Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.
Prompt: Confidence
Special Thanks: goes out to DarkAnonymous324, SnowCharms, kenzinator, Zyrr, kimbi07, naash, rallybabe89, Karen, rao hyuga 18, and Nenne for all your reviews! You make me the happiest writer in the world, I think.
Author's Note: I am so, so sorry for taking so long to update! Besides the two separate stories I posted recently, I seem to have had trouble actually being able to finish what I started. I have three prompt-shots sitting unfinished, collecting dust on my haddrive. This idea slapped me upside the head tonight, so I sat down and wrote the whole thing straight through before the Dreaded Writer's Block could strike me again. I hope this piece was worth the wait, and thank you all again so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story!
*~Confidence~*
Tenten was used to people coming to her for advice on weapons. But she wasn't used to people coming to her for advice on how to look good.
So when Yamanaka Ino showed up on her doorstep at two in the morning, her makeup smeared into two tear trails down her face, her hair mussed, wailing as if everyone she loved had just died, all she could think to do was stare at the blonde.
The two kunoichi were friends, naturally, but Tenten was closer to Hinata. Even Sakura was a closer acquaintance than Team Ten's blonde medic. Ino was more interested in her looks than weapons techniques, which really left them little to talk about when the four women got together.
After finally getting over her shock, Tenten drew Ino inside and closed the door again. "Ino, what's wrong?"
"S-Sakura would just laugh at me-" here Ino was interrupted by a hiccup "-and Hinata is out on a mission. You're the only person I can talk to!" She let out another long wail.
Tenten felt her left eye twitch slightly. Nice to know I'm dead last on her list of people to talk to. "What about Kurenai-sensei?" The wife of Team Ten's late sensei had become something of a surrogate mother to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, being the person all three (but particularly Ino) went to in times of crisis.
"She's so tired from missions and having to take care of baby Asuma," Ino sniffled. "I couldn't possibly bother her."
Apparently the fact that I just got back from a two-week-long A-ranked mission from you-know-where doesn't count. Tenten cleared her throat. "All right ... so what seems to be the problem?" She tried to keep her voice low, calm, and soothing.
Ino wiped at her eyes, prompting Tenten to reach for a box of tissues. The other woman accepted it with a soft "thank you" and began to wipe her eyes and nose. Since she looked unlikely to be forthcoming with an explanation for her presence any time soon, the sleepy brunette went to the kitchen to make some tea for both of them.
By the time she returned to her tiny sitting room, Ino had managed to calm herself a bit. She murmured another "thank you" as Tenten handed her tea, then remained silent until after her hostess had settled into a seat of her own. "What ... what do you do?" she finally asked. Her blue eyes gazed hopefully, pleadingly, into Tenten's brown as she asked the question.
Blink. "I'm ... a kunoichi?"
Sighing, Ino waved her free hand. "No, no, I don't meant what do you do for a living. I mean ... what do you do to make yourself look like that?" Her hand shifted to motion to Tenten's body.
She gazed down at herself. "I, uh..." What was she supposed to say? She wore an old shirt and a pair of meditation pants as pajamas, her hair was loose and horribly sleep-tousled, she wore no makeup (not that she ever did to begin with, really), making her sure that the bags under her eyes were very obvious. "...I always dress like this for bed?"
"Unngh!" Setting her teacup down on the table with a loud thump, Ino slumped next to it and covered her face with her hands. "That's not what I meant, either!"
Tenten resisted the urge to cover her own face and start crying. "I-I'm sorry, Ino! But I'm really tired, and I just don't understand what you're talking about. What do you want from me?"
Ino muttered something against the table before lifting her head again. With most of the makeup scrubbed off her face, she looked young and beautiful even with red-rimmed eyes from her crying. "Okay. Let me try this again." She took another drink of her tea. "What do you do to make yourself so attractive to guys?"
Immediately, Tenten felt heat suffuse her neck and cheeks. "Nothing!" Her own teacup was placed on the table so hard some liquid splashed over the edge. She raised her hands to cover her red face, hiding it from Ino's intense gaze. "I don't do anything! Besides, I think you've got me confused with Hinata or Sakura. G-Guys don't like me."
Between her fingers, Tenten saw Ino shake her head. "No, you're not seeing things objectively," the blonde disagreed. "You're not seeing yourself objectively."
Sighing heavily, Tenten dropped her hands. "Ino, I'm not like you, or Sakura, or Hinata. I'm just Tenten. Weapons are my thing, and I think my fondness for all things sharp and pointy scare guys off. If they do look at me, it's in fear. Only Lee, Gai-sensei, and Neji aren't afraid of me, but they don't look at me romantically, either. Thank goodness."
Reaching across the table, Ino grasped Tenten's wrists. "No, no, no, no. You turn heads no matter where you go. I think half of the Konoha 12 guys are in love with you, actually! And every time you and I have been on missions together, I've seen guys watching you."
"That's my job," she said. "But that's just a cover. Guys are looking at my undercover persona, not me."
"But not the men in this village!" Ino declared. "And that's my point! What do you do to catch their eyes?"
"Nothing!" Tenten insisted. "I'm telling you, you're imagining things! And this is supposed to be about you, remember?" She had no idea how the topic of conversation had flip-flopped.
"This is about me! Just ... indirectly." And suddenly Ino's fervent expression died, giving way to one so full of pain that it startled Tenten. She had seen the blonde angry, happy, excited. Even, on a few rare occasions, serious. But never had Ino seemed sad or pained - until now. "It's just that ... well..." She sighed.
Tenten reached over to grab the tissue box and push it closer, just in case.
Ino managed a tiny smile at that. "You know me. I like attention, particularly from the opposite sex. But it seems like no matter how hard I try, it's not enough."
An involuntary, incredulous laugh bubbled out of Tenten. "Are you serious, Ino? Everywhere we go, you're the one turning heads. You've got men falling at your feet begging you to pay attention to them!"
Quietly, Ino turned her bright blue eyes, shimmering with tears again, down to stare at her teacup. "But not the one I really want. That I've always wanted." A bitter laugh, so out of character for her, tore from her throat. "I didn't even realize it at first. But tonight, even though Kiba was behaving amazingly on our date, I realized that it wasn't him, or any of the others, that I really wanted to be sitting there with. And then I realized that ... everything I've been doing to get him to notice me hasn't worked, so I've just been doing what seems to make everyone else happy." She lifted her head again. "But you!"
The declaration was so close to a shout that it made Tenten jump.
"You don't seem to have to do anything. Guys already like you. I mean, every time Neji sees you, he just ... lights up. I'm telling you, the only time I've ever seen him smile was when he was looking at you. Seriously."
Grabbing a cushion, Tenten hid her face. "You're wrong," she said, voice muffled. Though I wish she wasn't. How long have I been hoping Neji would see me as more than just his teammate and friend? After she was reasonably sure the flaming color in her face had receded, she lowered her cover to gaze at Ino. "Is it Neji you want to impress? Is that it?" She had to shove away the sharp spear of jealousy that pierced her chest when she asked that question.
This time Ino giggled. "Not that Neji isn't great, but ... no. If he weren't already so obviously absorbed with you, maybe. But no, it's not the Hyuuga genius I want to impress."
Tenten couldn't find it in herself to be ashamed about the relief that eased the knot in her chest. "All right, then. Who?"
Ino drew invisible designs on the tabletop. "I'd ... rather not tell you," she murmured. "I know you'd only laugh at me. Just ... tell me what you do to get Neji to notice you, and maybe it'll work for me."
Once more, she had to shake her head incredulously. "I'm sorry, Ino. I wish I could help you. But I promise you, I don't do anything. There's no makeup trick I try - I don't even wear any - I just wear regular, comfortable clothes, I don't try to do anything special. I'm just Tenten, and guys do not fall all over me. Not even Neji." She couldn't resist adding the last part, especially since Ino seemed so determined that it was true when it was, in fact, not.
Suddenly Ino brightened, her whole face just lighting up as if Tenten had shared the most jealously guarded secret in the world with her. "That's it!" she cried, delighted.
Feeling very tired again, and quite in the dark, Tenten stared blankly at her friend. "What's 'it'?"
Standing up, Ino scurried around the table, dragged Tenten to her feet, and threw her arms around the brunette in an exuberant hug. "Thank you, Tenten!" she cried. "Thank you!"
"For what?" Tenten asked, still puzzled.
Ino stopped, her hand on the doorknob as she got ready to leave. True gratitude shone on her face and in her eyes. "For helping me see that I only have to be myself. Maybe it'll be hard to find the real me under all this makeup and stuff ... but I think he's worth it." With another breathless grin, Ino vanished out the door.
Shaking her head, Tenten shuffled across the room to lock the door before she went back to her room. Tumbling face-first onto her bed, she buried her head in her pillow. "Maybe I'll wake up in the morning and realize all this was a dream..." she murmured. Right before she fell back into her exhausted slumber, she added to no one, "I hope it is." Except for one part, her dreaming mind whispered to her as her dream supplied her with the image of a familiar pale-eyed genius.
It had become something of a Team Gai tradition to meet for breakfast the morning after a mission, whether it had been completed as a team or individually. It also seemed something of a tradition that Neji and Tenten were the first to arrive, making it a point to come ten minutes early to make sure they beat the louder, greener half of Team Gai.
"You look tired," Neji greeted. He, on the other hand, looked well-rested and well-groomed as always. He'd already found a table and been seated, a cup of tea before him, by the time Tenten arrived.
Tenten slumped into the seat across from his, folding her arms on the table before resting her head atop them. "I had a hysterical visitor at two o'clock this morning," she said, yawning.
Neji tapped the top of her head with a long finger. "Who?" Curiosity burned in his eyes as she looked up at him.
"Ino."
"Yamanaka?" One finely shaped eyebrow quirked upward.
"That's the one." Tenten smiled as a waitress whispered up to the table to take her drink order, then vanished after the kunoichi supplied it.
"I had no idea the two of you were so - close." Neji's voice was filled with dry humor. He made it no secret that the blonde heiress got on his usually well-controlled nerves.
"We're not," Tenten reassured. "But she said something about Sakura laughing at her and Hinata being on a mission, so I was the only one she could come to."
"Nice to know you're her last choice." It was impossible to tell if he was serious or joking when he said that. "What did she want?"
"To ask my advice on ... something." She just couldn't admit to Neji that Ino wanted to know what she did to catch his eye.
"Weapons?"
"No." She hesitated, and when it looked like Neji was willing to pursue the subject to completion no matter what, she caved reluctantly. "Guys."
The reaction she'd expected never came. Instead of laughing at her, Neji nodded once, slowly, as if last night's insanity made sense to him. "And did you help her?"
"She seems to think I did. In truth, I didn't do anything. She worked things out on her own." Tenten shrugged. "I don't know. She wouldn't even tell me who she wanted to impress. She just came, told me about the problem, and reasoned it out on her own."
Before Neji could say anything in response, Lee and Gai showed up. Greetings were exchanged, and the waitress took their orders right after she delivered Tenten's.
"How is the team's youthful flower doing today?" Gai wanted to know, staring at her with exptectant eyes.
"You look tired," Lee commented before Tenten could.
"Thank you, Lee. I am."
"She had a visitor late last night," Neji supplied, his voice rich with amusement.
The Green Beasts spun in their chairs simultaneously to stare at Neji with wide-eyed, open-mouthed astonishment. "Neji!" Gai started. "Are you - have you and Tenten - have you discovered the springtime of youth together?" Lee finished his sensei's thought with tears in his eyes, ready to allow them to pour down his cheeks if he received an affirmative answer.
Tenten nearly choked on her tea. "No!" she nearly shouted, coughing violently. "It was Yamanaka Ino. She's the one who's discovered the - well, you know!" She just couldn't bring herself to repeat the "springtime of youth" phrase.
Neji blinked once, offering no comment on the matter.
"Tenten!" As if summoned by the mention of her name, Ino appeared in the doorway of the restaraunt. She practically danced up to the table, looking the exact opposite of how she had when she showed up at Tenten's the night before. Throwing her arms around the brunette, she squealed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You were absolutely right. All I had to do was be myself, all natural, and that was it!"
Gai and Lee burst into spontaneous tears, happily discussing the springtime of youth and how wonderful it all was. Tenten ignored them, wondering why Ino was giving her the credit when the blonde had figured it all out herself. "Thank you, Ino, but ... really, all I did was listen. You figured it out on your own."
"Still! It's all worked out in the end, so thank you." Ino offered her another tight hug.
"I'm very happy for you and him," Tenten said, since she still had no idea who he was. "I hope everything keeps going great for you guys."
"It will. I just know it." Laughing, Ino let go of Tenten. "Seriously, thank you." Her gaze drifted over the brunette's shoulder, toward the door of the restaruant. "Oh! There he is. We're going out for breakfast - we haven't really had time to eat anything, since we've been talking all night. Well, I've been talking and he's been listening, but anyway. We were walking by and I saw you in here, so I had to come say thank you again. Anyway! Thanks again, bye!" She hurried off toward the door, throwing a wave over her shoulder. Through the windows lining the front of the tea shop, the four members of Team Gai watched the blonde wind her arm through that of the man who appeared to have been waiting for her, gazing down at her smiling face as they walked away.
"So - that's him?" Tenten blinked as she lowered herself back down onto her cushion.
"The power of youth prevails again," Gai stated satsifactorily. He seemed unsurprised by the identity of Ino's companion.
"To celebrate this joyous event, I aim to find my own springtime with the youthful blossom Sakura before the end of this week!" Lee declared, in a voice slightly louder than the atmosphere of the tea shop usually allowed. But the proprioters were accustomed to Lee and Gai's outbursts and volume, and they were usually tolerated.
Neji cradled his cup of tea in his hands, staring intently down into the steaming liquid. The only sign that he was annoyed was the tic in his jaw, and the bulging vein in his temple that had nothing to do with his Byakugan.
Tenten decided that, as soon as breakfast was over, she was going to go straight back home and return to bed. The entire day was just turning out far too weirdly for her.
Maybe if I go back to bed and get up on the other side... From the look on Neji's face, he was thinking the same thing. Arching one eyebrow, he tilted his head toward the door, a silent invitation.
She nodded in agreement, then reached for her pocket to withdraw some money. Neji shook his head once, sharply, then dropped enough on the table to cover his tea and hers.
They had perfected the art of slipping away from their teammates. Gai-sensei and Lee didn't even notice when Tenten and Neji left the shop, continuing their enthusiastic discussion about heaven-knew-what.
Letting out a relieved breath, she smiled. "Thanks for the tea, Neji. And for everything else."
He nodded once in acknowledgement. In silent agreement, they walked side-by-side toward her apartment, despite the fact that the Hyuuga estate was in the opposite direction. This had become something of a tradition, too, though usually the two of them headed for the training grounds instead of her place. Tenten was oddly touched that Neji realized she'd rather go home than their regular destination.
"How late did Ino keep you up last night?" Neji asked as they turned down her street.
"A-About an hour or so, I guess," Tenten replied, surprised by the question. "Why?"
"I know you got back from your mission late last night. I just wondered how much extra sleep Ino made you lose." His expression and words seemed casual, but his voice almost seemed to indicate something more. A warmth like ... concern?
Something else occurred to her. Neji had not been at the gate - or anywhere else between the entrance to the village and the Hokage's tower, or there and her apartment. How, exactly, had he known what time she got back from her mission?
Has he been ... keeping tabs on me?
Before she could voice her question, Neji surprised her. His face was set in an uncharacteristic scowl when she glanced up at him, and if she wasn't too terribly mistaken, he actually ... growled?
Tenten cast a quick glance around, but all she saw was one of her neighbors vanishing into his apartment. "Neji?" Her hand immediately went to the pouch at her waist, where she kept several of her weapons.
His landed on her wrist, preventing her from drawing her kunai. "There is no threat." His expression, however, seemed to indicate otherwise.
They paused before her door. "Neji, what was all that about?" She still didn't withdraw her hand from her weapons pouch.
"I did not like the way he was looking at you." Neji's voice, as well as his words, were stiff.
"Who, Hachiro? He's my neighbor. I know I don't live on the most respectable street in the village, but everyone here knows not to-"
"That's not what I'm talking about." Neji stepped forward into her personal space, his hand landing against the outside wall of her apartment with a distinct slap. His chest was less than a hand's length from hers, his face so close she could smell the orange on his breath from the tea he was drinking earlier. "He ... likes you."
"What?" She laughed, but her mirth quickly trailed away when she saw the expression on Neji's face. He was serious. "Are you ... wait, really?"
Neji's lavender eyes studied her intently. "You really don't see it, do you?"
"See what?" The last time Neji had been this close to her, studying her so intently, was when they'd been sparring a few weeks beforehand. In a move he rarely caught her with, he'd managed to corner her against a tree, one hand planted against the bark, his other grasping hers, holding her own kunai to her throat. He had let go of her instantly, not even leaving so much as a red mark on her skin where he'd gripped her, but she had found herself warm and breathless when he'd walked off. It was then she couldn't deny the truth any longer: she habored some very, very deep feelings for her teammate.
He hadn't even walked off yet, and she was already warm and breathless. She knew her face must be as red as her pants, and her neck felt oddly sunburned. "N-Neji? See what?" she prompted when he did not reply.
His head bowed slightly, hair swinging over his shoulder to half-hide his face. "How beautiful you are."
Now she knew she was sleep-deprived. There was no way Hyuuga Neji was standing on her doorstep, telling her that she was beautiful. "I ... what?"
Sighing heavily, the dark-haired genius cradled her face in both hands, tugging her to him as he lowered his lips to hers in a soft, affectionate kiss.
It was the strangest thing. Tenten felt her knees suddenly go weak, refusing to support her weight. But then one of Neji's arms slipped smoothly around her waist, holding her firmly against him as he continued to kiss her. He didn't even miss a beat.
I ... this is ... Neji's... She honestly wasn't sure if it was her lack of sleep or Neji's kiss that made her unable to form a coherent thought. "N-Neji..." Her voice shook unsteadily when he finally pulled away from her.
"Promise me one thing." His voice was lower and huskier than usual, only slightly unsteady.
"Yes." Her head was spinning, her knees still shaking, her breathing ragged. At that moment, she thought fuzzily, she would promise him anything, if only he kissed her like that again.
"Promise me that Lee and Gai-sensei will not find out about this until we have absolutely no other choice than to tell them." Neji's hand shifted to her hair, twining a few loose strands around his long fingers.
"Absolutely."
As Neji leaned down to kiss her again, Tenten decided that she really didn't mind if this was all a dream ... just so long as it was one from which she never woke up.
*~The End~*
Author's Note: Another piece of fluff. I don't know what the matter with me lately is - I've been in the mood to write fluff, fluff, fluff! But for those of you who enjoy my angstier pieces, I promise to try to work one of those in soon, though. I apologize again for this late update. I've been having trouble actually finishing a piece once I started it. I have three from the past two weeks that I started and could not seem to finish sitting on my harddrive right now, collecting dust. This idea struck me tonight, though, and I sat down and did not stop writing until I was finished. I felt so badly about making you all wait! I hope this piece didn't disappoint, and thank you so much for reading!