"Neji! I never knew! Have you finally fallen for the sweet charms our dear Tenten has?" a very boisterous Maito Gai thundered, causing the birds in nearby trees to leave their roosts and take to the sky, "You have no idea how proud of you I am! Finally overcoming your fate you used to believe in, you are a different person from the boy you once were before!"

Neji and Tenten found themselves squashed against each other as two green spandex-clad ninjas proceeded to envelop Team Gai in a tight group hug. Their breaths mingled in the same few cubic centimeters as their eyes met. If Gai and Lee squeezed any harder, their lips would touch and they would…

Kiss.

Gai and Lee, unfortunately, didn't let their poor lip-locked teammates up until several minutes had elapsed. Tenten glared at Lee while Neji shot daggers at Gai.

"You idiots!" she roared, her recently bruised lips widening into a perfect O, "You made us kiss! Kiss! Idiots!"

Tenten proceeded to punctuate every insult she spewed with a volley of kunai hurled at the unsuspecting dynamic duo, now wholly horrified at the sacrilege they had committed. Lee and Gai raised their forearms to protect themselves from Tenten and Neji's combined efforts of extermination.

After reducing the two to a heap of bloody and battered flesh, Tenten sat down. Neji eyed her carefully as she was still reveling in the satisfaction of serving up her long bottled up anger. Would she beat the crap out of him too for having kissed her? Several moments of awkward silence passed before Tenten delivered her verdict.

"Fine. I'll do it."

"Why?"

"No, Neji, don't you 'why' me! I'm sure you aren't romantically interested or something dumb like that. Just spit out the real reason. You should be the one answering that question. Not me!"

Neji leaned forward, clearing a path through the hazardous waste they had both created. He sat down in front of her and shook her gently on the shoulder until she looked him in the eye. It was time to come clean to the woman he would owe his future sanity to (assuming any was still left). If he was going to spill, then she'd better listen.

"Thank you," he said in a soft, firm voice before wrapping his arms around her, hugging someone for the first time since his father had died.

What was wrong with Neji? First, he had kissed her (though that had been an accident). Now, he was hugging her? Really.

Neji let go a few seconds later and calmly related his story. His nonchalance shocked Tenten. Surely he was nervous about doing this for the first time, too?

My uncle. A slight grimace and creasing of his brows.

Hinata and Naruto, married. A deep frown that tugged the corners of his eyes down.

Tenten. A sigh and slight smirk.

"Wait a second. Am I going to marry you?" Tenten whispered at the end of his tale. Neji could be nice when he wanted to, but this was too much too early.

"No, no. I think the best plan of action would be to start off with a couple of dates. Convince my uncle that I am still…ah…human, and hormonal, and whatever ridiculous ideas he has. For us to pull this off, especially in front of Hiashi, we'll have to rehearse a couple of times."

Finally, the question that had been ricocheting around in her skull.

"Ihavetokissyouandhugyouanddr apemyselfalloveryouandspenda lonetimewithyou?" came out in a stream of hurried slurs from Tenten's lips. This took a few moments for both of them to decipher.

"I think we just have to hold hands and embrace occasionally. My uncle knows not to expect too much," Neji responded, cynicism tainting his comments.

"But that's beside the point, you're avoiding my question."

"What question?" Tenten inquired uneasily, she had a feeling Neji was going to ask again.

"Why did you do it?"

Ah, of course. Neji was a genius. It should have been obvious to her that he would ask again. Genius.

"I guess I owe you a lot for watching my back in all those missions. Heck, if Lee had asked, I probably would have said yes too."

"Lee?"

"Well, maybe not Lee. Seeing the Beautiful Great Green Beast of Konoha on a daily basis is enough." Tenten smiled, her eyes creasing into two happy crescent moons.

Completely ignoring the mass of green groans and grunts, Neji and Tenten stood up and headed off towards the Hyuuga compound to put their master plan into action. While in the middle of one of the more busy streets in Konoha, Neji reached out and laced his fingers with Tenten's. Several passing fan girls burst into tears, any prospects of reaching the accomplished Hyuuga dashed upon the rocks of despair or sucked straight into the straits of sorrow. Even a heatedly arguing Team Seven stopped short and let their jaws drop.

Sakura recovered quickest and gave Tenten a roguish wink before mouthing "Go get him!" Naruto stopped and nudged a plotting Sasuke, who apparently had only stopped walking because he would have tripped over Naruto otherwise, and that was a disgrace the Uchiha could not stomach. After searching his surroundings in the calculated manner one who is hunted usually possesses, he spotted Neji. More specifically, Neji and Tenten. Even more specifically, Neji and Tenten holding hands together and walking side by side. A competitive glare passed between the white eyes and black pupils. Neji and Tenten strolled past the gawking unbelievers.

"What are you doing?" she managed to hiss out several seconds later, realizing their fingers were still locked comfortably together.

Neji just smirked.

"I'm staking my possession and getting the general public to understand our new 'relationship'," he drawled sarcastically. To complete the image of overprotective ANBU boyfriend, he glared at all passing males in the street. Several actually veered off of their original course and gave the new couple a wide berth. An uncontrollable urge to laugh at and chide the prodigy overcame Tenten and she half-heartedly slapped Neji on the arm. He feigned a pained look.

"Does my Tenten not love me anymore?" he trilled, arranging his usually stoic expression into one of Gai's or Lee's faces of streaming tears and utter emotion. The fact that she had said yes was still messing with his mind and he felt like an idiot. Genius. Just genius that he was converting himself into a Lee or Gai. Suddenly feeling paranoid, he checked to make sure his usual off-white outfit was on. Good, no stretchy spandexy suit.

Really, this wasn't as bad as she thought it was. She could live with Neji for a couple of months.

This was how Hyuuga Hiashi found them as he exited a nearby scrolls shop. The sudden sight of his emotionally detached nephew spewing puppy eyes upon a laughing Tenten proved too much for him and he took on the expression of one who had just swallowed a good gallon of sour and spoiled milk, the kind that had acquired lumps in it. One particular lump was jammed in his throat and refusing to budge.


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