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Pale moonlight gleamed in through the glass door, leaving a powderish white on the tile floor. However, the fierce red and orange flames overcame the soft color.

"Mommy! What's happening?" Chocolate-brown hair fluttered freely behind the five year-old girl who hurried around the rather large house. She screamed as she dodged the heat of another bundle of fire.

"Tenny, honey, where are you?" Her mother's voice called from some area of the engulfed home. Soon a piercing shriek echoed around the place Tenten thought was once a great palace.

"Mommy? Dad?" Tenten shouted, her eyes wide. When she realized no one was here, an emotion swallowed her whole being; she felt the loneliness gnawing at her mind. "Anyone?" she whispered.

----

"Ahem!" someone scoffed, causing Tenten to awaken from her previous state of half-concienceness and half-passed out. "Are you with us now, Miss Kayama?" the same person asked strictly.

"Oh, I wish," Tenten mumbled to herself. Then she spoke louder, seeing as all eyes were one her, "I mean... I am, just a little tired from the past few nights."

"Ah right. You and your small addiction to partying on school-nights and most likely drinking or smoking drugs," her Biology teacher, Ms. Hampton, sighed.

Tenten's jaw was on the verge of dropping, but her anger clamped it closed and kept it that way. How could Ms. Hampton assume something like that? Why did she say that; out of everything! Was she even allowed to say that? Although it was only her who the comment offended, obviously. Everyone was either snickering, smirking, or had already returned to their classwork.

"This is definitely turning out the the worst day ever," Tenten groaned.

"And it's only second period," a boy with longer blackish-brown hair and snow-white eyes taunted.

"Shut up, jerk," Tenten said. Thankfully --in less than twenty seconds-- the school bell rang, signaling the end of Biology. "Whoever came up with 'saved by the bell'..." Tenten shook her head before standing and grabbing her binder and several other textbooks required for her next classes.

Just when she started to exit the large, cold room, three boys shoved past her, harshly pushing her into the metal doorframe. Her eyes widened in annoyance, ad if she were ready to pounce on the next person who even glanced in her direction. High school was no cup of tea, in fact, it was rather frustrating. Tenten passed several rows of lockers until she reached her own. Her slim fingers began twirling the dial of the combination lock. After putting in the correct numbers, she pulled on the metal piece, only to have two of six notebooks fall out of the small space. With papers scattered everywhere and tons of students still wandering the hallway, she would have to be damn fast in order to have all sheets of parchment presevered nicely.

"Tenten, what happened?"

Without needing checking who she was conversing with, she recognized the voice to being her best-guy-friend, Lee's voice. "Besides a teacher thinking I do illegal things, my English and History notebooks falling from my locker, and having to deal with Hyuuga, nothing's new. How were your earlier classes?"

"All that, huh?" he chuckled, but immediately sombered up when he watched Tenten's facial expression go sinister. "My classes are easy. I think Physical Education is the best! Youthful, I might add."

"Yeah, I enjoy that too," Tenten said while closing her locker and brushing brown strands of hair from her face. "We'd better go to lunch; I'm so hungry." Lee nodded, then the two started walking, but stopped in mid-step.

"Oh... Hey, Tenten. I can't have lunch with you today. I've got to see Mr. Hatake for some assignments, sorry!" He waved to her before sprinting off in the opposite direction.

"Well, it seems like today is just getting better and better," the teen muttered sarcastically.

In order to reach the cafeteria, she'd need to pass the gymnasium. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed some teenage boys in there, practicing random types of sports. With small teams of three, they continued playing basketball. Subconciously, she moved closer to the door - to get a better view. Peering through the glass rectangles with her excellent vision, she caught a glimpse of the jerk from earlier, Neji Hyuuga, his right-hand man, Sasuke Uchiha, and this kid that was in her History class, Kiba Inuzuka. The person shooting the orange ball for the hoop was a blonde-haired comedian, Naruto Uzumaki. The two boys waving their arms around, yelling "I'm open!" were Shikamaru Nara and one of the foriegn-exchange student, Kankuro Sabaku. The ball made it in, but Naruto tripped and landed face-down.

"Ohhh!" Tenten shouted. "Aha, that must've hurt!"

The game came to a halt when a pair of obsidian eyes and milky-white ones clashed with her own chocolate ones. A slight gasp passed through her lips; she'd ben spotted. Quickly, Tenten started walking away, hoping they had just thought she'd been passing by. However, she still heard the loud click of the door. That action only caused her to move faster.

"Tenten. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to spy on other people?" Neji's voice was teasing, yet annoying.

"Don't talk about my mother," Tenten warned, holding back what she really wanted to do: spin around and punch his lights out.

"Ah... I guess she didn't."

"Shut up. You've got no idea what you're talking about." By now, Tenten stopped walking, but stood with her back facing the boy.

"Oh, but don't I?" His cocky, arrogant attitude was slowly slipping out-of-hand. Her hand had transformed into a fist, that was lightly shaking at the moment.

"No. Trust me, you DON'T," she snapped back with a strange fire growing ferociously in her eyes.

----

"So how was lunchtime today?" Lee asked. He shifted his dark green backpack while the two walked towards where the buses were loading. She hadn't talked to him in the rest of their classes togehter; but she hardly spoke to anyone.

"Fine," Tenten stated, her eyes blankly staring ahead.

"What's the matter? You've been so distant since the start of English. I talked to Neji, he said you two spoke at lunch and-" Lee's voice got drowned out of Tenten's ears when she realized she forgot her English notebook in her locker. But if she went back, she'd surely miss the bus. But if she didn't, her essay that was due tomorrow, well, she'd be screwed because she's already got a B- in that class.

"What was the prompt for English, Lee?" Tenten asked, cutting him off.

"Oh, well, it was something about your favorite song and how it describes you or whatever," Lee explained.

"Thanks," she half-heartedly smiled at him. "You know what?"

"Um, no, what?" Lee stammered, feeling unable to keep up with her mood swings. Devestated to cheerful. Next, it would be happy to agitated. He mentally sighed; girls...

"I want to try out for the Track team or something! It'd get me away from home more often." Lee signaled for her to go into the bus before himself and then followed once she was at the highest saying their designated number, they headed to the mid-section of the bus and settled in a seat near the emergency door.

"That would be cool! I'm thinking of going out for Cross Country or Track this year too," Lee agreed, nodding anxiously.

The next twenty minutes passed as the two teenagers talk aimlessly about random sports ideas. But it was soon time for Tenten to get off. She waved and said her normal goodbye to Lee before hurrying off the bus. You would expect her to be somewhere near her house, right? Well she used to live in the house she was now staring upon, but the other bus wouldn't allow her to ride because she hadn't filed the paperwork with her new address. Sighing with exhaustion, she turned to her left, crossed the street, and began heading towards her new house. Humming took her mind off things, you know, she got distracted easily. The honking of a horn ripped her from her calm revivre. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing an expensive-looking car slowly driving alongside the sidewalk.

The driver smoothly pulled up right next to her and rolled down the window. Once she saw who was driving, she scoffed and tried walking again. He called out to her. "Do you need a ride?"

Just then the cold air dropped, or so it felt, and the breeze got slightly worse. "No, thank you, I'm fine. Go away," Tenten stated. She was very intelligent, but her hard-headedness made all that go right now the drain.

"You sure?" he paused and clicked his tongue. "It's going to get really cold in a few minutes."

"I'll be just fine," Tenten insisted. Subconciously, she snuggled closer to the scarf that had been wrapped around her neck.

"Look, I'm trying to be nice," he said, implying the same offer.

"I understand that."

"Evidently not. Just get in."

Tenten stopped and turned to look at the young man full-on. Reconsidering his polite proposal, she inched closer, and soon hopped inside. A blast of warm air blew loose strands of hair from her face; causing her eyes to shut before leaning towards the vent. Neji glanced at her from time to time as he drove further down the street. Her face was still near where the air fanned out. Was she a little mentally unstable? Or had she never been in a car before?

"Stop staring. It's rude," Tenten mumbled as she opened one eyes to gaze back at him.

"I wasn't even looking at you," Neji claimed, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. A tinge of red was splashed on his cheeks, however. Fortunately for him, Tenten did not detect the visible blush.

"Liar, liar. Rich boy's pants are on fire!" she sang, her hands swinging wildly in small circles. He noted that her voice wasn't half bad... not that he'd ever admit it openly. He thought, Not even in my head will I say that.

He scowled, "Rich boy? Is that predjudice?"

"Um, no, of course not," Tenten said.

He gave no reply; let alone a hint to show he'd heard her.

"Oh, you can stop here. I just live like, over there," Tenten said, pointing to a one-story house that had a small-sized front yard. Neji's eyebrows rose into a questioning expression, one saying: "Oh, that's where you live? Ha!"

"It's pleasant enough," Neji muttered.

"Cha, yeah, it's a large step down from-" Tenten paused. "Nevermind. Thanks for the ride, Hyuuga. Oh... and I hope you make the basketball team." She closed the door and tossed her JanSport backpack over her shoulder and hurried into her Aunt and Uncle's estate.

She does? he thought. She'd given him something to think about, most definitely. The whole way home, Neji was contemplating her statement:

"Oh... and I hope you make the basketball team."

----

Aunt Aysia wasn't going to arrive home until late in the (next) morning; she worked a graveyard shift. While Uncle Radon wasn't coming back for the next six months; he worked a job that forced him away most of the time. Tonight, Tenten ate alone and watched her favorite movies alone. Not that she needed any company... although it would be nice to actually have friends other than Lee. Like, maybe someone to go shopping with or talk about boys with.

Sighing, she removed her butt from the couch and walked down the corridor nearest to the front entrance. Wait, something big was out there. She cautiously stepped backwards to get a good view from the windows on both sides of the door. There was a moving truck parked at the house across the street. Who was in their right mind to wanna move here? The place where nothing - I mean NOTHING - happens.

"Maybe that's just it! They aren't in their right mind!" Tenten declared. She saw a girl around her age helping move boxes from the smaller car parked near the lawn. She was pretty; her hair was - probably dyed - a light pink color, she seemed tall and curvy enough, and her facial features seemed perfect from this far away. In other words, she could probably have any guy she wanted.

Now, thats not even realistic... Is she a Barbie-doll? she thought, still looking at the girl. Maybe I'm just envious, Tenten thought.

----

The next morning, it was Friday. Finally the weekend was nearby! Tenten was excited, she would have a whole weekend to herself - considering the fact her Aunt was staying at a friend's house (someone who lived closer to her current job).

Tenten was walking to her bus-stop when she saw the yellow vehicle already driving away. She tried running after it, but it was inevitable... Her only ride to school had left her in the dust. She groaned and glared up at the partly cloudy sky overhead. She mouthed a string of profanities, as if anyone in the world above could hear the frustrated teenager.

A honking pulled her back to Earth. "Hey, you need a ride, missy?" someone, a female, called out to her. Tenten's eyes scanned the face. It was the girl who had recently moved in next-door. The pinkette called spoke again, "Don't you live across the street? Um, at house 2311, right?"

Tenten's eyes slightly narrowed, feeling a bit skeptical about her, but she nodded. "Yeah, I'm Tenten Kayama. Yourself?" Tenten answered, stepping closer to the car.

She switched the keys in the car the opposite way you would when you'd first start it. She opened the door and got out before walking around the car. She leaned against the car as she crossed her arms over her chest. The mystery girl smiled warmly, "Sakura. Sakura Haruno."

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Author's Note: Hey ya'll! It's your Nej lover! XDD Anyways, thank you for reading my story! Please check out my other stories (Purple Haze, Teen Hearts, etc.). It is... Nine-Eleven at night on a Wednesday (Oh no! A school night!) and I'm updating this new story for all you bookworms! - dont feel bad, so am I. Haha... Hopefully this doesn't suck; sorry if it does.

Peace Out;;