Author's note: Hi guys! It's been a while since the last update of this story! I've been quite busy with studies and I just lost interest in Naruto for a while because of the death of Neji. Well, I rewatched it again and fortunately gained back interest in it, specially in NejiTen. So here it goes!
Tenten's POV
She sighed inwardly when she locked the door of her room. The book she got from the library lay heavy on her arms. Due to the urge to look for the book, she never sensed her brother inside the library. Damn him and his concealing powers! It was a close call the moment she became aware of his presence. It's not that she didn't want her brothers to find out about the book but-- actually, no. She didn't want her brothers to find out what she was reading. She damn well know what suspicions will cloud their minds so she decided immediately to go back to her room
Until this moment she could still feel his presence outside her room and she was starting to get irritated by it. She was about to tell him off when she heard Ino's voice from the other side and she sighed in relief.
She was about to walk to her bed when she heard Sasuke spoke.
"Where are you off to?" He asked.
Tenten leaned back on her door and listened.
"...nowhere," she heard Ino replied hesitantly. Tenten raised an eyebrow at her tone. 'Nowhere? That doesn't sound like Ino at all,' she mused.
There was a moment of silence outside her room and had it not been for their presence, she would think they were gone.
"I'm off to town, okay?" Ino blurted exasperatedly. "I need to get something for my face and don't tell my father!"
"What's wrong with your face?" Sasuke asked confusedly. Well, I could have asked the same damn question. Ino was the most beautiful caster she ever known. Flaws were not seen in her own dictionary.
"I have lines already! Look!" She heard Ino shift her position.
"I don't see any lines," Sasuke replied.
Tenten scowled at Ino's persistence to go to town. They have their own personal healers and one of them was Shizune who was very adapt in making Ino's face flawless. She still doesn't understand why her blonde friend was acting so strangely.
She decided she'd confront her later. She walked over to her bed and opened her book. Her fingers grazed softly upon the pages as she read each text. As she read deeper into it the more the scowl appeared on her face.
A casters role to the society is to protect mortals near them. Still, it is the choice of every caster whether to abandon them or not. There are no written laws known to the caster world in abandoning each helpless mortal.
There are many legends and myths concerning each of Mortals and Casters interraction. One myth concerns about healing a wounded mortal.
There are two types of healing when it comes to their kind: one that can only heal the wound and the other one is to share some powers to the mortal. If a caster is not an expert in the healing arts, he or she might share his or her power to the mortal causing them to have a bond.
This bond can only be broken if the mortal dies. But also take note of the...
Her reading was interrupted when there was a knock on her door. Sensing her mother, she quickly hid the book under her pillow when her mother opened the door.
"Hello, sweetheart," she greeted gently as she trudded over to her bed.
"Hey, momma," she greeted back as she watched her sit down next to her. "What's up?"
"Cal told me you were off for a run this morning but you didn't show up for lunch so I went to check on you," Mikoto answered with a worried expression. Tenten glanced back at her watch and saw it was already past 1 in the afternoon.
"Oh! I must have lost track of time!" She exclaimed and her stomach suddenly grumbled in sync with her reason.
Mikoto shook her head at the siliness of her daughter. "Do you want me to get you something to eat? You seem pretty busy studying."
Tenten tensed up but then relaxed and grinned sheepishly at her. "Uh, don't worry about it. I'll just go down later at the kitchen," she answered.
Mikoto has almost the same powers as Itachi except she only have limited range. She couldn't track them when they are far.
"Okay," she replied and touched her cheek gently as she stood up. "Try not to lose track of time again and eat."
"Will do!" Tenten saluted jokingly before her mother went out of her room.
Tenten sighed and turned towards her pillow. There was a dreadful feeling lingering inside her and she was thankful Ino was not around to sense it. If those myths or legends were true then she might have shared some of her powers to the Hyuga boy. But was it all just really myths?
She remembered how strong he was when he carried her. He should have been weak just like her after the incident. And to think that she was not an expert in the healing arts.
Sighing, she decided not give much thoughts about it. If it was all myths then it would probably just stay like that. Besides, she would not see the Hyuga anymore anyway.
Tenten decided to grab something to eat when she saw something at her balcony. One thing she liked very much about her room was that it was directly faced to the forest. It was a good thing that her room was located at the third floor.
With a scowl on her face, she walked over to her balcony as she watched the rustling of the trees. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was going directly to their house.
She instantly grab a kunai and without thinking, she jumped off her balcony which she instantly regretted when she felt the pain from her feet but decided to think about it later. She ran towards where she last saw the rustle when she sensed Ino.
Her eyes widened when she saw her at the back of a very big white dog. She was held on to the man in front of her and if Tenten guessed correctly, it was a mortal. She glanced towards the unknown creature chasing them. Why on Earth would Ino go to the mansion with mortal, she wouldn't know.
"Ino, you idiot," she muttered enraged before jumping up at the trees to help them get away.
She leaped over, suspended in the air, as she let the dog passed by. Ino gasped at the sight of her.
"IGNESCERE!" A ball of fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere and engulfed the creature. It never made any screeching sound which she was thankful for or else the others would have heard about it.
She landed gracefully in front of the writhing creature. Once the creature stopped twitching, she turned towards her cousin and the mortal next to her.
"Tente-" Ino abruptly stopped when Tenten grabbed her chin and directly looked at her eyes; her eyes turning red at the process.
Suddenly, Tenten let go of her chin as if she was burned and looked at the mortal next to her aghast.
"Ino, what have you done?"
Neji's POV
Neji sat on the windowsill by his room in annoyance. Said annoyance was caused by none other than the weird girl and what happened this morning.
An irritated sigh escaped his lips as he touched the side of his head to which he could feel a small bump. He thought again of what happened...
"I've never told you my name before. How did you know it?" He asked or more like demanded.
The girl's eyes widened in shock. Good. She better be shock. He gave her his coldest glare and firmly gripped her wrist when she tried to pull it.
"Hey, let go!" She hissed. For some reason, he felt so strong and he did not budge at all.
"I asked you a question," he gritted.
"What question?" She asked back then glared when he tightened his hold. "Look, okay, okay! I'll tell you just let me go!"
"Do you think I'm stupid enought to that?" He snapped at her and pulled her closer to him.
She gasped when she slammed on his chest. Her free hand automatically landed on his chest to give them space.
"How did you know my name?" He asked again; this time a little harsher.
"In the magazine," she blurted and looked down on the ground. "I saw you on one of the magazines, okay?"
Silence descended upon them and Neji would have bought that but something tells him that she was hiding more.
He didn't know what came over him as he lowered his face at her ear making her tensed up at their sudden closeness. He could feel her ragged breath at his shoulder as he leaned closer until his lips were almost touching her ear. A smirk appeared on his face when he felt her shiver.
"What more could you be hiding from me?" He whispered.
The statement suddenly snapped her back to reality. And probably one of the biggest mistake he ever made his whole life was lowering his guard down as he felt himself being suspended in the air and landing with a big thud. She just flipped him off! The process made him loosen his hold on her and she bolted.
"That's not the only thing you'll get from me if you ever touch me again, Pervert!" She yelled as she ran as fast as she could.
Neji would have run after her had she not disappeared the moment he was back on his feet.
"Again, huh?" He mused as he snapped back to present. "There will be a next time, then."
His eyes shifted back to the garden when he spotted his cousin with the same boy as yesterday. They were currently talking and laughing. Neji glared at the two them.
Why is she with him? He almost mentally slapped himself. He was supposed to be protecting Hinata and here he was musing about someone whom he just met.
Wait. That boy knew her, right? Not bothering to answer his own question, he walked out of his room towards the two who were both startled at his sudden appearance.
"N-Neji-nii-san!" Greeted Hinata. "T-this is Uzumaki Naruto-kun."
"I know," he replied drily as he glanced at the boy. "You're with the girl from yesterday, correct?"
"Oh Tenten? Yeah," he replied giving him a stupid grin. "We live together."
"Y-You do?" Hinata asked and the blond nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah, she's like my second cousin or something," he added as he put his arms at the back of his head. "We all live together at our mansion who was originally owned by their ancestors."
"You mean five kilometers from the lake?" He asked and he saw the blond tensed up.
"How'd you know?" He asked in a low voice.
Neji raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I've got my ways," he replied.
Naruto suddenly grabbed his collar making Hinata gasped out loud. Neji, in return, only stared at him as if challenging him to do something.
"I don't know how you knew where we live but don't you ever dare set foot near it," he warned and pushed him back. "Thank you for your time, Hinata. It's great talking to you," he said without turning to the girl who was still shocked at what happened.
And with that, he bolted towards the forest.
"Neji-nii-san, are you okay?" Hinata asked gently but then staggered backward when he glared at her.
"You weren't supposed to be going off alone with strangers! What would your father think if something happened to you?" He scolded.
"But N-Naruto-kun is nice," Hinata defended as she blushed slightly.
"All bad persons are nice at the start, Hinata. Once they finally gained your trust that is where they'll attack," he lectured as he pushed her back to the mansion. "And that would be the last time you're going to meet that boy, understood?"
"B-but-!"
"Or I will report this incidence to your father. You do know how he gets when he's angry, I suppose," he threatened.
The Hyuga girl could only nod her head sadly as they continued to enter the mansion.
Unfortunately, none of them knew that wasn't the only meeting they'll get with the Casters.
Temari's POV
"Hey, has anyone seen Tenten or Ino?" She asked when she entered their safe haven.
Itachi was currently reading on a sofa when he spoke up, "Last I heard from mother, Tenten was up in her room reading."
"Since when did that girl read?" Temari joked earning a smirk from the older guy.
"You'd actually be surprise at how much she can read if she put her mind to it," Itachi said.
"Anyway, is she really that absorbed with reading that she can't hear my knocks on her door?" She mused making Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"She probably went for a walk," Itachi supplied. Temari wanted to ask the older Uchiha to use his power but she knew how he hated spying on his siblings. Truth is, she would probably feel the same for her brothers.
"Well, can you tell her I'm off to town? I wanted to invite her but she seems busy," Temari asked and Itachi nodded before going back to his book.
"Why does everyone wants to go to the town today?" Sasuke piped up when he entered the room.
"What do you mean?" Temari asked as she watched the younger Uchiha sit across his brother.
"Ino went to town a few hours ago," he replied.
"What for?" She asked.
"For the lines on her face she said," he supplied.
"Huh, that's odd," Temari mused and Sasuke nodded in agreement. "And you just let her off the hook?"
Sasuke shrugged his shoulder. "It's none of my business, anyway."
Temari rolled her eyes before walking out of the room. Ino usually go to Shizune for her skin problem, if she had any, instead of going to town. The world must be ending, she thought as she exited the mansion. She was busy all day training with her youngest brother, Gaara, and thought she could cool off with the girls but unfortunately none were present.
Well, she might as well see if she could have fun on her own. Hoping she will not bump into the same pineapple haired dude she met yesterday.
Ino's POV
The last time she felt this dreadful feeling was when she woke up one day to find a large zit on her nose. It actually caused ruckus around the house and in the end, Gaara and Kankuro had to accompany her to Shizune five miles away from them, much to their dismay and annoyance.
Never had she tried to lie to both of her best friends and she was feeling extremely guilty at what was happening now. She could feel Kiba shift behind her uncomfortably. Probably due to my cousin's death glare. The Uchiha Death Glare. Even she didn't want to be the subject of the said glare.
"Tennie, I can explain," she tried to sooth her out.
"Then explain," her brunnete friend hissed. Her eyes a blazing crimson red as she stared at Kiba.
Sighing, she walked up to her blocking her view to Kiba.
"You know the law, Ino. None of us are supposed to be having an affair with a mortal!"
"But, Tennie, he's not just a normal mortal. I love him," she said with much determination.
Tenten sighed exasperatedly. "What difference does that make? Love him or not, he's still a mortal and we're not supposed to be having a relationship with them!"
"Hey," Kiba defended but Tenten glared back at him. Thankfully, Kiba tried not to back down. "I know it's against all your laws but Ino and I love each other. It wasn't her fault. So if you're going to blame someone then blame me."
"Kiba..." Ino muttered. Her heart fluttering wildly at this man. Gods, she loves him so much!
"You have to end this right now," Tenten ordered and walked away from them. "Or so help me, Ino."
Tears sprung up in her eyes and she glared at her best friend. "You don't get it, Tenten!"
Tenten glanced back at her. "What don't I get, Ino? I am trying to protect you! If the elders find out about this they will cast you out! And I don't want any of that!"
Ino sniffled as she wiped her eyes. "They wouldn't know if you wouldn't tell them, Tennie, please." Ino ran up to her and grabbed her hands.
Tenten glared at her but then her eyes soften at the sight of her crying. She sighed as she clutched her head. 'You do know that he's more prone to danger when he's with you right? That thing that chased you isn't the only thing that he'll encounter,' she thought inside her head knowing Ino would read her mind.
Ino looked down on the ground with a sad face. "I love him, Tennie. I can't live without him," she muttered softly that only she can hear.
'He'll just be a blink of an eye. He is a mortal and his life span is shorter than ours,' she thought again.
"I know, I know. But please, Tenten, let me have this moment," Ino muttered back again.
'I can't do anything to stop this, can I? It's your decision. I did warn you. I won't tell this to anybody,' she thought and without waiting for Ino's reply, she turned around back to the house.
Ino watched her best friend walk away. She should have felt relief but her words are all true. The more Kiba spends time with her the more he succumbed to danger.
She was snapped out of her reverie when she felt Kiba's hands on her shoulder. "It'll be alright, love," he whispered as he pulled her towards him. No matter how much she wanted to believe that, she can't bring herself to it.
