Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
A/N: Sorry, kind of got a little "involved" in a new fic I started recently (among others… I think I have like 3 new ones now)… anywho… I'm back, this one is and always will be my Number 1 Priority! My apologies that it's a few days late for Spring, but, it's still spring… XD
Not sure when I'll be updating again… spring break ends soon, and I kind of want to work on W&D, it's been far too long since I've updated the Ryoku/Xiu-Juan story… And I still have to get Neji and Tenten married!... lol… Hopefully I can get something up on that story before spring break ends… we'll see…
WARNING: It's kind of light on the fluff this time, but it's there…
THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!!
GAME WINNERS: sexyinumama, AmethystDreamer, Shenhui, tenjichan, and Apple Bubblegum. CONGRATS!
DEDICATION - Morning's Child thanks for all the reviews. XD
Wow.. looks like I'm finally going to start doing a second round of dedications…just one more of my first time deds, then I'm going back to those I've already given dedications to… and because they're the people who constantly review, and I'm so very, very grateful, I'm going to try to make my shots EVEN BETTER!!
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SPRING TIME PICNIC OF YOUTH
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"Spring. Time. Picnic. Of. Youth. ?" Tenten repeated after her sensei.
"That is correct, oh precious flower of our team." Gai beamed, before jumping into one of his many 'good-guy' poses. "Today, the 21st of March, is the first day of spring, and we shall celebrate it with a picnic!" he emphasized by showing them the oversized picnic basket he had been, unsuccessfully, hiding behind his back.
"O…k…" Learning from many years of experience, Tenten knew it was best to just nod and smile during situations such as this. "Should we tell them that the first day of Spring, was actually the 20th this year?" Tenten whispered to the silent boy next to her.
"Hn." Neji shook his head, "No, if they can't understand leap year, we shouldn't have to explain it to them."
"And to make our springtime celebration even more youthful," Gai continued, not having heard Neji and Tenten's whispers. "My eternal rival's team shall also be joining us today!"
"That is wonderful news, Gai-sensei!" Lee cheerfully replied; admiration painted across his face.
"Lee!" Gai sensei responded in vigor at his favorite student's gusto.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee began.
"oh.no." Tenten groaned under her breath, knowing what came next.
"Let's go Tenten." Neji grabbed hold of the kunoichi's hand and began leading her away from the 'youthful' love-fest, before the waterfalls and sunsets began.
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"I thought that'd outgrown that." Tenten commented, as the two saner members of team Gai began walking toward the grassy location where their team always held these impromptu picnics.
"Hn." Neji continued moving toward the hillside, choosing to ignore the two lunatics they left behind.
"Well, at least I can catch up with Sakura-san." Tenten stated. "We really haven't had a chance to see her since her team returned from that mission to the Tenchi Bridge." (i)
"Hn." Neji smirked at her comment.
"What?" Tenten asked, wondering what he had found interesting about her statement.
"You always seem to find the good in everything don't you?" Neji explained, knowing she had asked because she noticed his smirk.
Even though Neji was walking a little in front of her, he was well aware that his female teammate did not need to see his face to know that he had just smiled. Somehow, she could so easily read him off just his body language.
"And what's wrong with that?" Tenten demanded, though not in a harsh tone.
"Nothing." Neji replied, smiling at her mini outburst. He loved that she never shied away from an insult; though he hadn't actually meant it as such.
"Good." She nodded with approval. "I just don't see any reason to dwell on the negative." She explained herself, though she knew she really didn't have to with him.
"I am aware of that." Neji replied, knowing full well that that was her attitude about most things.
"Well, there really isn't." Tenten continued, "If we constantly looked at only the negative things in life, we'd never get to appreciate the wonderful things that life has to offer us as well."
"…" Neji shook his head slightly; agreeing with her, though not vocalizing that sentiment.
"I mean, think about it." Tenten began, "If I were a negative person, then when we were first assigned to Team Gai, I would have been very upset that I got placed with such an insane sensei. I would have cursed the heavens, believing I had been dealt a horrible hand, at having been stuck in such a bizarre team."
Neji nearly laughed at her reasoning, remembering his own reaction at that time. In fact, that had been exactly how Neji had felt when he had been told of who his teammates and sensei would be. It had irritated him that he had worked so hard to be the best, only to be placed in a team with the worst; and to top it off, Gai has seriously freaked him out with his peculiar personality. It had been one of the lowest days of his life; believing fate had decided to be even crueler to him than it already was.
"If I thought like that," Tenten continued. "I never would have been able to realize what a great team we really are. Sure, Gai-sensei's a big odd… and Lee's a little… special… But they're both incredibly sweet and sincere." Her tone softened at that last sentence.
That didn't surprise Neji, of course; he knew how much she loved them all. Having never had her own family, team Gai had been the closest thing to one for her.
"They're hard workers." Tenten continued, "They always put their whole heart into everything, and even though we sometimes get on one another's nerves, they're always there to support us." She paused to smile. "If I had focused on the negative, I never would have been able to learn this; and that mistake would have been to my loss." She concluded.
"Hn." Neji could see her point.
It was true, in the beginning, he had separated himself from the rest of the group; believing he was much better than they were. Eventually, when it became evident that team work was required in order to assure success on missions, he had slowly begun to interact with them.
Over the years, they had all grown to be immensely close. Unlike Tenten, who had never had a family, Neji had always been surrounded by his. Still, after the loss of his father, he had never allowed anyone else to get close to him. He could see the truth in Tenten's words; had he continued to keep his distance, he would never have known what it was to be part of a real family again. Because that's what they were; as loud and insane as they were, team Gai was his family.
"And me?" Neji asked, having noticed the kunoichi had not mention his part in the whole argument."
"Oh look!" Tenten exclaimed, ignoring the Hyuga's question, "We're here."
Team Kakashi, minus their leader, had already arrived at the picnic location. It rather surprised Neji to see them there without Kakashi, but he realized that only meant that Gai and his 'rival' had probably arranged this picnic some time back, and Gai had simply forgotten to tell his students until the last minute.
"Figures." Neji muttered under his breath.
"That's Gai-sensei for you." Tenten laughed, "He's just horrible at remembering things." She added, as if having been thinking the exact same thing Neji had. "Come on." She pulled him toward the group.
"Hi Sakura, hi Naruto," Tenten waved with her free hand as the pair approached the large blanket already set up for their picnic. "Who are you're friends?" she inquired about the two shinobi she had never before seen, also sitting on the blanket.
"Hi Tenten; Neji." Sakura greeted the two. "These are Sai-kun and Yamato-sensei." She introduced the two new faces.
"Nice to meet you." Tenten replied to both men, with Neji merely nodding his acknowledgement of the two.
"Likewise." Yamato replied.
"Yes, it is nice to meet you too." Sai smiled.
There was something about this new comer that had Neji feeling a bit uneasy. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but the boy seemed rather odd. His face betrayed no emotion; a fact that would normally have impressed the stoic Hyuga, who was equally known for his icy façade, though even Neji couldn't pull off the degree of coldness in this boys face. For the prodigy, it was a matter of hiding his emotions, whereas for Sai, it seemed almost as if he had none. That fact, rather unsettled the Hyuga. Still, he decided to take Tenten's approach to things, and try to see the best in this situation. Though he felt that Sai was someone of insincere character, if Naruto was friends with him, Neji reasoned he couldn't be all bad.
"So which one of you is the man in the relationship?" Sai bluntly asked after a moment's pause. (1)
"SAI!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at their new teammate, leaping to cover the midriff wearing boy's mouth before he could say anything further.
Had Neji been any one else, he would have beating the crap at the younger shinobi, regardless of what he had just decided to believe. But he was Neji; Hyuga Neji; thus it was not in his nature to allow emotions to so easily move him.
"Huh?" Tenten would have yelled out like Sakura and Naruto, but her mind was still trying to wrap itself around who this guy was; his comment was weird, even by Team Gai standards.
"I assume from your hands, you are in a relationship together." Sai explained, much to the dismay of his two teammates that he continued to speak. "Was I mistaken?"
For the first time realizing Neji had not released her hand since he had grabbed it to walk away from Lee and Gai, Tenten quickly let go; timidly moving a few steps away from Neji.
"Yes." Tenten replied, trying to hide her blush.
As if forgetting for a moment, the insult that Sai had just directed at him, Neji inwardly smirked at the bun-haired kunoichi's response. He found it rather endearing that she still shied away from such questions, even though they had been asked that very thing on many occasions. At first, it had surprised Neji; having not realized how it might appear to an outside observer that he and Tenten spent so much time together. But after a while he got used to it; almost expected it. In time, he even grew to wonder if perhaps they saw something that he and Tenten had not yet realized themselves.
"In any case, why did you…" Tenten began, but paused as if she realized the answer to her question already.
Turning toward Neji, "Umm, maybe we should go see where Lee and Gai-sensei are." Tenten suggested, attempting to change the subject, before he too became aware of the underlying assumption in Sai's question. (1)
"That will not be necessary, oh Youthful Flower!" Gai and Lee landed on either side of Neji.
"Took you long enough." Neji grunted.
"What?" Gai turned back and forth frantically.
"What is it Gai-sensei?" Lee asked in concern.
"Has my eternal rival not yet arrived?" Gai asked with great alarm.
"Yo." The aforementioned 'rival' appeared from behind them.
"You're late!" Naruto, Sakura, and Gai shouted in response.
"Am I?" Kakashi asked innocently, "Or is everyone else just really early?" he suggested with a serious tone. (2)
Chirp. An awed silence fell upon the group as they stood astonished at Kakashi's failed attempt at turning his usual philosophical excuse for being late into more of a joke.
"In any case," Kakashi broke the silence, "I'm not the only one who's late." He reasoned, turning toward Gai. "You do realize Spring began yesterday right?"
"WHAT?!" Gai shouted brokenheartedly. "NOOOOO!!"
"Tenten." Neji whispered, before taking hold of the kunoichi's hand once more and leading them away from their sobbing sensei.
"Now where are we going Neji?" Tenten asked in a hushed tone, as the two teammates walked back down the hillside.
"Picnic basket." Neji replied, as if that were the only necessary explanation.
"Oh…" Tenten giggled softly, "Well, that's Gai-sensei for you." She smiled cheerfully.
Tightening the hold on her hand, Neji smiled back, as they made their way back to the training field, where their sensei had forgotten the picnic basket.
Despite the day starting out with cancelled training, and then meeting such a strange and rude guy, it really hadn't turned out to be as bad as Neji had thought it would be. He would certainly be mindful from then on to follow Tenten's approach to life. It truly was far better to focus on the positive aspects of life; after all, how could he complain about a day where he got to hold his crush's hand for so long?
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THE END
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(1) Yes… I realize, I put the (1) in twice, but it's because the explanation applies to both… I would have used this as the game, but I figured I'd just explain it since some people will not get it, and a lot of people don't do the games, and I didn't feel like making them all wait until the next update to find out… so basically, Sai thought they were both girls (i.e. lesbians) because of Neji's hair…
(2) I considered a number of different excuses… (almost used the one from Itsu, where I had him say "You see, the universe is expanding, so it took me a little longer to get here then usual.") But, ultimately I just decided on this one… I was thinking of listing the "REJECTED" ones here… but then I thought, I'd like to start including more Kakashi excuses in each one of his appearance in my stories from now on, so that is what I will do… (Send suggestions if you have any)
A/N: That is actually the very first SAI appearance in any of my stories (Yamato too)… I had to throw him a bone… gave Sai a special little intro… lol… which kind of began to pull the story in it's own different direction… almost make it seem like 2 stories in one… I was going to separate them off, but… whatever… I think it works fine enough.
Anyway… other than that… oh yeah there's also another HUGE problem here (and not just that it hit 3am as I was finishing this)… I've actually noticed I do this a lot in my fic, but this chapter is by far the worst yet… I tend to skip around from Neji's POV to Tenten's POV a lot… though still, technically in 3rd person the whole time… it seriously irks me… agh… I need to work on that…
PERVIOUS GAME:
"Knowing that she had recognized the poetry in his words"; that was the game last time… to identify what it meant. Basically, a lot of what Neji said in the last chapter, were almost direct quotes (or paraphrasing) of the poem he wrote to Tenten in chapter 33.
Congrats to all of you who got it!
NEW GAME: Semi-hardish…
(i) Tenchi Bridge mission… if Team Kakashi just returned from that mission, what big event just happened?
Hint: it has to do with who they saw… nothing too complicated; so don't over think it… I'm not trying to trick you… it's actually very simple… and there's actually a bunch of "right" answers to this one.