"I refuse," Neji said flatly.

"But Neji – "

"I've already agreed to come to the beach with you. Because of which I've postponed helping Hinata-sama with her Sixty-Four Palms to tomorrow. No more compromises."

Lee pouted, his impossibly round black eyes deflating in a way that made Neji look downwards hastily. Bad, bad, bad things happened when Lee pouted. Bad, bad, bad things such as inordinate, irrational guilt slicing through his and Tenten's minds. Bad, bad, bad things such as Neji and Tenten quickly agreeing just to stop Lee from giving them that look.

Bad, bad, bad things. They would happen. Neji's sharp, discerning eyes found an extremely interesting clump of dry, browning grass at the edge of Training Ground 3, just a little ways away.

Don't look, don't look, don't look.

"Neji, it's most unyouthful to go to the beach without wearing appropriate swimwear!" Lee said.

"That vile thing," Neji scoffed, "can hardly be called appropriate swimwear. I refuse."

Said vile thing fluttered cheerily into his field of view, all bright neon green and mocking.

Oh my God Neji, don't look, just don't, bad things will happen if you look.

"Tenten!" Lee yelled, his tone a great deal lighter and less pouty. He was changing tactics, was he? "Please help me convince Neji!"

Ha. Too bad. Tenten was more than a match for Lee! She wouldn't fall for it, would she?

He glanced at his teammate through the corner of his eye, regretting it immediately. Her pleasantly tanned face did not show any disgust or alarm, and, in fact, appeared frighteningly thoughtful and serene.

"I dunno, Neji," she said, glancing at the vile neon green swimwear, then back to Neji. Her cool grey eyes focused terrifyingly on his waistline, and Neji could see her mentally divesting him of his usual white, flowy clothing and fitting him into the awful (skin-tight) swim trunks. "Lee's got a point. You have to dress properly for the beach, you know?"

Neji's tastebuds suddenly tasted acutely of ash, even though he'd had a very pleasant breakfast. Tenten had betrayed him and sided with Lee.

He was screwed. Time to bail.

"Hinata-sama...Hinata-sama needs training. I must help her right now, so you must excuse me," he said, trying desperately to ignore the little rivulets of sweat dripping onto his collarbone, courtesy of the scorching summer sun (and definitely not because of the way Tenten was staring at him, no, no, no).

Tenten grinned at him. Her pearly whites suddenly shone just as bright as Guy-sensei's, and Neji was sure he heard a ping. "You just said that you've postponed her training to tomorrow."

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Lee bellowed, pumping his fist into the air. "Neji, you have to come with us! Think of all the beach training we could do! We could have a suntanning showdown – " that would be a disaster for Neji; he burned far too easily – "or maybe beach volleyball – " Neji was not remotely interested in volleyball – "or maybe we could do push-ups on top of the water!" Neji was screwed.

He tried to bail, but Tenten reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. Her grip was as tough as those iron weapons she'd gleefully tossed at him all day during practice.

"Lee's right!" she yelled. "To the beach!"

Konoha didn't have an ocean. Instead, the village had Naka River, cutting through the Uchiha clan's ancestral lands and into the forest. But Naka River, like all rivers, did have a bank, sand, and shoreline, and families always thronged there during the blazing summers. In the springtime, Neji liked to go on picnics with Hinata-sama by the river after training or missions. The nip of the chilly waves and wind kept most people away during March and April, letting Neji and Hinata-sama relax and enjoy themselves in peace underneath the welcoming, shady trees close by. Neji had many happy memories of Naka River and picnics with his little cousin.

Unfortunately, it was August. Unfortunately, he had postponed his training with Hinata-sama. Unfortunately, Lee was insanely doing push-ups on top of the water, clad in nothing but those awful neon green – don't look, he scolded himself.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to ignore the sweat coating his arms and chest. His clothes were suddenly skin-tight in the summer heat, providing no insulation, and in fact only serving to accentuate the mugginess of the season.

Neji sighed, white eyes glazing over. Meditation was not working nearly as well as he'd hoped.

His eyes, against his will, strayed to the neon green swimwear that Tenten had cunningly laid out at his side.

Weren't they supposed to be...breathable?

Neji paled at the direction his thoughts were heading.

What was wrong with him? It was the heat, wasn't it? Why he'd agreed to come with his teammates was beyond him; he could have been training with Hinata-sama in the light, airy coolness of the Hyuuga clan dojo, and not barbequeing in the sun like this and hallucinating about wearing Lee's godawful swim trunks.

And then Neji found himself being pushed headfirst into the river and inhaling cool, soothing water by the gallons.

He whirled around, gasping and scowling at –

"Come on, Neji, get a move-on!" Tenten snapped. "Don't just sit there! I talked Lee out of suntanning, but we're doing a sandcastle competition instead, and you can't handle it if you're baking like barbeque over there!"

Neji suddenly found himself gulping not gallons of water, but air.

Summer heat seeped into his cheeks as his eyes landed on Tenten's dark, soaking, free-flowing hair, miraculously untied from her usual hair buns. Was her hair always that wavy? He noted with envy that her pleasantly tanned face, glistening with pearly drops of water, didn't burn nearly as easily as his now blazing cheeks. Then his eyes slid terrifyingly close to Tenten's waistline, and Neji found to his horror that she wore the skin-tight look of the neon green swimsuit much better than Lee (why, why, why did she agree to wear them?).

Don't look, he scolded himself again, though for entirely different reasons.

His mind drifted to the cool, airy Hyuuga clan dojo once again, and the thought struck him that no one appreciated shouts, loud noises, or sandcastle contests over there.

The neon green abomination fluttered in the wind and landed invitingly on his lap.

To be fair, they were breathable. And skin-tight. Tenten's eyes had hovered terrifyingly close to his waistline back then, clearly mentally fitting him into the vile creation, and Neji shuddered as he found that he didn't mind that at all.

...He was screwed.

A/N: Written for Day 7: Beach Day! Ha ha, a little light-hearted one after last chapter's prompt. NikiVA, thanks once again for the review! Neji's death makes me tear up too. But at least he died heroically, saving his precious people...

Reviews are love! :)