Surviving a Boy's Boarding School

Summary: Tenten decides to pose as a boy in a all-male boarding school for the sake of her frail brother, but problems start on her first day, but still, at least she befriends some people, like Neji Hyuuga. Slight similarities to Mulan and Hana Kimi. Eventual Nejiten.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Kimi, Mulan nor Naruto. I do own Ryuhi, Mizuki, Tochi, Kazemi, Tsuki and Taiyou, though.

Hm... I don't know why I wrote this. I already have two Naruto stories going through my head (and the first chapter of each are typed down), but I suddenly wanted to make a fanfic centered on Tenten... and Tenten's last name is Miyamura in this fic since it hasn't been publically released yet. It's rated T because, well, just to be safe. Oh, and overly awkward scenes may take place. I nearly choked, disgusted at my own writing, though that may be my own naivety. Kekkei Genkais are kept, as are other special abilities.

Chapter: Preparation and First Day

"WHAT?!"

A brown-haired girl stared at her auburn-haired brother in utter disbelief after he set down a stack of ten sheets of paper onto a rather large envelope. He looked at her sheepishly, waiting for the worse to happen. Her eyes stared at him in disbelief for a full five minutes before she collapsed onto her armchair.

Currently, the two siblings, Tenten and Ryuhi, were situated in the living room of a medium-sized house. Ryuhi was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of loose red pants. His dark brown eyes surveyed Tenten nervously as she stayed in her slumped position for a few more minutes. Silence reigned.

Finally, Tenten lifted her head up. "What's going to happen, then? I mean, father wants at least one child to go to Konoha Gakuen, but it says that taking a sport is mandatory, and your condition doesn't make it easy for you to do sports or overexert yourself."

Ryuhi gulped. "I really don't know," he answered, biting his bottom lip. "I'm completely stumped this time." Both siblings sat in silence for a while as Tenten went over all of the possible ways for them to cancel the enrollment or dissuade their parents. Nothing came to her mind. She shut her eyes tightly. What are all of the possible solutions? Idea after idea came to her head, but each was stranger and less realistic than the one that preceded it.

Meanwhile, Ryuhi had given up trying to find an idea and instead looked nervously at his sister. She was deep in thought, and that was what made him nervous. Yes, she was a great thinker at many times, but she could go overboard when she does it too much. And apparently, this was one of the times. If there was only a way that would work without them getting in trouble or without doing anything drastic...

"I got it!" yelled Tenten, leaping up from the chair. Ryuhi looked up at her, startled as he took a small sip from his cup of water. "It's simple, Ryuhi. Quite simple, actually."

"...well, what is it?"

"I'm going in your place," she announced with a straight face, looking straight at Ryuhi. Ryuhi nearly sprayed the contents of his cup onto the floor and set his cup down, choking. Tenten, worried, walked over to him and gently thumped him on the back. Well, gently in her opinion, but it was unnecessarily hard in his opinion. Nonetheless, he did stop choking.

"Are you crazy?" he asked, looking at her warily. "Our parents would never agree to that! I mean, I know that a girl is capable of holding the family business, but still..."

"Geez, Ryuhi, don't worry so much," sighed Tenten, rolling her eyes. "You'll grow bald before you're supposed to. But back on the point, I'm completely capable of taking your place, you know. I'm quite athletic, and I'd fit in easier than you would. Besides, we shouldn't risk your health just to put you in some high-class school that focuses on sports just as much as academics."

"But Tenten! It's a boy's boarding school!"

"So?"

"What do you mean, so? You'll be found out by the end of the semester, and besides, father would never agree to this. He'd say it's wrong for a girl to live with boys 24/7, and how are you supposed to disguise yourself as a boy?"

"Simple," said Tenten, smiling softly. "I cut my hair and learn how to act like a boy. Oh come on," she said, suddenly with a wide grin, "you know how tomboyish I can get!"

"I know, but... well, father would never agree to this!"

"...what drug did you put in his drink?" asked Ryuhi ruefully, letting his head thud onto his desk after dinner. Currently, the two siblings were in his room, right after they had finished their dinners, in which Tenten explained the whole problem to their father.

"None. He just wants someone who goes to Konoha, you know," she said smugly, smiling. However, she too was quivering inside. How the heck was she supposed to hold a disguise for that long? It was ridiculous; even though she acted like a boy, she still didn't look like one. Sure, she wore loose clothing that rarely showed her curves, and she actually prided in the fact that her chest area wasn't particularly large. Despite that, she still looked female.

Ryuhi sighed, irritated, and stood up. "But how are we supposed to get all of this sorted out?" he half-yelled in frustration. "We need to give you a new name. "Tenten" just sounds too feminine, and you can't use my name; I'm still enrolling in the school I was in before summer break." (School years begin and end during the springtime, not the summer, I think, so they aren't even close to the end of the school year.) "How about... Hayaite?"

"Ryuhi, I think one of the teachers there is named Hayate," said Tenten, unimpressed.

"How do you know?"

"I looked at the staff list. But anyway, how do you spell Hayaite in kanji?"

"You use 'Hayai' (swift) and 'te' (hand)," answered Ryuhi, rolling his eyes. "Besides, Hayaite isn't a bad name, and it describes you. You're the fastest person of the family, and you even beat father when you two sparred. Besides, it has the syllable 'te' at the end."

"...okay, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but I guess it could work as long as I don't get mixed up with Hayate-sensei," she mumbled. "Wait, how do we tell the school?"

"Well, writing to them that Miyamura Hayaite is going in the place of Miyamura Ryuhi helps," said Ryuhi, rolling his eyes. Tenten nodded and immediately grabbed Ryuhi's envelope and papers to give to their father downstairs so he could officially make the change. Ryuhi stared at the door in which his sister went out of, and grinned.

"This is going to be an interesting year for her, isn't it?" Coughing slightly, he sat down and went on his computer, getting it out of "stand by" mode and opened the Instant Messaging.

-Fire-Tamer- has signed on.

-Fire-Tamer- Oi, are you still there?

-Star-Lord- Yeah. So, what's so important that you bolted from your computer earlier?

-Fire-Tamer- Well, you see, I'm not going to Konoha anymore.

-Star-Lord- What?! But... oh, right. Did I mention that there was a hard-core sports program?

-Fire-Tamer- No.

-Star-Lord- Oh. Sorry about that. ;;

-Solitary-Crescent- has signed on.

-Solitary-Crescent- Oh, hi, Ryuhi. Hi, numskull.

-Star-Lord- Hey... stop calling me that!

-Solitary-Crescent- When you stop being so annoying.

-Fire-Tamer- You guys, stop bantering. Geez, you two have known each other for more than a decade and you're still like this.

-Solitary-Crescent- Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what's going on?

-Star-Lord- Ryuhi isn't going to go to Konoha because of the hardcore training and sports that the school has.

-Solitary-Crescent- Hm... is that so? Well then, what's going to happen instead? Your dad wanted his heir to go to that school right?

-Fire-Tamer- Eheheheh... well, the thing is, Tenten is filling in for me.

-Star-Lord- ...O.O; WHAT THE HECK?!

-Solitary-Crescent- u.u;; sigh... will you quit yelling in writing? But still, this is certainly a surprise, Ryuhi. What if she gets caught?

-Fire-Tamer- That's where the problem is. I won't have any way of watching over her. So I won't know if some guy finds out her secret and ends up trying to hit on her.

-Star-Lord- Oh, don't worry about that, Ryuhi. We'll protect her.

-Solitary-Crescent- You mean we'll protect her if we have the same dorm building and/or classroom. If we don't, then I have no idea how we're supposed to find her.

-Fire-Tamer- Thanks, guys.

-Solitary-Crescent- Our pleasure. You can guarantee that any guy who starts flirting with Tenten, whether he's gay, bi or straight, will feel my fist against his jaw.

-Star-Lord- ...okay, what do you mean, "gay, bi or straight"?

-Solitary-Crescent- What I meant was whether he knew Tenten was a girl (thus making him either bi or straight) or didn't know she was a girl (making him gay or bi). I have nothing against any of those three "groups", but they will be hurt if they lay one malevolent hand on Tenten. What's her male name, by the way?

-Fire-Tamer- Hayaite. And you don't have to be that protective.

-Star-Lord- Definitely. We do not want to see you snap again. I still have the bruises from last time, and that was two months ago.

-Solitary-Crescent- Yeah, yeah. Anyway, make sure to tell Water Mistress, Wind Rider and Silent Earth too. We'll probably be the protectors, but you have to have a few more people helping you out. Of course, the less people that know, the better, but those three should be fine. Unless Rider decides to turn on us and convinces the newspaper editor to create a gossip column on Tenten.

-Star-Lord- Aren't we pessimistic today?

-Solitary-Crescent- glares

-Fire-Tamer- Well, anyway, Tenten's in the room now, so I'll have to go. Bye.

-Fire-Tamer- has signed off.

"It's official," sighed Tenten as she slipped a piece of paper into a significantly smaller envelope. "I'm going to go to Konoha Gakuen as Miyamura Hayaite."

"How come father's so easily persuaded?" asked Ryuhi, looking out the window just as he closed the instant message box. "I thought he'd throw a fit at least, or rant about how females shouldn't carry on family businesses."

"Actually, I don't think he ever gave much opinion on the male heir thing," said Tenten, now that she thought about it thoroughly. "It's possible that the only reason that you were supposed to inherit the business was because you were born a minute before me."

"Well, there's no turning back now," said Ryuhi, and Tenten nodded in agreement. After sealing the envelope shut, she padded down the stairs again to give the envelope back to father. Ryuhi blinked. "Wait, why did she come up here at all? Oh well." Within a few minutes, Tenten was in his room again.

"Okay... so what should we do now?" she asked, looking at her older twin. Ryuhi looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning.

"We'll have to work on making you more similar to a boy," he said, his grin widening as he grabbed for the phone.

"No."

"But-"

"Not on my life."

"But Ten-"

"I said, NO!"

"JUST SHUT IT, YOU TWO! TENTEN, YOU ARE WEARING THAT SHIRT OR ELSE I'LL PUNCH YOU TO SATURN, AND KAZEMI, QUIT FINDING THE 'CUTEST' THINGS THAT YOU COULD FIND FOR TENTEN!"

"But Mizuki, Tenten should show even a little of her femininity even if she's posing as a boy!"

"YOU IDIOT! KAZEMI, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE TENTEN LOOK MORE MASCULINE AND YOUR CHOICE OF CLOTHING JUST MAKES HER LOOK MORE LIKE A GIRL?! SHE'LL BE DISCOVERED IN NO TIME, DARN IT!"

"Girls are so loud. Don't you think so, Tochi?"

"...I guess..."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" yelled all three girls as they turned towards the only two boys in the group. One of the girls (apart from Tenten) had dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail that reached her shoulder, while the other had light brown hair, tied in pigtails, that ended somewhere around her elbows.

"...nothing," sighed the black-haired boy who sat next to Ryuhi. "But still, I do agree with Mizuki-san and Tenten-san, Kazemi-san. You shouldn't make Tenten-san wear feminine clothes because she'll be posing as a boy twenty four hours a day, seven days a week."

"Whaaaat? Tochi-kun is on their side too?" wailed the girl with pigtails, causing the others to wince. "But Tenten-chan doesn't look good anymore!" The girl with the ponytail, Mizuki (yes, different from the teacher early in the series and the protagonist in Hana Kimi), shook her head, rubbing her forehead with her right hand in irritation.

"Oh geez... Tenten, just wear some of Ryuhi's clothes, will you?" sighed the tomboy (she's more tomboyish than Tenten, even), went over to Ryuhi's closet and threw some clothes at her.

"Mizuki, don't do that to my clothes," said Ryuhi, sweat dropping.

"Do you have any objections on Tenten using your clothes?"

"No, but—"

"Alright, problem solved," she said, ignored the rest of his spluttering and threw some more random clothes at Tenten. Some even hit her face. "Oh. Oops... sorry, Tenten."

"It's no problem," muttered Tenten, ripping the sweatshirt off of her head before looking around. "Say, where's Kazemi now? I hope she wasn't hurt by that argument you had with her."

As if answering her question, the door slammed open, startling Tochi, Ryuhi, Tenten and Mizuki. Tochi's hair fell over his right eye again (his hair is similar to Tomoyo's mother's hairstyle in Cardcaptor Sakura) and he didn't even bother to readjust it. Mizuki dropped the piece of clothing she was about to fling at Tenten and Tenten and Ryuhi just gaped at the door. Kazemi was standing there holding a spraying bottle of water (the ones they spray windows with when they clean them, except it has water in it), a pair of scissors, a large piece of cloth and a comb.

"All right, Tenten, we'll work on your hair after this," she said brightly, her eyes shining. Everybody didn't turn to Tenten, but to Tochi instead. The only reason his hair covers his right eye from time to time was because of that one time that Kazemi tried to cut somebody's hair. Tochi, unfortunately, was forced to get his hair cut.

"Good luck, Tenten," he muttered before joining Mizuki in giving Tenten clothes from Ryuhi's closet. Tenten mumbled something under her breath, her face pale, before trying on some of Ryuhi's clothes, hoping that the clothes session will not end. Otherwise, she'd have to face the horror of getting her hair cut by Kazemi, the most absentminded teen who had no talent when it came to using sharp objects.

It took a moment for Tenten to realize that Mizuki had stopped throwing clothes. She turned to find that the three (minus Kazemi) had a short, whispered discussion behind her back. Mizuki gulped and looked at Tenten slightly nervously. "Uh, Tenten, before we work on clothes, I think we'll have to find a way to hide your curves..." There was an awkward silence in the room as Tenten slowly turned pink. It was especially embarrassing because two boys were in the room as well, even if one of them was her older twin brother.

"I'll go get bandages," muttered Tochi, suddenly standing up and in a few strides, was at the door. Everybody blinked and Ryuhi immediately jumped up and ran after his friend, saying something along the lines of Tochi not knowing where the bandages were. Silence reined in the room, and Kazemi's embarrassed expression suddenly turned into an evil one.

"So, Tenten," she said in a sly tone, "what is the tightest sports bra that you have?" It didn't take long for both Mizuki and Tenten to realize that the abashed look on Kazemi's face a few moments ago was just an act to get the boys out and have them have a talk about things centered around girls.

Needless to say, Tenten was so terrified by Kazemi's expression that she would have begged her to cut her hair instead if she didn't have any dignity.

"We're done!" announced Kazemi, five days later, as the group of four presented "Miyamura Hayaite" to the head of the Miyamura family's head, or Tenten and Ryuhi's father. Actually, it was Kazemi who presented her. Mizuki stood back with bags under her eyes, looking like she hasn't slept for three years. Ryuhi was leaning against the wall, eyes barely open, as he tried his best not to fall asleep. Tochi was, well, fully awake, but was as silent as usual.

"Really? Thanks to you al—," began Ryuhi's father, but he stopped his sentence when he caught a glimpse of Tenten.

Or what was left of the Tenten he knew.

The new Tenten, now named Hayaite, was wearing a baggy brown sweatshirt with a gray colored hood and a picture of a katana on the back. She had on a pair of male's jeans and white socks, in contrast to the red ones that Tenten usually wears. Her hair was now cut short and the back was just long enough to reach her shoulders, but only that tiny part on the neck did that. Her face had a dark scowl on it and was tinted pink, from embarrassment, and he thought he saw a tiny wound on her forehead.

"..."

"Tenten, say something!"

"..."

"Oi! Tenten!"

"Kazemi, if she doesn't want to say anything, then we can't force her to."

"Kazemi has a point though, Mizuki. We should test her new voice."

"Wow. That's the most words I've ever heard you speak in a single sentence, Tochi."

"Guys, be quiet," said a deep voice, and Ryuhi's father looked up, alarmed, for the source of the voice. Kazemi and Mizuki were smirking, Ryuhi was giving a tired half-smile, and Tochi, nodded, as if reading his mind.

"Ten... ten? Was that you who was talking?" asked her father, looking like he was about to have a heart attack. The girl, who now looked fully like a boy, smiled sheepishly and nodded. It was at that moment when her father fainted.

"Erk... father!" Tenten and Ryuhi quickly ran to their dad's side, and Tenten was using a piece of paper to fan him until he woke up. "Wake up! Hey, Tenten, he's not dead, is he?"

"...no, he has a pulse," said Tenten, sighing in relief as he felt her father's neck with her free hand. "Who would think he would react that dramatically when I did that voice...?"

"Well, that just means that you're convincing enough!" said Kazemi cheerily, clapping her hands in delight. Mizuki rolled her eyes and knelt beside Ryuhi, trying to help revive the man.

"Is this a good idea?" asked Tenten nervously, tugging a microscopic long piece of hair that Kazemi had missed. "I'm having doubts about this now. I mean, I know I'm doing this for the family, but isn't this going too far?"

"Tenten," said Ryuhi in an exasperated voice, "this was your idea. The idea of you cross dressing, at least." Ryuhi gave a small, genuine cough and took a drink from his bottle of water, which sat between them in the car.

It was finally the destined day when Tenten was to go be a full-time male, or at least seemingly like a male, at the Konoha Boy's Boarding School (Konoha Gakuen, or Konoha High school is what everybody calls it). Currently, she was sitting in the car with Ryuhi next to her, as said school came into view in the distance. She gulped and went through everything she's brought in her head. She had brought things that would help her seem like a guy to her roommate and dearly hoped that he didn't find out about her "condition" too soon. Or, she could just grab one of the kunais that she had brought with her and hit him in the head with the blunt end. Then, when he woke up and asked if she was a girl, she could tell him he was simply dreaming.

Yes, Tenten brought weapons. One of the sports, after all, is free-style martial arts that a person nicknamed it "ninja fighting", obviously by a person who loved the topic of ninjas. She loved using weapons and knew quite a few things about ninjutsu, genjutsu, doujutsu and taijutsu. But whatever people called it, it was still one of the most famous sports among the schools in their area.

It took too little time to get to the school, and she was almost a nervous wreck. If it was just a new school, fine. She could make friends in no time, and probably some enemies as well. However, the idea that she was going to be surrounded by boys twenty four hours a day seemed to finally sink into her head and she thought grimly that she MUST not let her secret slip. She also knew that most girls would kill to take her place right now, but she wanted to be anywhere but there right now.

She was currently wearing the school's summer uniform, which included a white t-shirt and a red tie. Her pants were mahogany with a white stripe running down both sides, and she wore some tennis shoes, in case she had to run or something. Even though her style of clothing changed drastically, she still looked like a boy.

Finally, it was time to say goodbyes. Ryuhi hugged Tenten one last time as she went through the school gates, tugging two two-wheeled luggage bags with her, a duffel bag resting on each luggage bag. Nobody knew how she was able to carry that many things, but she didn't really care. She was strong enough.

Slowly, she went towards the school door and hoisted the bags towards the building.

"Hey, I think that's the new student."

"Seriously? Let me look!"

"Stop pushing me away from the window. Hm, he seems to look nervous..."

"Anybody would be nervous on their first day!"

"Will you quit joking around?"

"All right, all right. But anyway, I'm surprised he hasn't broken down yet. I mean, those bags look really heavy, and he doesn't really seem that strong."

"Looks can be deceiving, you know."

(Give your best guess on who those two are. )

"Miyamura Hayaite, is it?" asked the blonde-haired woman at the desk, looking over the files. "Ah, yes, yes, you're the one who's replacing Miyamura Ryuhi in this school due to his frail health. You have a history of being a good weapon-handler, a better-than-average taijutsu user, and decent in most of the other areas. A constant honor roll student." The woman, who was apparently the principal (why the principal was a woman when the whole student body was male, she had no idea why), nodded as she looked over her paper. Then, she looked up and grinned. "Konoha will be glad to have you."

"Thank you, um, Tsunade-sama," said Tenten, trying to keep her voice deep. "But where should I put my bags?" Tsunade looked over Tenten's shoulder and had a brief look of horror at the four, and seemingly heavy, bags that were pulled by Tenten. The principal hastily gestured for the student to put them against the wall, thinking she'll deal with it later.

"All right, Miyamura-kun," said Tsunade, handing Tenten a few pieces of paper, "this is your schedule for your classes today. Shizune, my assistant, will meet you in your last period to give you your room assignment after we find an empty room for you, or one with only one inhabitant. But first of all... which dorm number do you want?"

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Tsunade sighed. "The students are split into four dorm buildings, each with a great variety of students with their own personalities and belonging to different sports teams. Usually, we give each person a random dorm number when they enter in their freshman year, but because you're arriving late, we're giving you the choice. All of the are equally good, though there's some kind of competitive air between all four dorms." She thrust a map towards Tenten's direction, and the girl studied the map.

The school building was in the middle of the campus, with the four dorm buildings located around the corners. The gate, which was on the bottom of the map, faced southward, making the buildings north of the gate. Dorm one was in the northwestern corner, dorm two was in the northeastern corner, dorm three was in the southeastern corner, and dorm four was in the southwestern corner. Tenten pondered, and looked up. "I'll take dorm three, since all of the dorms are the same."

"All right," muttered Tsunade, making a note. "All right, you have ten minutes until class starts. I suggest you hurry up and get there. The teachers should give you the textbooks today."

Tenten nodded silently and exited the door, wondering how in the world she was supposed to know where her first class was.

'I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late...' chanted Tenten frantically in her head as she ran at top speed around the school. She could not find her first class, no matter how long she looked. She was in class... A of her dorm number. That means 3-A. So, where is the darn class when she needed to find it?

"Gr... Ah!" she exclaimed when she stopped in front of a door with the sign "3-A" above it. Double checking her schedule before entering the class, she stepped inside the room just as the bell rang.

There was a scramble for seats when she entered, but when most of the students saw that she wasn't the teacher, they groaned and went about their business, i.e. talking. Tenten raised an eyebrow. They are going to get in major trouble with the teacher...

Sighing, she picked an empty seat near the back and put down her bag, surveying the people. Most of them were rowdy boys, but she saw a few quiet people here and there. It was good to know that the class wasn't completely insane. She looked around her seats, having nothing else to do. To her left was a brown-haired boy who was chatting with a boy next to him, who seemed a little irritated. He had strange navy-blue hair that was... long. It probably was long enough to reach his knees. However, it was tied in a ponytail starting at somewhere around the top of her neck that nearly reached the floor. That was... strange.

Averting her eyes away from the curious navy-haired boy, she instead looked in front of her. A black-haired boy wearing a large green overcoat was sitting there quietly. Tenten could have sworn that she saw a bug crawling on his neck, but if she did, it was gone now. To her right was a bookcase that had some books with interesting names, like a few copies of "Icha Icha Paradise," which Tenten has never read nor heard of. Shrugging, she looked behind her to find a pale-faced boy with long black hair tied in a very loose ponytail.

'What is up with boys and long hair these days?' she thought, thinking it was a strange thing. She was about to turn back to her desk when she noticed that the boy was staring at her the whole time. And she noticed that he had no pupils at all. For some reason, Tenten couldn't break the eye contact, and was sure that she looked, at the least, a little like a nervous wreck.

"Uh... hi?" she asked nervously, finally breaking the silence.

"Hn," the boy grunted, and focused his gaze elsewhere. Utterly confused, she decided to forget that anything had happened and turned back to her desk. Having nothing else to do, she aimlessly gazed at the books beside her.

Suddenly, the door opened and the room fell silent except for the few people who were bustling back to their seats. To Tenten's surprise, in came a man in his twenty's, but had silver hair. Most of his face was covered; his nose and mouth was hidden by a mask and his left eye by a headband. Before he could say a word, though, a blonde boy on the other side of the room stood up abruptly and yelled, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Sorry," said the man pleasantly, "but I was stuck on the path of life..."

"LIAR!"

Tenten sweat dropped, but nobody else seemed fazed, which only made her sweat drop larger. This was an... interesting school.

"Anyway," said the teacher, straightening himself. "I think I would like to introduce our new student, Miyamura Hayaite. He's right... there," finished the teacher, gesturing towards Tenten's direction. She felt her face tint when the whole class looked at her.

Breathing in, she stood up and looked at the class with a blank expression. "It is a pleasure to meet everybody. As said, I am Miyamura Hayaite, and I hope to get to know you all." There was a small silence in the room before a loud voice yelled something.

"Hey! You look like a girl!" yelled a brown-haired boy with red marks on his face. Tenten's heart nearly stopped. Great, not an hour had passed and she was already going to be sent home. Her act was up...

"Stop making fun of him," said a voice near her. Everybody turned to the source instead. It was the long navy-haired boy, and now that she saw them, she noticed that his eyes were a deep mahogany color. He was casting a small glare at the boy who said that Tenten looked like a girl. "So what if he looks like a guy? Don't judge people by their looks, Inuzuka Kiba, and besides, not all girls are weak, just as there are weak males as well." Tenten saw that the boy who sat between them was smirking, as if fully anticipating this to happen.

"Hey! Stop defending him, Kurayami! You're just saying that because you look like a girl too!" retorted the boy named Kiba, crossing his arms.

"No, but I am because I grew up with a feminist mother and father," answered Kurayami. Tenten raised an eyebrow. That's a strange last name. (Kurayami means darkness.) "And give the guy a chance, will you? Who knows, he could be stronger than you." There was a slight glimmer in the expressionless mahogany eyes, but it was gone in a second.

"Inuzuka, Kurayami, please stop your arguing," said the teacher, sighing. "Anyway, Miyamura, I am Hatake Kakashi, but you can just call me Kakashi-sensei. One of my greatest hopes for you is that you get along with the others well and make new friends. Are you ready for the lesson?" Tenten nodded. "All right, everybody, turn to page 212..."

"I'm... hungry..." groaned Tenten, lying her head on the desk. 'And I don't know how long I can keep this masquerade up. I probably look boyish if compared to other girls, but I must look feminine compared to normal boys...'

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to get lunch?" asked a voice above her, and she looked up to see the boy who sat next to her standing there, smirking. "There's no need to get depressed on your first day here, you know. I mean, Tsuki," he continued, pointing at the navy-haired boy behind him, "defended you from Kiba. Don't worry about that guy for now."

"Thanks, uh..."

"Hikari Taiyou. You can just call me Taiyou. I don't like being called 'Hikari'."

"All right. Thanks, Taiyou. And thanks, Kurayami, for earlier."

"No problem," shrugged Kurayami, "and don't call me Kurayami. Tsuki is fine."

"Or you can call him Tsubame-chan," whispered Taiyou to Tenten. She looked up at him, confused. Tsuki's mouth twitched. (Tsubame means swallow.)

"Taiyou... how many times do I have to tell you not call me 'Tsubame-chan'...?" he growled, shaking. Now that she was told about him being "tsubame", she realized that his hair was indeed split into two parts, resembling the tail of a swallow.

"Cut it out," said another voice behind her, and Tenten turned to see the pupiless boy, arms crossed, and glaring at the two teens. "You guys bicker every single day and it surprises me how you two never get tired of it."

"Believe me, I get tired of it all the time," said Tsuki, shaking his head in an irritated fashion. "But Taiyou here can't stop being annoying, and somebody has to look after him, or he'll be beat up by a thug or something."

"Are they always like this?" she asked the long-haired boy curiously as the two continued their argument.

"I just said that they didn't go a single day without bickering."

"Oh..."

"Hn."

'He sure grunts a lot,' she thought, a little annoyed at his personality. She went back to looking at the two bicker. Actually, it was more like Taiyou insulting Tsuki and Tsuki throwing the insult right back at him with a straight face. "I can't remember any other two people more different than you two," said Tenten out loud.

The two stopped their quarrel, stared at Tenten, and Taiyou grinned. "Wait until you meet Lee, and watch how his personality clashes with Neji's," he said, his grin turning into a smirk. Tenten raised her eyebrows questioningly and Tsuki simply rolled his eyes. The pupiless boy, Neji, suddenly went stiff, to her surprise.

"Well, we should be getting to the lunchroom anyway unless we want the last servings of the meal," said Tsuki, and all four looked around the room; not another soul was in sight.

"Darn it," muttered Tenten as she rushed out the door with Taiyou, Tsuki and Neji in front of her.

Temisu: And I'll stop it here. How did you guys like it? It's my first published fanfiction. To me, the first chapters are always the hardest because I get the idea of a good story, but I need the introduction first. So, please tell me what you thought of it. Constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms. I hope I won't have to do another awkward scene, if that one scene was considered awkward at all.

It will take a while to post the next chapter, since I haven't even started yet and I am drowning in homework. I estimate that I'll update in a month due to homework and procrastination. Please alert me of any ooc-ness. I have only read up to the twelfth book and am not that far into the anime. I've read all of the Hana Kimi books, however, and have seen the whole first season of the Taiwanese drama version and am working on the Japanese drama version.