Roommates

by Metal-Blondie

I'm accepted to the best boarding-school in Japan, I have good teachers that I get along with and my rommates are the two most popular boys in school. It can't be better! ... Hear the sarcasm? NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno.

14. The game, part 1

Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone! Let's see if we can make it over two hundred after this chapter, peoples! xD

Yeah, here's the fourteenth chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the songs, book, movies etc that I might mention.

Fourteenth chapter: The game, part 1

It was Thursday evening, about a month or so after our trip to the mall. We – as in the basketball-team – were gathered in the gym. We had just finished a training session that was even harder than usual – if that's possible, will say.

The guys were all tired; everyone was sitting down and drinking water (or pouring the water over themselves, as Naruto and Kiba did), or talking if they had the energy to do so. And Shikamaru of course slept. No surprises there.

So, yeah, the guys were tired. The same couldn't be said about us girls, though.

"TENTEN! GIVE IT BACK!!"

"NO WAY! YOU DESTROYED MY SCRUNCHIES!"

I was running around the gym, carrying one of Temari's shoes.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!"

"YEAH RIGTH! DON'T YOU THINK I SAW THAT GRIN?!!"

She really did smirk.

"I DON'T CARE! GIMME MY SHOE, YOU STUPID PANDA!"

Suddenly something caught my eye. It was one on the lamps in the ceiling. And you know how the roofs in gyms always are reeaally high up? Yeah, and this was, like, twenty meters high, or something.

I smirked and stopped running. Instead I crouched just a little, and lifted the hand with the shoe, my eyes on the lamp.

Temari had stopped also, wondering what I was doing. She looked the way I did and saw the lamp, and – something that surprised me, actually – she was smart enough to understand what I was doing.

"Don't you dare, you little…" she started. My smirk grew wider, and aimed. Just when I was about to throw the shoe, something jumped on me and threw me to the ground.

Temari.

"Owww! You bitch, get off of me!" I yelled. She didn't reply, but tried to get the shoe. We started wrestling, since I refused to give her the shoe, and she refused to give up trying to take the shoe.

"GIVE IT BACK, YOU STUPID IDIOT!!"

"NEVERRR!!!"

"GIMME!!"

"NO!"

"WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND PAY ATTENTION?!!"

We froze. Temari's hands were around my throat, while one of my hands was around hers, and the other hand, the one holding the shoe, was raised, ready to hit Temari in the head. With the shoe.

Neji was the one who had yelled. I don't think I've ever heard him yell before.
So, we turned to look at the guys. Neji was standing up, glaring at us. His hands were on the sides of his waist (not on his hips, thank god) and something about the picture reminded me of an angry housewife.

…No need to tell him that….

The other guys again were still sitting down and trying to muffle their snickers. Except for Kankuro, Kiba and Naruto, of course. They did nothing to muffle their guffaws.

And, well, Gaara was just smirking. And Shino. Though I don't know, I didn't see his face. But I think he was the tiniest bit amused. So, technically, it was just Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru and Lee who were trying to muffle their snickers.

…Anyway…

"Get over here!" Neji hissed angrily.

"Well, since you're asking so nicely", I said sarcastically and got up from the floor, smoothing out my shirt. Temari snatched the shoe from my hand and we walked over to the guys.

Neji glared at us for a few more seconds before he turned back to the others.

"So, as we all know…" he started.

"We do?" I asked Temari, whose shoulder I was leaning on. She just shrugged, almost making my arm fall off. Off her shoulder, I mean.

Neji glared at me, so I picked up an invisible key from my nonexistent pocket, locked my lips with it, and threw it over my shoulder. Neji just rolled his eyes and continued talking.

"As we know, the Winter-game against Hebi is just a week away", he said, and then paused. "Well, not really even a week. Six, days, since the game's on Wednesday next week." My eyes widened, and then started sparkling.

JUST SIX DAYS?! YAY!!!

"I've heard that Hebi is stronger than ever this year", Neji continued. "That's why I've made you train even harder lately. We can't take any risks. Especially not with a new one in the team." He glanced at me, and I raised my eyebrows.

Temari nudged me with her elbow, grinning. "You're a newbie", she said teasingly. I glared at her. "The only one who hasn't played a single game." I just continued glaring. What was I supposed to say? It was true.

Neji looked back at everyone else. "So, we have to do our best in that game. Give one hundred and ten percent of what we've got." I raised a hand, and he looked at me questioningly.

"You do know that that's not really possible, since a human only uses about twenty percent of-"

"What the hell is wrong with you today, Tenten?!"

"No, Captain, what the hell's wrong with you? I don't remember you having temper issues before."

Yeah. I made the rest of the team laugh again. And Neji's just about exploding with irritation.

…My life mission is done.

Naah, kidding. My life mission is to give all the animals weapons (guns, canons, bombs, swords, etc…) so that the fight between them and the hunters will be fair. And I have to explode all the… you know, the places where they kill animals just to get the fur. What's that called? But I have to get the animals out before I explode the place, of course, and get a farm where I can live with the animals, since they can't go back to living in the nature.

Oh, and, I have to make sure no one kills animals that are under the threat of extermination! So, I won't run out of things to do, and if I do run out of them, I can always be a rock-star! And when I get bored of that, I could always get a job, I guess…

'And another thing we could do is get married!'

'Phew, yeah right. To who?'

'Neji-kun, of course, you idiot.'

'Please, don't call him that. And besides, I AM NOT GONNA MARRY HIM!!! Jeez, you're as bad as Hinata…'

Cough. Where was I? Oh yeah, Neji's pissed!

"Tennie, don't push him", Temari grinned. "He'll get a heart-attack."

I blinked. "Ooh! Neji, can I have your cell phone when you die?"

He chose to ignore me. Manly, Hyuuga.

"They also say that Hebi has recently gotten a new member", he said. "Just a few weeks ago, but he's good, I've heard. I don't know the name, though."

"We'll get 'em down!" Naruto grinned, holding up his water-bottle as if for a toast.

"Amen to that!" Kiba agreed, holding up his bottle too, and then they drank at the same time before they started laughing.

"What have they put in those bottles?" I asked Temari, who shrugged, watching the two seemingly drunk boys.

"Temari, Tenten", Neji suddenly said seriously, and everything went quiet. We looked at him, surprised. "I want you two to promise that you'll keep your temper under control." We blinked.

"Why would we do that?" I asked. Temari snickered a little, but the others were serious.

"Girls, I'm saying completely bluntly that the Hebi will not show any respect for you", Neji said. "They will look at you as weak and helpless, but I don't care what they say, you will not start a fight with them. Neither physical nor verbal."

I raised an eyebrow. "I can understand that physical thing, but why not verbal?"

"Because I tell you so", Neji said shortly. "We're done now. You can leave." With that he and the rest of the guys turned around and started walking to their locker-room, leaving me and Temari behind to watch them.

XxXxX

"'You will not start a fight with them'." I imitated Neji's deep voice (un)skillfully. I and Temari were in our locker-room now, changing. We had been silent ever since we stepped into the shower, but now I started talking. "What does he think we are?"

"I know!" Temari agreed, combing her hair angrily. "Are we some idiot brats, or something?"

"Apparently", I said, slamming my locker shut with more force than necessary. "'Because I tell you so'." I spit on the floor. Temari didn't remark it, since I'd learned the habit from her. Whenever she was pissed, she spit.

Not a good habit, but I don't really care. I don't behave well when I'm pissed anyway.

"I mean, seriously!" Temari slammed her locker shut, too. "If we're being insulted, of course we'll stand up for ourselves!"

"Yeah, they can't seriously expect us to just stand there and do nothing when some idiot sexists call us weak because we're women."

"You know, the guys don't understand how bad that is", Temari said, grabbing her jeans and pulling them on. "No one ever calls them weak, since they're guys."

"Yeah", I agreed. "For a woman it's harder. Women are much more often treated worse because they're women than men because they're men. Much more often."

"And they expect us to just stand there and take the crap without even saying a word!" Temari exploded angrily. "Bet they wouldn't!"

"They so wouldn't", I said.

Suddenly something started having a terrible noise, and then it started… raining?

"Aren't those the sprinklers, or whatever they're called?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling while shielding my eyes from the water with my hand. Temari looked up too, frowning.

"Yeah, I guess so", she said after a moment.

"And what's the sound?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "It reminds me of a fire detector." Don't ask me how I know how those sound…

"Yeah", Temari agreed. "Hey, don't sprinklers and fire detectors have something in common…?"

That's when it (finally) hit us. We both froze for a few seconds.

Then:

"FUCK!!!"

I started running for the door and Temari ran for the other one, the one that led to the gym.

I turned the handle. Nothing happened. I frowned and pushed the door with my shoulder. Nothing happened. I kicked the door. Nothing happened.

"Tema, I think it's stuck!" I called, and slightly hysteric edge in my voice.

"Ye-yeah, I-I think… ugh… that this one's t-too", Temari panted while pushing at the other door with all her might. I got panicked and started searching for an escape.

My eyes stopped at a window. I sighed in relief.

"Temari, the window", I said and hurried over to it. Temari was there first, though, and quickly jumped up on a locker to reach the window. She put her hand on the handle and turned. Then she turned the handle again and pushed at the window. Then she pulled at it.

…Nothing happened.

The blonde turned to me, and her eyes were just the tiniest bit panicked.

"U-uh, Ten", she said, "I… uh… think we're trapped." I gave a slow nod. My eyes were wide with panic that would be voiced any second now. I turned around and started hyperventilating.

Then the door to the gym caught my eye, and I made a quick decision. I turned back to my friend, and my eyes were grave.

"Temari", I said seriously, "it's time for us to handle this as the women we are." Temari furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. I turned back to the door. It was silent for a moment.

"Uh, Tenten?"

"Yes?"

"…How exactly do we handle this as the women we are?" I turned to glare at her.

"Temari!" I said angrily. "This is drama, not humor!" She raised an eyebrow.

"Um, Tenten, we're not a movie, you know." I pouted.

"I can dream, can't I?" Temari rolled her eyes.

"So, what're we gonna do?" she asked, jumping down from the closet.
I got serious again.

"We're going to crash that door." Temari blinked, but then her face got hard and she nodded once.

We went to stand next to each other a few meters from the door. We both looked very concentrated.

"Ready?" I asked. Temari nodded. "Okay. On three." I crouched slightly to get more speed and strength. "One." Temari crouched, too, and wiped a stand of her hair quickly from her face. "Two." We crouched even more, leaning forward, and Temari cracked her knuckles. "Three."

We ran.

We prepared for the pain.

The door opened.

We fell right on our noses out in the gym.

It was silent for a moment. Then:

"Owww…" we moaned in unison, our faces still on the floor. Nothing was broken, though. I think.

I sat up strenuously, supporting my weight with one hand and clutching my nose with the other. Temari did the same, but she was rubbing her forehead.

Suddenly I realized we weren't alone. In front of me stood ten pairs of feet. I looked up.

There was every single male from the team. They were all standing in similar positions: arm crossed over their chest and looking down at us superiorly. The difference just was that some of them looked amused and some of them glared at us.

And then there were two faces that looked simply shocked. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, yah name it.

I and Temari looked at each other before we looked back at them and asked, in unison:

"What?"

They just continued to stare at us.

I decided to try and talk. "Um… isn't there a fire?" No one replied. I glanced at Temari. She shrugged.

"Guess not." We sat there for a moment. I pursed my lips and looked around the room, feeling a little awkward with the silence. Temari was chewing on her lower lip and also looked around the room. Guess the quiet had the same effect on her.

"Temari and Tenten."

We looked up. Neji had finally decided to speak, apparently.

"Yeah?"

"We heard everything you said."

Temari and I blinked.

"Said?" I asked.

"When?" Temari questioned. Neji rolled his eyes.

"In the locker-room", he replied impatiently.

"But we don't have the same locker-room", I pointed out.

"When Yamanaka put the camera in our locker-room, Kiba and Kankuro put a microphone in yours", Sasuke said.

"You knew about the camera thing?" Temari asked. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Eww! Perverts! You haven't even destroyed it!"

"How do you know that?" Neji asked, annoyed. Temari shrugged.

"Ino hasn't been depressed lately." I snickered.

"Anyway, why'd ya put a microphone in our locker-room?" I asked. "I mean, what's the point?" I looked at Kiba, but something told me he was unable to talk. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide as he stared at something, and that he looked completely brain-dead otherwise, too.

"Well, uh, Kank and Kiba wanted to get revenge on Ino for putting the camera in our locker-room, so they were gonna put one in yours", Naruto said. "And, well, they asked me to get the camera… But, uh, those things are real expensive, ya know, so I bought a microphone instead. Kank and Kiba were pissed, but, well…"

I and Temari nodded once, slowly.

"Anyway, what do you mean you heard?" I asked, looking back at Neji. He sighed, closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair.

'It should be illegal to be that sexy…'

'What? Do you want him to go to jail, or something?'

'Of course not, you moro- …Heeey, wait a minute… You didn't disagree on him being hot!'

'Well, it would be a lie…'

'Hehee, you're right about that…'

'Stop drooling inside my head, idiot! My IQ might go down!'

'It's not that high anyway.'

'Oh, shut up!'

'Hey, Neji-kun's saying something! We should listen.'

'Don't call him that!'

'Listen, idiot!'

'…'

"We heard what you said about the Hebi", Neji said.

Ooh… Hehe, now we're screwed… Ugh.

Of course both I and Temari showed a cool face as we looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I can't say that I don't understand your reaction", Neji said, "but I really have a good reason to prevent you from fighting with them."

"And that would be…?" Temari asked, raising an eyebrow.

Neji closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. "I've said it before; the Hebi are strong. Very strong. And if anyone said anything to piss them off…" He opened his eyes and looked down at us. His face was almost worried. "That person would in the best case get away with a concussion and a few broken bones. And it is not often the best case happens."

I and Temari just sat there, surprised, even shocked. So he was worried?

After a moment I opened my mouth to say something. It took around half a minute to get it out, but then I said:

"Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place?!"

"Yeah!" Temari agreed, frowning and crossing her arms over her chest. "You didn't seriously think we would obey you if we didn't have a reason to do so?"

The guys blinked.

"Well… of course", Neji said, and he seemed almost confused. Temari and closed her eyes, putting her hand over them.

"Men", she sighed. I closed my eyes, too, crossing my arms over my chest.

"So gullible", I said, shaking my head dramatically.

The guys glared at us slightly.

Then, when I glanced at Temari, I noticed something.

…She… She wasn't wearing a… shirt?

…Well, that explains the stairs from Kiba and Kank. Though you wouldn't think it would be that nosebleeding (no, that's not a word) to see your sister shirtless, coz I swear, Kankuro almost had a nosebleed.

Jeez, it gotta be, like, awk-ward for Temari.

Then I noticed that Temari was watching me with the exact same expression that I was watching her with. Our eyes met and we blinked. We stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then we both quickly looked down.

…To see that we were only wearing a bra and jeans.

We snapped our heads up to stare at the guys, our eyes wide. The guys looked a little confused at first, but then their eyes widened, too.

"Uh… Yeah, I better go… Um, shave." With that Sasuke hurried away as fast as he could without running. The others quickly came up with pathetic excuses of their own ("I gotta… uh, feed my… um, ferret", Shikamaru stuttered, "I need to run around Konoha with Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, and, the most unbelievable of all, "I've got some homework to do", Naruto said) before they ran away.

I and Temari sat there for a minute before our brains started working again. Then we started seeing red.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU PERVERTS!!!"

Sai quickly slammed the door of the boys' locker-room shut after him, Kankuro and Kiba (he had had to drag them), and we girls started hammering on it.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER!!" I yelled.

"YEAH, WE'RE GONNA GET CHA!" Temari agreed, her eyes blazing.

Suddenly I smirked. "I'm sure Tsunade-sama will be very interested in hearing about your little adventure with the fire alarm!" I called through the door, and I swear I could hear how Sasuke and Neji gulped.

You see, our dearest principal had been quite pissed at my loved roommates when they had forgotten about cleaning the kitchen, which resulted in them having to clean the whole cafeteria, plus the kitchen. It was all quite fun for the rest of us, though.

I and Temari walked back to our locker-room. When we came in I walked straight up to the showers and grabbed one of them before looking around the room.

"Okay, now, where is that microphone?" I asked. Temari looked, too, her hand on her hips and her face frowning.

"Is it that?" she asked, pointing into a corner of the ceiling. I sweatdropped; yes, it certainly was that. Some kinda microphone - that certainly wasn't too small - was taped to the wall by big amounts of duct tape.

…Why hadn't I noticed it before?

"Okay", I said, lifting the showerhead and turning the tap. The water started flowing, and soon the microphone was drenched with water. "There!" I said, grinning, and turned off the shower before I put away the showerhead and walked back to my clothes that lay on a bench.

Temari again was still watching the microphone.

"Uh, Tenten…" she said after a moment, pointing at it. I looked up, and my eyes widened.

The microphone was on fire.

"Oh crap", I said, putting my hand over my face.

"Don't worry, Ten", Temari said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "The sprinklers will take care of it."

We stood there in about ten minutes.

"Temari."

"Yeah?"

"I don't think the sprinklers will take care of it."

"Yeah, me neither."

We grabbed a piece of drenched cloth each and ran to the microphone, hitting the fire with the clothes franticly.

"Just stop already, you stupid fire!" I yelled, hitting it on and on. "Oh, man, aren't those sprinklers supposed to be oversensitive?!"

After about fifteen minutes the fire was finally put out. I sighed in relief and sat down on a bench.

"Finally", I panted. Temari nodded and sat down next to me.

After a moment her eyes focused more and she sat up straight, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to something in a corner of the room. We both stood up and went to investigate.

It was a pair of panties. I wrinkled my nose.

"Hey, aren't those Tayuya's?" Temari asked, leaning closer and raising an eyebrow.

"Who cares?!" I asked, disgusted. Temari rolled her eyes.

"She probably has had some fun", she said sarcastically. Then she smirked. "Let's burn 'em."

I blinked. "Why?" She shrugged.

"Just to piss her off, I guess. I've got a lighter in my bag; I think it's still dry." She went over to her bag and started digging in it.

I decided not to ask why she had a lighter in her bag, but instead I said:

"What about the fire detector and the sprinklers?" I asked. Temari rolled her eyes.

"They didn't work fifteen minutes ago on a much bigger fire than the one we're starting now, so I don't think they'll work now, either", she simply said and came back with a red lighter that by the way looked really cool.

"Okay, you hold them up and I burn them", I said, snatching the lighter from her.

"What? No way!" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not gonna touch Tayuya's underwear", I said, wrinkling my nose at the thought.

"Do you think I'm gonna?!"

"It was your idea!"

"Exactly, so I'm the one who burns them!"

"There's no logic in that!"

"Yes, there is much logic in that!"

I sighed. "Let's just leave them on the floor and throw the lighter at them together, okay?"

"…Yeah, sure, why not." We both took a hold of the small lighter in my hand.

"On three?" I asked. Temari nodded. "Okay. One." Temari put her thumb on the smallish button that started the flame, and I put my thumb on top of hers. "Two." We pushed the button and a flame appeared. "Thr-"

And we were drenched, once again. The flame went out with a small psshing sound.

"Sure, now they work", Temari said angrily. She took the lighter and we went back to our clothes, sighing.

To my great irritation I noticed that my shirt was one of them that had been used to put out the fire before, so it had big holes where the fire had burned it, plus it was pretty much black now, though it had been red in the morning. We also had used both Temari's and my basketball shirts to put out the fire, and they were even more destroyed than my red one, so I couldn't use one of them, either.

So, when we stepped out of the locker-room fifteen minutes later, we were both dressed in completely drenched clothes, and my shirt had a big hole that reached from the middle of my tummy to the middle of my back, plus another big one on the single sleeve I had left. We both were of course very wet, too, not to mention the ash on our faces, hands and arms. Plus that we both had our very messy and dirty hair down.

So, we weren't exactly happy as we started to go to our rooms. I beat up five guys who whistled at me and flicked off two gangs of girls who stared, and Temari beat up three guys and flicked off four gangs.

"Ooh, they're gonna pay", I said threateningly, thinking about ways to torture our teammates.

"Uh, actually the only thing that's their fault is that we're wet", Temari pointed out, but got silent when I glared at her in a way I had learned from spending time with Neji and Sasuke. In other words, it was a combination of the Hyuuga glare™ and the Uchiha glare™.

Scary.

"Yeah, they're gonna pay", Temari decided, too.

"Well, well, well", a voice from behind said. "What's happened to you girls?" We turned around to see a very amused Anko approach us.

"Our oh so dear teammates decided to have some fun with the sprinklers", I said through gritted teeth. "And then, when I sprayed some water on the microphone they'd put in the girls' locker-room, it started burning and we put it out, using my shirt."

To mine and Temari's great irritation Anko laughed.

"Yeah, I know about the sprinkler thing", she said, grinning. "'Twas my idea."

"WHAT?!"

Anko rolled her eyes. "You two needed to learn a lesson", she said sternly. "The Hebi have always been very strong, and aggressive. They won't hesitate to attack you, or hurt you badly. You need to understand that."

"Then why, my dearest teacher", I started, again through gritted teeth, "COULDN'T YOU JUST TELL US THAT?!!"

She wasn't too affected by my roar, just shrugged. "It was more fun this way. Well, seeya. I've gotta talk with Ibiki 'bout something." With that she turned and walked away, leaving us to stare after her.

After a moment I took a deep, calming breath before I said:

"I'm starting to get pissed at pretty much everyone today." Temari nodded in agreement.

XxXxX

I entered my room with an expressionless… expression. If I didn't wear that, I would start screaming my head off for sure.

Neji and Sasuke lay on their beds as usual as I walked in. Both looked up, and they're eyes almost popped out of their sockets as they saw me. I ignored them and walked up to my bed.

"May I ask?" Neji wondered, and the bastard had the nerve to sound amused.

"No", I replied curtly as I lay down on my bed. It didn't take long for my drenched clothes to start bothering me, and I sighed, deciding to take a shower.
But then I remembered something nice; the bathtub. My bad mood got a little better and I almost stopped death-glaring everything.

"I'm taking a bath", I announced, walking to the bathroom.

"Do you know how to use the bathtub?" Neji asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Well of course I do", I replied and entered the room. I stepped over to the bathtub and looked at the complicated buttons. I decided to just blindly try one, but then I remembered what had happened last time I did something like that - that was when I learned what a fire detector sounds like… if yah get what I mean. I sighed exasperatedly and walked back to the room.

"Okay, so I don't know how to use it", I said as I walked out, my arms crossed over my chest. The two just nodded and continued watching TV, or whatever they were doing.

I stood there for about five minutes, tapping my foot, while they just watched the soap-opera or whatever mute ice-queens watch.

"Could you help me?" I finally asked through gritted teeth.

Neji looked up with a perfect poker-face. "With what?" I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

"To use the bathtub you IDIOT!!" I yelled that last word, and Neji smirked, getting up from the bed.

"Well, since you're asking so nicely", he said, walking past me into the bathroom.

"Get your own lines…" I muttered as I followed him.

Neji was already pushing some random buttons on the bathtub as I entered. I stood next to him and leaned down, too.

"What're ya doing?" I asked, trying not to sound very irritated. I didn't want to scare him away, now did I?

He didn't reply, but after a moment water started streaming into the tub. I put my hand into it, and felt that it was perfectly warm. I smiled when I thought about the bliss of sinking into it.

"Thanks, Neji!" I said happily.

"Anytime", he replied, walking out. I furrowed my eyebrows thoughtfully. Did he mean that literally? Coz if he did, he's up for a hard time… Hehehee…

When the tub had enough water in it, I shut the tap and started undressing. Just as I pulled off my destroyed shirt, I came to think about something.
I grinned and walked over to one of the shelves. On it stood more than enough candles, but I picked two of them and grabbed a pack of matches from that also lay on the shelf. I lit the candles and put them on the floor.

You'd think I had had enough of fire for one day, but no. After I had put them on the floor I turned off the other lights in the bathroom.

Then I took off the rest of my clothes and sank into the warm, bubbly water.

XxXxX

'Okay, Tenten, deep breaths. Don't panic. It's not that a big deal. Really.'

'Are you kidding me, girl? You're naked and completely wet, you have neither clothes nor a towel and the only ones who can get you either one of those are a couple of teenage boys. That's a pretty big deal if you ask me.'

'Well, no one's asked you, I.T.'

'It's still the truth.'

'Shut it, bitch!'

I started hurrying around the bathroom, looking for a towel or anything!

"Oh, come on, this is a bathroom! There gotta be towels here, for god's sake!" I muttered. "Oh!" I then exclaimed (silently; I didn't want the guys' attention right now) and put a finger in the air. "I know! One of the closets!"

'Nice plan, Tennie. If there just would be a closet.'

"Oh, shut up!" I yelled.

"Tenten? Are you alright?" Neji's voice came from the bedroom.

"U-um, yeah, sure, I'm fine!" I called back, laughing nervously.

"Okay…" he said slowly, and I so heard him raised an eyebrow. I mean, it was, like, lo-oud.

I sighed in defeat and picked up my destroyed clothes from the floor, preparing to put them on. It would not be pleasant, but better than walking naked out into the room. And I would change soon anyway.

Then the worst possible thing happened. My shirt fell into small pieces that could not be used in any other way than polishing stuff. I stood there for a moment, looking at the pieces of cloth in my hands.

Then I closed my eyes and turned my face to the ceiling. After a moment I opened my eyes and let out a so high-pitched scream that human ears couldn't hear it.

XxXxX

Down in Konoha, at the Inuzuka house, Kiba's dog Akamaru started barking, and soon enough the rest of the dogs in the whole big city started doing the same. They're owners didn't know what was wrong with them, but they stopped barking after about fifteen minutes. The reason behind this would always stay a mystery.

XxXxX

After around fifteen minutes I stopped screaming and gasped for air for about five minutes before I sank down on the floor. I had let out a bit of my aggressions now, and felt a little better.

'Man, do we have lungs, girl!'

'I have lungs. You're only in charge of my girly and perverted side, not of my lungs. Those are completely mine.'

'Whatever. Anyway, you need to ask Neji-kun-'

'It's Neji! Not "Neji-kun", or "Hottie" or "Handsome", or anything like that! You can call him Neji, or you can call him Hyuuga, or Neji Hyuuga! NOT. ANYTHING. ELSE. Do you get it?!'

'…Jeez, you need anger management lessons, girl. Anyway, you need to ask Neji for help.'

'Help with what?'

'With picking a dress for the Christmas-ball.'

'Christmas-ball?'

'The clothes-issue, idiot! You're naked and have no clothes! Ask him to get you something!'

'Okay, okay, but what was that about a Christmas-ball?'

'Nothing. Now, ASK!!'

I sighed before I took a deep breath and walked over to the door. I swallowed and closed my eyes before I opened them again and called:

"Neji!"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Uh… I need your help."

"…Okay. With what?'

"Uh… Well, you see… I kinda… forgot to… well, bring clothes or a towel with me in here, so…" I took a last beep breath, "maybe you could get me something?"

Oddly enough I felt somehow satisfied when I heard him blush. Guess I had spent too much time around Ino, Temari and I.T.

Hey, you noticed that? 'Ino' begins with an 'I'; 'Temari' with a 'T' and then the last name is 'I.T.'! Funny, huh?

…Oh. Oh, oh, oh. There we go again. When I say something that's not funny, you laugh, but when I say something that is funny, you don't laugh. What the hell's wrong with people nowadays?!

But back to Neji and the blush.

I mean, seriously, even if I wouldn't have my super-hearing, I so would have heard that! Or at least felt the heat radiating from his cheeks, hehehee…

"I have them", Neji's voice said from right outside the door.

"Oh, thanks!" I said cheerfully and opened the door a tiny bit, extending my hand. Neji quickly gave me the clothes and walked away.

They consisted of white pajama-shorts, a big, dark-blue t-shirt and, well, underwear. I guess it must've been when he took them that I heard him blush even more.

I snickered at the thought, not at all bothered by the fact that he had touched my… garments.

Don't ask why, I really don't know myself.

Oh yeah, and he brought me a towel, too, the darling!

…Oo crap, I need a shrink.

I got dressed and walked out of the bathroom casually. To my surprise I noticed that Sasuke wasn't here.

"Where's Chicky?" I asked.

"He went over to Naruto's", Neji mumbled, hiding his face with a book. I stuffed my fist in my mouth to keep from laughing out loud as I sat down on my bed to comb my hair. I had taken a shower, too, after the bath.

We just sat there in silence for a moment. Then I decided it was time to break the silence.

"Soo… The locker-room incident. What was the fire detectors, et cetera, good for?" I asked.

"Not my idea", Neji said automatically.

"Yeah, I know, 'twas Anko's, but still", I said. "What was the point?"

"Hn."

"You do know that's not really a word?"

"Hn."

"Seriously, Neji, I'm asking you a question here."

"Hn."

"Neji."

"…"

"Neji!"

"…"

"NEJI!! I'M TIRED, I'M PISSED AND I'M REALLY NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR PMSING, SO IF YOU COULD JUST ANSWER MY QUESTION?!!!"

"Okay, okay!" Neji said, holding up his hands as a shield. "Guess it was just Kiba and Kankuro wanting to see you wet, or something!" He blushed slightly.

I death-glared him. "Well, they're dead", I stated and turned to glare at the wall instead."

"And who's PMSing…?" I swear I heard Neji mutter.

It was silent for a moment again before my talkative nature came back.

"When's the Hebi game?" I asked.

"Next Wednesday", Neji replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, but what time?" I asked impatiently.

"Six o'clock", Neji said, not looking up.

"'Kay", I sighed. "Think it's gonna be fun?" Surprisingly Neji smirked.

"From your point of view? Yes. Yes, I actually think it will be very enjoyable."

XxXxX

Next Wednesday, five thirty pm.

"Nervous?" Temari asked, grinning at me. I smirked.

"Naah", I said. "I'm not much of the nervous person."

What? It was just a single, small, white lie. Who cares if my knees are shaking?

I was with Temari in the girls' locker-room. We had just finished changing, and were now wearing a pair of dark-green shorts with two vertical light-green stripes on the sides and a big, light-green, baggy sleeveless top with the school's symbol over the chest – some weird kinda leaf (A/N: The same kind as the Konoha ninjas has on their forehead protectors, yah know) – and the name and number on the back with big, dark-green letters.

…I hadn't ever disliked green, but this was a little much of it, don'tcha think?

The door was suddenly slammed open and Sakura, Hinata and Ino ran in, followed by a girl from the cheerleading squad.

"Tema, Tennie!" Ino squealed, jumping on us and hugging us tightly. She was dressed in dark-green short-shorts and a light-green tank-top that ended a few inches under the breasts (and that showed pretty damn much cleavage) and had a pair of dark- and light-green pompoms. The school symbol was printed over the chest and on the ass of the shorts. She was a cheerleader, see. Surprise, surprise.

"Nervous?" Sakura asked us, grinning. She had a big, green t-shirt with the school symbol printed largely over the chest and a pair of dark-green wrist warmers. With it she wore a pair of white jean-shorts and white sneakers.

"Naah", Temari and I replied in unison, and then laughed slightly.

"You're going to do great", Hinata smiled. She had a light-green t-shirt and a dark-green scarf that Ino and Sakura without doubt had forced her to wear. With that she just had plain, faded blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Thanks, Hina-chan", I said, smiling back at her.

"We better get out", the other cheerleader, Yuri, said. She was a very nice and funny girl with dark hair that reached an inch or so above the shoulders. Her eyes were big and the same color as the hair. I had gotten to know her the day after the locker-room incident; Ino had introduced us.

"Okay, Tennie, Tema", Sakura said, smirking at us – though with a slightly nervous stiffness in her face. "Ready?"

We nodded and got up before we walked out of the locker-room.

Half the (big, large and huge) gym was filled with people. There was such a noise that it hurt my oversensitive eardrums.

"Hi, girls!" a voice said happily. We turned around to see the rest of the cheerleading squad come to greet us. The one who had talked was the tallest one. Her name was Ayumi, and she was the captain of the squad. She was very nice, too, and had blue eyes and blonde hair that reached her waist. A cheerful and slightly tomboyish girl, despite the fact that she was a cheerleader.

"Ready?" another one of the cheerleaders asked, leaning an elbow on Ayumi's shoulder. It was a happy brunette with big, brown eyes and shoulder-length hair. Her name was Aki, and was, as the most of the cheerleaders, very nice, too.

"Yup", I said, leaning on Temari the same was Aki did on Ayumi. "You?"

"Never been readier", Aki smirked.

"Hopefully the Hebi cheerleaders don't start a bitchfight", Ayumi sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I've heard they have a habit of doing that. I wouldn't want to fight with people unable to protect themselves."

I laughed. "Sure you don't." The blonde smiled.

"Anyway, we need to get ready. We have about twenty minutes before it starts, so, Yuri, Ino, come as soon as possible", Ayumi ordered, pointing at the two.

"I'll come now", Yuri said, before turning to me and Temari. "Good luck, girls!" she grinned.

"Thanks!" Temari and I chorused.

"You'll need it…" a snobby voice said. We all turned to where the voice came from, which was the back of the cheerleading squad. There stood a pretty girl with long, reddish hair and hazel eyes. The green outfit didn't match the hair too well…

By her sides stood another redhead that I recognized as Karin, the one I had punched the first evening at the school. On the longhaired redhead's other side stood Ami.

"Tayuya", Temari stated. I had seen the redhead a few times in the halls and in a few of my classes, but I had never known who she was. Apparently she was the leader of the Hyuuga Neji-fan-club, Tayuya.

The three girls strutted up to us. They all stood in similar positions – arms crossed under their boobs and one of their hips to the side.

"You really think you could keep up with Neji-kun and Sasuke-kun?" Tayuya asked. "Coz you can't."

I shrugged, putting my hands in my pockets. "We do it better than you ever could", I said casually. The three glared at me.

"Yeah right!" Ami exclaimed. "You probably don't even know what basketball is!"

"Well, it is true that it's not the same for us as for you", I said, nodding knowingly. "See, for us it's a fun sport. For you it's lots of well trained, sweaty and shirtless men running around with a ball on a field."

Temari smirked. "Run along now to train, if you wanna keep up with Ino, Aki, Ayumi and the rest", she said, shooing the three away with her hand.

With that Temari and I walked away to the guys' locker-room while waving goodbye to our friends.

"Okay, you guys, we're comin' in now, so if you're doing something embarrassing you better stop!" I yelled as I slammed the door open and marched in, Tema following right behind.

Kiba, Naruto and Shika were shirtless, but otherwise 'twas fine. Despite that all the guys gave us dull looks.

"If it would've been a guy walking into the girls' locker-room he would've been dead now", Kiba muttered, pulling on his shirt.

"Of course", Temari replied. "It's much worse if a guy walks in on a shirtless girl than if a girl walks in on a shirtless guy. Don'tcha agree?"

I nodded while the others just gave us weird looks.

"Anyway…" Neji said. "Are you all ready?"

"Yes!" everyone chorused, some people with bored attitudes (Shikamaru, Gaara, Sasuke…), some people with cheerful attitudes (Kiba, Naruto, Kank, Tema…) and a single one with a nervous attitude – me. And don't say I didn't have a reason! It's only human to be a little nervous.

"Good", Neji smirked. "Now you better relax before the game starts, so you can fight fully then."

Everyone started chatting with each other. Temari immediately walked over to Kiba, Kank and Naruto and started teasing Doggy-boy. Normally I would've followed, but I didn't feel like being cheerful right now.

I settled for watching the others laugh and talk. I didn't understand how they could take it without being the slightest bit nervous.

"You okay?" a deep voice suddenly asked. I looked up and saw Neji standing there, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, sure", I replied, looking away again. Almost without a sound the captain sat down next to me.

"It's only human to be a little nervous", he said reassuringly. "Or, well, thinking of what you have heard about your opponents it would be human to faint or at least fake sickness. But of course, you're not completely normal."

I smiled halfheartedly.

"It's not the Hebi that worries me", I said silently. "I'm just… afraid that I won't be good enough. I mean, you're all amazing players, and I'm just a newbie. I haven't even played in a match before. I'm worried that I'll just be in your way."

Neji was silent for a moment, but then he chuckled. I turned my head to glare at him.

"It's not funny", I said, pouting and looking down at the floor.

Neji then did something surprising; he ruffled my hair playfully.

"Don't worry, Tenten", he said. "You're one of the best players I've met. Fast, strong and not to mention your incredible aim. You won't be in our way, believe me."

I smiled a little.

"Thanks…"

We sat silent for a moment before Neji checked the clock on his cell that lay next to him on the bench.

"Okay, ten minutes, everybody!" he called out. "Get ready!"

I fastened my buns while Temari did the same with her ponytails, the amazing three (Naruto and the two other morons) all ran a hand through their hair and cracked their knuckles – all at the exact same time, mind you – and everybody else just stood up. Even Lee was silent.

"Okay", Neji said. "Let's go."

We exited the locker-room in a line. I was walking behind Sasuke and in front of Temari while working on keeping my breathing even.

We were met by deafening cheers. From everywhere, it seemed, people screamed the loudest they could.

I glanced up at the Kitsune supporters, and recognized Sakura by her hair. She was jumping up and down with a few others, screaming for all her might. Hinata – who sat next to the pink-princess – smiled down at us and waved a little when she met my gaze. I grinned back at her.

Ino and the other cheerleaders were currently doing a dance that made a few guys in the audience drool. Ino winked at me as we passed.

Then I heard something that sounded unmistakably as a 'boo'. Many boos, actually. I looked at the other side of the gym, and, what do you know? A huge crowd of people in grayish blue clothes, yelling insults at us.

Probably the Hebi supporters.

We stopped on our own side of the court. After a moment of trying to close out the noise of the audience another door opened and a bunch of guys came out. They were dressed in the same grayish blue color as their supporters.

Now the green side of the gym started booing, while the blue side cheered for all their lungs allowed.

The Hebi team.

They were all male, and all big and muscular. I must've looked like a gnome in comparison to them.

Not that I couldn't take guys their size… I'd done it before.

Suddenly Sasuke, who stood next to me, stiffened. His eyes widened before they narrowed into slits, and he death-glared someone in the Hebi lot. I raised a confused eyebrow and looked where he did.

Something red caught my eye. One of the smaller guys on the team had red, slightly messy hair and hazel eyes… that were very familiar.

Even though it had been over a month, the memory was fresh.

"Takahashi", I whispered.

XxXxX

Tah-daaa!! So, how'd ya like it? Huh? Huh? Huh?

And I'm sooooooo sorry for the late update! Sososososo sorry! Please don't kill me! I'll do anything!

…Kidding. You can't kill me. You don't even know where I live. Sooo, I don't need to beg!

MWHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA – *cough* furball… - AAAAAAAAA…

Yes, I'm hyper, got a problem with it?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the very random chapter where nothing important really happened before the ending, and REVIEW of course! Constructive criticism is very welcome! xD

Metal-Blondie

PS. Sorry if the ending was even weirder than the rest. I'm real tired right now, see. -.-