Grace- Hello! I'm SOY's biffle & I am now her official editor! (: I've never seen an episode of Naruto so I won't change the plot; I'll just correct incorrect grammar and/or punctuation. I do have quite the fondness for InuYasha, though... maybe I should get a FanFic account...
Alright, now handing the computer over to SOY...
SOY- HELLO ALL! I know I haven't finished my other story, Spare time, but I've had this idea for a while now and now that school is over and summer is here, I've finally decided to write it!
Sasuke- Don't you have a bunch of summer homework you should be doing?
SOY- YOU! Go away, shoo. You aren't in this story!!
Neji- Yea Uchiha, this ones about me.
Sasuke- WHAT!? It's about YOU?!
SOY- Well, yea, kinda.
Neji- Smirks
Sasuke- WHY YOU… chases after SOY HOW DARE YOU PUT MORE OF HIM IN A STORY THAN ME…
SOY- runs when chased SHUT UP, THIS ISN'T EVEN YOUR STORY… I TOLD YOU TO GO AWAY…
Neji- Ah, well, enjoy the oneshot…
Picnic
Unlike other mornings, this morning she wasn't throwing her pillow over her head to shut out the loud and obnoxious beeping noise of her alarm clock. Unlike other mornings, when she opened her eyes, she wasn't met by those nightmarish numbers 5:30 on that loud obnoxious alarm clock. Unlike other mornings, she was more than happy to wake up and start the day.
When Tenten sat up in bed that morning with pieces of her loose chocolate brown hair in her eyes, she had a smile on her face. Today was the day she had been waiting for all week. Being too overjoyed to keep her happiness inside, she jumped up and screamed, "NO TRAINING TODAY!"
Now, don't think that Tenten didn't love training with her teammates. She did, and she would argue with anyone who said any differently. Sometimes though, even a ninja needed a day of relaxation, no matter how many times Neji had told her that training should be a necessity rather than a chore.
She wasn't exactly sure why they weren't having training. Gai showed up at practice a few days ago and told them that he, along with the other Jounin senseis, were not going to be there on this particular day, and told them that they had the day off. She was very excited, along with her youthful teammate Lee. Neji on the other hand, wasn't as excited. He just shrugged and said something along the lines of that not pertaining to them now and told said they should just get on with the training.
Tenten glanced down at her clock reading the numbers 8:30, and got out of bed, stretching. She was wearing what she normally wore to bed: a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She didn't keep her wavy brown hair held back at night like she did during the day, but let it hang loose, where it reached the middle of her back.
As she moved to leave her room, she heard a knock on her window. Perplexed, she turned around and looked out her window to see Lee sitting outside her window on a tree branch waving.
She walked over to the window and opened it. "Lee what are you doing here?"
Lee jumped up. "Good morning my youthful teammate Tenten! I am here because I don't know what I should do on this BEAUTIFUL day. Gai-sensei has given us the day off and yet I am not sure what I should do so I came here for your guidance!"
Tenten laughed, "Lee you are allowed to do anything. Is there something that you have been meaning to do recently?"
Lee sat back down, crossed his legs and brought his hand to his chin and thought for a minute. After a moment he looked back at her. "I seem unable to think of anything at the moment..."
"Well," Tenten thought. Suddenly an idea popped in her head. "How about we have a picnic! With all the genin since they have today off too!"
Lee jumped up again. "That is a most wonderful idea Tenten! What can I do to help?"
"Hm, well, how about you go and tell everyone from Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai's teams to meet at the park near the training grounds at around 6ish. It'll be like a potluck and every team will bring some type of food. Make sure you tell them Lee!" Tenten stressed the last sentence knowing her green-clad teammates uncanny ability to be spontaneously distracted by the smallest things and forget what he should have been doing.
"I will inform everyone Tenten!" He proudly stated, jumping down from the tree branch and calling a farewell before taking off down the street.
Tenten smiled to herself. "Alright, now I have something to do today. Now I just hope that Lee tells everyone about the picnic. Anyway, I think I should get done before I do anything else."
Tenten walked out of her bedroom and into the bathroom where she took a quick shower. After her shower she went back into her room and got changed into a pair of green baggy capri pants and a white tank top. She dried her hair and put it half up half down, leaving her bangs. She walked into her kitchen and made herself a breakfast consisting of a bowl of cereal and an apple, which she grabbed at the last minute as she took her keys and walked out of the apartment.
In her mind she had made a list of things that she needed to take care of for the picnic. First, she needed to go and buy a picnic blanket since she seemed to be running low on blankets in her apartment. She hadn't been shopping in a while. Second, she needed to make some food to bring to the picnic herself. Since she was planning it, she figured she'd bring a main dish, so she would have to go shopping for that also. She also planned on getting some time of entertainment, like perhaps some water balloons for a water balloon fight, and a Frisbee to play with.
While she was in the middle of her little "thinking" zone, she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and accidentally bumped into someone, but she composed herself before she could fall over. As she looked up she saw those familiar, pale, lavender eyes looking at her and she smiled.
"Oh, good morning Neji."
"Good morning Tenten."
Tenten wasn't shocked at his response. After Neji had his fight with Naruto he was a little more open and less cold. Still though, it was very rare to have a conversation with him.
Neji, on the other hand, was a little surprised by Tenten. He hadn't really seen her dressed in anything other than her training outfit. Probably the most surprising part though was that he hair wasn't in its usual "panda" buns. He had never seen her hair down before. Although he would probably never voice it, he like it the way it was that day better than her usual buns.
As Neji snapped out of his little thought bubble he saw a confused Tenten staring at him.
"Um, Neji…"
"Hm?"
"Well, um, Lee and I are having a picnic tonight at the park near the training grounds if you were interested. I don't know if Lee talked to you yet but he's going around telling all the teams about it"
"…No"
"Well I'm glad I ran into you then. Anyway, it's at 6:00 if you would like to come. It'll be a ton of fun, I'll tell you that much," She described, her excitement clearly apparent in her voice.
"…"
Tenten and Neji stood there in a somewhat awkward silence until Tenten finally spoke, "Well, alright, I have to go now, so I hope to see you there. Bye!" she said, smiled and walked away, heading towards the market.
Neji just stood there, a little confused. He had just seen Lee running out of the Hokage's office where he proceeded to ramble on about a mission that Gai left for Lee to Neji. After that Lee ran home saying that he had to go and pack up for the mission immediately. Lee never mentioned anything about a picnic to Neji. Right now, Neji was thinking that Lee might have gotten distracted by the mission and had forgotten about the picnic.
When Neji turned around to share this information with Tenten, she was already lost in the sea of people at the market. Neji sighed and walked away, knowing that he was needed at the Hyuga manor, hoping that Lee hadn't forgotten.
------------------5:55pm------------------
Tenten dropped herself down onto the ground. She was exhausted. Anyone could tell from her disheveled appearance that she hadn't had the best day.
First, for some reason, every store that she went too for some reason, NO PICNIC BLANKETS. She couldn't understand. How could a store not have something as simple as a picnic blanket?! The only one that she had found was a very old looking on that needed a major washing, but was still in workable condition, so she took it home and gave it a good washing.
After that, she went to the store and bought the things she would need for the food she was making and got to work when she got home. Unfortunately, even though her cooking skills were pretty good, things went horribly wrong. For some reason when she got home the recipe for her food had gone missing, even after she practically tore apart her apartment to find it. So, she had to use the best of her abilities to just try and put the ingredients together so they made some type of edible substance that didn't taste like sawdust. Unfortunately her efforts were in vain when her oven overheated and burnt the food to a crisp, but not before the oven went haywire and, well, let's just say Tenten has to start saving up her money.
Lastly, after she cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, she went the market again looking for a shop to buy the water balloons and maybe some fireworks. For some reason all the shops decided to close early that day, and Tenten ran through the market looking for a place that was open. She finally found one that was just about to close but she convinced the owner to stay owner for a few more minutes. In the rush, the owner made her pay extra for the things and to top it all off, when Tenten got home she realized that she bought the wrong type of balloons. Thankfully the fireworks were good though. So, she tried her hardest to fill the balloons with water, and after a good long struggle she finally got them to fill.
A few minutes ago she had made it to the park and started setting up everything. She was able to scrounge up enough food to make some type of meal for everyone. She laid down the blanket and threw the water balloons in a bucket, putting them over by a tree with the fireworks. Everything was set.
As Tenten lay there on the ground exhausted she smiled, just glad that she had gotten everything done. Now all there was left to do was to wait for everyone to show up.
------------------6:05pm------------------6:35pm------------------7:01pm------------------
Tenten looked at her watch sadly. It was already 7:00 and no one had shown up. Confused, Tenten sat up and looked around not seeing a sign of anyone nearby.
Well, I don't think this can get any more path-
Before she could finish that thought she felt something wet on her nose and looked up to see a dark gray sky. Wait, what happened to the nice weather? Thunder could be heard in the distance, answering her question. Before she knew it, it began to downpour on her.
Tenten sighed and hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees. She didn't really know what to think. She had done all that work, and now the food was being ruined by the rain, as well as the fireworks. As quiet and slow tears leaked out of her already soaked face, she felt the rain let up for a moment. Confused she looked up and saw and umbrella over her head, and who else but her teammate Neji Hyuga was holding it.
"Oh, N-Neji… what are you doing here?" she asked somberly, moving her gaze back to the ground, wiping her face.
Neji sat down next to her, holding the umbrella over the two of them.
"I figured you might still be here," he said, looking out at what was supposed to be a picnic.
"Hm…" Tenten didn't even bother to explain the situation. "I just don't get why no one showed up…"
Neji sighed, "Well, you know Lee, he probably got caught up in something else." Neji couldn't imagine how telling Tenten what happened with Lee could make her feel any better at the moment.
"Yea…" Neji could hear the disappointment and sadness in her voice and, not particularly enjoying it, he thought he might try and cheer her up. "Well, picnics aren't all that fun. Training can be more entertaining…"
"Neji, for some strange reason, I don't think that this little speak of yours is making me feel better right now," Tenten stated, hugging her knees closer to her body.
Not knowing what to do, Neji just sat there with her for a while until he heard quiet sobs coming from his left. He turned and saw Tenten's face shielded by her knees and her arms around her head. Great, now she's crying. What am I supposed to do?
Before Neji knew what he was doing, he brought his arm around Tenten and hugged her close to him, with one arm. This seemed to help her because she stopped shaking and he felt her relax. And they just sat there for a while until Tenten fell asleep. When Neji was sure she was asleep, he carried her home and put her on her couch, feeling that going in her room without permission was an invasion of privacy. As he walked back to her door he said a sweet and simple "Goodnight Tenten" before he walked out the door and made his way back to the Hyuga household.
------------------
The next morning, well, let's just say that Lee was going to have a lot of training sessions with Tenten WITHOUT a wooden dummy for target practice to earn Tenten's forgiveness.
After scolding Lee for about an hour about what he did was wrong, and after he ran away in fear, Tenten looked over at her other teammate and threw a kunai in the air and caught it, "Well, ready for training?"
Neji stood up and smiled, "As always."
Tenten smiled and thought Thank you Neji… before jumping back and starting her favorite part of the day.
FIN
Grace-Hm. Editing that wasn't too bad, but I'm pretty sure I must've missed some errors because I got too caught up in the story.. -hides-
SOY- Oh my GOD that took forever to write, but I'm glad its finally out of my system. THANK YOU SO MUCH GRACE, MY LITTLE GRAMMAR POLICE REPRESENTIVE, FOR EDITING THIS STORY! As you can tell at 1:30 in the morning my typing isn't the best, nor is my grammar.
Sasuke- Is it ever?
SOY- points You... PLEASE GO AWAY...
Sasuke- crosses arms Well, it seems someones a little DESPERATE...
SOY- Neji, will you please hurt him.
Neji- smirks Gladly.
SOY- SWEET! Alright, well thanks for reading this pathetic little story! Please review, to make sunset-of-youthfulness feel good about herself!!
sunset-of-youthfulness
