Disclaimer: I'm absolutely furious at my best friend right now and am venting via Naruto stories. If this sucks, I don't really care. If you think it sucks, tell me, and I still won't care. Just say something. Obviously I don't own Naruto.
punches wall
Yuki looked down at the unfolded paperclip in her hand, and back to TenTen, who was growing more impatient by the second. She swallowed nervously, and traced shallow lines into the palm of her hand.
"Tenny, this is a really, really bad idea. I need to get out of here, like, now." TenTen scowled angrily, a look of animal fury dancing across her face.
"What kind of friend are you, huh? Bailing on me again? Just suck it up, just forget all the shit and just do it." Yuki flinched at the undisguised malice in her friend's voice, then took a deep breath and slowly dragged the dull edge of the paper clip into TenTen's shoulder, adding another scar to the crisscrossing patterns. TenTen inhaled sharply at the stab of the paperclip and bit her lip.
Yuki pulled the paperclip away and stood up, uncertain of TenTen's reactions. She looked helplessly from TenTen's bleeding shoulder, to the bloody stain on the floor, and ran out the front door.
TenTen sighed and rolled down her sleeve. It didn't matter that Yuki was terrified out of her mind and would probably never speak to her again. She felt better already.
Neji's eyes narrowed and he sighed, as he approached the looming iron gates. The walk to school was never particularly pleasant for him, even though the warm June breeze felt good to his pale skin, particularly when it included the sights before him. Only slightly out of earshot, two girls chattered to each other, adjusting each other's thin tank top straps. Their school may be easy going, but only wearing half a shirt is still against the rules, and Ino Yamanaka seemed intent on pushing those rules to the limit.
He sighed again. TenTen would never wear anything so revealing.
And she didn't, which was always a refreshing change from the sluttish shirts and short skirts that Ino, Sakura, and most other girls seemed to favor. Only a few girls, Kin, TenTen, Temari, had chosen to buck the tradition, and they appeared to be alright. TenTen's shirts always covered the chest and the collarbones, irritating Ino to no end, who just felt girls needed to constantly look hot.
So the poster on the concrete wall did not improve his already annoyed mood in any way. In large, colorful letters, the announcement of the end of school dance was painfully catching the eye of anyone within thirty feet. The small letters underneath, requesting the dress be 'beach wear', aka bathing suits, dropped him squarely in the red.
There was a blur of orange behind him and a laughing Naruto kicked out his legs from under him, and pinned him to the ground. The younger boy planted a sandaled foot squarely on his back and pull on his long hair. "C'mon Hyuuga, try to appeal to my gentle disposition." He could barely make out the words for laughing.
Neji rolled over, and Naruto stumbled off him, dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Neji twisted his arm behind his back, grinning sadistically. "C'mon Uzumaki, try to appeal to my gentle disposition."
Naruto grunted in pain, and a shriek of mercy broke from his lips as Neji continued to twist his arm tighter. He rubbed his sore shoulder and glared up at Neji, who was still smirking.
"Christ, Neji, cut me some slack, you freakin' killer. The guys have a bet going, are you in, or are you in?" Neji raised an eyebrow. A bet? The easiest way to take Naruto's money in the entire world? Excellent.
Naruto continued blabbing about the specific details of the bet. "And then Kiba said that we should see which of us could go the furthest with whatever girl we go to the dance with, and he already asked Ino, and we just gotta get him back, you gotta help me man!" Neji crossed his arms impassively. This was too perfect.
"Fine, I except. What's the wager?" Naruto grinned like a fox, exaggerating the whisker-like tattoos on his cheeks.
"Loser has to wear a thong for six days, and low riders. You game?" Neji mentally cackled, but only nodded stoically on the outside. Naruto sprung up from the floor and dashed towards the gymnasium, to go tell Kiba the good news.
Neji confidently walked towards TenTen's locker. This had to be the best reason to finally ask her to go out with him. He appeared by her side, just as she was winding up for a crushing roundhouse kick to her locker. Her foot braked abruptly in midair, as his pale eyes flashed in mild amusement at her angry expression.
"Oh, hey Neji. Do you think you could…?" She gestured to her insubordinate locker. Neji nodded compliantly, and poked the locker with two fingers. It swung open immediately. TenTen looked grudgingly grateful and stuffed several books into the tiny space. Neji leaned against the steel sides.
"Doyouwannagotothedancewithme?" TenTen blinked in surprise. Did Neji just ask…oh shit…bad, bad, bad. TenTen looked from side to side and then back to Neji's waiting pale gaze. Oh shit.
"Sure." Neji blinked in cool nonchalance and walked away with a cocky smirk. This was going to be too easy. As he walked through the halls, he spotted Naruto talking to his shy little sister, Hinata, and they were both laughing, then walked off holding hands. He frowned slightly in his mind.
At the door of his calculus class, Shikamaru and Temari were chatting at the door, until Shikamaru frowned slightly and started to walk away, only to pivot and plant a quick, chaste kiss on her cheek. She smiled, all teeth, and strode into the classroom.
Neji's mental frown deepened.
Halfway through the teacher's lecture, Kankurou poked him in the arm with a pencil, and discreetly slipped him a piece of folded paper, then pointed from Kiba to Ino. Unfolding the note in his lap under the desk, Neji glared down at the smudged writing.
"Ino, don't wear that cherry crap anymore, ok? I love you, xoxox, Kiba."
Oh come on!
That night of the dance, TenTen paced angrily in her small room. The posters of Paramore and Crossfade stared down at her, as she ripped through colorful bikinis. There was no way in hell she could go to that dance with Neji. Except maybe the fact he was frantically ringing her doorbell. TenTen gritted her teeth, pulled on a red bikini top and a pair of cut-off shorts, adding a jean jacket as a second thought. Maybe, maybe this would work.
Neji, who was driving Naruto and Hinata to the dance, stalked angrily back to the car, and was just driving away when TenTen's front door tore open, and she dashed out into the cool night and jumped into the front seat with a sheepish smile. Neji snorted and pulled away with a frustrated growl. Hinata played with her fingers in the back seat.
The school courtyard was packed, pulsing with a thumping beat, and Naruto laughingly tugged Hinata out of the car, and out the dance floor. TenTen shot a glance at Neji, and hesitantly opened the door. Tonight was going to be horrible.
Together, they cautiously walked the perimeter of the hordes of dances. Not holding hands, not really talking or dancing, just watching the crowds dance and dance, skimpy bikini straps sliding lower and lower, something Sakura and Ino didn't seem to notice, and Sasuke and Kiba didn't seem to mind (the horny bastards! Heheheh).
Without warning, Naruto broke through the crowds, and surge towards Neji. He looked devastated. "Kiba said Ino found out about the bet, it doesn't count, but I still have to wear that damn thong for a week! Dude, you gotta back me up on this one!" TenTen's expression was slowly morphing, from confusion to boiling rage.
"Neji," and her voice was dangerously soft, "Neji, what kind of bet did you make?" Suddenly Neji's hands and face felt horribly cold and clammy. Naruto looked completely oblivious of the huge scene he was about to create.
"The one about who could go the furthest with whoever he brought to the dance, duh! I gotta go tell Hinata that the bet's off, but we'll talk later. Bye!" Naruto wriggled off back to the center of the thrashing bodies, unaware of the aura of menace leaking off TenTen.
"You fucking asshole!" Neji reached out to try and calm her down and she slapped away his arm furiously. "Don't you fucking touch me! Just get the hell away from me!" She spun away and Neji blindly reached out to pull her back to him. Instead he grabbed her sleeve and tore it off by accident (who didn't see that coming?).
TenTen's chocolate eyes widened in horror. She twirled back to grab her crumpled jacket from Neji's grip, exposing her mangled shoulder. Neji's lavender eyes widened freakishly and he grabbed her wrist, locking her in an iron grip. Her eyes slowly welled up with crystal tears.
"Neji? Do you have a paperclip?"