I am with you, now I've got to explain
Things, they have changed in such a permanent way
Life seems unreal, can we go back to your place?

- The Strokes
Alone, Together

Tenten panted. She gripped a kunai tightly and pressed her back into the tree she was hiding behind.

If you could call it hiding, seeing as Neji knew exactly where she was.

She had exhausted most of her weapons in their current training session and was focused on keeping her distance so that she wouldn't fall within range of his Gentle Fist.

She almost never won their spars, but that didn't matter to her, the fact that she could hold her own against him for so long made her proud. Years of training with Neji had taught her a lot about the Byakugan and she knew his strengths and weaknesses well.

But now she was out of ideas and she was getting bored with hiding, with training.

She was looking forward to when their spar would finally end. They would sit down together, eat lunch, and - Tenten's stomach fluttered - kiss.

She thought back to there first kiss. She still wasn't sure how long he'd had feelings for her. Had he fallen for her that easily, as she'd predicted, or had he been good at hiding it?

She didn't let the details worry her too much, though. He had made a place in her heart for a few years. Every now and then he would cause small palpitations to flutter through her. They seemed to happen more often now. She had always been able to hide it before, but now it was harder.

Her heart fluttered again and she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard him approach. She pushed herself away from the tree and tightened her grip on her kunai.

But she'd let herself get distracted, and as soon as she made to move she felt his fingers push into her legs, rapidly. And then all of the tenketsu points in her legs were closed.

She wobbled. Neji caught her before she fell, his arms wrapped tight around her waist. Her hands remained fisted against his chest, still holding the kunai.

She panted again, this time from excitement.

Their eyes met and he smiled at her. "I win."

"No!" She knew he did win, but wasn't ready to admit defeat so easily.

"You can't stand up!"

She responded by holding her kunai to his throat, giving just enough pressure to remind him that she could still win in her state.

Neji leaned in and kissed her. Tenten gasped. This wasn't part of their schedule. It was too early for kisses. Once the surprise had faded, she kissed him back. His tongue slid into her mouth and a small moan squeaked out of her throat. She felt her hand become lighter, as he plucked the kunai from her fingers. She wrapped her now free arms around his neck and they kissed for another minute before breaking. Neji pressed kisses up her jaw, making Tenten dizzy with excitement, when he reached her ear he paused. Instead of another sweet kiss he whispered to her instead. "Now I win."

The intimacy ended and she was back in the forrest, her legs weak beneath her. And it dawned on her that the kunai was gone. She remembered him taking it, but she hadn't really thought about it. She furrowed her brow as he pulled back to meet her gaze, a teasing smile on his lips.

"You cheated," she complained.

His smile left. "That's not possible, Tenten, there's no cheating in a battle."

"You can't just kiss your opponent into defeat!"

"I just did." He'd got her there. Tenten just pouted and looked down, her arms still around his neck. She played with a few strands of his hair, absentmindedly.

"No fair," she finally complained.

Neji shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well."

She looked up at him again, just in time to be met with another kiss.

Now that their spar was officially over she let herself react more to his kiss. Their tongues met again and her stomach fluttered and she felt a growing desire deep inside of her. She felt small bursts of his chakra in her legs, he was opening up the tenketsu points he had closed.

To her, it didn't make a difference, she wouldn't be able to stand either way.

Once he finished, he kept one arm around her waist and let the other roam over her.

She loved and hated this part. His fingers felt amazing and she was always surprised about how sensitive her body was to his touch, even with so many layers of clothing between them.

It was never quite enough for her though but she wasn't about to risk getting caught at the training grounds. Recovering from a kiss when someone was approaching was easy enough, recovering naked? Not so easy.

But the more they kissed the more she wanted from him. Every time his fingers brushed over her nipples she wondered how much better his hands would feel if clothing wasn't interfering.

As if reading her mind, his hand slipped under her shirt, leaving a warm path from her stomach up to her bra. She broke their kiss and panted heavily, looking down as his hand morphed the shape of her shirt over her breast. He ran his thumb over her erect nipple and she moaned softly.

They kissed again as he played with the sensitive piece of flesh, rolling it around in his fingers and pulling small moans out of her.

She clung to him tightly, not sure how much longer it would last, gasping again when she felt him pull her hips tighter against his, letting her feel his desire for her.

And just like that it was over.

His hand withdrew from her shirt and he broke their kiss.

She frowned. This had been the most adventurous they had gotten and now it was over.

"Lee and Guy are on their way."

He confirmed her suspicions. She also was amazed at how he could manage to focus on his surroundings enough to sense their chakra. She had carelessly ignored everything that wasn't Neji.

She untangled herself from him, a rush of cold sweeping in to cruelly remind her that she was no longer in his arms. She smoothed out her shirt as she tried to collect herself, suddenly hyperaware of the wetness between her legs.

She looked over to Neji, who had already composed himself and was waiting for her to walk back to the clearing.

She sighed, wishing her body would calm down. She wasn't prepared to face her other teammates, but she didn't have much of a choice now.

They reached their belongings and she plopped herself onto the grass and reached for Neji's backpack, where she knew a thermos of hot tea was waiting for her.

He sat down next to her as she began to dig into his bag. "Can I help you?" He teased.

"Nope, I found it!" She grinned as she pulled the thermos out of his bag. She looked in again and pulled out four mugs. Neji always brought enough tea for everyone to their training sessions. He took the thermos from her and opened the lid.

Tenten left two mugs on the ground, next to her, and held the other two out for Neji to pour the tea into.

The hot tea warmed her hands through the ceramic and she smiled, enjoying the heat.

She eagerly sipped the tea, hoping it would calm her down. She still hadn't been able to quell her desire and she knew that Lee's presence would only frustrate her.

Surely enough, she sighed as she saw Lee and their sensei appear in the tree line, bodies clad in green spandex, walking on their hands, balancing their lunches on top of their heads.

When they arrived, exploding with energy, the four sat together and ate lunch. Tenten let herself daydream while Lee talked excitedly about his morning training session with Guy, while Guy nodded proudly at his student.

Neji would add a comment every now and then but Tenten stayed mostly silent, her body hyperaware of Neji's next to her and her mind back in the woods.

Her heart sped up and she felt herself flush as her body began to react automatically to the memory.

She cursed silently. Lunch was going to be long.

~o0o~

By the time lunch was over, Tenten was frustrated and flustered. What was even more frustrating was knowing that she couldn't spend the afternoon with Neji today. He had an afternoon training session with Hinata.

So she reluctantly let him walk her home, knowing that he couldn't stay.

They reached her door and paused.

"You sure you don't want to come with me?" Neji started, "Hinata-sama would enjoy seeing you."

Tenten smiled, she liked Hinata.

"Tempting, but I'd like to take a shower first. I'll stop by after." She fished her key out of her pocket and sighed.

"Ok." He took her key from her and unlocked her apartment, letting her in. Neji stepped inside behind her and closed the door. He pulled her into a quick, deep kiss. They parted. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah," she sighed. And with that he was gone, closing the door softly behind him.

Tenten sighed again, feeling that familiar feeling between her legs again and made her way into her room, peeling off her clothes. She reached her bed and looked at her nightstand, feeling her stomach flip.

She opened the top drawer and chewed her lip.

She retrieved a slim toy from the drawer and moved towards the bathroom. She was running short on time. If her "shower" took to long, Neji would ask questions.

And she certainly wasn't ready to come up with a lie as to why she was late, only to have him call her out. And she certainly wouldn't admit that she was late because she was masturbating.

Something told her, however, that after the events that morning, she wouldn't need long.

A/N: Kind of a shorter chapter, but I wanted to do a follow up. Haven't had too much time to write this week. More to come.