49

„You Don't Look Good…"

Before the second night Tsunade gave out orders for the night shifts - Neji was going to take the first one. Then Kankuro was supposed to take the second shift and the third one was left for Tenten.

The sand shinobi didn't react at all when he heard the schedule. But the girl knew his shift was about the time he was going to get the worst out of the night fever. She bit her lips, considering telling Godaime, but Kankuro grabbed her hand and pulled her aside. When they were far enough he whispered:

"I am going to take the shift, don't worry about it." He really believed his body had beaten the poison and he was going to be fine.

"And what if you get sick again? In the condition you were in yesterday, it would be impossible for you to notice approaching danger," she countered.

He took a long look at her serious face, then he glanced at the rest of the shinobis. Each of them was busy with something and no one paid them any attention.

"I am going to take your shift." she said quietly. "And in case you feel good enough, you will take mine."

"That sounds about right." he nodded.

"Of course it is reasonable. I also spared information and I really don't want to drag the Hokage's anger on myself."

The man smiled and nodded again. He didn't have any trouble believing her words…

Neji picked a low branch for his night shift slightly aside from the campfire.

Kankuro and Tenten were sitting next to each other with a good 20 meters distance from the rest, quietly talking about what to do in the different cases - depending on the different strengths and durations of his eventual fever.

The man moved a bit. He had the feeling someone was looking at him.

"I also feel it." Tenten said quietly and put a hand on his shoulder to hold him in place. "This gaze… It should be Neji's."

"Why is he looking at us?"

"I really don't know… Maybe he is somewhat worried, I guess." she shrugged.

"Why don't you go to talk with him and maybe calm him down, then?" he offered. And then leaned back to the trunk of the tree they were seated next to.

Tenten nodded and got up. She headed straight to her teammate and when she reached the tree he was on, she jumped deftly, pushed herself away from the trunk, and landed on the branch next to him.

"I had the feeling you will burn a hole in my body with your gaze." she said, sitting down.

Neji looked at her:

"I am sorry."

"What's going on?" she asked.

He was silent for some time, looking at Kankuro's direction.

"I am not sure I understand." he whispered really quietly.

"What is it that you don't understand?" her tone was soft. She knew when talking to Neji, one of the most important things was patience.

"Your attitude towards him has changed over the last few days."

She also was silent for a minute, then she sighed…

"Weren't you the one who told me to change my behaviour in order to not fail the mission?"

She was right. Neji truly had expressed his doubts about the mission's success. But then he wasn't aware of his own feelings… And actually now, when he was more aware of them, there was no option for him to even threaten the mission…

"That's correct." he agreed. "But there is something else - as if you really enjoy when you are around him… as if you really like his…attention."

Tenten didn't know what was the meaning of all of that. But she really tried to not rush the conclusions.

"Because I really enjoy it, he is a nice company," she answered simply. "And, please, point me to a girl who doesn't like to have some attention for herself from time to time…"

He looked at her inquiringly, as if to make sure she was telling him the truth.

"And you enjoy sleeping in his arms?"

She blushed and turned her face away:

"Neji, I am not entirely sure what you want to achieve with those questions," she whispered. "But in fact, if I don't threaten the mission, what I do and how I treat him, whether I like it or not… you shouldn't worry about it…"

He nodded - she was right yet again. He had never expressed any desire to deepen his relationship with her. He had no right to meddle in her intimate decisions.

"I am sorry…" he apologised.

"It is way easier to pretend to like someone, when you really do," she said.

"I suppose it is easier if you know who you like and why," he nodded.

"It is not really a logical choice who you are going to like or dislike…"

"If you dare trust your feelings…" Neji did something so out of character for him, that Tenten was going to fall off the branch - he reached out to touch her hand, just barely. Then he put it back in his lap and looked ahead. He didn't blush, he didn't smile… There was no right way to interpret that gesture.

"Neji?" she asked, obviously shocked.

"I am sorry," he said calmly.

And that was all, just like that… He didn't say a word more, he didn't look at her…

Tenten went back to Kankuro, still with a shocked expression on her face.

"You want to tell?" he asked softly but she just shook her head. The man patted the spot next to him, inviting her to sit.

"I start to think he may have gone insane…" she said quietly, sliding to the ground.

Kankuro looked at her with a warm and somehow knowing smile.

"Maybe he has…" he whispered and relaxed his head to the back, closing his eyes.

If he was in love with this girl and he was forced to look at how someone else is trying to get her under his nose, he would have also gone insane. But it was not in Kankuro's favour to explain all of that to her. She obviously didn't even suspect Neji had a thing for her. What the sand shinobi was interested in now, was to try and snatch the girl for himself before the pale-eyed shinobi did something about it.

So he reached out and embraced Tenten's shoulders, pulling her slightly to him. In the first second she alerted and tensed, but she relaxed in the next second and rested her head on his shoulder.

When her shift closed by, Tenten moved - she sneaked out from the warm embrace and got up. She couldn't sleep at all but at least she relaxed enough to let her body rest a bit. She carefully touched the man - the fever was about to return. She shook him:

"Hey, you got to wake up."

"I am awake for at least half an hour." he said quietly without opening his eyes. "I believe this night will be more sparing than the previous."

"This will be good, because you will be alone."

"I know." he nodded and stiffly got up.

He undressed again and wrapped himself in the blanket to prevent staying in sweaty clothes.

"If you feel the fever is taking too big a toll, please, call me," she pleaded.

"You know that can not happen," he smiled with no hint of happiness. "If I attempt to walk around like a drunk man, it is highly possible to drag unneeded attention. There will be questions arising…"

"Then I will be checking on you every 20 minutes."

"You will be risking everyone's safety…"

Kankuro looked at her hazel eyes, making her goosebumps.

"Go and don't worry. You've done much more willingly for me, than other people have done out of obligation."

She nodded and headed to Neji to take on the next shift.

The sand shinobi sat down again, resting his head to the back and closing his eyes. He felt butterflies in his chest and stomach - a sure sign that he was deep in trouble… He knew how it was - first there were the fireworks and the passion. But the true qualities of a relationship could be measured with what came after that phase. The strong emotions were going to fade out in a few months and after that it will become clear…

He knew.. He had gone through this a couple of times already and everytime it turned out it was just a passion. But it was not as simple this time. There was no way he could relax and satisfy that passion - the stake was too high. And he had never had a relationship with a real shinobi. That was on another level and he can not let it end badly, in any case, even if he had to suppress his emotions all the time. Tenten had to go back to Konoha, as he promised the Hokage. His stomach clenched in a ball… He sighed and got ready to meet the incoming poison fever. It was time to buck up. There was no time to soften now - Temari was counting on him…

Tenten didn't sleep until the morning. When Kankuro had to take over the last shift, he didn't look good enough so she didn't dare to go to sleep. She was looking at him worried but never said a word. Slowly, he was fighting the poison in his body - the fever was gone, but his body seemed exhausted.

Kankuro was sitting on a low and thick branch with his back to the trunk. Tenten jumped, landed behind him. She sat down and leaned back on his back. Felt as he sighed and somehow relaxed.

That's how they stayed until sunrise. Then Tenten got up, landed down silently and went to her backpack.

Half an hour later Kankuro had fully recovered and looked like his usual self. He moved a bit, stretched his body and also landed down. And he went to wake the rest up.

All had breakfast then they headed to Suna. Tenten looked really tired, her under eye shadows were dark. Godaime noted it out loud but she didn't really dig into it - she obviously didn't think it was a medical emergency.

Neji approached Tenten and whispered quietly:

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong, I am fine." she replied with a snap even though she didn't intend to do so.

"You don't look good." he refused to quit.

The fatigue had indeed made her more impatient than usual. She took a deep breath and turned to him.

"And how do you know exactly I don't look good?"

He looked at her almost sheepishly:

"Do you have any idea how I must look to be 'looking good'?"

Neji didn't understand. What was she saying exactly? For him "good" was equal to "normal", as the way she usually looked.

She shook her head and hurried up ahead, leaving the man wondering.

Shikamaru jumped and landed near the young Huuga. He heard, of course, and due to some unexplainable sentimental reasons, he decided to help a bit. In some reasonable borders…

"You look good," he said.

"Excuse me?" Neji turned to him and his look was telling clearly Shikamaru had lost his mind.

"She meant you never told her she looked good."

"But she looks the same way, always."

"It doesn't matter." Shikamaru shook his head. "The women like to hear that kind of bullshit, you know: 'you look great', 'this dress really looks good on you', 'you are really beautiful today', those sorts of stuff…"

"They are?" Neji was genuinely surprised. He had never heard his father say something like that to his mother…

"Well, yeah…" he shrugged and paced up to catch up with the rest.

Neji also paced up and kept it that way. He thought about what he was just told. He had that bad habit of taking Shikamaru's words seriously. But he had a point - indeed, he had never paid attention to Tenten's appearance. For him, she was all the same since they were 12. And even if he noticed anything changed, he never thought of pointing it out, especially in a positive way.

Now he remembered that Lee had often said that "this blouse is prettier than the previous one" or "I like those new boots". Then Tenten actually looked glad Lee paid attention… He sighed…