With Her Hair Down: 25 Truths About Team Gai
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Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Tenten would be the main character. Hence, Naruto would no longer be called Naruto. It would be called Tenten. And the Sexy no Jutsu would involve Kakashi without his mask... or shirt.
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A/N: LeeTen-ish truths inspired by the 20truths format. Enjoy!
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25. Tenten's admiration for and crush on Neji Hyuga went all the way back to their academy days. With his manly long hair and sultry purplish eyes, she believed that no sexier man could be found anywhere.
24. During the chuunin exams, however, Neji had remarked that kunoichi were naturally inferior fighters. That was when Tenten's crush ended. She felt betrayed by Neji, since he essentially insulted her for no reason at all.
23. But, Tenten felt even more betrayed by Lee, since he had said nothing in her defense. (He later redeemed himself, though, when Tenten heard about how he'd caught her after her match with Temari AND tried to avenge her defeat).
22. When Tenten was younger, some boys teased her for being a tomboy and a feminist. But the teasing stopped when each of the boys was kunai-knifed to a tree. By their underwear.
21. That was when ALL the boys started avoiding Tenten.
20. So, Lee was understandably anxious when he discovered that he'd been grouped with her. But he relaxed when Tenten told him that she'd only kunai him to a tree if he gave her a good reason to. From that day forward, they became good friends.
19. Contrary to popular belief, Neji was not the one man who'd seen Tenten with her hair down. Lee had also been present for that earth-shattering event.
18. It had happened while Team Gai were embarking on their next mission. One minute, they (mainly Lee and Tenten) were merrily sauntering along, the next, they were ambushed by a gang of angry highway ninjas! In the scuffle that followed, Neji was rendered unconscious and the other two just BARELY managed to survive.
17. What Tenten was most upset about, however, was the subsequent state of her hair. Without a second thought, she took off her headband, shook out her hair, and began carefully doing it back up. But she paused when she caught Lee staring at her. "I don't look that bad, do I?" she asked him.
16. Lee just shook his head and quickly looked away, as if he'd just seen something he wasn't supposed to see. But Tenten didn't think much of that. Lee was, after all, a little strange.
15. He also happened to be the ONLY man who'd seen Tenten with her hair down. Neji didn't count, for obvious reasons.
14. And if Neji had been in a foul mood BEFORE embarking on that mission, he was positively seething when he finally regained consciousness--in Lee's arms.
13. No one had let him live THAT down.
12. And Tenten was the worst offender by far. Without fail, she made wickedly perverted cracks whenever her teammates were in the same general area. Even if that general area was at opposite ends of Gai's training field.
11. Of course, there could be no disputing Lee's preferences, but Neji was an entirely different story. No one on Team Gai had ever seen him express ANY sort of interest in a girl.
10. So, Tenten surmised that Neji was still undecided.
9. That didn't bother her, since her crush on him was beyond dead. She was a little troubled, though, when she caught herself checking out a very ripped Lee as he trained. And, the more Tenten told herself that it was just an isolated incident, the more she found herself peeking at him out of the corner of her eye.
8. When Lee finally caught on to this, Tenten's brilliantly crimson blush put even Hinata to shame!
7. But, being Tenten, she wasn't embarrassed for too long. Nor did she attempt to pursue Lee romantically, knowing well his crush on a certain medic-nin and NOT wanting to start yet another love triangle.
6. So, imagine Tenten's surprise when, the next day, Lee began pursuing HER! Well, maybe not pursuing, in the strict sense of the word. He just sort of came up to her after training, a little shyly, and asked if she wanted to grab dinner with him at Ichiraku's.
5. Tenten found Lee's manner strange, since they ate together all the time. But she accepted and ended up having such a great time, she seriously wondered how she'd overlooked the Green Beast for so long.
4. Lee seemed to be thinking along those same lines. After walking Tenten back to her house, he casually suggested that they "hang out" again sometime soon. He had apparently overlooked the fact that they already hung out EVERYDAY in training.
3. Tenten just grinned at him. And in lieu of a response, she kissed him, bid him good night, and dashed into her house--all before the poor boy could even blink. Once inside, Tenten collapsed onto her couch in a mad fit of giggles.
2. Lee stood at her door for a moment or so. Then, he headed back home himself--and had to try EVERY key on his ring to find the one that would actually open his front door. He still hadn't quite figured out what had happened and couldn't fall asleep that night until 2:47.
1. Tenten was also experiencing a bout of insomnia, though her case could probably be attributed to excessive giggling. It took a long time for her to subdue herself and just lie still. But, when she finally managed it, she decided that, one day, she'd let Lee see her with her hair down again.
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Fin