Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Chapter Two

"I'm not evil!"

"Yeah you are!" Naruto points at me accusingly. "You want all the animals in the world to die! You animal-hater!"

I sigh. "I want the animals to die because I love them, okay? I mean, don't you think it's better for them to live in paradise than suffer here on Earth?"

"If there really is a paradise." Gaara mutters.

That's ridiculous. Of course there's a paradise.

"You don't believe in heaven?" I ask him, arching my eyebrow.

"I don't believe in souls. It's just your brain that thinks for you. Souls don't exist."

"You're so unromantic, Gaara!" Lee cries. "Everyone has a soul."

"No they don't. When you die, you're dead. Your body is dead. There's no heaven-just six feet of soil above you."

"That's sad." Hinata says quietly. "Then we all have nothing to live for."

"Sure we do. There's money." Gaara shrugs.

"What about love?" Naruto challenges.

God, Naruto is an idiot. What is love without money?

"Love? I wouldn't know. I've never been loved." Gaara says blankly.

"Th-that's not true, Gaara." Hinata says, looking distressed. "Your siblings love you, and...and so do we."

We love Gaara? Okay...

"Yeah, we do!" Naruto agrees, nodding vigourously.

"Yes Gaara, you are our treasured friend!" Lee turns and looks at me expectantly.

"Oh right." I suddenly realize.

Stupid.

"Yeah, I love you too, Gaara." I say.

"Okay, I believe everyone except Tenten." Gaara smiles.

Hey...that's mean. I wasn't that fake.

And I do love Gaara. I love all my friends.

...I think.

We're sitting in the garden of a cafe we go to every Saturday, not too far away from school. It's really nice, not that big with green grass and rose bushes at the side. They're not that many tables, and only three are occupied right now, including ours. We always take the table near this weird fountain thing. Naruto and I are drinking hazelnut frappacinos, Gaara has a cappucino, and Hinata and Lee have hot chocolate. Lee thinks caffeine is bad for you, and says I'm addicted to it, which is bullshit. Everyone at school lives on caffeine.

Well, I guess we don't really need it at eleven in the morning, when we're just hanging out, but whatever.

"Hey, what are they doing here?" Naruto frowns, looking past my shoulder at the door that leads into the cafe.

I twist around in my seat and see Temari, Neji, Sakura, Sasuke and Ino come out into the garden.

What the hell are they doing here. They don't belong here.

They see us, and Hinata sends a small wave politely at her cousin, who nods back. Then, he winks at me.

...what the fuck?

I turn around, unable to help a small smile that comes to my face. Ugh. I need to wipe it off my face...

The others are staring at me strangely.

"What?" I ask.

"Did Neji Hyuuga just...wink at you?" Naruto asks disbelievingly.

I shrug. "Dunno."

"Aren't you even interested?" He says, confused. "I thought you said he was the guy you'd choose to have a crush on."

"Doesn't mean I do." I reply, irritated.

'Keep your expectations low, and you won't be disappointed...'

Now the cafe is filling up with Neji, Sakura, Sasuke, Temari and Ino's worshippers.

"I can't believe they actually stalked them all the way in here." Gaara mutters.

"I don't like them." Hinata says, as venomously as she can. "They-they only want Neji for his looks, not for who he is."

"Well, those idiot fans only want to go out with one of them to show off to their friends, don't they?" I laugh. "If their boyfriend or girlfriend was good-looking, everyone who saw them together would be jealous, because they wouldn't know about the problems in their relationship. If their boyfriend of girlfriend was ugly but the kindest person on Earth...well, that's nice, but nobody would envy them. They only want to be envied. And popular too, of course."

"You seem to understand them very well, Tenten." Gaara chuckles. "What would you prefer? Good looks but no heart, or ugly and kind?"

"The good-looking jerk." I say immediately. What? Oh, surprise surprise, I'm also a selfish greedy human being.

"I want a girl who's nice and good-looking." Lee muses thoughtfully. "They exist, don't they?"

"Yeah, in utopia." I snort. "Look, the ugly ones are only kind because there's no other way they can get people to like them. The pretty ones don't have to be nice because people are drawn to them by their looks alone."

"...you really know how to crush someone's hopes, Tenten."

"Thank you."


Oh yes, we're finally getting our chemistry papers back!

Shit, I hope I did okay...

"Tenten..." Asuma mumbles, placing my paper upside down on my desk before giving Sakura (who sits next to me in chemistry) hers.

I take a deep breath and turn mine over.

Yes! Ninety-seven percent!

"What did you get?" Sakura asks me, frowning.

"A star." She should've gotten one too...in this school, anything lower than an A is disgraceful. That applies to everybody.

"Me too." Her face suddenly changes into a smug expression. "Ninety-eight percent."

Oh damn. I won't mention mine now...

"So class, that was a very well done test. The whole class got A stars, which I am very pleased about." Asuma says. "The best in the class were Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Sakuno."

The rest of the class applauds politely, and I grin smugly. Haha, you stupid little worms, I didn't even study for this test and I've got the best mark in the class...one of them, anyway.

"So, can any of you girls tell us what methods you used to obtain such a high mark?" Asuma suddenly asks.

Sakura smiles and giggles. "Of course, the way everyone gets a good grade-I studied for hours!"

You know, in reality, Sakura forgot all about the test until the lesson before it...

"Well, it paid off, didn't it? And you, Tenten?"

Oops. "Uh...yeah. I studied a lot."

If I hadn't said that, I would've lost the respect of the whole class.

Asuma nods proudly and goes on to rant about how proud he is of all of us anyway, no matter how well we did, and blah blah blah.

Quite unintentionally, I notice Sakura scribbling on a piece of scrap paper. She balls it up, glances at Asuma to make sure his back is turned, and throws it to Ino, who opens it up and giggles.

Sakura places her chin on her hand with a satisfied smirk, her eyes still on Ino. Her perfectly manicured nails tap on the table with the other hand, before she lifts it to delicately place a stray strand of bubble-gum pink hair back behind her ear.

What kinda hair colour is that anyway? It sucks.

The bell suddenly rings, and everybody scrambles to pack up and get out of the classroom.


"Hey, you know the one-child policy? Is it good or bad?" Naruto asks, not looking up from his book.

"Sh, idiot, we're in a library!" Gaara hisses.

"You shouldn't insult our youthful friend so much, Gaara. It hurts his feelings." Lee whispers.

Gaara rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything.

"Hey, so is it good or bad?"

"Well, there's no right or wrong answer to that, Naruto," Hinata says to him, "but you have to give full reasons, whichever you choose."

"...I hate doing that!"

"Sh!" Gaara and I both hiss at him.

There's a few moments silence.

Phew.

"Hey, who do you think matches up with Lee best?" Naruto asks randomly.

What the hell? How did he get from the one-child policy to here?

Lee is thinking deeply. "Hm...I choose...Temari."

Gaara looks up immediately, a shocked expression on his face. "My sister?" He says in disbelief.

Lee nods. "She's quite pretty, smart, and accomplished. And, of course, she is very kind and warm-hearted."

Gaara just blinks at him before shaking his head pityingly and going back to his work.

"Okay...so who matches up with Hinata?" Naruto asks.

Hinata's face tuns red in a deep blush. This conversation is actually getting quite interesting.

"I dunno...nobody's really nice enough to match up with her." I frown.

"Yeah...hey, Hinata, who do you like?"

If possible, her face turns an even deeper shade of red. "Um...um..."

"So you do like someone! Tell me, tell me!" Naruto says excitedly.

"You there! Shush!" The librarian reprimands.

"Who is it?" Naruto whispers loudly. "C'mon, we're your best friends, right? You can tell us!"

Hinata shakes her head furiously. "I-I d-d-d-on't like any...anyone!"

Gaara's lips turn upwards in amusement. "You really are the worst liar, Hinata."

"Don't pressure her." Lee scolds us. "She'll tell us if she wants."

"Yeah, but then we'd never know." I argue.

"Sasuke." Escapes from Hinata's lips.

Our heads all whip around to stare at her.

"Sasuke?" Naruto yelps.

"Shush!" The librarian hisses at us again.

Hinata nods timidly.

Can someone's face really be that red?

"What do you like about him! He's a complete jerk! He...he..." Naruto frowns. "He sucks at math!"

...yeah, great Naruto.

"I-I think he's wonderful. His eyes are so mysterious, and-and he always has an air of dignity around him..." Hinata trails off, too embarrassed to continue.

"...right." Gaara coughs.

For some reason, Naruto's looking really miserable.

Why?

Why?

Why?

"So, who pairs up with Tenten?" Lee asks, not looking up from his work.

"She likes Neji." Gaara smirks.

What the hell?!

"I don't." I frown at him.

"So you're still pining over Sai?"

Why that little...

"No, I'm not, okay? I don't like anyone." My voice is almost a growl.

"Whatever you say, Tenten." He still has that annoying smirk on his face.

"Yes, it is whatever I say." I reply haughtily, finishing off my essay.

"So, according to you, you don't like Neji, and you've forgotten all about Sai?"

"Yes, nice to know that you've finally got it."

"I saw you smiling when he winked at you." He's deliberately avoiding my gaze now, snickering behind his textbook.

"I was not." I think I can hear a book fall onto the floor somewhere, but more importantly, why am I going all giggling all of a sudden? Why can't I wipe this stupid, stupid smile off my face?

"You're smiling now."

The others look up at my face, and to my horror, I let out a small giggle.

Gaara chuckles lowly.

That's it.

"I DON'T LIKE NEJI!" I roar at him, suddenly on my feet.

"Whoa, Tenten, I never thought you'd be the type to go in denial." Gaara snickers.

"Okay, that's it! You five, get out of here!" The librarian yells at us.

We hastily gather our belongings and run out of the library.

"Aw Tenten, you got us kicked out of the library." Naruto whines. "I needed a book."

"Go back in and get it, then." I growl at him, although I can already feel my anger subsiding.

I find Neji attractive. I don't...I don't like him.


Narrator

Temari, Sasuke and Neji looked up as the two girls approached them.

They sat down gracefully on the grass next to their friends. Sakura began excitedly, "I think it's working. She's cracking. You should've seen her in the library." The pink-haired girl giggled.

"You nearly gave us away when you dropped that book, forehead girl." Ino said testily.

"That's it? It took even less work than Tayuya." Neji commented, looking at Ino, who exhaled in scorn. "You've still got a long way to go, Neji. Tenten isn't that shallow."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really. Only girls know other girls, isn't that true, Temari?"

"Very true." The tall girl agreed, smirking. "Besides, my brother wouldn't make friends with the shallow type."

"Tenten's going to be quite amusing, isn't she? Even more so than Tayuya and Karin."

"Karin was pretty funny." Sakura laughed. "I remember she tried to kiss Sasuke, missed and fell forward onto her face."

"She was an idiot, that girl. I was, however, expecting her to leave this school once you had thrown her away, Sasuke," Ino said, arching an eyebrow at Sasuke.

"Karin? She's still here? Never noticed." He yawned. "She's the same as all the other ones."

"Oh come now, Sasuke." Temari chuckled. "After all, you've only been in charge once."

"I kept the four of you entertained, didn't I?"

"Yes, but we returned the favour."

"And now it's Neji's turn again." Ino sighed. "Time flies when you're having fun, don't you agree, Neji."

Neji nodded, looking out over the lake. "It would be much faster if I just picked a girl out of my many fans. It's impossible that any of them would refuse if I asked."

"Ah yes, but Neji, that takes all the fun out of it, doesn't it?" Ino's blue eyes glittered.

"Hn. I'm not very enthusiastic about Tenten, to be honest. True, she's smart, but she isn't...the prettiest girl we could choose."

"Oh Neji, don't be like that." Ino giggled. "Every girl is beautiful in her own way."

"Yeah right." Sakura sniggered. "Hey, lets have Sasuke go after one of Tenten's friends at the same time."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, but he made no sound of protest.

"Her only female friend is Hinata, Sakura. I doubt that Neji would allow Sasuke anywhere near her."

"Temari's right." Neji growled. "I can't let you near my cousin, Sasuke. My uncle would give me hell if you broke her, even if you are an Uchiha."

"And your conscience, Neji? Would it remain clear?" Ino asked, leaning forward, her chin on her hand.

There was a slight pause "Unequivocally." He replied. "I have never felt anything but scorn for my eldest cousin. She is absolutely unfit to take over her father's business. She's taking-" Neji stopped abruptly and looked off into the distance.

"Hinata admires you greatly." Temari stated.

Neji exhaled derisively. "Hinata has never seen my, shall we say, 'true colours'." He was smirking now.

"You're proud of what you've done, Neji?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Aren't you?" He shot back at her.

There was a brief silence.

"Of course. We are all proud of what we've done."


I was editing this, then I got bored, so it's a little better...I'll make more changes when I feel like it...