Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter summary: Hiccups… so annoyed… well… maybe not always.
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HICCUPS
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HICCUP
Tenten's whole body bounced with the offending spasmodic contraction. She'd been hiccupping all morning long, unable to put an end to it. She'd tried everything she could think of; drinking cups after cups of water, even some while standing on her head. But nothing work. Still, she had figured that by the time she got to her team's training grounds though, they'd be long over; no such luck.
HICCUP
Her teammates turned towards her; questioning looks on the two self-proclaimed green beasts of Konoha; Neji too, looked up at her, before quickly returning to his meditation. Tenten shrugged at the two others; indicating that it was unimportant, and the other two returned to what they were doing as well.
"OKAY TEAM!" Gai exclaimed, "TODAY WE SHALL BE DOING TARGET PRACTICE!" He informed them. Lee immediately jumped up and down in excitement.
"TARGET hic PRACTICE?!?! Hic" Tenten shouted through her hiccups. "Why? Hic I hic don't hic need hic practice!" She protested.
Tenten was the weapon's mistress of Konoha. One hundred percent accuracy; she didn't need target practice! This day just seemed to be getting worse and worse, as far as Tenten was concerned.
HICCUP
"PRECIOUS FLOWER OF TEAM GAI…" Gai launched into one of his famous speeches, "EVEN THE MOST YOUTHFUL KUNOICHI MUST PRACTICE HER PERFECTED SKILLS, OTHERWISE HER AIM WILL GO RUSTY AND SHE MIGHT LOSE HER 100 PERCENT ACCURACY." The often fool-hearty man actually made sense.
"OH GAI-SENSEI, YOU ARE SO WISE." Lee began crying rivers of tears in admiration of his insane idol.
"LEE." Gai began to weep rivers of tears upon seeing the admiration in his favorite pupil.
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled back.
"LEE!" Gai yelled again.
"GAI-SENSEI."
"LEE." Queue sunset.
HICCUP
"Tenten?" Gai turned to face his only female student.
"ARE YOU OKAY TENTEN-SAN?" Lee concernedly asked.
"OH LEE, ALWAYS THINKING OF OTHER'S." Gai beamed proudly.
"GAI-SENSEI"
"LEE"
"ENOUGH!" Yelled a usually silent Neji from his spot against the tree. He'd had enough of his teammate's antics for one day. And Tenten's hiccups were beginning to drive him over the edge.
HICCUP
"Sorry everyone. I just woke up with them and I haven't been able to get rid of them. But I'll be okay." She picked up a kunai and threw it at the target set in front of her in order to prove to the them all that she was in fact fine.
HICCUP
She missed!
The three other members of her team froze in shock at the sight. Tenten never missed ; not once since she'd perfected her technique.
"OH DEAREST TENTEN-SAN, SOMETHING IS SO TERRIBLY WRONG!" Lee began crying, this time in despair.
"It's hic just hic the hic hicchicups." Tenten explained; though inside, she was VERY angry about it now. How dare these hiccups ruin her perfect aim! This could NOT continue.
"WE MUST HELP OUR PRECIOUS FLOWER RID HERSELF OF THOSE UNYOUTHFUL HICCUPS!" Gai exclaimed.
"HAI! WE SHALL HELP OUR YOUTHFUL TENTEN-SAN!" Lee readily agreed. "YOU WILL HELP TOO, WON'T YOU NEJI?" He asked the white eyed prodigy, who was sitting with his eyes closed away from everyone else.
"Hn." Neji grunted in reply; his eyes remained closed, indicated that he was uninterested in the task the two lunatics had set out for themselves.
"THEN IF NEJI SHALL NOT HELP, I WILL HELP TEN TIMES AS MUCH!" Lee exclaimed.
"Ten hic times?" Tenten wasn't sure what that meant, but she was sure it was not going to be pretty.
"BUT GAI-SENSIE, HOW DOES ONE GET RID OF THE HICCUPS?" Lee innocently turned toward his sensei; ready to soak up whatever wisdom he was certain his teacher would soon impart upon them.
"THAT IS A WONDERFUL QUESTION LEE." Gai gave him a good guy pose. "LET ME THINK…" He began scratching his head. "ONE WAY IS TO DRINK LOTS OF WATER."
"I hic alhicready hic tired hic that." Tenten replied.
"WELL ANOTHER WAY IS TO STAND ON YOUR HEAD." Gai said.
"I hic tried hic that hic too." Tenten replied.
"LET SEE…" he kept thinking, "EATING SPICY FOOD." He said.
"THE CURRY OF LIFE!" Lee exclaimed. Neji almost visibly twitched at the memory those horrible words conjured.
"NO! hic" Tenten yelled in protest.
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY CURRY." Gai told Lee, who looked down disappointedly. "HAVE YOU TRIED HOLDING YOUR BREATH?" Gai asked Tenten.
"Hai hic." Tenten nodded yes.
Gai began naming off all the ways he could think of to get rid of the hiccups; some of them quite insane (only he could have come up with), and some just a little silly, but Tenten was willing to try anything.
"HOW ABOUT COUNTING BACKWARDS FROM 100?" Gai suggested.
Tenten hadn't tried that yet, so she decided to give it a go. She closed her eyes and began counting backwards from 100. As she did this, Gai called Lee over and whispered in his ear to go around them and try to sneak up on Tenten to scare her. He had once heard that startling someone with the hiccups was a sure fire way to get ride of them.
HICCUP
"It hic didn't hic work." Tenten stated.
"BOO!" Lee jumped out from behind a bush. Tenten, however, was not startled at all, as she gave the odd boy a questioning look. "GAI-SENSEI, SHE WAS NOT FIGHTENED!" Lee stated disappointedly.
"Why hic would hic I hic be hic scared hic of hic you hic Lee?" Tenten curiously asked, before the three of them continued on with their hiccup 'solutions'.
After a while, with training completely stalled to deal with the kunoichi's problem, the meditating prodigy began to get irritated, and decided that enough was enough. After trying dozens and dozens of ways to try to get Tenten's hiccups to go away, the two green beasts had yet to accomplish their 'mission'. To make things worst, they had already wasted over two hours of their training time; something Neji just couldn't stand for any longer.
Fed up with the whole thing, the Hyuga prodigy got up from his seat against the tree and walked over to where Tenten and the two lunatics of their team were standing. Quickly approaching Tenten, he grabbed her head with his hands and in an instant pulled her face towards his. Tenten barely register when their lips met, and before she knew it, he was kissing her. Taken completely by surprise, unsure of what had gotten into the cold hearted Hyuga.
After what seemed like an eternity, Neji finally released her. Out of breath, but blissfully so, Tenten turned upward to begin to speak.
"There." Neji said, before she could say anything; walking back to his spot to pick up his gear so they could start training.
As the other three watched Neji walk off towards the clearing behind them, Lee turned to Gai and then to Tenten. "Tenten." He called to her.
"Yeah Lee?" She turned to face him; still somewhat dazed by the impromptu kiss.
"HEY! YOUR HICCUPS ARE GONE!" He said excitedly.
"I guess you're right." She replied.
The three remaining members of team Gai began walking towards the clearing where Neji was already preparing himself for their target practice. No one noticed the prodigy touch his lips and smile, before turning around to face his approaching teammates.
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THE END
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