I seriously love writing distressed, uncomfortable Neji. Something tells me he wouldn't have any experience in these things before her because he had better things to worry about (aka training, hating the main branch, griping about destiny etc etc etc)
Enjoy! Leave a review please 3
Day Seventy-Three – 10 December 2017
Prompt – I Can't
Summary – Neji can't kiss pt. II.
Notes – Time skip era
Word Count – 1056
I Can't
He chased after her, but he couldn't catch her before she barricaded herself in her apartment.
"Tenten!" he called. "Please, I'm sorry! I don't know what happened!"
There was no answer from the other side of her door when he knocked and knocked again.
You're an idiot, he scolded himself. Out of all the things you could have done, why did you have to pull away?
"I'm sorry," he said again, not knowing if she was even listening, and he didn't dare use his Byakugan to see if she was there. That would have been just another nail on his coffin at that point. "I don't know what I'm doing."
There was still no answer.
"Kami," he muttered as he leaned on her door, utterly helpless. "I'm such an idiot."
All right then, he thought bitterly. I'll just stay here until she comes out, no matter how long it takes.
He turned his back and leaned on the door, letting himself slowly slide backwards until he was sitting on her doorstep, slumped over in defeat.
Of course, she would think that she'd done something wrong; he would have thought the same thing if she'd pulled away. She might even think that it was her fault that he pulled away.
"This is your own fault," he hissed at himself. "You idiot!"
The red and orange of the sunset faded into deep purple, then into the inky blackness of total night. He sat and fiddled with his thumbs, too nervous to try to do much else. He spoke out every so often to see if she would respond to him, but still there was no answer. Eventually he stopped talking; she knew him well enough by now to know that he wasn't going to abandon his goals so easily.
When an hour had passed, he sighed and hung his head, mumbling into the collar of his shirt. "It wasn't your fault, I'm just so inexperienced I didn't know what to do…"
At that, he heard the click of the lock on her door, and he fell backwards at the sudden disappearance of the solid wood at his back. He crossed his forearms in front of his face, fearing some sort of blow, but when nothing came he opened his eyes and looked up at her form standing over him.
"What did you say?" she asked cautiously.
He let his arms fall on top of his stomach, not daring to move off the ground. "I said, it wasn't your fault."
She sat down next to him, fixing him with a calculated gaze as she mulled over his words. "You acted like I had done something wrong, I thought…"
"No, Tenten," he whispered, shaking his head as he propped himself up on one elbow to face her. "That's not it at all."
He noticed that her eyes were red and puffy, as if she'd been crying. That alone added ten times the guilt he already felt about his actions.
"What happened then?"
He looked down at the wooden boards of the porch. "I just got so flustered, I…" he looked up sheepishly. "It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"
"You said you didn't know what you're doing," she stated softly. He nodded.
"I have no experience in these things," he admitted. "It's not as if you can train to know how to kiss someone like you can train to fight."
They must have looked ridiculous, her sitting on her doormat next to him as he lay awkwardly over the threshold, partly inside and partly outside her apartment, having a late-night conversation about kissing. Then again, there were stranger things.
"You've not kissed someone?" she asked, a look of incredulity etched into her features.
He shook his head again, not daring to answer with words. She sighed lightly.
"Well," she said, the corner of her mouth lifting, "that would explain a lot."
"I'm sorry," he said for the umpteenth time, "I didn't intend to hurt your feelings."
"Of course you didn't," she replied, "and I was an idiot to believe that you did. I know you."
He sat fully upright and crossed his legs, sitting just outside of her entrance. "I'm glad you actually came out. I was going to sit here all night if you didn't." He shot her a half-hearted smile.
"I figured as much, when you sat down on the doorstep." She stood and offered her a hand. "Would you like to come in and have some tea?"
He took her hand, but politely declined. "I need to get home," he said. "They'll be wondering where I am."
"Right," she said, then looked at him as she had before.
Oh no, he thought, not again.
Before she could invite him to her lips again, he gently took hold of her shoulders. "Tenten," he murmured, "please don't take this the wrong way, but I can't."
"Why?" she asked, though there was no hurt in her eyes this time. She seemed to understand.
He felt his cheeks redden, and said, "would you be surprised if I said I was afraid?"
"I don't think I would be surprised," she admitted, "though I would ask what you were afraid of."
He let his hands drop to his sides. "I don't know," he sighed. "I think I need to figure that out first, but I promise it is not your fault. You know I care for you deeply, it's just that-"
"Neji," she cut him off, silencing the rest of his explanation. "I understand what you're saying, I do. Maybe talking to some of your friends would help?"
He nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I really would like another shot and not mess it up, but I might need a little bit of advice before I do so."
She laughed and agreed. "All right then, go home, Hyuga. I'll see you tomorrow for training."
He nodded again and turned to head back to the compound, but not before he paused and said, "thank you, Tenten."
"Anytime, Neji," she replied as she shut her door. He was left with yet another foolish grin on his face as he turned for home.
It was the next morning that he woke up to a rather exuberant Lee shaking him out of his bed. "Get up, Neji! We have a mission! We're headed for the Land of Frost!"
Follow up is Day 84 - Out (in the) Cold!
