Hi! It's me again after a little break time. Similar to my ShikaIno story, this will now be a place for various NejiTen one shots. I'll try to make all kinds of very different stories. So let's start with this one. It's a completely different mood from the first one )
Itching to know
Today, Tenten and Lee went through their usual training routine together. Yesterday, they had a boring C-Rank mission along with Gai-sensei. The day before that was a day off that Gai's three students had planned to spend together but Neji did not show up. Nor did he the two days after. His absence was greatly noticed, especially when he did not call or anything to let the others know the reason for his truancy.
So Tenten walked up to his place, not because she was worried but rather because she was annoyed at him for being a no-show and having her train with Lee all day long. She'd much rather train with the moody Hyuuga than with the youth-explosive green beast. She got the Hyuuga compound and found Hinata conveniently going out. She asked him if she knew where Neji had been.
"It seems as though Neji-nii-san hasn't come out for a few days now. I wonder if he's okay..." the shy girl answered.
Tenten left the younger girl and proceeded to knock on Neji's door. There was no response, yet she knew he was in because she saw the curtains in the window shift. Him ignoring her only made her knock harder.
"It's Tenten," she called. "Open up."
"What do you want?" came an irritated voice from the other side.
"I want to know why you've stayed locked in for three days without letting anyone know, that's what I want!" Her voice softened a bit. "Are you okay?"
There was a pause before Neji replied, still with the same tone of voice. "I'm fine."
The girl sighed. "What's going on? Are you feeling sick?"
"I said I'm fine!"
Now it was Tenten's turn to get irritated. "Why won't you open up? Is there something you're hiding?"
"Mind your own business."
Tenten thought she was about to pop a vein. "Fine! See if I care if you die from some horrible disease or something!."
And she stormed away. The curtains covered the only window completely so there was no hope of catching a glimpse of what was inside. She wasn't about to give up now, though. His teammate was being very suspicious and she was determined to find out what he was hiding.
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Neji had been in a bad mood as she wasn't the first person to knock on his door requesting to know the reason for his sudden secluding. He sighed and extended his arm to grab a bottle of calamine lotion. He wore only his boxers since any more layers on his body proved to be so unbearable, he'd tear his own skin off. He used a mirror to examine his back and was disgusted to find more red blisters there. God, why did he have to fall prey to such an ungraceful disease? One that usually only attacks children too.
The young man sat on his bed carefully, avoiding his skin touching the sheets. He then heard a sound coming from above and raised his head to look. His ninja senses tingled as he saw a tile being removed from the ceiling. He dived for a kunai but soon chose to raise a blanket to his chest instead as he saw Tenten popping in triumphantly.
"What do you think you're doing?" he snarled, ignoring the itch from the contact of satin on his skin.
She turned around and got a good look at him before grinning. "So this is what the fuss is about? Hyuuga Neji has chickenpox!"
Neji gave her his trademark scowling but it had little effect with his face covered in little red spots. "You shouldn't be here. It's highly contagious, that's why I haven't gone out."
"That, and the fact that you're ashamed of letting people see you like this, eh?" Tenten asked in a teasing voice.
Her friend chose to ignore this comment. "I'll still have to be here for a few days." Tenten sat next to him but he scooted away."Didn't you hear me? I said it's highly contagious."
She then pulled the blanket he had used to cover up in order to get a better look at the state his chest was in. This sheer lack of decency caused the boy's eye to twitch as he grabbed back his sheets.
"Don't worry, it's fine," the girl said. "I've had chicken pox when I was little so there's no danger. Looks like scabs will appear soon. Once the scabs appear, it'll no longer be contagious so it's safe to go out."
Neji looked away. "I'll still stay here until it's all gone."
The girl smiled. "Figures..." He simply did not want anyone to find out at all. Silly pride. "It must be boring here all by yourself. I'll keep you company."
"That's unnecessary."
"Don't be like that! I'm trying to be nice!" she said as she gave him a friendly slap on the back.
Neji's fists clenched and he gave her the most evil eyes ever.
"Oups...sorry!"
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Wasn't that super random? Actually, there were news about a chicken pox epidemic on TV today, that's what inspired this. I've never had chicken pox myself..