Title: flowers and interrogation
Pairing: nejiten, hints of shikatema, kibahina, and konohana
Genre: romance/humor
A/N: This was supposed to be written and posted by Valentine's Day but obviously that didn't happen orz. But nonetheless, have some lighthearted NejiTen fluff! I quite like the idea of Ino and Lee being pretty close friends, because, y'know, flowers. Also, dense Neji and Tenten are dense, and they need all the help they can get.
Dedication: Written for Nejitenness and AquariusGaluxy! Sorry that first NejiTen I promised came out so fricking late OTL.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Summary: In which Lee and Ino team up, Temari is as subtle as an exploding tag going off, and Konohamaru and Hanabi decide to take things into their own hands. And it's all because Tenten can't seem to say that her love for Neji is decidedly different from her love for her weapons. [set several years after #699 and Neji is alive]
If you asked her eight years ago to team up with the younger green beast of Konoha for anything, Yamanaka Ino would have vehemently refused on the grounds that she didn't need someone as...exuberant as him in her life. But now here she was, standing behind the counter at her family's flower shop, Rock Lee standing on the opposite side and resting his arms on the marble surface. He had to move aside occasionally for the frantic customers looking to buy bouquets of roses for their lovers; Valentine's Day was tomorrow, and a lot of people were running around today getting their presents and events set up and together.
But at the moment, the store was closed for lunchtime, giving Lee and Ino time to talk about one of the most popular topic amongst many in the Leaf: the relationship between Hyuuga Neji and Tenten.
Rock Lee was generally a patient person when it came to his friends and their slowly developing romantic relationships (if he were frank, however, "slowly" was an overstatement). He managed to survive Shikamaru and Temari's dancing around each other before they finally, finally, got together. He got to witness Kiba finally getting somewhere with Hinata. But Neji and Tenten were going nowhere, and Lee was completely and utterly exasperated with the lack of progress between his two teammates. And as their best friend, he would have to make them realize the extent of their feelings for each other. Still, he needed some help, and he figured that there was no one more experienced and knowledgeable in this area than Ino. And so, as soon as he was done with his early morning training, he headed to the Yamanaka flower shop and told Ino of his dilemma.
Her response? Diabolical cackling and clapping, inspiring fear in the way only Yamanaka Ino could.
She had begun to manically smile and mutter something about how she was going to finally have some real fun, before a slightly scared Lee waved a bandaged hand in front of her face, and shaking her shoulder when hand-waving didn't work.
Ino instantly snapped out of it and quickly turned business-like, and not for the first time, Lee had to wonder why he was close friends with such a terrifying person. He conveniently forgot that his list of close friends also included a stoic and stern Neji, a rather temperamental Tenten, and a morbid Gaara (though he had mellowed out a lot since they first met him). But after Gai, his teammates, and Gaara, Ino was one of his closest confidants despite the differences between them and Ino's initial indifference towards him.
"Yes, right. Neji and Tenten. What can I do to help?" She clasped her hands together and leaned forward slightly over the counter, her bright blue eyes shining almost as brightly as Lee's smiles.
But the smile was absent as an unusual frown took over Lee's features. "I'm not sure," he admitted, "but we must make my youthful teammates declare their love for each other."
"Well, Ten did mention that she loves Neji," Ino reminded.
Lee groaned. "And then she said it was the same way she loves her weapons."
"True."
Ino's perfectly manicured nails tapped the counter, a habit that, as Lee learned throughout the years, indicated she was thinking, and thinking hard. Then she grinned and leaned forward even more, pushing away her long bangs only to have them fall over her eye again.
"Here's what we're going to do."
Tenten was not having a good day.
She had showed up for training on the appointed time, but an hour had already passed and Neji still hadn't arrived. This was abnormal behavior for the punctual Hyuuga who always sat meditating under their tree, waiting for Tenten to arrive.
The Weapons' Mistress would have left half an hour into waiting, but curse her luck, Temari of the Sand appeared and made a purposeful beeline towards her.
In the course of the years following the failed first Chuunin exams, Tenten had come to grudgingly respect the girl would had almost killed her in their first fight against each other. Then came the missions to Suna, in which Team Gai had to team up with the Sand siblings, and Tenten had to admit they all worked well together. That was when the shaky foundation of their friendship formed. Then, second Chuunin exams came rolling around, and after all of Team Gai passed, Tenten challenged Temari to a fight that ended with both girls physically and mentally exhausted, and the match was declared a draw.
Somehow after that, teasing became natural between the two, with Temari jabbing Tenten about some of her fighting techniques (which she secretly appreciated because it meant things she could work on improving on), and Tenten retaliated with comments about how the fan user was almost always next to Shikamaru.
Kankuro described them as being in a love-hate relationship with each other, what with the sometimes cruel comments they threw at each other, but there was no denying they became best friends.
But the moment Tenten saw the Sand girl walk onto the training grounds that she and Neji always occupied, she wished she could do away with her best friend. There was no way that wicked smirk on Temari's face could bode well for her, and Tenten almost contemplated taking to the trees and running away. Almost.
"Temari. On a diplomatic mission again? Shouldn't you be with Shikamaru?"
Tenten mentally pat herself on the back for causing the light blush that colored Temari's cheeks at the mention of her beau. It had been a few months since they finally admitted to affection for the other that surpassed affection for just friends. But Temari would still deny she held feelings for "Mr. Crybaby" and Shikamaru scoffed at the idea that he liked the most troublesome woman in all of Konoha. Not that this stopped them from holding hands in public, which caused witnesses to whisper until Temari glared at every single person on the streets.
The satisfaction Tenten felt at embarrassing Temari quickly disappeared, however, when the latter straightened her back and crossed her arms, a sign that whatever she wanted, she was hellbent on getting.
"Yes, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Shikamaru?" Tenten laughed, a sharp sound of incredulousness. "Temari, you know I don't do relationship advice. You go to Ino or Sakura for that."
Temari scowled and reached over to flick the younger girl's cheek. "No, you idiot. I wanted to talk to you about you and your relationship."
No, it was not a good day for the Weapons' Mistress at all. If there was any jutsu she could suddenly learn, it would be the ability to create a deep, deep hole in the ground that could swallow her up. There was no way she was having this conversation. Least of all with Temari.
"What relationship?" she asked, looking as uncomfortable as can be, and wishing that she had never woken up at all.
"With the Hyuuga of course," Temari replied, her tone sounding as though she were talking to a child.
Looking more flustered than the time Tsunade crashed her girls' night at the barbeque place, Tenten quickly said, "There's nothing between us. Promise. We're just best friends."
"You love him."
"I love my weapons."
"You always say that."
"Because it's true."
"Tenten, you love him more than you love your weapons."
"That's disputable."
"That's why we're having this conversation right now."
"Well, there's no need to talk about this!" Tenten exclaimed, flustered and exasperated and more than done with the conversation at hand.
Temari looked please that she had regained the upper hand, but she also looked angry and...was that a hint of mischievousness? She saw Tenten's eyes shift briefly to the trees around them, and she quickly placed a hand on the younger's shoulder.
"You know, I bet the Hyuuga is an animal in bed," the fan user said almost airily, but anyone who really knew her could tell that she said it as a test.
But whatever the test was, Tenten could not care less and her deepening blush needed to disappear. Now. "Temari, I think this conversation is done," she said weakly, seriously contemplating throwing an explosive tag and taking off into the trees.
"It's always the quiet ones, you know. Shika is a master with his shadow bindings," Temari continued, as though she didn't hear Tenten at all.
By now, Tenten's face was the color of Gaara's hair and desperately wanted to disappear. "I do not want to hear about what you and Shikamaru do in bed," she protested. She did not wake up at the crack of dawn to a Neji-less training ground and hear Temari spouting all this nonsense.
The older girl only winked at her and said, "You'll be wanting advice when you and that Hyuuga wind up in bed. I'm here for you, you know. We're best friends." Before Tenten could splutter about how she was not about to bed Neji and it would never happen, Temari already turned and began to walk away with a, "Well, I have things to do. Catch up with you later, Ten!"
Tenten merely stared mutely at her retreating back before muttering darkly about useless and idiotic friends and stupid Hyuugas who couldn't even tell her he wasn't coming for training and made her wake up for stupid conversations.. With a groan, she plopped down and decided to eat her late breakfast before destroying the training grounds with her precious weapons (she would never admit that she was hoping that Neji might show up).
Nope, Tenten was not having a great day at all, and it was barely ten in the morning.
Contrary to popular belief, Konohamaru and Hanabi were actually quite good friends. Also contrary to popular belief, the young Hyuuga was a mastermind at pranks and getting away undiscovered and unpunished. Incidentally, it was a prank that Hanabi played on the grandson of the late Hokage that led them to being such great friends.
Today, they were on a mission. A personal one. All because Hanabi loved her Neji-nii and Konohamaru looked up to Tenten like an older sister.
It had taken elaborate planning over the course of the last few months, and many ideas were thrown out before they came up with a perfect, finalized plan that led up to this day. It was simple, really - get Neji and Tenten together.
Konohamaru had his doubts in the beginning, but this was mastermind Hyuuga Hanabi after all, and she had reassured him that if she knew anything about Rock Lee and Yamanaka Ino, this would all work out flawlessly. Everything would fall into place and Konohamaru and Hanabi would be hailed geniuses of their generation, not that neither needed the confirmation; they knew they were smart. Maybe they didn't have Shikamaru's IQ, but they certainly were clever in their own way.
The self-proclaimed geniuses (though Hanabi was too proper to admit that out loud, unlike her Neji-nii) were currently walking down the streets of Konoha, eating dango that Hanabi insisted on buying. They headed towards Ichiraku's (Konohamaru was adamant about treating her since she had bought the dango, and she was tactful enough to agree), where they were waiting for a certain someone. Said someone wasn't exactly part of the plan, but she was more than happy to help out.
And Konohamaru and Hanabi didn't have to wait long for the helper to arrive.
"I never thought I had such an idiot for a best friend," Temari said in greeting to the two younger teens who had just received their bowls of ramen, and had even ordered one for the Sand nin, who promptly sat and dug in with vigor, almost as though she was eating away her exasperation.
"She pulled the weapons excuse again, didn't she," Hanabi said knowingly.
Temari nodded and put down her chopsticks as she hailed for old man Ichiraku to make her another bowl of ramen (and Konohamaru began to look slightly concern for the state of his wallet). "I have no idea what you two are up to, but I hope it works. That girl needs to get laid, and so does your cousin."
"If you're not busy later, you can come watch what's going to happen," Konohamaru offered. Hanabi nodded in agreement.
The older woman thanked Ichiraku for the second bowl of ramen then pursed her lips as she thought. "I have to go see your Hokage after this and then probably meet up with Shika. But I can probably make it. Training grounds?"
Konohamaru and Hanabi shared a look of amusement at the mention of Shikamaru but both nodded in confirmation. "Training grounds. She would wait there all day for Neji," Konohamaru said with a roll of his eyes.
"What happened to him anyways? Ten seemed really upset that he didn't show up for training."
Hanabi gave Temari a flicker of a genuine grin before offhandedly stating, "I have slipped something in his dinner. He'll be up within the hour."
"And I thought Kankuro was a master prankster," Temari muttered. She devoured the last of her ramen before standing up. "Well, thanks for the meal. I have to go report to Kakashi now. I'll meet you guys at the training grounds later."
The two Chuunin waved at her then finished up their own bowls of ramen. After Konohamaru paid, the two left ramen stall and continued on their walk,and it wasn't long before they saw Lee exit the Yamanaka flower shop from across the street and run towards the direction of the Hyuuga compound. The pair of best friends looked at each other with matching grins.
"Well, since everything seems going fine so far, whatcha say to finding some discount Valentine's Day chocolate?" Konohamaru proposed. He was rewarded with Hanabi's grin melting into a smile that matched the warmth in her eyes, the smile she usually reserved for him, Hinata, and Neji. It was the type of smile that Konohamaru firmly believed could stop all the world's problems (it was just a shame the smile was so rarely seen on Hanabi, who had been trained to not show emotion since she was a mere child).
"Let's," she replied, still genuinely smiling as she brushed past him and began walking towards the store. The taller male caught up easily, and their hands occasionally brushed against each other, thanks to the close proximity between them.
Neither reached out to hold the other's hand; they still had time to figure out things between them. Besides, at the moment, they were more concerned with the feelings of the two they considered surrogate siblings.
Hyuuga Neji was panicking.
He was usually a light sleeper and early riser, which was why his early morning sparring sessions with Tenten all these years worked out. But for some reason, he had difficulty waking up this morning. He had just woken up not too long ago and he knew without a doubt (the ridiculously bright sunlight that streamed through his window into his room also helped) that he was hours late to training with his female teammate. Hyuugas were not late, and Hyuugas most definitely did not panic.
But here he was, running in and out of his bathroom to prepare for the day while he thought of all the ways Tenten would puncture his body with her dangerous, pointy weapons. An angry Tenten was a Tenten you didn't want to trifle with. He quickly shook off the mental image of pissed off Tenten with her red face and heaving chest as she took a breather before shouting at how he couldn't even bother to tell her not to show up for training since he wouldn't be there. Angry Tenten also happened to be a terrifyingly attractive Tenten, and he did not need to head down that road.
He threw on his clothes and forehead protector before tying his hair in its customary loose ponytail. Stuffing a snack a maid gave him in the middle of his runs to the bathroom into his drawstring bag, he hurried down the halls of the Hyuuga compounds, ignoring his family members that greeted him and commented on how he was up late and that it was good to take a break once in a while.
Then he bodily crashed into someone.
Neji didn't think his day could get worse, never mind that he had been only been up for a short twenty minutes, but Fate truly liked to screw with him. It wasn't as though his green spandex-clad teammate had never shown up in the Hyuuga compound, but the few times he had were times that Neji liked to repress from his mind. Tenten was a much calmer, easy-going guest who, within one night, had made several friends in his distant cousins, and even Hiashi had complimented the girl in his own way. Granted, Tenten wasn't there to hear it, and only Neji and Hinata did, and it was a passing comment, but Hiashi never simply dished out compliments about anyone.
Lee was a whole different matter. He had no restraints, and while many of the Hyuuga were impressed by his Taijutsu skills, they were much less impressed by his enthusiasm that they did not know how to respond to. His green spandex was a stark contrast of the plain, white Hyuuga robes. They weren't sure what to make of his expressions of youth, and they had quickly learned to never, ever feed him even a drop of sake. Only Neji and Tenten together had managed to make him tone down his excitement, and Neji made him promise to never appear in the compounds by himself, lest he got himself in trouble.
So what the hell, Neji thought with more than a hint of exasperation, was Lee doing there, unattended, and crashing into him.
"Lee," he greeted, all his emotional turmoil thrown into that one word.
"Neji, my eternal rival! How great it is to see you!" Lee clapped a hand on Neji's shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the annoyance rolling off the Hyuuga in large waves.
"What are you doing here, Lee. I thought you promised to never come here without me knowing."
Lee only flashed his blinding smile at his teammate. "It's Valentine's Day, and Ino and I came up with a most youthful plan."
"I do not see how this involves me," Neji replied. He need to go to the training grounds now, where he was sure Tenten was, and apologize for not showing up earlier.
"Oh, but it does! We must go! Ino is waiting for us." Lee pulled Neji's arm, dragging him to and out the door, waving at Neji's family members who stared at the scene with poorly hidden amusement. It wasn't often the Hyuuga genius was seen pushed around.
Once they reached the streets, Neji pulled away from Lee's grip and brushed off his sleeve. "Fine," he said resignedly, following a whooping Lee to his doom.
The Hyuuga didn't panic, but they sure could get close to it.
Konohamaru and Hanabi had just come out of a grocery store, both holding bags filled with discount Valentine's day chocolate. They garnered more than a few odd looks because which couple went shopping for Valentine's day chocolate? Together? On Valentine's Day? Not that they knew the two weren't dating. But they simply ignored the looks shot their way and continued on to the next store, before Hanabi caught something in the corner of her eye and pulled Konohamaru into a nearby alley.
"What are you do-" Hanabi's hand on his mouth cut his question off, and nodding at her signal to be quiet, he followed her lead and peered around the corner.
He should have heard Lee's lively shouts early, but he had been too focus on his chocolate and Hanabi's happy face to pay attention to his surroundings. But, well, that was what the observant Hanabi was for, and he truly had to applaud her.
Lee and Neji were standing in front of the Yamanaka flower shop, and Konohamaru could tell from his side profile that Neji was most definitely not a happy man. In fact, he seemed almost nervous, and Konohamaru had to wonder if his eyes were deceiving him. But before he could dwell on it, Lee had already dragged the Hyuuga male into the flower shop, and Hanabi softly laughed at the expense of her Neji-nii.
So far, so good.
"Konohamaru? Hanabi?"
They jumped at the sound of their names and quickly turned around, ready to run if need be. But they relaxed when they saw that it was only Temari and Shikamaru, both of whom were giving them disbelieving looks. "What are you guys doing in the alley?" Temari asked, her face looking as though she had just walked into something scandalous.
The two younger pair had the decency to blush, but Hanabi, ever the poised one, quickly regained her composure and gestured for the two to join them in the alley. Temari and Shikamaru shared a look and shrugged before stepping into the alley as well.
"Neji-nii just went into the flower shop with Lee," Hanabi explained, and the disbelief on Temari and Shikamaru's faces cleared.
"So, everything is going to plan?" Temari asked, ignoring Shikamaru's now confused looked.
"Yes. And I am quite certain that Ino and Lee are doing their best to convince Neji-nii to take a bouquet of flowers."
"Why are the four of you standing in the alley?"
The four in question jumped at the sound of the new voice, and looked up to see Tenten with a hand on her hip. "Well?" she asked, almost with a hint of suspicion.
Temari looked at Konohamaru and Hanabi, clearly questioning what in their plan went wrong because last she heard, Tenten was supposed to be at the training grounds. Shikamaru looked from face to face to face before everything clicked in his head and he realized what all this was about.
The tinkle of a bell and the voices of Lee, Ino, and Neji saved them from having to answer Tenten, and they were relieved to see that her attention to turned to the trio. More specifically, Neji.
She stalked up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, eliciting a wince from everyone watching - this was not going to end well for Neji.
But before she could say anything, he shoved the bouquet of flowers into her face with a mumbled, "Happy Valentine's Day?"
A dark blush rose to Tenten's cheeks and was starting to spread to the tips of her ears and her neck. But her eyes narrowed dangerously and her grip on his shirt tightened. "Excuse me?"
Neji cleared his throat, even as a blush colored his own cheeks. "I'm sorry for not showing up for training. And I know we both think this is an useless commercial holiday but nonetheless, Happy Valentine's Day," he replied steadily.
Shikamaru shook his head at the Hyuuga prodigy, while Temari and Ino had to control themselves so as to not throttle Neji. For someone said to be a genius, he sure was dense when it came to emotions, though Hanabi would argue that all Hyuugas came out that way, herself included.
"Hyuuga Neji, I did not wake up early in the morning for you to never show up to training and for me to hear Temari talk about relationships, and now I have to polish all of my weapons again because I threw them too hard at the targets and the trees and you have the audacity to appear in front of me with a half-ass apology, a bouquet of flowers, and a stupid 'Happy Valentine's day'?!"
She was now completely red in the face, and she was panting from having yelled all that in a single breath, and Neji was uncomfortably reminded of the mental image a mere half an hour ago and he thought of how unfair it was that she was so, so, so pretty, with wild strands of her hair that escaped her buns, her little braid (that she had just added to her usual hairstyle two years ago) swinging around in her fit of rage, and her lips parted.
"Are you just going to stare at me all day?"
The small audience that had gathered around the scene struggled to hold in their laughter because an angry weapons wielding kunoichi and an embarrassed Hyuuga prodigy were not the two types of people you wanted to cross.
But a high-pitched giggle of a child didn't go unnoticed by the two teammates, and they looked around to find that a circle had formed around them. Tenten loosened her grip on Neji's shirt but didn't let go completely, the bouquet of flowers now uncomfortably under her chin.
The Hyuuga sighed. "I've been trying to push this back, but Lee and Ino are most persuasive," he shot the grinning two flower-obsessed people a glare. "And I did not expect for this to happen in these...circumstances," he continued, his glare now almost murderous as he looked at the people surrounding him, even picking out the rest of the Rookie Nine's faces. But he turned back to Tenten, his face now soft with emotion that she didn't expect to see on his face, much less directed at her, and suddenly, her anger had disappeared and she was inexplicably nervous. But in retrospect, there was nothing to worry about.
"Tenten, I love you. More than as a best friend." Blunt and straight to the point, as expected of Neji.
"I...I love you too," she replied, a dazed expression on her face. She should have expected this, there were all the signs, signs that she ignored, signs that her friends make her see.
"The way you like your weapons?" he quipped, the infuriating smirk twisting his lips upward.
"Maybe, maybe just slightly more," she shot back, her eyes now challenging.
"That's not what I heard from Hanabi."
Her eyes narrowed. "What nonsense did she make up now?"
But instead of replying, Neji merely smiled and pulled her in for a warm hug, the bouquet of flowers crushed between them, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. He pulled back a little and pecked her forehead, his bangs tickling her cheeks.
"We didn't go through all that for no kiss!" Konohamaru shouted from the opening of the alleyway where he, Hanabi, Temari, and Shikamaru stepped out of.
"He is right, my youthful teammates!" Lee added, and Ino nodded next to him, an impish smile on her face.
"Remember what I said earlier, Ten! My promise still holds true," Temari put in, giving Tenten a roguish wink.
Before Tenten could retort, Neji lowered his mouth to her ear. "What did she promise you?"
His proximity was starting to make her lightheaded, and maybe she did want to go to Temari for advice later on (and maybe pin her to a tree with some well placed kunai if she teased her too much), because his lips were ghosting the shell of her ear and she couldn't suppress the shiver of pleasure that ran down her spine.
"Not telling." She had meant to say it playfully, but it came out as breathy and dammit she could not think clearly, not when he was doing things to her without actually doing anything and she was so frustrated, and it was all so impulsive, but she placed her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him.
Cheers erupted in the crowd (everyone knew of the two teammates and waited a long, long time for this day to come), but Tenten and Neji heard none of it, too enraptured in each other.
Neither could explain what they felt in that one moment, but it was when Tenten finally learned that Neji was also a genius with his lips and his tongue and his hands that left trails of warmth throughout her body where he touched her.
But then he finally pulled away and gave her a soft smile and another chaste kiss on the lips before turning to a smug looking Hanabi.
"Well, Hanabi, would you say your plan was a success?"
The smugness left her face, and she was left speechless, as was Konohamaru. They looked at each other and silently asked each other, how the hell did he know?
"You two weren't exactly subtle," Neji explained, amused at their shocked expressions, and Tenten shook her head and laughed.
"Well, now that you two are done meddling in everyone's business, I suppose it's our turn to meddle in yours?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, a hand on her hip, the other holding the bouquet of crushed flowers Ino made Neji take.
Shikamaru, Temari, Neji, Lee, and Ino all turned to the youngest two of their group with grins of varying levels of mischievousness.
"Um, no, we still..." Konohamaru looked around for any sort of excuse, and his eyes alighted on the bags of chocolate in his and Hanabi's hands. "We still have all this chocolate to finish and there's more we have to buy so, uh, bye!"
He tugged on Hanabi's arm, who let him, and they both took to the rooftops, much to the amusement of everyone around.
You still owe me for never showing up to training," Tenten directed at Neji, trying her best to look angry, but her lips twitching into a smile.
"I'll make it up to you," he replied, taking her hand and pulling her towards the training grounds they had come to call their own, and Tenten had to fight down the urge to throw a kunai at the suggestive grin on Temari's face.
A/N: Yeah...I have no idea what this ending is and it turned out so disgustingly fluffy jfc I'm so horrified with myself OTL. And yeah, I can't do romance, whoops hahahahahaha orz.