Persepolis130
Notes: This chapter is slightly edited to keep it from being NC-17, so be warned, and don't read if sexual imagery upsets you. I'll eventually post it on the adult fanfiction site unedited. Also, for some reason, all of my chapters are ending up about two pages long. It's really quite odd. Anyway, thanks to Stratton (whom I seriously freaked out by mentioning OroKabu and the possible applications of the sannin's tongue in such a situation) for pre-reading and answering weird questions about guys and sex.
CHAPTER 3
"Alright, Neji, twelfth bout!" Neji moved into position as Tenten pulled back her weapons, taut chakra strings glowing dully before the boy's Byakugan eyes.
Tenten's blades aimed toward him, Neji focused his chakra, readying for the assault. He wasn't using Kaiten today, instead fending off each individual blade with a direct blast of chakra from his palm. It was much more difficult, requiring the intense type of physical and mental concentration that he usually found invigorating.
This morning though, it left him feeling drained and unsettled. No matter what he did, he couldn't distance his thoughts from last night.
Of course, what all of it really meant still baffled him. After so sweetly proclaiming him a whore (which Neji could only hope was a failed attempt at wit, though fate hinted otherwise), the woman had refused to explain further. Instead, proclaiming him dangerously close to breaking the "no violence" rule, she sat him down in a velvet-upholstered armchair and stacked his lap full of books.
Examining the pile, Neji wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disturbed. His new reading material ranged anywhere from medical handbooks detailing male and female reproductive anatomy, to friendly-looking manga how-to manuals, to a particularly tasteless piece of pornography entitled "Make out Paradise."
After reviewing his choices, he decided to start with the former, since it seemed safer. Some time later though, the woman had undressed, having him point out his new anatomical knowledge on her naked body. It was like a twisted sex-ed class, real-life examples included.
Neji could only imagine that most boys his age would jump at the chance for this sort of thing. However, though he hadn't realized it before, he'd been perfectly satisfied with ignorance. His awkwardness around the woman had not subsided in the least, and he was quite sure a few of the medical illustrations had burned his retinas.
For whatever reason, the cutaway diagram of vaginal penetration was a particularly persistent one.
It seemed that whenever he closed his eyes, the image crept in, and Neji was never sure whether to blush or shiver. He usually ended up doing both. The thought that he himself had been in that exact position with that woman...
Even now he could picture it so clearly that-
Neji hissed as he felt the shuriken nick his arm, the sting jolting him out of his reverie.
"Oh! Neji, are you alright?"
Feeling Tenten's hand on his shoulder, Neji brushed it off. "I'm fine, it's barely a scratch. I just lost concentration, that's all."
"Oh... Well I don't suppose it's because I'm getting so much better?" she asked. "I've been working really hard to-"
"No. I was just distracted. Do it again."
Tenten beamed, cheeks flushed. "Okay!"
Neji scowled. How had he gotten stuck training with her again? Oh yes, he wasn't allowed to start work as a chuunin, and Gai-sensei and Lee had gone off for some super-secret, ultra-private, hush-hush (a.k.a. utterly ridiculous) exercise, leaving Neji with only Tenten as a training companion.
Of course, Neji wasn't going to cry about the two of them being gone. It was much quieter this way, with less Gai-flamboyance and random eardrum-piercing Lee sound effects. But Tenten could be difficult sometimes.
Especially when she got giggly.
Going through the exercise again, this time flawlessly as usual, Neji felt a bit better, but he still couldn't shake the strangely upsetting image from his mind. As his teammate gathered her arsenal, he stretched his right shoulder and walked to the nearby stump he'd set his water on earlier.
"So, Neji..." Tenten started, approaching him as he sipped. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner tonight. My dad's out of town this week, and it's kind of lonely at my place, so...?"
"I think not," he told her, re-capping his water. Not this again...
"Oh, that's right, you have that family stuff, huh? How is it?"
"Hn," Neji replied succinctly. It wasn't as if she wanted to know the truth anyway.
"Mmm," Tenten smiled twirling a kunai around her finger. "Well, you know I'm always here to train with. You know, morning, afternoon, late at night with nobody around to see us..."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Neji told her, turning brusquely away.
For an instant, he'd visualized her as the other half of that diagram.
Tenten giggled.
XXXXX
"You smell," the woman declared upon his entry. Her eyes painted in shades of blue, she was wearing a gown of diaphanous silk this time, her dark nipples showing faintly through the pale fabric.
"I came straight from training," Neji told her irritably, forcing himself not to stare. She looked captivating, and no one had ever told him he smelled.
"Well, don't come here stinking like that again, or you'll have to go home," she declared with a wave of her hand as she shut the door behind him.
"Fine. Are we starting now?" Neji asked, crossing his arms.
"No."
Neji blinked, a strange sense of relief washing over him. "...really?"
"Certainly not. Your clothes are still on."
Sighing, Neji tugged off his sandals. So much for wishful thinking.