Author's note: This is just a little something that popped into my head one night and I wanted to get on virtual paper. Its longer than I thought it'd be, but whatevs, it's just a break from my original fanfic im in the middle of writing (A Not So Sweet Dream). And if you wanna know why they were looking for Lee, its cause they wanted to ask him about what they should get her for presents. And when Hinata left her house and seemed odd, its cause she was going to get her a gift. BTW i listed it under romance/humor, but dont think theres a lot of humor in it, its mostly just romance :P
Kunai were spread across the grassy floor. Tenten jumped down from a tree and looked at her teammate.
"Well, I think that was a sufficient session," Tenten said to her teammate as she packed away her scrolls. Neji nodded and began to head away from the training grounds. Tenten gathered her things and began to catch up with him. After a few steps, "So um…" Neji turned to her slightly as they walked "Hm?" She looked down for a bit, contemplating her words. "Um.. uh." Neji just stared in confused patience. "…. Nevermind," she finally said with a small fake smile.
"Are you okay Tenten?"
"Yea, sorry, I'll see you tomorrow." She said cheerfully as she began to change directions.
"Hn," he said as he continued forward. She can be very confusing sometimes, he thought.
Tenten continued to walk in slight disappointment as she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. (Reading: "18th Birthday!" with a chibi picture of Tenten on the cover.) She stared at the somewhat crumpled paper when she heard her named being called.
"Oi, Tenten!" She looked up to see Lee walking towards her. "So did you invite him yet?"
She shook her head. "I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I kept hearing his rejection ringing in my ears."
"Aw, come on Tenten, how do you know he would not want to come if you don't invite him?"
"Cause I know how he thinks. He would think of a silly party as a waste of time. Besides there's usually a lot of sweets at parties, which he doesn't particularly like. So there're two reasons he wouldn't wanna come right there."
"But he might come to support your transition into adulthood! Being eighteen does mean you're legally an adult you know."
"Yea but he didn't want a party. Remember when you and Gai tried to throw him a party… every previous year?"
"Yes," his head slumped down, "they were all failures… but this is your party! He may not be so grumpy if he is at a party that's not his!" He said with a big grin.
"Oh Lee, your improbable logic somehow gives me hope. Okay, I promise I'll invite him." She said while looking at a proud Lee. "Hey, since you're here, you wanna help buy some of the party supplies?"
"Yosh!" Lee saluted.
"Hm.." Tenten's concentration was intense as she stared back and forth between the two packages of streamers. "I kinda like these ones, I think they'd look good in the trees if they hung down." Lee nodded in agreement as he started towards another isle of the store.
"Tenten!" Tenten turned around to see Sakura and Ino at the entrance. "We've been looking for you, we have a question."
"Oh? What is it?"
Lee, after hearing Sakura's voice, reappeared back next to Tenten. Sakura said while grabbing Lee, "well, we were just going to ask if you knew where Lee was, but I think we just found him."
Ino jumped in "Wait a minute, are those puny decorations you're looking at all your planning on getting?"
Tenten looked at her streamers and small party favors, "well, I was only planning on doing a small party, so yea I guess."
Ino shook her head. "Tenten, this is your eighteenth birthday, you deserve to have a big fun party! I mean you did rent out the picnicking area didn't you?"
"Yea, but I was just going to serve cake and some food or something."
"I don't think you realize the opportunity you're missing here! You rented out tables and a big field, you need to do something more with that!"
Sakura chirped in, "Yea, like some sort of event. Maybe a game or something… or maybe.. a dance!"
"Yes!" Ino and Lee both approved.
"I dunno, I don't want something too big. I mean, what if people don't want to dance?"
"Nonsense, it just needs to have a theme or something. Everyone loves a themed dance."
Lee raised his hand enthusiastically, "Ooh! How about a costume party? There's this big inflatable dinosaur costume I've wanted to try on! It even makes sounds if you push the hand!"
The girls gave each other weird looks. "Uh, what about something a little more formal?" the girls, and Lee, continued their brainstorm as Tenten just turned back to browsing for more colorful decorations. "Maybe a black and white dance, really fancy." "Yea, but that's not exciting enough." "Slip and slide in dresses?" "No, too dirty." "Secret santa dance, but with your dance partner?" "Nah, that could end badly."
Tenten grabbed a bag of blank masks. Ino yelled "That's it! A masquerade! "
The other two agreed. "That's perfect! What do you think Tenten?"
"Well, I think if everyone wants to dress up and dance, then why not. But you guys are in charge of it."
"Don't worry Tenten, you'll thank us! Come on Lee, we've got some questions for you."
The next few days were spent with Tenten slowing building up courage to invite her teammate and preparation for the masquerade. The word spread quickly as the two girls told all chuunin as well as a few jounin about the party. As suspected, a lot of people were excited to hear about something so fun happening for once, even if a few of them didn't know Tenten too well. There were four days left until the party, so Ino, Sakura, and Hinata met up with Tenten to do some shopping. They walked into a store called "Masks, Mayhem, and More."
"Wow" Tenten said as she looked at all the intricately made masks, dresses and other interesting accessories. "This store is… it's just… wow."
"I found this store last year, I knew it'd be perfect for your party." Sakura added. The four walked around the store carefully picking out dresses and matching jewelry. Ino went with a sparkly yellow theme, Sakura with a pink and red theme, Hinata's theme was purple, and Tenten had a sparkly black and silver theme. After the dresses were picked out, it was time for the masks. Ino picked out a gold feathered mask, Sakura got a small red mask, Hinata chose a sparkly black and purple mask, and Tenten was still shopping. The three were chatting about their outfits as she browsed until her attention was caught by one mask in particular. She stared at it, admiring every jewel and the placement of every black feather. It was a small mask, yet it had the resemblance of a dragon. Some jewels looked like sparkly, silver scales with beautiful black jewels outlining the eye holes, topped with black feathers above the mask.
It's beautiful… she took it off the wall and headed to the check out.
Ino started, "alright, we are almost prepared! Now all we need are dates."
"Dates?" Tenten asked.
"Well you wanna have someone to dance with don't you? I was thinking of asking Sai."
She invited Sai to my party? I don't even recall having one conversation with him before.
Sakura chimed in, "what about Shikamaru?"
"Eh, I know he and Temari have some sort of connection, I'd feel weird asking him to go if he has someone else in mind. Besides, Sai would look pretty cute in a suit. Anyone in mind Sakura?"
"Not really. I guess I'll just wait to be asked. How about you Hinata?"
"Um, I was maybe thinking… about Naruto. But he's probably going to ask you Sakura. So I might go with Kiba if he wants. What about you Tenten, did you invite Neji yet?"
"No, I've tried a few times, but I just keep having this feeling he would say no. Hey wait, were you inferring that Neji was going to be my date?"
"Well you guys do hang out a lot." Ino said.
"Yea, and I'll admit I have had some feelings for him for awhile, but I doubt he feels the same. Even if he did, nothing would ever evolve from that." She said with a sad tone.
Hinata slowly spoke up, "that's not true, I can tell he admires you more than most people. Whenever I see you two together, I sometimes see him smile, or chuckle even. That's more than he does with anyone else."
Tenten perked up a bit. "Okay, tonight. I'll invite him to the party tonight." They all smiled, checked out and headed outside.
"Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he and Lee saw them exit the store. "Hey, you guys do some shopping?"
"Yea, just got our dresses."
"Oh! Then may I be the first to ask you to accompany me to Tenten's dance?" Lee asked with a small bow.
"What! That's not fair! I wanted to be the first to ask Sakura!" Naruto protested.
"Relax. I'll dance with both of you. By the way, you should get your masks from here, it has everything."
"Will do," Lee said. "By the way, have you asked-"
"I'm doing it tonight. " Tenten interrupted.
"Good!"
"Oh, so you're going with Neji?" Naruto asked. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would dance. Hey Sakura what do you think of this mask!" he pointed to the window of the shop showing an obnoxiously large colorful mask with tusks, horns, and bulging eyes.
"…. No" Sakura said flatly. "If you wear that then I can't promise a dance with you."
"Aw, I thought it'd look cool," he said with disappointment. "Well, we have to get our masks, we'll see you later."
"Um, Naruto.." Hinata called out a little too late as Naruto and Lee walked into the store, not hearing her at all. "... ): "
20 minutes later
Tenten stood in front of the store, staring at the dozens of people shopping for masks and dresses. Are all these people here shopping for my party? Ino appeared out of nowhere "Yeeaa, by the way, we may have invited a few extra people to make the dance more fun. Most of them know you, and if not you'll make friends!"
What have I gotten myself into? She thought to herself with a sigh. She had nothing else to do for the rest of the day, so she took a deep breath and headed over to the Hyuuga estate.
It was around seven when Tenten got to Neji's house. She stared at the peaceful manor before heading up the entrance. "Oh, hey Hinata," she said as she saw the girl exit the compound. "Is Neji here?"
Hinata nodded. "He's in the garden. Meditating I think."
"Thanks, so where're you headed? "
Hinata stiffened up. "Nowhere! Just uh, taking a walk, that's all. Bye." She bowed then ran off. Tenten shrugged at her odd behavior and headed around towards the garden.
Neji, would you- no… Hey Neji, I know you're probably not interested, but- …. no….she rehearsed in her head as she grew closer to facing him. She stopped walking. "… Why does this have to be so hard!" she yelled at herself in frustration.
"What is so hard?" a voice asked.
Tenten looked up and saw Neji rounding the corner towards her. "Oh! Nothing, um. Were you just meditating?"
"Yes." He said simply.
"Oh, well, I just came by to ask, to tell you that if you want…"
He raised his eyebrow at her.
She took a deep breath. "I'm having a small party in a few days I wanted to invite you. I know you may not be interested but I would like it if you came." Wow, that wasn't so bad.
He thought about it. "I'll think about it."
Tenten smiled and gave a small bow. "Thank you. And um, apparently some of the girls put together a dance, but it's no big deal. I just wanted a small party but people wanted to do a little more so I don't know what's going to happen. Well, think about it, and I'll hopefully see you there. Bye." He watched as she left through the gate, then retreated to his quarters.
While outside the estate, "… YEEEESSS!" Tenten fist pumped the air in relief. "Why did I stress over that?" Still, I hope he comes…just cause I asked him doesn't mean he's going to come. Guess this means I need to find a date tomorrow. She went back to her apartment for the rest of the evening.
Later in the Hyuuga household
Hinata walked past Neji's open room, "Oh Neji, did Tenten talk to you yet?"
"Yes. She invited me to her party."
"Are you going to go?" she asked.
"Not sure. It's just a party."
"Yes, but it's Tenten's birthday. I know it'd mean a lot to her if you went."
"Maybe if it was a small get together, but she said there is a dance. That's not exactly my thing."
"Y-yes, but she really wants you to go. It took her a week to get the courage to invite you."
That's why she's been acting weird lately. All because she was afraid I'd say no to her? "Either way, I wouldn't even dance. I would have nothing to do there."
"Actually, I think she would like if you accompanied her to the masquerade. She is quite fond of you. It's probably not my place to say, but this past week she's been stressing out about your answer. I've seen her walking around alone looking depressed, and whenever anyone brought up the idea of her inviting you, she gave that same disappointed look. As if she heard you say no every time. Even earlier today, she admitted to having feelings for you. I really think you should think about going, even if there's nothing to do, at least go for Tenten. It is her birthday after all."
Neji's heart twitched a little from hearing this. He never looked for romance before, knowing that it would interfere with his priorities. But he still wondered how it would feel to be admired by someone. He felt the closest to Tenten for awhile, but never thought she would think anymore of him than a friend or teammate. Hearing that she would want him to be her date made his heart feel something… different. "… What would I need for the party?" he asked with the slightest blush.
"Probably a tuxedo, a mask and maybe a present."
"Hm. Thank you Hinata. I'll consider it."
She bowed and went to her own room.
Later that night
After his dinner and shower, Neji couldn't help but think about what his heart has been feeling. Why can't I stop thinking about this? It feels weird. Does she really have such feelings for me or just wants her teammate to escort her so she's not alone. That could be. But then why not just say that, it wouldn't take a week to ask. I shouldn't even be thinking about this. It's a bad idea… I would want to take her, but it would feel too awkward. I've never done anything romantic, especially while dancing. I can't do this. I'll go to her party, but that's it. No dance.
Neji's Dream
"Neji!" Lee shouted, "Where is it!"
"What?"
"Your suit! The party's starting in 5 minutes!"
"Oh, uh," he said as the suit magically appeared on his body.
"Good you're ready! Let's go" Lee said as he rushed Neji out the door. Within seconds they were at the dance full of Konoha ninjas in elegant clothes. All the guys were in tuxedos and the girls were in 18th century dresses. Much bigger and fancier than normal prom dresses. Wow, Neji thought. He didn't anticipate all this.
"I don't know about this Lee…" he muttered, but then he saw Tenten in the crowd in a beautiful gold dress with a matching mask. Her hair was down and she looked perfect. He felt himself blush when she walked towards him.
"N-Neji?"
"Yes?"
She held out her hand, "do you want to dance?" He nodded hesitantly and accepted her hand. They walked onto the floor, hand in hand and began to waltz. They danced very gracefully. No stepping on toes, no wrong moves, just fluent body movements back and forth. It felt nice to dance like that. There was no pressure to succeed or impress, he just did what his body told him to do and it felt right. They danced in the center of the dance floor while everyone watched and admired them. Neji smiled and stared at the beautiful Tenten in front of him. His heart felt light and carefree, he wasn't use to it, but he loved it. He didn't know why he did this, but he leaned down and gave Tenten a light kiss on the lips. She smiled at him and his heart never felt happier. The dance slowed down where he just held her in his arms and swayed to the music. He smiled.
The sun crept into the boy's room, forcing him to wake up. He just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Her birthday's in 3 days…
Part 2 coming…. Whenever I'm motivated to actually writing everything down (I get distracted so easily) and I'm actually drawing pictures of the girls and neji in their dresses/suit so that may be one reason the second chapter will be a little late. So far I only have ino and hinata done, 3 more to go :3 (and yes, that is a sadface when Hinata tried to ask Naruto to the dance)
