Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc. Masahiko, however, is mine, poor boy.
Prompt: Heart
Pairings: Neji/Tenten fluff; slight hints of side pairings.
Special Thanks: goes out to BlackRose723, Franoncrack, DarkAnonymous324, SeiraXD, naash, kenzinator, and Innoiji. Thank you all so much for your reviews, you all are so amazing!
Author's Note: I decided to go for a touch of cliché with the prompt word, connecting it with my Valentine's fic. The two just seemed to fit together so nicely… And I just barely was able to wait until midnight on Valentine's Day to post! There might be a little bit of OOC-ness in this chapter, but I really hope I managed to keep it to a minimum. And I know that in Japanese cultures, the girls are supposed to present the boys with the Valentine's gifts, but … I just couldn't resist writing it this way. I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day, and thank you so much for reading this! I hope you enjoy!
*~Heart~*
Tenten hated Valentine's Day. With a passion.
It wasn't really the holiday itself, or even what it stood for. (She was a fan of true love, by all means!) It was the overabundance of the pink hearts, the overflowing profusion of roses (she had a morbid fear of being pricked by an overlooked thorn), the flood of saccharine declarations of love at every turn, and the incessant knocks on her door that made her want to go hide under her covers and not come out until the day was long over…
She had been hoping that Gai-sensei, in his enthusiasm for all things youthful and having to do with bettering oneself, would make the day some big celebration with an extra-long training session, or some such thing. Unfortunately, he had declared (with tears in his eyes) that Valentine's Day was a youthful holiday to be treasured and celebrated with one's True Love, and decreed that training would be called off for the day. If he caught anyone so much as thinking about it, he would force them away from the area by means he didn't bother to voice.
Naturally, Tenten already knew how things would pan out. Lee was undoubtedly off somewhere in the village, renewing his pledge to protect and love and serve Sakura until the day he died. The pink-haired kunoichi, for her part, would probably be trying to find a quiet spot to spend the day with her boyfriend, who had been heard excitedly expounding on the virtues of Valentine's Day for the past week solid at his favorite ramen stand (but only when he was reasonably sure his girlfriend was not in the vicinity).
Hinata had nervously asked for Tenten's, Sakura's, and Ino's opinions on what she should wear on her first Valentine's Day with her own sweetheart. Ino had gone wild, Sakura not far behind her, while Tenten stood back and was happy for her friend, but slightly jealous at the same time.
Ino had been planning her Valentine's Day with her own "true love" for the past month solid. She said she had to do all the planning since it was unlikely he'd do anything, but she had said it in a fond tone. Tenten had a feeling that her friend's lazy-nin boyfriend was doing more than Ino gave him credit for - she'd seen him the other day in the market, eyeing some beautiful rings at a jewelry stall. Cliché, Tenten had thought, proposing on Valentine's Day, but since Ino had said more than once that she wished her boyfriend would propose to her on that day, Tenten had inwardly given him props for paying attention.
That left Tenten alone in her apartment, curled up in a miserable ball on her couch, pillow hugged to her cramping stomach, cursing her twenty-second Valentine's Day spent alone. She was happy that all her friends were happy with their true loves, but was it so much to ask that she get a small happily-ever-after of her own?
Maybe she should open the door for the next person to come knocking, if only so she could take the flowers and chocolate. Especially the chocolate. Chocolate always made her feel better…
Sliding sideways, Tenten lay on her side, curled into a fetal position. She stared at the clock on the wall, wishing the hands would move faster so Valentine's Day would be over. Tomorrow would be better, she told herself, even though she would have to listen to her three best friends happily recount the details of their dates. What followed would be guilty, then sorrowful, looks in her direction.
Funny, until this year, Tenten hadn't minded being alone on Valentine's Day, not really. But all around her, her best friends were finding true love; with their occupations as ninja for the Leaf, tomorrow was never certain, so there was little doubt that marriage wouldn't be too far behind. Then Hinata, Sakura, and Ino's priorities would change - they would be more focused on their husbands, as they should be, and less on their friendships, especially their friendship with a single woman. It would be awkward for them to talk about the blissfulness of married life with her in the room. Day after day, week after week, year after year, things remained unchanging for Tenten. It hadn't really hit home for her just how lonely she was until Valentine's Day.
Also, it had never occurred to Tenten to think that Valentine's Day could be a melancholy day, too.
A quick knock on the door drew her attention in that direction briefly. Sighing, she closed her eyes and reached out for another pillow to pull over her head as she pretended not to be home. If she was lucky, they'd leave the chocolates on the doorstep, and she could quickly reach out and snatch them before the next one came.
She barely had time to contemplate going to check her doorstep when another fist rapped on her door. Moaning softly, she rolled over onto her other side, burying herself tightly under her pillow and against the back of her couch. This was getting positively ridiculous. Why was it that every unattached male in Konoha (and some that didn't even live in the village) came to her doorstep on Valentine's Day?
And, more importantly, why did she keep rejecting them silently by pretending not to be home? She had just been bemoaning the fact that she didn't have a sweetheart, when opportunities abounding kept presenting themselves to her, practically on a silver platter.
Perhaps it was because a certain single male was never among their number. That, she considered wryly, was a truly ridiculous thought. She was an idiot for even entertaining it, unless she had actually meant it in the sense that the certain single male was the one for her (which, deep down inside herself, she knew she hadn't been thinking it in general terms, but instead a very specific one). She was hopeless.
Sighing, Tenten forced herself to concentrate on the steady tick-tock of her wall clock. Maybe if she focused really hard on the sound, she could get it to speed up, thus rushing the rest of the day. Surely tomorrow things would seem much less dreary, even though the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect outside her door today…?
Another fist met her door, and this time Tenten was tempted to go punch the lights out of whoever was on the other side. Before she could, she heard the knocking stop abruptly, a soft scuffle, and then… Silence.
What was that? Pushing away her pillows, Tenten sat up, head tilted toward the door, listening for any further sounds. Had two Valentine hopefuls gotten into a fight outside? If so, it was one of the shortest and quietest she could remember ever having heard. She was just considering going to peek outside when the familiar sound of a key grinding in the lock startled her.
The key! She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to bring it inside. But it was well hidden, and the few people who knew its location were sworn to absolute secrecy under pain of death. Who…?
Silently, her door swung open. For a moment she couldn't see anything, because the light outside cast the person standing in her doorway into shadow, obscuring his features. Tenten slid her hand between the couch cushions, reaching for one of the many kunai she kept in handy positions around her house.
"Tenten."
At the sound of her name, she had to fight conflicting urges which ultimately kept her pinned to the couch. On one hand, she wanted to run across the room and throw herself into his arms (as absolutely ridiculous and cliché and plain uncharacteristic as that sounded); on the other, she wanted to run and hide in her bedroom. Of all the times he decided heroically to show up at her front door, he had to pick the one Valentine's Day that she not only was on her time of the month (made worse by her depression, or maybe vice-versa), but also dressed in some of the frumpiest clothes she owned, with her hair hanging in all its unbrushed, ratty glory around her pale face?
Swallowing back the uncharacteristic urge to cry (stupid, stupid, stupid female hormones!), Tenten released her death grip on her couch cushions. "Neji?"
In one awe-inspiringly graceful move, Neji stepped into the apartment, closed the door, and slid off his shoes. Then he stood, silently (and somewhat warily) watching her from across the room, head ducked slightly as if he were expecting a hailstorm of kunai to come flying at him.
"Neji?" she repeated, absolutely stupefied. Brilliant, Ten. Couldn't you have come up with something a little less insane-sounding to say to him?
The Hyuuga cleared his throat, pale eyes dropping to the items he held in his hands. Then, as if just remembering he held them, he advanced quickly across the room to drop to his knees before her. Keeping his head bowed, he placed a slim box on her lap before carefully settling a tissue-paper wrapped, ribbon-tied bouquet of fragile-looking amaryllis blooms on top. "Happy Valentine's Day, Tenten," he said, so softly she almost didn't hear him.
Still in something of a state of shock, Tenten nervously wiped her hands on her loose pants before picking up the flowers and lifting them to her nose to inhale their comforting scent. "Neji, I…" She couldn't think of what to say. She knew thank you should be rather high on the list, but she was still so surprised, her throat was refusing to work with her and let her say the words.
Neji gazed at the flowers in her hands, his own clenched into fists against his thighs. "For the past four years," he said slowly, "I've been coming here, standing before your door, trying to get up the courage to knock." A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Four years. But this year, I decided that the knocking, or lack thereof, was my problem, so I - used your key." The tips of his ears turned ruddy. "I'm sorry, Tenten."
Four - years? Four years. Four years! Tenten swallowed hard, gazing speechlessly into Neji's sheepish but hopeful face. "How long were you standing there this year?" she asked, then clapped her free hand over her mouth. That was certainly not what she'd meant to say!
Blink. Neji stared at her for a second, head tilted slightly in confusion. Then he chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you want to know the real reason why I finally got up enough courage to knock on your door this year, Tenten?"
She nodded once, hand still over her mouth.
"First, answer me this: do you like Masahiko from the Cloud Village?" He gazed at her steadily, looking slightly worried.
Tenten squinted her eyes, trying to recall an image of the person Neji was talking about. "-Who?" she finally asked.
Relief flooded Neji's eyes. "Good. He was standing at your door when I arrived, and seeing someone else there … well, it finally made me realize that if I waited any longer, you might not wait any longer for me."
She remembered the cut off knock, then the scuffling she'd heard at the door right before Neji unlocked it. So that had been the unfortunate person … whoever he was. "Your timing was just right, Neji." Had he come to her any earlier, she might not have appreciated him as much as she did right then. And not just because she was desperate - because, truly, Hyuuga Neji was the only man in the world she could imagine herself ever being with, now or far into the future.
Neji smiled, looking fully relaxed for the first time since he'd come in. He was even smiling, an openly honest one that made the warmth in her chest grow a little more.
Before she could stop herself, Tenten set aside her flowers and the box, leaned forward, then gently pushed up Neji's Leaf headband so she could press a very gentle kiss to the too-warm curse mark on his forehead. "Thank you, Neji," she said shyly.
When she went to return his headband to its former position, Neji reached up to catch her hand and stop her. His other hand slipped behind his neck, under his hair, releasing the knot so the fabric fluttered away from his face. "Thank you, Tenten."
She wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was thanking her for, but she took his movement as an acceptance of her. It was only the second time he'd removed his headband in her presence, and she realized that this one held far more significance than the last. This time, he was letting her know in his own quiet way that he knew he could be himself around her, that he felt comfortable with her.
Suddenly Valentine's Day didn't seem so bad, especially when she realized that she would never spend one alone again.
*~The End~*
Author's Ending Notes: I was going to wait until later today to post this, but I decided I'd better go ahead and do it now - I'm not feeling well, and am afraid of waking up sick in the morning and not feeling like posting this like I promised. It was warmer here today, and I spent some time outside, so I'm hoping it's just my allergies acting up… Anyway, I kind of feel sorry for Masahiko, whom I created for the sole purpose of being rejected... He came all the way from Cloud to see Tenten (who doesn't even know who he is…), and then he gets chased away by Neji. (Who probably only had to give him a look…) Anyway, I chose amaryllis as the type of flowers for Neji to give to Tenten because one, she really doesn't strike me as the rose type (even if it would have been really cute), and two, amaryllis bulbs are renowned for being able to produce flowers for 75 years (something I see symbolically, since I can easily picture Neji and Tenten's love lasting a very long time). Their meaning is as follows: "Amaryllis flowers represent radiant beauty. Give beautiful amaryllis to someone who is beautiful inside and outside." I thought that sounds like something Neji would think about Tenten. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this fic, and I hope you all have great Valentine's Days! Thank you for reading!