🖤 Gentle Weapons 🖤 (A NejiTen Story)

Stay With Me

Author's Note
Hi guys! So I'm too excited to wait and publish a bulk of chapters I'm just ready to publish now!! So what I'll do is every time I publish, I'll publish 2 chapters at a time! I'll be working on the next 2 as soon as I publish these! Also feel free to give me some suggestions of what you would like to see added to the story!! Maybe I'll add them in, who knows. 😉

Anyways, that's all! Thank you! On with the story!!_________________________________
Tenten

I appreciate Lee for saving the day like that, I don't think I could deal with those two right now. But I slightly regret it, because now my body is sore and we still have a few ways to go until we reach the prince's village.

"Are you alright, Tenten? Did my youthful training push you too hard?"

"Just a little. My body is kind of aching."

"That just means you do not train enough!"

"No Lee, that means I need to res-..."

And now he's doing laps. I just stare blankly at him as he idiotically runs around. Why did I agree to this?

"Alright gang, it's time to head out."

"Yes, Guy Sensei."

Both me and Neji replied in sync, while Hikaro just nodded and Lee ran into the sun.

Lee and Guy walked ahead of us while we trailed a bit behind. We were all conversing about Lee and Guy's intensity. Hikaro asked about it. Surprisingly, Hikaro and Neji were getting along. I guess as long as I wasn't the topic of discussion, everything is fine.

"I appreciate you staying up with me last night Tenten!"

Oh no.

I looked over at Neji. His eyebrow was twitching and he went mute.

"Y-Yeah it was no biggie... no biggie at all... heh heh."

Hikaro seemed to be oblivious to my failed attempts of acting normal. Good. I take a quick glance at Neji. He looks pretty calm now. His eyebrow stopped twitching, but he was still quiet. It was probably for the better anyway, Neji can be very... blunt.

We've been walking for a while now, maybe 4... 5 hours? We've agreed to take a 25 minute break to stretch and cool down. Of course Lee and Guy Sensei decided to take this time to train. I sat in the shade casted by a tall walnut tree. Neji stood on my right side with his foot planted, leaning on the tree with his arms folded and eyes closed. Hikaro stood in front of me stretching from side to side. He stops and sits on my left. We started talking casually about what ever came to mind, Neji also eventually joined in.

"I never asked, have you ever been to the hidden cloud before?"

"Yeah, we were actually there not too long ago. I was surprised the Hokage sent us. Beings though we already recently completed a mission there."

"I presume it was a mission for the Raikage?"

"Mhmm."

"Hm, wish I would've seen you then, I would've asked you to stay. You'd make a great princess, heh heh."

Neji

I'm going to kill him.

Tenten looked at me then gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of her head. My eyebrow twitched. Only a few more hours until this mission is completed. It's taken 2 instead of 3 days because we didn't take too many stops and we've found shortcuts from our last mission to the hidden cloud. So this mission with be completed earlier than expected. Just hang in there Neji.

We start walking again. This time I walked ahead of everyone. I didn't want to walk behind with Tenten and... him, and I damn sure didn't want to walk with Lee or Guy Sensei. It bothered me so much. Seeing someone have Ten's attention was just... sickening. Unfortunately Tenten and I cannot be more than mere friends, teammates. But I can't help but think, is Shikamaru right? Is Hinata right? Although he's an idiot, Naruto knocked some sense into me during the chunin exams, although I despise to admit that. I just need to think. I...

"Hey, Neji? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh... yes. I am fine."

It's strange that Lee took notice to me zoning out. I can never tell him what's wrong. He's too... intense to handle this type of information.

"Is it Tenten again?"

"!!!"

"You know Neji, you may be a genius and a prodigy to your clan, but you suck at concealing your emotions."

Damn it. Could I be anymore obvious?

"I understand why you hesitate with Tenten."

Lee understands? That would be the last thing I would expect out of him. Lee is always so intense and sometimes idiotic that I never took notice to his true intelligence.

"You do?"

"Yes. It is quite simple actually."

"Hm?"

"YOU LACK YOUTH!"

I knew it was too good to be true.

"Lee that is absolutely not the reason."

"Of course it is. You are like a bitter old man trapped in a teenage body! You're so stuck in your ways and you have no idea how to loosen up! You need to start listening to the amazingly youthful Guy Sensei when he lectures about youth, you could learn a thing or two!"

"... Get away from me. Now."

Lee backflip back to Guy Sensei. I cannot deal with him right now. I already have to deal with this Romeo ass ninja flirting with Tenten.

"Hey Neji."

Finally. A voice I can tolerate.

"What's up Ten?"

"Are you okay? You look a little peeved."

Oh you have no idea Tenten.

"No I'm alright. I'm just tired and Lee was spewing that youth stuff again."

"Of course he was. Well it's alright. We're about an hour from the hidden cloud. This mission will be over soon enough."

"Why are you not back there with the prince?"

"I wanted to check on you. You've been a little off this entire mission."

Well it's nice to know that she still knows I exists, even if she didn't acknowledge it very well.

Tenten and I were talking from that point until we arrived at the hidden cloud. We walked through the gates of the village and we headed to the Raikage's mansion. Hikaro caught up with Tenten and I. I was so glad this mission was finally over.

We arrived at the Raikage's mansion. Guy proceeded to speaks with the Raikage. Hikaro got abnormally quiet, not that it was a bad thing. He seemed to have been thinking about something as his eyes kept drifting around the room. Regardless, it's not our problem anymore.

We exited the Raikage's mansion and proceeded towards the gates. Hikaro insisted that he'd walk us to the gate to make sure we get a proper departure. He was still very quiet. We were all talking amongst each other and he was just walking beside us looking down. It was rather suspicious of you ask me.

We arrived at the gates. He shook Guy, Lee, and my hands and thanked us for escorting him back to the village. He then stopped in front of Tenten. She extended her arm, expecting also a handshake. Instead he grasped her hand and held it in his. My eye twitched. It irritated me.

"Tenten, you're so wonderful. You've made me feel normal. And though we've spent so little time together, I've grown quite fond of you."

I had a glued glare on him. My eyes were basically daggers. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. But my byakugan activated at the words he uttered next.

"Stay here. Be my princess."