Disclaimer: To say that Naruto is mine is a dream…
Dedicated: Both to sasukesgirl89 and snowqueen184. They helped me with a certain part of the chapter.
Chapter Four: Fire and Flurries
The day was drawing to an end when the four shinobi arrived at the edge of the forest. All the other groups, along with Gai and Kakashi, had long ago left them to go on their own in the thick woods. For the last few hours, Neji had driven his team alongside the forest with the plan to start farther up than the rest.
The four engaged in the forest at a nod from their Jounin leader, then all of them dispersed slightly. It was an unspoken agreement, in Team Guy, that none of their shinobi would stay close together in case of an attack. Naruto seemed to rapidly adapt to that style and blended in the back of the team, acting a bit like their backup.
They raced rapidly, the frost-covered branches flying fast past their bodies. Neji kept his bloodline limit activated as he scanned his surroundings, finding no trace of any humans within the proximity.
At one point when night was definitely falling, he noticed Tenten stumbling lightly on a tree branch. Prideful, the girl instantly caught her footing and continued on as if nothing had happen. But despite her hurried attempt to cover up her fatigue, their leader saw right through it. He was getting rather winded himself, he had to admit.
Denying their lack of rest would be irresponsible, so Neji halted his stride through the tree branches to stand on a thicker one that would definitely hold his weight. His three Chuunin companions did the same and the forest was silent anew.
Slowly scanning the area with Byakuugan, Neji nodded in satisfaction before saying, "We'll rest for the evening. There's a kilometer before the next clearing, so I suggest we stop there. It's a safe spot, surrounded by hundreds of meters of trees. We'll be well hidden."
Tenten nodded at his reasoning and Lee shot a hand up in the air with a grin plastered on his face. "I will take first watch so that my youthful team can go to sleep peacefully!"
"I'll take the second watch," the female member of their team spoke up, not about to be outdone by the males in the team.
Their propositions went accepted as Neji gave them a glance, "Naruto, do you mind taking the last watch?"
"Of course not!" Naruto jumped in from behind the group so he could have a better view of those he talked to. "From when to when?"
Neji shook his sleeve down to reveal a watch, a habit that Gai had encouraged. Peering at it with slightly narrowed eyes, he said slowly, "Considering it would take us about a half hour to set up our camp, eat a bit, then rest, it will be nine. I suggest we rise before the first light, which would be at five tomorrow morning; giving each of us six hours of sleep tonight."
Naruto winced slightly before exclaiming, "Getting up at five? What the heck, are you crazy? And six hours of sleep isn't enough!"
But the Hyuuga's face remained stoic as they starting hopping from branch to branch once more. Lee, jumping in the defense of his eternal rival, managed to leap, watch where he was going, give Naruto a nice guy pose, and talk all at the same time.
"Five isn't so early, Naruto-san! I woke up every morning at four-thirty to train ultra early with Gai-Sensei! It's proven that your youth is at its best when it's early in the morning!"
"Plus," Tenten argumented, "we can cover more ground that way or take our time getting up instead of rushing around. We'll be more effective that way since the sun will be close to rising then."
The second she finished speaking, the four shinobi landed in the small clearing Neji had found with his bloodline limit.
"Aw man, we'll have to sleep in the snow?" Naruto whined before Tenten made a face of agreement with the blond shinobi.
"Stay back."
At the command from their Jounin leader, the two remaining members of Team Gai and Naruto stepped back while Neji made his way to the center of the clearing. Getting into a stance, he began to spin rapidly, going faster and faster with every second. Yet the spectacle was rapidly finished as the snow flew away and he soon began to dig in the ground.
Slowing to a stop, Neji's face remained emotionless as Lee ran forward and yelled, "Way to go, Neji-san! You cleaned the snow up with your Kaiten!"
"Duh, Lee," Tenten sighed as she stepped in the clean circle Neji had created. Then a shiver crossed her shoulders and she sighed deeply. "It's rather cold, though."
A sly smile then made its way on Tenten's face as she noticed Neji eyeing her. Stretching, she yawned and tossed her bag down on the ground. "A fire would be nice."
Lee, immediately jumping in at the chance to be helpful, dropped his over-packed bag and gave everyone a blinding nice guy pose. "I'll go get firewood, then! I will be right back!"
Just after he was sprinting away, Tenten leaned over and touched Naruto's arm. A friendly smile lit her features as she said, "Would you mind going with him, Naruto? Lee always picks up wet wood and it takes hours for us to start the fire. So unless you don't want your sleep to be cut in half since we're all trying to do the fire…"
The orange-clad shinobi grinned, then nodded as he started to run towards where Lee had gone, his obnoxiously loud voice resonating. "Hey Bushy Brow, wait for me!"
A few seconds of blissful silence fell between the two remaining shinobi as Tenten slowly walked towards Neji. Stopping in front of him, she looked around herself to make sure that Lee and Naruto really had left, then she slung her arms lazily around his shoulders and drew herself close to him.
"I can't believe you did it," Neji said plainly, his arms hanging limply at his sides.
Tenten shot him a teasing smile. "Why not? You're the one who suggested it, and your wish is my command."
Neji lifted his eyes slightly to show exasperation, a sign he only did when they were alone. Finally, he allowed his hard demeanor to soften as he slid his arms around her waist and cradled her close.
Feeling exhausted, she leaned against him fully, allowing him to support her weight. His hands began to slowly streak up and down her back as he closed his eyes, enjoying being in darkness with nothing but the girl he loved clinging to him.
Tenten briefly pulled away and looked up at him, yet he didn't open her eyes. She raised her lips slowly to his, ready to enjoy the stolen kiss she was about to take from him.
"Neji? Tenten?"
The couple ripped apart from one other at the distant voice. Her heart racing frantically, Tenten began to unroll her sleeping bag while Neji activated his Byakuugan to see where the shouter was.
He turned a quarter of a circle to his right just as Ino was popping out of a cluster of trees. "Well, this is great! Dry ground for the night!" she chirped happily, her dark blue eyes glinting while she threw her pack on the dirt.
Sakura came out of the trees next and immediately made her way to Tenten. The younger kunoichi didn't look too pleased as she started to unfurl her own sleeping bag. Shooting a light glare at Ino, she mumbled under her breath, "Finally, I'll get a decent girl to hang around with."
Infuriated by the words, Ino started screaming something. Thankfully, though, her voice was hidden under the ruckus Lee made when he barged back in camp with more wood than they'd need for an entire month. Dumping all of them down, an act that made the earth shake, he flashed Neji a smile and spoke out, "Eighty-three dry logs! I think we'll have enough!"
Neji actually closed his eyes in exasperation and gave his head a light shake while Tenten snickered.
Ino, now angry because of Sakura's comment, took her anger out on the newest arrival. "Geez, Lee! We're here for less than twelve hours, don't you think that maybe ten logs would've been enough?"
"If he wanted to bring all these logs with him, then who cares?" Sakura snapped back, making a face at Ino. "He did what he wanted to, it's none of your business, Ino-Pig!"
Yet another fight seemed imminent, yet Lee saved the day once more. Dropping his eighty-three pieces of wood on the soil, his eyes began to shine and Tenten could swear she could see hearts faded into them.
"Sakura-chan! You agreed with me!"
Sakura mumbled some kind of affirmative answer before starting to slide in her sleeping bag. Meanwhile, Naruto's voice began to drift towards them, becoming louder and louder until he burst in the clearing, followed by Shikamaru and Chouji.
Now becoming unnoticed as greetings ensued, Tenten allowed herself to sigh under her breath. The moment had been perfect, so why did Shikamaru's team have to ruin it? Or worse, what if Ino had found them kissing…?
A shiver of displeasure ran through her body at the mere thought before she laid her eyes on Neji. He had raised a hand and was waiting for everyone's attention.
Once everyone had quieted down, he began to talk, "Since we're now eight, I suggest we speak again of who should guard the campsite and when. My team had already established a routine, yet we'll chop it in half. Eight hours of sleep, eight shinobi. One hour of guarding each."
Shikamaru yawned and was already looking enviously at his sleeping bag. "Troublesome…"
They rapidly decided that the order of the night watch would be Lee, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, Sakura, Choji, Ino, and would finish with Shikamaru.
That being done, every shinobi snuggled down in their sleeping bags as Lee began to scramble through his dozens of logs in order to find the perfect ones to start the fire. A cold gust of wind blew past them, drawing a few specks of snow in their perfect circle of earth.
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To Tenten, it seemed that the second she had closed her eyes, Lee was on his knees besides her. He gently prodded her shoulder, without a word, then smiled when she cracked her eyes open.
"The time is yours, Tenten-chan," he whispered much-too-loudly, an act that caused the Weapon's Mistress to cringe slightly. Nodding, she mumbled a small noise of affirmation as she sat up slowly, blinking the sleep away from her eyes.
She reluctantly abandoned the comfort of her sleeping bag and crept towards a rather large log that Lee had propped to its side, digging it slightly in the earth so that it wouldn't move. The second Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha handed her a warm-looking cover, then whispered in his loud voice, "There's nothing to report. Not a single sound. It's long to wait all that time doing absolutely nothing, so I suggest you cover up."
The kunoichi nodded and gladly wrapped herself in the warm cover. Then she watched Lee as he crept towards his own sleeping bag, then went completely still as he waited for sleep to take him.
The fire, warm and ablaze, had obviously been replenished just before she had gotten up.
'Leave it to Lee to put enough wood in there so that I won't have to move a muscle in the hour I'll be guarding,' she thought to herself with a light smile, sitting down on the tree bark. Her youth-obsessed teammate had obviously been more tired than he let on, for his breathing had already slowed to a sleep-induced rate.
Naturally, her muscles were aching from the impressive distance they had dashed through the day. She slowly moved her neck from right to left a few times, then stretched her back before slouching down in a more comfortable position. A quick look at her watch told her it was five past ten, which meant that Lee had given her an extra few minutes to sleep and had sacrificed his own.
Minutes drew by and she closed her eyes for a few seconds, keeping her ears alert and ready to pick up any sound that would emerge in the forest. Eventually, though, she felt a small trickle on her forehead and she brushed it away impatiently. Then she brushed another one on her jaw before snapping her eyes open impatiently. Finding nothing that would explain the feeling, she closed her eyes again.
When it happened again, a few minutes ago, Tenten growled to herself and whipped her eyes open, ready to yell at whoever was playing with her mind. But her features softened when she saw what had fallen upon her face and she laughed softly at her own stupidity.
It was snowing.
Just tiny white specks coming down, but it was snowing nonetheless. They drifted down lazily upon her as she dropped her chin in her hand and watched it fall relentlessly, coming down in zigzags towards the earth.
She didn't know how long she watched the snow, but it captivated her. The way she never saw the flakes coming, then they'd finally appear when they were close enough to be detected. They also flew directly in front of the fire, melting with the heat and turning into raindrops as it hit the ground.
Eventually, though, she felt two strong hands being pressed against her shoulder blades. Instantly recognizing the way they held onto her skin, she smiled softly and raised her chin as high as she could, an act that made her lock her eyes with the person holding on to her.
"How come you're up?" she asked in a whisper as the man dropped his hands from her shoulders and sat down on the log besides her.
Neji stared in the fire for a while before eyeing the falling snow. He then gave the lightest of shrugs discernable and murmured, "We barely had any time to ourselves in the last few days. I thought you'd appreciate the visit."
"I do," she answered truthfully. Then, with infinite slowness, she slid one of her hands into his, locking their fingers together tightly. With a rapid look at her watch, she distinguished the time and frowned. "You still have fifteen minutes of sleep, Neji. It wouldn't be fair if—"
She never had the time to finish her sentence because the prodigy's lips were pressed tenderly on hers. All the thoughts flew out of her head and she suddenly wasn't in the middle of a snowy campground with six people sleeping around her. She was in a warm haven, alone with the man that she loved.
They took their sweet time to enjoy the moment before he pulled away first. They both regarded each other wistfully as Tenten felt a fierce longing fill the pit of her stomach. Neji's arms seemed to be calling out to her, but they couldn't risk staying together too long in case they were discovered.
Slowly and with infinite pain, Tenten stood up and whispered softly, "Good night, Neji. Thank you."
The Hyuuga Branch House member gave her one last, sweeping glance before turning his eyes to the fire. The Weapon's Mistress, meanwhile, had crawled back towards her sleeping bag. She looked at his strong back, completely straight with his perfect posture, until sleep came to take her away.
A/N: Heya to my faithful readers and hello to the others!
Wow, as if I got only four reviews for the last chapter…. v.v that downs a bit… I guess no one liked the filler. But I sure hope you all enjoyed the fluffiness in this chapter because there might not be any in the following.
But hey- I did get added to someone's community! Thank you! That deserves a nice guy pose! –Teeth clings-
Another chapter that wasn't that much to my liking. But then again, my opinion doesn't really matter. Yours do, though.
Take care!