A/N: Back to the plot :D
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"You like her?"

"Yes. So what?"

"Ask her out then."

"And if she says no?"

"She won't."

"How do you know?" Neji thought for a moment then looked at his blonde friend. "Why am I talking to you anyways? What do you know?"

Naruto grinned, finally looking up from his bowl of ramen. "If you don't trust me then you should ask Kakashi. He's pro at getting chicks out."

Then he went back to his ramen. The name Kakashi made a light bulb flicker in his head, but he wasn't too sure who that was. Then he remembered. "Oh. You mean Hatake Kakashi who works along Gai in the police force?" he asked, "Isn't that guy a pervert?"

But Naruto didn't reply, instead he looked directly out the window, a look of weariness crossing his face. Neji followed the blonde's blue eyes out of the ramen booth and onto the walkway across the street.

He really didn't like what he saw.

Though the faces couldn't clearly be seen, there was no mistaking the brunette girl. Who else wore their hair in two buns on the top of their heads?

It wasn't Tenten who made him not like what he saw. In fact, on any other circumstance he would have been positively, though he would never show it, delighted to see her.

It was the person who she was with he had a problem with.

Kankorou walked right next to her, and from the distance Neji was at, he was moving his arms around and his mouth was a blur. Meaning, he was talking to her.

Correction, one of his arms was moving around. The other was connected to the hand, which was grasping on to Tenten's.

Oh no, Neji's going to be mad now.

"You should go hit him."

Naruto's voice brought him out of his stupor. After several calming breaths Neji took a sip from his glass of water. "Why would I? It's not like I care. Tenten and I are just friends anyways." There was a pause as he took another sip, downing the rest of the glass. "Besides, it's not like he's done anything wrong."

"Dude, you're a horrible liar." At this, Neji wondered why the blonde had stopped eating his ramen. Then he noticed that his bowl was empty. Damn. "It's so obvious that you want to punch his lights out, so just do it."

"No. I'm not troubled at all by the prospect that Tenten and Kankorou," It took much of his will power not to call him 'that bastard', "Are…together." It also took much of his will power to get say that.

The blonde shrugged and ordered another bowl of ramen. "Suit yourself."

Not particularly in the mood to watch Naruto gorge himself with the noodles, Neji grabbed his jacket and walked out of the little shop. The chilling late December wind reminded him once again that Christmas was in two days and he still needed to get some shopping done. Neji shuddered inwardly, he hated shopping.

A loud laugh interrupted his cursing of gift purchasing as it drifted through to him. Neji snapped his head to the direction where it came from.

Tenten and Kankorou were tiny silhouettes by now, but he could just make out them close together for a hug and he didn't want to think of what else.

With a sound of disgust, Neji made his way to the parking lot. When he was already standing amidst the cars did he realise he had walked today due to the icy roads. He swore quietly and trudged his was to the piling up snow back to his house.

After several minutes of travelling in the snow, he reached his home. Once inside he made himself a warm cup of coffee then went back outside and started his car. He then made his way to a mall to attempt to find some last-minute Christmas presents; he tended to be a procrastinator.

So, an hour later he'd bough gifts for pretty much everyone.

Everyone except Tenten, he wasn't particularly sure what to get her.

And when all else fails, you head to the department store, which is exactly what he did. When he got there, he was as lost as he had started.

Thankfully, a familiar voice helped him out. "Oh, hey Neji. Do you need help in anything?" Spinning around, he spotted Sakura dressed in the store uniform.

"That'd be great." He paused for a second. "I thought you worked with Ino?"

Sakura laughed. "Ino-chan? I wouldn't work for her, she doesn't pay people enough. I'm still in school unlike everyone else who's already got their profession. This is just a part-time job." She looked him over. "What are you looking for?"

"A Christmas present for," Neji hesitated. Would it give off the wrong vibe if he said it was for Tenten? "For a friend." Yes, that would work. Nothing suspicious about shopping for a friend. "I'm not sure what to get her."

"Her?" Sakura smirked. "Anyone I know?"

Ah, he'd messed up. Before Neji could even debate in his mind the lie had slipped out. "No, you don't know her." What she doesn't know can't hurt her.

"Alright then. So you're looking for a present for a friend, but you can't find anything good to get her. Hmm, could you tell me anything about her? Her personality and stuff?"

"Uh," What could he say about Tenten? "She's great. She loves to laugh and I'm pretty sure not a lot of people have seen her cry." What else? "She's trustworthy and funny and beautiful."

Then he mentally slapped himself. Beautiful? What a thing to say! Now Sakura must think he's in love with some girl.

Well he was…wait, no he wasn't. He was not.

But it sure sounded like he was because Sakura raised an eyebrow and smirked again. "Sounds like you two are really good friends. Have you thought about some jewellery?"

"Jewellery?" To be honest, the thought had actually not crossed his mind.

"Yeah. Come over here." She led him to a small area with glass cabinets. Getting inside the door herself, she stood opposite him. "There are expensive things over here, mainly diamonds. You might want to think of that, girls like diamonds."

Neji looked down at the displays. They were pretty. "Hmm." Was all he said.

"And over here are different gems. Rubies, emeralds, and sapphires and things. You could get her a birthstone necklace, when's her birthday?"

"March 9th." He scolded himself, wouldn't Sakura know when one of her friend's birthdays was? Oh well, it was too late now. He decided to cover it up. "I might get one of those for Hinata, though."

Sakura laughed. "Too late. I already got her one of them, turquoise for the 27th of December. Hinata loves animals though, get her a kitten."

"Good idea." He mumbled, something having caught his eye. "What's the March birthstone?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "Aquamarine. But that's the modern one, the traditional one is bloodstone and the mythical one is jade. Another one is rock crystals." She smiled at the bewildered look on his face. "It's part of the job."

"I see. What does bloodstone look like?"

She ducked under and pulled out a necklace with a deep green stone. On the green were splashes of blue and reddish orange. "It's pretty, but I would suggest the aquamarine. It gives off a nice shine."

"Hm." He really was debating, really he was. Can I see your stock with the aquamarine gem?" He waited as she ducked down once more, this time coming up with several objects.

She laid them down in front of him and he observed. One on particular caught his eye. "How much for that one."

"That one's a bit pricey. 16,500 yen.(1)" She waved to the other ones. "But that's because the necklace is 14k gold and the stones are pretty large with several diamonds. Not to mention the silver pendant, so if you think about it, it's a pretty good price…"

Stopping her mid-ramble, Neji handed her his credit card, only saying one thing. "Could you wrap it up?

Only then did he realise that he really was a lovesick fool.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tenten browsed through the store's shelves, silently cursing herself for not buying Christmas gifts earlier. It wasn't like her; she was usually the first to get things done.

The only good thing about this procrastination was that there were several sales. Oh well, if she was going to be stressed she might as well save money doing it.

Mentally, she checked off the list in her head. She'd gotten gifts for her best friends, her old friends, and even some friends she'd lost contact with. But there was this feeling that she'd forgotten someone…

"Neji." She groaned. "I need to get something for Neji."

Sighing, she turned herself out of the perfume department where she'd picked out a rather delicious fragrance for Hinata, and walked to the auto depot. After all, Neji did love his car.

But still, what to get him? Tenten looked over the shelves, most were repair things and his BMW was too lovely to be repaired. She racked her brain for what she'd gotten the other guys.

Then did she realise she'd gotten them all gift cards. She never really was good at shopping for the other gender.

She could get Neji clothes, but then decided against it. He dressed nicely, unlike Kankorou who rarely ever matched, so she didn't need to help his wardrobe at all. He didn't eat too much, unlike Naruto who she'd bought a gift card to a ramen shop. And unlike Sasuke, his hair didn't stick up so it looked like a dead bird.

Maybe she could get Neji a pair of scissors to cut his hair?

No, Neji with short hair would be like Shikamaru with no ponytail: just plain weird.

Maybe he'd like a watch? Guys liked big expensive watches, right? Well, at least Kankorou did. Then she sighed. She'd been feeling guilty ever since she'd been with Kankorou again. Now that she thought of it she didn't even remember why she'd given him a second chance.

It made her feel really guilty. But it's not like she liked Neji right?

No, she didn't.

As Tenten made her way over to the watch section, she spotted a head of pink hair, reminding her again that Sakura worked here. She walked over to her friend. "Hey Sakura."

The pinkette spun around and smiled. "Hey Tenten, you'd never guess who was just here."

"Who?"

"Neji!" Tenten frowned while Sakura grinned. "And get this, he bought this expensive necklace for some girl. Isn't that so sweet?"

Heart. Plummeting. Can't breath.

After taking a minute to calm down, Tenten forced a smile. "That's good for him. Who's the girl?"

"He didn't say, he only said that she was a friend. But he said I didn't know her. Her birthday's March 9th, the same as yours, Ten." She gushed. "But I think he really likes her, he called her beautiful! It's been a while since I've heard a guy call a girl that, usually they say 'hot' but yeah, it was really sweet."

"Oh." She said quietly. Not wanting to feel said, she forced a smirk. "You're starting to sound like Ino, Sakura. Don't go turning into a gossip now, it's unbecoming." The two friends shared a laugh. "So Sasuke's never called you beautiful?"

She blushed. "Well he has but…but…but not like Neji was just talking. He was really sincere. Whoever it is, she's one lucky girl."

Tenten didn't understand why the conversation kept going to Neji. "Yeah. Lucky." She was with Kankorou, she and Neji weren't even together. She had no right to be sad, but she was. She really was.

"Anyways, Tens, what were you looking for?"

The present shopping had slipped her mind.

"Nothing, thanks."

A/N: Ah Tenten, how could you not get Neji a present T-T

(1) 16,500 yen is approximately 155 dollars. Just letting you guys know.

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