Discouragement : NejiTen
It was today that they placed us into teams and I would be critiqued once again. Now I would have a sensei to yell about what a bad kunoichi I was, and teammates to laugh and say how dumb and ugly they thought I was.
"Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten." I stood and watched two boys, one with long dark hair and white eyes, the other with black hair and rather large eyebrows, approach the front of the classroom also. My new sensei walked in and introduced himself as Maito Gai, gave us a smile and ordered us to follow. So we did, to the top of a very tall building, where he asked us about ourselves. The black haired boy, named Lee, explained that he could only using taijutsu and he wanted to still become a great ninja. The other boy, Neji, had laughed at him and Lee a fool. He said he couldn't even be a ninja and told him to just give up. It occurred to me then, that I was watching what had happened to me so many times. I could relate to Lee, as Neji was acting like the kids who had tormented me to the point of almost giving up my dreams of being a kunoichi. He put him, and his dreams down, much like the kids calling me stupid and weird…they never seemed to respect me. So here I was, watching something similar happen to someone just like me. I was snapped out of my thoughts when my sensei asked me to demonstrate my weapons skills. I saw a balloon with "Ichiraku Ramen" on it and paused, then took aim and threw. It went straight through the center of the balloon, popping it and landing in the trunk of a tree far below. Gai Sensei's eyes widened as he asked if I knew it would hit, I nodded, of course I did. Lee jumped out of his seat and ran to me. "THAT WAS AMAZING!!"
"Thanks Lee…you do taijutsu? Can you help me with it…I'm pretty bad." If it was possible, his smile got even bigger and he responded with, "OF COURSE TENTEN-CHAN," and a bear hug.
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I was walking home from practice, when I heard someone following me. "Neji, you can come out," I sad, and he walked out of the bushes, looking confused.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Stealthy you are not, but why are you following me?"
"Because…well…I wanted to ask if you could help with my aim."
"No."
"What? Why not?!"
"Until you stop being mean to my friend."
"Lee…?" I nodded. "Fine, will you help?"
"Fine, if you stop being a jerk."
"Hn." We shook hands, and we both turned away from each other to walk to our houses.
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So here I am, looking back on all that…it's how I ended up with two best friends and a pretty good life. I'm an ANBU member along with Neji, but I work at the academy sometimes when they need help with the weapons training. Lee works as the taijutsu teacher there, and he comes over a lot. After a long time, we're still best friends, even though Lee's married to Sakura, and Neji and I married. We're still Team Gai, and close. Sometimes I wonder how it all happened…but I guess it just took a little encouragement, to turn my life around.