Warning: THIS ONESHOT HAS A SWITCH OF PERSONALITY IN THE CHARACTERS and all the guys have on glasses. I didn't mention it much, but it adds to the "nerdy" feeling among them so...yeah...
Story idea by: shimmeringbluelight and quiet honestly, I had some issues with this one, I hope it's good enough.
A/N: Oh and sorry for the long wait.
"Can I have a kiss?"
Honestly, that question came as a big surprise to me. I was four, she was four, and neither one of us really knew each other enough to want to start kissing all of a sudden. However, when she asked me that question, all thoughts about me being four flew out my mind and a blush replaced my surprised reaction as she smiled steadily, ready for when I would make the next move. Now, I'm not going to say that I reacted rather fast towards her offer, that was impossible for someone as inexperienced as me, but I did think of it instantly. Even though I only knew her for a couple of hours, I had to admit that I liked everything about this girl. So, kissing her was a pleasant thought. So I did just that. Kiss her, and as the sun began to set on what was possibly the most perfect day of my life, I felt a stir somewhere in my gut, then something cold that shook me harshly until a light so bright that I was sure it could have blinded me, was all a could see before the face of my hyper cousin, Hinata, came into view, and I realized all at once,...that everything before the light, was all a dream.
"And what a perfect dream it was." I moaned as I rolled out of bed.
"Wake up silly." Hinata laughed as she bounced about, too eager in the morning for my sake. "You need to get ready for school."
"How are you already dressed?" I asked, eying her down sceptically. It was odd for her to be up before me, let alone up and fully dressed.
"Hanabi woke me up." She smiled, making me sigh.
Hinata was the kind of person that was naturally hard to wake up, but the moment she was up, she was practically bouncing about the whole house, making sure that everyone could hear her morning voice. As a non-morning person, I hated that voice. It was high pitched, eager and full of too much energy for a slug like me. It made my head hurt the whole time I'm getting ready for school, but I couldn't deny that I loved her. I even have reason to believe that, if it wasn't for Hinata's overly hyper attitude, I wouldn't have had any friends.
"Come on, Neji-ni." She giggled. "You have to get dressed, eat breakfast and get on your bike and head to school, and-"
"I get it...Hinata." I sighed, cutting her off before I got out of bed. "I'm getting up."
She smiled again and headed out of my room, leaving me to my thoughts that went instantly to the little girl I kissed back when I was four. The bright, setting sun in the background, our secret hideout under the rock climber near the top of the hill, the tree that sat perfectly in the background, everything all came back to me instantly, everything but her face which was obscured by the brightness of the sun, my ally at that moment. I sighed, hating that such a thing happened to me then jumped up and headed out of the room, fully dressed but still tired, which was evident as I yawned, heading towards the kitchen for yet another regular day at my regular school with my regularly nerdy friends. Needless to say, they were already waiting for me outside my house, all seven of them.
Lee, me best friend, was the closest to the gate of the manor. Like Hinata, he was hyper and overly zealous, just, with him, he was hyper about everything. Hinata wasn't. She had selective things she was hyper about, like ice cream and puppies. Lee was hyper about working out, about running, about eating, about racing me or any other person, about Guy sensei and about every other thing he could think of. He was the complete opposite of Naruto, the next one at the gate.
Naruto was a shy guy. Looking at him, you wouldn't think so, though. With hair as blond as the yellow of the sun, eyes as blue as the ocean at it's best,and skin as tan as the color of the sand at the beach, you wouldn't take him to be a she guy, but he was. He couldn't stand talking to girls. They always had him breaking out into a sweat and stuttering constantly. Especially Hinata, she had him fainting at times with her carelessness about him, but, with the way he stuttered so much around her, or how red he suddenly got, or how he constantly avoided eye contact with her, anyone could guess that he had a huge crush on her. Everyone knew, everyone but Hinata. Even though she was relatively smart, she was a dunce when it came to emotions. Now, Naruto was a glasses wearing, nervous break down having, won't talk to no one but his friends, kind of guy. Mainly because he couldn't get any words out when talking to someone outside of our group. As far as I was concerned, the only one he could really talk to was his best friend, Uchiha Sasuke.
Looking at them, they were two completely different people. How they became best friends is unknown to damn near everyone but Sakura, Sasuke's crush, and one of Hinata's friends. Sasuke was this overly hyper guy as well, just with anger issues. It was easy for him to snap, especially with his brother and his gang, since they had a closer connection with Sakura then he did. Any moment someone so much as breaths Itachi's name, he snaps and turns into this wild, cursing beast, that wants to torment everyone with his vicious intents.
"Hey guys." I yawned as we headed down the street. Hinata had long been gone since I headed out the house, but, even so, I could see that she did make a quick stop to talk to Naruto, seeing as his face was as red as a tomato. Beside him, however, was Sai, a pale counterpart of Sauske who considered Naruto to be his best friend as well. He was just as easy to tick off as Sauske, but his concern with a woman was directed towards someone else, someone way more smiley than the average person. That someone was Yamanaka Ino, an unreadable, unpredictable girl from our school who is also one of Hinata's friends. She's often found hanging around Haruno Sakura, hardly ever speaking, though. I never did understand why Sai was so crazy about her. As far as I as concerned, he never got the chance to speak to her, not that he couldn't due to inability, like Naruto, it was just that she was always surrounded by other more popular and worth talking to guys. So, there was never any room for some nerds like us to get anywhere near someone like her.
"You're as slow as ever in the morning." Shikamaru teased, from the far end of the group. Between me and him, and possibly Lee and Chouji, Shikamaru was the closest to me when it came to attitude. Besides the fact that the guy was a genius at everything he did, and the fact that his best friend and mine were two completely different people, we were pretty much the same person, yet, in a since, he as more popular in demand with everyone outside our group. Since he was Einstein himself, he would often be found around the jocks, taking bribes to do their homework and make it look like a jock did it and not him. He was often getting paid a lot of money or given coupons for his work. It's because of that, that Shikamaru always has money on him. Money that he often uses on Chouji, seeing as he's supposed to be going on a diet, and never has enough to eat to get even an anorexic through the day.
Chouji, one the other hand, I knew hardly anything about. I just knew that I met him through Shikamaru and he's always been by his side ever since we met. I haven't seen him without a bag of something in his hands until he got to high school and was forced to go on a diet. Now, all I see him with is a melon bread wrapper.
"So what." I complained to Shikamaru. "You guys know that I'm not a morning person."
"But the morning is the most beautiful time of the day!" Lee yelled. "It gives us the barely rising sun of youth and the happy animals that sing to use about their night of survival and-"
"I get it, Lee." I cut him off as we walked on, already ready for this day to be over.
It was the end of the day sooner than I anticipated and she was still one of the most beautiful women in the school. She was perfect in every way. Especially in beauty where she was unbeatable; with her coffee colored hair tied up into two buns on top of her head and her cold demeanor and tomboyish ways, she had this different style about her, one that demanded that we paid attention to her while she constantly ignored us, one that had every guy thinking about her every waking moment of their lives as if it was stained onto their minds like that one line on an iron tub that never seems to want to go away. It was the way she, Tenten, carried herself that made us, the lowly commoners of my school, that had us kissing the ground she walked on with eager and readiness.
But maybe that was just my opinion her. Seeing as, to some of my friends, who honestly had the audacity to dislike the Ice Queen of the school, not everyone sees her as the goddess I see her as. Like, Naruto for instance. Though he does acknowledge her beauty and power, he still feels no specific emotions to her and goes so far as to not stutter even once when spoken to by her, however, when he was around my flamboyant and oh so oblivious cousin, Hinata, things change, and he can't even utter one word. Sasuke's much like Naruto with his standing on Tenten's superiority, except he insults her attitude and such when the girl he likes is damn near the same thing. Shikamaru likes Temari, that's all there is to that, and Sai and Chouji seem to be quiet found of Ino.
But with me, It's different, every chance I get to see Tenten, I feel my body get weak and my palms start to sweat. A smile always starts to spread across my face and I almost always feel myself wanting to call out to her with a familiarity that I'm sure never had the chance to exists between us. Then I realize that I dot know her. She doesn't know me, and we'll never know each other because of our different standings in society. Then I start getting depressed and regress to starving myself all through the rest of the day. Maybe that's why my friends always jokingly stab at my thinness, because I'm too thin.
"What are you thinking of, Neji?" a voice came in, making me look away from my empty notebook.
"Ah." I started, staring at the class that stared back with tired eyes. Class had started some time ago, seeing as Kakashi sensei, the latest teacher to ever hit the market, was well into his lesson. Looking around, I could see that everyone was focused on me, most of them had bored faces,but Naruto had this concerned look. "Sorry." I started after some time as I stood and bowed. "I must have dozed off. I will not bother you again, Sensei."
Kakashi nodded as I sat back down and started writing in my journal, giving Naruto one last nod of the head to assure that I was okay before class carried on. Taking one last embarrassing glance over the crowd of, possibly annoyed students, I froze on one specific person sitting in the back of the class who was staring out the window into the music room across the building; Tenten.
I sighed, feeling those rush of emotions come back to me faster than I could ever anticipate, and finally got the energy to look away from her captivating figure just in time for Kakashi to pick on me again, probably thinking that I wasn't paying attention once again.
"Yes, sir." I stood.
"If you answer this question right, then class will be let out on time today, understood?"
the class around me grumbled as a stood there, eying the ground with a red face. I pushed my glasses up once I got the nerves to look back up then sighed and started on what could be the best excuse ever, as to why I can not fully answer that question with confidence.
I already couldn't wait to get out of this class.
Somehow, after cleaning the chalk board and scrapping gum off the bottom of some desks, and cleaning out the whole classroom all while under the watch of Kakashi, I was able to leave for home. The other students in my class lucked out, because I didn't want to be bullied today I choose to get them out of my punishment,throwing out some few lines from novels and such that we previously read that spoke of bringing dishonor to my family name and such, even though our name wasn't all that big – we owned a quaint cafe at the end of an unknown block, that's it. Nothing big. After that, though, I didn't feel like going home. I didn't have work to do, and so many emotions had built up in one day in one place, that I had to do something to release myself from the internal struggles I have often. Screaming was prohibited; tried it once and got detention by one of my teachers. Destroying things was bad as well for obvious reasons,and I can no longer try making statues and such because I sucked at it and wasted a lot of clay, so I got kicked out by the teacher and the students at the same time – they even went so far as to place my picture with a banned sign under it on the door. So, naturally, I went to the next thing that crossed my mind.
"The music room." I sighed as the lights flickered on eagerly. "This place really is my safe haven. It's serene and perfect."
Sitting down at the slick, black piano stationed in the center of the room, I rubbed my finger across the white keys and felt nostalgia set in as my mind drifted to my dream and vivid scenes of that perfect day flowed through my whole body, ending at my fingertips as I pressed delicately against the keys and let an adagio with a soft tune upon it carry me away. Before I knew it, my voice was humming gently with the tune, making me shiver almost as I played a song I never knew existed within me.
"As the sun sets into the distance, I can't help but feel new. As the moon rises, I resist my resistance and fly with you, and I feel, within me, something really, something lively, something I could not have felt without you." I paused as the crescendo came and I unconsciously started to smile brighter. "So I'll fly...right into your arms. When I see... you again. And I'll cry...when I hold you close, all because... I love you, my friend, and I hope with all my heart...that I'll get to kiss you once again."
I smiled as I fell into an Andante that abruptly cut off after 7 counts, then sighed, proud of myself before I laid my fingers back on the piano keys and stared at the intently.
"You sing?" a voice questioned, making me turn and almost fall out of my chair.
"T-Tenten!" I screeched as she stepped in, dropping her bag by the door, next to mine. "What are you doing here?" I asked as I stood.
She scoffed a little, letting her Ice Queen demeanor melt just a little before she got serious again and walked over to the bench and sat. "It's an open room is it not."
"Well..."
"You didn't answer my question." she started, looking up at me with slowly melting eyes that seemed to warm me up little by little. "Do you sing normally?"
"When I'm alone." I sighed as I sat down, blushing crazily to the proximity of our bodies. "I do it often to express myself. Hinata says I sound good, but...I don't know."
"You do." She started, making me look a her with surprise. "I mean it. Who's song is it?"
"Well...mine I guess."
"You mean you made up that song?"
"It was a spur of the moment type thing. I felt like singing about what I was feeling so..."
"How were you feeling?"
I looked at her, surprised that she was talking so much, let alone talking to me of all people, then smiled softly and couldn't help but laugh cheerfully at her curiosity in something as plain as me. But, since I didn't answer her and started laughing instead, I got a face full of the cutest, confused look ever and another, different yet stronger blush, dyed my face. "Sorry." I started as I faced the piano again. "It's just I realized that...well...with my standing and yours within the school, it's a surprise that you're even talking to me, and,well, I couldn't help but get...happy."
"Oh." she cooed reaching out to the piano.
I sighed again before reaching out to the piano and pressing down an A minor. "It's about this dream I had. Well, really, it's a memory. For the last week or so I've been having the same dream over and over."
"What's it about?"
"A kiss. I don't really remember with who, but I know that we were young, really young, still small enough to fit under this old rock climbing thing. That was where it happened, and I've never been able to met her again since then."
"A kiss?" she questioned, pressing the G major. "At a playground. How cute."
"Yeah." I smiled as I started playing once again while she constantly pressed at the G major keys. "I just wish that I could meet that person again, though, because, to me, she was really my first love really. Every time I have that dream I feel something inside me yearning to see the face that could possibly appear but, then I wake up."
I shook my head as I started playing louder. Beside me, Tenten continued to play G major at a steady pace, smiling all the while, and it took me all of my endurance to not have a nosebleed right then and there. Needless to say, I was in total bliss. Having Tenten this close to me, smiling, while we played together on the piano was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me, so much so that I couldn't help but smile at her.
"Something I never thought could happen to me, something I never felt would come true, is happening right here, it's what you do to me, and I know that my felling are true. Because the way that you do the simple things you do, make me feel so damn brand new and I can not think of anything but you, whenever I look at you."
She giggled, a sound so melodic and sweet that I had to stop playing, but she continued with her steady beat. " Something I never thought I would ever do, something I never even thought could happen, is happening right here, oh, it's what you do to me, and I know I'll hold your feelings near, because the way that you do the simply things you do, make me start to fall in love with you and I can not think of anything but you, whenever I look at you."
"Stealing glances from the corner of the room." I sung.
"Smiling softly whenever I get to look at you." She sung back, smiling at me even brighter as ever inch of ever being an Ice Queen disappeared.
"It's all that I can do." we sung together as the Crescendo came and our cords became one as I danced over her fingers, going about all of the piano until I stopped just in time with her, breathing heaver than needed. "Whenever I look at you."
I gasped, feeling my body getting shook from something damn near scared me out of my pants. When I looked up, Naruto was looking at me with worry ridden eyes. Apparently, whatever I thought I was a part of wasn't real. I was dreaming. And, judging by the faces I was getting from everyone and the look Tenten was not giving me, I was talking in my sleep.
"You sing, Hyuga?" Kakashi sensei asked, cocking his head to the side a little.
I sighed then stood and bowed. "I'm sorry, sir." I started. "I did no mean to interrupt your lesson."
"Oh that." Kakashi laughed as he sat back in his chair. "That ended long ago. You started getting louder so we sat here and let you finish your...song."
I stood, eyed him then blushed wildly before sitting back down and burring my face in my arms. Naruto tried to consul me, but I pushed him away. The last thing I wanted was someone breathing down my neck, telling me that everything would "be okay" and things would "get better" when, for obvious reasons, it wouldn't. The whole rest of the day, I didn't look up from my arms not once. I answered all of my questions with my face hidden and did everything I could do in Music without showing my face whenever I approached the piano.
This day couldn't get any worse.
I should have figured that in saying things couldn't get worse, things would, indeed, get worse, because, like the idiot that I am, I actually went to the music room in attempts literally forget the incident that happened during class, unknowingly not understanding that I had already done that half way since I was stupid enough to still go to the music room where the start of my outside nightmare possibly started. And, in finding myself there, I also found that I wasn't alone. However, since the room was big enough for the both of us, I didn't bother with introductions therefore I did not see the person's face nor even give them a long enough look to acknowledge whether or not I should hold back while they were around. So, I idiotically made my way to the piano in the farthest corner of the room where I was in full view of the music room's other inhabitant, threw my shit down in a fit of rage, and idiotically catching said inhabitant's attention, sat down and started pounding blindly at the keys before falling into something of an allegro, no singing, then an andante. I hummed a little but even that wasn't helping me cool down completely, so I stopped then fell over the keys and sighed before pressing G over and over to further my moment of depression.
"So you really can play?" a voice cooed, making me look over lazily to the other person, a smiling brunette with her hair tied up in two buns.
"Tenten!" I yelled, pushing my face off the keys. "What are yo doing here?"
She didn't answer she just stared at me before she got up and headed closer, eyes downcast, watching her shoes in an innocent manner. I, like the little follower I was, also looked down at her feet and noticed the expensive leather shoes she had on, the kind Hinata and Hanabi wanted since they started school, but couldn't get because of the price and the fact that my uncle had to provide for three kids, not just his own. After all, those shoes did cost more than the school uniforms themselves. The fact that Tenten ha them proved that her position on the schools popularity list was well worth it. She was rich no doubt about that, her family owned one of the most influential businesses throughout Japan, and her mother was and still is known as one of the most the Queen of the modeling world. So, it wasn't the least bit surprising that her daughter, her beautiful, talented, and most wanted daughter, was also the Queen of her school.
"So I guess what you were saying in your dream was true?"
I looked at her, surprised that she was sill talking to me before a blush came over my face and I, without filtering my words, as usual, asked one of the dumbest questions n my life. "You mean the part about playing a song about you?"
She looked at me. Blinked then shook her head with no emotion on her small face. "No that's not what I was talking about."
I blushed harder then and looked away, wanting to disappear at that moment because, for the second time today, I just embarrassed myself in front of Tenten. Sure it wasn't as bad as when I was talking in my sleep in the middle of a class lesson, but it was still something. Maybe it felt worse because it was just the two of us in this room and I was hyper-aware of that.
"Sorry." I whispered as I hung my head to try to hide it.
"I was talking about the thing with the little kid that kissed you."
"Right." I sighed as I sat back, scooting as far away from her as possible. At the time I felt so embarrassed that there was no way in heaven or hell that I could get the guts to look her in the eyes let alone properly talk to her. "Y-yeah, I guess it is?"
"Hn." She grunted lightly enough to barely be heard.
After that, the silence was unbearable. I felt like my chest was going to explode, like my heart was going to beat so fast that it would skip out of track and jump right out. It was horrible really. At times I did hate it, the weird feelings I got from seeing her always had me on edge and it was irritating, but I can't control myself when she's around. Everything about her told me that she was the most perfect human being ever.
"W-well actually," I started for no reason, and when she looked up I continued. "It's not really a dream. It's more of a memory. I have it often but I could never see her face. All I see is her smile, that's it. By the time I get the chance to see her face, Hinata comes and wakes me up."
She said nothing, she just stared and made me feel even more awkward around her. I wanted so bad to get her to speak, to smile and show some form of emotion besides that everyday cold look she gives everyone else. I wanted that, but it was looking to be too big of a wish from the angle we were at.
And it wasn't like she didn't know how to smile, Hinata said that she smiles often whenever it's just them and someone, more than likely her or Ino, doe something that makes her smile. My issue with that was that I was never around whenever she came over therefore I didn't get the chance to see what they did to get that tiny bit of emotion to show through her shell. Looking at her now, she seemed like she was ready to leave, since the moment between us was getting very awkward and I was no longer talking due to my inability to do so, but she was too nice of a person to do so, so she stayed because, even though I couldn't get it out, I did look like I wanted to say something.
"So." I finally started, catching her attention. "Do you play?"
She looked at me with a questioning look before I pointed a steady finger back at the other piano that sat in the other far corner of the room, closest to the door. On seeing where I was pointing, she scoffed and flipped her bangs out of the way before speaking. "Hardly." she started, leaning over my piano. "I just started playing not too long ago. I though it would be easy to learn but it's a lot harder than I anticipated."
This time it was my turn to stare at her. Out of the our whole high school life, I have never heard Tenten talk this much, so it came as a surprise to me; a pleasant one. "Well." I started again, swallowing back my fears. "I can...um, you know..h-help you anytime you...you need it and all so..."
"Really?" she asked, looking at me with curious eyes.
"Y-yeah." I managed to spill out through all the shaking and sweat that accumulated over the passing seconds. "It wouldn't be a b-bother or anything like that, so..."
"Thanks." she sighed as she walked back to the other piano and grabbed some sheet paper off the stand.
Coming back to where I was sitting, she placed her sheet music down before she sat and fixated herself next to me, not knowing how stiff I got the moment she plopped herself that close to me. Looking up, I thanked Kami for this miracle of a moment. For a moment it seemed like my dream from class was going to come true, but, with my luck, the unlikely would not happen, and I would more than likely be left sitting here, hard and embarrassed from my reactions to her.
"So?" she questioned as she sat there, looking at me. "Do you think you could help me?"
I smiled my best "divert away from me" smile then looked at the music and felt especially happy that it worked and she looked at the music instead of where I once had my hands jammed. "Oh so you already have music?"
"Yeah. My brother has already taught me the basics so he gave me some pieces to practice on."
"Bach's Minuet. It's a good piece to start on, it's not all too hard like Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee."
"Can you play that one?" she asked with a hint of wonder.
I looked at her, wanting so bad to play the piece to prove that I could do something like that, but I couldn't. I'm learning it but that doesn't mean that I can currently play it without the music. "No." I sighed, smiling. "I'm learning it but I haven't gotten far on it."
"Hn." she grunted again, looking disappointed.
"So." I frowned. "How about we try playing it through once and see what you have gotten so far, and we can fix it from there."
"So nonstop?"
"Hn." I smiled, stealing her word. Beside me, she scoffed again before a small chuckle left her mouth and she had to cover her face to hide her laugh. "On my count. I'll play the second staff and you play the first, okay."
"Hn." She grunted. As I counted down, assuming that whatever sound she had just made was supposed to be a yes, so, on three we started.
I was running, racing down the yellow tinted hallways as fast as my feet could carry my untrained body, trying desperately to get as far away from Tenten and the music room as possible. Cutting a share corner, I almost ran right over the stairs as I flew down them to the lockers that were just beyond them. It took me a while to contemplate on whether or not I should actually get my shoes, but once I got them on, I was gone again, running out into the fainting light that began to touch the school and I dared not to look back.
I knew she was following me though, I heard her struggling to get her things the moment I left the room, I heard her running down the hall after me , but I had hid in the boys restroom when I turned a corner then headed the other way, the longer way, after she passed. Why was I avoiding her you may ask? Well, in order to learn that, we must go back in time to look at the events in the music room. The place where I messed up big time.
It had started out with us playing Bach's Minuet, and I had to admit that we sounded pretty good. She stayed on beat with me and we were actually coordinating pretty well on the small piano. Neither of us ran into one another and, though she did mess up a couple of times, neither of us stopped once. It was a big surprise to say the least. I expected at least one of us to move in some way that would ruin the song, but nope. I was at peace with her being by me and vice versa for her. It seemed that, because we were playing, neither of us really noticed the other, until the song ended and the strength f it hit the both of us. I had looked at her, she looked at me, wide eyed and surprised for once, and we had both sighed in satisfaction.
"There doesn't seem to be that many parts that confuse you. Jumping keys seem to be your worst feat, maybe because your hands are so small." I started, feeling rather professional when I had unconsciously reached for her hand, taking it in mine to further observe it. What's worse was that I didn't understand why she jerked it away and moved on as if it was nothing, reaching across her to grab the other hand and place it on the piano. Standing up I motioned for her to scoot over so that I could properly stand over her to show her how to play those parts, and still I didn't understand why she was visibly shrinking away from me, so I had sniffed my pits to see if I stunk. I didn't, in fact I don't, I never did for no reason. I only ever sweat when I get nervous or stressed, an I didn't feel either one of those at the moment.
"You're like a different person when you're playing the piano." Tenten murmured as I leaned back over her, but her words only had me looking at her curiously from above which made her flinch backwards until she was falling off the bench, pushing me off my feet in the process. So, basically, she landed right on top of me and I hadn't done much of anything because I was still in my professional mode, but when the light from the setting sun outside hit her when she sat up, and she moved to push her bangs out of her eyes, I couldn't help myself for falling right into the depths of her chocolate brown eyes, blacking out. When I came to my senses, I was kissing her gently.
From there, you could put two and two together. I had kissed her without her consent then high tailed it out if there, leaving her behind. Sure I felt guilty for leaving a girl alone at the school, and yes I did have plans to somehow get her to agree to let me walk her home, but that all went down the drain when things were all said and done. I kissed her, there was nothing I could do to rewind time, so it was inevitable, my demise. I just knew that she would do something to me that would ruin my high school life. I just knew that, by tomorrow, I would be "in deep shit" from the words of Motivational Speaker Hidan. So, as I sat on the bus cherishing every breath of air I was taking in, I felt myself sink further down the seat just as my heart was doing in my chest.
As far as I was concerned, life had some pretty harsh jokes that it enjoyed playing specifically on me. Before I got home, I had stopped by the store to get some comfort food, and a lot of it, so when I did manage to show up, it was dark. The lights were on in the living room, so there was a likely chance that Hinata was either helping Hanabi with he homework, Uncle was talking to the both of them about the restaurant, or someone was over and they were being polite by all sitting in the living room with the guest. So, naturally, I planned to introduce myself then head directly to the comfort of my room. However, life didn't like that plan. It had let me sit in my room and wallow in my own depression for too long. So, it had came up with something sinister for me, something I couldn't have ever predicted would happen.
"I'm home." I had sighed as I closed the door, only to drop my stuff due to my surprise at seeing the only person I didn't want to see at the moment; Tenten.
"Hey, Neji!" Hinata sung as she bounced over to me. "We hve company this Friday. Oh, what's this? Ice cream? Can we have some?"
I blinked, looking past her to the living room where not only Tenten, but Sakura, Ino and Temari all sat staring patiently back at me, but the person I mainly noticed was Tenten and the emotionless look she carried on her face as she stare back at me.
Instantly, fear hit me and I was looking away from everyone. "H-hello." I stuttered as I tried to leave the room as soon as possible.
"Not so fast, young man." a deep voice echoed, making me stop in my tracks as a tall, long haired man crept around the corner of the living room to look me down. "I have to get Hanabi from her dance class. Therefore I need you to fill in for me until I get back, understood."
I looked at Uncle, then back at the girls, defeated as I walked around him and headed to the one remaining couch around the corner, avoiding everyone. The moment I got trough I sunk deep into the seat, pulled out the one ice cream I managed to keep away from Hinata, struggled with ripping the spoon out of the package, then dug in, avoiding everyone's eyes that turned on me the moment the door closed, signaling Uncle's leave.
"So this is your cousin?" One of the girls asked, sounding very unamused. "I think I've seen him around school sometimes. He's almost always around that one dark haired boy. What was his name again?"
"Sauske." Hinata answered over a mouthful of ice cream. "He's one of his friends."
"He's also crazy." The previous girl began again. "I can't even count how many times I have told him to bug off, but he keeps coming back as if I hadn't told him to leave in the first place."
"That's cute." another voice chimed in sounding very sarcastic, enough to have me look up, only to be greeted by an overly extensive group of female faces. "Oh." the sarcastic one, who turned out to be Yamanaka Ino, cooed. "So he lives. I was beginning to feel like you were failing on us."
"Thought we might have to use mouth to mouth." Another, Temari I believe, started, looking bored until I started blushing.
"W-w-w-what?" I asked, leaning back as far as I could in the chair. "What are you talking about?"
"Kidding." She giggled before she fell to the ground with everyone else, everyone but Tenten who chose to remain standing. She stared at me intently before moving closer to sit on the arm of the chair. Naturally I went stiff and tried to move before she got too close, but the further I moved over, the closer she got until she fell through and we were both sitting in the same chair. Needless to say, my blush grew tenfold.
"Tenten doesn't like sitting on the ground." Hinata confirmed. "She's kind of a neat freak, like you, so she doesn't like siting on the ground. She keeps saying something about germs and what not. It's rather annoying."
"It's not annoying." I defended, taking side with my own sanity rather then the both of ours. "It's completely normal and there is nothing wrong with wanting to stay healthy and clean."
"And it's not annoying" Tenten cooed, snuggling a little closer to me, making me realize that she was there once again. "Ne, Neji?"
"Hm?" Ino questioned, looking at us with a sweet smile."What's this? Tenten calling someone outside their surname. How rare.
"What's the occasion?" Sakura asked, quirking an eyebrow to signal her interest peaking.
"Nothing, really." Tenten added before looking off. "Just feeling nice is all."
"You" Hinata asked. "Nice? Oh there has to be some kind of reason behind this."
"And since Tenten hardly ever talks to guys first..." Temari started, tapping her chin with her finger in a questioning way.
"That means that a guy did something to her." Ino smiled, looking dead at me I sunk farther into the chair to the be of my abilities.
"Don't patronize him, guys." Tenten started, smiling as she leaned over on me, causing the girls to shout and whistle at us and making me sink farther down if that was possible. The blush returned and my mind was racing over every possible outcome that could happen to me. I could be used as a toy and get embarrassed in front of the girls, or worse, in front of the school. Aside from that I couldn't help but remember my dream at the same time.
"So is there something we should know, Tenten?" Sakura asked, smiling for once.
"I don't know." Tenten started before looking at me with a smile that captivated me instantly. "Is there, Neji?"
looking at her I turned to the others and noticed all of their excited faces. There was something they all knew that I didn't. So, as I sat there, wondering to myself about the possibilities, I realized that there smiles were getting bigger, especially Hinata's.
"You." I started as I looked at Tenten. "You told them." I damn near screamed. "It was an accident. I never meant for anything to happen. I just, I don't know what had gotten over me. I mean with the sunlight and the moment and...and my dream...i just, I couldn't hold myself back, and Hinata you know how I get. I can never filter my words or actions and I...i just...I'm sorry."
I was sure that my nose hit the ground when I bowed to them, or rather Tenten, my back was facing the others, but when I heard laughter, I couldn't help but look up again, mad rather than embarrassed . "What's so funny."
"Oh nothing really." Hinata sighed, using her fake voice as she looked back at her ice cream. "Besides the fact that, Tenten here, didn't seem to mater all too well about that kiss."
"Which was something you could have learned had you not ran away so quickly afterward." Temari added, yawning and laughing at the same time.
"Plus," Sakura added. "You would have also learned that your dream is in truth a memory..."
"...and that she constantly has the same one as well." Ino smiled just as Tenten's arms slicked around my neck and she pulled me closer, turning my head towards hers.
"Can I kiss you, Neji?" she asked, smiling.
I stared, completely caught off guard by the whole situation. "Wh- what?"
Tenten laughed, just as everyone else did before she kissed me. After that, there was nothing but darkness.
I felt a stir somewhere in my gut, then something cold that shook me harshly until a light so bright that I was sure it could have blinded me, was all a could see before the face of my hyper cousin, Hinata, came into view, and I realized all at once,...that everything before the light, was all a dream.
"And what a perfect dream it was." I moaned as I rolled out of bed.
"Wake up silly." Hinata laughed as she bounced about, too eager in the morning for my sake.
"Yeah!" Hanabi yelled beside her. "You need to get up, it's Saturday and Neji, we're going shopping."
"What?" I questioned as I sat up.
"Why?"
"Because you can drive." Another voice chimed in, making me jump up only to be greeted with the morning face of none other than Yamanaka Ino, smiling her usual smile. "Oh, nice chest. I thought you were a little weakling."
"What?" I yelled as I fell back. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" Ino asked. "We were here since last night."
"Last night?" I questioned.
"Yeah." Sakura cooed, stepping in with nothing but a long shirt on. (and I didn't even blink once) "We've been here since you passed out too."
"Passed out?"
"From Tenten's kiss." Hanabi giggled. "Hinata told Daddy and I everything when we walked in on the dragging you to your bed."
"By the way, you're a lot heavier than anybody anticipated." Temari added, popping her head in my doorway along with Tenten's.
"Hn." Tenten grunted in, from what I assumed, agreement.
"We..." I started, looking at Tenten as I stood,luckily carrying the covers with me. "We kissed?"
Tenten stared at me before a light blush formed on her face and she looked away without answering, but even still, that was all I needed to know. So, as I stared at her, smiling, I began to walk around when my covers, thanks to mother Fate, fell off of my waist and all eyes were on me instantly and all I could do was stare ahead as another blush built along my face.
"Um..." Hinata started as she tried to hide her smile. "We'll let you get dressed and calm down before we head out, okay?" Hinata asked, closing the door just as the rest f the girls laughed.
I sighed as I sat down, angered from my life's dirty tricks.
"Okay big guy." I sighed. "Just think of an old woman bathing, and everything will be back to normal."
Yup, I don't think I like how I did this one all to well, but there you go.
And btw I KNOW you all know what he means by thinking of the old woman bathing.