Tenten; 3 Years Later

Age 16

-Not Natural-

I had been waiting for this day for a week!

It's a custom for the Number one rookies to return to the academy upon turning sixteen to talk to the students about becoming a ninja and what it is like. Now, while that number one rookie position is most certainly not mine, Neji asked me to come along to represent the female ninjas since I was the best female ninja in the class.

Well…okay… maybe he didn't ask ME…I suggested it…

But there was no harm in convincing myself that he had asked me.

Most people would question me on my reasoning, but recently I've developed a crush on Neji and only want to be around him…I feel like his condescending tone could be interpreted as critical encouragement and that he actually has feelings for me too!

I think I've felt this way about him for a long time but I haven't realized it. A few weeks ago, it suddenly occurred that my life revolved around seeing him every once and a while, even if it was across a crowd or only for a minute.

No one else has really seen Neji like I have. He and I used to train together all the time while Gai was giving special training to Lee.

Now, I don't know for sure yet, but I'm pretty sure he has feelings for me.

I would try to find out today!

I wanted to wear something sensible, but also something to get me noticed. I didn't want my outfit to scream, "TAKE ME NOW NEJI!!!" But I didn't want to send a message that I had no interest in him. What if he was truly a shy kid and didn't know how to go about asking me out?

I went back and forth from wearing the skirt to wearing the pants and finally settled on the pants.

I was about to start on my hair when I heard a knock at the door.

I opened it up to see Ino standing there looking frantic. I didn't know whether she was frantic-excited or frantic-upset.

"Tenten!" she exclaimed with a gasp.

She sounded frantic-upset. "What is it?" I said, trying to calm her down.

She took a deep breath and then let it out all at once. "I'm going out with Sasuke tonight!" she said.

"No way!!" I shouted as we grabbed hands and stood there screaming on my front doorstep. I couldn't believe she had finally done it. I wanted all the details so I dragged her inside and demanded to hear the whole story.

"And then he said—around when?" Ino said, putting a hand over her heart and sighing.

"You know what?" I said. "I had a feeling you'd end up with him."

"Really?" said Ino, looking ecstatic.

"Yeah!" she said. "You guys have been friends ever since before anyone had any interest in him whatsoever."

She nodded and gave another sigh. Then she threw her hand over her mouth. "Tenten, I have nothing to wear."

I waved it off—a problem EASILY fixed. "I know what you can wear." I assured her. I remembered back years ago, Ino used to wear purple all the time. So I figured purple would be the best choice, especially since I had the perfect purple dress in my closet.

"I'm so nervous!" Ino said as I searched. "And I bet Sasuke is too! He's going to be really awkward about going on a date with me!"

"Maybe you should invite some other people to come along?" I suggested.

"What do you mean?" Ino questioned.

"Like…instead of it being just a date between the two of you, it'll be a big group in order to wean Sasuke into the idea of going out with you." I explained. "Eventually, you two will get away from the group and go out ALONE." I read that in a magazine.

It was so funny to think of Ino as nervous since she's wanted to go out with Sasuke ever since I met her and before that. I pulled the dress out of my closet and showed it to her.

"That's a great idea!" Ino said, taking the dress. "And a great dress. Though, I'm going to hate myself forever."

"Why?" I asked.

"If I invite anyone else along, I mean." Ino replied.

I thought for a moment. Who should she invite…? "You should call Hinata." I said finally, remembering I had gotten Hinata to spill who she liked only a few weeks before. "She's liked Naruto for ages. Maybe you can set them up too."

"Aren't you coming?" Ino asked.

Oh, tonight would have been a perfect night! I could have gone up to Neji and said slyly, "A bunch of people are going out tonight…let's go too!" But he had to go to the academy and I was going with him. Oh well, there would be other nights.

"No." I said. "Neji's going to talk at the academy to ninja hopefuls and he asked me to come along."

She saw right through my fib. "He asked YOU?"

"Okay, okay…" I said, figuring it was pointless to try and lie to her. "I volunteered to come along to reach out to the female portions of the class…"

"Uh huh…" Ino said.

She was going to start prodding me for more details, so I decided to deter her from the subject. "Hey, it's almost six! You better get home and get ready!"

"Oh right!" Ino said, immediately distracted. "Thanks for the dress, Tenten! I'll give it back to you after my date with Sasuke!"

She ran to the door, flung it open and ran all the way home.

I felt like laughing at her slightly, but what she was doing was hardly different from what I was doing.

I changed back into the skirt.

When the time came, I made my way over to the academy. I had asked Neji if he wanted to pick me up so we could walk together… but he said no… he must be shy…

So I was just to meet him there.

"Tenten!" I heard Iruka. "You look nice today!"

"Thank you!" I said with a joking curtsy.

"How's it feel to be back at the academy?" he asked.

"I can't say I ever wanted to come back!" I laughed at him.

"That's odd." Iruka said. "Neji said that you were excited."

I cleared my throat. "Well…when he asked me to come…"

"He asked you?" Iruka interrupted, looking confused. "He said that you volunteered."

"Is he already here?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, he's right inside." Iruka said.

I walked past Iruka and inside the academy. That was certainly embarrassing and didn't go well at all. I knew it wasn't Neji's intention to embarrass me, it was just my fault for…er… stretching the truth!

"Neji!" I said, going over to where Neji was setting up in front of the classroom.

He looked vaguely in my direction, then back to his work. Then he quickly looked back at me.

Was that a double take I just saw? He noticed I looked nice?

"Why are you wearing a skirt?" he said.

My face got red. "I wanted to look nice for the presentation." I said.

He shook his head slightly and went back to what he was doing.

I should have stayed with the pants! Note to self; Skirts do NOT impress Neji!

"You're supposed to reach out to female students to make them excited about being ninjas and work hard." He said. "Not make them think that being a ninja is fun and oriented entirely around getting a boy to notice you."

I bit my lip. So he knew I liked him.

"Too bad though." He continued. "Every other girl in the world thinks Sasuke likes them too."

I gave a sigh of relief. He DIDN'T know I liked him.

"Oh, I don't care about Sasuke." I said. "I just wanted to look nice!" I cleared my throat and got a little closer to him. "So what are you going to talk about?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Being a ninja." He said.

There's that critical encouragement again.

"Oh, okay!" I said. "What should I talk about?"

He gave a heavy sigh. "You're not going to talk." He said. "You don't even need to be here."

That was not a response I had expected.

Before I could say anything, Iruka came in. "You two almost ready?" he asked.

"I'm all set." Neji said.

"Uh…yeah…" I said.

"Now, the students and their parents will be here any minute." Iruka said, looking at the clock. "Remember, we're PROMOTING the thought of becoming a ninja so be sure to sugar coat it. These kids are only six and seven years old and they'll learn about all the other stuff later on."

"I know." Neji said.

I could remember back ten years ago when a sixteen-year-old came into our academy class and told us about what it was like to be a ninja. He made it seem so pleasant and fulfilling but, above all, so EASY! He acted like it would be no problem to just walk into the chuunin selection exams and become a chuunin right off the bat. Well, I have yet to make it to the tournament portion of the exam and I've been going at it every year.

As the students and their parents filed in, I glanced at the clock to see that it was almost 7:15. I wondered how Ino's date was going. I hoped she had hit it off with Sasuke.

Then it occurred to me. Once Sakura found out, she was going to be FURIOUS. Ino probably made the mistake of calling Sakura up and asking if she wanted to 'hang out' with Lee. I didn't care much for Sakura though. Ever since the selection exam last year, I don't talk to her much.

"—Ten years ago—" I heard Neji begin, going off into his shpeal about how he remembered when someone came to talk to our class. I stood back behind him, smiling at the kids in the class, looking nice. I don't think they were old enough to look at me and think I didn't take being a ninja seriously just because I was wearing a skirt.

I zoned back into Neji's talk. "—But…" he said. "Being a ninja is not all fun and games. It's hard work. I earned this chuunin vest. Someone didn't just give it to me. There were many difficult aspects that I had to endure in order to become the ninja I am."

I caught Iruka shaking his head in the back of the class.

I tapped Neji on the shoulder, but he put his hand up to tell me to stop. "Don't let anybody tell you that you can be a ninja just because you're wearing the forehead protector. You must risk life and limb for your village. Why, many genin die on their first missions. You may come to lose a comrade in an exam… or you may even be the unfortunate loss of the group—"

Iruka suddenly began to clap his hands and move towards the front.

"All right!" he cheered. "Let's all thank our friend for taking some time out of his day to speak to us!"

The kids clapped. I don't think they knew any better. The parents looked a little angry, though, but they still clapped.

"Tenten, would you like to say a few words?" Iruka asked.

"Oh…um!" I said, looking around quickly. "Hi everyone! My name is Tenten and I'm a genin. By working hard, I also hope to become a chuunin someday! I have already vowed to become a great ninja, and I hope all you will too!"

"Well, thanks to you all for coming today!" said Iruka.

He said a few more words and then the kids dispersed.

I went outside to say bye to a few of the kids as Neji and Iruka stayed in. I got the feeling that Iruka was scolding Neji for going off a bit and not keeping everything low-key.

After a few minutes, he came outside looking undeterred.

"What did Iruka have to say?" I asked.

But he didn't reply.

"I'm going home now." He said as he began to walk away.

I looked at my watch to see that it was only 7:45. I wondered if maybe Ino and the rest of the people she invited were still at the club.

"Hey Neji!" I called after him.

He turned around to face me. "What is it?" he said in his critical encouragement tone.

"A bunch of people went down to the club tonight for a get together!" I said.

He didn't reply.

"And?" he said finally.

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go?" I said, trying to be assertive but not forceful.

He looked down at the ground. Then, slowly, he approached me.

My heart was beating so fast. He was so close I could touch him. Then he was even closer so that I felt intimidated.

"Tenten," he said. The tone of his voice surprised me. "It is natural for a sixteen-year-old girl to develop a crush on a sixteen-year-old boy. However, the thought of you and I together just is not natural."

I sank.

"What…?" I said. I had been hoping he wasn't going to say something like that. But what was I expecting? Him to kiss me? He had certainly got close enough to do so.

"Go home, Tenten." He said.

Then he turned away and began to walk.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Neji, you can't tell me that you don't like me at all! What about all those times we trained together?!"

He let out an exasperated sigh. "That is so like a female to take something as serious as training and turn it into flirting." He said. "Don't make me repeat myself, Tenten. I have never had any interest in you and I never will. And don't let me catch you watching me again."

Then he was gone.

I fell to my knees.

I felt so stupid and so embarrassed.

But was I going to let Neji get the best of me?

No…if I gave up now then he would have won. And Neji definitely can't win all our battles.

Now I knew how people like Sakura kept running towards her goal of getting the one guy who didn't want her to want her. Because Neji was now out of my reach, I would only try harder to make him mine. Deep down, I knew he wanted me too. I'd just have to bring that out of him.