Ten Fingers
A/N: THE RESULT OF ANGSTING!!!! Enjoy!
Constructive criticism is accepted and very much appreciated! This is rated T for TEEN due to slight mentions of sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, and death. Slight NejiTen and NaruHina (sorry my wonderful yaoi fans), but there's nothing too serious (there's not even any kissing. Sorry, I just don't really do romance very well, whether it's straight or not). People of the internet, you have been warned. (SHIPPUDEN) TENTEN POV
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything else famous that people may have heard of before reading this. The only thing I do own is the plotline.
I walked into the bathroom and switched the light on. I glanced at myself in the mirror for a split second, and then I picked up my watch to check the time. It was 7 pm, and Neji will be here to pick me up around 8… I smiled as I reached for my hairbrush. This was going to be one of the greatest nights in my life!
I began brushing the knots out of my hair, and soon after, I reached over and grabbed a thin black ponytail-holder and pulled the first layer of my hair into a ponytail, leaving the other layers free. I put on a little bit of blush, and I rushed into my room to grab the black dress pants, white long-sleeve, and denim vest with a peacock design.
I was beginning to slip on my shoes when the doorbell rang. I almost tripped down the stairs as I attempted to beat my dad to the door. I sighed with relief when I got to it, and I shouted, "I'm leaving!" before I even opened the door. When I heard an "alright" come from the kitchen, I rushed out of the house and almost bumped into Neji.
"Anxious?" he asked as he caught me. I laughed.
"Sure," I nodded, "I'm just glad my mom got my dad to convince me to come! I've really been looking forward to it!"
"I'm glad," he responded, "I think we're all going to have a nice time." As we walked down the street towards Hinata's house, Neji began commenting on how nice I look, and how he thinks he was a bit underdressed. I laughed.
"No you're not," I giggled, "I'm sure they're not going to stare you down if you're wearing that button-shirt and nice pants! For all we know, we might have overdressed!" He smiled.
As we approached Hinata's house, I saw Hiashi, her father, walking away from the house. He greeted us, and then continued on. I soon got a little nervous.
"Neji," I fretted, "you didn't tell me that no one's going to be supervising us! It's the only reason why I get to come!"
"I didn't know either," he muttered, "don't worry, I'll make sure nothing bad happens." I nodded. I'm still a little nervous when we walk through the gate and up to the door, but the fact that I wasn't alone made it somewhat better.
Neji rang the doorbell, and we were soon greeted by Hinata and Naruto. They invited us inside, and I could see Ino and Sakura hooking up the table-cooker. I also saw different types of uncooked meat and fish on the table, just waiting to be thrown on the grill and then devoured. I know it's strange since I'm a girl, but I was looking forward to the food.
After some tinkering, Naruto was able to get it to work, and pretty soon, we were throwing all of our favorite foods on the cooker. Sakura placed a piece of fish on, Ino threw on a small piece of chicken, Naruto hungrily placed a few chunks of steak, Hinata put on some kind of seasoned meat, and Neji and I both placed shrimp on. After some twists and turns, the meats were done, and we all claimed our pieces. After some shrimp landed on my clean, white plate, Neji offered to cook a thin pancake for me, and I nodded.
As we were eating, I began to hear gossip pass around the table more so than the food.
"Did you hear that…?"
"Really? Well, I heard that Kiba…."
"…Is that so? I always wondered…"
"Well, did you hear about…" I just ignored the words and tried to concentrate more on trying to get that tiny bit of meat out of the shrimp's tail. But pretty soon, I was dragged into the conversation.
"So what about you, Tenten?" Sakura asked. I looked up. I was caught completely off-guard.
"…Huh? What?" I respond dumbly. Sakura just giggles a bit.
"I asked if you had anything juicy," I shrugged and looked at my food.
"Well, yeah," I say, "I've got this other piece of shrimp." Everyone starts laughing at my joke.
"Well, that figures," Ino comments, "nothing very exciting ever really happens to you, huh, Tenten?" I shrugged.
"Guess not," I respond, "and I do my best to stay in that quiet area."
"Well that's no fun," Ino grins, "I think you need a bit of exposure to it. I mean, come on, the real world isn't the happy, wonderful place our parents try to make it seem like." I gulp, and I try to show that I'm uninterested by throwing a piece of fish, chicken, and steak onto the grill. But they weren't reading my message very clearly. My heart began pounding as Sakura began to talk.
"Come on, Tenten," she pressed, "there must something exciting happening in your life, like maybe--"
"Alright, that's enough," Neji interrupted, "if Tenten doesn't feel like sharing, then you shouldn't force her to." He looked towards the under-pan, and he pulled out mine. The heat had cooked the mix into a beautiful golden-brown, and he plopped it onto my plate.
"Thanks," I smiled. Thanks for standing up for me. He smiled and nodded.
It seemed like he silenced everyone, because no one was gossiping for the rest of the meal. Naruto brought up his first A+ on a test in History, and Hinata said she was trying to convince her father to let her have a pet, but Hanabi was allergic to fur…
"That reminds me," I suddenly say, "I saw your father leave, but Hanabi wasn't with him. Is she still here?" Hinata shook her head.
"No," she said, "Hanabi is spending the night over at a friend's house. She won't be back until tomorrow afternoon." I nodded, and after we finished our meal, we unplugged the grill and cleaned up the table.
"Naruto," Hinata called from the kitchen, "can you help me out with the chocolate fondue fountain?" He ran into the kitchen, leaving Neji and me alone with Ino and Sakura in the living room. Even if I'm talking to them, I can still hear them talking about things. Things that we're technically too young to be discussing.
I start getting desperate to plug them out, so I ask Neji if he'll help me look for a movie to watch. He nodded. I don't think he really likes the subjects of drugs and such either.
We eventually found one, and we popped the DVD into the player, and we just silently sat on the couch, doing our best to concentrate more on the movie than Sakura and Ino.
"Did you know that…"
"Really? Well, I think he's really…"
"I'd just love to…"
No matter how far up I got against the screen, their conversation still reached my ears. It didn't really stop until Hinata called us all back into the dining room.
All around the brown table were small bowls of grapes, apples, strawberries, and pineapples, as well as plain creampuffs, those little wafer things, and waffle pieces, and in the middle was a beautiful chocolate fondue fountain with melted chocolate pouring out. My mouth began watering, and I suddenly forgot about my worries about Ino and Sakura.
When we sat down, I immediately reached for one of the waffle pieces, and I stuck it into the creamy chocolate. I pull it out, and put it into my mouth. I savor the sweet, creamy taste of the treat, and I quickly grab another.
"Hey, Tenten," Sakura asked, "have you ever been to a nightclub before?" I almost dropped my waffle into the chocolate.
"No," I say, "Why do you ask? Aren't we too young to go to them?"
"Haven't you ever heard of fake IDs?" she asked me as if I was dumb. I gulped, and I turned back to the chocolate fountain, and I stuck a slice of pineapple into the sweet liquid. I knew that this conversation wasn't going to end so well.
"We should all go to one next weekend," Ino suggested, "it'll be loads of fun, and we can take the ones who've never gone." My body became completely numb.
"Do you even remember the last time you went to one?" Neji challenged. When Ino didn't answer, he continued;
"If you ask me, you guys are just asking for trouble, whether you get caught or not. If you are doing it, you can count me out." He glanced me for a second, as if asking, what about you? The numbness drained out of my system, and I nodded.
"I'm with Neji," I finally say, "there's no telling what can happen during one those things." Everyone looks at Naruto and Hinata, and they respond with a "maybe". However, they both had smiles on their faces, as if thinking, what could possibly go wrong? I just sigh. It's not my place to make them do anything.
After dessert, we all went back into the living room. While we were watching one of the movies, Sakura sighed with boredom.
"What's wrong," Hinata asks, "not a fan of Harry Potter?" Sakura shrugs.
"I just don't really love movies in general," she answers, "I'd rather play a game." Ino looked up and smiled.
"Ever played Ten Fingers?" she said. Now she had everyone's attention. I gulped, and my heart began pounding, but why? I've never even heard of the game, let alone play it. But something about it just gave me a bad feeling…
"I've heard of it," Hinata responded, "but I've never played. I don't even know the rules."
"It's really easy," Sakura explains, "Everyone holds up ten fingers, and when it's your turn, you say something that you've never done, like, 'I've never eaten a purple-gold flower', and if you have done it, then you put one of your fingers down."
"Sounds simple enough," Naruto says, "let's try it out!" At this point, I'm so nervous, I just walk up and walk out of the room. I try to head in the direction of the bathroom so no one would get too suspicious. But someone was able to see through it.
I hear footsteps behind me, and I turn around to see Neji. He crosses his arms, but his face is expressionless.
"Alright," he says, "Now I know something's bothering you. What's wrong?" I gulp. I have to be honest.
"W-Well," I stumble, "it's just… I don't know. I don't really don't feel, well, comfortable." I stop to see what Neji would do. But he just stood there, patiently waiting for what I would say next. I take in a deep breath.
"And that game," I go on, "I can just smell something wrong about it. I don't know what it is yet, but still." Neji glanced behind him, and he let his arms drop to his sides.
"Don't worry about it," he says, "it's not like it's a drinking game or something like that. Come on, everyone's waiting on us to start." He doesn't turn around until he's absolutely sure that I'm following him.
A/N: Well, that's the end of part 1! But what will happen when they go back into the room to play Ten Fingers? You'll have to patiently (or painfully) wait for my next update on this!