Chapter 2 Love is in the air or not?
"Hey Neji, hey Lee!" Tenten walked over to her classmates who were training together in the forest.
"Hi Tenten, did you come to train with us?!" Lee said with a cheerful mood as always.
"Uh no, I think I'll pass this time. I'm just going to sit in that tree and watch." She pointed at a nearby tree.
Lee looked concerned. "Wow Tenten, that's a pretty big tree. The first branchthat is thick enough to sit on is pretty high up."
"Don't worry Lee, I've climbed this tree before. I do it all the time. It's a piece of cake." She assured her friend.
"Oh really? Why did you climb it before?" He asked out of pure curiosity.
"Silly. To watch…" She stopped. She almost blurted out the real reason why she climbed that tree all the time. She blushed.
Neji looked up at Tenten. He stared at her. He noticed that she was blushing, but he couldn't understand why. Tenten detected Neji staring at her. She looked back at him and quickly turned away and blushed even more.
"Tenten? To watch what?" Lee asked her impatiently.
"Err…uh…" She tried to come up with an excuse. "Err what I meant to say was… to look at the view. It's very impressive." She stuttered.
"What view? There are only trees around here, not very interesting to see." Lee said with a little bit of suspicion, not sure if he believed his teammate.
"Just drop the subject Lee." Neji said all of a sudden. He had his eyes closed and leaned against the tree they were talking about. They both looked at him.
"But…"
"Just drop it." He opened his eyes and gazed at Tenten. She blushed and smiled at him. He smirked. "Hn." He knows exactly why Tenten has climbed that tree before. It all seems clear to him now.
He often heard a noise while he was training alone in the woods. He knew that the sound was coming from that tree, but he always assumed that it was some animal jumping from tree to tree. Now he knows better. It was Tenten spying on him, watching him. It would seem that the girl has a crush on him.
"Why does Neji keep staring at me? Oh no, could it be…" She swallowed. "That he knows?" She couldn't stop blushing. On the contraire, she kept getting redder by the second. She was too scared to stare anywhere else but into his eyes. He was looking intently at her. She wondered what he was thinking about. It seemed that he was amused by something. He had a smirk on his face.
Suddenly he looked up at the sky. Tenten sighed, relieved that the awkward gazing incident was over. She looked to see what Lee was doing. Strangely, it looked like he was trying real hard not to say something.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked him. He remained silent. "Spit it out already."
"It's just that…" He made fists with his hands. He started to get tomato red. Tears started to well up in his eyes and he was gritting his teeth trying not to laugh.
"Well come on. What is it?!" She said impatiently.
"I know what's going on here." He chuckled. "I know why you've been climbing that tree."
Tenten looked at him with astonishment. "Oh no. Please don't let him say it out loud"
"You like…" He cringed his eyes.
"No Lee, don't say it!" She screamed. She was getting nervous. Her gaze went from Lee to Neji, back to Lee and back to Neji. She laughed nervously. Neji looked at her. He smirked again.
"You have a crush on…"
"No don't!" She ran over to Lee and placed her hand on his mouth. "Be quiet." She glanced at Neji. Lee grabbed her by the waist and started tickling her.
"Hahahahaha, stop it! Lee, stop it! Hahaha." She tried to keep her hand on his mouth but alas. He was tickling her so badly that she had to let him go.
Lee gasped for air and said. "You like ME!"
Tenten stopped laughing. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You've been WATCHing me train haven't you?" Tenten looked at him with a confused face. "Come on admit it. You have a crush on me." He had a big grin on his face."
"Hmpf…how pathetic." Neji was getting ready to leave.
Tenten turned around. "No Neji wait! I don't have a crush on…" Neji left before she could say anything more. She turned around again, this time with an angry expression. "Now look what you did. He left."
"Who Neji? Let him go. Now we have some time alone. I knew that you would fall for me. No one can resist my charm." Lee laughed out loud.
Tenten punched him in the face and sent him flying onto the big tree. "I don't have a crush on you, I like someone else you idiot." She left to find Neji.
"Neji? Neji? Where are you?" Tenten decided to jump from tree to tree to cover more ground in less time. Then she remembered that Neji has another training site where he likes to practice. It was not too far from here. She turned to the right and jumped towards the direction of the place.
When she almost arrived, she slowed down and began to sneak around. She stopped in a tree she used to sit in even before Neji started training there. She glanced over the area and spotted Neji sitting against a tree with his eyes closed. He looked exhausted from training. She wanted to take a closer look, but she was afraid that he might detect her.
She couldn't resist. She wanted to see her sleeping beauty up close. She moved closer. She quietly jumped to the top of the tree he was resting against. She climbed down, nice and slow, branch for branch. She was low enough to see him, but she was surprised to see that he wasn't there anymore. "Huh? Where did he go?"
Suddenly she felt hands on her waist. "Aaaaah!" She quickly turned around ready to attack the one who scared her. But things didn't turn out the way she had planned. She lost her balance because of the swift spin and slipped. She tried to grab something. She felt someone's hand but could not grasp it and fell.
"Tenten!" A voice exclaimed.
Unluckily she landed on a most unfortunate way on her ankle. She screamed. "Ahhh!" She clutched her ankle.
"Tenten are you ok?!" The voice said.
She looked up to see who the voice was. It was Neji. He had a concerned face. "Uh…yeah I'm fine. Help me up." Neji grabbed her hand and helped her stand up. The moment she put some weight on her ankle she cried out in pain again. "Ouch! Shit, this hurts!"
"Sit down again. You're not fine. Let me take a look at your ankle." He gently sat her down again and examined her ankle.
"Really, you don't have to do this. I'm fine." She looked at him with a smile on her face. She thought it was sweet of him to be so worried. Neji sighed. "What is it, Neji?"
"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your ankle is not broken. The bad news is that it is severely bruised." He said with a little bit of relief.
"What do you recommend doctor Neji?" She smirked and placed her hand on his hand that was rubbing her ankle. Neji looked at her hand and then at her face. He lifted one eyebrow. "This girl has guts. Is she actually flirting with me?"
"Just put some ice on it for a while against the swelling and a lot of rest. Don't put any weight on it." He stood up to Tenten's disappointment. Neji helped her up. She leaned on him with her injured ankle in the air. He placed her arm around his neck and lifted her off her feet.
"Oh my, Neji. How sweet of you to carry me." She smiled.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this to return to the village as fast as we can." He said ignoring her lovely smile. He jumped from tree to tree. "And you have got some nerve flirting with me. It didn't take you very long to get over Lee. I thought you had a huge crush on him." He teased.
She blushed. "Who said that I was flirting with you and that thing with Lee was all a misunderstanding. I don't have a crush on him."
"I know." He smirked. Tenten noticed that he had that face again. The one that he makes when he is amused by something.
"Oh you do, don't you? And also to make this very clear, I don't spy on people." She said with a little bit of annoyance. She was irritated that Lee had guessed the fact that she does.
"Oh really, then what were you doing in that tree just now? You know, right before you fell." She blushed. "I caught you red-handed. And I'm guessing that it was you as well, all the times I went training alone."
"What? You must be joking. Now it's you who is flattering yourself." She laughed nervously.
Neji looked down at the girl in his arms. Tenten felt that he was staring at her and looked up right into his eyes. "I know it was you Tenten. No need to deny it. Lee was wrong about the fact of you having a crush on him, but he was right about one thing. You do have a crush on someone. And I know who." He said with a low and soft voice.
Tenten blushed like crazy and again she didn't dare to remove her stare from his. "I…I don't know…what you're talking about."
"I think you do." He smiled. They arrived at the village, but before he brought her home he had to do one more thing. He brought her to a back alley of the marketplace. He placed her feet on the ground. "Wha…what are we doing here?"
"Sst." He placed a finger on her lips. He moved in closer. Tenten knew what he was trying to do and she backed away, teasing him a bit. She smiled. Her back touched the wall and there was no more escape. He smirked. He leaned in real close and he was about to kiss her, when…
"Tenten!!! I'm sorry but I have to confess!" Lee came out of nowhere and bumped Neji out of the way right before he could kiss her.
"Lee! What are you doing here?" She was very surprised to see him and bummed out, because he ruined a special moment between Neji and her. She looked to see how Neji reacted, but he wasn't there anymore. He was gone. She turned to face Lee again.
"I'm sorry, but it can never work out between the two of us." He grabbed her hands. "This is going to be the most difficult thing I ever had to say to a girl, but… I'm… I'm in love with someone else. I'm sorry."
-- She looked down at the ground amazed to see how overdramatic Lee could be. "Don't cry my sweet. I'm sure you will find someone else."
Tenten decided to go along with the little play, just to get him of her back. She looked at him with her best act out teary eyes face. "It will be hard to get over you. How can I forget such a stud like you?"
"I know. It will be a long and painful road, but I'm sure you'll make it. And don't worry, we can still be friends." He said still holding her hands.
Tenten was trying real hard not to laugh. "Thank you." Lee left.
She looked around to see any sign of Neji, but with no luck. "That jerk, he left me to walk all the way home. I'll get him next time." She sighed, and then giggled. "He almost kissed me, if it wasn't for Lee he would have. I hope that the next time I see him, there will be no interruptions." She looked up at the sky. "Wow, it's getting late. I'd better hurry home." And so she did.
"Mom! I'm going out!" Sakura grabbed her gym bag and walked to the door.
"Where are you going honey?" Her mother replied.
"To the hot springs."
"Alone? At night? Why?" Her mother asked out of curiosity.
"I'm bored and I want to relax. And what could be more relaxing than sitting in a hot spring under the stars?" She said trying to put her mother at ease.
"But alone? Why don't you go with Ino?" her mother said still not comfortable with the thought of her daughter alone at night.
"Because she's probably out doing something with her boyfriend." She was getting tired of her mom interrogating her. "Ok, I'm leaving. Bye!" She closed the door behind her.
A few moments later she arrived at the hot springs. She saw that the female part was closed due to construction work. Therefore she decided to go to the cooed spring.
She quickly changed into her pink bikini. She took a towel from her bag and walked over to the spring. She opened the slide door and immediately felt the heat coming from the hot water. "Aaah, this is going to be so relaxing."
She slowly entered the water with her big toe first. She then swam to the other side. She leaned against a rock. "Hmm this feels good." She closed her eyes.
"I agree."
She swiftly opened her eyes. "Oh, it's you Ryu. I didn't realise someone else was in here." She smiled at him.
He swam over to her without looking away from her stare. She looked at him with suspicion. "What is he doing? Why can't he just keep his distance?" She never liked Ryu. She thought that he didn't deserve Ino, because he treated her so badly. He even tried to hit on her. When she told Ino about it, Ino said that it was just her imagination. But Sakura knew better, he did try to come on to her and she wasn't the only one.
And now here they are. All alone in the hot spring together. She wished that someone else was here so that he would leave her alone. He was now next to Sakura. A little bit too close for comfort. She moved away a bit, but when she moved he moved with her. So she moved again, but so did he.
"Could you not do that please?" She said with slight annoyance.
"Do what?" He said with an innocent voice. He smirked.
"You know what I'm talking about." She started to become angry. She didn't like playing games, especially if he's involved.
"No honestly, I don't." He smirked even more. He leaned in closer. His face was only a few inches away. He stared at her. His eyes glanced over her from top to bottom and back to the top. Sakura noticed it and was disgusted. She tried to cover her body with her arms. She could feel him undressing her with his eyes.
"You know Sakura." He whispered. "You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."
"That's funny. Ino told me that you said the same thing to her. She pushed him away and was about to swim to the side.
He grabbed her arm and prevented her from doing so. "No don't go, the fun is just getting started." He pulled her back and leaned forward to kiss her.
She slapped him in the face. "Get away from me you creep!" She struggled to release his grip on her, but it made him hold onto her even tighter. "Au, you're hurting me! Let go of me!" She shouted.
"You heard the lady. Let her go." A voice said behind her.
She turned to see who it was. She immediately recognised the black-haired boy who looked even more irresistible under the moonlight and with his black swimsuit on. "Sasuke-kun!" She was glad to see him. It seemed that he fancied a midnight swim as well. She didn't even hear him come in.
"Err… Hi Sasuke. I was just joking around hehe." Ryu laughed nervously. Although Ryu is a well-known, respectable ninja, he didn't want to mess with Sasuke. "Well I'd better be going. Ino is probably worried about me. Bye!" He scurried out of the spring. He gave an irritated look at Sasuke and left the two behind.
Sasuke had his usual emotionless expression on his face. He looked at Sakura. "Are you ok?"
She blushed. "I'm fine. You didn't have to do that, you know. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She crossed her arms.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Hn… Whatever." He replied. He ran over to the water and dived in. He came up on the other side, across from where Sakura was.
It remained quiet. Sasuke had his eyes closed and wasn't paying any attention to Sakura. Sakura however, was staring at him, blushing like crazy.
"So…" She was trying to come up with something to say to break the silence. But she soon came to realise that the truth was, they have nothing in common to talk about. At least not that she knows of. He never said more than two sentences to her if they weren't talking about a mission.
"Uh…" She tried again. "So what brings you here?" She smiled.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, and then he closed them again before answering. "I was training in the woods. After I was finished, I decided to relax my muscles in the hot spring."
"Yeah you do seem kind of tense." He opened his eyes again. He saw that she was swimming towards him. "What is she up to now?"
She grabbed his left arm with both of her hands. He gave her a death glare. She noticed it. She reconsidered if touching him was such a great idea, but she decided to pull through. "Ah, come on Sasuke. I was only planning on giving you a massage." She said trying to reassure him.
He continued to glance at her without saying a word. She smiled. "Loosen up will you. It's not like I'm your worst enemy and this is an attempt to hurt you or something." She giggled.
She felt his body relax a bit. "Whatever." He said while turning around.
She started massaging him and Sasuke had to admit that it felt good. Even though he would never admit it out loud. He closed his eyes and relaxed, enjoying the moment. Suddenly he had a short flashback. A crying Sakura shouted I love you with all my heart! His eyes shot open. Why was he thinking about that?
"Sasuke?" Sakura had noticed that he tensed up again. "Is something wrong?"
He looked down at his reflection, which changed into an image of Sakura. He blinked and the image was gone.
"Sasuke-kun?"
"It's nothing." He lied. "I guess I just need some rest. "He turned around. Surprisingly for him he saw that he was very close to Sakura. He blushed. "Err… Thank you."
He thanked her? That is a rare thing for him to do. Although he did say it to her before. She remembered the day he left. He said thank you right before he knocked her lights out. She will never forget that day. She still couldn't comprehend what he meant by saying that to her. She has been meaning to ask him about it, but every time, she didn't have enough courage to do so. What if he already forgot about it? It has been such a long time ago. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw him swimming towards the side.
He climbed out and grabbed his towel. He placed it on his head and dried his hair. When he was finished he wrapped the towel around his neck and walked to the door. Sakura was watching his every move.
"Oh Sasuke-kun?" He turned around. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow for our new mission. I can't wait to see the special thing that Kakashi sensei said he has planned for us." She smiled.
He smiled back at her. "I'm sure it's just another stupid mission, so don't get your hopes up."
"Yeah, you're probably right." He said his goodbyes and left.
Sakura waited a few seconds to make sure that he was gone and then screamed. "KYAAAAA!!!" She laughed out loud. "I touched him! I touched his bare skin! I can't believe I did that." She shouted at the stars.
She tried to calm herself down, but she was shaking all over and couldn't stop smiling. "I can't wait to tell Ino about this." The thought of Ino reminded her of Ryu and what happened here. Her smile faded. "I can't wait to tell her about that either. Then she is finally rid off that asshole." She collected her stuff and left.