For Two

NejiXTenten. A collection of holiday fics.

Standard disclaimers apply.

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Valentine's Day: Not His Day

Hyuuga Neji is awfully grumpy every February 14- especially this February 14.

Those in bold are Inner Sakura's words.

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February 14, 4:00AM

Black smoke escaped through the gaps between the door and the door frame before Sakura slammed the door open, coughing incessantly. Her pink locks were smudged with dark gray soot. The same could be said about her newly pampered skin.

"And I just came from the spa…" She muttered to herself.

"This is horrible! I'm so sorry!" Tenten, also coughing, came after her.

"You're a beginner, this is pretty much to be expected…"

"Horrible is an understatement!"

"I'm hopeless…"

"No, don't say that! Let me see, did you set the oven as I told you?"

"Girl, you have a talent… a talent for arson!"

"I did. Well, okay, honestly I wanted to ask if that should be 15minutes or 45minutes."

"What precision." Sakura sighed.

"I should have asked you."

"I bet you decided on 45minutes?"

"Sort of."

"Tenten, Yamanaka's are selling baked goodies for Valentine's Day."

"Yea, I know."

"Ino's making them and as much as I hate to admit it, she's quite talented in that field."

"Meaning…?"

"If you buy something and give it to him… I mean you still gave it to him, right?"

"Meaning you're plagued by an incurable disease in the kitchen so please give it up and buy from Yamanaka's before you burn up my place!"

Tenten sighed. She had been told that it didn't really matter whether she bought the sweets or she made it herself. But of course, she wanted to try. For him, she wanted to do her best. And then it hit her. How ridiculous. Her face brightened up.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked, dumfounded at her reaction.

"Dear heavens, don't tell me she wants to try again!"

"Neji hates Valentine's Day." Tenten said.

"Eh?"

"Neji hates Valentine's Day." She repeated. "I guess I worked for nothing. I should get going."

"Oh."

"So what was all that for? SHANNAROOOOOOO!"

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Tenten barely dodged the set of shuriken thrown her way. Neji wasn't fond of Valentine's Day. She was expecting that he would be in a bad mood but why was he taking it out on her? He gave her a frightening glance the moment she showed up at their training area. Sure, she arrived last but she wasn't late. They were midway sparring and he was using weapons against her- something she wasn't used to.

"Can we take a break?"

"Tired already?"

"Not really. But I think you need to cool down before you kill me."

"I am fine."

"Well I'm not." She said as she headed toward a nearby tree, ending his reluctance.

If he was any other guy she would have stuck a kunai on his chest multiple times. But then again, that would be impossible. He would probably send her crashing on the ground even before she tried. And of course, the better reason- this was Neji.

He followed her and even sat beside her. Damn, he thought, annoyed at himself. The sight of piled boxes of sweets annoyed him all the more.

"Tch."

He looked up to see Gai and Lee staring at him. Apparently, his 'tch' remark was louder than he thought. Tenten seemed to be unconcerned, drinking the contents of her water bottle.

"What's wrong, Neji?" Gai asked.

"Nothing."

"You're not pissed off that I ate some of your chocolates, are you?" Lee asked.

"No, have them all if you want."

"Really?" Lee grinned and went toward the gifts.

He sighed and glanced at Tenten. He didn't want to but he couldn't control his emotions. Was that irritation, anger, resent or maybe a combination of all? Watching her sit there, drinking water nonchalantly- his patience had long been exhausted.

"Let's go." He said, standing up.

"Are you feeling better now?" She looked up at him.

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to the person receiving your blows."

"Nevermind then." He said, turning to walk on ahead. "I'll train alone."

"Neji! Get back here now!" She called as she stood up to go after him. "What is wrong with you?"

Gai cleared his throat, catching their attention.

"I heard from Lee."

Tenten looked at Gai, wondering what it was that he heard from Lee. Neji remained at the same spot, unmoving. Lee had stopped munching on the sweets.

"I had to tell Gai-sensei. We can't keep it a secret from him." Lee said. "I noticed when we had lunch together that New Year. And how you took care of Neji-kun when he was in the hospital."

"Oh... that..."

"What do you have to say about that?"

She glanced at Neji. She could give their sensei an answer but was her answer the same as his? Actually, they were never formal about it. Suddenly, she was worried- what was going on in his head?

"I'm sure Lee is incapable of telling a lie but I want to hear it from you two…" Gai started again. "Is it true that you have both reached the peak of your youthfulness?"

She pretended to be looking at something when he turned to look toward their direction. Her heart was pounding so fast.

"Yes." It was his direct answer.

"NEJI!!" Gai extended his hand. "Allow me to congratulate you!"

His sensei snatched Neji's hand without warning and started shaking vigorously. Tenten smiled- weird that her eyes were getting watery.

"You are no longer a boy but a complete man."

"Great. Can I have my limb back?"

"And Tenten, our beautiful Tenten…" Gai looked at her.

"Gai-sensei…" She swallowed. "Anything but that hug, please… AH!" Her plea was too late.

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The rest of the day passed by and Neji's mood wasn't getting any better. She thought that the talk they had with Gai would ease things up but it didn't. They trained hard the whole day- harder than they normally did. She couldn't keep up with him- predictable as it was. She lay on the ground, indicating that she had no intention of doing more. It was late afternoon and she was drained. She knew that he was tired too but instead of sitting down to rest for a while after a fierce training session, he walked ahead without a word, leaving her behind. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Neji!" She stood up to follow him although her every muscle revolted against the idea.

Why was he walking so fast like he didn't want to walk beside her? It was beyond annoying. She didn't mention Valentine's Day or chocolates or anything related to that topic. She thought she was doing a good job handling one of his worst days.

"I know its Valentines Day." She said as soon as she caught up with him.

"I wouldn't have guessed you know."

"Don't you think you're overdoing it?" She asked. "What have I done for you to be like this?"

"…"

"Why are you so pissed off?"

"…"

"You better have a good reason for this because I'm getting really angry at you right now!"

"Hn."

"That's all I get?" She shoved her hands in her pockets. "Fine. The hell I care."

She was completely decided on leaving him alone for the rest of the day. He made her very happy with his answer to Gai's question but then he ruined it just the same. She stopped walking, watching his back as he continued on his way.

"You can tell me." Her voice nearly cracked. "Whatever it is bothering you. You can tell me anything."

She gasped when he suddenly grabbed her wrist and dragged her with him. He looked seriously mad and it made her nervous. She tried to recall the incidents that happened that day- nothing- she couldn't remember anything that could have triggered him to act violently. She was starting to get scared.

"So buy me one now!"

"Huh?" It was her surprised reply.

She looked at the establishment before them. The displays on the store shelves feature Morinaga as well as other local and foreign labels. She blinked, as if unbelieving of the sudden turn of events.

"You could have just told me."

"You're supposed to know!"

"Of course I know!" She laughed at him- Neji speaking in loud emotions. "But I thought you hated Valentine's Day so much… you don't touch the gifts you receive, you just give them away..."

"You're not getting my point at all."

"I do, Neji. I do." She smiled faintly. "And I want you to know that it's not like I didn't exert some sort of effort."

He crossed his arms, not looking at her. He's embarrassed, she thought.

"Actually, I tried making some for you…" She took a small box from her pouch. "I tried my best."

"Why didn't you give it to me then?"

"Because all those gifts you received were so beautiful." She said as she handed him the plain box. "I couldn't even wrap it nicely."

"I wasn't expecting you to be like them."

It was the first Valentine's gift that he accepted. Her smile grew.

"I'll buy you some. I bet it tastes horrible, I think I poisoned you last time." She laughed a little. "You can just keep it, like a souvenir maybe."

"You really don't get it, do you?" He said as he opened the box. "If it's from you... I won't complain."

It contained several small pieces of varying shapes. They were nearly black- dark chocolate, possibly. But still, this was Tenten. Caution was a necessary step. He took a piece and noted that it stayed in shape- he was half expecting that it was gooey or something. It even smelled nice when it was near his mouth. He wanted to examine it further but that would be rude. Besides, the smell was tempting. He popped the entire piece in his mouth, dropping the 'cautious plot'.

"I didn't sleep the entire night. I pestered Sakura and I almost burned her house down. That was the best batch I ever came up with. The others were all impossible."

"Hm." He said after swallowing the piece. "You're right though."

"I am?"

"It IS horrible." He smiled.

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As you probably know by now, in Japan, girls give guys chocolates (or gifts) on Valentine's Day.

Morinaga is a leading confectionery company in Japan.

I wrote this thing in a hurry. I didn't have any idea until 2days before the 14th and that sucked lol. Anyway, I hope you still found this fic (even slightly) enjoyable. The next update will be for White Day- and we might switch genres. Valentine's omedetou minna-san!