Miss Independent
Chapter One:: Subtle Feelings
"HOORAY! Springtime is upon us!! This is a time for love, a time for...YOUTH!!!" Lee's vibrant voice rang out through the streets of Konoha, earning him a disapproving sigh from the Hyuuga prodigy walking beside him.
Their female companion however, just gave him a weak smile. Tenten wondered silently if Lee would ever outgrow his overly optimistic and cheerful demeanor. She also wondered, with a bitter chuckle, if Neji would ever outgrow his icy, emotionless demeanor. Or would that be an oxymoron...?
Lee gasped suddenly and turned to her, "Look! It's Sakura-san!! Quick, tell me Tenten-chan, do I currently look appealing to the opposite sex?!"
Tenten's eyes widened in surprise before she answered, "Uh...sure Lee, you look very...appealing." was her absentminded answer. But then she realized that it was actually true, at least on some level. The green jumpsuit that he refused to discard, his large vest and bright orange legwarmers that hid his training weights made him look an awful lot like Gai-sensei, but he had also grown into the unmistakable features on his face, like his eyes and his infamous eyebrows. Plus he had muscles, and girls love muscles, right?
As Lee greeted the smiling Sakura when she walked over, Tenten couldn't help but be confused at her friend's sudden concern in his appearance. She could see him constantly pulling on his vest as he talked to the pink-haired medic-nin, purposely flexing his muscles and not to mention that he looked quite nervous. Lee had never cared much about his own looks before, so why would he suddenly change?? Unless a certain something was happening between them...
Well Tenten's face turned quite red as she considered the possibilities.
As if reading her mind, Neji turned to her and whispered quietly into her ear, "He's been acting like this for quite a while when you were on your mission. It probably has to do with her and Sasuke becoming so seperate because of his recent becoming ANBU. Lee feels as if this is his time to…strike."
Neji's hot breath on her ear and neck as he whispered to her made Tenten turn an ever brighter shade of red and sent a few chills down her spine, but she pulled it together and looked at him curiously with a smirk on her face, "What are you, 'Gossip King'?"
Leaning back from her only shrugged, "When you were gone I only had Lee to talk to most of the time, and he knows more about Sakura than I ever wanted or needed to know but he still insisted on tell me everything."
Tenten smiled with a hint of a condescending smirk, "You missed me didn't you?"
Before she could coax an answer out of him, Sakura broke off her short conversation with Lee and engulfed her in a large bear hug.
"Tenten-chan, you're finally back!!!" she squealed. Tenten had always despised squealing, but she made exceptions for Sakura and (sometimes) Ino, "How was your first mission as a Jounin? Was it exciting?! Who's team are you on again?"
Sakura's made questions made Tenten laugh a bit. "It was great." She replied, 'great' being the only word she could think of, "I could tell they gave me an easy mission to start me off, just retrieving some info on Hidden Star, but it was exciting nonetheless. And I'm on Shikamaru's team with Naruto and Chouji also."
"Tenten-chan was in many heroic battles, weren't you?" Lee looked to the weapons mistress and flashed her and eager smile.
"Well I wouldn't call them heroic per say, but I did have to bash a few heads in." Tenten said jokingly, knowing that Neji wouldn't be impressed, but she did secretly hoped that he had been worrying about her while she was away, "But Naruto...he had a bit of an infatuation..." she continued.
"You better not be telling them about Kiko!!!" The small group turned to see a flustered Naruto running toward them, screaming his lungs out.
"I think that you just told them," Tenten said when Naruto had reached them.
"Wait!!" Lee said despairingly, "Who's Kiko?!"
"I need to hear this," Sakura said, smiling and cocking her eyebrow. Even Neji looked moderately intrigued.
Naruto gave Tenten a sour look, "Fine, just tell them." He sighed.
Tenten dove right into the story, telling it with great enthusiasm, "Well Romeo over here," she said jerking her thumb at her new teammate, "insisted on becoming 'friends' with the daughter of the man we were going after."
"We were there to kill her father and steal all his records about Hoshigakure!" Naruto interrupted, explainin, "The least I could do was show her a. good time!!"
A mischievous smirk crept across Tenten's face, "You didn't have to 'show her a good time' IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR FIGHT WITH HER FATHER!!!" Tenten put her hands on her hips and mock-yelled at him. She let this information sink in to the rest of the group.
"AAAHHHHH!!! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???!!!" Was the reaction across the board.
Tenten was all too happy to recount the fight, "So here Shikamaru, Chouji and I are, fighting off the target, her father, and probably ten or twelve other people that are trying to protect these records, though I have NO idea why, and there Naruto was, completely oblivious and just...you know!!"
"Baby makin'." Naruto inserted with a grin (oh that was a very disturbing pun).
Neji glanced over at Tenten, both of them wearing an 'I'm-going-to-hit-Naruto-pretty-soon' look on their faces, "He's just like Jiraiya." Neji said flatly.
Tenten nodded at him before adding to her story, "If I recall Naruto, you were VERY dramatic about the whole thing. Your exact words were 'GO AHEAD, KILL ME RIGHT HERE!!! YOUR DAUGHTER WILL BE THE LAST WOMAN I EVER TOUCH!!' And then you made a big show of helping her escape so Shikamaru wouldn't attack her." Tenten and the others laughed as Naruto stuck out his bottom lip and blushed embarrassed.
"I'm sure she'll still be the last woman he ever touches," Neji added...jokingly? Maybe the great Hyuuga Neji had just graced them with his humorous side. And he was smirking like there was no tomorrow, which made even Naruto laugh a bit before he realized the snarky comment was directed at him.
"Heeeeeeeeeeey…!!" Naruto whined, pouting.
Feeling an awkward silence coming on and wanting to avoid it, Sakura decided to hit Naruto playfully in the back of his head.
"OWWWWWW!!" he screamed again, "What was that for??!!?"
"Because I can." The medic-nin grinned sweetly at him.
Naruto began complaining about the new bump on his head and Sakura gasped, "Oh!! I almost forgot!" she looked at Tenten, "So Tenten, my birthday is coming up in a couple days, and I'm having a party!" Sakura grinned mischievously, squinted her eyes and leaned to whisper the last part to the older girl "And get this; I found a bar that I can have the party at, and they'll let me and everyone else have alcohol even though I'm only 17!!"
A laugh escaped out of Tenten's mouth when Sakura said this. Everyone knew that the innocent pink-haired girl was trying out a rebellious streak, and getting drunk was at the top of her list, "That sounds great Sakura," Tenten played along, "I'll even get smashed with you. Hell, I'm sure I can find some other alcohol veterans for you." The eighteen-year-old Lee was at the top of that list. Tenten had never thought he would be much for drinking, but recent parties had proved her wrong. And damn, Lee was pretty freaky when he got even a sip of alcohol in his system.
Sakura giggled evilly, if that's even really possible, "Great!! It's the 28th, so in two days!! Down at The Kichigai Bar."
Tenten nodded and said that she would most definitely be there, and was then pulled aside by a frantic-looking Rock Lee, "Tenten-chan!! I need your help! You're a girl, correct?"
The weapons mistress could feel her right eyebrow twitching.
Lee realized what he had said and apologized fiercely, "I'm so sorry dear Tenten!! Of course I realize that our beautiful blossom is a girl—no—now she is a WOMAN!!" Tenten's eyebrows were still twitching a bit, despite Lee's apology, "What I meant to ask," Lee continued, "is if you were knowledgeable about girly stuff. Girly stuff that...Sakura would...like..." he shuffled his feet around nervously.
The eyebrow twitching stopped instantly when Lee blushed and mentioned Sakura, "You want to get her a birthday present don't you?" Tenten chirped cheerfully.
Dramatic tears of joy lined Lee's eyes as he pressed his palms together and cried out, "You understand!!! Yes!! I want to get the beautiful Sakura-san the perfect gift to show her my intense feelings for her!!!" Lee embraced Tenten in an...intense hug. Intense was a very good word to describe Lee.
Seeing Tenten and Lee talking in such animated voices reminded Neji that he hadn't said much to her really since she had gotten back from her first Jounin mission. He started walking toward her, but Sakura stepped in front of him hastily, making his pupil less eyes widen in confusion at the secretive look she was giving him.
"Neji-san, I need to tell you something serious," she said pointing a finger at the Hyuuga prodigy.
Neji was slightly taken aback, but soon regained his cool, "What?"
"Well, Neji, I need you—"
"No." he replied icily before she could continue.
Sakura stamped her foot on the ground impatiently and embarrassed, "Not like that!!" she whispered loudly. Neji mentally wiped his forehead in relief, "My birthday party is also a surprise congratulation party for Tenten and her recently becoming a Jounin!! And because her 18th birthday was on the 9th, but she was away on her mission so we couldn't celebrate it with her." she tried to keep her voice low so Tenten couldn't hear, but the last part came out louder than she planned.
"And what do you need me for?" Neji was much taller than Sakura, so he could see over the top of her head that Tenten and Lee were off together to the shopping part of town. 'Damn.'
Seeing that Tenten had vacated the vicinity, Sakura now talked in her normal bubbly voice, "Well I need YOU to help ME pick out a good present for her." (haha...this is déja vu right?)
"And I know exactly what you're going to say," she continued, stopping Neji from opening his mouth, "' Don't you know her well enough to pick out a present?' or 'do it yourself, blah, blah, blah' but you know her better than anyone in the WORLD, soooooooo, I want you to help me. And you can get her a present too while we're shopping. Now come oooonnnnnnn." Sakura whined impatiently, pulling on his arm and dragging him off to the shopping part of Konoha that Neji had seen Tenten and Lee run off to.
'How did I get myself into this…?' Neji thought despairingly as the abnormally strong girl dragged him with her.
Speaking of Tenten and Lee...they had quickly found a small shop that sold one thing that Sakura had always loved; jewelry. Whenever she wasn't working shifts at the hospital, or assisting Chuunin and Jounin on missions, she loved to add an accessory to her outfit.
"Tenten-chan! Look at these earrings!!" Lee was gushing over another piece of jewelry that he was considering buying for Sakura.
Tenten smiled at him and the earrings. They were small dark silver hoops that shone and glinted in the sunlight. Tenten adored them instantly, "They are very pretty. Beautiful but subtle."
"Just like my love for her!!!!" Lee had tears of joy in his eyes.
The earrings were quickly snatched away from Lee and placed on another table by a chuckling Tenten, "I don't think so Lee. Your love is more...loud and expressive."
"And..." Lee pouted playfully.
Eyes rolled, "And very youthful." Tenten smiled and Lee was very pleased with her answer, "Now let's try and find something else."
"I can't believe we found gifts for Tenten so quickly!!" Sakura's eyes were bright as she and Neji left the weapons store where they had shopped for none other than the weapons mistress herself, "I mean, when I told the others, it took them forever to find the right present! You're a miracle worker Neji!!" he rolled his eyes at the sincere smile she gave him, but he did returned a small grin nonetheless.
"Well I know how much being a successful Jounin means to her, so something to help her performance only seems fitting." He looked over at the bag that Sakura was holding that contained a rare scroll he knew that Tenten had been looking for, and then looked down at his own bag that had a close range combat short sword in it. He had had her name engraved in it. It seemed frivolous to him at first, until he realized that it would make the gift all the more personal.
"Say, I will engrave the pretty girl's name into this short sword for only a smaaaall price!" the shopkeeper had said persuasively.
Neji had most definitely been hesitant at first, "I don't really think that's necessary…"
"Nonsense!" the shopkeeper had gone on, "It makes the gift much more…hmmm, personal. She'll love it, love it, love it." And so Neji had caved under the man's skillful advertising.
'I'm not even sure why I wanted this present to seem so personal,' Neji thought to himself. He cleverly kept the feeling of nervousness he was feeling to himself as well.
"Sakura..." Neji said thoughtfully, trying to keep his mind off of Tenten, "Why did you decide to stay a Chuunin and not even take the Jounin test? I'm sure you could've become an elite ninja easily, so why not?"
A blush teased at Sakura's cheeks when she heard Neji's compliment, for it was a rare occurrence to be flattered by the infamous Hyuuga boy, "Thank you Neji-san, but I don't think I could handle the stress of being a Jounin," she answered truthfully, "I like being a Chuunin. It gives me freedom, but keeps me grounded, you know what I mean?" she glanced at Neji with a serious expression.
"Hn." Was the reply. He wasn't really sure if he understood.
"Ooohh..." Sakura's face softened when she saw the jewelry store at the end of the street, "C'mon Neji-san!! Let's go inside!!! Pleeeeassssseee Neji!!??" she started to whine and pull on his arms when she saw the apprehension in the Hyuuga boy's eyes and body language.
After a bit of grumbling and more whining, Neji and Sakura had entered the rather large jewelry store, in which Sakura now started ogling anything shiny or pink or, Neji shuddered, both.
"Sakura, if you're going to be shopping for yourself, I think that I'll go," he said heading toward the door casually, "because I've gotten everything I need for Tenten's present."
The pink-haired kunoichi whipped around to face Neji and clasped her hands together romantically, "Oh NEJI!! That's so thoughtful...and...romantic!! You could get Tenten JEWELRY!!"
Neji's eyebrows raised a bit above his deceivingly emotionless eyes, 'What exactly is she thinking...?'
"Sakura, I don't really think that jewelry will help Tenten become a better ninja." he said the first excuse that came to his mind.
He got a wink in return, "But it will improve her love performance!!"
'I don't get women like Sakura. Does she think that there's something going on between me and Tenten? Or is she just trying to get me riled up.' Thoughts swirled around in Neji's head as he followed Sakura further into the store. He would have traded his Byakugan for mind reading powers at that moment just to discover what was running through Sakura's plotting mind.
"Okay," she said stopping at a table with various earrings arranged on it, "I think that Tenten has her ears pierced—"
"She does." Neji informed her quickly. He swore that he could see Sakura smirk knowingly as she watched him lean over to look at the earrings on the table, "What about these?" he said standing up straight and holding out a box with a pair of silver hoops in it. They just happened to be the same hoops that Tenten had admired earlier.
Meanwhile, Tenten's ears perked when she heard two voices coming from nearby. Lee had found a small silver ring with a bright pink jewel on it that perfectly suited Sakura and had gone to buy it at the counter; leaving Tenten to roam around the store aimlessly while Lee bartered loudly with the owner about the price. ("My good sir, this is a beautiful ring, but this price is rather…ugly." "Well whaddaya want me to do about it?" "Well I'm glad you asked because I was thinking that we could give this price a makeover." "Huh?" "Lower the price please.")
"Oh. My. Gosh. It's...they're...wow...beautiful!! They're gorgeous!!!" Tenten had walked toward the voices and had peaked through a shelf displaying gaudy, plastic rings and could now clearly hear and see a squealing Sakura bobbing up and down. she saw an outstretched hand with the small dark silver hoops in it, but she couldn't quite see the person attached to the hand. 'Oops...maybe I should've let Lee buy those earrings...'
"Oh NEJI!!!"
'Yeah Neji...wait WHAT???!!!' A record skipped in Tenten's head when she heard Sakura sigh and say Neji's name like that. When she shifted her weight and cocked her head at a 45 degree angle she could also clearly see that Neji was the one holding the earrings out to Sakura.
"Good," he grunted, clutching the earring box and heading toward the cashier, "I'm buying them then."
"Honestly Neji," Tenten heard Sakura say as they walked slowly out of her line of vision, "They're lovely. I never knew you could be so thoughtful!!"
Tenten looked down at the ugly blue carpet that surrounded her feet defeated, and only raised her hand in greeting to Lee, who had walked up to her and was giving her a thumbs up and thanking her for her for all her help in wooing 'the enchanting Sakura-san'.
'Enchanting indeed.' Tenten thought bitterly as she and Lee exited the store.
Neji was trying to block out Sakura's incessant chattering to him while he was paying for the earrings. He remembered the exact words that had come to his mind when she saw them, 'beautiful but subtle'. He had had the same reaction to them as Tenten had, but he didn't know that.
'Beautiful but subtle. Just like my feelings for her.' He thought of a certain brunette kunoichi with soft eyes and a smile.
Ahhhh!!! There was WAY too much Neji/Sakura stuff in there. But it ignited jealousy!! Give me a break, this is my first fanfic. Now review, pretty please? Because I'm a very sensitive person, and I'll be sad if you don't. D;
Mori