"Hey! Wake up! Come on, come on. We're gonna be late for the first day of senior year if you don't hurry yourself out of bed!" screamed a loud, obnoxious voice mere inches from Tenten's ear. Almost mechanically, she grabbed her pillow from behind her head and buffeted whoever had so rudely woken her up. "Hey! I just did my hair! Jerk!" Ah, so it was Ino who had been so kind to wake her up. And who was now running to the bathroom to fix her long, blonde hair.
Looking back, having a sleep over with Ino, Sakura, and Hinata-at Hinata's huge house, of course–probably hadn't been the best of ideas. Especially not right before the first day of her last year of high school. Still, the opportunity had been too tempting to resist, even if she was regretting it a bit right now. Tenten rolled over and glanced at her cell phone. 7:10. Well, that left her with a solid 20 minutes to get ready, unless Sakura or Hinata tried to rush them out early. After hastily grabbing her uniform and morning equipment (toothbrush, hair ties, et cetera) out of her sleeping bag, Tenten stumbled out of Hinata's room.
Her movement was cut short by something large and hard. Someone's chest? Blinking sleepily, she looked up into the pale eyes of Neji Hyuga. Adopted as he was by Hinata's father, he lived with Hinata, her father, and her little sister Hanabi. "Oh, hey. Good morning, eternal rival," Tenten chimed brightly, if a little tiredly. His eyes narrowed slightly; he hated it when she called him that. "We're zero and zero right now, but by the end of today I'll be ahead!" she proclaimed happily.
Neji rolled his eyes at this. "Well, you won't have that chance if you're late to school," he stated simply. "So you might want to get ready." Spotting the uniform in her arms, he smirked. It was a well-known fact that Tenten hated the uniform and only wore it because it was required. Still, she wore it a few sizes too big, just because she felt it was 'too revealing' when it fit properly. Cute, he thought, smirking again.
Huffing, Tenten crossed her arms, trying in vain to hide the uniform. "Stop smirking at me, Hyuga!" she demanded, a little frown on her lips.
"No," he answered simply, the smirk still on his face. "I don't think I will. See you at school, Tenten," Neji said idly, turning to leave. Surprised, Tenten noticed that he was already completely dressed and ready to go. Of course, Mr. Perfect Hyuga would be early on the first day of school. Her traitorous eyes skimmed over the back of his broad shoulders and down his back to– "Stop staring, Tenten," he called as he continued to walk, not even bothering to look back.
She fought down a blush. "Why would I stare at you? Stop being so self-centered, Hyuga!" she shot back, glad he wasn't looking at her; she was sure by now she was blushing deep pink. "Conceited freak," she muttered rebelliously as she wandered into the bathroom. Still muttering to herself about idiotic men, Tenten took a quickly stripped out of her sleeping clothes, completely grateful she'd showered the night before. Quickly she pulled on her white thigh-high socks, and then absentmindedly slipped on her grey skirt, zipping it up in the back and then smoothing it down.
...wait, something was wrong. When she smoothed it down, the material of the skirt hardly reached to mid-thigh. Normally it went a few inches past. And since when did the waistband fit perfectly? She always wore her clothes a few sizes big, so she should've needed a belt. Frowning, she looked in the mirror. Had she gained weight since the end of junior year?
Her brows furrowed in confusion, she tugged on her plain white, short-sleeved shirt and buttoned it up, tying the small red tie around her neck, too. The shirt, though, wasn't right either. It definitely was not supposed to fit this closely. Looking at herself in the mirror, she let out a shriek. Oh, this was definitely not good. In her opinion, it was downright horrible.
"T-tenten! Is something the matter? I heard a scream!" Hinata was the first to pop into the bathroom, concern written all over her pretty face.
"Hey, is someone bleeding? What's wrong?" That was Sakura, the next one to run into the bathroom, looking for an emergency.
Tenten looked at her friends' worried faces and bit her lip. "I'm not hurt, it's just... oh my God, look at my uniform! I must have grabbed the one from freshman year on accident! It's way too small! I need to go home and change, now."
The door opened one more time, and Ino came in. "Dang, girl! Nice rack!" Ino admired, grinning. "Your legs look killer in that skirt, too. Good to know you finally decided to show what you have. So, what was the scream about?"
"Actually, the scream was about her uniform. Apparently she meant to grab one that was several sizes too big, but got her freshman year uniform instead. And it's the right size, which is clearly a big problem for Tenten here," Sakura supplied, as Ino let out a single, confused "huh."
In the meantime, Tenten had put her hand on Hinata' s shoulder. "Hinata. You have to help me out. Do you have a spare uniform shirt or skirt somewhere? Please? If there's no time for me to go home, you need to help me out."
Hinata hook her head, frowning sadly. "I really wish I could help you, but you know my skirt size is the same as yours. A-as for the shirt... well, uh, I need t-to have mine tailored because th-they, ah, they w-wouldn't fit well otherwise," she said, gesturing vaguely but frantically to her chest area.
"Well, we already knew Hinata has the biggest rack in all the land," Ino supplied dryly. "And now we know Tenten's second, and I'm a close third. And... the whole world knows Forehead here is as flat as a board," she said, seemingly unaware that Sakura was cracking her knuckles threateningly. "So, now that we're all good on cup sizes, could you please hurry up, Tenten? We've got five minutes until we need to go."
"It'll be okay, Tenten!" Hinata said encouraging. "I'm sure no one w-will even notice the difference. And tomorrow you'll be able to wear your... uh, your normal uniform." ("Like hell I'll ever let her wear that shapeless thing again," Ino muttered under her breath) "So could you please just hurry up now? I would hate t-to be tardy today. Come on, Sakura, Ino."
With that, the three other girls exited the bathroom, leaving a very frustrated Tenten in their wake. Sighing, she took one last look in the mirror and put on her normal makeup: eyeliner, mascara, and lip balm. After a few quick brush-strokes, she had her hair tidy enough to make into two loose braids. Two minutes after the other girls had left the bathroom, she grabbed her school bag from Hinata's room and ran down the stairs and into the car where the girls were waiting.
"All right, let's go! Senior year, here we come!" Sakura cheered, pulling out of the Hyuga driveway in record time and driving to school at a speed that had Hinata clutching Tenten's arm in terror. Sakura had always been the craziest driver of them all, and it definitely showed. At 7:35, they pulled into the parking lot, Hinata hyperventilating slightly, Ino giggling, and Tenten's arm red from Hinata's grabbing. "Ah, Konoha High. It is so not good to be back."
"Whatever, Forehead. We all know that you're excited to be back in classes. You're such a nerd," Ino commented snidely as she exited gracefully from Sakura's car, her heels clicking gently on the pavement.
Tenten exited less gracefully, trying her hardest to keep from flashing anyone or showing an inch too much leg. Just a moment after she'd stepped away from the car, she heard a catcall. "Damn, Tenten! I like the uniform!" called Kiba, resident loudmouth and dog lover.
Shino, who was standing near Kiba, merely raised an eyebrow. "Kiba, if you believe that Tenten appreciates the ogling, you are gravely mistak–"
"Dog boy, I swear, if you harass her one more time, I will personally have you neutered!"
"Oh, you really want to get that close to me, Ino? I'm flattered."
"Stupid mutt!" Ino replied angrily, striding in his direction. She pulled her hand back and went to slap him, but before she made contact, he grabbed both of her wrists.
Smirking lightly, he looked at her. "Now, now, Ino. Is that any way to say hello? And after I complimented your friend, too. You should be nicer to me." Without taking his eyes from hers, he brought her right hand up and kissed the palm lightly, then winked at her.
Her face bright red, Ino pulled her hands away from him. "Womanizing ass!" she shouted at him and stomped away to her friends. If Sakura, Hinata, or Tenten thought that her face was red for any reason other than anger, they knew better than to mention it, opting instead to walk into the school in near silence.
After they had walked for a minute together, heading to the office, Tenten began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Boys looked at her, their eyes lingering on her chest and legs just a moment too long, and girls frowned their silent disapproval. "Why are they staring at us?" she asked, annoyed, the moment they reached the office.
"Uh, Tenten. It's because we're hot. Even Forehead over here is at least pretty. And we're seniors, which makes us even more amazing. Get used to it," Ino suggested, taking her schedule and holding it out for the others to see.
"Don't listen to Ino. She's an idiot," Sakura said blandly, glancing at the blonde's schedule. "It's because you did something different. People freak out at change. Give them a bit of time, let habituation sink in, and people will stop staring at you. Simple as that." She looked over Tenten's shoulder at her schedule. "Huh. Yours sucks."
"Well, it looks like we all have l-lunch together, at least. Everyone but Tenten has first period English and fifth Physics... Tenten has them switched. Ah, we all have second hour Calculus together. And Tenten has sixth hour P.E., while Ino has sixth hour Cooking and Sakura and I have Economics. Ino, Sakura, and I have third hour Medical Interventions, while Tenten has Ballistics and Weaponry. Fourth hour is separate f-for all of us. Government for Sakura, Biology for Ino, Economics for Tenten, and Composition for me. Ah, Tenten, your schedule really isn't good," Hinata analyzed, frowning.
Looking at the schedules, Tenten sighed. "Yeah, well, I'll survive, I think. At least we'll have lunch and Calculus together!" At that moment, the bell rang shrilly, making them all jump a little. "Well, looks like it's time to go to first hour! I'll see you girls later!"
"Later!" they all replied in unison.
Tenten made her way over to Physics, one of the classes that she had been most apprehensive about. All of the seniors last year said it was hard and the teacher was strict, and she didn't even have any of her friends in the class. Sighing, she reached the classroom and stepped inside.
Neji brought his eyes up to meet the new arrival's, and they widened in surprise as he discovered it was Tenten, who was looking around the classroom, not paying any attention to him. Taking advantage of her inattention, Neji let his eyes glance over her figure. He was surprised and–though he would never admit it aloud–pleased to see the change in her uniform. Though he personally thought she looked cute with her uniform two or three sizes too big, the smaller, close-fitting uniform was even better. He dragged his eyes back to her face the moment before she noticed him.
"I didn't see you there, eternal rival," she said, her voice slightly mocking, as she made her way towards him. She snagged the empty seat to his left, throwing her back on the floor and plopping down unceremoniously.
A girl seated on Neji's right overheard her remark and snorted, tossing her hair. "'Eternal rival?'" she quoted, her voice incredulous. "What a ridiculous term."
"Isn't it?" Tenten piped up before Neji could reply. This disgust in her voice mirrored that in the other girl's, and she added an eyeroll for good effect. "I got dragged into this by him. Because I lost our last little challenge, I have to call him 'eternal rival' all the time. It must be some sort of weird fetish of his or something," she said breezily.
Next to her, Neji was turning red with irritation, but before he could snap out a denial, the teacher strolled through the door and cleared his throat. "Put everything away, except a pencil and paper," the man decreed. "We're taking a pretest to judge what you all know. It won't be for a grade, unless I notice you all aren't trying. So don't do too horribly. Try to remember how to use your brains."
Tenten stared at her test for a few moments before grinning and picking up her pencil. From what she could see, physics was a lot of math work, and math was her specialty. Her skill at logical reasoning and concrete figures made her naturally strong in most branches of math, and she managed to do fairly well on the test. Or, at least, she hoped so as she handed it in to the teacher, who had already started on grading them.
She was rewarded a few minutes later with a paper marked in red with a 72%–decent, for a pretest. Next to her, Neji had his paper, which showed a red 71%. "Looks like you just lost our first challenge of the year, eternal rival!" Tenten grinned, making a tally in a small notebook she'd pulled from her bag as he, reluctantly, did the same in an almost identical notebook he pulled from his pocket.
"But seriously, Hyuga. I gotta talk to you about our challenges." Neji raised one eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate. "We decided on this first one last year. Whoever got the best score on the first test wins, okay, yeah, yeah. Boring. We're seniors in high school now. Our challenges need to be more... exciting. Don't you think?"
Neji looked at her for a moment, considering the idea. Her pink lips were parted slightly around the end of her pen, which she was sucking on almost thoughtfully–another one of her strange, endearing habits. Just seeing her like that... oh, he could think of other, certainly more exciting challenges, many of which would not be school appropriate. In the least.
Feeling his body heat up, Neji decided perhaps it was a mixed blessing she was wearing her uniform this way. Certainly he wouldn't be able to concentrate very well in his classes for the rest of the day.
Tenten watched as a few, indecipherable emotions flickered across his oddly pale eyes and he gave no sign of answering. When she sighed impatiently, his eyes flickered straight to hers, and he gave a small, confident smirk. She could almost feel herself blushing at the look on his face, the smirk that made the already-handsome male even more attractive. "Oh, don't worry, Tenten. I'm sure we'll think of something... exciting for the our next challenges," he told her, the look in his eyes almost predatory.
The bell rung loudly, saving her from answering. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as her mind was really in no fit state to form a coherent response at that moment.
"Dang, girl! You look about as red as Hinata right now! What, are you trying to be like her? I mean, with the rack and the blush and all that?" Ino asked, loudly, when Tenten intercepted her friends on the way to Calculus.
"Ino-pig," Sakura intoned.
"Yes?" came the innocent reply, accompanied with a small grin from the blonde.
"You're a dumbass."
Ino huffed loudly and glared at Sakura, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, it's better than having a forehead that people would pay to advertise on," she said, pointedly, her crystal blue eyes gazing intently at Sakura's forehead.
Tenten and Hinata simply ignored them, used to the endless spats between the two. When they finally reached the Calculus class, Ino piped up, "So, then, it's decided."
"Huh?" Tenten and Hinata chorused, having tuned out the conversation thus far. Sakura now had an arm slung around Ino's shoulders, and the blonde was fondling her friend's pink hair. "Seriously, you two are such lesbians," Tenten laughed.
"And I thought my day wasn't going to get any better," Kiba said as he walked in, grinning lazily.
Although Ino and Sakura both huffed and separated from each other, they chose not to acknowledge the taunts any further. "As Ino was about to say, we decided we need to send the summer off in style. So, pool party? Just the four of us, at Hina's house. If she's okay with that," Sakura concluded, looking over at Hinata pleadingly. Soon Ino, too, turned her puppy-dog eyes on Hinata. The young Hyuga heiress, never one to resist her friends, crumbled.
"Fine, fine. I suppose I'll speak with my father and s-see if he will allow us to," she sighed, to the happy squeals of the other girls.
Naruto, who had walked in earlier, grinned at this. "Man, now I wanna come too. Kiba, we should talk to Neji and see if he'll let us hang out with them. When were you gonna have it?" he directed at Hinata.
"W-well," she began, a little flushed because of the sudden attention, "p-perhaps, umm, Friday would be b-best? I mean, maybe then y-you girls could stay over as well, if F-Father would allow it. I'm not s-sure if he'd be okay with m-many people."
"Aww," Naruto replied, pouting, "it'd suck if he didn't want us to come. I want to go; I think you'd look cute in a bathing suit, Hinata!"
The girls giggled as Hinata began to turn even redder. "Naruto, you're embarrassing her!" Tenten admonished through her laughter. "That's not the kind of thing you just say to a girl!" She continued, which earned her a surprised look from Naruto. Interpreting his look correctly, she added, "you seem like a pervert. And that's dangerous, considering Neji would become murderous if he detected anyone having less-than-pure intentions to Hinata." Which, she thought, was just a little bit hypocritical of Neji, considering what he's said to her in the previous class.
"Well, I was just being honest," Naruto said, now pouting even more. "Hinata would look cute in a bathing suit. And if Neji gets mad at me for saying it, I'll kick his ass!" he said, a determined look now in his eyes.
Hinata, meanwhile, was pressing her pointer fingers together, a habit she hadn't done since she was a few years younger. "Ummm, I-I don't m-mind, Naruto," she stuttered out, her face now vividly red.
Before Naruto could say one more thing, though, Sasuke grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him off to a desk. "Come on, idiot, you're embarrassing the girl,"he grumbled. As the two walked off, Sakura's eyes remained glued to Sasuke, her tongue unconsciously running over her bottom lip.
"Woah, girl, no raping in class," Ino laughed, catching the expression on Sakura's face. "We all know you love him, yeah, but do you have to be so damn obvious about it?" the beautiful blonde taunted.
"Shut up, stupid pig!" Sakura snapped, her bright green eyes narrowed at her on-and-off best friend. "At least I have a chance with him, unlike you. And unlike the rest of his fanclub."
Ino raised one perfectly-maintained eyebrow. "Oh, Sakura, wherever did you get the idea that I even want a chance with him? That crush was so, so middle school. Or freshman year, whatever. I've moved on to bigger and better things. Seriously," she said, a wicked grin on her face. "So you can keep emo boy over there to yourself, if you want him."
As they all watched Ino, the bell rang, and the teacher came in before they could question her further.
The rest of the class passed without much interesting happening. Tenten actually ended up paying close attention to the lesson; she'd always liked math classes, and Calculus seemed both fascinating and challenging, almost enjoyable.
The rest of her first day, to Tenten's disappointment, was similarly uninteresting. Not that all of her classes are boring, exactly, just nothing thrilling. Well, Ballistics and Weaponry seemed promising, but the class was so small she could tell that it wouldn't be fun, exactly, just interesting. Economics, which seemed full of the stupidest people of her age, seemed like it would be far too boring. And English, a subject she nearly always hated, wasn't any better than normal.
Her gym class, thankfully, was the last hour of the day, so she wouldn't have to go to the rest of her classes all sweaty and gross. As the teacher announced that they'd be doing diagnostic tests in the mile run, push-ups, and sit-ups, she was even more thankful. There wasn't a chance in the world that her hair would still look even okay when she was done with the activities. And she wouldn't want to change out of her gym shorts and t-shirt and back into that disgustingly tight uniform when she was sweaty, so it was all for the best.
After all of the students had gathered in the center of the gymnasium floor, the teacher called out for each student to find a partner. Before Tenten could move, she felt a presence behind her, and she whirled to face Neji Hyuga. "Oh, eternal rival! You're going to be my partner?" she quipped cheerfully.
"Anyone else would be unbearable to work with," he said tonelessly, his light eyes searching hers. "Are you going to do the tasks first, or should I?"
She gave a small shrug. "I don't care. I guess I'll go. Are we doing this for points? Like a challenge?" she asked, her eyes lighting slightly at the idea of competition.
His blank look was nearly as noncommittal as her shrug. "I suppose we can, if you don't mind losing to me," he taunted, smirking at her.
"What did I tell you about smirking at me, Hyuga?" she demanded, her eyes narrowed as she attempted to threaten him. All she succeeded in doing, he thought, was looking adorable and nearly as threatening as a small puppy. Before he could respond, though, the whistle blew and the teacher called out for all of the first group to line up for the run.
The whistle blew again, and Neji started the stopwatch he'd been given, then looked up as Tenten broke into a quick sprint to get ahead of the whole group. Once she was free to move, she eased into a quick but steady stride, her arms pumping and her hair streaming out behind her. Although some of the people in the class exclaimed as Tenten took the lead and showed no signs of slowing, even through her second lap of four, Neji wasn't surprised. He'd always seen displays of her athleticism, and he had to admit, she was good–for a girl, of course.
Tenten ran through the finish line, and he stopped the watch, the display showing a time of five minutes and 19 seconds. Glancing over her, Neji found she was panting heavily, her cheeks bright red and a slight sheen of sweat on her face. Her hair was messed up, pieces falling out of her braids. He smirked at the sight, loving how disheveled she looked. Almost automatically, his mind took a dirty turn, going to other...activities that would have her looking that way.
He pictured her, her face red and her breath coming in short pants as it was now, writing under him, her sweat covering inches of exposed skin. He wanted to lick that sweat off of her, to make her pant even harder, to make her call out his name...
The shrill blow of the whistle broke Neji out of his thoughts, thankfully before his body decided to react to them. As he passed Tenten, he smirked slightly, his expression telling her that there was no way he'd let her win this little challenge, as good as her time was and despite the fact that she'd just beaten all of the boys that had raced against her. He lined up carefully on the line and tensed his muscles, waiting for the call of the whistle.
When it came, he did not bother to sprint out to the front of the pack immediately. Unlike her, he didn't find it very necessary, but actually detrimental, to try to sprint out to the front as soon as possible. He paced himself for the first lap, accelerated in the second and for part of the third, and ended in a quick sprint that had all of the others in the group at least a half of a lap behind him. Smirking, he met Tenten's narrowed eyes. Her expression said it all; he'd won that part of the challenge.
Although she had recovered by the time the push-up test was started, her performance wasn't as good, in his opinion. She only managed to complete 36 pushups, and he was able to almost double that with his 64. By now, she was pouting, and the smirk was almost etched onto Neji's lips. Even if she managed to get ahead in sit-ups, he would have more wins than she.
When she sat down on the floor, Neji placed his hands on her feet to hold them down, then looked over her knees to glance at her face, which was set in a mask of determination. He chuckled lowly at her competitive spirit, then watched as she began the sit-ups. As she did them, he found his eyes were drawn to her thighs, where her shirts rode up ever so slightly every time she curled up. The slow uncovering of flesh was so tantalizingly gradual, just a millimeter more of skin exposed ever second.
The time they had been given for the sit-ups ended entirely too soon, in Neji's opinion, and even though she had completed 76 sit-ups, the shorts had not ridden high enough for his tastes. Hiding his annoyance under a mask of stoicism, he laid down on the floor and watched as Tenten held down his feet and hovered over him.
Her eyes slowly fell from his face to his shoulders, where the fabric of his shirt drew tight against his apparent muscles. Tenten wasn't an idiot, nor was she naive; she knew her 'eternal rival' was well-built, indeed. The muscles in his arms crossed arms hinted at the strength, and, to her fascination, his shirt began to expose his stomach, showing the lines of hard muscles there.
She would've placed bets on his having a six-pack, but before she could find out, the whistle blew, and he sat up suddenly, pulling his feet away from her and surprising her with his sudden closeness. Not one to show he unnerved her sometimes, she just grinned brightly. "Only 73. Looks like you lost to me this round!" she said excitedly. "We'll both need to remember to mark our notebooks when classes are over, unless you have yours with you."
Neji nodded serenely. "So that's a total of two for you and two for me?" he questioned, an eyebrow raised as if asking her to defy him.
"Hey, that wasn't three separate challenges!" Tenten protested as she stood. "It was just one whole challenge."
He shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. Two against two or one against one, either way, we're tied right now. Or did you not figure that, math genius?" Neji mocked her, also pushing himself to stand.
She retaliated by slapping him in the arm. "Whatever, you don't need to be a jerk about it!" she said, rolling her eyes. "Would it hurt you to be a nice person every once in a while, Hyuga?" Tenten demanded playfully.
"Being nice is completely boring," he replied, shrugging. "So, are you going to be with my cousin and the rest of your friends at their little pool party on Friday?" Neji asked suddenly, though his tone and his facial expressions hardly changed.
Caught off guard by the change in topic, Tenten blinked a few times, then nodded. "Yeah. I mean, probably. Any reason why you're asking?"
Neji smirked slightly. "Well, Naruto and Kiba have been begging for me to have them come, too. I was just seeing if there would be any reason for me to want to be there," he said cryptically. Without waiting for an answer, he turned away and headed into the boy's locker room.
Perplexed, Tenten realized that the rest of the class had filed out and was now heading to the locker rooms. Numbly, she followed the group of girls, her head still caught up in her thoughts. What exactly had he meant by that? That she would be the reason he'd want to go to a pool party? That didn't seem like Neji... but he had been acting a little differently. There was the way he acted in Physics, too. She wasn't sure why he was acting strangely, but she would figure it out eventually, she decided.
Vowing not to let it bother her much more, she gathered up her things and headed home, not bothering to shower or to change. She'd be able to do those things when she got home. As was usual for her, she walked home, and she entered her house to find it was empty, though from the looks of it, someone had been there recently.
Curiously, she made her way up the stairs and to her room, where the closet was wide open and a few hangers were on the floor. Tenten looked through the closet, trying to see if anything was missing or changed, but she didn't notice any difference until she found her sets of school uniforms. They were all the same size as the one she was wearing now. Her comfortable, loose uniforms were nowhere to be found.
She threw herself on her bed and dug her cell phone out of her bag, punching in Ino's number and making a call. This was far too serious for a text. "Hello?" came Ino's voice from the other side of the line.
"Yamanaka," Tenten growled, her voice not just hinting at but fully showing the depth of her current wrath.
"Oh, hey, Tenten! How's it going? How were the rest of the your classes today?" the blonde replied cheerily, her tone telling Tenten that she was not scared. The breathlessness of it, only slightly detectable, was the only hint that something that was wrong.
"What that hell happened to all of my uniforms?" Tenten snapped. "The ones that were bigger, that is," she added before Ino could play stupid any more.
There was a moment of silence from the other end. Ino, Tenten assumed, was trying to figure out if she could get out of this unscathed. Cutting her losses, Ino replied, "I burnt them. But, I did buy enough new uniforms to make up for the loss!"
"What in the world gives you the right to do that? I liked my old uniforms! They were comfy!" Tenten complained, her voice now almost in a yell.
"No, you liked them because you're too afraid to show a little skin. It's because you're more self-conscious than you let on, and you don't want anyone to see it, so you pretend it's just tomboyishness, but it's really not!" Ino retaliated, her voice sharp and chastising.
Tenten took a few moments to try to figure out a reply. Ino had been right, of course; it was scary how well she could figure out the nuances of each of her friends' personalities. It was almost like she could read minds. "That doesn't give you any right to do that," Tenten argued weakly, knowing her defense wasn't any good.
"Oh, don't whine about it! It's doing you good. I mean, boys were paying attention to you. Good lord, did you see the way Neji was ogling you?" Ino demanded.
"N-Neji? Ogling me? No way. He was acting strangely, but it's not like he's attracted to me or anything. You're crazy, Ino," Tenten said flatly, trying to get her emotions under control. Why did it matter so much that Neji was looking at her? She couldn't figure it out.
"Tenten, you are absolutely helpless. You're almost as bad as Hinata. Geeze, just wear the damn uniforms I got you, and in the meantime, try to figure out your emotions."
"What the hell kind of reply is that? What kind of emotions are you talking about?"
"Uh, perhaps like who you might have a raging, sexual-tension-so-thick-you-could-cut-it-with-a-knife, obvious-to-everyone-else, mutual crush on!"
Not suspecting that, Tenten almost dropped her phone. "Ino, you're insane. Really, I'm taking you to a clinic."
"Ugh! Helpless! Like I said, girl, you are helpless!"
"Ino, you are so not helping."
"I decided I'd meddle less this year. Sakura made me promise," she said, the pout evident in her voice. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. God, how could you not know who you have a crush on? And that he has a thing for you, too! The boy was practically undressing you with his eyes! And you don't even notice! Ugh!"
"Ino!" Tenten snapped, annoyed. "Either tell me or don't!"
Her only answer was the dial tone–Ino had hung up. Groaning, Tenten cradled her head in her hands. Suddenly, she had a headache.
AN: Please take the time to review! Thanks! :)