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The Panda And The Dove: Nightmares
She remembered when she heard for the first time about Neji's battle and his awful state, when he was sent to retrieve Sasuke, years ago. She had nightmares for weeks afterwards, seeing him dying every night. "Nothing, I'll be fine." she answered him every time he asked her about what was wrong. But being the forever observant person Neji was he knew differently.
It was the fifth week of the nightmares, and not only was her form getting sloppy, but her accuracy had been off by a whole 50 degrees. As he watched her train he used his Byakugan to check up on her state of inner health. Her chakra levels were sporadic, indicating that she was exhausted. Without warning, he grabbed the weapon user's hand to take her away from the training ground…
"Neji, where are we going?" TenTen asked, stumbling over her feet slightly. He said nothing—as she had expected—but only moved faster. He stopped walking when they had arrived at their destination: a carnival was going within Konoha! Tenten's hand slipped out of Neji's at the second of the sight, her hands clasp together and her eyes shining.
The Hyuga genius gave a small smile at how his friend was so excited. She spun on his heel, catching his tiny grin before he had a chance to hide. Tenten said nothing about seeing it, but merely smirked before grabbing his hand.
The two ran around the grounds, Tenten obviously enjoying herself while Neji had a certain sparkle in his eyes despite his facial neutrality. They had played various games, ran into Anko at the dango stand, and—to their displeasure and what would probably traumatize many—found their sensei participating in a Student-Teacher Karaoke contest with Lee.
Amazingly Hinata and Kurenai won (Naruto had apparently rubbed off Neji, who started cheering loudly when his little 'sister' walked out on stage), Shikamaru and Asuma coming in a close second while Sakura and Shizune took third place. Unbeknownst to the duo, the entire time their fingers had been interlaced with one another's.
At one of the games, Neji had won the girl a stuffed panda, which she held with her right arm against her chest, her left slightly swinging back and forth as she unconsciously held Neji's hand. Neji stopped walking suddenly, his hand letting go of hers. Tenten turned around and looked at him confused, even more so when she had seen the soft look in his eyes. "Neji, what— ?"
"Tenten, you do understand that as shinobi we put our lives on the line nearly every day, correct?" She nodded, her grip on her Nene (her panda) tightened, "Yes, I know that, but what—" Neji gave her a rare smile that showed his teeth, pointing to the bear in her arms. "Then you know full and well not to fear death, especially if it is mine. You know that I will die when it is my time, but if that ever does come to past and I'm no longer here for you, that bear is a memorabilia of our relationship-"
Neji paused, the tips of his ears turning pink. Apparently he had not thought his words out as clearly as he should have. He looked to the side to attempt to hide whatever red was attempting to show. "A-as friends! If you ever feel lonely then just hug the bear in memory of me. Is that acceptable?" Neji only received a big hug from her as a response, blinking in confusion before she then broke down in tears, of both sadness and happiness. He hugged her back, rubbing it slightly with the Gentle Fist to sooth any tension she had from not sleep well.
Needless to say, Tenten used his gifted ever time she woke up screaming—except it was a new nightmare containing Gai and Lee in tutus, singing songs of "youth". One squeeze of Nene, and she was fine. She slept well for months, as her gift from Neji lay beside her whenever she slept. Of course that had been years ago, and now Nene sit on her shelf, her first kunai on its neck due to a string. She hadn't had a nightmare after placing the panda doll there, like a dream catcher.