Purple Haze

[blah] - Author's Note

blah blah - Character thinking

"blah blah" - Character talking

Disclaimer: This story is non-profit & I do not own the original characters or Naruto. Just the plot :)

Chapter Three: Mistakes

(Still Tenten's P.O.V)

Later that night, after Sakura and I arrived home, we realized there was no one there. Again. Sighing, we tossed our backpacks onto the hardwood floor, near the bottom of the staircase. Somewhere -in the pit of my gut- I knew it was going to be another 'homework-friendly' filled night. I was so happy Sakura was my friend and here to help me. Because otherwise I would be screwed.

"Tenten? Why are you staring off into space? That's not like you..." Sakura had nudged me in the arm, causing my trance to break like a broken mirror.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't -" I started, but a knock on the door made me halt in mid-sentence. My pink haired friend rose from her seat on the couch and answered the door. Our school principal, Master Kakashi, was leaning against the doorframe. Sakura's face scrunched up in a look of discomfort.

"M-master Kakashi? What a-are you doing here?" She had asked.

He shrugged, "I happened to be around; in the neighborhood. But you -" He pointed to me and finished, "- we need to speak. Now." I gulped.

Sakura's throat became dry, "Um, is-is there something she did wrong?"

Kakashi stayed silent and gave no answer. Once I stood up and passed Sakura while exiting through the doorway, he finally spoke, "We'll be back shortly." Then he closed the door himself.

Well, that's new. Close the door one someone... who sort of owns the house. I'll have to remember that, I thought.

"So, Miss Tenten, I hear you've been fighting again?" Master Kakashi spoke, his voice lazy.

I shook my head, "Lies!" He stared at me, an eyebrow raised. I rephrased my first meant-to-be-sentence, "I mean, I have not been fighting again. I promise; scout's honor."

The gray haired man groaned quietly, "Tenten. Rock Lee told me what you did to Mr. Hyuuga yesterday. Why?" He paused, "May I ask why?"

I sighed and inwardly rolled my eyes. I thought, It'd be better if you didn't. But I guess....

"Because... because he was being rude. And a jerk!" I exclaimed. "He deserved being locked into a closet - more importantly, into the janitor's closet!"

"Tenten, I believe you overreacted."

"But I couldn't have! It takes a lot to make me mad!"

"Uh-huh, alright. Anyways, you need to control your temper or I'm afraid I'll have to expell you. Please? I don't want to have to... It'd be very bad for you," The man sighed. I merely nodded. "Thank you. Now, I'll let you get back to your homework. You are very behind on English, Math, Sciene, History, and Computer assignments."

I groaned and grumbled, "Fine. I'll go now. Goodbye Kakashi." I wandered back inside once I watched the silver haired man leave my foster parents' house's yard.

Sakura was fiddling with her fingers as sweat beads rolled down her face. I spoke up, "Are you dying of paranoia yet?"

"You scared me!" She placed a hand over her chest, where her chest should be. "And no... not yet, anyways. What did Master Kakashi say?"

I shrugged, "Nothing much, just a friendly talk. Although he told me to come do all my missing assignment work. Oh and he threatened to expell me from the school if I ever fought again."

"That means you won't be fighting - EVER again, right?" Sakura asked. I nodded and she instantly jumped to Kakashi's 'friendly talk'. "What did you do? I mean, what was so bad that you had to talk with Master Kakashi?"

I laughed nervously, knowing she'd be outraged or something of the sort. "I sort of.... locked-Neji-Hyuuga-in-a-closet!" I stammered over my words in a rush, gathering them all together.

"Tenten! How could you lock him in a closet?!" Sakure scolded me. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"It's nothing! I just... He just got on my last nerve, that's all," I defensively said.

"Tenten! You locked him in the damn janitor's closet!" Sakura exclaimed. Then she ran a hand through her hair, "I heard that Master Guy found him and is offering to have him (Neji) in his (Guy's) homeroom. That means you'll be together."

My jaw swung open, "Are you kidding me! That's horrible!"

"Oh c'mon, Tenten!! You know you adore him; why can't you admit it?" Sakura's frown was making me feel the heavy weigth of guilt again. Another surging feeling made my head spin; a godforsaken headache washed over me, like that one time I visited the ocean and a wave pounded over me and my surfboard.

"We should probably get started on your thousands of missing assignments, ne?" Sakura commented while opening the Algebra textbook and tossing me a pencil.

"Yeah, I suppose," I mumbled, moving the green notebook closer to where I sat and shifting the heavy book in a half-circle to I was able to see it better. Here we go...

The Next Day; Tuesday:

Sakura and I entered the cafeteria with our bagged lunches. It wasn't suprising when no one noticed we had appeared. No one except my new number one enemy: Neji and his group of followers - I mean friends.

"Ten, look," Sakura whispered to me as we started walking down the aisle, between the rectangular tables. I turned to where she was pointing as saw Ino, Karin, and Temari. Were they glaring at us? Heh, nothing new... But wait, the tables around them and the boys surrounding the school's mean girls were staring too.

"What do you think is going on?" Sakura mumured to me again. I shrugged and continued walking to our table. Suddenly, Karin and Temari were practically laying all over our table. The sight of their faces and skanky clothes boiled my blood.

"Move." I demanded, narrowing my eyes at them.

Karin smirked, "No." Temari was slyly smiling too.

"C'mon, please, just move," Sakura cut in.

"Make us," Temari suggested as she sat up straighter. The pinkette who was beside me heard the crackling of my paper bagged lunch. Her emerald eyes glanced at my hands, which were balled into fists.

"Tenten... Don't do it," She mouthed to me. I was hardly glancing at my friend. My eyes were glazed over with rage, so I couldn't see her pleading eyes that read: You're going to get in trouble, don't do it!

"Yeah, Tenten," Karin said, her tone filled with unspeakable arrogantness. "Do what your girlfriend says."

"That's it!" I shouted as I leaped at her. My fist connected with her face. The impact knocked her glasses off and caused her to fall face-first onto the linoleum floor. My body was about to pounce and attack again, but Temari got in the way. I lifted my hand threateningly, which made her shrink back a little. But Sakura's hand yanked my arm to my side and smacked Temari.

"Leave us alone!" The pink haired teenager ordered, her nostrils flaring like an angry bull. The two girls hurried away, holding the sides of their faces. After they ran into the bathroom, my foster sister and I heard a pair of hands clapping. Was it really for us or sarcasm coming from a bystander?

"Congratulations girls," a familiar voice called. "Uh-oh" was all my head could manage to scream. Sakura's eyes widened but neither her nor I dared to spin around. "Now, come on down to the officed, with me."

Sakura and I were forced to attend the little field trip to the office with the vice principal, Miss Shizune. She was normally very friendly and cheerful, but today she was so discontent that it scared me. Something was chewing at her mind, but I didn't try and figure out what her problem was. It would be too difficult.

"Master Kakashi will see you two ladies soon. Just sit down, shut up, and wait," Shizune told us. We nodded quickly, hoping she'd just go away. And she did; I guess our attempt was successful, huh?

"Sakura and Tenten! I cannot believe you two - well I can't believe that you, Sakura, were in a fight! This school is getting out of hand! This is crazy!" Kakashi explained, his fists slamming down on his wooden desk, it shook violently.

Wow, for the first time, he doesn't seem lazy! Sakura and I thought in unison.

"I wasn't the instigator, nor the hitter. There were more than enough witnesses. Would you choose for me to grab one and have them explain it to you? Because you sure seem like you're just trying to rid yourself of Tenten and the burden of dealing with this," Sakura told him defiantly.

"I-" Kakashi started, but the expression on his face showed he was taking Sakura's debate into serious consideration. He soon replied, "Please, just go home. I will deal with this once I return from my business trip. Goodbye, girls." Instead of sighing and leaving his leather chair, he simply spun around to face the large two-pane window. Without a second thought, I jumped from the uncomfortable chair and exited the office, then the school's campus.

"If you or I get expelled, Tenten, I swear I'll kick your ass," Sakura threatened.

I scoffed, "As if. Hey, if I get expelled, I'll be gone before you can say Sasuke."

"Shut up!" she squealed, her face slipping from ivory to many different shades of red. I laughed and it caused her to giggle a little bit too. Yeah, this was how it used to be. Why couldn't everything just be as simple as it was back then?

Author's Note: Alrighty, well I FINALLY decided to update... Haha. Sorry for the imensely long wait! I 've been quite sick (like four colds! but not at the same time.) and school has preoccupied most of my "free time". What can I say? Algebra has ALOT of homework! Anyways, there wasn't too much Neji/Tenten fluff - but the next few chapters should have more! XD Okay, well that's all for now!

Love You ALL!, Lu.
And her editor: F.F.E