Chapter 7: Dilemmas

Sasuke growled at some poor, unsuspecting villager, who yelped and leapt out of the avenger's way. The Uchiha heir was in a particularly bad mood, having just spent the majority of his day off trying to find a gift for Hinata.

He cursed himself once more for agreeing to go to her stupid party. He was already going to the formal one in a couple of weeks; he didn't need to celebrate her eighteenth birthday twice, for god's sake. And now, because she'd been stupid enough to ask him in front of Naruto and Sakura, his team mates hadn't let up on him. Sakura wasn't dense, and Sasuke was beginning to fear that his feelings for the Hyuuga heiress were becoming a little more transparent.

He should've just said no. He didn't have to try and impress her; he was going to the formal party to put himself forward as her betrothed. If her family agreed to accept him, than it didn't matter if she liked him or not, she would be his regardless. He should've just refused. But she had looked at him with wide eyes and red cheeks, her fingers poking together, stuttering out her invitation, and Sasuke, despite his best efforts, couldn't help but think "Cute" as she stood there. He had scowled even more at that thought. He was Uchiha Sasuke, damn it, he didn't think anyone was cute.

It w-w-would m-mean a lot t-to m-me she had said. He had agreed before he knew what his was doing.

And now he was trying to find a gift for the Hyuuga heiress. He had no idea where to begin. Should he get her clothes? He didn't know her size. What about jewellery? She didn't wear any. He sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair. If he didn't find anything today, then he was going to have to ask someone for help and that was something he didn't want to do. For some reason, he wanted to get her something on his own, something that was just from him.

He stopped in front of a small but expensive looking store. The window display held various bits of decorative jewellery. This was it. He was going to go in here and he wouldn't leave until he found something.

An hour later, Sasuke left feeling pleased and a little apprehensive. He had found something that he thought she would like, but he was worried that it might give away more than he wanted. Didn't it mean something when guys gave girls expensive gifts? And the thing he got had been expensive. He was wondering whether he should just return it and get her a book when it was suddenly snatched from his hands.

He turned to see Kakashi looking into the bag.

"Kakashi," he growled, extremely angry that his old sensei had managed to sneak up on him like that. Hinata was turning him into a sloppy ninja.

"Well, isn't this interesting. Who is it for?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke tried to snatch the bag back, but Kakashi evaded him, waiting for an answer. Sasuke scowled and remained silent. He wasn't going to tell Kakashi anything.

"Hmmm. Must be for Sakura, she's the only female you know well enough to give such a gift to. I can't wait to tell her that after all these years, you're finally going to return her feelings…"

"It isn't for Sakura," Sasuke muttered, abandoning his cool, I'm-not-telling-you-anything expression for the more common I'm-pissed-off one. The last thing he needed was for Sakura to get all soppy on him. Lately, she had become much more bearable by backing off and he didn't want Kakashi to ruin that.

"Then who is it for?"

"No one," Sasuke grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. Kakashi blinked his one visible eye, then grinned. At least, Sasuke thought he was grinning. If only he would take off that damn mask.

"Why Sasuke, I didn't know you went that way. And it will look so nice on you to," Kakashi said jovially. Sasuke lunged at his former teacher, but Kakashi just dodged him.

"It's for Hinata," Sasuke finally disclosed, giving in.

"Really?" Kakashi mused thoughtfully, handing the bag back to Sasuke. Sasuke didn't reply, he just took off, cursing his old teacher, gift shops, and Hyuuga Hinata for having a face he couldn't refuse.

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Neji had successfully managed to avoid his former team mates for the past few days. After inadvertently witnessing their rather...intimate (and compromising) embrace, he really didn't want to meet up with either of them. Especially Lee. Tenten he could probably handle, after all, she was pretty level headed for a girl. Which begged the question: what the hell was she doing with Rock Lee? Or rather, why had she'd been doing what she'd been doing with Rock Lee? He didn't understand it. Tenten had never shown any overt signs of attraction to the taijutsu specialist. In fact, she had shown more interest towards him, not Lee. So why…?

Not that he was complaining. If her attraction shifted from him to Lee, great, it meant he didn't have to deal with it. He had enough fangirls as it was, and he rather enjoyed his friendship with Tenten, he'd hate to have to hurt her by being cool and aloof. Well, more cool and aloof than normal. But still, Lee? Not to sound conceited, but what girl would choose Rock Lee over him?

To distract himself from this rather puzzling dilemma, Neji focused on his self-appointed mission: pairing up the Rookie Nine. Hanabi had arranged for a party for Hinata, and Neji had watched (cleverly concealed, of course) as Hinata had invited the Uchiha heir herself. Neji had been annoyed with the Uchiha and his hostile attitude. Poor Hinata probably thought that Sasuke hated her. That wasn't good, Hinata needed to become comfortable around Sasuke if she was ever going to like him. So Neji had followed the Uchiha carefully, making sure that the Uchiha choose an appropriate gift for his cousin. If he failed to get her something nice, Neji was going to step in and offer some 'friendly' advice. He had been pleasantly surprised and somewhat relieved at what Sasuke had chosen. He had been concerned that the avenger would have gotten her something along the lines of a book, but the gift he chose was more expensive and personal. Neji was pleased with the Uchiha's choice, especially since it meant that he didn't have to step in just yet.

As for Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru, Neji decided to take a more active role in pushing them together. As far as he could tell, the two were starting to become attracted to each other. The only problem was that doing anything about it rested on Shikamaru's shoulders (Ino wouldn't give up her ridiculous notion that she was in love with Sasuke), and the ninja was so lazy that Neji wondered if anything would ever happen. Maybe he needed a little motivation, perhaps some competition? Yamanaka Ino, though one of the most beautiful ninja in Konoha, was also a loud admirer of Sasuke. The only males that have gotten close to her had been her team mates. No other man had ever made an honest effort to distract her from Sasuke, and since the Uchiha had no interest in Ino, Shikamaru was safe in the knowledge that he would likely always be the first guy Ino went to. Neji suspected that, though outwardly very lethargic and indifferent, if there was any real chance that Ino would actually be taken away from Shikamaru, the shadow user would become most…upset. It was only a theory, but Neji decided that he would try and prove it.

As for Sakura and Naruto, Neji was seriously considering just locking the two of them together in a small room for a few days to see what happened. Naruto's affections were obvious; it was just Sakura that was wavering. As long as she was in doubt, she wouldn't do anything with Naruto for fear of hurting him. Frankly, her indecisiveness was really beginning to annoy Neji. He thought Naruto should just up and kiss her, that should make things pretty clear to the girl.

He was interrupted from his planning by a loud voice.

"NEJI! Where have you been? I have been looking everywhere for you, and I'm glad I found you. I had promised myself that if I didn't find you today, I would punish myself by doing 500 laps around Konoha!" shouted Rock Lee.

"Jeez, Lee, don't be so dramatic. Hey Neji, wait up!" called Tenten.

Neji closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. He opened them to see Lee right in front of him, staring at him with concern. Tenten was a few feet behind the taijutsu specialist, her brown eyes equally worried.

"Are you all right, Neji? You didn't show up for training and Lee-kun and I were wondering what had happened to make you miss it. You've never missed a training session without telling us before, did you get called on a mission?" she asked.

He stared at them, his eyes narrowing. At first glance, they seemed perfectly normal. He did notice, however, that both of them were taking great care not to get too close to each other

"Hn," he muttered, for lack of anything to say. Tenten was the first to notice his scrutiny, and she shifted slightly. What was wrong with Neji? He'd been avoiding her and Lee for the past three days, and he hadn't shown up for training…it hit her then, and her face flushed red.

"You saw us, didn't you Neji?" she asked softly. Lee blinked at him, and then blushed. Neji watched as both his team mates looked away from him in embarrassment. Tenten avoided his gaze, and Lee finally stepped back from him. Neji watched as they unconsciously turned their backs to each other.

"Look, Neji, Lee and I talked about it, it didn't mean anything, we don't know why it happened, and we decided it would be best just to put it past us. Do you think you could, you know, forget you ever saw it?" Tenten asked. Lee just stared off into the distance.

Forget? How could he forget? He was scarred for life, the image of the two of them…doing that…burned on the back of his eyelids.

"It didn't mean anything?" he asked sceptically.

"Of course it didn't, I mean, it's Lee, for god's sake," Tenten said, turning back to face Neji. She missed Lee's shoulders droop, but Neji didn't. Tenten winced when she realized how harsh that sounded, and turned to face Lee's back.

"Lee, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. Lee turned before she could complete her action, his face in his normal wide smile, complete with gleaming teeth that pinged just like Gai's. Both Neji and Tenten winced at the sudden brightness.

"Don't worry Tenten, I know what you meant. You just meant to say that my heart belongs to Sakura, and that no other woman could ever take her place," he declared.

Tenten narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Yeah, something like that," she said a little frostily. Neji watched as his two team mates, who normally got along very well, suddenly bid him goodbye and left in opposing directions. Tenten with a slight scowl on her face and Lee trying to convince everyone he wasn't upset by smiling incessantly.

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