The Naruto franchise is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 10: Strawberry Desserts

"Kya~a, that was delicious!" Tenten enthused, tugging Neji out of the sushi bar by one hand. That anyone would be so bold with the Hyūga prodigy was a point of interest for passing villagers, but the ANBU captain's Byakugan promised painful death to any whose eyes dared linger.

"Now, let's see... hmmm," the weapons mistress mused cheerily, "I would like a double scoop of chocolate... and a vanilla for my friend, please!"

"Actually," Neji interrupted, "I would like a strawberry."

He put down the appropriate charge, pointedly ignoring Tenten's stunned look. She would have none of it.

"Strawberry?" she asked, confused, "You always have vanilla ice cream, though. Why did you...?"

"Hn."

Tenten considered Neji's blank visage for a long moment. He closed his eyes, wishing the vendor would hurr–

"It's the medic, isn't it?" she teased with a snap of her fingers, "Haruno Sakura-chan."

"Don't be ridiculous," Neji muttered.

"Ah, ah, ah," Tenten laughed, "You always say that when you're caught."

She held up a pinky to the stone-faced prodigy. The double meaning of her hand gesture did not go unnoticed, and his scowl deepened.

"Don't worry," she reassured cheekily, "Your secret is safe with me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Neji bit out brusquely, snatching the boxes of ice cream from the counter and stalking off.

~o x o~

"It has been good to see you again," Tenten said, calmer, now. She had burnt out much of her energy regaling the prodigy with tales of her kunoichi exploits.

"One problem, one Tenten!" she beamed.

"Ah," Neji acknowledged. He paused.

Tenten, who knew the stoic captain better than anyone, knew just what that pause meant.

"Lee and Gai-sensei are doing well, too," she answered, "Lee is away on a mission in Suna, but Gai-sensei will be back in three days. He has some secret new jutsu he wants to show you."

Neji frowned. It was probably a secret way to play janken or something useless like that.

"I think it really might be something good this time," Tenten said pensively, touching her index finger to her lip and looking upward, "He hasn't told anyone about it. Ah, that's right!"

She dug into her pouch, withdrawing a small scroll. The Hyūga prodigy recognized it as one of her weapon storage scrolls, but it was smaller than her usual ones, which held hundreds, if not thousands, of items. Tenten unraveled the paper, biting her thumb and letting a few drops of blood drip onto the paper.

A puff of smoke obscured the ink and when it cleared, a sword sat in with weapon's mistress' lap. The blade was double-edged and bore three oblong hollows in its fuller, each shorter than the last, and met with an elliptical guard and cylindrical hilt forged of black metal.

"It's lighter than your katana, so you'll be able to strike faster," Tenten beamed, looking like a child with a new toy, her hair still styled in her usual twin buns, "And the two edges mean you can attack front and back."

She stood, demonstrating a few basic forms. The sword veritably sang through the air, the very sound raising the hair on the back of Neji's neck. Tenten sheathed the weapon reverently.

"I ran across it while aiding with a slaver ring out westward," she said, presenting the weapon to Neji, "It's the best craftsmanship I've seen in a long time."

Neji took the sword carefully. Even in the scabbard, it felt wondrously light.

"Thank you, Tenten," he said, strapping the new weapon to his back. Tenten smiled, recognizing the genuine gratitude in the prodigy's voice. She nodded her assent and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Think of it as a thank you gift for all that sushi," Tenten laughed, patting her stomach in an exaggerated way.

~o x o~

"New sword?" Sakura asked, looking up as Neji entered the Archive Library. He nodded.

She mirrored the gesture and waved toward a rather hefty stack of books on the table beside her notes.

"I've been looking for what the thing we ran into might be," she said, by way of explanation, "So far..."

The medic paused, sucking on her teeth lightly as she mulled over her next words.

"My best guess at this point is that it's some sort of... self-contained variant of the Kugutsu no Jutsu."

"A puppet... made from a corpse," Neji said slowly.

"Crudely done," Sakura amended, "Which is why there were so many cuts. But there's no way chakra strings could have had enough leverage for it to move the way it did. Based on how it moved, I would say it was some sort of electricity based nerve technique."

"Like Hokage-sama's Ranshinshō."

"Exactly."

Neji ran through the information several times in his head.

"At the very least, the user had extensive knowledge of medical jutsu and most likely puppeteering."

Sakura nodded.

"The only person I've found in our archives who matches that description is Sasori of the Red Sands," she said with a frown.

"Whom we know to be dead," Neji finished.

"Maybe cryptanalysis will find something that will help," Sakura said with a long-suffering sigh. She put her head down, letting her pink bangs drape the wooden surface of the table.

Neji cleared his throat once, unsure of how to proceed.

"Hm?" the medic asked, lifting her face, eyes slightly unfocused.

"I... brought you some ice cream," Neji intoned, setting a fresh box of the dessert before her. Sakura's expression lit up with glee.

Neji suppressed a smile. He was a Hyūga, and he would be damned if he would allow himself to give in to...

To what?

He turned to leave.

"Wait."

He glanced over his shoulder.

"We can... share, if you want?" Sakura asked with a shy blush. There was a twinkle of hope in her viridian eyes.

Neji eased himself into the chair opposite Sakura. The way her eyes brightened stole his breath away, and he wondered if there was anything he wouldn't do to see them that way.

As she struggled with the box, she became aware that Neji had been staring at her fixedly. She looked up at him curiously, her cheeks burning, and willed the butterflies in her stomach to settle, to little effect.

The prodigy blinked, recoiling a bit.

"You have ink," he blurted hastily, pointing vaguely at his face. Had Sakura not immediately set about scrubbing her nose, she would have seen the shade of pink that played over the Hyūga's cheeks, much to his mortification.

"Did I get it?" she asked.

He shook his head and extended a finger, rubbing gently at the bridge of her nose. Evidently, it was a particular stubborn stain, as he leaned forward and cupped her cheek to hold her still as he tried valiantly to remove the blot.

Sakura chose to lean forward the same moment he did to aid his efforts, and the two found themselves face to face. She averted her gaze, wondering if Neji could hear the thundering of her heart.

Neji hesitated. The ink – and the ice cream – were long forgotten, now, replaced by the bewitchingly sweet scent of Sakura's breath and the spellbinding closeness of her presence. She chose that exact moment to peek up at him through her amaranth eyelashes with her dazzling emerald gaze.

Neji felt time stop, and his heart with it.

On the precipice of disaster, he did the only thing he could do.

He ran.

~o TBC o~

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