Disclaimer: Let's see…Nope, I don't own Naruto. Opening Thingy

Opening Thingy

Well, I'm finally updating this, huh? That took FOREVER! My gosh! And I believe I got more NejiTen votes in the reviews. So here's your NejiTen!

This particular one-shot was completely random, off the top of my head. I just sat at the computer and said, "Ok, I'm gonna write a one-shot on MS Word RIGHT NOW!" and I did. Haha. I'm on semester break right now, so I have lots of spare time to write. Yay for you guys! But let's get to the story now!

italics - Neji's thoughts. That's it. Here you go!

Over Bread and Breakfast

Neji woke up this morning with an impending sense of doom. He didn't know why, but it seemed as if the world was about to end. He brushed aside that feeling and proceeded to his normal morning routine.

After getting changed (no time for breakfast), Neji headed outside his apartment door and--by coincidence, mind you—bumped into her.

Yes, her. He couldn't get away this time, she had been coming down the stairs from her apartment, and had—coincidentally—ran into him. Oh, how cruel fate can be…the whole Team Gai in the same apartment complex…

"Ohayo, Neji!" she chirped as she made her way down the stairs.

For a moment, his mind froze. What to say? Oh, yes…

Nothing.

She didn't seem to notice though (how could she? He did say nothing), and proceeded her merry way down the stairs to the 2nd floor. Neji heard her knock on a door. No answer.

Sighing deeply, she continued to walk down the stairway, down to the first floor. He waited for her footsteps to fade away, and then walked down the two flights himself.

Neji stepped outside and felt the sun hit him directly. He squinted, and shielded his eyes with his hand.

Damned sunlight.

It just about gave him the greatest feeling in the world to be out in the fresh air with the sun shining on a crisp spring day.

Damned nature.

Hands in pockets, Neji started to walk toward the outskirts of town, to the place where his team usually met. The birds were chirping and the grass was wet with morning dew. A faint, cool breeze blew across Konohagakure. It ruffled his hair, and he pulled it back vigorously. Not my hair!

Today Neji was free of the main house. Today he did not wake up to a certain unfriendly face, he did not wake up to Hinata-sama's stuttering at the breakfast table, and he did not wake up inside a locked cage. Neji woke up to peace and quiet and solitude, ever since he moved into that apartment. He felt more or less…free. But not quite. Something was nagging at him, pulling him into a direction that he was unsure of. Something like a space inside of him that needed to be filled.

Neji stopped. Here it was, their meeting place. Lee was already here. She wasn't. He wondered where she had gone to.

"Neji!" his green-clad teammate cried happily. "So glad to see you this beautiful morning!"

"Lee…" Neji said, "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, since around 4am."

Neji had gotten up at 6am. That's just Lee's way, he supposed.

Lee began to punch a nearby tree trunk. Neji settled down against another tree and meditated.

Focus…calm…mind…calm…thoughts…

"Neji?"

His eyes flew open, byakugan activated. Old habit.

There she was, with a plastic grocery bag in her hand. She was sitting on her heels in front of him, brown eyes staring right into his. He deactivated byakugan, and said,

"What?"

She frowned. "You didn't have breakfast yet, did you?"

"…maybe not."

She thrust out her bottom lip in an adorable pout. He couldn't stop his ears from turning red.

"Neji…If you don't have a proper breakfast, you won't have enough energy for the day. Then all your training would be wasted." She said, concerned. Her head turned a bit to the right, and her eyebrows furrowed. "That's why I brought us all some food."

She pulled out from the grocery bag a large bread roll. She held it out to him.

"I'm not hungry." Neji stated. She pouted again. He hated that pout!

"Neji, if you don't eat now, you'll feel sick later. Eat. Please." She thrust the roll into his face. He could smell the freshness of the warm bread. It was tempting.

Too tempting, for someone who hasn't eaten breakfast.

"Fine." He said grudgingly, taking the bread from her. She smiled triumphantly, and offered some to Lee.

"No thanks, Tenten! I already ate this morning!" he beamed proudly.

"Well, that's good, Lee! You really know how to take care of yourself!" She glanced at Neji pointedly, a smirk on her face.

He scoffed.

"I'm going to find Gai-sensei!" Lee announced randomly. He zoomed off and was out of sight.

Neji reluctantly bit into his bread. The taste was warm and inviting. He closed his eyes and remained as stoic as possible.

Then, he heard her sit down on the ground next to him. She pulled out a roll for herself.

"Neji…" she said softly. He opened his eyes and saw that she was blushing slightly.

"Hm." He responded, closing his eyes again.

"Y-you know…you know why I did this…right?" she asked quietly.

"To annoy me? To tell me that I don't take good care of myself?" Neji tried. This seemed to anger her.

"NO!" she yelled, offended. Then her voice became soft again. "No…Neji, it's because…well…I…I lo— "

She stopped and swallowed. Neji had the urge to open his eyes and look at her directly, but they remained shut.

"It's because," she began again, "Neji…I don't want you to feel bad. I…"

"You what?" He asked, growing impatient. This wasn't like Tenten.

"Just…just know that I care about you, Neji. I care about you a lot." She finished. "I care about you in a way you can't imagine…"

Just when he thought she had ended, she took a deep breath and said determinedly,

"You don't feel the same way about me, but…Hyuuga Neji, I love you."

Neji felt an odd sensation. Relief? Happiness? Whatever it was, it flooded over him. It seemed that the enormous space inside of him had suddenly been filled.

Eyes still closed, he said,

"Tenten."

"N-Neji?" she replied.

"I think I do feel the same way about you." he said in monotone.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was genuinely shocked. Her eyes were a bit watery, but (thank god) she pushed the tears back.

"You do?"

"You heard me, Tenten. Don't make me repeat myself." Neji said.

She didn't speak for a moment. Then, she smiled. It was a relieved, truly happy smile. She looked at Neji and he felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest. His head was pounding. Her delicious chocolate eyes gazed into his white ones.

Then, without warning, she pounced. Her arms wrapped around Neji's neck, and he almost fell backward. She held him tightly, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Neji!" he heard her muffled voice cry. Her chest pressed against his and he felt his face heat up. So this was a hug?

He realized that his arms had enclosed around her waist. Neji embraced her for the first time, gently so as not to harm her. His eyes closed once again, and they shared a long moment of bliss.

"NEJI! TENTEN!" He heard a voice gasp.

Tenten jumped off of him, and turned to face the speaker. Neji's eyes flew open again and stared right into the face of Rock Lee.

Lee began to jump around in ecstasy.

"NEJI AND TENTEN! NEJI AND TENTEN! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!" he cried, tears streaming down his face from his oddly round eyes. "You have reached the springtime of youth before me! I congratulate you!"

"Lee! Calm down!" Tenten hushed him.

"You're shouting!" Neji said.

"NEJI AND TENTEN! NEJI AND TENTEN!" he continued. "NEJI AND TEN—"
Lee stopped abruptly, sensing danger. He turned toward his teammates.

Neji activated his byakugan and cracked his knuckles. Tenten whipped out her nunchaku and began twirling them dangerously, fire in her brown eyes.

"Lee…" they both growled ominously.

The Gai-look-alike gasped. His eyes widened with fear and he turned and sped away as fast as his feet would carry him. Which was pretty damn fast.

Owari

Author note-ness

As I said before, this story was written really fast, in about 30 minutes, so it might not be good. But now I'm starting to love NejiTen a lot, so it was pretty fun. It's actually my first NejiTen one-shot! How scary!

Ok, y'all, I allow anonymous reviews now, so go ahead and REVIEW!

Tsune