Archive of Our Own ^beta

Tenten wasn’t one to stray away from a mission to fulfill personal desires but for some reason, everytime she and her team found themselves in Suna, Tenten always seeked out a particular blonde to spend some time with. 

Usually she completes her mission, convinces Neji and Lee to stay in Suna with her for a few more days and then finds Temari and coaxes her into having lunches with her or showing her around the village with the excuse of being bored and not wanting to spend time with Lee and Neji any longer. 

It worked. After a while, Temari didn’t even put up a fight and just went along with whatever Tenten wanted to do with her that day. Tenten sometimes had to wonder if Temari thought of her as a friend; Temari was usually closed off and quiet and besides her witty remarks, Tenten didn’t really know much about her. 

Tenten didn’t try pushing Temari into sharing anything about herself she has yet to feel comfortable sharing with anyone yet alone with someone like Tenten and this was fine. Tenten tried making Temari more comfortable around her by sharing things about herself instead even if said things ended up being a little embarrassing (Temari’s full and bright laugh afterwards made the subtle humiliation totally worth it though).  

“Do you like Temari?” Neji asked one day after Tenten excused herself from training to go find Temari instead. 

“I mean she’s my friend,” Tenten laughed nervously but felt heat creep up her cheeks.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.” Neji said, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You should go; don’t make her wait.” Neji added with a sigh after taking in Tenten’s long silence as a good enough answer.

After that little interaction, Tenten started thinking about Neji’s question more – did she actually like Temari more than friends? She compared her and Temari’s interactions over interactions Tenten had had with her other friends and saw an immediate difference; the moments shared between the two felt more intimate, more personal, more warm . 

Tenten knew she liked Temari’s company before but she never thought past that. But realizing she had started missing her once she was back in Konoha after her missions, was a definite sign that her feelings ran way deeper than she originally presumed. 

Tenten started writing letters to Temari. She hoped her ‘consistency’ wasn’t annoying but when she received lengthy responses back from Temari, she decided she should stop overthinking it; from what little she knew about Temari, it was pretty safe to assume she didn’t have many friends – if any at all – so a writing pal was probably making the blonde happy and if Temari was happy so was Tenten (as sappy as that sounded…).

After a while of back and forth, Temari’s letters started getting a bit more personal and Tenten learned a new side of her, a side probably only exclusive to her going by how closed off she acted around everybody, even her own siblings. 

She talked about the intensity of her training and would sometimes even mention how she was feeling. She said she really liked ice cream but the only one mass available in Suna was something called Polar ice and it was plain vanilla ice cream wrapped in some finicky wrapping and this made her frustrated because it wasn’t what she wanted. She mentioned particularly liking strawberry ice cream and even though it was a popular flavor, Tenten thought it was so Temari; sweet and tangy. 

Tenten offered to take Temari to her favorite ice cream place whenever she would come visit Konoha next and she received a big drawing of a heart from Temari in return. Tenten framed it. 

The next time she was back in Suna, she seeked Temari out almost immediately and neither Neji nor Lee said anything about it. Tenten jumped in Temari’s arms as soon as she saw her and they almost fell to the ground by the unpredictability of the surprise. Temari hugged back, alas a bit more gently as she giggled happily. “I missed you,” Tenten admitted as she pulled back from the hug, gazing into Temari’s soft eyes.

Temari smiled and her eyes glistened under the hot rays of the sun above. “I missed you too,” she rolled her eyes teasingly and if Tenten wasn’t sure she actually had a crush on the blonde before, she was damn sure about it now. 

The rest of Tenten’s mission was spent little with her teammates and more with the object of her affection and nobody said anything about it; Tenten has been working super hard the past couple of months and she counted this as a well deserved break on her part. 

Tenten and Temari had lunches together and they’d usually hang around in Gaara’s greenhouses after, talking for hours upon hours. Kankurou would sometimes join them whenever he was sent down to tend some of the plants when Gaara himself was stuck at the Kage’s desk for longer than anticipated, and he usually gossiped about people Tenten never heard of but this was fine because it still made for good gossip. Temari didn’t entertain it much but she did snicker at some witty remarks either her brother or Tenten made.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone now,” Kankurou said one day after having finished tending Gaara’s plants. 

Tenten turned to Temari, feeling her cheeks burn hotly, “Er-” 

Temari’s own cheeks were tainted a faint pink and the color looked good on her. Feeling absolutely courageous – for whatever unknown reason – Tenten leaned into Temari’s personal space and pressed a quick kiss to her flushed cheeks. Temari looked close to getting up and running away but Tenten’s reassuring gaze kept her in place. “I think you’re really pretty,” Tenten said because at that moment, she didn’t know how to put her feelings into words any better. 

Temari shyly looked to her side, a small frustrated frown settling in between her brows. This didn’t seem like any rejection but instead looked like Temari was trying to sort out her own feelings at her own pace and Tenten let her.

“I think you’re really pretty too,” Temari responded, nudging Tenten’s knee with her palm. “I really like you.” She said so quietly, Tenten barely heard her over the constant buzz of the lamps hanging around the greenhouse. 

Tenten felt a wide smile split across her face as she settled closer to Temari, tucking a stray blond lock behind her ear before pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “I really like you too,” Tenten admitted, her thumb caressing Temari’s cheek lovingly. 

They smiled as they shared a proper kiss.