The Hyuuga and I
"Hey, Neji!" Tenten greeted her teammate as she spotted him walking down the street one day. She was lucky his black and white robes helped him stand out, because the town was crowded today. Then again, Tenten's giant scroll didn't exactly make traveling a breeze, either.
"Neji! Neji!" called Tenten, but over the hustle and bustle on this Konoha Saturday, the Hyuuga prodigy didn't seem to notice.
"Geez, he has a 360 degree view of everything but he can't hear for beans." the weapons master grunted to herself. With that, she proceeded to attempt to push through the crowd towards Neji, whom she was beginning to lose sight of. All of a sudden, after a couple minutes of pushing and rushing, the crowd cleared, and Neji was the only one in sight by the main gate.
"Finally. Hey, Neji!" Tenten called again. This time the young ninja took notice.
"Ah, Tenten. You needed something?" he said. Neji's cool and calm voice always sounded good to Tenten.
"Gee, ya think? I was calling you for, like, five whole minutes!" Tenten replied, holding five fingers up. Neji took out his cell phone and checked it.
"I don't seem to have any messages. Are you sure your call got through?" Tenten slapped her head.
"Ugh, for a genius you sure can be clueless sometimes. I mean that I was physically calling you from the street."
"I must not have heard." said the Hyuuga.
"Obviously."
"So what was it that you needed?" Neji asked.
"Oh, yeah," Tenten had almost forgotten, "I was wondering if you wanted to do something today with me." she twiddled her fingers in a Hinata-esque manner as she spoke. Neji shook his head.
"I would, except Tsunade-sama has sent me on a mission. Perhaps when I return." he started to walk away, but Tenten tried to stop him.
"Wait! Can't I go with you?" she asked.
"I need to get going now, and it's going to take too long for you to go tell the Hokage that you're joining me. I'm sorry, Tenten, but I must be on my way." Neji apologized. Tenten sulked, and as if on cue, once Neji was out of sight once again, clouds gathered and it started to pour rain.
"At least this will make it harder for anyone to see me…" tears began to flow down the kunoichi's face, melding with the massive drops that fell from the sky. Even though most others in the village were rushing indoors, Tenten slowly made her way back home. Upon reaching her house, she looked at the portraits that she always kept on the end table in the front hall. One was of a small Tenten with two older people, a man and a woman. Even though they were all smiling, Tenten felt emptiness in her heart.
"Who are you people?" Tenten asked the inanimate portrait, and then she gently lay the picture face down. Then she stared at the next picture, which showed a slightly older Tenten in a snow white graduation cap and gown holding a scroll in one hand and giving the camera the peace symbol with the other.
"What did I do all that for?" the Chunnin shook her head and closed her eyes, and put that photo face down as well. Then she spotted the final picture. She, Neji, Lee, and Gai posing for a team photo shortly after Team Gai was formed. Neji, of course, was the only one without a huge grin. In fact, his face was only half visible; he seemed to want to avoid social interaction.
"Oh yeah, that's why." Tenten answered her own question. Tenten did not put this picture face down. Instead, she took a coin out of her wallet, and placed it over Neji's face.
"Maybe when you can prove yourself to me, Neji. Not just your clan." she spoke to the unmoving Hyuuga.
In the quiet solitude of her bathtub, Tenten examined herself.
"Is it me?" she asked to no one. She looked down at her body. In the nearby mirror she saw that with her hair down she looked rather beautiful, or so she said to herself. Next she looked at her breasts. She was coming along nicely for a girl of 16 years.
"They're kind of big, I guess. Maybe Neji's not that kind of guy?" said Tenten. Then she proceeded to evaluate the rest of her body. Abdomen, nice and curvy. Waist, almost perfect. Hips, to die for. Legs, I don't know what guy wouldn't want them.
"In retrospect, I'm the perfect looking girl. Why doesn't Neji acknowledge me more?" the kunoichi, finished bathing, stood up and wrapped a towel around her marvelous figure.
Once finished drying she put on a nightgown and turned in for the night. Rain still beat against the window panes. In her sleep, Tenten grew restless. Added lightning and thunder didn't help the female ninja's nightmares. In her dreams, Tenten imagined herself surrounded by giant versions of the portraits she has placed down upon arriving at home. She couldn't move, and slowly and one by one the towering pictures fell on her, one disappearing after it had done its job and letting the next one in. When it got to the team picture, Tenten wasn't in it, and Lee and Gai faded away, leaving Neji half turned away from the camera's point of view. But, in this dream, the picture Neji turned around and stared at Tenten. He stared at her with those big, lavender eyes that Tenten had fallen so madly in love with, but this time they scared her. Neji's face got closer, closer, and closer still. Right when it seemed like it was about to make contact, Tenten blasted her eyes open. She was hyperventilating, and her body had grown sweaty.
"That was absolutely terrible." she thought to herself. Outside, the rain had stopped, and a bright full moon and hundreds of stars dotted the Leaf Village's night sky. Tenten looked at them for what seemed like hours, but then fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.