Dare You to Move

.x.x.x.

It had been an unusual week, to say the least.

Lee had come down with a cold from training too long in the snow without a coat, and Gai had been gone for the past couple of days to treat his most youthful student. Which probably meant he was making the boy run laps to sweat the sick out of his system. This also meant that Neji and Tenten had to train by themselves for the time being.

It was the third day they had arrived at the training grounds and their two most energetic companions were absent.

"Do you think Lee's got something serious? I mean, he never gets sick. Ever." Tenten was casually playing with a senbon, the thin metal needle dancing across the backs of her fingers.

"Hn. He probably isn't getting any better because Gai is making him run up and down mountains." Neji cast a bored expression over the expanse of unmarked snow laying fresh on their training field.

The day before it had been blown almost completely away by the intensity of the fight between the Hyuuga and the weapons mistress, but a blizzard had blown over the Fire Country, casting blankets of white wherever it went. Neji furrowed his brows at the snow, annoyed. It seemed like the weather was challenging them, after they had so efficiently cleared the battle file of the frosty stuff the day before.

"Well…sparring again?" Tenten flicked the senbon out of her hand, and seconds later the point was buried deep in the bark of a tree across the empty field.

Neji nodded, quickly back flipping to the centre of the field. When he landed Tenten was gone, barely a whisper rushing through the bare tree branches. He smirked. It was easier to follow her movements in this weather. No matter where she moved she disrupted the snow in the trees, giving away her position.

A flurry of silver rain silently cut the air, pressing down on him from behind. Neji made a quick rotation and launched into the tree branches. He was following a different attack pattern today, mostly because he thought it would take much less time than waiting for her to leave the trees. His keen eyes caught the wires in the sunlight and he flipped easily through them, not even disturbing the snowflakes that were just beginning to fall and cover the traps.

He made a mental note to teach Tenten how to be as stealthy as he was, knowing full well it would be an interesting lesson. She would be all defensive as usual, and then concede when he exposed her weakness for what it truly was: an opening, and easy in for the enemy.

His attention snapped to the empty field when he heard the rush of air, and his eyes caught the barest of disturbances in the snow. A footprint. Another example of her carelessness with stealth. She was leaving a completely obvious trail. He quickly pinpointed the direction she had gone by the indent in the snow, and then stopped his predatory circling of the field through the trees. Knowing his teammate she would come to him.

During the moment of no interruption he decided today would be a good day for her lesson. Especially since the snow exposed her even more so than usual. He went on alert when he heard the crackle of a branch, and he silently readied himself. It would only be seconds until he needed to move. There was the telltale whisper of the wind as Tenten whisked down the field, and Neji watched the slightly red blur close in on the snowy ground.

He had to say, he was impressed by her speed. She had become much better after their first match, when he found her painfully slow. But the years had proved to be good to the weapons mistress, as fighting skills had drastically improved. Not to mention, she wasn't so much of a little girl either. Neji pushed the thought aside as he launched from the tree at the same second Tenten touched the ground. He couldn't be thinking of things like that at a time like this.

He smirked when he heard the gasp. She knew the fight was done. But seconds before they collided Neji's eyes caught sight of the kunai knife in her hand, pointing straight forward. He didn't know what caused him to slip up like he did. Maybe it was his stupid head, overanalyzing as usual and missing the most important things, like the fact that she was most likely going to have her weapon already drawn.

Thinking fast he braced both of his arms for the collision to keep his body separate from hers. If he barreled into her like he had planned, her kunai would dig deep into his shoulder.

The collision was silent, aside from the rustle of fabric and the muted thump the pair made as they hit the snow. The air in Tenten's lungs came out in a soft whoosh, leaving Neji with a knawing in his stomach.

His teammate coughed as she tried to draw in the breath that had been stolen, and while she was distracted Neji noticed their compromising position.

Tenten was flat on her back, arms at her sides in a completely defenseless position, her kunai buried somewhere in the snow. He was on hands and knees above her, his palms beside her head and his knees on either side of her waist. The fight was completely over, and after this he'd have to go home and bury himself in some dilemma with the Hyuuga clan to rid his head of these horrid two seconds where she wasn't paying attention and he was all too aware of her gasping mouth and heaving chest.

He blinked, and it was over. Tenten was staring at him, her breath returned. It seemed the cold had paled her skin even more, and her lips were darker with purple-red cold. He coffee brown eyes widened when she realized Neji had no intention of moving.

"U-uhm, Neji?" She rasped his name, questioning.

Damn it, he couldn't even focus long enough to respond! As soon as she spoke he zeroed in on her words, and then they were gone out of his head like everything else.

"Neji." She pulled her cold hands out of the snow and reached up to his face, pressing her fingers to his skin. "What's wrong?"

And then everything seemed to come back at once for him, the reality of their position set in, but all of the coherent thoughts were at the back of his head. Her cold fingers were burning holes in his skin, the contact adding fuel to the fire.

Without a second thought his arms bent and he lowered his face to hers, his lips a breath from hers. But what stopped him was the uncomfortable squirm she made, accompanied by a frightened intake of breath. He had seen this sort of startled fear before, he remembered it from when he was younger and used to shoot scathing words at his cousin. She would squirm in her skin and gasp and look away, afraid of his irritated eyes.

"Tenten." Her name rushed out with his breath, and he noted the mild shock in his voice.

She was actually there and he was actually about to kiss her without even asking. He smothered the want in his chest and was away from her in an instant, his back to the brunette. He cast his eyes down in shame, wondering what she was thinking of his rude actions. How could he turn around and face her when he had violated her personal space so completely?

"Training is over." He forced himself to say something, to break the pressing silence.

"Okay." Her voice was just as low as his, and he waited until she had disappeared before he turned around to stare at where she had been.

What had he just done?

.x.x.x.x.x.

Tenten slammed the door to her apartment, her heart racing. What had he just done? What had he just done?!

She slid down the door, stopping when her butt made contact with the floor. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes to keep from crying. She hated how she loved how close they were, she hated how she loved his burning eyes and his intentions to snog the crap out of her right there in the middle of their training field.

Weren't they supposed to be teammates!? She didn't hear about her friends getting into awkward situations with the boys on their teams. Well, except for Ino, but everyone already knew she was kind of stuck on Shikamaru. She had always been stuck on Shikamaru, even when she was stuck on Sasuke.

Tenten wondered what had stopped him. Did he suddenly realize what the hell he was doing? Was he repulsed by the fact that he had almost kissed her? Is that why he sent her away so suddenly afterward? She replayed the situation over and over again in her head.

Their collision, her daze, and then his eyes, burning with something she didn't recognize. After that he leaned in to kiss her, and she wriggled with the thought, her breath hitching in her throat and she gasped to get enough air for fear she wouldn't have any when it came to the kissing. She didn't want to have to shove him away the very second their lips met so she could breathe!

Hot tears burned her eyes. She was so confused. She had grown attached to her teammate, and then he started to change recently and she could feel herself liking it, she could feel the emotion in her veins when he suddenly acted like a real person. She could feel her friendly attachment morphing into something, and she had just gone and possibly ruined everything.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Uh, yeah. XD I just completely rushed everything. I have another chapter in the making, but it kind of sucks because I can't seem to find any sort of way to end it, and I really wanted to write this. A lot. So uh, I might post this and then end up skipping backwards when I finish the other chapter, because I really want to get this posted….heheh. Please don't hurt me, I suck at being patient. XD

So, review!! I love how this turned out, but I get this feeling it's completely different than the other two chappies. I'm sorry again. I really need to learn how to control my desire to just rush people together.

Next chappie coming soon? You'll have to tell me if you want it, it seems like there isn't any interest. Which is perfectly okay! But…I don't want to post for no one, ne? ^-^;

Mistoffelees Shadow