A/N: Okay, I know I've been on hiatus for... a while. But I just got this inspiration and it won't go away so here we go... Oh, and I swear that I'll do my best at updating, but after this week I have a whole crap ton of trips and horse shows to go to, so bear with me.
This story will be modern day AU, but it is NOT a high school fic! This is all during the summer... And there will be terms that may be confusing so I will have a glossary at the end of each chapter. On with the show!
Disclaimer: Don't own. Though I am trying to get it for my sister's birthday...
Chapter 1: Arrival
Tenten sighed and gulped down an aspirin, trying to keep her growing headache at bay. She'd just been told by the barn's owner and self-appointed manager Tsunade that her favorite trainer was moving to a different stable. This was catastrophic.
She slumped down wearily onto the pallet full of Woody Pet(1) opposite to her horse's stall. Lillie nickered at her hopefully.
"Nah," The brunette answered back, "too early in the morning for you to go out yet."
Her palomino(2) mare snorted and bobbed her head, rubbing her muzzle against the bars of her stall.
"I know," She murmured, getting up to graze her fingers over the mare's velvety snout. "Did you know that Liz is moving? And two months from the biggest show of our lives..." Lillie pawed at the sawdust in her stall, sensing Tenten's unease. "We still don't have our dressage(3) down and that's the foundation for our score. What makes it worse is that she was the last decent dressage rider in this barn! Everyone else seems to focus on Western or Hunter/Jumper(4)."
The seventeen-year-old rested her head on the bars of her horse's stall, exhausted at the thought of training her horse all by herself... She wasn't even good at dressage!
When Lillie started lipping at her hair that fell through the bars, Tenten moved. She checked her ever-present watch. 9:53.
Usually, Tsunade said that horses couldn't be turned out before ten, but... she wouldn't mind just one of her star rider's horses out seven minutes early, would she? Hopefully not.
The brunette quickly entered the stall and threw the halter over her horse's head, clasping the hook to the ring at the middle of her jaw and sliding the door back open silently. She led Lillie down the main aisle carefully and then out the huge barn door that was already swung wide to let light in. Tenten grinned and then started at a jog toward the large mares' pasture. Lillie whinnied and trotted obediently beside her owner, stopping immediately when the girl in front of her did. Tenten undid the metal chain around the gate and let her horse step into the pasture, undoing the horse's halter in one fluid motion.
"You're free!" the teen laughed, swinging the lead rope at her mare's hindquarters. "Run off before Tsunade comes out here and catches you!"
Lillie snorted and bucked once, seeming to understand her owner as she tore for the opposite corner of the pasture in a full gallop.
"Tenten!"
Said girl froze at the sound of her idol's angry voice. "Yeah?" She squeaked.
"What did I say about turning the horses out early?" The blonde looked tired and angry, as if she'd been up all night drinking... again.
The teen suddenly found the ground very interesting as she responded rather sheepishly. "To not to..."
Tsunade threw her hands up into the air. "And yet you disobey me! I swear, Tenten, you are the only one who gets away with these things."
There was a long pause. The wind ruffled both women's hair as the older one thought around the haze that had settled permanently over her brain.
"Maybe it's because your mother entrusted you to me... but..." The blonde shook her head. "Get back to whatever you were doing. And if you weren't doing anything, clean the house that I let you use!"
Tenten gulped down the lump that had formed at the mention of her late mother and nodded numbly, watching her guardian and life-long idol saunter back toward her office located in the western side of the barn right beside the tack room.
Not feeling like doing housework, the girl simply hopped deftly up onto the fence bordering the mares' pasture and watched her horse graze happily. She gazed at Lillie's sleek tan coat and her well-muscled hindquarters, knowing of the years of good care and hard work that she'd poured into that horse to get her that way.
Tsunade had rescued Lillie four years ago and had made her a kind of project for Tenten who had been bored with riding the schooling horses (they were far underneath Tenten's skill) and had yearned for a horse of her own. The second she saw the grungy, malnourished palomino, her heart had ached for her and she gave her entirety to the renewing and bettering of the horse. Now, with four years and plenty of aches, pains, frustrations, and tears behind them, they were a nigh unstoppable show jumping(5) team. They always, always got completely clean rounds(6) and always scored well. However, neither of them were wired for the vital dressage part of eventing(7) and their only way to be trained correctly in the stage had decided to move to a different state.
So they were screwed.
There was no way she and Lillie could pull off riding a Training Level(8) dressage test with the training they'd had and expect to get a decent score.
Tenten was pulled rather violently from her reverie by the grating sound of a heavy vehicle crunching over the gravel of the barn's quarter-mile long driveway. The brunette swung her legs over the fence so that she was facing the opening in the thick trees that surrounded the property where the driveway spilled into a large gravel parking lot.
As she expected, her eyes alighted on a huge, white Ford F350 Super Duty, King Ranch edition. Her chocolate orbs widened, her jaw dropped, and she started to drool. No one around her barn owned anything similar to that gleaming hunk of metal, and she nearly fell off the fence from leaning forward so much. And being towed right behind it was the single most magnificent trailer she had ever seen. Tenten could tell just by looking at it that it was a four horse trailer complete with living quarters in the front and air conditioning for both the humans and their horses.
The whole rig came to a stop in front of the main entrance to their barn, and a jeaned leg kicked open the driver's side door.
And then she couldn't breathe.
The man that stepped out was even more gorgeous than his truck and trailer combined (and that was saying something because she really wanted that truck) and Tenten found herself reminding her lungs to just breathe, goshdarnit, because he was only a man.
He looked to be the same age as she was, but his sharp, pale eyes oozed intelligence and his stiff posture reeked of one who had grown up in strict luxury. His long, dark hair was even sleeker than hers and she could tell from the way that the buttons on his shirt were stressed slightly that he was well-muscled and very used to hard work.
Tenten found that she could not look away from the figure that had focused his intense gaze on her and had now started her way. She was simply enraptured by the way he moved and she could only hope that he was here at the barn to stay.
A smirk quirked the corners of his lips. "So are you going to keep staring like an idiot, or will you direct me to Tsunade so we can negotiate the terms of our stay here."
Her mouth went dry for a second at the sound of his melodic voice, but she snapped out of it quickly enough to form an intelligent response. "Tsunade's office is through that last door on the right, down the narrow hallway, and it's the first door on the right."
His perfect eyebrow rose and he nodded. "Well at least you're good for something."
Tenten frowned, jumping from the fence to respond when he cut her off.
"You may help my cousin unpack our stuff..." He looked her over once. "Please don't touch either of the horses."
"WHAT?" She fumed, outraged at his utter disregard for her. "You may not order me around like some slave and then demand that I not touch your horses! I'll have you know that-"
"Have fun unloading!" He called back, having already turned and headed for the door that she had mentioned earlier.
"GAH!" She screeched, feeling his smug aura. "AT LEAST TELL ME YOUR FREAKING NAME, YOU FUDGEBAG!"
He turned slightly, "Neji Hyuuga."
And then he disappeared through the door.
She huffed indignantly, stomping over to the oversized trailer, having absolutely no intention of helping that hunk of a jerkface unload. But that was before she saw the adorable, petite girl that had to be Neji's cousin struggling helplessly against a heavy tote that just wasn't budging out of the trailer's tack room.
"Oh!" Tenten exclaimed, grabbing the handle to the tote before it came free and squashed the other teen. "Here, let me..."
The brunette gave it one firm tug and it dislodged, falling with a loud thud at their feet.
"Th-thank you!" She murmured appreciatively, brushing back long strands of ebony hair and holding out her hand for Tenten to take. "My name is H-Hinata and by the w-way you were shouting, I-I'm guessing that you've met my cousin."
Tenten smiled a little, still frustrated. "Yeah..."
"I'm v-very sorry for his... a-attitude."
"That's okay, I guess... By the way, my name's Tenten."
Hinata smiled gently, showing perfectly straight, white teeth. "Well i-it's nice to meet you."
Taking the tote in one hand, Tenten dragged it along the trailer and then headed to the barn, the younger girl pushing the end that she didn't have. "So what do you and your cousin ride? English or Western?"
The Hyuuga helped the back end of the tote over the small bump and into the barn. "W-we ride English, but mostly dressage. L-lately, we've been br-branching out to eventing, but we're not g-great at jumping."
Tenten's brown eyes lit up excitedly. "You guys specialize in dressage?"
Hinata stood up when they got to the fifth stall down the main aisle. "Th-this is where we were told that we're staying... so... just put the tub across the way I-I guess."
Tenten nodded, pulling it over by the wall of the indoor arena that was opposite of the stall and dropping it there before plopping down. "So tell me about the stick up your cousin's butt."
The girl shifted nervously. "H-he's not that bad..." Her eyes lit up with an idea. "W-well when he's with his horse Sky, he's l-like a totally different person... H-he's very nice and caring, b-but I'm afraid it takes a while f-for him to actually, um... show that person..."
"Well, then," the brunette smiled devilishly, grabbing the timid teen's arm and dragging her out to the trailer to finish unloading. "I guess that just means that I'll take you up on your challenge."
Hinata looked up at her, wide, silvery eyes confused. "Wh-what challenge?"
Tenten grinned. "I will see that other side of him, Hinata, no matter how long it takes."
The jerk's horse, as Tenten found out, was gorgeous. Everything about the dappled grey stallion was majestic and graceful, from the fluidity of his gates to the absolute perfection of his conformation(9), she could find no fault in the horse.
And she was mad.
Because she was forbidden from touching such a wonderful horse, and all she could do was watch as Neji, returned from his talk with Tsunade, led him effortlessly inside so that he could examine the stall that would become his home.
Tenten was perfectly capable of leading a horse a few feet from the trailer to the barn... But no! Neji freaking Hyuuga wouldn't let her get near his prized stallion!
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared hard at the male's back as he latched the door to Sky's stall.
"You know," he turned and caught her gaze evenly, "I won't burst into flames no matter how hard you try."
Tenten sighed, dropping her arms to her sides and softening her stare but refusing to turn her eyes elsewhere. "I know. And... I don't really know you, so I'm sorry for being kind of... stand-offish. Is it okay if we start over?" Getting no response, she continued. "My name's Tenten! Welcome to the lovely Konoha Barn in the scorching hot Fire Country!"
Neji made a short scoffing noise in the back of his throat but took her outstretched hand anyway. "You may call me Neji."
She smiled, trying desperately to not look fake and shook his hand with a firm grip. She couldn't help but marvel at how strong and warm his hand felt in hers... No! She forced those thoughts away. What happened to being mad at him? Besides, you barely know him! Friendship first...
"So..." Tenten trailed, trying to make conversation. "Do you have anything left in the trailer to unpack?"
He shook his head. "You and Hinata got it all."
She leaned back casually on the hay that sat beside the tote she and his cousin had carried in, noting his defensive position and how he never moved far from Sky's stall when she was there. "So how did you and your cousin find this barn to board at?"
Neji scowled slightly. "My uncle wants us to learn more skills than just dressage, but we both know it's so he won't have to see our faces around the house anymore."
Tenten tilted her head slightly, thinking. "You don't live with your parents?"
His fists tightened and his jaw visibly clenched. "No."
The brunette winced. She'd hit a sore spot there...
She cleared her throat awkwardly, changing the subject. "So where are you and your cousin staying?"
Neji looked up from the ground, eyes glittering with a barely suppressed emotion. "Uncle has rented us an apartment not far from here. We moved all our stuff there yesterday and trailered the horses down today."
Tenten nodded, hating the tenseness that was between them. "So your horse is very special?"
For a brief second, she saw a certain softness and fondness flicker through his eyes when he looked over at his stallion. When he looked back at her, it was gone, and he only nodded stiffly.
Tenten grinned. She had seen that flicker! So he had to be hiding an actual human heart under that rough exterior... The girl turned away, heading for her own horse's empty stall. "I need to clean my own horse's stall. See you around, Neji!"
He didn't respond, but really, she hadn't been expecting him to. The brunette looked up happily, mischief blazing in full force behind her amber gaze. Neji Hyuuga would be a hard nut to crack indeed...
But then, she'd always enjoyed a good challenge...
1. Compressed capsules of wood shavings that expand into sawdust when they become wet or crushed. They're sold in large bags and are actually quite awesome :D
2. A color and a breed of horse identified by a light tan body and a white or flaxen main/tail.
3. Dressage is basically ballet on horses :) It's not as fun as jumping, but still really cool when you nail a certain movement. (Jsyk, you are guiding your horse to do the ballet, you are not preforming ballet on top of a horse... thought I might clarify, lol)
4. Hunter/jumper is a style of riding that is all jumping and involves getting the least possible time on a course wether that be through extremely tight turns or extremely fast cantering.
5. Show jumping is all jumping (pretty hard to figure that one out, right?) but it focuses more on the beauty and cleanliness of a round and how the rider looks on top of the horse. Points are taken off for going over a certain time limit or for knocking poles off of the jumps.
6. A clean round is when you jump a course of fences without penalties of any kind, time or otherwise... You probably could've figured that out, I was just makin sure :P
7. Eventing is what I do. It consists of three stages: dressage, show jumping, and then cross country. The last is my favorite because its basically where they turn you and your horse loose in a huge field to jump a course and beat everyone else's time. It's amazing! But when you go to an eventing show, the scores are cumulative, so it does matter if you have a suckish dressage score and an awesome show jumping ride or x-country ride... You still might end up last...
8. Training Level is fairly advanced in the eventing world. For example, the levels go Green As Grass, Starter, Beginner Novice, Novice, Training, Preliminary, and then Grand Prix (this is like, almost Olympic level!). So Tenten's pretty accomplished at such a young age to be competing at Training Level!
9. Basically, just how well the horse is built, 'cause that affects the horse's looks and movement.
A/N: So that's the first chappie. I know it's a little slow, but I needed to introduce the characters and a little bit of what Tenten's home life is like.
Please review or just say "hi" or something! It lets me know that people care enough to click a stupid button and type a few words...
Plus, REVIEWS ARE LOVE! They make me motivated to update faster! Just saying...
Constructive criticism welcomed and taken with love!
~KMXII~