For PewPew, who wanted a story of Neji with three hairstyles and that "I'm open to anything you can throw at me, no matter how weird or crazy it is. I don't think I have a right to complain, after I wrote that tsundere gender-bender for you. Haha!"
Teehee, you asked for it. ;)
Standard disclaimer applies.
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True Love's Kiss
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"You know, this is kind of weird, coming from you." He didn't bother looking up, his entire focus centered on his bike's chains as he continued tightening and cleaning it. "I mean, you're just not the type of person to believe in these kinds of things."
He heard his companion scoff, and when he finally looked up, he saw that she was still praying fervently in front of the wooden temple, her eyes closed and her brows furrowed so deeply it looked like she was going to leave a mark in there. Her lips were pursed in concentration and her hands her pressed against each other tightly.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity had passed, she finished her ardent praying with a clap of her hands and a long, heaving sigh from her lips. Her steely pale eyes glared at the temple in front of her, as if it insulted her just now, before shifting toward her partner who immediately held his hands up in the air in mock surrender.
"Don't shoot, I'm harmless!" Sarutobi Tian jokingly said, hoping to ease the glaring girl in front of him, even just a little bit. But she remained unmoved by his easygoing smile, making him fidget in his place. "Bad joke, I know. Sorry, Nejiko."
Hyuuga Nejiko harrumphed snootily, arms immediately crossed in front of her chest. Knowing her for a decade now, Tian instantly knew that he was on the receiving end of one of the pale-eyed girl's infamous lectures about life and fate.
And lecture Nejiko just did.
"This is not funny, Tian!" She hissed angrily, sounding almost at the verge of jiu jitsu-ing someone. Tian winced at the tone of her voice. "The cultural festival's just a month from now, and our class is not ready!"
Her nostrils flared at the thought of their classmates and their refusal to cooperate. Well, technically, the boys were ready to help any time and any way possible, but the girls… Good Lord, the girls were just so stubborn, what with their hormones, their issues, their feelings all over the place!
It was simply exhausting! And every day, Nejiko could feel a part of her whole strength and sanity slipping away as she tried putting order in their chaotic environment.
She didn't even realize now that she was clenching her fists, her nails digging through her flesh until it became pink and raw. Only when Tian was finally in front of her, his large hands (callous from archery) reaching and cupping her tiny, smooth ones, did Nejiko finally snap out of her musing.
"Calm down, Nejiko," Tian advised, calmly, softly. "Take a deep breath. And exhale."
He grinned toothily when the ice queen did what he instructed. Normally, the girl had enough pride to fill a country and then some, so she must be severely stressed right now that she even followed his advice without question.
Inwardly, Tian found it cute and he strongly resisted the urge to ruffle Nejiko's long, coffee brown hair.
"All better?" He asked and smiled when Nejiko nodded. "Good."
"We're still horrible though," Nejiko muttered, half in exasperation, another half in weariness. "Why did our class have to be assigned to this year's play? And why am I in charge?"
She slowly withdrew her hands from his firm clutch and sighed. "Fate really hates me."
This time, Tian could no longer resist the urge. He reached up and messed the girl's hair, making Nejiko swat his hand away with a slap. She glared at him when he laughed openly, and finger-combed her tresses before tying it in a low ponytail.
"We'll be okay, Nejiko," Tian reassured the still-scowling girl. "Our class may be horrible right now, but we'll pull through. We always do, right?"
Nejiko made no comment – she only looked away with a huff, arms once more crossed dominantly. Tian just smiled at her.
"So there's no need for you to come here every day for thirty days and pray, just so your wish can come true, Nejiko. We can do this."
She cast him a look, brows raised. "You know about the rumor?"
Tian shrugged nonchalantly.
"Who doesn't know about it?" Tian wondered out loud, already going back to where he parked his bike. "Pray for thirty consecutive days at the Leaf Temple and the gods will heed your call."
"Usually though, girls come here so that their love lives could have a jump start," he grinned cheekily at Nejiko. "You're probably the first one who has a different agendum."
Nejiko scowled. "I don't care, our class needs all the help it can get."
"Can't argue with that," Tian said, his amber eyes sparkling with unspoken humor. "Now come on. I have to get you home before the sun goes down or your aunt will have my head."
"No, she won't," Nejiko argued, although she did sit on the passenger's seat daintily, her arms wounding around Tian's middle. "My aunt adores you."
Tian chuckled. "I'm honored to have her trust."
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Two weeks later…
"Naru! Stop harassing Satsuki with that wand! You'll break it!"
Uzumaki Naru halted, her hands raised and ready to bonk Uchiha Satsuki's head with her fairy wand, and turned so she could direct her pout at the fuming director. The blonde immediately dropped the wand and placed both hands on her hips.
"But Nejiko!" Naru whined shrilly, her bright blue eyes glistening almost dramatically. "Why do I have to be a fairy? Why can't I be Skurai-kun's wife?!"
Haruno Skurai, who was busily helping Yamanaka Inoichi carry more props to the stage, rolled his emerald eyes. "We've been through this, Naru." He said tiredly, unmindful of Inoichi's snorts.
"And not only that!" Naru ranted, uncaring how the others mumbled about her diva-like attitude. "Why does Satsuki-baka have to be Skurai-kun's queen? It's stupid!"
"Naru, we drew lots. You got the fairy role and Satsuki got the queen. Now, shut up!" And ignoring the blonde's continuing complaints, Nejiko turned and addressed another member of their crew. "Kia, please tell me that the costumes are all good to go?"
Inuzuka Kia grinned widely, showing off her sharp canines. "Yep! Me and Hinatsu got it all covered!"
The brunette girl draped an arm around Hyuuga Hinatsu, who blushed deeply at the contact but nodded nonetheless at Nejiko confidently.
"They should be ready for tomorrow's fitting, cousin," Hinatsu replied softly. "Kia and I also took care of the sheets needed for the castle and the princess' bed…"
Hinatsu trailed off, just as Inoichi hollered, "Forehead and I are almost done too, Nejiko! We should be ready by the end of the week!"
Nejiko hummed satisfactorily. "What about the paint? Do we still have enough?"
Uchiha Sachi, their resident artist and Satsuki's younger twin, smiled at Nejiko. "We have more than enough, Director-san," the jet-haired beauty replied before she scrunched her nose. "But I'll need more time to finish this. The dragon's a little bit tricky to paint."
"You have ten days," their lavender-eyed leader said, before looking at her checklist. "What about the lights? And the sound effects?"
A hand was raised lazily.
"All good," Nara Shikimatsu drawled, her dark eyes close to drooping. She covered her mouth when she yawned, and spoke. "We should practice each scene with the sound effects though, so we can time them properly.
"We'll do that right now, starting with the first scene," Nejiko said and turned to her actors. "You've familiarized your lines, at least?"
Hozuki Sui scoffed arrogantly, her nose held high. "Woman, I was born ready!" The white-haired girl said proudly. Beside her, her own partner huffed.
"Yeah, whatever," Uzumaki Kain grumbled under his breath, followed by, "I wanted Satsuki-chan as my wife though, damn it!"
Sui, who had keen hearing, definitely heard this and took it as an insult. She immediately bared her fangs at the vermillion-haired boy. "As if I wanted you to be my partner, you piece of—"
Nejiko tuned the bickering duo down so she could speak to Akamichi Chou and Kaguya Juuno, who were cast as the other two fairies that were invited to the princess' banquet. "And you two?"
"I've memorized them, Nejiko-san," Juuno replied respectfully, while Chou just nodded, silently reassuring Nejiko that she was ready too. Their leader looked very impressed.
"Good, and maybe after this, we can directly skip to the part where the prince will finally meet the princess," Nejiko looked at her clipboard then at Shikimatsu. "We need to make sure that the spotlight will follow the characters in this scene. Alright?"
The spiky-haired woman raised a hand once more. "Aye, aye, captain."
"Good. Now all we need are the prince and princess."
Looking around, Nejiko spotted Aburame Shina, who nodded her greeting at the Hyuuga, standing by the corner. Nejiko returned the nod but continued searching the their prince. When she couldn't locate him, she turned to Rock Li, who was helping Skurai and Inoichi by fetching the items they needed for the props.
"Hey Li," Nejiko called out, making the raven-haired girl look at her. "Have you seen Tian? We need him for the next scene."
Li thought for a moment, her pointing finger pressed against her forehead as the pondered deeply. Then her dark eyes lit up when she remembered something, and she snapped her fingers once.
"Ah, our dear friend is outside, my youthful rival!" Li answered with a flourish. "I believe that Tian-kun has yet again captivated the heart of a young maiden, and she has gathered enough confidence to declare her budding attraction to our dear friend in the most youthful of ways!"
There was a pause as Li sparkled in delight, until Naru coughed.
"So Tian's got another confession from a freshman or something?" At Li's enthusiastic nodding, Naru whistled. "Lucky guy."
"The ladies cannot help it. Why?" Shina adjusted her dark-rimmed glasses. "Because Tian is a gentleman."
"But I have read in a magazine that girls are attracted to the bad boy types," Sachi piped in, her concentration still in her work. "Tian is too nice to be considered a bad boy."
"Whatever! I still prefer Skurai-kun!" To prove her point, Naru blew a kiss at the coral-haired boy, who only heaved a long sigh. Beside the suffering Skurai, Inoichi laughed his ass off in amusement.
"Fine, we'll give him a minute." Nejiko declared hotly. "If he is not here within 60 seconds, I'm setting all his weaponry collection on fire!"
Within 5 seconds of the threat, the doors of the gymnasium burst open and in came Tian, who was giving everyone a sheepish smile, despite the sweat running down his forehead. He scratched the back of his head when he noticed the heated glare coming from one irate Hyuuga.
"Sorry," Tian muttered apologetically as he tried his best not to shrink at Nejiko's powerful glare. "Had to do something real quick and–"
"Did ya dump another girl, Tian-kun?" Naru cut in and grinned widely when the boy blushed. "Oooh! You are such a heartbreaker, aren'cha! I bet—"
"Naru, keep your mouth shut." This time, it was Nejiko who butted in, giving the blonde Uzumaki a challenging glare when the girl screamed a protest. "And you. Grab your script, familiarize your lines, and wait for your turn."
Tian saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"
He received a smack on the face with a flying script, courtesy of one Hyuuga Nejiko.
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"Oh Lord, kill me now. Please."
From the start, the play had been a disaster.
Raiya-sensei, who was their appointed narrator, refused to follow what was written in the script and decided to insert lines that she believed would "spice things up." Said lines included how the queen enchanted her husband with her bedroom eyes and sexy lap dance, because she was incredibly yearning for a child. Then, she slowly undressed her gown, biting her lips oh-so seductively as her free hand roamed her husband's muscular body before gripping through his clothes to grab his hardened d—
There was a resounding thwack in the air and Raiya-sensei mysteriously disappeared, only to be replaced by Tsuna-sensei, the school's principal.
But the damage had already been done, and now almost everyone was laughing in their seats. The good side was that some of their viewers invited their friends to come over and watch, claiming that Class 3A's presentation was awesomely funny. The bad news was that the play wasn't even supposed to be a comedy. Far from it, to be honest.
The second problem came in the form of Aburame Shina, who was unfortunately bitten by a bad case of stage fright. All throughout her scenes, which was a lot mind you since she was Princess Aurora, the poor girl stuttered her lines, and more than once, she almost fainted right then and there. Of course, this led to more laughs from the audience. And more laughs led to a more flustered Shina.
And a more flustered Shina led to problem number three. The girl could no longer hold it, and as soon as the curtains closed so that the next scene could change, Shina rushed to the nearest comfort room and emptied her stomach via puking. In her sickly state, she could no longer perform and now every member of Class 3A was looking for an impromptu substitute. Or maybe a miracle, whatever works.
"Please tell me that Aburame's fine and that she can go out there and act the final scene."
Fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, Nejiko looked like she was about to hurl the nearest table she could find, just so she could release a bit of her tension.
Beside the fuming Hyuuga, Hinatsu shook his head sadly.
"Shina-chan's very sick, cousin," Hinatsu replied forlornly, his pearly eyes downcast. "She cannot even stand up properly."
"Guys," Skurai popped in, looking worried. "Thirty seconds until the curtains are opened."
Hinatsu gasped. Nejiko exhaled sharply. Then, surprising Hinatsu, Nejiko suddenly pulled her long coffee brown lock up, styling it in a messy updo. In between pinning her hair up, said girl glared at her cousin, who jumped at its burning intensity.
"Hinatsu," Nejiko growled. "Get me Aburame's costume. Now!"
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"Give it up for Class 3A, everyone!"
A round of applause followed, with some of their audiences laughing and whistling as the actors and props men made a bow. Even Tsuna-sensei was pleased with their overall performance, and he gave the group a congratulatory nod as he clapped for them.
All in all, their Sleeping Beauty was a raging success, judging by the amount of people who flocked in to watch them. That said, she should be proud of their achievement. She should be relieved that her personal hell was finally over.
But she wasn't.
Because now that her mind was finally free from all the hassle that came with the job as Director, her scumbag of a brain decided that it was now time to contemplate on the final scene, where the gallant Prince woke lovely Sleeping Beauty from the curse with one magical kiss.
In short, she was mentally repeating the "true love's" kiss scene. And she so hated her brain right now.
"I don't think it was that bad," Tian said finally, after Nejiko frowned and grumbled for the nth time that day. "It's not like we were using our tong—Ow! Okay, I'll stop!"
He massaged his arm, now sore after being pinched by Nejiko.
"Alright, alright. Bad joke. Again. Sorry." He sighed mentally in relief when Nejiko's glare softened a bit. "And look on the bright side. We did great! Your efforts of going to the Leaf Temple were not in vain."
Nejiko sighed, finally, after just staring at Tian. "I guess you're right. Thank God, this is all over."
Tian nodded along. "Yep!" Stuffing his hands inside his pocket, he said. "I can't believe wishing at the Leaf Temple actually worked. I mean, you got your successful play and I got—"
He clammed up swiftly, but Nejiko heard him just as well. The girl quickly turned to look at him, brows raised.
"What was that, Tian?"
"Nothing!" Awkward shuffling, eyes never looking at Nejiko. "Nothing at all."
He received a glare from the pale-eyed girl. "No, you said something just now. Out with it."
"You were hearing things, Nejiko," Tian reasoned out, but he was already sweating bullets. "I swear I didn't say anything."
Nejiko opened her mouth, but to Tian's relief, Tsuna-sensei called for both their attentions. Quickly, the two went to their principal's side, who was giving them a small smile, but not before Nejiko gave Tian a "this is not over" look.
"Good job on the play," Tsuna-sensei praised. Both teens nodded. "We've just received word that the audience absolutely loved it and are now demanding an encore. Of course, he couldn't say no to them, now can we?"
"What?" The two teens said together, incredulously. But their principal wasn't exactly done just yet.
"Yes." Tsuna-sensei replied, before turning to Nejiko. "And your aunt wants some tongue action this time."
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NOTES:
So I managed to not only put Neji in three hairstyles but I also did a genderbend on all characters. Wow, I should stop wearing my FRUITY glasses now. LOL. Anyway, next up! Mari's request for "an origin story for Tenten but no angst please". Had to ask what she meant by no angst and she said "just no character death". Okay, sure, no problem. xD
QUESTION TIME:
Neji is a Pokemon and has ambushed you while you were on your way to the next town. What do you do?
(a) "OMFG! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
(b) "Meh, I was looking for a HitmonLEE. Oh well."
(c) "I'll just defeat him and be on my merry way then."
(d) "ASDQWODADO! MASTER BALL! MUST CATCH IT! NOW!"
-Personally, I'd go for (d). LOL-