NejiTen Oneshots And Drabbles

The Seasons

Love was never seasonal.

January

The sky is dappled with pale, grey clouds veiling the dawn sun, and the ground is a shade of dusty white, coated in a fine sprinkling of freshly fallen snow. Tenten moves cautiously, careful not to the rustle the leaves of the tree branch she crouches on. In the clearing in front of her, with his arms out and feet apart in a ready stance, Neji awaits her next barrage of weaponry.

She lets loose a volley of kunai and Neji spins in his kaiten, sending cold, hard steel hurtling into nearby trees. In the moment before he recovers she drops swiftly to the ground, pulling out a katana, vaguely aware of a dull, winter ache in her recently injured elbow.

He turns towards her and pulls a kunai out of his pouch, parrying her blow. She strikes again and he blocks, the sharp cry of steel against steel echoing through the glade. He produces another kunai in his left hand and reaches around to attack her exposed side. She blocks, he strikes, she dodges, and soon their spar becomes a delicately lethal dance. Step, strike, parry, step.

And then suddenly, he gets around her guard. A swift movement, a glint of silver, icy metal against skin.

"Yield?" She nods, a tired but satisfied smile tugging at her lips.

He stretches out a hand to help her up and she goes to retrieve her fallen weapons, scattered around the clearing, dark against the snow. As she reaches down to pick up the last shuriken, fingers frozen, joints sore, she glances at Neji waiting patiently for her. She treads softly over to him and for a few moments they stand together, shivering slightly in the chilly morning wind.

She grins at him

"I hate winter."

February

Tenten has never understood why Valentine's Day is so important to most girls. As far as she can tell, it's a useless day dedicated to silly, teenage hormones. She and Neji are trying to make their way to the Hokage's Office, but the road is blocked by hordes, packs, swarms, of couples giggling, laughing, chatting, sharing mugs of hot chocolate and steaming cups of sweet jasmine tea. The streets are dotted with vendors selling candy hearts, pink balloons, ribboned teddy bears, strawberry fairy-floss. She groans dramatically.

"This is so stupid! I don't understand why this day is so special. I mean, they could at least move all this somewhere else - we can barely even see the end of the street!"

Neji nods distractedly, and she takes this as permission to continue her rant.

"And look at these!" She points towards a stand for cherry ice cream. "It's already freezing enough as it is. People must be crazy to celebrate this. This isn't even promoting love, it's so commercial. I can't believe - "

"Let's get some fairy-floss."

She halts in her tirade and stares mutely as Neji grasps her wrist and pulls her towards a small booth on their left.

Tenten has never understood why Valentine's Day is so important to most girls, but as she walks down the road wrapped in Neji's jacket, one hand clutching a stick of fairy-floss, the other held safely in his, she begins to understand.

March

"Happy birthday, Tenten!"

Neji and Tenten had spent the early morning hours training under the pastel blues of a new, refreshed sky. Their clearing had steamed under the brilliance and warmth of the sun and they had sparred to the forest music, cicadas singing stridently from nooks in cedars and chestnuts, newly hatched birds twittering and chirping.