One more target. Only one more time do I need to hit the bright red and white ringed circle that is much too easy for my level. Only one, and then I am free. Free from this hell whole. Free from my team mate and sensei's annoying words and useless praise. Free from the pain that comes from the seemingly endless training my sensei insists on.

And most of all, free from his eyes.

He has never given up on watching me since the day I had beat him, and practices until he is free to go, and then merely sits and watches me. I'm not sure what he expects of me. Another match maybe? Just so he can beat me and prove his superiority. I almost want to give in, just to get him to leave me alone. However, I'm still as stubborn as I was as a child, and I don't want to give him the satisfaction of getting what he wants or winning.

Instead of his eyes, I focus on my target. Just as I have done for so long, just as I will always do. This is all I'm good at, so I will work at it until there is no room for improvement. Until, just like the stoic boy watching me, I am perfect. He is perfect at everything, so it would be good to be perfect at something. I throw my thoughts away and clear my head of anything but the red and white, and the feel of the cool metal in my hand.

I barely aware I have thrown it until there is a thunk as the weapon hits the wood the target is put up on, hitting dead centre.

My sensei praises me, and allows me to leave. I thank him, and I am aware of how dead and flat my voice sounds. It is painfully obvious how tired I am, and I have long abandoned complaining, for it falls dead on my sensei's ears.

Again, his eyes follow me as I leave. I have become used to their feel, and I am no longer paranoid about it. As a ninja, the feel of eyes is usually an alert to enemies, so it made me constantly on edge. Now, I am used to them, and have learned to tell apart his gaze from others.

Today however, his gaze is not the only thing that follows me. His cold voice calls after me, not as loud as a yell. The quiet boy does not yell. It is beyond his capabilities.

I spin around to face him, trying to control my temper. Our eyes lock, and for once, I am the one glaring instead of him.

He just stares at me, as if I have called him. Of course, I must supply all conversation. He is too good for it.

"Talk to me." He says.

I glare harder at him, as though it will make him disappear. This proves to disappoint.

"TenTen, why are you ignoring me?"

"Neji, why are you stalking me?"

"I asked you first."

"And I waited for you to talk to me before you waited for me to talk to you."

"You are so stubborn."

"And you are so big-headed."

He snorted.

"What? Mr. Perfect can't handle any criticism?"

"Ms. Stare doesn't like it when I do the same?"

"Bastard,"

This shut him up.

"Am not,"

Or maybe not…

I say, "What are we? Five?"

"You might be."

"I'm not the one who said, 'Am not!' "

"I'm not the one stomping away and throwing tantrums like a child."

"…"

"See?"

"Shut up, I don't do that."

"Yes you do."

"How would you know?"

"…"

"See?"

"Shut up, you talk too much."

"You talk too little. I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped dead from talking so much."

"I wouldn't speak of dropping dead; you're the weakest one on the team."

I wave my fist in his face. "Wanna repeat that?"

"And you're impulsive with no anger control."

"And you're a smartass icecube who has to perfect at everything he does the first time."

"I think you just complimented me."

"Ugh!"

"Can we please just talk?"

"We just did, goodbye."

I spin around and started to walk off, but he grabs my wrist in his icy grip.

"If you don't let go of me right now, I'll slice you in places you didn't know you had."

He doesn't react, and instead just stares straight at me with his unreadable eyes.

"Don't ignore me."

"Who died and made you king?"

"TenTen,"

"Yeah, yeah, out of line. Just let go of my arm and we'll pretend this never happened?"

"What happened to slicing?"

"That's what will happen if you don't let go of my arm."

"You couldn't if you tried."

"Would you like to test it?"

"I think I already am."

"Smartass," I whisper.

"What?"

"Nothing!" I wave away with a bright smile. If he had pupils, he probably would roll his eyes. I hate those eyes. They make him impossible to read, and they distract me more than I like to admit.

He starts to pull me off the path and into the forest, where I stumble, but he doesn't pause to let me catch myself. And of course, he is too perfect to stumble.

Finally he stops, and we are standing in front a huge tree. I don't know what kind it is, I have never looked into that kind of stuff, but it has sturdy, fat branches that reach close to the bottom of the tree so they are in reach. It is perfect for climbing.

He sits at the bottom of the tree and looks up expectantly as though waiting for me to sit. I wait for a moment to see what he will do if I don't sit, but my exhaustion from training gets the best of me.

We sit in awkward silence for a while, until I decide to break it.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"…"

"I'm leaving,"

"Why are you ignoring me? You used to…"

I look over to him; he seems to have quite the interest in the grass below us at the moment. "I used to what?"

He hesitates. "You used to try to get me to talk and be involved. You used to try to be my friend. Even when you gave that up, you used to watch me and check on me. Now… You only ignore me."

I look at the ground like him. "Welcome to my world."

"This is how you felt?"

I shrug, mostly because I am unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry."

My head whips around so fast I'm surprised I don't get whiplash. "What?"

"I'm not saying it again."

I groan and roll my eyes, falling back against the tree. Just when I think I'm making progress, he goes and is all… I can't even describe it. Just stupid, I guess. This is why I'd even up in the first place.

We are put into silence again, but this one is comfortable to me. I nearly forget he is there, and end up closing my eyes after some time.

"TenTen,"

Great, just plain great.

"Sure, let's go through this all over again. I have nothing better to do today anyway."

"TenTen,"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. What do you want?"

I finally opened my eyes and immediately jerked back, hitting the back of my head against the tree. He had moved so that he was sitting in front of me, staring straight at me. It was a little too close for comfort.

"Neji! What the hell?!" I scream at him, but he doesn't react. I stay pressed against the trunk of the tree trying to get as much space as possible.

We stare at each other for a moment, and I become hypnotised by his eyes.

He leans closer, and I am about to snap out of it before he keeps going and our lips are pressed together.