Cursed Emotionless

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Like everyone else I only own the plot and wish I owned Naruto. If I did maybe there might be NEJITEN.

From now on if the words are in bold it is telepathically speaking and italized is thoughts.

Sorry about the bad description of Hermione.

Tenten looked at Neji. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry," the girl exclaimed, straightening her sweater and sweeping her straying hair back over her shoulders. "I'm just so terribly excited, now that Hogwarts is just around the corner! Will you be joining this year? You two certainly don't look familiar." The girl squinted at them both for a moment, as if trying to jog her memory into action. "No, you must be new. I'm Hermione." She extended a hand to Tenten with a friendly, if somewhat jumpy, grin.

"We're okay," said Tenten as she recovered her balance, emotionless expression a sharp contrast to the tremendous enthusiasm of the girl whose hand she briefly grasped. "I'm Tenten, and this is Neji. We're transfer students from Japan and haven't learned our way around London yet. Would you mind showing us the way to Gringotts?"

With a quick nod, Hermione began weaving along the crowded alley and beckoned for them to follow. "Of course I wouldn't mind, I was just heading there myself! I'm really not usually so flighty, you know, but I love preparing for Hogwarts. Did you say transfer students? There haven't been transfers in Hogwarts since the year 1000! You two must be very good with magic. Would you like me to guide you around for today? Diagon Alley can be awfully confusing..."

"Thanks for the help. We'll really need it with the shopping for supplies." Tenten said.

Hermione started walking towards a greenish can-shaped building. "This is Gringotts, the safest bank where it's protected with all sorts of creatures and charms. We'll ask for a guide and he can take us to our vaults." She paused for a moment and talked to the creature. He gets on the boat. "Step on the boat," she said.

They all stand still while the boat moved quickly like a roller coaster rushing down the hill. Tenten, Neji, and Hermione all handed their keys to the goblin. He examines them and they stop at Hermione's vault first. The goblin pressed the key to the hole and the door swung open. Inside is a bright room with little piles of galleons, sickles, and knuts. Hermione enters the room looks at the corner and grabs a small velvet brown bag. She filled it with money and leaves.

Next, they stopped at Tenten and Neji's vault. When the doors creaked open there were two rooms visible. The first contained piles of bags, mountains of galleons, hills of sickles, and sand dunes of knuts. The two ninjas grabbed a bag each and filled them with coins as Hermione dictated, "Gold coins are galleons, silvers are sickles, and coppers are knuts. 17 sickles to a galleon and 29 knuts to a sickle." The second room was full of weapons: katanas, wakizashis, kodachis, kunais, shuriken, scrolls, and enough others to satisfy any ninja's bag for weeks. Metal dominated all but the far side or the room, which hosted cleaning cloths, blade sharpeners, blade creating tools, and school supplies – most obviously bags, potion sets, and books. Neji and Tenten took a couple weapons and left some from their suitcase, then proceeded to grab the cloth, tools, potion sets, and books. Finally, they were left at the school bags. Tenten grabbed a soft gray messenger bag and while Neji chose a black, single-shoulder backpack. Though these bags seemed small, they were of the sort that anything inside them while the bags themselves maintained their sizes. Finally, both ninjas secured two trunks, and at last they left Gringotts to shop for school supplies.

Hermione, "Well, you already have your crystal phials, cauldrons, telescopes, and brass scales. Oh, look, here's Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions!" In no time they came out with their trunks full of robes, hats, gloves, and coats. After those came quills and parchment, and then Eeulop's Owl Emporium, a dull shop but for the occasional shriek, and the stares of all kinds of animals (though it was mostly for owls, it was obviously a non-exclusive shop). Soon, Tenten had picked a foggy-colored cat that seemed to disappear into thin air; the only things you could see were its electric green eyes. Neji chose a black owl with red, fiery eyes. Both creatures seemed intelligent when looked in the face. Both new students bought cages, and Neji put his owl inside. Tenten kept Haze in her arms, however; she snuggled into Tenten's blue cotton sweater. "What animal do you have?" Tenten asked as she stroked her new pet.

Hermione replied, "A cat named Crookshanks. What are your animal's names?"

"Oh, mine is Haze because it looks like it." Tenten replied.

Neji added, "Slash because its eyes seem to stab you with invisible talons."

"That's really interesting...I just picked a random name of a powerful wizard out of my head. Now, its time to go to Ollivanders, the wand shop. Here we are," she said as they walked into the dusty shop.

Mr. Ollivander said curiously, "Hmm I've seen you somewhere before. You look like your mother Waka. She walked into this shop about 50 years ago and requested a wand. I had a terrible time finding her one."

"Not to be impolite but my parents died two years ago." Tenten said, her eyes became dull and lost the shine that they had. "Anyway, do you have a wand that has any relation to a weapon?"

Mr. Ollivander replied, "This wand is made of a mahogany and its substance is metallic dragon blood." Tenten took the wand and filled it with chakra and the wand bonded with her just like all her kunais. She made a single sakura appear in the air and she catches it as it begins to fall.

"That's great!" Mr. Ollivander exclaimed. "This was the only wand that actually contained blood. The blood will never dry as long as the wood remains polished. That will be 7 galleons."

Mr. Ollivander turned to Neji, "Prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. Very pleased to meet you."

Neji nodded his head in acknowledgement, "Do you have anything that looks like ivory?"

Mr. Ollivander replied, "Once again, we do. It is an oak with the substance of an albino phoenix tail feather." Neji tried it and his byakugan strained as it slowly bonds with him. Out of the wand came a small waterproof fire that Neji could hold in his hands without getting burnt. Mr. Ollivander made it disappear and they pay him 7 galleons each.

"The last place we have to go is to Flourish and Botts, the bookstore. Since you're coming as 2nd years you'll need to buy the 1st year books along with the 2nd year ones. Anyway, if any of you have problems during the year with any subjects please ask me." Hermione told them. "Oh my gosh! They're having signings of the Lockhart books, the one for Defense against the Dark Arts. We should quickly buy the books and get in line!"

Hermione grabbed all of their books all at once it seemed as if she sped up the time. They all paid at once and got in line. "Its okay if you guys want to look around I'll get them signed for us." Hermione spotted Harry and Cho and started chatting with them. She was about to introduce Tenten and Neji but when she turned around, they were gone.

Meanwhile, Neji and Tenten were looking through books on the table that were there for show, and pointing out little things to one another. Moments like those were the times when, if someone had committed suicide right before them, neither would have noticed. It was wonderful just being with someone who understood them. "I just read a chapter of one of Lockhart's books. He sounds like a baka; I don't know what we could learn from these. He sounds conceited; he doesn't deserve to have done all these things," thought Tenten to Neji as they sifted through the books.

"Hn," Neji agreed lazily.

A moment later, the dreamy air disappeared.

"Pansy, you grew your hair that long in three months? You've changed since the last time I saw you," a boy with white blond hair said from behind the pair.

Tenten turned and focused on the intruder. "I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone else. I'm Tenten Ching. But were you speaking of Pansy Parkinson?"

The blond boy sneered for a moment at the two for witnessing his mistake, but inexplicably schooled his expression to civility after only a moment. "Pansy Parkinson, yes. I'm Draco Malfoy. I've never seen you before; what house are you in?" he asked, failing to completely lock undertones of suspicion from his words. Being seen speaking to non-slytherins would do no good for his reputation.

"Pansy is my cousin; I'm a transfer student from Japan this year, so I don't have a house. If you see her, would you tell her that I look forward to seeing her again?"

Neji frowned slightly as he flipped a page in one of the Lockhart series. He knew he appeared absorbed in the book, but not a word of it had entered his head. All his energy was spent in reading Malfoy's mind.

Hm…. Pansy's cousin. I'll have to ask dad about it so he can look it up on the family tree. Maybe I can get my own copy. That also means she's probably going to be in Slytherin. She is much prettier than Pansy though and well seems to not be attached to me. Also she seems to be able to have a conversation with me without complimenting me in almost every sentence. In fact she doesn't compliment me at all. It seems so beneficial to my euphoria.

And even though Neji didn't try, this is what was going through Tenten's mind.

Well, I've at least made a new friend. Though he does seem a bit prejudice. I'm going to have to ram some knowledge through his puny brain though he does speak more than Neji and doesn't scream about the power of youth. He actually seems kind of nice. But……I'm starting to feel a tightness from his aura. That only happens when someone is connected to Orochimaru. Well, I might as well be on my guard and as usual put my shield around myself and not be who I really am. Oh this is tiresome.

Tenten and Draco spoke for a time that became almost intolerable to Neji, completely ignored as he was. And all through it, still not a word of Lockhart had made a mark. Draco's thoughts had too much understanding in them for Neji to feel that Tenten to be safe from him, and reading was out of the question if Tenten was not safe. Safe from what elxactly, Neji did not know, but he did not like it – especially when, for all he could tell, Tenten was feeling the same way. Thankfully, from the odd looks that other students were throwing at Draco - the perfect gentleman - he was hiding something. Why that relieved Neji was not for him to know. It was with a grateful sigh that Neji acknowledged Draco's departure, despite the promise he made to meet Tenten again on the Hogwarts Express.

Tenten looked at Neji – did he seem upset? - and smiled comfortingly. "We're eventually going to have to leave each other's company. I won't give away the secret." Then she leaned her head on his shoulder. To her surprise, he didn't move away.

(by the way here are 2 views on that little moment)

She is right, Neji thought with an unexpected shudder. We might be sorted into different houses. We've stuck together all through the academy and the team… Now we might split up. But still, why am I letting her get away with this? …It feels so comfortable, as if we'd always been always bonded. All those other three times she did this, I always lied. It was comfortable before… but I just can't be too close with somebody in Konoha. Lee, Gai, Hiashi, and Hanabi would all have been on my tail. And I couldn't run away and ask help from our Hokage.

Tenten blinked, then closed her eyes. Wow. I'm getting away with it! Right underneath the great prodigy's eyes. I wonder, is my head getting lighter? He's always told me that my head is too heavy for his shoulder. And I've always said, Are you stating the fact that you aren't strong enough?' I'll miss him if we go our separate ways. Being this close to a guy is normally uncomfortable… so why do I feel so normal here? For once, I'm at peace with the whole world. It's kind of like being with my parents. Oh, why did Orochimaru kill them. And yet I only care more for everyone after that experience. Even Manda. Just thinking about that reminds me this is the first time in months that I've felt another emotion rather than anger. Is the curse becoming stronger?"

Draco spotted his dad and walked away in that direction. They saw the Weasleys and started to criticize them, a rare opportunity. Somehow though, Neji and Tenten didn't hear and they both thought of him as a nice guy that they could depend on.

Soon enough, Hermione spotted them and mentally thought Aww. They look so cute together. This year I'll have some fun matchmaking. Then she took them to King's Cross. On the way there she talked about how glad she was that Lockhart was going to be their D.A.D.A. teacher. Then she explained about all the other teachers. She showed them how to get through the barrier, and they entered calmly. Unfortunately, they came too late and most of the compartments were full, so Hermione sat with some Gryffindors she knew, "Is it okay if I sit with these people? I'm sorry there just wasn't any room in other compartments and you two want to sit together. I hope they are dense enough not to realize my plan."

Tenten replied, "Its okay. We'll look in the other compartments." They continued to walk until the last compartment where there was nobody at all. They sat down and put on their robes. Upon letting Haze and Slash out of their cages, Slash jumps on Neji's shoulder and Haze on Tenten's lap. Then the door slid open to reveal Malfoy and Co. He didn't look at either of them, just accused them.

"This is our compartment. We always sit here."

Tenten retorted, "Nice to see you too, Draco. Is that Pan?"

Pansy exclaimed, "Ten? You're a witch?" They hugged each other and sat down. Even though there wasn't much room, they somehow managed. Pansy accusingly said, "So you're the girl Draco has been talking about for three hours nonstop. It's really annoying hearing your name in all of our conversations."

"Sorry about being in your conversation. I didn't know that Draco liked me that much. Right!" Tenten said, "I haven't introduced him yet. This is my friend, Neji Hyuuga."

Pansy disregarded Neji and skipped to something else, "I heard about your parents. I'm really sorry."

Tenten, Pansy, and Draco continued talking while Crabbe and Goyle stayed silent. Neji did too, but in an intelligent way. Their conversation stayed on Orochimaru and Neji and Tenten were amazed about how much they knew about him. Then they talked about the different houses.

"Basically, you should try to get into Slytherin but if you can't use that house's information to your advantage."

"They sure knew a lot about Orochimaru and Manda," Neji remarked.

Tenten replied, "I'm sure we can trust them. By the way Neji, I need to tell you why this mission is so important to me..." She explained the memory of what happened two years ago. (people if you don't know the memory, please read 1st chapter/prologue)

Neji, a little shocked, took it quite normally, and they started preparing to leave for the train.

"Don't worry Tenten I'll watch out for you. And I'll take care of all your fears no matter what." Neji promised to himself.

Was that better? Six more reviews please! And some constructive criticism! Should it be Draco/Hermione? Or pansy or OC? By the way, it won't be tenten/draco. I promise.

So go review! Review! Review!