Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto—no matter how much I scream and whine about it.

- -

The Awkward Battlefield - Neji & Tenten

- -

Neji and Tenten were teammates, friends, and excellent sparring partners. However, against popular belief, they weren't perfect teammates, friends and excellent sparring partners. No, definitely not—in fact, they were far from it—just like all the other people in this world.

- -

"Neji?"

He looked at the teammate who had called him, unconsciously narrowing his eyes from the glare of the sun overhead.

He and Tenten had just finished sparring a few minutes prior and were now eating a quick lunch. With the final part of the Chuunin Exam looming in the distance, Neji and Tenten had agreed to start bringing box lunches to their spars so that they could eat and resume training immediately afterwards.

He managed a soft grunt around the rice ball that was currently occupying his mouth. She'd take that as a 'continue'—he was sure that she knew him well enough by now to understand him.

"What do you see when you use the Byakugen?"

The way she cocked her head to the side in curiosity forced Neji to suppress the smile that twitched on his lips as he swallowed his food and put down his chopsticks to think. Playing with the question in his head, Neji sought out a reasonably understandable description that he could effectively put into words.

"Chakra appears in color, but everything else is in gray tones." Yes, that was simple enough and- oh wait. Maybe it was too simple if the furrowing of her eyebrows meant what it usually meant. "Um…that is...Well, humans appear as a solid black color with their chakra systems highlighted in their chakra color; usually blue. Animals, insects and other beings like that appear in brighter tints while the background remains in regular, varying tones."

The puzzled look on the Weapons Mistress' face remained, although less intense, and Neji returned to his food. After a few minutes, Neji heard Tenten put her container of food down again.

"Can you see above the chakra system if you tried?"

His swallowed his mouthful of food and turned to her with a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Can you see the layers above it? Like the muscles and organs?" He was impressed; he never would have considered the idea. Putting down his container as well, he listened to her intently. "If you could see that, then maybe you could see items, such as weapons and scrolls."

He smirked at her—of course she would use weapons as an example. Taking another quick bite out of his rice ball, Neji tried to consider if it was possible. Still deep in thought, he answered slowly.

"I'm…not sure. It isn't the Byakugen's main purpose."

She nodded and her bangs bounced happily with the movement. "Would you like to test it?" He activated his Byakugen as his answer. "See if you can see how many kunai and shuriken I have with me." She stood up from her sitting position and walked to a clearer spot.

He focused on her silhouette and increased the chakra control. Now a series of veins and arteries were displayed in front of him. He blinked in surprise and tightened his jaw slightly. Concentrating and adding more chakra, he began to make out the forms of organs and then everything was red as a layer of muscles and fat overlapped the previous images.

Almost there… He thought as he increased the pressure of the chakra. Taking deep, controlled breaths, Neji closed his eyes and focused his chakra before opening them again. He blinked once, then twice, and allowed his jaw to fall slack as he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Did it work? What do you see?"

He deactivated his Byakugen and blinked up at her. "Panda."

"What?"

"I see a panda"

With a shriek, Tenten crossed her arms over her chest protectively and squeaked out an accusing, "Neji!"

Confusion clouded his eyes as he gazed at her slightly flushed face. "What?" She blinked at him six times—he counted—before pouting miserably and uncrossing her arms.

"Why were you even looking there?" She lowered her voice slightly and he felt the corners of his eyes wrinkle in amusement.

Yes, he was male, but he wasn't Naruto of Kiba—so he defended himself accordingly. "It was the first metal object I saw." It wasn't completely true, he had spotted a shuriken first, but the panda was the most interesting. She blushed and looked away, piquing his curiosity. "Tenten, why do you have a metal panda there?"

He barely heard her as she mumbled, "It's attached…"

"To you?" He asked incredulously, eyebrows shooting under his forehead protector. She shook her head in a negative. "Then?"

She blushed a slightly deeper shade and whipped out a kunai, aiming it at him. "Just drop it Neji!"

He glared at her then relaxed his face and smirked mockingly. "Are you embarrassed that you have a panda necklace?" She didn't answer and he decided to reassure her back into a calmer state of mind. "I won't laugh at you; it's cute."

Her blush deepened tenfold and she turned her face away from his stubbornly. "It's not a necklace."

"Then what is it?" He smirked, anticipating a very poorly put together lie.

His jaw dropped at her honest, and quiet answer. "M-My…my bra."

He had called her bra cute? No, what was worse was that he had been staring at her bra and didn't realize it. No, wait! They were big enough that she couldn't use the bindings anymore?

With that thought alone he almost suffered from a nose bleed. Lunch long forgotten, Neji stood up abruptly and murmured a quick apology before pulling out a kunai. He grunted as he threw it at a practice dummy violently. Trying his best to keep his mind on the weapons, Neji ignored Tenten as she went back to silently eating her meal; her face still as red as a tomato.

Neji sighed as he walked up to the target, pulling out his weapons when he got to it. No wonder Tenten liked weapons so much; they offered good protection when you were battling your inner emotions and enemy ninja. A very good distraction indeed.

- -

And so we conclude that the battlefield is, indeed, a very awkward place where anything goes and everything is fair.

- -

A/N: Someone commented that my stories are more about embarrassment than awkwardness, but embarrassment is an awkward feeling and is usually from awkward situations. So for me, I consider that awkward situations are the most embarrassing, hence my stories. Anyways, that was just an explanation so R&R please.

xoxoxox – RomanceFanFicLover