Time After Time
Or Six Instances of Love

Pairing: NejiTen
Category: Romance, Friendship
Length: 2,740 (including lyrics)
Warnings: Implied baby-making, but nothing too rough for the kiddies; Cavity-inducing fluff.
Disclaimer: Naruto/Naruto: Shippuden and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. Who I am not. The song "Time After Time" belongs to Quietdrive. (Or Cyndi Lauper, but the lyrics are slightly different.)

Love n. - An intense feeling of positive emotion toward, or enjoyment of, a person or thing, especially strong romantic or sexual feelings between people.

Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new
You say, "Go slow", I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

It was raining the day she first met him. Sure, she had seen him around, heard his name praised many, many times, but she hadn't ever met him. And it was on that fateful day, as the frigid (much like the boy in question's personality) autumn drizzle splattered around them, that she spoke to him for the first time.

She had no umbrella, and even if she had one, she'd have still been covered in mud from her brief scuffle with one of her other classmates. She didn't get into fights often, but when she did, she finished them, dammit! The downside, now that the fight was over, was how cold and wet she was, and she was a half-hour walk from her tiny studio apartment.

Ahead of her, a pure white umbrella was held steadily over a head of swaying, dark hair. In seemed to glow in the gloomy grayness that surrounded the streets of Konoha, casting a glow down upon its carrier.

She squinted. The intensity of his glow was like staring into the sun. Quickening her steps, she managed to catch up to him in a few short moments.

"Hyuuga Neji, right?" she asked. "Hi, I'm Tenten."

His eyes flickered to her in a surveying sort of way before he blinked and was watching the road in front of him again. His lips stayed in their firm line, corners angled downward in a light frown.

She wondered if he was shy, but a few more minutes of him ignoring her made her disregard that as a possible excuse for his rude behavior. She continued to walk next to him, slightly under his umbrella, though all it did was keep her left arm dry.

"Leave me alone," he said at last. "Don't follow me home."

She made a noise in her throat that no human would ever be able to duplicate, and stopped in her tracks. He continued on, unmoved.

If anyone else had said such a thing to her, she'd have hit them. She'd have told them that they shouldn't jump to conclusions, and that they should get over themselves. As it was, all she could seem to do was blink after him, watching that glorious light leave her behind, muddy and bruised.

She went home, and after a shower and a change of clothes, she snuggled into the warmth and safety of her bed. Tenten stared at the ceiling and promised herself that she would never bother with the snooty Hyuuga again.

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time, time after time, time after time

Two years after that incident, their paths crossed again.

Neji wasn't happy (that is assuming that anything could ever make him happy) that he had been placed on a team with such talentless wannabe-shinobi. Fortunately for the girl, though, his other teammate and his sensei were so odd that he found her to be a shelter from the madness. Aside from her relative normalcy, however, she was just as low as the other two in his book.

"My youthful students!" Gai shouted exuberantly, "Tell me your names and aspirations!"

"I am Rock Lee! Even though I can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu, I will prove that hard work is better than natural talent in the long run!"

"Haha! Wonderful!" Gai turned to the bun-haired girl, "And you, youthful blossom?"

She blinked at him. "I'm Tenten, and I want to someday be on the same level as the legendary sannin, Tsunade, as a kunoichi."

"Excellent!" Gai then turned to the last member of his team, "What are your dreams, oh brooding one?"

Neji suppressed a scoff and turned his nose up at his new teacher. "That's none of your concern," he said sharply.

Gai, to his credit, didn't even bat an eyelash at the young prodigy's harsh statement, and went on. "You're all on my team because you're all special." As an afterthought, he added, "In your own ways."

This time, Neji didn't bother holding back his scoff.

Sometimes you picture me, I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear what you've said
You say, "Go slow", I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

She couldn't believe he would be that selfish! Didn't he know how much she cared about him-how much all of Team Gai cared? And there he sat before her, in his hospital bed, staring at her like the whole affair had been no big deal.

"Neji, my student!" Gai proclaimed, happily reaching to crush the Hyuuga in a bear hug, which Neji managed to dodge despite being bed bound.

It would have been comical if she herself hadn't been just this side of tears. She set her jaw to contain herself and looked at him, his pearly eyes staring back at her. She offered him a small smile as Lee and Gai continued to pester him.

Neji was only saved once a medic asked that Lee go to a different room for a checkup, to which he complied, Gai in tow.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, knowing that the answer couldn't possibly be anything good.

"Better," he told her. "It hurts, but that's to be expected."

He was so different ever since the chuunin exams. She knew that this conversation could have never taken place if not for that orange-jump-suited knucklehead. And it wouldn't have had to if not for that traitorous Uchiha, but she ignored that for the moment.

"Your uncle came to visit while you were unconscious," she told him. "I'm not sure if I was supposed to tell you, though."

Neji didn't say it, but she could tell he was glad she did.

"The rest of your team is fine," she went on. "Kiba, Chouji, and Naruto were all hospitalized, but Naruto's out now, and Chouji is set to be released tomorrow. Shikamaru was the only one who wasn't severely injured, but that's probably because the reinforcements showed up just in time."

"Reinforcements?"

Tenten nodded, "The Sand Siblings. Apparently, they're on our side now." Admittedly, Tenten was still a little bitter about her defeat in the chuunin exams.

"Oh." He stared up at the ceiling passively.

"I'm glad you're okay, though." It went without saying to her, but she felt like he should know.

He turned his head and peered at her through thick lashes, "Thank you." He blinked slowly for a few seconds before dozing off.

"But if you ever do something like that again," she warned him quietly, "I'll kill you."

How could he be that selfish? Didn't he know she needed him?

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

He had been given a uniform, but hadn't bothered to put it on yet. He wasn't sure exactly why, but the excuse when Gai had asked him was that he felt more comfortable in his loose, white clothing. The green-clad man knew all about that, and had moved onto a different subject.

"Have you told anyone yet?"

Neji shook his head. Of course, he'd have to tell his uncle, but that would wait until sometime after dinner. Then there were his teammates, who he also hadn't had the time to tell yet (though he suspected that their sensei had probably told Lee all about it while they were training that morning).

Technically, Neji hadn't told anyone about his promotion, as Gai had known about it before Neji himself had. Which made sense, seeing as the official scroll had Maito Gai's name scrawled in his usual bad handwriting in the box below 'recommending officer'.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Lee and Tenten are?"

Gai shrugged. "Sorry, no," he answered.

"Hm. I suppose our old training grounds are my best bet."

"Well, if you do manage to round them up, I'm having lunch at Ritapan in an hour. We'll celebrate your victory."

"Hai, sensei." Neji wondered idly if he should stop referring to Gai as his sensei as he walked to the old training grounds of Team Gai. They were, like every other designated training area, a bit out of the way, but it was a nice day, so Neji didn't mind the walk. He heard the metallic clinking of kunai long before he actually saw Tenten.

From his vantage point, he watched her embed a barrage of sharp, pointy objects in an unsuspecting target dummy. He almost cringed at the annihilated dummy, knowing full well what kind of force was behind those attacks. Though he had never told her so, he was impressed by her skill.

Tenten stretched her arms over her head and arched her spine back, pulling all of her joints until they had emitted a few satisfying pops. Her sigh of pleasure afterward was a good indicator of how long she had probably been throwing her weapons at the now-obliterated targets.

Neji finally approached her as she moved around the wooded area to collect her things. He handed her a tanto to get her attention, and she smiled and greeted him in her usual fashion.

"I didn't know you were watching," she admitted bashfully.

"You should really be more alert," he scolded her. When she said nothing, he sighed and decided to finally get down to business.

"I was promoted to jounin today," he said. "Gai wanted me to find you and Lee and tell you that lunch is at Ritapan in… forty-five minutes."

"Jounin, huh? That's great! I don't know where Lee is. He was here earlier, but he had to do some things today. I didn't ask what, though." The two of them continued gathering her weaponry, and she laid them out to count them before sealing them back into her scrolls. Tenten hummed as she rolled up the last scroll and shoved it into a messenger bag.

"You should consider a new system for keeping your weapons."

Tenten giggled, "I know. I use so many more now than I used to. Maybe I should get a bigger scroll." At Neji's shrug, she giggled again.

"You know," she said after they had been walking in silence for a couple minutes, "I'm not surprised you made jounin before the rest of us. But you'd better watch out, Hyuuga. I'll catch up to you real soon!"

He smirked. "You always do."

Neji would only find out some years later that Gai had found Lee at the grocery store, and the two had purposely not shown up for lunch that day, leaving him and Tenten alone together. Upon learning this information, Tenten would only laugh and recall it as their first date.

After my picture fades, and darkness has turned to gray
Watching through windows, you're wondering if I'm okay
And you say, "Go slow", I fall behind
The drum beats out of time

After three more years, seventeen arguments, seventeen subsequent apologies, two-hundred and nine bentos, four-hundred and three missions, and twelve-hundred days of training, the evening found Neji and Tenten on their third mission alone with each other.

It had been quiet between the two since they left the village. Tenten wasn't sure if Neji felt it was as awkward as she did, or if he was just being his usual, untalkative self. As two jounin, they rarely had much time to spend together, especially with her apprenticeship in Interrogation and Neji being who he was, and Tenten would have liked to talk to him on the way to Kusagakure. As it was, just being near him felt foreign and strange.

"Something wrong, Tenten?" he asked. She jumped when she heard her name.

"It's nothing," she lied, smiling. She knew he'd probably see right through it, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that she was uncomfortable with him.

He instead moved on to suggest that they set up camp.

Neji watched the fire. Tenten knew this because she was watching him. At first, she wondered at how much he had grown. Admittedly, he had always seemed so much older than her and Lee, but when had he actually grown up? She had seen him nearly every day since they were twelve, and yet, she hadn't noticed the changes in his physical appearance until recently. He was taller now, more muscular under that perfect skin; his elegant features had matured and were now a bit less feminine; and he had an Adam's apple!

She glanced down her own body and scowled. She still looked so immature. Slightly taller, but still so childish. Youthful, as Gai-sensei often called her. When she looked back at Neji, he had raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"You were muttering."

"Was I?"

A curt nod.

Tenten shrugged. "Sorry."

"We should get some sleep," said Neji. Without waiting for her, he went to his sleeping bag and folded himself within the eventually followed after him, also tucking herself into her bedroll.

"Neji," she called gently. "Do you remember when we first met?"

"When we were put on Team Gai. I remember," he answered.

She sat up and peered at him. "No, before that. When it was raining," she prompted.

"I don't remember," Neji abmitted.

Tenten didn't know what to think of this. On the one hand, Neji had a lot of girls follow him around back then (and even a few more recently), and he was a changed person now, so she should just be thankful for that. On the other hand, however, she'd have thought that she would have left some impression on him. Had she just been some invisible, obsessed girl to him?

In the end, she laughed quietly. "My hair was shorter back then."

"I'm sorry."

"That my hair was shorter?"

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "No. That I didn't remember you." Neji was also sitting up, then, and Tenten noticed that he really looked bothered by the fact that he hadn't known about their first encounter.

"It's fine," she assured him. "I'm not mad or anything." And without thinking, she leaned toward him and hugged him, pecking his cheek as she did so.

Neji froze at the contact, but when she tried to pull away, he grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her closer.

As she stared up at the stars above, Tenten willingly gave her innocence to the boy she had always loved.

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

He stirred, fighting against consciousness in an attempt to stay asleep. He'd have succeeded too, if it hadn't been for the weight on his abdomen. His eyes finally fluttered open in quiet surrender to morning. And the woman sitting on him.

"I made breakfast," she informed him, swooping down to plant a kiss on his forehead.

He yawned, then grinned and reached down to stroke a hand over his wife's swollen belly. An extra bout of pride hit him when the infant inside gave a swift kick against his palm.

Tenten hopped off the bed, still oddly agile for a woman eight months pregnant. "That means he's hungry," she said, leaving Neji alone in their bed. "Hurry up, or I can't promise there will be any left for you," she teased on her way out.

Neji sighed, and left the warmth of his bed. The chill of early winter hit him, and he hurried to get a pair of pants and long-sleeved tee-shirt on. Accomplishing this task (after almost falling over, but there was no reason anyone had to know that), he stretched and made his way to the dining room, where Tenten waited for him.

"Happy anniversary," she said as he sat down across from her.

"Happy anniversary, My Love."

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

Time after time

Time after time

A/N: This is my first songfic, so I apologize for anything that isn't clear within the story. Basically. I used the lyrics as a segue-of-sorts to transition between scenes. These scenes are each set 2-4 years apart. I also used a third-person limited narrative, but I alternated between Neji and Tenten as an experiment.

All in all, I didn't mind this experience, and if I did well (please say I did well!), I may write another in the future. For now, though, I think I'll stick to my usual style. lol