#tematen besties ftw

[chaosnojutsu]

the lovely @banbansparkly made this fantastic Reliance artwork, and (with permission to post) i thought today would be the perfect time to share it since one of the illustrated scenes from chapter 12 fits a nejiten month prompt! thank you so much again for making this <3

Nejiten Month 2024, Day 14: Déjà Vu

Then Tenten walks toward her bedroom — toward him first; Neji’s heart can hardly handle it — and she stops in front of him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

If she only knew. She’s one to be asking; she’s giving him a peculiar look, too, so Neji returns the question. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Tenten stares for a beat longer, then shakes her head. “Fucking weirdo.”

She rises to her tiptoes, her hands landing on his shoulders to brace herself, and before Neji can process what’s about to happen, Tenten presses a tender kiss right in the center of his forehead.

“G’night,” she says, lowering back to her feet in full.

Neji does not move from that spot for quite some time, reveling in the ghost of her lips on his skin. He can’t decide whether he wants her to remember this in the morning or not.

[…]

Her expression pitches into something even stranger when she rounds the bar and approaches Neji due to him being in her path. She stops and meets his eyes, perplexed.

Neji humors himself. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Tenten stares for a second longer, and Neji thinks she might remember after all. He’ll know she does if she returns the question like he did last night. And then…

And then what? He’ll kiss her forehead in turn?

It’s out of the question. Isn’t it? People don’t kiss other people without a specific reason in mind. Is simply wanting to kiss Tenten a valid reason to do so? Has it been all along?

Oh no. Neji does want to kiss Tenten.

Then Tenten shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts. “Déjà vu,” she says, and she walks right past him again.