Persepolis130
Notes: Very nice to see both nejihina and nejitenten supporters! Unfortunately, I can't really please both camps, but I'll do my best, I promise! Sorry for dissing the Inuzuka family, but I just couldn't resist. Next chapter will explain why Tenten's acting a bit oddly- she's NOT really OOC, honest! Thanks again to Stratton for the breast assistance (really). Anmitsu is a traditional warm-weather Japanese dessert with fruit, sweet bean paste, and jelly cubes- I've had a variation without the sweet beans, and it's excellent. I wouldn't have tuned it down either!
CHAPTER 6
Night was falling as Neji trudged to the training grounds, inwardly cursingtheir isolated location. He desperately needed a workout to focus his thoughts. Where the hell was he supposed to find a girl who'd let him have sex with her right away, no questions asked? And not some loose Inuzuka, either- a virgin!
Of course Neji had always accepted the importance of women. When he was old enough, he would marry and provide for a proper wife who would bear and raise his children with honor and dignity. And if he stayed in his uncle's good graces, Hiashi might even use his influence to arrange a suitable match.
But all the superfluities it took to attract a woman in the modern way... fancy dinners, exotic flowers, expensive chocolates and flashy jewelry... even if lowered himself to such things, he certainly didn't have the time now! Starting his work as a chuunin couldn't wait for all that!
And to add insult to injury, he'd read in those books- the ones that didn't make his face turn beat red- that woman craved emotional involvement, something he certainly wasn't willing to give to someone he'd immediately ditch. Or to anyone, really.
If only there was some way out, some loophole. He'd learned from Naruto that destiny didn't have to be accepted. That you could fight against it, forge your own path. But he'd been through all possible options a dozen times, to no avail. After he'd promised his uncle he'd complete the training- in a week, no less- he'd show himself as either cowardly or incapable if he backed out, jeopardizing his future as both a Hyuuga and as a chuunin.
This time, fate had him trapped.
The familiar sight of the training ground rose from beyond the horizon, and Neji felt relieved, the mere idea of normalcy calming. Breaking into a trot, Neji headed toward his favorite location for concentrating, obsessing, and honing his byakugan.
Standing with the three numbered poles behind him, he tilted his head to place the third directly in his blind spot and focused his attention. At this distance, he could see only the top and bottom of the painted number, but he had a suspicion that if he trained enough, he'd eventually be able to whittle the undetectable area down.
Unfortunately for his blind spot, he could hold his attention for a mere forty-eight minutes before his earlier preoccupation got the better of him, and he found himself concentrating more on how he was going to win over a virgin than how he was going to win in battle. Intensely annoyed at the black void located where the 3 should have been, Neji deactivated his byakugan, sighing deeply.
He didn't have much time to feel irritated with himself though, because a familiar voice suddenly cut through the soft evening sound of chirping crickets, introducing a whole new brand of irritation. "Neji! Hey!"
"Hello, Tenten," he said unenthusiastically, turning his back to her to glare into the forest.
"Still at it, huh?" she asked, walking up to him. "You're really dedicated!"
"Yes. Would you like to join me?" Perhaps having several dozen deadly-pointed objects aimed at him would help in his deliberations. It usually did.
"Oh... Well I actually- it's sort of embarrassing- but I forgot one of my best kunai here earlier, and I just came back to get it," she giggled, bending down next to him and coming back up with the aforementioned weapon. "I'm a little tired from training this morning, so I'll have to pass."
"Fine," he replied, not sure whether he was more annoyed because she was standing so close or because a kunai had been laying mere feet from him this whole time without him even noticing it.
"...though I haven't had dinner yet, if you want to go out..." she added with a twirl of the weapon, smiling mischievously.
Great. This again...
Neji walked to the nearest post, half to stretch his calves against it, and half to escape from Tenten's alarming proximity. She smelled feminine in a way he wished he hadn't noticed. "Not interested."
"You could come back to my place for dessert later," she told him, fingers in her hair poking absently at one of her tightly-coiled buns. "I have fresh fruit, and I could make some anmitsu for-"
"I have a lot on my mind right now," Neji told her, exasperated that she'd followed him once again. Hadn't she ever heard of personal space? If this kept up, he'd never work out a plan to bed a virgin! How was he supposed to get any thinking done with her leaning over him like that? Especially with her out-raised arm pulling her loosely-buttoned shirt wide open across her-
Oh damn. Neji tried not to gawk at the newly-revealed, softly-curving mounds as his mind went straight to his pants.
This was terrible! He'd NEVER thought this way about her before- she was his teammate! How could this be happening? He'd barely even noticed TentenHAD breasts! How could he be thinking about them NOW? ...about the silky flesh filling his palms, the soft pink tips hardening beneath his touch, his lips trailing kisses across them, tongue gliding against the warm, salty flesh...
Shit! All the sex with that woman must have warped his mind! God, he'd become a pervert!
Neji took a deep breath, face flushed and pants appallingly tight, the unexpected erotic display holding him in thrall.
He heard Tenten giggle as she lowered her arm, frustratingly obstructing his delightful view. Fingers under his chin, she raised his gaze back to eyelevel. "My anmitsu's sweet and juicy..." she murmured, blush tinting her cheeks.
Neji looked blankly up at her cutely smiling face, swallowing hard. "Tenten," he asked, "are you a virgin?"