Yep, I'm back from my hiatus! Tis I, TheEvilAuthoressK-chan, here with my next story. I want this to be a long one, and hopefully it will be. It is a many part story so if one dies down for a little while I can just focus on another part! Yay for brilliant ideas! I wasn't originally going to have them all moving into the same building, but it just worked out that way… My stories tend to have a mind of their own…
As promised, the full description: After a final blowout with her adoptive mom, Tenten decides to run away from home and move to the city, screw the consequences; she is an adult, after all… And who is this mysterious stranger she met on the train? When Ino finds out her long-term boyfriend/fiancé has been cheating on her with multiple women, Ino moves on and moves out and decides to change for a little while… And then she meets the brother of her building super, who takes the made-up Ino to be the real one. As the owner of this new building Temari has enough issues as it is without worrying about guys… But will either of the two prospects courting her make her change her mind? Sakura has been in love with her boss since day one… And her coworker has been in love with her just as long. Hinata is finally able to get a place of her own, thanks to her cousin, and he's gotten her a job as well… But can he deal with the setup for dates when a bright customer has a grasp on all of her waking thoughts?
Yeah, you can see why I couldn't fit that in the small summary box.
I own nothing. Enjoy.
X.x.X.x.X
Tenten
Screw it. Screw it, screw it, screw it. Tenten thought angrily to herself as she threw the things she cared about into her oversized luggage. I'm leaving. I hate this place and this place hates me. Dark thoughts, sure, but for Tenten these were dark times. Ever since her adoptive father died, all her adoptive mother ever did was criticize, argue, yell, and drink. Ever.
Today was the last straw. Absolute last straw. And she had to leave now, while this so-called mother of hers was passed out drunk. She couldn't take the big furniture, and she'd miss having her big round chair for reading in, but that was just a sacrifice she would just have to make. A chair was not worth staying.
Tenten finally packed the last of the books she actually owned into the suitcase and zipped it up. She grabbed what little makeup and other toiletries she had laying around the bathroom and packed those in an over-the-shoulder bag and was ready to leave. Thanking the heavens that she lived in a one story house, Tenten walked right out the front door, not bothering to leave a note.
Two hours later Tenten found herself on the train, halfway to a city two counties over, searching on her trusty iTouch for apartment listings, hoping to find something cheap and fully furnished. She was lucky that they were at a stop with free Wifi, that's for sure. And until just a minute ago she had three seats to herself. Now the aisle seat was occupied by a tall guy (a tall very cute guy) with long brown hair and… were his eyes lavender?
Whoa.
In spite of herself, Tenten could not stop staring. Those eyes… They were so light colored they could practically be called white. She wondered offhand if he was blind, but only the color was light, not the pupil itself. After a few minutes she looked back down at her iTouch, only to find that they had left the station long ago and she no longer had her Wifi signal. "Shit," she cursed aloud, causing her companion to look right at her. Well, that rules out blindness, Tenten thought to herself.
"Sorry. Lost my wifi, and I…" Tenten trailed off, and the guy laughed. It wasn't like a hohoho I'm happy and jolly laugh; it was more of an Ugh, I'm-sitting-next-to-the-biggest-idiot-in-the-world half-a-second-laugh. Not nice. "I'm Tenten," she said with more confidence, sticking her hand out.
"Neji Hyuuga," he stated simply, not taking her hand. He looked at her as if studying her for flaws, and Tenten squirmed a little under his unabashed gaze. No one had ever looked at her like that, and she wasn't quite sure if she liked it or not. Truth be told, it was unnerving to be under that much scrutiny by a stranger, but at the same time there was just something about being watched by those eyes…
They stayed like that for another moment before Neji looked away to a book he was reading (some foreign title that Tenten was not familiar with) and Tenten played games on her iTouch. Feeling childish next to this figure she switched to one of her books: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. As she settled into the middle she got lost and forgot about the mysterious stranger until her stop was announced and he got up as well. At her stop.
O.o.O.o.O
Ino
"Wash out color with the shampoo, then use conditioner provided for a long-lasting shine…" Ino read aloud before setting down the hair color box on the counter of her new home. Shikamaru had always said that her long blonde hair was her best feature. So, after she broke up with the cheating bastard she cut it from it's but length pony-tail to one that reached her shoulder –barely –and dyed her platinum hair a nice, rich brown. With temporary color, of course, so that it wouldn't last forever. She loved her hair more than she hated the fact that Shikamaru had loved her hair the best.
As she washed it out, she sighed. This was not an end. She wouldn't let it be. Ino wasn't an optimist (far from it) but she wanted to believe that this was a beginning. The start of something new so that she could move on from the cheating terror that was her last boyfriend.
What she needed was a new guy.
She hated to admit it, but she was the type that needed a guy for comfort. Someone to hold her and kiss her and make all that was bad go away, at least for a little while. Tomorrow she would go out and find someone new. She would do it because she knew she could. She used to get asked out daily in High School until she began to date…
She would not think about him. Ever. And she would change herself. Be someone else in this body. Take up new hobbies. Hell, maybe she would be a vegetarian. Yeah. And she'd be the book type rather than the clothes type. There were boys who went for the book type, right?
"Well," she said to herself as she dried her hair, "tomorrow I start reading. Joy of joys."
O.o.O.o.O
Temari
"Kuro, no. You can not live in one of my apartments for free. The only reason Gaara does is because he is a full time student at the university and can't afford a place," Temari said to the older of her two younger brothers impatiently.
"But Tema!"
"What are you, five? Yeesh," Temari thought for a long moment. "I'll make you a deal. You work for me and I provide you room and board. You'll need another job to get food and luxuries, but I'll take care of the rest."
"Deal," Kankuro said, then paused. "Um, Tema, what would I be doing, exactly?"
"As of today, you are the in-house maintenance man. Now get out, and go to your room. You're in 3B," Not giving him any time to reply, Temari went into her office and checked the room availability. 1A was given to Hinata Hyuuga, 1B to Sakura Haruno, 2A to Ino Yamanaka, 3A and 3B were her brothers, and the fourth floor penthouse was hers. The rooms filled up quick; she only had one left. "And now I have really nothing to do, save for making sure my brother's don't kill themselves and that the halls and such are kept clean."
Temari leaned back in her desk chair, wondering if it would take long to sell that last room. If all went well she'd make enough money to buy a house and move out of the penthouse so that she'd be able to sell that too. And wouldn't that be great? Her own house… It'd be southern plantation style with the big front yard and wraparound porch. Two stories plus and attic that she could turn into a guest bedroom or something. That would be nice. And a big kitchen to cook in and she'd take a few classes so that she'd be a better cook.
In the middle of this daydreaming, someone rang the front bell. Temari looked past the office door and saw a tall girl with chocolate hair and twin buns. And suitcases. That was what was important. The fact that she had suitcases meant she was looking for a place to stay. "Hello there! My name is Temari, what can I do for you?"
"I want an apartment."
"Ok then. Step into my office and we'll get you all set up."
O.o.O.o.O
Sakura
"Well, Miss Sakura, you are looking quite lovely today! Uchiha got you working late again?" Lee asked, flashing a blinding smile. That was one thing Sakura could say about Lee. He had no taste in clothes or hair styles (and his eyebrows desperately needed to be waxed) but the man had great hygiene.
"Thanks Lee," she said. Lee was her best friend who was not-so-secretly in love with her. Had been since she could remember. But his total bubbly-ness and lack of common sense (and fashion sense) left much to be desired. That's just not what Sakura was into; she liked the dark, brooding type. Which was why she would do anything for her boss, Sasuke Uchiha (or hell, even his brother Itachi… even if those scars of his made him look like he needed some botox), including staying up till ungodly hours of the night finishing those reports.
But at least she had Lee, who would always stay back and help her, even if he wasn't getting paid for the overtime. Gotta love friends like that.
"You know what, Lee, I think I'll go for coffee with you today," Sakura said as she finished her work. "I definitely need it."
O.o.O.o.O
Hinata
Hinata sighed as she looked at the clock. Twenty minutes until her shift was over and he hadn't shown up. At all. What's worse was that she had a date tonight. With that student… What did he study? Archaeology. He digs for a living. Oh, joy. But apparently he was a prodigy, so Neji thought he'd be good for frail old Hinata. As if I need any help taking care of myself. Hinata thought bitterly as she bussed one of the tables.
But this Gaara seemed nice enough. Perfectly polite, and promised to pick her up right after her shift and drive her home so that she could shower and change. Apparently they lived in the same building, since his sister owned the place. Weird.
But that isn't really who she wanted. It may seem weird to other people, but that blond guy who was a regular here was just so… Adorable. There was no way to describe him. And he was really fit. And tall. And had the bluest eyes Hinata had ever seen. She was hooked.
Her cousin would hear noting of it, even is she tried. It just wasn't how he worked. If Neji set his mind on something he pretty much got his way. That's just how things went.
As her shift ended, Hinata resigned herself to the date and daydreams of the blonde customer. For now.
X.x.X.x.X
And that's it for chapter one! It's just the intros to the characters and their points of view. I know there is some oocness, but it couldn't be helped. Also, sorry some of the characters had short intros. When I was coming up with this idea it was going to be a one shot titled Strangers On A Train, and it was going to be just Tenten's part fleshed out. Tenten is kind of my focus for this, but as I get more ideas (and I have a lot of them already) each part will flesh itself out. As I've said before, my stories have a mind of their own when it comes to these things.
As always, if there is something you would like to see in a later chapter, just say so in your review!
Hope you all like it!