Tenten felt a cool hand at her forehead. She felt herself being lifted.
"I'm okay", she murmured, her eyes half open.
"Hn", said Neji's voice somewhere in the vicinity of her right ear.
"Let me go", she managed to whisper, twitching her fingers into the fabric of his robes. It was hard to move.
"No", he mock whispered back. She sighed, closing her eyes again.
Tenten coughed a little and squinted up. The sun was directly overhead. She was lying among some familiar looking Sakura blossoms. She turned her head to the side, an equally familiar and extremely displeased looking Hyuga sat beside her, under the Sakura tree. Maybe she should go back to sleep again. But Neji was already pulling her up. He braced her back against his raised knee and force fed her more of the energy drink they carried around on missions. He handed her a soldier pill as well, which she gulped down meekly. She moved to get up but he held her down firmly.
"Now, whats going on?", Neji said, tightening his grip on her hand. He turned her to face him.
"What.. do you mean?", she stammered, a little thrown by their proximity.
"What were you trying to prove?", he demanded.
"I wasn't trying to prove anything!", she retorted shaking his grip loose. Her eyes stung as she recalled, how she had failed yet again. She couldn't lose to him, not now. Not when he wouldn't be around to spar with her anymore.
"I just..", she faltered. He tipped her head up, his fingers under her chin. She felt a little lightheaded. It was hard to look him in the eye for some reason.
"I wanted to give you something to remember me by", she hiccuped. Her eyes closed in mortification at the obvious catch in her voice and the lone tear escaping down her cheek.
"You're leaving..you'll be Jounin...before me...", she blurted out. Despite his alarm, Neji smirked. Typical Tenten.
"Maybe you'll forget us..me..but I would miss you..and I haven't even defeated you yet", she bawled, completely losing her head. She knew she was rambling, it was that strange impulse again. Surprising words kept spilling from her mouth unrestrained, against her will and now she'd given up trying.
A slight tremor shook his body. She risked a look at him. His lips were quirking madly, until he broke out in a grin. She listened in disbelief to the sound of his restrained laughter. In all these years, she had never heard him laugh. Not even once.
"Neji", she said sternly, a vein starting to bulge in her head. He quieted but still smiled down at her.
"Tenten, has anyone ever told you that gifts are meant to be pleasant?"
She turned a becoming shade of pink. Hastily, she got up, disentangling herself from him. She stood, brushing off her clothes self consciously.
"Here I have something for you", he said from behind her.
She accepted her dragon kunai back and looked at the item wrapped in silk with some surprise. She handled it gingerly.
"It won't bite", he remarked dryly. She snorted, unrolling the item. The scabbard was plain but the knife it contained was a beauty. The dagger's grip fit her palm perfectly and a trail of Sakura blossoms was craved from the tip of the blade extending all the way up to the hilt. The cravings were delicate and fine.
"I thought it might suit the Deadly Flower maiden of Konoha", he intoned.
"Huh?", she said half listening, still caught up in admiring the dagger.
"It's what they're calling you. I think it has to do with your new technique. Was the flower cage the attack you used on that rouge Nin on your last mission?"
"Yes, though you're the first person to escape it", she said petulantly.
"Naturally, it was inevitable when I countered with the secret technique I've been practising for the Jounin exams", he countered, just a tad arrogantly.
"Oh, it was amazing. You're sure to pass", she beamed at him. He looked at her happy expression, baffled by her changing moods.
"I take it, you like your present"
She looked at the dagger again with a pleased smile before turning to him.
"Yes, thank you Neji, it's beautiful, but why?", she asked a little taken aback now that the initial excitement had worn out.
"A memento for your successful mission, besides I thought you collected them", he said nonchalantly.
Tenten felt a light squeezing sensation in her chest. She clutched the kunai tighter. This could not be classified as an everyday occurrence. Neji had decided to be thoughtful. He had laughed with her (or rather at her). He had more or more less complimented her, in his own way showing his approval of her abilities. Moreover, she suddenly realized just how much his approval mattered to her. It gave her pause.
"And so..", he said seeing that no response was forthcoming. "Aren't you forgetting something?" She looked at him questioningly.
"You haven't really given me anything to remember you by" he deadpanned.
"What?" she said in quiet mortification.
"And something to the effect that you would miss me.."
Instantly, she turned a bright red to match her tunic. Her words coming back to haunt her. She felt a little hunted, if he would just stop replaying her words. Why did she have to say all those things?
"Aaah Yes.. I ..well what is it you want ?"
"Just this", Neji remarked before bending down and capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. Tenten felt her breath leave her completely for the second time today. She pulled away, taking in a deep breath as if she had just surfaced from under water.
"Uh..", she muttered incoherently, licking her lips. That hadn't been the right thing to say, because at that, Neji pressed her close again, kissing her fully. Tenten responded tentatively at first, but then she was pushing him away, only so that she could wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him back to renew the kiss. They broke apart reluctantly, out of breath.
"Was that pleasant enough?", asked Tenten after a while, to break the silence.
"Indeed", responded Neji.
"And so.. ", she prompted.
"So..you're more than a team mate to me"
"You could've fooled me. Until now, that is", she said wryly. "You were so cold and aloof, this morning", she explained.
"On the contrary, I was glad to see you safely back from your mission."
'That and I was contemplating my next course of action.' he thought to himself.
'That's his happy expression?' she wondered to herself in disbelief. "You know", she confided, "I thought Lee and Gai Sensei would be the only ones who cared about my mission and ironically they didnt even turn up today."
"It could be because they thought you weren't back from your mission", he remarked, after a pause.
"Why would they think that ?", she asked puzzled, she had made sure to let them know she was coming.
Neji looked at her flatly.
Suddenly, something clicked into place. The uncharacteristic silence and the taunts.
"You ?!", she exclaimed, pointing a finger at him and taking several steps back.
"Me", he stated.
Tenten's mind raced. He'd planned this all along. He didn't want the rest of Team Gai as witness. There could be no interruptions to his well laid plans after all. He had guessed at her feelings accurately, though Tenten would be loath to admit, he knew her better than she knew herself. And she'd fallen head over heels into his trap, although she hadn't made things any easier for him. He'd watched her make a complete fool of herself too.
Her hands balled into fists. She stomped her way back to him and grabbed hold of the front of his robes.
"You object to my methods?", he asked coolly.
"Certainly, not", she said, firmly yanking him down for another kiss. Tenten didn't mind losing, this time around.