Chapter Four

"Lee! Tenten! Over here!"

Jumping at the sound of Sakura's voice, I pulled Lee, who was ogling at the rubber-looking eggs, over to the table at which Sakura and Hinata were sitting, and sat him down.

"Sit," I commanded, "I'll bring you some food. Something actually edible."

Lee pouted a little and nodded. He turned to Hinata, who was already eating, and began to speak to her.

"How did you sleep last night? I thought the beds were a little hard, what about you?"

"I don't know… I guess so…"

Their conversation faded out as I walked towards the buffet style cafeteria. Sakura caught up with me and gave me a knowing smirk, eyes twinkling with friendly mirth.

"You were holding hands with Lee." Was the first thing to come out of her mouth.

I rolled my eyes at her and replied, "Good morning to you too. I slept well, thanks for asking."

"Yeah, yeah, good morning, whatever. Lee is totally into you."

I lightly shoved her and laughed as she tripped over a loose shoelace and stumbled head first into Sasuke, the cellist boy from yesterday. He was really quite attractive, with dark hair and a light complexion. His brooding eyes seemed to stare through an outer shell. So it was understandable when her cheeks turned bright red and she began stuttering apologies, sounding not too different than Hinata. I grinned widely, knowing that I finally had the blackmail I needed to shut her up about Lee. I flashed Sasuke a small smile and grabbed Sakura's arm, pulling her away from the apology she still hadn't gotten out. As soon as we were out of earshot, she whirled towards me, eyes flashing, still a little red.

"You jerk!" She hissed, "He's the freaking hottest guy here and you made me run into him!"

I giggled a little, "At least he knows who you are, now." I said.

"Yeah, a total klutz who can't even speak right! Now I won't even be able to look at him!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry."

Sakura smiled deviously, "Oh well," she said, "Now I'll have to get even with you. How about telling Lee you like him?"

My eyes widened. "You wouldn't." I gasped.

"No, you're right. I'll just embarrass you a little. That's all."

I flicked her forehead. "Whatever."

We made our way back to the table where Lee was waiting anxiously for his rubber eggs and undercooked pancakes and Hinata was staring off into the distance, fork occasionally missing her mouth and her eggs hitting her cheek. Sakura and I sat our trays down before dragging two extra chairs over to the table.

"Finally!" Lee yelled, jumping out of his seat, "I'm starving!"

Sakura and I laughed at his eagerness and sat down, starting on her breakfast. I picked at my eggs while the pinkette sipped at her milk. Hinata continued to stick eggs into her cheek.

"Hinata?" Sakura called, with no response, "Hinata?"

Hinata continued to stare into the distance, cheeks a little pink.

"Hinata?" I poked her shoulder, speaking a little louder, and she jumped out of her seat.

"Who? What?" She yelled, startled, before noticing the three of us staring at her, "Oh, hi, guys." She said in her normal quiet voice, "What's up?"

Sakura and I giggled at her while Lee looked on with a confused expression. "You were staring somewhere and you have egg all over your face."

Hinata started and quickly grabbed a napkin, cleaning all of the egg off of her face. "I was just thinking about my new piece. It's very difficult, it's a Paganini Caprice."

"Ooh," Sakura and I cooed sympathetically, "Those are hard."

Even though we were pianists, we knew that any given Paganini Caprice was difficult. Lee just stared at the three of us, with a confused look on his face. "Women." He groaned, and continued to stuff the runny food down his throat. Simultaneously, the three of us rolled our eyes at Lee and Sakura let out her devious smile.

"You know, Lee, you'll never find a good wife if you keep eating like that."

Lee choked on his pancake and turned to her. "Huh?"

"I mean, girls don't like that. Take Tenten for example, she wants a man who knows his manners. You should fit Tenten's expectations." I smacked Sakura on the arm and stood up, blushing. "I'm gonna go get some cereal."

I turned around and left as Lee sat there bright red and stammering incoherently. I strode over to the buffet and made a beeline for the cereal. I saw that there was only one small box left, Fruit Loops, and reached my hand out to grab it. As soon as my hand was within an inch of the box, another long fingered hand snatched it away. Stunned, I looked up into the glaring white eyes of the boy from the audition room, the boy from the results crowd. My eyes narrowed as I felt an annoyance seep into my heart along with the fluttery feeling in my stomach.

"Would you mind?" I asked, "That's my favorite cereal."

He stared at me for a minute, seemingly judging me with his cold eyes. "What a coincidence. It's mine too."

I sighed, "I haven't eaten since last night. The food here is gross."

"Neither have I."

I glared a little, "Then what are we going to do?"

He looked me up and down, "I guess you'll have to sit with me and we'll have to share."

Normally, I would have never done something like this, but I was starving today. "Fine."

I trailed behind him to the table and plopped myself down across from him. Sakura, from across the cafeteria, gave me a look, What the heck? Who is this guy?

I shrugged my shoulders, I dunno, I'll tell you later.

She looked back to Lee and Hinata, both whom looked very confused and chattered away. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the white-eyed boy and saw him pouring the cereal into a bowl.

"Well, as long as we have to sit together, we might as well introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Tenten." I smiled, ignoring both the fluttery and annoying feelings, and stuck out my hand.

"Neji." He grunted, and quickly shook my hand. As soon as our fingers touched, I felt a jolt, as if I had been shocked. I shook the feeling off and stuck a spoonful of cereal into my mouth. Totally worth it. It was the first truly edible thing I had since last night.

"So, what ensemble are you in?" I asked him, trying to make conversation.

"Quintet for piano and wind. By Beethoven." He said, and finishing his last bite, stood up and left without another word.

"Rude." I whispered to myself, and went over to Sakura, Lee, and Hinata. When I got there, Sakura and Lee bombarded me with questions. "Who is he? Why were you eating with him? What were you doing?"

I answered quickly and bluntly, "Neji. Last box of cereal. Eating."

The two looked at me funny and nodded, sensing my annoyance, but Hinata continued to stare.

"What?" I asked her.

"Nothing, I guess," she replied, "It's just that my cousin has never eaten with anyone in his life. Not even my uncle, while he was alive."

I stared. "Weird." Was all Lee said before getting up to grab more food.

"How much does that boy eat?" asked Sakura in wonder, with a clear plate already in front of her.

"No idea." I said, the Neji incident already stored in the back of my mind for later. "He's like a human trash can!"

Sakura and Hinata giggled and the three of us stood up to throw our plates away.

"So, what ensembles are you ladies in?" Sakura asked, "I get to play Gypsy by Haydn."

"I'm in the Schumann Piano Quintet." I told her and we both looked at Hinata.

"I'm in the String Quartet in C sharp, by Beethoven." She replied.

Sakura sighed, "Gosh, I don't think I know anyone in my ensemble. It's going to suck."

Hinata nodded her head in agreement while Lee came back, looking disgruntled, empty handed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "No more food left?"

Lee nodded sadly and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, jogging to catch up to his fast pace.

"Ensemble practice starts in ten minutes. And I hear that the coaches here are really tough."

I nodded and waved back at Hinata and Sakura. "I have too. I'm not too scared of any of them, though; just the one called Anko. I hear that she's incredibly scary." I shuddered at the memories of the rumors I had heard of the woman. Apparently, she had beat Vladimir Ashkenazy, one of the world's greatest pianists over the head because she did not like the way he played a piece.

Lee and I arrived at my dorm room and I stopped. Lee walked on a few steps before realizing that I was no longer next to him, stopped abruptly, spun around, and ran back to me.

"This is where I take my leave. I need to grab my music." I waved goodbye at him, "Good luck."

He nodded, smiled, and waved as well, "You too. Hope you get a nice coach." And with that, he left me in front of the door. I ran in, grabbed my music, and sprinted to the auditorium, where my practice was to be held, skidding to a stop in front of a great oak door, ornamented with small, silver trinkets. I pushed it open, checking to see that I had everything I needed, and found that I was the last to arrive. Temari and a boy with a spiky ponytail and a lazy posture stood together, quietly arguing about how to bow the first few measures, another boy with sharp teeth and a large coat, despite the hot weather, sat, tuning his viola, glaring at the two arguing violinists who were throwing his tuning off, and a blond dressed in bright orange was setting up his cello, having trouble holding up the large instrument and putting his music up at the same time. I ran to the blond and grabbed his music, setting it on his stand, and he gave me a dazzling grin, not unlike Lee's, and stood up. His entire presence struck me as… big. He loudly proclaimed himself as Naruto and claimed that he was going to be the best cellist in the world- even better than Yo-Yo Ma. I giggled and introduced myself, amused by his cheerful and confident presence.

"Hey, Piano Girl! Can ya gimmie a G?" The jacketed boy waved me over to the piano.

"My name is Tenten, and yes, hold on."

I walked over to the piano, sat my music down, and lifted the lid. Locating the G above the middle C, I used my index finger to press it down. The sound reverberated throughout the room, putting me completely at ease. I looked down at the piano and saw the golden label on the wood above the keyboard. The cursive letters connected together at the middle with a small harp, the shiny label reading Steinway and Sons.

"Thanks, Tenten," The jacketed boy said, "I'm Kiba, by the way."

I nodded at him, and sat down at the bench. The tuning seemed to catch Temari's attention, as she turned to me with a grin.

"Hey, Tenten!" She greeted, smiling widely.

I gave her a wave and smiled at the boy next to her. He nodded in return and looked away.

That must be Shikamaru, the second violinist, I thought to myself.

Suddenly, the doors slammed open, and a woman with her hair dyed purple and put into a spiky bun strode in. She was munching on a stick of dango while frantically and one-handedly shuffling though her papers.

"Alright, maggots, let's get started. I'm Anko, and you'd better all be freaking perfect or I'll beat you all!"

Oh, great.