Up-dated, 1/8/2019
By the time they had reached her home and Lee had said his goodbyes for the evening, it was approaching one in the morning. If Neji hadn't come by now, she figured he wasn't coming at all. In all honesty, she would have him rather not come at all then to walk in when she was dancing with Kiba earlier that night. She wasn't sure how he would react, and even if he saw her now, an hour later, he would just somehow know. He was just good at picking up stuff like that, and she didn't want to deal with that right now. Her bed sounded like a much better idea.
Letting out a big yawn, she unlocked her front door to see a pack thrown hastily to the side, and a figure asleep on her couch. At first, it startled her, but then she saw the long flowing locks of Neji. How long has he been here? How is he asleep sitting like that? She walked over to the couch and placed a hand on his face.
"Neji…" no response. She placed her other hand on his shoulder and lightly shook him. He must really have his guard down here to not even waken up just by her opening the door. Should I take that as a compliment?
"Neji, what are you doing here so late again?" He then awoke from his slumber and before he said anything he grabbed her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.
"I noticed you were all out dancing…" he trailed off and put his lips to her forehead. "I didn't want to intrude so I decided to wait for you here. I don't think I would have been able to wait around from what I saw."
Tenten's face went red. Shit, he saw what happened with Kiba? Maybe he really was the jealous type. Anyway, she didn't want a pissed off Hyuga on her hands.
Stuttering out her words, "No, no you got it all wrong!" She said shaking her head. "He asked me to dance, and I thought if I said no, people would jump to conclusions!" Ugh, there was no winning this conversation she thought.
He surged and laughed, "I know I saw the whole conversation."
She looked confused at first but then said, "Well why didn't you come to stop him then?" She demanded.
"Ah you know why, I couldn't just barge in there and tell Kiba to fuck off without raising red flags."
She let out a little giggle, it was strange to here Neji swearing. "Well, I would have rather danced with you." She looked at him with large puppy dog eyes. But the look passed on her face and turned serious.
"Yeah well….we have a slight problem now."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh really, what's that?"
"… Kiba knows." She said barely at a whisper with her face pressed into his neck.
Almost too calmly he responded. "Ah, I knew he would figure it out, it was just a matter of time before an Inuzuka figured it out."
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" She said pulling back to look him in the eye.
"Their noses are strong, that's why they are excellent trackers. Kiba and I have been on a few missions together, and I know he can smell scents on one another if they had spent a lot of time together recently. According to him, that information is only useful when you know the owner of the other scent, and I guess he can pick up mine from others."
She thought about what he had said for a moment. She knew that the Inuzuka's have an excellent sense of smell, those only rivaled by Kakashi and his ninkin.
"Well, what do we do?" She asked pushing a finger into his chest.
"I will have a talk with him, but I don't think you need to worry." He said very bluntly.
"How are you so calm about all of this?" she stammered out.
"Well, first I don't think he would want to start anything with me, second, I think Kiba knows to keep his mouth shut when needed."
She nodded in agreement, but could she really trust Kiba? This wasn't really about her anyway, it was more about what would happen to Neji if is clan caught wind of what he did and who he was with when they weren't looking.
"Well, I did come here for other reasons," Neji said changing the subject.
"Oh? What's that?" She pondered.
"I was called into the Hokage's office this afternoon, we have another mission."
He rose from his seat and walked over by the door, he threw a scroll at her from the bag that was sitting on the ground.
"It's simple enough, just deliver some message to a man in an outlying village in the Land of Lighting."
She began to read the mission details, her face began to light up from what she was reading. "Team Gai gets to go out all together?!" She said in the bubbliest tone.
"Yes, I believe there is a shortage of missions, so they are sending larger teams."
"Well, I'm not complaining." She said with a smile.
"When do we leave?"
"At dawn, so in about 5 hours."
"Ah dam, I don't have anything ready!" She yelled as she jumped up started running around her apartment in a frenzy. She went to her room and began digging through her drawers. Lighting was very cold at this time of the year, so she needed some thicker clothes, she for sure wanted her traveling cloak.
"Did you pack already?" She asked.
"Yes, I did earlier this evening." He replied in a cool tone.
Of course, the Hyuga was always one step ahead. She wondered if he was as excited as her about all being together as team Guy again.
"Do you need any help?" He asked while he stood in the doorway of her bedroom.
"As long as you guys get the food like normal, I have everything else already in my scrolls as usual." She replied.
She laid out all her extra belongings on her bed that she thought she would need for the weather, then she took a spare scroll and began to seal all of the warm clothing. She would unseal them when they got closer to the border. She began to check her other scrolls for other necessity's, then to her weapons scroll. She was happy that she had just taken all of her tools out to sharpen.
Standing up, she admired her handy work, everything was packed and she could have sworn it was in record time. She turned to see Neji still leaning against the frame of her door, she almost forgot he was there.
"Uh well if we leave at dawn I better get some sleep…" She began playing with her hair, a nervous habit she could never break. "So are you going home?"
She kicked herself for sounding like that, he must think she is some bumbling idiot.
"Well…" He started. "They do not expect me home tonight, though if I am not welcome here I will return home."
Her heart skipped a beat, did he just say he could, and that he WANTED to stay here? She had asked him to stay before, but she knew he really couldn't, but now she didn't know how to respond.
"Ah well yes of course." She tried to say as calmly as possible.
He began to walk towards her, her heart was pounding.
"Ten, relax." He said as he slipped his arms around her. What was that 'Ten' about too? Some Pet name now? But her thoughts went elsewhere, he smelled amazing, how did she not notice this before when they were on the couch?
"Let's just get some rest." He kissed her lips lightly. "I'll just sleep on the couch." He released her and started walked towards the living room, her hand grabbed his arm. He looked back with almost a smirk on his face.
Of course, the Hyuga was a true gentleman and would not just assume that she wanted him in her bed, but she wished he would just take it upon himself and curl up next to her. It would save her a lot of trouble.
"No, sleep with me." She said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "I need to take a shower, I'll be back in a second, go ahead and make yourself at home."
She grabbed her change of clothes, this time she wouldn't be caught off guard in a towel and made a beeline for the bathroom. She quickly jumped into the shower, her heart was pounding. The Neji Hyuga was here, waiting in her bed for her.
xXx
He felt proud and somewhat worried at the same time. He was here, she wanted him to stay the night. She wanted HIM to sleep in HER bed with HER. Oh, Kami what did he do right to deserve this chance?
He was debating, he usually just slept in a pair of standard shinobi pants without a shirt, but he didn't want to make things uncomfortable with her. Yes, he wanted to throw her down on that bed and do, well things. He knew all the hype, but he had never been that far with a woman, he didn't know how to tell if she wanted that. Plus it was not honorable to think that she would agree to things like that outside of wedlock. But his mind kept wandering back to darker places.
No, no, he told himself, I can't be thinking like that. We're just going to share a bed, nothing else is going to happen.
After pulling his mind from the gutter, he crawled into her bed. It wasn't large, but it was big enough to fit the two of them comfortably. Her sheets made him laugh, there were gray with little shuriken on them. He guessed they were the ones that sold at the store down the road in the little boy's section. But if it made her happy, who was he to judge? She really did have a thing for sharp projectiles.
He took the side that was pushed up against the wall. Well, now I wait, he thought. He didn't have to wait long, her door opened and he looked up from his place. She stood in the doorway with her hair thrown up in a towel with a nervous look on her face, but then she smiled. She then made her way over to her side of the bed and laid down. At first, they weren't touching, she was facing away from him, it seemed like she was just a nervous as he was about all of this. Putting his pride aside, he reached over and pulled her into his chest. He nuzzled his chin into the open space between her neck and shoulder, placing a couple kisses as he did so.
He could feel her take a sharp breath in from the sudden contact, but then she relaxed. Even his heart rate had picked up slightly. She turned her body to face him. He placed an arm around her waist. She nuzzled her head into the crack of his neck.
"Neji…" She whispered into his ear. It was so enticing.
"Yes?" He responded just as soft.
"This is nice…really nice." She responded and pushed her lips to his.
He engulfed her into his arms. She was so small compared to him. A fool would consider her size an advantage on the battlefield, but not Neji. He knew better than anyone that her little body was full of spitfire and ambition. Her muscles were hard but still feminine, her skin sun-kissed. Moments like these are ones he had never imaged until about a week ago, but now he couldn't get them out of his head. These were moments that he and many other Shinobi rarely got. To first find someone that you can feel comfortable with was difficult. He knew shinobi preferred usually something a bit more physical, without all the other strings attached.
After a few moments cuddled up to her thinking, that he pulled back.
"Ten, you need to get some sleep." He said as he tucked her loose hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.
"Ah fine." She said as she nuzzled deeper into his chest.
He took a deep breath. It took all his strength to pull back from enjoying some more experiments with her. But they had a mission in the morning, and her being well rested was important if they were to keep up with Lee and Gai Sensei.
Hey all,
This is the last update chapter before a new chapter, if you skipped right to this chapter, please go back to chapter one and read the introduction, if you'd like. I just explained whats be going on and some upcoming plans.
see you soon.