Tenten; 2 Years Later

Age 15

-An Antagonist-

I planned on meeting up with Lee at the tournament to wish him luck. After all, he was entering the chuunin exam now. And, even though it had been HIM who had knocked me out of the preliminaries, I didn't harbor any hard feelings towards him. In fact, I wanted him to do well and become a chuunin!

First I went to Neji's house. I knocked on the door but no one answered. That was certainly odd.

As I walked away from the house, I gave myself a dope slap when I remembered that he was away on a mission and wouldn't be back until tonight.

So what now? I had planned on walking to the tournament with Neji so we could cheer Lee on together. Well… I'D cheer Lee on and Neji would sit there pretending to be bored but… you know.

Finally, I remembered that I could go over to Sakura's and walk with her! Even though she's gotten really… DIFFERENT recently, I still like to think that she's a nice person that's just having a hard time showing itself.

I knocked on her door and her mother answered it.

"Hi!" I greeted. "Is Sakura still here? I know she's going to the tournament but I was hoping to catch her before she left!"

"Oh yes, she's here." Said her mother as she turned around. "Sakura!" she called up the stairs.

"What is it mom?" I heard Sakura from her room.

"Your friend is here!" Sakura's mother replied.

Sakura came down the stairs with more make-up I'd ever seen on a single person in my entire life. I wasn't even sure if it was Sakura at first.

"Oh, hi Tenten!" she said. "What's up?" It was lucky that Sakura got distracted by her mother because I was still in shock. "Um… you can leave." She said to her mom.

"Oh right." Said Sakura's mom as she hurried away.

Yeah, it was definitely Sakura. "So anyway?" Sakura said to me.

"I was just on my way to the tournament." I said finally. "Do you want to walk together?"

"Absolutely!" Sakura said excitedly. "Let's go visit Sasuke before the tournament begins!"

"Oh, I was going to go and visit Lee anyway!" I said.

"Oh right!" Sakura exclaimed. "I want to visit Lee too!"

We started walking. I was thinking about how happy Lee must have been when he read that program that stated, "The finals are predicted to pitch fifteen-year-old Rock Lee and fourteen-year-old Uchiha Sasuke against each other."

I wondered if Sakura knew about the program.

"Did you know that Sasuke and Lee are the two that are predicted to be in the finals of the tournament?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said. "Did you read the program?"

"Yeah!" I said. I guess she DID read the program… "I bet that gave Lee a big head."

"Probably." Sakura laughed.

I was about to bring up the fact that Lee also had the most anticipated match with Naruto, when I spotted him talking to Gai. Well, he wasn't really TALKING to Gai. He was more so being 'youthfully encouraged', as they would call it, by Gai.

Sakura looked at me helplessly.

I knew how to go about breaking them up because I had to do it almost every day of my life.

"Um—" was all I had to say and they both whirled around to see who had trespassed.

"Hi Tenten!" said Lee with a gleeful grin. "Hi Sakura!"

"Hi!" I said. "We just came by to wish you luck!"

"We'll be watching from the stands the whole time!" Sakura said. "Do you know where Sasuke is?" No Sakura, don't say something like that! You'll break poor Lee's heart!

"No." Lee replied. I could tell his heart was broken, but I don't think Sakura even noticed.

"Oh that's okay!" said Sakura with a shrug. She definitely didn't notice. "Come on, Tenten! Let's get good seats!"

"Wait, wait!" Lee called. "Tenten, is Neji coming to watch?"

I was about to answer instinctively with, "OF COURSE, Lee you idiot! He wouldn't miss it!!" But then I remembered he WAS going to miss it and that he was away on a mission. Lee should have known that though. "Oh no, Neji's away on a mission. I thought you knew!"

"That's right!" said Lee, slapping his forehead. He was disappointed. I knew Lee wanted Neji to see him fight so he could prove something to him. No matter how many times I told Lee to become a chuunin for HIMSELF instead of for anyone else, he stayed focused on impressing people and proving to people that he could be a great ninja. It worked for him though.

"Come on!" Sakura urged.

We went into the stadium and luckily found two seats that were front row.

"Neji's away on an B-rank mission with another chuunin." I said since I figured Sakura might want to know about his mission since I had brought it up with Lee.

She didn't answer.

"I think the other chuunin might be Shino…" I went on.

Still, I got no response.

"I wonder what sort of mission it is…" I sighed. He never told me about his missions.

"Tenten, stop talking obsessively about Neji." Sakura said.

I was shocked. I had said only a few comments! THREE! And they weren't even all that entirely about Neji! And besides, Sakura's the one who never stops about Sasuke.

"I'm not talking obsessively about Neji!" I said, feeling my face getting hot. The last thing I needed was Sakura thinking I liked Neji.

Which I DON'T.

"SAKURA!" I heard suddenly. Even though the person was calling for Sakura, I looked up anyway to see Naruto running towards us. "You got a great seat!! You'll really be able to see me fight from here!"

Sakura took a deep breath, ready to break another boy's heart within only a few minutes. "Naruto, I came to watch SASUKE fight." I told him flatly. "And Lee, Ino and Hinata because they're my friends. Pretty much everyone except you."

That was the harshest thing I had ever heard her say, and Sakura was a pretty harsh person.

"Aren't I your friend?" Naruto asked, looking sad.

"Naruto…you'll never understand." Said Sakura.

I tried to pretend as though I was preoccupied with something else. I didn't know what to say about what had just transpired, only that I didn't like it.

"Naruto is SO annoying." Sakura said once Naruto had left.

"I guess." I said.

"Oh look!" Sakura exclaimed. "Sasuke's fight is starting!"

Sasuke and a kid from another village came out for the first fight.

"Ew…that kid is really ugly…" said Sakura.

I had to agree. "Yeah. But he might still be a good ninja."

He didn't turn out to be a good ninja. In only a few minutes, he was defeated by Sasuke.

"I stand corrected." I said.

"Sasuke is just so AWESOME!" Sakura said happily. "YAY SASUKE!! LOOK UP HERE!!"

I felt like telling her to stop talking so obsessively about Sasuke, but I am way above that petty sort of comment.

"Who's fighting next?" I asked instead.

"I think Ino and Hinata…" Sakura said. "Who are you cheering for?"

"Um…" I started. Ino, Sakura, Hinata and I used to be really close, but recently Ino had gotten way hardcore so we had sort of drifted apart. "I don't see Ino around very much anymore… so I'll have to say Hinata!"

"Yeah, me too." Sakura said. "Ino thinks she's too good for us."

That's not how I had looked at it. "I don't know about THAT."

But Sakura wasn't paying attention to me, more to Ino's new haircut. "Ew, oh no!" she shouted. I was afraid that maybe Ino could hear her. "WHY would she do that? She looks so ugly now! She looks like a boy!"

"I don't think she cares what she looks like anymore." I said. Sure, I thought Ino looked better with long hair, but I could understand her reasoning for cutting it.

"Ew." Said Sakura. "No. Ew."

"It really doesn't matter." I said.

"Well, I should be HAPPY. After all, Sasuke likes long hair. If Ino has short hair then he won't like her. Which means he'll notice ME! Ino obviously wasn't thinking at all when she cut it all off. Oh, ew. She looks so stupid. Why did she do that? Ew."

Sakura had gotten a lot shallower since the last time I had seen her. She seemed to get shallower and shallower every day.

After watching the beginning of the fight, I actually decided to switch to Ino. I cheered for her, but to myself because I didn't want to have to deal with Sakura.

"Ino's not really all that good." Sakura said after Ino had successfully won. "Hinata must have been having an off-day. When she fights Sasuke, he'll put her in her place."

"I don't know." I said. "She's been training awfully hard lately."

Sakura laughed out loud. "Ino and I are EVEN in our skill. She's not that good. It's just that Hinata was an easy opponent."

I wondered who she was trying to kid; me or herself. "Whatever you say, Sakura." Said Tenten.

Sakura frowned at me to show her disapproval of my comment, but I was watching the fight between the girl from the sand village and Kiba.

"I'm going to go and say hi to Sasuke." Sakura told me, standing up and walking briskly away.

I wasn't going to stop her. I needed a break from the model that was Sakura.

The girl from the sand and Kiba didn't prove to be a very interesting match. I was glad, though, that I didn't have Sakura, the endless fountain of comments, breathing down my neck during the entire fight.

Just as the fight ended, Sakura returned.

"It was a double knock-out." I told her, figuring she'd want to know.

"So?" she said.

I shrugged and turned back to the fight. Naruto and Lee were coming out.

"Why is everyone so quiet?" Sakura whispered.

"This is the most anticipated fight in the tournament." I said, getting a little frustrated with Sakura's inability to understand ANY concepts anymore. "The crowd is just excited."

"Why is this fight so anticipated?" Sakura asked.

I could have SWORN she said that she read the program. "Because Lee and Naruto are both really good."

"Ew, Naruto's not good."

I wasn't even going to respond to that.

When the crowd started cheering, I cheered as well. Sakura cheered too, but it was quieter.

"COME ON LEE!" I yelled, knowing he'd cheer for me if I was taking the exam and he was in the stands. "You can do it!"

I saw Lee take a new stance. I knew he was going to take off his weights!

"Lee's going to take off his weights." I said, getting a little excited even though I had seen it plenty of times before. "Just watch. He's getting that look."

"Oh?" Sakura said, not looking very interested.

Lee removed his weights and tossed them behind him. I clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd. I knew he had the fight in the bag now.

"See?" I said to Sakura. "I told you he would."

"I didn't say you were wrong." She said. Wow, I didn't even know her anymore.

Lee beat Naruto pretty easily, so I decided to lighten the tense mood. I don't know WHY it was tense, I knew only that it was.

"Well, Lee beat Naruto!" I said to Sakura. "We knew he would!"

"Yeah." Sakura said.

"And, since there was that double knockout, Lee automatically goes to the finals to fight Sasuke or Ino." I continued.

"Well obviously Sasuke." Sakura said. "I mean. Come on. Ino's just Ino. Sasuke is… Sasuke."

"Yeah, that makes total sense." I said with a slight laugh. For some reason, Sakura got offended and ignored me.

"GO SASUKE!!" Sakura cheered. I almost had to dive out and grab her in order to keep her from tumbling over the wall and into the fighting area because she was leaning over so far.

They started to fight.

"Sasuke's letting up on her." Sakura said.

He did look vaguely like he was doing that, but I was pretty convinced that Ino was doing it for herself.

"Guys always let up on girls." Sakura said.

I was a little annoyed that she was doing this, but I tried to ignore her.

"He's just doing it for the crowd so everyone can see what a good ninja he is." Sakura continued.

She wasn't going to stop, so I had to ask her to even though I knew she'd get offended. "Sakura, could you stop?" I asked as politely as I could.

"Stop what?" Sakura asked.

"Trying to justify why Ino is doing a good job." I said. "Ino has been working really hard and if you put in about half as much effort as she did, maybe you'd notice."

I hadn't entirely meant for all of that to come out of my mouth, but it had so I couldn't do anything to change it. Once again, Sakura decided to give me the silent treatment. I was actually happy since I didn't want to have to listen to her anymore.

But the silent treatment lasted about forty-five seconds and she was already going on with more questions. "When is this fight going to be over? Why doesn't Sasuke just beat her?"

"Maybe he can't beat her." I said.

"I wasn't talking to you." Sakura said with an utter tone of disgust in her voice. I hadn't done anything to deserve the treatment I was receiving.

I was relieved that the fight had ended. Though, I have to admit that I had been cheering for Ino JUST so Sakura could be disappointed. It was too much to hope for, though, because Sasuke won.

I clapped with the rest of the crowd. There was going to be another ten minutes until the finals started between Lee and Sasuke, and I guess Sasuke and Ino were taking up some of the time by talking a bit to each other. I didn't care, but Sakura certainly did.

"What is she saying?!" Sakura demanded as if I knew.

I didn't reply because she supposedly wasn't talking to me and the last time I had said something to her I had gotten a curt reply.

"Well?" said Sakura. There was just no pleasing her!

"I thought you weren't talking to me." I said, trying to sound patient even though she deserved none of it.

"I'm NOT!" Sakura shouted, standing up. "Tenten, you are being really mean for no reason. I'm going to go and sit someplace else to watch Lee and Sasuke fight!"

"Whatever." I said. If she thought I was being the mean one then she seriously had to reevaluate… everything.

She stomped away in a huff and I finally got a little time to relax. Sakura had made me feel so tense. I decided that unless she formally apologized to me, I was not going to accept her back in a friendship. Then again, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't want to be her friend anymore. She talked about people behind their backs… and IN FRONT of them too.

I didn't want to think about Sakura anymore. I just wanted to watch the fight between Sasuke and Lee.

"GO LEE!!" I cheered. Now I didn't have to worry about anyone rolling their eyes while I cheered. I decided I would be happier once I disassociated myself from Sakura.