I don't own Naruto. Obviously.
"Tenten! Time to get up" said Lee aloud, face inches from Tenten's own.
She jolted up, her forehead colliding into Lee's with a resounding thud.
"Ugh, Lee, why is it again that your face is hovering so close to mine?" growled a tired Tenten as she rubbed her now sore forehead with an evil look on her face.
"Uh, well, we're getting ready to go in a few minutes"
She cringed, mentally chastising herself for overreacting, "Oh, okay thank, I'll be out in a second then,"
Tenten sat up in her sleeping bag and looked around the tent through bleary brown eyes. Masayuki was still asleep beside her and they were the only ones left in the tent. The others' sleeping bags were rolled up and neatly placed beside their respective bag of belongings. Tenten slipped her shirt over the red tank top she slept in and switched from her gray shorts into her usual red hakama pants. Rolling up her sleeves and slipping on her familiar ninja sandals she moved on to her next task with her routine efficiency.
She shook the girls shoulder and flatly said, "Were leaving soon, Masayuki-sama." After speaking to Guy last night she decided was going to try her best to be cordial to the girl but also not seek out any conversation with her. Her pale violet eyes shot open and she looked, at first, confused.
She looked back and forth full of confusion and almost panic, "Wh-where am I?"
"In the tent?"
"Oh, yes, yes, I guess I was just momentarily confused,"
'What a weird girl' thought Tenten, who merely raised an eye brow and said, "We plan on leaving soon, so it would probably be best to get up and get ready,"
Masayuki nodded and said she'd be right out. Tenten left the tent to go get breakfast and go over plans with the others. Masayuki was left alone in the tent. The young girl pulled her knees close to her chest and let out a few tears. Unknown to Tenten, her perplexed reaction earlier was because she had never really slept anywhere but the soft bed in her family home. She was actually terrified of marrying a stranger, but she would do it because that's the one thing her father had ever actually asked her to do; his first real acknowledgement of her existence.
Masayuki came out in another expensive looking outfit with her masterfully applied make-up adorning her pretty face and no one suspected she was harboring any inner troubles. They left without incident and the day went pretty smoothly. There were no incidents between Tenten and Masayuki and they were also making good time to the Land of Tea.
"We probably should stop here for the night" said Guy looking around at the surroundings.
"We could probably get a little farther," commented Tenten, "There's still a lot of daylight left,"
"The change in air pressure implies that a storm is coming soon" replied Neji matter-of-factly.
Lee scratched his head, momentarily puzzled, "Yeah, I felt it, too, we're probably better off setting up a little bit earlier rather than get caught in a downpour,"
Tenten headed away from the group nonchalantly, calling over her shoulder, "Okay, I'll go look around for some firewood, then"
By the time she came back the camp was mostly set up and she found Lee and Neji sparring and an entertained Masayuki watching eagerly. Apparently Masayuki had wanted to see ninjas fighting in the flesh and Lee happily obliged. Guy was also watching.
Tenten started the fire and then joined the others, leaning against a tree arms crossed. "Oh, Tenten your back, I'd really like to see what you can do, too." The glint in the pale haired girl's eyes matched the tone in her snobbish voice. A challenge.
"That's a great idea," offered Lee, seemingly oblivious to the confrontational nature, "She can have a bout with Neji and Guy-sensei and I can go prepare a lovely meal."
The brunette uncrossed her arms, "I'm in" replied Tenten in an excited tone. Tenten was always up for a challenge.
Without a doubt Neji would have the advantage in this fight. He was Jounin rank and his specialty was close combat. However, Tenten, the girl who had been training with him, Lee, and Gai, all primarily close range fighters, for the last five years and also knew how to best work around it.
She started off by summoning a long wooden stick from one of scrolls and began parrying with Neji. They were about equal but Neji soon gained the upper hand. Tenten upped her game a bit more and summoned a barrage of weapons towards Neji. He countered with his Revolving Heaven Technique. He then went back on the offensive using his palm techniques. He landed one peculiar hit which sent Tenten flying back hard into a nearby tree. Her brown eyes nearly burst with surprise when she felt the kick connect with her stomach and the metallic taste of blood began to fill her mouth. She was sure she dodged it. Neji was equally surprised, she hadn't made mistakes like that in years and nowadays was something she would usually have easily avoided.
Masayuki didn't even notice that something odd had occurred. Tenten got back up, grunted, wiped the blood running down her mouth, and went back at Neji landing a few more good hits until she was pinned to a tree.
Neji was only inches from Tenten, his hands pinning her to the tree by her wrists. He could feel her racing pulse and hear the raggedness of her breathing, which she was trying to hide. The practice was over. His pale white eyes stared into her brown ones. Tenten glanced over at Masayuki, who was blushing at their proximity, and in turn her own cheeks turned a light pink.
He noticed and released his grip on her. Tenten exhaled loudly, playfully punched him in the shoulder, and then said, "Now let's see what those two have cooked up," as she walked alone towards the camp. Masayuki quickly followed. Neji walked slower and thought about that odd punch and the way Masayuki looked at their proximity. Tenten used to try to prove a point that kunoichi's were as good a male Shinobi's when they were younger by beating up him and Lee. They had definitely been that close before.
As Tenten hurried a head she also thought about the out of nowhere blush but pushed the thoughts aside as she sat down for food. 'It was probably just because silly Masayuki was blushing away in the corner.' Sure she had a crush on him when they were twelve year old genin but she grew up and became more mature. She was extremely close to both him and Lee, though.
They all sat together around the fire and ate the rice and vegetable dish that Guy and Lee put together.
She shot the two green clad figures a side long glance, "This is a little better than what you two concocted last night."
"I thought the food was lovely, it reminds me of my first kiss," said Masayuki, as she slugged down a cup of sake which she produced from one of her multitude of bags of belongings. She offered some to the group who all declined except Guy. Who had one glass, wanting to stay alert for the mission. No one bothered to mention that they were all below the legal age.
This earned her the odd stares of the entire group.
"Does it?" inquired Guy, the only one bold enough to proceed, "In what way, exactly?"
"It was with the family cook's son, he made me rice with vegetables in an attempt to impress me, we were twelve,"
"What about you Guy-san?"
"My first kiss was with Shizune"
All three of his students nearly choked, dumbfounded at the idea of the no nonsense medic-nin and Guy, "Really! How on earth did that happen?"
"Oh, it was an accident," he responded, "We were thirteen and Asuma pushed me and I fell and kissed her, she punched me and Asuma, after,"
"That makes more sense," said Neji low enough that only Tenten managed to catch it. She grinned at him in confirmation.
"I have yet to experience mine," said Lee.
"Really?" asked Masayuki who was sitting next to him, a curious glint in her eyes and a light blush on her cheeks.
"Yes, maybe it'll be Sakura one day," he said in a bit of a down tone.
He turned his head and bam Masayuki's lips were crashing into his own. Tenten nearly choked (once again) on the water she happened to be sipping at that exact moment. Guy looked ecstatic that his pupil was experiencing such a milestone on his watch.
"Sakura can be your second kiss" she said with a wink at the crimson faced Lee.
"What about you Tenten?" Now it was Tenten's turn to blush.
"I, er, well I've had mine already," she said blushing.
"Really, how was it?" she pestered.
"It was as awkward as first kisses are, I was fourteen," she said vaguely, claearly wanting to change the subject.
"So, what exactly were the circumstances?" asked Masayuki, this was definitely her style of conversation.
"My friend Ino dared me to go up to him and kiss him, I never go back on a challenge and fulfilled the dare."
"Sounds like an interesting first kiss,"
She moved on to her next victim, staring sweetly up at the other male member of the team, "We haven't heard from you Neji?"
"I'd rather not say,"
"Come on please!" pleaded Masayuki, "Is it that you just haven't had yours?
"Hn, I have had mine," he continued, slightly annoyed, "A fourteen year old girl pinned me to a tree and stole my first kiss,"
Tenten blushed and laughed. Masayuki's jaw dropped realizing that it was Tenten. And Guy and Lee looked hurt that they were never informed.
"Okay, well I think it's time that we retire for the night," said Guy moving towards the tent, "Neji, you have the first watch,"
Tenten didn't stand up with the others, "I'll stay up with you, Neji, I'm not tired yet,"
"Fine," was all he said in response.
"You know, I didn't mean to steal your first kiss,"
"So do you usually go around pinning guys to trees and kissing them?"
"Well no, but, how was I supposed to know it was your first kiss," she said yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Tenten, earlier that hit you took; it was something you usually could have dodged…," he said quickly changing the subject, his tone turning more serious.
"Oh, well, guess I just got caught a bit off guard," she said grinning sheepishly and rubbing her head, "Won't happen again,"
Then she rose and said, "I think I'm going to go for a quick walk for some air and then go to bed, wake me for my shift?"
Neji merely nodded his assent and watched her departing figure.
Tenten went for a quick walk around the surrounding woods, the earlier heat of the fire having made her dizzy, and then returned to the tent just as it started to rain. Two hours or so later Neji woke her up for her watch. By then it was raining rather heavily. But the night went on without incident and they continued on their rather monotonous journey the next day.
Note: Hi sorry it took me sooo long to update. I was on vacation for a month in Scotland. I have slated this above my summer assignments though! Hope you like this. I wrote this while staying up till 3 am because of a spider in my bathroom that I was convinced would come and crawl in my mouth while I slept. I was also listening to that old DDR song from childhood, Butterfly, on repeat so ai ai ai ai ai ai where's my samurai? I'm not so proud of this chapter. I'll try to make the next one more interesting. Thanks for reading anyways =)