Chapter 9

Tenten

Tenten awoke to the sound of a door slamming from the floor below her. When she realized that she wasn't in her bed, she freaked out a little, then she remembered the party, and Neji. She pushed herself up onto her elbows to survey her surroundings. Neither she nor Neji were naked and they weren't under the covers, both good signs.

Neji stirred beside her, and groaned as he too pushed himself up onto his elbows. He glanced at Tenten and asked, "What time is it?"

She reached for her phone in her back pocket, and replied, "One."

"Shit," Neji mumbled climbing off the bed and going for a new shirt to change into. He cracked open his bedroom door and listened intently for any disturbances downstairs. He heard the sounds of pans clanging together from the kitchen, and something sizzling on the stove. He closed his door, and crossed his bedroom to his closet. He dug around for a while and tossed Tenten a more appropriate shirt.

"Who's is this?" she asked, taking notice that it definitely wasn't a males t-shirt.

"Hinata's I think. I'm not really sure. A lot of people have left a lot of things here over the years."

"Comforting." Tenten pulled off her crop top, stuffed it into her bag and put on the t-shirt Neji gave her.

"If she asks," Neji started, "we were at Shikamaru's finishing a project all night and we got back an hour ago."

"Uh…okay?"

"And I was just showing you my paintings upstairs," he finished.

"Got it." Tenten followed Neji out of his room and down the stairs to the living room and then the kitchen.

"Hi mom," Neji said, "how was the meeting?"

"It went well," she replied looking up from the pan she was currently frying bacon in. She was startled when she saw Tenten following close behind her son. "Uh, hello."

Tenten smiled shyly and waved slightly.

"Mom, this is Tenten. She wanted to see my paintings before I took her home, I hope that was okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she replied. "When did you get back from Shikamaru's?"

"About a half hour ago."

"I assume neither of you have eaten yet, then. Tenten, would you like to join us for a really late breakfast?"

"Um, if you want me to," Tenten responded, looking to Neji for help on getting out of this mess.

Tenten and Neji both set the table and helped Hiyeri carry in the food from the stove to the breakfast nook. Half way through breakfast, and listening to Hiyeri ask them about the nonexistent project they had spent all night on, Neji's mom turned the conversation to her.

Tenten was in the middle of swallowing her bite of pancakes when Hiyeri asked, "Tenten, are you on birth control?"

Tenten choked.

"Mom!" Neji snapped.

"What, it's just a question," she defended. "I like to know that the girls my son sleeps with are being protected."

"Tenten and I are not sleeping together!"

Tenten had never felt so awkward in her entire life. Here was Neji, someone she hardly knew, arguing with his mother, who she had just met moments ago, about whether or not she was going to get impregnated by her son.

Hiyeri continued, "I see that hickey on your neck, don't lie to me."

"It's not from her," Neji glared at his mother.

"Then who's it from? Sasuke? Shikamaru? I know you weren't partying last night, correct?"

Neji sat back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest, "It's old," he tried to lie.

"It wasn't there before you left last night."

"It was, you just didn't see it."

Hiyeri paused and looked to Tenten, "I'm so sorry you have to listen to this. My son doesn't like to listen to my instructions when he's being punished."

Tenten said nothing.

"I wasn't partying last night, I promise. I was at Shikamaru's, like a told you yesterday, working on a project for school."

"Neji Hyuga…" her tone was menacing.

Tenten glanced at the hickey on Neji's neck. It didn't look too much like a hickey anymore, and more like just a regular bruise. "Didn't you and Naruto get into a fight last night? Maybe he got you in the neck when he jumped you."

Neji stared at her for a second, and once he realized that she was attempting to cover his ass, he said, "Oh yeah, maybe."

"You guys did knock over a few tables."

Hiyeri blinked, confused. She knew that her son was lying about working on a project, but she wasn't totally sure that he was at a party. He wasn't acting hungover, and he didn't show any signs of being high. She had just met Tenten, and there was no reason not to believe her. She had to surrender her fight and just accept that their story could be the truth. "Fine."

After the table was cleared, Neji drove Tenten home. "I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's okay," she replied, "your moms just looking out for you. She seems cool otherwise."

Neji grinned, "She's okay sometimes."

"She knows about…you know…everything?"

"Yeah, she knows."

"Even the teachers?" Tenten asked, even though she knew that that question could be a little more touch-y than the others.

"She knows about Ama Sensei, since she was the one to call the police."

"That must have been awkward?"

Neji shrugged, "not really since I planned it all."

She stared at him, completely flabbergasted. "How could you be so cruel? She had her entire life ahead of her, and you ruined it, just because you could!?"

"Calm down, it wasn't like I did it just because I could. She needed to be stopped. You're new to Konoha High, so you don't know the entire story. Ama Sensei had be blackmailing her male students for a long time to get them to sleep with her. Guys don't report that stuff, so I took one for the team."

"Was she the first teacher you slept with?"

"Yeah."

"That's gotta mess with you psychologically."

"I don't think so," he answered. "The way I look at it; I got laid, and saved a lot of guys, a lot more vulnerable than me from getting their lives ruined."

"But you kept sleeping with teachers."

"What can I say? I like experience," he shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" Tenten asked, "sleeping with all these different girls, none of which you actually love?"

"Hinata asked me that same question, just a few days ago."

"Does it?"

"No."

"Have you ever been with someone that way that you did love?"

"I have."

"And?"

"I don't talk about it."

"Can you at least tell me her name?"

"If you won't tell me the name of your ex, I won't tell you mine."

That was fair. Maybe the one Neji loved was a lot older than them, like Tenten's ex and he couldn't talk about it? But that wouldn't make sense if he openly talked about his multiple affairs with his teachers. Or maybe it was deeper than that? Maybe Neji was hurt by this girl, badly. She understood that feeling well. Tenten remembered hurting so bad when he had dumped her that she felt like she wanted to die…Neji did have scars on his wrists, after all, but those could be about anything.

Neji pulled into Tenten's driveway, but she didn't feel like she wanted to leave his company yet. "Last night, when you kissed me," she mused aloud, "what were you thinking?"

"Nothing really, why?"

"Were you just hoping I'd be another girl for your sketch book?"

Neji didn't say anything while he pondered for the right thing to say.

"I mean, it's okay if that's what you were thinking…I've hooked up with people before too, without wanting to do anything else, I get it." Tenten wasn't sure she believed the words that were coming out of her mouth.

"I just wanted to kiss you," he finally answered, "I didn't even think about having any other intentions."

Tenten could feel her cheeks heat up a little while she smiled into her lap. "You should do just that more often. You're good at it."

"I've had a lot of practice."

"I never kissed anyone with a lip ring before. It was fun."

He chuckled. "I never kissed a Prime Minister's granddaughter before."

Tenten's grin faded. "I should probably go inside. My mom's going to be wondering where I am soon."

As she was gathering her things to exit Neji's car, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. She looked up to meet his gaze. Her eyes widened when she felt his lips on hers. Before she got the chance to kiss Neji back, he had pulled away. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Tenten."

Her smile returned, "Yeah, see you tomorrow." She climbed out of Neji's car and walked up her driveway to the front door, where she let herself in. After closing the door behind her, she leaned up against the frame and sighed, happily.

She hadn't noticed her father on the couch, reading the newspaper until she heard the familiar sound of him clearing his throat. "I hope that kiss was enjoyable."

"Dad!" she yelled at him, completely flushed. "You were spying on me!?"

He laughed, "no, of course not. But, nobody comes home from a sleepover and sighs like that. I just hope the sleepover wasn't with him."

"It wasn't," she lied, "a bunch of us ended up falling asleep while working on a project for school. He just gave me a ride home."

He smiled and asked, "Us?"

"Yeah…I kind of made a few friends this past week."

"I'm so glad," he replied, "I can already see the change in you. I like seeing you happy. Now, what's his name?"

"Dad!"

"What?" he raised his hands in defense, "I'm just curious about who my daughters kissing is all. Tell me about him."

"I don't know…" she looked away, embarrassed.

"I'm just asking his name."

"Neji," she replied. "Neji Hyuga."

"Why does that name sound so familiar?" he asked.

"His uncle owns Hyuga Corp."

"Ah, yes, that's it. He's a good kid then, you can date him."

"Ha…ha…" she laughed awkwardly.

"Sorry, sorry…it's probably too early for you to be thinking about dating him."

"Yeah…that's the main concern…" It wasn't. Tenten's main concern was how many people he's played with over the years, the teachers he's slept with, the fact that she only knew of one person he was in love with. "I think I'm in over my head."

"Oh sweetie," he said putting his hand on her shoulder and sitting beside her on the other couch. "It'll be okay, if it's meant to be, everything will work out okay."

"I don't even know if I want to date him," she mumbled.

"Sometimes it takes a little time to be sure. It took your mom years to finally accept a date from me, but I knew she was the one and kept on pushing, now here we are, twenty years later."

"I'm not looking to marry the guy, dad!"

"I know, I know. But if he's a Hyuga, you should jump on that wagon. That family is very well respected and talked about in the highest regard. They're well behaved, polite, and they don't listen to the weird music your into and cover themselves in piercings like some of those other boys you've brought home."

"I don't think we're talking about the same Hyuga's…"

"Of course we are, Honey. Why do you say that?"

She shrugged, not sure she wanted to tell her father all about the boy and his piercings she had just made out with on his bed only ten hours ago. She settled on saying, "he's really good at painting."

"Really? That's exciting for you."

"I guess," she said remembering the hundreds of other girls he had decorating the pages of all his sketchbooks.

"You don't sound like you like this boy very much, Tenten."

"Like I said earlier, I don't know if I want to date him. I think he'll be a good friend though."

"As long as you're happy, that's all that matters." He patter is daughter on the back and stood. "I have a meeting at the firm, and then I'm going to stop downtown to pick up a few things, is there anything you need?"

"Some new shading pencils would be nice, and if you're feeling extra generous, that camera from the 20s in the window of the camera place would be nice," she grinned.

"I love you, but I don't love you enough to spend $800 on an old camera you're not even going to use."

"My birthday's coming up," she tried to bargain.

"It's not happening, my dear."

"I know, its okay. I'm satisfied with what I have."

Tenten watched her father gather his things for work, and walked him out of the house. When she returned to the living room, there was a signal that she had gotten a text. Unlocking her phone, there was a text from Ino: We saw you doing the walk of shame this morning from Hinata's bedroom. We want details, NOW!

Tenten rolled her eyes and replied: Nothing happened. Even if it did, I don't kiss and tell, sorry.

She tossed her phone to the other side of the couch and pulled her laptop out from the shelf underneath the side table. She had pictures to edit, she didn't have time to be thinking about kissing boys, even if the boy she was kissing was so goddamn good at it.

A/N: It's almost 2am, so I apologize for any errors in this chapter. Review please!