Dirty Little Secret (NejiTen)

Chapter Two

Neji watched in silent mortification as Tenten stood speechless before him. The expression on her face shifted so quickly he couldn’t tell anymore what exactly it was she was feeling. He knew he had to say something, anything! An apology would be a good start. But he couldn’t bring himself to make a sound. The tension in the room was so thick he feared one last nudge could trigger it all together.

He watched as Tenten’s face slowly relaxed, her demeanor suddenly void of any emotion. She let out a defeated sigh as she moved to sit towards the ledge by her window pane.

She was positioned right across her bed, directly in front of the space he occupied. He fisted his hands as blank brown eyes met his own. She was detaching herself from the situation. She always did whenever she felt overwhelmed. He would know. He was the one who taught her how.

“Did you read it?” Came her even tone.

Neji could only nod.

“Which parts?”

He couldn’t look her in the eye.

It was her turn to nod. His silence was enough of an answer. “So you read all of it.”

He nodded once again. He’s never felt so pathetic in his life since that moment he showed off his curse mark during the Chuunin exams.

“Well, there’s nothing else to say really.” Tenten shrugged in nonchalance. “Not exactly how I envision my confession, but hey. Maybe it’s better this way.”

Neji finally mustered up the courage to glance back at his longtime teammate. “No, it’s not. I apologize.” His gaze dropped back to the floor, unable to handle the eye contact. “I… I can’t even begin to explain just how…” He let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn’t get his words out right. After all, what could he possibly say? There was absolutely nothing he could do that would make things better. “Just how-”

“It’s fine, Neji.” Tenten raised a hand to stop him from sputtering even further. “Don’t get me wrong, I feel an exceedingly strong urge to stab you in every single one of your chakra points.” She paused, watching his eyes scrunch closed as if in pain. “But there’s no point to any of that really.”

She let out a battle-weary sigh. “I was getting tired of hiding it anyway.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tenten kept her gaze on the Hyuga prodigy. She watched as he tried his best to look small, putting as much effort into trying to take up as little space as possible. She almost wanted to laugh. He was approximately six feet long, and nearly an entire head taller than she was.

She sighed again. “I know.”

“How can I make it right?”

Tenten felt a twinge of affection at the desperate way he looked at her from where he sat. Neji was never one for apologies; but when he did, he did so with utmost sincerity that it made it very difficult for her to stay mad at him. “It’s fine, really. We can just acknowledge that this happened, and then move on.”

Neji’s lips open and close repeatedly in frantic contemplation, still unable to find his words. Tenten knew that if it hadn’t been for the situation, she would have laughed her ass off. It was incredibly rare to see him so speechless.

“I’m not looking for an answer from you, Neji.” She assured, shaking her head for emphasis. “If it makes you more comfortable, we can just forget this ever happened.”

“No!” He heard his voice break, sounding several pitches higher than his original tone. He silently cursed his luck. Could he embarrass himself even more?