Up All Night

Summary: AU. Characters are OOC. Sure, Neji's cute, but he's also obnoxious! So try telling that to Tenten's mom. She thinks that Neji is the perfect guy for Tenten. So when Neji surprised Tenten by asking her to the prom, she had to say yes for her sick mom whom she didn't want to let down, even if it meant spending the most romantic night of her life with him. Neji. The guy she can't stand. On the other hand, Sakura isn't interested in love. Her parents are divorced and Sakura is pretty down on couple hood. The last thing on her mind is jumping into a relationship, that is, until Sasuke comes along. Will these 2 girls have their perfect prom night? Pairings: Neji/Tenten, Sasuke/Sakura.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Rated: PG

Chapter 3

"That stupid pig-faced bloody bastard!" Sakura said to herself, her voice muffled by the large bags of potato chips and cans of drinks she was carrying. As she trudged grudgingly to one of the classrooms, she continued her string of curses while the students along the corridor stared at her strangely. She ignored them completely.

"Why should I do all these things for him? So what if he's the son of the president of the school. That idiot Uchiha Sasuke. What does he think he is? That's it! I am going to express my love for Jun and there's nothing he can threaten me with anymore! Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Sakura thought to herself.

"I had enough of your nonsense!" Sakura yelled as she dumped her load onto the desk in front of Sasuke. She looked up at him and glared her meanest glare she could muster.

"I have decided to express my love for Jun, so I am not afraid of you now!"

"Oh yeah? Can you really?" Sasuke challenged.

"O..of c..course I can! Watch me!" retorted Sakura as she stormed out of the classroom.

Sasuke and his friends just laughed at her.

"I can do it! I can! I must! I will!" Sakura muttered to herself as she headed to the basketball court where Jun frequents.

Halfway, Sakura was stopped by a blonde she had never seen before.

"Haruno Sakura, stop right there!"

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Sakura questioned.

"You don't have to know how I am. Just keep your hands off Sasuke, or else you'll regret it!"

"Sasuke again! What's so great about him? If not for my letter he took, I wouldn't want to go near him!"

"What letter?"

"It's none of your business!" Sakura shouted as she walked off.

As she tried to calm herself down and walked unsteadily towards the courts, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Jun walking by. She closed her eyes to calm herself down and mustered all her courage to call his name.

"Jun, wait up!"

Jun turned around and gave Sakura a smile.

"Hey Sakura, what's up?"

"I…um…I…"

Jun looked at her in concern. "Are you…."

"I like you very much, can you please go to the prom with me?" Sakura interrupted and blurted her sentence.

Time seemed to just stop after Sakura spoke. It seemed like ten hours, ten weeks, ten months… Finally, Sakura looked up and Jun's warm chocolate brown eyes met her emerald eyes. Sakura's heart was thumping madly against her chest as she stared at Jun's expressionless face. Oh god, he's going to reject me, I must have looked like such a fool, she thought.

To her surprise, Jun's face lit up into a smile and Sakura's head went into a swirl as he whispered into her ear.

"Yes, I would love to go to the prom with you. Thanks for asking me Sakura. I wanted to ask you that a really long time ago, but…well, you could say that I don't have as much courage as you do…"

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Did he just say that he liked her too? This was the best moment in her life! She burst into a fit of giggles and hugged Jun. It turned out well after all, she thought to herself. Unknown to the new happy couple, a pair of onyx eyes were staring intently at them, frowning at what he saw. He balled his hands into a fist and walked off briskly.

On Friday morning during the break, Tenten headed to her usual spot at the cafeteria and spotted Sakura sitting there alone, looking like her whole world just came crushing down on her. Tenten approached her cautiously and tapped at her shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tenten asked gently.

Sakura looked at Tenten sadly and sighed.

"Jun and you are doing well right? He didn't break up with you right?" Tenten asked in concern.

"It's worst. It's my worst nightmare! I can't believe it! My whole life is ruin!"

"What…"

Before Tenten could ask what happened, someone else interrupted her.

"Hey my dear big sister, the old geezer asked you to come over for dinner tonight with your mom."

Sakura just groaned. Tenten looked up at the voice and was extremely taken aback to see Sasuke staring at Sakura.

"Don't forget," Sasuke added, whispering into her ear, sending chills down her back. He gave her one last smirk and walked off.

Tenten looked at Sakura curiously and gave her the please-explain-everything look.

"Don't look at me like that! It's…it's my mom. She…she's getting married again." Sakura paused and looked at Tenten. "To the president of the school." She forced the last sentence out of her mouth.

Tenten gasped. "So…that makes you and Sasuke…step siblings?"

"Don't remind me! That jerk! Now I have to face him the rest of my life. I'm really happy for my mom. She finally found someone who loves her after that horrible dad of mine cheated on her. I could tell that she's really happy with her new man, and he seems really kind as well. But…oh man…I thought the whole ordeal with that jerk has ended and now…he is my stepbrother! I don't know what to say…"

Tenten looked at her friend sympathetically. "I'm sure things will work out between both of you. You just got off the wrong start."

"I don't know…Tenten…I don't know…" Sakura sighed dejectedly.

Sitting across the cafeteria, a spying blonde scowled in anger when she saw the exchange between Sasuke and Sakura. "She's going to get it…I told her to stay away, that bitch!" she muttered angrily to herself.

The first thing Tenten was aware of when she opened her eyes on Saturday morning was that she felt incredibly well rested. The second thing she was aware of was her dad-whistling coming from somewhere downstairs.

Tenten felt a sudden jolt of adrenaline and sat up straight in her bed. She had set up her alarm clock such that she would be the first one to wake up in the morning. What was her dad doing up already? Getting up early to make breakfast for the family was the one duty she had taken seriously. She glanced at her alarm clock and her eyes bulged out when she saw the time. Twelve thirty in the afternoon. She had overslept!

"Oh no!" Tenten yelled at she stumbled out of bed. What had happened? Did she turn off her alarm clock in her sleep? She had her arms halfway into the sleeves of her t-shirt when she heard a knock on her door.

"Dad, is that you? I'm sorry I woke up late. I don't know what happened." Tenten called out.

"It's not dad." The door opened and Tenten saw her mom smiling brightly at her. "Good morning sleepy head! I told dad to sneak in and turn off your alarm clock so that you can get your well deserved rest." She said brightly.

"Thanks…" For a moment, Tenten felt as though life was back to normal. Sleeping late, her dad whistling and her mom greeting her in the morning with the mug of herbal tea she was holding. It was all so routine. Routine but wonderfully magical.

"How do you feel honey?" she asked as she opened the blinders of Tenten's windows.

"I feel great. How are you?" answered Tenten.

Her mom sat down on her bed and replied, "Tenten, I woke up at seven today and I could feel it in my bones that today is one of those precious and rare good days."

Tenten sat her mug on the nightstand and hugged her mom's waist. "Really?"

Her mom nodded and smiled. "I have a fabulous idea."

"What is it?"

Let's invite the Hyugas over for dinner tonight. We'll all stuff ourselves and then play a game of charades." She suggested.

"But I…" Tenten started and then stopped. Have a date with Matt, she said the last part in her head silently.

"What sweetie? Do you have any plans tonight?"

Tenten shook her head. "No! I was just going to suggest we play Pictionary instead of charades."

"Then it's a plan! We might even let you and Neji be a team in the Pictionary game!" her mom declared cheerily.

Perfect, goodbye date with Matt and Hello evening with the urchin snouted boar…thought Tenten in dismay.

But there was no date that would make her give up spending time with her mom when she was feeling this good. She hadn't seen her cheeks this bright in ages. And if a family dinner with the Hyugas would make her happy, then she would gladly be Neji's best friend during that few hours. Anything to make her mom feel happy.

"Great, I'll call them now!" said Tenten's mom as she left her bedroom.

Tenten sat on her bed for a while and then pick up her phone to cancel her date with Matt. She just hoped he wouldn't feel too angry about her canceling out on him at the last moment.

"It smells great in here." Neji said as he walked into the kitchen of Tenten's house.

Tenten looked up from the pan. "Hey, I didn't hear all of you come in."

"We got here about five minutes ago. Your mom looks great," said Neji.

Tenten nodded, beaming. "I know! She's been like this the whole day. Its just so great, I cant express how glad I feel."

She didn't have to explain. Neji could see that the expression on her face said it all. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks were flushed and her grin was so huge that it almost took up her entire face. He couldn't help but to grin back.

"Thanks for coming tonight, Neji. I'm sure you have a million of other things better to do than to spend your night here for a family dinner."

"Nope, I have nothing much to do anyway," replied Neji. But that was a lie. He had been planning to go to a baseball game with his friends weeks ago. But as soon as his mom told him that they would be going over to Tenten's for dinner, he knew that he had to give up his baseball plans.

Neji wasn't stupid. He knew that there was this possibility that this was the last time their two families will be having a dinner like this. Maybe hanging out with Tenten wasn't first on his list, but they had lots of awesome fun times when they were younger. And it would mean a lot to his mom if he were there.

"So, are you just going to stand there and stare at me or are you going to help me out?" Tenten asked, breaking his train of thoughts.

Neji grabbed an apron and Tenten started to giggle.

"Don't worry, I wont tell you friends about this particular fashion choice."

"If you do, I'll just deny everything!" Neji joked.

"So what are we making?" Neji asked.

"Orange tarragon chicken, baked potato with cheese, almond rice and toffee cookie diamonds for dessert."

Neji whistled. "I had no idea you had turned into such a gourmand. Last I remembered, you couldn't even boil a pot of water."

Tenten laughed. "I've come a long way. See those?" Tenten asked as she pointed at a pile of cookbooks. "All mine," she said.

Neji was impressed. "I wouldn't have thought you were a kitchen sort of girl."

"Gee thanks, here cut those." Tenten said as she handed him some onions.

"I..uh..that didn't come out right. I didn't mean to say that… I…uh…I'm just totally wowed by your cooking talent," he stammered.

"Don't worry about it Neji. I'm learning how to cook just to help out the family a bit."

"I really admire how you're handling all this. I don't know what I would do if my mom was sick," Neji said quietly.

"I pray to god you'll never have to know how you'd handle it. This isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy."

"Is that what I am? You worst enemy?" Neji asked.

Tenten looked at him for a long time. "Nope, you're just a pain in the butt."

Neji laughed. "Right back at you!"

"I have a proposal," she said.

"What is it?"

"I say we don't talk anything relating to my mom's illness during these few hours. I just want to forget that she's ever sick."

Neji sat his knife down and looked at Tenten. "Could you do that?"

She gave him a smile that looked so brave that it made his heart ache. "I could try, Neji."

"Count me in." said Neji.

Tenten examined the pile he just cut and remarked, "It looks good."

"Thanks."

"Think you could move on to cooking the rice?"

"Uh…"

Tenten groaned. "I'll walk you through it step by step."

As Neji filled the giant pot with water, he couldn't help but think that he was experiencing something that people might describe as "fun". Since their usual icy rapport was thawing out, tonight really felt like the old times and Neji liked it. He liked it a lot.

"This is the best meal I've tasted," Neji said as their families tucked into the food.

Mrs Hyuga laughed. "Is that a hint to my cooking?"

"You're an excellent chef," Mr Hyuga told Tenten.

Neji saw Tenten blushed. "I just hope the toffee cookies come out alright. I think I burnt the crust."

"They'll will wonderful. I'm sure Neji would it a dozen to prove it." Tenten's dad said.

Tenten's mom leaned back into her seat and gazed at Neji and Tenten. "I cant wait to see both of you on Prom night."

Tenten shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Mom…"

"I'm sorry sweetie, but surely you can indulge your old mom when she wants to bask in the reflected glow of young love."

Suddenly, Neji realized that Tenten's mom was under the impression that Tenten and he were more than just prom dates. She must have thought that they were going into some major relationship. Under normal circumstances, Neji would have no doubt that Tenten would probably tell her mom what a crazy idea that was and to go on for hours, telling her mom what a jerk he was.

But right now Neji figured that Tenten would do anything just to make her mom smile. And if that included letting her mom believe that they were an item, it was his job to keep this illusion going on.

Neji took a deep breath, preparing to take the plunge. And then he did it. He slung his hand over her shoulders. Please don't humiliate me by slapping my arm away, Neji thought nervously.

However, Tenten didn't and Neji relaxed.

"I can't wait to go to the prom. I'm sure Tenten would be the most beautiful girl there," Neji commented.

That much was true. Despite her many personality flaws, Neji couldn't deny that Tenten would look great in her prom dress. He could imagine her creamy, smooth skin, luscious red lips, long, shiny hair…hang on, this was Tenten he was talking about!

So it was Tenten, but Neji was a guy. He was human. He wasn't going to pretend that he didn't like the sensation of having his arm around her. It felt pretty great, actually. Its only taken him five years to get another chance to put his arm around her, he thought. That must be a world record.

"Neji and I will dance the night away, it would be like a movie, " Tenten told the group.

Then she leaned in close to him. "Just like a bad movie," she whispered.

Absurdly, Tenten's stinging remark was like getting a knife in the chest. Neji quickly removed his arm and put his hands on his lap. So much for Ms. Nice Girl. Tenten was just being nice to him to please her mom. He should have known.

Yes, he should have known. But for that one second, when he had thought that she actually meant they were going to dance the night away, his heart had thumped. You're insane, Neji told himself. He didn't even like her. He must have been caught up in the moment, which was all. It could happen to anyone.

"A really bad movie," he whispered back to let her know that he was in on the "joke".

Still the magic of the night was gone. When Tenten left the table to get the toffee cookies, he found that he had just lost his appetite.

Monday morning passed by like a flash of lightening. Sakura was walking towards the girl's lockers when she felt someone grab her hand and dragging her in the opposite direction.

"Tenten, what are you doing?"

"Sakura, you got to see this!" Tenten said anxiously.

After a minute or two, Sakura was brought to the school's notice board. A large crowd was standing in front of it.

"Go on, look at the board." Tenten urged.

The students already there started to look at her teasingly and some of them even pointed their fingers at her and laughed. A confused Sakura pushed her way to the front of her notice board and almost fainted at what she saw. She stood firmly on her feet for a couple of seconds trying to stay calm. But her calmness turned into fury as she ripped off the entire posted love letters she had written for Jun. She knew very well who did this. She grabbed a fistful of letters and stormed off, pushing the other students out of her way towards the direction of Sasuke's classroom.

"Sakura…" Tenten called but was being ignored.

"How dare you! You're a loser!" Sakura screamed as she gave Sasuke a big tight slap across his cheek.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke yelled angrily as he stood up, towering over her.

Sakura threw the letters she had grabbed previously on his feet and glared at him. "Why did you post my letters all over the notice board? You're a jerk! Do you even know what love is? Have you loved anyone before? I don't think so! You're just a cold, heartless jerk!"

Sasuke returned Sakura's glare. His piercing eyes bore into Sakura's emerald eyes and she took a step back. "Yeah, I've never loved before. So what? You know what? I think my mom left me because I was too much for her to handle." He said fiercely.

Sakura angrily backed off the classroom without another word.

"Wow…she…"

"Shut up!" Sasuke shouted to his friend Shikamaru and walked off in anger.

What the hell am I suppose to do now? How would Jun feel about all this? I hope he isn't angry…Sakura thought as she walked aimlessly around the school.

"Hey Sakura…" a voice interrupted her thoughts.

Sakura glanced up and saw Jun. She tried to avoid his gaze and walk off but was held back.

"What's wrong?"

"Aren't you angry?" Sakura asked uncertainly.

"Why should I be? Everyone knows what a jerk Uchiha is. I feel sorry that he's going to be your step brother…"

"Jun…"

"Say no more." Jun said as he drew Sakura into a hug.

Sakura sighed as she snuggled into Jun's arms. At least our relationship is still alive…she thought.

"Jun, I have to get home now. I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Sakura said as she broke from Jun's embrace.

After bidding Jun goodbye, Sakura started her lonely walk home. How am I going to live in the same house as him my whole life? Will I even survive this year? Sakura was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't see someone in front of her and she bumped into the person.

"So, have you learnt your lesson? I told you not to get near him again."

"What?" Sakura looked confused for a second and then it dawned on her.

"You're the one who posted my letter on the notice board!"

The blonde girl smirked.

"Why did you do that?" Sakura demanded angrily.

"I told you that you'd regret if you don't stay away from him."

"Bitch…who are you anyway!"

"Me? I'm Sasuke's girlfriend Yamanaka Ino. Remember that and stay away from him. If I see you near him again, you're dead!" she threatened.

Before Sakura could retort, Ino walked off as quickly as she arrived.

Oh Great, now his girlfriend treats me as her rival. And I've wronged him…she realized. Damn…how am I suppose to apologize to him…Sakura thought back of the things she said to him and scolded herself for saying such harsh things to him. Oh…why am I always getting myself into a mess? Sakura moaned.

The next day at school, Sakura was still thinking how was she going to apologize to Sasuke when she was having lunch with Jun.

"Sakura…SAKURA?"

"Oh sorry Jun, what were you saying?"

"What were you thinking of? You looked so engrossed."

"Erm…Nothing! Listen, I got to go now, I'll call you later ok?" Sakura said quickly as she bolted off.

"Hey you forgot your…wallet…"Jun said but Sakura was already gone. He got up and started to jog after her.

Sakura walked briskly towards Sasuke's classroom but she didn't need to go all the way there because the moment she walked out of the cafeteria into the corridor, she saw Sasuke walking away from her direction.

"Hey…"

Sasuke turned back and looked at Sakura.

"I…um…I'm sorry about yesterday…Uh…sorry for saying such things to you and sorry for misunderstanding you about the letter…"

Sasuke walked towards her and Sakura managed to hide her gulp as he stared at her intently.

"I'll accept whatever punishment. You can give me a punch." Pleaded Sakura, so that she would feel better.

"Really?" Sasuke smirked.

Sakura nodded.

"Ok then."

Sasuke balled his hands and raised it up, getting ready to strike her. Sakura closed her eyes, waiting for his fist to come into contact with her face. However, to her surprise, Sasuke pulled her towards him and a pair of warm lips covered her own. Sakura fluttered open her eyes in shock. After what seemed like eternity, Sasuke broke the kiss and Sakura just stared at the ground.

She could feel someone's eyes besides Sasuke's staring at her at the back of her head. She turned around and her whole world crumbled. There he was, five feet away, her boyfriend Jun staring at her.

"I thought you said both of you are siblings?" Jun asked in anger.

"I…"

"Hey you there, stay away from her from now on. I want Haruno Sakura." Sasuke yelled at Jun.

"What?" Sakura gaped at Sasuke in horror.

Jun gave Sasuke a glare and gave Sakura a betrayed look, which made Sakura feel so guilty. With that, he ran away in anger. Sakura looked at Sasuke and begins to sob.

"You've ruin my life, you jerk…I hate you!"

After Sakura walked away in tears, Sasuke frowned and had a strong feeling of guilt…

Author's Notes: This chapter is the longest I've ever written. I hope you guys like it so far. Don't forget to review! I'll update as soon as possible! See ya!