Summary: Neji finally faces his feelings...with a little of help from his comrades. NejixTenten all the way o

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Only this plot is mine.

A/N: First fanfic, be gentle! It's supposed to be a one-shot, but I think I'll continue it…anyway, read it and tell me if I should .

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-"So, who's the lucky girl?"

Hyuuga Neji looked strangely at his Jounin partner, Nara Shikamaru.

-"Excuse me?"

-"I asked you about the girl you're thinking on"- Shikamaru answered lazily, laying down near the camp´s fire and looking at the night sky.

-"I don't know what you are talking about"

At this moment, the rest of the team, namely Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, looked amused (well, Shino only looked) and Kiba smirked.

-"Yeah, sure"

-"You know…" the lazy ninja continued "…I don't need any Byakugan to read your body language…"saying this he sat and looked directly at Neji´s eyes "this is –usually- your meditation time, but not only you're not meditating, you're distracted. That means something's troubling you, and the only thing I think you could worry about is your love life, since the rest of yours is ok…furthermore, you sighed unconsciously a while ago" Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow "c'mon, you can tell us, we're partners!"

-"I've already told you" the Hyuuga prodigy answered calmly "there's no lucky girl".

-"Well, that's truth, ´cause if she's with you she's not lucky at all, dude" Kiba teased and Akamaru barked agreeing with him.

Neji glared at him. The four of them (five counting Akamaru) were formed as a team six months ago. They were the responsible of scouting Fire Country´s frontiers looking for possible Sound Nins attackers. Their teamwork was great, and they had become comrades. Kiba was always teasing Shino and Neji about their love life, since it was non-existent. Shikamaru, in the other hand, always told them that women were troublesome and that a kunoichi girlfriend was far more troublesome (he was dating Temari, but behind all those complaints they knew he loved her more than his cloudwatching). Nor Neji or Shino usually cared, but it has been a week since Neji was weirder than usual. He seemed anxious and irritable, so finally the boys made the decision of force him to tell them. Shikamaru directed the strategy (of course), Kiba had to piss him being noisy and babbling about him and Shino had to remain silent ("just act naturally" told them Shikamaru).

-"Well then, who's the girl you're in love with?" Shikamaru persisted.

-"Love is for the weak" The Byakugan user sentenced.

Kiba growled and was going to respond roughly when Shino suddenly interrupted:

-"Was your father weak, Neji?"

-"Of course not. He was born cursed and he managed to fight his doomed destiny of…"

-"Yet he loved you, didn't he?" Shino interrupted and looked directly at him behind his glassed "He fought ´cause he loved you, and that love made him strong enough to face the death. Only cowards with no courage to admit and accept it are weak when they're in love, just like you".

Shino crossed his arms and an uncomfortable followed his intervention. Both Kiba and Shikamaru were looking from Shino to Neji, who was silent and lost in his thoughts. Finally he spoke again quietly:

-"I think she doesn't love me back" he said in a low (and embarrassed) whisper.

-"Well…" Shikamaru touched his chin in a thoughtful way while speaking "…I think Tenten has liked you since you were genins."

Neji opened his eyes stunned –"I didn't tell you it was her…"

-"Who else, mate?" Kiba half laughed-half barked-"She's your only possible match, you know"

-"Yeah, she has to be around our age, so let's see…" Shikamaru extended his fingers –"Ino? She can be nice when she's not shouting, but you barely know her. Plus, she's bossy, and you're not the whipped man type ("yeah, that's you" mumbled Kiba). Sakura? Not at all…she's not bad person, and she has become a great medic nin, but she's still a Sasuke maniac. Hinata? You never liked her specially. Temari? See Ino reasons and add she's MUCH bossier. Anko, Shizune, Tsunade or Kurenai are out of question, they´re too old… So, this leaves us with good Tenten. You have been training with her since you're genins. You've always respected her and helped her during the missions. She's intelligent, brave, strong and proud, qualities we know you like, plus…

-"She's damn hot, man!" Kiba interrupted.

Neji glared at him and opened his mouth, but was interrupted too.

-"Yeah, she has nice curves" -Shikamaru commented.

Neji nearly cracked his neck when he turned to glare at Shikamaru. He gritted his teeth and was about to bark an answer when he was interrupted again

- "The first time I saw her in combat, I thought she was poetry in movement" Shino said absently.

- "Yeah, thanks to her, I've had a fetish with Chinese t-shirts and buns since I'm a genin" Kiba continued "I've always wondered how she would look with her hair down… I dreamed about it one time, we (Tenten and me) were in a forest all alone, and then…" but Kiba didn't finish the sentence because he sensed a greatly dangerous ki. When he looked at its source, he could see Neji, Byakugan activated, glaring intensely at him.

-"There, there Neji, see?" Shikamaru patted him in the back "We were just testing you! ("Ah! Were they?" Kiba thought.) You respect her enough to not say those kind of thinks (although we know you think them). And that rage is called "jealousy", and it comes attached to love. You will have to tell her sooner or later. What would be the worst thing it could happen? Reject? C'mon, don't be as clueless as Naruto, please. She's nineteen, beautiful and a kunoichi, do you really think she hasn't had admirers? Of course, but she rejected them. She's waiting for you! But she won't wait forever, and she may accept one date of one of those admirers, and then you could really lose her." Shikamaru accompanied this last sentence with a hand gesture.

"Or worse…" Kiba continued "she could die in a mission without knowing she was loved…" he lowered his voice in a theatrical tone.

Neji remained silent again, thinking about those possibilities. He didn't like them, but the last one made him decide. Finally he spoke in a low but convinced tone:

-"Once we get back to Konoha, I'll tell her".

With those words echoing in his head, he went to sleep. He wanted to start the next day the journey back to Konoha as soon as possible.


Then, do you want me to continue? Reviews please! (But I won't read flames). Sorry about possible grammar mistakes…English is not my first language U.