NejiTen Oneshots And Drabbles

Birds

He's grateful for the dark - she couldn't have seen him jump.

"Sorry," she mumbles, grinning against his shoulder blade. "Didn't mean to 'sturb you." She nuzzles into him, then. His fingers anchor themselves into the grass as he stares solidly into the pitch dark.

"You should be asleep," he says evenly. A sigh, and then her chin is resting on his shoulder.

"I should be." Her tone-the tender bitterness-tips him off. She's not answering his question. It's another heap of dirt she's carved out of the hole she's been digging in him for years. Layers of subtext he can't read, because for all his natural brilliance he wasn't taught this kind of geology.

He'd shake her off if he could. She needs the sleep. There's no point in him taking first watch if she's going to sit with him for half of it. Her face has slid back down to his shoulder blade again, one hand resting dangerously close to his waist, and part of him wants to scream.

Though, he won't. She needs the sleep, no matter where she gets it. So long as she can't see him.

"I'm actually sorry," she says, shocking him almost as badly as- his heartbeat marches to the scar puncturing his upper back. As if by some instinct, her thumb appears beside it. She waits. He hums, and her thumb starts circling the spot with gentle hesitant strokes. She continues.

"Actually sorry ... for a lot of things." Her ministrations stop, and the stress melting down his back in rivets freezes.

If there is any part of her that blames herself for letting him go that day- he wants to turn but he can't. He doesn't know if his face is steady, the way it's always been (to Lee, to her). Instead, he presses back into her touch. Her hand lightly cups the skin surrounding the scar. She takes a breath.

"I'm the most sorry for trying to figure you out."

Thirteen-year-old Neji would've appreciated that. Now ... he knows that's not supposed to hurt, but it does anyway. She's not even done yet.

"... one who needed to do that. Not me. Not then. God, Neji, way back then I wanted to hate you, but also help, so I ended up doing both, which ..."

That's what he'd thought. Since it meant he got a tough opponent who'd also insist on checking his wounds after, he didn't bother with it. Hating the main house had been a much bigger priority.

"... once that was clear, it was less "look at this prick" and more "at least it's fun wiping that smug smile off his face for even half a second." By the Chuunin Exams I thought you were pretty cool, a repressed weirdo, but talented, yeah ..."

That makes him smile. It took more time for him to see into her, but she didn't make it difficult, and he quickly found things worth digging for. He can make out the the horizon, now, and the outlines of trees; as enlightening as her late-night ramblings are, she needs to go back.

"Tenten," he stops her, albeit softly. "Sleep." She nods against his back, prompting another half smile.

"Almost done. Alright." Her hand flattens out over his scar so that the center of her palm rests over it. "If we don't make it tomorrow, knowing you's been-" she emits choking sounds for a string of seconds "-great. Not the right word, but 's all I got right now. Great. Really, really great." Frustration tinges her voice.

He turns. Her eyes are closed, and her free hand massages her temples.

"'S not the right word, Neji, 's not. I can't think of ... Neji, it's not the right ..."

"Come on." His voice is low and warm. He gets her on her feet and guides her to the tent.

"This sucks, Neji, it isn't the ..." He's grinning. He can't help it.

"You too," he tells her, pulling her blanket over her. "Great. Every second with you." Birds fill his lungs, his throat, but still, not one reaches his mouth.