Say my name as every color illuminates,
We are shining,
And we will never be afraid again. – Florence + the Machine; Spectrum
One
Sixteen year-old Tenten is not the most organized person in the morning. As it stands, she is currently wrestling her hair into its signature twin buns, a piece of toast caught between her teeth, black book-bag hanging off her shoulder. Somewhere within her, she admits that the toast is getting slightly soggy, but ignores it as she walks over to the entrance of her apartment and struggles to slip her feet into a pair of old, gray sneakers.
She supposes that there could have been a better way to start her morning, especially considering the fact that today is her first day at a new school. After having to move to a new town for economic reasons – she is an orphan, and being sixteen, officially emancipated and supporting herself – she went and registered herself as a student of Konoha High School, the comprehensive, public high school of Konohagakure. Although not quite sure what to expect, she figures it can't be any worse than her last high school, where lack of funding and a failing school district were the root of many, many problems.
Finally managing to tie her hair up into its buns, she allows herself to actually chew and swallow a bite of her toast before trapping it between her teeth again and fully slipping on her sneakers. She grabs the keys off the hook by the door, and gives herself one last look in the mirror hung at the entrance area of her small, one-bedroom apartment. She can't say it's her best – she's bare-faced, her brown buns are slightly messier than normal, and there may be the slightest signs of sleepiness in her chocolate brown eyes – but she convinces herself that school is no fashion show before stepping through the front door and locking it behind her.
It doesn't take long to get to the bus stop, and with the weather warming up as it does every April, she finds that she actually doesn't mind waiting. Almost before she knows it, she's on the bus and off to her first day of school. It's not until the bus stops at a red light that she glances at the time on her cell phone and realizes just how late she really is. "Holy shit," she says to no one in particular, the digital 8:00 registering fairly quickly for how tired she feels. She hears someone clear their throat and immediately bows her head and apologizes for her language. When she raises her head, she finds an old woman looking at her disapprovingly, despite her apology. She can think of nothing else to do but bow her head again and embarrassedly look away.
She is supposed to be at school a bit earlier than 8:30 to fill out some paperwork at the main office, but with a twenty minute bus ride and what would probably be ten minutes of hopelessly wandering around the building trying to figure out where everything is, she's more than likely to be late for homeroom.
From that point on, the bus ride seems to take forever, every stop aside from hers quite unnecessary, in her view. But finally, finally, the bus reaches the stop down the block from her school. She rushes off and chances a glance at her phone: 8:20 on the dot. She nods to herself almost resolutely and makes her way to the glass front doors of the school. She sees the parking lot on the way in, and mentally notes that the teachers must be paid pretty good salaries if the type of cars they're driving are any indication. She can only hope that means that the school district is actually well-funded, and therefore classes are properly resourced.
She's so caught up in trying to read the signs along the hallways that she doesn't see the tall guy in front of her until it's too late. She bops her nose on some unknown part of him and lets out a small, surprised "Ow." Taking a step back, she softly massages the tip of her nose and looks up (and up and up) into a pair of piercing, seemingly pupiless gray eyes. A shiver admittedly travels down her spine at the sight, and she opens her mouth, intending to apologize, but is cut off by a very deep, "You should watch where you're going."
Caught off guard, and kind of offended, Tenten frowns and, still gently rubbing her nose, says, "I was lost and looking at the signs trying to find the main office. If you'd have been paying attention to your surroundings, I'm sure you would've seen me." The glare she receives is electric, and she feels the hair on the back of her neck standing up, but she refuses to let herself be intimidated. Instead, she continues as if this stranger's smoldering look doesn't affect her. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, could you point me in the direction of the main office? I have some paperwork to fill out."
The guy only seems to hear what he wants to hear, because he raises a dark brown eyebrow and asks, "Are you a new student or something?" Reasoning to herself that there's no sense in being sarcastic with someone she just met, she nods her head and says, "Main office, please?"
But this guy doesn't seem to hear her. Actually, if it weren't for the completely stoic look on his face, Tenten would think he's checking her out, because his eyes definitely trail down from her face to her feet and back. She can practically feel him judging her. She feels her brows furrow, but tries to hold in her annoyance. She's not sure why this guy seems to be judging her – she thinks a pair of light-wash jeans and a navy blue striped shirt is pretty alright – but it sure as hell does have something in her bubbling. "What's your name," he finally inquires, and Tenten lets out a slightly exasperated sigh because she really does not have time for this.
"Tenten," she says tersely, which the kid before her only seems to find amusing. "What, do you not have a last name," he asks, amusement filtering into his voice, and Tenten rolls her eyes and responds, "Actually, no. Are you going to tell me where the office is or not?"
She feels a small bit of satisfaction when she sees the smirk on his face drop just the slightest. "Aren't you at least going to ask who I am?" His words are almost teasing, but his face remains a mask behind that strange smirk of his. Tenten feels her lips twisting in a way she'd prefer they didn't, unimpressed with this sudden nuisance before her. "Quite frankly, I don't care what your name is right now. I just want to get to the office so I can finish my paperwork and find my homeroom class."
She swears the kid's lips twitch just the slightest, but he regains his composure so quickly Tenten begins to question whether it really happened. "Well then," the kid says, and his voice is strangely cold now, "the office is down the hall to your left. Glass windows. Can't miss it." And with that, he turns and walks off. Tenten audibly gasps when she sees just how long the guy's hair is – at least down to his waist. Gray eyes meet hers once more, and she swears she almost sees amusement twinkling in them before the kid turns around and keeps walking as if he didn't hear her.
It takes a moment for her to shake off the weird encounter, but when she does, she follows the guy's directions and finds the office easily. It takes her all of five minutes to finish filling out paperwork, but as soon as she hands it back into the secretary and receives her schedule, the bell for homeroom rings. She sighs and shakes her head, asks the secretary for directions, and then ventures out to find her classroom.
She finds herself really thankful that the school isn't so difficult to maneuver, because she finds her classroom relatively quickly for someone who has no clue as to where anything is. She knocks on the door with conviction, but does not enter until she hears the muffled voice coming from inside stop.
The teacher standing at the front of the room is interesting to say the least, with an old-style bowl cut and eyebrows so bushy she wonders how he manages to see behind the combination of his fringe and eyebrow hair. But he seems to see her perfectly clearly because he flashes her a bright smile and says, "Ah, you must be our new student. Welcome! I was just telling the class we were expecting you. Impeccable timing, really." His voice is enthusiastic, and Tenten purses her lips, a bit uncomfortable with how happy this guy seems to be standing in a classroom at 8:35 in the morning. "I'm Gai-sensei, your homeroom teacher. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"
If not for his comment, Tenten would never have realized that she's been completely ignoring the actual rest of the class up until this point. She turns and scans the room – and finds herself surprised to meet a pair of cold, nearly pupiless, gray eyes. She tries to shake off the feeling as she bows to her classmates and says, "Hello, everyone. My name is Tenten. I just moved from Kirigakure, and uh…" She pauses, unsure what else to add. Deciding to just throw in a random fact, she shrugs and finishes, "I'm not a fan of wearing skirts, so I'm glad this school has no mandatory uniform." She chuckles, scratches the back of her neck, and blushes lightly as she scans the room again, avoiding those gray eyes that she can feel boring into her.
Her classmates seem to be an odd mix: a few kids seem to be genuinely interested in what she's saying. There're a couple of girls in the back looking at her from head to toe and whispering to each other, and surprisingly there's even a kid who looks an awful lot like Gai – down to the bushy brows and classic bowl cut. She gives the class before her a sort of nod before turning to look at her teacher again. He gives her a warm smile and says, "Thank you, Tenten. You can go have a seat, either next to Lee over there, " – he points at the kid that looks like him, who is currently giving Tenten what can only be described as a student council president smile – "or next to Neji over there." And Tenten wonders whether the stars have a role to play in the fact that Gai is pointing directly at the boy with gray eyes from earlier.
Unknowingly, she purses her lips and mentally debates where she should sit. Lee looks nice, but a bit too nice, and she's not a hundred percent sure if she can deal with that all of the time. On the other hand, there's that gray-eyed kid – apparently Neji is his name. She studies the stoic expression on his face. His eyebrows aren't quirked in the slightest, and his face is relatively relaxed. Somewhere within herself, Tenten acknowledges that Neji's actually fairly handsome – all sharp jawline framed by dark brown hair; a straight nose and gentle-looking lips; cold eyes and sharp lines. She almost considers sitting next to him, but thinks about his attitude this morning and decides that Lee's overly-excited attitude is better than sitting next to someone who probably makes it feel like winter the whole year.
She makes her way over to her seat, giving Lee a kind smile as she settles in and begins pulling out her notebook for the lecture that she's sure will be starting soon. Lee gives her a bright smile in return as Gai begins to read out the day's events and important announcements. When he finishes, he nods his head in something like self-congratulations and walks out of the room, leaving them waiting for their first class to begin with a different instructor.
As soon as Gai is gone, Lee turns around and offers his hand to Tenten, which she takes in something like surprise. "I am Rock Lee," he says, eyes twinkling. Tenten thinks he has an effervescent look about him, and so she can't help it when she smiles and replies, "Tenten. Nice to meet you, Lee."
"The pleasure is all mine," Lee says, giving her a firm handshake before drawing his hand back and folding his hands on the desk. Tenten doesn't fail to notice that he sits with his back perfectly straight, and she wonders how he manages to make it look so easy. At this point in her development, she's got a bit of a perpetual slouch when she sits that makes trying to straighten her back feel painful after more than about a minute. "So you are from Kirigakure," Lee says smilingly, to which Tenten nods her head. "Ah, that is cool. I think you might be one of only a handful of students to have moved here from a different town. Konoha is very metropolis-like, but it is actually fairly small." He nods his head as if to confirm what he's saying, and Tenten raises her eyebrows in something like a question, because why does Lee not use contractions when he speaks? But she gives him a small nod of acknowledgement and humors him, replying, "Oh really?"
"Yes," comes Lee's instant reply, that smile is admittedly somewhat infectious. Tenten finds herself smiling back. Lee shakes the hair out of his eyes and adds, "I only know of three, personally, because I am friends with them. The Subaku siblings are originally from Sunagakure, but they transferred here last year." Something twinkles in his eye then, and Tenten wonders if one of the Subaku siblings is extra meaningful to him. She decides against asking, and nods when Lee suggests, "I can introduce you to them at lunch, if you would like."
"I would like that," she says, giving Lee a bright smile that he returns full force. She thinks to herself that Lee may seem super happy all the time, but at the very least he's very nice and easy to talk to. She thinks choosing to sit by Lee was a good choice. Who knows, she thinks to herself, we might even become pretty good friends.
It's with this thought in her head that she turns to see the first-period instructor walk in and set some books down on the podium at the front of the room. She clears her throat and begins lecturing on history, and Tenten finds herself completely immersed in her schoolwork.
xXOXx
When lunchtime finally arrives, Tenten lets out something akin to a sigh of relief and stretches her arms out over her head. She hears Lee chuckle beside her and looks over at him in question. "You look sleepy," is all he says before he stands and gestures for her to follow him. She does so without hesitation or comment, Lee being her only true connection in this school, and takes note of how to get to the cafeteria. The familiar bustle of students and smell of cafeteria food is something that stays constant regardless of school, she figures, because aside from the large glass windows at the end opposite from the doors and the very obviously recently-polished tiled floor, the cafeteria almost seems just like the one back in Kirigakure.
She and Lee grab food without a problem and make their way over to a surprisingly full table. More surprising than how full the table is, however, are the people sitting at it. She almost can't believe it when she spots a girl with pink hair, and another one with the same eyes as Neji. She thinks the hyperactive blond may even be in the middle of telling some super expressionless guy some highly amusing story, but she'll never be sure because the moment the group sees her alongside Lee, they fall silent.
She admits to herself that it's a bit daunting, but Lee seems to take this as a good sign, because his face backs into a big grin and he says, "Everyone, this is Tenten. She is a new student in our class who just came from Kirigakure." Tenten gives everyone a slight bow of the head, slightly disconcerted when the silence amongst them extends further. "Um, hi," she says, almost shyly, as she gives them a small wave.
That seems to do it, because the pink-haired girl breaks out into a friendly smile, and it's only then that Tenten notices just how pretty this girl is – with sparkling, emerald eyes, a button nose and skin the color of porcelain. "Hi, Tenten! Welcome to Konoha High." She stands from her seat and, surprising Tenten, reaches out a hand. "I'm Sakura. Haruno Sakura." Her smile is bright and sweet, and Tenten can't help but smile back just as kindly as she shakes her hand.
It's like catalysis; Sakura gets up and introduces herself, and soon the whole group gets up and does the same. It's dizzying trying to remember so many names – there're at least twelve people in the group; an Uzumaki Naruto here, a Nara Shikamaru there, a Hyuga Hinata somewhere, a Subaku no Temari somewhere else. It's a swirl of names and faces and she knows it's going to take her forever to learn all of their names. She's certain the only ones she'll remember clearly are Sakura and Hinata, because Sakura does remind her of a cherry blossom and Hinata has those same, nearly pupiless eyes as Neji, although much softer and kinder.
It takes a few minutes for her to actually grab a seat, but when she finally does she's almost dizzy from the different conversations going on around her. At her old school, she had maybe a group of two or three people that she sat and ate with, and she was content with that. Being in a group this large was dizzying to say the least; she couldn't figure out which conversation she wanted to add herself to. Should she listen to the hyperactive blond – Naruto's – wild story about being chased by an aggressive dog the other day? It's certainly tempting, considering how much his cerulean eyes are sparkling. But maybe she should listen to Sakura and Ino's intense bickering to figure out some reason as to why they're arguing. Or maybe she should tune in to Temari and Shikamaru's conversation, which seems to just consist of, "How is it that you always fall asleep at lunch?" to which Shikamaru replies, "You're so troublesome."
She finds herself caught in a web of conversations, unable to move to one or the other; stuck just wondering how she's supposed to get to know anyone when she can't contribute to the conversation.
Thankfully, however, something seems to divert their attention. It starts off with Naruto, who abruptly stops telling his story and proclaims loudly, "Hey, Neji! It's about time you showed up!"
Tenten can't help the way her head snaps up in the direction Naruto's looking. It's like something pulls Neji's eyes to hers, because as soon as she looks his way, he's looking at her, those strangely gray eyes boring directly into hers. Tenten thinks to herself, somewhere that feels miles away, that his eyes look kind of like the moon; uninterrupted gray. She wonders if he can actually see clearly, because honestly she doesn't see the pupils in his eyes.
She doesn't realize that she actually wonders this out loud, until Neji actually responds with, "I mean, I told you myself what the office looks like, didn't I?" His sarcasm is so thick it could probably be cut with a knife, and it actually sparks the annoyance from this morning. She purses her lips and quips, just as sarcastically, "Yes, but you also walked right into me as if you didn't see me coming."
She's not sure what she expects, but whatever it is, she knows it's not for Neji to say, "Maybe if you weren't so short, you might have actually made it into my line of sight." She hates the amused triumph in his eyes, and she hates that she has nothing to say to that except maybe, "Tall or not, it says so much that you think people have to reach a certain standard for you to acknowledge they exist literally right in front of you."
Silence falls as Neji narrows his eyes at her, and Tenten narrows her eyes right back at him. She forgets all about the rest of the group until she hears Naruto go, "Wait, I'm lost. You guys know each other?"
"We've met," Tenten replies, hearing the sour note in her own tone. "I bumped into him this morning because I was trying to find the main office and, when I asked him for directions, he decided to interview me instead of just tell me where the office was."
In her peripheral vision, she catches the look on Naruto's face, and turns to face him with a question evident on her face. "Sorry," Naruto says, "It's just that, Neji never talks to anyone, so it's kind of weird that he spoke to you of his own accord this morning." Tenten glances over at Neji, surprised by the news. She thought he seemed cold, but not necessarily unwilling to at the very least cut a few people with his sarcasm. Neji, in turn, shrugs and says, "Technically, I didn't do it of my own accord. She bumped into me. She had to know she was wrong."
Tenten lets out something close to a huff, disbelief bubbling inside of her. "You did a lot more than try to tell me I was wrong," she mutters, but Neji seems to hear her with no problem. Nonetheless, he says, "Would you like to repeat that." His tone is cold and hard, and Tenten is so very tempted to repeat herself, but she knows full well he heard her, and replies, "I didn't stutter. You asked my name, if I was new, if I was going to ask for your name. As if I cared at the time. I just needed directions, but you took it upon yourself to play twenty-one questions with me."
Neji scoffs at this, quickly retorts, "It was really only three and one of those was rhetorical. You know, meaning you didn't have to answer." Tenten rolls her eyes so hard she thinks she sees her brain, but she shakes her head, lets out something like a sigh, and says, "Never mind. I'm not going to waste my time with someone who clearly never loses an argument, no matter how much he's losing by."
She takes her seat again – she doesn't even remember having stood up – and shakes her head. The nerve of him! To speak to her as if she were stupid, to speak to her as if she were beneath him. She turns to her food, letting the silence of the table surround her in an almost peaceful manner. She hears Naruto drawl out an, "Umm, okay." And then he begins his story again, and chatter slowly resumes at the table.
Tenten thinks to herself that it can't possibly get any worse from there, and prays that lunch does go by uneventfully from that point on. But of course, it's just her luck that five minutes later she's approached by a group of girls. She's surprised to see one in a crop top – simply because this is a school and normally schools have (some pretty sexist, in her opinion) dress codes – but finds that the top is cute, and she wouldn't mind finding out where the girl got it.
On either side of the girl with the crop top are a couple of girls, one with hair so flaming red Tenten can't help the way her eyes widen at the sight of it, and another one with jet-black hair in a braid that trails down to her waist. At first, Tenten thinks they're friends of the people she's sitting with, and so she thinks this group of girls is going to talk to someone sitting near her. She's therefore caught off guard when the table falls silent and the girl in the crop top – now that Tenten gets a good look at her, she notices that the girl has a dyed-blue pixie cut framing her face cutely, and black, matte, lipstick applied – addresses her. "Yo, new girl."
She raises an eyebrow, mostly in surprise, but also in part because of the way it rolls off the girl's tongue; with something like venom hidden in honey. A voice that is two parts sweet and four parts sour beneath the sweetness. It feels strangely fake, and Tenten wonders why this girl she doesn't know is addressing her in such a way. "Yes," she questions, and maybe it was the wrong way to say it, because the girls giggle in a way that's definitely unkind. Is she coming across as scared or something? Because scared is the last thing she feels. Tired, yeah, and somewhat confused, but not scared.
However she comes across, the girls don't make it clear. Instead, the girl in the front of the group extends a hand and says, "I'm Ami. This," she points at the redhead, "is Karin. And this," she points at the girl with the braid, "is Hanajima." Tenten takes her hand, more so out of politeness than anything else, and gives it a light shake. This girl's smile is gorgeous, but icy, Tenten finds. Ami quickly draws her hand away and says, "Listen, um, you're new, so I'm sure it's because you don't know how things normally work around here, but Neji is off-limits."
Tenten blinks, unsure of what Ami is insinuating. "What do you mean off-limits? Is he radioactive? A biohazard? Toxic?" She's sincerely confused, but she can't help how sarcastic she sounds when she asks for clarification; she doesn't know these girls, doesn't know what they mean, and is way too tired to try and figure it out. "I'm confused," she admits, and somewhere in the back of her mind she notices how silent the cafeteria has fallen.
"Well," Ami picks up where she left off, voice starting to feel so fake it almost makes Tenten want to wipe herself free of it. "Neji is off-limits because he's mine." She looks up at Neji then, and bats her eyelashes lightly. Tenten isn't quite sure why Ami is telling her this. She doesn't really care who "belongs" to who here, especially with respect to Ami. "Um…Okay? What exactly do you want me to do about it?"
Her words finally seem to crack Ami's false sweetness, and her words come out much icier than before. "Well, new girl," she makes a face, "Neji never really speaks to anyone he doesn't know – especially girls. You're new and yet, he seems comfortable enough to argue with you. You see where I'm going with this, right?"
Tenten can see it now, so she chances a glance at Neji. Surprisingly, he actually seems annoyed, but she's not sure if that's a result of their earlier argument or of Ami's presence.
"I mean he's kind of a dick, so I'm not sure why this seems like news to you," Tenten says when she finally turns back to respond, tone coming off slightly sarcastic. Ami seems genuinely offended at her words, mouth dropping open in a fashion that leaves Tenten curious as to how her jaw can drop so low. "Are you playing dumb or are you honestly just this dense?" Her words are sharp, laced with warning, and Tenten feels herself getting fed up with her.
"I get what you're saying. You're like madly in love with Neji or whatever, though he doesn't seem too excited to see you. Cool. I'm not sure why you think I care; obviously if I'm arguing with him, I must not like him all that much." She pauses to take a slight breath, and then, mimicking Ami, says, "So now you tell me, are you playing dumb or are you honestly just this dense?"
To say that Ami is not amused by her words is probably an understatement. She's absolutely fuming, lips pursed and brow furrowed so deep that she almost is able to convince Tenten that she's a threat. Tenten can feel all of the students around them holding their breath, and she wishes they'd just mind their own business. She came to school to study and maybe make a couple of friends so she wouldn't be lonely while there. Why is it that her luck leads her to meet the worst people she could possibly meet?
"You little bitch," Ami says, eyes narrowing so menacingly that Tenten thinks she might actually do something. "You must think you're real funny, huh?" Tenten, smiling, nods. "I'm damn hilarious, but unfortunately it doesn't look like we have compatible senses of humor."
Ami appreciates that even less – so much so that she actually leans down to Tenten's eye level. Tenten thinks that if this is the best Ami can do at being intimidating, she seriously needs work. "Cute. I'll give you one last chance to start acting right. If you really are smart, you'll actually take it." She blinks and gives Tenten one of those fake, too-sugary smiles. And Tenten, annoyed, leans her head on her hand and retorts, "I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'acting right', but if it means doing whatever it is you want me to do, you can stop giving me chances and just give me whatever meaningless threat you intend to give me."
Her smile only broadens at the look on Ami's face. She's beyond angry, face scrunched in, cheeks slightly pink, fists clenched at her sides as she stands to face Tenten. "Worthless bitch." She whispers it, but the cafeteria is so silent that she may as well have shouted it at the top of her lungs. "You really do think you're funny." There's a sharp chuckle from the blue-haired girl, and it seems to calm her just the slightest. But her fists are still clenched and her words still drip venom. "You better watch your fucking back, because I swear I'm going to get you." And with that she turns on her heel and practically stomps away, her girls throwing glances over their shoulders as they follow her out.
Tenten feels a sigh of relief escape her. Maybe now she can actually enjoy her lunch. Silence reigns in the cafeteria only that much longer before people start breaking out into conversations again – most of them about what they just saw happen. Tenten brushes it off in favor of eating her food, but it doesn't take long for her to feel eyes on her.
Turning her head, she sees Neji looking directly at her, something akin to interest building in his gaze. She frowns and turns her head back, pointedly ignoring him as she takes another bite of her food. She's had enough of him for today, thank you.
xXOXx
The rest of the day passes by rather uneventfully, and Tenten finds herself grateful. She doesn't think she can handle much more drama when she's already sleepy enough as is. When she steps out of her last class of the day, she can't help but to stretch out happily, a smile gracing her face as she makes her way to the glass front doors of the school.
There's a gentle, almost hesitant tap on her shoulder as she turns into the main hallway, and she glances over her shoulder to see the girl with the same eyes as Neji – Hinata, she recalls – smiling up shyly at her. When she speaks, her voice is soft, melodic, chime-like. Tenten thinks it's surprisingly pleasant. "Hello," she begins, and it's a wonder Tenten can hear her over the bustling kids around them. "I just wanted to apologize for my cousin's behavior earlier today. Neji is never really fond of anyone, but he never actually argues with anyone either. He must've been in a bad mood. I'm sorry."
She bows her head, then, and Tenten feels something like warmth in her heart. She almost can't help ruffling Hinata's hair lightly as she grins and says, "Hey, don't worry about it. No feelings were hurt, I think he just doesn't like me much." She chuckles then, and Hinata smiles in response. "But you shouldn't feel the need to apologize on his behalf, even if he is your cousin. Whatever he does wrong is on him, not on you."
Hinata nods, says, "I know, but I just felt bad because today's your first day and all, and Ami and her girls started trying to pick on you because he gave you some semblance of attention. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Tenten smiles softly, the warmth in her chest growing just the slightest. "I'm fine, Hinata. Thank you for checking in." And when Hinata nods in something like affirmation, she thinks she may grow to like this Hinata girl, even if her eyes remind her of a pair that look down on her with all the ice of winter.
A/N: I'm back! I was reading through some of my old fics and realized that I never actually finished any of them. I feel like I started off with good ideas and just had poor execution. As such, I'm going to finish the fics I started back in 2009. But first, I'm going to edit and consolidate them. It's been a good three-five years since I've last updated on this site, I think, so I've had a LOT of time to improve my writing and change my style a bit here and there.
I deleted all of the old chapters off FF but I have them all saved onto my computer and won't be changing anything too major about them – mostly just formatting them better and editing for plot holes and such. I did change a couple of plot elements (like trying to make the characters more like themselves because WOW everyone was pretty OOC) and just some things for continuity and such. But this story will be shortened in terms of number of chapters, not in terms of what needs to happen, why, and how. So please bare with me as I go through these chapters and edit this story so that I can finish it on a good note.
Note that I decided to just republish the story, to eliminate the old reviews. As appreciative as I am of them, I am going to be working with a story that already had twenty chapters uploaded, and therefore don't want any spoilers lying around. I hope you understand.
In the meantime, if you need something to read while waiting for this, and are into kpop (my guilty pleasure), please check out my AFF: ForeverLovingK. I have a bunch of stories there (mostly oneshots, but some are actual chaptered fics) that you could check out.
If you're still here even after all of these years of me being gone, honestly, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And if you've left me in the past, I completely understand. For those of you who are new, understand that I am a very slow updater, but I am determined to finish, and I hope you'll take this journey with me.
Thanks everyone!
- K