Author's Notes:

wintry:

Whew, my mind's on a roll this time. Anyway, here's the next chapter, it's a bit more of flashbacks as to who he really likes and what happened to her and him. Oh yeah, hope you guys enjoy this as well. Thanks for those who continues to support this story. It means a lot, thanks again!

Aja!

Disclaimer: Bwahahahahaha! I certainly do not own Naruto, coz if I did... I don't know, but really, I'm just an addicted girl who loves imagining and so here it is.

-yumi-yumi-yumi-yumi-

Chapter 5- The One that Got Away

Neji sighed again, nobody had been informed about his engagement to Sakura and so he wasn't pestered much, but he was informed that during the formal announcement, everybody would be told about it along with his installment as the heir.

"Hey, why so gloomy Neji?" He looked up and was met by warm chocolate-colored eyes, her eyes were filled with worry as she stared down at him while placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him if he was feeling bad or something. He let the slightest of his smile to adorn his lips before standing up and announcing that he was training. In actuality, he just wanted to escape the torment of watching Lee and TenTen joke around and spar with each other. He had never expected the mini-Gai to actually move on from Sakura (when in fact Lee was just delusional) and realize that he had feelings for TenTen. TenTen had been the one who confessed her feelings in the first place, and Neji felt something gnaw at his guts that he didn't knew, what was the word? Ah, jealousy...

He sat down to meditate but all that came into mind were all the memories that he had with the chocolate-eyed girl whose face and voice kept haunting him.

"Excuse me miss, can I play with you?" TenTen had asked him when they were six, the first day that they had accidentally met at the park. He was playing alone while watching his cousin play with the Kyuubi, and soon he disappeared in the background.

"Excuse me?" He asked, offended that the girl had not taken into notice that he was a Hyuuga, a Hyuuga male in fact. TenTen had the modesty to blush at her mistake before sitting on the other end of the sand box and began creating a sand castle. He hadn't taken notice of it then, but her eyes held a innocent-like charm that drew him to her like magnet.

*Fastforward* (12 years old)

"Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. You will be under the supervision of Hatake Kakashi, wait for him here." Neji eyed the trio which to him seemed peculiar, a loud-mouth blonde that was the vessel for the Kyuubi, a pink-haired annoying, troublesome pink-haired girl who doesn't seem to take much notice of her other blonde teammate and the last Uchiha who is cold and seems to have a stick up on his ass. It makes him wonder how long would they stick around together.

"Team 8, Rock Lee, Momuri TenTen and Hyuuga Neji. You will be guided by our youthful Might Gai, he will be waiting at the gym." Neji was surprised and elated at the same time though he masked it with an expressionless facade. He was a Hyuuga and he would be dead before he shows any emotion, at all. As they were heading towards the gym, he became conscious about the girl beside him, the way her fingers kept hovering over the scrolls behind her back, and the way she laughed at the jokes Lee had made.

"Oi, Neji-kun, stop being emo an come over here will ya?" Neji complied, but he didn't expect what was to come, TenTen slung an arm on both his and Lee's neck before whistling a tune and walking side by side towards the gym.

'Maybe training won't be that bad...' Was his initial thought, he was lucky that he had been included in a team where their differences wouldn't matter much, not with TenTen, she had the ability to disregard your attitude and personality.

*FastForward* (15 years old)

Neji and the others were sent to a training camp with Lee's grandma. Those who were included were Lee, himself, Hinata, TenTen, Choji, Sakura, Shino, Hinata and Kiba. They were supervised by Gai-sensei and Kakashi-san who were as usual, competing again.

"Everyone, I have prepared the curry of life as Lee-kun has instructed me too. Come along and eat your lunch before continuing your training." Beside the old woman was Karashi, smiling innocently again while eying TenTen, Neji clenched his fist but remained silent. As soon as they were seated, the all took a bite, most of them fainted due to the spicy taste of the curry, those who were spared where Sakura, who seemed to like it, Lee, who had become immune to it and Shino, but the latter was turning redder by the moment. TenTen had refused saying she was still full, knowing that the curry could cause her to faint. Neji had decided to taste it but since he had low tolerance for spicy foods, his face went instantly red and TenTen handed him a glass of water before smiling.

"I told you so, didn't I?" TenTen said teasingly before smiling at him and patting his back the way a man pats his best friend's back. Neji smiled again, however, unknown to him, he wasn't the only one watching.

Neji was nervous, they had finally rescued Karashi from the Akatsuki's mind control, but in the process, they were severely injured. TenTen nearly lost her arms from an explosion created by the blonde Akatsuki while Lee had been at the brink of death, thankfully though, the curry of life proved it's worth as it brought him back to consciousness.

"Wipe that frown at your face, Neji... You already look like you're constipated, don't make it worse." He turned his head to see TenTen sitting up while smiling at him with that same gentle smile he had always adored even when they were younger. Neji rushed to her side and hugged her, he didn't said a single word while TenTen confusedly asked him what was wrong.

"Nothing, I'm just glad you're fine now..." He smiled again, it didn't matter for him, she was fine and that was all that he knew.

*FastForward* (16 years old)

Neji sighed and shook his head, he didn't knew how he managed to last the past four years he had spent with his current team without going crazy... TenTen seemed to notice what he was asking in his mind because sad girl pounced on him before chuckling evilly.

"You managed to survive because the only ones who putted up with your emo attitude were us." She laughed melodiously before jumping on Lee who was busy adoring a passing Haruno. Neji followed TenTen with his eyes before lowering them and smiling again, maybe, maybe not...

"Neji, hurry up or you'll miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! Gai-sensei's treating us to lunch!" Neji smirked before taking long strides to reach his teammates current position and walking side by side with TenTen who had been rambling on and on about things that he couldn't understand (especially since it was about girl stuffs).

"Hey, can I ask you a question Neji?" Neji turned towards the girl before nodding, she had been his most trusted friend and so, today he would answer her question to return the favor.

"I... It's about... What am I thinking? N-never mind Neji, let's hurry up and catch up with Lee-kun." She said but her face was a bit red though she wouldn't admit it. Neji's eyes lowered their gaze again, funny thing indeed, she didn't have to ask him about Lee... And since when did Lee became Lee-kun?

It took them thirty minutes to finish eating, longer than before, it seemed that the reason he was treating them was because of another challenge he failed to win with Kakashi. Neji had remained silent, watching how she acted when with Lee and when with him, it was truly different than before, that much he could notice.

*poke *poke *poke... Neji twitched his eyes and turned to look at TenTen who giggled slightly before high-fiving with Lee and running across the restaurant they had eaten towards the training grounds. He stood up and growled, he didn't care if those who saw him thought of him as immature for getting mad over a few ticklish pokes, but he hated being poked, more or less, he loathed it. As he was about to reach the clearing, he heard TenTen's voice.

"Lee, I know you really really like Sakura-chan... But, I can't bear to see you worship the very ground she walks on when she doesn't even take notice of you!"

"TenTen I... It's not like th-."

"The what? Are you blind or something?"

"What do you mean?" Confusion was etched on his face while TenTen was holding him by the shoulders, roughly shaking him.

"Ack, I can't believe you're denser than Neji. I like you, you baka!" Silence followed through as the confession hung on the air. Lee's eyes went from wide to extra wide while TenTen was nearly red as a tomato when she finally blurted out the words.

"B-but I thought you liked Neji-san." Lee said which made him drew his breath as he waited for her to answer.

"Y-yeah, I had a crush on him, but he seemed uninterested besides, we're not a perfect match. He needs someone who's strong and can handle him, I'm more of the sister type..." Lee smiled and hugged TenTen, unaware that their certain pearly-eyed teammate over heard them.

"You seem to be so caught up in remembering the past, aren't you, Neji-san?" He recognized that sarcastic yet gentle voice, he opened his eyes and turned around, just in time to see Sakura smirking while waving her hands as if to taunt him more.

"Hn..."

"Man, if you weren't such a pansy, we wouldn't be in this condition now." She said while stopping, a few meters away from him.

"As if you weren't one." Neji said while clenching his fists to control his temper.

"Hn, that's different. Mine was unrequited, yours was the one that got away, why don't you chase after her?" She said before disappearing from the clearing, heading towards who knows where.

Author's Notes:

wintry:

P.S. I know the confession part was a bit cliched, I couldn't think of any other scenarios, so forgive me.

P.P.S. And yeah, Sakura happened to pass by, and she happened to be such a bully as well.

P.P.S.S And Naruto and Kakashi and Sasuke will finally make their debut appearance in the next chapter! Yippee! ;)