My thoughts are spinning out into other worlds. Honestly. So I'm sorry if this story doesn't flow well, make sense and/or satisfy. I have discovered that Neji and Tenten's relationship apparently comprises of out of character ness – Tenten is unnecessarily bratty and Neji is easy to manipulate and… nice. Hmm.
Read, review and enjoy!
THE DAY OF THE PARTY: MORNING
Tenten jumped onto her bed.
"Neji!" she yelled, "Get up, get up, get up!"
Neji said nothing, but just stared up at the ceiling with a very blank expression on his face.
"Neji? Are you sulking?" Tenten's voice was filled with an incredulous laugh and a cheeky smile. "Because if you are sulking, you're not very good at it."
Tenten smiled.
"I don't want to go!" Neji crossed his arms and glared at her.
"So I figured." Tenten remarked dryly.
"So why are you making me go?" Neji asked.
"Because, dobe, it's rude to accept an invitation and then not turn up at all!" Tenten turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
He sighed and stood up, then straightened the bed sheets with a flick of his wrists. He opened the curtains and sat down on Tenten's kitchen stools and started eating his breakfast- Neji had toast and Tenten had fruit.
"Why do you always eat fruit?" Neji asked, noticing for not the first time that it was all she seemed to eat in the morning.
"My father taught me how to use a knife at five. He said that the faster and more accurate I got with one, the stronger I'd be compared to other girls." She laughed softly. "So it became my job to peel the fruit and vegetables with a knife, not a peeler. As I got better, he taught me how to use bigger knives and other weapons. I used to think it was just a game, until the day I realised that he was training me to become the best kunoichi I could be… I have a lot to thank him for… but now I guess I just eat fruit in the morning out of habit." Tenten absentmindedly peeled a nectarine. She looked down with surprise. Neji smirked and took the fruit from her, and took a bite. The nectarine was soft, sweet and a bit sour- perfect.
"What are you doing?" Tenten asked.
"Eating the fruit that you peeled."
"That was mine!"
"It didn't look like you even knew that you were peeling it."
"Neji, you suck." Tenten finished off the rest of her breakfast, and then slid off the stool. "Come on, hurry up slow poke! We have to go soon."
"What? It's eight o'clock!" Neji washed his hands at the sink.
"I know that! We have to go, you idiot!" Tenten pulled out some clothes for Neji from his drawer in her room.
"Where are we going?" Neji looked at the fridge where the invite was stuck on.
"We're going to train you dobe!" Tenten laughed and pulled on her black fingerless gloves. She stowed another pair in her backpack along with a bottle of water, bandages and more weapons.
The pair made their way through the far from sleepy streets of Konoha. The summer always brought with it a frenzy of activity, with the extended hours of light and short periods of cool, found when the sun was low in the sky.
They made it to the training ground without anything of significance happening, and Tenten stretched and retied her hair into its two signature buns. Neji simply sat and meditated, as he always did while waiting for her to finish.
"Okay, I'm ready." Tenten declared.
"No, you're not." Neji whispered softly in her ear. Tenten jumped and kicked him in the stomach, and missed, then flipped backwards.
Neji smirked. He knew he still had the upper edge when it came to surprising her.
"Why did you have to do that? It freaks me out." Tenten whined. Neji continued smirking, as was his trademark in these situations. Tenten flicked her wrists. Knives slid out of the gloves and Neji cocked an eyebrow.
"Is that meant to be impressive?" he asked, flitting to stand beside her.
"No, it's meant to be my weapon of choice." She said, tilting her head to one side.
"Well this is mine," Neji whispered in her exposed ear.
Tenten laughed and stopped instantly when Neji pulled her forehead protector over her eyes.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Leave it on." Neji's voice came to her right.
"Why?"
"Because I'm testing you," Neji replied. "I have bells tied onto my wrists and ankles. Try and block my attacks, but you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu."
"Teasing me, more like it," Tenten grumbled. Nevertheless, she settled into a defensive crouch and waited, breathing in and out calmly.
"Breathe deeply, and let everything around you just be absorbed by your senses. If you can keep up, you will be able to find me." Neji said softly. Tenten still heard his instructions and breathed even deeper than before.
She felt her senses amplify, until she could hear Neji's barely audible footsteps. The bells chinked ever so slightly and Tenten made no move. She pin pointed his location- Neji was north-east and a few paces away. He was, however, flitting about constantly and it soon became impossible to keep track of his movements.
The bells pealed loud and clear to her left, and Tenten flung out both arms, her knives bare. The kunoichi felt fabric rip beneath the knives on her right hand and she smiled. Neji was still a bit predictable. Her satisfaction faded away when the bells began to sing all over the place. The delicate chimes covered up his movements and it annoyed Tenten.
The kunoichi moved her hands in a smooth flowing motion in all directions around her body, but they slashed at nothing but air. Tenten felt feather light touches all around her body, and Neji's cold voice came from beside her ear.
"You're too slow."
Tenten pushed her forehead protector upwards so that it rested underneath her fringe and pouted.
"Not fair! Even when we spar, you always win- it's not fair that I have to be blindfolded- it just means that you'll win faster and easier than you normally do!"
"What would you have me do then?"
"Well, you could have the blindfold, and you wouldn't be able to use the Byakugan or any chakra whatsoever, and you would have to have your hands tied together behind your back while I would have as many weapons as I wanted and no handicaps." Tenten's jaw dropped when Neji nodded. "Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously." He smirked, but Tenten, almost delirious with glee, chose to ignore his expression and beamed in return.
The kunoichi jumped up and ran to her bag and pulled on her kunai holsters after tying Neji's hands together and pulling his own forehead protector over his silver eyes.
"There is one condition." Neji called out clearly from the middle of the grassless patch. "The winner cannot brag, and the loser must obey the winner for a whole week."
"Are you that sure that you're going to lose?" Tenten called.
Neji didn't reply, intent on finding Tenten and predicting her next move.
She came on his left, and kunai flew in on his right. Neji jumped and landed neatly on a tree branch, then leaned on the sturdy trunk. He and Tenten knew every inch of their area and could recreate the entire thing leaf for leaf.
He was about to jump off, knowing that he had stayed where he was for too long, when he felt the branch shift and the Hyuuga found he couldn't move- Tenten had bound his body to the trunk with chakra strings and was now coming up to gloat about her win. She poked him roughly all over his body and pushed his forehead protector back over the teal mark on his forehead.
"I win!" Tenten smiled and closed her fist. Neji looked down and the thick chakra bands dissolved. "So now, you have to do everything I tell you to do until next Wednesday." She beamed. "Firstly, you can not get out of going to the party because I will drag you there even if you don't want to go. Secondly, you have to be nice to everyone today, especially Hinata because she's really excited about this whole thing." Tenten slid down to the ground, using her claws to slow her descent, leaving gashes down the side of the tree.
"Okay, we're leaving now." Tenten picked up her bag.
"Why?"
"Because I don't feel like training today." Tenten turned to leave.
Neji jumped down.
"You're annoying." He said coldly.
"Well that's something I haven't heard before." She bounded happily home and Neji sighed before following her, but with less enthusiasm.
"You know, this is the second time in two weeks that you are completely at my mercy, and you can do nothing about it!"
"The winner wasn't allowed to brag!"
"Who said I was bragging?"
Neji sighed.
"Where are we going?" Neji asked.
"We are going home."
"Why?"
"My, my Neji, we are so full of questions today!" Tenten laughed.
Neji scowled.
"Don't scowl like that- you'll get wrinkles." Tenten pressed back the frown lines on his face as they stepped out of the elevator.
Neji felt his face muscles relax, and he sighed. He tried to count how long it had taken Tenten to get him right where she wanted him. He realised it was less than five minutes.
Neji unlocked the door and stepped in. The apartment was no different as to when they had left it.
Tenten flopped onto the couch and pulled out from underneath it a book to read.
"What? You didn't want to leave before, so you can go and do whatever you wanted to do." Tenten soon became absorbed in her reading. Neji noted that it was a book of astrology and wondered how she had become interested in the topic.
"Neji- go and amuse yourself," Tenten's voice came from between the pages. "You're making me nervous, especially since you could be staring at me through this book."
Neji huffed and walked away.
And came back a few minutes later to annoy the weapons mistress.
"Neji, go and meditate or whatever you do in your spare time… I really don't want to know." Tenten turned the page.
Neji smirked and stared at Tenten through the book.
"Stop trying to get my attention. It's not going to work. Stop smirking. It annoys me."
Neji smirked harder.
"What do you want me to do? Tell you what you have to do?"
A few minutes passed. Tenten slid the book under the couch and stood up.
Neji came to stand behind Tenten and he caressed the back of her neck with his lips.
"Neji? What are you doing?" Tenten asked, her voice wavering.
"Amusing myself," Neji answered in that low seductive voice that he knew Tenten couldn't resist. He slowly ran a hand down the curve of her hip and turned her around.
"Are you really Neji?" she asked warily.
Neji was hurt.
"Of course I am! Didn't you think that I was capable of something spontaneously romantic?"
"Have you been talking to Sakura or Ino or Hinata?" Tenten paused. "Have you been talking to Hinata?" she ruled the other two out because the odds of Neji talking to them of his own free will were very slim.
Neji smiled. Tenten gave up and laughed and planted a kiss on his neck.
Her lips travelled slowly up his chin and to his lips. He made a low noise in his throat and it thrummed through Tenten's body, making her shiver, giving him an excuse to pull her closer to him, passionately and possessively. Tenten moved her head away, but Neji followed her lips.
"Wait, Neji… I think I hear…something." Tenten said between his kisses. She broke away, panting slightly, her lips swollen, her hair a bit messy. The kunoichi crept silently over to the door and put her eye to the small hole.
She instantly backed away.
"Neji? There's someone at the door. Tell them to go away." Tenten pleaded, putting on a higher pitched tone than usual. Neji sighed, and obeyed, knowing that he had no choice to.
He wrenched open the door and, to his dismay, three girls almost fell into Tenten's apartment. He stuck his head out and the screaming began. Ignoring the noise, he looked up and down the hallway- it was jam packed full of screaming adolescent girls.
He rubbed the back of his head.
"Girls. Ahem." They fell silent at his voice. "Go away, all of you." he said quietly, leaving the silent, stunned crowd and shut the door.
"Nicely done," Tenten smiled. She glanced at the clock. "It's only nine. We have an hour and a half to kill." The phone rang and Tenten sighed. "I'll get that."
"Tenten!" Sakura yelled. "I am having a major crisis! I have nothing to wear!"
"Why don't you ask Sasuke to help you find something to wear?"
"Because," Sakura wailed, "he has no fashion sense. When I asked him, he thought that the heart top went well with the pink jeans! But they don't!"
Tenten rolled her eyes and flopped back down onto the couch.
"Why don't you call Ino?" she suggested.
"She's having the same problem!"
"Hinata?"
"Too busy organising the whole party… so that leaves only you! Please, Tenten, you have to help me!" Sakura begged.
"Sakura," Tenten said, "We both know what kind of help I could give you in this situation that is zero. Just find something to wear that is appropriate for today, and it'll be fine. Honestly. It's not like anyone's going to see you."
"Well, there is Sasuke's FREAKIN ANNOYING FAN GIRLS! They make a living out of chasing him around Konoha whenever he steps out of the house, and criticise me by saying, 'why don't you let me be your girlfriend? I won't wear sluttish clothing like that' despite the fact of course, they're wearing just a little bit more than underwear."
"Well try having as many as they can stuff into the guy's girlfriend's apartment corridor," Tenten said dryly.
"They did that? You really have to do something about them!" Sakura gaped.
"I think he was safer for obvious reasons in the Hyuuga compound." Tenten said, looking around for the Hyuuga, but he wasn't in the lounge room or the kitchen.
"Sasuke's digging around in my stuff. I don't know what for… No! I am not wearing that! Sasuke, I appreciate the help, but … I think I can do this myself." Sakura heard identical sighs of relief- one from Sasuke and one from Tenten.
"So I think I should be going now. I have something to do. See you later!" Tenten said and hung up. She sat up and looked around. Neji startled her by appearing at her side in an instant.
"Have you made a living out of scaring me?" Tenten demanded.
Neji smirked.
"Have I ever told you how much I hate that smirk?" Tenten repeated.
"Mm. You love it," Neji replied, as if it was the only response he knew for that question. He did not try to kiss her again though, for his lips had ached for a while after the bite.
Tenten pouted.
"What? No kiss? I don't bite… anymore…" Tenten grinned wickedly. "You do realise that it is the second time in a few weeks that you are completely at my mercy?" Neji said nothing, his eyes clouding with a rare moment of nostalgia.
"Well," He said huskily, "the last time wasn't so bad…" he rubbed his thumb over her soft lips and knew that she was also thinking about the kiss that Lee had taken a photo of. Tenten glanced at the clock, but Neji took her face in his hands and drew her gaze to meet his own.
"Don't do that," he whispered in her ear. "It makes the time seem to pass slowly." He kissed her earlobe, temple, cheek and mouth. She squirmed and felt Neji push her back onto the couch.
"Neji," Tenten whispered against his lips, "I love you."
Neji drew back and looked down at her face. He smiled, genuinely. "I love you too…"
He whispered back as he kissed her, his unrestrained hair sliding down to curtain their faces. He shifted onto his side and they resumed their kissing and caresses.
Someone pounded on the door and burst in.
"Sorry to interrupt the lovefest," someone said sarcastically, "but it is 10:15 and you two are not even dressed properly." Tenten's head shot up from behind Neji's form, her eyes a bit glazed and her complexion a glowing rose. She bit her lip and lowered her gaze. Sasuke was a bit unnerving, especially when he looked directly at you with those fathomless ebony eyes.
"Lovefest?" Neji sat up and turned around, his demeanour cool and poised. "Sakura must really have rubbed off on you."
"Boys," Tenten stood up, briskly straightening her clothes. "Play nicely. I'm going to get dressed, and I would like to hope that the two of you are mature enough to restrain yourselves and won't tear up my apartment." She made her way down the hallway and quickly pulled off her clothes and found new ones to wear.
She left her room and Neji quickly brushed past her to change. Tenten smiled.
"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked the Uchiha as she threw her towel into the bag she had taken with her to training.
"No, thank you." Sasuke said, looking out the window.
"Where's Sakura?" Tenten asked, noting that the pink haired kunoichi was absent.
"She's still getting ready."
"What! She called me at nine and she wasn't dressed then, and I thought she said that she could figure it out on her own!" Tenten shook her head.
"I don't think any of use realised how many bathing suits she can fit into her wardrobe." Sasuke smirked, and Tenten laughed. His expression, however, changed into a mask of cool politeness as Neji slipped his arm around Tenten's waist and pulled her into his body.
"The testosterone level in here is getting too much for me to stand- I don't intend to wait and see if I will change into a dark and broody male due to this phenomenon." Tenten said dryly, shrugging Neji away from her. The kunoichi picked up her bag and shook her head with wonder. The two were so alike; it made them different to the other. Neji's eyes were bright like the moon whereas Sasuke's were as dark and infinite as a black hole. Both had a bloodline limit and a tragic past that they were constantly haunted by, much like their fan girls, yet there always seemed to be a subtle undercurrent of coldness between the two.
Tenten was about to step out of her apartment when Sasuke grabbed her wrist.
"Not that way." he mouthed. Tenten understood. Walking around Konoha without Sakura would have attracted more fan girls to him than ants to honey. Neji glared at Sasuke and he glared back, releasing Tenten's hand. She wordlessly grabbed the both of them by the collar and hauled them into her bedroom and opened her window. She slipped through and landed on her balcony. They followed her and jumped into the trees nearby. Once in the busy streets of Konoha, Neji slowed down and began to lag behind Tenten, who grabbed his hand.
"Come on!" Tenten tugged at Neji's hand. He continued to resist, and she continued to pull. "Neji! Hurry up!" the kunoichi turned around. She put a hand on her hip. "You owe me. I went on that camp for you."
Neji sighed resignedly. It was true. The stoic Uchiha fell in smoothly in beside Tenten, who was ignoring the Hyuuga, who emanated a cold and icy silence.
"Sasuke- kun!" A voice called. Sasuke visibly tensed and got ready to run when Tenten placed a hand on his arm.
"I don't think your girlfriend would appreciate you running away from her." Tenten pointed in the direction of the voice, Sakura rapidly approaching.
"Oh my gosh, Tenten, that looks hot!" Sakura squealed. Tenten looked down. She was wearing a light brown miniskirt made out of a fabric close to denim and a thin white cotton singlet top, with her pink halter neck swimmers underneath.
"Thanks. I see you put together a nice outfit too." Tenten replied. Sakura beamed. She wore a black strapless and sleeveless top and a tan cargo miniskirt.
A passing stranger wolf-whistled at the two kunoichi but the sound died in his throat as three of them turned to glare at him- Sasuke, Tenten and Neji. He scurried off on his own business.
They recommenced their walking and soon arrived at Uzumaki Naruto's house.
"Hey!" Naruto greeted the quartet with enthusiasm. "Come in!"
Everyone took off their shoes and entered the dwelling. All of the guests were already there. Lee (devoid of green clothing) had gotten a haircut, Ino who had braided her hair, Hinata had dressed simply, fittingly and elegantly for the occasion, Shikamaru who was engaging in a conversation with Shino who looked not a bit out of place in his sunglasses and a stranger who was talking animatedly with Lee while they played pool. He had dark brown curly hair that was almost as long as Sasuke's and his tanned skin was covered with freckles. Their game was almost at an end.
There was a knock on the door. No one really noticed except Tenten, who answered. She was greeted by an extremely high pitched squeal and tight hug.
"Tenten!" she cried, jumping up and down emphatically after the hug.
"Isamu Akiko," Neji said coldly from the corridor.
Akiko stepped back and thrust out her bottom lip like a scolded child.
"Neji-kun…" she simpered. "I haven't seen you in a few years- the least you can do is give me a hug and a kiss."
"Hn." Neji turned on his heel and entered Naruto's living room.
"Oh my God, he is so hot! And I saw him first." Akiko bounded alongside her friend and noted her stiffening.
"Tenten- what's wrong? Do you find my 'fawning over boys utterly pathetic' as you once said?" Akiko smiled. "You're such a prude. You need to get out more, and find yourself a hot boyfriend." She teased. Before Tenten could reply, Akiko was greeted by more high pitched screams in the lounge room.
"Ki-san!"
"Akiko!"
"Sa-chan! No-chan!"
"You look awesome! I love your hair!" Sakura squealed, jumping up and down.
"And your eyelash tints! They're so good! Where'd you get them done?" Ino added, doing the same action as her friends.
"You guys are just… like, oh my god!" There was a group hug and much more squealing.
Akiko turned around to face Hinata, and hugged her.
"You look beautiful, Hinata. Thank you so, so much for arranging for me to come out here." A quiet moment passed.
"Akiko-chan!" Naruto bounded up to greet his friend. It was no secret, however, that before the kunoichi had left a few years ago for the Wave country, she had desired more than friendship from him, and still did. "Hina-chan and I are glad to have you here. Thank you for coming." He said, hugging her then returning to stand beside Hinata.
Tenten nodded. He had tactfully, and with few words, shown that he and Hinata had a relationship, and Akiko knew this.
Akiko's smile did not falter, but inside, she felt something break. She turned away.
"Nara." She softly said.
"Isamu." Shikamaru replied curtly and Akiko laughed and jumped into his arms.
Tenten watched the red head, with black tinted eyelashes blue eyes and creamy skin covered with freckles, jump around and greet all the male members in the room, until she came to the stranger.
"Hi," she fluttered her eyelashes in a flirtatious fashion. "I'm Isamu Akiko- pleased to meet you."
"Narikio Lee." He shook her hand and she blushed when he kissed her cheek in a polite and formal manner.
"Yosh! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, this is Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino… if you guys want to start swimming, the pool is out that way." Naruto pointed after a while.
Tenten stripped down to her swimsuit and Neji took off his shirt. They ran out into the backyard and dived into the pool- Tenten gracefully, and Neji flipped forward.
"Show off," Tenten muttered darkly when they both resurfaced.
He smirked (how could he resist such an opportunity?), earning himself a few mouthfuls of chlorine water.
That sunny afternoon was wonderfully spent by the pool, or rather, in it.
Sakura sat on the pool step, resisting Rock Lee's many attempts to pull her in, earning himself a few (jealous) death glares from Sasuke. Lee just shrugged them off.
The other Lee was enduring a lot of flirtatious advances from both Akiko and Ino- even thought Ino already had Shikamaru, she couldn't resist teasing him more than just a few times, even though he was four years her senior.
Tenten sighed. Most of the day had slipped away without anything to complain about but one thing- tanning. Sakura, Ino and Akiko loved it, but Tenten hated it. She was getting tanned- too tanned. She glanced over at Neji who was slathering on more sunscreen for the umpteenth time that day. He was still, however, impeccably pale as ever. She sighed again.
"Tenten? Earth to Tenten?" Akiko asked, giggling. The five girls had retreated into the shade watching the other boys engage in meaningless tackling in the pool.
"Mm?" Tenten cocked her head to show she was listening.
"Who do you like?" Akiko asked, still giggling. Tenten resisted the urge to gag.
"Pfft!" Sakura snorted.
"Sho not only fully loves him; she's living with him… I think it'll he only a few more months before they announce their engagement." Ino giggled loudly. Shikamaru and Narikio (they had decided to call the Lees by their last names) looked over at her and she winked and waved.
Akiko rolled her eyes. "Amateur," she muttered. "So, Tenten, who is it? Lee? I bet you it is, if not, he wishes."
"Come on," Tenten groaned. "He won't ever think of me as more than a really close friend- sister even, and I don't think I'd have our relationship any other way. I used to like him, though, for a few years when I was like 14… but you're wrong, if you haven't figured it out yet."
Akiko growled. "Tell me!"
Tenten smiled angelically and mimed zipping her lips shut.
"It's Neji-nii-san," Hinata said, "You're a bit slow, Ki-san."
"Well, I'm not sorry if I am, Hina-chan." Akiko smiled. "but how do you know that you love him? Love is a very… heavy word- I mean, you know, he is your first boyfriend." Akiko spoke with the air of one who thought she was superior to her peers.
"Maybe I don't need to go through as many boyfriends as I can before seeing if I can see the difference between them, and find out, through that what 'love' is." Tenten said quietly.
Akiko rolled her eyes. "You always were quite… self-righteous when it came to stuff like this- it's just because you think you're so above every one else!"
Tenten cocked an eyebrow.
"What's wrong Ki-san?" Sakura asked.
"Nothing… it's just that everyone has someone- Hina-chan has Naruto, Ten-san has Neji, No-chan has Shikamaru and Sa-chan has Sasuke, but I have no one!"
Tenten snorted.
"I know for a fact that you had at least thirteen boyfriends in the past two years while living in the Wave country."
"I know… it's just that…" Akiko looked longingly at a certain blonde hyperactive boy.
"Naruto-kun." Hinata finished softly.
An uncomfortable silence settled between the girls and stretched until the sun set.
Wow. That took a long time to type out. The next chapter will hopefully be coming out within the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for it! I don't know why Akiko is in this one, I guess we all need someone to really bash to bits in a story. Hm.