Dangerously Unstable
Themes 001-025
#01 - Comfort
To Neji, the most comforting thing in the world is to spar with Tenten.
#02 - Kiss
The first time Neji kissed Tenten, she immediately snapped the tessen in her right hand closed and used it to clock him on the temple.
#03 - Soft
Neji's hair is unbelievably soft, and Tenten laments her inability to play with it more often-- and is mortified when Neji turns his head to Glare at her.
#04 - Pain
This is almost as painful as nearly losing Lee, and certainly as painful as losing to Temari: watching Neji fight Naruto and lose.
#05 - Potatoes
Neji infinitely prefers herring noodles to nikujaga, but Tenten isn't that bad a cook. (1)
#06 - Rain
At home, Tenten's favourite nights are rainy nights, because she sleeps better; Neji, however, hates them: as far as the Byakugan can see are millions and millions of hateful pelting raindrops.
#07 - Chocolate
On White Day, Neji made careful mental notes of who gave Tenten chocolate, and prepared to Byakugan Glare the offenders. (2)
#08 - Happiness
If pain is watching him lose, then happiness is watching him win; he, however, is almost always proud of her.
#09 - Telephone
Tenten does not wait by the phone for the hospital's phonecall about Neji, but she would if she could.
#10 - Ears
For a man with 355-degree vision, his ears are remarkably sensitive, something Tenten uses against him every chance she gets (unlike his blindspot, which she would give her life to guard).
#11 - Name
In most Ch'ien households, the names of outsiders were mud; however, in Tenten's family, the names "Rock Lee" and "Hyuuga Neji" were spoken with reverence, then love, until eventually "Hyuuga Neji" became "Han Neji" at the beginning and ending of every conversation.
#12 - Sensual
The first time he ever saw Tenten in a cheongsam, it was through three walls and it made him weak in the knees.
#13 - Death
He very well could have died, trying to bring Sasuke back, and Tenten will never forgive the Uchiha for that.
#14 - Sex
Sex is just that much better when your partner can literally see every nerve ending, Tenten reflects.
#15 - Touch
His body is warm, even through his clothes, and Tenten is plenty happy to cuddle (though Neji would never call it that, nor admit that he was, basically, cuddling) with him.
#16 - Weakness
There are times she feels that her entire body is a weakness, whereas he only has one, and there are times she is jealous.
#17 - Tears
Knowing Neji had been hurt for a traitor's sake, filled Tenten's mouth with a salty, metallic taste; she wasn't sure if she'd bit her tongue so hard she'd bled because Sakura was there, or if she'd started crying.
#18 - Speed
In battle, he would move to be beside her in an instant; out of battle, he wasn't quite so quick (though as they grew older and taller, he lost whatever hesitance he might have had).
#19 - Wind
A snake-like stand of braided brown leather cracked just next to his ear and he immediately activated the Byakugan, only to realize that Tenten was playing with a new weapon.
#20 - Freedom
It sounds cliche, but it's true: when she is with him, he is free (so free, in fact, that he forgets all about being free or caged or anything at all but Hyuuga Neji Who Is Very Deeply Attached To Tenten).
#21 - Life
He could not have loved her if she wasn't willing to put up with his love of training-- but that was no issue at all; she didn't truly feel alive until her limbs burned and her body was exhausted.
#22 - Jealousy
Neji was always a jealous man; even watching Tenten smile at Lee could make his insides burn with it.
#23 - Hands
Her hands were slightly smaller than his, callused and worn, but, he knew, every bit as lethal as his own.
#24 - Taste
He'd had about enough of watching Lee fawn over Sakura, so Neji turned his gaze to Tenten and decided to not even attempt to account for Lee's taste.
#25 - Devotion
Tenten did not turn her back on a team mate, not then, not ever-- but the fact that he still wanted to train with her, even after her loss to Temari, was what truly convinced her.
(1) Nikujaga is a Japanese dish, consisting of meat and potatoes.
(2) White Day and Valentine's Day are two romantic holidays. On Valentine's, girls give their crushes chocolate; on White Day, boys reciprocate.