Chapter Two: I apparently got hit in the head, but I don't remember…
"Strong work," Tenten complimented the ninja above her, who was still holding her arms above her head, pinning her neatly to the floor. Kankuro was quite suddenly aware that he was straddling her now, her face up, and, even if she had let him do so, there was no way out of the position that she was now in until he got his massive body and all of its weight off of her.
"Now let me up, so I can show you how to counter," she explained in a friendly, detached sort of way. She showed no signs that their current predicament was at all suggestive. He hesitated, reveling in the fact that she was at his mercy now, she unable to move unless he willed it so.
He sneered at the thought of that. He let her up slowly, reluctantly. He wondered if there was more to it than a faux victory he was relishing.
The last two weeks she had switched gears in her training with him, showing him moves and then him testing them out on her. He had managed to stop calling her names and cursing her, except when he realized how sore a muscle was when he moved a certain way. She had in turn focused on his learning strategies: somehow he didn't hate her so much anymore. It was probably the way they constantly teased each other (him no longer actually wishing she were dead, only teasing her that he wish she were), or had hung out in their spare time at the apartment that Temari and Tenten shared. Perhaps, it was her candid attitude and sassiness that he couldn't rightly stay mad at because he appreciated it. Heaven forbid his instructor was some blushing swooning idiot. Kame save him if that were the case. Tenten was down to earth; the fact that she stayed his instructor after how furious he was with her (and himself) for the first week was a testament to his brother's choice for her to do the job. He would have to thank him later.
"Kankuro, I said grab my hips," Tenten had apparently repeated.
"What?" He replied stupidly. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his hands and placed them firmly around her small torso.
"Get a good grip, I am a wiggle worm," she backed slightly into him so he could do just that. She shook her hips from side to side to emphasis the need for a firm grip but in a playful manner. Kankuro marveled at how his hands nearly engulfed the entire space of her waist. He liked this he kept repeating to himself unconsciously.
"Now all you have to do is use the leverage of your body, grab the arm and fold from the qua and…"
Tenten flipped him nimbly onto his back as she flung him over the front of her body.
Kankuro blinked up at her as she smiled above him. "Now you try."
Kankuro had to admit he liked this way of teaching more. He wasn't just being toyed with; she was actually showing him some quality moves that were advantageous for his body type. He flipped her carefully to the ground then followed it with an impromptu straddle, anchoring her arms above her head again.
"That wasn't part of the move I just showed you," she said raising an eyebrow at him in a scolding manner.
He leaned in greedily, lower his voice a octave as he spoke with a smug expression, "Just improvising."
"I trust my teammate can get up now?" Neji suddenly called from the corner. His eyes narrowed on the bully-type figure still hovering over Tenten with an all too familiar look in his eyes.
"Former teammate," Kankuro corrected. He focused on the silver-eyed jounin as they both exchanged scathing looks. He never did like that long-haired ex-teammate of hers. Such a pretty-boy. He wondered vaguely if they were dating. Something not unheard of in a team cell. He knew that look the smaller-framed boy was giving him now. Kankuro was muscling in on his turf and Neji was here to re-stake his claim.
"You can have your girlfriend back," he continued, "gotta cut this one short anyway, I have a meeting with Gaara." He got off of her hastily and pushed past Neji nearly bumping into him as he did.
"Looks like we all have the same meeting," Neji's calm and infiltrating voice breeched his back.
Great, he was joining the meeting- that meant he might be there to supposedly improve his taijutsu skills, or worse, stay for a while in his hometown. He tried to suppress a cringe.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Kankuro couldn't suppress his smile. His face was starting to hurt but he didn't care. After the news that the asshole protégé had somehow weaseled his way into his training sessions with him, all he wanted to do was kill something.
This was so much better.
Tenten dodged a blow and round housed her former comrade in one swift movement. The effect was him staggering backward, and a moment later, re-evaluating the range of motion on his jaw.
She was commander in this mission and Neji couldn't say shit. He loved it. Neji had to do what she said, and right now, he was playing practice dummy as she assaulted him. She seemed to want to beat him up almost as much as he did. Things just couldn't get any better.
He quickly wiped the triumphant look on his face and replaced it with a scowl.
"I'm not sure I can do that," he said giving her his best look of uncertainty.
"Sure you can," Tenten encouraged him with a genuine smile, "go ahead and try the same move but," she came closer to him and whispered in his ear to block the move to his left not right, and to be sure to follow through on his kick because Neji was likely to try and dodge if he knew it was coming.
He really did try to hide his face-splitting grin as the female ninja leaned in close to him. Her whispers licked his ears in feather touches and he thoroughly enjoyed the sudden secrecy they shared while Neji sat out.
The look on that jerk's face was priceless.
Kankuro was most acutely aware that while explaining how to do the move she had gently placed her hand on his shoulder as he hunched over to hear. The subtle contact wasn't lost on Neji either and he continued to glare holes into the puppeteer. Kankuro's smile widened. He nodded for a final time at her directions, then plastered on his serious face.
"Ok, I'll give it a shot," Kankuro quickly moved after she broke contact and he lurched towards the unsuspecting leaf-nin. He dodged the block from the left on the assumption that Tenten wouldn't steer him wrong and turned his velocity to his qua, kicking his leg out in a circular motion aiming for the younger man's girly face. The result was the same as Tenten's: Kankuro blocked Neji's attack and countered in one fluid motion. Neji's jaw audibly creaked.
"Nice job," Tenten beamed at her student and they exchanged high-fives.
"A word, Tenten," Neji rubbed his hand over the side of his face with irritation.
Kankuro noticed that she suddenly stiffened, but only for a split second before she moved over to the corner to converse with him on a side note. Kankuro began to preoccupy himself with stretching all the while trying in vain to read their lips out of the corner of his eye.
They were both facing him, Tenten with her arms over her chest trying not to look pissed; Neji, visibly pissed, but keeping his voice low enough that he couldn't be heard.
Whatever the request that Neji had, it fell on deaf ears as Tenten used the equivalent of a look that mimicked disgust and rolling of her eyes all at once. She was neither impressed with him, nor pleased.
Good, Kankuro thought. Time to try to get a rouse out of the two, he didn't get an answer before whether or not she was his girlfriend. They were all too good at brushing off his provoking comment.
"Hey you two lovebirds," he called out to get their attention. "We gunna do this or what? I have 20 more minutes before I have to run home and wash up for dinner."
Neji smirked at this comment. The two ninja prepared for some serious close-combat and they leaned in to intimidate each other out of the earshot of Tenten who was looking on from the sidelines. They glared at each other as they prepared to start sparing on her command.
"Didn't know trash like you actually showered," Neji mumbled under his breath.
"Jealous you aren't invited? Don't be: my sister can't cook," Kankuro blew off the comment to let his sink in. Tenten shared an apartment with Tamari when she stayed in town and vice versa in Konoha. It was a well known fact in both hidden villages. In Suna, the two rented a condo close to the Hokage's tower three blocks down from where Gaara and he shared one. Kankuro's face split into an evil grin as the information registered on the pale-eyed Hyuga. With out warning, the Byakugan user attacked, and before Kankuro could even realize what had happened there was screaming from Tenten and the world whooshed dark for a moment.
"YOU ASSHOLE," Tenten shoved the pompous jounin aside and leaned over Kankuro. Kankuro blinked in confusion as Tenten helped him to a seated position. Tenten checked his pupils and started asking a lot of questions that mostly confused him.
"What day of the week is it?" She asked as she cradled his head in her hands turning it side to side to check for damage.
"Wednesday," came his feeble reply. What was going on?
"Where are you at?" the girl questioning him looked pretty concerned as she kept inspecting his eyes and head. There was a guy behind her rolling his eyes.
"Training field eight," he replied. She frowned.
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Kankuro."
"Kankuro, what are you doing tonight?" she was warm and she smiled down on him.
"Whatever you want to, haven't had a chick ask me out in a while," his head rushed as he spoke his words, his tongue growing thick in his mouth.
"Whoa, Cowboy," Tenten steadied him at the shoulders to keep him from pitching over.
He shook his head suddenly as if trying to draw the fuzziness out of it.
She linked up underneath his arms and he stood up with her supporting him.
"We going now," Kankuro responded dumbfounded, "cuz normally I try not to appear this easy." His tone was playful even though he obviously more than a little confused.
"Just follow me," Tenten softly lured him to walk with her, "we are going to go take a little trip to the hospital."
"Hospital's are very romantic. Why are we going there?" he queried down at the brunette with long lashes and big brown eyes at his side. His head bobbed slightly as he slurred his question.
"Its Friday, we are at training field number 32, and you have a concussion."
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
There was a lot of cursing coming from down the hall followed by the clanging of a bed pan crashing into a wall. Gaara guessed that was where he would find his brother. He would have to kill him for getting himself injured during a simple sparing match. Gaara had only been down the hall, getting a routine psychical from Ino when an orderly announced that his brother had been admitted. Not that he particularly enjoyed getting stabbed with needles, but Ino had been more forgiving than anyone else so far. She was busy trying to fix one of his shoulders strained from the constant tension his gourd caused him when they had been interrupted.
In truth he was starting to like the blonde konoichi, and wasn't quite sure was that meant. He was hoping to probe her for more answers before an orderly rudely interrupted the blonde leaning over so far that her pony tail tickled the front of his chest. She had been touching him unapologetically, even so far as to sit behind him on the gurney as to get a better angle to work out the hypertonic muscles. She had blushed so prettily not only when she had asked him to remove his shirt, but turned a darker shade after taking a look at him without it on.
Someone was going to have to pay.
His sand rattled anxiously in his gourd. He reached his brothers room and the orderly quickly left without a word.
"Somebody get this damn jutsu off of me!" Kankuro shouted as he tried to break his bindings from the bed. The rails rattled and banged against the wall as the massive shinobi lurched against his invisible restraints. Scratches turned to divots in the walls as the shinobi continued his violent attempt at an escape.
"Gaara!" Kankuro only paused a moment before jerking the bed forward once more. "Get me outta here! I need to kill that damned bastard for landing me in this mess!"
"I am told you have a concussion," Gaara said pointedly. "Who did this to you?"
"That asshole protégé from the leaf you let train with me and Ten-hey where are you going!" Kankuro stopped his thumping around to shout at his brother who was quickly making his exit down the hall.
Tenten slipped in the room. "Dispel!" she said with a simple hand seal and helped the shinobi off the bed quickly leading him down the hall. "Have I ever mentioned how much I like you?" Kankuro gave her a look like she was the best thing since sliced bread.
"Come on Cowboy, lets get you cleaned up for dinner, Temari is going to kill us both if we are late."
"I'ma kill that boyfriend, Gina, of yours," Kankuro stated with a lethal tone and a low growl.
"Neji," Tenten corrected blandly.
"Him too," Kankuro mumbled.
She stopped him as they reached the steps outside the hospital. She straightened him up and inspected him like she did before, first his eyes and then his head.
"Your fine," she released his head, "they told me not to take you until your brother had a chance to see you." Tenten apologized with a sincere 'I'm-sorry-that-was-the-soonest-I-could-spring-you-from-jail' smile.
They picked up their pace and walked along in silence: Kankuro with a casual stride and Tenten eyeballing the taller shinobi with a dubious look.
"Come on, Cowboy," Tenten grabbed his arm as Kankuro had missed the turn off towards their apartments. She gently led him in the right direction.
"I knew that," Kankuro shrugged and blew it off as if it weren't a big deal. He kept his leisurely pace and smiled politely and happily down at the konoichi beside him. Tenten sighed to herself. She was going to have to make sure the big lug didn't pass out in the shower and drown himself.
"I may have hit my head, but I am pretty sure I would have remembered if you were staying with me," Kankuro pushed the door open with a toothy grin. Tenten looked at him deadpan with her arms akimbo.
"Inside," she shoved him in and he stumbled backwards into dimly lit apartment.
"Oh, I like it rough, how did you know?" he smirked evilly at her and took the playful shove she offered again as he made his way to the bathroom.
"I will tell Temari that you didn't come because you hate her cooking if you mess with me right now," Tenten spoke loudly into the door.
"Try again, that is common knowledge."
"Just answer me with at least a grunt when I question you, so that I know you haven't passed out in the shower," Tenten explained. Simple.
"You got that? And if you are not drowning in a pool of your own blood when I open the door, you will be!"
Kankuro opened the door half-way. He had slipped out of his black sweaty bunraku outfit and was only sporting a fuzzy white towel around his waist and some smeared face paint. He leaned into to her space, a cocky grin playing on his face. "You could shower with me to conserve water. It would save time, too."
"No, but the next time I'm doing laundry, I'll give you a call," Tenten replied with the same playful look. She pointedly looked down at his stomach as if to explain. Wash board abs: perfectly sculpted from lifting heavy ass puppets all his life. She pushed him back inside and closed the door.
Kankuro was momentarily stunned with her open flirtatious manner, but he liked it. He was almost sad he couldn't get her to blush. He hopped in the shower stall and proceeded to clean himself off under the hot spray. "So how long have you and Neji been going out?" He found himself shouting over the rush of the water. He wanted a straight answer. All his little jibes had gotten not an ounce of what he wanted to know-which was if the two jounin were actually dating. He stood still while he waited for her response.
"That's funny I didn't think there was a lot of bad intel here in Suna,"
Kankuro smiled. That is what he wanted to hear.
"Sides, I don't swing that way."
"What!" Kankuro hoped that he hadn't heard her right. Dear Kame please no.
"I at least stick to my own species."
Kankuro chuckled. Now that was more like it.
A/N: More Neji bashing….are we really surprised?