Marriage of the Tiger

A/N: In Korean we have a saying when it thunderstorms – "the Tiger must be getting married!" This applies only to heavy thunderstorms though, the other kind of rain (you know, the sparkly one where the sun's out) we say "the Fox must be getting married!"

I was originally going to write a NaruTen based on the Fox saying (since he's the Kyuubi nn), but gender was an issue – while the Tiger is referred to as male, the Fox is female… and Naruto is not female, despite his sexy no jutsu --"

Disclaimer: I love crack pairings, leave me be!

The rain came without warning.

But that was to be expected – springtime in the Hidden Leaf was rainy. Not without good cause, Tenten thought as she ducked beneath into an archway. She had been training near the Academy when the thunderstorm caught her. At least the earth would be quick to bloom after this, softened by the rain's steady pelting.

She was wringing out her hair when she heard the soft scuffle of shinobi sandal against concrete. Much to her surprise, it was a dripping wet Uchiha who looked anything but pleased. Luckily for Konoha's heart throb, there weren't any fangirls to coo over how hot he looked soaking wet, to pat him dry, or to just outright rape him.

He didn't say anything, but he wouldn't look away from her either. Maybe it was because her hair was loose and twisted around her fist like a rope, the last remnants of water being squeezed out. He brought up an arm to snuff his nose, wiping his face dry with his sleeve, all the while studying her.

It was rude, but she really couldn't help it. With his hair plastered to his head and dripping and his clothes clinging to him like a second skin, Sasuke looked more like a drowned cat than the village hottie – she laughed.

"Che," was all he said, acknowledging that she had laughed at him, turning his head away. He pulled his shirt over his head and began to wring it out, the sound of water hitting concrete echoing in the archway. Satisfied that it was now reduced to being damp, the Uchiha shimmied back into it, shivering at the cold clammy fabric that clung to his back. He was surprised to see that the Walking Arsenal hadn't paid him any heed – she hadn't even bothered peeking at his shirtless chest out of the corner of her eye. In fact, she was sitting with her back to him, legs folded underneath her, staring out at the rolling gray skies before them and the torrential rain that was assaulting the Academy training grounds, turning the hard packed dirt into mud. She was an interesting one.

The rain wasn't going to let up any time soon, and he didn't want to just stand there with his hands stuffed in his wet pockets, so he figured he'd join her on the pavement. He noticed that she had taken off her sandals and rolled up her pants, hair gathered into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck.

She turned to survey him as he fluidly lowered himself to sit next to her – almost soundless had it not been for the rustle of his pants. He stared out into the rain for a few moments before mumbling "the Tiger must be getting married."

Tenten believed that most of the male shinobi of Konoha resembled animals – more or less. There was Naruto to start with, the Inuzuka that seemed more dog than man sometimes, Neji was a hawk with those all-seeing eyes of his. Hatake-san, being the son of the White Fang, was a wolf with his dog pack, and Shikamaru was a cantankerous hedgehog.

But the Uchiha, with his feline grace, penchant for solidarity and silence, was like a big cat. Not some domestic house cat, but a cat nonetheless – a tiger. When Tenten had witnessed him in battle for the first time at the Chunnin exams, she had marveled at the hypnotic beauty of his sharingan – a deadly, dangerous weapon that enhanced his ability to kill, much like the tiger's stripes that helped them camouflage themselves from their prey. Yes, tiger was a good fit for the Avenger.

"Well… whoever he's marrying, she must be something to make it rain this hard," she said. He nodded, continuing to stare up at the purple-green sky, lit by flashes of lightning, "that must be one hell of a wedding."

They spent the rest of the afternoon staring at the sky in companionable silence.

Later, on the way home, he would uncharacteristically offer her his sweatshirt. Not one to miss the opportunity to tease, she had tousled his hair and began poking fun at his "infatuation" with her.

He'd flicked her forehead in response.

A/N: sorry if that was abrupt, OOC, or just plain weird – my brain farted xO