All hail the weekend! I got hit over the head by a plotbunny last week, and am in the works of planning a possibly multi-chaptered sci-fi NejiTen (with an angry!Tenten!). I foresee Postcards to formally end at around 25 parts, unless I have random scenes to add after that. ;)

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!

As usual, Naruto and its characters do not belong to me. Prompts are from LiveJournal community 100_prompts.

#261 - Superstition

"I'm going to have a good day today," PrincessPanda announces over their webcam chat, her features alight with excitement; "How so?" Neji inquires curiously, wondering if she's getting a treat from her supervisor, perhaps- "I'm wearing my underwear inside-out - it's supposed to bring good luck," she tells him, and Neji blinks, uncertain what he should think - does "underwear" include her bra, can that be turned inside out, and she must be looking a little comical beneath her clothes - is Tenten even aware that she's placing images in his head that take a significant amount of effort to remove? - and he would very much like to be that snug against her intimate areas- no, there are deadlines he needs to complete at work today and a naked Tenten is the very last thing he needs on his mind.

#262 - Fantasy

Do people ever fantasize about those they've lost? Neji wonders wryly, gazing in contemplation at the erection he's nursing; it's been three months since Tenten vanished from her apartment without so much as a word, and he thinks about her daily, wondering about the child she is - was? - carrying; it still hurts, but sometimes he remembers her smile, the light of mischief in her eyes, and how she sidled along his body, to her knees, and led him to magic places like the Pied Piper does children; when he has sated himself and straightened his clothes, Neji returns to regarding himself as Hinata's fiance, a prospect that sinks his spirits faster than his law textbooks in a pool.

#263 - Test

In a small classroom quiet with the scribbling of pens on paper, Tenten bites her lip in concentration and does her calculus; she's glad she's been working on practice questions the past week - to her left, Neji is already done with his paper (she sees, from the corner of her eyes, the way he pushes his test sheets away and leans back in his seat, and scowls - he hasn't studied the slightest bit for it), while Lee is on her right, struggling with the numbers (he doesn't get them no matter how hard he tries); with a cautious glance at their teacher, she slides her completed questions towards the edge of her desk, so Lee is able to see her answers easily (because this is their final year, and she wants so badly for the three of them to graduate together).

#264 - Tease

One of the disadvantages (or boons, depending on your perspective) of the internet is the unreliability of data connections - HProdigy finds himself at his desk one summer afternoon facing a multitude of connectivity glitches, while PrincessPanda's appears to be running finer than ever; thus, it just so happens that she is caught unawares when he leaves his room for a snack, only to have his webcam image freeze on that of his empty seat-

-And Neji returns some time later, to find Tenten cheerfully stripping down to her panties (and not even that, by the time he remembers to breathe and settles dazedly his seat); his eyes are glued to her pert breasts and the smooth curve of her butt, and the thatch of hair at the juncture of her legs; he tells himself that every gentleman closes the window at this point, but he can't bring himself to, when she's been teasing him to no end and his imagination has wandered on more than one occasion-

-Tenten returns at the most inopportune time; she bends down by her screen to check for updates and yelps when she sees Neji's suddenly-clear image, though he's got an eyeful of her beautiful breasts by then, and he seizes the opportunity, when she spins around to put a shirt on, to discreetly remove his hand from his pants (Tenten thinks his blush is the sole result of her state of undress, though it is not quite so).

#265 - Storm

It is Monday night and Tenten is curled up next to Lee on his couch, watching his beloved soap operas in a bid to fill her mind with something other than reality; he's forbidden her to drink more than a bottle of liquor at a go, and the light buzz in her head does little to crush the memories of the clinic, and the blood, and Neji, and how her body aches and her heart still feels so raw; thunder rumbles beyond the walls of Lee's apartment, Lee cheers when the main characters kiss, and Tenten sinks lower into the cushions, sick to her stomach - she's gone and murdered her child, the one reminder she had of Neji (would it have looked like him, have his lilac eyes?) - and no, no, no, no more thinking about that unfeeling jerk, he's completely out of your life now and this is for the best, and her heart breaks all over again.

#266 - Strawberries

HProdigy raises an eyebrow at the strawberry jam sundae Tenten brings to the table, along with her usual mountain of fries - "I didn't know you like strawberries," he states, rather than asks, and Tenten makes a face - "They ran out of chocolate fudge, can you believe it?!" - "First world problems," Neji smirks at her, and watches as she dips her plastic spoon into the scarlet syrup, then her mouth; Tenten makes a face, and pushes the sundae towards him; "I can't eat it, it's too sweet," she grimaces, and Neji hesitates, before he takes the spoon from her (there is something kinky about eating with the spoon she's just used), and tries the strawberry jam for himself.

#267 - Weapon

Tenten hefts the aluminum bow in her hand, and, satisfied with its weight, she draws an arrow from the quiver, taking aim at the target - a quiet whoosh later, the arrow strikes one of the inner circles, its feathered end trembling - not bad for her very first shot; the woman beside her gasps softly, and Tenten turns to glance at her (why the surprise at an archery class?), giving a start when she finds Neji's eyes staring back at her; no, it's not him, she tells her pounding heart, just someone who happens to have the same ebony hair and lilac eyes - this stranger is almost certainly a Hyuuga, and related to Neji in some way.

#268 - Beach

"Um, hi?" Tenten manages a smile at the pale lady in her archery class, who looks timid and hesitant, and utterly out-of-place with a bow and arrow, "My name is Tian," and the probably-Hyuuga flashes a quick smile at her, bowing slightly; "You're a Hyuuga, aren't you?" Tenten blurts, before remembering her manners- "I'm sorry, what's your name?" to which the lady lowers her gaze and softly replies, "I am Hyuuga Hinata," (and Tenten is struck by the thought that Hyuuga Hinata would fit in a lot better at a beach with a dress and sunhat, or in a garden clipping flowers,) "Your accuracy is amazing, Tian-san."

#269 - Lost

Lee turns the TV volume down during a commercial break and looks over at Tenten, who has fallen asleep against his shoulder; his lips tighten into a thin line when he spots the tear tracks on her cheeks (she hasn't said a word the entire night), and he drapes an arm around her shoulder, only to have her murmur Neji's name as she subconsciously tucks her head into the crook of his neck; anger slides anew into his veins, and his available hand curls into a fist - Neji has deeply hurt their lotus, and he wants so badly to injure the former in return, if only to let Neji know what Tenten is going through now; she wanders around his house when she isn't working at her new bartending job, as if lost, and it frustrates Lee to know that there is little he can do to help.

#270 - Cry

Tenten decides, quite suddenly, while driving, that she is tired of crying about Neji; it's time to move on, because she's in a new place, free of attachments from the past, and she knows better than to give her heart away again; she turns off from the main street and pulls up in front of a shooting range, because it's time for new goals, new hobbies, and a new beginning; when the bearded man behind the counter asks for her name, she tells him, "Tian," for the heaven, the pure blue sky, and how untouchable it is.

#271 - Aloof

The evening after Tenten makes the cardinal mistake (twice) of sleeping with the Lord is one of the most awkward she's experienced - she and Lord Neji share a room, again, and as she disrobes to wipe the grime from the day off, she feels his eyes on her; her bare shoulders prickle under his attention and she keeps adamantly aloof (her chest is bare and she feels strangely vulnerable in his presence), though there is no way she's telling him that she remembers every touch of his skin on hers, and he does not move from his spot in the room (even if a little part of her wishes he would, because she feels so warm, and alive, in his arms).

#272 - Blood

There are bandits in the clearing all around them, brandishing swords and bows, and Tenten inhales sharply - they've stepped into an ambush and she's cursing herself for it (there are fifty of them and she's backing her steed into Lord Neji's, going through her weapon inventory (there isn't enough for all of them); Neji hasn't hired her for nothing, however, and she grabs her kunaifrom her holsters, taking the archers out first (they're starting to fire and she's throwing with both hands and dodging) with knives in their throats; a couple of arrows have whistled by her but she presses on, as does Neji, because the others are starting to swarm in and she'd be damned if they spill a drop of his precious blood.

#273 - Tower Block

The roar of car engines down the street makes for a rather distasteful noise right outside the Hyuuga & Hyuuga offices, Neji thinks, as he descends the front steps of the building; when he's reached street level, he turns on his heels and surveys the imposing structure, surrounded by concrete giants on three of four sides - this is now his second home, and where he will be in the foreseeable future; this is the only way forward, really, selling his soul to the family business and postponing the arranged marriage with Hinata (that neither of them wants) for as long as possible, to ensure that he'd be able to provide for a family that he does want, if Tenten will still accept him after all these years.

#274 - Taxi

Music from the college party is still ringing in Tenten's ears, even after she's driven Neji home and collapsed in the cab; lights zoom by the window, and the surrounding inky shadows provide ample space for her memories to surface before her eyes; Neji hardly looked at many others during the party, and they were somehow drifting towards a quiet corner, where there was little dancing and a lot more privacy (he's backing her into a wall and his hand drifts over her bottom, follows the curve down between her legs, and Tenten moans) - and her body is heating from those memories, even now, when she's moving ever further away from him (she still feels his hands on her skin, against her thigh), though she refrains from seeking release, for just a while longer, until she returns home.

#275 - Search

"'It's you'?" Lord Neji frowns and stares at Tenten, confused by the shock that flits over her face; "What do you mean, Tenten?" he asks quietly, and when she shakes her head and makes to back away, he catches her wrist (warm, so warm) and draws her closer to him, her reticence feeding his curiosity; "It's nothing," she mutters, looking away, and Lord Neji is tempted to pull her flush against him and taste her again, but he doesn't; "Tell me," he urges, because he would much rather there be no secrets between them (she is his most trusted person now, and he desires her); with much reluctance, Tenten keeps her gaze on the tatami floors, and replies, tightly, "We've met before."

#276 - Teenage

The days right after Tenten leaves the circus are the hardest, yet the most uplifting; she has barely any money on her, and the belongings she drags along are heavy (why oh why do her daggers weigh so much?), but there are no more rules to follow, no lusty men to fend against, and she is free to do what she wants, as long as the circus never finds her again; the remnants of Tenten's teenage years are spent fighting (and winning) bar brawls for income, being a mercenary, and selling apples and other produce from her backyard on the days she has little to do (and the boy from so long ago is forgotten, lost among other memories).

#277 - Dress

With her childhood spent in the circus, and her later teenage years bringing her close in contact with a multitude of sharp weapons, Tenten is highly unaccustomed to wearing a dress - she looks quizzically between Lord Neji and the seamstress, and asks dumbly, "You want to put me in a dress?" and later on, when the Lord brings her back for a second fitting, she tells him in no uncertain terms that she's uncomfortable with the air moving around her legs, and the material fits too tightly around her chest - her flesh is almost spilling out and she feels vulnerable; but he is staring like a parched man in the desert, and the heat in his gaze silences her to a mere blush.

#278 - Moonlit

"We've met before?" Lord Neji repeats after her, his brow furrowing; the moonlight casts his features in sharp relief (he is breathtakingly handsome, Tenten thinks); she tugs halfheartedly on her wrist, where his warm fingers hold her imprisoned, and regrets having mentioned their past at all, because it's all coming back to her now, the mud, the forest, and the towering bonfire, and she doesn't want Lord Neji to know how she's forgotten about him all those years back; "Answer me, Tenten," he urges, his smooth baritone gliding over her ears like a lover's caress, "Where and when did we meet?"

#279 - Map

"I- A long time ago," Tenten mutters, and drags her eyes away from his- but he lifts her hand to his lips and brushes them over her knuckles, and her breath catches, "We were too young to remember anything then," she yields, and his gaze snaps up to hers (but she still knows the village and the forest and where the circus was, like a map imprinted in her mind); his breath rushes against her skin - he remembers, she thinks, he knows - "Remember the bonfire, Neji, and the forest?" and his fingers tighten around her wrist when she drops his title; the air is so still, so taut between them that she isn't quite able to breathe; she's drowning in the lucid depths of his eyes- "Why did you leave me?" he murmurs, emotion flickering across his face, "It was you, wasn't it, Tenten?"

#280 - Grass

Tenten nods mutely, slowly, trapped in Lord Neji's gaze - "I had no choice," she tells him, "The circus was going away," and her heart is pounding, her breath catches, when he whispers, "I searched for you, for a long time," and she is swayed, like grass in the wind (only for him), when he draws her closer and cradles her face with his hand, as if she were fragile (he is staring and staring at her, as if feasting on the sight of her eyes and nose and lips); when Lord Neji kisses her this time, his lips are hot and hungry, and worshipful, and she welcomes him into her arms; her shoulders are bare when he presses her into the woven hay flooring and kisses her throat, and it feels as if she is finally home.

Awwww ;)