I figured that since I haven't been putting much effort into writing lately, I owed you all another NejiTen. Although, this one is a twist! DUN-DUN-DAH! It's a SasuTen, NejiTen split! My favorite triangle ever! You have a tomboyish girl, with the two most stubborn guys in Naruto. Well, in my opinion. Anyway, enough of my rant, if ya love me, you are probably leaning so close to the screen, that your rolling chair is slowly, slowly creeping out from underneath you. Ha! One of you just fell, Ha…hahaha!

Well…I guess just because I have a rolling chair doesn't mean you all do…but you get my point. ;)

MAIN DEDICATIONS

My best friend, Lilly. You go girl!

NejiTenPlz and its members. Thanks for all your support!

Chapter One: First Day of School

"Tenten! Could you please, for god's sake, turn down your music?!" Sakura screamed louder than she probably should have, but Tenten's stereo was literally blasting hard rock into the house, practically shaking the abode itself. Tenten was on the second floor, while she was sitting on the living room couch, reading with a dim lighted lamp.

Now, from Tenten's point of view, she was rockin' out on her bed, having as much fun as she could. She honestly didn't really care about the fact that school started the next morning, and that it was already midnight. She was enjoying her last bit of summer time, and no roommate Sakura was gonna tell her to quit partying. Don't get her wrong, she loves living with one of her closest friends. But still, when it comes to stopping certain actions, Sakura gets no right. Now, in this situation, this was Tenten's court of law, and she just so happened to be the judge.

Sakura only had one problem with Tenten, and that was that Tenten does what ever she feels like doing. Sure, she's a sweet girl, but if she had to choose between the good road and the devious road, she'd choose the devious road just to have "fun."

To top it off, they only fought over one subject. Sasuke, the hottest kid they've ever seen in their school. Well, they're going to see new kids once they arrive in middle school in the morning, but they were convinced that no one can top off the raven-haired boy. Still, not one person has dated Sasuke, at least that's what Tenten's friend, Neji, said.

Friend. I guess I could be a little off. Or a lotta off. Neji and Tenten really aren't buddies anymore. They had a recent fight that tore them apart, after a five year friendship tie. Neji was very protective of her, seeing as she was frail compared to the other students. He'd always be her savior when she was being picked on, and the bullies never bothered her again. And he'd make sure of that. The thing is, the students picking on her were typical males that just wanted her attention, among other things, and to be honest, Neji didn't like anyone flirting with her in any way. Perhaps it was his formal side reminding him that she was young, and very vulnerable. Sure she could take care of herself, but it helps when there's someone else to pick you up when you're down.

What they fought over, was a boy. Sasuke. No, I don't mean that Neji wanted Sasuke. I mean as in, Sasuke was "picking" on Tenten. Neji knew that Sasuke was his friend, but he still pulled him aside to talk to him. Tenten, however, wasn't too thrilled with his action and pulled Neji back.

Their fight consisted of whys, becauses, you don't even knows, and swears. Neji was simply stating that Sasuke may not just be after her in a loving way, and Tenten just didn't want to believe him. Having their fight been in a classroom, it didn't take long for the teacher to take notice, and send them both to the councilor. Yeah, you probably thought I was going to say principle, but the school they attended took fights elsewhere. They settled the situation with I hate yous, and I hate you toos. That was five days before sixth grade ended. Now, they were moving on to middle school, where they'll most likely meet again. They've both thought about their actions, and equally feel remorse, yet neither of them wanted to see one another. It was just one of those wounds that takes time to heal, you could say.

"Tenten, please!" Sakura shouted one last time before clamping her novel shut, and looking at the ceiling.

She sighed in relief when she heard the music die, and the repetitive bouncing noise recede.

"Thank you Ten-Chan!"

"Only because we have school tomorrow!" She heard Tenten shout back; clearly the words came out in a smirk.

"Uh-huh, that's it." As sarcasm dripped through her vocal chords, she decided to wish good night to her roommate before heading off to bed. Well, technically, they don't sleep in the same room, but bear with me.

Now, the reason these two thirteen year olds (I'm making them all the same age, plot purposes I guess) are living together without adult supervision, is because their parents are all off on a two year trip around the world and back, and so the two girls decided to bunk together until they returned. This started a month ago, so they have twenty three more left to spare. I just figured I'd explain that part before continuing.

Sakura quietly made her way up the stairs, noticing that Tenten's light was flickering on and off speedily.

"Tenten, what are you doing?" Sakura leaned against the doorframe, clearly tired of being awake.

"Strobe light!" She flickered it a little more before becoming slightly dazed, and treaded carefully towards the bed through her messy room.

"Well, get to bed, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow, seeing as we'll only average six hours of sleep…" Sakura let out a yawn, almost dropping her book when she relaxed.

Agreeing on the subject, Tenten squished Sakura in a loving hug, and turned the light off before trying to get towards the bed. Sure, all she could see was total darkness at the moment, seeing as her eyes haven't adjusted (no pun intended), but for some reason, she could see herself heading towards the floor. Yup. She fell. Tripped over a stack of CDs that was oh-so conveniently placed there, just for this moment. With a groan, she picked herself back up off the floor, and jumped for the bed. Can I say epic fail? She managed to skim the edge, but she didn't make it fully to the bed. With her bottom slamming against the floor, and her upper half clinging to the side of the mattress, she just sighed, realizing she was acting like a total dork. Middle school was going to be rough if she acted like this.

Climbing under the covers, she rubbed the skin that she fell on to before cuddling into her fluffed pillow. Her mind consisted of several things. Her crush, Sasuke. Her cute little friend, Hinata. And then her cute little friend's cousin, whom she felt like she missed. Neji had meant a ton to her, and he was her special. Having thought about it, she decided that once she got comfortable in school, she'd approach him and attempt to get back together with him as friends. It actually took a few days of thought before she realized she was in the wrong, since Neji was only trying to protect her from things she probably would have went through if he hadn't been there for her. Now, she longed to see him. It was like taking a pill everyday for a month, and then not taking it the day after. Not only was it painful, but she felt as if she needed it. Call her crazy, but not even Sasuke was a better thing to think about at the moment. Squinting her eyes shut, she begged for a dream to appear soon, so she could quit feeling this terrible remorse.

^^{O__The next morning__O}^^

Ah, the bus ride on the first day of school. Might as well get thumped in the head a thousand times as a wake up call. Sakura, sadly, had to sit somewhere in the back of the bus while Tenten had to sit up front. From their point, they get on the bus when it's crowded, and seats are taken up left and right. If Tenten ruled the bus, she'd kick everyone else off that wasn't her friend. But, that's Tenten for you, the girl who has the fact of her being tougher than everyone else nailed into her ego.

She wasn't completely sad though, she happened to be sitting next to the Uchiha of her world. He was actually kinder than she thought he'd be. She started conversation with him, and they both enjoyed it. They discussed their likes, and dislikes about school, and their answers were quite opposite on several notions.

Neji, also happened to be riding that bus. He was in the seat right behind her, smirking to himself as he eavesdropped on them. He actually wanted to talk to her. He made that decision the other night, when his mother was ranting about dishes and how easy he had it and blah bluh blah bluh blah. For some reason, his lecturing mother reminded him of Tenten, and how much he really did appreciate the panda girl. Sadly, he wasn't sure if she'd accept his presence, seeing as she was the one who didn't understand his point during their squabble. (Yes, I just made that word up on the god forsaken spot. Don't judge me. xD Although, Word said that it was an actual thing, so maybe I'm just tired…HEY! You wanna know something random? My word program gives the correct amount of estimated words, yet every time I upload a chapter, both numbers are different! :O Ah, I just looked up squabble, and apparently, it means to argue about something unimportant…hm…)

"So, are you and Neji still friends?" Sasuke glanced at her, frowning slightly when her mood shifted.

"No, we haven't talked since our fight…" Tenten looked down, letting out a short breath as she watched Sasuke play with one of the key chains dangling from her backpack, which was in her lap.

"He seemed pretty upset after the first day of you not talking to him, you know."

"Really? I thought he hated me back." Their eyes met, and she almost couldn't tell if his eyes were red, or a dark grey.

"Yeah, you should talk to him. It's obvious that you guys are missing each other."

"How do you come to that?"

"You guys have been friends for five years, almost your entire elementary period. Do you really think that I wouldn't see that small amount of disappointment?"

Tenten smiled at his tone. It was relaxing and smooth, the one she paid close attention to all those years. His style of talking was relative to Neji's, from her remarks. Taking in what he said, she leaned back against the seat, sighing as she counted the bolts on the bus's ceiling. Sasuke had a good point, and it's true, she missed Neji a lot. Yet, why didn't she want to say it? She felt the urge to say how much she missed him, but she had no motivation to get on with her conception.

But on another water-logged note, why wasn't she ogling over the boy she was almost shoulder-to-shoulder against? Here she was, thinking about a friend instead of the insanely hot piece of hunk right next to her. It's like, you're holding an ice cream cone, but you're fascinated by the sprinkles on top instead of the actual treat. (Heh, I made that up in twelve seconds) But what was she to do? She couldn't just stare at him like she would at a distance.

"Hey, Tenten." Sasuke bent slightly to get a look at her face, since it was still lowered. He smirked when he realized he had just interrupted a daydream.

"Uh, yeah? Sorry I was a little out of it for a sec."

"I was just going to ask if you were okay, you look depressed. And why are you giving me that face?" He rested his head in his fist, using his elbow for support.

"Uh…" Tenten used her key chains as a distraction, until she came up with something reasonable, "I guess I just thought you weren't the type to be all worried about other people."

"What? I may be a little self centered at times, but I'm not a kept to myself kind of person. Sure, people say I'm a lot like Neji in ways, but…" He rolled his eyes in the direction of the window, obviously finished proving his point.

"Oh…okay." Lowering her eyes, she sighed in a mixture of emotions.

After a few minutes of silence between them, Sasuke looking out the window and making faces occasionally, and Tenten probing her key chains, Sasuke took notice of something.

"Hey." Turing his attention back to her, he grabbed one of her hands and looked at it for a second before letting go.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Your nails. Have you been getting nervous lately or something?"

"No…I have a sorta…"

"Nail Biting habit?"

"…Yeah."

"You don't have to feel ashamed of yourself." He grinned, and returned to the position he was in earlier with his fist, "A lot more people have that issue than you think. Just put some tape on them, it worked for one of my friends."

"Thanks…I guess?"

"Mhm."

From behind, Neji closed his eyes and sighed, noticing that Sasuke seemed to be trying to become buddy-buddy with her. Having that protective sense kick in without warning, he decided to keep an eye on Sasuke when he tried at approaching Tenten later that day.

Eh…

Yeah.

Not my best work, but this is my new ongoing story, basically replacing the role of Best Friends.

Well, until Comcast shuts their hole about Bandwidth this month, I'm a sitting duck waiting for September to arrive. (This was written last year in August) Or a sitting raven. Then, I'd put myself on Cat's head, and she'd turn into Sauce-AHEM! Sasuke.

Just Kidding, I'd never torture you like that, Cat.

Oh, by the way…I'm bored! And, I have to study for three hours every day on 3ds Max, and it's soooo boring! DX

Enough of that. Review, if you want to make me feel a little more motivated to write often. ;)

Cat: Oh, shut it. I should be alllllll the motivation in the world! Scratch that, the whole damn universe!

Tenten: But, Mel left, Cat. :D

Neji: Yeah, said something about donut sticks…

Tenten: Donut sticks?

Neji:…yeah, I think I want one. See ya.

Tenten: Hey! Waaait!

Cat:…Now I'm all by myself…*Ponders*…I know! Partaaay in Mel's room! *Puts on party hat*