NejiTen month day 1

August 01/2021

Prompts: Dance / Wedding

Alternate Universe

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Day 01: Dance

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She was walking to her math class when she saw some people in the distance putting up a sign on the bulletin board and her brow furrowed almost automatically. She didn't know why but it gave her a bad feeling. In class she tried to focus her attention on what the professor was explaining about the equation but the truth was that all she could think about was the stupid sign that she hadn't even read yet.

She grumbled through her teeth at the reprimand she received because the professor asked her a question and she didn't know how to answer it when apparently it had just been explained. So as soon as the bell rang that class was over she left the room to go see what it was all about. She could suspect it was that time of year and she didn't have to go near the bulletin board, not only because there was a large group of students talking to each other about what it said there, but because many other signs had been posted all over the hallway.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

GRADUATION DANCE! ! !

CLASS 2020

Let's celebrate the end of one of the most important stages of our lives!

We will take a trip back in time to medieval era. So remember to dust off your armor and rescue your princess in time.

Don't forget to come in your best knight and damsel costume.

Place: Main Auditorium

Date: December 03

Time: 08:00pm

We will be waiting for you!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

She was tempted to tear off the inert piece of paper but at that moment she heard Ino's excited shout, her friend had just arrived at the same place and was euphoric because the date and theme of the prom was finally defined. She just took a deep breath, of course the blonde was happy about the prom. Ino had been invited to the last two even though she wasn't a senior yet. In fact the previous year two students had invited her and she had spent a week having them run her errands or do some of her homework to decide which one to attend.

And no, she wasn't jealous of that. It was just that she didn't care one bit about a stupid dance and found it unbelievable that it was the most anticipated date for everyone in high school. As if no one had other priorities or more interesting things to do, she definitely didn't want to attend something so vacuous.

In literature class she was scribbling in her notebook, the teacher had given them the class time to advance an essay that was due the following week and had an important grade. But she couldn't concentrate and kept ruminating on the subject that didn't interest her, starting to get annoyed with herself. She didn't care about the damn dance! So she didn't need to be thinking so much about it either. She just had to think about something else, after that date it would only be one more week of school and not only the year but her time at the high school would be over.

That was it, she had to focus on her notes and that was all, not think about something she wasn't interested in and definitely wasn't going to attend. She made it through the first paragraph of the essay before the bell rang to end the day and it was time to go to her after school activity. The walk to the gym was slow as the hallways were filled with students who were just mumbling about the event she didn't care, she tried not to let her mood cloud her mind again but it was difficult as when she arrived she could see her classmates gathered and with one of the signs in hand, commenting among themselves that if anyone could rescue a princess in danger it was precisely them.

She rolled her eyes, that was what bothered her the most, more than the dance itself was that the year that would be her graduation they chose the medieval era – which she had nothing against but not that she considered it a great era of humanity, – but that they put a phrase as retrograde as asking the knights to rescue the princesses. She wasn't a princess and she didn't need absolutely no one to rescue her.

"It seems there will be no practice today," Neji had just arrived at her side.

"No, apparently they will spend all the time talking about the dance," she snorted low, "as if it was important."

They were silent for a moment, Rock Lee was the one who talked the most excited and said he was ready to rescue Sakura to finally get her to say yes, she just rolled her eyes again. The Haruno was her friend, she had a boyfriend and she was definitely not interested in Lee. Among the voices she heard of others who wanted to try their luck with Ino, good for the blonde who would surely put them back to doing their homework and not worry about their grades for the rest of the year.

"Do you want to go for a coffee?" she nodded, even Gai who was the sensei was in on the conversation which confirmed that there would be no practice that day.

They left the high school and walked to the coffee shop a few blocks away in the direction of their homes, Neji and she had always lived in the same neighborhood and had become friends, or something like that, when they entered secondary school and both joined the same extra curricular activity. She was the only woman in the Aikido class and at first, he like everyone else had underestimated her, believing he could easily defeat her because of her size and being a woman.

Curiously they had both practiced Taekwondo in their childhood, they had those foundations but unfortunately the institute didn't offer that class, it was Aikido or Boxing and at least she wasn't interested in punching for the sake of it, she liked the peace of mind and balance that came with the practice of the first one. Gai was a great sensei and in the first confrontation she had with Neji he reprimanded them both, him for the way he attacked her and that he had underestimated her, and she because her movements weren't strictly defensive.

Of course they weren't, she had thoroughly enjoyed that fist she succeeded in landing on his perfect face and the kick she was about to give him, she was definitely not a damsel in need of rescue or anything like it.

Maito punished them, tied them by the arm together and they had to spend the rest of that week's practice that way, learning to move at each other's pace and work together. From there they started talking to each other, discovering that they lived close and that despite being the same age and in the same year, they didn't share any classes. Only once the year before they had been in literature together, but only that one time, Neji was usually in the advanced options of everything else, calculus, physics, chemistry and even history. Although that had been an advantage as a couple of times she had asked him to explain something to her.

"You are distracted," she had ordered a hazelnut frappé and was moving the straw from one side to the other without having tasted it yet.

"What?" she replied automatically and Neji raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me today."

"Does it have something to do with the dance?" she narrowed her eyes. Did he know how to read minds? It wasn't the first time he got right what was going through her head.

"No..." she tasted her coffee and wrinkled her nose, it was too sweet and not what she had ordered.

"You ordered the vanilla one," he was definitely a mind-reader. "Are you going to change it?"

"No," it had been her mistake for thinking about something silly.

"Will you tell me?"

"It's nothing..." she took another sip and wrinkled her nose again, she never asked for that flavor for a reason. "Do you already have a date for the dance?" she asked him suddenly and he seemed surprised by the question. "Or well – Have you already thought about which helpless princess you are going to rescue?"

"No. Have you?"

"Me what? Have I already thought of which princess to rescue?" she said with irony, ignoring the relief that his answer had given her.

"No. Do you already have a date?"

"Of course not, I don't think that I would go to something as stupid as that dance anyway."

The Hyūga didn't comment anything else, he just continued drinking his unsweetened cappuccino while she struggled not to ask him for a sip to stop feeling cloyed with her own drink. It would be useless though, Neji didn't share his food with anyone and the only way he did was when she boldly stuck her fork or spoon in his plate.

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Arriving home the first stop was the kitchen to get a bottle of water out of the fridge and after changing clothes she went to the jogging machine, she had a sugar rush to decrease. As she jogged she let her mind wander again to think about the issue that was bothering her and now added something else, or maybe that was the real reason why she was so irritated by the issue.

What was that reason? Precisely the man who had escorted her home, the thought that he might ask someone to the dance and have a date bothered her. It hadn't taken her long to realize that she liked Neji, even though she didn't share with him as much as she did with other fellow male specimen, she had fixated on just him. After making peace with the fact that she was attracted to the Hyūga she began trying to find some sign of being reciprocated, all in vain.

The Hyūga was cordial, rather serious in general and she had never heard him laugh. Once he had stopped underestimating her and started treating her as an equal in practice, well that, he had dedicated to treating her as an equal and although she was the only female none of her teammates seemed to notice that or treat her differently, it's not like she expected anything similar either. The problem is that she also didn't share with him in other spaces in the school so she didn't have a point of comparison on how he behaved with other women.

The only thing halfway similar were Neji's cousins, but they didn't count. So soon after realizing that she liked him she also resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't reciprocated and that he only saw her as a practice partner or someone to tutor from time to time. Still, it would hurt her to find out he was going with someone else.

Sweating, she went to check her pending homework, she should start reading what she hadn't paid attention to in math, or ask Neji to explain it to her, but that would be the next day. The best thing for the moment was to occupy her head with something else. With any luck the next day the euphoria about the dance would have subsided and the subject wouldn't be talked about so much.

Luck was not her thing, never really had been, and on that occasion it was no exception. She had to add that the day before everyone was just starting to make plans for the dance because they were just finding out about it, that day many were starting to materialize them. For example, some of the basketball team had disguised themselves as dragons and pretended to kidnap a cheerleader so that other students, also from the same team, would 'rescue' the girls and thus be able to invite them.

Ino and Sakura were talking excitedly, the green-eyed woman had already received the respective invitation from her boyfriend and the Yamanaka, after making her suitors go through several tests for a couple of weeks, had already given her verdict on who would be her partner. She didn't want to roll her eyes or let her boredom show at all, although she didn't hide it much either.

"Maybe if you were a little more feminine some guy would invite you," the blonde commented as if it didn't matter and she felt her blood boil.

"I'm the way I want to be, I'm not going to change just because of a boy," she hissed annoyed. "Besides I don't want to go to the stupid dance either."

"I didn't mean for you to take it the wrong way," excused Ino, "but you should reconsider not wanting to go... it's our last year, after this you'll never have the chance to attend."

"Whatever," she said as farewell still angry and turning her back to the woman to go to her practice.

At least practice had resumed and what her teammates had done wasn't as ridiculous as disguising themselves, but it was close enough. Their group plan had been to do some fighting in the hallways for some female. She was still sulking at the thought that the dance was already the following weekend, so the moment Gai asked for volunteers for the first match of the day she went to raise her hand, thinking she needed to release some of her anger. But before she could do so Neji grabbed her arm to prevent her from being able to move it and shook in her direction.

Preventing her from participating not only in that one but in all the sparring that took place during practice. Before she could complain or anything like that he told her to go for a coffee on the way home, so she just nodded and on the way neither of them said anything.

"Gai would have punished you," Neji commented, they hadn't sat inside the place but had ordered their drinks to go and that time she had made sure her frappé was hazelnut.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were angry, you were going to attack without taking into account the principles of Aikido, your mind wasn't at peace," she bit her lip.

"Thank you," she finally admitted. "I think it would have been much worse if he forced me to be tied to some partner," because the method of punishment had not changed.

"That's true," it was a murmur that for a moment she doubted if she had really heard it, but in the absence of new words she shook her head, she was imagining things. "Do you already have a date for the dance?"

"No, I already told you that I think it's kind of stupid," she answered with sincerity. "Besides, if some dragon or something stupid like that tries to kidnap me, I'll rescue myself."

"Dragons didn't exist."

"I know," she answered with a smile

"And the armors I have seen so far are inaccurate historically speaking."

"I think no one but you could notice something like that," she tried not to laugh. "I'm sure the other Friday at the ball you'll have fun finding the inaccuracies in the costume the attendants." Neji didn't answer and she lost her good mood at the fact that he didn't deny again that he still didn't have a date. "Did you invite someone yet?"

"I tried."

"She rejected you?" she thought she saw something like a nod. "Really?"

"Something like that."

"I can't believe that a woman dares to reject you," she said automatically and after that she bit her tongue. "I'm sure it was because you didn't do the whole pantomime of rescuing her," she continued trying to joke again.

"She doesn't need anyone to rescue her," he mumbled to himself and she tilted her head to one side as she couldn't hear him.

"What did you say?"

"That I don't think I'm going to go, you said so, it's kind of silly."

"You do want to go," something she had achieved in those years of friendship, getting to know him in some ways.

"Not really."

"Neji, if you really want to go with her you should ask her again... time is running out. Do you want me to wear a dragon costume?" she offered while ignoring the knot in her stomach that he had a crush on someone else.

"I'd rather you wear a dress, but if you feel comfortable that way it's your decision," she blinked several times trying to process what exactly it was that she had heard.

"What?" she finally asked after feeling her mind collapse a couple of times.

"I'm inviting you to the dance Tenten." Had she gotten the wrong frappé again and was she in a sugar rush hallucination? "If you decide to attend, of course," silence was the order of the day.

"Yes," she finally said after finding her voice.

Neji smiled sideways and she smiled back. It was well worth going to something as stupid as prom with him.

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See you tomorrow in day 2!

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

Hope you like it.

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Att: Sally K