Interrogation
Yugao
Summary: One day, Lee decides to interrogate Neji on his love life, but he ends up learning more than he bargained for.
Author's Note: Yays, I'm back with another Neji oneshot… I was watching the Bird Country eps, and I just adored it so… yep, that's about it. I just love Lee, even though I suck at writing him. There are NejiTenten… implications (obvious ones though). This is dedicated to Marphil, with whom I will have a long and hard debate on who should end up with Neji – when I get back to school, that is.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (who doesn't appear in this ficlet anyway.)
The sky was a damp, dusty gray that looked as cold as the wind felt. The quickly strengthening gale tossed tree branches and leaves everywhere, almost harsh in its seeming carelessness. Thick, inky clouds rolled up in the horizon, and here and there bright white flashed from the darkness. It was the start of a fierce storm.
Whoever proposed extra training hours today is a total idiot.
"Neji, my rival! Let us together run five hundred laps around Konoha in the pouring rain! Gai-sensei will be so pleased to see us training even at the extremities of weather!" Lee called out happily, as the first droplets of rain had begun to fall. He seemed to stand out flagrantly from the dismal-looking forests, when on normal days he would've blended in if not for his dark hair and blinding smile – the same stupid, goofy grin that was on his face even in the brink of a tempest.
"Total idiot" is the understatement of the century.
It was a shame Tenten had gone home sick with the flu that day, because Neji certainly preferred her company to Lee's, no matter how much his spandex-clad teammate insisted that they were the best of friends. And then there was the fact that he knew Tenten would shut up if he ever asked her to. Not that he ever did, but… you get the picture.
"Lee, we'll get sick," he pointed out expressionlessly, staring up at the dark gray sky. He instantly had the feeling of déjà vu somewhere towards a cheesy pop song and diverted his gaze immediately. "If we do, then all three of us will be out of commission. Gai-sensei won't be too happy about us 'wasting the flames of our youth' in sickbeds."
Lee's dark eyes widened with delight. "Neji, I am so glad you are finally heeding our wise mentor's words! In any case, we still need the training, and coming back up from getting sick will make us stronger! Let's go!"
If from exasperation or anything else, Neji didn't quite know, but he followed one of Konoha's self-proclaimed handsome green beasts down a dirt road and jogged until he was alongside him. The rainfall had begun, but only very lightly, and as they ran in silence Neji busied himself by evading a few raindrops.
"Neji?" his teammate, slightly wet with rainwater, asked.
"Hn." As always, he responded with a noncommittal grunt.
"Can I ask you for help on something?" Lee continued, this time sounding a little more than just a bit nervous and worried. "It's been bothering me for some time now."
"Hn," was his generic reply; he wasn't really in the mood to hear any sob stories. Besides, trying not to get wet was way more interesting.
Taking that as a yes, Lee looked thoughtfully up at the darkening sky, a blush tingeing his cheeks. "I've been trying for the longest time to impress Sakura-san enough to get her to notice me. But no matter what I do, it seems like my efforts are always in vain."
"I don't know why you even bother yourself with these things," Neji mumbled under his breath, for want of something intelligent-sounding to tell his friend. "Maybe if you put her out of your mind for a while, and trained even harder, she might take notice of you."
Lee's eyes narrowed slyly. "What about you, Neji?"
"What do you mean?" he asked rather absently, because he was too preoccupied trying to dodge a particularly large raindrop that had threatened to stain his sleeve.
His teammate scoffed. "You know perfectly well what I mean. Do you… you know… like anyone in Konoha, Neji?" he chided.
"No," was his too-quick reply, and it made the sly grin on Lee's face widen. He ducked from another raindrop from the drizzle, as he repeated, "No, I don't. I don't have time for these sorts of things."
Lee ignored him. "It's probably a kunoichi, isn't it? Let me guess… is it Ino-san?" he asked happily as he continued jogging, paying no heed to the fact that his spandex was starting to get a little heavy. "She's a very outgoing person and she can bring you out of your shell."
"What shell?" he asked dumbly. The rain had started to strengthen, and he had given up his rather fruitless task of staying dry all throughout five hundred laps. More or less, he hadn't been paying attention to anything Lee was saying, either.
"The shell of unsociability that hinders your youth, of course!" his friend replied in a chipper voice. "Well, is it Ino-san?"
"Is what Ino?" he asked, too sharply for his own good. His clothes were wet and starting to get uncomfortable, and when he was uncomfortable, he wasn't happy.
Lee didn't even think twice for his life's sake. "Do you like her?" he asked in the same high-pitched, cheerful tone.
"Not particularly," he mumbled back. He had seen Yamanaka Ino fight, and he had to admit he was impressed by her clan abilities over the mind. Another thing he had to admit to himself was the fact that her petty, trivial arguments with Sakura were quite amusing to watch. She was outgoing and talkative, yes, but she never seemed to respect the times he preferred silence to idle chatter, even in the few moments they'd shared in stray missions.
His partner didn't even flinch. "Oh. Is it Hinata-san, then?"
"Lee," he said incredulously.
"Neji!"
"Lee."
"Neji."
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"She's my cousin."
"Oh."
By this time both of them were thoroughly drenched, but Neji wondered why Lee even considered the thought. Even though he no longer held a grudge against the Hyuuga main branch, she was still Hinata-sama to him, just as he was still Neji-nii-san to her. She still stammered at his name, among many others in a long list, but at least they were civil to each other. Or, more aptly put, he was civil to her, while she was actually friendly.
"Don't tell me it's Sakura-san!"
He rolled his eyes. "She's all yours," he told him to cut his dramatics. But Haruno Sakura impressed him by way of her intelligence; it was a shame she'd allowed her feelings to get carried away. He knew she had the potential to become a great kunoichi, but he wondered if that was really what was important to her. In other words, he didn't think much of her priorities.
"Oh!" Lee said suddenly, a wide grin escaping from him despite the fact that they were both soaked with the rainwater. "I understand now. I should've seen it all along! It's the flower of our team, Tenten, is it not?"
Neji stiffened, but didn't show it. "Tenten and I are… just friends," he repeated the robotic showbiz answer and hoped Lee wouldn't catch on. But what scared him, really? It's not like the wild accusation was actually true… was it?
Since he was younger, he'd known Tenten to be slightly different from the rest. She was pretty, but her beauty wasn't the kind that arrested at first sight. It surfaced, say, after an hour of training or under a moonlit sky after a hard day's work. She preferred talking about shuriken and kunai to conversations on boys and clothes. In Konoha she was often labeled "tomboy," but she never really paid attention to what other people thought of her. She was herself, and didn't try to act like anyone else.
Lee only gave a loud, mocking laugh before he tripped and fell face-first into the mud, unconscious, in the middle of only their 289th lap; Neji very soon followed suit after an attempt to pick up his teammate.
"Neji, wake up."
A light sleeper, he obeyed; his eyelids were heavy with want of sleep, and he felt sick. "What… happened?" he asked groggily. He turned over to whoever woke him, and saw that it was Tenten. He said simply, "I thought you were sick."
"I was," she replied, "But I got better this morning, so after the rain stopped I went off to find you and Lee and found out you nearly killed yourselves. What were you doing out on the road, anyway?"
"We were training, my dear Tenten!" Lee sniffled, but he sounded every bit as proud of himself as he would have if he had actually completed the five hundred laps.
"Well, too bad. You've caught the cold," she answered dryly, picking up two china bowls from the table. "I made some soup. Have some, you'll feel better."
She was just about to make her way to Lee's side of the bed when he sat up straight, grabbed a bowl she was holding, and gave her the thumbs-up. "Thank you, Tenten, but I think our dear friend Neji here needs the help more than I do!" he said mischievously, with a wide grin despite his slightly red nose.
Tenten shrugged, not even noticing Neji's glare and stiff shoulders. She plopped down on the chair at his bedside and started to casually spoon chicken soup into his mouth. He turned as red as his internal body systems would allow, while Lee enjoyed his sweet victory over a steaming bowl of soup.
Author's Note: Lee, I love you! Hahaha... somehow or other he manages to take away my writer's block. By the way, the ideas presented in this one-shot didn't mean to offend supporters of other pairings and doesn't necessarily show Neji's feelings. This was written by a crackpot little kid with a laptop. So please be considerate when you leave your reviews, thanks.