setup
Really, was this even a surprise setup/blind date, or just an ambush?
She had to hand it to both Ino and Sakura. This had to be one of their most ingenious plots hatched yet.
At least the thought distracted her from what was before her.
Or rather, who.
Who the person was before her, dressed in a gray polo shirt, holding a single gardenia between his thumb and forefinger in a quiet and dimly lit restaurant, slightly smirking at her.
And there she was, with piston oil caked under her fingernails, a gun strapped to a thigh holster hidden under her dress, another tiny one in her handbag, and an AK 47 in its carry-on case. Well, technically she was dressed appropriately for the place, but with the 'accessories' she was toting...
She sighed inwardly.
Really, was this even a surprise-setup/ blind date, or just an ambush?
(And Ino or Sakura never bothered to give her a nailcutter. She was practically itching to clean the dirt under her fingernails.)
There was that unmistakeable sound of a clearing throat.
Tenten supposed this was the social cue for her to look up from where she was staring at the imaginary lint in her purse and look at him in the eye. So she stole imaginary courage from somewhere hidden and stared him in the eye.
And couldn't quite stop the inward sigh from becoming an outward one. Huh. Apparently she had been holding it in.
"Well. I suppose I should've known," was the first thing that came out of her mouth.
"You should've known?" The smirk was replaced by a puzzled frown.
"That Sakura and Ino would pull something like this out of their asses."
He raised an eyebrow at her.
And really, there was no blaming her for what would happen next, because there were times when Tenten opened her mouth and each and every embarrassing truth would come gushing out.
"Of course they would. They've known that I've been crushing on you for ages, and wouldn't lift a single finger to do anything about it. So of course they make a bet, which I'd never pass up, and then make it so that I'd never win, either-" her lip curled up in a sneer, in remembrance of hitting targets late in the dark with girls who were just fake drunks, of course sober people had better aim than those who were pissed, even if the one pissed was a target master-"so that they'd end up with Let's Dress Up Tenten Day!, pick my clothes, and lead me to believe that we're just going out somewhere. Then leave me alone once I freeze up in shock upon seeing you looking like, like, that! Holding a damn huge gardenia in a restaurant with no other people than you and me! With no other explanation, other than the one running in my head-this is a set-up, this is a set-up, this is a set-up!"
It was no wonder Tenten was breathing heavily after that.
He was silent for a moment, then asked, "You don't want this?"
She snapped, "Of course I do! I just told you I like you!"
She glared at him, but he just chuckled at her.
"I like you, too, you know."
She stared at him for a while, and then scoffed, "We both know that." She handed the AK 47 case to him, "Careful with Aiken."
He rolled his eyes at her, taking it with his free hand, "I know." Then he started as she began to walk away, "Are you leaving?"
"Of course not, I need to wash my hands." She told him, waving them both.
He nodded, then called out to her back, "Aren't you going to take the flower?"
She turned to him and smiled, "Later." She started to turn around but faced him again, a positively mischievous smile on her face, "And Neji, you better act your part well in this tiny farce; I'm sure they're somewhere out of earshot, watching us. They don't know we are already dating, after all." Then she turned around and sashayed towards the washroom.
Neji was left staring at her. How did a supposedly enjoyable evening turn into a foreseeably difficult one?
(And Tenten was left thinking of ways to torture two very meddling girl friends. So it was a good thing she had kept the fact that she and Neji were already dating for a week from them, after all? She snickered.)
"What's happening now, Pig?"
"OH. MY. GOD."
"I-i-is that-Holy Hokage Statue, are they KISSING?!"
Cue squealing.
"We are so good, Forehead!"
"Yes! We should start a matchmaking business!"
Sound of a door hitting the wall, hard.
"What is this little matchmaking business, I hear? You seem to have left me out, girls."
A sneer, and a heavily twitching eye.
GULPS.
Try interchanging the nejiten to sasusaku, and piston oil to blood, and there you have it, a sasusaku fic! HA. And so I realize that my writing's too general, oh no.
And did you see how I blatantly ignored canon? Basically this is my f*ck you! to Kishimoto. (And that there was the reason for the T rating.)
Please review! I know readers aren't obligated to review, but they do fuel our desire to write, especially for that particular fandom. Or at least just review to point out grammatical errors or typos. Ha. Thank you!
