A/N: … Well, that didn't happen like it was supposed to. O.o This was supposed to be a little ironic story, but then again… XD Everyone will probably have this be a parody/humor, so I wanted to try a bit of good ol' drama again. I sort of murdered the prompt… Again… Forever…
Plus I had huuuge problems with the ending. It falls so flat compared to the rest of the fic, so prepare yourselves. Lol!
Take care!
Prompt six: Woman is a miracle of divine contradiction.
"N-Neji… I don't feel so good anymore…"
The prodigy sighed, knowing that it had to come to this eventually. The kunoichi had frozen in her steps in the middle of a small country road, her eyes fixed intently on the side street a hundred of meters away. The nerves had almost kept her back home in Konoha and if it hadn't been for Neji's gentle probing, she never would've put her plan to action.
"Tenten," he cautiously said, knowing that any wrong choice of words would send the fragile eighteen-year-old over the precipice of tears. "You'll do just fine. I'm not even worried."
The bun-haired kunoichi fidgeted uneasily on the spot as her eyes trained themselves on the street. For the thousandth time that day, she peered down at the instructions on the crumpled paper in her hand, confirming her worries: this was the street she had been looking for. She only had to travel for a few minutes and she'd find exactly what she'd been searching for.
"That's easy for you to say, Neji!" she retorted nervously, feeling the knot constricting in her throat.
Attentively, the man reached over her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Still obviously frightful of what was about to come, she hurriedly buried herself in his embrace and remained unmoving.
"I shouldn't have asked you to come…" she murmured, her voice muffled through his shirt. "Actually, I shouldn't even have told you about it. I shouldn't have thought about it."
Blinking confusedly, Neji looked down at her stressed-looking features. "But when you did propose it to me, you were so happy. What changed?"
"Let's just go home. Please, Neji…" she whimpered, now obviously on the verge of tears.
The shinobi pulled away, a small frown settling on his face as he leaned down to look at her straight in the eye. She reluctantly gazed into his pearly orbs as he spoke. "What's wrong with you, Tenten? Where's my strong-willed kunoichi? You're tougher than this! A future Hyuuga bride can't act like this!"
The weapon mistress stared intently at her fiancée, before nodding and drawing in a shaky breath. "Alright, let's move on."
Taking her hand in his strong grip, Neji slowly tugged her along as they started making their way through the gravel along the side of the road. Neither said a word, both engrossed in their respective thoughts.
"Nine hundred forty-five. This is it," Neji announced gently as they stopped in front of a lone driveway. There was nothing else but huge fields, this village obviously being of farming origins. The house was small and picturesque, with a small fence and a snoozing dog on the side of the off-white porch. The small cottage-like home was painted a light blue with a dark roof, with a few dark windows surrounding the front door.
Then Tenten suddenly blocked and turned on her heels. Without another word, she darted away from the building, shaking her head rapidly. Undaunted, Neji raced back after her and stopped her by wrapping his arms around her stomach, catching her in a hug.
"Don't worry," he murmured soothingly. "It will go fine."
Tenten only firmly shook her head. "I'm not going there, Neji. Not on my life. We're going back home, that's final. I refuse to go farther."
Neji sighed, the sound barely audible. "I won't leave you," he promised sternly.
Once again emboldened, Tenten forced herself to turn again. With Neji's arm wrapped around her shoulders, she marched directly to the door of the quaint little house and raised her hand to knock.
Sensing that this part may be the hardest, Neji carefully placed his own hand over hers and brought their knuckles to knock on the wood. As the sound filled the home, he could feel Tenten's pulse beating frantically under her skin and for a fleeting second, wondered if she was going to faint. Her face had drained of color and she was breathing with difficulty, staring anxiously at the door.
Finally, rapid footsteps echoed inside and the door was suddenly shoved open from the inside. A brown-haired woman in her early thirties stood there, an annoyed look displayed in her tired grey eyes. She was balancing a weeping baby on a hip, and another dirt-streaked young girl peered from behind her mother's legs.
"Can I help you?" she barked in exasperation, glaring down at the crying baby. Suddenly, she whirled around and dropped him in the girl's arms, who staggered slightly with surprise. Angrily, she hissed to the girl, "Go put him in bed if he won't stop yelling!"
The woman then turned back to Tenten, staring the girl right in the eye, before snapping, "Now, can I help you? I have other things to do than talk with two useless travelers!"
The weapon mistress was looking at the woman with her lips slightly agape, her eyes tearing slightly. Noticing that she was at an obvious loss of words, Neji tightened his grip on her hand and took a small step forward. "We won't keep you for long, we promise."
Obviously, the woman hadn't really noticed Neji before. Suddenly, she angled her body to his, looking at him up and down. Raising an eyebrow, she suddenly said, "You're kind of cute."
Neji ignored the compliment and bowed lightly. "My name is Hyuuga Neji, from the branch house of the Hyuuga clan of Konoha," he introduced himself before straightening. He then trained his eyes upon Tenten and once again took her hand. "This is my fiancée."
"Uh-huh," the woman drawled, shooting Tenten an uninterested look.
Her eyes remained riveted on Neji, but the man stared back at the girl he loved and prompted encouragingly. "Will you introduce yourself?"
After a few silent seconds, the woman groaned and snapped, "Do you two have a point!? Because I don't want anything to do with –"
"Yes," Tenten said coldly, "We do have some business with you. My name is Tenten."
The woman blankly looked at her, then at Neji. "And…?"
"Her name is Tenten," Neji repeated for emphasis. "Only Tenten. She never knew her last name."
After a few seconds, it seemed to sink into the woman who exactly this was. Recognition filled her eyes and she took a step back, her mouth slightly hanging open. Then, she suddenly hardened and raged, "Get out of here! Get away from my home! Why are you bothering me after all these years?"
Neji noticed, out of his peripheral vision, that the kunoichi had lowered her head, obviously battling tears. Sensing she wouldn't be saying much for quite a long time, he decided to speak for her. "Since we are getting married in less than six months, we both figured you might like to attend. It would both be Tenten's and mine's honor to have the bride's mother present."
"Don't call me that!" the brunette snapped, her face twisted in an ugly expression. "I wanted nothing to do with her when she was born and it never changed with time! If I would've wanted her to be in my life, then I wouldn't have tossed her away like I did. I hated her the second I learnt she existed and she was ruining my life! Why the hell would I want anything to do with a freak like her?!"
'I'm going to slug her…' was the only thought running through the prodigy's head as he suddenly dropped every single atom of decorum he had in himself to glare harshly at Tenten's mother. He was about to speak, when Tenten's collected voice made itself heard.
"Then we'll never bother you again."
Neji turned to look at her and was slightly amazed to see the sheer determination in her eyes. She had her teeth gritted and, instead of looking distraught like he had expected her to, only looked slightly miffed. It was as thought she hadn't really cared whether or not her real mother came to her wedding.
Suddenly, the little girl peered around the doorframe again. Reluctantly, she murmured, "Mommy? Is she my sister?"
"Get back inside!" Tenten's mother barked, before turning back to the couple. "And you pair of scum, get out of my sight! You're both more revolting than the dirtiest of pigs!"
"I will not have anyone talk to her this way!" Neji suddenly growled and wrenched his hand from his fiancée's grasp. He took a menacing step towards the older woman, but Tenten coolly grabbed his arm with a small smile. "Let's go, Neji. I don't want to stay here any longer."
Reluctantly, the prodigy agreed to let the woman's death sentence slide. After shooting her one last menacing glare, which only made her snicker, he turned and followed the kunoichi out of the driveway.
They remained in complete silence until they were fully out of earshot from the village and by then, the night had begun to creep up.
Once they arrived at a small cave where it would be safe to sleep, the prodigy started a fire while the weapon mistress prepared their sleeping bags and some food. They both remained quiet, only exchanging the smallest of words for the strictest information.
Realizing that the silence had long ago dropped from comfortable to tense, Neji stepped towards Tenten so he could face her. Gently sliding both his hands in hers, he murmured, "I'm sorry for making you go there, Tenten. You had a feeling it wouldn't go well and it didn't. I shouldn't have pushed you."
But Tenten broke into a wide smile and laughed softly in the process. "Don't worry about it Neji. I'm actually kind of glad I went."
Dumbstruck, the prodigy blinked as he attempted to scramble together how exactly she could be happy. Sensing his discomfort at her comment, she clarified gently, "I never really knew if my mother had given me away out of hatred or love. I used to think she had done it because she simply wanted me to have a better life than what she could offer me." She paused slightly, looking up at the darkening sky. "Now I see that she gave me away because she simply didn't want me around."
"Tenten…" Neji painfully whispered, hating the tone of his fiancée's voice.
"Don't," she said, her voice dropping down to a simple whisper. "It's alright Neji, please don't pity me. And anyways…" She once again brought her eyes down to lock them in Neji's. "I'm glad she did it. Seeing that girl, my sister, made me realize how lucky I've been." She giggled softly. "You do know that if she hadn't placed me in that orphanage, I might never have gotten to Konoha under the Hokage's wing? I might have never known you, Neji."
"Well if you see it through that angle…" he hesitantly replied, "then I guess it's a good thing."
She grinned again, tugging one of her hands free to brush a strand of his hair away from his pale face. "Of course I see it this way, Neji. I'm kind of glad she's not coming."
Neji shot a glance in the distance, seeing the faint lights of the village. "So am I."
They remained in another fit of silence; both emerged in their own thoughts. Suddenly, though, Tenten burst into a wide smile and suddenly said, "Now, let's stop thinking so deeply! Remember how I said I wanted white flowers for the wedding? Well, now I think I changed my mind and I want them to be somewhat of a purple tint, and I want…"