Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Well, here's the update. It's a little sooner than I had planned, but here ya go! I hope y'all are happy. Haha. Anyway, I would like to thank all the kind reviewers that were gracious enough to review chapter three, although it was quite short. (That was unintentional on my part...)
Anyway, this chapter will hopefully be a little bit longer than the last one.
Enjoy!
Play My Song
Chapter Four: Haruno's Taboo
Hyuuga Neji was particularly uncomfortable.
And it showed on his features as he unpacked his things, placing them into a small dresser that was across from his bed. The Uchiha boy hadn't stopped glaring at him ever since he entered the room, and, frankly, it was creeping Neji out.
As the brunette Hyuuga dumped a smaller carry on - decorated with fluffy Siamese kittens, mind you - onto his bed, he heard a snicker erupt from the silent man on the other side of the dorm. Turning to face him, Neji felt the urge to throw Mr. Fluffles at Sasuke, "What are you laughing at?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Stifling yet another chuckle, Sasuke eyed the things that had come tumbling from the Siamese bag, "You must love cats, Hyuuga." He snorted, "No wonder Sakura called you Neko."
Oh god, now that ridiculous nickname is going to spread! Neji thought in horror.
"And, what is that thing?" Sasuke snickered, pointing to a particular pile of fluff that was nestled comfortably on Neji's mattress.
Milky eyes widened in utter fright at the sight of Mr. Fluffles laying on his bed, looking whimsically upward at its owner.
NOOOOOO! Inner Neji screamed, grasping handfuls of his precious russet locks as a volcano erupted behind him and little devils flew about the air.
But the Neji on the outside looked calmly at the Uchiha, trying not to sweat. "It's nothing."
Sasuke only chuckled as he rose from his chair and walked to the joint bathroom the two boys would have to share from now on, "Sure doesn't look like nothing."
And with that, Sasuke shut the door and the sound of running bath water permeated the silent apartment.
Neji sighed in relief to not being questioned on the subject of Mr. Fluffles any further. Smiling in a childlike manner, he lifted the plush orange cat up to his face and cradled it in his arms, "Don't worry, I won't let that bastard get you."
Mr. Fluffles, dressed in attire that resembled Captain Jack Sparrow's in Pirates of the Caribbean, gazed up at Neji with gleaming black eyes, and let out a squeak!
"That's a good boy." Neji cooed in a motherly tone.
"Talking to a stuffed animal is a sign of insanity!"
"SHUT IT, UCHIHA!"
"Sakura-chan!" The familiar voice of Naruto pierced through the classroom, and suddenly, all eyes were on the pink haired girl.
"What is it, Naruto?" She asked, and the blonde boy's eyes lit up when she said his name.
"Neji's looking for you!"
And with that, the hounds of Hell were let loose.
"WHAT?!"
Millions of Neji-obsessed fangirls crowded around the poor, clueless girl, and suddenly began barraging her with questions/angry insults.
"How can you do this?!"
"You hated Neji in the first place!"
"Why, oh sweet, merciful Buddha, WHY?!"
"Um...I..."
Ino then abruptly walked in front of her best friend, arms outstretched, "Hey, hey, girls! Don't scream at Sakura!"
The mint eyed girl sighed with relief, Thank God for Ino...
Then, the loudmouthed blonde turned to face Sakura, a mischievous grin plastered on her delicately pretty features, and she jokingly stated, "You'll give me all the details later, ne?"
"NOTHING IS GOING ON BETWEEN ME AND NEKO!"
"Oh, Neko, is it?" Ino questioned, an evil glint in her azure orbs. "You have a pet name for Neji already, ne?"
"Oh, the power of YOUTH has failed me! Why can I not win the heart of Sakura?" A boy with thick-eyebrows and a bowl haircut posed dramatically on his knees, arms outstretched, as if reaching for something that wasn't there.
Sakura stood up, glaring at all the crazy people that were crowded around her desk, demanding to know why Sakura could betray them like this, especially when she despised Neji in the first place.
"LISTEN!" Sakura shouted in a tone that would rival Gaara's when he was on one of his "crazy" spiels. "I do not and will not like Neji!" She stomped her foot on the tiled floor for emphasis. "And the whole Neko thing is because he has a strange - and slightly creepy - obsession with cats!"
Naruto timidly spoke, "Neji is still looking for you, Sakura-chan."
"If you don't like him, then why does he want to see you?" An angry girl demanded, brandishing a pair of silver-knuckle gloves.
"Um...heh...heh..." Sakura laughed nervously, clenching a fist as she backed towards the door.
The mentally unstable fangirls outnumbered her by...well, Sakura didn't feel the urge to do math at this point, but she assumed that they would pretty much beat the living shit outta her if she let them get too close.
And she only had Ino for backup, since she had no clue where Temari was, and Hinata would never demean herself to get into a girl fight.
Unless it was for a certain someone... Sakura thought, smiling bitterly at the thought.
The cherry haired girl had made her way almost out the door, when the group of girls charged, fists bared, teeth gnarling, perfectly manicured nails scraping, trying to get at the girl's porcelain face.
Sakura bolted.
More than bolted.
She ran like hell.
She ran down the hall, speeding up every time she looked back. Those fangirls were viciously glaring and snapping crude remarks at her as she ran.
A befuddled Temari glanced at the passing pink haired girl as she whisked by, the sheer wind she was creating by running ruffled her four pigtails, and the man beside her muttered, "How troublesome."
"Don't tell me you aren't the least bit freaked out by that, Shikamaru."
The chestnut haired man scratched his ponytail in boredom as he yawned, "Women are just..."
"Troublesome?" Temari completed, smirking.
"I was going for bitchy, but troublesome works too."
"Jerk."
After the stampede of girls passed by, an exhausted Ino walked up to the two, panting and looking slightly miffed. Her skirt was slightly torn, and her shirt was unbuttoned slightly. Her honey blonde locks were in disarray as well, "Damn...that...Naruto..." She panted, placing her hands on her knees and bending over.
"What did Naruto do this time?" Shikamaru asked, looking into Ino's clear blue eyes.
"Oh, he was running his mouth as usual - " Ino decided to ignore Shikamaru's comment of 'Sounds like someone I know', "and said something about Neji wanting to see Sakura and now all of Neji's fangirls want to kill her because they think something is going on between them."
"Well, I guess Shikamaru was right to go for the word 'bitchy' to describe some girls."
Shikamaru just shook his head like a wise, old man, but then looked at Ino, "But aren't you one of the main girls in the I-love-Neji-verse? Shouldn't you be trying to kill Sakura too?"
"Have you forgotten that I am Sakura's best friend? I know that she would never, in a million years, go after someone that everyone else wanted."
That statement would have been believable if Ino hadn't looked slightly to the left, a habit she had developed when she knew she was lying.
Sakura had ignored the tardy bell that had rung about two minutes ago, and apparently, so did the mob of Neji-lovers that was chasing her.
What the hell happened to this world?
"Traitor!"
"Traitor!"
"Traitor!"
That seemed to be the word of the day, Sakura thought as she turned a corner, and immediately a pair of strong arms encircled around her waist, keeping her from running any farther.
Trying to struggle from the grasp of the offending arms, the pink haired girl almost screamed, but was cut silent by one of the hands moving to cover her mouth. She was pulled into the janitor's closet with a little feeling of relief because she was safe from the crazy girls, but a little anxiety because she had no idea who in the hell had just abducted her.
A familiar voice spoke whispered in her ear, the tone of it sending involuntary shivers up and down her spine. "Shush, you don't want to die by the hands of those crazies, do you?"
The closet space they were in was small, but just big enough that Sakura wiggled out of the man's grasp and turned to face him. "Neko?" She asked incredulously, looking at the pearly eyed man in utter shock.
"Oh, will you please quit it with the Neko?"
"No..." Sakura smirked, "I rather enjoy seeing you suffer."
"Sadist..."
Sakura only chuckled.
"So what was that all about?" Neji asked, quirking an eyebrow at the girl in front of him.
Sighing, Sakura explained the whole ordeal to him, and Neji cringed along with each painful detail.
"Sounds bad."
"You should know," Sakura stated, looking at the Hyuuga youth, before adding, "you deal with it every day."
"Aa, yes," Neji agreed, nodding solemnly, arms crossed.
It was silent as the frantic footsteps stopped outside of the closet, and a few voices could be heard.
"Hey, why is there, like, a light on in this closet?"
"Oh, haven't you heard? This is Kakashi-sensei's Closet of Romance."
"Really?"
"Yup."
Sakura tried hard not to gag, as she subconsciously moved closer to Neji's muscular form in apprehension. If they were caught in a closet together, she would never be able to live down the rumors that would be spread.
Well, if she survived being caught, that is.
"I heard he brings Anko-sensei in here every Friday."
"Why Friday?"
"Because Friday is the day they serve chocolate mousse."
Silence.
Silence.
"Eeewwww..." Neji, Sakura, and the girl on the outside of the door whispered simultaneously.
"Did you hear something?"
Shit! Sakura thought, slapping her face.
"That didn't sound like the sounds of - "
"Please don't finish that sentence."
"Let's open the door and see..."
"But, what if it's really Kakashi-sensei and Anko-sensei?"
"Oh, quit whining like a bitch, it could be that Sakura girl who stole our Neji in here!"
Neji's orbs widened as the doorknob slowly turned. He turned to Sakura, whose emerald depths were wide. He shoved her under a bench that was nestled against the wall of the closet. He tossed a random, ratty tarp over the bench to hide her even more. And finally, he sat on the bench, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
The door opened.
"Neji? What are you doing in here?" One of the girls, a redhead, asked, looking at him quizzically.
"Is it a crime to sit in closets?" Neji snapped in defense.
"No...but can I ask you a question?" The other girl, one with raven hair asked curiously.
Neji gulped quietly, not wanting to let them stay any longer, for he could hear the rickety bench cracking under his weight. "Shoot."
"Are you here waiting for Kakashi-sensei?"
Silence.
Twitch.
Twitch.
"NO!"
Slap!
"How dare you question Neji of his motives, Momo?!"
"Well, Rika, weren't you wondering the same thing?! And damn do you hit hard!"
Creeeaaak...
The old bench finally gave way under Neji's weight and broke into two pieces. The blanket fell from the rubble and settled at the feet of the two students.
And poor Sakura was the "bench" being sat on.
"Oh..." Neji began.
"...shit." Sakura finished.
"Omigod! We have to tell the others!"
The two Neji-fanatics rushed off, leaving a rather frightened twosome in their wake.
Neji looked down at Sakura, who looked up at him.
"Run?" Neji asked.
"Hell yeah."
And the two were off running for their lives...until the hoard of fangirls - and some of the classmates from their home room - stopped them.
"Haruno Sakura, you have been convicted of treason!"
Sakura quirked a rosette eyebrow, "What?"
"You said you would never fall for anyone 'famous', but...look what you did!" The frantic Momo pointed a finger at Neji, who looked wide-eyed.
"But we aren't - " Sakura tried to get out, but she was surprisingly cut off by Neji, who stepped in front of her. "Neko?"
"Ahem..."
And the world shut up, because the almighty Hyuuga Neji, superstar of Konohagakure Records was about to speak.
"...Sakura and I are not going out, because..."
Sakura looked at Neji in wonder. What would be his reason behind this? Did he hate her as much as she hated him? And...why did she suddenly care about what the Hyuuga teen thought?
"...I would never go out with someone with such an abnormal forehead."
Abnormal forehead?
Abnormal forehead!
Ino slapped her own forehead as Sakura heard the comment about hers for the millionth time in her head. Neji might be hot, but he's certainly a dumbass.
The whole crowd grew quiet, until...
"ASSHOLE!"
Smack.
Punch.
Kick.
Crotch shot.
Rib kick.
Hair pull. (Oh no, not the hair!)
And as the group of teens watched their beloved hottie singer get pummeled into a motionless pile of hotness, they had to tell Neji to remember one thing, if any, about the pink haired girl named Haruno Sakura.
Do not, repeat, DO NOT make fun of her forehead.
End Chapter Four.
Yes, this chapter is a whole lot longer than I had originally planned, but I think you will enjoy it nonetheless. Well, I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless...haha.
Anyway, you know I just had to throw in the little "big forehead" crack, and Neji getting beaten up because it was just a humorous idea to begin with, so...voila!
So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I really hope you will leave me with a lot of reviews to satisfy my need for feedback. Haha.
See ya!