Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prompt #1: Routine - They have to train together. Their sanity depends on it.

Words: 817

"Now, my youthful teammates, let us divide and begin our glorious training!" announced Gai.

"Oh yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted with happiness. "May I partner with you?"

"Of course, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Neji and Tenten looked at their gushing sensei and teammate, then shared a look with each other. Tenten pointed into the woods with a silent question in her eyes. Neji nodded wearily, and they left the other half of their team to head for their traditional training spot.

Hyuuga Neji learned a long time ago that it was best to train with Tenten.

When they'd first become a team, Lee had always started challenging Neji to random fights. Neji always beat him simply because he was better. A pompous reason, but utterly true.

Training with Gai was somewhat more challenging, but then again, it was Gai. Gai was, most definitely, just a more powerful version of Lee. Once you understood the basic concepts of his taijutsu, it was easy to nullify his attacks with Juken and defeat him. After a couple dozen such fights, Gai decided that he could teach more to Lee than to Neji.

After Lee took a couple months to really bone up on Gai's signature fighting style, he came up to challenge Neji again. Once again, Neji was victorious. And worse, he was bored. Being a genius meant that he couldn't compete with anyone not on his level because he couldn't be bothered enough to go all out.

Then Tenten approached him one day and asked if he'd like to be her moving target.

The idea intrigued him. Not only because he knew almost nothing about the girl, but because it seemed to be a challenge.

That, and she seemed more sane than the other two buffoons on Team Gai.

Tenten learned a long time ago that it was best to train with Hyuuga Neji.

As a weapons girl, she knew her strengths. Long range attacks, mostly, and close range whenever she had a big enough blade. So she wanted to get better. 100 percent accuracy.

Therefore, she needed to get someone to train with.

Lee was out of the question. He meant well, but he just wasn't fast or clever enough. Even after training with Gai all that time, wearing weights and with greater stamina, Tenten was still able to outwit him.

Gai was a bit more interesting, since he was a jonin. But soon he would slip up and fall victim to her traps. There was also his whole spiel about her being a "youthful flower" or some such nonsense that always made Tenten want to accidentally stab him.

Which left Neji. Prodigy, with Byakugan eyes that were virtually impossible to sneak up on, and even better, bored out of his mind. Tenten had a good feeling that he would be more than willing to train with her.

It still took a great deal of courage to walk up to him and ask if he'd like to be her moving target.

It started out as a necessity. They had to train, and neither could really train with Gai or Lee to their full potential.

Tenten quickly realized that Neji was no pushover. His Juken was an impressive defensive tactic, as was his Byakugan. She was quickly learning how to attack from various angles at once, with delayed attacks, and all while moving to avoid his own attacks.

Neji soon learned that Tenten wasn't just a weapons fanatic. She had intuition and the brains to use her weapons to their full advantage. Soon he had to push himself to dodge, block, and repel all her attacks.

It was during their first missions that they reaped the fruits of their training. He was close range, she was long range. They moved with assuredness, never hesitant about the other's moves. Between the two of them, the enemy was good as dead.

So they kept training together.

"I've got a question for you, Neji," Tenten asked as they were setting up.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

She tapped her chin with her kunai's handle. "Why is it that we're still sane after being with those nutbars for the last few years?"

Neji didn't hesitate. "Because we don't train with them."

"That could be it," she said, laughing. Opening her scroll, she grinned at him. "Ready?"

In response, Neji sank into his stance as she took to the trees.

Just as they had since that first day.

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