I lied. it's cheesy. Sorry my updates are horrible T-T art school is really tough. either way here you go ^-^
Please read and review and I'll send you a puppy (this only applies if you send me money to buy one)
The noises coming from TenTen's apartment were irritating Neji. He regretted ever agreeing to live in the same complex as his two teammates, even if it did mean much more training time. Taking a deep breath, Neji attempted to slip back into meditation and was drifting into his subconscience when suddenly there was a huge crash and a muffled… bark? Neji's eyes shot open. Did TenTen have Kiba over again? He sniffed in disapproval. TenTen's short-lived romance with the mutt boy had ended disastrously and he thought TenTen had better judgment than to take him back. Listening to the muffled voices, Neji decided to go over and check up on her, just to make sure she hadn't broken anything really expensive and that Kiba wasn't acting up. It had nothing to do with the sinking feeling in his heart or the scenarios running through his mind about what exactly those two were doing.
"TenTen? Are you okay?" He knocked on her front door, feet planted and hands steady, unlike his heart rate. He was sure it was due to being jolted out of his meditation. He heard a small shout and quick footsteps and suddenly the door flew open to reveal TenTen, completely flustered and red in the face, with her buns falling out and a dustpan in her hands. His heart sank a little bit more, it definitely looked like what he suspected.
"Oh Neji! I'm sorry, did the noise stop your meditation? Urgh I'm so sorry to do this but can you help me?" Neji was a bit startled, surely he wouldn't need to help if Kiba was there. He followed her into her apartment and was immediately jumped by a puppy. He stepped back a bit and attempted to stop the puppy from licking his feet. He observed the sleek black lab; this definitely wasn't Akamaru.
"TenTen please explain why you have a puppy in your apartment." TenTen grinned sheepishly and started to clean up the broken lamp; Neji scowled at the puppy, that lamp had been a housewarming gift from him.
"Do you think you could hold him while I get the glass pieces? I don't want him stepping on them by accident. I'll explain when I'm done."
"TenTen, you know very well that dogs and I don't get along." TenTen rolled her eyes.
"Well Akarui obviously likes you a lot since he hasn't stopped trying to jump on you yet. Pleeeeease Neji, I can't have him injured." Neji sighed and picked up the wriggling puppy, attempting to keep the puppy's tongue away from his face.
Finally, TenTen swept up the pieces and managed to get the tiny shards into the dustbin. Neji set the puppy down with relief, only to have it start jumping at his legs again. TenTen watched him with an amused look on her face, so Neji glared at her and crossed his arms.
"Explain." She rolled her eyes again and gestured towards the couch, which had been pushed against the wall to make more space, presumably for the puppy.
"Okay, so one of the kids that I'm training for the chuunin exam had to go off on a mission and she was taking care of this abandoned puppy. Who would abandon the cutest puppy ever? I mean really, it's unthinkable!" Neji's eyebrow started twitching as TenTen went off on a tangent about horrible humans who have no humanity.
"TenTen." She stopped midsentence and grinned at Neji.
"Whoops, I guess I went off again. Anyways, she asked me to take care of the puppy while she was away and I can't refuse that adorable face – I mean Akarui's of course- so I brought him here but I forgot that he isn't fully trained yet." Neji attempted to keep the puppy from leaping into his lap.
"TenTen, have you even ever had pets?" TenTen fiddled with a lock of hair and grinned sheepishly.
"Welllllll, I was hoping Kiba would help me train him but he won't pick up the damn phone!" She glared at the phone as if it was the phone's fault that Kiba was bad at communication. Neji felt somewhat resentful that she hadn't asked him, even though his past with dogs was limited to being chased off his cousins' property by two extremely large dogs. He contemplated the consequences of his actions for a total of two seconds before sighing and getting up. TenTen looked up at him startled; she'd kneeled down to play with Akarui and was currently playing tug of war with what looked like an old tie.
"I'll help. Only because if I don't, he's probably going to destroy your apartment and get us all in trouble." TenTen looked relieved and she picked up Akarui and smiled at Neji.
"Look Akarui, you have another person to take care of you!" Neji looked between the tiny puppy and TenTen and knew he was not going to have a quiet meditation for quite a while.
"Neji! Open the door please! I'm trying to dry off Akarui before he sprays water everywhere." Neji sighed and got up from his position on TenTen's couch, although honestly it could be called their couch by now. He spent of his free time attempting to train that stupid puppy and as a result, spent most of his time at TenTen's because "he needs to get used to a new place'. He opened the door and came face to face with Kiba, Akamaru bouncing at his feet. He narrowed his eyes the slightest bit.
"What are you doing here?"
"Neji don't be so rude! I invited Kiba because I thought Akarui should start playing with other dogs. Their names even match!" Neji turned around to look at TenTen, who was holding a wriggling Akarui. It looked as though TenTen was the one who took a bath; most of the water seemed to land on her instead of the dog.
"It's fine Tennie. So is it okay if I take these two to the park? Akamaru has been whining about been pent up in the house because of the rain." Kiba grinned and stepped towards TenTen. Neji twitched at the use of her nickname, but stayed at the door.
"Of course! I'll come join you after I dry off. Akarui is a bit of a wriggler." The smile she gave Kiba bothered Neji for some odd reason. He tapped his foot impatiently as Kiba struggled to fit the puppy in his arms and shut the door firmly behind him, as if that would keep him away. He heard a small chuckle from somewhere behind him and shot a glare at TenTen, who was currently toweling her hair dry.
"What? You do realise that there are feelings left between Kiba and I right? We ended on bad terms, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends."
"Hn. I don't need to know the details of your current relationship with Dog-boy." TenTen gave him a knowing look. What was that about? She sighed and flung the towel down. The towel that had been obscuring her very wet clothes. Her wet clothes that clung to her body. This was quite different from training. Especially since there was nothing to distract Neji from the fact that he was in fact in a room alone with TenTen, who had taken to wearing white clothes a lot more often than not. His cheeks turned red and he moved to find the newspaper he had put aside to open the door. TenTen rolled her eyes and moved to take her shirt off. Neji jerked and swiftly turned around to face the picture of their team at the beach.
"TenTen! What are you doing?" He clenched his fists and dared not to turn around.
"Oh calm down, you prude. I have a shirt on underneath." He felt something fly at his head and turned around to catch a wet button-down shirt and see TenTen disappear into her bedroom.
"Some people would like warning before their teammates start stripping in front of them." He heard a muffled laugh from the bedroom.
"How is this any worse than that time you ripped my shirt open to make bandages?" Neji blushed and crossed his arms.
"Th-that was different! You were going to lose a lot of blood and I didn't have enough cloth to make bandages!" TenTen reappeared in the doorway, with dry clothes and a sly smirk.
"Awww, did I manage to fluster the emotionless Hyuuga genius?" She slowly walked towards him.
"A one time thing I assure you." Neji tried to look aloof, but with TenTen advancing on him it took a lot of willpower not to step back. He stood his ground and glared down at TenTen, who was less than six inches away from him. Her eyes were locked on his in a curious and determined gaze, but then she noticed the lack of space between their bodies and moved back, a blush creeping its way up her face.
"Hmph. Whatever. I'll get you one of these days." She opened the front door and winked at Neji.
"Come on, I don't want to miss little Akarui playing around in the park." Neji swore he could see the little hearts in her eyes. He sighed and closed the door behind him.
'So troublesome.' He also didn't want to admit that he'd been spending too much time with the other genius of Konoha.
A dog barking was a normal occurrence in their apartment building. Besides Akarui, there were quite a few families with dogs and Neji found they seemed to all take walks at the same time.
"Neji, let's gooooo." TenTen was like a puppy herself, bouncing up and down in her huge sweater. Neji sighed. It was getting colder and Neji was not a fan of cold weather. Nevertheless, he wrapped the scarf TenTen had knitted him around his neck and gripped the leash tightly. He wasn't making the mistake of letting the leash go ever again. Chasing a puppy throughout the entire apartment building was not his favourite way of meeting the neighbours.
"TenTen! Mommy, Mommy, can I go play?" A little boy tugged at his mom and bounced, quite similarly to TenTen's antics earlier. The pomeranian accompanying them bounced with the same enthusiasm. TenTen grinned and waved to the family.
"Hello dear. How are you settling in? It's been a few months since you moved in, I hope everything has settled down?" TenTen politely replied to the mom as the boy sat next to Akarui and laughed as Akarui licked him thoroughly before flying at the pomeranian happily. He watched the puppy intently, a hint of a smile on his face. Maybe he was warming up to the puppy; it had been a couple of weeks already. Hearing his name in conversation, he jerked his head up slightly and quickly glanced at TenTen and the mother.
"Oh! Neji's not my boyfriend" TenTen giggled, "he's my best friend. He was just helping out with Akarui because I'm hopeless at these things." The mom nodded, a strange look on her face.
"My bad. You two just seem very close." TenTen smiled and looked towards the trio. Neji caught her glance and blushed, hoping she didn't realise he'd caught her conversation. He smiled before realising that wasn't a normal occurrence. He saw TenTen's eyes widen and went back to watching Akarui fiercely. As if the puppy knew he was being watched, he turned towards Neji and jumped him. Neji let out a little huff, attempting to cover his chuckle. Yes, he was definitely getting used to this little guy.
Neji figured out that he liked TenTen a little more than just as a friend soon after the incident at the park. It hadn't really been a revelation, but Neji found that what came after was much harder. Neji, the stoic genius, was not exactly known for expressing his feelings and found that whenever presented with the opportunity to tell TenTen of his feelings – and these came often – he was prone to backing out at the last minute.
This lasted a few weeks, until one particular incident that still causes Neji to wonder about the intelligence level of Akarui.
"Akarui will you please just come here?!" TenTen was in a bad mood when Neji came into her apartment. It was currently raining buckets outside and Neji was dripping on her mat but that didn't appear to phase TenTen, who was chasing the puppy around her coffee table, a pill in her hand. Apparently the vet had told her to feed this to Akarui since he'd been losing his appetite recently. Neji stood at the door, watching the scene with an amused face. TenTen looked up and saw him; she latched a hand on his shirt and dragged him inside.
"Alright Neji, here's the plan. You chase Akarui to the kitchen and trap him there. I'll do the rest." Neji found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying when her hand was still on his shirt and her face was a little too close to his to convey her message covertly. Neji wasn't really sure that was necessary, considering Akarui was still a puppy even if he was growing really fast. He probably had no idea what they were saying half the time. He sighed and attempted to corner Akarui in the kitchen, but the puppy slipped past him and bounded back to the rug in front of TenTen's couch. Somehow TenTen managed to catch his butt and held him.
"Neji! Feed him the pill now!" Neji grabbed the pill and sat on the ground next to Akarui, struggling to open his mouth. His back was arched weirdly and he was probably only being held up by Akarui. He popped the pill in Akarui's mouth and held it closed until Akarui had no choice but to eat it.
TenTen sighed and let go of Akarui. The puppy immediately shot forward and past Neji, who didn't have time to regain his balance. He fell forward, straight on top of TenTen. They landed on the rug with a thud and Neji found his face approximately less than an inch from TenTen's.
It was almost like an out of body experience for Neji; his mind wandered and calculated the chances of his face landing exactly on top of TenTen's and it was quite small. He was paralyzed and the silence stretched for an unbearable minute before TenTen part ed her lips, probably to say something.
It was at this moment that Akarui came running – and the reason for Neji's doubtof his intelligence level – and collapsed on Neji's back, forcing him forward and crushing his lips into TenTen's. He immediately pushed up and away, but it was too late. The impression of TenTen's lips were still on his lips and he could feel them tingling from less than a second of contact.
"I'm so sorry TenTen. I don't – I just – I'm sorry!" This was probably the most flustered Neji had ever been in his entire life. He bowed for a good thirty second and when he came back up, he locked eyes with a slightly amused and dazed TenTen. She contemplated him for a second and suddenly crawled towards Neji with intention. Not sure what to do, Neji just stared at her as she lined up their faces, only a few inches apart.
"Uh, TenTen?" TenTen smiled at him.
"I knew I would get you flustered again one day." Neji reverted back to his normal self for a second and glared at her.
"Is that really the first thing you have to say?"
"I mean if you would rather I confess that I'm actually glad that happened so you can finally confess your feelings for me then we can redo this whole conversation." Neji took a second to register what she'd just said and immediately backed away, falling against the side of the couch.
"What?!" TenTen giggled.
"Neji I'm your best friend, did you really think I wouldn't notice you acting different towards me? I should be offended that you think my observational are that bad." Neji sighed and waited for her to continue.
"Do you know how many times I presented the opportunity for you to do something? I mean come on Neji, I've been waiting for you reciprocate for ages and when you finally do, you do nothing about it? Very disappoi-" TenTen clapped her hand over her mouth and Neji finally understood what was happening.
"Ages?... TenTen when you say ages." TenTen refused to look at him.
"TenTen. Are you saying that you're the reason we're been in so many awkward situations in the past week?" She pursed her lips and shot him a glance.
"I'm not that desperate. Those things just seem to happen around us. Probably because you're too lame to admit your feelings for me." Neji ran a hand through his hair.
"TenTen." TenTen glared at him.
"Okay fine. I feel like I've proven that I do in fact like you a lot. And for a long time. I mean, I wouldn't know how long but you know. I probably could say I love you but…" Neji cringed. The longest he'd spoken and of course he inadvertently confesses his love for TenTen.
"Neji, are you… do you mean that?" She was looking at him with that piercing gaze she seemed to reserve just for him and he finally caved. He cupped her face in his hands and nodded.
"Yes TenTen. I love you." There, short and simple. TenTen shook her head, chuckling at his usual bluntness. She leaned into his hand and smiled at him.
"Good. Because I would hate to be the only one to love myself." Neji twitched and made to take his hands away; TenTen recaptured them and brought them back to her face.
"I'm just kidding! I love you too, I feel like that would be obvious." She smiled at him again and Neji felt like he wouldn't be able to stop smiling for a million years. This theory was rejected as he kissed TenTen with all his might. His hands found their way into her hair and TenTen pulled herself closer to him. Akarui was barking in the background and Neji felt TenTen's smiled against his face. They sat like that for a while, with the rain continuously pouring onto the windows.
It had been eight months since Akarui came into his life. To anyone else this wouldn't be cause for alarm as missions could run up to a year, but Neji knew that whatever mission TenTen's friend went on would've been over months ago. Unless something went wrong. He didn't mean to bring it up unless TenTen did, but it slipped out one day when they were sitting in front of his fireplace – it was bigger than TenTen's or so she claimed.
"Oh that… I meant to tell you but I knew you would get mad so I put it off and then you know… things happened." Neji raised an eyebrow at TenTen. She was curled up against his side, her voice muffled as her face was planted against his shoulder.
"TenTen. What did you do?" She looked up at him.
"I may have adopted Akarui from my friend because she's moving to the Sand village?" Neji looked at her for a few seconds and chuckled.
"Was this before or after I started helping?" She leaned her head against his shoulder again.
"After. I couldn't say no and you were already attached-" Neji made a noise of protest. "Oh hush, you were. You bought him a collar for goodness' sake." He couldn't argue with that.
"So you now officially own Akarui."
"Um, technically, we do. I put you down as a second owner."
"You certainly were confident." She smiled and cuddled into his side.
"Well now I don't need an excuse to stay at your apartment."
"You might as well move in." The statement lingered in the air for a good minute before TenTen bolted up and hit his chin with her head. Rubbing her head, she looked at him, eyes glittering with excitement.
"Are you being serious?" He pulled out the present he was going to save for their six-month anniversary next week. A house key dangled on a small chain and TenTen gaped at him.
"And don't worry. I made sure anything valuable is kept out of reach of Akarui."
this one's pretty long too (whoops) but I couldn't fit everything in otherwise. It's a little haphazard because I didn't edit it properly hehe. either way i hope you enjoyed!