How Did I Fall in Love with You?

A/N: I don't know if this song fits in that well with the story. I was extremely hyper when I wrote it. I guess I was on a NejiXTenten high?

Disclaimed!

"Shoshoryu!"

An arsenal of scythes, kunai, shuriken, and senbon rained down upon the raven-haired, pale-eyed prodigy. Using his Byakugan to the fullest extent, Hyuuga Neji moved deftly to dodge all the miscellaneous weapons his teammate, Tenten, launched at him.

A smirk crossed Neji's face as Tenten landed back down in a crouch. He had only sustained a few cuts here and there from her first onslaught. To his astonishment, Tenten merely grinned at him and flipped back into the air with astonishing acrobatic ability. Neji followed her graceful movements with hawk-like intensity. As Tenten climbed higher up the stratosphere, all the scattered weapons on the ground began to levitate slightly. Chakra strings!

"Hakke Shou Kaiten!" Neji performed his clan's ultimate defense, rendering Tenten's weapons useless. ((A/N: I tend to use this scene in a lot of my fics, neh?)) He held up his hand. "Enough for today, Tenten."

"Hai!" she dropped down besides him in the small crater he had created with his Kaiten. All the weapons from her scrolls vanished in puffs of smoke. "That was perfect, Neji!" she said as she began to pick up the random shuriken and kunai that had come from her pouches and holsters. She chattered nonstop, collecting her precious weapons.

Remember when we never needed each other?
The best of friends like
Sister and Brother?
We understood we'd never be
Alone

It was always like this, Neji thought to himself, a small smile finding its way onto his normally stoic face. After every training session, and they were very numerous throughout the week, Tenten would drop down beside him and begin to gather her shinobi tools. She would always start to talk about something or nothing, anything that interested herself and with a slight chance, him as well. But he never listened to what she said. Well, not anymore at least. He was too…hypnotized by her musical voice. When that began, Neji doesn't know, nor does he care. All he knows is that he cares for his Tenten very deeply.

Did I just think of her as myTenten? Neji wondered. He gave an inward groan. Shinobi were tools. They shouldn't get attached. It was dangerous. Besides, fate would never allow him to have the ultimate happiness- the happiness of having Tenten in his arms.

"Neji, are you even listening to me?" Tenten demanded as she straightened up, her arms cradling several weapons. She pouted at him, a puppy dog expression on her face.

It made his heart melt.

Those days are gone, and I want you so much
The night is long and I need your touch
Don't know what to say
I never meant to feel this way
Don't want to be
Alone tonight

To hell with being a prodigy. To hell with being a Byakugan master. To hell with being the number one genin in Konoha. To hell with being a tool. To hell with fate.

I am still only human.

And being a human warranted certain things. He needed the basic necessities of life: food, water, clothing, and shelter. He had those. But there is another need that the science textbooks don't mention-

Love.

And he knew that he needed to love Tenten. He needed to be loved back by her.

And only her.

One problem though. Did she, could she…feel the same way?

What can I do to make you mine?
Falling so hard so fast this time
What did I say, what did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?

He smiled at her.

Weapons tumbled out of Tenten's arms. Neji is actually smiling! She thought to herself in awe.

"Neji…what-?" The question died on her lips as Neji walked towards her and picked up the scattered kunai and shuriken.

"Put them away. You're lucky you didn't cut yourself," Neji chided softly in her ear.

"Gomen," Tenten said blushingly as she slid her kunai into her thigh holster and her shuriken into her hip pouch. She gave a sidelong look at Neji. To further her astonishment, he was gazing at her with an unblinking stare. Her cheeks reddened some more.

"Come," he said simply and tugged on her elbow. He gently pulled her towards the twinkling lights of the city.

I hear your voice
And I start to tremble
Brings back the child that, I resemble

Neither one of them said a word as the continued to stroll. Tenten was in a state of shocked silence. Normally it'd take her a month and a day to persuade Neji to hang out with her after a training session.

"Are you uneasy?" he asked, breaking the silence. He could feel the tension that was rolling off his teammate in waves. He frowned, not understanding why his presence would cause her to be so nervous.

"Iie. Just surprised, that's all," Tenten assured him. "Where are we going anyways?"

"To eat. I assume you're hungry after our training session."

Tenten's stomach rumbled loudly. She laughed, a tinkling little sound that Neji could listen to forever. "I guess so," she answered, grinning at him.

Neji nodded down at her, a small smile playing across his lips. He paused outside Ichiraku.

"Fancy some ramen?" he asked quietly, holding the flap open for her.

"Sure!" Tenten replied happily, bouncing inside.

I cannot pretend, that we can still be friends
Don't want to be,
Alone tonight

Neji sipped his hot tea as he waited for his bowl of chicken ramen to cool. He watched in amusement as Tenten eagerly slurped up her noodles.

"Oi, Neji. They're just noodles. They won't hurt you," Tenten teased as she chomped on a piece of beef.

"Itadakimasu," Neji replied, an elegant eyebrow cocked slightly at his teammate's rib. He was surely NOT afraid of noodles… He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

"Seconds!" Tenten called to the waitress, who nodded and brought another bowl. Tenten attacked her ramen with a passion Naruto and Chouji would admire. In her enthusiasm, a particularly long noodle flicked the wrong direction and hit her nose before sliding its way into her mouth.

Neji chuckled softly as Tenten's face reddened again. Kawaii, he thought fondly to himself. He picked up a napkin and gently wiped the broth off of the weapon mistress' nose.

Neji paused suddenly.

Slowly, he cupped Tenten's face and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. Tenten's face flushed a darker shade of red, but she didn't move away. A shiver of relief went down Neji's spine when he saw Tenten's faint, but reassuring smile.

"Oi…Is she your?" A voice asked.

What can I do to make you mine?
Falling so hard so fast this time
What did I say, what did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?

Neji frowned at the hand Naruto had shoved in his face. It was in a fist, except that his pinky finger was sticking up.

"No!" Neji snapped angrily. He noticed Tenten's tight grip on her chopsticks, as if she longed to throw them at either himself or Naruto; him for denying that they were an intimate couple, or Naruto for interrupting them. She stood up and stalked outside.

Neji sighed in frustration as he reached for his wallet.

"You sure? You could've fooled me," Naruto said teasingly. "I mean, it looked as if you guys were having a really lovey-dovey moment!"

Naruto's mischievous smile dropped when he saw Neji glaring at him. When Naruto was sure that the Hyuuga would send him flying through Ichiraku's wall, Neji simply snorted in annoyance and marched outside.

"Hey! You didn't pay for your meal," the owner protested.

Neji paused. "Mine as well as my teammate's is on Naruto," he answered simply as he ducked out.

Oh, I want to say this right
And it has to be tonight
Just need you to know, oh yeah

He found Tenten waiting outside for him, still rather red faced, but not about to attack anyone.

"Arigatou Neji," she muttered quietly, looking down and around- anywhere that wasn't her teammate.

"For what?" Neji asked, slightly worried, not worried…concerned! that Tenten wasn't looking at him.

"For dinner."

"Oh, it was on Naruto," Neji smirked as Tenten laughed. He looked up at the rising silver moon. "Come on, it's late. I'll walk you home."

They walked in silence. Not a tense, apprehensive one like before, this on was a comfortable silence. Or it was until…

"Hey Tenten!"

The weapon mistress turned to greet an excited Kiba and Akamaru. Neji didn't bother to turn, he just waited for Tenten to finish talking to this flea-bitten mutt lover.

"Yo."

"Is it true?" he asked eagerly, his eyes shifting from her face to Neji's back.

"Is what true?" Tenten asked confused.

"That you're not going out with Hyuuga? 'Cause I'd be more than happy to go out with you-"

Neji's head whipped around quickly, Byakugan fully activated. Kiba, sensing the murderous aura emitting from the prodigy, stepped back a few paces. Before he could seal all of Kiba's chakra points with his Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou, a hand grabbed his arm.

"Sorry Kiba, but I'm not interested," Tenten said sheepishly as she pulled on Neji's hand. Neji followed her lead stiffly, but not before throwing a threatening, Byakugan-intensified glare at the disappointed Kiba.

I don't want to live this life
I don't want to say goodbye
With you I wanna spend
The rest of my life

Neji, in an irritable disposition, looked as if his jaw had been glued together. He could tell that Tenten was frowning at him. Probably because she didn't like them, even though she should be used to them by now. Out of the corner of his eye, he could she cocked her head and gazed up at him. To his utter shame, a faint hue of red tinted his cheeks. She nearly laughed out loud. Ha, he does like me! Tenten thought triumphantly. ((AN: A bit slow on the uptake…maybe she's part Filipino…I mean, I am and I'm Filipino…))

"Neji…" she tugged on his arm to get them to stop. He complied with the pressure on his arm, but refused to look at her.

She went up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on his cheek.

Neji looked down at her, his eyes softening. He smiled slightly as he brushed his cheek almost disbelievingly.

"Come on," she said playfully, pulling on his arm again.

What can I do to make you mine?
Falling so hard so fast this time
What did I say, what did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?

Minutes later, Neji found himself standing outside Tenten's apartment complex. He let go of her hand rather reluctantly and hovered near her doorway, not wanting to leave her just yet.

Tenten took the hint. "Want to come inside? We can watch a movie or something…"

Neji nodded, and allowed himself to be steered into her apartment and settled onto her couch.

He eyed Tenten's body as she bent down to insert a DVD into its player, a content smirk playing across his lips.

"Shinobi Chronicles: Search for the Forbidden Scroll" flashed across the screen.

"We don't have to watch an action movie. If you want, we could watch one of those films that tend to make Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama get all…"

"Hyuuga Neji, what the hell makes you think that I'd willingly watch a chick flick?" Tenten demanded in a dangerous tone, her hands on her hips.

Neji closed his eyes in relief. Thank you Kami-sama!

What can I do to make you mine?
Falling so hard so fast this time
Everything's changed, we never knew

An hour of the movie later found Tenten soundly sleeping snuggled against Neji's chest as they lay down on her couch. He absently stroked her back comfortingly as he watched her sleep. He tried to think back to when he started to have feelings for her. Shaking his head, he knew it was no use. He simply didn't know, and that didn't matter. Neji smiled to himself and gently placed a kiss on Tenten's forehead before he drifted off to sleep.

How did I fall in love with you?

AN: Like I said, I'm not sure if the song fits in with the fic. I finished it at 5:08 in the morning. I should really get some sleep. Night (or morning) all. Review please!