Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prompt #35: Gossip - It hurt, the words that his jealous fangirls flung at her. The worst ones were the true ones; talentless, plain, and worthless.

Words: 1,465

Very few things could hurt the resident tomboy of Konoha High. She was a skilled martial artist, especially with a weapon in her hand, so not many people would risk crossing her unarmed or otherwise. Words didn't always make that short list, but sometimes they did. The words spat at her, about her, in the hallways of her school as she passed.

Worthless. Ugly. Boring. Useless.

Tenten had known that the words would be coming. Once the word spread that she was dating the heartthrob of the third-year's class, all her female classmates and many of the underclassmen jealously started to sabotage her. Hate mail appeared in her locker. Her things began to go missing. Her schoolbooks were vandalized. And the hateful stares continued all day long.

She found little relief with her few girlfriends. Sakura and Ino were dears, and Hinata was a pure gem, but none of them truly knew the extent of the bullying. How could they? Sakura was a genius among the second years, Ino was the class beauty, and Hinata was the poster girl for the ideal Japanese woman. They were idolized by the boys and worshipped by the girls.

Not Tenten. All because she fell in love with Hyuuga Neji.

Her only solace was in her relative's dojo. There she could train with her Chinese weaponry until her lungs burned, her muscles trembled, and her brain was too hazy with exhaustion to care about what was happening at school.

One day it all culminated when someone set fire to the contents of her locker. Tenten stood in front of the blackened remains of her locker, fists clenched at her sides as she fought to keep the tears at bay. She had no indoor shoes, no gym uniform, no books, and no money to take the bus home. It's not even first period and already my day's shot to hell.

"Ten."

"Neji," she said numbly, seeing his shadow fall over her shoulder.

His hand reached to curl around hers. "Come with me." He said to someone she didn't see, "Tell sensei that we won't be in today. Cover somehow, okay?"

Tenten was too out of it to really register where they were going. It wasn't until a motorcycle helmet was being pressed into her hands that she regained any consciousness. "I thought you weren't allowed to ride your bike to school," she said.

"I worked for it, I paid for it. It's mine, not the family's. Where I ride it is my own business." He put on his own helmet, swung his leg over the seat, and started the engine. "You coming?" he asked over the noise, patting the seat behind him.

"You never cut class," Tenten replied, somewhat shocked.

He flashed that crooked smile she loved, the one that made her heart melt. "Only when it's necessary. Now are you going to come with me?"

Before she could comprehend it, she was holding on for dear life as Neji rocketed down the road. She always loved riding on his motorcycle - something about the recklessness of it, and nobody did reckless quite like Neji. Surprising for some, since he wore the persona of perfect A+ student so well. Few knew about his daredevil streak, the rebel beneath the honor student.

After about thirty minutes, Neji pulled into a park that was closer to her house than his. Tenten loved it because of the enormous lake that dominated the center of the park. Locking the bike down, he took her hand and led her down to the water's edge. There was a small fleet of rowboats tied there, and Neji borrowed one to row them to the center of the lake.

"What are we doing here?" Tenten finally asked when he stopped rowing.

Neji moved carefully to sit beside her. "You're going to tell me exactly what's bothering you," he replied. "Nobody's here to give dirty looks or to judge you. It's just you, and me, and the lake and the sky." Moon-pale eyes gazed into her dark brown ones. "C'mon, out with it."

Clenching her fists in her lap, Tenten stubbornly said nothing. He heaved a deep sigh and rested his chin on his hand, elbow propped on his knee. "Fine, don't tell me," he said nonchalantly, gazing over the water to where a flock of ducks were swimming. "But we're not leaving until I know exactly what's been bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Bullshit."

She scowled at the back of his head. "Being a pretentious prick to your girlfriend is not sexy, Neji."

"Lying to your boyfriend isn't that attractive either, I'm sure," he drawled back.

Maybe it was his laidback attitude, or maybe it was the use of the word attractive, but whatever it was, that sentence was the one that broke Tenten's calm. "Well sorry that I'm not an attractive person!" she shouted angrily. "It's not my fault that I'm a boorish, rough-housing tomboy who likes getting dirty more than getting dressed-up!"

"Ah~ha," Neji said in his annoyingly superior tone of voice, looking back at her with a knowing glint in his eye. "There it is."

Dammit, she thought. She'd learned early that just because he didn't show his feelings to others, it didn't mean that he couldn't see them in others. Underestimating Neji's emotional perception was never a smart move, and she'd done it without a second glance. "Don't be smug. It's not becoming."

"Don't depreciate yourself, it's beneath you," was his retort. "Ten, you can't let what they say affect you this much."

She made a face at him. "They're doing more than just saying stuff."

"I've noticed. So have the guys. Lee told me you've been - "

"Lee should've left well enough alone." The brunette scowled at the thought of their classmate ratting her out despite his promise not to.

"He did it cause he cares. The girls are worried too."

"It isn't as bad as they're making it out to be."

One eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Not that bad? Vandalism, theft, bullying - "

She shrugged carelessly. "Teenage pranks. So what?"

"Ten, they set your stuff on fire. In your locker. That's willful and malicious."

"So? What am I supposed to do?"

"Tell me," he said immediately.

Tenten shook her head. "No. I'm not a whiner."

"No, you're my girlfriend. I wanna protect you Tenten, but I can't do that if I don't know when you're fighting." Taking her hand in both of his, Neji started kneading the back of her hand with his fingertips. "I don't want either of us to suffer alone. We've done enough of that."

She bit her lip. It wasn't fair when he used their past losses, him of his father and her for her parents. "I'm not a weakling," she said. "I can fight my own battles."

"But you don't have to. Not anymore." Neji leaned forward until their foreheads bumped together, leaving her with nowhere to look but into his eyes. "With me in your corner, nobody will touch you."

"They don't have to," Tenten said, unable to stop herself. "You don't hear what they say, Neji. They're very careful to make sure you never hear what they call me."

His crooked smile returned. "Well then," he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "you'll just need to not hear them either."

"And how do you expect me to do that, genius?"

Leaning close enough that she could feel his breath fan around her ear, Neji whispered, "You're beautiful, special, and mine, Fei-Lung Tenten. And, you know, I love you." He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Just remember that, and those girls can't touch you."

Tenten smiled at him. "That's easily the most cheesy thing you've ever said to me."

"Yeah, that's true," Neji admitted. "But that doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

"Awww, you're sweet."

"Don't spread that around. The guys won't take me seriously if they know I did this."

She gave him a look. "Why would I reveal that you're secretly romantic? I'd have to beat off the girls with a dao staff."

Yay, finally done this one! I like how it turned out, don't you?

Review please!