Dizzy
A/N: HWuahahhahah! I finally finished it… heheeheee!! hahahaha!!(chokes gasps for breathe… )
…Sorry about that… You see, I really enjoyed doing this story, and finishing it after two weeks of failed attempts is such a joy! …well…to me at least…
But I hope you do as well.
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me… sigh…
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Dizzy…
Her head ached.
It was six o'clock in the morning, the room temperature inside the classroom was impossibly weird and Iruka-sensei's cheerful voice grated through Tenten's ear like a rusty kunai rubbing across her forehead protector.
Back and forth it went… Back and Forth…
To and fro and forward and backward… like the clock hands that strike the numbers six and twelve over and over again…
"Funny…is the clock supposed to do that?"
That thought suddenly drifted into her brain, gliding like a cloud thin and wispy, soft and feathery, blue, pink, purple and…
Before that thought could germinate inside her brain, it soon, like all others disappeared into her brain like melted peanut butter and cotton candy.
"…Yummy…," came in another streams of consciousness, which then made her lick her lips in ecstasy as she gazed at the sea of faces that was before her. Looking at them through the blur in her eyes, she realized that they oddly looked like melting marshmallows in a very gooey mess…
It was funny, and it made her smile.
It was as funny as the clock, and the peanut butter, and cotton candy, and that stupid woodpecker hammering at her temples making it throb and ring. It even was as funny as the way Iruka-sensei's face looked distorted with his cheerful grin looking disjointed and cracked.
IT was funny…and pretty…and lovely…and grand and beautiful and…SHIT!!
Tenten suddenly realized that she wasn't supposed to say things like that.
She scanned the faces of her classmates just to make sure that they had not miraculously heard those thoughts of hers that were the product of a very bad migraine. And in that exact instant, the mist cleared away from her brain, and all the peanut butters, seas, marshmallows and cotton candy were swept away leaving only that throbbing headache that was threatening to burst out of her veins in a stream of blood…
"God…how her head ached… How her stupid head ached so badly she wanted to scream out loud in misery… damnit……" she muttered under her breathe, followed by a string of curses, ones rather loud and profane, oblivious to the shocked gazes that were tuned towards her way.
"What's the matter with her?"
"IS she alright?"
""What the hell is she doing?"
"She's disturbing the class…"
"Why would she do that?"
"…"
"Who
is she?"
All around, the questions went.
Most of the students around her area were upset, indignant, shocked, or amused, but certainly none of them was indifferent.
(Nobody cusses that loudly in second grade, ya know…)
Especially one, particular, pale-eyed kid, beside her, who was doing his best glare to scare her into silence or at least into some semblance of self-respect, and normalcy. But it was no use.
Tenten had come back to her drunk, dizzy, headache-induced stupor.
It was pretty down here, a thought sailed through her brain.
Everyone was staring at her, and all their faces were magnified in her brain, sloshed and fuzzy like a double-dutch ice cream.
She giggled at the thought. They looked funny, and…weird…
Especially one particular, pale-eyed kid who sat beside her, whose face also looked weird. His face was odd in one part, his lips was a thin, straight line.
That made her brows come together in a slight frown.
It was as if that face was making her angry…and weird…
But as soon as that thought came, it was suddenly replaced by another.
That boy was staring at her. And that boy, with his pale eyes, dark lashes and doll-like skin, looked utterly cute.
He also looked adorable. Like a handsome teddy bear… wait… teddy bears are cute…not handsome…he was more of a…a…an action figure that she was gazing at, the other day in the toy store.
Except he didn't have those big bunches in his arm…of course not…
But he was still handsome…and cute…and… Tenten giggled
Meanwhile, that particular, pale-eyed kid who was beside her was getting increasing uncomfortable under her intense (though lopsided) gaze.
But as she continued to gaze at him in that adoring fashion, he was suddenly struck by the how cute she looked that way, with her eyes twinkling, and her lips in a wide grin.
Soon, he found himself reddening against his will.
Meanwhile, Tenten found herself frowning at something that she was viewing in her mist-glazed eyes.
He's red… a pink, sort of red…a very pretty sort of red... a…
Tenten shook her head. I'm being foolish again…
She looked away and stared at the cracked face of Sir Iruka, muttering jutsu-isms, and curse seal-isms, and other things that she was finding impossible to understand.
But she couldn't help it. She had to look at him again…
…because the pink unicorns were urging her, and the cotton candy were pushing her, and the melted peanut butter, and that blasted woodpecker, and that sweet picture that red face presented to her headache-induced muddled consciousness, made her muddled even more.
He was handsome, and cute, and beautiful… and she wanted to touch his face, somehow. She wanted to reach out her hand and grasp him, like that action figure her aunt gave her last week, gently, very gently.
She wanted to see if he felt as pretty as he looked…
To that boy's great surprise (and horror), the girl beside him, who was staring at him for past minute, was now inching closer, and closer, until he thought he could smell the faint scent of her baby powder and cologne.
She was very close now, and he could now clearly see, the paleness of her skin, or the way her chocolate brown eyes, gazed up at him in liquid fascination. Her lashes batted… once, twice, thrice, and she grinned.
Her hand was raised, and it lifted in a gesture to touch his face.
The boy was squirming now. He was trying to inch away from her, just as she was leaning towards him. Gazing at her, through pale, alarmed irises, he leaned back, wondering whether he was disgusted by her unbecoming behavior or, strangely, fascinated by her pretty, brown eyes.
Her hand was near enough. Her fingers were now outstretched and they slowly, ever so slowly traced his cheek.
"STOP!!"
In great panic, he swerved to his rear; put his hand behind him to act as a support to the chair that was right below him… BUT there was NONe!!!
With a great crash, the two of them fell headlong towards the floor, pulling the table, and the shocked gasps of their classmates, with them.
In a great tangle of limbs, tables, and textbooks, Sir Iruka found the boy with pale byakugan eyes, and long tresses muttering, curses and profanities, and death threats to everyone within ten mile radius of the vicinity. Blood was pouring off the back of his head, and he was covered with broken debris from head to toe.
Iruka, while mentally shaking his head at the hardships of being a teacher, hauled him up, amid the giggles and snickers of all.
"What in the world are you two doing down here?!", Iruka-sensei demanded as he took a narrow look at the scene that was right before his eyes.
The boy didn't answer. Instead, what followed was a great growl that emanated from his throat, as he looked at his frowning instructor.
"Well?!"
"…"
"I'm waiting…"
"…"
"I think that this only means that you have not the ability, strength and will, to take responsibility for this, young man… This might be a signal for your future deficiencies in other subje-"
That did it.
"SHE GRABBED me, Sensei!! That freak was trying to harass me in front of everyone in this clas-"
He stopped in the middle of his tirade.
Surprised, he turned to look at the shocked gazes of his classmates, and his teacher.
No one spoke.
Everyone's mouth was open, gazing at him in obvious awe.
Outside, even the birds stopped their chatter.
A full minute passed.
Then.
Someone started to snicker, then giggle, then laugh.
And soon, everyone started to follow suit. In less than five seconds, everyone inside the classroom was laughing at him, even Iruka-sensei.
"Come on, Neji…You can go to the infirmary…I-I'll take care of this…"
And that was Iruka-sensei, trying hard not to choke, while he wiped the tears from falling down his eyes,
Burning with humiliation, he took a last look at the girl beside him, and muttering, he headed off to the hospital wing.
And Tenten? What about crazy, migraine-battered, and undergoing-delusions-stage, Tenten?
Lying curled in the floor, with her hand pillowing her cheek, Tenten was finally fast asleep.
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6 years later…
"YOU NARCISSTIC BASTARD!!! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!!!"
"Calm down Tenten… please, calm down… I'm sure Neji didn't mean to do that…," Rock Lee pleaded as he tried to stop Tenten from destroying his apartment.
"I think I heard you wrong, Rock Lee. I meant what I did a while ago," was Neji's short reply as he read the newspaper in the couch, never taking his eyes away from the business page.
"AARGHHH!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" Tenten roared in rage.
Grabbing a rather odd looking figurine with bowl-hair and bushy eyebrows, she tossed it furiously towards the nonchalant figure lying on the couch.
Missing his head by only half an inch, it landed with a great crash on the floor after smashing with the life size portrait of Rock Lee and Gai-sensei.
"MY BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST FIGURINE!!!!!!!!!" Rock Lee wailed as he ran towards the shattered pieces of plaster of parish that was lying on the floor.
Dropping to his knees, and clutching the fragments to his chest in an anguished manner, he started to sob piteously on the floor.
"It was the prototype of Gai- sensei's new product… The one franchise, that he said was going to be the new fashion craze forever…" he hiccupped.
"I got the first copy… Gai-sensei was so proud of it…and now…ITS GONE FOREVER!!!!" Here, he ended with a loud wail, and ended up prostrating himself on the floor, while weeping uncontrollably about the hardships of life.
Tenten cringed at the pitiful and god-awful picture he portrayed, and hit with a twinge of remorse, she started towards the bawling genin, who had started to throw things all over the place in a wailing tantrum.
In the midst of the confusion, Neji quietly exited to the other room, while taking his newspaper with him.
"It's alright… Rock Lee, I'll just ask a friend of mine to fix it…", Tenten muttered as she kneeled beside the boy and patted him consolingly on the shoulder.
And that was rather hard, considering how he flailed about in all directions, and the way he sobbed, gulping the air like some goldfish, swallowing it very slowly, then bursting again into tears.
But finally with great perseverance, Tenten managed to bring him back to some semblance of decency.
(A/N: Is that possible? OR is it just a dream I wish would come true…
I wonder… O how I wonder…)
He was quiet now, although he would still sniffle now and then, and he was still performing that…umm…goldfish hiccup that was very becoming, especially with that red face and large, disgusting, lower lashed eyeballs of his, while Tenten continued to pat him on the shoulder, as she imagined the same thing.
"…I'm alright now, Tenten… It's just that I loved it so much and the thought that the reason it broke (sniff…) was because the Neji, and you kept on fighting about that silly fighting contest, You know, that Gai-sensei told us that love is the essence of our tea- " Rock Lee suddenly paused.
He had finally noticed that Tenten had gone still. Turning his hand, he peered at her face and saw her eyes.
Very suddenly, Rock Lee started to get nervous again.
"Tenten…I-I think you shouldn't mind what I said a while ago…" he trailed off, as his thoughts turned to the other figurines he kept in the room. Then he gazed back at her.
Her eyes were blazing.
Soon, the air started to sizzle, and excess chakra emanated from her body as she slowly stood up, clutching the kunais she kept on her pocket.
Her eyes narrowed, as she looked at the empty couch in the corner, and with gritted teeth, she hissed, "Where is he?"
Her head turned, and her gaze found the open door.
Her grip on her weapons tightened. And she strode purposely to the door.
"WAIT!!!!"
She didn't answer but continued to walk.
Rock Lee continued, "TENTEN, I'm sure Neji had some reason to do that, and can't you forgive him just this once?" He ended in a desperate note, "Please…"
"But I can't."
That was Tenten. In an odd, controlled voice, she spoke those words.
She had already turned around. Her eyes were glittering in a strange manner as she looked at him, frightening him at the same time.
He knew he was in it
Then before he knew it, Tenten had already launched on him her verbal attack.
"THAT BASTARD, PILE OF SHIT!!!!!!! HOW DARE HE HUMILIATE ME IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE PEOPLE, IN FRONT OF TSUNADE-SAMA!!
Oh! I'm so gonna kill him…" AND about half a dozen shurikens hit the side wall, slicing about an inch of a strand of Rock lee's hair.
"I'm going to mutilate his body, CUT HIS THROAT!!!..." and a pile of senbon shattered the glass of Rock Lee's figurine cabinet, and Gai picture frames.
"…And after I'm finished with him I'll pile his carcass in to the dumpsite and let the bugs eat the decaying juices of his corpse!!!" And after that, Tenten laughed evilly, while Rock Lee dropped to his knees, begging for redemption.
""My house, Tenten… please stop destroying my house… stop…"
Tenten turned to him, her eyes with fire.
"You think I'll stop at that!!! Of course not…I'll think of something else to kill him with. I mean How could anyone not want to destroy him after he…he…" And there, Tenten faltered, while tears actually started pouring out of her eyes.
"DAMN THAT BASTARD!!! How dare he hurt me like that, when I haven't done anything to humiliate him ever. I haven't. O God,I haven't…
Have I, Lee?"
And soon enough, Tenten dropped on the floor and sobbed, while Rock lee warily approached her to offer comfort, at the same time disarming her of any other weapons that could potentially further destroy his apartment.
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"Sure you did…"
That was Neji.
Lying on a chair in Lee's kitchen, he was holding the newspaper in his hands that was turned to the latest news on training techniques; he was trying the other week. But strangely, he barely heeded the words.
Staring at the printed words on the piece of paper, he seemed to bore a hole through the page, with the way his pale eyes gazed intensely at it.
He was perturbed.
That was for sure.
A muscle was twitching on his eyebrow, and his hands were crumpling the sides of The LEAF Weekly.
He was also a bit angry.
Why?
He was pondering upon the words he heard through the wall.
Of course, he wasn't scared. That was ridiculous. The thought of Tenten beating him to a pulp was so foolish, he would have laughed if he ever thought more about it, or if he was capable of doing so. But of course, he wasn't. Neji DID not laugh.
Especially now, as he frowned upon the words he had just heard.
"That…that…weirdo…" he hissed.
She didn't remember. That stupid female kunoichi didn't recall.
Of course she didn't. It was about six years ago.
But he did.
He would never forget that day she humiliated him to the core.
That stupid hellish day, when he accused her of raping him, and no one believed him, but instead laughed, and laughed, and laughed…,
Until their voices became imprinted on his brain.
Even today, their smirks and jeers followed him up to this very day.
He remembered, O! How he remembered. That afternoon, he spent in detention, in the infirmary. How he made an eternal vow.
He would never forget it.
That day he vowed to get revenge.
And Today, he did-well, sort of.
But that was still a start. And O!, what a start it is.
So he smiled. A very pale, maniacal shadow of a smile.
But as soon as he did, he scowled once again.
He scowled as his thoughts turned to that fateful day.
Those memories that were as clear as yesterday. Those memories that served to fuel his revenge.
The way she fell over him… or the way the tables tossed over his head, wounding him, wounding his soul, wounding his reputation. Or perhaps the way the two of them fell on the floor, and he… But wait! What happened before that…yes…yes… what happened before?
What monstrous thing did she do that would make his anger burn brighter and stronger than before?
He strained to remember all the details, everything!
What were they?
Then suddenly, he remembered.
He remembered the way she looked at him. He remembered those chocolate brown eyes and the liquid fascination it held…for him. He recalled the way she grinned at him, while he stared uncomfortable at her, and how her baby powder smelled. He also remembered how her finger softly traced his cheek, in loving fashion while he sat discomfited by her reaction, and her presence, and the way she looked at him as if he was the most precious thing in the world.
Suddenly, before he could stop himself, he found himself reddening against his will. Heat soon spread from his necks to his cheeks, until it spread all over his face, bathing his face in lovely rose, as he furiously tried to stop the memories that were coming in, making him dizzy, and red, and-
To his great surprise, he suddenly found himself looking at Tenten's eyes.
She stood at the doorway, holding a kunai in her hands, but instead of lunging it straight to his stomach, she was merely standing there, not moving but just staring at him with a sort of strange fascination.
Neji was suddenly attacked with recollection of another similar look about six years ago. That turned his face to a splotched red color, and mortified, he hid his face behind the newspaper he held.
That got Tenten moving. Forcing a wry grin in her face, she sauntered towards him, while she stopped her hand from clutching her kunai.
"Neji…" she said.
"…"
"I…"
"…"
She stopped, and sighed, and glared at him, for a second, then looked away.
"umm… Rock Lee told me I should apologize to you… But I can't…"
"…"
"I figured that since I destroyed his livingroom, I probably should. But I need your apology, too, Neji. So…umm…I…" She paused to clear her breath, then continued in a strained voice. "I'm sorry…"
"…"
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"…"
"ehem…" she coughed, as she tightened her hold on her kunai.
Neji raised his eyes from the newspaper, and after considering that a few words wouldn't be bad, finally drawled, "I don't need your apologies, so just go away…"
"But I need yours…" she emphasized. But Neji just looked at her straight in the eye, and said nothing.
"…"
"AAAAHHH! You BASTARD!!" she growled in frustration as she rushed towards him, then suddenly changed her mind and turned away to leave the room and vent her anger somewhere, while muttering under her breathe, "I'll get you one day, Neji… see if I don't…"
But just as Neji was about to sigh in relief, she stopped.
She turned around, and suddenly looked at him in a curious fashion, as if assailed by a sudden thought.
Silently, she looked at him.
And he cleared his throat.
"ehem…"
Tenten started.
"oh… I'm sorry… it's just that…" and she trailed off, embarrassed.
Silence descended on them like a cloud on which she continued to stare at him, while he sat there-mortified.
Then, she suddenly spoke up.
"Neji…"
"What?"
"umm… I…"
"Well?"
"umm… I-I think…umm…" she trailed off once again, to stare at him, speculation and fascination in her eyes.
Seconds passed, and still she did nothing.
A muscle started twitching in his brow.
Tick tock tick tock… the clock struck three.
Outside, the birds stopped their chirping.
This was too much for Hyuuga Neji.
"What?!' Neji growled, exasperated.
She straightened up.
"I think I'm having déjà vu."
Neji gaped at her, as he blushed once again. That was what he dreaded
They were both thinking the same thing.
He stuttered, beet red,
"You're just dizzy…headache perhaps… or migraine.. or-"
Then, he stopped.
Hiding himself inside the folds of the newspaper, he furiously ignored the rapidly beating pulse of his heart.
He closed his eyes.
Lord, he was dizzy.
He was going to have a headache.