Harmonizing

In the name of our souls, on the boundaries of reality and transparency, and to the glory of milk with chocolate syrup, honey, and rainbow frostings: Salute!

By emptyBook

Good Thing We Walked

Fuck you, I almost uttered. Though it was clear in my sister's actions that she deeply wanted me to spit that enticing phrase at the interviewer. I wanted, too, in some way, but I couldn't bring myself to say it, and that just wasn't the right thing to do.

I knew exactly what my sister Hinata was thinking at that minute. That fiery vision glowering intently at the oblivious interviewer could be seen by anyone who felt much that time. I knew that Hinata was itching to scratch his face and wanted me to not interrupt.

Fortunately, she wasn't like that. Hinata was silent, the type of person that was always assumed to be all shy and needed a friend. She wasn't shy. I always felt the need, the urge, to clear that out. Hinata was not shy. She was just silent, and she preferred to stay on the sidelines and watch. That was why people would be surprised when Hinata revealed something that they were trying to hide—it was because she watched. She listened, she watched, and she used her brain to analyze everything she was cleaning up.

Now, she sat on the sofa with folded arms, her eyebrows furrowed but gentle like waves. I, on the other hand, was staring and waiting patiently for the interviewer to finally get his notes right and for the cameraman to prepare the camera.

Both of us knew that both of us knew that both of us didn't want to do this. We were only up for it to crush down a new, mendacious rumor against the Hyuugas. Not much will, but we needed to do it, because people around Konoha really got hyped up on gossip especially if it was about a hot-shot family of nobles. Some believed, and luckily, some didn't. The latter 'some' were mostly students at Konoha High.

"Sir," Hinata called the interviewer who was still busy gathering the correct notes. Good thing her voice was gentle. "how long 'til the interview?"

"A f-few—woah—" The interviewer had most of his notes falling on the floor. With a disappointed sigh, I bent down to help him collect the flying yellow pieces of paper. "A few more minutes. Sorry for the delay again…"

God, was this annoying.

Not only that, though. After the interviewer and the cameraman finally finished preparing what they needed, the interviewer had stated the first set of questions with so much casualty and ease, as if he was greeting us 'hi'. It rolled off his tongue naturally, like the questions were supposed to be answered true.

"Is it true that your sister Hinata Hyuuga here lost her virginity when she was eleven? And to a mentally-ill garbage man?"

"Have you ever resented God, Hyuuga?"

"It is said that you take on drugs, Mr. Hyuuga. Please explain to us how you began."

"Hinata, dear, how is it like to have an older man touch you so—"

We had enough. I kicked them both out after smashing the camera, with all my fury and rage. In fact, I should have kicked him out even after the first question was stated.

We kind of felt sorry for the interviewer, because obviously he had been forced. He didn't even know if he should ask the questions. When the camera started to roll, it was like a do-or-die situation for him. He was still young, probably fresh out from college, though if I were his boss I wouldn't be giving him this type of controversial assignment. Thwartedly, I hissed under my breath, thinking of what would happen to that boy.

"Mental fans." Hinata remarked, sitting cross-legged on the sofa with her arms folded and her shoulders still calm, but her monotonous voice and that blank facial expression said she wanted to bury the bastards alive.

I groaned, punching the throwpillow. "Why is this bullshit happening to us?"

Hinata knew that the question was out of irritation and wasn't exactly supposed to be answered, but she opened her mouth and reminded me, "Because we're Hyuugas?"

It could be. "Phrase check—because of our family's fame?"

"Right on that," She answered almost contemptuously.

We had school that morning.

I cringed at the thought of going outside, having people ogle at you like you were some kind of new alien specie, and all of them were rushing to you. I didn't want to go outside. If I didn't need to, I wouldn't even go to school, even for just a few days or until the commotion ends. I could do that. Dad would let me free of my life, because he knew that I was capable of handling situations. That was why he had no hesitation on leaving me and Hinata for a vacation.

Still…I had the need to go to school. I couldn't be left out from stuff. I hated not knowing things that most people did. I wasn't scared. I just didn't want to.

I asked Hinata if she wanted to go out. It took a long moment before she responded.

"We need to."

We both inwardly moaned.

Hinata harked back gently, as if speaking to a baby, "It's Konoha High, Neji. Most students don't care about issues on Noble families."

She was right, as always. We had a wide circle of friends at school. Real friends, who weren't after our money or our fame, but because we were us. They were a bunch of awesome, noisy idiots. And thankfully, the students there were jackasses enough not to pay direct attention to Konoha Media. But I didn't give a damn anymore.

So that was decided—we were going.

Hanabi's school had an important Parent-Teacher conference, so she would be left alone. But she was a smart, tough, and responsible child, the most I've ever known in the Hyuuga family for a second-grader, so we had nothing to worry about. She was still asleep, so Hinata left some notes on the refrigerator.

I balanced the risks and the wellness of walking or driving to school. Walking would be the number one bothersome, since probably, the whole new commotion about us kicking out the interviewer might crash down like debris in full-speed. Driving would be better, but Hinata was so used to walking. The school was only a few blocks away.

So we decided to walk.

I was kind of sure that people wouldn't bug us about what happened the previous day, because they knew the Konoha Media had no limits, no etiquette, in asking people sensitive questions. They were dumb and senseless. Everybody considered that as a fact. But we could never group people who don't care as all—there were still some who did, and made the Konoha Media even richer by the minute.

When we walked outside, we saw the great, gray clouds forming above us. It would rain soon, so Hinata brought her umbrella and handed me my raincoat. There weren't much people outside and only a little paid attention to us. I already wore my raincoat, thinking it would be an enough disguise. But that was just stupid.

We reached the few steps to the school and saw kids chattering about. Our friends were there, too, looking bored as usual. We walked straight ahead, slowly, as Hinata reached for the hem of my right sleeve to catch up to my pace. We passed by a couple of groups. I felt some stare at our necks for a while, but they ignored us anyway.

When we reached them—the wide circle of mentals—Hinata let go of my sleeve.

"Aha!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes wide and cheery as always, washed with a calming cerulean, as if he had just found out something about me. "The Kicker-Asser of Konoha Media!"

"Great headline," I said, raising my eyes in greeting, high-fiving Sasuke and giving Sakura a small wave. These were a few of Hinata's friends. Naruto, the noisy but ever-so-ultimately-awesome blond, Sasuke, the chick-magnet but not really the womanizer type, and Sakura, the smart girl with pink hair. Don't ask why.

"Shikamaru." I meant it to be a question. But that was a speech impairment, if you would say scientifically. If such an impairment existed.

"Ehh…" Naruto yawned, scratching the back of his head. "He's been around here with Temari. Maybe some part in school."

Suddenly, the chattering around us became quieter, and quieter, until no one was heard to even whisper. All of the students—and did I see Kakashi flirting over there?—were fixated on the field.

"What's going on?"

Just then, I saw a familiar pineapple-headed Nara with a sandy-haired girl. They were sitting on the bench in the field, watching someone.

We walked to the field. As soon as I was near Shikamaru, I asked him, "What's up?"

But he didn't look up. He just stared in front of him, whoever that someone was, along with Temari.

"Dude." I flicked his temple, but he didn't seem to even flinch. He pulled me down, however, until my eyes were to his eye level and pointed. "Look."

I did. And what I saw was a girl, probably around my age but looked a bit younger. She was a brunette who had her hair in long, braided pony-tails each side of her head. She was wearing a bright scarlet dress that reached a short distance above her small knees, a navy blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, black leather gloves, lots of silver necklaces, and a pair of colorful Vans. She was spinning a soccer ball, hitting it a bit with her wrist.

"I see nothing."

"Look. Wait."

She wasn't in anywhere interesting, maybe except for her fashion sense, but still not that interesting. I was about to drag Shikamaru back to us when the girl began her show.

After balancing the ball with her knee and shifting it to her other knee, she kicked it above her and caught it with her left ankle, at the back, with timely precision. She began balancing it there while turning to her right slowly, and right on that spot her torso turned about when simultaneously her right ankle caught the ball, one arm raised in the air, as her other leg and arm balanced herself. The girl kept doing the same thing over and over, the speed increasing bit by bit.

"Holy…"

We were all stunned. At the fastest point, she looked like she was break-dancing while not losing the ball to the ground. She did it with precision and ease. That was something totally new for us.

We didn't know what she was up to, why she was doing this, when we haven't seen her before—but at the same time, we didn't care. We were all too fascinated by her flexible movement. And after the fastest point, she kicked the ball upwards, sending it long meters away, and caught it easily with her hand, spinning it on her finger again. She didn't seem to notice all the gaping mouths and widening eyes at her. She didn't seem to care about the attention we were giving her.

And just like that, she threw the ball back to some kid, who was practically gaping the whole time, picked up her large pale purple body bag, and left. Like nothing happened, like there wasn't a crowd of students who watched her break-dance like a pro while balancing a ball.

"That was fucking wicked, dudes, WICK-ED." Temari muttered, almost out of breath, which was probably the first noise ever made since the girl left. She stood up, dusting off her jeans and gazed at the spot where the girl just performed. "She's cool. I wonder what's her name…Stella? Nah. Maybe Max as in Maxene? Or maybe Rena?"

Shikamaru yawned, looking lazy as always, but I could tell that he was still hyped from the spectacular show. I was sure he'd never seen anything like that before.

"Like cheese," He remarked, following Temari out of the field, "She's from beyond."

We all agreed, silently, as if all of the students who just watched her show had a meeting inside our minds about what to do with the new girl. We all agreed to observe her for a while before the getting-to-know, unless she started it.

I had the itching need to know her name, unfortunately. I wanted to know what class would she be in, what year she was. I wanted to know why she dressed like that. I wanted her to teach me how to break-dance and balance a ball at the same time. Suddenly I wanted to be so close with the girl, and the next I was really close that I was already tasting the name, even if I still didn't know.

I had the slightest hope to have her in my class.

And—aha! As Naruto would remark—she went right in, wearing the same clothes, carrying the same bag, but her necklaces not shining on her chest. That was it. She was in my class, like part of me hoped. That part of me who was starting to become a fan.

After her was Asuma Sarutobi, our adviser. She stood steadily in front of the blackboard as Asuma settled his things on the table, and immediately, we shut up. It wasn't because of Asuma, and he knew it. It was because of the new girl.

Now I was able to see her face more clearly. Her eyes were a big, shimmering brown, and it was as if she was the Sun's daughter to have shiny, fair like gold skin. She looked like a doll, for that matter, and if her dress was fluffy and she had a bonnet—she would really look like a doll.

She wasn't the shy type, it was palpable enough, but wasn't that bold in being friendly either. She looked at us and didn't feel stiff and scared. But she didn't look at us directly, face to face. She looked at us—at the class—as a whole, as if she was looking at only one student.

"I suppose you know that she's a new girl, hm?" Asuma said, raising his eyebrows. THE new girl, well, I thought. Asuma nodded at her. She stepped forward and put on a graceful smile.

"Hi," She began, her voice so endearing as never before. She didn't have the softness and gentleness that Hinata had. But it was soft, in a light tone, like velvet, having the style of a huskiness in it because of the slight roughness. She continued as the class was fully intent on her. "My name's Tenten. Please don't ask about the last name." Her tone was down a bit. "Konoha Academy's a nice school."

I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully at her last sentence. Kind of. Konoha Village ISN'T.

"Welcome to Konoha High, Tenten."

Tenten. It rang a bell, but when I tried to name that bell I couldn't.

There was that spark with her, from the very first time I saw her, from the moment I watched her break-dance and balance, I felt like I knew so many things about her. Like we were close. But we really weren't.

That, or I was mad, as in crazy.

YO: Inspired by Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl novel. Much influence. Focus is on NejiTen, but may have other pairings like ShikaTema, of course. (Shikamaru: WHO COMPARES CHEESE WITH TENTEN? OH YEAH, THAT WUZ YOU.) Thanks for reading. If you don't want to review, FAVE it, please, if you did like it. (:

D I S C L A I M E R
I do NOT own Naruto.