"Oh come on, Tenten, please?" Ino whimpered to her best friend.
Turning around, eyes rolling, mouth open in the famous "Pissed Off Tenten" look, she dropped the clothes she was folding and set it down on the counter. "Why not ask Haruno?"
Ino pouted. "She's going to Suna for the weekend."
Tenten tapped her foot, straightening out her clothing as she crossed her arms. "Well Hinata?"
Ino stamped both feet and yelled, "She's got a boyfriend! I need you for this! Shika-kun won't go out with me if it isn't a double with his best bud!" She was exaggerating, Shikamaru would never ask that. She probably got him to agree.
Tenten blew the hair out of her eyes and turned back to her work. "Fine. But I'm not wasting my employee discount on a new outfit."
Ino tackled her into an awkward hug, all the while screaming "Thank you thank you thank you!" and saying something about searching for a pair of shoes.
Tenten shook her head laughing as she watched her companion walk out of the store to the Famous Footwear across the hall.
Pulling at her hair, she mussed her newly cut short hair, thinking of what she'd do with it. Since it was too short to tie up, she'd have to clip it or do something different. Maybe she'll wear a wig...
...
"I'm sorry, what?" Neji said monotonously. "A blind date?"
Shikamaru nodded. "Bro, you need a girlfriend. And Ino, she's a nice girl, she's gotta have some nice friends for you to date. I promised her a double date."
Neji kept his eyes blank, but his lips ever so slightly pouted, and the girls walking past them on their way around the store swooned. "I don't need a girlfriend."
Shikamaru eyed him, slowing his pace, and mind set. "You do. You have all these fan girls and you're still a date virgin."
Neji spun around on the balls of his heels. "Date virgin?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "I got it from Ino. She called the friend she's gonna bring along a date virgin. Bro, you can't say no, it's this lady's first date."
Neji slightly nodded. "You owe me."
Shikamaru smirked. "Hey, if you get laid, I'm scot-free, right?"
Neji simply walked away.
...
"That's good for you, Tenten-chan!" Hinata smiled, although her sister for life couldn't see her. "I'm sure that Ino-chan has good judgement! Where might I ask are you all going?"
Tenten scoffed. "First, this is Ino. She just had to choose one of the oddest place for my very first date."
Hinata questioned over the line while tying a bow onto the birthday gift for Naruto. "Oh? Where will you be going?"
"An Egyptian show. It's someplace In the museum restaurant where they do this dinner of, I don't know, like, the modern and ancient Egypt type of food, and there's this dance."
"Oh, that sounds fun! But, why the museum?" Hinata had just clipped off some excess ribbon and written "To Naruto; Happy Birthday, From your Hina-chan." onto the tag.
Tenten snorted. "She was planning on first going with Sakura. She chose the Konoha Museum because that would definitely get Saku-chan to come. But lucky her," a sigh, "she's in Suna."
"Why did she go anyways?" the blue-nette asked.
"Ehh... Business with Uchiha Industries? I don't know, I think Sasuke's in Suna for business and she's going with him."
Hinata thought for a while. "Hm. Well, lets hope that Sasuke'll be able to focus with her around."
"Wow, Hina!" Tenten laughed. "Bad girl! But... I can't help but be happy for her, even if those two haven't officially called themselves an item yet. I wish I had a man too sometimes..."
Hina giggled. "Well you never know, your blind date might be sweet."
"He might." Tenten looked out the window of her small loft. "But that's what I'm afraid of."
...
"I'm going to kill you after this." Neji griped, looking at the Egyptian scenery on the brochure. "You make me dress like a hipster, make me rent a BMW, drive to the museum, and, oh yeah, date someone I have never met before. You are dead."
Shikamaru feigned a gasp, saying, "'Hipster' is in the great Hyuuga Neji's vocabulary?" as they ventured through the dinosaur exhibit.
"Where are they anyways?" Neji asked, eyeing a velociraptor skeleton.
Shrugging, Shikamaru said the obvious. "In the Egyptian exhibit. Or, knowing Ino, fashionably late."
Neji nodded once, and continued down the hall, straightening up the plaid shirt and slacks he had on.
...
"I am so angry at you right now, Ino." Tenten mumbled through the petroleum jelly on her teeth. "How am I supposed to eat with this on my teeth?"
The blonde simply shrugged on a white leather jacket and shook her head. "That's to make sure you smile. You cannot be any sort of rude on this date."
Tenten continued smiling and let out a "hmph!"
Straightening out her outfit, Ino glanced at Tenten. "Alright. Let's go!"
Tenten grumbled something about them being in the museum washroom.
"Hush hush Tenny-chan, we don't want them to think they're late. We must be there after them." Ino stated.
Then, the clicking of Ino's brown leather stiletto boots on the silent tiled floors of the gigantic building. After a few minutes of hushed argument, the brunette's black suede knee high boots padded behind her.
...
Shikamaru and Neji stood face to face with two women.
One had long wavy blonde hair falling over her shoulders, and a dark brown leather jacket over a pink and orange ruffled spaghetti strap top, with black tights and high brown boots, purple scarf wound loosely around her neck.
The other, who had caught his eye, had brown hair cut short like his friend Kiba's, brown opulent eyes to match, and was clad in a grey off the shoulder top with tights with a blue jeans design on it, black suede boots with a ruffle type of design and buckles on one side of each, holding a white leather jacket and black fingerless gloves.
The blonde tackled Shikamaru immediately, with a high squeal of, "Shika-kun!" and a flurry of bright hair.
The other girl smiled and moved her jacket to only one arm, holding out her hand for Neji to shake. The pores on Neji's body seemed determined to completely soak his face with sweat and his heart seemed moved to pump more blood into his cheeks.
After quickly wiping his palms onto his jeans, he shook her hand. To his greatest fear and surprise, she didn't let go, and pulled him towards a table beside a couple of other couples and groups.
Their table was in the front of many other tables, all on a smooth floor, while there was a large empty space next to them.
After each pulling up a chair and sitting by their dates, they each had the beginning of what was supposed to be an Egyptian feast.
The ice between Shikamaru and Ino was already broken, but I can't really say the same for Neji and Tenten.
Tenten was fiddling with her short hair, mussing it up a little, fiddling with a little flower barrette on the side of her head. Her face was lightly flushed, and she seemed to feel scared of him somehow.
So he ventured into unknown territory. "So," he said casually, fingering the sleeve of his shirt, "what school do you attend?"
She took a moment to process the information, obviously surprised that he decided to finally say something. "Uh, I was a graduate of Konoha High School, I actually just got out, and-"
"Konoha High School?" Neji questioned, "I attended KMS, actually, before I moved schools. How come I've never...?"
She blushed. "I, uh, just cut my hair. I used to keep my hair up in buns, because I did a lot of sports, ya know? So I cut it instead, just so that it is easier. You know how it is. I now attend the University of Konoha, studying architecture."
He nodded. She was smart, if she was telling the truth. "I attend U of K as well, though I study Business, and hopefully later, Law, if Uncle allows it."
She smiled, then they had mindless chitchat afterwards, until the waiter came along with the first course.
"Thank you, this looks delicious," Ino said to the waiter.
The brown haired girl nodded, "It is. If you need any assistance," she pointed to her name tag, "call for Ayame!" She then smiled and skipped off.
Neji looked at Tenten oddly. "Tenten, what did you look like, uh, before you cut your hair?"
She blushed. "Wanna see?" Pulling her cellphone out, she showed the photo of her with Hinata before her hair got cut.
"Is that..." he whispered.
"Hm?" she asked, looking at the photo, then noticed Hinata, talking quickly and nervously, "Oh, that's my best friend, her name's-"
"Hinata Hyuuga." He tore his eyes off her iPhone and looked her in the eye, smirk lining his features, "How do you know my cousin?"
Tenten looked at him in great surprise. "Oh, she's your cousin! Wow, amazing! Small world, huh?" She laughed almost forcefully, thoroughly intimidated by his existence. Who can blame her? Hyuuga Neji is one fine piece of man.
His eyes twinkled. "Small indeed."
Shikamaru tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Entertainment's starting!"
Soon, there was a narrator on the speakers, and a video playing on a large screen, and everyone saw the history of Egypt. Their rise, their power, their fall. Throughout the short film, dancers and actors came out to enunciate the storyline and add more effect. Every person was captivated by their performance.
By the end, all the people clapped quite loudly, and their plates had been collected, as they now feasted on some dessert.
"Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Cleopatra's determination," Tenten mumbled through her slightly full mouth.
"Tutankamun and his change," Neji added.
"What a wonderful place to sleep, the centre of a pyramid in a sarcophagus," Shikamaru dreamed.
"And all that jewellery!" Ino smiled inwardly.
They all laughed. The film seemed to have broken the ice between them all a bit, and nobody was shy to voice their opinion.
Suddenly, there was music.
The voice on the P. A. announced, "If anybody would like to dance, the dance hall is now open, and the DJ is taking requests."
And the lights flashed around. Ayame returned to their table. "We are now clearing the dance floor, and need to push the tables to the side. You may still sit in them if you would like, but for your enjoyment and safety, we will now be moving them."
"Oh, alright. Me and Shika-kun are going to dance anyways. Come on!" the blonde giggled, dragging him over.
"We'll just stay at the table, if that is alright for now. We shall move it ourselves."
So even when the dance floor was cleared and everyone was there shaking their booties off, Neji and Tenten were still talking on the sidelines, standing as they conversed.
At least, until Ino came along and shoved the two of them over, making her fall onto Neji. The brown met silver as she hurriedly got off with an ungraceful 'sorry'.
"Dance!" The blonde had said.
They got up shakily and awkwardly, blushed coating their faces.
At first they were kind of awkward, considering their two pairs of left feet. Then they warmed up a bit and got comfortable with one another. And soon, the two of them were laughing and moving languidly together to the beat of the pulsing music.
When the music slowed down slightly, the DJ said something about this being an 'Egyptian Dance of Eternal Happiness in Conjoinment' or something of the sort, the couple couldn't care less, because they were tired. They listened to the DJ chant the dance moves as if it were the cha cha slide, doing the dance moves, and enjoying it as well.
They shared the wine Ayame offered them, not really caring, tired, and happy. And when Ayame made them sign a certificate or a form of some sort they didn't give a damn.
At the end of the night, Neji decided to drive her home, and leave before Shikamaru and Ino. They had received some certificates (probably stupid flyers saying 'please come again!') and stuff that they didn't really care about, so they just stuffed it into the cup holder of his car.
"That was fun." she said, tired on the passenger side seat, outside her condominium.
Neji smiled at her. "I had fun too." She grinned. "Let's see each other again."
His heart almost skipped a beat. "Yes. Let's."
And after he escorted her up into her condo.
They stood at her doorstep.
"So."
"So."
"Um, I'll call you I guess?" Tenten mumbled, suddenly feeling self-conscious again.
Neji nodded, pressing a sheet of paper with his name and number on it into her hand. "Thanks."
"Thanks? For what?" Tenten asked.
He kissed her cheek, and she froze. Oh. My. Gosh. "For making this the best first date ever."
"Uhh... Yeah! You, uh, you too!"
He walked away, smiling. She unlocked her door and went inside her apartment. She leaned back on her door and touched her cheek gently. "Wow."
...
A/N: And here's the pilot chapter! I really loved writing this, but don't expect every chapter to be his long. I will continue this fic when it reaches the 10 review mark. So Review! Go on! Just a few words to show that you actually read this monster of a pilot chapter!