You stretched and peered at the brilliant full moon above you. You smiled with joy and thought about your recent elevation to Jounin rank. Hokage-sama gave you your exam mission this morning and you passed with flying colours. Basking in the light from the moon, you continued to walk to your house. With a light skip to your step and humming softly to yourself, you walked down the street and approached your door. Just before your hand reached the knob, you paused. Something didn't feel right.
Before you had time to further asses what was amiss, the door swung open and a chorus of congratulations broke out. "Huh?" Was all you could muster. "Congratulations on passing your Jounin exam." Sakura happily pulled you through your own door. "Oh, thanks…" You were still flustered by the group. Once you got into your home, you looked around at the group gathered in the house. Everyone was there. Your friends from the leaf village, the sand siblings, and even Sasuke lounged in your living room.
"Now that everyone's here, we should play this game I read about." Ino announced.
"Great, this'll be troublesome." Shikamaru sighed and you couldn't help but agree with him.
"What's the game?" Naruto asked full of curiosity.
"Well it's called 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'." Ino smiled.
"How do you play?" Tenten asked.
"When you have a party with guys and girls together you have the guys write their names, favorite animals, favorite colours, or something on a sheet of paper and put it in a bowl. The girls then draw the slips of paper out of the bowl and have to stay in a closet for seven minutes with the guy who wrote on the paper." Ino explained.
"What happens in the closet?" Kankuro asked.
"Ummm…the thing I read said the guy gets to do whatever he wanted with the girl." Ino answered. You looked around at everyone's faces and saw some people were excited while others looked like they dreaded the game
"I knew this would be troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
"Let's play!" Naruto excitedly shouted. After some cheers mixed with a small amount of grumbling, you retrieved the materials needed to play. Ino passed the paper and pencils to the guys and told them to write the name of their favorite flower. Sakura passed the bowl around and the guys put their paper in it. "Since this party is for ______, she gets to draw the first name." Sakura smiled and handed you the bowl. You reached your hand into the bowl and pulled out a slip of paper with Iris elegantly written on it.
"Iris." You called out. Neji stood up and silently walked to the closet. You quickly turned from the group to hide the encroaching blush. You'd had a crush on Neji for the longest time, and were nervous. "He doesn't bite." Tenten whispered to you and gently pushed you forward. You thought she was taking the situation well, but then maybe she was mistaking your hesitation for fear, or dislike, or something. You nodded and slowly walked to the closet. Neji was already inside, and as soon as you walked through the door, Temari shut it. Neji stood at the back of the closet and you shyly leaned up against the door. You hopped Neji didn't see or hear how fast your heart was beating.
"You are nervous, why?" He suddenly asked and your slight blush got deeper.
"Uh…I'm just overwhelmed that's all." You shyly replied and could tell he wanted a further explanation. "See, I uhh…admired your taijutsu skills and being alone in here is just ummm…I don't know how to say it." You wished he'd let it drop, and hoped he couldn't see your by now scarlet face.
"Admired?" Neji unrelently questioned.
"Yeah." You paused for a second and decided to be brave and ask a question you've wanted to ask him for awhile, but were to shy to. "Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer if you don't want." You hurriedly added.
"Yes." He allowed.
"Okay, this is probably and oversimplification, but to use your technique, you basically force your chakara into the other person's right?" You began.
Neji thought for a second before replying. "Yes, though that is a gross oversimplification."
"Your technique doesn't work unless you can see the chakara points, but do you think I could umm…borrow the technique and force chakara into pressure points instead?" You meekly asked permission to use the Hyuuga taijutsu. You could feel Neji look at you, and you lowered your head.
"An interesting idea, though you don't need permission to modify a technique." He explained. Your blush spread to your ears and you lowered your head again. You stood like that for a few seconds and since he didn't seem to object to talking with you, you decided to stand next to him. You took a step forward and tripped over your own feet. Before you fell to the ground, an arm wrapped around you and pulled you close to a warm body. Since you and Neji were the only ones in the small space, you knew Neji pulled you to him to keep you from falling.
"S…sorry I'm not usually so clumsy." You tried to push off from him, but he pulled you back. You blushed and didn't know what to do.
"Your eyes tell me you are nervousness is due to something about my presence, so you can't move until I don't make you nervous." He said and you thought you heard a slight teasing tone in his voice, but weren't sure.
"Okay, just umm…don't look through my clothes or something…" You teased in a small voice.
"Don't what?" Neji asked confusion obvious in his voice.
"You know, your eyes see through things right? Just don't see through my clothes or something." You felt that obnoxious blush again.
Neji pushed you away from him and he looked at your face. "I wouldn't, or couldn't, or I never thought about that, I mean I don't know if it would work…." He rambled off and in the dim light, you could see a brilliant blush creep across his cheeks. Before you could assure him you were only joking, "Time's up!" Ino's voice called from the other side of the door. She opened the door and looked at your faces with a large grin. The two of you walked out with scarlet faces and everyone started in on catcalls.
"And what were the two of you doing in there?" Ino teased. You kept your eyes on Neji's feet and followed him to the back of the room. You took a quick glance to your left and saw Tenten's face. She looked both sad and angry and you felt sorry for her. You would have left Neji's company, but you wanted to explain the comment about seeing through clothes. Sakura passed the bowl and the game resumed with you and Neji talking quietly in the corner.