Disclaimer= I do not own Naruto.
A/N= This is a one shot. A section of this story is not from Naruto's POV.
I will contend that I knew what I was doing. For those that do not know what I am referring to, long story short, I did not want her to get hurt; I just wanted to protect her. Anyways, you know those awkward moments and how they seem to happen at the unlikeliest times? Well, that is what this is about. So hear me out for a minute...
Alright, so we have this party right? All of my friends and a couple of baby girls attended. One of those girls is someone I like. A lot. When I first saw this girl, I fell for her pretty hard. You may be asking:
"Why do you like this girl a lot Naruto, do tell."
I was just getting to it, don't rush me! Okay, you know how you are doing something and you see that someone (boy or girl) that just "stops time" so to speak? I raise my hand because that happened to me. Neji and I were playing catch one day when this happened to me. I had just thrown a pretty hard ball to Neji when I saw her. OH MY GOD DID TIME INDEED STOP! Her surroundings got all sparkly, which only enhanced her beauty. I did not pay attention to the fastball coming towards me, thanks to Neji's superb Kaiten. I get beaned and create a whole bunch of noise as I fall down, but she doesn't seem to notice. Nevertheless, I got up and march confidently to her, being driven to talk to her with my heart at the reins. I say hello to her and she stops talking to Kiba and starts talking to me.
"Hi, I'm Tenten."
I get butterflies every time I remember that. A few minutes later, she joins Neji and I's game of catch. Okay, back to the present and the party. The boys and I took some shots before the party to get loose and all that. Kudos to Lee who always keeps a couple of bottles of hard liquor in tow. From what I remember, Tenten had arrived before I did, and subsequently was already drinking, going through a few bottles of Light. I told Shino to run and get me my favorite alcohol, but he got something else. I did some firsts at the party, which was kind of legendary depending on who you ask. Kiba, being the drinker, introduced me to an innovative way to get folded faster. All it dealt with was poking a hole in the can and chugging it down as fast as you can. He bought 3 cases of Light and went through about 7 cans using this method before feeling slightly buzzed. I went through 3 cans quickly using Kiba's method and I was a buzzing Later on after more drinking, we all played a game. Someone did hand seals and everyone was supposed to guess what jutsu said person was doing. I kept losing, thus I kept drinking. Each person poured some Light into a goblet and since I had lost, I had to drink all the Light from the goblet.
After drinking a lot, what do people do to conclude a party? How about drink some more. I noticed, despite being in my drunk state, that the guys were being very unfriendly to Tenten and the other girls, mostly to Tenten. I may have been very drunk, but I know a warning sign when I see one. What did this chivalrous guy do? I drank as much of the remaining alcohol as I could. At some point while drinking the umpteenth bottle, I dropped it and started acting like a goon. From talking minimally the entire night up to that point, I was talking more to everybody. I talked more to Tenten, who was apparently turned off by my new found confidence. The guys thought that I knew what they were trying to do, so they tried kicking me out of the party. Suffice to say, I wasn't having it. I wasn't shrieking, but I yelled that they were going to take turns on her. Now all of the guys made an effort to get me out of the party. The words came out of my mouth before I could think about them. I was like:
"Tenten, are you really going to let them take turns on you? Let me carry you- -" that was all I could say. Neji juukened me out of the room. No more party for me; I had to walk home now. I was mad because I wasn't allowed to finish my sentence.
"Let me carry you... to your room... so you won't get hurt. Please."
10 minutes later, I get to my house where Lee is waiting for me.
"Dude, what are you doing here?"
"I checked out of the party after you. What happened back there?" Keep in mind that I was still drunk. I stumbled through a few sentences about how I cared about Tenten, how I wanted to be with her, etc. Lee found it all pretty amusing. You may agree; BUT, the thing about it was that I meant it. Everything I told Lee about Tenten was absolutely true. If you heard me say it with the passion that I said it, you would concur. She must've been tipped about my comments because she was at my house the next day.
I had finished training with my clones at about the time she arrived. She gave me a courteous greet and then proceeded to talk with some guy friends who was with her. I had no idea why she was there. After what happened at the party, I would have thought that she would be scared of me and to get near me. I scarcely talked to her while she was at my house.
"Oh, hey there Naruto."
"Hi Ino. Listen up for a minute."
"Sure, whats up?"
"I was downstairs and I came across a machine. I put in the collateral and I won a prize. I thought of you, so I'd like you to have this." Ino opened up the bag to reveal the pink chested plushie.
"Oh, thank you." There was not a trace of happiness or joy in her voice; it was very monotone. She kept talking with Kiba and Lee until late. When she got up, Ino took a look at the plushie, tossed it down to the floor and left, leaving the plushie laying in front of Naruto. He only slept for an hour that night.
Oh man, just remembering that day brings up so many bad emotions. I don't worry about that now because that person is disabled, by that I mean she is blind. Got to not get off track! Alright, so I had just tore through some 3 bowls of ramen. I walk out under from Ichiraku's when I spot Tenten leaving some building. Fate is pretty awesome to be giving me another chance at this. I do not waste anytime. Tenten seemed startled when I called her name out; like she didn't want anything to do with me anymore, like just saying my name makes her shudder.
"What do you want Naruto, leave me alone." I had to be steadfast.
"I will not leave you alone until you hear what I have to say." She reluctantly ceases movement so I can catch up to her. Like any gent, I ask how she is doing.
"Is that all you wanted to say?!" I knew I had to get to it.
"Look Tenten, we haven't spoken in several months and quite frankly, I missed talking to you, even if we talked scarcely. I just wanted to talk about what happened that day."
"I really do not want to hear- -"
"Sorry Tenten, but you DO need to hear it. I will be the first to admit that I was acting weird. I mean, that was the first time that I was in a social gathering. It was very out of my element. I said some things that I shouldn't have said. Therefore, I want to apologize for being a creep."
"Continue."
"You got the wrong idea when I said that stuff about wanting to carry you. I only wanted to get you out of that party because I... I wanted you to not get hurt."
"Really?"
"Yes. I care about you a lot Tenten. I know I've done some stupid things, but the underlying factor is that I care about you. A lot. I want to be with you."
"Lee never mentioned that."
"So he did tip you off?"
"Thats why I was at your house that day. I wanted you to say those sweet things to my face."
"Ugh, looking back at that, I knew I should've done that. … could've told those guys to leave if I wanted to."
"Yes you could've." I grabbed her hand and I got emotional.
"Please do not say its too late for an us. I want to be with you so bad Tenten, its driving me insane. These feelings I have for you are stronger than the seal I have sealing the Kyuubi inside of me. Before you respond, I can understand if you don't feel the same way. Which girl wants to be with a lonely ramen addict? I do not blame you if you do not want to be with me." The look on her face...
"O-okay?"
"Before you go..." I pull out the same pink chested plushie Ino rejected.
"I gave this to the wrong girl."
So you want to know what happened next? Tenten accepted the pink chested plushie and clutched it to her chest. I was happy that she did not reject it, but even more happy when she kissed me. I returned the kiss with all the love I could muster. We were together at last. She's the polar opposite of me. I wanted what she had and I finally got it. Words cannot express how happy I feel when I get up in the morning and I see her sleeping beautifully in my bed.
In a perfect world....
None of the above actually happened. Tenten probably would've rejected me too.