Winter Wonderland
Rated: T
Theme(s): Hiding Presents
Disclaimer:
Reviewers (who are awesome and amazing and deserve the bestest best Christmas (or whatever winter holiday they celebrate) and New Year ever)):
DarkAnonymous324: Thanks.
Sinistra24: Of course he isn't. Just watching her (from afar) very avidly. Thank you. :)
Hey, y'all, I want to dedicate this one-shot/chapter to all those who reviewed. I'm going to go back and read all my one-shot/drabbles and think you're on crack to say you liked my writing, but I really appreciate you guys anyways. You guys made finishing this worthwhile. So, here are y'alls users/aliases that reviewed… I hope y'all have a good Christmas (or whatever holiday you chose to celebrate) and New Year.
DarkAnonymous324
Jing Mei
Dcfan100
Mollie (Red ChopSticks)
Sinstra24
Dragonfire2lm
Animeteen221
someon
I'm serious, y'all. Thanks a bunch. :D Now, onto the one-shot.
- Proposal -
"Arigatou, TenTen! Such youth is displayed from these gifts!" Lee yelled, grinning form ear-to-ear, holding up a set of nunchucks. Written along the edges where he wouldn't hold them for too long (so it wouldn't bother him while he battled) was 'The Green Beast of Konoha: Konoha's Green Flash'.
"Hey, no problem, Lee. I guess you see those scarves, too?" TenTen said, smiling sadly at the five green scarves spilling out of Lee's lap. He sobered up, nodding slowly.
"Yes. I have been unable to find any solid green scarves lately. Thank you." Placing his presents aside as he talked solemnly, Lee walked over to his teammate and gave her a hug. It wasn't bone-crushingly tight, but a nice, gentle one that meant so much more. She hugged back, willing the little pinprick tears pecking at the back of her eyes not to fall.
"Yeah. I know you go through them the fastest. I saw a whole bunch over in the Rain country, so I picked them up." TenTen mumbled when he leaned back, returning to his former seat on her couch. She, herself, was sitting on the loveseat, waiting for someone to join her.
"Ne, TenTen, while we're waiting, why don't you open my youthful gift for you?" Lee grinned brightly at her, holding up a gold and maroon wrapped gift. TenTen suspected Sakura had done it since Lee, in all his years of being an orphan, never learned how to wrap things properly. After all, why wrap gifts for no one? TenTen herself had a hard time wrapping gifts, but she'd gotten the hang of it over the years; Lee, unfortunately, never did.
"Sure. Toss it over." TenTen laughed softly, catching the present when it sailed over to her from Lee's bandaged hands. She unwrapped it in a particular style – by the seams, not randomly ripping like Lee. Heck, she once had opened gifts that way, but after seeing Neji open his like that, well… she started to do it, too.
"Oh, wow…" TenTen breathed, taking in the sight of the gorgeous silver locket with gold designs.
"Open it." Lee grinned at her, nodding once. She opened it and bit her lip, smiling sadly. Both sides had a picture of Gai in them.
"Thanks, Lee, thanks a lot." This time, it was TenTen going over to give him a hug. He put it around her neck, smiling his little sad smile.
"Okay, this is Christmas, and I wasn't present until now. That alone should be the reason you two should be close to drunk on eggnog." There was a slight gust of leaves that just appeared, and there stood the missing member of their team.
"Tch. We can't be emo with out you?" TenTen asked, pouting as she returned to the love seat. Lee snickered, grinning widely.
"No. Lee." Neji paused on his way across the living room, handing Lee a gift wrapped in bright green. Lee handed him a long gift wrapped in shiny silver paper before Neji moved on to sit in TenTen's lap.
"Hey, fatso, get off me!" TenTen yelped, shoving Neji out of her lap and into the armrest of the loveseat.
"Hn? Didn't notice you there, Chuu." Neji smirked at her, a teasing gleam in his eyes.
"Freaking ass hole!" TenTen huffed, not looking at him as she shoved her present to him into his lap.
"Arigatou, Neji, my youthful rival!" Lee interrupted them, grinning brightly as he held up a scrapbook. On the front it said Team Gai, so TenTen suspected it went all the way back to their Genin days, not just their recent ANBU days.
"I didn't know you could draw…" Neji shrugged at Lee's comment, making TenTen eye his fingers. They were their normal white color, but near his cuticles there was a dark black stain.
"Here." Neji sighed, shoving a package into her lap. TenTen unwrapped a scrapbook just like Lee's as Neji unwrapped a new katana from Lee and a box of expensive chocolates from TenTen.
"Well, I've got to go visit Naruto-kun before I head home to Sakura. See you soon, and Merry Christmas." Lee waved, taking the scarves, nunchucks, and scrapbook with him.
"See you, Lee!" TenTen called before flipping through the scrapbook. Though it looked identical to Lee's, on the front it read 'Team Gai and NejiTen'. The pictures that had been hand drawn were not expert level, but good enough considering Neji had done that for her (and Lee).
"Thank you, Neji." Pulling the katana out of his lap just in case, TenTen leaned over and kissed him. Neji smiled against her lips, pulling her into his lap.
"Thank you, TenTen. Though I expect much more of you."
"… You freaking perv!" Before she could pull away in embarrassment, Neji pulled her in for another kiss,
"Merry Christmas, Chuu."
"Merry Christmas, Neji-perv."
Neji smirked at her, feeling the cool feel of metal in his mouth. He pulled her in for another kiss before TenTen could move away to do something else. Neji could feel TenTen's slight chuckle at what she assumed was his impatience when all he was doing, really, was proposing in some sort of crack-headed way. He asked for permission, running his tongue over her lower lips. TenTen opened her mouth, not expecting something cold and round to fall into her mouth. Neji pulled away, snickering and grinning.
"What the hell, Neji…" TenTen mumbled, pulling the cold, round metal out of her mouth. Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up.
"N… nice way of proposing, Hyuuga…" TenTen laughed, giving him an odd look.
"I was thinking sometime in the spring to hold the wedding when neither of us have missions, of course." Neji said, shrugging at the look. What could he say, he wanted to make sure she didn't see the ring until he wanted her to. And velvet boxes were so overrated, anyways.
"Hey! I didn't say yes!"
"And you can't say no."
"Jerk!"
And he kissed her again to stop the ramble Neji knew TenTen was about to give him, most likely about to calling him a jerk over five times in a row and maybe a few choice, stronger words. But he didn't quite care at the moment. She'd just agreed to marry him (well, she didn't say yes, technically, but he knew she did mentally).
A/N: … Yeah, sorry it's short. Hope you guys liked it anyways. :D Don't ask me why Neji propped like that – I've had him proposing like that in my head for a long time now. Don't know why or where from. Anyways, I think velvet boxes and going onto one knee is kinda overrated, anyways… I don't think, of all the times I've had Neji propose, that he's had both… hmm… Well, anyways, Merry Christmas! This sure was fun. Hope y'all liked it.
~ Tobi