Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep saying this?
A/N: SORRY FOR THE WAIT
Chapter 13: Yours or Mine
Tenten caught herself wanting to get out of work soon, but the more she wanted to leave the slower time seemed to pass by. Every time she looked up at the clock it seemed as if it stayed on 8 o'clock forever. The only time it wasn't on there was when she forgot about it, remembered it randomly and looked up only to find that only thirty minutes passed. She looked at the clock one more time before sighing again after finding out that it was only 35 minutes after the hour. Time was not on her side. One more sigh left her before she focused back on the computer screen. It hasn't even been her lunch break yet.
"Calm down, Tenten." Essence called from her cubicle for once. "Time will keep carrying on. you don't have to constantly keep eyeing down the clock every 5 seconds."
"Yeah." Ikuya intervened. He had his normal cup of coffee in his hand as he passed by the two of them to head to his own cubicle thus finishing the "Sandwich Tenten" mission he does with Essence on a daily bases. "Why are you even so worked up in the first place? Or rather, who are you so worked up for in the first place?"
Tenten looked at him, staring into his dark brown eyes and seeing the thoughts in his head clearly through them. It's been several weeks since they unknowingly found Neji's soiled tux coat in her bag, and he still refused to forget about it. If it wasn't for his impatience he would have constantly pestered her every hour on the hour till she spoke. Thankfully both Essence and Ikuya have "patience issues".
"For the last time Ikuya, I'm not going to tell you."
"Tell me what, hon?"
"You know what?" she sighed, digging her hands through her hair once more before fixing it back into its normal position. "I'm not telling you his name, because there is no one to tell you about."
Ikuya scoffed causing Essence to look over like she normally did. "Tenten, you can't hide nothing form us. We know you too well. It's been nearly 5 years since I've been working here with you and with Ikuya it's been 3. So you might as well just tell us what's going on between you and this mystery man you keep running off to."
"Nothing's going on between us!"
"So you admit that there is someone." Ikuya chirped in.
"No. There is no one."
"But you just said that there was nothing going on between you meaning that there is someone."
"No! I as just saying that because there's nothing going on between...us…wait what? You two are confusing me."
"If you just tell us then we'd be out of your hair."
"I'm not telling you anything!"
"Is there someone you are secretly talking to, Tenten?"
"YES!" Tenten hollered, her anger finally spilling over with the two of them. They were thankfully silent after that, but they didn't go back to their work. They just sat there staring at her with blank expressions as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing. Tenten just sat between the two, ignoring them by typing aimlessly on her keyboard. "Well…" she finally spoke up "sort of. I like him, and I just found out that I did yesterday. I tried to tell him, but he had this…apprentice I guess, that was over his house before we got there. So I couldn't tell him about anything. I was actually planning on telling him today."
"Wait." Ikuya held up his hand up, a sign of him about to complain. "So this apprentice girl, is there anything going on between the two of them?"
"I don't think so. She seemed too innocent."
"It's always the innocent ones that you least suspect." Essence added in. on Tenten's other side Ikuya made a sound of agreement as he sipped his coffee.
"Essence is right. Did there look like there was anything going on between them? Did they look he least bit uncomfortable with you around?"
"No. He seemed pretty relaxed. She was kind of schizophrenic though."
"That's not a good sign." Essence sighed. She had now rolled her whole chair into Tenten's cubicle. "What else about her. How was she touching him?"
"She wasn't touching him. She seemed to try to avoid his touch. She did stutter a lot though, and every time she looked at me she had this determined look in her eyes, almost as if she wanted to surpass me in something. In fact I think she might like him."
Ikuya looked at Essence, who looked at him before focusing back on Tenten."Describe this girl to us, Ten."
"She has long hair I assume."
"Why assume?" Ikuya questioned.
"Because her ponytails were long. She had them tied up into two ponytails on the side of her head."
"Okay, so she's young." Essence mentioned.-(1)-
"What else." Tenten looked at them before looking back at her keyboard. "She was rather small. Almost my height but just a few inches shorter, and she had a small voice."
"So he's that type." Essence mused aloud more to herself rather than them.
"Anything else?"
"She would stutter every time he complemented her. And she blushed whenever he looked at her, even though he's rather passive when it comes to…that."
"She likes him."
"Did she look like she was going to say anything to him? Did you have to leave them alone at any point?"
" No she was mainly asking him questions on how to improve some…things, and yes I do believe I had to leave the room at one point."
"Not good."
"When you came back, how were they?"
"Quiet. They were looking at me mainly."
"Not good."
"Did you notice anything different about their attitudes, anything at all?"
"No. Why? You guys are starting to scare me."
"Okay so she didn't confess. No matter how stoic a man may be, no man can hide face that well from a sudden confession."
"Yes." Ikuya agreed. "He also seems to be clueless with emotions, so the only way he would know that either Tenten or that other girl likes him would be if they told him themselves."
"Guys?"
"So what do we do, Poppa bear?"
"So far, I've got nothing…hey why do I have to be Poppa bear?"
"Hello?"
"Because of the fact that I'm obviously more of a mother than you are."
"Weren't we talking about me, here?"
"Oh please, hon, the only thing remotely motherly about you is those two milk jugs you're hauling-"
"GUYS!"
They flinched then focused on Tenten. "Come back down to earth you two. I'm not getting any younger and-" she suddenly stopped then looked up at the clock. It was 10:15. Ten minutes after her lunch break.
She swore under her breath as she franticly grabbed her things and started out the office. "I have to go guys." She screamed before running down the hall.
"Good luck!" Ikuya yelled after her.
"Cause she might need all the luck she can get." Essence sighed.
Ikuya scoffed at her before laughing slightly as he slid into his cubicle. "Amen to that."
Later at Neji's office:
Meme watched as her sensei danced from station to station to examine the work done by his students. He seemed elegant almost as he weaved through their frantic hands and dragging cloth, while all the while still holding the toast he previously fixed firmly in his mouth. She didn't know how that interested her or how she ended up watching him occasionally chew at it before speaking to a pupil, she just knew that only the way he did it was intriguing to her. A hearty sigh left her mouth as she leaned her chin on the palm of her hand. A dreamy look coming on her face as she waited patiently for him to turn, to see her and the way she looked at him and to somehow know that she loved him.
"You're going to start to drool, Meme." Yuuya chuckled, picking the girls head up and waking her instantly.
"Y-Yuuya-san? What are you-?"
"He has a point there Meme." Kanae added. A broad smile spread across her face as she saw her little friend's clueless reaction. "You've been staring at Neji for some time now. He's busy now, whatever it is you want to tell him, I'm sure you can tell him some other time, ne?"
Meme's face suddenly grew hard as she stared back. Her clueless face was gone completely now and she looked serious for once in her life as she unconsciously bore holes into her friends face. "No." she finally said. "No, I can't wait. Because every time I choose to wait, that Tenten girl keeps showing up, and suddenly all of his attention is instantly diverted to her."
"Who?" Yuuya asked, cocking his head to the side and letting his brown locks fall beside his face near his emerald green eyes.
"Tenten. You know the girl with the…" Meme motioned above her head two circle like figures before letting he hands fall back down to her sides. "Her!"
Yuuya rose his head then, light shinning in his eyes before them for the first time before letting his head fall back down to the other side and allowing the color to vanish. He was still confused. "He obviously forgot about her." Kanae cooed as she watched the boy stare off into space: his interest noticeably gone.
"Figures." Meme sighed. "He's only seen her once, and that was a very brief look, too."
"You've seen her more than once?"
"Only twice, but nonetheless, I've seen her enough to recognize her as my enemy."
Kanae nodded then proceeded in finishing her touch up of her drawing of a dress. "Well you better hurry then. You never know when that girl will pop up. And right now, Neji is all ears for his students. So he'll have no choice but listen to you."
Meme smiled and was about to say something when a loud screech was heard from up ahead. It sounded like Lee, but she wasn't sure mainly because no one can make Lee scream like that. She turned, curiosity getting the best of her, only to find that same bun haired girl running through the previously closed doors and looking around, her face flushed from the cold and her eyes watery possibly from running against the wind. Her hair was slightly messy and her face was clear and pouring out emotions here and there in every which way as she stared doe-eyed at everyone that stared back, possibly looking for Neji. Meme's smile vanished the moment she saw Tenten's eyes focus in on him. She wanted to move to detour him from her path by doing something, anything, but nothing came to mind. She was at a loss.
"Neji." Tenten cooed, her voice sounding like velvet as she spoke his name, making him jolt physically. He turned towards her, bread still in his mouth, then smiled to his best abilities before stepping closer to her, and as Meme watched she couldn't help but notice the facial expression he gave Tenten and compare it to the one he occasionally gave her.
Three times. She thought as she watched with sad eyes, Neji lead her to his office. She ruined everything, three times. Meme sighed then turned in her chair. Kanae was still looking at the office doors as was Yuuya but his facial expression was more vivid with color and interest than hers. Kanae's was more of a disinterest look.
"Maybe she won't say anything."Kanae assured, patting Meme on her back softly before looking at Yuuya who was still watching the door, his expression falling to worry the more time passed on. "Maybe she'll coward out."
Meme smiled at Kanae but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks for the support, Kanae-chan, but I highly doubt she'd back out. She looked pretty determined the last time I saw her."
Kanae bit her bottom lip then opened her mouth briefly before snapping it shut and continuing on her work. She was going to say something, but she voted against it. She figured that nothing she would say could cheer her little friend up, so she just sat back down after moving away her short black bangs to see he picture.
After some time, Tenten stepped back out the office, momentarily catching everyone's eyes. She seemed happier. Her eyes carried this type of glow that wasn't there when she first walked in. Meme continued to watch her, as did Yuuya and Kanae, as Neji walked her back towards the shops doors.
Lee, who was a little ahead of the gang, stepped out of her way and she bowed slightly, an embarrassed look suddenly showing on her face as she apologized for something. He seemed to brush it off quickly as they moved on. Then, out of the blue, she fixed her gaze on Meme's staring figure. A smile, small sweet and content spread across her face as she bowed at her allowing her bangs to fall in front of her eyes. Meme flinched at this but smiled back anyways. She then focused her gaze on Yuuya and his stand just ahead of Meme and she stopped, turning he head sideways at him, before smiling gratefully and pointing at his picture. "It's cute. I like it: Real simple, yet classy. It's good."
Meme looked at Yuuya. A shocked expression showed on his face as he stared her down before a small blush appeared form nowhere. He bowed and thanked her quickly before looking away, avoiding everyone's eyes but mainly hers. Meme saw this and continued to stare at Yuuya as did Kanae; both girls shocked themselves from the boy's actions. They completely forgot about Tenten as she walked out and Neji as he came back in with more vigor than form before. They were more interested in the boy that stared out the closed doors where Tenten had walked through.
A distant look colored his eyes and he sighed one hearty sigh before sitting back down, limp and unmotivated, on his stole.
What? Meme thought as she slowly went back to work.
Back at Tenten's Job:
She flopped back down in her less than comfortable work chair, suddenly missing the feel of Neji's office chairs, then turned back to her computer to start working again, when Essence and Ikuya looked over there cubicles with expectant faces.
"Well…?" Essence began.
"How did it go?" Ikuya intervened. "Tell us everything."
Tenten looked up at them, a large smile on her face as she twinned her fingers together. The two above her looked almost bulldozed over with excitement as they waited her obvious answer. "Well I did go see him." She began before turning to type in her password on her computer.
"And?" Essence asked.
"And…" Tenten made a face while reading an email before she designated it useless. She then looked back at her two friends with an even wider smile on her face. Their excitement was clear and they soon wouldn't hold it in any longer. "I didn't tell him."
"YES!" they both cheered, but that cheer stopped abruptly as realization hit them. "What?"
"I just couldn't tell him." Tenten complained, slamming her face into the palms of her hands. "I walked in with so much confidence, but the moment I saw him I just…I don't know…I lost it I guess."
"What the hell, Tenten."
"That Meme girl could have already confessed you know." Essence boomed.
"I don't think she did. She looked rather hurt as I left."
"So you think that she thinks that you confessed already?"
Tenten stared as if pondering on that thought, then slowly shook her head yes. "You better hope so, hon." Ikuya crocked as he rubbed his temples in frustration. "Otherwise, that girl would be one step ahead of you."
"…Yes…" she sighed "I know."
FINALLY! I know that was what you guys were saying, but hey, I did tell you. I t was on my profile. You should have checked it out…or read the authors notes. So anyways, here's some info you might not have known:
-(1)-When it's a question, it's Ikuya speaking. Statements were Essence and I think you already know which one was Tenten.