NejiTen month day 3

August 03/2021

Prompts: Risk / Leisure

Ninja world

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Day 03. Risk

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She wanted to bite her lip as she peeked slightly through the curtain to see how many people were gathered there. Now she did bite her lip as she saw that the place was much more crowded than before and then cursed in her mind before going to the mirror and checking that her teeth hadn't smeared lipstick on them and that his lips were still intact.

She was going to kill them all, if they survived that mission, she was going to kill them all. From the Hokage for assigning her that mission, to her designated partners who saw no problem in what they proposed, and ending with her supposed friend and teammate since she graduated from the academy. Oh yes! For Neji she planned a slow and very painful death, possibly she would look for some poison that would make him suffer.

But in order to carry out her plans of revenge and massacre, she first had to survive the trouble she was in. She couldn't hyperventilate let alone try to sneak out or anything like that, her team depended on her, everyone's survival depended on her. However, that didn't mean that the situation seemed any less shitty to her and that she was going to make it.

"Five minutes, Tami," said a man and she nodded at her fake name, wishing with all her soul for that to be a bad dream and for the alarm to take her out of that place, waking up in her bed.

"Are you ready?" Neji just walked in and she thought about yelling at him, — of course she wasn't ready! "remember that..."

"We'll all die if they discover my facade," she interrupted him, saying the sentence in a low voice "I haven't forgotten, Neru." She divided his fake name into two syllables.

"Ten..." she frowned, "Tami, that's not what I meant. I trust you."

"Thank you, though you shouldn't," she was definitely frustrated. "They''ll see the truth, I can't do this."

"Of course you can," Neji moved closer to her and put his hand on her arm trying to help her calm down, "we talked about this, you know what you have to do and you'll do it right."

"Ne..." she started to say and heard footsteps, "Neru," she pronounced complete, "thank you for coming, but clients aren't allowed to be in this area."

"Please leave, the dancer can't be distracted," the Hyūga nodded and just gave her a meaningful look before leaving.

"It's time for your show, Tami."

"I'll be right out."

The man left her alone and she in front of the mirror took a deep breath, she was wrapped in a robe and had to take it off to go out, something she definitely didn't want to do. She didn't want to do what was next either, but it was her responsibility and she couldn't fail. She inhaled and before she lost her momentum, she opened the garment to push it aside, turning around without seeing herself in the mirror or she knew that was as far as her conviction would go.

Several applauses sounded when her fake name was announced and then joined by several whistles when she went out to the stage. She passed her eyes through all the attendees until she found in one of the tables those eyes she knew perfectly well, those eyes temporarily-of-another-color that tried to hide the surprise and fixate only on her face, but it alternated also on her indecent attire and that only made her feel more flushed than she already was.

She was perfectly aware of the way she had been dressed for that presentation, she felt partially naked in that bright red leotard/swimsuit that clung to her like a second skin and had a deep cleavage. Plus she had half of her ass in the air because the skirt was purely decorative and didn't cover anything. She closed her eyes for a second, she could hear the murmurs of the clients and feel the anticipation in the air for what she was about to do, something even she wasn't sure of.

The music started and the place fell silent, all eyes were fixed on her while she felt frozen. Her team depended on her, she was the distraction on that excessively risky mission, if she failed they would be discovered and they would all die. She inhaled deeply and exhaled heavily twice before raising her arms and taking position, she wasn't going to let them get killed. She was going to do that herself when they could finally get out of there.

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She liked watching her mother, she liked the grace with which she moved around the house and hummed doing the household chores, the way she sometimes made fluid movements with the broom doing a harmonious dance. Sometimes when she was alone in the room she would try to imitate the movements, unsuccessfully. She couldn't flow the way her mother did, she was clumsy and considered herself graceless, not even pretty.

One afternoon while she thought her mother was asleep she tried for a while, tossing the stupid broom annoyingly aside. Cursing for a while before walking resignedly to the object to pick it up and try again. She made a couple of moves and as usual felt ridiculous so she pouted, being graceful wasn't her thing.

"You don't have to think about what you are doing," her mother's soft voice startled her, she hadn't noticed that she was watching her from the bedroom door with a smile, "just let out what you feel and the movements will flow."

She tried to follow the indication but felt clumsier than before, so she puffed out her cheeks and the woman's laughter was heard throughout the room.

"Do you want me to teach you how to dance?"

"I'll never be as good as you," she answered still pouting.

"Don't say that, honey," her mother went up to her and tickled her, making her cheeks deflate and start laughing. "You don't have to compare yourself to anyone, you are you."

"But..."

"We all have different abilities, not being able to do something specific doesn't mean you're clumsy or that you won't shine at a different activity."

She smiled and that afternoon tried to learn what her progenitor was explaining, always marveling at the way the woman swayed to the music while she for her part seemed to brake the music and not attach to the rhythm. She tried a couple more times on different days, but then the academy started and her mother got sick.

That first year of study she was distracted, only thinking about leaving the academy to go to the hospital to be with her mother. For that reason she did not pay attention in some classes, she liked weapons, but she did not like that subject that was only for women, especially because her classmates made fun of her rigid movements and her clumsiness.

After her mother's death she began to hate that subject, she considered it useless to learn that and that her ability would never be in that field. Instead she realized that her skill with weapons and her aim was very good, so since she was nine years old she was convinced that this would be her path and she would only do just enough to survive the kunoichi classes, but she would never do anything of what they explained there.

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And she had made it, at her twenty years old she had never had to act as a 'kunoichi'. Until that mission she was on, and Kotetsu and Shikamaru decided it was necessary to infiltrate that bar/brothel she was in. She as the female of the group would have to use some of her skills to get hired and the proposed facade was that she was a dancer.

She being a dancer! They didn't understand her reluctance to do that role, it was something all the kunoichis knew how to do, all but her. It was Neji who privately spoke to her and, although it had been made clear, explained the importance of her role and that it was something the mission required. With a pout she agreed and after deciding that her new name would be Tami, Kotetsu was the one who got the bar hired her for the job without a test on her ability, also managing that for two weeks she wouldn't be scheduled for any performance.

Her mission was being bearable, just wearing a tight dress that didn't allow her to hide any weapons underneath while working as a waitress. Listening to as many conversations as possible while avoiding being groped by clients and restraining herself from hitting them for being disgusting. But they needed to create a distraction for the mission and it was starting to look suspicious that she didn't ask to dance since the pay was better. So they decided the date, as it was her debut the higher-ups in the bar would be watching for her and that would create the breakthrough the others needed.

At that moment in front of all the clients starting to make her moves she thought of her mother and that she was definitely never going to be as graceful as the woman was. But her dancing wasn't focusing on sensually swaying to the music or trying to flow with it, no. It had been the Hyūga who had proposed a possible solution and that was what she was doing, because harmonious dancing was definitely not one of her skills.

Instead Neji proposed to her to imitate the movements of taijutsu, to soften the fighting stances and just as if she was training with him, try to make it look like a dance. Because somehow when they fought in melee it was a dance, her body did know how to flow, but not in the way she wished as a child. She flowed when fighting, so that's what she was doing at that moment in front of everyone.

She somersaulted in the air and when she landed she lifted her leg to spin as if she was kicking, but instead of focusing her strength on it what she did was to raise her arms and for a moment she did look like a traditional dancer. She kept flowing and jumped, landing with one knee resting on the ground as the song ended, so she looked up to meet Neji's eyes who hadn't missed a thing and seemed completely absorbed by what he had just seen.

The place erupted in applause and she stood up, regulating her breathing that had accelerated because of all the adrenaline that had run through her during the minutes that her presentation lasted. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the higher-ups were pleased and just at the doorway of the bar Shikamaru and Kotetsu were walking out. She again made visual connection with the Hyūga who gave a slight nod to indicate to her that the mission had been satisfactory, but his eyes had an expression she had never seen him have, and it wasn't about being camouflaged in the transformation jutsu to make them a different color and change his identity.

No, it was something very different that made her tingle because of what that look seemed to express.

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See you tomorrow in day 4!

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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