Aloha
Prompt: Valentine's Day (one of mine)
Rated: T for vulgarity
Side pairings: SasuKarin, one-sided-ness in HinaNaru, KankTen, LeeSaku, InoSasu, and SakuSasu
Disclaimer: I could get a Valentine to shoot up the lawyers chasing after me for Naruto copyrights issues… but then I'd have lawyers coming after me for FFVII copyright stuff…
- Valentine's Day Cliché -
Heart thumping loudly and painfully against her rib cage, TenTen trembled slightly as she waited in line. She was glad all the kids near her were underclassmen and didn't know her. The great TenTen, in line for her "most compatibles", flushed and shaky. The notion of it was laughable, and yet, here she was. It was almost as bad as someone accusing her of having Beiber fever or being a Twihard (whatever those things were… stupid Americans…).
"N-ne, nee-san, y-you have a c-c-c-crush?" A girl a year younger than TenTen asked, turning around to face her. She was very cute, in the little-girl way; her hair just brushed her shoulders and was a thick, light brown with indigo highlights. TenTen was sure the indigo highlights were only allowed because they almost looked black.
"Ano, yeah… you?" TenTen smiled nervously at her, gauging her looks. Even with a uniform, you could still tell who would tell anything to anyone. Since the girl was blushing herself when TenTen asked about her crush, ("blushed" was an understatement – "all the blood in her body transferring to her face and leaving everything else" was more like it) she had a feeling her secret was safe. Besides, now that TenTen looked at her eyes, they were an icy blue color; on top of that, she looked like a porcelain doll. There was a very high chance she was a Hyuuga.
"H-h-h-h-hai." The girl stammered out, growing impossibly even redder. Feeling guilty for mentioning it, TenTen changed the subject quickly.
"What's your name?" She asked, nodding at the girl to walk backwards as someone left the line, grumbling about how he "didn't exist" since they didn't have any results for him.
"H-Hyuuga, H-Hinata. A-and y-y-you?" Hinata smiled meekly at TenTen, her blush slowly fading. TenTen nodded slightly when Hinata introduced herself, confirming her suspicions.
"Maito, TenTen."
THUD.
"I-I-I… gomen ne! Itai…" Hinata's face got bright red once more as she bent down to pick up her dropped books. TenTen helped scoop up the handful of them, giving her a concerned look.
"Is something wrong, Hyuuga-chan?" TenTen asked, handing the books back to the poor girl. Hinata was saved from answering TenTen's question because the lady behind the table asked for her name and money. TenTen waited tensely for Hinata to get her papers before going up herself.
"Maito, TenTen. Third ye—"
"-N-N-N-N-!" A high-pitched, strangled squeak came from Hinata before she fainted. TenTen raised an eyebrow, kneeling down next to the girl and checking her pulse before looking at her list. On the 2nd years only list, her number one was Uzumaki, Naruto… apparently, with the one in parenthesis next to his name, she was his number one, too.
"Ehe, Hinata-chan just faints all the time…" Two underclassmen girls came over, apologizing profusely, pulling Hinata over to a secluded spot in the student center to wake her. The girl with strawberry blond hair came and retrieved Hinata's papers from TenTen, screaming herself when she saw the list.
"SASUKE-KUN IS HINATA-CHAN'S NUMBER TWO! OHMYGOD! AND SHE'S HIS NUMBER ONE! OH! I KNOW WHY SHE FAINTED, PIG!" The strawberry blond crowed, grinning widely at her platinum blond friend. TenTen winced, heading back over to the table where the teacher stationed behind it held her papers and change out for her.
"Arigatou, sensei." TenTen murmured, walking a few paces away, not even glancing at the papers.
"OHMYGOD, FOREHEAD, SASUKE-KUN IS MY NUMBER ONE AND HE'S MY NUMBER TWO!" The blond girl that had helped the strawberry blond carry Hinata screamed, jumping up and down. TenTen raised an eyebrow once more before looking down at her list. It only showed her top fifteen "compatible" choices…. Aaaaand her crush wasn't one of them. Great. All she got were kids she didn't know and her stalker, Kankuro. Well, half-stalker… he tried walking her to class after lunch for the first semester, but she finally beat him out of it.
"Yo, bitch." TenTen looked up at Karin's voice, seeing the redhead walk over, gripping a list tightly.
"No Sasuke-san?" TenTen asked, giving her a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, no Sasuke, but Suigetsu. This thing is shit. I guess since you haven't screamed yet no Hyuuga-bitch?" Karin sighed, pocketing her lists before TenTen could snatch them away. Although Karin was dating Sasuke, she'd wanted to show his fan girls (now that TenTen thought about it, "Pig" was probably Ino and "Forehead" was probably Sakura…) that she could get her boyfriend on her list and not them. It'd turned out the other way around, apparently. TenTen's pink cheeks turned darker as she shook her head furiously, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Well, your hoe is over there… go see if Lee can snatch his lists up. Lee was able to con him into buying them." Karin pointed to a corner where TenTen's crush sat with her best guy friend. Beside them was Kankuro, who had his disbelieving look on, turning red; he was holding someone's list in his hands.
"I haven't even seen the matches with the first and second years yet, though... h-hey!" TenTen started making up an excuse, watching as Karin snatched up her lists.
"You'll get these after school. You know, Temari-nee-chan woulda done the same, Ten-bitch." Karin grinned evilly at TenTen, putting the lists in a place where she knew TenTen wouldn't go: in her bra. Paling, TenTen sighed, slowly walking over to the corner where Lee, Neji, and Kankuro were. Kankuro bolted immediately when he saw TenTen approaching, scowling deeply; when he passed, however, he shoved the list he'd been previously looking at into her arms. The number one girl was… TenTen (and she was this list owner's number 187).
"You man whore! You did that on purpose, didn't you, you—"
"Look at the damn name at the bottom, Tenny-bear!" Kankuro interrupted TenTen's screech, waving and running faster. Growling, TenTen looked down at the bottom of the list where is said whom the owner of it was. The list fluttered to the ground in a few seconds, slipping easily through shocked fingers.
"Hnn… what a troublesome guy…" The owner of the list stopped down low to retrieve it from the tiled ground, raising an eyebrow at TenTen still face.
"Is it that hard to believe I did the survey? I'm the president of the student council, of course I did it." Neji sighed, pocketing his list, snapping his finger in front of TenTen's face. He'd known TenTen from the first day of school, but he'd never seen her like this. In fact, she was acting almost like Hinata when she saw Naruto… Smirking, a plan formed in Neji's brain.
"N-no, I mean, kind of. Err… hey, Lee!" TenTen said, eyes looking anywhere but at Neji's awful (hot) smirk. Lee bounded over, grinning and waving.
"Yosh! Hello, TenTen! Have you gotten your…" Lee paused in his speech as the bell rang. Neji shook his head, walking out of the student center, one hand raised in farewell.
"Ja ne, Neji-san!" TenTen called, waving at his retreating back, grinning proudly.
"I'm his number one! Who's top bitch? I am! Yeesss! Whooo!" She crowed happily as soon as Neji exited the student center, jumping around and doing her 'Top Bitch Dance' (Karin and Temari had renamed it from 'Happy Dance' because she only did it when she felt extremely happy… which meant TenTen came out on top for something) in front of Lee. He threw an arm over her shoulders, leading the ecstatic girl out of the student center to their shared Home Economics class.
"Well, that's very youthful, TenTen. Oh, I bought you a white carnation for Monday." Lee sighed, smiling happily at his best girl friend. He didn't mention buying a red carnation for Sakura since he was sure TenTen didn't know her.
"Aww, thanks, Lee. I got you one, too. Hope you'll be able to stand the bash against your manly pride." TenTen teased, poking him in the ribs. Lee laughed, poking her back, shrugging.
"It just shows I have youthful friends who care about me. I do not see how that could bash my manly pride." He said as they ascended the set of stairs that would take them to the second level where their home ec. class was. When they walked into the room, written in bold letters was: Best cookie and brownie batches of fourth period belong to Rock, Lee and Maito, TenTen.
"Now, that might bash my manly pride." Lee said, frowning, as TenTen laughed at him. What TenTen didn't notice when the pair went by, but Lee did, was that third period's best baker went to none other than Hyuuga, Neji… and that all three of them tied for best cookie and brownie batches from all of Kurenai's classes.
When TenTen woke up in her apartment 21 hours later at nine A.M. on Saturday, she didn't expect any mail. When she got around to checking it, just in case, TenTen was quite surprised to find a large square of four brownies, a note, and a white carnation in her box.
"Who…" Words escaped TenTen as she picked up the Tupperware containing the sweets and note, fingering the white carnation flower stem in the other hand. White carnations meant you were friends. At first, TenTen suspected Lee, but when she opened the Tupperware and read the note inside of it back in her apartment, she was, once again, quite surprised.
'TenTen, I once thought of you as my friend. Enjoy the farewell brownies.'
The note had handwriting that was foreign to TenTen's eyes, and she knew quite a few styles. It was small, cramped, and quite messy. No one that she knew too well had that type of handwriting… or, well, she hadn't really seen Kankuro or Neji's writing styles yet. TenTen frowned, picking up one brownie and nibbling the end of it. A moan escaped her lips before she stuffed the whole square, lady like or not, into her mouth. The chocolate melted in her mouth… it was like chocolate heaven. TenTen knew Kankuro couldn't cook and hoped he hadn't gotten Gaara or Temari to bake for him (heck, she'd had Temari's brownies before, and they paled in comparison to these… these brownies were actually on par with her own).
"Well, I really hope it's not Kankuro…" TenTen sighed, placing the remaining brownies carefully on her counter before getting breakfast ready. She thought nothing more of the note until night fell and she had dreams about it. Sunday morning, TenTen got up early and checked her box, wondering if the secret gift-giver had an explanation to his or her "farewell sweets". In her box Sunday was a Tupperware box filled with chocolate chocolate chip cookies (the chocolate chips were white chocolate, TenTen's favorite with chocolate cookies) and another note laid upon them. However, on top of the Tupperware laid a pink carnation. TenTen quirked an eyebrow, taking the box and flower back to her room, greedily opening the box and noshing on a cookie before placing the pink carnation in the vase with its white brethren. This time, the note was a bit longer.
'TenTen, I hope you did not think I was going to do suicide or something equally asinine when I said 'farewell brownies'. I meant no such thing, but I was told it sounded like such. Moving on, this flower represents what I might feel for you now. Enjoy the bribery cookies.'
TenTen laughed at the end, already chewing on a second "bribery" cookie. She idly wondered what the gift-giver wanted to bribe her for before placing the Tupperware, still open, next to the one that used to contain the brownies. TenTen had fallen to the temptation of them and had eaten all four before noon had passed on Saturday. After Monday morning dawned, TenTen woke up early to check her box before going to school. She was slightly disappointed that nothing but the usual bills or something was within the small compartment. Sighing, TenTen headed to school on her bike, pondering about the secret gift-giver who was an awesome baker. Throughout the morning classes, TenTen waited in anticipation to receive her flower from Lee, giving a happy grin when a student council member entered her third period.
"Uhh… I have these for Maito-san…" He said, slightly pink, handing a surprised TenTen three carnations. One was white, but the other two were red. He moved onto the next person receiving flowers, leaving TenTen dumbfounded. The white one was from Lee (the card read, "YOUTH! Love, Lee," on it), and one of the red flowers had a card saying, "From: Kankuro," on it. The second red one, however, didn't have a name, only a message: "Meet me in the student center after lunch. You'll know who I am." TenTen could hardly wait for the lunch bell to ring, bolting down to the cafeteria within seconds after it did. As usual, she waited for Lee before going with him to get a school lunch, but she only wished he were faster. Lee noticed TenTen's rushed mood and asker her about it, but she just waved him off. Karin tried coming over with Sasuke, but was rudely surprised to see TenTen run off shouting an apology over her shoulder.
"What's with Tenny-bear?" Karin asked, raising an eyebrow at Lee. He just shrugged, standing up and following his jumpy friend. Lee didn't find TenTen right away, but he did find Neji pulling a Tupperware box out of hi messenger bag at his usual table in the student center, bento box already out on the table.
"Have you seen TenTen?" Both boys asked at the same time when Lee came over. Blinking, Lee laughed, suddenly piecing everything together.
"You did something, didn't you?" He asked, sitting down across from his friend. Neji smirked, tapping the Tupperware.
"A bit of cliché secret admirer with an added bonus." He replied smugly, pulling out his disposable chopsticks and digging into his lunch.
"TenTen seems like she is on unyouthful crack, you know." Lee said, looking around for said girl. He spotted her and flagged her down, patting the sat next to him. TenTen blushed slightly when she noticed who Lee was sitting across from, not seeing the Tupperware box because her friend was accidentally hiding it. Slowly, she approached him, not meeting Neji's gaze when she sat down next to Lee.
"Yeah, Lee? I'm kinda look…" TenTen trailed off, seeing the familiar Tupperware box with a sweet and a note inside. With out asking, she grabbed the box and opened it, momentarily smelling the delicious-looking slice of chocolate cake. This time the note was to the side of the box to not get icing on it instead of on top of the sweet.
'Look up.'
TenTen followed the note's orders, meeting Neji's ice blue gaze. He smirked, shaking his head slightly before putting down the piece of sushi he'd just picked up from his bento box.
"I planned on giving it to you, but this works, too. It's a good thing Lee didn't have you sit next to me or…" Neji stopped talking when TenTen gave a yelp of surprise, standing up and hugging him over the table. Neji found his face in a very inappropriate place (not that he really minded too much) for a few seconds before TenTen released him, turning bright red.
"You might like me, you might love me? And what were the bribery cookies for?" She asked, fixing the bottle of water she'd upset in her over-the-table hug. Neji looked away before nodding hesitantly.
"I don't know. I just thought I'd end it with a red carnation. And… I'd like to sample your brownies and cookies…" He said, glad his hair covered his ears. He knew they were growing red beneath the curtain of chocolate locks.
"Well, thanks. I didn't know you were such a good baker. Trust me, I'm one of the best freaking bakers in this school, on par with Lee." TenTen said quietly, also looking away. A happy volcano was about to erupt in her stomach, and she'd rather not have Neji around when it finally blew up.
"TenTen, his name was next to Kurenai-sensei's third period best cookie and brownie batch maker… and he also youthfully tied with us for best batches over all."
"… Really? …. Oh, ano… I so knew that."
A/N: xD Valentine's Day cliché, anyone? Well, I got the idea at school today… my school had us do a survey, and they matched us with the "most compatible" people of the opposite gender. They showed us the top fifteen people most compatible with us, the top three least compatible with us, and the top three people we'd be "best friends" with (aka people of the same gender). And… yeah. I know, 187 doesn't sound compatible, but that stuff happened. My number 8 guy had me as his 149. So compatible, right? Not. Anyways. Oh, and that guy who said he "didn't exist" because there weren't papers for him? Lol, it happened today to me in line. My friend went up, took like five minutes of searching, before saying loudly, "Sorry, people in the line. Apparently, I don't exist because they don't have any papers for me." (He didn't take the survey, I guess.)
Wow, long A/N. Sorry. Anyways, this'll be the start of a collection of one-shots I'll update hopefully in some sort of chronic order. However, I don't have prompts and such… I'd like any person that reads this and comes up with something to give it to me. I swear, it can be anything (like kneecap…). I'll do NejiTen as the main couple, and the sides, if any, will be different ones. Like, I had SasuKarin in here, remember? Other times, I might have SasuIno. Get it? Yeah, so, if anyone has an idea (or ideas), please send it to me! :D I'd be happy to play with random words for prompts and put NejiTen into it. Oh, and happy early Valentine's day… and I know girls are supposed to give guys the sweets, etc, on V. Day in Japan… shut up. :P
Oh, yeah, the title? Aloha means both hello and good-bye and I plan on doing a bittersweet one-shot on the word at some sort of fantasical number… like 15 or something… if I get that far.
~ Tobi