Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, as I had always said. (Heavy sigh). Never mind me, again!

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Chapter 6

Jealousy

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"You really like chinese food, I see." Uchiha Sasuke said, in his eyes a sparkle no one had ever seen before. He was having dinner with the only girl he had been interested in so far. The girl who happened to get his rival's interest too - Hyuuga Neji.

Tenten grinned. "Yes." she replied happily, "Therefore I thank you."

Sasuke smiled a sincere smile he never shown. "No problem." He told her.

"You're so kind." The weapon mistress pointed out as the waitress gave out the bill, "Let me treat you. You know, as in thanking you for my business with Neji."

But Sasuke was quicker. Before Tenten had even her wallet up, he had given the amount of money needed to the waitress and send her away. "It's fine." He told her. "Then again, it was a nice experience knowing more about weapons, you see. Can you probably tell me more... sometimes?"

"Of course!" Tenten said cheerfully. As Sasuke stood up, she rose too. They went out of the restaurant. Being a not-so-cold prodigy he was, Sasuke stepped closer to Tenten, "Do you need me to walk you home?" He offered kindly, "It's already dark."

"No." Tenten shook her head as she smiled apologetically, "As you see, I have promise Lee to meet up with Neji today. I need to... you know." She coughed, a little unease, "I need to catch up with Neji for a while."

"I see." Sasuke replied, not showing his disappointment. "Then, goodbye." He waved his hand as he walked away, leaving Tenten alone in front of the restaurant. The girl zipped her jacket tighter, and she went the other direction.

There was only one place Neji could be now, and it's the training grounds. Whenever he's angry, he would take all of his anger into training. Typical Hyuuga, Tenten thought as she entered her team's training grounds.

She was right. Neji was there, practicing a certain kaiten stance. Having the usual awareness, he immediately noticed Tenten's presence. He whirled around, and was the least happy to see Tenten.

The girl shivered slightly, disliking the dangerousness his eyes glared. "Neji." She called.

"Why are you here?" He asked dully.

"To see you, of course." She replied casually. "Listen, I..."

"Better not." He cut her out. "I'm not in the mood of listening to your stupid stories, okay? I don't wanna know how in the hell you get together with HIM, of all people. Go away."

Tenten was stunned. She never thought he would be this mad, and it's because of the Sasuke guy. "... I..." She stated, but before she finished her sentence, Neji had whirled around and started practicing his Jyuuken style now.

She smirked. She always disliked the fact that he always sulked when everything didn't go as he planned, but to think that THE Hyuuga Neji sulked because of her!

"I can't believe it." She interrupted, giving away a small smile.

"What?" Neji turned at her, glaring spears.

"Nothing." She said quickly. "Well, Neji..." She began, leaping down from the tree she happened to be on, "I think we have to talk."

"We do not." He told her coldly, "I can't recall any situations that made you need to talk to me. Besides, you only 'think'. What if in truth we don't have to talk?"

"Don't make this harder." Tenten replied, her smile had completely vanished. She furrowed her eyebrows, "Why are you so angry at me?"

"You're the one who's angry at me." was the reply he had given. Tenten scratched the back of her head, "I supposed that's right." She said at last, breaking the silence. "I don't even understand what's happening right now."

"... I can see that." He replied as he leaned on a tree, eyes examining Tenten's expression.

"Can I ask you a question?" The girl asked as she moved closer to the tree Neji was leaning to. When he gave a small nod as an answer, she continued, "What do you think of me?"

The Hyuuga prodigy was a little surprised, even though he doesn't show it. Tenten's question was so straightforward, and now he was confused. Yes, exactly. What does he think of her? A teammate? A sparring partner? What exactly she means to him?

"Good question." After a long silence he said, "... it's kinda hard."

"What?"

"I can't explain it clearly." Neji said, half-heartedly. He eyed Tenten curiously, "Why do you ask?"

"I've got a faint idea of what's happening here if you can give me that." She replied as she stretched her body. "No, actually, I know what's happening."

"Do you?" He questioned. "Things are happening very clearly, Tenten."

"Sure." She rolled her eyes, as if she's saying, "I don't believe you."

"It is." He shrugged.

Tenten smiled. "Then can you at least tell me why are you... angry at me just now? And why don't you congratulate Sasuke and me?" She paused, looking thoughtful, when suddenly a certain thought dawned on her. "Surely... surely you're not jealous, aren't you?"

The genius stared at her for a few moments, and then asked, "What's jealous like?"

Nervousness started to creep on Tenten's feet when he asked her that. She stared back at him, her eyes confused. "... You don't know what jealous is?" she asked back, "For real?"

"I know what does it means," Neji interrupted her, "But I don't know how it feels."

He's hard, Tenten thought as she struggled inside her mind to find a simple example of how jealousy feels, and he's making this harder. "I... don't know." She breathed at last. "But..."

"But?"

"Never mind." She hastily covered up. At first she was going to ask how his day with Ino and Sakura was, but it seems like it was not a good subject to be brought up. She stood up, noticing the moon had already appeared in the sky. "I'm going home."

"Wait." The guy said softly as he held out a hand, "Let me walk you home."

And this time, Tenten said nothing but smiled in gratitude and took Neji's hand as they walked together to Tenten's apartment. When they arrived, Tenten turned to face her coolest teammate and gazed longingly at his pale eyes.

He gave her a soft smile. "Good night." he whispered as he back out. But he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Yes?"

Tenten smiled as she leaned closer to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Good night too."

Neji blushed, and Tenten smiled as she closed her apartment door.

Oh yeah, somebody was falling for somebody. Badly.

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Neji clenched and unclenched his fist. Again, he couldn't sleep a wink. His thoughts were too occupied by a certain girl named Tenten. He inhaled and exhaled a deep breath as he decided to just sit rather than lay.

Jealous.

That word happened to appear in his mind all of a sudden.

Was he jealous? Of Sasuke and Tenten? Why?

He had red the clear definition in a dictionary to assure himself what jealous really was. He had clearly memorized the most meaning that had attracted him the most too.

Jealous: feeling envious and unhappy because someone you love is showing interest in someone else.

That passage was clearly pointing out 'someone you love', not 'your opposite gender friend'. And he could say that he was sure he doesn't love Tenten, if all these chaos happened two weeks ago. But now he can't. Oh yeah, he really can't. He just... wasn't that sure anymore. He wasn't even sure that he thought of Tenten as his best friend and best friend only.

He was starting to feel something else. He was beginning to realize the fact that she really was a female, just as she realized that he really was a male. Strangely enough, every time she was around, his heart began to beat faster, as he can practically feel his cheeks reddened hotly, and sometimes he even found himself too flustered to speak up.

Not that he needs to, anyway. Hyuuga Neji rarely speaks, and he only speaks when he wants or when he's addressed. He didn't want to waste any energy speaking, right?

He neither likes nor dislikes the feeling, though.

And he remembered now, every time she physically touch him, whether it's accidental or not, he began to reddened again, and soon his mouth were too stiff to say anything. Soon after that, every physical contact they had, had turned his face into a Neji-ish tomato.

He began enjoying it more when they were training together - just the two of them, without Lee's exuberance or Gai-sensei's lecture about the beautiful days of youth.

Neji couldn't take it anymore. He never felt this way to another person! But why only Tenten, and why should he felt that way? He remembered once that Tenten had said, "You are pretty dense, Neji." after they had this long talk about opposite genders' relationship. Now he even can't recall why he would get involved in that kind of conversation, but screw that.

Dense.

Was he dense? If no, how can he seem so... stupid about these kinds of things?

Neji clenched his fist harder as he gritted his teeth. I am going crazy, he thought furiously, or maybe I am already crazy?

He stood up and went out from the Hyuuga compound.

………

Meanwhile, Tenten was also facing the same problem as Neji. She couldn't muster why she was unable to sleep, but her eyes seemed like they wouldn't close, and in her mind, nearly ALL moments between her and Neji were being recalled one by one.

Like, the moment they first met, the moment they both knew that they're in the same team; the moment they got closer, the moment they shared their dreams with Gai-sensei and Lee... All of them.

Tenten couldn't help but smiled when she remembered the day they were promoted as Genins. Neji had refused to say what his goal was, and she was very naive -much too naive- at that time and she was quite energetic to tell him her dreams.

Not only him, of course. To Lee and Gai-sensei too, but at that time most of her attention was drawn to Hyuuga Neji: the Cool, the Calm, and the Collected.

She smiled as an image crossed her mind. An image of her dream. She can still remember what she said at that day - the day they were promoted to Genins - "I want to become a really strong ninja like Tsunade-sama, the legendary female ninja.", and after her, it was Neji.

He coolly replied, "I don't want to answer." Tenten shoved her covers up to her chin, smiling when remembering Neji's calm reply.

He never changes, she thought calmly. Until now, he still carries his three major behaviors. Although he started showing a little more emotion that before, he still resembles the teenage him. Tenten smirked to herself. Why do I keep remembering this, anyway?

She shut her eyes and began to try to doze off, but when her mind was fully-booked by moments, she really can't. She sighed heavily as she sat down on her futon, burying her head between her knees. This was just too much for her.

She stood up, putting on a jacket over her kimono and decided to take a walk outside.

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Is it a short chapter? Tee-hee. I like writing short chapters! It really has no point whatsoever, but I love it.(Evil grin). Anyway, reviews are welcome!

Thanks, as always!