Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Author's Note: Completely, utterly redone. Hope you like it! This is also more competitive, less of the cheesy crying, and there are a whole lot more tricks. Enjoy!
Tricks Up One's Sleeve
Chapter One: The First Trick
"Bakaaaa!!"
It was heard in the valleys, the mountains, the rivers, the training fields, and most of all, in Konoha.
"And that's why you'll always be alone, Neji Hyuuga! You care nothing for other people's feelings! You're a stupid, stupid, stupid stubborn idiot!"
Neji Hyuuga was, for a moment, so stunned that he didn't even comment on the fact that "stupid, stupid, stupid stubborn idiot" was redundant.
Tenten, red-faced and furious, stalked away angrily. Neji should have been relieved that all of her weapons were stuck into various trees and posts from their last sparring match.
She loathed the words he had said to her, as casually as, "The sky is blue! There are birds chirping in the sky! Naruto is eating ramen and is going to be broke, again!" the last one, especially, was not a strange occurrence.
They had sat down to rest a bit, because their last sparring match had been tiring. Tenten had pulled out her canteen, and drank some, then took a bite of her onigiri. Neji seemed to be paying attention to the water dribbling down her chin and the rice grains that fell onto her lap.
"Your eating habits—" he began.
"What about them?" Tenten wiped her mouth.
"…they are not like—"
"The Hyuugas?" Tenten finished.
"Ahem, yes. And especially unlike those of ladies."
"Well, I'm not a lady, thank you very much! I am a kunoichi!" Tenten said. "Anyway, I heard that your uncle is arranging a marriage for Hinata. She's a bit young, huh?"
"No."
"Well, you would think that," Tenten said jokingly. "Hey, Neji? Who do you think I'd marry?"
Neji stared at her. "…you want my honest opinion?"
"Yes, please!"
"Your un-femininity is repulsive. Marriage would not be suitable for someone such as you."
Tenten froze.
And on we go, then.
"Stupid Neji!" Tenten yelled. "Who cares? I don't need a guy! And who says I won't get a guy? Baka, Hyuuga Neji, baka!"
The fact that she was not feminine was no secret. And she was almost proud of it. But it hurt—it hurt when he said it like that, in such a negative way, and—and it hurt even more that he had said it.
She shook herself free of those thoughts. She didn't care a thing about that jerk. It was just that—teammates. Yeah. He was her teammate, and they'd been through thick and thin, and he still would sell her head for a kunai.
After all, it all HIS fault that several of my favorite kunai broke! It was all his fault! After all, he was the one training with me when they broke! And the fact that I have to constantly stitch and clean my clothes due to HIS harsh training. And the fact that I almost burned down my house when I tried to cook eggs…because…HE lives in Konoha. OBVIOUSLY! He probably rigged those eggs, too…who says he doesn't have connections with the farming industry?
Hinata rushed through the streets, her cheeks red and her breath hard. She was late for training…one of the few times they had agreed to not pick her up, and she was late! Though not so horrifying a predicament as it seemed to her.
She slowed, looking around. For one, she was tired, and training had not even started, and two, she had caught a flash of pink in the corner of her eye. She turned, and saw Tenten fuming right beside her, teeth clenched in a most un-feminine manner.
"Tenten-san?" Hinata walked up. "I-Is something the m-matter?"
"…" Tenten looked at her, then her answer was quick. "No! Nothing!"
"I—I see," Hinata said. "A-Ano, I just t-thought that your b-being there w-was strange, especially when—when it's about t-time y-you and N-Neji-nii-san t-train."
At the last words, Tenten stiffened, but pretended to wave it off. "No, I'm fine—just cut training short, is all!"
"…okay." Hinata checked the time. "U-Um, I'm l-late—g-good bye!" she rushed off.
"Ja ne," Tenten said, sighing and looking down. The front of her shirt and the upper fronts of her pants were soggy, quite soggy. She trudged wearily home, secretly scolding herself for being such an immature brat.
Hah! She'd show that Hyuuga what she was made of—she was no distressed damsel. She would plow her own way—whichever way she pleased, and it didn't matter if she had a man or not.
"And that's why you'll always be alone, Neji Hyuuga! You care nothing for other people's feelings! You're a stupid, stupid, stupid stubborn idiot!"
Those words still rang in Neji Hyuuga's head. As they had been, for the past hour and a half. Idiot. She had called him an idiot. Not only an idiot, but an extremely stupid and stubborn idiot. And had he really hurt her feelings that much? He didn't know. It wasn't like he was some sort of female specialist.
He didn't know exactly why he had gone and blurted that out—they were talking, of course, and it had come out. Coolly, of course.
It was because…he had gone and blurted that out, for fear that he would blurt out something much more embarrassing, such as, "Tenten, do you have a boyfriend, a secret one," or, "Tenten, do you like anyone," or, as Naruto would say, "TENTEN PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME DATTEBAYO!!!" just because she was a breathing female and was decent looking and he looked like he needed someone. Or Lee…Lee was quite predictable.
But now he thought of whether or not any of those choices, even the last one, would have been better than the one he chose.
"Hmph." Tenten munched on her onigiri like mad. She had just eaten three, but she didn't really worry about eating too much, because she trained too much to get fat, anyway. She considered going out and getting a bag of chips or an ice cream cone—onigiri wasn't really good comfort food. But she was too lazy to venture outside, and onigiri was about the only thing she could make without burning the house down.
"'Your un-femininity is repulsive. Marriage would not be suitable for someone as you,'" Tenten yelled angrily through a mouthful of rice. "That's just as bad as saying, 'You're so ugly. No one would ever want to go out with you,' or, 'You are repulsive in more ways than you could ever imagine and you will remain all your life alone and unwanted,' Neji Hyuuga!!" She pushed the rest of the rice ball in her mouth and reached for another.
She had been staring out the window with no apparent notice to what she saw. Blinking, she now saw that, in the two hours she had sat there, Konoha was covered with a blanket of snow.
It was late spring, but Konoha had been experiencing drastic weather changes. Konoha had never received, not in quite a while, snow. Not even rain. The usually warm and pleasant weather of Konoha gave a summer so hot that most of the girls went and wore shorts and skirts too short to be given that name, and tank tops, though Tenten stuck stubbornly to her usual outfit, and therefore almost fainted from heat. Fall had been full of fast-blowing winds, and the leaves of the deciduous trees had been blown off at once. Winter came, but instead of snow, it had given rain, so much that the water would have filled a lake. Now—well, now, in spring, it gave snow.
"Sugoi, sugoi! (amazing, amazing!)" Tenten cried in delight, almost toppling the plate of onigiri beside her, leaning out her window, and catching snow on her tongue.
Author's Note: I was inspired by this because, as I look out my window now, it is currently snowing. I just had to include it!
Neji felt something wet and cold on his head. Looking up, he saw snow falling gently down. He reached out a palm and caught some flakes in his hand. Looking around and making sure no one was near, he stuck his tongue out a little, and a few snowflakes drifted onto it.
Hinata, Kiba, and Shino looked around.
"Snow!" Kiba cried excitedly—Akamaru barked.
"S-Snow," Hinata said happily.
Shino's face expressed no emotions whatsoever. He merely said, "I am going home. My insects will get too cold out here."
"O-Oh," Hinata said, watching Shino head for home. "A-Are you g-going t-too, K-Kiba-kun?"
"Yeah, but mark my words, when the snow builds up I'll be right back! Akamaru says he will, too," Kiba said, turning and waving. "Ja ne, Hinata!" then he turned and ran for home.
"Ja mata ne," Hinata called softly. She stood and looked up at the sky. The snow was beautiful.
"Hinata," Naruto said. The two were standing ankle-deep in a layer of snow, with snowflakes drifting all around them. "You'll get a cold out here! I'll walk you home."
"Y-Yes…" Hinata blushed.
"U-Um…" Naruto paused, blushing, then took her hands in his own. "But, Hinata, before—before you go, may I—may I tell you something?"
"Y-Yes, N-Naruto-k-kun?" Hinata said, her eyes bright.
"Hinata, I—HINATA PLEASE GO OUT ON A DATE WITH ME DATTEBAYO!!"
Hinata's dream crumbled at that moment.
Tenten hastily pulled on a long sleeve lighter blue shirt under her dark blue Chinese top, and walked outside with a cloak around her shoulders. She twirled a little as the snow piled around her feet. She hadn't experienced snow in a long time—it was like greeting an old friend. The air was crisp and chilly, and she could see her condensed breath when she breathed out.
"Ahh—UUUUWWWWWAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Tenten fell down as someone bumped into her. She saw a package flying through the air and caught it just in time.
Ino looked at her, blushing. "Sumimasen! Sumimasen!"
"A-Ah! It's okay!" Tenten said quickly, getting up and brushing herself off.
"I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz!" Ino jumped up, taking the bundle carefully. "Thanks for saving this—Mom would kill me if it were damaged." She looked at Tenten. "Tenten-chan! How are you?"
"Hm? Great." Tenten reached out at the sky. "This snow was really unexpected, though, wasn't it?"
Ino nodded, smiling cheerfully. "I'm delivering some flowers for the shop. I should get going—hopefully I'm not late."
"Oh, wait—Ino!" Tenten said quickly. "May I walk with you a bit? I need your advice on something—you're the romantic expert, and all, ne ka?"
"U-Um, sort of," Ino said, blushing. The two started walking. "So what is it? Romance—not your cup of tea, usually."
"N-No, not that!" Tenten said hurriedly. "It's just that…"
She paused, and then told Ino all about it, in immense detail.
"I see…" Ino said, after delivering the package. "Well, Tenten, that is downright infuriating!"
"It is!" Tenten agreed.
"Well, Tenten—you aren't competing for Sasuke with me, so I'll say this truthfully! You are beautiful!"
Tenten nodded a little.
"You are smart!"
Tenten nodded again.
"You are strong! Any guy would go for you! Now you have to show Neji that you won't let him walk all over you! Now go get him!"
Tenten nodded once more.
"Right! Thanks a lot, Ino!" Tenten shook her hand, and added, "Ja ne!" before walking away, new plans hatching in her mind. Ino smiled after her.
"I'm so great at pep talks," she said, smiling.
Tenten played with a loose string on her cloak as she walked—she noticed that she was quite near the training ground where she and Neji had been.
She spotted something there—it was Neji, sitting on the bench, in his normal clothes, and probably freezing himself to death. Tenten rushed through the snow. Then she noticed he was sleeping peacefully—sleeping. She grinned. There wasn't a more perfect opportunity in the world.
Picking at the loose string on her cloak, she drew a kunai and moved around behind him.
Neji woke up. He felt strange—his head felt strange, especially. It felt light. He looked down. He was covered in a cloak, and there was snow falling all around him. He felt his head, wondering why in the world it felt so light. Then his eyes widened with shock and his mouth gaped open.
"NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
On the ground lay a great many strands of dark brown hair, and what remained (he had about shoulder length hair now) was tied into a great many little tails with brown string. From a certain loose thread on a certain someone's coat.
Japanese Terms:
"Ja mata ne": this is a casual term of saying goodbye, though if you were to say it to one of upper-class it would be extremely impolite.
"Ja ne": an even more casual term of saying goodbye, and if you were to say it to one of upper-class it would be very, very, very impolite. Tenten can say it to Hinata because she is a year older than Hinata. Kiba can say it to Hinata because they are around the same age.
"Sugoi": this means "amazing", or "cool." When Tenten refers to the snow, she says the snow is "Amazing, amazing."
"Dattebayo": Naruto's "catch phrase." It does not mean "believe it" which is Naruto's crude catch phrase in the English dub to fill in mouth movements, and although I do not know specifically what it means, but I think that it is something like an expression of feeling (which Naruto does a lot.)
"Baka": Stupid.
"-nii-san": …is older brother, or can also be used for guys older than you but not too old. Then, I think that "nee-san" is older sister, and can also be used for girls older than you but not too old. Hinata uses this term with Neji, because although he is her cousin, she thinks of him like a brother.
"Ano": The way it is used here is because Hinata is stalling and trying to think of something. The English equivalent would be something like "Umm…" or "Uhh…"
"Sumimasen": Sorry for a quick mess up, such as being a klutz, in Ino's case.
"Ne ka?": Tenten uses this when asking whether or not Ino is a romantic expert. It means "am I right?" The "ka" is used in expressing a question. For example, "nani" would be "what", but it would need to be "nani ka" for it to be "what?"
Author's Note: I just picked these off of a Japanese slang website somewhere. If someone would like to correct me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!