Surviving a Boy's Boarding School
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Hana Kimi, Naruto or Mulan. Mulan is her own person, Naruto is owned by Kishimoto-sensei, and Hana Kimi is owned by Nakajo-sensei. ...okay, I don't own anything.
I should really be updating my other story, but I'm at a loss for how to begin the chapter. -sweatdrop- Anyway, many thanks for the reviews! I apologize for the late update; there was some kind of problem in the email, and it took a while for Zaywex to email the chapter back after editing it. But still, enjoy!
Chapter 7: Dance Lessons
"I'm seriously going to kill whoever first came up with the idea of this dance."
"Miyamura, calm down. It's uncharacteristic for you to be so negative; don't tell me that Tsuki's personality has rubbed off on you already."
"I'm pretty sure that Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama were the ones who thought of this, since they're the principals since the start of the schools. And shut it, Hikari."
"See what I mean?"
"..."
"Good luck, you two!"
The group of five was walking towards the general direction of the dance instruction, as it had been two weeks since the dress incident. Neji, quiet as usual, looked at his friends emotionlessly. Tsuki was glaring at Taiyou who returned the glare. Lee was actually excited for this event, unlike the other members of their little group, while Tenten was being downright scary, emitting a dark aura. In fact, Taiyou and Tsuki glanced at her from time to time, as if afraid that she'd blow her top while Lee remained blissfully oblivious. If he was aware of her killer aura, then he was masking it pretty well by his cheerful demeanor.
As for Neji himself, he was rather neutral about this whole thing. Ever since Miyamura (as he referred to her now) had hugged him, he had kept more of a distance between them, but he noticed small things from time to time that proved that she was, indeed, a girl. He nearly cursed himself when he realized that he should've caught on when he saw that patch of blood on her pants; that was so obvious it was pathetic that he didn't notice. And he's supposed to be the genius.
In regard to the dance, there was a chance that she'd get her secret revealed and be expelled. Seeing that she's his, dare he say it, best friend, that would've been a slight letdown, especially the aftermath. Lee would be bawling his eyes out, Tsuki would be giving her a sympathetic pat on the back and Taiyou's mind wouldn't advance from the fact that she was a girl. How he became 'friends' with this group, he did not know, but he seemed to open up to them more than usual, although that's not saying much.
As he thought of the dance, he was reminded about the fact that a partner was mandatory and he inwardly groaned. Many of the girls who would ask him, he knew, were just fangirls; many of the students at this school had fangirls, and he's heard that Miyamura has accumulated some as well. His classmate Uchiha Sasuke had the most, but he ignored them pointedly. He considered Miyamura, since she was going to be dressed up as a girl anyway and they're friends, but set that idea down. It'd be too awkward.
"I guess this is where we part ways," stated Taiyou, looking at the piece of paper that each of them were given. "Tsuki and Miyamura are supposed to turn right here and the rest of us are supposed to turn left to our respective dance instruction areas." He smirked and turned to the two. "Well, have fun pretending to be female; you'll both need it." Both glared at him, but neither said anything as he started on his way.
"Yes! We wish you good luck!" said Lee optimistically, following Taiyou while Neji just gave a curt nod.
The two other students stared at the retreating backs of their friends, but turned and walked the other way after a while. Tenten was the one who broke the silence about three minutes later.
"Hey, is it true that two second-year girls have switched schools between the time of the announcement of the dance to now?" she asked, turning to her friend. "Because that'd mean that we need another guy to look like a girl..."
Tsuki nodded. "Tsunade-sama found someone to fill in. I don't know who, but I've heard that he wasn't happy about it."
Tenten snorted. "Who would actually be glad to be in our position?" she asked distastefully. Tsuki gave a weak smile; he knew that she was speaking for herself as well.
----------------------------------
When the two students arrived, they found that Haku and a boy with light silver-blue hair were already there. Haku nodded politely to them when they entered while the other didn't notice; he was reading a psychology book that gave Tenten a headache when she looked at the cover. It seemed to be complicated; it was at least a thousand pages long. She noticed that Tsuki appeared to recognize the kid, but that was all.
They sat next to Haku and talked about various items, though most of the time their discussion revolved around the dance. Tenten was quick to vent her anger out, which Haku seemed to understand. Eventually, the subject jumped to partners.
"I'm already going to Zabuza-san," said Haku when asked.
Both nodded knowingly before snapping their heads to him. "What?!"
"He's a senior, and I've heard that their dance was separate from ours!" exclaimed Tenten, eyes wide. "I mean, I'm happy for you two and all, but is there something Tsunade-sama isn't telling us?"
Haku smiled again. Tenten had noticed since her first day in the teams that he was extremely kind and had some kind of deadly aura in battle. "Actually, the third and second years have their dances together. The seniors were asked last year if they wanted to go to the dance again, and those who agreed were marked to ensure that there wasn't an unexpected shortage in girls. Zabuza-san signed up as well."
"...I see," said Tenten. "So I guess that we are going to go with the third years as well." She turned to Tsuki, who was listening on the most part. "And you?"
The boy blinked, as if asking her what the question was, but then remembered. "Oh. Well, I'm not sure who I'm going with. The people I'd even consider to go with would be the people in the FSMA teams. Frankly, Lee, Kiba and Naruto are all too loud, Shikamaru would be too 'troublesome' to be with, Chouji would constantly be at the snack table. I'd feel uncomfortable around Neji and Shino since they'd be quiet and I couldn't even start a decent conversation with them, and Taiyou is annoying. Of course, the idea of dance already scares me, but if I have to dance, I don't care who it's with," answered Tsuki with a shrug. Tenten stared at him. "What?"
"I think you're analyzing this way too much," she stated. He shrugged again.
"I seriously don't care who I'm with as long as they don't love the dance floor and aren't annoying," he stated simply. "Even though it'd be awkward if it was a guy, I couldn't care less if it's either gender. I'm asexual, after all." Again, Tenten stared at him. "Didn't Kiba tell you? He tells almost everybody that, and he's right."
"It's in his blood," cut in Haku. "He's to be asexual until he's twenty. Taiyou is the same, though Tsuki shows it a lot more."
"Yeah, yeah," said Tsuki offhandedly. "How about you, Miyamura?"
Tenten started. Who was she going to go to the dance with? She had to go with somebody, or else she wouldn't be stuck in this particular predicament in the first place and neither would Haku, Tsuki and that other kid who was still reading. A certain pale-eyed face flashed through her mind, but she dismissed the idea of going to the dance with her roommate. That would be too awkward and besides, he looked like he was having a trauma when he saw her in the dress.
What was worse was that she didn't know what would have been better: her pretending to be a boy and dancing with a girl or her pretending to be a boy pretending to be a girl dancing with a boy. It would be slightly embarrassing, dancing with the same gender, but it would also feel awkward if she danced with someone of the opposite gender who thinks she is the same gender as him.
Was she even making sense?
"I honestly don't know," she admitted. "I don't have anybody in mind."
"Oh," said Haku in a slightly disappointed tone. He looked over his shoulder to the reading boy. "Um, Ishida-san? Would you like to join us?"
Their schoolmate looked up at them and revealed pensive, dark blue eyes and an expression that was more mature than one should have had at their age. He surveyed the group carefully. He blinked once when they rested on Tsuki, and then shrugged. "I guess," he grumbled in a slightly disinterested tone. "It wouldn't hurt." He looked back up at the group. "For those of you who don't know," he added, mostly to Tenten, "you can just call me Ishida."
"I'm Miyamura Hayaite. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ishida," she stated politely, shaking his hand. There was a small silence between the four students before Tenten spoke up again. "So, uh, Ishida, who are you going to go to that dance with?"
The seemingly younger teen looked thoughtful for a moment, though he didn't wipe the calm look from his face. "Perhaps one of my friends," he finally answered. "I don't want to go with a complete stranger, but I don't really care anyway. I'm just irritated that I have to dress as the opposite gender." He sighed, closing his eyes. "I could care less about dances and things like that."
"Is everybody in your group of friends seemingly emotionless?" asked Tsuki, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, on second thought, Fujiwara is too annoying for his own good and Suzumura is too laid-back and comical. But anyway, don't go on a revenge plan," he cautioned.
Tenten blinked and turned to Tsuki, then to Ishida. "You two know each other?" she asked, surprised.
Ishida shrugged. "Our parents have done some business meetings with one another before," he replied curtly. Tenten sweat dropped; he didn't talk much anyway. "But back on topic, I really hate the idea of the dance, especially since we have to cross-dress."
"As long as you don't use your amazing genjutsu skills on Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama in revenge, I'll be at ease," commented Tsuki, rolling his eyes with a hint of sarcasm.
"...genjutsu?" asked Tenten, looking at the boy again. "You're part of our school's FSMA club? But I've never seen you before..."
"Ishida-san is only part of the club; he has no interest in joining the teams," answered Haku gently. "His specialty is genjutsu; I have heard that his genjutsu skills may even rival those of most of the instructors. He trains under Kando-sensei with Tachiki-san and Ikeda-san. Of the three students, he is the only one who is not a third-year and the only one who doesn't specialize in earth-based attacks in some way, shape or form." Silently, Ishida nodded in agreement to all of Haku's statements, confirming them.
"How do you know all of this?" asked Tenten. "Don't tell me that there are information papers on all of the FSMA members..." She trailed off after realizing that she could also be part of that stack of papers that Tsuki had handed her on her second day in the school. As if to confirm her thoughts, Tsuki nodded. He explained briefly how he had information on all of the people in the FSMA club, including the instructors and how Tenten was the most recent edition. He also told her how he usually gets the information from Shikamaru and adds some other things from his own observations.
"Nara?" asked Tenten in surprise. "He's the genius of the grade level? Wow, I never knew that..."
"Yes, and Ishida-san has already skipped two grades to get here," added Haku, gesturing towards the smaller teen. Well, he probably did only reach up to Tenten's nose. But that's beside the point; Tenten's mouth was agape. That quiet little bookworm (and probably to-be psychologist) had skipped two grades?
"Do I have to add that he's the fourth smartest in our grade as well, after Nara, Hyuuga and Uchiha?" added Tsuki offhandedly.
Tenten was surrounded by the smartest people in second year, and she never knew. This school ceased to amaze her.
----------------------------------
After about ten minutes of chatter that was sprung purely from boredom, the door to the small instructional room finally opened again. A slightly disgruntled young man who couldn't have been any more than a year older than the group stepped in. He had strange, medium-length long brown hair, dark blue eyes and was scowling around the room. His eyebrows furrowed deeper when he saw the group, and he seemed to stare at Ishida a few moments before moving on, looking as if he was in an even worse mood.
Behind him, two girls emerged with a second male, who had makeup all over his face. One of the two females had long, pink hair and emerald eyes that sparkled and looked completely innocent. The girl next to her had short, navy hair and eyes that looked suspiciously like Neji's, and seemed to be extremely shy. The one with the makeup was scowling and looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there right now.
"Ikeda," greeted Ishida to the brown-haired male, who just glared at him. "What are you doing here? I thought our instructors were supposed to be professionals or something, from what the principal said."
The other's glare deepened. "Apparently, Tsunade-sama thought it would be easier if you guys were taught by students who were more advanced in dancing," he answered, with unadulterated sarcasm in the 'sama' part. "More like it'd be cheaper."
As the two exchanged a cold conversation, Tenten turned to Haku, as Tsuki looked like he was actually listening to what they were arguing about. "So he's Ishida's teammate, huh?" she stated, looking at the boy.
"Correct," replied Haku. "Ikeda-san uses specific earth-based attacks well and frequently wields pole-like weapons. He was born in France but moved here a month before he started grade school. Apparently," he added, "his parents had enrolled him in a dance program that he passed with ease, though grudgingly."
"Ah, I see," said Tenten, and turned her attention to the other scowling boy, the one with makeup on. "And who's that?"
"Sabaku no Kankuro," answered Haku. Tenten blinked.
"Wait, Kankuro of the sand? Doesn't he have a last name?" she asked, curious. Haku shook his head. "I see... that's interesting." They watched Ikeda and Ishida's 'conversation' for a few more seconds before the girl with pink hair came up from behind Ikeda and whacked him across the head, sending him stumbling a few feet to the left.
"WILL YOU QUIT IT?!" she yelled at the guy, who was well over half a foot taller than her. "We were sent here for a reason, and you're slowing us down, for Pete's sake!" There was a stunned silence in the room as Ikeda righted himself and didn't say anything further, save for a few dark mumbles. "Thank you," the girl said, exasperated.
"U-um, we'll be your 'teachers' for the dancing," murmured the pupiless girl nervously, eyeing the four students. "W-we're splitting up i-into two groups. Uh, I think Kurayami-san and Ishida-san will be coming with myself and Ikeda-san into the next room." Tsuki nodded and got up without a word, following the girl. Ikeda and Ishida were both exchanging glares as they followed.
"Well, that's done," sighed the pink-haired girl in relief, silently referring to getting rid of Ikeda. She turned to the two 'boys' cheerfully. "I'm Haruno Sakura, and I'm to be one of your dance instructors for the next few weeks. And this guy here," Sakura added, jabbing a thumb towards Kankuro, "is Sabaku no Kankuro. I'm pretty sure that you two know him, seeing that you two go to the same school and everything, but he's a third-year and he'll mostly be in charge of your makeup."
"I can't believe that Tsunade-sama actually persuaded me into this. I swore to never get involved in this stupid dance again and what happens? I get stuck being the makeup artist for four cross-dressing guys," he grumbled darkly. "Temari had a good time making fun of me..."
"...don't worry, he'll snap out of it," said Sakura, sweat dropping. She then turned to her two 'students'. "And you two are Miyamura Hayaite and Nozawa Haku, correct?" she asked politely, completely contrasting to her earlier personality.
"Uh, yeah, I'm Hayaite," said Tenten, sweat dropping. "And this is Nozawa..."
"Okay," said Sakura, smiling, "why don't we get started now, then?"
----------------------------------
After an hour of commanding barks and stubbed toes, the four dance students were more than ready to leave the place. Tenten and Haku had heard yells from the other side of the walls in the next room, and when they saw the condition that their friends were in, they considered themselves lucky. Ishida and Ikeda were glaring at each other viciously and Tsuki was trying, in vain, to calm down a quivering and traumatized Hinata. There were multiple scratches on all of their shoes, indicating that Tsuki and Ishida were worse at dancing than Tenten and Haku.
Of course, that didn't mean that Tenten had a fun time dancing. She had to dance with Haku as the girl at first, and she tripped multiple times, sometimes even on her own feet. When it was Haku's turn, he was doing a lot better than her as a girl, but he did accidentally step on her foot twice. Despite the fact that Kankuro was supposed to be their 'teacher', his dancing skills just didn't cut it, and he ended up with a throbbing lump on his head after he accidentally kicked Sakura in the knee.
"Okay, we'll see you guys on Thursday," said the pink-haired girl in an exhausted tone, leaning on the wall. "We have a lot of work to do here, and I expect you two to improve your skills by the time Christmas comes along." She grabbed a half-conscious Kankuro by the collar. "We'll be reporting to Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama, so goodbye for now." She went out the door, followed by an irritated Ikeda and a quivering Hinata.
After the four 'teachers' left, Tsuki groaned and flopped down onto the floor. "I hate ballroom dancing and other forms of dance," he grumbled, rubbing his sore feet. "I don't see the point in this event, anyway, unless this is one of Tsunade-sama's bets with Jiraiya-sama or something."
"From the multiple yells of pain and your current appearances, I'm assuming that both of you aren't experienced in this," observed Tenten, and the two tenth cousins nodded simultaneously. She sighed. "We couldn't dance that well either. I feel sorry for Haruno-san and Kankuro as well as your teachers. They have to go through all of this..."
"I can't wait until this cursed event is over," mumbled Ishida. "Come on. Let's go back."
----------------------------------
"How was your dance session?" were the first words out of Tenten's mouth once Neji entered the room with his usual emotionless face. She had arrived ten minutes before him and had already taken a shower to get rid of the sweat and moved into more comfortable clothes. The blasted dress and accessories were in one of her still-unpacked suitcases, out of view. She hadn't gotten around to trying on the wig, nor did she plan to put it on until Christmas.
Neji looked up at her, and she noticed that there was a hint of annoyance in his hardened eyes. "Hn."
"That doesn't tell me anything," snapped Tenten.
"Hn."
He was wearing down Tenten's patience by the second. "Look, Neji," she snarled, "if I'm supposed to find out the answer by looking at your face, then you're giving me a really hard time because even a rock shows more emotion than you. Will you speak up for once, for Pete's sake?"
"Fine," sighed Neji as he sat on his bed. "It was horrid," he stated flatly.
"Elaborate, please," said Tenten in fake politeness.
"...hn."
"Nnneeeeejiiiiiiii," she growled, glaring at the prodigy, "if you don't provide more detail, I will post that picture I took two weeks ago on the boarding school's newsletter and you will become the laughingstock of our class."
This time, the Byakugan user glared at his roommate. "And you do know the consequences of posting it, right? Remember, we're on the same team sports-wise."
"Yeah, but you'll still be the laughingstock," she replied in an acidly sweet voice.
"...why are we arguing over this?" he asked, sighing. "Fine, I'll tell you, Miyamura. To put it simply, the people in the room were morons and couldn't dance if their lives depended on it. I seriously do not know how they will be able to get a date for that dance."
"See? That wasn't so hard..." stated Tenten, grinning. However, her good-natured mood was quickly shattered. "Wait, I told you to stop calling me Miyamura!"
"And your point is?" questioned Neji. Tenten popped a vein.
"I've told you before, you can call me Hayaite!"
"...hn." After he grunted, Tenten considered pounding some sense into him, but decided against it. Instead, she stomped over to her desk and started doing her homework.
Neji simply shrugged at this and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Honestly, he didn't mind calling his roommate by her first name rather than her surname, but he didn't feel like it would feel right if he called her by an alias. He was also aware that her last name could also be something other than 'Miyamura', but he doubted it. The only reason for her to change her name would be that it indicated her gender.
Of course, she knew none of this. Neji sighed and resigned to the thought that hiding a secret can be easier than hiding the fact that you know a secret.
----------------------------------
"What are you two doing here?"
Those were the six words that made Tenten trip before she was able to launch a flurry of shuriken at Neji and caused the prodigy to throw a kunai in the voice's direction.
Having finished dinner about half an hour ago, the two roommates had decided that rather than just do dance lessons every Tuesday and Thursday, they would practice their skills after dinner on those days as well. The most tranquil area in the school at that time was by the small pond that the (old) woman, Gin, had been at two months ago. Of course, they had to take extra precautions not to fall into the freezing water, but that was easy. Beside, even if they fell in, it would just be an extra shower, in a sense.
Neither of them held back as they attacked each other, putting their wits about and not letting the other get a single advantage. The moves even looked rehearsed, as if they were made just for show, seeing that neither of them got hurt too much. Neji, as always, had the upper hand in this spar, but he never went easy on her. Why? Because he knew that she would beat him one day, and going easy would be an insult to the weapons master (or mistress, to be exact).
However, they were snapped out of concentration by an unpleasantly familiar voice that yelped as the owner of it dodged Neji's kunai by a millimeter. "H-hey! Watch it! It's unyouthful to throw things at people without a reason!"
"Lee, we were in the middle of training," sighed Tenten as she straightened up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. "What are you doing here, anyway? Last I saw, you were doing extra laps with Gai-sensei."
"We finished ten minutes ago, and so I decided to find you guys!" he replied happily. "I passed Tsuki and Taiyou on the way, who told me that you two were here, though they didn't tell me that you were training... Anyway, how was your dance session?" The last question was directed towards Tenten, who, of course, had a lesson apart from the other boys.
"Our teachers were students," she answered, straight to the point. "Only one of them was into the dancing. Another was too busy glaring at one of the dance students, the third was muttering how he hated dancing, and the last couldn't stop being nervous. Which reminds me... Neji, are you related to a shy girl with short, navy hair?" she asked her roommate.
Neji's eye twitched. "Yes, Hinata-sama is my cousin," he answered, stiffly. Tenten blinked. '...-sama? From his expression, I better not ask... well, what's to see of his expression, anyway.'
"Ah, no wonder. You two have the same eyes," she observed, nodding. "Well, overall, it wasn't that bad, I guess. I was lucky enough to get away with a few scratches on my feet; my practice partner was Haku most of the time and he's not a horrible dancer."
"Do you two have any ideas for dance partners, then?" asked Lee eagerly. Suddenly, his round eyes turned into comical, pink hearts as he grinned from ear to ear. "I'm going to ask Sakura-san..."
"...no." Both of his friends responded to his question at the same time, with the same word. However, Neji said it blankly while Tenten had an air of agitation around her. Despite that, she raised an eyebrow at Neji, silently ordering him to continue as Lee daydreamed about Sakura.
"Hn."
"Come on, Neji! Tell me, why don't you have a partner?"
"Because most of the girls who want to be my partner are fangirls," he answered with a hint of disgust in his voice. "I would appreciate it if I could go to the 'ball' and do the minimum dancing, and I'd prefer if my partner was not clingy. Unfortunately, most of the people who would want to be my partner are clingy." As an added effect, he threw a kunai at the nearest tree, causing the projectile to slam into it with only half of the metal poking out. Obviously, he was frustrated and did not want to go to this dance at all.
"Eh, we'll see this Sunday," pointed out Tenten, reminding him of the scheduled meetings with the other school. That didn't cheer him up much.
----------------------------------
And here's the third part to the dance chapters! I think that this will go on for... say, two more chapters. Or more. Then, there'll be a new plot that I'm more excited about. Currently, the artist (Temisu) is bashing her head on her knee because of my idea and the fact that she has to draw it, and how complicated I might make things. That's just a heads up.
By the way, Ishida, Ikeda and their group aren't created by me. Who can guess where Ishida and Ikeda come from? No, not geographically, but in terms of real works (e.g. name of novel, video game, TV show or movie...). And, who can guess who Ishida and Ikeda are? Neither of them are from Bleach (just thought I'd say that since there is an 'Ishida' in there). Whoever guesses right can either request something for this fanfiction (as long as it's T-rated or less, and I may change it a bit to fit it in the storyline) or request a scene to be drawn by Temisu. If you're guessing, type your requests in your review as well. I'll give a warning before the contest is over... and you can change your requests any time...
...why am I doing a contest? Anyway, reviews (and constructive criticism) are highly appreciated. And many thanks to Zaywex for editing.
