Hello once again, chapter 3 coming at you. Fun fact, my best friend and I actually came up with chapter together, completely unplanned. We were just texting each other, discussing NejiTen and how dope a sparring match would be as their thing and then boom, I'd type a short paragraph then she'd respond with her own and we went back and forth, bouncing off each other's paragraphs until this happened, haha. Anyways, story time...

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me

Chapter 3: Routine

Another day, another sparring match between teammates. Neji recently making Jonin meant that he was a lot busier but whenever he did have time, he and Tenten would hone their skills together in sparring matches. He was already excellent but Tenten getting stronger meant she could push him to his limits. She always found new ways to keep him guessing, to keep him on his toes and if he wasn't careful, one of these days she'd knock him flat on his back.

It's a beautiful sunny day on the training grounds and all is silent. A gentle breeze sweeps past him as he focuses on finding her chakra, his sleek hair moving in the wind. He quickly opens his eyes and moves a few steps back and avoids the wave of shuriken that shoot right past him, almost getting an inch off his glorious hair. Tenten moves to the next part of her trap as Neji inches closer to what she's set up but, his Byakugan found her. He smirked and knew what was coming.

But then—

Seemingly out of nowhere Tenten ambushes him, a wooden staff in her hands. She was on the attack swinging in every direction and moving her body accordingly. He was keeping up with her blocking her attacks with a kunai while dodging her as well. Tenten spins the staff above her head then uses it as a pole vault and launches herself over him and swipes by his feet but he'd jumped just in time. She backflips out of the way and ducks as his hands narrowly miss blocking her chakra point. She immediately moves in, she knows he's most vulnerable right after an attack.

She twisted her body so she was now outside of his reach and twisted the bottom half of the staff which made a blade come out and held it right by his neck but he'd moved as well.

Their sparring match had concluded—a draw—as usual.

"And here I thought I finally got you." She looked down to see him holding his kunai pointed at her side

"You almost did." He said confidently. The both of them looking into each other's eyes challengingly, cheeky smiles on their faces that were so close together and their breathing in sync, the fire still present in both of them.

"Smart move setting up a fake trap just to ambush me." He removed the kunai and she lowered her staff

"I had to get you right where I wanted you." She smirked

Tenten was catching her breath when she noticed Neji's hair was caught moving with the gentle breeze.

Well that's a first.

"Finally letting your hair down, Neji?" she asked with a smirk

He looked to his side to see his hair tie was no longer holding his hair together. He definitely glared at her after this.

"Tenten, that's the tenth one this week!" he said clearly annoyed

"It's not my fault your hair doesn't move as fast as you do." She couldn't hide her amused look as she took both hair ties out of her hair and shook her dark brown locks free and brushed her hand through her hair before handing him one. A simple kiss on the cheek from her completely changed his mood.

"Why did you buy these ones? You know I like the ones with the metal clasp."

"You know, this really wouldn't be a problem if you just got your own instead of complaining about mine. I could leave you high and dry." She teased

"That's what I thought." She then walked behind him and gathered his hair and tied it up for him. They both knew he could do it on his own but they'd fallen into this routine.

"There you go, perfect. I'm pretty good at this." She'd just finished

"It's not a very difficult hairstyle, Tenten." He playfully rolled his eyes

"Yeah but do you know specific and stubborn you are? Remember the earlier times you let me tie up your hair? I had to do it like three more times after until you were satisfied." She laughed

"I just like my hair done in a specific way." He defended himself

"Exactly. And I'm saying I'm the only one, who isn't you, that knows how to do it." She said proudly

"I guess you're right." He turned to look at her then leaned in incredibly close to her face, much to Tenten's surprise "There's just some things only you can do." He said, his voice lower and smoother than necessary. She was speechless, her heart racing and his lips kissably close but he quickly pulled back, revelling in the reaction he'd gotten from her.

She blinked a few times to recover from that moment but her cheeks were still flushed. Neji was already a few steps ahead of her. "I think we should head back." He knowingly looked back at her disregarding what he'd just done as if it never happened. Tenten took a deep breath to calm her speeding heartbeat.

"I swear Neji Hyuuga…" She tried to act normal as if nothing happened and caught up to him "I hate it when you do that." She was looking at anything but him. She was not about to let him see just how much he'd gotten to her, she was not about to give him that satisfaction.

"I highly doubt that." he smirked

That afternoon, like always, when he returned to the compound he removed the hair tie and placed it in a box with all the other ones. They were his precious keepsakes, not that he'd let her know that.

When had he become so fond of her? He honestly didn't remember when exactly but, he knew they'd been closer than ever, closer than even they were willing to admit sometimes. He liked the side she brought out in him, showing him not to always take life so seriously.

He walked back to his room remembering that her birthday was coming up.

Maybe the hair ties with the metal clasps isn't such a bad idea.

And that's chapter 3 done! I hope you enjoyed it, it was deffs one of my fave chapters to write because of how it came into creation, let me know what you think with a review, they're always appreciated, but until that time, I'm out.

Well that's it from me-

Until the next chapter (which is really soon):

Ketsui Tasogare :-)