A/N: sorry for the majorly late update. i hope you guys are NOT disappointed in this chapter's content. please enjoy!
After entering one of the many Uchiha mansions in Japan, Neji stalked up to his room/office and slammed the door.
Sai looked up the stairs and asked, "What the hell is his problem?" He slid off his suit jacket and threw it onto a bar stool before selecting a type of red wine. He poured himself a glass and sipped it slowly. "Ah, alcohol is good."
Tenten snatched it from his hand and poured the wine down the drain. "Alcohol is bad! You should know that already, Sai. Besides, this stuff isn't for you or any of us. It's Itachi-san's supply, and you know how he can get when others consume his drinks." Sai scoffed and began pouring himself another drink.
"I just finished telling you not to do that!" Tenten snapped, dumping the liquid. "Go shower or something." Sai scowled but consented at least by going to the upper level.
"Hey, Lee, what is wrong with Neji?" Tenten asked, washing, drying, and putting away the glasses. "I know he won't talk to me, but you should know."
"Apparently he was talking with Sasuke and told him that we should be moving on to wherever his next movie is going to be filmed. After all, coming to Japan wasn't just so he could take a break, but participate in his next big public appearance in Osaka. The only reason we've stayed this long was because the director had no objections to our staying more than necessary and the fact that Sasuke wanted to find out more about Haruno-san."
"And Neji doesn't like it when things don't go his way," Tenten sighed in understanding. "He is so mature, yet at times even he has his limitations aka times of immaturity. Sometimes I wonder if I live with a house full of men or children. Anyways, we should just leave him be until tomorrow."
"That is always the smart thing to do. I worry about his youth though. Being burdened with this so many things will only bring him closer to old age." Lee nodded knowingly. He recalled once telling one of his assistants that, but they wouldn't listen and ended up with wrinkles. "Then again…it was quite satisfying seeing those wrinkles on her once perfect features. She wasn't one of my most favorite assistants. That's what one gets for not listening to Rock Lee. Well, goodnight Tenten," he waved, yawning.
"'Night, Lee," replied Tenten, turning off the smaller lights, leaving a few main lights on for Sasuke. "He'd better not be harassing that poor girl, or he'll be in trouble. Being alone in a car with Sasuke…scary." Tenten made her way up the stairs and knocked lightly on Neji's door. She heard a muffled answer and let herself in. "Hey Neji, don't stay up too late or get too stressed out tonight, okay? Oh, and here's a message from Lee: 'Don't take on too many burdens or you'll end up with so many wrinkles that you'd be mistaken for an old man.'" Although he had no reply, she knew he'd heard. Tenten smiled to herself and left quietly.
Neji sighed crossly and leaned back in his chair. Working with Sasuke could be such a bother. He was so self-centered. Neji had his own things that needed to be dealt with before they headed to Europe. He massaged his head and stared at the ceiling. The night sky stared back at him, stars twinkling dimly yet the moon shining brightly. A small smile flitted across his face. Somehow, staring at the sky had always made him feel more peaceful. It reminded him of freedom.
"If I want freedom, then why the hell am I working with an Uchiha?" He asked himself, tiredly running a hand over his face. His thoughts then turned to Hyuuga Hinata. Why couldn't he remember her? Frustration clawed at him. "Oh well, I'll just call her household tomorrow or something. I will never be able to talk one-on-one with her if all her friends are there." Slowly, as time passed by, he fell into a light doze (since he rarely ever fell into a deep sleep). Wispy white clouds filled his head, and slowly they parted, revealing a younger, perhaps five years old, Neji and his father.
"Neji, my son, come here." His father beckoned him over with a small smile on his face. "Neji, this is Hinata-sama. Until you are gone from this world, you must watch over her and make sure that no soul harms her." He watched the girl with the small bob of dark purple hair stare at him shyly, a small blush on her face.
"You killed him! You killed him! Why did you take him away from me?!" Neji screamed, tears streaming down his face. Before him, sitting around a table, sipping tea, were two men, one old and the other about as young as his father had been. However, he couldn't see their faces, for they were hidden in the dark. Around them were other men half-hidden in the shadows. "Why'd you take him away from me?!" He asked again. But before he could get his answer, one of the men from the shadows stepped out and grabbed his arms, removing him from the room.
"Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Boys aren't supposed to cry." A voice chided him softly. He lifted his head and found a girl with chocolate brown eyes staring at him. "Why are you crying?" She repeated. In return, he gave her a cold glare, turning away, quickly rubbing at his face. She followed him and continued to stare at his face. "You have weird eyes." He scowled at her this time and she giggled in return. "But I like them; they're unique. Hey, I have a bento with me. My mama made it for me this morning. Do you want to eat it with me?" She didn't wait for an answer. She simply set the bento on the rock he sat on and began taking the food out. She kneeled on the ground and took out two pairs of chopsticks, breaking hers apart. She began eating, a satisfied grin on her face. Neji turned away from the food, his face downcast. Suddenly his stomach grumbled, and he felt a blush dusting his face. The girl gave another giggle and handed him the chopsticks. "Eat; I'm sure it'll help. I always eat when I'm sad and it helps a lot."
"Then why aren't you fat?" He mumbled, picking something out of the box and looking at it warily before popping it in his mouth. He chewed and found it to be extremely appetizing and so continued eating.
"I always go to my secret place and eat. It gives me exercise. But…it does get kind of lonely because I don't have any friends." It was her turn to look sad as she played with the chopsticks.
"You're wrong," he said, swallowing a miniature rice ball. "I'm your friend, aren't I?"
"You don't seem like the type of person to want me as their friend. Why are you being so nice to me?" She questioned suspiciously, eyeing him as he continued eating out of the bento.
"You were nice to me, and the only person who has ever acted that way towards me was my father. But…he's gone now. I think he'd want me to be your friend. So…do you want my friendship or not? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, girl."
"My name is Tenten, not 'girl.' What's yours?"
"…. It's Neji."
"Well, Neji, I'm glad we're friends now. Why don't we meet here again tomorrow? I'll take you to my secret place."
"Alright. …Tenten…I'm glad we're friends now, really I am." He gave her an appreciative smile as they continued eating.
"Alright, now that you've been split into groups of three, for the next few minutes I want you to share with your new tablemates what your dreams or goals for the future are." The teacher looked at them before signaling them to go. Chatter immediately filled the classroom, some excited and others reluctant.
"I'll go first," Tenten offered, seeing that neither of her tablemates wanted to go. Neji, she knew, simply didn't want to do it because he thought it was stupid and that no one else needed to know what his future dreams or goals were anyways. The other guy, one with long dark hair framing his face and somewhat flipping out at the ends, she didn't know he was thinking.
Before she could tell them what her goals/dreams were, the guy with the long hair blurted out, "I want to prove that I can still make my way in the world without the help of my family name. Even though I am a second son and have no chance of becoming heir to my family's line of companies, I want to show that I can become well known throughout the world without depending on my name or family."
Tenten stared at the boy, somewhat realizing how close their dreams/goals were. "Well, I want to be just as great as Tsunade-sama. She's my idol; she came from a poor-middle class family and worked her way up in the world. Now, look at her, she's the owner of a large chain of bars and hotels across the world! She's super rich and worked really hard to get there." She nodded a few times before asking, "Are you going to share, Neji?"
"This is pointless," he replied in that monotone voice of his, the usual look of boredom on his face.
"Or perhaps you have no goal in your life," the other boy replied haughtily. "I don't understand what's so pointless in telling others what you want to do with your life."
Neji instantly gave him a glare, but the boy refused to back down. "If I told you my goal, what could you possibly do to help?" Neji snarled. "Wasting my breath telling you something that you'll never be involved in in the near or far future is pointless."
"It may seem pointless in the future, but the teacher paired us up according to how we would all fit together. I believe that from now until we disappear off this earth, our destinies and futures are intertwined. Perhaps, it will even go beyond that, and we will meet again when we are reincarnated."
"Leave her alone, you schoolyard bullies!" Neji and Tenten looked up from their school books, hardly surprised that Lee, now with a bowl cut, was defending another helpless student. Tenten continued to watch while Neji turned back to his book, neatly writing his answers down on a sheet of paper. Beside him, Tenten winced when one of the bigger bullies punched Lee into the ground.
"We should help him," she insisted urgently, turning her eyes away from the scene briefly. "Come on, Neji," she urged even more, hearing more punches and kicks.
"Lee knows what he's getting into when he stands up for other people. We should let him be and do as he likes."
"But he's our friend! We don't just stand by and watch him get hurt!" Tenten exclaimed, her book and papers dropping to the ground. She hardly noticed however as she continued to stare at Neji disbelievingly.
"Since when has he ever been a friend of mine?" He looked at her calmly for a few seconds before turning back to his work.
"…Neji, although we didn't start out on the best of terms, and we are hardly getting any better, I will help you with your goal."
"What are you talking about?" Neji asked, staring straight ahead as people parted before him, girls giggling behind their hands and admiring him while boys muttered murderously, jealous how a first year like him could cause such a commotion within the female population.
"Six years ago, when we were split into trios by the teacher and told to share our future goals, you told me it was pointless to tell me what yours was because I would never be involved in it or perhaps even know you when the time came. However, I have finally decided that I should help you; our fates will continue to intertwine as we get older; it has already begun. You must have noticed this as well." Lee gave him a side look to which Neji ignored.
"You still believe that our fates are intertwined and will continue to do so?" He asked, an edge of amusement in his tone.
"Yes," Lee replied seriously, "more so than anything."
"Funny, I never thought I'd see you at a bar, Lee." Neji noted, sitting down and giving his order to a nearby waitress.
"Tenten told me about it; she said-she said it was one of Tsunade-sama's bars," he slurred slightly, gulping down his drink and waving a waitress over to bring him another one. "Why are you here?"
"It's one of the bars I regularly come to when I'm stressed," he said, loosening his tie. "How'd you get in anyways? We're minors."
"I should be asking you the same question. Connections," he answered for himself. "I may not be the heir to my family's corporation, but just telling people my name is enough to get me in anywhere." He turned to Neji and unexpectedly said, "I'll help you with your goal if you help with mine."
"Depends on what I have to do and what I get in return." Neji replied, swirling the contents of his drink.
"Both men and women are attracted to you, despite your lack of a real personality. I seem to not have that ability, and I still cannot understand how you do. At my father's next party, which will be two weeks from now, you will attend as one of my companions and try to convince the higher-ups to acknowledge me. I can work the rest from there once we begin talking. In return, as I said, I will help you with your goal, however long it may take. I will even go beyond that if my way of life improves even more."
"Hm…is that all…? …Well, how will I know who the higher-ups are?"
"You will recognize them immediately, believe me. They are not hard to miss. Also, my father never bothers with anyone who isn't on the same level with him, so it doesn't matter who you approach or vice versa. Taking it a step further, these men may even help you with your goal."
"…Two weeks from today, you said?"
"Neji, I'm nervous," Tenten muttered, toying with her dress. She hated wearing these things; always had and always would. However, she couldn't really turn Neji down when he'd asked, in that almost indecipherable way of his, whether or not she wanted to attend Lee's father's event with him. He'd asked her almost two weeks ago, and she hadn't figured it out until yesterday; she spent today shopping for a dress which took forever, not to mention all the shoes and accessories that she'd had to go through. It was a nightmare, one that she'd never wanted to go through again. She'd even relayed it to Neji who simply "hm'd" throughout the whole thing.
"Why are you nervous? All you have to do is stand there and smile at people. I'm the one that will have to do all the talking." Neji muttered in reply as they boarded the empty elevator.
"That's just it! I'd prefer talking to old men than standing around like a statue attached to your arm, smiling at old men I don't know. It's weird! Why don't I do the talking instead?" She asked hopefully.
"Tenten, in these sort of upper class get-togethers, men do all the talking with other men while women idly stand by either talking to other women or waiting to be spoken to. Please try to understand this."
"But it sounds so boring," she groaned.
"Then you could've declined my offer," Neji answered smartly as they got off the elevator. "Ready?" He asked as Tenten sighed, putting her arm around the crook of his elbow.
"I don't have a choice in the matter, do I?" She sighed again, putting on a small smile as they entered the large ballroom.
Neji and Tenten were exiting the ballroom, finished with what Neji was assigned with. Lee had been left happily talking and expressing his ideas to some interested old men of "very good companies" he'd told them. However, as they were about to board the elevator, they heard a small derisive laugh echoing down the hallway. Tenten, intrigued and slightly disgusted by the horrid sound, led Neji down there and both were surprised to see Lee and a woman talking. He was sitting on a cushioned bench while the girl stood in front of him, a sneer on her face. Golden blonde hair cascaded down her back and dark gray eyes looked down mockingly at the man before her.
"Did you really, seriously believe that I'd ever love a loser like you? No one will love you as long as you are a second son, as long as you have a brother as handsome and charming as that. I was simply using you to get closer to your family, to your brother. You really are a simpleton as everyone says." She gave another laugh before stalking down the hallway, opposite of where Neji and Tenten had come from. Perhaps there was another entrance on the other side.
Much to Tenten's surprise, and his own, Neji yelled, "You're despicable. You think that you're all that simply because you supposedly made Lee fall head over heels in love with you. He's chuckling to himself now as we speak because you're going to be exploited as the whore-fraud you are. He doesn't point out that you're the one who's been fooled because he's too kind and soft-hearted for that. I, however, might as well do it now. Can I, Lee?" To this, Lee gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. Neji smirked in satisfaction. "Tenten, give me your phone." Tenten shuffled through her purse, taking out her phone and handing it to Neji, a confused expression on her face. "On this phone is exactly what you just told Lee. Exposing this to his father, mother, and brother will put you in a bad position. Now, apologize to Lee."
The woman scoffed and said, "What does it matter? My family is already down in the dumps so what does it matter if they get any lower?"
"…You hurt Lee…" Neji said quietly so she couldn't hear. "For what you did, we'll make sure your face is permanently disfigured. After all, higher-ups can do as they please to the vermin that crawl beneath their feet." He gave a cold, murderous smirk which only grew larger as she backed away in fear.
"You-you don't--you don't scare me! You're just faking it! Who the hell are you anyways?!"
"Oh, but I do frighten you, very much so."
"If-if you're going--if you're going to hurt me, then bring it! I can always report you to the authorities!"
"Didn't I tell you, little girl," Neji began softly, "that the higher-ups can do as they please to vermin that crawl beneath their feet? Well you are a piece of filth on the bottom of my shoe; no matter what kind of story you give the authorities, my money and power will win in the end."
"Yeah, well you just wait until I become wife of the heir to Lee Corp.! You'll regret threatening me, you and Lee both! I'll put you in your place with the trash on the streets! I don't care if I have to drug Lee's brother! I will be his wife! What do you say to that now?!" She breathed triumphantly, her chest heaving from all the yelling.
"I guess I won't have to exert myself. Thank you for confessing, little girl." He gave another smirk, his eyes flickering over her shoulder. She instantly froze and slowly turned around. Standing there was none other than Lee's father, Hiro, mother, Kaori, and Uchiha Fugaku, along with his sons.
"I told you she was trying to worm her way into our family," Kaori said softly to her husband, her eyes trained on the woman. "Now, may I have the pleasure of throwing her in jail?" Hiro said nothing; he was only shaking in anger. Kaori took this as an affirmative and pulled a cell phone from her bag. "Hello, I'd like some officers to come to the ballroom hallway; there is a distasteful stain in this hallway, and it's really beginning to bother me. Yes, please hurry up. It was, after all, trying to bring harm to my family." She put the phone away with a satisfied smile on her face. "Lee, love, let us go back to the party." She said, walking over to him and gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I think I'll stay out here a little longer with my friends, if you don't mind mother. I will be in there soon enough."
"Alright. Why don't the rest of us head back then?" She walked past the woman whose mouth was agape. She was still in shock from the fact that she'd been found out and would be going to jail. Kaori ushered her husband and their guests back to the ballroom; while she did so, she threw a small sneer in the woman's direction. Not long afterwards, officers came rushing up, arresting the woman while Neji and Tenten stood to the side.
"Thank you Neji, Tenten," Lee said after the officers had left with their convict in tow. "If you had not arrived, she probably would've become my sister-in-law."
"It was no problem," Tenten grinned. "Of course, it was all Neji's idea. I don't even think he knew what he was doing."
"Let us never have a situation like that again. However, it seems that you may have your uses after all, Lee."
"Neji!" Tenten scolded.
"Yes, and you have yours as well. I told you that our destinies would intertwine, and you see how it has come true?" Neji turned his face away, his way of acknowledging that yes, he really had begun noticing it.
Tenten laughed in the background and said, "I think we're all going to be friends for a long time. That's good."
A loud pounding on the door broke through the silence. Neji snapped awake, scowling and rubbing the back of his neck. "Come in."
The door opened and Lee stepped through, announcing, "It's time for breakfast. Beware, however. Tenten cooked some of it, as did Sai. I suggest you politely decline and find something actually edible. If you cannot get away with that, choose Sai's food. Oh, were you sleeping?"
"Yes," Neji answered crossly, "but it was in an uncomfortable position."
"What did you dream of?"
"Not exactly dreams, just memories."
"Ah…yes, memories are good, depending on the content. Anyways, come eat. Sasuke is home, and Tenten is pestering him about it. Join in it when you get down; we could always use one of your sarcastic, dry-humored comments. It is quite fun to tease Sasuke…although I sincerely wished that it was me who drove the cherry blossom beauty home. However, our destinies are probably not going to lead towards that. We may end up as good friends while she and Sasuke will become lovers." He shrugged. "Then again, I could always be wrong. One misstep and fate changes dramatically."
"You still believe things like that?" Neji asked, standing up and stretching.
"Yes, I do. I was right about yours, mine, and Tenten's fates coming together. We are all here together, are we not?"
Neji turned his face away, crossing his arms. Lee laughed, knowing it was his sign of acknowledgement, the sign that stated Lee was right. Lee also knew that trouble was coming, and it would cause a terrible storm. As people said, this was only the calm before the storm.