Bested
By Kimmy

Summary: Maito Gai will not allow himself to be bested by his eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi. It's a fact thatTenten accepts comes with the territory.Neji, however, is not so easily swayed.

Disclaimer --- I do not own Naruto.

"Lee, your display is not youthful enough!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee scattered to pull himself together, muscles straining.

Nodding approvingly, the sensei turned to the kunoichi on his team. "Tenten – let your springtime of youth shine through!"

Grumbling, the weapons expert did as she was told, retrieving a kunai from her weapons pouch and trying to smile pleasantly for the sake of her teacher.

"Neji!" Maito Gai paused, unsure of how to deal with the prodigy's unwillingness to properly express his " springtime of youth". "Er – stay there."

Neji frowned, but followed his sensei's orders, his arms crossed and displeasure painted across his features. "This is a waste of time," he mumbled to the female to his right.

Tenten's smile turned sympathetic. "It's just this once, Neji. We may as well make it worthwhile for Gai-sensei."

The Hyuuga did not reply; his teammate's reply made sense, of course, but that didn't mean that Neji was actually going to –

"Yosh! We're ready!" Gai-sensei pronounced after enthusiastically praising Lee for his "youthful dedication." The Green Beast of Konoha took his place behind Tenten, smiling all the while.

Neji's scowl grew more pronounced as he felt something land on his carefully-kept hair.

Snap.

Days later, we find Team Gai huddled over their prize.

A photograph.

Their sensei was frozen at the very top of the picture, his hands resting on Neji's and Lee's heads. The brightness of his smile was only rivaled by Lee's.

The miniature version of Gai was standing on the right, body frozen in the famed Nice Guy Pose.

Tenten was kneeling in the middle, twirling her kunai deftly, with a pretty smile gracing her features.

And then there was Neji, with his arms crossed and scowling at the camera.

"Really, Neji, you could have smiled," Tenten admonished.

Neji, smirking, watched as his sensei suddenly bounded off with the picture in the direction of Team Seven's training spot. "I'm not fueling Gai-sensei's foolish rivalry with Kakashi-sensei," Neji replied, turning away.

In the distance, Tenten could hear her sensei calling out to Kakashi, "You have not bested me, My Eternal Rival! Look at our portrait and see my team's youth shining more brilliantly than yours!"

Written a few years ago, never got around to completing it until today. Funny how I did this when I don't have the time to. (I have four reports due in three days.)