"Hokage-sama," said Sakura through gritted teeth as she and Naruto walked along with the heavy stream of families who came to enjoy the last day of the park event. "I would really, really appreciate it if you tell me why you made a replica of yourself in the office, fooled everyone into thinking you're working industriously for the village when you're just frolicking in some kiddie festival, and dragged me all the way to this place under the sun which is SO not doing my hair any good—"
Naruto glanced at her,
grinning sheepishly. "Gomen, Sakura-chan, but you do realize that
even my best powers can't order the sun to not fry your hair,
ne?"
"That's not the point!" she said, a vein popping on
her head. "Do you realize that I had to breach several codes of
ethics and rules just so I wouldn't have to explain to the whole
council that the Rokudaime-sama has played hooky just because of a
SPONGE? A walking, talking sponge!" Her voice was competing with
the steady ascent of her infamous temper.
"S-Sakura-chan—" The Hokage backed away, holding both his hands up.
"And here I was, just asking for some sort of clue as to what's going around me. The next thing I know, we're in this park, looking for a Spongebob mascot to ask for an autograph!" She crossed her arms over her chest, steaming. "I can understand if you have some kind of personal admiration for that cartoon sponge, but for the life of me, WHY DO I HAVE TO BE HERE TOO? I DON'T EVEN LIKE SPONGEBOB! I LIKE BUGS BUNNY!"
Some people turned her way, making her halt.
Naruto, on the other hand, sighed. "Ne, Sakura-chan? Do you really have to hurt the fans' feelings? That's mean."
She blinked. A few seconds passed before she understood what she had done. However, before she could even make reparations for her blasphemy right inside the very temple of the yellow cult, some children crowded around her, throwing hateful glares at her.
"You old lady! How can you not like Spongebob! He's the coolest!" yelled one kid.
"Well, I—" The rest of her words were met by outraged sentiments from the emotional children.
"If you don't like Spongebob, then you should quit looking like Patrick!"
"Yeah! You're the zillion farthest person to be Spongebob's best friend!"
"Best friend what?" Sakura frowned, unable to get what the child said.
Naruto leaned over to her and whispered, "They think you're imitating Patrick. Your hair color's the same as his skin."
"Patrick? Who's Patrick?" asked Sakura uncertainly.
"Patrick! You know, um… the starfish?"
Her eyes widened. "My hair is like a starfish's!" Automatically, her hands flew to her hair frantically.
Naruto was about to reply when he caught sight of the people he was meeting at the park. Immediately, he straightened and headed for them.
……………………………………
Chapter dedication: Afaphyte. You think it's alimango when it's only alamang. Mental massage via visual contact, louder than any other Faith Cuneta soundtrack.
……………………………………..
The park was already filled with people when the trio arrived. Yellow was the theme of the air; and as they passed by lanes draped with banners of a very jolly sponge and a pink starfish with shorts, Neji couldn't help but gape openly.
"What's wrong, Sir Neji?" Tenten asked, following his gaze.
"Nothing much." He shook his head slowly. "It's just that… everything… and everyone looks so… happy."
She smiled inwardly. The atmosphere of this place could really be a kind of culture shock to her former teammate. Reared in a place laden with discrimination and strict expectation for only the best in combat abilities, it may have really came across as a bolt from the blue to Neji that kids could actually have time for a yellow sponge and not be scolded by their parents for doing so.
The merriness of the place was contagious, that even Baby Iji who was quiet in his stroller suddenly burst into delighted coos, eagerly taking in the novelty sights and sounds lacking in the Hyuuga compound.
"What now?" asked Neji after a moment, looking around like a freshman on his first day at college. For awhile, she thought he was expecting to see tons of yellow sponges walking around the place.
"The rides!" she instantly said excitedly. But then she remembered with some regret that their date included a chaperone well below the 3-feet limit. "Hmm, how about the arcade? The mall's nearby."
Neji frowned. "What's… an arcade?"
She blinked. "You're kidding, right?"
He groaned. "I like to think that questions are always replied by answers, not another question."
She burst into laughter. "Fine, fine! Come along and I'll show you what the video arcade is."
He tried to resist her pull. "No. Why don't you just go and watch that Spongebob show so we can already go home afterwards?"
She tugged harder on the sleeve of his shirt. "Sir Neji, I want to make the most out of this day! This is the last time that… that…" She forced a smile on her face. "…Spongebob's show will be here. B-Besides, the mascots don't appear until after an hour."
He paused, and then relented in the end. Silently, he allowed her to pull him to the mall, and later towards an area filled with consoles and sounds of explosions.
………………………………………
Neji stared at the yellow and blue buttons, and then at the red joysticks. He turned his eyes back to Tenten, who had settled on the bench located in front of the machine. A stack of tokens were on the countertop, while Baby Iji bounced excitedly on her lap.
"Sir Neji, those buttons aren't museum paintings. They're there to be pushed," reminded the nanny, gesturing for him to sit down.
"Will you refresh my memory and tell me again what we are about to play?" he asked, plopping down beside her and staring at the large screen chained to the machine. The scene showed 2D fighters firing balls of energy toward each other.
"A fighting game," she explained. "We'll both pick our own characters and then play them. We'll battle each other out through our characters' respective techniques. The character who remains standing is the victor."
"How will I know the
status of my character's health?" he asked. "I couldn't
personally feel his emotions… should I use my Byakugan?"
Her
laughter sounded a decibel louder than she intended, earning a sharp
intake of breath from the Hyuuga.
"This is my first time to play… this… this fighting simulation game. I had never tried playing something like this at any point of my life," he said coolly. "Now, will you just answer my question?"
"Grouchy." She pointed to the yellow life bar. "That elongated yellow box will tell you what your character's status is. Every attack the character receives, the yellow decreases. When the yellow thingie disappears, your character dies."
"What will happen if my character dies?" Neji wanted to know. "Will his relative come forward and continue the character's battle?"
If his name is not Neji, he won't, she thought amusedly. But instead, she replied, "Just slip another coin and we'll have another match."
"This game is most unrealistic," he complained, but he pressed the Start button anyway.
"For starters, you'll have to fight Iji-chan." She clapped the baby's hands together. "Good luck, Baby Iji! Break a nail!"
"Leg," said Neji,
rolling his eyes. "And I refuse to fight him."
"But why?
You're both first-timers with video games."
"He's but a child. And I am yet to encounter a field I cannot study and master," he replied confidently as he selected his virtual representative in the match. "What's this? The game is making me select my warrior when it has not even given me a clue as to what techniques these people are capable of! Where are their statistics?"
"Sir Neji, just pick a character—any character. It's all up to you anyway, since there is a pattern of attack for all of them." She selected her favorite white-haired ninja smilingly. "You decide how your character attacks."
"What if my character doesn't hear my instructions?" he asked.
"You press the buttons harder," she replied simply.
In the end, he settled for the dark-haired blade-wielding male in red and white outfit.
"So… Sol Badguy is the name of my warrior." Neji concentrated on the screen. "Do not disappoint me."
Tenten, on the other hand, guided Iji's hands towards the buttons. "Go Iji-chan!"
………………………………………..
Twelve tokens later, the three of them were heading for the park again. Earlier, Neji had won against Iji in four out of six matches, and it had caused the Hyuuga prodigy to shift into a lighter mood. This made Tenten feel better too. A cold shoulder was something she had never received from him all throughout the years they spent as teammates.
"I hope you had fun awhile ago," she said, turning to him smilingly.
"I did," he admitted. And then he asked, "Are all video games like that one as enjoyable as this?"
She tipped her chin. "Hmm… only when you're playing with someone. But that's just what I think. Others still prefer playing solo though."
"If ever, I would like to play that game again, but this time, with two other people." He looked up at the sky. "I want to play with Father. I'm sure he had never tried playing that game yet, or he should have taught me about it." A small smile formed on his face. "He would certainly like Anji Mito's wind attacks."
"A-And the other one…?"
The smile on his lips vanished, along with every other trace of gentleness on his face.
"With my former teammate," he said coolly. "She's the best sparring partner anyone can ask for… it would be interesting to see how she would fare in playing against me and my warrior."
Her eyes widened.
"She had always been very proud of her abilities, and I saw no reason for her not to be. She was one of the few persons who could not make me rest on my laurels. She was also smart, combat-wise. A person who has a presence of mind even amidst a battle. She's the kind of opponent that can give you a true sense of pride for victory, because you knew that she fought with everything she could.
"But time has changed her and has proved my perception of her character worth false." Neji gazed at her. And she discovered that his eyes had changed—there was a certain degree of hardness and anger embedded in those translucent orbs that deterred her.
"For the sake of ambition, she allowed herself to be the Hokage's pawn," he continued, resentment seeping into his steadily rising voice. "She took another identity that she thought no one could ever connect to her, dutifully earned the trust of everyone, and all the while, schemed to betray them by stealing a clan's most important jewel."
Her whole system seemed to freeze as she slowly, painfully realized what was going on.
"I cannot fathom the pleasure she gets from all these, but I'm still hoping her conscience would prevail and that she steps out of this mess cleanly," finished Neji, turning away.
For a few moments,
silence reigned heavily. But Tenten, taking deep, short calming
breaths, later said softly, "I just realized…how right everyone
was about you."
He turned to her again. "In what aspect?"
"You are… a man with a heart very much capable of cruelty." She laughed sardonically. "Who else would confront a person amidst Spongebob's party right after he won four games in Guilty Gear?" She tried to give him her trademark Cookie smile, but the effort lived on for only a few seconds before surrendering to a more painful yank of real emotions bubbling within her.
"Tenten."
Hearing her name formed on his lips after so many years provoked her emotions fully. With her pacifying breaths intensifying, she looked at him and smiled sadly, making out Neji's even face in her blurring vision.
"You could have at least spared me this day to enjoy it with you and Iji," she whispered quietly. "I was… going to leave tomorrow."
He smirked. "Heh. Should I applaud your nobility? I'm sorry to disappoint you but I won't. Your decision was motivated by necessity and survival instincts, not decency."
She looked at him, shocked. "It's not—"
Neji started to walk away, pushing on Iji's stroller. Immediately, she fell into a step beside him, silently thinking of what she should say to explain the circumstances. But in the end, she settled with what she had wanted to tell him since she saw first saw him when he interviewed her for the nanny job.
"I-I'm not sorry that I did what I had to do," she declared, looking at him squarely. "In the first place, I wouldn't accept this mission if I didn't believe in the rationale of the task. Secondly, I met Iji… and I saw you again."
He remained poker-faced.
"And contrary to what you think, the job's not as easy as it seems," she said firmly. "Or as pleasurable, as you pointed out earlier. Do you really think I relish fooling people or pretending in front of Iji?"
She spoke again when she was met by yet another silence. "I will only apologize for two things, Hyuuga Neji. One, for not telling you sooner about this the moment I was authorized by the Hokage-sama. I knew that the moment I tell you about this, my mission is over. And I didn't want to go yet… not so soon."
"And two…" She inhaled shakily. "I'm sorry I had to attach myself to both of you so much. It wasn't part of my mission's objectives, and yet it happened. That's when everything suddenly went wrong." A deep sigh released itself from her throat, at the same time that she discovered a fat tear streak down her cheek. Quickly, she wiped it away.
Finally, he turned to her, eyeing her icily. "Now what do you call this? A contingency plan in case I discover about your little masquerade?"
She felt her jaw drop.
"Save it for people who will be gullible enough to fall for your tricks twice." His words resounded with such finality that she knew no amount of appeal or reason could penetrate the wall he had already formed in his mind.
With that, her sadness was overpowered by pragmatic passive acceptance of the turn of events. Had she asked earlier for his apology, she would still have the same kind of treatment from him anyway, based on his narrow-mindedness.
She walked in front of the stroller, stopping Neji. She then knelt down in front of the baby and took his little hands. Iji looked at her and cooed excitedly upon sensing his favorite playmate in the world.
"Be a good boy, Iji," she said tenderly, seeing her reflection on the wide blue eyes of the infant. "I hope someday, you'll still remember your smartest and cutest nanny in the world. There are a lot of people who shall love you as you grow, but I hope you'll still remember how someone named Cookie once loved you."
She stooped down closer, and whispered, "When you grow up, do me a favor and don't be an asshole like your uncle. That, and don't climb church bell towers. "
"Where are you planning to go?" Neji suddenly asked, making her look up.
She got up, dusting her knees. "You're not my employer anymore so you're not entitled to know that to any further extent."
"Of course," he said quickly. "And I do not want to see your face anymore in the Hyuuga compound, do I make myself clear?"
"Clear as mineral water." She smiled dryly and saluted. "Toodles!"
………………………………
Neji understood that the last emotion a person absolutely has to have for a traitor was, naturally, longing. But that was the only thing he could associate with the emptiness he felt the moment he saw her disappear from the range of his vision.
She's out of my life… again. But it was her fault, he told himself once more. There was no such thing as forgiveness for something as sinful as betrayal of trust.
But damn him, for he couldn't stop the dull ache within him, which he knew could only be soothed by seeing that… that woman again.
……………………………………………….
As Tenten walked aimlessly, she automatically clenched her fists, as if that would rein back the swirling emotions within her. Anger, sadness, longing, and frustration churned in her heart as she recalled how abrupt and unexpected, yet so casual the confrontation was.
In her mind, she had imagined that Neji would confront her on a rainy night while she was nursing both Iji and a cough. He would then tear her multi-colored wig off and reveal her true identity. He would throw her out of the house, together with her belongings, and then tell her to evaporate from the face of the earth. Behind him, a new nanny would be carrying Iji, who was sobbing his little heart out when he sensed that Nanny Cookie was being discharged from the mansion.
Okay, so that was melodramatic. But she would rather have that than the kind of parting they had awhile ago. It was like an insult: the day was shining brightly, the birds were chirping, Iji was waving at her goodbye as if she was just going to take a stroll in the park and come back that evening…
And it all seemed so crudely simple, so easy, for Neji to dismiss the nanny contract when she knew that the past few weeks had been some of the happiest in her whole life.
"I suppose I should just thank him for deciding not to kill me for making a fool out of his pretty head," she said glumly to herself.
As she walked on, she contemplated on where she should go: to her own pad which she hadn't visited for weeks, the Konoha office so she could report to the Hokage about the outcomes of the mission, or to the park, since it was just practically a stone's throw away.
She opted for the latter—Neji was not about to ruin her day. No way.
She was just nearing the park when suddenly, she observed some suspicious movement behind the trees.
Willing herself not to stop walking, she keenly opened her senses and walked away from the crowd. It wouldn't do any good to involve the innocent commoners in whatever those people intend to do.
She felt the people following her motion towards the more secluded part of the park—the entrance to the nearby woods that was off-limits to the villagers.
Upon reaching the clearing, she stopped and looked around. "What do you want?"
Five people dressed in dark suits appeared in front of her. "Where is the Hokage's son?" the leader of the group said in a steely voice.
Her eyes widened when recognition dawned on her. "You are—"
……………………………………….
To be continued
