Hexx: And now we have our next Chapter.
Blue: Yeah yeah, can I let his out now?
Hexx: No. For our disclaimer, we couldn't get anyone important. So we got this guy!
Blue: Now?
Hexx: Now.
Opens Box
Bob: This isn't Taco Bell!
Kin: Hello! Please read this!
Bob: Oh, sure. achem Hexx-Chan dose no own Naruto.
The boys had decided to walk. If they had taking the carriage that was already heading towards the castle, then they would have had to listen to all of the squirming girls talk about medical training.
And about Sasuke.
They practiced hopping from roof to roof. This way, not only would they be receiving training, but also getting to the castle before the girls. Although, Shikamaru and Choji were lagging behind quite a bit. But that was normal.
Neji was glaring holes into the rooftops before them. Everyone seemed to notice the tension that boiled around the young prince.
(All people who are saying, 'But Hinata and Hanabi are princesses!" I will explain in a future chap okay? So just sit tight.)
As they reached the gates. A loud commotion was heard.
"I said NO!"
"But please?"
"Read my lips missy, N-O!"
"Fine, but if you wont do that will you-"
"Sorry, I can no longer be of assistance to you. My ward will be arriving soon."
'Kustu! Tenten!' Neji mentally slapped himself. Then for a brief moment he imagined slapping her. But he knew how THAT would end….
"Okay, but promise you will help me later?"
"Hai, hai, now scat."
"Well this is going to be interesting." Neji mumbled.
And then the gates opened.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
"Okay, how long are you to stand there gaping at me?" Tenten demanded of the boys. She looked quite odd. After all, she had been playing with Hanabi and still had her long hair in a braid.
Her black boots and pants were normal. But the shirt was not. She looked like she was wearing a vest. After closer inspection, she was. A mans vest that was to be worn over suits. She now wore it over her normal white long sleeved shirt. The belling sleeves swayed at the gentle breeze.
"HELLO YOUTHFUL FLOWER!!!" Lee said. He rushed to stand beside her. Tenten glared at him out of her brown eyes.
"Neji," Sasuke said. "You never told us the little brat from that day worked here."
"I didn't? Must have slipped my mind." The white eyed boy smirked at Sasuke.
"I would love to stand around and be started at, but I have a little girl waiting for me to teach her how to do a cartwheel." Tenten said, snapping Neji back into reality.
"Yes, we are going to be practicing in the back courtyard. Please alert us when my Uncle's court is adjourned.
"Hai, Neji-sama. But, your uncle wants to see you and you cousins first for some reason." Tenten said.
Neji felt odd about letting Tenten lead his classmates away. Epically knowing that Sasuke would love the chance to attack her.
"Tenten?"
"Hai?"
"Watch your temper."
"Hai."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Neji entered his Uncle's private study, only to find Hinata. She sat at one of the chairs, her hands on her lap and she started strait ahead.
"Ah, Neji, you're here, come sit down right away. I only have a few moments to spare." Hiashi said from his chair.
After both of the teens were seated, Hiashi opened a file.
"I am going to explain a few things about Tenten."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
"So, what do we have to do?" Hinata asked after her father had finished speaking.
"Nothing, I just wanted both of you to be aware." Hiashi said. They both nodded.
"And if she stops breathing for a long time, you want us to get a medic?" Hinata asked again. Hiashi nodded and then looked upon the stone face of his nephew.
"None of this worries you Neji?" He asked, a little bit shocked.
"Her lack of breath is nothing new to me."
"Ah, as I recall, most of her vision spells happen around you. So you must be on higher awares." Hiashi told him. "Now I must go, parliament is waiting for me."
As both of them went to leave he said, "This is not to be told to anyone, least of all her."
"Hai, Father."
"Hai, Uncle."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Hinata followed Neji as he walked swiftly to the courtyard. He wondered if Tenten would still be alive when he got there. Knowing Sasuke, her chances were slim.
"Cousin, why do you walk so fast?" Hinata asked. Neji snapped a cold look in her direction and she shrunk back.
"Why do you walk so slow?"
Hinata frowned at that. Neji was being very mean. 'But then again, he has been mean for ten years now.'
The door was in sight, and soon they were out in the courtyard. After a few moments of searching, they found them.
Shikamaru and Shino were engaged in a game of Shogi. Choji sat by and watched. Kiba and Lee were watching Naruto get the crap beat out of him by a very angry Tenten.
"Didn't I tell you to watch your temper?" Neji yelled. Tenten Turned. She held an almost uncouncis Naruto by his shirt collar, and she had her fist ready to hit him dead on in the face.
"I took his crap for a good half hour!" Tenten said. Hinata had gone to stand beside Kiba. Lee retrieved Naruto as Tenten waltzed up to her ward.
"Where did Sasuke go?" He asked her. Tenten blinked and tilted her head as if she did not understand.
"Duck-boy."
"Oh! He ran away when the other girls came." Tenten explained. Neji twitched.
"Sakura and Ino?"
"I think, I never got to ask."
As if by evil chance, Sasuke dropped from a tree, grabbed Tenten from behind, and held a kunai at her neck.
"What the HELL do you think you are doing?" She demanded.
"Two things, one, getting you back for last time," He twisted one of her wrist as he said this. "And two, making the twits stop chasing me."
"Oh, okay." Tenten said.
Then she hauled back with her left foot.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
"Do you need more ice sir?" Tenten asked Sasuke. He glared death at her, and she just smiled. Most of the other guys had distanced themselves from the ticking time bomb of a lady. She nodded and moved to stand beside Alice.
"Now then, Neji, are you going to tell us why your uncle would higher such a dangerous person?" Shino asked. He looked at her out of his blue blocker glasses. Tenten just tossed her head away.
"He didn't."
"So what? She is just some whack job who comes by everyday?" Sasuke asked from his spot. He had a blond girl and a pink haired girl on either side of him.
"Not quite…" Hinata said from her perch on a stone bench. She shifted nervously. Naruto sat up, his head red and bumpy.
"YOU ARE AMAZING!" Naruto yelled, surprising all involved. Tenten took her stance automatically, only to have Naruto grab her hand and shake it vigorously.
"Your parents must be so proud to have-"
"no."
Naruto looked confused, "Nani?"
"NO!" Tenten screamed into his face. She jerked her hand away and ran off. And nobody stopped her.
"What? What did I say?" Naruto asked. Neji breathed heavily. He was not going to say. Luckily he didn't have to.
"A slave eh? Sucks man." Shikamaru said from his spot. Everyone looked at him with shock.
"H-how did you kn-know?" Hinata asked, stammering more then usual.
"For one, her skin tone suggests she was born in a place that receives less sun. SO I know she must not have been born here." Shikamaru began. He had everyone's full attention. "So, as soon as she said 'no' right after Naruto mentioned parents, I knew they must be dead." He moved a tile in his game and beat Shino seven to nothing.
"How do you do that?" Shino asked.
"Practice. Now, since she has no parents, there is no reason for a girl to move all the way here for work. So she must have been forced to."
"Yes. So far everything you have said is true!" Hinata told him.
"But why did your father take her in? I thought he hated slavery." Ino said from her seat.
"He dose, her papers haven't come yet." Hinata explained.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
After everyone had left. Neji went to find his attendant.
"This is so stupid." He mumbled to himself, "I mean, where is she planning on going?"
"Why do you give a shit?" He heard her ask. He walked over to the tree, and looked up. She sat pretty high up. But not high enough that he couldn't jump to it in a single leap.
"How do you do that?" She asked him, as she re3luctently made room for him beside her on the branch.
"I'm a ninja remember?" He told her. She clicked her tongue,
"Not yet your not."
"I will be. And I will make my father regret his choice."
"hm?"
Neji hadn't realized that he had said that out loud. He shook it off and looked at her.
"You didn't have to run off like you did." He told her, he wanted to be mad with her, but her face made him feel mad at himself for some reason.
"How else was I supposed to handle it? I had some man in my head today, you cousin braided my hair and made me wear this vest, AND I had to deal with all of your comrades. And other then Lee, they all hated me."
"Well, if you acted more like a girl, maybe they wouldn't." He told her. She glared at him through the moonlight.
"And how is that? Quite, polite? JADED!?" She turned and leaned her back on the tree trunk and started at his outline. That was all she could see. He had no face for her to read. Not that it was readable anyway.
He turned to face her. He could read the mixture of hurt and anger on her pale face. She was squinting, trying to read him. He smirked and then said,
"It is late, and I have school in the morning." She nodded, not sure what he was getting at. Then,
She felt him toss her onto his shoulder, jump to the ground and place her on the ground. His hand was on her neck as she lay on the dirt. All she could see was his eyes.
"N-nani!?" She was shocked and confused. He smiled, a real one, but she never got to see it.
"I wanted to give you another defeat to sleep on." He told her. Her face changed in one rapid movement. Anger again contorted her delicate features.
"Oh! THANK-YOU! NOW I CAN SLEEP!" She screamed at him. He placed his finger on her mouth to stop her screaming. It was different from what he would normally do, which was clamp his whole hand over it and press it with more force then needed.
"Hush, people are sleeping." Was what he whispered. He got off of her. For the first time, he offered her his hand.
'Should I take it?' She wondered. She had never wanted anyone's help. But he had never offered it.
When he had lead her to the door, he let go of her hand. She opened the door and followed him in.
As she walked past him towards her room. He said, "Tenten,"
She looked at him, her face clouded with a sleepy haze.
"They don't hate you."
"Zen naito Neji-sama."
"Zen naito Tenten," After her door clicked closed, and he was in his own room,
"Chan."
Hexx: FINISHED!!!
Kin: Yep.
Blue shall we?
Hexx: Yes, I am going to give you all,
Kin: DUN DUN DUN,
Hexx: HOMEWORK!!!!
crash of thunder.
Hexx: Okay, enough of that. All I want you to do is listen to the song, 'Once upon a December,' from Anastasia, before you read the next chapter. Okay?
