Friendship, Team Gai

Hyuuga Neji looked over at his two best friends. Everyone had always said that the three of them were the most random pair of friends they’d ever seen. It was true though. First him, a part of one of the most powerful families in Konoha, his best friend; a workout-fanatic that always dressed in green and wore bright orange legwarmers no matter how warm or cold it was outside, huge eyebrows and a shiny bowl-cut; his name was Rock Lee.

The only one left was a girl. Her ancestors were Chinese and it still showed a little, she almost always had her brown hair put up in two buns on her head and often wore a Chinese top in different colors. Her name was… Tenten… no one knew her last name, and Neji doubted she even knew it herself.

As always, Lee was jumping around doing some kind of exercise. Right now he was walking on his hands, while forcing Tenten to put his bag on his feet, along with hers.

“Lee, have you no pride?” Neji said. “At least walk like a normal person. I bet Tenten would let you carry her to school.”

“Excuse me, I’ll let him do what?!” Tenten said surprised, and Neji smirked at her. “Lee, he’s just kidding…”

But it was too late; Lee had already got to his feet and picked Tenten up on his back. All Tenten could do was sigh and enjoy the ride as she glared at Neji. Why was it always she who had to be the victim of Lee’s training? Very often she got to act like a weight, either when he was lifting things or when he was doing pushups, then she had to sit on his back.

“You just love this, don’t you?” Tenten said as sent an extra icy glare to the Hyuuga.

“I could say no, but that’d be called lying,” Neji said, still with the teasing smirk on his face.

“Hyuuga, I swear, the second I come down from here, you’re gonna get it!”

Neji just scoffed at this, and kept walking. Soon they saw the school and a bunch of students gathering by the bikes.

“Look Neji, there is your cousin,” Lee said. “Wow, she can blush!”

Tenten sighed. “I wonder what embarrassing thing her friends have said now.” She smiled. “But Hinata-chan sure is cute with a shade of red on her cheeks. I bet a lot of the guys think the same.” She looked at Neji. “Don’t you think so too?”

That’s when she realized Neji was paler than usual, and his eyes were cold. “That blonde… what’s his name?”

“His name is Uzumaki Naruto,” Lee answered. “He is in the same class as your cousin, and is a friend of mine. Why do you want to know?”

“I need to know the name of the one I’m killing.” Neji’s voice was cold, and Tenten sighed as she shook her head at him.

“You haven’t even noticed him before now, what has he done to deserve your wrath?”

“The way he looks at her…”

“Oh, come on!” Tenten exclaimed. “Lee, put me down so I can beat some sense into Neji’s thick Hyuuga head!” When Lee ignored her, she looked at Neji. “You can’t be serious! He’s just looking at her! Look, now he’s looking at that pink-haired girl, he smiles at her! He didn’t smile at Hinata-chan, did he? No, he didn’t so just leave him alone!”

Lee looked at Neji. “She is right, you know.”

“See! If you wanna kill someone, kill Kiba! He’s hugging her right now!”

Neji turned his head quickly, only to see Kiba get whacked over the head by Shino. He glared at Tenten who giggled. “You are way to overprotective when it comes to Hinata-chan. You’re more like an older brother than a cousin, but at least give her some space.”

Neji turned away from her, a slight blush over his cheeks. “I just don’t want her to get hurt, is all, she’s so fragile…”

Tenten smiled and Lee let her down on the ground. “She’s stronger than you think Neji. Let her prove it.”

Since Neji in secret did have a weak spot for Tenten’s brown eyes, he sighed and looked away. “Fine! I’ll leave her alone for a while.”

Tenten smiled and looked at Lee over her shoulder. He gave her a thumbs up and she did the peace sign, mouthing “I win”. Then she put her hands on Neji’s and Lee’s shoulders. “Come on now, we have a test first thing today, and I don’t wanna be late.”

“Calm down woman, we’re going,” Neji said.

Before the three friends entered the school, Neji turned around to look at his cousin. She was blushing as usual, but the smile on her face wasn’t embarrassed. She was happy. Neji smiled and followed Tenten and Lee to their classroom.