Chapter three: Old friends and Skate parks

Tenten had found it. The skate park. And she sincerely wished she had her board with her as she watched a handful of guys perform countless death defying tricks.

She groaned, reluctant to leave not just because the park was even better then the one where she had previously lived, but because she had gotten lost on the way here and was now stranded until she felt like giving Sakura a call. At a skate park without her board was immense torture.

Tenten sat down on a hard concrete seat watching as the boys rattled of the graffiti covered ramps, occasionally shouting things out to one another.

She had been sitting still for maybe ten minutes when one of the boys finally noticed her, abandoning some contest he had with his buddies he approached her, tanned skin glinting in the sun.

Tenten watched sort of amused as he gave a lopsided grin and sat down next to her, his wide blue eyes looked very innocent and naive. Tenten had nothing to fear from the bizarrely blond haired boy.

"You skate?" He asked. Tenten grinned. "Yeah. I do." She said eying the boy's skateboard wistfully. He laughed. "Naruto Uzumaki." He said, sticking out a hand. Tenten shook it, grateful that there seemed to be such a friendly boy at this skate park.

"Tenten."

Naruto grinned, running a hand through his spiked hair as if he was attempting to tame it. It was a lost feat.

"You looked sort of jealous so I figured the least I could do is offer you a shot on my board." He explained, holding out his board to her.

"Are you always this nice, or only to girls?"

Naruto looked confused. Wow. Apparently he was always this nice.

Tenten grinned and swiped the board from his out stretched hands and skated off.

Tenten skated for five minutes. Reluctant to take extreme advantage of Naruto's offer. She thoroughly enjoyed the expression on the boys face's as she tried every trick they did. She would be forever grateful she hadn't stacked.

"Here." She said, once she had skated back over to where Naruto sat, handing him back his board.

"Wow. You're pretty good." He blinked, as if unable to believe a girl had been able to skate to the standards he and his friends had.

"Thanks." She smiled, turning to see the other two boys walking over to them, skateboards tucked under there arms.

"Pretty good a bit of understatement." One said, and for the first time Tenten realized had a small puppy with him, that must have been waiting offside during the skating. "Kiba." He said, extending a hand. Tenten shook it, unsure of the boy's wild appearance. Shredded jeans filthy grey jacket and a black singlet, a hood hiding most of his bed hair from the world.

"And this here's Lee." He said jerking his hand at his companion. The boys saluted her and she laughed giving the black haired boy a salute in turn.

"Is there anyone else around?"

"Nah. Not at the moment. Sometimes we manage drag along Sasuke, Shika or Shino. But they just sit around bored."

"Sasuke? Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Tenten!"

She jumped guilty at her name, turning to glance of her shoulder as Sakura rounded on her, and a very disgruntled Ino who had somehow been tricked into going with Sakura by her side.

"Hey, Sakura. Good timing. I was just about to call you."

"You got lost again, didn't you?"

"No. I found the skate park. I just forgot which direction it was back to campus."

"That's what we classify as lost."

The boys watched the conversation with interest and for the first time Sakura noticed them. Tenten felt obliged to do the introductions.

"Ah, Ino, Sakura, this is Naruto, Kiba and Lee. Kiba, Naruto Lee, Ino, Sakura." She said pointing at each person in turn, face slightly red from her lost argument with Sakura.

Sakura grinned at them. "She didn't skate did she?" She said as innocently as she could manage.

Lee opened his mouth and Tenten's hand clamped down over it.

"No, no. I just watched. Honest to god Sakura." She laughed. As the green shirted boy attempted to struggle free.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Why, oh, why, do I not believe you?" She sighed, snagging Tenten's arm and dragging her away. Tenten grinned and turned to wave at what she hoped were some new friends.

***

"So, did you have fun doing what ever you were doing?" Tenten asked once they had returned to Sakura's dorm room, Ino lying on her bed reading a magazine, ignoring the girls completely.

"Yeah. It was alright. I found out Ino likes guys who are slightly older than us."

"And forehead likes guys that look depressing." Ino called in vengeance from the bed. Apparently she didn't like her preference in the male species being broadcast through the room.

Then Tenten remembered something.

"You know Sakura, I think I heard Kiba mention something about Sasuke being in the area when we were - ."

"Sasuke!?" Sakura jumped as if she had been electrocuted and Tenten wished she hadn't raised the subject. It had taken Sakura a long time to get over the cruel things Sasuke had said when he left the city. He had all but broken Sakura's heart when he explained her feelings weren't mutual. She hadn't completely gotten over him and it just occurred to Tenten that if she ran into him she was liable to stab him.

"Who's this Sasuke?" Ino called; suddenly interested she set aside her magazine.
"None of your business." Sakura snarled her green eyes miserable and angry at the same time. Something Tenten didn't know the pink haired girl could do.

Sakura turned away from the slightly shocked Ino and stared sullenly at the floorboards, her pink hair falling in her face. Tenten didn't know what to do. She had no experience in the field of romance or heartbreak.

She got up quietly to leave slipping down the hall to her room. When she pushed open the door she discovered Neji had returned.

"Where did you go?" She asked shutting the door and stuffing her keys in her pocket.

"For a walk. If that's at all interesting." He said, typing away at his laptop.

Tenten frowned. "What exactly are you doing? School hasn't started yet and you don't seem the guy to surf the net." She said, taking off her jacket and throwing it carelessly over the end of her bed.
"A letter."

"To whom?" She inquired as she tried to peer of Neji's shoulder at the computer screen. Neji stiffened. "I do believe that's called snooping." He said. Tenten rolled her eyes and retreated, flicking open her laptop she turned it on and waited impatiently as it tried and failed to load.

"Damn it all." she sighed slamming the useless piece of junk closed she turned to find Neji staring at her.

"What? The laptop died. I have permission to be angry."

"Hn."

Tenten sat down on her bed. "If you won't tell me who the letters for, tell me something else."

"Such as?"

"I dunno. Anything. Something about you maybe?"

"Asking a question because you're bored is a rather unappealing thing to answer."

"I'm not bored. Well, I am. But I'm genuinely interested." Tenten said earnestly, Neji looked up at her from his computer screen, his perfectly defined features cast in a blue glow from the screen. For the first time since entering the room after she left Sakura Tenten realized that all the blinds were part way closed. Leaving the room in semi darkness.

"You know, staring at a computer screen in the dark is not good for your eyes."

"Hn. My eyesight is, and always will be perfect."

"Your eyes are white. You look like a blind man." Tenten said bluntly. Neji's mouth twitched in amusement.

"You are a very un-charismatic person, Tenten."

"That I am." She agreed slightly startled. It was the first time he had addressed her by her name, let alone at all.

Neji turned back to his computer and Tenten noticed a small counter in the corner of the room with a few cupboards and a mini fridge, even a sink.

"When did that get there?" She asked startled, she went over to examine it.

"The school decided to put a small kitchenette in each room so the students would stop destroying the ones in the recreation room. They did our room while you were out." Neji said, not looking up from his screen.

"Hmmm. I could keep a smoothie in here for emergencies." Tenten pondered as she opened the fridge. It was completely empty.

"Emergencies?"

"Yeah, you know. If I have no other access to a smoothie and I point blank need to have one."

"You are addicted to Smoothies."

It wasn't a question. Merely an observation he had made and the conclusion he had reached. Tenten examined the empty cupboards. She frowned. "I'm going to have to get something's to fill these up." She murmured.

"If you wish."

"I do, Neji-kun. I wish very muchly."

"Muchly is not a word."

"Neither is gullible. It isn't in the dictionary."

"If you insist."

Tenten laughed and shut the cupboards and because she lacked anything better to do she snagged her jacket and her wallet, and left to go shopping.

***

"Neji, I know you're in there. My arms are sort of full. Could you open the door?" Tenten called, juggling several shopping bags with her purchases for the kitchenette. She had her doubts weather Neji was actually going to open the door, which lead her to the conclusion that if he didn't she was going to label him a sadist.

Much to her surprise the door did swing open and Neji stepped back, watching as she staggered into the room about to drop the bags.

With a roll of his eyes he reached up and took all the bags that Tenten's frail arms couldn't support, placing them on the bench and stepping back as Tenten approached.

"Wow."

"Hn."

"You did something that did not directly benefit you. You helped someone Neji. Do you have any idea what that means? What it does to your soul?"

Tenten laughed as Neji stared coolly at her, she turned away to put her wallet away and when she turned back Neji was helping to unload the bags. She grinned. She guessed even people like Neji had to get curious sometime. Although she was sure he would deny it.

"Where exactly did you shop?" Neji asked as he unloaded a battered but workable second hand kettle, several brand new mugs and cups and a bunch of cutlery in a box.

"I don't actually know. It's not far from the school. I couldn't afford a brand new kettle so I got one second hand. But I can't stand second hand plates and cups and stuff so that's all new." She said as she unloaded the basic grocery's she had picked up.

Milk, butter, bread and other random things that could be thrown together to make a half decent snack or even a meal.

Tenten gathered up the empty plastic bags and tossed them in the trash watching as Neji took a book off his shelf and sat down to read.

Tenten grinned. "You know you should really get out sometime. You're very pale." She said as he sat down at his desk.

"I do get out."

"Somehow, I doubt you go out very often."

"Nothing to be achieved."

"Sure there is. You can get sunshine, have fun and even make new friends."

"I don't need or want friends."

"God. You sound just like me."

Neji looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem like the type of person who can go with out friends." He stated plainly.

"I can go which ever which way. It doesn't really bother me. I have no objections to making friends but I don't mind being alone."

"You seem to be trying awfully hard to make friends with me."

"Yeah, well, you seem like you could do with having at least one friend."

Neji looked surprised. "Me?" He asked his usually icy tone still in place.

"Yeah. You. Whilst being alone doesn't bother me, solitude doesn't appeal to me. I was alone once and it was boring and rather lonely. I don't think people should have to go through the things like being alone." Tenten said the entire thing almost brightly.

"You were alone?"

"Yeah. After my parents died in a car wreck when I was ten. I met Sakura when I was twelve. My life's been heaps better off since then."

"Your grammar needs work."

"Anything to misdirect a conversation, hey?" Tenten yawned, stretching back on her bed she stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, wondering if the effort of getting up was worth the reward of a smoothie. Smoothie won over. She got up and realized Neji was staring at her.

"What?"

Pause. "Nothing."