Thanks to all those who reviewed the first chapter. ^^ Including the anonymous Psycho Bloodlust and the other anonymous reader, since I can't reply to your reviews.

(Also to the Anonymous Reader who commented on my review statement…it's because everyone desperately asks for reviews. I also used to beg for reviews when I wrote fanfiction frequently like 5-7 years ago, but it's just…stupid. If I've written something that makes a reader happy enough to be able to review and express their happiness on their own will without my desperate pleading, it means more. (: Plus, I'll let you in on a secret…I can't take criticism. xD I take it too harshly, and I get very upset. Which is bad I know, it's a bad habit that I should fix, because taking criticism seriously is a very important way to improve yourself further. Buuuut I still struggle with it so I just say no reviews are necessary at all in order to avoid the possibility of a harsh criticism. ^^;; Pathetic, I know. And I also happen to…well…hate first person POVs in reading, so I don't write it either. (: But you are right, I do agree that most stories are typically written in Tenten's thoughts. But it's much more enjoyable to read one that you may think is well done from Neji's POV since it's less commonly done, and sometimes when it is done it's…somewhat poorly represented. But yes, thank you very much for your review and your comments! You simply are lovely. 3)

-coughs-

OKAY so…

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Insert original comment about finishing story here that was deleted cuz it's gonna be a threeshot lol.

Confidence and Things
Chapter Two: Keep It Up!

A couple months had passed that Neji and Tenten had been in a romantic relationship. But really not much had changed upon dating. They simply spent more time together, seen together more often than not, and now that they were dating, they would be more open to tell the other they wanted to see them, or propose to go to lunch, or just drop in on more than one occasion. By no means were they showing an exceedingly amount of public displays of affection, but…some notable stuff did happen.

Like one day, the two decided to go watch a movie together. While they were approaching the theater, they saw that some performance was going on by a travelling circus that had stopped in Konoha. Tenten, out of pure excitement, grabbed Neji's hand and pulled him along, glancing back at him with a bright beam of a smile, "Neji! Let's go watch! Doesn't that look amazing?" Unlike Tenten who didn't seem to notice or mind the contact at the time, Neji was having a tiny panic attack/celebration in his head about the gesture.

However it was evident that Tenten didn't think much about the handholding later on. They had just had lunch together and were walking around the village when they had run into Chouji and Sakura, who were headed to go see Kiba and the rest of the Inuzuka clansmen. Chouji said that apparently they had a new litter with absolutely adorable little puppies, and they just had to go see. Neji and Tenten, having had no plans to go anywhere except to part and go home, agreed to go with them. Chouji and Sakura picked up the pace in anticipation to meet the rest of the group at the Inuzuka hold, so Neji and Tenten had to walk a little faster as well, and in the process, their hands had brushed. Neji felt the light air against his hand as Tenten quickly moved her hand away from his. Neji could see that she was embarrassed, as there was a very very light pink flash on her cheeks that was gone in a blink. Obviously the last time they had held hands was on a bit of an at-the-moment thing that she didn't think much of, where her mind was preoccupied elsewhere. Now it was just contact, his skin against hers, and it was something that obviously affected Tenten still.

Neji didn't allow for Tenten to possibly pull away any further as he grabbed her hand with one deft swipe, and continued forward, only looking back at her for a brief moment to appreciate her now fully blushing face.

Despite Tenten's face, she obviously didn't pull away this time. How could she? Even when she noticed that Chouji and Sakura had seen all that had just occurred and were giggling to each other, Tenten only blushed a little harder, but subsequently gripped Neji's hand harder as well.

It was evident that in the progression of their relationship and growing together, it was often times Tenten who initiated any sort of physical or intimate contact. However, even if she was often times the initiator, she was always answered with an overwhelming response of the same gesture by Neji in return. It was almost as if, once Tenten showed that it was okay to do something, Neji would in turn go around and do it back, better.

Which she of course, didn't mind at all.

Like the time he had decided to walk her back after spending time at dinner with her and a couple other members of the Konoha 11. He walked her to the walkway that led up to the door of her apartment, and watched her slowly retreating figure, hands behind her back and her head looking down. Neji was just about to turn around and leave until he sensed a quickly approaching figure. He only had time to turn his head before he felt Tenten's hands hold onto either sides of his face, and pressed her lips against his own. There was no intimate kissing or gestures of passionate love with the mouth, as it was nothing but a touching of the lips, but it was enough to send Neji's heart beating faster than his execution of 128 palm strike.

It was, after all, the first kiss that they had ever shared.

Tenten pulled away, smiled (cutely) back up at her beloved boyfriend, and raised five fingers up to say, "Goodnight, Neji!" and hurried into her apartment.

Neji could only stare at her retreating figure and the door closing behind her, mouth slightly agape, before muttering "Night…" quietly.

Then in response, about a week or two later the two were sent on a mission together, one that actually was a support of Hinata's mission that had caused her to be away for such an extended period of time (still). Neji had switched guard duty with Tenten, so she could sleep more comfortably, as Neji's sleeping habits were surprisingly flexible. Neji had gone over to wake up Tenten, who was sleeping against a tree, nudging her shoulder gently. Tenten's eyes fluttered open as she mumbled his name in such a freaking adorable way oh my god when her vision began to focus.

"…Neji…?"

Neji loved how her eyes were so hazy and relaxed, so light and gentle when she woke up, a strong contrast to how they were more often seen, the sharpness that usually was present in battle, absent. He moved his hand forward and brushed some of her hair from her face as she began to sit up, which caused Tenten to freeze from being in the middle of rubbing her eyes and mumbling something like "Oh yeah…it's my turn…thanks for switching…" Her eyes widened up at his as the hand that was rubbing her eye slowly began to descend to her side as Neji leaned in and gently kissed her, and instead of it just being a light kiss like their first, he moved his lips against Tenten's. Neji swore he could feel the heat radiating off her cheeks a little when they were this close.

He pulled away, and smiled at her, a hint of cunning and gentle mischief in his eyes. "Aa, it's time to wake up, Tenten." Tenten felt chills run up and down her spine and arms. She had never heard this kind of voice come out of Neji, one that was so deep and husky, she thought her heart was going to beat right out of the cavity it resided in. She wasn't sure if it was because he was so close that it seemed more…sexier? than usual, or it was always like this, or it was actually something different in his voice this time. She also wasn't sure what caused her heart to beat more, the kiss or the sound of him and his words after. It left her mind idly wondering about what it would be like to wake up in the early morning, her body tangled in bed sheets and Neji, his dashing face against the morning sun being the first thing she saw when she wakes up.

"N-Neji…" she stammered, "…d-don't do that…I…I just woke up, m-my breath probably stinks!" she managed to sputter out, holding her open palms over her face, extremely embarrassed. Also partly because she kind of really wanted to just jump on him and do…stuff, at the moment. That kiss definitely triggered something that had apparently been lurking within her for a good while…

Neji only smirked in response, and leaned forward to kiss her again, moving her hands away from her face, this time not withholding the passion that he had unknowingly been breeding inside all this time, pushing her back against the tree she had been sleeping on, even tilting his head for more ease of access. Eventually he pulled away, smirk still on his face, and murmured in her ear "I don't care." Then taking a quick glance behind him where the rest of the squad members were sleeping, looked back at Tenten, slightly apologetic, as much for her as is for him that he had to stop what they had just started. "But it is time for you to guard, Tenten." He smirked at her and said, "…you're awake now, aren't you?"

She only stared at him for a second, blinked a couple times, forcing herself to recover before smiling up at Neji. Tenten gave a short giggle as she smiled at him, her eyes soft and loving. "Yeah," she held her hand against his cheek. "you must be tired. Rest up, okay Neji?" before standing up and leaving from where they had just shared their first kiss of super love passion of youth.

Needless to say, they were doing absolutely chipper since they had started dating. Sure they had their slight skirmishes and disagreements, and while it was never all that serious, it did happen. But as sure as it does happen, it was always resolved promptly in the end.

So all in all their relationship had been going quite well, and it was a very simple, enjoyable relationship. They didn't try to hide it either…granted, they thought it would be nice to somehow be able to hide it from everyone in the village, but they knew that notion was near impossible. They figured the best plan of action was to just be natural about it (or as natural as can be, at some points in time.) and play it cool. It wasn't easy, of course. Anytime anyone asked Tenten about Neji and the nature of their relationship, her eyes would quickly become frantic and her face would burn up like an exploding tag. Neji was more able to play it off coolly, but the fact that there should be the slightest hint of embarrassment in his reaction automatically made it much less natural than Tenten's.

However in the end it didn't change anything. Pretty soon the buzz died down and the two were left in peace. And really there wasn't really all that much buzz anyway, it wasn't as if their relationship was scandalous or drama-filled, it really was just two people dating. They preferred it that way and considered themselves lucky. Also given the nature of their relationship, there really wasn't much of anything to generate a buzz in the first place no matter how hard Ino and Sakura tried to make a big deal of it, in the end they were just happy for their dear friends.

So life was pretty good for Hyuuga Neji so far. Recently he had been expressing his concern to his darling Tenten about Hinata-sama, as she had been gone for such a long while on this mission (It had actually been a couple months already.) He knew that if something had happened the Hyuuga would be the first to know about it and so far he's heard nothing, so obviously everything must be okay so far…or at least as far as he knew.

Tenten recommended asking Tsunade about details, just out of concern for his cousin, as he was a Hyuuga and they did have the right to ask and know after all. Neji declined, figuring it was probably something important and classified, at least for now, something that wouldn't be revealed so easily. He then figured that he should have faith in Hinata-sama and her abilities, and that she will definitely return home safely. It was mostly because of her personal welfare (he supposes) but really he just wanted to tell her all~~~ about everything that had happened with him and Tenten while she was gone.

And she eventually did. (At a very good timing too, unlike the last time, he would later find.)

It was around four or five in the afternoon when Neji walked into a convenience store to pick up some extra groceries and food for dinner later that night. The door opened with a ding and he began to head to the fruit and vegetable aisle. What was that root that they said they needed…?

"Neji-san?"

Neji's head shot up to his right to see Ino staring at him with her bright blue eyes and some sort of crackers and snacks in her arms.

"Hello Ino."

Ino grinned. "Hey! What's up?"

Ino ended up accompanying Neji on his entire shopping trip. In the beginning, Neji was a little anxious on how irritated he would get with her just trailing behind him as he roamed the aisles for what he needed to buy. But as time passed they were actually able to hold a decent conversation, and her company actually revealed to be quite pleasant and welcome. Mostly Ino asked about him and Tenten, but she also told him a little about what she had been doing recently as well. Like how she had come into this convenience store to drop off a shipment of flowers for stock, and while she was here she decided to buy some of Shikamaru and Chouji's favorite snacks. Neji figured he should have taken note of the Yamanaka flowers in the storefront and the particular contents she was holding when he first saw her.

Eventually Neji was able to find everything he needed in the store and went to check out. He probably wouldn't have been able to finish at all if it weren't for Ino, as she helped him find what he needed in the store, as well as identifying the things he was told to buy but didn't really understand what they were…so Neji figured it was the world's way of showing mercy for him with his clan having sent him grocery shopping, which he was very, very much thankful for. As the lady was checking all his items, he looked up to see a couple of fairly large posters behind the register and near the entrance. Were those there when he came in?

Ino took note of the direction he was looking and piped up, "Oh, Neji-san are you going to that?!"

Neji turned his head back to Ino with a questioning eyebrow. "What is that?"

"It's the festival held after the Konoha Sports Festival that's in like two three weeks."

Oh yeahhhhh. That. Neji completely forgot. He was participating in it, competing for a jounin reward. But there was a festival afterwards? He didn't recall that at all.

"It's suuuuuuuuper super fun! You should totally go. I know you're in the competition but it's for everyone afterwards you know?"

Neji only looked to his side and tightened his lips, making a somewhat uninterested face. This was definitely something he wouldn't go to by himself, it seemed very…boisterous.

"I know what you're thinking…you don't want to go alone right?" Well, Yamanaka Ino proved her mind reading and intel gathering abilities were formidable even outside of combat and her incredible jutsus. Or maybe she was just a lucky/experienced guesser.

"So what I'm trying to say is," she nudged him with her elbow, and winked at him.

"You should ask Tenten to go with you."

Neji's eyes widened and his face became a little warm at the thought, he glanced at Ino for a brief second and then back at the posters. They seemed very…festival and fair like…like the type you would go on a date with.

Well, it wasn't that he had never been on a date with Tenten before but…for some reason the idea of asking her to go to something…like this…just…made him nervous.

Not in a sense that he didn't want to go.

Looking at the poster again, it was actually because he reaaaaaally wanted to go with her, that he was nervous.

"That'll be 32.49 please."

Neji snapped out of his train of thought, regained his composure, and gave the cashier his money.

"Thank you." Neji grabbed his groceries and moved out of the way for Ino to pay. As he politely waited for Ino, he began to think about the festival even more…

Neji heard a giggle. He looked up at Ino, who winked at him. "My my, your face…you really love her, don't you?"

L-L-L-LOVE…?!

Neji's face must have morphed into some sort of funny looking animal because Ino busted out laughing moments later. (That or his face had just turned beet red, his mouth made some sort of funky open shape, and his hairs suddenly stood up on end.)

Neji left the store with much more on his mind than he came with...he had a feeling it was going to be a long two weeks for him…

The first thing Hyuuga Neji did when he went home (after dinner of course) was meditate.

God, he meditated the shit out of himself.

It was kind of hard at first, because there were so many thoughts running through his brain, it was hard to just clear his mind.

Love? Do I love Tenten? What would be considered loving another person anyway?

What does it involve?

How do you even know?

Do you just feel it?

Do you just wake up one morning with a loud shout in realization that you love another person? Like "WUAAAAAAAAAAHHHH I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU." ?

And oh…the festival...god damn it, the festival…

He eventually fell asleep in his meditating position, and woke up with a sore tailbone and aching butt cheeks. He stood up meekly, rubbing his behind, and took off his headband. He sighed, held his head, and told himself he needed to shower.

As Neji felt the steam and water fall over him in the shower, he stared at the bathroom tile in front of him. Drops of water that had condensed from the steam slid down the tile slowly, one by one, sometimes sliding into another drop and growing in size, before just becoming a trail of water that drained under his feet.

'One thing at a time…' he thought. 'Yes…'

So, the festival, right?

He bit his lip.

Yes, that god damn festival and his most favorite person in the world.

You can do this…you can do this…

;_;

"I still think you could have won."

Neji was sitting in a juice and sweets shop with Tenten, and they were talking about his match with Naruto during the chuunin exams oh so many years ago.

"Yes, I could have. But I didn't."

Tenten raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Do you…blame yourself, Neji? For losing?"

Neji let out a small breath, and closed his eyes. "Well, I do believe I was overconfident, and my arrogance clouded my vision and judgment. And I had a very straight, closed way of thinking back then…I underestimated him, Naruto."

Tenten nodded, "Yeah…pride comes before fall…" and looked to the side, thinking off into space for a moment before she turned back to Neji with a bright, reassuring smile on her face.

"Well, it's a good thing, isn't it? That you lost to him?"

Neji sat up a little straighter upon hearing this and smiled. "Yes. Exactly." He watched as Tenten giggled and sipped her drink as he thought about what he just knew he had to do now. It was the perfect time, there was no denying it.

"Tenten...do…" he began.

He trailed off.

'Come on come on…'

"Do what?"

Neji's eyes shifted nervously to the side. 'Come on…finish it…'

"Do…you want…"

Tenten waited, leaning forward a little and turning her head to the side slightly, inquisitive.

"Do you want…to…"

"Neji?! Just say it, don't keep me waiting all day!" she laughed, amused as she crossed her arms.

"…do you want to train today?"

Neji almost dragged his feet as he walked home. Almost.

Like literally, Neji usually tried his best to utilize every training session with anyone as a chance to better himself as a person and as a ninja.

But seriously, the session he just had with Tenten…he had never felt so…apathetic about a training session before.

When Tenten agreed to train with him after their time at the sweets shop, Neji literally felt his heart drop. He did not want to train. At all. Maybe on normal conditions he would, but seeing that it wasn't what he wanted or meant to ask, it was…well…as Shikamaru says it best, "Troublesome…"

He literally just barely threw his fists at Tenten as they were sparring. His revolving heaven barely revolved and his vacuum palm could barely blow the seeds off a dandelion and actually kind of sucked.

Training…he just didn't want to.

He wanted to go with Tenten to the festival…he didn't want to train.

Tenten obviously noted his lack of willpower, and called him out on it. However Neji realized he had to make some sort of excuse for his lackluster performance, one that didn't involve the truth, so he just dully replied, "Aa…I must be tired from lunch just now…" Tenten only thought to herself that something like that hadn't happened before, but she shrugged it off and summoned a new weapon to attack with.

Neji told himself he had to do this…he had to ask her properly. This was ridiculous…something so simple as a question, a request…he's pummeled ninja after ninja, enemy after enemy, proved his worth to his clan and his village, and most importantly to himself…but he can't ask his god damn girlfriend on a date. When he's done this so many times before, too!

Neji went home with his head held up high…no, he wasn't going to mess up again like he did today. Indeed, he couldn't! How could he? He could do this…Hyuuga Neji, you can do this!

Unfortunately this proved to be untrue for the next week or so.

"D-Do you want to…watch a movie?"

"W-Would you like to go…skinny dipping with your friends if they asked?" (Neji really struggled with trying to figure out a story behind asking such an out of place question. He eventually said something about a girl's magazine and a movie he watched a while back.)

"D-Do you want to…have kids when you get older?" (This led to some interesting reactions…but it was kind of clear at this point that they could get married now if one of them asked, which made Neji very happy to say the least, but god damn it that wasn't his freaking goal this week…)

"We should…g-go…to that new store with the neon lights that opened up in the northwest corner of the village." (Neji was then answered with widened eyes and a gaping mouth… "N-Neji…y-you…t-that...that's a sex toy store/strip club…w-what…are you suggesting we do going there…?" granted, Neji would not mind whatsoever doing anything of –that- nature with Tenten…but at the moment he embarrassedly dismissed it and frantically blurted that he had a lunch date with Hinata-sama and dashed out the restaurant…even though they both knew where Hinata was, and they had just had lunch together, and were actually still sitting in the restaurant. The next time they met he told her he meant Hanabi-sama, not Hinata-sama. Tenten eventually just shrugged it off.)

"Did you see the…flyer…for the…circus that was coming in town tomorrow? We should go."

"Do you…w-want to…go to the K…K…" (Neji just gave up on saying 'Konoha Sports Festival Fair' and chose to make out with Tenten instead. Tenten assumed that he meant to say something like "Kiss kiss land" or something, and went with it. It was a niiiiiiiiiiceeee make-out session. With lots of kissing and…stuff. It was probably also one of Neji's favorite screw ups…but he still wasn't able to ask, god damn it…)

Neji sighed as he trudged through the village. He had just returned from a mission, a simple one, thankfully, because he barely had the willpower to execute much of anything at this point. He felt so…down, and discouraged, by his recent attempts of asking Tenten to the festival. It was mindboggling to him, how he couldn't conjure enough courage to ask a simple question, one that he had asked so many times before! He and Tenten were close enough and open to each other to the point where they could just start kissing if they wanted to, how could he not muster enough balls to just ask?

It frustrated him to no end, but he found his frustration only deepened when he saw Tenten almost stomping/power walking over to him from the opposite direction. Wait, why was she stomping towards him?

"Neji!" she grabbed both his hands when she stopped in front of him, not even giving him a chance to think. "You're hiding something, aren't you?" she asked, leaning forward and turning her head slightly to the side with an inquisitive eyebrow, as if peering into the peephole of his thoughts.

Neji heard himself answer, "…hiding?"

Tenten sighed, exasperated at his lack of response that she was still receiving. "Yes, Neji." She looked at him with big, serious eyes. "Tell me, you've been wanting to tell me something all week. Just spit it out!" She huffed, "You know I'll be here, and that I'll never leave your side regardless. So just say it."

Neji stared at Tenten, eyes wide. For some reason, upon hearing her reinforcement and support just now, confidence shot through his system. He even felt like he was standing up straighter. The reassurance from Tenten made him happy and proud. He and Tenten were together, and they were going to be together for a long time…if not forever. Something as trivial as this is cake. Cake. Absolute cake. Nothing could drive them apart. Definitely not something like this and him not having the balls to ask her to the festival.

Neji chuckled.

"As expected from you, Tenten. I can't hide anything from you." he gave a small sigh of surrender and quietly mumbled to himself, "I don't even understand why I was making such a big deal of it…"

Tenten continued waiting patiently as he Neji spoke.

"Well, in reality, I wanted to ask you…if you would like to accompany me to the fair that's held after the Sports Festival this weekend?" That's right, it was like three and three quarters/four days before the big day. He was cutting it close, especially considering they wouldn't have much of a chance to see each other after today, since he was going to train a little in preparation for the festival, and Tenten had volunteered to help prepare the festival itself. But with a little help from Tenten herself, he got'er done.

"Oh…" Tenten thought for a moment. "I already told Ino that I'd go with her, Sakura, and Hinata."

DAMN YOU YAMANAKA INO.DAMN. YOU. YOU TELL ME TO ASK TENTEN AND YOU DARE TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME?

Definitely not something like this could tear them apart, huh? Might want to take that back now…

"Oh. I see." Anger began to fire up inside the Hyuuga. If only he had asked sooner, this wouldn't have happened. Why couldn't he just manned up earlier and asked? He should know by now that Tenten would never leave his side no matter what, even before they became a thing, how could he have been so ignorant? This was absolutely ridiculous…this was all his fault…how could he have—

"But, afterwards, I can meet up with you for the rest of the festival." She beamed. "We were only going to stay together for the first while…later on I was just going to go home." She paused. "Actually I was going try and find you after your competition, since I figured you'd probably have went home right after the competitions were all done."

Neji's thoughts strayed a little for a short while when he realized what Tenten visiting him might have led to…after all, they would have had most of the Hyuuga compound to themselves since everyone would have been away at the festivities….

His fantasies were broken when Tenten burst into a fit of giggles. "I can't believe you were fretting over asking me to the festival!" She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek before wrapping her arms around him, tucking in her head against his chest. "Neji, you're so cute…"

Neji could not help his face turning red from all the happiness that just happened to him. Tenten agreed to go with him to the festival, Tenten is going to be by his side for like ever, (He already knew this, of course. It was just nice being reminded of it every once in a while.) Tenten said he was really cute…

…at that moment, he really did feel like he could almost burst if he tried hard enough.

Lol so I originally intended this to be a twoshot…but the second chapter was over thirty fucking pages long. Fuuuuuuuck no, that's wayyy too long. That's like two chapters in one. Nope. Split that shit in half. And it kinda split perfectly anyway so it probably was meant to be. So it's gonna be threeshot. One chapter left.

Anyway, late update I know lmao. Summer internship/stress/life decisions, you know? I had actually had this finished like 75% of the way a couple months ago, I just never pulled myself together to finish it. Anyway final chapter will be released when I read the ending as much as I read this chapter, for proofreading purposes. I have the tendency to read and reread my stuff after I've published it, and then end up adding like a page of fixes. Real annoying, you know.

But yeah final chapter's already finished, so it'll basically be uploaded when I feel comfortable doing so. It's still long as fuck though. Like 20 pages. But that's better than 32.

Hope everyone had a good summer. I've got mixed feelings about my last year in college. But you know.