Disclaimer: don't own naruto, but wen I marry sasuke kun, ill own him!!
Whoa. That's a lotta reviews for a fic like mine. And I feel loved!
THANKYOU BLESSED REVIEWERS. U ALL BOULDER!! (eh… ignore that. U really wanna no? check my profile page)
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Day 2: Hold My Hand
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The sun was too bloody cheerful. Where were the clouds when you needed them?
She couldn't believe it. Yesterday, after Neji had finally agreed to pose as her boyfriend, he used her to release his anger during a 12-hour training session. Lee and Gai-Sensei didn't help either, what with Gai-sensei teaching Lee the Dynamic Entry and Tenten being the target practice.
Her body was broken. She cursed the brain cells that told Neji he could use 'Gentle' Fist to vent out frustration as well as chakra.
To add to it, her disturbingly cheerful mother had woken her up early, saying that she shouldn't have been sleeping when she had boy hunting to do. Of course, Tenten had been too tired to say she already had a boyfriend and that now she just had to keep him for 7 days, when her mother booted her out of the house.
And to top it all off, she hadn't had anything to eat since her meal yesterday morning. "This is all Neji's fault…" she muttered, her eyes dark.
In her achy and food-deprived body, she strolled around the streets of Konoha, towards the food market to buy some breakfast. Or lunch, since it was already noon. Tenten had spent most of her morning taking her anger out on a rock dubbed Neji (which had now been reduced to fine powder) and she was hungry. No, that was an understatement. Tenten was starving.
Tenten pulled out a suspiciously light purse to take out her money and was shocked to see her purse was… empty. Nothing.
If it had been yesterday, she probably would have sworn out loud in the street. 'What did I spend my money on?!' Tenten thought to herself furiously, turning her purse inside out just incase something had fallen through a hole. No. Still nothing.
Then it hit her. "I spent my money on Neji's extra food!!" she cried, aloud, ignoring the stares she was receiving from people passing by. "Damn that Neji! If he weren't helping me, I'd probably go kick his sorry ass, Hyuuga or no! This is all Neji's fault!"
She slowly counted to ten and released her rage. 'Calm down, Tenten,' she thought to herself, 'Sulking won't solve anything. And this is not Neji's fault.'
Suddenly, she felt and heard her stomach grumble. "This is so Neji's fault," She muttered, irate.
It was a relatively nice day, but as Tenten walked hopelessly around, she felt as if the sun was piercing her back with its burning heat. A nice gentle breeze blew throughout the street, but to Tenten it was a gust of wind, holding her away from the wafting smell of food. Every step consumed what limited energy she had left, rendering her weaker with every action.
"Must… food… now…" she muttered, rambling, "Then… kill… Neji…"
'Alright,' she thought to herself with the last piece of sanity she possessed, 'I'm delirious with hunger.'
In her daze, she wasn't watching where she was going and bumped into a tall figure. "Sorry, Sir, I was…" Tenten started, but she trailed off when she saw who it was.
"Tenten," Neji greeted, face blank as always. Tenten looked up at his face, but all she could see were 2 white bowls, overloaded with noodles. "Neji…' she whispered, energy drained, "Food…" She reached out a hand and weakly pawed his chest, her way of begging in her state. Heck, she had gone over 24 hours without food and through a 12 hour training session with a peeved Neji. No one but her had ever gone through such trauma! She deserved food!
Fired up from her passionate thoughts, she pushed her last bits of energy into pawing Neji's chest, one… last… time.
"Food…"
Neji, face slate-like, just looked down at Tenten's pathetic form and rolled his non-existent pupils. "Fine. Come on."
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It was delicious. Food!! So long had she been deprived from her food!!
Tenten was thinking jumbled thoughts as she ravenously downed her third bowl of noodles, kindly donated by Neji. She was slurping and splashing away, no longer caring for manners.
Neji was just sitting there, watching her eat noisily with a slight frown of irritation on his face. It was bad enough that he had to half-carry her here, but no, he had to sit through this.
As Tenten finished off the last of her noodles, she contentedly sat back, sighing in relief and patting her stomach. "That-" Tenten indicated her head towards the empty bowls, "-was good." With that she picked up her glass of water, and downed its contents down in one gulp.
When she loudly banged it back onto the table, Neji closed his eyes in irritation, not being able to bear watching her antics. He slowly held out a napkin to her, quietly saying, "Wipe your face."
Tenten heeded his command, and cleaned herself up. "Thanks for the meal!" she announced happily, after she had settled the napkin quietly onto the table, regaining her happiness and manners.
After a while, Neji slowly opened his eyes. "You do know that you have to pay me back, don't you?" he asked, nonchalantly.
Tenten blinked surprised. What kind of a gentleman was he? And she had bought him food yesterday as well! Knowing that arguing about it wouldn't work, she tried a new tactic.
Tenten fluttered her eyes prettily. "Is that so, Neji-kun?" Tenten said, with an impossibly sweet voice, "But you're my boyfriend… And it is our first date too…"
The woman serving at the counter shook her head, disapprovingly at Neji. "Men these days…" she muttered grouchily, "Such cheapskates when it comes to their girlfriends..."
Neji scowled at Tenten, then at the serving lady and banged some money onto the counter. "Fine." He said, standing from his chair and walking out the shop destructively, knocking over most of the chairs. Tenten looked apologetically back at the serving lady and quickly followed Neji, in the role of the 'girlfriend'.
As she caught up with Neji, he spun around, irritation apparent on his face. "What was that?" he asked angrily, "Now people think we're together!"
Tenten tutted at Neji, swinging her index finger back and forth. "But we are," she said innocently, "Unless you want to train with Lee…" Tenten looked down to the ground and drew trails into the ground with her foot, the perfect image of innocence.
Neji didn't seem to be affected by her appearance. "No," he said angrily, "We are just posing." Tenten looked up at Neji and said, "Exactly. We pose in public! And we are in public! People are supposed to think we're together!"
With a scowl, Neji just trudged off, muttering, "Whatever!" As Tenten looked at his retreating back, she decided she needed to avenge herself for putting her through the training session from hell. And it was his fault she had starved, wasn't it?
"Neji!" she exclaimed catching up with him. "What?" he snapped, not stopping. "Well," Tenten began, "We're in public."
"And?" Neji asked, still not stopping. "Well, shouldn't you act like my boyfriend now?" Tenten asked, exasperated. For a genius he really wasn't as smart as he let on.
Tenten continued, trying not to sound annoyed, "Boyfriends walk their girlfriends home."
Finally, Neji stopped, a dark aura surrounding him. "Tenten," he breathed, "I agreed to pose as your boyfriend. I carried you to the food stall. I bought you food. What. More. Do. You. Want?"
Usually, Tenten would have never tried to annoy a Hyuuga. Especially Neji, the most dangerous and temperamental of all the Hyuugas. But in this situation, Tenten felt as if she held the upper hand. Besides… what other opportunity would she ever have to embarrass him in again? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
"Oh look!" Tenten cried, falsely cheerful, "There's Lee! Maybe you should ask him to train with you!" With one last scowl, Neji trudged down the street adjacent to the one he was heading for. He was heading for Tenten's house.
Smiling happily, she walked after Neji, thinking 'This will be a thing to tell my grandchildren.' Hyuuga Neji walked her home. She could blackmail him with it!! Yes… yes… blackmailing Neji…
As Tenten schemed in her head, following a very grumpy Neji, she didn't see another certain Hyuuga walking along and so, another time that day, she accidentally bounced into someone else.
"Oh," Tenten politely exclaimed, "Sorry Hinata. I didn't see you there." The said person just looked down to the ground and gave a small reply of, "Oh, no, Tenten-san, I'm sorry. G-good afternoon, Neji-nii-san, Tenten-san."
Neji gave a small nod, acknowledging her presence. "Hinata." He said in greeting. Tenten sighed at the formalities. They were cousins, for the Hokage's sake! "Hi, Hinata," Tenten said cheerfully and casually.
Tenten's friendliness and casual behavior made a smile light up on the meek Hyuuga's face. Finding the air comfortable enough to talk in, Hinata looked from Neji to Tenten.
"Is Neji-nii-san and Tenten-san going to train?" Hinata asked quietly.
"What?" Tenten asked, confused. Neji heatedly answered the question for her. "No," he said, trying to keep his annoyance from showing.
Prior to the third event of the chuunin exams, Hinata would have probably shied away from Neji's dismissive tone. But now, thanks to Uzumaki Naruto, who beat Neji and taught her to be brave, Hinata found her voice and sought to relieve her curiosity.
"B-but... then where are you g-going?" Hinata stammered. Before Neji could say anything offensive, which Tenten strongly believed he was proceeding to do from the scowl on his face and his opening mouth, Tenten replied before he could.
"Neji-kun is walking me home!" Tenten said happily, slinging an arm over Neji's shoulders, ignoring the deadly aura he was emitting. Hinata, looking shocked, looked from Tenten to Neji and back to Tenten again. She then looked at Tenten up and down, as if searching for something, or so Tenten thought it looked. Her suspicions were confirmed at Hinata's next question.
"Is Tenten-san hurt?" Hinata asked worriedly, compassion showing on her small face. Tenten blinked once, and realizing what Hinata thought, started chuckling. That act then caused Hinata to blush, feeling stupid for her question. Neji just scowled, his vacant expression gone for once.
"No," Tenten answered, after she had finished with her chuckling, "I'm not hurt Hinata. Actually, I'm capable of walking home by myself. Neji-kun is just being a good boyfriend by walking me home from our date!"
Now, Tenten desperately wanted to laugh aloud at the expression on the Hyuuga heiress's face. Poor Hinata blushed, stammered and a mix of confusedness, embarrassment and bewilderment appeared on her face. She looked at Neji, shocked, a look of disbelief on her face.
"B-b-boyfriend?" she stuttered, unusually loud for herself. Tenten only replied with a gleeful nod, fighting back giggles, while Neji just glared. Mr. PMSed Hyuuga style.
Once she was sure she wouldn't break out in random bursts of laughter, Tenten asked Hinata, "Why so surprised, Hinata?"
Hinata looked down, not wanting to be the objective of Neji's glares and said quietly, "Y-you don't l-look like you're t-together…"
Tenten had to frown at this. "Why not?" she asked, worrying that Neji wouldn't look like her boyfriend enough for her father's critical eyes.
"W-well," Hinata started, "C-couples usually h-hold hands or somethi- Oh My!" Hinata quickly looked at her watch and exclaimed, "I apologize, Neji-nii-san, Tenten-san. I'm late!"
And with that the little Hyuuga heiress ran off to whatever appointment she had.
The second Hinata disappeared from view, Tenten broke out into fits of hysterical giggles. "Wasn't… that… funny?" Tenten laughed, looking up at Neji. A particularly deadly looking Neji.
"Ten. Ten." He fumed, a scowl gracing his face, "You- No. You know what? Let's just get to your house as quickly as we can, before you can think of anymore crazy ideas."
And with that, he pushed her arm off his shoulder and stomped off, leaving a giggling Tenten to follow.
What he wasn't aware of was that Tenten wasn't giggling anymore. As she followed the extremely angry Neji, her thoughts trailed on what Hinata was saying before she left.
"Y-you don't l-look like you're t-together…"
Damn. Tenten needed it for them to look like they were together. Or else her father would find her out and she would be ruined. She had to make it look as if they were together. But how?
"C-couples usually h-hold hands or something…"
Holding… hands… Hmm… that would work… She'd just grab Neji's- WAIT. Holding hands with Neji. THE Hyuuga Neji. It was practically suicide! Tenten had never known anyone who tried to hold hands with Neji and live to tell the tale! Of course, that was probably because no one had ever been stupid enough to try in the first place!
No. Holding hands with Neji was out of the question. But…
A sudden image of her father, looking particularly maniacal, and an old, oily, ugly suitor greedily clawing at her clothes popped up in her mind. There was no way in HELL she was getting married to someone like that. No. There was no way around it. She'd have to hold Neji's hand.
But… Neji? 'Stop it!' she thought to herself, furiously, 'Frankly, Neji will be better looking then any old, oily, ugly suitor! Not that I look at him in that way… No. His hand's the only option.'
Tenten looked towards the said person only to see his back. His bad mood seemed to have disappeared while he was watching the birds flying in the sky. What Tenten was looking intently at, however, was not his face. It was his right hand.
It was swinging. Swinging back and forth as she watched. 'Since when does Neji swing his arms?' Tenten thought to herself, but quickly shook that line of thought out of her mind. She had a mission and she could not fail. She looked at the swinging hand and willed herself to just clutch onto it. But every time she told her left hand to just reach out, her right hand would slap it away.
'Damn it!' she thought after her fourth, and failed try, 'Stop it right hand! Left hand has a mission!' When she realized how crazy that sounded, she mentally slapped herself. 'Good thing I didn't say that out loud.'
She looked at his hand, still casually swinging. She had had harder missions. She was just going to hold someone's hand, not save the entire village from ruin. Holding someone's hand. How was that hard?
'Not just someone's hand. Neji's hand,' a little voice stated in her mind. No, she had to be brave. She would do it on the count of three.
Swinging. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Back… forth… back… One. Tenten clamped her eyes shut. Back… forth… back… Two. She stretched her left hand out. Back… forth… back… forth… back… forth…
Three.
I-is anything happening? Why isn't anything happening? Oh No. Hell No. Am I dead? Did Neji kill me already? Damn, he's got good reflexes-
"Tenten. What are you doing?"
Oh. I'm not dead.
Tenten squeezed whatever she had grabbed. It felt like a hand... It felt surprisingly cool, yet surprisingly comfortable.
Slowly, very slowly, Tenten opened her eyes to behold the sight before her. 'Good. I grabbed the right thing,' she thought, seeing that she had grabbed Neji's hand. Then she slowly lifted her face to look at Neji's. 'Oh shit. I am so dead.'
Neji's face was dark, as he looked down to the ground, the atmosphere around him changing from comfortable to deadly. Hyuuga deadly.She was in for it. And the worst thing? Tenten was blushing. Bad. She wanted to crawl under a rock and die. She looked around, looking for anyone who could stop her early death, but they were just ignoring them, walking pass, not seeming to sense Neji's vibes.
No one could save her. Might as well face her fate. She looked up at the livid Hyuuga and tried to read his mood, where she couldn't read his face… but wait. Was that a very faint shadow of a blush staining Neji's cheeks?
Her shock must have shown on her face, because Neji saw it. The blush, which was probably non-existent in the first place, was no longer there. Eh, Neji blushing? Almost as rare as someone holding his hand! Wait no, that wasn't right. Trick of the light. Yes, that's right, what Tenten saw was a trick of the light.
Oh damn. Tenten felt it. The exclusive, homicidal Hyuuga Neji vibe, 3 years ago reserved for the Main Family of the Hyuuga clan. Even when it wasn't being directed at her, she was scared. Ever since he had overcome his hatred, courtesy of Naruto beating him to a pulp, and Neji's talk with Haishi-sama, she had not seen, or rather felt, the intensity of this certain glare for a long while. And now, she herself was its target.
Damn. She was so dead.
"Neji…" she said with a nervous chuckle, "Don't get me wrong, it's just when Hinata said we didn't look like we were together…"
Neji glared.
"Well… and she suggested holding…"
Neji glared again.
"We need to look like a couple…"
Neji glared even harder.
"I mean, pretend couple? Um… Sorry?" Tenten finished with a slightly apologetic look on her face. "Eh he he…" With that, she shuffled around nervously, drawing trails in the ground.
After Neji felt that he had glared a sufficient amount, he looked down at his right hand. Tenten's own hand was still clasping onto it, subconsciously, and he was quite surprised to see he had a tight grip on her hand as well. 'Did I do that…' he started wondering, when he shook that thought from his mind. 'No. I just need to get Tenten home as quick as possible. This is so annoying.'
Tenten looked up, surprised, when she felt a tug on her left hand. She was even more surprised to see her Neji clasping onto her hand and tugging it slightly, with a forced clam expression on his face. "Let's just get his over with," He muttered, annoyed.
She smiled and nodded, sending a mental 'thank you' across to Neji. As Neji trudged on, Tenten not exactly beside him, but not exactly behind him either, their clasped hands stayed perfectly still.
'Argh!' Tenten thought, nervous. People on the streets were shooting them looks that she couldn't decipher and she was starting to feel self conscious, preferring to duck behind Neji then to walk in the open.
That wasn't the only thing that was different either. The atmosphere had changed drastically. It was awkward, and Tenten couldn't help but feel that this was all a mistake, even if it was for her own sake. 'What is it that's different?' She wondered, before she realized Neji wasn't swinging anymore.
'He seems tense…' Tenten thought to herself. Then again, she felt quite tense as well. She was holding, not just anyone's hand, but Neji, her boyfriend's hand. Well supposed boyfriend, at least.
Now, Tenten wasn't one of those romanticizing girls, who would have thought that holding hands was a sweet and loving thing to do. In fact, she would go as far as admitting that maybe she was a tiny bit tomboyish. A VERY tiny bit.
That was why, as she walked along, holding Neji's hand, she didn't feel comfortable. Not one bit.
Her hand was starting to get itchy, but she didn't want to move her hand to scratch it, afraid of what would happen.
As she walked further along, her hand was starting to sweat. What would Neji think of her now? A weapons specialist with sweaty hands?
After a few more steps, her arm was starting to feel stiff. How could couples do this all the time?! It was too damn uncomfortable to bear!!
And what Tenten felt was the worst about this experience… She was starting to enjoy it. No matter how itchy, sweaty or stiff her hand felt, she couldn't help but like the warmth of another person's hand, slowly leading the way.
'No!!' Tenten thought desperately to herself, 'I can't like it! I can't! I'm not weak willed and easily led astray by males like those other girls! It's what makes them weak. I'm not enjoying this. I just can't enjoy this.'
'Whatever you say…' a small voice said to her in her mind. "Shut up brain," Tenten scolded, scowling.
"Tenten, why are you talking to yourself?"
Oops.
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After another ten minutes of Tenten struggling internally with herself and awkward and tense silence, they finally reached Tenten's house.
Their little walk had ended. 'And too soon,' Tenten's uncontrollable voice commentated.
"Well," Tenten said, trying to fill the awkward silence, "This is my house!"
"Yes," Neji replied, coolly, "I realized."
"Uh…" Tenten started, too nervous to feel embarrassed, "Um, do you… wanna come in or something?" What was wrong with her? Any other day she could talk normally with Neji, as a fellow ninja. Just because he was posing as an intimate partner didn't mean she had to act any differently!
"No. It's ok. I should get going anyway." Neji replied indifferently.
"Oh." Tenten said, trying to mask her disappointment. No, not disappointment. Why would she be disappointed? "Well… See you tomorrow, then I guess. At Gai Sensei's reunion party?"
"Yes."
A few more minutes of awkward silence passed as Tenten tried to think of something to break the silence. Where was that usual comfortable silence she usually had in the presence of Neji?
Finally Neji himself decided to break the ice. "Tenten," he said, his face vacant.
Tenten appreciated him for saving them from further embarrassment, especially since he wasn't usually he one to stir up conversation. "Yes Neji?" she replied happily.
"Can you please let go of my hand?"
Okay. So he wasn't being selfless for once and thinking abou- What? Tenten looked down at her hand, and was surprised to see she was still holding Neji's hand with a tight grip.
"Sorry," she muttered, mortified. To make matters worse, she felt a large rush of blood flow to her cheeks. She quickly pulled her hand back, as if Neji's hand had been scorching hot and quickly ran into her house, not wanting to find herself in another embarrassing situation.
'I can't believe. I was holding hands with Neji.' She thought dazed, as she shut the door and pulled back the curtain to watch Neji.
"That was all Neji's fault!" she muttered firmly to herself, red-faced, as she watched the stoic Neji dash off, disappearing from view.
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aww… Tenten and Neji holding hands…
eh, ok that chappie wasn't top notch but its pretty long… THEY HELD HANDS! WHAT MORE DO U WANT!
Eh… -.-;;; its as long as the first 2 chapters put together… but the it was ok wasn't it? :S not much humor in this one…
Well, if u want the next chapter soon, u gotta review nicely… ill TRY HARDER on the next one, I PROMISE!!
Review!
…please?