Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. –pout-

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The 'Great' Springtime of Youth

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Re-Cap:

"I believe he can speak for himself, ne Neji? Would you like to hear more of the tape? Perhaps the first 117 minutes before this part?" He glared icily at her—he honestly wasn't quite sure at the moment. "I didn't think so. Good. Here's a quick explanation. Tenten came up with an idea to drug you, so I did. It wasn't a drug so much as a truth serum. Your teammate is a very curious girl, you know. Anyways, I recorded what happened, for safety reason; I assure you. And now here we are. Well, have a nice day you two. Get out!"

The Hokage had shooed them out of the door and locked herself inside her office before Neji could comprehend what exactly was happening and who was moving his body. He didn't even get to properly increase the pressure of his death glare on the Gondaime. So instead, he turned it on Tenten. "You what?!"

She looked away, her face rivaling his previous scarlet color, and pushed him down the hallway. "Neji, you shouldn't talk much, you're still drugged."

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As Tenten helped Neji, still dizzy from the drugs and violation of his privacy, limp into her living room there was a knock at the front door. She carefully set him down on the couch and went back into the hall.

When she had gone, Neji leaned his head against the back of the couch and groaned in protest of his headache. From what he'd heard from Kiba, this had to be worse then a hangover. Nevertheless, Tenten's frustrated and confused voice caught his attention.

"…she said that? Oh… No, no, it's alright. Yes. No thank you, that's alright. Goodnight."

He didn't bother to hide the curious expression that took over his face as she came in rather sulkily and sat beside him.

"Hokage-sama called Hiashi-san and told him you are to stay here while you recover from… well from everything."

She seemed so ridiculously calm considering what just happened. Shouldn't she be embarrassed or nervous, or something?

As if she was only remembering the events of that day at that specific moment, Tenten turned a deep shade of magenta before looking away in embarrassment and quickly getting up, heading into the kitchen. "Hokage-sama told me that herbal tea would be good for you right now."

He tried to ignore the feeling of having his mind seemingly read, and refocused on a different, safer topic.

"Who was at the door?"

He heard the clink of ceramic on the counter and she gasped lightly before cursing. "Um…It was one of the ANBU guards."

"An ANBU guard came all the way here to tell me that?" Neji sighed, slightly bemused. "Don't I feel special…"

She poked her head out of the kitchen to glare at him. "Don't be that way, Neji," she reprimanded him and brought her head back to her body inside the kitchen. "Do you want some food to go with your tea?"

"Hn." Actually, he felt starved; but he was sure she'd assume that.

As he waited, Neji closed his eyes in contemplation only to have a vivid image of Tenten in front of him, caressing his bare chest, pop into his mind. He jumped slightly, opening his eyes and steadying his breathing. It wasn't a vision, but a memory. It still seemed just as bad to him.

"Stop fidgeting, your tea is almost finished." He glared at the doorway and shivered unconsciously; she was freaky when she did that.

Moments later, Tenten waltzed into the room with a wooden tray of rice balls and a set of cups with a kettle. Pouring some tea for Neji, then herself, Tenten sighed and smiled contentedly, blowing on the steam that raised off of her cup.

Grumbling incoherently, Neji's bad mood contrasted greatly with Tenten's apparent serenity. He sighed softly, barely audible unless you were listening for it, and looked at her from the corner of his eye. He sighed again, harder this time, and she jumped.

"What's wrong Neji?"

"Hn."

She lifted an eyebrow and set down her cup, turning to him. "No, really. What's wrong?"

Devouring the sudden urge to either ravish her or kill her, Neji made a scowl and bowed his head down. "Why are you so…" He sighed again. "Forget it."

"Oh…um…okay." He wanted to say something. Ask her how she seemed so normal after just hearing and seeing him fantasize about him. For two hours, no less. She'd probably end up saying something first anyways. She was just like that sometimes.

And just as he predicted, two rice balls and three cups of tea later, Tenten sighed dramatically and turned to him sulkily. "Okay, Neji, you win." He silently wondered how she knew he was waiting for her to speak. "This is very awkward."

He nodded solemnly, biting into another rice ball. As he chewed his food, the silence weighed heavily over them. It was so surreal; they were normally perfectly fine sitting in silence together.

Neji felt a soft pressure on his cheek and he turned to look at Tenten in surprise. She lifted her finger to his face showing him a grain of rice. "You eat messily."

He glared at her, causing her to shrink back into the couch slightly, as he calmed his nerves. He felt like he had just been electrified and she was scolding his eating habits. He had much better etiquette than she did so he had no idea what she was talking about. It was one damn grain of rice…

"Don't be so stiff, Neji!"

The familiar phrase ricocheted throughout his brain, but an image didn't appear in his head this time. "I'm not stiff."

"You are stiff. You're also being… huffy."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Huffy?" He suddenly felt so much better; he was speaking in short sentences, not thinking to himself every three seconds, and not fantasizing about his teammate doing… well, doing him.

"Yes, huffy."

Actually, he felt a little more angry than normal. Was he supposed to be angry about something? "How so?"

"Ah, you seem so depressed. It was just a tape Neji. You didn't even say all that much for the two hours, you—.

"I'm not depressed. You're depressed."

She looked at him in obvious confusion. "Me?

He nodded, but mentally shook his head. He should shut his mouth now while he could. The sudden urge to say something that would a split-second later cause him an unbearable will to stuff his foot in his mouth overcame him.

"Your tea isn't very good and the rice balls are made sloppily. If you aren't depressed, than you're a bad cook." He didn't mean to say it, he really didn't, and it wasn't even true; she usually made the two of them bento lunches when they trained together and her meals were always more than decent. It actually sounded more like a poorly stringed together joke than an insult.

Nevertheless, it still seemed to offend her. She opened her mouth to retort but snapped it shut before standing up and taking the rice ball he was about to bite into out of his hands, along with his tea cup and the tray cluttered with food and the kettle. "Fine, Neji. Goodnight."

She was in and out of the kitchen, then in a room down the hall so fast that Neji still hadn't dropped his raised hand or closed his waiting mouth.

He blinked, breaking out of his stupor to turn to the door she had disappeared behind and fell into a silent reflection of idiocy. "What?"

He waited another few moments, expecting her to come out and yell at him, but she never emerged from the wooden door. He snorted softly and lay on the couch, shutting his eyes and scrunching up his nose in determination. "Tch, I ate enough anyways; I'll just go to sleep."

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When Neji reopened his eyes, seemingly minutes later, there was absolutely no light in the apartment. Activating his Byakugan, he didn't bother to move from his spot to check the time. However, as soon as the knowledge of the time sunk into his mind he was sitting up straight and completely bewildered. It was two o'clock in the morning and he had closed his eyes at 6 o'clock.

A low rumble erupted from his stomach.

And apparently he was extremely hungry, as well. So without further ado and absolutely no common sense, Neji quickly stood up form the couch. The sudden movement caused his head to swim with images of a quickly approaching floor. What did interrogation drugs, anger, regret, and eight hours of sleep on your teammates couch equal? An extremely upset Hyuuga face planted on a wooden floor and groaning in pain and sorrow for his—what he thought was now a—broken nose.

He heard a slight creak and then a soft, amused voice. "Neji, what are you doing?"

"My…nose…" He heard her gasp and her footsteps fade slightly before becoming louder again and she peeled his face off the floor. His eyes were screwed shut in embarrassment and pain as she leaned him against the nearby wall in a sitting position.

Suddenly, a slightly burning pain shot through his nose and he sucked in a sharp breath; he wasn't expecting that. He forced an eye open to stare into her concerned eyes as she continued to poke and prod his nose. "What the hell are you doing?! That hurts!" He managed to hiss out without jarring his nose too much.

"Checking if it's broken…" she poked it one more time and he glared at her fiercely.

He closed his eyes and lifted his chin in indignation, making a huffing sound and crossing his arms over his chest. "Of course it's broken I—!"

"Actually, it's not broken." He opened his eyes in time to see her stamp a nasal strip roughly across the bridge of his nose which he replied to with a subconscious yelp of 'ow!' "Your nose is just a bit bruised inside. It'll be swollen in the morning."

"And you're obviously not helping." He replied curtly, knowing fully well that she knew he was sulking. He felt a slight pressure on his nose and opened his eyes to see her pulling her lips from his face.

She grinned at him playfully and poked his forehead. "You're such a sulk, Neji." He stared at her in slight amazement and great offense as she went back into the kitchen.

As soon as she was around the corner, he turned his head in the opposite direction and allowed a soft blush to cover his features. Turning his nose up into the air he sniffed lightly; earning himself a small wave of pain at which he immediately uncrossed his arms to lightly cup his nose and let out another small 'ow!' before falling into a very unnatural sulky look—especially so for the Hyuuga—and grumbled, "I'm not sulking…"

"Yes you are," echoed the teasing remark from the kitchen as Tenten returned to the living room. She stopped in front of him and gazed at him for a few seconds, causing his blush to strengthen slightly. "Are you still dizzy? Can you walk?"

He got up and walked over to the other side of the room in response, ignoring the slightly queasy feeling as he did a quick turn at the end. She nodded in approval before going back into the hallway.

"There's a small late-night ramen stand around here. It's not nearly as good as Ichiraku ramen, but it's better than nothing." She returned to the room with a small pouch, most likely containing money, and offered her hand meekly.

She was offering something other than ramen, he realized. Slowly taking her hand in his own, they stepped out the door. He quietly pondered the thought as they made the short trip down the block to the ramen stand.

"Neji." He snapped back to attention as she gazed up at him. "I'm sorry."

He stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate as he stumbled his way into the shop and onto a stool, ignoring the loud grumbling of his stomach and slight spinning of his vision as Tenten gave in their orders. When she didn't continue, he prodded for an answer. "For what?"

"For embarrassing you?" She answered meekly, laughing nervously at his sudden death glare. Just when he thought she may be serious…

"Lee!"

"Drunken fist –hic– style will save the day and –hic– win Sakura!"

Neji couldn't help but smile slightly at the familiar voices. After a week of their absence, he realized how used he was to their constant jabbering.

Tenten sighed loudly, getting up from her stool and standing in the doorway of the shop. "Gai-sensei, is Lee drunk again?"

"Ah! Neji, Tenten! Enjoying you youth at such a late hour?"

Tenten blanched and looked at her sensei warily. "You're the one out with your drunken student so late…"

Neji eyed Lee as he wobbled dangerously close to a "Beware of Dog" fence. "Here puppy, puppy…."

"Tenten, Lee is—." Tenten leapt up from her stool before he finished his warning, reacting to the vicious growl coming from the fence.

Neji contended himself by watching his team go through their usual youthful routines.

Slurping up some ramen, he did his best to ignore the drunken yells, growls, encouraging speeches, and exasperated comments that seemed to distract the shop keeper in front of him.

Perhaps this 'Great' Springtime of Youth had a little more truth to it than Gai-sensei often led him to believe…

He allowed a small, barely noticeable small creep onto his face as he got up and joined the rest of his team. It was probably better that he was forced to realize his carnal feelings for his teammate. And she didn't seem to mind either.

He did mind the little fuzz-ball gnawing on his ankle, though.

"Get off me, mutt."

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A/N: A lot of OOC-ness in this chapter, sorry about that, but it was just so funny and for some reason I could picture Neji doing that in my mind's eye. Hope you liked it.