Disclaimer: Don't own

Summary: He was flocked by people. But he ignored them all. There was only one he was waiting for. (Happy Birthday Neji!=))

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEJI! It's about 3 minutes til this day ends. Gotta rush, gotta rush, gotta rush.. And voila! I've finished it. Whew. But I've been so bad..=((.i completely forgot that it was Neji's birthday today!huhu, It's because of school, but… well, here it is. Finished in about one hour…but at least I made one, right?

BIRTHDAYS

He hated it. He hated the balloons. He hated the food. He hated the damn kimono he was wearing. He HATED the flock of girls surrounding him, shoving gifts of different colors, half of them covered with hearts. But most of all, Neji Hyuga hated the fact that it was his 19th birthday.

It was just too much fuss over a day which was like any other. What made it special? He was born on that day. But so were many more. And even as he cried from his mother's womb, people still lived on, their days just passing on. And the fact that it was his birthday meant one thing—he was getting older. This day just brought him closer to the time when he would be wrinkled, old and weak.

Deep inside, he wanted to walk away, leave the noise and the laughter. But his uncle was here, along with the whole clan. And he could not embarrass them by leaving the guests. He forced a smile on his face and accepted yet another gift from one giggling blonde girl who looked 20 years older than him.

But he couldn't even focus on theparty. As more gifts were pushed to his direction, the Hyuga prodigy stood on his toes, peering through the crowd of people surrounding him.

Where was she?

He sighed as he stood back up. There was only one hour left til the day ended. It was true that he didn't like celebrating birthdays, but it just felt different that she wasn't there to greet him. He hadn't even seen her yet.

Because there was one thing that Neji liked about the third of June. There was one thing (person) that was able to counter all the other bothersome activities that happened on that day—Tenten. It was the way she greeted him, the way she would smile as her cheeks would slowly turn pink, the way she would timidly hand him a burnt cake… It was simply the way she was that made this day even better than others.

And it was at that moment, as his mind drifted to her, that the mob around him parted, as a girl ran across them, carrying a small package in her hand. Some of them gasped, some laughed while others just stared. He, on the other hand, blinked. There standing in front of him, was the person that he had just thought about. Except that she wasn't dressed in the way he had been expecting her to be.

He had visualized her wearing a kimono, her long brown hair falling down. But instead, she holding her knees, catching her breath, wearing her usual pink shirt, cargo pants and her hair—of course—tied up into two buns. Yet she looked more beautiful to him than any other lady in the hall they were in.

"Neji…" She gasped, breathing more air and wiping beads of sweat off her face. "Happy Birthday." She stated, looking up at him, smiling that smile he loved.

"Thank you Tenten." He replied, controlling the urge not to laugh. "Why don't we go outside first?" he asked, pulling her hand. Everybody in the hall was watching them and he did NOT like to be stared at. As he tugged her to the door, he could hear people whispering, most of them girls.

"I'm so sorry!" She shouted at him as soon as they exited the room.

He just stared at her, watching her frantically trying to explain to him.

"…fell asleep and as soon as I looked at the time it was already 10 o'clock! I rushed here as fast as I could and look! I even forgot to dress properly. Agh! I looked like a fool. They were all laughing at me!" She babbled, waving her hands in exasperation.

Neji smiled, amused at the display that he was watching. "Do you think that even matters?" He asked, pulling her to him.

Tenten stopped as the Hyuga's strong arms encircled her waist. She sighed, winding her arms around his neck. "Im sorry." She whispered.

"You're forgiven."

"Here." She said, holding out a tiny box. "It's smaller, but it isn't burnt."

Neji laughed, accepting her gift. He opened the box. It was another cake, but as she said, this time, it wasn't burnt.

"You wouldn't believe how long I had to perfect baking that," she added, giggling.

"I would." He smiled; as he leaned down to kiss his teammate, friend and lover.

Yes, as long as they could share moments like this, he didn't mind celebrating birthdays.

END

A/N: sorry. Got no time to edit. Gotta post.