Hidden Leaf High

Chapter 1: First Day

My name is Tenten and I'm going to Hidden Leaf High this year. It's my first year in high school and I'm very excited to go with all my friends. Speaking of those friends, it's about time to go get them so we can walk to school…

Lee's House

One of my best friends is Rock Lee, he's a little odd but he's loyal and kind, and very fun to be around. He loves the color green and he has short black hair, he lives alone because his parents abandoned him at birth. Although looking at him you'd never guess his past because he's always so happy. His past is kind of like mine; except my parents died…I've been raising myself since I was 7. I smile everyday too, and most people don't know about my parents…Lee's one of the few.

I knocked on Lee's door, and it flung open revealing Lee with a green towel on his head and a toothbrush in his mouth. He flashed me a big smile and the brush dropped to the floor. "Hi Lee, running late this morning?" He nodded and gestured me in the house while continuing to dry his hair. I picked up the toothbrush and ran it under some water in the kitchen sink, then handed it to him. He thanked me and ran off to finish brushing his teeth. Lee's house was small; it only had 3 rooms, a bathroom, kitchen and his bedroom, which also had a couch in it for guests. I felt sort of bad…his house was so tiny, even I had a little more room then this, though not by much. 5 minuets later Lee was ready, hair dry, teeth brushed and backpack in hand. He grabbed my arm and we ran off to Neji's house.

Neji and Hinata's House

My other best friends are Hyuuga Neji and Hinata. No they're not married, they're cousins. Although they act like brother and sister…Neji's very overprotective especially about a certain blond boy…but you'll hear about him later. Neji is also very quiet, mostly he says "hn". He has really long brown hair and lavender eyes. I've actually never asked why. Hinata has the same eyes, but her hair is more of a purple…it's very odd. She's also quiet, but not in the Neji way: the indifferent, cold quiet, but in the shy and nervous quiet.

Lee and I approached the Hyuuga compound, yes compound. They're part of a big clan…so they have multiple mansions, every time we come it never ceases to amaze me how rich they are. I knocked on the door, and it was opened by none other then…HYUUGA NEJI! "Hn. You're late Tenten, Lee."

"That would be my fault Neji, I ran late this morning. You may punish me however you like for oversleeping," Lee piped in.

"Hn. Unnecessary. Hinata are you ready?" A rather frazzled looking girl ran up behind Neji and nodded. She greeted Lee with a wave and me with a hug and we set off towards the high school.

"Sooooooooo, anyone else excited about the new school year," I asked.

"Tenten…we go over this every year. Its just school."

"I know, but Neji this year," I flicked his nose (he hates when I do that), "is high school!"

"Stop…doing that."

"Hmm…nope!" Hinata and Lee smiled at us; Neji and I do this every morning. We have fake arguments, I flick his nose, he trips me…speaking of tripping. "Owww! Neji that one really hurt!" He offered his hand to help me up. Lee ran ahead of us and I pointed towards the high school before linking arms with both Hyuugas. "ONWARD TO HIGH SCHOOL!" Hinata giggled, Neji rolled his eyes and Lee laughed and ran faster.

School Courtyard

So here we were, in front of the looming building and in front of the mass of nervous students. "You know, high school is where all the drama begins…"

"Hn."

"Oh no…really?"

"Yosh! We will face drama with confidence and not let it get us down!" Truthfully I was a bit nervous…and I had a feeling Lee could tell, because he hugged me and told me not worry. Now about Lee hugging me, no we're not dating and I don't think we ever will. Lee is like the brother I never had, I feel fine hugging him. Our relationship is strictly platonic. As for the other boy I'm best friends with…Neji? No way! Never, he's too…emotionless. I've never felt anything for him…I think? I happened to look over at him while thinking this and he shot me a confused look, which was returned with a nervous smile as I quickly shook my head, signifying 'nothing'. I don't think he bought it though…cause he looked at me skeptically. My thoughts were interrupted by a pink haired running up to me in a enveloping me in a giant bear hug.

"TENTEN," she squealed.

"Hi Sakura!" She then ran to Hinata and hugged her too. That my friends, is Haruno Sakura, she's a very smart girl, and very popular with the boys too. She only has interest in one though. His name is Uchiha Sasuke, but more about him later. Sakura has NATURAL pink hair, that's another thing I've never bothered to ask…hmm. Following behind her came two boys, one was the blond guy I mentioned earlier and the other is the infamous Sasuke. The blond is Uzumaki Naruto. He is hyperactive, crazy…and a prankster. In middle school, on the day we had a new teacher he hitched up a chalk eraser to fall on his head. Too bad the teacher's hair was already white…so it didn't have that much effect. Sasuke is another story; he is very much like Neji…except Sasuke has a lot more girls lusting after him because of his supposed hotness. I don't see it, personally I think Neji's much cuter…WAIT WHAT THE HELL!? I didn't just think that…no I didn't. NEVER HAPPENED! Anyway! Sasuke has black hair…that I think looks like a chickens ass, ask Sakura about that and she gets all-defensive about "her Sasuke's hair!"

"TENTEN!! HINATA!!" Naruto was yelling and waving as he dragged Sasuke to come greet us. He gave Hinata and I hugs, but Sasuke just nodded. The bell for first period rang and that signified we each only 5 minuets to find our lockers with our class schedules inside. I ran into the building with Lee, Neji and Hinata trailing behind me. I discovered that Lee had the locker next to me, and a girl with blond hair in four pony tails had the other. She looked at me, and said "hey." I smiled and returned the greeting. "My name's Temari."

"Cool, I'm Tenten. Who's your homeroom teacher?"
"The pervert teacher Kakashi."

"Me too…but wait…he's a pervert?"

"So I've heard. I guess we'll see." I walked to class with her, because Lee had a different homeroom and I hadn't seen anyone else since I had ran inside.

Homeroom

We reached the classroom to see Naruto fighting with Sasuke over something, and the rest of class laughing and playing around. "What the hell," asked Temari. I took a seat next to her and Naruto ran over. "Hey Tenten! Who's your friend?"

"This is Temari." Temari smiled and Naruto put a finger to his chin.

"Where have I heard that name before…OH YEAH! You're Shikamaru's girlfriend aren't you?" Temari blushed and nodded. Girlfriend? Shikamaru had a girlfriend…oh boy was Ino not gonna be happy. "Naruto where's the teacher?" He shrugged.

"Late I guess." We all went the rest off the period without any teacher showing up, and our class was so loud that no heard the bell ring. I looked down at my watch though and saw that it rang 3 minuets ago. I yelled over all the noise that we were going to be late and everyone ran out the room in a panic. Temari and I ran to our lockers, grabbed our books for the next class and said good bye. I raced off to my next class, which was science. On the way I ran into something…hard. "Ouch…"

"Tenten." I looked up to see Neji.

"Oh god, sorry Neji. I was scared I'd be late…"

"Understandable." I asked him what class he had and Neji said he had the same as me. So we walked off together towards the science room.

Science Lab 1

Lee was in this class sitting with Shino, another friend of mine who wore sunglasses all the time. Never bothered to ask why to that either…anyway! He loved bugs, so obviously science was his favorite class. I waved and Shino lifted his hand in greeting while Lee flashed me his giant smile. Neji and I sat together and waited for the teacher. A woman with black hair and red eyes walked in after a few minuets looking very angry. The class decided not to ask why. "Alright, my name is Kurenai…but you obviously add sensei to that. Now open your text books to chapter 1 and read. Close your books when you're done and prepare to discuss." I looked at Neji who was already reading, ever the bookworm. I thought about when I had bumped into him…has he always been that muscular…WHOA! Where the hell did that come from?! Stop it Tenten! Bad girl! Shaking my head I lowered my head to read from the textbook, vaguely still thinking of Neji.

English

After discussing the earth and its rotation class was over and I was already walking to English, when I heard Hinata yelling my name. "TENTEN!! Wait!" I stopped and looked back, waiting for her to catch up. "Hi Hinata, how far did you run to find me…?"

"Not…far. What…class do you…have?"
"English. You?"

"Same…" she smiled and when Hinata had recovered from her run we started to walk again.

"Hinata…I need to talk to you later…it's important, ok?" She nodded and we walked into the English to see a black haired man standing at the front. "Hello girls, take a seat please." We did so and I noticed Shikamaru, sitting in the back of the class. I waved and he gave a lazy wave back, before placing his head on his desk again. "Ok class, open your books…and let's dive into the wonderful world of poetry!"

History

This was the first class I hadn't walked with a friend to. I was nervous, what if none of my friends were in this class. Sitting alone sucks…I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Sakura and Ino in the room, and they invited me over to sit with them.

Study Hall

Next was study hall, which was lucky because so far I had to read another chapter in science, think about the deeper meanings in three poems and write a quick essay about the Romans. In other words: no one had any pity on the new students on their first day. "Is this seat taken?" I looked up and saw Neji, and I shook my head. He sat down next to me, and looked at my homework. "Hm…I have more."

"Lucky you then."

"Actually no…I'm not looking forward to writing two essays and doing 30 math problems." I smiled; finally he doesn't like his homework. Thank heavens, Hyuuga Neji is finally normal. He kept looking at me while I was working…it didn't really bother me, but I was curious why. "Neji…what does you think this means? On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before!
Then the bird said, Nevermore."

"I think it means the bird is leaving Tenten."

"Really…I didn't notice. As deep as you are, you aren't very good at poetry."

"Why thank you." I laughed, he's so…serious, but yet…not. Neji is an enigma…one I wanted to solve. There I go AGAIN! WHAT THE HELL?! I need Hinata…

"Well, Neji…I think it means, that the man in the poem has lost everything he loved…and he's alone. The bird was a companion, once it's gone…nevermore to return his hope for a friend leaves again." He stared at me for a minute, his expression unreadable.

"You're…very good at poetry Tenten. Your description was…beautiful." I almost blushed, Neji rarely praised anyone, and that was one of the nicest things he's said to me. Just then the bell rang and we both stood up and walked to lunch.

Lunch

I sat with Hinata on the grass as I explained all my thoughts to her. "I think you…like Neji."

"WHAT!?!"

"I think you have a crush on Neji."

"No, no way. Uhh…no! He's one of my best friends."

"Exactly."

"Huh?"
"He doesn't talk to any other girls but me, who else who he like?"

"Umm…can I get a lifeline?"

"No one."

"Point taken…but still!"
"Everyone else knew it would happen. The sooner you admit, the better. Just accept it. Meanwhile Lee and I will work on cracking Neji."
"That could take a long time, plus I'm not even sure! I had a lot of sugar last night, I could be just feeling those effects."

"Uh huh…sure."

"Just…don't tell Lee yet. Give it at least another day."

"Fine."

Gym

Once all the girls had changed a man ran into the gym and yelled something about youth, then told us to run 5 laps. I am pretty athletic so I was the fastest girl, and was running next to the faster guys. "Hey." There he was again! God, every time he sees me…wait. I'm one of his best friends…never mind! It makes sense for him to talk to me.

"Hiya Neji! Having fun running?"
"Sure."

"Relax, just let loose for once will you?"

"Will I? No. Thanks for asking though." Sarcastic jerk…

"Meanie."

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to make you think I was mean. This is just the way I am…don't you like me like this?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?"
"A reasonable one."

"Well I'm your friend aren't I?"
"True…"

"So, what's your question then?"

"Tell me what you think my question is." He's teasing me…about how I asked him what the poem meant! What a jerk…why AM I friends with him? Well, cause he's nice and he defends you…gives good advice. He's funny in his own way…and cute. Scratch that last one. So I guess that's why…hmm.

"I think your question is if I would change anything about you…the answer is…no. I like you just the way you are." I flicked his nose, and stared at him. Neji looked…confused, it was as if he expected me to say something different.

Archery

After gym I had math and then home economics…both were uneventful unless you count Chouji eating everything we made…it was time for my elective, archery. I was excited cause I had always been great with weapons and I had nearly perfect aim. Neji was in this class too, but he seemed kind of zoned out. He never hit one bullseye and when I asked what was wrong he just nodded. I'm going to have to get Hinata to find out what's wrong with him…he's been weird ever since gym.

Free Period

I had a free period with Lee, and I seriously considered telling him about Neji, but decided against it…I wanted Hinata to try to find out something first. I did my math homework and worked more on my essay…but it was hard to concentrate with Neji's face in your mind constantly.

After School

Neji, Hinata, Lee and I were all walking home laughing and talking as normal. I just felt awkward but I don't know why. I kept thinking about Hinata and the fact that she thought I liked Neji. We had reached my house and I said goodbye to them, I gave Hinata a look and she nodded. This signified that she would try to find something out.

7:00 PM

RIIIIING

The phone was ringing, and I was in the middle of dinner. "Hello?"

"Tenten!"

"Hinata…I'm kind of busy eatin-"

"This is more important!"

"Ok…"

"I think Neji likes you…in fact I'm almost sure. He came up and told me what you said in gym, about not changing anything about him…he asked what that meant. He looked so confused."

"Ok…what does that mean?"

"It means he wants to know what you meant by it! Meaning he thinks it might mean you like him…"

"Oh. Hinata as much as it pains me to say…I think I do like him. I mean, I kept thinking about him all day…and I could barely write my essay. Twice, TWICE, I randomly wrote his name down. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Nothing…it's normal."

"If this is normal, I don't want to be. I gotta go Hinata, my food's getting cold."

"Oh sorry, night. I'll work on Neji, and we'll tell Lee tomorrow right?"

"Yeah sure…thanks. Night."

9:00 PM

As I am trying to fall asleep, I keep thinking of Neji…err…I hate this. Stupid Neji, stupid crush, STUPID HIGHSCHOOL!!