Second one! That's good progress :)
So, yes.
Theme: Love
Pairing: Neji/Tenten
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. ~O~
"Neji!" came the voice that he had been longing to here. He opened his eyes and started to walk forward, frowning as she stopped and spun around, heading in the direction of the training fields.
Normally, Tenten would wait.
Normally, Neji would catch up with her.
Normally, they would walk together, talking about anything that came to mind.
Normally, they would get jumped upon by Rock Lee and Maito Guy.
Normally, they would ignore them and then train in the far corner.
But this didn't seem to be a normal day. Firstly, Tenten seemed to be fuming about something. Her usual calm and pleasant manner seemed to be displaced by an evil aura. Neji caught up with her and stared at her whilst they continued to walk. "Tenten?"
She turned to stare at him. "What, Hyuuga?" Tenten didn't snap. Tenten was ever calm, ever patient, the lodestone of Team Gai. She was the one that calmed everyone down, the one that managed to stop Lee and Gai's antics and the only one who could make Neji talk for all he was worth, smile and act like pretty much every other shinobi in the leaf.
She didn't snap. And she most definitely did not glare at him as though she wanted him to drop dead. At the moment, Neji would rather face countless hordes of enemy ninja and then a thousand years trapped inside a cage than face Tenten now.
"What's the matter?" he asked, half-hoping she would laugh and yell "April's fool!" although it was still only January.
"Nothing. At least, nothing to do with you," she snapped once again, nose in the air and flounced ahead of him.
He should run. He should tell her now that he had an important meeting with a Hyuuga elder, and then make up a name. He should claim to be ill. He should insist on training with Gai and Lee. He should scream. He should instantly run away and find a nice quiet corner to cower in.
But, being Hyuuga Neji, he refused to listen to common sense. He refused to back down to his friend. He was going to get to the bottom of this, whatever it took. And, if that meant his life, then so be it. He opened his mouth to start an interrogation that would put Ibiki to shame, but was cut off.
"Can you believe that he would say that? How bloody dare he say that! I was going to rip him apart if Hinata and Ino hadn't stopped me," she half-growled, fingering a kunai as though the he she was talking about would appear in front of her.
He. So, it was a him. The only males that Tenten was friends with were the males in what was left of the Genin 9. So, that would be Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Kiba or Lee.
He could cross Shikamaru and Chouji out. They had spent enough time with Ino to know that hurting a girl's feelings was one thing they should only do if they had a death pact. Especially if that girl happened to be a weapons mistress.
It wouldn't be Shino. Shino would never do something like that.
Lee could never annoy Tenten to the brink of her threatening to murder him, no matter how much he, Neji, strayed close to the brink, and sometimes beyond.
So there was only Kiba left. However, a doubt lingered at the back of his mind. Kiba was close friends with Hinata, and, although he teased her, he knew how girls became narked easily. No matter his brash exterior, he was kind-hearted. Very, very deep down inside.
Whoever it was, he was going to murder them.
"Who?"
"It wasn't even me who started it!" she protested, as though he had been accusing her of something. "I was just walking with the others, and then he was stalking us-"
"Stalking?" Neji boggled, staring at her.
"Exactly! And then we went to that little place that does ramen, you know, Ichiraku's? And the others all went somewhere, and made these really lame excuses, and I was the only one left, then the guy, he comes up to me, right, and he starts chatting me up!"
"He what?" Neji snapped. The boy was dead meat now. He would rip him up and then punch him into next week. How dare he! Tenten was his friend, not a random person that didn't even know her!
"And he was just so…wow. I mean…he was so…sweet, and cute and gorgeous and stuff, so I let him, and I kind of flirted back a little…"
Neji switched off there and then. No matter how good a friend Tenten was, he could not and would not listen to her talking about a male like that. It wasn't that he liked her in any way or anything, it was simply because he was concerned that the guy would end up breaking her heart. Nothing more. At least, he tried to assure himself.
"And then he kissed me, and I didn't stop him-"
"WHAT?" Neji snapped, his neck almost falling off as he turned to look at her abruptly.
No…Neji Hyuuga was jealous, and it was not a pleasant feeling. He would kill that person.
"Exactly! And I was screaming at myself inside but I just…went with the flow and stuff and so….that was it. And then we stopped, and we started talking, and he asked me if I was apprenticed to anything, and I said I was a kunoichi and he just gave me this look, one that said 'the hell?' all over, and he said, he said "ninja can't love!" And then he ran off like that! And now.." she trailed off, staring at the ground miserably. She was doubting herself, that much was obvious. He sighed, and stopped. It wouldn't matter now, not here. They had reached the training grounds, far from the eyes of anybody else.
Still…he might regret this.
He touched her shoulder, and she turned around with a slightly questioning gaze at him. He brushed a finger down her cheeks and smiled. "Well…ninja can love. Because if I can manage it…you can too. Even if the person you love doesn't love you back…there's still the fact that you can love. And…I love you."
She didn't say anything. When he had touched her shoulder, her heart had skyrocketed to a beat she didn't know it could manage. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, in shock.
Neji smiled ruefully. He turned his back on her. "Like I said…the fact that you can love is the important thing."
Suddenly, she was standing in front of him, a shy smile on her face. She leant up and kissed him quickly on the lips, blushing profusely.
Neji smiled, as he wrapped his arms around her. No. He definitely didn't regret this.
~O~O~