Hands Down

Yugao

Summary: Hands down it was the best day they could ever remember.

Author's Note: Oh God, you know I have so many stories queued up waiting to be written, and this was only one of them. I have so many ideas that just need that one little push to put them into words, but it's so hard to get them to come. This one's a late New Year's Eve fic, based off one of my favorite songs ever, Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional. I hope you enjoy reading this. It's Team Gai/Nejiten, so please leave a review.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, and I don't own the song by Dashboard Confessional either.

My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me

So won't you kill me, so I'd die happy?

My heart is yours, to fill or burst

To break or bury or wear as jewelry

Whichever you prefer.

From where they were watching, the vast expanse of dark blue sky was visible, not even leaving a single star unseen. There were three of them, perched on the topmost boughs of a leafless tree overlooking their training area and the rest of Konoha. The scent in the air was that of a cold, crisp night, full of the fragrance of sakura and ume yet to bloom and the breeze coming from the distant sea.

It had become a Team Gai tradition. Ever since they had first been put together in the same Genin cell, they had come to their training area every New Year's Eve, climbed the ancient, always leafless tree, and watched the fireworks that the village set off at midnight. They came only after they were sure they would not be missed; Neji always had extravagant Hyuuga New Year ceremonies to attend; Lee was always going from one friend's house or another, giving gifts (though Christmas was long over by this time) and greeting them a happy new year; and Tenten was always meeting up with a few of the other kunoichi, exchanging stories and gossip over plates of after-dinner rice cakes. They were so different it was amazing they were still considered one of the most proficient three-man teams that ever existed in Konoha; though, perhaps, their differences served to help them complete a greater, more significant whole.

That night they sat on the boughs of the tree older than all three of them put together, their heads raised to the sky. There, they did not tell the time through watches or timepieces; even if they brought those along, it was still too dark to read them. They could only barely make out the moonlight falling on each other's faces, and that was enough light for them for the moment.

They told the time by the first firework.

Midnight.

Tenten raised her eyes to the sky, one moment an infinite, mysterious void, the next a myriad of bright colors melding with each other. Each one was a shower of reds, blues, pinks, yellows, violets, whites – and yet, they all faded into a shimmering golden rain. The fireworks seemed to be as large as her hand when she raised it up against the dark blue blanket of night. There were fountains of violet stars cast into the sky and then fading back towards the horizon; there were silvery rays cutting the night sky; there were star-studded explosions of every color imaginable.

From the corner of her eyes she saw her teammates watch the display. Lee, of course, had on his usual starry-eyed, I'm-in-awe expression; Neji's pallid eyes were cast to the sky as well, though there was no real emotion in his face. At that she smiled. Four years had not done much to change any of them. Sure, they had grown stronger, better, more skilled. But the years hadn't changed Team Gai at all, and for that she was thankful.

When the fireworks display was over, Lee was the first to get up. He put on a wide smile as he told them, "Tenten! Neji! Happy birthday!" he enveloped his teammates in a three-minute suffocating bear hug before he realized his mistake, put him down, blushed, and corrected himself: "Whoops. I mean happy new year."

Tenten laughed as she gave Lee a hug. "Happy new year, Lee," she told him as she pulled away. Lee had always been the best friend who cheered her up whenever she needed it, and his smile was infectious. It was no different that night. She grinned as Neji greeted their teammate happy new year as well. Then, the latter excused himself to leave, saying he had to go greet Gai-sensei a happy new year, too. They bid him goodbye and watched him jump off the tree branch to disappear into the city glimmering with lights.

They were the only ones left, once again.

Tenten looked down, at the branch she was standing on and at the ground under it. Even after all this time, she couldn't yet be certain who he was to her. After all the time they had spent together, since they entered the academy at eight years old, all the way up to twice that age, he was still something of a mystery to her. He was Neji. Best friend. Sparring partner. Boy with pretty whitish-amethyst eyes. Seatmate back at the academy. Guy with nice hair. Confidant. Constant rival. Classmate. Enigma.

But that was only skimming the surface, wasn't it?

There was still so much she had never been able to tell him. He was her constant savior. The object of many little daydreams. The person she should equal if she could ever consider herself a good kunoichi. The standard of her goals and aspirations. Her long-time, long-secret crush.

She sighed, though not audibly. It was a new year, and there was no time to regret emotions never expressed or feelings never spoken of. That could bother the mind some other day, but not that day. It was time to put all that behind her, maybe for another day. Finally looking up at her best friend, she managed a smile. "Happy new year, Neji," she told him.

He smiled back. "Happy new year, Tenten."

Then, surprising not only him but also herself, Tenten hugged him as tightly as she could, her grip revealing her refusal to ever let go. He was surprised, she knew; but a few moments later, he was hugging her, too. They stood like that, atop that old timeless tree, until finally he pulled away. "Come on," he said, his voice fluid and almost musical against the rhythmic rustling of the leaves, "It's getting late. I'll walk you home."

"Thanks," she managed to say, but her gratitude was drowned in the chill breeze and the slight drizzle of midnight rain.

Tenten had to suppress a giggle as she and Neji arrived at the gates of her house, dripping wet from the waist down and the rainwater seeping into her favorite shoes. She would have complained, she would have whined incessantly for having been put through all this, but the knowledge that Neji was right there with her, holding a wet jacket over their heads, looking all testy and impatient, was worth getting wet for. She almost didn't notice when he said, "Tenten, open the gates". She looked up at him, at the raindrop trickling down the side of his face, and couldn't help but laugh. However, the skeptical look on his face quickly banished any desire to show him she thought it was funny.

"I can't from here," she told him with a yawn. "It's closed from the inside, but not locked. We'll have to jump it." She only just realized that she never invited her teammates to her house before, or they would have known that by now. In an attempt to laugh at the absurdity of a gate that doesn't work, she sneezed.

Neji raised an eyebrow and stopped her from stepping forward, a hand on both her arms keeping her from doing so. "You'll get wet," he said quietly, then, rethinking his statement, said instead, "Wetter. I'll open it from the inside."

"Neji, you don't have to," she protested, "We get a lot wetter than this on some missions."

She thought she saw a smile playing on his lips as he said, "This isn't a mission Tenten, it's the New Year. And that doesn't come every so often." She watched him as he smoothly and fluidly jumped over the old gate that never worked, as he lifted the rusted-over latch, and as he pulled back the door to let her in. Tenten couldn't help but smile at the sudden show of kindness, and though the rainwater had long seeped in through the cloth jacket and was now dripping down her arms, she was, for the first time in a long while, happy.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked him, looking down at her drenched shoes. "I have brownies and hot chocolate… and you can wait out the rain inside." It was the least she could do after he braved the torrents of rain to walk her home, and got soaked just to open the gates and let her in. He deserved a lot more than chocolate, but it was all she had.

He nodded. "I'd like that," he said with a somewhat sad smile, "But it's really getting late and Hiashi-sama would be expecting me. I'll see you later… all right, Tenten?" It was amazing how long a person could stand in the rain and keep a smile on his face at the same time. It was somewhat endearing, somehow, to see the untouchable, invulnerable Hyuuga Neji like this – so ordinary, rain-wet, and shivering. She couldn't help but smile.

Her disappointment at knowing he had to leave was muted by the promise in his voice. "All right, Neji," she said softly, her voice only barely above the sound of rainfall. She remembered the jacket she was draping over her head, and took it off, holding it out to him. "Here. This is yours."

"Keep it. I can get back to the Hyuuga compound quickly, anyway," he said, that slight smile never leaving. Tenten loved it, not because it was beautiful (though it probably was an uncharacteristically nice smile) but because she had never seen it that often. Still, his reply made the smile fall from her face.

She came closer to her until she was less than an arm's length away, and took his hands in hers. Then, she put the jacket in his hands and looked up into those deep, opalescent eyes. "You need it much more than I do," she told him, the smile coming back somehow. "Thank you, Neji… for everything. This was the best New Year I'd ever had."

And then… one step, two steps forward. Before Tenten could even think about what was happening, his lips were pressed to hers. Her first kiss wasn't what she'd expected it to be – she had not fantasized about the rain, the darkness of one in the morning, and the coldness of the night air. But she knew this feeling, and it was exactly what she'd thought it would feel – only better.

"Happy new year, Neji."

"Happy new year, Tenten."

Author's Note: It be sap to the highest level. XD Oh well, I hope you enjoyed anyway. Thanks for reading, please leave a comment… or two… hahaha.