Naruto: Neji/Tenten [Miss Independent: Gift Fic]
I know the deadline is like in three days, but today is the only day I can do this since I'll be crazy with Easter stuff. What? Life getting in the way of writing fanfiction? No way!
Title: Miss Independent
Author: namistai8
For: light_flower
Prompt: moonlight, gray winter sky
Rating: K
Disclaimer/Notes/Whatever: I picked up light_flower maybe a couple of weeks before the deadline so I didn't have the time to think about this as I usually do. This didn't turn out as fluffy as I wanted, but sometimes that happens. Spoilers for up to the Rescue Sasuke arc.
Miss Independent / Miss Self-sufficient / Miss Keep Your Distance
Miss Unafraid / Miss Out of My Way / Miss Don't Let a Man Interfere
~Kelly Clarkson
When Tenten reached puberty and she saw her body start to change, she made a conscious decision. She wasn't going to let such changes affect her. She had committed herself to the life of a shinobi. This was the path she had chosen for herself. She would become a weapons master, the first in a long time in Konoha's history and she would become a legend, very much like Tsunade-sama.
While she went to the same seduction classes as the other female kunoichi, she kept a firm reign over her tumultuous feelings. She deliberately censored herself from particular trains of thought. Instead of dreaming or flights of fancy, she deliberately kept herself cool and practical. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino would tease her about being a tomboy, but whenever either of them launched into a rambling and dreamy soliloquy about a romantic evening under the stars and kissing Sasuke under the moonlight, Tenten would snort in disbelief and pat herself on the back for her rational thought process.
The only advantage a full moon had over any other night during the month was that it allowed her to practice on a more equal footing with Neji. They still trained in the dark but moonlight retained a level of visibility that helped with her accuracy.
And if there was anything Tenten hated was to miss the mark.
***
It wasn't easy. Puberty was a time of raging hormones and volatile emotions. Their own team wasn't unaffected. Thankfully, it manifested in Lee's intense crush on Sakura. Tenten would observe Neji from the corner of her eye to see if he was similarly affected by the pink-haired kunoichi but Neji remained impassive as ever.
If anything, it seemed to hit the other genin teams harder than Team Gai. Team 7 was like watching a daytime soap opera. It was obvious that to everyone that Uzumaki Naruto was infatuated with Sakura and that in turn Sakura had only eyes for Uchiha Sasuke. So there was an intense rivalry between the two boys (which coincidentally had nothing to do with who Sakura liked, that was just a bonus angle) with strong undercurrents of something else. Team 10 had it's own complications. While Ino did proclaim an official crush on Sasuke, she was also extremely possessive of both her teammates, which just raised excellent questions about what both boys felt about being constantly harangued by the blonde.
Tenten stopped the analysis of Konoha's 'Young and Restless' before she hit Team 8. Although it was patently and painfully obvious that Hinata-chan had a crush on Naruto, Tenten refrained from mentioning either of them in front of Neji. He was very sensitive about the entire matter.
Honestly, Neji didn't care about Team 8. He had other things he needed to be concerned about. He frowned. Did he hear Tenten describe Sasuke as cute? That would have been out of character for her.
***
Tenten sighed and looked at the darkening gray skies from her window. She had a large pot of chicken and ginger soup going on. It was perfect for rainy days like these. She didn't know if she liked rainy days or not. It allowed her to cook and time off to sharpen her weapons and do some much-needed reading (perhaps she shouldn't check out so many scrolls out of the library in one single go) but she didn't like the fact she couldn't train.
It had happened the last time it had rained. Previously, she and Neji had always trained regardless of the weather. The day had started gray and cloudy like today. But it hadn't been raining when they reached their usual campground.
Somewhere in the middle of it, big fat droplets seemed to fall upon both of them. They ignored them as Tenten kept hurling weapons at Neji to deflect. She could feel the water start to soak her clothing, and the rain pelt her back but she couldn't stop. She wondered if the rain bothered Neji's eyes at all.
But the minute that Neji had finished a complete rotation, he yelled 'Stop'. Tenten quickly landed and Neji announced brusquely that they should stop before either of them caught a cold. Tenten nodded, her hair starting to drip and her normally straight hair felt like it was almost curling.
Usually Neji walked her home or they would catch dinner at the Ichiraku Ramen and they would talk, but this time Neji just left as abruptly as he had halted the training session, without a backward glance.
Tenten rushed home and peeled off soaked clothing, noting that her shirt was particularly thin and she needed to wear something more substantial during a training session that might rain. That way neither she nor Neji would have to worry about her getting sick.
***
After both Neji and Lee were admitted into the hospital, Tenten was absolutely frantic. She yelled at Lee first because he was supposed to stay in the hospital and he needed to consider his health and if he kept disobeying the Hokage's orders, he's never going to get well enough. She had tears streaming down her cheeks and Lee patted her hand and told her he understood.
Both of them stayed outside the surgery room where Neji was being treated and for the first time, they were thankful to the Hyuuga Main branch.
Tenten virtually stayed at the hospital, bouncing between Lee and Neji's room. She stayed with Lee to make sure that he didn't overexert himself (she'd given up on trying to stop him from doing ANY exercise) and Neji's room. Neji was usually asleep when she went to see him and she just stayed and watched him sleep. She knew that part of the reason that he was still here was because they had trained very hard to make him aware of his blind spot but it wasn't enough. She's his sparring partner and teammate. She should have gone to make sure that this never happened. She knew about his blind spot. She was supposed to be there to deflect whatever he can't.
When Neji woke up, Tenten apologized for not being better and that they had to train harder to make sure that this never happened again. Neji took her hand carefully and told her softly that she's the reason that he's still alive.
Feeling the reassuring warmth from Neji's hand, Tenten started to cry softly, tears just seemed to leak from her eyes. Part of her hated herself for being so emotional. She's supposed to be calm and reserved. She was a shinobi and she knew that death was very much part and parcel of their life. But another part of her was very very glad that Neji didn't die.
She also didn't want to seem like a silly girl like Sakura who cries at everything, but Neji just squeezed her hand to indicate that he didn't mind. Tenten doesn't know why that mattered, but it did.
***
After he recovered, things went back to normal. Relatively speaking. She noticed the shift in Neji. The words 'softer' and 'sentimental' popped into her head but they both struck her as ridiculous. There was nothing 'soft' about Neji. It was just... something at the edges. Perhaps it was more of an unbending as opposed as keeping everything at a distance. And while 'sentimental' was usually an adjective she was more likely to attach to either Lee or Gai-sensei, she couldn't shake that perhaps it was oddly appropriate. Neji seemed to think that little things mattered more. Like drinking tea with Hiashi-sama and Hinata-sama after practice.
She chalked it up as post-traumatic stress. She also knew that almost dying would have a profound effect on Neji. She'd read up about accounts of how other shinobi had reacted to near-death experiences and how to deal with it. She wasn't going to treat Neji with kid gloves, but she also didn't want to trigger any unpleasant recollections.
They went back to training. She was glad that Neji didn't shirk away from it and seemed committed to the life of a shinobi. Occasionally, after training when they were both tired and their muscles burned and sweat dripped from every single pore to their body, covering them in a light sheen, Neji would make odd comments that she would have normally worried about a concussion. Now, whenever he talked about his future --- not as a shinobi, or becoming a jounin, or as part of the Hyuuga clan--- but more about what he wanted to do as Neji, the individual, Tenten simply chalked it up as the kind of thought that is naturally born from almost dying. Apparently almost dying made you take a good long hard look at your life. She was pleased that he kept thinking of her as an integral part of his future, but she squashed those feelings because it's only natural that she should be. She was his friend and they were teammates and she knew that in their own way, both Lee and Neji were fiercely loyal to her.
She's flattered that Neji had taken her into his confidence but tried not to make a big deal about it or get a swelled head. She supposed that Neji talked about the same things with Lee, albeit perhaps worded differently since Lee tended to get excited about most things. She tried very hard not to read too much into their conversation because she's his teammate and Neji was her friend and she didn't want him to think that she was flaking out on him or doing something stereotypically female.
Tenten didn't know that her soft smiles and bright eyes were intrinsically female as she looked at Neji while he spoke.
Author's Notes: So somehow, my head was full of practical!Tenten who makes a conscious effort to be sexless and very much not a girl and Neji... well, he notices that she's a girl. And like any hotblooded male, well, he appreciates a wet T-shirt contest ~.^
Comments and criticism always appreciated. I hope light_flower likes this! :)
Crossposted in nejiten, ten_squared and narufanfic
Title: Miss Independent
Author: namistai8
For: light_flower
Prompt: moonlight, gray winter sky
Rating: K
Disclaimer/Notes/Whatever: I picked up light_flower maybe a couple of weeks before the deadline so I didn't have the time to think about this as I usually do. This didn't turn out as fluffy as I wanted, but sometimes that happens. Spoilers for up to the Rescue Sasuke arc.
Miss Independent / Miss Self-sufficient / Miss Keep Your Distance
Miss Unafraid / Miss Out of My Way / Miss Don't Let a Man Interfere
~Kelly Clarkson
When Tenten reached puberty and she saw her body start to change, she made a conscious decision. She wasn't going to let such changes affect her. She had committed herself to the life of a shinobi. This was the path she had chosen for herself. She would become a weapons master, the first in a long time in Konoha's history and she would become a legend, very much like Tsunade-sama.
While she went to the same seduction classes as the other female kunoichi, she kept a firm reign over her tumultuous feelings. She deliberately censored herself from particular trains of thought. Instead of dreaming or flights of fancy, she deliberately kept herself cool and practical. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino would tease her about being a tomboy, but whenever either of them launched into a rambling and dreamy soliloquy about a romantic evening under the stars and kissing Sasuke under the moonlight, Tenten would snort in disbelief and pat herself on the back for her rational thought process.
The only advantage a full moon had over any other night during the month was that it allowed her to practice on a more equal footing with Neji. They still trained in the dark but moonlight retained a level of visibility that helped with her accuracy.
And if there was anything Tenten hated was to miss the mark.
***
It wasn't easy. Puberty was a time of raging hormones and volatile emotions. Their own team wasn't unaffected. Thankfully, it manifested in Lee's intense crush on Sakura. Tenten would observe Neji from the corner of her eye to see if he was similarly affected by the pink-haired kunoichi but Neji remained impassive as ever.
If anything, it seemed to hit the other genin teams harder than Team Gai. Team 7 was like watching a daytime soap opera. It was obvious that to everyone that Uzumaki Naruto was infatuated with Sakura and that in turn Sakura had only eyes for Uchiha Sasuke. So there was an intense rivalry between the two boys (which coincidentally had nothing to do with who Sakura liked, that was just a bonus angle) with strong undercurrents of something else. Team 10 had it's own complications. While Ino did proclaim an official crush on Sasuke, she was also extremely possessive of both her teammates, which just raised excellent questions about what both boys felt about being constantly harangued by the blonde.
Tenten stopped the analysis of Konoha's 'Young and Restless' before she hit Team 8. Although it was patently and painfully obvious that Hinata-chan had a crush on Naruto, Tenten refrained from mentioning either of them in front of Neji. He was very sensitive about the entire matter.
Honestly, Neji didn't care about Team 8. He had other things he needed to be concerned about. He frowned. Did he hear Tenten describe Sasuke as cute? That would have been out of character for her.
***
Tenten sighed and looked at the darkening gray skies from her window. She had a large pot of chicken and ginger soup going on. It was perfect for rainy days like these. She didn't know if she liked rainy days or not. It allowed her to cook and time off to sharpen her weapons and do some much-needed reading (perhaps she shouldn't check out so many scrolls out of the library in one single go) but she didn't like the fact she couldn't train.
It had happened the last time it had rained. Previously, she and Neji had always trained regardless of the weather. The day had started gray and cloudy like today. But it hadn't been raining when they reached their usual campground.
Somewhere in the middle of it, big fat droplets seemed to fall upon both of them. They ignored them as Tenten kept hurling weapons at Neji to deflect. She could feel the water start to soak her clothing, and the rain pelt her back but she couldn't stop. She wondered if the rain bothered Neji's eyes at all.
But the minute that Neji had finished a complete rotation, he yelled 'Stop'. Tenten quickly landed and Neji announced brusquely that they should stop before either of them caught a cold. Tenten nodded, her hair starting to drip and her normally straight hair felt like it was almost curling.
Usually Neji walked her home or they would catch dinner at the Ichiraku Ramen and they would talk, but this time Neji just left as abruptly as he had halted the training session, without a backward glance.
Tenten rushed home and peeled off soaked clothing, noting that her shirt was particularly thin and she needed to wear something more substantial during a training session that might rain. That way neither she nor Neji would have to worry about her getting sick.
***
After both Neji and Lee were admitted into the hospital, Tenten was absolutely frantic. She yelled at Lee first because he was supposed to stay in the hospital and he needed to consider his health and if he kept disobeying the Hokage's orders, he's never going to get well enough. She had tears streaming down her cheeks and Lee patted her hand and told her he understood.
Both of them stayed outside the surgery room where Neji was being treated and for the first time, they were thankful to the Hyuuga Main branch.
Tenten virtually stayed at the hospital, bouncing between Lee and Neji's room. She stayed with Lee to make sure that he didn't overexert himself (she'd given up on trying to stop him from doing ANY exercise) and Neji's room. Neji was usually asleep when she went to see him and she just stayed and watched him sleep. She knew that part of the reason that he was still here was because they had trained very hard to make him aware of his blind spot but it wasn't enough. She's his sparring partner and teammate. She should have gone to make sure that this never happened. She knew about his blind spot. She was supposed to be there to deflect whatever he can't.
When Neji woke up, Tenten apologized for not being better and that they had to train harder to make sure that this never happened again. Neji took her hand carefully and told her softly that she's the reason that he's still alive.
Feeling the reassuring warmth from Neji's hand, Tenten started to cry softly, tears just seemed to leak from her eyes. Part of her hated herself for being so emotional. She's supposed to be calm and reserved. She was a shinobi and she knew that death was very much part and parcel of their life. But another part of her was very very glad that Neji didn't die.
She also didn't want to seem like a silly girl like Sakura who cries at everything, but Neji just squeezed her hand to indicate that he didn't mind. Tenten doesn't know why that mattered, but it did.
***
After he recovered, things went back to normal. Relatively speaking. She noticed the shift in Neji. The words 'softer' and 'sentimental' popped into her head but they both struck her as ridiculous. There was nothing 'soft' about Neji. It was just... something at the edges. Perhaps it was more of an unbending as opposed as keeping everything at a distance. And while 'sentimental' was usually an adjective she was more likely to attach to either Lee or Gai-sensei, she couldn't shake that perhaps it was oddly appropriate. Neji seemed to think that little things mattered more. Like drinking tea with Hiashi-sama and Hinata-sama after practice.
She chalked it up as post-traumatic stress. She also knew that almost dying would have a profound effect on Neji. She'd read up about accounts of how other shinobi had reacted to near-death experiences and how to deal with it. She wasn't going to treat Neji with kid gloves, but she also didn't want to trigger any unpleasant recollections.
They went back to training. She was glad that Neji didn't shirk away from it and seemed committed to the life of a shinobi. Occasionally, after training when they were both tired and their muscles burned and sweat dripped from every single pore to their body, covering them in a light sheen, Neji would make odd comments that she would have normally worried about a concussion. Now, whenever he talked about his future --- not as a shinobi, or becoming a jounin, or as part of the Hyuuga clan--- but more about what he wanted to do as Neji, the individual, Tenten simply chalked it up as the kind of thought that is naturally born from almost dying. Apparently almost dying made you take a good long hard look at your life. She was pleased that he kept thinking of her as an integral part of his future, but she squashed those feelings because it's only natural that she should be. She was his friend and they were teammates and she knew that in their own way, both Lee and Neji were fiercely loyal to her.
She's flattered that Neji had taken her into his confidence but tried not to make a big deal about it or get a swelled head. She supposed that Neji talked about the same things with Lee, albeit perhaps worded differently since Lee tended to get excited about most things. She tried very hard not to read too much into their conversation because she's his teammate and Neji was her friend and she didn't want him to think that she was flaking out on him or doing something stereotypically female.
Tenten didn't know that her soft smiles and bright eyes were intrinsically female as she looked at Neji while he spoke.
Author's Notes: So somehow, my head was full of practical!Tenten who makes a conscious effort to be sexless and very much not a girl and Neji... well, he notices that she's a girl. And like any hotblooded male, well, he appreciates a wet T-shirt contest ~.^
Comments and criticism always appreciated. I hope light_flower likes this! :)
Crossposted in nejiten, ten_squared and narufanfic