Day to Day
A Naruto Fan-fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any bands mentioned, with the exception of Star Pirate Ship.
(A/N: Well, I counted the votes, and we have Ino and Shikamaru with one, Naruto and Hinata with two, and Neji and Tenten with six! So, here we go-on another Neji and Tenten!)
Chapter 21: May I Always
A small breeze blew, ruffling her short black hair. Her eyes half-closed, and a small, wispy smile was on her face. Her hand held up her chin, and the other hand crossed over, lying across the railing, the hand bent and hanging, holding a yellow daisy. Tonight was one of those rare occasions that she wore pink. She wore a pink tank top and worn jean shorts. A blue barrette held back the top front sections of her hair by pulling it over the top of her head. The under lying layers of her hair flipped forward, curving forward just below her ears. Her feet were bare, giving the image of a carefree bohemian.
Spring.
Of course, no one saw this the way he did, as her being to real, true, casual.
He could hear them.
"Look at her, walking around without shoes! And where did she get those worn rags of jeans, a thrift store? Is that a stain on her shirt? She looks so plain. Why is she wearing a blue barrette? Her shirt is pink! Is that a scar on her arm? Showing? How unladylike…."
Of course, he didn't really hear them; he just knew that as he stood with her on this balcony, that they were certainly being said. She, however, was oblivious, and all she did was smile her wispy smile, almost like the same wind that drifted past them…
He leaned next to her, his back touching the black bar, his longer hair whipping gently behind him, his arms on the railing, a relaxed feeling around him, and in him. He, too, was bare foot, and he wore his kaki shorts, a black shirt, and no headband. That old, chipped and beaten thing was lying on the floor of his bedroom, tossed without remorse.
They had similar faults, but no one seemed to notice them. She was the target, after all; he was the esteemed future leader. Miles and miles of positioning in the family separated their roles. He was one down from the top, and she hit the bottom hard.
Although the women had kept quiet and helped her, only Neji's three cousins-Hana, Hoshi, and Kita-were nice to Tenten. The rest of the women were amused at first, but as soon as word got out that this was serious, they started pushing Tenten, trying to tear her down so she'd show some teeth and prove them right, or, show them she would be a perfect wife of their leader. This bugged Neji the most. Just because he didn't bring home girls-or never had brought one home-suddenly, Tenten was his new future wife. Of course, Tenten hadn't really realized this yet; or, if she had, she didn't seem to care.
This suited him fine. As long as she was content, he was too. He had to admit, though, it was nice to be able to anywhere with her or do anything in public without fear. Last week he was even kissed her in a street!
But now, they were in a different place, one a lot more hostile.
His home.
Tenten had showed up suddenly, smiling and trooping into his bedroom (he'd been napping) without any sign of cautiousness. On the contrary, she acted as if this was her home as well! She just walked in, woke him up, kicked off her sandals, and flung open the balcony doors! Well, along with the occasional comment of, "This room is bigger than my apartment!" or "Wow, is that real oak?" or "Is that a balcony?" or "Geeze, this is like a millionaire estate, I swear!"
He smirked a laughing smirk as she said those things, listening to her make her comments, all from the point of view of a girl who was raised in the projects by a single mom who worked hard for low wages.
This, again, didn't bother him.
So, here they were, him awake and refreshed from a catnap, her leaning on the balcony railing, enjoying the breeze and view from four floors up.
"You have it so nice here." She said, and looked at him.
Hardly a feature on his face moved. Then she looked ahead.
"I mean, the house I grew up in was probably worth as much as half of your bathroom." She joked, smiling.
"Maybe you should get used to it." He said, and then turned around to face the sky, leaning on his arms as well.
Her brows furrowed, and she gave him a puzzled look.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged, looking down at the grass waving in the wind, extending forever until it hit the tree line. Last time he counted there were five oaks and two maples that he could make out.
"Meanings under meanings." Tenten rolled her eyes. "It almost gets annoying."
"No. It makes it fun."
"Should I get used to that too?"
He cocked an eyebrow at her, and she just smiled mischievously. He paused, and then replied.
"Yes. In fact, you should add corsets, dancing, make-up, and thirty-two cousins."
"Oh, so I should prepare for all of that, and add hidden meanings and huge rooms?"
She smiled at him, and he just shrugged.
"You never know."
Then she looked down, biting her lip and thinking, and then back up at him. She shook her head, and smacked him on the arm.
"Hyuuga Neji, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were asking me the big question!"
"It depends on what the big question is."
"Don't be an ass!"
She hit him again, and then pointed at him like a toddler who needed to sit in the corner.
"Don't make me get out my kunai, Hyuuga."
He leaned close to her, a smirk on his face.
"I'd hate to do that." He whispered, and then, in a sudden motion, kissed her on the cheek.
Her face flushed, and she put her palm on her cheek. In her sudden rush of embarrassment, she didn't notice the flash of white and black go down!
She turned to the edge of the balcony, gripping it and looking down. And, sure enough, there was Neji, that ass, walking down the side of the brick building, his arms crossed.
She shook her head, and slipped out a kunai.
"I warned you." She said.
"Bring it."
Then Tenten leaped off the balcony and hit the brick. Her mischievous smile returned.
Ten feet below on the grass stood a woman, her black hair billowing, her clear eyes concerned. Her kimono was decorated in whites, blues and purples, and she clasped her hands. Small laugh lines crinkled on the edges of her eyes.
Next to her stood Hinata, in a pink skirt and white shirt, blushing as usual.
"You tell me she is…good, Hina-chan."
Hinata nodded. "She is. I-I have known Tenten for a long time, and she, um, was always very good with Neji-san. And, sh-she is very strong."
The older woman nodded. Hinata's shyness was something she was used to.
She looked ahead, watching the two being spoken of begin a fight on the edge of the building, with Tenten trying her best to get a good stab at the boy.
"Do you think she will fail, Hina-chan?"
Hinata shook her head, looking at the green grass.
"T-T-Tenten is very brave, and very loyal. Sh-she always tries t-to do what is best."
"Thank you, Hina-chan. Only few people actually know her, and you know that you can't trust the gossip here."
"Y-y-yes ma'm."
Up on the wall, Tenten was chasing Neji down the brick wall, hardly noticing a scowl from a girl in a window. The girl peeked out, looking down at the two, and then pulled her head in and slammed the window shut. Tenten didn't so much as look back, but Neji's eyes darted toward the slam, making him barely miss one of Tenten's shuriken.
"Is that the best you've got?" he scoffed. His arms were crossed the whole time in smugness.
Tenten's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, now its on!"
She leapt, grasping to the hope that she could use her chakra to reattach to the brick wall. But, even as she lunged in the blink of an eye, Neji dodged it, smirking.
Now they were halfway between the windows in the first and second floors. He continued to dodge, and she lunged and threw, and small shuriken was stuck in the brick walls.
Tenten had a happy, determined look on her face, and Neji was simply smirking, his arms now behind his back as he moved the mere centimeters to miss her attacks.
She disappeared and reappeared behind him, going for a different angle, but Neji just turned and dodged in the process.
Then suddenly, Tenten was gone!
Neji's eye twitched a moment, and then he tried to feel for her pressure on the wall, when he turned, and found Tenten there, dangling from a string, just above him! His eyes widened when he felt her touch the kunai to his forehead, smiling.
"Got you!" she exclaimed, smiling, gripping onto her string, which was, in fact, like fishing wire!
Neji looked up, and saw that it lead to the roof where a steady kunai was implanted, with the string tied through its hole.
His smirk fell into a lazy, toothless smile, and he nodded, pushing the kunai away.
CRACK
Tenten's eyes and mouth flew open, and she almost lost grip on the string, as the oozy, gooey mess spilled over her cropped black hair and began to drip down her face and onto her neck and back. Her face burned, and she lifted a hand to her face, wiping up some of the dripping mess, and held it in front of her face, horror spreading across her features. Neji's mouth fell open as well, watching as a drop of the mess dripped onto the grass some five feet below.
Tenten turned upward, so she was leaning against the brick wall, when she felt more being dropped on her head!
Neji looked up, and saw, to his horror, his two cousins up in a third-story window above them, snickering and dropping eggs and some kind of thick goop on Tenten's head!
Tenten looked up as well, and that was when she was suddenly hit with more goop, face on!
Neji immediately recognized the two, and the girl as the girl who had slammed her window just moments before. They were Kameko and Dai.
The older of the cousins, Kameko, a laughing, black-haired girl, leaned out the window and shouted, "Better get out of here while you can ghetto-girl! That mess is the least of your problems!"
The boy next to her, Dai, laughed and smacked hands with the Kameko.
"Yea!" he added, "You're not good enough to wipe our floors, you dirty-blooded halfie!"
Tenten clenched her teeth, her face burned, and a kind of hate, anger, and embarrassment swirled in her eyes. She then turned and began to trek up the side of the building, but by the time she made it to the third floor, Kameko and Dai had left, only leaving the window and the blowing curtains in their wake.
Neji followed her. She was fuming, clenching her fists, and throwing the string aside so hard the kunai ripped out of the roof. She stomped up the side of the building, now covered in the goop the waist up, and dripped in it everywhere else.
When she made it to Neji's balcony, she climbed up the bars that fenced it in, and then vaulted herself over top. Shaking his head, Neji followed.
After hoisting himself over the gate and stepping onto the soft, white flooring of the balcony, he saw her. She was sitting against the wall, biting furiously on a chocolate bar, the goop only rubbed off of her face, apparently by one of his towels from his bathroom, which lay on the floor in front of her.
His head cocked the side, and he looked at her a moment as she sat there, chewing and having this hurt look in her eyes. Poor Tenten. She didn't even get revenge.
Sighing, Neji took off his shirt, and walked toward her and crouched down beside her. She looked up at him, but never did her chewing or expression change. Then, he took his shirt and gently wiped away some of the mess on her nose, and then wiped some off of her hair.
Tenten's eyes flew open, and all chewing ceased, as she looked at Neji, his face showing no emotion, as he silently cleaned of her head, switching portions of the tan shirt once it got covered in it. Neji was never one for niceties, much less sitting before someone, wiping off egg and mess!
He looked down at her and her surprised look. He just smirked, and kissed her on her nose, the first thing he cleaned off.
"They're stupid, and I can kill them if you like." He said, not even flinching at his own words.
Tenten felt a smile tug at her lips. "You're…almost like my mother. In a crazy, killer kind of way."
Neji frowned.
"No! I-I mean, you never do anything like this, and, here you are…."
He put down the shirt, and put his hands on the sides of her face. Then he leaned in close, and whispered.
"That's because I love you. And not like your mom loves you."
Closing his eyes, he leaned in and kissed her, his fingers entangling themselves in her black hair. They sat there a moment, kissing, Tenten just letting it happen, feeling his warmth and the feeling bubbling up from her stomach. When they pulled away, Neji just gave her one of his soft smiles, just his lips tilting upward, and ran his fingers through her hair.
"Hmmm…chocolate." he said quietly, and she laughed.
"That was kind of a messed up comment, Neji-kun." She said.
He kissed her again, and smirked. "What do expect when you eat a candy bar?"
She shook her head, and he got that laughing look in his eye.
"Can I take a shower in your bathroom? I feel kind of gross."
"Yes." He said, and backed off so she could get up.
He leaned back on his palm, watching Tenten walk off, almost slipping in some of the goop before she regained her balance. Then she entered the bathroom, and quietly shut the door behind her.
As she prepped the shower and got ready to get in, she heard his words in her head, 'that's because I love you. And not like your mom loves you.' Her mom had left her, and she thought, as she slipped into the spray of warm water, maybe he had said something else to her, like he always does. 'I will never leave you.'
It was comforting.
He laid back, his eyes closed, and he thought.
There were some things ahead of them, that was for sure.
Yesterday's events weren't to be taken lightly. It was rare when a Hyuuga child, who are raised to the highest caliber, resort to out-and-out acts of hate. They were taught so much better than that, to always be polite and cunning. What Kameko and Dai did was cruel and embarrassing, not to mention juvenile. Dai was normally very quiet and didn't mess in family matters, but something about the idea of Tenten "polluting" their family seemed to tweak him the wrong way.
The Hyuuga family swam in secrets, and he wondered if something had happened to Dai. As for Kameko…she was very loud and opinionated, so this act wasn't surprising.
The amount of problems heading their way almost made him feel tired, and he just lay there.
He thought of running away, leaving it all behind, like so many others did. But for him and Tenten, running away for them would qualify them as missing-nins, and put his family in uproar and a position of weakness. And he knew that Tenten still gripped the hope that her mother would return some day.
Leaving was not an option.
So, all that left was facing it, and, hopefully, not killing anyone in the process. Even he had to admit, he had quiet the temper, and didn't value that many lives.
After she had gotten out of the shower, she had changed into one of his extra kimonos, and sat across from him, embarrassment still showing on her face. But he had told her all he could to make her feel better about it. "Don't listen to them." He had said, "They're stupid, weak, and stuck-up." "So are you." She had replied, narrowing her eyes. "I'm with you, aren't I?" Yes…" "Don't listen to them."
Tenten would get over it and just carry a chip on her shoulder for a while, so he wasn't worried.
Yet, the problems stood fast, blocking what should've been an easy path with normal families.
'Well…I guess I have my work cut out for me.' He thought, sighing.
No matter how much he thought of their adversity, he still believed that she was worth it. It wasn't every lifetime that you come around a girl like her, and that would want to be with him. His family didn't see it that way, but they would. And maybe, someday, everything would fall into place, and he could really use that big question.
You just never knew.
Hey guys!
I hope you liked it! I really thought about this one! I didn't want to give you this great conclusion, though, because I want to save that for some other Neji and Tenten chapter!
I was very angry when I looked up Byakugan (to make sure I had it right for future reference) and came across I full, spoiler-filled biography on Neji, where my chapters (the last two, anyway) were completely wrong! Neji is from the branch house, and branded with the caged bird seal! ARGH! I hate it when I'm wrong! I hate it! So, maybe, just maybe, I'll change my next chapters to suit it. It'll feel weird though, because now Neji seems different to me, not my Neji. I'll start to look up the other characters that I don't know much about either, like Shikamaru, Ino, and Hinata, to make sure I'm not portraying them wrong! I almost want to redo everything, counting the last two chapters as a form of AU.
So, did anyone figure out who the woman was, the one with Hinata? She's no mentioned in the manga, so I had to make her up, but she fits!
Also, Akia bin Zaid, I haven't heard from you! And you don't seem to be listed anymore! I hope everything's all right!
Anyway, sorry for the wait. I've found that my life seems to become more filled with each passing day, but that doesn't mean I'll stop!
Thank you, all of my reviewers!
Bayka (hello! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! And this time it was Neji and Tenten, so maybe you enjoyed this one ten times more! I sure hope so! Let me know what you think in your review!)
MichSchonken (Hmm…your user name sounds familiar, like a word I've heard! Anyway, I'm glad these stories have been enjoyable. It means a lot! Let me know what you think of this one too!)
Kanashii-emi (You're right, I really haven't written about Hinata and Naruto in a long time! I almost miss those two! Anyway, thanks for your comment on Shikamaru and Ino! I often wonder if I make them too OOC, but nobody's said anything! And, thanks for your comment on Sasuke staying in character. That's always been very important to me, and it's nice to know someone sees that. Make sure to let me know what you think of this chapter too!)
HiGh Pri3st (Your screen name is so creative! Anyway, don't worry about it! Better forgetful than very busy, right? Be sure to let me know what you think in your review!)
Bianca (I'm sorry! I typed it wrong! I meant, "bother them that I write about them"…since you seemed to be doing a good job of putting them (Neji, Tenten, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata) in your reviews, I thought it would be kind of cool to see what they think of reading about themselves…or something like that. You get it? Anyway, I guess…thank you Sakura! And you! And everyone! And…Neji…if I wrote this badly…I'll never be in your field of hakke. Anyway, good luck trying to get your sugar! Or not? Oh, I give up! Thank you for your review, and thanks for your compliments! It means a lot! I look forward to your next review!)
Warprince2000 (love you guy! And, with you…I'm always cool!)
Harukakatanata (Thanks! I hope you enjoyed your Neji and Tenten! Let me know what you think of it!)
FireDragonBL (Hello! I hope you liked the Neji and Tenten chapter, and let me know what you think of it in your review!)
Sephynarutocloud (In all truth, I think everyone is complicated in one way or another. I promise, you have a human head (unless you're alien). Maybe it doesn't feel that way, but nobody's perfect, and there is no such thing as a "normal head". Literally. Anyway, hopefully I'll get enough votes for a Naruto and Hinata, because they seemed almost over looked right now! Let me know what you think about this chapter!)
Springninja (Hmmm…now that I think about it, I think I'm a summer ninja! Hah! Okay…I'm defiantly not a ninja. Anyway, thanks for your review, and I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I was so proud of myself for coming up with the concept…my head swelled a bit when the reviews came in! Thank you for your comments, and I hope to see them again for this chapter!)
Danny (Heeeyyyy Dannnyyyy! You may just be right about Sasuke. He's a little screwed, but we love him! But what is "like the waffness thou?" I read it and went, "Sasuke…is a waffle?" I'm dork. Anyway, that whole "Sakura by the lake" thing actually kept playing in my head, manga-style. I knew from day one it would be put in my next Sasuke and Sakura, hands down! I hope Naruto and Hinata make it next time…they've been neglected; over powered mostly by the Neji and Tenten fans! Well, thanks! I can't wait for your next review!)
Shedevilz (Hey, does your user name mean there's more than one of you? Anyway, I'm not much of a yaoi fan either. The idea of Naruto and Sasuke, or Gaara and Sasuke together seems…unnatural. But then again, I'm the over analyzing writer that has these boys already fixed up with girls in her head. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! It's another Neji and Tenten, so it should be right up your alley! Let me know what you think of it in your review!)
Babykitty 2070 (Thanks! I always did think that one of the greatest parts of romantic movies was when the tension mounts and they started to relax, and you're sitting there, waiting for something to happen! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! Be sure to tell me your thoughts on this one too!)
Ayasi (One thing I've learned from writing for over four years is that how I'm feeling and what stage in my life I'm in always affects how I write and what I write about. As of January, I've started putting the characters in their own context, sort of writing about them from afar, instead of taking them in and mixing it all up. I want it to seem more real, like it really could have happened in their world. All I can say is that I was in a different stage of my life, and now that's passed. Expect more like this, with maybe some of the past mixed in when I want it to. Thanks, and I hope to read your comments on this chapter in your review!)
Froggi3 (I don't think this will end for a long time! I've been getting some overwhelming support, and writing it has been fun and great. So never fear! They will continue! For how long? Well, we won't know until it comes, will we? But my last chapter must be for all of them, that's for sure!)
Review,
Love,
IHearVoices