Not Quite Strangers
Summary: Tenten literally falls on a stranger but she feels as if she knows Hyūga Neji. His eyes, his face, his voice, his name all feel so familiar to her. Perhaps she has seen him while walking. Yet the feeling of knowing him is too strong to be just a mere coincidence or maybe it's just her imagination. They were just two strangers after all or maybe they weren't quite strangers.
Basically a NejiTen one-shot because all those canon pairings made me sad not to see NejiTen. Seeing Tenten looking bored in her weapons store made me tear up inside. If Neji were there, they would probably be spending time together. Plus I wanted to see NejiTen children too :(
Anyways this is kind of AU in a sense. It happens way into the future of Naruto where everything is like our present day. Also for me I think being a ninja and the use of chakra have all but disappeared in the far off future. Some characters may be OOC but hopefully not by much.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"This is the East Wing of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty reigned from 1368 to 1644. It was the seventh longest reigning dynasty in China's history. It was also known, by some historians, as one of the greatest eras for government and society in all of humanity."
Tenten glanced at the crowed of people she was leading on a guided tour. Half of the students looked bored to death while the other half were looking at the exhibits. She sighed but knew how they felt as she had gone through that stage in high school too.
The brown haired woman cleared her throat. "Why don't you all take a look around and If you have any questions, just wave me over." Immediately everyone dispersed into their own groups.
She smiled as some students seemed fascinated by the displays and history behind everything. It had been a wonderful experience for her when she went to the museum and learned all about the different dynasties in Chinese history. That had been her favorite subject in history and it showed as she now worked as a part-time tour guide for the Chinese history wing.
"Sorry about some of my students," one of the teachers said to her.
Tenten waved it off. "It's fine. I remember not being interested in anything that didn't have to do with Chinese history. I can see how some of them might be bored."
The teacher smiled gratefully before turning to one of her students. "Aoi don't tap the display case! You're going to set off the alarms!"
The museum guide sweatdropped as the teacher ran off to get the student. Sometimes leading school tours wasn't all that fun, but she loved her job too much to complain. Tenten made her way around the exhibit room staring at everything. Regardless of how many times she had seen the same exhibits, she would never get tired seeing them.
Some of the students was staring at some of the weapons displayed. "These are stupid weapons. They're all old and stuff."
"It's true that these weapons would not stand our technology today, but they served their purpose during that time," she informed as she came over.
The group looked at her skeptically. "These weapons helped the preserve their empire for over 200 years. The rise of European influence also allowed them to modify their weapons. The arrows could be lit on fire to make them deadlier. They also had fire lances which were the equivalent to modern day anti-tank weapons."
She watched as their skeptical looks slowly melted away. They were now looking back at the display with newfound interest. Satisfied that they were now really looking at the exhibit, she left them to read the information cards. Tenten found immense joy when she was able to make a person at least somewhat interested in Chinese history.
Glancing at her watch, she decided to give them ten more minutes before moving on.
-:-
Tenten sighed as she grabbed her bag from her locker. Now that it was three, her shift was over. Having changed out of her tour guide uniform, she felt a bit more comfortable not having to walk around for hours in her heels. Her feet ached a bit, but that came with the job. She made her way to the security office.
Walking in, she greeted the head of security. "Afternoon, Kakashi." The older man smiled, or at least she thought he did as his eyes crinkled.
The silver haired guard wore a white surgical mask over the lower half of his face. He claimed that he had a bad cold and didn't want to get others sick. Though that had been his excuse the first time she had started her part-time job about a year ago.
"Done already, Tenten?" She scanned her key card before hanging up on the holding racks.
She nodded. "Yup. It's three so I get to go home now."
Kakashi sighed. "I wish I could go home. Sitting in the security room gets boring."
The brown eyed woman snorted. "I'm sure reading porn gets real boring. You have the easiest job in the whole museum. Looking at monitors and ordering the other guards doesn't seem like too much effort."
He held up his hand in defense. "Looking at the monitors is slowly deteriorating my eye sight. Last week I was late to work because I ran over a cat. My vision blurred just a bit and I didn't see the poor cat."
"Liar. You were late to work because you overslept. We live in the same apartment, Kakashi. I even knocked on your door to tell you to get up before I left for work."
Tenten smirked as the man tugged at his collar. "Maa...let's not tell the head honchos about that. Have a nice day."
She shook her head as she left the security room. Sometimes that man could be so amusing for her. He was often late to work because he overslept or went somewhere else before work. When he did come to work, he would have some excuse. Most of them sounded ludicrous, but he always gave his closed eye smile before going to work.
Tenten made her way to the train station and hopped onto the train that had just pulled in. She hated being squashed between people, but the train was cheapest transportation to and from work.
The train jerked a bit before moving forward. Tenten gripped the railing above her as she felt herself stumble back a bit. As the train stopped at each station, she found herself being pushed up against others. More and more people kept getting on. Tenten's right eye twitched a bit as she felt herself being compressed like a can of sardines.
The train went underground. Then it suddenly stopped which caused everyone to jolt around. She squeaked as someone shoved her in the stomach with their elbow. Then someone else stumbled into her. They flailed their arms and smacked into her side. Tenten lost her balance as other people shoved to stand upright.
She fell and landed on someone. The pained grunt let her know the person must have gotten smacked by her bag. Tenten looked up at the person she was sitting on and felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. She was embarrassed that she was sitting on a man that didn't look amused.
"S-sorry!" The pale eyed stranger frowned.
"Could you get your bag out of my face?" She realized that her bag was still pressed against the side of his face. Attempting to move her bag without hitting anyone else, Tenten managed to move it to a better place.
The train had stopped moving. "I guess we're stuck," she mumbled.
The man sighed. "Could you possibly get off me as well?" The woman felt her face flush some more as she had forgotten she was in the lap of a random man.
She scrambled to get off him. Yet when she managed to stand up, the train lurched again and she was shoved back. Again she fell on the man's lap as others bumped and stumbled around. An annoyed sigh came from him as her elbow knocked into his chin.
Tenten was mortified now. "I'm sorry! Did that hurt?" Without thought she grabbed his chin to inspect it. The wince he was giving told her that it had hurt.
"Here take some painkillers." She released his chin and rummaged through her bag. Pulling out a bottle of painkiller and an unopened water bottle, she handed the pills to the man.
He stared down at the pills she had given. "You carry a bottle of ibuprofen." He sounded more amused than surprised.
Tenten rolled her eyes. "They come handy especially when you end up elbowing a person in the chin. Here have some water with that too. The bottle is new so…whoops…"
She had unscrewed the cap only for the train to jerk again and the water to spill on his suit. A very expensive looking suit at that. Tenten wanted to bang her head on something at all the misfortune she seemed to be having. First she sits on a random man and hits him with her bag. Then she falls on him again and bruises his chin. Now she spilled water on his expensive suit.
"I'm so sorry! I'll pay for the dry cleaning bill. I-" She paused when she heard a chuckle.
Looking up, she saw that he actually had a smile on his face, albeit a small one. His chuckle was rather deep and he looked nice when he wasn't frowning. That smile made her heart beat a fraction faster as if to say 'I know that smile.'
Tenten frowned a bit as he kept chuckling. "What's so funny?"
He shook his head and met her brown eyes. "This situation."
When she met his eyes, she felt a sense of déjà vu come over her. It was as if she had seen those eyes from somewhere. Now that she thought about it, she felt as if she knew this man from somewhere. Somewhere else or maybe from some other time. Her eyes unintentionally flickered to his forehead as if she expected to see something there. His forehead was smooth and blank.
"What did you expect to be there? A tattoo?" she thought to herself.
The man cleared his throat. "It's just water. It'll dry soon enough." She looked away from his forehead and nodded mechanically as her mind was still in a haze.
"I'm really sorry about that…um…"
"Hyūga Neji." He supplied.
"Yeah, um sorry Hyūga-san." Saying that felt foreign on her tongue as if she was not use to using his last name. Though that sounded stupid to her as she hardly knew him to begin with.
"Like I said, the water will dry. Thank you though…"
"Tenten." A strange look came over him but it quickly vanished.
He nodded. "Thank you, Tenten." The way her name rolled off his tongue sounded so right to her ears.
They just stared at each as the conversation died out. Tenten felt an unexplained pull toward this stranger. His pale eyes, long brown hair and serious face seemed to be so familiar yet she couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe she had seen him while working at the museum. Though looking at his business suit, she had a feeling he did not frequent the museum. Maybe she had seen his face in t.v. or on a billboard.
"Doors will open on the right." The voice of the conductor broke the strange spell that had overcome them both.
Tenten realized that it was her stop. She quickly got off him and noted that the train was no longer crowded. She could have gotten off his lap far sooner if she had paid attention. Her cheeks warmed a bit at the little fact.
"Um, sorry for falling on you." She nodded and chewed her lip as she begged the doors to open. Now that her mind was back to normal, she was so embarrassed at what had transpired. She had sat on him and proceeded to ogle him like a weirdo. He probably thought she was some perv.
The doors finally opened. Tenten dashed right through them without another glance back. She didn't dare look back as she made her way upstairs. Once she was out of the station, she let out a relieved sigh. That was probably the most mortifying thing she had ever done. She had touched him without thought too.
"Could I have acted any more like a freakin' weirdo!" She groaned and smacked her forehead.
-:-
"Lee you should have seen how creepy I was being! I wouldn't be surprised if he called the police on me. It was just so embarrassing now that I actually think of it!" Tenten complained to her best friend.
Rock Lee had a thoughtful look on his face. "Perhaps it was supposed to happen, Tenten. You were meant to fall on him because even when you tried to get up, you fell on him again."
She groaned. "It was the stupid train's fault I fell. If the train hadn't been so packed or had kept on jerking, I wouldn't have fallen on him and made a fool of myself!"
He flashed her his signature nice guy smile. "Don't worry Tenten! I'm sure this man thought you were just being youthful as you helped him."
"Lee…you're not helping!" She smacked her head on the wooden table of the cafe. Her enthusiastic friend was great, but he sometime never saw her dilemma. Sometimes she wondered why she didn't go to her girl friends to talk about the incident.
It had been a little over a week since that train incident and Tenten was still thinking about it. Every time she recalled it, she realized more and more how freaky she had been. She had probably scared the stranger and if he ever saw her again, she wouldn't be surprised if he ran the other way.
"Maybe you are thinking too much into this," Lee said. Tenten looked up to see him nodding.
Sitting up, she stared at her cup of coffee. "Maybe you're right. I mean he didn't seem all that bothered by everything I did. Maybe he's forgotten all about it. Maybe if we see each other, he won't even recognize me."
For some reason that last part made her chest ache a bit. She was sure he wouldn't even recognize her if he ever saw her. She wasn't really that memorable in looks like some of her friends. Though many of them said her signature twin buns and single braid were hard to forget. Still there were probably hundreds of people with brown hair and eyes like her.
"How could anyone forget you?!" Lee sounded outraged and banged his fist on the table. A fire was lit in his eyes.
Tenten laughed nervously as the some customers gave them the stink eye. "It's fine, Lee. Calm down. I'd be glad if he didn't remember me at all."
A bit of a white lie, but he didn't need to know that. He seemed to calm down after that. Tenten sighed and finished her coffee. The weekends she didn't have work so she mainly relaxed a bit with her friends.
"Anyways, shouldn't you be going back to the dojo?" She looked at the clock on wall. It was a little past one. She watched as her green track suit wearing friend jumped up.
"I will be late and that is not youthful! Farewell Tenten!"
The bowl cut man slapped some money on the table and dashed out of the cafe. She smiled as she saw him run by the window. Leaning back, she contemplated what she should do today. It wasn't like there was much to do. Paying for her drink, she decided to go to the park. It was always a nice place to go especially when spring was just around the corner.
She made her way to the community park. A few children ran around as the playground was nearby. She spotted Sai sitting in his usual place at the foot of the park's statue. The pale man could always be found sketching on the weekends regardless of the season.
She had never really talked to him much. The few times she did, it had been a bit awkward. He liked talking about art. If it wasn't about art, the conversation died out. He sometimes said the most inappropriate things with a smile on his face.
She waved as she passed him. Walking around, she saw a few other people that she knew. Most of them lived in the same neighborhood as her. She had become acquainted with some of them. Some even lived in the same apartment building as her.
Tenten made her way over to the duck pond. A few children were feeding the ducks with scraps of bread. She sat under the weeping willow and stared out at the scene. It was peaceful to just sit and watch. A mother duck swam by with her three baby ducks following in line. She smiled at how cute they looked as they went by.
She had just leaned back against the tree when something smacked her right in the face. Tenten jolted to a sitting position while holding her nose. She looked down to see a soccer ball rolling near her feet. She could feel a trickle of blood coming from her nose.
"Oi! Lady pass me my ball!" A rather demanding voice called to her. Tenten looked over to see a young girl of about ten in soccer gear waving to her. The girl's chin length brown hair was sticking up in odd places.
Tenten glared at the child and ignored her. The kid had the nerve to ask her to pass back the ball without apologizing to her. She had just gotten a nose bleed, and most likely a bruise, because of the kid. The woman attempted to pinch her nose to stanch the bleeding. The sound of running feet neared her.
The girl came over and picked up her ball. "Thanks for nothing, lady." The older woman felt a nerve snap.
"You just hit me in the face with your ball. An apology would be nice," Tenten said though her voice was nasally because she was holding her nose.
Up close she could see that the girl had pale lavender eyes. The child sneered and opened her mouth to most likely make a snarky comment when a male voice called out to her. Tenten watched as her already pale face seemed to go ten shades whiter at the voice.
"Hanabi, apologize to her." The voice was eerily familiar. Suddenly Tenten wanted to leave the park as she put two and two together.
Unfortunately for her, the man from the train came over. Tenten cursed at herself as he finally saw who it was sitting under the weeping willow. Tenten met his eyes and waited for him to quickly retreat with the girl. Instead, he bent down and inspected her face.
"You need to put ice on that. The bleeding should stop and the bruising will be minimized." His voice held no disgust.
"Neji-nii, I didn't mean to hit her." The child, Hanabi, whined. Turning his gaze from Tenten, he stood up and looked down at her. A disapproving frown marred his face.
Tenten slowly got up as he talked to the girl. "Hanabi we do not hit someone and not apologize. Your father raised you to have manners. Now apologize or you won't be getting ice cream."
Hanabi pouted before turning to Tenten. "Sorry." The apology was half assed in Tenten's opinion but she decided to accept it.
"It's fine." Again her voice was still nasally sounding. She released her nose just for it to start dripping again.
Cursing she squeezed it again and tilted her head back. "Wait here, Hanabi." Tenten watched as he walked away from them.
The younger female sighed and put her soccer ball down. She kicked it between her feet as she waited for him to come back. Tenten felt a bit awkward and shifted from one foot to another. Finally, deciding she should leave, she turned on her heel only to smack into his chest.
Neji raised an eyebrow at her. "I got some ice from the ice cream vendor. You should apply the bag to your nose."
He handed her an ice bag wrapped in a paper towel. Smiling gratefully, Tenten pressed it against her nose. She winced when she pressed a bit too hard. That was definitely going to bruise tomorrow.
They stood there in silence. Hanabi had stopped kicking her ball and watched the two adults. Interestingly enough they seemed to be just staring at each other. She had never seen her Uncle stare at a woman for so long. Deciding it was time to interrupt their gaze fest, she coughed rather obnoxiously.
They both looked at her. "So, Uncle Neji…who's the lady?"
"This is Tenten. I met her on the train a while back," he answered without missing a beat. Well so much for forgetting who she was.
Tenten smiled at Hanabi. "Hi."
"Oh she's the weird lady who fell on you and then proceeded to spill water on you?" Hanabi smirked as Tenten's cheeks turned red.
"Yes, she's the one who gave me ibuprofen." He looked at Tenten. She could see that his eyes were full of mirth.
Rubbing the back of her head with her unoccupied hand, she chuckled nervously. "I'm really sorry about that."
He shook his head. "It wasn't like you intentionally fell on me. No harm done."
Hanabi snorted. "Yeah except your suit was ruined. The water stain didn't come off the jacket."
The man sighed. "It's fine, Hanabi. I own a lot of suits. It isn't like I'm going to run out of them any time soon."
Tenten bit her lip as she processed what Hanabi had said. She had ruined his expensive suit. Yet he had told her it was no problem and that it would dry. Had he lied to her so that she wouldn't feel more like a fool than she had felt? It was a nice gesture even though she felt even more guilty now that she knew the truth.
"Whatever. Can I have ice cream now?" Hanabi held her hand out for money. Neji gave her a few dollars and they watched as the girl ran off to get her treat.
Turning to Tenten, he said, "I apologize for my cousin. She hasn't learned to control her mouth."
She chuckled and waved him off. "Kids will be kids. We were all like that once."
She couldn't really imagine a man like him being rude to his elders. He seemed too polite to mouth off to people. Maybe it was just the way he dressed. His casual clothes weren't what Tenten would call casual. It was more like someone getting off from a day of work. He had lost the jacket and tie and even rolled his sleeves up, but still looked professional.
"I guess you're right. I was a bit rude when I was teen as well. Hopefully she'll grow out of it when she gets older," he said.
"Yeah…" Tenten wanted to ask him something. Yet she didn't want to come off as creepy or even desperate. The feeling of knowing him was bothering her. She just wanted to know if he felt it too or if she was just imagining it.
Why was she so nervous? She had always been rather carefree as to what others thought about her. If someone didn't like her, it was their loss. Then again she had never felt this sort of strange connection with anyone before. Sure with Rock Lee she felt a strong kinship to him the moment they met. Something in her gut told her they would be good friends. They had become best friends.
Yet the feeling with Hyūga Neji was different. It was as if she knew him from somewhere and felt a great sense of loss when she got off the train. The feeling of wanting to be closer to him was strong. The thought of never seeing him again had bothered her for some reason. She just had to know.
Steeling her nerves, she asked, "So…have you ever, I don't know, had a sense of déjà vu? I mean like met someone and felt as if you've known them from somewhere…"
Her voice trailed off as his intense gaze held hers. Her heart started pounding as he just started at her. Had she said the wrong thing? Perhaps she had freaked him out and now he thought she was crazy.
"Neji-nii!" Hanabi ran over to them. Having his attention diverted, Tenten quickly snuck away. Her heart was still pounding against her chest when she got home.
Back at the park, Neji turned to find an empty spot where Tenten had been.
Hanabi shrugged her shoulders. "She ran off when I came back. What'd you do to scare her off?"
"..."
-:-
Spring had finally come and everything was in full bloom. Tenten loved this time of the year. The colors and sounds all seemed to blend so well. It also meant she could wear lighter clothes. She inhaled deeply as the scents of spring filled her nose.
Today had been a very busy day as she gave tours to multiple school groups. It was a good day for her though. She enjoyed the busy days as she could teach a lot of people about what she loved. There were a few students who were fascinated with what she had to say. That always made her day brighter.
As for the rest of her day, she had a lunch date with the girls. The cafe they were meeting at was near her work. At least she didn't have to take the train to get home at that time. Usually the train got busier during the warmer months. Busier trains meant more people to be crammed into one space.
Tenten walked into the cafe and spotted a head of pink hair. She made her way over the table and slid into an empty chair across from the pink haired woman. It seemed that the other girls weren't there yet. She flashed her friend a smile.
"Hey, Tenten." Haruno Sakura gave her a smile. The doctor seemed more relaxed than the last time they had seen each other. That was definitely a good sign as she tended to work herself to exhaustion.
"Hey yourself. Where are the others?"
"Ino should be here soon with Temari and their friend." She picked up the menu and handed it to the brunette.
"Do you know who she is?" Tenten was referring to the stranger that Ino had wanted the girls to meet.
Sakura shook her head. "Apparently Ino met her while working. She said that she's shy but sweet."
Tenten nodded as she eyed the menu. The four women had been friends for a while. Tenten had met them at a party of Rock Lee's. The moment she talked to them, she felt a bond with them. It was strange how well they got along, but Tenten was glad to make some new friends of the same gender rather than just being friends with Lee. They got along very well.
Well at least mostly. Temari and her had been a bit on edge around each other in the beginning. It was mainly because the blond didn't find Chinese history that interesting and had let Tenten know; Temari liked Japanese history. They often argued over which one was better. They still argued but were friends none the less.
"Girls!" Ino waved to them from the front of the store. Both women looked up as the other women came toward them.
Tenten stared at the woman following behind Ino. Her pale lavender eyes darted between them. Those eyes were familiar. A girl in a soccer uniform came to mind. The brunette shook her head as she wondered if they were related.
Temari sat in the seat next to Tenten. Ino placed her hands on the woman's shoulder. "This is Hinata. She's a regular at the flower shop."
"H-hello." She smiled.
Ino placed Hinata at the head of the table and sat next to Sakura. The women ordered their foods when the server came. Tenten kept glancing at Hinata as she tried to make the connection between Hanabi and her. They had the same colored eyes and pale skin tone. They had to be related in some way.
Sakura turned her attention to Hinata. "So, Hinata what do you do?"
She put her water glass down. "I work as co-head chef at a restaurant."
Temari looked impressed. "So you're the head of the kitchen? Wow that's some achievement."
A small blush dusted her cheek. "I-I'm not the only head. My co-head chef is Choji. He's a very talented chef too."
Ino grinned. "Well I guess we have to come to your restaurant to taste your delicious food."
Tenten smiled. "What kind of food do you cook?"
The dark haired woman's eyes lit up. "We do a lot of traditional Japanese and Chinese foods. It's more of a mix between the two. The desserts are French styled pastries though. So I guess we do a little of this and that."
"That sounds really good. I would love to have French pastries." Sakura sighed wistfully.
Ino smirked. "It might make your forehead bigger than before."
Green eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't be talking, Ino-pig."
Both women were now glaring at each other. They were bumping elbows as if trying to butt the other in the side. Temari rolled her eyes at the display. Hinata looked confused as she looked between the two.
"Come on guys, stop fighting. You don't want to scare off Hinata," Temari said though she was smiling in amusement.
"A-are they…"
"Don't worry about them. They're always having small spats. They'll cool off." Tenten reassured her.
"Oh." She seemed a bit relieved.
Hinata turned her gaze from the two women and to Tenten. "Ano...I wanted to ask if you, um, knew my cousin. He described meeting a woman with a hairstyle like yours."
Tenten blinked. "Oh, um what's his name."
"Hyūga Neji."
"Oh, yeah I met him." Inside Tenten was swearing at herself. They were related so that meant her and Hanabi were related as well. She right the whole time.
"He...you left an impression on him. I've never seen Neji-nii so interested in someone before. He wouldn't tell me how you two met, though." Her brows furrowed this time. Her looked at Tenten hopefully.
"Ah...well about that...funny story really. I...sort of fell on him on the train," she mumbled.
Immediately the table went quiet. Sakura and Ino stared at her. Even Temari looked interested. Tenten had the urge to disappear. She remembered why she hadn't told the girls about her accidental meeting with him. They always got excited when she met a guy. It was mainly because she hadn't dated in a while. Ino had tried to hook her up with a few of the guys she knew which always ended on a bad note.
"Wait, you met a guys and didn't tell us?!" Ino leaned across the table.
Tenten sighed. "Yes I met a guy. It wasn't anything special. I ended up falling on him and hitting him in the face."
Sakura stifled a laugh. "T-that sounds in-interesting."
"Sure laugh it up, girls." She crossed her arms and glared as the three snickered. Hinata gave her an apologetic smile.
Ino calmed herself down and gave her a serious look. "Well who is he?"
"Apparently he's Hinata's cousin." Tenten was still a bit peeved that they had laughed at her misfortune.
All eyes were now on the new woman. "Um...Neji is my cousin. He-he just mentioned something about a w-woman with twin b-buns." She stuttered a lot this time as she was put under scrutiny
"Is he hot?" Ino asked point blank.
Sakura smacked her on the arm. "You can't just ask someone if their cousin is hot! That's weird especially since they're related."
"I just wanted to know. Even if you're related to a guy, at least you know if he's good looking or not," Ino said.
Hinata was poking her index fingers together. "W-well I wouldn't say he's not handsome. He always seems to have women asking him out on dates."
"So he is hot. That's good to know." She looked at Tenten. "You should totally ask him out."
"What!" Tenten screeched a bit too loud. She looked around before whispering, "I hardly know the man. Plus I probably freaked him out along with physically injuring the first time we met. That doesn't leave a good impression."
Temari snorted. "If his cousin says that he hasn't been interested in someone for a long time, it means he'd most likely go on a date with you."
"She has a point. If he was freaked out about you, he wouldn't be interested in you at all. Maybe you should ask him out." Sakura put in her two cents.
Hinata spoke up. "I-I don't think Neji-nii would s-say no. He doesn't date really, but m-maybe he'll make an exception."
Ino smiled smugly. "See everyone here agrees. Next time you see him, ask him out. Even if it doesn't work out at least you finally went out on a date after all this time. We were starting to worry about you, Tenten."
The brunette closed her eyes and huffed. "You guys are so pushy! I mean...what am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Neji remember me? I'm that woman who sat on you and hit you in the face. I'm also the one who asked you a really creepy question, but I'm not a weirdo; I think. Anyways forget about those things. Will you go out with me?' Like he'd say yes. Stupid!"
"I'm stupid?" A masculine voice asked her.
"Crap." Tenten hissed as she looked up. The table had been quiet but she hadn't noticed. The man they had been talking about stood behind Hinata.
"N-Neji-nii, why are you here?" Hinata seemed a bit surprised to see him.
He held out an umbrella. "It's supposed to rain so I decided to bring you an umbrella." His eyes never left Tenten.
"Can I talk to you, Tenten?" The brunette nodded mutely. All eyes were in her as she followed him outside.
Tenten stared at his back. "Listen, I-I wasn't calling you stupid. Rather I was calling myself stupid. How much of that did you, um, hear?"
He turned to her with a smirk on his face. "I heard the part where you said you weren't a weirdo though you're not sure."
"Oh…" Why was it she always seemed to meet him during the weirdest times.
"About your question in the park, I was a bit surprised." he continued. "I thought that maybe it was just me. The sense of déjà vu has never been as strong as when I met you."
Tenten just stared at him. He chuckled. "I tell people I don't believe in fate anymore, but maybe it was fate that I met you. There's something familiar that I can't even put my finger on. I was going to tell you this before you ran off."
"I...um sorry?" She didn't know what she was apologizing for. Probably for sneaking away when he went to talk to Hanabi.
"As to your other question," a small smile formed, "I would say yes."
"..." It took Tenten a few seconds to process everything he had said. When it finally clicked, her brown eyes widened.
"Oh...oh! Y-you actually want to go on a date? Well...that's unexpected but good." The words fell out without her really thinking.
He chuckled again and shook his head. "You are an interesting one."
Tenten snapped out of her daze. She grinned as she joked, "I'm the most interesting stranger you'll ever meet."
"We're not quite strangers though," he commented thoughtfully more to himself than to her.
She agreed with him on that. "Not quite strangers is better than being complete strangers."
He looked down at her. Strange emotions seemed to flash across his eyes. "True. Though I feel like we wouldn't be complete strangers even if we wanted to be."
Tenten's grin widened as she stared into his eyes. They weren't quite strangers and hopefully they would become much more. She had a gut feeling that they would be closer than either of them imagined. She could feel it as if it was carved into her soul. They were connected by something. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was divine intervention. Whatever it was, Tenten wanted to explore that connection to its fullest.
Neither of them knew, but their connection transcended time itself. It was inevitable as they were meant to meet again in this new life. A new life with new opportunities and perhaps a better ending.
Kitkat