Hi, everyone! I'm back from school, and before I do any homework--^_'--I wanted to update Chapter Four!!! Excited? Thank you so much :D ^_^. So, please read and review! Valentines' Day was a blast! Was yours? Hope so! 3. Thankies again for waiting--was busy with various schoolwork this semester. Ugh, I hate it, but we have to take it! GRRRRR....have to study!
Okay, Hokura's train is chugging in...see you in Chapter 5, and enjoy NejiTen! ^_^, xYama-chanx
Tenten's POV:
I walked out of Home Economics in a sluggish mood. I was bored, drained, exhausted! Why, you ask? Well, we seriously had to discover new matters of how creating a perfect Tiramisu Cake was a 'delightful, calming' dessert to the mind.
On Anko-sensei's opinion, tch! I smothered myself in egg white batter after the 'baking' soda I used turned to be the wrong mix in the cake. SPLURT, went the cake, and I made a total 'dessert' of myself. Talk about extreme irky situations. Naruto lead all the laughter, of course, being his stupid, self-centered ego.
Ino and I decided to go to the lavatory, to get me cleaned off. Eruptions blasted when I saw my image in the mirror. Bits and pieces of cake stuck to my blouse, and my green school uniform skirt was smudged in caramel syrup, and--unfortunately,--coffee. Ugh, the stench of it was sickening.
The rest of the egg batter was spread over my tresses, and I felt some excess of the stuff drip onto my cheeks and down. Ew. Ino stifled a little giggle, but it wasn't funny.
" That's fine, Tenten, don't worry about that. We'll wipe off the cream first," Yamanaka advised as she ripped off a piece of paper from the dispensing machine and wet it in warm water. I did the same, dabbing the spots of mess until they were faint. Good enough.
Ino wiped my cheeks. She grinned casually. " Problems like these, haha, dessert accidents, don't really matter, it's not like Neji would ignore you or anything-"
I tensed, my skin crawling and eventually heating up as Yamanaka continued to fix my appearance. " Oh. My. I just remembered. Wasn't Hyuuga supposed to meet me after school?," I asked quickly, taking the paper towel away and shaking my hair free of the sticky cream. There, perfect.
Ino stared at me, partly satisfied. " Yeah, I remember too." She seemed excited for me. Why? I was suddenly suspicious about this whole meet-Neji-after-school thing. Was this a plan? Oh, no, I don't think so. I am not supposed to act like I do not trust my best friends, especially Sakura...
My blonde-haired friend took her bag and started zipping up. She still had that scary smile etched on her dainty face. I narrowed my eyes.
"Hey, don't tell me what that was all about, I have no clue! Promise," Ino oathed, raising up one arm for honesty. I laughed lightly. To admit, being Yamanaka was as if the whole world bent on your only existence.
" Now come on, we only have ten minutes left for our next English class," she rang out to me, as I sighed, flinging my own knapsack over my shoulder and following her out into the hallway. Ugh, English, a.k.a. Language Arts.
I could not wait until seeing Sakura, but I really disliked this class. Asuma-sensei was a straight-forward, cigarette-smoking teacher who made us write hundreds of Essay Structures and all that. Ugh again, yes. I shook my head. This was going to be a rather long extinctive day.
I kept watching Ino as she strutted, her hips swaying side to side in the most 'model'-like way she could create. Yamanaka's blonde hair added flair to her 'walk.' She was really beautiful, so I had no idea why none of the men were attracted to her...aside that Nara is an exception.
Well, you see, she was stamped as one of the most fashionable ladies in our class when it came to extended Dress-Down Days. You know, adorning casual petite clothing and heading to school in the attire for either a special occasion or something. Pretty interesting, huh?
Enough of my useless babble. So Ino and I kept walking, bags over our backs and gluing our stares to Room 106, all the while we ignored other students preparing themselves for the next period, as usual. Touching my hair with a soft pat, I was sure it was now all fixed up and dry. At least my dainty brown buns were tied tightly. Okay, Language Arts, here we come...
Twenty minutes later...
There was an atmosphere of total silence and evident boredom as the teacher in front continuously drabbled on and on about Essay structures, all the while dotting point-form tips. We were exhausted. Urgh, Asuma-sensei, give us a break!
I looked around after lifting my head from my comfortable 'pillow' arms. Yamanaka had her arms bent on the desk, her face buried in them. Blonde hair snaked down from her face right to her back. Behind her, Shikamaru was sound asleep, eyes closed and snoring half a minute later.
To my right, Uzumaki and Uchiha were staring at the board, but they obviously were tired out, too. We all had our L.A. binders open and ready to write, but it never came to our senses of copying down what Asuma-sensei explained. Sasuke had his back perched on the chair's supporter, still giving the front a hard, blank look.
Naruto was busy twirling a disgustedly chewed- up pencil on his desk. His blue cerulean eyes reflected tiredness and sleepy emotions right after he scratched his neck for a brief moment. He yawned silently, then resumed his little stupid hobby. I shifted my eyes to the far left.
There was Sakura. I saw some strands of her pink hair stick out from a view of some dozing-off or lazy students. She had her face resting on her elbow while she actually cared of writing down the L.A. notes. She spotted me watching her, then she smiled back at me, waving, then returning to her task.
Well, it kind-of made sense to me--there was nothing else to do. Sleeping in class might just get you in trouble, I was sure. So, I lazily and slowly opened my black-green binder; the shiny, lined, blank papers awoke my conscience slightly. I blinked my brown eyes briefly.
Picking up my pencil next, I strayed my eyes to the notes on the board. Asuma-sensei was no longer lecturing, but jotting down more tips. Well, good enough. But, just before I decided to do this, I looked around one last time.
Lee was busy scrawling out the notes on a messy, unorganized notepad. His tongue stuck out at the side of his mouth in concentration. Ew, yucky enough. Shrugging him off, I moved my view to the desk beside him. Oops, wrong move...
There I saw Hyuuga, his white orbs started to drift slowly away from the open windows, to the board, then back again. Ahem, I could tell--he was straining to keep himself awake in this period of the worst laziness ever. Paradise for Nara, then.
A familiar feeling started to bubble in the pit of my stomach when I laid my eyes on him. Oh yes...the 'Would-you-meet-me-after-school' plan. Earlier this class Neji was paying attention to me more that it was creepy, so I never looked at him after that, but now. I don't know.
The Hyuuga caught me staring at him, and his mouth slowly turned up into a smirk. Slightly feeling warm, I narrowed my eyes. " What are you looking at, Neji!?," I whispered to him, a li-ttle bit angry. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hinata in her usual position; arms folded in front of her while her white eyes bounced everywhere for the sake of nothing to do.
Sighing deeply, I thought, " Seriously, what could get better than this rather epic experience?." Ah, well-never mind, excuse me. I huffed and turned my beautiful head away from the Hyuuga. But then, I felt his hand on my shoulder.
Suddenly, a spark crawled through my skin, as if it was charged with electricity. Turning around again, I looked up into Neji's irresistible eyes. Oh--wait... Looking around a little bit more, I now found Haruno and Yamanaka with their eyes wide open suddenly. Ugh, they were actually interested in my 'mini-problem'? Psh, this is unbelievable.
" Tenten," he whispered to me, still staring. I bobbed my head as a sign I heard him. It's rude to ignore a man. From my right, I heard some slight movement in the desks. Oh, I knew what that was...Sakura and Ino were leaning closer to get the scoop. Evil blabbermouths!
Right there at the moment, Uchiha and Uzumaki were observing us, unfortunately with no clue. Shikamaru, as always, was oblivious to the surrounding happenings for he was still taking a nap.
(A/N: Oh my gosh, I actually remembered: It was hilarious! During our music class my crush, who sat beside me then, fell asleep in the middle of the teachers' lecture. We were all like," Omg, is he sleeping? Nudge him, Anne!," they asked me. Well, I didn't want to. He did listen at the start but when he woke up, he was all like," What happened? Wha-I fell asleep?! Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Grois!." Our teacher found him sleeping after a looong time and she told us," Be quiet in getting your music books. Go." And she actually played along with us! She didn't notice at first too! We were laughing silently like total maniacs.
LOL. Now he's known as the 'napper'. He told me he just fell asleep for no reason. Well, there was a point, because we were all dead-bored after the music tape-recording. He asked me about everything! Ahaha, his cute eyes--And he told me, " My mom doesn't know. This is my first time falling asleep. I do not hate Mrs. Grois' class, okay?" LOL xD memories !I was laughing so hard he told me," Shut up," in an embarassed way. Well that's enough--back to the story! ^_^)
I still kept my gaze locked on the Hyuuga. Seemed like he was going to tell me the question--
" Can you meet me after school today..........?" W-what? I slowly took in what he just said. It was all going in slow motion. Shikamaru rose his head from his usual 'nap' and looked at us with piercing brown eyes. Also, Sakura and Ino were jumping--yes, jumping--up from their desks in anticipation, so slow as if, in my eyes, time has turned to the speed of molasses.
Sasuke and Naruto gaped at the two of us. I was blushing as red as a cherry now. Neji gulped slightly, just licking his lips after that unexpected moment. "So, will you?," he whispered once again, but releasing his grip on my shoulder.
I nodded quickly, unaware. " Thank you Tenten. You don't know how much this means to me. I'm sorry...," he added last, breaking away from me and slipping into his seat. Blinking hard, I strayed my view to my best friends. They wore wacky excited smiles on their faces. I fumed in embarrassment. I knew what would happen in the hallway after this.
My pink haired buddy had her arms perched way at the end of the desk, naturally smiling brightly at me and giving me a thumbs-up. Her green emerald orbs sparkled in excitement. I sighed--again. Hinata spotted me, and was grinning in her shy way. Well, instead I smiled back, faking my anger which was starting to give a path up my throat.
Yamanaka was now scribbling fast on a dark blue piece of paper. Asuma-sensei, I cannot believe--was STILL writing hundreds of these useless tips up and down the board. I shook my head in disbelief. Oh my goodness, is our teacher as clueless as they said he was? Ugh!
Ino, with her lips pursed in concentration, wrapped up her note with a flourish and threw it at me. Whoops, I almost missed. Good call too, because 'the' Aburame Shino was an expert at catching the sudden movement of 'forbidden' note passing. Haha. Looking over, Yamanaka was gesturing to me wildy to open it.
The note was neatly folded in an airplane-ish matter, and so I worked in prying open the blue piece of paper. In my surprise, it was written in huge, glittering gold capital letters:
GO AND--KISS HIM!
Neji and Tenten sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I....
I slammed the note closed, dropping my jaw open and not even daring to finish reading the last two letters of that note. Blushing madly, I looked up and waved it in front of Ino's view. " What?! Are you insane?!," I whispered loudly enough for her to hear. Ino just nodded her head in utter excitement once again and mouthed to me, a hand shielding the sound.
" After you meet him outside in school!," she added, her ocean sky-blue eyes glittering in amusement and mischief. So, I just admitted defeat--for now. Yamanaka and Haruno's unstoppable schemes always seemed to have an effect on me. Alright, be strong, Tenten, I thought angrily.
Swiveling my head to the least of glances, Sasuke and Naruto were watching me, eyes wide open at what they just saw. I smiled shyly at them, scratching my neck with the tip of my thumb. " Hehehe--that was nothing...," I lied, still grinning sheepishly as if, psh, they didn't know what was going on.
I needed to see Hinata's reaction. Her white-lavender orbs lit up after that little moment. She raised her hand slowly and gave me a brief thumbs-up. " Yeah right," I sighed under my breath. Now there was no escaping the 'Wrath of Neji'--if that's what you'd call it.
Grabbing my pen, I scribbled down the notes on the board hard, not bothering to spare that darned Hyuuga a look, who I knew was now smirking in the biggest way you can imagine even though I could not see it.
Again--fifteen minutes later...
" Hai, Tenten nii-san!," a small, dainty voice called from behind me in the hallway. I spun around after slamming my locker shut to meet the eyes of a gorgeous lady in front of me.
She was about my size, but was wearing 3-inch heels on her black puff flats. Her eyes were a dazzling white--just like Neji's. Her forehead just about met my eyebrow line, and speaking of eyebrows, I cocked one up in confusion at the girl.
Her hair was half-dyed in brown and most of it were silky black. Bangs like Hinata's hung over her eyes, but the ones by her ears were longer than hers. As usual, she was wearing the school uniform. Her arms braced around what looked like endless bags of books and binders. Whoo, I thought, she must be a homework geek.
Other students that passed by were mostly taking attention to the girl I did not know--but something at the edge of my subconscious was starting to awake--as if I've seen her before...
" Hello," I greeted her rather politely. " Oh, I must say, you look so much prettier in person as he said you were," she complimented, arms folding behind her back in shyness. She was polite. I smiled a little at this. " Why thank you." He? Wait, who sent her to me? At dismissal time in school? I must proceed with caution, for this could be a trap.
Oh wait! How foolish of me! She's an innocent girl--or is she? What the heck... I blinked, shaking all these doubts out of my brain. But whoever she was, I hoped she was trustworthy.
" By the way, my name's Hokura," she replied, extending an arm out. I hesitantly took it, taking in the sudden tingle of my skin from her touch. I stared directly at her. " Hok-who?," I thought once again, trying to pull myself together.
Ugh, I suddenly wished Ino and Sakura didn't LEAVE me alone. They did this because they wanted me to BE alone, so that the Hyuuga can, you know, take me somewhere for something. Oh, by the way, our Language Arts class has ended in total chaos.
We were all bored, and Asuma-sensei noticed that he couldn't take it anymore; students saying he was clueless and ignoring him and all...we weren't. For that, it caused him to throw a piece of chalk at each of us (fortunately he missed me. Haha. My brown hair was camouflaged with the wall).
I tried hard not to laugh when I saw Shikamaru's mouth full of the chalk. Poor Nara. He puked it all out during our last period break. Yamanaka was so concerned she left me with Haruno. Of course he had chalk in the first place--because he slept while snoring.
I was beat. Then, Tsunade-sama sent poor Uzumaki and Kiba--yeah, for no reason--to detention. Seemed like she was evidently tired and stressed, she needed to do something anyway. Also they were the troublemakers of the school. Tsk tsk.
Then it hit me. Neji and her sitting in the table by themselves; the Hyuuga with his hands on her back and shoulders. It was Hokura. No wonder, because it was her brown-black hair I saw from my blurry view due to my crying. Hinata, Ino and I turned around to leave immediately when Sakura called us. It was all clicking into place.
No! I cannot be her friend. She cheated on me with Neji. No!
The said girl faced me with sad, white eyes, but I could tell that she tried hard to hide this emotion. She forced a cheery grin. " Why don't you come to the Konoha park with me? We could get ice cream. By the way, I am Neji nii-san's cousin-in-law."
My eyes widened. Nii-san? Cousin-in-law? No way....then why would they be going out--uh oh, I was mistaken after all. " Wait," I said, holding her arm. The pain I felt during that dreadful night was starting to rise, but I controlled it.
" Why didn't Hinata tell me about you?," I asked calmly, clearly confused. Hokura shook her head and giggled lightly, her black hair flowing. " Well, you see, I was just declared Neji's cousin-in-law by Uncle Hiashi two days ago; a weekend. Seems like Hinata nii-san did not know this for they went on a vacation," she explained to me.
I paused, taking in what she said. Vacation, Uncle Hiashi...oh! "So, it must've been that Hanabi's other relative or somewhat got married?," I asked her. Hokura nodded, amused at my antics. She laughed again. " Tenten nii-san, you are stubborn sometimes!," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. But then her face grew troubled again.
" If you ever saw me with Neji nii-san, you misunderstood us. I am really sorry. You see, I had no idea that he scheduled a date with you. I talked to him about my financial hardships, on money. He was someone you could depend on. So we discussed together. I was crying that night because I was rather really depressed, and he comforted me, telling me options to improve my credit. I am really sorry, Tenten nii-san," Hokura explained, her head bent for forgiveness.
My face softened after that explanation. I was wrong after all. He was her cousin. Yes, I knew that the Hyuuga was someone else when it came to money. He also planned to become a businessman and was a complete whiz at math. Suppose I should give her another chance. If I didn't Neji would probably hate me. =P.
I stared at her, then I started to smile. She seemed like a really sweet girl. I placed a hand on her shoulder, then she raised her head and looked at me. " I forgive you, Hokura. I'm sorry too." She smiled and hugged me. " Thank you, Tenten nii-san, thank you so much," she whimpered, crying into my uniform now. Awww, what sensitive emotion.
The bell rang throughout the hallway at that moment. School was closing now. The students we saw earlier were now rushing, some slamming their lockers and scattering elsewhere with their homework. The noise slowly subsided. We should leave now ourselves.
" Come on, Hokura," I advised her, breaking away and walking alongside her. " Let's go to the park. I want to know more about you, new cousin," I exclaimed, smiling. She grinned at me back. " Thank you, Tenten nii-san. You are nicer than Neji nii-san told me!," she commented. I laughed. Neji was more than a man. He was humourous too.
The sun was starting to hide between a clump of clouds as birds flew in and out of the trees. We passed other people down the gravel road to the Konohagakure Park, where, I realized, a surprise was waiting for me.
I am finished! Awww, sweet chapter, eh? Yes, Hokura Hyuuga is someone you can watch out for in my future fanfics. ^_*. She's someone that would stay alive as my OC in Naruto's world. Yay! ^-^. Oh, and I know you can't wait for their meeting after school! =D. Eeeek, will they kiss? They might! This was a rather crazy chapter to write. I loved Shikamaru and Ino be involved in some situations. :P. It was really fun! Thank you so much for waiting. ^_^. I tell you, Chapter Five will be out next week. Spring Break! Hope you have a happy spring break too! Please review! Thank you so much again! :].
From, xYama-chanx