Lately I been, I been losing sleep/ Dreaming about the things that we could be/But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard/ Said no more counting dollars/ We'll be counting stars
i. Making History
"I haven't slept in three days."
It was the first time Neji has ever admitted a weakness.
Tenten knew he didn't want help; Neji never wanted a lot of things. Still, what was she to do with this new information? If she pried he'll just revert back to being a moving ice statue. Did he even expect her to do anything?
Instead of words, because words are fickle and unreliable in her opinion, Tenten unfurls her scrolls and charges at him.
Despite his insomnia, Neji was still the best Genin of their generation. He took a step back right as she leapt into the air, higher than the treetops, and leaned on his heel as she began spinning.
By the time she had bitten her thumb and smeared the blood on the seals Neji was just beginning to form kaiten. She threw her heaviest weapons at him: two-ton weights bigger than herself, enormous flails that spun in deadly circles, battle axes fit for giants, and even one of Jidanda's prototypes. Neji's rotation held, but the ground around him did not. Trees were knocked out around him and the earth shattered from beneath.
Without a foothold to spin the white-eyed boy slowed his movements before simply leaping out of the way of the remaining projectiles.
Tenten descended soon after, holding her shoulder slightly because no matter how much centrifugal force she created she was still throwing all that steel herself. She took a moment to mourn their training spot, hoping she could get Lee or Gai to terraform it back in place.
"Are you trying to send me to the hospital so I can rest?" Neji's question held a note of mirth, his sleep deprivation possibly giving him a sense of humor as well.
The girl smiled, shrugging as she began the arduous task of finding and re-sealing her weapons. She knew she could seal them with a few hand signs but today she didn't feel like expending the needed chakra.
"Want to come over for some hot chocolate?" Her breath misted in front of her, signaling that winter was coming soon. Her house, though large, always became unbearable cold due to its lack of windows.
Surveying the ruined landscape Neji took a few steps towards his teammate. "Is this an attempt to get me to fall asleep?"
This caused the weapon mistress to stick her tongue out. "You want hot chocolate or not, fuckstick?"
And thus Neji came over to Tenten's house for the first time.
He turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "It's nicer on the inside," she insisted before jumping up to one of the windowless windows, expecting Neji to follow. She made her way straight to her small kitchen, pulling out the cocoa packets when she heard familiar footsteps approaching.
The Hyuga's pale gaze fell on her massive living room, a circle of sofas and pillows with a dash of old stuffed animals. On the coffee table centered in the middle was a tiny TV, extension cords connecting it to the single electrical socket on the other side of the room.
"This is basically my living room and bedroom. All of the other rooms are used for storage or bathrooms. One's a study room, but there's no room to sleep there. Everything else is full of broken crap I can't afford to get rid of," Tenten explained, stirring milk and powder into two large mugs. "I own everything, either from the previous tenants or from my savings. Make yourself at home." With a smile she deposited the cups into her microwave.
When she entered her living room she was content to find Neji sitting on one of the couches, all of the pillows previously lying on it pushed away from him as if by an invisible forefield. With his white shirt and pale skin he looked out of place amongst her colourfully cushioned room.
She went to the TV, fiddling with the buttons until something resembling a picture appeared. A loud, high-pitched singsong sound filled the room. "Do you like Spongebob?" she inquired, scouring the room for the remote.
"Leave it," Neji said. He leaned back and began to watch the talking sponge, entranced by the cartoon. "This is fine."
Before Tenten could voice her confusion her microwave dinged. "Want any marshmallows in yours?"
"No."
Unaffected by her teammate's bluntness Tenten went back to the kitchen and retrieved the hot mugs. When she brought it back to Neji his attention was rapt on something Spongebog was doing. He and Patrick were sleeping over, goofing off and building pillow forts. Speaking of...
"Wanna build a fort?"
Neji took the cup offered to him, looking down at the large marshmallow settled in the middle like a fluffy white island. "Where would you put it?" he said after a moment, gesturing to the sparse living room. Besides the couches there wasn't anything to set blankets or pillows on.
Tenten simply gave a conspiring wink. "Leave that to me, pretty boy." Neji regarded her in silence, the steam coming from his mug misting over his face and making the rings around his eyes more prominent. He took a sip, being careful not to let the marshmallow touch his lips.
"Sure."
For several hours the two sat together enjoying the company, drinking cocoa and watching toons. Apparently there was a Spongebog marathon going on, leading to Tenten falling asleep without noticing. She awoke when she felt a pillow being placed over her face.
"Oi, smegma-eyes, you trying to bury me?" she accused, grabbing the pillow out of Neji's hands, ready to beat him into submission with it. To her surprise it was late at night, the empty mugs of cocoa sitting on the table as Spongebob continued to blare across the TV screen. "What time is it?"
"2:32 in the morning."
Tenten frowned, knowing that the entire time Neji must have been awake. She looked around, finding that she was covered in numerous pillows from around the room. A smile broke out across her face at this. "You still wanna build a fort?"
A few minutes later Tenten had procured extra sheets and chairs, as well as old christmas lights. She tossed the sheets and lights into Neji's hands as she sauntered over to the far corner of the room, placing several chairs near the wall. The Hyuga was content to watch her work as he held the materials, his focus shifting between Tenten and Spongebob every so often. Once the weapon mistress had arranged several chairs in a circle in the corner she turned back to Neji.
"Well, that's the base. You can drape as many sheets and stupid lights as you want over it, and you can put anything you want inside of it! Think of it as your hidey-hole!" She waited patiently for the little lightbulb inside of her teammate's head to flicker on but it didn't even spark. Tenten deflated visibly. "You have no idea what to do, do you?"
Neji was decent enough to look abashed.
With a groan Tenten took one of the sheets and threw it over the chairs, letting it billow out before settling like a canvas. She tossed several more until none of the chair legs were visible, creating a canopy of multi-coloured sheets. "Do that, but with the lights," she instructed, walking back to the couch to pick up the mugs.
With a grin she noticed the marshmallow still in Neji's cup, pulling it out and chewing it herself. No reason to let it go to waste. The brunette girl enjoyed her fluffy treat as she washed out the mugs, humming to herself as she went about her task. She wasn't sure if Neji could really finish the fort, but he was stubborn when it came to completing missions so she trusted he'd make a valiant attempt at least.
Drying her hands on a cloth Tenten was pleasantly surprised to see blinking stars all around the fort with Neji nowhere in sight. She raised a brow at some missing pillows and stuffed toys, making a clever guess as to where they went.
"Neji, oh Neji, wherever the fuck art thou Neji?" she cooed, leaning down to the entrance of the fort and pulling away one of the sheets.
A white hand flew out to grasp her wrist. "Don't come in here."
Shaking him off Tenten gave a pout. "Fine, be a curmudgeon. If you're happy with your shack I'll leave you alone. Don't jack off in there, most of those sheets are hard to get stains out of." Standing up Tenten went back to the couch and laid down, absently watching Spongebob laugh ring throughout the otherwise quiet room.
She smiled when she heard the snoring.
Yeah, we'll be counting stars