is silent for a few moments until she finds her words again.
"You know...what?" She asks him and she receives her answer in the form of a chaste kiss on the cheek, her skin burning after he backs away from her and reminds her to meet him for training tomorrow morning.
She stands there like an idiot, in the middle of the road and stares after him with her mouth agape, cheeks hot and tingling.
And she blinks when he turns around to look at her and smirks at her knowingly, making her frown at his ability to render her speechless and make her feel flustered.
She growls at him and he turns his back to her and continues to walk home with his hands in his pockets, nonchalantly just like a Hyuuga he is.
She knows he is trying to control himself but her clothes are still torn from her body and his kisses are feverish and demanding as they trace down her neck and her collarbone, making her hiss and arch against him instinctively.
His hands are roaming all over her body, quickly, impatiently and she is struggling to breathe as he pushes her down to the futon and continues with his ministrations, the air in her room becoming humid; moans and sighs mingling in the darkness, the moon their only witness.
He still finds some self-control to stop and ask her silently for permission and she smiles up at him, her eyes telling him everything and he kisses her passionately, his hair cascading like a silky, black waterfall over her.
He whispers her name into her ear as she moans his out loud, their bodies joined and dancing silently in the stillness of the night.
And when morning comes, she is nestled against him, one arm hanging protectively over her waist, his face burrowed in the nape of her neck. He opens his eyes and looks around first, then at the young woman next to him.
And she can not see it or feel it but his lips lift slightly to smile at her sleeping face and tousled hair as he thinks she has never looked more beautiful than right now, in his arms.
It hurts like hell and she curses out loud and she curses him, making the doctor glance first at her then at the young man standing next to her bed with sympathy.
He looks at her pained face worriedly and reaches for her hand but she pushes him away and orders him to get the hell out of the room before another contraction makes her howl in pain.
He wants to help her somehow but cringes slightly when she threatens him with cutting off his balls in his sleep, and the nurse walks him out of the room, telling him that everything will be fine.
"Oh, Kami!" He flinches outside the hospital room and then grimaces at "I hate you Neji!", gripping the edge of the seat tightly.
More screams and juicy curses later, a blessed silence ensues and then the nurse calls him inside to see his son.
He jumps from the seat and practically storms inside to see Tenten holding a little bundle in her arms, her hair and bangs damp and her face pale and weary, but she is smiling.
He approaches her carefully and she looks at him with an almost angelic smile as she hands him the small creature wrapped up in a fluffy blanket.
"He has your eyes", she whispers and leans into her pillow, watching him gazing in wonder at tiny hands and fingers, at a few strands of brown hair and clear, wide pearly eyes.
And for the second time in his life, he sees one more thing he finds beautiful and vows secretly to protect. He glances at Tenten as if asking her if this is really happening.
Still mesmerized, he looks at the small miracle in his arms, and the fog of sadness and pain lifts in his deceptively clear eyes.
And, Tenten realizes, another miracle happens when she sees his lips quirk upwards and he smiles.
a/n:
What can I say? My plunnies are evil and they made me write this...
As deranged as they are and as weird as this story is, I hope you like it! :D
Kiseki means Miracle...