Only Training

(Sorry about the wait. School's been stealing time.)





His words danced through the dark, somehow seeping into her dreams until she was conscious enough to understand.



“Stay quiet.”



Tenten willed her breath to still, knowing from the tone in Neji’s voice that for whatever reason, it was necessary. Her eyes remained closed as she took in her surroundings. Light struck her eyelids, staining her vision red, and she was warm beneath a snug cotton cover. Voices floated around her sleepy head, Neji’s, and another.



“—morning walk, Hiashi-sama. She should be back by lunch,” Neji said softly.



“Give her the message. Tsunade must not be kept waiting,” the other warned, sounding old and stern. They exchanged farewells. The door clicked shut. Lips met hers. Hesitant. Her eyes came open swiftly, pupils narrowing in the white morning. His guard was down for a second, but just one. It was all she needed to detect the balance of his emotions. Then, his soul hardened, struggling to try to scorn her, knowing that it would damage the mission if he held their attachment in too high a regard.



“You should shower,” he said after a long moment, leaning up tall against the window light. An old pair of black shorts clung to his hips as droplets of water slid from his wet hair along his torso. She understood his actions, but the pain was hardly soothed. He walked barefoot to the shoji and pulled on a loose yukata before stepping out. Tenten showered.



He had laid out her usual uniform for her, washed and folded, on the desk. She changed into it, assuring that each of her weapons were in place, and followed his steps onto the engawa. He was sitting on the edge, one knee drawn to his chest, and the other foot dangling into the loose dirt yard that the wooden pathway outlined. Two cups of tea rested, steaming beside him. He held one limply.



“Neji?” she asked softly. His shoulders visibly tightened, loosened.



“I brought some tea,” he replied at length, staring across the sky. Numbers flitted across his lips as a flock ghosted by, their white bellies discernable from the grey sky by motion only. The old habit shocked her for a moment, acting as a tie back to their relationship as children. He seldom counted birds anymore. Tears burned in one eye, but she resisted, instead sitting beside him and taking up her cup. The tea was hot, soothing, and it cleared the tightness from her throat as she drank.



“Did your uncle say something about Tsunade this morning?” she inquired gently, treading carefully on the new boundaries of their relationship. A brief hope burned in her chest that Neji would return to normal after the mission. His reclusive state pained her all the more at the memories of his tenderness the night before. They had discovered something deep, something true, and she wanted that feeling again. Neji wouldn’t look at her still, even as he replied.



“Tsunade has accelerated the date of our mission. We leave today after breakfast.”

Tenten nodded, staring into the tea as she rocked the cup gently. Silence stretched between them like a rubber band, daring to snap. She wanted to rush to him, to hold him until he was forced to accept her, anything to keep him from doing this. But for the sake of their mission, she knew it would be necessary.



Neji lead her to the kitchen a moment later, merely standing and casting an expectant glance until she got up to follow. He washed their cups and started packing some dry food for the day’s travel. Meanwhile, the cook led Tenten to a nearby table to eat breakfast. Neji came to join her soon after, finishing quickly before checking the time.



“You should head down to the Hokage’s office. I’ll meet you there,” he said, clearing their plates and chopsticks. She nodded, meeting his eyes for the second time that morning. Guilt resonated in his gaze before he looked away. For the second time that morning, she felt as though she might cry.



Tenten stood awkwardly at the front gates of the Hyuuga compound, accepting heartfelt goodbyes from Hinata and Hanabi as Hiashi stood behind his daughters silently. He offered her a knowing smirk just before she turned away, bringing a startled blush to her cheeks.



She spent five minutes in the chair across from Tsunade’s desk before Neji arrived. The Hokage wasted no time outlining the mission and tossing a scroll to Neji. He saluted her briefly before leading Tenten out of the office. It was her understanding that she was to serve under a wealthy daimyo’s brother who was attempting to usurp his position over the country. The daimyo had ordered her to confirm his suspicions and take his brother out if they appeared to be true. Neji would be sent along in the event of her discovery. While weak as ninja, the army at his disposal was still massive, and the daimyo would be required to dispatch them in that case. For obvious reasons, he didn’t want his hiring of Konoha ninja to possibly assassinate his brother to leak out amongst the peoples.



The journey was silent and swift, with no time for rest until Neji’s stomach audibly purred, which was around sunset. Tenten was secretly pleased that he had succumbed to hunger before she. Neji decided to camp for the night amongst the woods, managing to start a campfire just as darkness permeated the little patchwork spaces in the leaves above. It was a relatively remote location, one seldom travelled, and even with a brief scan of the area with his byakugan, Neji found nothing but flora and fauna for miles. They ate in silence by the firelight until Tenten dozed off with her back to a tree.



In all honesty, Neji was surprised at her level of exertion throughout the day’s travel. She pushed herself to stay on his heels the entire time, never requesting him to slow down or stop. Tenten had always been the first of their team to want rest. As he observed the soft curves of her face as the fire flickered over, he wondered how much she had grown without his notice. His eyes softened at the sight of her, and he felt a clench in his heart as he remembered his words from the previous evening. He loved her, he had told her, and nothing had ever sounded so true to his ears. She was too beautiful, too kind, and too strong to be treated like he was treating her. A slow breath siphoned through his lips before he let himself rest for the night.



Travel began early that morning, while the lark still nested for the night and the nightingale sang its sweet dusky song. They planned to stop at the village that marked the border of the country and allow Tenten to disguise herself before moving on. Neji had been hired under the guise of a bodyguard to the daimyo’s brother for an upcoming festival, and to transport Tenten in her role as a new personal servant.



They began walking along the beaten path to avoid suspicion, but Tenten missed the shattered light beneath the canopy of the forest. Neji maintained curt silence and a brisk walking pace, though his internal dialogue was unending and busy, and time seemed to freeze around him. The remainder of their trek to the village was the longest four hours of his life.



The sun had begun to light the sky as they entered the waking town. Shopkeepers were just beginning to open their establishments for the day, but one inn at the center of town was open early. Neji requested a room, which Tenten understood was to kill time. Shinobi on escort missions were reduced to the pace of the civilian, and they had made too good of time for Tenten to be one.



She left him to his own devices on her quest for the civil appearance, but managed to find him again at lunch. The tea he had been drinking was nearly forcibly ejected from his mouth. She was simply beautiful.



No longer in the functionally loose clothing of her profession, weighted and shaped with weaponry, her natural form was apparent in a dusky green yukata. Her hair was down, falling in loose curls around her slender shoulders and tickling the edges of her oval face. A sudden rush of want and lust struck him through the torso, pooling at his half-hardened length. He knew that body; he had been inside that body, and the sudden remembrance was too much. She took the seat across from him, within the confines of the busy tea shop, and had her second cup of the day.



“Will this work?” she asked under the clamor of the lunch crowd. He nodded dumbly to his tea, unable to verbalize. For what was possibly the first time in his life, Neji felt like an idiot. The need to apologize or confess or anything at all was overwhelming. Words crowded at the tip of his tongue, but there were too many to say at once. If he spoke, he would stutter. Her name came out first.



“Tenten…,” he strained, paying far too much attention to the way the syllables felt on his tongue. Her eyes met his briefly, open but concerned, scorned yet understanding. She was too good for him.



“I… I’m…,” Neji struggled, his mind racing and empty at once. Her hand fell over his on the table, truly freezing his thoughts. She didn’t have to say anything. He looked longingly at her pert little lips, remembering too vividly the feel of them on his skin, on his mouth…



Despite his greater instincts, he didn’t kiss her.



It would only hurt more in the end.