Notes:
-I wasn't feeling very creative when I needed a surname for Tenten, so I googled it, and got 'Hisagia'. Don't know where it came from, I just needed something to fill in the blank, so don't dwell on it too much.
- I'm trying to rediscover Neji's personality. I admit, it's been a while since I've watched the series, and I haven't seen him in the manga for a while, so excuse me as I try to remember what he's like. He seemed too angry and uptight last chapter, so I tried making him more relaxed in this one. Let me know if I'm horribly off.
- Edited May 2018
And with out further ado, here's chapter 6~
~!X!~begin~!X!~
Ino and I went up stairs to find Sakura waiting up on my couch, some late night drama playing on the TV. We explained what had happened and the plan to fix it as we got undressed and put on clothes more comfortable to sleep in.
"So that's it, then?" Sakura asked by the time we finished recounting the evening, "You guys just pretend to date for a few weeks and then tell people you broke up, and everything's fine?"
"Yup. Seems pretty simple, huh?" I said, flopping backwards onto my bed.
"Seems really simple. But then again, why even carry on the act for so long? Couldn't you technically "break up" as soon as next weeks magazine comes out, justifying the fact that you guys went home together?" she asked.
I shrugged, "Mainly for Neji's sake, I think…" I looked at Ino for help, and she continued, "Shikamaru mentioned that Neji would want to clear any doubt about them being together, before they called it quits. The man's got a paranoid streak three miles long." She rolled her eyes as Sakura and I sniggered.
We chatted and laughed a bit about what my plans were while "dating" for another half hour, when we broke off because Ino received a text from Shikamaru stating that our new and improved article had been posted online already. I looked at the clock, which read just past 11:00. "Wow, in just four hours? That was fast…"
"Yeah, guess you can get a lot done in a short amount of time after an angry call from a rich guy." Ino looked impressed, joining me on the bed, fishing my laptop from under the bed and setting it up.
"What do you think Neji said to him, anyway?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Oh, scary things, to be sure." Ino replied. She typed in the web address Shikamaru sent her and waited impatiently for the page to load.
Finally, there was the picture of Neji and I ("Aww, look how cute you guys look." Sakura grinned), and a good three and a half paragraphs written under the title 'The Whole Secret'. A subheading in small slanted letters read: "in response to allegations made in last weeks Behind the Business magazine about Hyuga corp.'s soon to be owner, Neji Hyuga, and a Miss. Tenten Hisagia, we've made the effort to fill in the blanks and perhaps shed a new light on what was, initially, nothing more than unflattering guess work on our part." It was followed by a link to the original article.
The rest of the article was basically just a glorified version of all that we'd told Mr. Takeda hours before, with little bits and pieces thrown in about how nice we looked together and other miscellaneous stuff. Over all, it got the point we wanted to make across, rounding out nicely wishing us luck and happiness together.
"And so begins the romance nobody saw coming." Ino stated dramatically, closing the laptop.
"God have mercy on our souls." Sakura said in the same tone.
I rolled my eyes, "You guys are so weird." I told them.
Sakura stuck her tongue at me, and Ino said "and yet you spend your free time with us."
"Not for long, though." Sakura said, looking crestfallen, "Now she's got to spend it with Neji Hyuga."
"Yeah, she won't even remember us, now that she's got a super hot boyfriend." Ino continued.
I threw a pillow at both of them, and we all laughed.
~!X!~
The next morning Ino woke me up a bit before eight to ask where her purple shirt with the flower embroidering was, and I could hear the hair drier on in the bathroom, meaning Sakura was up as well. I grumbled a bit, but managed to roll out of bed to help find the shirt just in time to say goodbye to Sakura, who was catching a bus to her morning shift at the hospital. Ino and I argued and bickered a bit as usual while she finished getting dressed and ready for her day at the cosmetology school a few miles away.
I was alone in my apartment by 9:00, and wiled away some time making coffee and scrambled eggs, then hopped in the shower and began the daily search for clothes to wear. At ten after twelve O'clock, my phone rang from the kitchen table. I unplugged the charger as Kiba's face stared up at me from the screen.
"Good morning, Kiba." I greeted.
"Hey, get over here." He said bluntly.
"Why, did you start another fire?" I asked sarcastically.
"Haha, you're so funny I almost forgot to laugh. Seriously though, come here, we gotta talk."
"Kiba, we are talking." I told him slowly, just for the sake of being a brat.
"I'll see you in twenty?" he asked impatiently, ignoring my jibe.
"Alright, alright. See you in twenty." I agreed, and we hung up.
I left the apartment 5 minutes later and set out on the 15 minute walk to work. When I walked in, Kiba and Lee waved me over from one of the side tables (seeing as technically our shift didn't start for another half hour, there was no pressure to get up and work just yet). I'd barely sat down before Kiba started, "So. You and a Hyuga?" he grinned mischievously.
I eyed them both suspiciously, "Okay, what have you read?"
With only slightly sheepish looks, both of them pulled out separate pieces of paper: Lee, the original page from yesterdays Behind the Business magazine, and Kiba, a printed out form of the new article from last night.
I sighed, but was prepared to tell the whole tale. "Okay, remember I went to that party last Friday?" They both nodded, and I pointed at the torn out page in front of Lee, "That part's true, except the bit about me sounding like a whore." Kiba didn't bother trying to stifle a laugh at my expense, Lee, who already knew most of the story up to that point, waited for me to go on. "Thing is, I didn't know exactly who it was at first. Just so happened that Neji Hyuga met with a mutual acquaintance here, of all places, on Wednesday, and I put two and two together."
"Oh, is that why you were so upset?" Lee interjected, and I nodded.
"By Thursday I was pretty much over it again, since he didn't even know my name, and I was the only person that really knew who did what with who, plus Sakura and Ino, once I told them. Yesterday, however, a furious Neji shows up on Ino's doorstep, where Shikamaru Nara's been staying, while I just happened to be there, brandishing this"- I gestured again to the article – "and looking for a way to save his precious name and reputation, at which, Shikamaru has the brilliant idea that the best way to declare me not a whore, and Neji not an irresponsible heir to a company was to pretend that we were actually couple the whole time, so sex seems a little less scandalous."
"So that's where this comes from?" Kiba asked, tapping his finger on the printed article.
"Exactly. Neji made an angry call to the Behind the Business head hancho, and an hour and a half later we're dishing out all the details of this totally fake romance to this poor nervous wreck of a reporter, who polished everything that we said into this in a matter of hours." I finished.
"Hm, you know, I was kind of hoping for a more exciting story, to be honest." Kiba said, leaning back in his chair.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, next time I'll add in a bit about a heroic battle against a dragon, just for you." I rolled my eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I sold his two thousand dollar designer jacket on Ebay, which I'm in no hurry to tell him, and I have to explain all of this to his cousin tonight over Chinese food."
"That's better." He grinned at me.
"So how long will you be 'together'?" Lee asked.
I shrugged, "Until Neji decides he's in the clear, I guess. I mean, technically, I'm good, now that this new article is out… Speaking of, how did you come across this?" I asked Kiba. It didn't exactly seem like something he'd go looking for.
He exchanged a look with Lee, "Well, I could tell you I looked it up after Lee showed me the first one… but I'd be lying." He said.
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, "In that case, I'd be very interested to know the truth."
"Someone you don't know may have emailed it to me." He said, shrugging.
"What? But not that many people were supposed to pay attention to this stuff..." I said, confused.
"Usually nobody does, since it's usually just gossip and conjecture," Lee said, "It's just because a lot of people around here are at least a little familiar with Neji, and some of those people probably know of you from around school and stuff, so when a few people saw two familiar names were put together in an unlikely scenario in an online article, they just saw the need to spread the word."
"Well, that's rude." I said, kind of at a loss for what else to say.
"It is, but I'm sure it'll blow over. Just because people have seen this, doesn't mean they'll give you a hard time about it." Lee assured me, and I took his word for it. Besides, if people were going to talk, I'd prefer they talked about Neji and I dating, rather than what may or may not have happened last Friday.
By this time, it was officially time to start work, so we relieved the other staff members from their jobs and took over. It was a fairly quite day; three times people I sort of knew from school asked me about one or both of the articles, and I was able to brush them off with fairly simple answers under the pretense of being incredibly busy.
~!X!~
Finally, seven o'clock rolled around and I was able to pack up and leave, setting off on the twenty minute walk to our favorite Chinese place. When I went in, I found Hinata sitting alone in the waiting area, and a quick look around revealed that Sakura and Ino hadn't arrived yet.
"Hey there!" I greeted, "been waiting long?"
"Oh, no, just a few minutes, but I was early anyway." She said shyly.
We exchanged idle pleasantries as we were lead to a table (in front, so we could wave down Ino and Sakura when they came in), but as soon as the waiter left with our drink order, I wanted to clear the air. "Listen, Hinata, you've probably already seen -"
"Oh don't worry, Tenten, I wasn't going to ask…"
"Really?" I asked, taken back, "You're not even remotely curious?"
"Well, actually… I asked Neji about it this afternoon, and he told me…" she looked embarrassed, and to be honest so was I. I wanted to ask if he'd told her everything, but didn't want to reveal the whole plot if he hadn't (after all, the whole point of the act was to convince his family), thankfully, she seemed to understand my unspoken question and continued, "I mean, I know the whole story, and Neji asked me not to spread the real details."
I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh that makes things so much easier." She smiled at me in a reassuring way, and we talked freely for another ten minutes until Sakura and Ino joined us.
After clarifying that Hinata was in on the whole thing, Ino shared with me that there had been talk of Neji and I amongst some of the people at the cosmetology school. I tried to remember what Lee said today about not being a big deal as I asked her what was said.
"Just general stuff. Apparently emails have been going around since early this morning because people have nothing better to do with their time. A few of the older ladies went on about how glad they were that "such a troubled young man has found someone," others wondered how you did it, and unfortunately, looks like not everyone buys the whole 'dating' cover up, but they'll believe it after a week." She said.
"Cool." I said dully.
"Oh, don't be like that, try to have fun with it, Tenten." Sakura laughed.
"Yeah, people think your dating Konoha's number one bachelor, you could at least pretend to like him." Ino said.
"That would be significantly easier if I knew anything about him." I said, which was true. Now that I thought about it, Neji Hyuga was still a perfect stranger to me.
"Oh I understand. Gosh, if only there was a way for you to find out about him. It's not like you're sitting across a table from his cousin or anything." Ino rolled her eyes, and across the table from me, Hinata laughed.
"Smart ass." I muttered darkly to her, then looked up at Hinata, "but anyway, since she does have a point…" I left the sentence unfinished and the question unasked, silently willing her to offer up any information she thought might help me out a bit.
I wasn't disappointed. By the time our food arrived, I thought I might be able to write a book all about the likes and dislikes of Neji Hyuga, and the flow of information continued on even after that: he likes seafood, and hates spiders, enjoys an occasional game of Shogi (an interest no doubt helped along by knowing Shikamaru), used to study martial arts, never played an instrument, but finds the sound of a flute relaxing, prefers murder mysteries, got top marks in every class he's ever taken, has this annoying skill of winning just about any dispute (apparently a big reason Hiashi's giving him the opportunity to take over the family company), and the list went on until I stopped her, saying that if she kept up I was going to know more about Neji than I did about anyone else, and that would just be creepy, to which she laughed, but agreed.
We joked and laughed for the rest of the meal, somehow having Hinata there seemed to fill the gap none of us knew was there before, but it made the night that much more fun.
~!X!~
Almost two weeks passed with relative ease. We all spent more time with Hinata, who was slowly coming out of her shell, Shikamaru moved back to his own place (but would call or drop by on occasion, for various reasons, which Sakura and I noticed with increasing enjoyment), and I fell back into a usual working pattern with Lee and Kiba, the later still cracking jokes about Neji and I. As for our little act, so far we hadn't done much; apparently Neji was in the process of trying to set up some sort of business deal with an unwilling partner, so there really truly didn't seem to be a whole lot of room for a girlfriend.
On a Thursday morning I met Hinata for a quick fast-food breakfast before we both went to class, and she mentioned that her father had asked about Neji's supposed relationship. He wanted to know why he still hadn't heard anything, even though the secret was out. I asked her what she thought I should do, but she didn't have advice better than just "do something you'd do if you actually were dating," which didn't really help me much, considering I had never once stopped to ask myself exactly what I would do if I was dating Neji Hyuga.
I didn't dwell on it too much, but Friday afternoon an idea struck me, and I left work ten minutes early to take a bus to the business sector. I asked a man on the street wearing a business suit directions to the Hyuga offices, and stopped in a little sandwich shop just down the street, leaving with a tuna sandwich in a to-go bag.
My final destination was a sixteen story building, the interior of which was decorated lavishly and had that unnatural chill that only office buildings could have. A receptionist sat behind a large curved desk under the Hyuga name and logo, typing fervently at a computer. I approached her cautiously, horribly conscious of how loud my footsteps echoes around the room.
"Can I help you?" the lady asked when I reached the desk, but didn't take her eyes off the screen.
"Um, yes, could you please tell me where Neji Hyuga's office is?" I asked nervously.
"Mr. Hyuga is incredibly busy, and has asked that any visitors leave a memo." Attention still held by the computer, she pointed at a pink memo pad and pen at the edge of the desk.
I was a little put off, but not willing to turn around and leave so soon. I hated to play this card, but Hinata's words came back to me about people wondering about the secrecy, so, trying to sound polite but determined, I spoke again: "I understand, but maybe he'd be accepting of an exception being made for his girlfriend?" I tried not to blush as I addressed myself as such.
Finally, her eyes met mine, and sudden realization showed on her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have realized." She said hastily, grabbing a post-it pad and pen and turning her chair to face me. "You'll want to take the elevator to the fifteenth floor, and go right down the hall, then a left at the next opportunity. The door is number 153, but it'll also have his name on it, so you can't miss it. His secretary's name is Ayame, she's been asked not to let anyone in with out an appointment, but just make sure she knows who you are, and I doubt there'll be a problem." As she spoke, she scribbled the instructions onto a post-it which she handed to me, smiling.
I thanked her and walked past the desk to the elevator in the middle of the building. I hit the number for fifteen and waited patiently as I started the ascent. At the seventh floor, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, and to my horrible bad luck, in walked Hiashi Hyuga himself. He seemed preoccupied, and didn't acknowledge my presence immediately. I was contemplating hitting the button for the next floor to get away when he seemed to recognize my profile (no doubt by now he had seen one or both articles about his nephew and I).
"You are Tenten?" I wasn't quite sure if he was genuinely asking, or if he was giving me the chance to lie because he disapproved (I admit, maybe old jeans and sneakers were not quite the appropriate choice of wardrobe for the atmosphere).
Hoping for the best, I tried for a nice smile, "Yep, that's me."
"Hmm." He seemed intent on his appraisal, and I didn't say anything else for fear of saying the wrong thing. The doors opened on the twelfth floor, Hiashi said, "well, good day to you, Tenten." and stepped out. I stared after him until the doors closed, unsure what to think.
I finally reached the right floor and followed my written out instructions to the right door. Mentally preparing myself to keep up the façade, I opened the door and stepped in. The room was pretty bare, the door opened up into a short hallway, on the right was what looked like a mailing room, and on the left was an extra storage space. At the end of the hallway, the secretary that the receptionist had warned me about looked up from a file in front of her, already ready to turn away who ever had come through the door. Just like the receptionist, the same look of realization appeared, and what ever she was about to tell me was forgotten.
"Miss. Hisagia!" she uttered in surprise.
"Hello there," I faked a cheery smile, "Is Neji too terribly busy right now?"
"Well…" she glanced nervously at the door over her right shoulder, a window stood next to it no doubt showing the office beyond, but the blinds were drawn inside, "He's on the phone right now…" She seemed torn between turning me away and not following directions.
Since she was taking too long, I made the decision for her, "Alright, I'll just pop in for a minute and be on my way." I held up the bag from the sandwich place and trusted her to understand that I brought lunch. She let me pass with no further complaint.
I could hear Neji's muffled agitated voice behind the door, and when knocked just to be polite, I was met with what sounded like a pen being thrown at the door inside. Ayame seemed to take that as a bad sign, but I waved her away and winked, quietly stepping inside anyway, closing the door behind me.
Once Neji got over the initial bit of surprise to see me, he resumed the glare that I assume had been in place before he saw who I was. Phone pressed to his ear, and glare still in place, he continued the conversation I'd interrupted, "Mr. Sukiyami, I understand your concerns, but you have to realize that we're offering you an alternative losing a substantial amount of business-" he broke off, apparently interrupted by whoever was on the other line. As he waited for another opportunity to speak, he gestured to the pen lying innocently at the foot of the door, so I brought it to him, watching with only a mild curiosity as he scribbled out some lines and added notes to what looked like a rough draft of some sort of contract.
"Yes, you're going to loose clients either way," he was saying, "Why not soften the blow as much as possible?"
I could hear this Mr. Sukiyami start a rant about exactly why he would not 'soften the blow as much as possible', and Neji rubbed his temples in an exhausted sort of way. Taking pity on him, I cautiously dropped the bag I'd brought him on the desk, to which he raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged.
Apparently, there was no end in sight for Mr. Sukiyami's tirade, so Neji found an opening just big enough to interrupt him, "Mr. Sukiyami, I'm so sorry, something's just come up, I'll have to call you right back." Mr. Sukiyami obviously did not like the idea of waiting for a call back, so Neji continued, "Yes, yes, and I do appreciate your patience, thank you very much. Just a few minutes, please." He hung up the phone with a long sigh, fingers still rubbing his temple, but didn't pause for long before turning on me.
"You know, most people would understand that throwing things across the room at being interrupted is a sign to go away." He told me.
"Oh, is that what it meant? I thought you were just acknowledging my presence and that I was welcome to come in." I said.
"You would." He nodded in a sarcastic sort of way, pulling the paper bag toward him curiously, "So what is this for?"
"Well, I just thought if I were ever to actually date a guy like you, I fancy myself as the kind of girlfriend that would bring lunch to the office on occasion." I said, sinking uninvited into the chair across his desk.
"Right… Tuna." He stated, looking at me suspiciously, "How did you know?"
"Hinata mentioned you liked it." I shrugged.
"You talk to Hinata?"
"Well yeah, we go to school together." I said obviously.
"I mean outside of school." He clarified
I smirked, "Bother you?"
He almost smirked in return, "slightly."
I laughed. "By the way, I ran into your uncle in the elevator. Kind of the single most awkward two and a half minutes of my life." I told him.
He nodded, "He has that effect on people. Don't let it get to you."
"Oh, is that the only advice I get?" I joked.
"Unfortunately, there's not much else to give. Hiashi is a complex man." Beside him, the phone rang; reminding us both that it was the middle of a work day.
Neji looked at the caller ID and his shoulders sunk a little. "Looks like your few minutes are up." I laughed. "I'll get out of your hair." I stood to leave.
"Yeah. Thank you, Tenten." He gesture gratefully to the sandwich.
"Don't mention it." I smiled. To my surprise, he returned the smile before answering the phone, Mr. Sukiyami's angry voice echoing from the receiver.
I slid quietly from the room, waving goodbye to Ayame, who happily wished me a good afternoon on my way out.
~!X!~end~!X!~