Chapter 10: Confronting
"Shika, I can't," Ino muttered, falling back onto the couch, her face into her hands, tears escaping through the cracks in her hands.
"Ino," Shikamaru started, then put the box away and sat on the edge of the couch, taking Ino up into his arms, "Why not?"
"B-because," Ino started, her cries subsiding a little. "I love you, but I need you to show you love me. This is to fast. I never thought a lazy ninja like you would be able to do something, so quick."
"I'm sorry, Ino-baby," Shikamaru, knowing that he had gone to fast in only a few minutes.
"I-i am h-happy for sensei, and a-all, but they have loved each other for years," Ino pointed out, putting her head on Shikamaru's chest, staining his shirt with salt marks, but he didn't really care about that, only Ino did he care for.
"I know," he said agreeing, knowing that acting on impulse can be good in combat, but really shitty in relationships.
"Please, I just want to know that you love me more than anything, more than how I had loved Sasuke," Ino wished, drawing small imaginary circles on his chest with her shaking hand.
"I'll do anything for you Ino," Shikamaru vowed, hearing a knock on the door as he brushed his lips against Ino's softly. "As soon as I murder who is at the damn door," he said, as he went and opened the door, seeing Choji.
"Hey Shikamaru!" Choji said, seeing the tear marks on his shirt. "What happened? Ino being a bitch to you again?"
"Choji, what do you want?" Shikamaru asked, knowing that Choji only meant best.
Choji then saw Ino in the background. "Hey Choji," Ino said, waving her hand.
"Ino! What are you doing at Shikamaru's? And he called you a bitch, it just sounded like me," Choji said quickly.
"Choji, what the hell do you want?" Shikamaru asked again, while Ino stared at Choji.
"Asuma told me to tell you guys to meet him outside the Hokage's office, so we can train," Choji said.
"Thank you Choji, we'll see you there," Shikamaru promised, closing the door before Choji could make a remark.
"He means best," Shikamaru said.
"I know, I have been on your team for forever," Ino reminded him, getting up and walking to him. Shikamaru placed an arm around her waist, and pulled her close to him.
"We should wait for Asuma and all," Shikamaru suggested.
"Yeah," Ino agreed. They made their way to the Hokage's office, and waited for Asuma, knowing that today's training session would be only a little awkward.
With Tenten…
Tenten was sitting on her couch at her apartment throwing kunai at the wall in front of her, knowing that one day she would make a huge hole in the wall. But did she really give a damn, no.
"TENTEN, MY FLOWER, OPEN UP!!" Might Gai called from her door. She cursed under her breath, knowing that Gai would want to train and all, and opened the door up to see a furious Gai.
"Yeah?" she inquired.
"Neji needs to talk to you, for he was saying un-youthful words to Lee," Gai explained.
"Tell him to get off his ass and talk to me," Tenten ordered. Gai looked appalled.
"Yes my youthful flower!" Gai said. Tenten thought he was crazy to do something like that on her small little saying, but then again he wants his team to stay youthful. And not bite each other's heads off, for that would not be very youthful.
Tenten was sitting at her counter, waiting for the destiny boy to come and sweep her off her feet. She snorted, knowing that would only happen if she drugged him or something, which, as she imagined, would look pretty entertaining.
"Hn?" came a voice from behind the door.
She knew that only one person would say that at a door, and sighed heavily before going open to answer the door. She opened it to see a bored looking Neji standing before her. She leaned against the door frame, knowing that she would not let him come into her home, hell then would erupt.
"So what got your destiny's ass up here?" Tenten wondered aloud, hoping that Lee and Gai hadn't killed themselves to just get the Hyuga out of his room and up to her apartment.
"Hn?"
"Just talk Hyuga."
"Lee and Gai said they would kill themselves just to carry me here, and that is not adding the talking," Neji said, looking bored more, but happy to just get off what he wanted to say.
"Where is sensei and Lee?"
"Outside probably, to just make sure that I do not hurt you in any way."
"Well, if you did try to go after me, then I am the one that would be giving you some deserved payback," Tenten threatened, fingering the kunai that she pulled out of her pocket.
"Hn," was all that Neji had to say to her threat. Tenten started to think that Neji only said that so that he didn't have to admit what he was really holding inside of himself.
"Are you going to actually talk, or will I somehow have to force the words out of you?" Tenten asked, knowing that Neji has never had any known woman's emotions, and that might be a place to start.
"Hn," was all the Neji said again.
Tenten had enough of this.
"I had my fucking neck stabbed, and all you do is stand there like it was all my fault!"
"It was your fault," Neji reminded her.
"How the HELL was it my fault?!" Tenten yelled.
"You failed to find out where my exact location was while we were fighting."
"Well seeing as you have an in human strength, and I am the Weapon's Mistress! Not some girl that hovers over you and always knows where you are! All those damn fan girls need to learn the real you, before they jump to some conclusion, like you did!"
"What conclusion did I come to?" Neji said, trying to keep his voice to a minimum so as to not attract attention.
"That I was ready to attack you when you had a blow that was fatal, If it was a mission or something than who cares, but in a practice, when unnecessary blood was to be shed?! Just like in the preliminaries, when your little cousin was in the line of death, and you didn't give a damn because of your family tree!" Tenten said, letting the anger out that she had bottled inside of her for so long.
"Don't bring Hinata into this!" Neji yelled. He knew that that was a few years ago, but Gai had straightened Neji out after that.
"And why not? She really wanted a little attention from someone and learn that she was loved, and yet you go for a death blow!"
"It was her destiny to be weak, but yet she grew up to love the kyubi," Neji said.
"Huh?" Tenten asked, bewildered by what Neji was saying.
"Uzumaki and Hinata where found together, and she left her family to join the boy," Neji said.
"Wow, so she is living with him?" Tenten wondered.
"Hn. She left the family, and is now living with him. I bet that Hiashi will have his ass soon, but yet I feel nothing," Neji said.
"You feel nothing."
"I feel hatred," Neji pointed out.
"Yeah, but there is one emotion that you should feel, and that is towards me, Lee, Gai, and Hinata," Tenten said.
"Like what?" Neji asked.
"Love you idiot!" Tenten shouted. She threw the kunai at Neji, and quickly shut the door.
Neji stared dumfounded, but knowing that standing there thinking about it would not help the situation.
He turned the corner and went home, knowing that Gai and Lee would be outside waiting to see how everything went, but he took the fire escape out the side, not knowing why they even had a fire escape when almost everyone that lived here was ninja.
He knew that after awhile Gai and Lee would just go to their normal training site, assuming that Neji and Tenten had advanced into their argument and decided to use a more reasoning way to settle things.
He walked in silence, for who was there to talk to him? No one. He thought though about what Tenten said, his inability to love, or show love. The one person he should have loved was his parents, but both where dead, and his father had given his life to save Hiashi, and showed no great amount of respect to him. He was a frozen ice cube bastard.
Neji walked solemnly to the training grounds, seeing that Gai and Lee where already waiting by the edge of the area. He also saw Tenten practicing her bulls eye aim, seeing that the dummy that she was using was going to crack soon.
"Neji my youthful student!!" Gai proclaimed, seeing that Neji was finally approaching.
"Hn?" Neji asked, knowing that Gai must have already figured out that talking to Tenten hadn't worked as much as he and Lee had hoped.
"Why are you and Tenten not being a youthful couple?' Gai exclaimed.
"Couple is not a word that I would use defining me and Tenten," Neji said.
"You have no right to talk about her feelings if you have no idea what they really are!" Lee exclaimed.
"Go run a few hundred laps around Konoha and then 700 push-ups!"Gai said.
"Yes Sensei!" Lee said, and started his crazy workout that Gai instructed him to do.
"Neji, you need to get through this with Tenten and become the two youthful fighters of team Gai!" Gai said. Neji thought that he was loosing his mind, which many would have to agree with.
"Yes sensei," Neji answered.
"Tenten, my youthful flower, come here," Gai said.
"Yes Gai Sensei?" she asked, ignoring the fact that Neji's presence was there.
"I need you and Neji to go on a mission A ranked, to deliver a message to Suna. You are not to open the message until you reach Gaara of the Desert. Once you reach him, you are to stay there until we get a message from Suna saying that you reached the destination and a small ANBU team will be sent to retrieve you," Gai said.
"Can't I bring Lee instead?" Tenten pleaded.
"Lee is going to be going on another mission, one of where he needs to test his strength," Gai said.
Tenten knew that she would probably face Temari, her opponent in the preliminaries for the third exam of the chunin exams. She had been defeated fast, and had been totally humiliated.
"Remember, you and Temari settled your differences before," Gai said, reading her mind.
"Fine, when do we leave, and how long do we have to pack?" Tenten asked.
"Today, now, I sent Lee to get clothes and food for you. All your weapons are in here, Tenten, don't worry," Gai reassured her.
He handed them two packs with their belongings, and a scroll to Tenten. It had a great big green seal on it which was meaning that it had a jutsu on it so as only one of the three sand siblings could open it.
"There should be no danger along the way, but if there is, I know you two are capable of handling it," Gai said.
"Why not use a falcon?" Tenten asked.
"This scroll then could be lost along the way then, even though the falcons are usually intelligent. But we are not going to take the chance of this scroll and notice making its way into enemy hands," Gai said.
"So we actually have to stay in Suna? But don't we need passes to get in through guards like how the Sand Sibs had to come here for the exams, we knew that they needed a pass or something to get into the Konoha," Tenten asked, trying to get out of a mission that would last about a week with Neji, and worse, alone without their sensei to keep them in line and not biting each other's heads off.
"The scroll will work, our ties with them have grown quite stronger since then, but watch, for some might be suspicious," Gai told them.
Tenten and Neji nodded, signaling that they understood.
"Good, leave, and have a fun and youthful time!"Gai said, whiling Neji and Tenten walked away towards the entering gates of Konoha. Both Tenten and Neji anime sweat dropped.
They walked in silence for most of the way, until they were about a mile out, Neji started to jump from tree to tree, knowing that it would take a little less time that way.
Night settled, and they where about 20 miles out from Konoha, and the temperature was dropping. Neji and Tenten rummaged in their bags, looking for a blanket and a tent. They found them, a small tent, one sleeping bag, and that was it. Tenten quickly got a fire going, and Neji set up the tent.
"Neji, how the hell are we going to be able to use one sleeping bag, between the two of us?!" Tenten asked.
"Hn," was all Neji said, for himself not having any answers.
Tenten starred with disbelieve, knowing that this was all part of Gai's and Lee's doing.
"I have two ways that something like this would happen," Tenten said.
"Lee sucks at packing?" Neji suggested. Tenten let out a small laugh.
"That is one, or Gai just wanted us to be alone," Tenten said.
"Lee is dead," Neji said.
"Probably, Gai is not smart enough to think of plan like that," Tenten said.
Their conversation dropped, and soon, even though both tried to hide it, they both wanted to sleep.
"I lookout first?" Tenten asked.
"Gai said we didn't need a lookout," Neji said.
"But that way we don't need to share a sleeping bag," Tenten said.
Neji nodded, and he soon was in the tent.
Not soon after, both Neji and Tenten where freezing cold, and Tenten had blue lip
Tenten was perched on a rock outside the tent. The wind was blistering cold. It whipped across Tenten's body and somehow up her shirt which sent shivers up her spine. Her teeth were chattering and she was shivering, shaking like the prey of a cat.
She knew she couldn't take much longer of this, and neither could Neji, for he too was trying to stay warm. One more gust of wind came whipping at her body. That was it, she was done with lookout duty! She stormed off her perch and marched into the tent to see Neji still awake and was leaning on the wall of the tent.
"I am done!"
"Hn?" Neji questioned, knowing that his teeth would be chattering if he wasn't holding back.
"I am cold, so move your ass over!" Tenten yelled.
"What got you in a knot?" Neji asked.
"I am just plain FUCKIN freezing! AND I'M FEELING BREEZES IN UNPLEASANT PLACES! have you felt breezes in unpleasant places? I don't think so!" she yelled.
She shoved his body over and got under the sleeping bag best she could, and leaned to the edge as much as possible.
Neji couldn't believe what was going on, he was just sitting, trying to regain back the warmth he had lost, and in comes Tenten, and cuddling up in the sleeping bag next to him.
"Do you actually trust me?" Neji asked.
"The real question is, do you trust me?" Tenten asked, irritated that he wouldn't just shut up so she could sleep.
"Body heat in the most efficient way to become warm," Neji said.
"Perv," Tenten said, but moved over a few inches closer to him.
"Hypocrite, you just said I was a perv," Neji said.
"I know what I said…I'm just freezing my ASS off here!" Tenten shouted at him.
"You know, ladies shouldn't use such profound langue," Neji smirked as he wrapped his arm around Tenten's shoulder.
"And YOU call ME a hypocrite!" Tenten complained as Neji tightened his grip around her shoulders, bringing Tenten's body closer to his. She tried to press every part of her body as possible closer to Neji's.
" Hey, Where were those 'unpleasant places'?" Neji asked huskily in Tenten's ear, making her shiver even more, if that was even possible.
" See you ARE being a perv!" Tenten exclaimed as she positioned herself so that she was sitting, curled up in a ball in Neji's lap.
"No, I am not, I am just very curious, making sure you are alright and don't need to have any medical attention to any place," he said, his voice getting lower and huskier while he said that.
"Since when would YOU, the human ice cube who doesn't give a shit about anyone else, want to know if I, the weak little training tool, was alright?" Tenten sneered at him. She turned her head away from his mouth.
"Tenten, you're not JUST a training tool," Neji started to explain but was interrupted by Tenten.
"Yeah, I'm also a TEAMMATE. And the only reason you're here right now is because you HAVE to be here, not because you WANT to," Tenten finished. There was a few streaks of salty tears running down her cheeks. Right then, there was a bolt of lightning and a crack of thunder. Tenten squirmed further into Neji's chest.
Neji was silent for a moment before he answered, "A training tool is a kunai or a shuriken, you're a human. I can always say no to a mission, but I didn't, did I?" Neji asked, leaning his head on her shoulder, his warm breath against Tenten's cheek.
"But why NOW, you treat me like a human? You always treated me like a" Tenten started, but Neji finished the sentence for her.
"A tool to become stronger and overwhelm the main house," Neji said, feeling a little ashamed of himself.
"But still, NOW," Tenten started again.
"Now you are someone that is surpassing what I thought of you," Neji said.
"What had you thought of me?" Tenten asked with great curiosity.
"I thought of you as a girl that was weak, weaker than me and would want attention from me. You don't want girly attention, but attention of your accomplishments," Neji said.
"So that's why the sudden change of heart?" Tenten asked.
"Yeah, that," Neji said. Tenten was bewildered. Several hours ago she was yelling at him in the apartment hallway, and now she is cuddling with her Neji. Wait!! HER NEJI?!
"It's cold in here," Tenten said. She felt another cool breeze, and she felt her face pale out.
"It's not me is it? I am a human ice cube remember," Neji commented with sarcasm in his voice.
"No, far from it. You're the one keeping me warm," Tenten replied. Suddenly there was another crack of thunder and another bolt of lightning.
Tenten wiggled even further into Neji's chest and whimpered like a baby puppy.
" Is Tenten the great weapons mistress scared of a little thunder and lightning?" Neji smirked as he looked down at her. She was curled in the smallest ball her body could become while sitting in his lap.
Outside the tent…
"I-it's f-f-freez-z-zing out h-here," a bush said, well chattered anyways.
"Shush, you'll blow our youthful cover!" the other bush replied.
"But n-nothing is h-happ-ppening," complained the first bush.
"You're right! We need to step it up a youthful notch!" exclaimed the other bush.
Back in the tent…
"Neji…" Tenten started.
"Hn?"
"Shut the fuck up," Tenten finished and slowly fell asleep in the Hyuga's arms. Neji just smirked at her sleeping form and held her tighter and closer than he already was.
"But you just asked question," Neji said.
"No, I just wanted to say your name, to make sure you where still there," Tenten said.
"Just fall asleep," Neji said.
Tenten did soon fall asleep, Neji quietly running his fingers through Tenten's loose hair. He didn't think she was that light of a sleeper, and quickly took out her panda buns.
The Next morning…
Lee sat with a few twigs in his hair, even a small one in his eyebrows that resemble caterpillars. An unconscious ninja sat in front of him.
"Do I have to?" Lee asked.
"Yes, my little youthful lotus!"
"B-but I d-don't like Tenten like that!" Lee complained.
"Lee, just think of it as a mission from the youthful god," Gai said as he wrapped his arm around Lee's shoulder.
"But Gai Sensei,"
"No buts," Gai replied to Lee's rebellious statement while ripping his arm off Lee's shoulder and pointing his pointer finger at him.
" Gai Sensei, I can't do ninjutsu," Lee stated bluntly.
"Hmm…yes I see…I guess that is a good reason why you can't do this. Well, I guess he'll have to do it when he wakes up then," Gai said in a way that only a NORMAL person could do.
The Next Morning…
Neji and Tenten awoke and didn't say anything until they reached Suna.
"Finally," Tenten said relived that they had finally reached the sand village.
"Hn," was all Neji said.
"Fine since you're being a BUTTHEAD, YOU can deliver the scroll to the Kazakage, Gaara-sama," Tenten replied by shoving the scroll in Neji's face.
"I know who the Kazakage is, I may not say much but that doesn't mean I don't hear anything," Neji stated bluntly while heading off towards the Kazakage's office.
"Neji meet me," Tenten started.
"I know where to find you," Neji said not even bothering to look at her. He just kept strolling along.
Tenten sighed as she started walking in the opposite direction until she ran into something hard and fell to the ground.
"Owww, I never knew sand could be so hard," Tenten whined.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should've been looking where I was going," a masculine voice crept its way towards Tenten's ears. She looked up to see a hand reaching towards her. She grabbed it and it helped her off the ground.
" It's ok, I guess I should've been watching too," She said while not even looking at the guy that pulled her up.
"Hey, I'll make it up to ya, how 'bout we get some lunch or something," he inquired.
Tenten finally looked up to see the second most handsomest man she had ever seen. He looked just like Neji. The facial features were alike but his seemed more friendly. He wore the traditional white Hyuga robes, and had a headband with the symbol of a leaf symbolizing that he was from Konoha. His brown silky hair was tied in a low ponytail in the back. And he had the same pearl white eyes as Neji.
"You…you're from the Hyuga clan! But how come you're in sand, you're headband has a leaf? If you're Neji, you can stop the damn act!" Tenten implied all confused.
"If it's my cousin Neji-nii-san you're referring to, no, I'm not him," the Hyuga explained as he stared at Tenten.
"Then who are you?" Tenten asked as she pulled out a kunai and went into a defensive stance.
"I'm Takashi Hyuga. And there's no need to be violent now, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Fine," Tenten said as she slowly put her kunai away and returned to her normal state.
"Now, are you accepting my offer or not?" he questioned.
"Oh, yeah that, well I guess I'll go. Neji can check us in," Tenten replied as she started pacing with the Hyuga.
"You're here with Neji-nii-san?" Takashi asked with a hint of sadness.
"Yeah," Tenten replied as she and Takashi walked around the sand village.
"Honeymoon, date, or marriage?" he asked.
"Neither. Heck I've been his training partner for about five fucking years, and still, that's all I am to him…" Tenten sighed.
"Well, that's his fault, not yours. If he can't see that there's a beautiful girl right in front of his face, then that's his own loss," Takashi explained.
Little did they know, a certain Hyuga was listening in on their conversation.
"You think I'm beautiful?" Tenten asked with shock in her voice.
"Of course, and not only that, but by the looks of it, you're an excellent kunochi, but not getting any respect from the person you want it from most," Takashi inquired as he stopped walking and leaned down for a kiss. Tenten also stopped and started leaning forward. Their lips were only centimeters away until a kunai came soaring between them, forcing them to tear apart. They looked to see who threw the kunai and only to find a furious Neji with a bloodlust look in his eyes.
"Why if it isn't my little cousin Neji, the cold hearted bastard that takes advantage of this poor innocent women that just craves YOUR attention," Takashi mocked.
"Tenten, let's go…now," Neji demanded as he turned around and started pacing towards the hotel that they were to stay in the rest of the week. Tenten followed Neji. There they walked in complete silence as they paced towards the hotel.
Once they were in the hotel room, Neji and Tenten unpacked their things.
"Neji, look, I'm sorry!" Tenten apologized as she turned towards the Hyuga.
"Neji, look at me," she said again. He completely ignored her until he was done unpacking.
"Hn," was all he said.
"Neji, this is the first time in my entire life that any guy has ever showed any affection towards me! Every guy back in Konoha never even attempts to talk to me in fear that you'll come and beat them up, because everyone thinks I'm yours!" Tenten shouted, and was now on the verge of tears.
'That's how it should be. You are mine.'
"Your social life is none of my problem," Neji stated bluntly.
"Neji, it's not up to you whom I date!" Tenten stated.
'Unless it's you who will date me'
"Hn."
There was a knock at the door.
"You know what…I'm gonna go out to lunch with Takakakanashi," Tenten started.
"You can't even say his name,"
"So! I DON'T CARE!" Tenten shouted. The knock at the door was getting louder at the minuet.
"You're not going and that's final," Neji demanded giving Tenten THE stare. Usually anyone would gravel at his feet and beg for their life, but not Tenten, no, she knew better than to fall under his wrath.
"OH REALLY!? AND WHO'S GONNA STOP ME!?"
"ME!" Neji raised his voice and inched closer to Tenten. She was now only a good few feet away from him.
The person at the door was beginning to become very impatient, and started pounding on the door.
"And how exactly do you plan on stopping me?" Tenten asked coyly with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
Neji didn't answer, he just stood there blankly. For once in his entire life, he didn't know what to do.
"That's what I thought," Tenten smirked triumpthaly as she made her way towards the door. Before she could even take two steps, a wrist came grasping her own and pulled her in, forcing her to collide into his chest. Before she even had the chance to say anything, lips came crashing down on hers. Tenten was shocked at first but soon caught on and began kissing back. Soon it was a battle over dominance, and unfortunately to Tenten's disappointment, Neji won.
It wasn't long before oxygen became a need. They broke apart, both gasping for air. Tenten's face was as red as a tomato. Neji was only slightly pink. How he managed to only be slightly pink is beyond me.
"What the hell was that?!" Tenten managed to blurt out.
"It stopped you," Neji responded. He pulled her close to his chest and nuzzled his face into her neck. She stood there in shock.
"You are mine, and only mine," he whispered huskily in her ear, sending chills down her spine.
The person at the door was now frantically banging on the poor door.
"Hold that thought," Tenten said while breaking away from his grasp. She strode over to the door and opened it. And there stood the room service person(I don't actually know what they're called).
"What did the poor door ever do to you!?" she complained with a hint of sorrow towards the poor wooden door.
"Um…sorry miss…I'm just the room service guy, and you wouldn't open the door," the guy apologized. Tenten looked out at the door only to see huge dents on the wood door.
"I'm flattered by your concern about the room service but, that won't be necessary. We won't be needing room service," Tenten implied.
The guy looked in the room and saw Neji sitting on the bed impatiently.
"Oh, I'm so sorry I must've been interrupting something," the guy said as he covered his eyes with his arm and quickly sprinted down the hall away from the room.
Tenten still stood in the doorway with one hand on her hip,
"He took that the wrong way didn't he?" she asked to no one in particular.
"Hn," was Neji's only response.
A/N: I thought this was a good cliffy to end it at. Hope you liked it! My friend wrote most of this, so thanks Tsukiomi! I think you spell it like that. Oh well. Well, she wrote this so me happy that it got done! Thanks for reading and please review. OH! And take my poll on my profile please everyone! I dedicate this chapter to my ex boyfriend, for well, he was kinda like Neji.