Author's Note: I'm warning you now. TURN BACK. The Neji/Tenten fluffyness will EAY YOOOOOOUUUUUUU! This was written while sitting in a dog bed.
Hyuuga Neji woke up one morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing outside, except for those that were caught in chimneys, which were flapping and squawking madly.
Hyuuga Neji woke up, looking out the window into the cobalt blue sky and puffy white clouds.
And thought, I love Tenten.
Neji shook his head wildly, and stared wide-eyed into space. Where did that come from?
He got out of bed, put his feet into his slippers, and stood up.
And thought, I love Tenten.
He smacked his face with both hands for a few seconds, hoping to restore balance to his brain.
He couldn't be in love with Tenten! He couldn't be!
Neji walked down the stairs in his bathrobe, over to the coffee pot. He usually didn't drink coffee, it made him too hyper and made his brain (not his head) hurt. But today, he needed the jolt.
I love Tenten.
Neji slipped down the stairs feet first, like a street luger, as he forgot to use his feet half way through thinking about the dreaded three words.
His head smacked the wooden banister. He cursed, and sat up, rubbing the lump that was sure to appear soon enough. But, he smiled in spite of himself, now he'd forgotten those evil-
I love Tenten.
ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!
Neji hobbled up, blindly putting a hand in front of him so he didn't run into anything.
He felt his way up to the counter and reached up into the cabinet for a mug.
I love Tenten.
CRASH! The entire shelf collapsed on Neji's head, mug after mug to the top of his skull, before they all crashed to the tiles and counter, chipping and breaking.
Neji rubbed the top of his head. His inner chibi was crying it's eyes out, but it stopped when it heard-
I love Tenten.
Neji bit his lip to keep from crying, himself. Why was Fate being cruel to him today?
Oh well, it was destined to happen, so he might as well make the best of it.
He poured the sludge, black and steaming into the only mug not broken from his little mishap. He brought the mug to his lips, and began pondering the mystery of the Three Evil Words.
Why was he thinking that? He couldn't love Tenten. Tenten was so-
Perfect.
Neji shook his head. No, no. Tenten wasn't perfect. She was so-
Incredibly sexy.
No, it was just her-
Perfect eyes he could lose himself in forever.
No, no. It was-
Her amazing smile that made him go weak in the knees.
NO NO NO NO NO. SHE WAS JUST-
Unbelievably beautiful, strong, sweet, loving, trustworthy-
OK. Neji was in love.
He scowled the Famous Hyuuga Scowl of Death ™.
But why now, was he realizing his newfound emotion for the weapons mistress? He trained with her, went on missions with her, battled with her, bickered with her-
Oh yeah. The dream.
Neji covered his eyes, remembering. He lay the cup on the counter, trying to forget.
Maybe that dream, with it's NC-17 content had something to do with it.
He'd seen a lot of things with that Byakugan, but that was definitely something he hadn't wanted to see.
That was another thing to add to his list. She had a genuinely gorgeous bottom.
Neji sighed woefully, and took a sip of the bottom-of-the-pot drink, which had about the consistency of pond slime.
And, as his head shot through the plaster of the ceiling, thought-
I love Tenten.
By the time Neji was cleaned, bandaged dressed, smacked, packed, and ready, he had decided he was not in love with Tenten.
He had firmly decided that he, Hyuuga Neji, was never to fall into not-necessarily-lustful thoughts over his sweet, gorgeous, beautiful- ahem, erm, teammate.
He was not obsessed with Tenten, nor was he crushing on her. He would never have something as immature as a crush.
No, he would not, could not, never had, never would, never could, never should love Tenten.
Neji found himself counting the front steps from the Hyuuga complex as he walked down them, to take his mind of his temporarily compulsion.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.
He stopped, and looked down, mortified.
10. Ten steps.
He walked back up them to the front door, took a deep breath, and stepped down them again, recounting.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.
Ten. Ten steps in all.
No, it wasn't ten, not at all, Neji hopped back up the steps and walked down even slower, determined to catch the genjutsu the stairs were using.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10?
Not ten, not ten, not ten, not ten… He ran up the steps and back again, counting every time.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.
He counted aloud, and counted in his head. He marked his arm with a kunai every step he took, and then walked up them backwards, and once it took him five minutes to get down them in all.
At length, he pointed and yelled at the stoop itself, "I KNOW IT'S A GENJUTSU! CALL IT OFF OR FACE ME!" And, Byakugan activated to easier catch the trap, flew back up the steps, counting and recounting as slowly as he could to catch the spell.
Finally, panting, sprawled out on the sidewalk, he acknowledged the fact there were ten steps to the Hyuuga's front door.
It was then he realized that people were staring at him.
Neji, flushing furiously, got up, and scuffed his way down the sidewalk.
He was not obsessed with Tenten, he told himself. Ten steps was nothing, nothing at all.
If he were the kind that was easily persuaded, he might be persuaded.
So, Neji walked towards the training grounds that he shared with Lee, Gai, and TENTEN.
At that time, a picture of his imaginary torrid and scandalous affair with Tenten last night ripped through his thoughts. He bit his lip, feeling blood gush out of his nose.
Being the master tactician he was, Neji formulated a plan to keep him from being distracted.
He would simply avoid the number ten for the rest of the day.
No problem. He was, after all, Hyuuga Neji, son of Hyuuga Hiashi, God rest his soul.
"Hey, Neji!"
Neji turned in the direction of the annoying voice. Naruto was running at him, full speed ahead.
The kitsune child slid to stop right in front of him, a foxy grin on his face.
"Hey Neji, guess what?"
"You got your lobotomy reversed." Neji said. Yes, he could fire of insults at Naruto. He was back to himself.
"No! It's my birthday!"
Neji frowned. A reverse smile, call it.
"Yep, it's October Tenth!" Naruto continued.
The Hyuuga's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.
"10-10!" Naruto yelled.
Neji's mind was swimming. Ten Ten, TenTen, Tenten…
"Well, see ya later!" Naruto yelled, taking off to meet Iruka for ramen.
Neji stood on that same sidewalk square for a very long time.
Neji was fretting, but only the tiniest bit.
But HOW, HOW, could he POSSIBLY avoid TEN when it was TEN-TEN?
He bit his fingernails, still walking, hoping no one could see the stress he was feeling.
He passed Ichiraku Ramen Stand, and not even realizing it heard-
"Sasuke, that's your tenth bowl today!"
Neji froze in mid-step.
Kakashi shrugged. The Uchiha needed meat on his bones. He waved a hand at Ayame.
"Ayame, another shot of sake, please." he said in his usual tone.
"That'll be number ten today, Kakashi!" Ayame said with amazement in her voice.
Neji's white eyes were a sea of panic.
WHY was TEN following him?
Breaking into a run and dragging his fingers through his hair, Neji streaked off, at the same time picturing from his dream TenTen's-
No. Not obsessed at all.
Neji had slowed a bit, determined to take a walk around town to calm his nerves. Hands shoved in his pockets, he kicked at a wayward stone.
No, he would not give up to the number ten. Ten was the enemy, and he would not give in to Ten.
He then thought how nice the words Tenten and Hyuuga sounded together.
Hyuuga Tenten. How lovely. And so befitting her, his-
Neji, without a second thought, bashed his head up against the wall beside him repeatedly. A woman ushered her child away from the "crazy" man.
No, No, No, No, No! Not Tenten! He did not LOVE TENTEN! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!
He kept walking that, now towards the training field. Two twins walked past him.
On the back of one twin's shirt was the number "1". On the other's was "0.
They were walking shoulder to shoulder when Neji passed them.
He did a double take, and took off on chakra fueled feet.
It was a Close Encounter of the Tenth Kind.
Finally, he arrived at his team's training ground. Lee and Gai were doing push ups, and TENTEN was no where in sight.
He relaxed, and stepped from behind the pole he had been hiding behind.
"Neji-Rival!" Lee cried, and hopped to his feet, an experience in green.
"Hph." Hyuuga said.
Gai got his feet next. "Yes, TenTen-san was sick today, and could not join us."
Neji's eyes widened at the word, and he hoped Lee and Gai hadn't caught it.
Neji shrugged, as though her participation was of the least importance. But Inner Neji was screaming, "YES, YES, YES! OH, THANK YOU, KAMI-SAMA! THANK YOU! NOW I-"
"Hey guys."
Neji's turn backwards took about .7 seconds, but it felt like centuries to him.
There, slouched in her uniform, and looking sick and pleasingly vulnerable, was… THE TENTEN.
(insert cheesy horror music here.)
Neji's pale eyes popped out of his head, and his Inner Chibi fainted as he thought of his dream.
"TENTEN!" Gai yelled. "The team is complete! Now, we must all practice before we waste more of our precious youth!"
"Yay!" Lee yelled, jumping up and down.
Tenten smiled sadly, her cheeks puffy from fever.
Neji's eyes were still glued to her. Every curve of her body was exactly as he had pictured it in his dream. He wondered- But he smacked himself mentally, and resumed his scowling position.
Gai's smile was blinding.
"Right, now! Training schedules!"
This wasn't so bad, Neji thought. Maybe he could keep this under wraps until it blew over. Maybe it could-
But Gai interrupted his thoughts.
"Lee and me will run ten laps around Konoha blindfolded, using all ten fingers and all ten toes to navigate the ten paths around Konoha. Tenten will work on her weapons aim over by those ten targets I set up at ten this morning. Neji will practice the ten major Jyuuken stabs on this training dummy. You can be cruel, Neji, I have ten more. And then, me and Lee will finish our ten hundred pushups, and then do ten thousand tree kicks, and ten hundred and ten sit ups to end the training day!" Gai said, pointing upwards while Lee rejoiced.
Everything stopped. Neji's head slid sloooooooooowly around to see behind him. His hands trembled, and the vein in his head was near to popping. Finally, his eyes settled on TENTEN.
Neji screamed at the top of his lungs.
Birds fluttered in mass exodus from the tees, Lee's squirrels hid, and Gaara over in the Sand was awakened out of a paperwork induced stupor.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Neji yelled, clamping both hands on his head. Gai was looking utterly confused at what he guessed was teenage hormones, and Lee was hiding behind him, much like the squirrels.
Tenten looked concerned, her swollen face filled with pity, and concern.
Neji growled, and leapt onto Tenten. Before her mind could register what happening, Neji had locked both hands onto her face. He smirked, and smashed her face into his.
Tenten's eyes bulged as Neji pulled her close to him, smashing her into his body. She didn't fumble or struggle, just let him do his will, partially because she had no idea what was going on.
Gai's mouth was hanging at his knees.
Neji released her lips, but still gripped her to him around the waist.
"Tenten-" he said, with as much romance and depth in his voice as a French romance actor. "I love you. I always have, and always will! I tried to deny it, but I can't! I love you, love you , love you!"
Lee's eye twitched.
Tenten looked with utter shock into his face, trying to read his mad smile. Suddenly, she smiled herself.
"I love you too, Neji." she said, and slipped both hands behind his neck.
God, her lips were just begging for him to kiss them.
As they passionately slobbered all over each other's face, Lee and Gai smiled widely, tears streaming down their faces and down to the matching collars of their green collars.
"Ah!" Gai yelled. "The flower of love blooms in Konoha!"
"Yes!" Lee exclaimed, and the two began hugging and dancing like crazy men.
Tenten smiled through their kiss, her hands playing with the long strands of dark hair on her new lover.
And suddenly, Neji had a thought.
Very inconspicuously, he placed one hand on Tenten's rear end, and quickly pulled it away before Tenten even knew what's he'd done.
It was just like he remembered.
A/N: AH! THE NEJI/TENTEN FLUFFYNESS! IT BURRRRNNNNSSSS!
This fic is flammable. One flame and it will all go up in flames.