Of Spandex and Shuriken

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Drabble 5: Angsting and a Competition

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Tenten decided that today just wasn't her day.

Roughly an hour had gone by, and Neji was still recounting each and every evil that the main house had ever inflicted upon his person.

"...And then there was that time at Hinata-sama's fifth birthday. I just wanted to taste the birthday cake. I only took a little bit of the frosting, and Hiashi-sama activated my curse seal!" Neji snarled, his pale eyes burning with the sheer indignity of his punishment. "Do you think that's fair, Tenten?"

"...Huh? Wha...?" said Tenten, jerking up. She had been in sort of a dazed torpor during Neji's tirade and the entire left side of her face was now caked with drool. "Eeeeeeewww!!" she cried, wiping it off.

Neji cocked an eyebrow at her. "Were you even listening?"

Tenten scowled. "Of course I was! You were bitc-- I mean, explaining how evil the main house is."

"Damn straight," said Neji, crossing his arms. "And then there was that time when I was about seven--"

"At any rate!" Tenten interrupted. "We're supposed to be finding Lee, remember? And we've got a better chance if we split up."

"Hn," said Neji, which loosely translated to: 'that's a good idea and I agree with it, but I won't give you the satisfaction of a compliment.'

Tenten knew this because she'd become quite fluent in Neji-lingo by now.

Neji decided to try Lee's apartment first, but Tenten took off in the opposite direction. She already knew where Lee was and had only suggested splitting up to avoid the next installment of the standard main-house rant. She'd heard it so many times before, she could probably recite it to Neji. Word for word.

I mean, talk about holding a grudge!' thought Tenten as she ran to the hospital. 'All that angsting is going to give him an ulcer!'

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At the Team Gai training area, Gai was still anxiously awaiting the arrival of his favorite student. Neji was right, of course, when he said that Gai didn't care whether he and Tenten competed or not. It wasn't even eight o' clock, and Lee's absence had already quelled Gai's flames of youth!

"How dreadful!" he exclaimed, tears streaming down his face. "To be filled with such merriment, but have no one to celebrate with!"

Fortunately for Gai, Kakashi happened to be strolling by! Now that his students were relieved by the sannin, the perverted scarecrow had little to do but visit Obito's grave, read porn, and avoid Gai and his challenges. Unfortunately for Kakashi, that would be quite impossible today.

"Ah, Kakashi, my eternal rival!" shouted Gai, striking a pose. "I challenge you to a competition!"

Kakashi sighed. Despite his growing exasperation with the competitions, he knew better than to argue.

"Who's turn is it to choose?" he asked dully.

"Mine!" said Gai, mentally fishing around for an appropriate challenge.

Let's see... he was in the mood for celebration... but how to make that into a challenge...?

"Aha!" Gai suddenly shouted. "I challenge you to a... cake-eating contest!"

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Don't you need a cake for that?"

Gai flashed a blinding smile and pulled out, not one cake, but several. Hey, Lee's still a growing boy!

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At the hospital, Lee and Sakura were still sharing their deja vu moment.

"Konichiwa, Lee-san," Sakura said with a smile.

"So, um, what brings you here, Sakura-san?"

"I work here."

Lee blushed a bit. "Oh yes! I knew that!"

"But, what brings you here? Isn't this one of your usual training days?"

"Well, you've got to take a break every now and then," said Lee evasively.

Sakura didn't seem to buy that. "Is something wrong?"

"No," he said, though he didn't meet her eyes. "You said you were looking for me, Sakura-san?"

"Yes, I wanted to wish you a happy birthday!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

Lee blinked, but returned the hug. "You remembered?"

"Of course," she beamed. "How could I forget your birthday? But where's your team? I thought you guys would be celebrating together."

Lee's face fell slightly. "We're... uh, celebrating later today."

Sakura frowned. She might not have known Lee well, but he was a terrible liar.

"Well, what are you doing now, Lee-san?"

Lee nearly fell over the bridge. Is Sakura-san actually...?

"Now?" he said."Um, nothing."

Sakura smiled and took him by the hand. "Then I'm taking you out for breakfast."

And before Lee could even respond, the medic-nin dragged him away.

From a nearby bush, Tenten watched the scene with wide eyes, but couldn't understand why it made her chest constrict so tightly.

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A/N: Yeah, now I've thoroughly missed Lee's birthday... Gah! I've just been so lazy. Anyway, there's one more part to this, and then these will go back to being oneshotish. And just a note to Clark Cradic about TR: don't worry about Naruto. He won't mess things up too much. And, thanks for all your nice reviews!

-Andrea