Title: Endless Possibilities

Author: Lady Silvamord

Rating: PG

Summary: Tenten and one of her teammates have a talk about his love life. Or, rather, lack thereof…

Notes: Part one of two.

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Neji should have known that when Tenten summoned him to her apartment, things were going to end badly.

Their team meetings had always been held in one of their training areas, or Gai-sensei's or Lee's house. Meetings were only held at either Neji's or Tenten's homes when things were extremely grave.

But, being the fool he was, Neji had accepted Tenten's invitation to her place, and now sat somewhat awkwardly on a lavender sofa, shooting disdainful looks at the dog toys and collars that were scattered around the otherwise neat living room.

"I'm glad you came," Tenten said sweetly, emerging from the kitchen with two cups of tea. She poured the scalding tea for both of them, using the wrist that hadn't been injured in her last mission. Handing the cup with pink flowers to him, she sat down on the chew-toy free armchair across from him. The weapons master smiled, disarmingly sweet.

Neji knew his female teammate far too well to be fooled by the act. He sipped the tea, his eyes never leaving her face. "You said that you had something important to discuss with me, Tenten?"

She set her cup down, reached across for a shuriken, and absentmindedly began to polish it. "Well, Neji…to tell the truth, you've been worrying me of late."

"And why should you worry about me?"

More polishing. "Um…it's not you as a whole, it's a certain aspect of your life."

"Just say it and get it over with," he said, unconcerned.

Tenten summoned up her courage. "It's your love life!"

The Hyuuga gave her his variation of a dumfounded stare. "…Excuse me?"

A lesser mortal would have quailed at the sound of his voice, but Tenten had heard worse. "When's the last time you were out on a date?"

Silence.

"When's the last time you even looked at a girl?"

"I see at you every day. I see Hinata almost as often. I see Haruno Sakura every time I'm at the hospital. I saw the Yamanaka girl last time Lee dragged me to buy flowers. I saw Sabaku no Temari a few months ago. Need I continue?" Neji's patience was stretching thin. Hinata had attempted to broach this subject with him a few weeks ago, and he had ignored her until she gave up.

Tenten sighed, struggling with her words. "Neji…are you…" she paused, unable to continue.

It took him all of a second to piece together what she meant. "Kami-sama, no!" Neji exclaimed, his shell of icy composure cracked. "What on earth gave you that idea?"

"Well, um, you've never shown interest in girls before--"

Anything else she was going to say was cut off by Neji's venomous glare. "Which does not mean I am secretly getting it on with Naruto, or Shikamaru, or…the Uchiha traitor."

"Sorry, Neji," mumbled Tenten, blushing. She hardly ever apologized like this, but then, to him, it had probably been a deeply offensive insult.

"Why the sudden interest in my love life, hmm?" he countered.

"Well, you're the only one in our team who's not seeing somebody. Kiba-kun and I, Gaara and Lee. You're the only one left out."

"Did you think it would actually bother me?"

"Yes! I would have been bothered!"

"Tenten, you and I are very different."

The two teammates stared each other down. Neji knew that Tenten was planning something essentially kind-hearted, but would instead make him feel irritated and miserable, and decided to wait and see what the plan was this time.

He hadn't expected her to pull out a scroll. "The possibilities are endless. Hinata, Ino, Temari, Kurenai, Anko, and Sakura."

"Excuse me?"

"I am going to say their names, and you are going to tell me what you think of having them as your romantic partner." Her brown eyes had a fiercely determined glint in them, a glint that he knew all too well.

Deciding to humor her, Neji gave a world-weary sigh. "Fine. Begin."

"Hinata."

"Her father would hardly approve. Besides…she's always liked Naruto."

"Out, then? Ino."

Neji searched his memory. Ino. Ah, the blonde chuunin who worked at the flower shop. "Pretty, I suppose, but too loud and obnoxious for my taste. I'd expect her to be more partial toward either Shikamaru or Choji, in any case."

Tenten crossed the name out, looking a bit miffed. "Temari?" The tone in her voice suggested that she was only mentioning the Sand shinobi for formality's sake.

"What do you think, Tenten?"

"Out, then," smirked the kuinoichi. "Kurenai?"

"Tenten…you know me better than that."

"I suppose that goes for Anko as well?"

Neji rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Which leaves one." Tenten snapped the scroll shut, and gave him a self-satisfied look. "Sakura."

"Haruno Sakura?"

"The only Sakura we know."

Silence. "I admire her skills. She's an excellent medic."

Tenten mulled over his words for a moment, looking into his white eyes. Something told her to press on. "Her personality?"

"…Pleasant." He remembered waking up to her concerned, yet reassuring, eyes the night after all the bones in his shoulder had been shattered. "Interesting. Lively."

He remembered lying in his hospital bed, listening to her chatter on and on about stories about former patients and other such things. He remembered listening to her stories, to distract himself from the blinding pain in his shoulder.

"Spirited."

He remembered her yelling at him to take his medicine and just accept that he would be in the hospital for the next three months, and that his energies would be better spent trying to rest and recover, instead of railing at fate for putting him in this position.

Neji opened his eyes. Tenten beamed at him, eyes sparkling. "Oh, Neji! You like Sakura!"

If he had been anybody else, he might have blushed. "I do not. I was just stating certain personality traits that I find admirable about her."

Tenten considered that. "You like Sakura. And it's pointless denying it. You would have gone on and on about her if you could have. You probably do, when you're alone."

Neji shot a dark glance at the volume of ANBU Romance on her coffee table. She had made more sense before she started to read romance novels.

"So…what are you going to do about it?"

He reached up, rubbing his sore neck. "It's a mere infatuation, I suppose. It shall pass."

"Which is what I thought when I started dating Kiba-kun," she replied, waving her right hand at his face, so that he got a clear look at her engagement ring. "And look at us now!"

Neji sighed. "It's doubtful that I feel toward Sakura what you and Kiba feel toward each other."

"There's only one way to find out," smirked Tenten.

He stood up. "And I just decided I don't wish to know."

Tenten sprang up and grabbed his arm. "You've got to ask her out on a date, Neji! And then you'll know how you really feel about her!"

Neji thought the conversation had gotten bad enough. He could barely stomach it, in fact. Another few words, and he would be physically ill.

But when he heard the word date, his world just collapsed around his ears.

Tenten grinned.

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Reviews appreciated. -grin-