Chapter 4
A/N: I got myself motivated and wrote myself a chapter in one sitting. YAY me! And on top of that, I managed to get this chapter done before a week was up. Well here you have it, Chapter four of Best Served Cold.
Work had proved to be entertaining after all. For the first time in a while she had been pleased to have rolled out of bed at the end of the day. In her second class, she'd had to intervene in a fight between the class clown and the class hunk. The dispute had started over something silly, perhaps the clown was jealous of his classmate, or perhaps one had given the other a strange look, either way, they had interrupted her lesson over a silly childhood argument. She rolled his eyes as she remembered the moment. If history repeated itself like they claimed, then those two would find themselves becoming the best of friends.
She'd delayed her punishment until after school was over and then made them run fifty laps around the town, inwardly thanking Gai-sensei for the ridiculous yet rigorous training he had put them through. Despite how much their bodies had protested, he deserved credit for the ninjas they had become.
It was after five when the second ninja candidate had crossed the finished line, collapsing in a heap at her feet. She took pity on the poor boy and invited him to go with her and Outarou-kun for ramen. He perked up substantially at the mention of food and she wondered absently if he was related to a certain blonde shinobi.
She watched him run ahead of them and smiled to herself. When she spent time with her students outside of class she couldn't help but observe them and wonder if she would have moments like these with her daughter when she got older.
TenTen and Outarou arrived at Ichiraku to find Daijiro already sitting at the counter, sloppily eating a large bowl of miso ramen. He turned just as they entered, sucking the mess of noodles into his mouth. "I already ordered for us, is that okay?"
She forced a smile, eyeing the three empty bowls stacked next to him. "Thanks." She sat down next to the energetic dark-haired boy and helped Outarou up onto the seat at her side.
Ichiraku's owner placed a bowl in front of her and one in front of her little friend.
She nodded at him. "Thank you." Before she began eating she shot a look at her delinquent student. "Say, Daijiro, what was that about in class?"
He blushed and turned his head away. "Nothing."
"It's in my experience that twelve-year-old boys don't get that worked up over nothing."
"And just what do you know about twelve-year-old boys, sensei?"
"Hey!" She took offense to that remark. "I was twelve once. In fact, it wasn't that long ago."
"But you're not a boy, so it doesn't matter."
"When I was twelve, I had friends who were boys." It suddenly dawned on her. Her lips curved upward, exposing two rows of white teeth, forming a wide smile like the Cheshire cat's. "This wouldn't happen to be about a girl, would it?"
He ducked his head so she wouldn't see his expression. "No."
"So it is about a girl."
"I just told you it wasn't."
Her tone became serious. "It isn't nice to lie to your sensei Daijiro, especially when she's buying you dinner."
He sighed. "If I tell you, you promise you won't tell anyone else."
"I swear."
"There's this girl I like in class."
She smiled in triumph. "I knew it was a girl."
"SENSEI!" He complained.
"I'm sorry, keep going." She broke her chopsticks apart and began to eat.
"The thing is, she doesn't notice me at all, all she and the other girls care about is Katsuya. It's so annoying, and he treats all of them like dirt, even when they spend their allowance on presents for them. He even tore up a letter she wrote him in class, that's why I fought with him."
"Oh! I understand now. You're jealous."
"Am not!"
"Whatever you say jealous boy." She began giggling at his expense.
He looked horrified. "SENSEI!"
"I'm sorry." She smothered the giggles in her sleeve and when she was able to compose herself she turned to face him again. "You've got nothing to worry about Daijiro, you're a nice boy, and it won't be long before the girls notice it and they forget about Katsuya."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. And just in case, I'll have a little talk with Katsuya about respecting women."
"SENSEI!"
"What now?"
"Don't talk to him. Then he and all the other boys will call me a punk for running my mouth to the teacher."
"Fine then. I won't talk to him."
Finally full, the boy rested his chopsticks down on the counter next to his bowl and exhaled loudly, rubbing his rounded stomach. "I better go home before Mom starts worrying about me." He slid off the stool and waved goodbye to her. "See you tomorrow sensei!"
"Bye."
A few seconds after Daijiro departed, TenTen feel the seat next to her once again become occupied. She looked up and met with the sparkling aqua eyes of a certain blonde chuunin. He opened his mouth to make a request, but she silenced him before he could continue. "No Naruto, I will not buy ramen for you."
"But TenTen-chan, I promise to pay you back."
She turned away from him. "You really should buy your own food, you do make more money on your missions than I make on my teacher's salary."
"But, Teachers have always paid for me."
"Then it's about time we break you out of that habit."
He pouted at her good-naturedly and then barked his order at the chef. "So who was the kid that was here just now? Should Neji be worried?"
"Very funny Naruto. He's one of my students, and he reminds me a lot of a certain someone." She stared pointedly at him.
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows. "How so?"
"For one, he really knows how to put away his ramen and even runs the same scam that you do."
"Hey! It's not a scam."
She ignored him. "Plus he has a habit of getting into trouble, and picks fights with the most popular guy in class on behalf of all the girls. Now if that doesn't sound just like the stories I heard about you at his age from Iruka I don't know what does."
"If that's true, then he must be a good kid."
"Yeah. He'll make a good shinobi."
"You're still worried about him, aren't you?"
"Hmm?" She turned to face him. "Actually, this was the first time I've thought about him in over two hours. Spending time with these kids takes my mind off of my troubles."
He smiled knowingly. "Kids tend to be like that."
Resting her chopsticks in her empty bowl, TenTen placed her hand under her chin and leaned on the counter. "What about you and Hinata?"
Mouth half-full and eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he stared up at her. "Huh?"
"Do you plan on getting serious with her?"
He swallowed fast, nearly choking himself at the question. "Are you serious?"
"Of course I am. She is practically my sister."
"Hinata-chan is a good person and I am very happy with her, but we're only seventeen and I don't know if I'm ready for a commitment like that."
"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow, fighting to hide the amusement she got from watching the boy's inner conflict.
"Like you and Neji. I mean…you guys are only a year older than us and you're already married and have a baby. I don't know if I can do that same thing right now."
"No one's asking you to." She shrugged. "I just wanted to know if you really liked her or if you were dating her because Sakura is with Sasuke."
He shook his head quickly. "I really like her, and now that we're older I don't think she's so weird anymore."
"That's good." She dismounted from the stool and helped Outarou down, placing some bills on the counter in the process. "I better head home before Neji's mother thinks I got kidnapped or lost."
Naruto waved her away, digging into another bowl of ramen.
"TenTen-sensei, I'm going to stay with you tonight, right?"
"That's right Outarou-kun." The boy's father, his last living relative, had recently been killed while on a mission, and he was being taken care of by his teachers until Godaime could find a permanent home for him. TenTen had forfeited her scheduled time with him and offered to watch the boy until Neji returned from his mission, and then she planned to bring up his care to her husband after he had settled in.
She climbed up the stairs to her apartment and unlocked it. Her mother-in-law was standing a few feet away from the door, the telltale lines of anxiety showing on her face. The woman sighed in relief at her daughter-in-law's entrance. "Thank God."
TenTen smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble. I had to supervise punishment for two of my students."
The woman took in the sight of the little white-haired boy hiding behind TenTen's leg. "And you picked up a stray along the way?"
"No. This is Outarou-kun. I told you about him, he'll be staying with me for a few days, just until Neji gets home."
"Ahh. Welcome. I'm the other Mrs. Hyuuga." She extended the hand that wasn't supporting Haruka's weight to the little boy and shook his hand. "You have a strong handshake."
He smiled at the compliment. "Thank you."
"Well, my job is done for the night. I've already fed and changed her." She kissed her granddaughter on the forehead and then handed her to her mother. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah." TenTen let the woman out and then turned to her guest. "Well, Outarou, why don't you get changed and get used to your bedroom?" She pointed him in the direction of the spare room and went off to her own room to put her daughter to bed.
It turned out that Outarou wasn't the type of boy who was easily tired. She had to bring out her entire stash of old board games and spend three hours playing against him before he finally fell asleep.
Exhausted, TenTen didn't even bother to put the games away, she just stumbled into her room and collapsed onto the bed, falling instantly into a deep sleep.
To her it only felt like moments later when she was roused by loud persistent knocking at her door. She rolled over and glanced at her alarm clock. One thirty-six. What was that person thinking? Deciding to ignore it, TenTen lifted her pillow and pressed it down over her head, trying in vain to drown out the noise.
Finally after five minutes of the incessant knocking, she dragged herself out of bed and entered the living room. Flipping on the light switch she walked over to the door and fumbled with the latches for a few moments before undoing them. She jerked the door open. "What the hell's your problem?"
Her angry question met only thin air. Now confused, she would've shut the door and went back to bed if she didn't feel a gloved hand wrapping around her bare foot. She glanced down only to feel her eyes widen in horror. A bloodied and battered ANBU member was lying in the threshold of her doorway. He was barely able to raise his head, and could hardly tighten his fingers around her ankle to pull himself up to his feet.
She knelt at his side, hoping against hope that this man wasn't who she thought he was. However, her hopes were dashed when his lips parted behind his mask and uttered her name.
"Neji?"