A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! You guys are great ^_^ and also thanks for bearing with me as I make Neji a total ass, lol. I've only just realized that, since I made them 17, they will need to go to school - this is an AU fic, after all. But this works out quite well since the school setting allows me to play with the tensions and get the characters together without having to worry about a plot twist that will allow them to 'run into each other' after an argument. Still, I just want to point out that this will not be a high school fic, not really, there won't be dances or any of those things, for example. Anyway, I hope you will all continue to bear with me ^_^
A word of warning: lots of OOC-ness ahead. Pleeeaaasseee review - it makes me deliriously happy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (which is a good thing if you look at this fic, lol)
Chapter 2
Monday morning dawned, and it was with dread dragging at her feet that Tenten got up and began to dress. There was bound to be stories all over school, and she just really didn't have the strength to face that yet. Thankfully, her parents had left her to her own devices for most of the weekend, and though her mother was clearly worried by her depression, she didn't pressure Tenten for answers.
Lee had been a different story. Early Saturday morning he'd arrived and he spent most of the day telling her exactly how awful Sasuke was – if it hadn't been for the fact that Tenten owed the Uchiha a rather big debt of gratitude, it would've been funny. Instead, she'd been forced to defend him to her friend, and the sad part was that, no matter that she was telling the absolute truth, Lee refused to believe that Sasuke hadn't even tried to make a move on her. Finally, Tenten had lost patience with Lee and she'd told him straight out that it had all been pretense, that Sasuke had merely been helping her to save some face after the entire Neji debacle – but Lee had refused to accept it. He insisted on believing that Sasuke was only out for one thing.
In the end, Tenten had simply remained quiet, and allowed him to rant about Sasuke – clearly, he wasn't about to be convinced that Sasuke had a good side – but she'd firmly pushed him out the door and refused to let him in again when he'd started on Neji. She didn't care how many apologies Neji wanted to give her, she didn't care how much he meant it, and she certainly did not want to hear that Neji was just as worried about her involvement with Sasuke as Lee was.
Tenten shook her head and tried to forget the events of the last few days as she walked up the front steps of the school building. As expected, a sudden hush, followed by a babble of whispered words, trailed her through the corridors, but Tenten had decided to take a leaf out of Sasuke's book, and firmly pretended that no such thing was taking place – pretended that this was just a normal day.
She'd nearly succeeded in convincing herself that this day was no different than any other, when she neared her locker and caught sight of a tall, dark-haired figure leaning against it, obviously waiting for her. For a moment, she paused, frozen in panic, but then she lifted her head high and walked straight up to her locker, still firmly ignoring the curious looks from the other students. Without a word, she reached past Neji to start twirling her locker combination, all the while cursing her traitorous heart as it sped up when her fingers brushed against his arm.
The lock clicked and for the first time Tenten glanced up at Neji, "Do you mind?" she asked, quietly. Then she quickly glanced away before the apology in his eyes eroded her firm resolve to never, ever forgive him. He sighed, and moved away so that she could open her locker to retrieve her books. "Please, Ten. Look at me," he said through the door, and Tenten was thankful that he couldn't see the way her eyes filled with tears through the metal. She took a deep breath and blinked them away before closing the door, "Why, Neji? There's no point. Lee already told me how sorry you are, how it was all a big misunderstanding, and how you'd never meant to hurt me, and like I told him, I really don't care." She was carefully avoiding his gaze, or else she would've seen a flash of something almost like pain in his eyes.
Tenten didn't give him a chance to say anything before continuing, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I've created a rather awkward situation and all because of a silly little crush – but don't worry, I've thought about it long and hard, and I'm really over it now - no harm done, okay? You don't have to apologize or feel bad or anything." She turned to leave, but Neji grabbed her elbow, holding her back, "If everything's fine then why aren't you looking at me?"
She sighed and twisted slightly, trying to get free, but Neji wasn't letting go, and Tenten didn't want to create another scene to entertain the gossips with, so she let it slide. She raised her eyes to his and said, "I'm looking at you."
Neji's mouth twisted bitterly, "But not like you used to." At his softly spoken words Tenten couldn't help the spike of temper from getting the better of her, "What do you want from me, Neji? You didn't want those looks, remember?" Neji shook his head but before he could respond, a shadow fell over him, and his eyes narrowed in dislike. Tenten turned her head slightly to see who had caused such an expression to appear, and nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw Sasuke standing just behind her.
"Sleep well?" he murmured, taking her other arm and pulling her away. Neji reluctantly let go and Tenten shot Sasuke a grateful look – but this was really getting to be a bit much – she couldn't continue to rely on poor Sasuke to play the knight in shining armor ready to rescue her at the first sign of distress. She was so caught up in her thoughts – and of course, half of her mind was focused on Neji – that she didn't offer any resistance when Sasuke kissed her cheek lightly, and took her books from her arms. "Ready to go?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at her with a quick glance in Neji's direction.
Slowly, Tenten raised a hand to her cheek – did Sasuke really just kiss her? But then her thoughts righted themselves and she realized that he was obviously just continuing their charade from Friday, he clearly meant the gesture as a brotherly sign of solidarity, and so she smiled slightly. "Sure," she turned back to Neji, who looked ready to commit murder, and said dispassionately, "It's fine, Neji, okay? Let's just forget about it." Then she turned and slipped her arm through Sasuke's.
A little way down the hall, Sasuke leaned down to say softly, "Nicely done. He's still staring at us, I can feel him glaring. If looks could kill…" he laughed wryly. Tenten grinned up at him; it really was nice to have a friend that was totally on her side, who had no divided loyalties that made it impossible for her to say what she was truly thinking and feeling. "That felt good," she admitted shyly, "I'm sorry you keep on getting dragged into my problems, but thanks, I really owe you one."
Sasuke smirked, "No one dragged me, that's what friends are for, right?" Slowly, Tenten nodded in agreement. I guess we really are friends now. Weird how that happened. But then they'd reached the door to her homeroom, and Sasuke handed her books over. Tenten arched an eyebrow up at him, "Let me guess, you know my homeroom number because you pay attention, right?"
He laughed lightly, and tucked a strand of hair that had come loose from her double buns behind her ear, "You catch on quick." Then he was gone. In a mild daze, Tenten entered the classroom, and this time she really was completely oblivious to the curious stares when she took her seat still staring into space.
She was rudely jerked back to the present when Lee dropped down on one side of her and Temari on the other. Both were glaring at her and she winced slightly, "Um, sorry?" she asked more than said, and Temari's scowl quickly disappeared though Lee still looked as though he would like nothing better than to strangle her.
"What's this I hear about a showdown between you and Neji on Friday? Did you really catch him with Ino?" Temari asked, her eyes glinting with interest. Tenten sighed, she loved Temari like a sister, but sometimes her friend was just a little too much – she had even less tact than Lee. "No showdown," she responded, "I just got a little upset when I saw him taking her into a bedroom." She elaborated reluctantly when Temari motioned expectantly.
"What?!" Temari laughed, "Slut," she turned slightly to glare at Shikamaru who had taken the seat behind her, "and don't even think about telling me that comment is unfair – what do you think they were doing in that bedroom?" Shikamaru shrugged, and yawned. Temari turned back to Tenten, "But, seriously, it's not true that you let Sasuke of all people console you, is it?" Tenten couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks, and Temari huffed as she leaned back in her seat, for once at a loss.
Tenten shifted uncomfortably when Temari continued to stare at her incredulously, "It wasn't like that, okay?" she said defensively, "he was just trying to help. And he's actually really nice." She added with a glare at Lee.
Temari glanced at Lee, then at Shikamaru, who had gone to sleep, before fixing Tenten with a piercing stare, "This is not good. Sweetie, there is absolutely nothing at all nice about Uchiha Sasuke," Temari's tone was oddly gentle in contrast to her harsh words. "Remember how he treated Sakura a few years ago? And, then, when they moved back here, he had the audacity to make a move on her – thankfully, she'd gone on to Sai by then, so all's well that ends well for her, but don't you fall for his lines, okay?" she placed a comforting arm around Tenten's shoulders, "And I'm so sorry about Neji - what a jerk. You're better off without him!" she whispered, and, when Tenten shot her a strange look, she jerked her head at the slightly snoring Shikamaru behind her again and added, "Sometimes he only pretends to be asleep so he can use whatever I say against me later, but I'm on to him. Still, I wish we'd gone to the party, too. But it's not so often that Gaara and Kankuro come home from boarding school, and I really wanted to spend the evening with them. God, I'm such a lousy best friend, I should've been there for you in your time of need – then you wouldn't have fallen into Sasuke's clutches and-"
Tenten covered her ears, and laughed, "Stop, Temari! Wow, you'll really talk my ears off one of these days! I'm not in Sasuke's clutches and, of course you wanted to spend time with your family. I think it's for the best that you weren't there, actually – you really would've punched Neji's lights out."
Temari nodded sagely, "I would've enjoyed it, too." The two girls shared a grin, and then Tenten turned to Lee, "Why are you glaring at me like that? I'm the victim here, remember?" she added jokingly. Lee looked her full in the eye and said, "I spoke to Neji a few minutes ago. Are you sure you don't want to retract the statement about Sasuke only being nice." The uncharacteristic sneer at the last word had Temari leaning forward in curiosity, and Tenten winced.
"I have no idea what you mean," she replied loftily, hoping Lee would take the hint – she did not need to be harassed about Neji at the moment. "Really," Lee's eyebrows rose, "I'm not sure how that's possible since Neji is quite convinced that he saw Sasuke kissing you."
Temari shrieked, "What?!" and Shikamaru jerked upright ("I' m awake! I swear I was just resting my eyes for a second"). Dead silence descended in the room as everyone turned to stare at them. Tenten blushed to the roots of hair, "Shut up, Lee" she hissed, frantically making shushing motions at Temari who was still spluttering. But Temari wouldn't be deterred. It sounded like she was hyperventilating, her words coming in short gasps, "You …. Sasuke … kiss …" words seemed to fail her, as if she'd tried to wrap her mind around the concept and couldn't.
Tenten groaned as she dropped her head onto her hands, hiding her blushing face. "It wasn't like that," she mumbled, but the damage had been done, and before she could even begin to state her case, the door opened to admit their teacher, and Tenten resigned herself to the inevitable uprising of gossip, that was sure to follow Temari's loud – if inadvertent – confirmation of the rumors that had already been doing the rounds.
The morning passed in a blur for Tenten – she was now no longer speaking to either Neji or Lee, and since they seemed to be returning the favor – how fair was that, she'd done absolutely nothing wrong – her morning classes were spent in tense silence. She'd been so thankful to escape her second period math class, where she was forced to sit between the two, that she'd nearly run from the room. By the end of the third period, the atmosphere had begun to lighten slightly and Tenten couldn't help but wish that the three of them could just go back to the way things had been before. Quite apart from anything else, she could've lived without the images of Neji with Ino. Turns out ignorance really is bliss.
When the bell rang to signal the start of their lunch period, Lee glared at Neji until he returned Tenten's hesitant smile – well, he grimaced at her, but it was better than a death glare - and Tenten really allowed her hopes to soar when Lee reached over to help her carry her books, a gesture that had been conspicuously absent all morning. The respite lasted only as long as it took them to exit the classroom – Neji in the lead, followed by Tenten, with Lee bringing up the rear. Neji stopped just outside the door, and cursed fluently under his breath before turning smoothly on his heel and stalking off without a word to anyone. As soon as he'd left her field of vision Tenten realized what it was that had pissed him off so badly - Sasuke leaned casually against a bank of lockers across from the door.
She stopped and blushed in confusion when he smirked at her. She was still dithering in the doorway, unsure of what to do, when Lee pushed roughly past her. He walked straight to Sasuke and without any warning dumped Tenten's books into the Uchiha's arms, "It's what you want, isn't it? And you always get what you want." Sasuke's eyebrows rose a little at the bitterness of Lee's tone but he only said, "Thanks."
Lee turned to look at Tenten, "Do what you want, Tenny. Obviously, the opinions of your friends don't matter to you, and I'm done wasting my breath." He turned on his heel, and with a last, sad smile at Tenten he strode off down the hallway.
Slowly, Tenten made her way over to where Sasuke stood, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What am I missing?" he asked her, still staring after Lee. Tenten sighed, how on earth do you explain to someone that he was disliked because of a reputation that preceded him?
"It's nothing," she finally replied, "he's still upset about the whole Neji thing. Spent most of Saturday talking my ear off about how sorry Neji is, actually."
Sasuke's eyebrows arched and he shifted her books around before responding, "Do you believe that? That Neji's sorry I mean."
"I don't know what to believe, to be honest. Suddenly, it's like Neji has done a complete 180 – now he's all caring and talkative…" she threw her hands into the air impatiently as words failed her.
Sasuke cocked his head to one side, "It's because he's jealous," he stated matter-of-factly. Tenten laughed disbelievingly, "Come again?"
Sasuke jerked his head, and she fell into step beside him, "It's because he's jealous, Tenten. I heard what he said this morning, about how you don't look at him the way you used to – he's only now realizing what he's missing. He's never had to share you before, you've never chosen anyone over him – and, believe me, that's how he's interpreting the fact that you left with me this morning." He shifted their books to one arm, and placed a hand on the small of her back to push her forward – at his words Tenten had come to a complete stop.
"Yeah, right," she finally said, disbelief coloring her tone. Like that would ever happen. Sasuke smirked at her, "Trust me, he's jealous," he said firmly. They entered the cafeteria, Sasuke holding the door open for her with his body, and Tenten couldn't help blushing when she brushed past him, even as her eyes narrowed and she said suspiciously, "You wouldn't by any chance be trying to make Neji jealous, now would you?"
He grinned at her, before dumping their books on a table and heading for the lunch line. Tenten followed, but not before casting a sad glance at her usual table – everyone was there, Lee, Neji, and Temari - all her friends. Neither Lee nor Neji so much as glanced her way but Temari gave her a look that was both apologetic and disapproving. Tenten lifted her shoulders in a shrug, hoping Temari would understand that events had just spiraled out of her control. Before she could cry at the sad smile Temari gave her in return, Tenten whirled around, and walked over to where Sasuke stood waiting in the lunch line. When she reached him, he stepped back, allowing her to cut in front of him, and Tenten kept her back turned until he leaned forward and whispered, "I'm sorry. I seem to be making things worse. You were right, I did think that Neji only needed a healthy dose of jealousy, and so I thought I might as well provide that – one of us should at least get a happy ending," he finished almost inaudibly.
She turned and smiled slightly, "Thanks, I appreciate the gesture – and no, you're not making it worse – at this point you're the only friend I can have lunch with!" she tried to lighten her tone, and sighed when Sasuke only stared at her. "Really," she insisted, "there's no way that I'm sharing a table with Neji and Ino – did you see how close she's sitting to him? Guess they figured it's safe to come out now – and Temari sits with Shikamaru. Aside from homeroom this is the only time they have to be together all day, and Temari isn't allowed to have visitors or go out during the week, so there's no way that I'm taking the little bit of time she has with Shika away from her."
She grabbed various dishes, not even noticing what she was going to have to eat, but she did catch the slight grimace on Sasuke's face, and when she looked down she saw that she'd selected the meatloaf, and quickly replaced it with another grateful look up at Sasuke. "My hero," she laughed, and he nodded in mock approval.
They made their way back to the table and Tenten was glad to see that Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Shino were already there; maybe she wouldn't have to talk about her friends anymore. Her relief was short-lived, however, when Sasuke only waited until they were seated before continuing the conversation – a blissful Naruto was being fed ramen by an equally blissful Hinata and they ignored the others completely. Shino had never been particularly talkative and Kiba was trying to finish his homework for his next class. "What about Lee?" Sasuke asked, taking a bite of his food.
Tenten sighed, "Okay, fine, Lee is a bit trickier but I don't want him to have to choose anyway, so it's just as well. That's the problem with all my friends, really. Everyone will have to choose a side and I don't want that to happen."
Hinata unglued herself from Naruto to finish her own lunch, and for the rest of the period they had a good time laughing at Naruto and Kiba's antics. But Tenten couldn't help her gaze turning towards Neji and Ino every now and then – she was surprised to note that, though Ino practically sat in Neji's lap, he never touched her, and barely spoke to her at all.
"Why is Tenten sitting with Sasuke?" Sakura asked in confusion, dropping her books on to the table next to Sai. She'd been a bit late to lunch, and so she'd missed the awkward moment when Neji had practically ordered Ino to sit next to him, quickly followed by Tenten and Sasuke's entrance.
Temari sighed, and glared daggers at Neji and Ino. Ino flinched but Neji glared back, "If you hate it so much why didn't you stop her from sitting with Uchiha?" he snarled at Temari. She opened her mouth to retort, but Shikamaru grabbed her, and placing a finger on her lips, he said softly, "Drop it, Mari, please." Reluctantly, Temari subsided and sulkily began to eat her lunch.
"Ookaaayyy," Sakura sighed, glancing from one to the other, "I missed something there, wanna fill me in?" she directed the question at Ino, but her long-time friend merely shook her head looking uncomfortable as she shot another hesitant glance at Temari.
"Well, as I understand it, Tenten is now with Sasuke, because she is angry at Neji for screwing Ino at Kiba's party on Friday – and no one here is particularly fond of Sasuke, so now everyone is angry at Tenten, too." Sai answered his girlfriend in his usual blunt manner, completely oblivious to Ino's loud gasp, Lee's soft groan, Temari's snarl, and Neji's quickened breathing as he clenched his fists on top of the table. Shikamaru and Chouji shared a glance before the latter spoke up, since Shikamaru was occupied in holding Temari back, "I don't think Tenten and Sasuke are actually dating-"
Sai interrupted him happily, "No, I'm pretty sure that they are – I have second period PE with Uchiha and the guys in the locker room were congratulating him on 'cracking the ice princess'. Of course, we all know that the reason she's never been interested in anyone was because she liked Neji, but I thought it best to not tell them that. Anyway, he just smirked - didn't deny it at all."
Sakura groaned as she stared at Sai in utter consternation. He glanced at the chaos he'd caused in surprise. "What's wrong with them?" he asked Sakura, as he looked from Lee who was trying to hold Neji back as the latter swore in one long string of words – the only things that made sense in the entire sentence being 'Uchiha' and 'kill' - to Shikamaru holding Temari back as she hissed like an angry cat, to Chouji who was holding Ino to stop her lunges from reaching Sai.
"Thanks," she said faintly, and finally everyone calmed down, but the rest of the lunch period was spent in a tense silence, and Sakura couldn't help but glance over at Sasuke and Tenten every now and again – they looked like they were having fun, laughing at Naruto and Kiba - and she felt a fleeting stab of pain as she remembered what it had been like – when they'd all been one happy group of friends, before Sasuke's leaving had changed everything.
Sometimes she couldn't help but miss Naruto's cheery chatter, and Hinata's defection in favor of her boyfriend had been a blow - she couldn't deny that - and shortly after that Shino and Kiba had followed - both of them were better friends with Hinata and Naruto than they were with the others, but at the same time she didn't blame them in the slightest. Sasuke had come back, and she'd told him to get lost and that had been her choice. The next day Naruto had given her an apologetic shrug from across the lunch room when he placed his tray down next to Sasuke's, his gesture clearly saying 'sorry, but he needs me more than you do', and that had been his choice.
Those choices had been the first chinks in what had, up until then, been a flawless friendship between all of them who had grown up together, and now it seemed that Neji and Tenten's choices were only widening the gap. Where will it end? Sakura wondered, firmly forcing herself not to check whether Sasuke was holding Tenten's hand.