A Game of Reflexes

"I refuse to do this," Neji said bluntly, crossing his arms and looking down at his teammates seated around a small table on which a deck of playing cards lay, neatly dealt into three equal hands.

"Aw, come on, Neji!" Tenten said. "I think it'll be fun!" She grinned. "Besides, it'll be good training to test our reflexes."

Neji frowned minutely. "I hardly consider playing this… Egyptian Ratscrew game training."

"You've never played it before," Tenten retorted. "How would you know what it is or isn't?"

"Yes! Come, Neji!" hollered Lee, leaping into the air enthusiastically. "Play with us! Let us test our youthfulness in this most youthful competition of skill and wit!"

Neji glared at Tenten and Lee for teaming up against him, but the combination of Lee's blinding – he refused to call it youthfulness – enthusiasm and the puppy eyes Tenten was giving him, along with the fact that he knew that they would continue to beg no matter how much he declined, finally made him cave.

"Fine," he acquiesced in annoyance, uncrossing his arms and sitting down at the table. "But only once. I have better things to do that take part in childish games."

Tenten rolled her eyes at his insufferable attitude while Lee leapt into the air again, babbling something about youthfulness. Neji only sighed, picking up his hand of cards. "Explain," he demanded, his pale eyes boring into his only sane teammate's chocolate brown ones.

"Well," she began, "The goal of the game is to win all the cards. We around in a circle and, without looking at our cards, each play one card per turn. When one of the three face cards or the Ace are played, the next player has a certain number of chances to play another face card or an Ace. If an Ace is played, the next player has four chances; a King, three; a Queen, two; and a Jack, one. With me so far?"

"Hn," Neji said. "It sounds like it has little to do with reflexes."

Tenten huffed. "I'm getting there," she said exasperatedly, "just be patient. Anyways, there are other ways to win a hand. If two same cards are played in a row, then you try and slap the pile. The first person to slap the pile wins it. You also slap the pile if there's a 'sandwich', which is one card, followed by a different one, and then the same card again."

"Ridiculous," Neji scoffed. "Whoever came up with the names for this foolish game was clearly insane."

She rolled her eyes again. "Don't be so quick to judge when you haven't even played it yet," she chided. "Come on. Let's play."

"Hn."

…

"LEE!"

#

"Looks like it's just you and me, huh?" Tenten said, quirking an eyebrow at her stoic teammate while Lee sobbed in the corner, having been quickly eliminated from the game, his cards neatly taken and split between Neji and Tenten in a series of deft plays.

Neji looked at his deck of cards, then to hers. He figured that they were pretty much even, in terms of numbers of cards. However, he knew that he was in possession of three of four Jacks, two of the Queens, all four Kings, and two Aces. That put him in the upper hand for the face cards, each and every one an opportunity to win more cards from his teammate.

On the other hand, Tenten had multiple sets of doubles, which could pop up any time, a chance for her to win back the advantage, since the doubles rule superseded the face card rules.

Neji smirked as Tenten huffed in frustration as she lost a Queen and an Ace to one of his Jacks. If he remembered correctly, one of her pairs of Tens would be coming up soon. Leaning forward subtly so that his long hair covered the side of his face, he pumped chakra into his eyes. "Byakugan!"

Flicking his gaze to the cards that Tenten held in her calloused, skilled fingers, he quickly picked out the pair of Tens, slipped between an Ace and an Eight. Perfect.

His keen observation skills and perfect memory told him that he had a King coming up in his deck. That would be when he would make his move.

Deft fingers flickered and cards flew as the Gentle Fist prodigy and weapons mistress dueled over a deck of cards.

Four.

Seven.

Five.

Tenten's fingers, so accustomed to throwing kunai and shuriken and wielding other sharp, deadly weapons, flicked out, the anticipated Ace flying out and landing on the pile with a small thump.

Two.

Six

King.

Neji's keen eyes gazed into Tenten's, and he knew that she was also anticipating the pair of Tens. Their stares locked, and Tenten grinned. The first of the Tens dropped from her long fingers onto the pile.

"Reflexes?" Neji said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Tenten.

She grinned. "Reflexes," she whispered, and the card fell.

#

Her hand felt warm on his, and Neji couldn't help but notice how well her fingers fit between his own, her smooth tan skin, occasionally marred by pale white lines, scars that she had sustained on missions, resting against his own.

"I win," he said, his lips curving upward in a small smile.

Tenten's heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she was afraid that Neji could hear it. She was acutely aware of his hand beneath hers, their fingers intertwined above the pile of cards.

"I guess so," she said nervously, her voice sounding particularly odd to her own ears.

Neji's other hand came up, resting on hers, an act that made Tenten jump a little in her seat, stifling a squeak of surprise at the sudden contact.

"You alright?" he questioned, his eyes boring into hers.

"Yeah…" she breathed. "I'm alright."

As if some sort of unsaid signal had passed between them, Neji and Tenten leaned in, their hands clasped intimately, and pressed their lips together. For a few breathtaking moments, they simply sat, lips locked, and gave in to the feeling of bliss.

After eternity, they broke apart, panting, and rested their foreheads against each other's. "Pair of Tens," Neji said softly. "Just like you."

"Hmm…" she said, clearly still breathless from the kiss. Suddenly, she noticed something. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You cheated! You can't use your Byakugan for playing cards!"

Their laughs complimented each other perfectly. Her bright, happy laughs almost masked his low chuckles, but not quite. His deep voice harmonized with hers as they laughed, enjoying their rare moment of peace and happiness in a world fraught with death and darkness. Neither knew when the other would be gone, only that they were together now.

"A game of reflexes indeed."

Written by Fokker333