Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 28: A girl disturbs Neji's afternoon.

A/N: I was stuck between continuing this collection and redoing the earlier chapters, or ending thi collection and starting a new one thus leaving the one shots here untouched. I went with the former. It WAS the right decision, right?

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to all the lovely reviewers of this collection. Seriously guys, you were the ones who kept me writing, and who've inspired me to start writing again. Nerd4eva, BellaPerea, jcallie19, formerlyanonomusinsansinityisFUN, Under a Rain Cloud, xXPOPPXx, Great big hugs to all of you.

The Girl

The brown haired girl gave a small yelp as her three inch stiletto wedged itself on a particular wet spot on the forest, causing her to lose her balance. With a frustrated blow to the strands of hair that fell on her face, she pushed herself back, pulling down the miniskirt that had folded itself up, revealing brown soft skin. Being a girl was so hard, she realized then.

Putting on her best smile, she stepped into the clearing.

"Who are you?" came the immediate question of a voice that sounded so used to asking it, the second her heels touched the training ground. She could see that it was littered with holes of long past performed kaitens and jutsus.

"Ano," she said meekly, looking around what seemed like an empty area. "Is that you, Neji-kun?"

"Hn."

"Neji-kun," she repeated, much stronger this time. It seemed like she had plucked up her courage. "I bought you some rice balls," she smiled, holding out a pink, frilly basket.

She was facing the opposite side of where he was, and he could not sense her chakra. So she most probably was a civilian. That confused him. Civilians usually stayed clear of the forest, as most of them ended up losing their way.

He would have stayed where he was. Entertaining lost—although this one clearly wasn't— civilians, was a waste of time. And that frilly basket, tch, it was a clear mark that she was just another of those girls who spent the whole of their lives watching his every move. He would have stayed hidden on his tree, until she got tired and disappeared, for fan girls where one of the most tiring bunch of people he ever had to deal with. So it made so much sense to remain seated and hidden. But something about her made him angry. Very angry. With a speed she couldn't follow, Neji jumped from the tree, and landed gracefully before her.

She beamed when she spotted him, and the red tint on her cheeks confirmed what he already knew.

"Neji-kun!" she exclaimed, stepping eagerly towards him. "I thought you we—,"

"Your hair," he said with such anger, that she stopped in her tracks.

"Nani?"

"Your hair," he growled again.

"What about it?" she looked worried.

He glared at the two buns that sat snugly on the top of the girl's head. It looked so much like the two buns he saw almost every day, one that he considered as the trademark of a very special kunoichi. It was a hairstyle he would refuse to see on anyone else.

"I thought you would like it," she pouted, in a voice that sounded like a cat asking for food.

And the devil reveals himself, he thought, frowning at the way she batted her eyelashes at him. "I do like it," he said tensely. "Just not on you."

"Oh," said the girl, in what seemed to Neji like a disappointed tone. But even he failed to see the glint on the girl's eyes.

"Leave," he instructed, turning his back to her.

Silence answered him. And he waited. But it was clear that she had no intentions of listening to him. He swerved around to face her, ready to berate her silly persistence.

But the words never came out.

As soon as he turned around, the girl had her arms wrapped around him, and he froze in surprise.

"What did I do wrong?"she asked, when he was still too shocked to move.

All Neji could think about was how the girl smelled too much like Ramen. Disgusted, both by her smell and the way she was acting, he pushed her away.

"Is it my hair?" she asked, pouting in a way that made her look like a fish. "Do you prefer another color? Or is it my eyes?" she stared at him through brown orbs, that were obviously contact lenses.

Neji's fingers clenched in anger, as he looked at the eyes that reminded him—although the girl's were much duller,—of the eyes of his female teammate. He flinched when the girl, who somehow looked vaguely familiar, twirled a loose strand of hair that framed her face. For one who seemed intentful of copying Tenten, she was failing miserably. Realizing that the girl would ever try to imitate his Tenten made his temper rise like never before.

"As a matter of fact, I do love brown hair and natural brown eyes," he told her, his voice unconsciously softening at the thought of his teammate who was out on a mission. She had been away for days now, and although he never told anyone, he already missed her terribly. "But like your hairstyle, it is not you I want to see them on," he told her.

The girl held back a smirk at the words he had just said. She had no idea her plan would work so smoothly. She forced a pain expression."It's that girl, isn't it? The girl who you always box with?"

Neji flinched. Box? Hmph. Civilians.

"What's her name again?" the girl asked aloud. "Tina? Tannie? Tintin? Te—,"

"Her. Name. Is. Tenten." He glared at her, and for the first time in his life, felt the urge to physically hit a girl (one that had no way of defending herself, at least). "And yes. She is the girl, and she's away now, and I miss her, and I love her. So you see, all your miniskirts and pink ugly baskets are meaningless. And she's the only one who would ever look good in that hairstyle so I ask of you to please remove your hair ties, and leave this place," he ended a bit breathlessly, surprising even himself with the confession he had just made.

The girl blinked for a moment before doing the last thing Neji had expected her to. She grinned.

"Arigato, Neji-niisan," she said sweetly. "Maybe you should tell her that, next time," she added, laughing, before leaving a dumbfounded and confused Hyuga.

"Ten thousand yen," the girl grinned, holding out her small palm.

"No way," Ino's eyes grew large. "You got him to actually say it? Those three words?" she asked Konohamaru, who was now standing in place of the brown haired girl, after a puff of dust settled.

"Listen to it yourself," he said proudly, tossing to her a black sound recorder he had kept safely in a pink basket.

"Oh my gosh. The Hyuga Neji?" Ino giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief and thoughts of blackmail as she emptied her wallet to pay the young bow who ran happily towards the village, shouting gleefully of how proud Naruto-niisan would be of the Sexy jutsu.

END

AN: I had a hard time with the ending. Too many distractions, but I hope it's still okay.

The original idea was of Naruto betting Konohamaru that Neji loved someone else, but it went to making Neji confess those three words instead. I don't think any of the group (except for Tenten herself), would doubt Neji's feelings towards her, neh?

I dropped hints of Konohamaru's identity here and there (the smell of ramen, the familiarity, and the hidden glee), so kudos to anyone who guessed it early on!

IMPORTANT AN: I've got long term hopes for this collection, so I would be very happy for requests, or one shot ideas! You can put them in reviews, or PM them to me. I've actually got one more chapter already ready for posting, and six more one shot ideas, but I'll need a lot more to reach my goals.

Also, some of the earlier chapters have been edited, others completely redone (2, 3, 4). So drop by and give them a peek when you have the time.

And more importantly, please review! It really motivates me to write and update faster! :D (I'm open to critiques!)