A/N: So, I'm thinking about starting a Born to be A Lady project, featuring each kunoichi for each one shot. This is my first version—Tenten version. I hope you enjoy it. Disclaimer though, Naruto isn't mine obviously.
BORN TO BE A LADY (TENTEN VERSION)
The first time Tenten met Neji was during her first day at the ninja academy.
They happened to be in the same class. He was everything she wasn't. He was genius, cool, calm, collected, popular. Tenten wished she could at least be the slightest like him. But she knew she can't—she's just a kunoichi after all. And kunoichi never surpasses a shinobi. She never tried talking to him though—or rather, she couldn't. He always had a flock of girls around him trying to get his attention.
Somewhere along the kunoichi life, Tenten noticed how lots of kunoichi focuses more on trying to impress the males. "We are supposed to be the flowers that breed the future ninjas. So get your boy before anyone else does," was what a friend told her back in the academy. Apparently, getting a genius boy like Neji to be your husband is a huge bonus for a kunoichi.
For the first few years, Tenten believed in them. Even though she never actually considered Neji in her list—simply because there was way too many girls were after him already. The quota is full. Until the day she learnt about the legendary Sannin, Lady Tsunade. That woman had motivated her to no end. As if her idol was secretly telling her not to be ordinary. She wanted to be like Tsunade someday. As legendary as her.
She stepped out of ordinary belief a year before she graduated.
"Congratulations to those who graduated," Iruka sensei announced with a huge smile when she passed her exams. "I will now put you into groups of three."
Tenten noticed how a few girls were hoping to be in the same team as Neji. Tenten couldn't care less. She wouldn't mind anyone in her team. As long as she can train to be a better ninja—she had only one goal. She wanted to prove that a kunoichi is a ninja too. They are not just a breeding apparatus to keep the generations going.
"And then Team 3," Iruka continued. "Tenten, you."
"Yes!" Tenten raised a hand, a huge smile plastered on her face. She can't wait to know who her teammates are. She hoped it would be fun for all three of them. They will go on adventures, perfecting each other's skills, help each other and even protect each other. She vowed to herself she will give her life to it.
"Rock Lee," Iruka revealed the second member of her group.
"I'm here, sensei!" a guy with Chinese shirt and thick eyebrows answered almost too enthusiastically. Tenten gave him a warm smile, waving to him cheerfully. Her teammate. Lee had waved with the same excitement. Yes, they're going to train together. Things were good.
"And last is Hyuuga Neji."
Tenten blinked at the last name. She heard a few gasps of protests, complaining about how and why and every possible question there was for a chance to make Iruka change his mind. Tenten saw the Hyuuga prodigy weaving his fingers on the desk, eyes closed as if he was meditating, not even caring a single bit about the fuss around him—even though it had everything to do with him. Tenten wasn't sure what to make of it. She never had the guts to talk to him—he was the epitome of perfection after all—and she wasn't sure if she was ready to start either.
She returned her attention to her teacher when she heard Iruka sighed. "Kids, these team ups aren't chosen by me. We had Hokage meeting for this to balance everyone and no one has the say to change this now. Someday, you will thank us."
Iruka never mentioned that these team line-ups are also for the purpose of giving them hope to bloom into a more mature adult. But Tenten wouldn't have had it any other way.
When they first sat to meet Gai sensei, Neji was distant. And she didn't dare to talk to him still. She spared a few times training with Lee, and talking to Neji just a bit of necessary. What she didn't understand though, is why Lee was very stubborn at challenging Neji. They both knew very well, even if she and Lee combined, they would never win against Neji. He was just that—a genius.
"Lee, you just never give up, don't you? Neji is different from us. He's a genius," was what she told Lee when Lee yet again lost a fight with Neji. Neji's expression was as stoic as ever.
Lee never wavered though. He never gave up despite her constant discouragement. It wasn't until she grew up that she realized the harsh fact—she wasn't any different from the ordinary prejudice. She just believed she was.
Neji was the one who broke the ice between them when he approached her during training with Gai one day. "Spar with me," it was more of a command than a request.
And for a second, Tenten thought he was talking to someone else. "Why me?"
"You are a lot more tolerable than the other two idiotic," was his reason. "Besides, I want to perfect a technique. One of the Hyuuga's bloodline limit. Your weaponry can help me perfecting it."
She helped him perfecting his Kaiten, to the point that her numerous weapons left no marks on him. Tenten realized sooner that she needed to catch up with Lee and Neji if she didn't want to get left behind.
It was one of the sparring sessions that she learnt about the Hyuuga political issue. She saw the curse seal on his forehead, and her fingers were itching to touch it. Does it hurt? Was it permanent? Would it bother him? All questions lingered in her mind, and she saw those once beautiful Byakugan eyes filled with sheer hatred—so much that he might couldn't handle the emotion. It wasn't that hard to see that he was lonely.
Tenten learnt that day that perhaps, she didn't want to be like him.
She noticed how wrong she was about Lee and Neji when Neji commented about Ino and Sakura's fight during preliminary Chuunin exams. It frustrated her when Neji's prejudice chauvinistic comment concluded that it was simply because Sakura and Ino were kunoichi, which is why their taijutsu were not as strong as a real shinobi. She realized then, that she had once downgraded Lee into the same prejudice. Not anymore though. She was now mature enough not to judge that way.
"It's not because they are kunoichi, Neji," she protested. "It's because they are wearing kids glove. A kunoichi can be a great ninja too," she wished he could open his eyes too. Because there is always an answer in every hope. And because it pained her to see him in such hatred of his own life—his own self.
When Naruto defeated him, Tenten thought he would have been wounded far greater than she thought. She rushed to the recovery room as soon as she can, and tried to rationalize him as much as she could to make him feel better. Because he was her teammate, and she didn't want him to crush. She wanted to protect him—from the world, and from himself.
But when she saw the first sincere smile he ever gave her that day, Tenten knew his view has been perfected.
He can see life now.
How much more perfect can a Byakugan be?
The day Neji advanced to a Jounin, Tenten thought it was the end of Team Gai. After all, they were all Chuunin now. And Gai and Neji were Jounin. It was just right for them to lead their own team. She felt the bittersweet feeling woven with it. Neji was even more closer to the Hyuugas now—he even had daily training sessions with them. Lee and Gai were as rowdy as usual. But Tenten knew they had each other. For once, she thought she'd be alone.
But Neji chose to stay. And Lee and Gai kept coming back too.
There was nothing more blissful than having their backs again.
Too bad though, Neji gave his life to aid Naruto and Hinata's backs instead. She didn't blame anyone about it. After all, she might would have done the same as Neji if only she was in a closer range to take the blow. And so she didn't cry. She promised herself she wouldn't. Because it wasn't goodbye—at least not to her.
They are ninjas—be it shinobi or kunoichi. Death is inevitable.
She would die to protect them someday too—like a befitting ninja.
"Tenten, how long are you going to mourn for Neji's death? He's not coming back, stop hoping and open your heart to someone," Ino scolded her the day she turned down a date request. It wasn't exactly a date request actually. The guy had asked her for a training session. The reason why she rejected was because she didn't believe in anyone other than Neji who could deflect her deadly weapons. She didn't want to hurt anyone.
"I'm not mourning. I never did," Tenten gave her friend a small smile. Her fingers playing with Inojin's small ones on Ino's lap. She knew Ino meant no harm. Her friends wanted her to be happy.
They didn't know yet though—that even if Gai was bound to wheelchair forever, even if Neji was six feet under, even if she and Lee cannot go for a mission together anymore for the reason of incomplete team, she was really happy.
"Then why aren't you willing to date someone?"
It took Tenten more than a minute to comprehend the blonde's question. Where did that come from? She thought Ino was asking about her team. Then it dawned to her that apparently, the whole Kohona 11—13 if you count Sasuke and Sai in—was assuming she had dated Neji when he was alive. "I didn't date him," she corrected Ino's assumption. "Neji is my teammate. So is Lee." She just didn't think that marriage is something so necessary.
Although she did love him. But then again, she wasn't an ordinary kunoichi.
She won't spend time to date someone in the middle of a war. At least not when they weren't meant to be.
That didn't change the fact that she loved him though. Because even though he wasn't perfect—even though he wasn't as cool as she thought he was during their academy days—he had taught her to be a better kunoichi. He didn't just perfected his Byakugan when he opened his eyes to see life as it is. He opened hers too. He showed her the world—that prejudice is a choice. That strength isn't mere brutal chakra coated in various ninjutsu. It didn't lie on the fact that you win every battle either.
Strength lied deep inside her heart—when she was able to see the freedom and happiness within the dark cynic world.
"I want to perfect a technique."
She might have been the one who perfected his Kaiten. But alas, he was the one who perfected her life.
If her friends would have asked her if she ever regretted anything over Neji's death though, she would admit there was one.
She regretted that she wasn't given the chance to thank him.
A/N: So this is the first fic for my Born to be A Lady project. I will write it in a few kunoichi version. Why? Because in Naruto, we can see how the male shinobis mature throughout the series. We rarely though, stress about how much the girls had grown throughout the chapters. Like this Tenten version. Everyone thought Tenten is a mature kunoichi who had a perfect view of life. But we forgot that she too, once had talked down to Lee about his strength, and even fangirls slightly over Sasuke's looks. Yes, those kunoichis aren't perfect. But they have grown and bloomed into beautiful flowers. Even Sakura's growth was underrated compared to Sasuke and Naruto. I want to picture the beauty of their growth here. I'll be writing the other's version soon. Btw, Tenten loving Neji is not canon, but I like implying it. Of course, you are free to think they're platonic. No offense taken. Thank you for reading and please review! Thanks again.