Whirlwind Emotions
Chapter 1:
The Time Capsule
Twelve years ago, I was six. Twelve years ago, I had Sakura, Ino and Hinata. Twelve years ago, we were inseparable, but when we entered high school, it was like a jungle where we easily lost ourselves. Now, I've already graduated.
Today is prom night.
First things first, I did not expect my prom night to turn out like this, to turn out digging in my backyard with glittery gowns and heels. Actually, that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part is that my friends and I, um maybe not friends anymore, but my ex-friends and I were doing this together. Now, we haven't talked all through high school, so you could imagine how awkward this is right now. To make things worst, we were digging with our bare hands and that really didn't fly with Ino at all.
Ino was the prissy one out of the four of us. She was super girly and got an attitude to match, but she was actually really nice at heart. You just had to get through to her. I wouldn't say Ino was dumb because she proved to us in 5th grade that she could score the highest in the class (only beating Hinata by half a mark and Sakura by one, I'm pretty sure Hinata did that on purpose to make her feel better), but things change and I don't even know how's she dealing with her life and all, let alone her grades. Another thing about Ino is she's really competitive and confident. Almost as competitive as me, but then again, no one's as competitive as I am. But one thing was for sure, Ino is really pretty and I mean she's all natural too, so there's really nothing you got on her.
Anyway, moving on to, Sakura. Sakura is the sweetest girl you could ever meet and the worst. If you tick her off, she will literally punch you so hard, you'll find yourself on Monday next week. Okay, maybe not that bad, but to sum it all up, she's got a mean punch. Sakura is really different from the rest of the population in the world. She's got this really cool bubblegum pink hair and these glowing jade eyes (and an abnormal sized large forehead). It's really weird, but Sakura likes it and that's all that matters. Did I mention she's super smart? She and Hinata are always silently challenging each other on academics, but it's always Hinata pulling through by a little bit. It drives Sakura crazy, but she knows it's not that big of a deal.
And last, but not least, my sweet Hinata. Hinata is originally really different with her clear lavender eyes, but her background's got a whole lot of history too. She's part of the Hyuga clan and she's was supposed to be the successor, but her little sister, Hanabi, stole her position. Why, you ask? Because her dad doesn't think Hinata is ready yet, which really pisses me off because I'm team Hinata all the way. Hinata was really hurt over this all through middle school and I hope she's gotten over it, because she's the kindest and most caring girl you'll ever meet. I mean I wish I kept in touch with her because she's just so fragile and vulnerable. Anyway, being part of the Hyuga clan means you're basically rich and Hinata really was rich. I've been to her 'house' (it really actually was this huge Japanese styled mansion) and you could tell right away. I just hope all those fake friends swarming around Hinata these days, didn't take any advantage of her.
"Hey, I found something!" Sakura exclaimed. Ino, Hinata and I crowded around Sakura and indeed there was something of the color blue poking out of the damp dirt. I sighed in relief, finally. If we'd searched just a bit longer, Ino would've left.
"Good job, Sakura." Hinata said, smiling gently at Sakura.
"A-ah, it was nothing." Sakura looked down all sheepish, but you could tell, everything was still pretty awkward.
"Very cute, but could we start digging and get this stupid thing out already?" Ino commented rolling her sharp blue eyes. Sakura looked as if she was going to prowl, but I guess she held herself down. Wow, did she take anger management classes or something?
"Wait! There's a ritual, we have to try and remember what we put in there first. I mean, it is a time capsule right?" I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the whole time capsule thing, but hey. Maybe we could reminisce and become at least something of friends. I missed them.
But it didn't look like they missed me sense Ino narrowed her eyes and sighed in annoyance and Sakura sat down exasperatedly. Hinata looked like the only one with as much hope as I had, in us. We sat in a small tight knit circle, not caring about our dirtied dresses or our smudged make up. No one spoke. I guess I had to break the silence.
"Um, well I think I put this little badge in." I said with no reply. "That I got in second grade for soccer? Or maybe it was baseball?"
"How could you not remember which sport it was for?" Sakura asks as if I was ridiculous, but a smile cracks on her face nonetheless and that's all that matters to me right now. "I for one, put a medical play kit." She says rather smugly for remembering all these years.
"Why would you put something as stupid as that?" Ino points out, bitterly. Sakura winces and a scowl immediately replaces her smirk.
"Because, unlike you who have no future whatsoever, I wanted to become a doctor and save people's lives." Sakura says, harshly and this really fuels Ino up.
"Excuse me?! I have as much of a future as you do! Even though I don't remember what I put in that stupid box, it's probably worth more than that little kit of yours." Ino bites back with a wave of her manicured hand.
This was really getting out of control, I panicked. I need to do something before somebody makes the first move and turns this into an all out cat fight. "Hinata!" Ino and Sakura turn to look at me with ferocity in their eyes. "What did you put in the time capsule?" I ask sweetly, they're attention is diverted on to Hinata. Sorry, Hinata!
"U-um, I think I put this, err clan symbol or something," Hinata stammered, nervously. "W-why don't we dig it out to c-check?" Boy, she was really sweating under all this pressure.
After 5-7 minutes we were finally able to dig out the blue sailor moon lunch box, which I swear was dated back in the 90s. It looked so old! But all four of us held our breaths as we unclipped the box. We gasped and our eyes glowed with remembrance, nonetheless our childish things placed in the lunch box were still there!
"Wow, I can't believe all that stuff is still there. I mean I thought a mole or something would dig it up, but I guess not." Ino pointed out as she shuffled through the countless things in the lunch box.
"Me neither." Sakura murmured, but we all knew each other too well to dismiss that. Ino looked at Sakura in surprise, did they just agree on something? Hinata let out a light sneeze and we all snapped out of the bewilderment.
"A-ah it must be cold! Let's go in first." I said as I closed the lunch box and stood up in my now muddy white dress. Gosh, mom's going to kill me. Ino, Sakura and Hinata followed me in their muddied dresses as well. As we made ourselves into my cozy and warm room, we stripped out of the dirty dresses and I lent them my shorts, shirts, pajamas, sweat pants, you name it. Actually, they basically raided my closet while I was changing. For a moment it felt like old times, and I'm sure they felt it too. As we gathered around the beat up lunch box with pillows and stuffed animals, the feeling really hit us. I noticed it in everyone's eyes.
"Um, are we all ready?" I gulped, not really knowing what to say at the moment. I mean, I was still overwhelmed with the fact that they're in my house.
"Wow, Tenten. Your room hasn't changed a bit." Sakura pointed out as she looked around. With that being said, Hinata and Ino both took a look around. "Hey! I remember that!" Sakura stumbled up and held up a beat up old journal. It was pink with little swirls of golden colored flowers. Boy, those were the times where I let my mom dress me and buy me things.
"Oh my God, I totally remember that!" Ino gasped as she got up and stood beside Sakura. "Hey, it's bookmarked." GREAT, that journal came with a little piece of string to bookmark pages! I read it before I left for prom. The page I read? The day we buried that time capsule. Make sense now? I thought so. I groaned as both of them snickered and flipped through page after page. "OH MY GOD, remember when Tenten used to have a crush on Lee?" Ino exclaimed with mock surprise.
"Yes! We used to give Tenten makeovers when he was her neighbor!" Burst of giggles, great. I looked towards Hinata who had a very unusual warm smile on her pale face. I tilted my head in confusion and she seemed to notice. She stuck her tongue out at me and stood up, joining the others. Wait, did Hinata just betray me?
"Guys, c'mon, it's embarrassing!" I whine as I tried to snatch it away, but they were a bit too quick with their hands.
"Oh shush Tenten! These journal entries are bringing back memories!" Sakura joked as she held it up beside her face with a creepy grin.
"Not if I can help it!" I jumped for the journal and successfully had it in my hands, but I was now in a clump with Sakura, Ino and poor Hinata who was trying to escape. We all fought to get the journal until my door creaked open.
"Tenten, are you home?" We all looked up, still in a clump. There standing was my mom with her robe and brown hair in a messy bun. She looked half a sleep, but her eyes widened when she noticed who was in my room. "Ino, Sakura, Hinata?"
We quickly untangled ourselves from each other and strangely sat in a perfectly straight row. It felt like we were going to get scolded, but what happened next was far from what I expected. My mom literally jumped on Hinata, Sakura and Ino, crushing them with a bear hug. They looked taken a back as well, but soon snuggled in my mom's embrace. "Oh girls, I haven't seen you since high school! What happened?"
"Well, a lot of things happened actually." Ino said with a smile. I giggled as my mom planted a kiss on each of their foreheads. My mom treated them like they were her own kid's sense we grew up together. Our parents knew each other well and I couldn't say their parents wouldn't treat me the same way.
After that cute moment, we were in the kitchen and even though it was midnight, mom was pouring us milk and grabbing a few cookies for us. She wanted to 'catch up'. "You really shouldn't do this for us, it's so late." Hinata pointed out politely as she helped get the glasses. Mom only rolled her eyes and turned to Hinata with a stern look. "Hinata, I haven't seen you in four years! I need to know what's up with you and how your life is going, okay. I like to think of myself as a cool mom."
"Mom, I told you to stop saying that!" Could anything get more embarrassing? I could hear the snickers of Ino and Sakura once again. I swear one minute they want to claw each other's eyes out and the other it's like they're BFFs all over again. Gosh, I liked it better when they were fighting, at least they didn't gang up on me.
"Tenten, I am a cool mom. You should respect that." I groan and roll my eyes. This time Hinata's even giggling with Ino and Sakura's boisterous laughter in the background. As we settled around the counter, eating our cookies, mom asked each of them about how their lives were and what had happened while we were distant and it was really amusing listening to their timeline.
"Oh Hinata, I remember you were the successor of the Hyuga clan! How is that coming along?" I was all ears. I had always supported Hinata and rooted for her and so, I hoped she overcame this obstacle and proved to her father she was worthy. Ino and Sakura seemed to stop munching on their cookies and started to listen as well. It was silent, we were all waiting for the outcome of this internal battle Hinata's had with herself. She had very low self esteem and whenever someone laughed at or teased her, she believed it. So, when her dad told she wasn't good enough, it really hit her hard.
"A-ah, well, it's fine really." Hinata said with a feather soft voice. We didn't interrupt, but the silence and the intense stares told her to go on. "I've tried my best to train and learn the family history, I mean I've got many of the books memorized, but I guess it's just the physical training that's really affecting me…" We all nodded, processing this information and I'm sure we were thinking of the same things. My mom was actually brave enough to ask.
"So, are you the successor?" She smiled reassuringly, placing her hand on top of Hinata's. Hinata's smile faltered and she looked to the ground, her eyes looking at everything except, us. Finally, her tiny voice piped up. "Um well… n-not exactly, b-but it's okay."
Sakura's eyes flickered with a sudden anger and even Ino's icy blue irises managed to show warmth. Ino rubbed Hinata's back sympathetically.
"It's fine Hinata. I mean, at least now you wouldn't have to be so busy." I suggested, trying to lighten up the mood, but it seemed like it had no affect.
"A-ah, it's really fine guys! I didn't expect to beat him anyway." The four of us, Sakura, Ino, my mom, and I looked at each other in confusion. 'Him'? Last time we checked, Hanabi was a girl! "Ah, I'm sorry, I haven't told you guys…"
Hey guys! My first story on Fanfiction, haha. Tell me how you like it by leaving a Review! I know there are still some spelling errors and grammar mistakes out there, so if you find any please let me know. Also, I welcome constructive criticism, so if you see anything I should work on, leave a Review. Alright, stay tuned for the next chapter :)
