Extra Warning: I don't like Ino much. I don't HATE her, but I don't LOVE her either. That's why I won't put her in this fic. Cause if she was in here, she'd be either a boring side character with no pairing, or an evil mean girl. So no Ino. Sorry, Ino fans! Anyway, after some thinking, I decided against doing a ShikaTem anyway. Too many pairings for this story, if you ask me…
Opening Thingy
Wow, so many reviews for a prologue! Should I be proud? I'm having a blast writing this fic. I'm almost done writing chapter two, so it should be up pretty soon. The title of the story is explained in this chapter. We finally get to see Sakura and Tenten's personalities…more Tenten in this chapter, though. Yay for Tenten fans! CHANGE: Sakura and Tenten are 15, not 16 like I said in the prologue. So they are gonna be freshmen. Okey?
Anyway, here's the long-awaited Chapter One!
Guide to text:
Blah regular text
"Blah" talking or a title of something
Blah thinking, or one of Sakura's poems
Blah emphasized word
(Like you needed to know…)
Chapter One: Welcome to Peaceful Valley!
Cherry blossoms fall
Softly, silently
Upon the lotus pond
Mixing in with the white flowers
And crystal waters
Paradise
Sakura finished the end of the poem by giving the "e" a long tail with a flick of the wrist. She looked out from her back porch at the lotus pond a few yards away. She then gazed at the cherry tree beside it and sighed heavily.
My tree.
Ever since she was small, Sakura's father had called that tree "Sakura's Tree". Of course, it was not because of the blossoms, but because of his daughter.
"Sasaki loved that tree," he said to her, "but she loved you even more."
Sadly, Sakura really didn't have any attachment to her birth mother. She had only reverence to Sasaki's memory, for her father's sake. The only person she really called "mother" was Hua Lien…
Thoughts drifting away from her parents, Sakura focused once again on the cherry tree. She reminisced of her childhood years, climbing up the branches, sleeping next to the trunk, while the blossoms fell softly upon her, mixing with her pink hair. Her sister Tenten would be near to her, lying next to the lotus pond, "Tenten's Pond", gazing at the pure white lotuses and the water's crystal surface.
Sakura's Tree and Tenten's Pond. Sources of inspiration…
Sakura now eyed her sister, sitting at the edge of the water, sketching smoothly and gracefully in her sketchbook. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, strands of chocolate hair falling in front of her face.
The pink-haired girl walked down the stairs of her porch and went up to the cherry tree. Sighing heavily yet again, she sat down with her back against the trunk and gazed up into the tree's pink branches. She stared for a long time, savoring the moment.
It was quiet for a long time. No wind, not even the sound of water rippling.
Stillness.
Slowly, Sakura looked back down and directly at her sister. Tenten was looking at her as well, each sharing the same sad expression.
In unison, the girls went back to their works and wrote a title.
"Last Glance" by Haruno Sakura. The poem describing her favorite place.
"Last Glance" by Haruno Tenten. It was a landscape of her favorite place.
"Sakura! Tenten! It's time to go, girls!" they heard their mother call from their house.
"We're leaving in 5 minutes! Please get ready!" their father called as well.
The two found it hard to get up. They couldn't stop thinking about leaving their precious home for a new one, their childhood sanctuary…their sources of inspiration!
But they had to obey their parents. Sakura got up and picked a single blossom from the tree and kissed it softly. The petals fell apart and a small breeze carried them gently to the pond.
Tenten picked the nearest flower from the pond. She also kissed it softly, and spread the white petals across her pond. They mixed with the cherry blossoms, pink and white.
"Come on, Sakura," Tenten said sadly, "We really have to go now."
"Sayonara, my beautiful tree…" Sakura said.
"Sayonara, my beloved lotuses…" Tenten said.
With a last fleeting glance at their favorite spot, the two left the yard to join their parents.
About a Day Later…Tenten had decided that the drive wasn't too bad. Apart from her mother fainting after seeing how high up they were, Tenten found the mountains to be a beautiful and peaceful place. Great for artistic minds! Since they were going to be living in a city called Peaceful Valley, and was located in a valley amongst three mountains, she could probably find loads of artists like her in town! Sakura also liked the mountains. She said they were in an excellent novel-writing environment.
There has to be someone here with a kindred soul to mine, both of them thought resolutely.
The family of four drove up to a large, gated community. The sign read "Tranquil Creek Manors". Sakura and Tenten could see the mansions from far away outside the gate.
"We're living HERE?" Tenten asked. Their father nodded.
After a bit of driving around the neighborhood looking for 441 Serenity Lane, the car stopped in front of a large, Tudor mansion with a well-kept front yard at the end of the cal-de-sac(sp?).
"This is it?" Sakura exclaimed, "It's so big!"
"Huge!" said Tenten.
"Gigantic!"
"Gargantuan!"
"That's enough, girls," their father said, laughing, "Since we haven't been sending you to main-stream school, I haven't had to pay much supply-wise, and my company's been doing pretty well for the past 10 years..."
"Why didn't you tell us we were wealthy?" Sakura asked. Tenten nodded.
"We thought it might go to your heads, but since you're both fifteen now, we think you're ready to handle that fact." Hua Lien smiled.
The two girls grinned and stepped out of their car. The house loomed over them in splendor. It was the largest one on the street.
"S-sugoi…" they said in unison.
"I think you'll find lots of inspiration here," their mother said, hugging them.
The two perfect 15-year-olds returned the hug and ran into the house to find their rooms.
Sakura fell upon her light pink bed with a flop and dreamily looked at the ceiling.
"I still miss my tree…" she said as she drifted off to sleep, "but this might not be so bad after all…"
Tenten, comfortable in her green-and-white colored bedroom, looked outside her window. She could see children at play in the neighborhood park, and even some teens her age at the edge of Serenity Lane. They were laughing and chatting, and sometimes glancing at the large house at the end of the street. One of them, a stick-like blonde girl (with obvious highlights) suddenly glared at Tenten. Feeling a chill, Tenten ducked aside so as not to be seen through the window. That girl, those electric blue eyes, that cold stare…she was scary!
Shaking aside the weird feeling, Tenten waited for the girls to leave before she went outside. When she was sure that they were gone, she decided to step out and get some fresh air, while maybe finding a new friend in the neighborhood.
For about 15 minutes she walked around, looking for signs of anyone outside. For those 15 minutes, she found no one.
"Does everyone here just stay cooped up in their houses? Where is everybody?" she said to herself aloud.
"Well normal kids are usually at the mall right now," she heard a voice say.
Tenten whirled around and came face-to-face with a boy. Surprised, she stepped backward and got a better look at him.
He was staring straight at her, arms crossed and a frown on his face. His long hair was tied in a loose ponytail and he had a single gold stud earring on the cartilage of his right ear. He wore a cream-white button up shirt with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, showing his toned arms. His collar was unbuttoned, as well as a few down from there. His coffee-colored undershirt was showing through the opening. His baggy pants were dark brown, like his hair, and slightly covered his heavy black shoes.
But what surprised Tenten the most were his eyes. They were pale and white, with no pupils. They made him look like he could see right through you, and just made him look even colder with the expression on his face.
He took a step forward. Tenten took a step back. She wasn't sure what to do. Run away? Confront him? Fight him? Her mind froze. She had never really spoken to a boy her age alone before…
"Wh-who are you?" she said unconsciously.
Tenten mentally slapped herself for asking something stupid like that. The boy looked at her haughtily. She felt a chill, like he was really looking through her, reading her mind…
"Hyuuga Neji." He answered, to her surprise. "Now I'm going to ask you a question."
Tenten nodded weakly. It wasn't a request, it was a command.
"What the hell are you wearing?"
Tenten raised her eyebrows, wondering if she heard correctly. She glanced at her outfit and then looked back at him.
Dark green silk Chinese shirt, once belonging to her mother. A flowing, black, layered skirt that went to her knees, that she and Sakura had actually made themselves. Lace-up black boots that stopped halfway up her calf. Black lace gloves that had finger-holes. Dark green nail polish. Her arms were covered in bracelets and bangles. Her tote bag was slung over her arm. Finally, two loose buns on her head, a black rose clip adorning one of them.
"A-anou…Is there something wrong with the way I dress?" Tenten asked hesitantly.
The boy took another step forward. Tenten took another step back.
"You look like a freak." He stated, "Unless you wanna get mobbed by the locals, I suggest you go home and put on something normal."
"M-mobbed? What are you—"
"Go home. NOW. I'm doing you a favor just by talking to you. I myself might get mobbed for being within 20 feet of you."
Now Tenten was frustrated. She didn't want anymore of this confusion. She frowned and straightened.
"Listen," she said, "I have no idea what you are talking about. So leave me alone!"
Tenten positioned herself into her "ready for a fight" stance. If she had to fight this guy to make him go away, so be it. She had once put a guy into a 2-day coma after he got fresh with her at a grocery store, and she wasn't afraid to do it again to this one.
The boy in front of her only stepped closer. She stood her ground.
"You wanna fight me?" he sounded slightly amused.
He stared at her coldly, giving Tenten goosebumps with his eyes glaring daggers. His face moved closer, and he whispered in her ear,
"Get out of my sight before I kill you."
Tenten stepped back, at a complete loss. She stared up at the boy as he glared at her. Full of the instinct to run, she did so. She rushed past him and down the perfect cement sidewalk back to her home. She burst through the front door breathing heavily and continued running past the living room.
"Tenten? Sweetie, what happened?"
"Anou—j-just went for a run through the neighborhood, 'kaa-san, that's all!" she answered quickly, too dazed and scared to tell the truth.
"In your favorite skirt and top?"
"Umm, yeah," Tenten said hurriedly, ending the conversation fast. She was never good at lying to her parents, because it seldom happened that she found the guts to do so. She ran up the stairs all the way to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and walked over to her bed, falling upon it in exhaustion.
"How incredibly strange…scary…" Tenten whispered aloud.
But however strange and scary that was, I'm still intrigued by this 'Hyuuga Neji'…It seems to me that he's as old as I am. But why wasn't he at the mall, like all the other kids? …well, I know one thing—when I meet him again, I wont run away and hide…she cringed at her previous cowardice.
The sound of her mother calling "dinner's ready!" distracted her from her thoughts. Tenten got up and headed downstairs.
While Tenten was having her little adventure, Sakura was snoozing away, and having an extremely bizarre dream…
Author Note-ness
I am SOOOOOO SORRY! I had NO TIME to type this chapter this week! I said in at most a day; It's been what, 3 or 4! GAAH! Stupid procrastination/school functions/mom's "computerthe root of all evil" talks!
ok, anyway, Neji seems like a mix between Prep and Rebel, doesn't he? What a fun combination! Hee hee…
Expect Chapter 2 in the next week or so. But I wont make any promises, being the procrastinator I am…and who knows what my school may come up with to waste our free time…and also, I might get randomly grounded from the net…TT
The tree she was leaning on had vanished. She got up, rattled. She looked around. There was no one in sight, just an endless sea of white everywhere. She squinted, looking further, and spotted a door. It was plain and wooden, with a small glass window. There was a plaque above it, with the numbers 207…
Running up to it, she opened the door slowly. As it opened, she could hear a whirling sound. When it was wide enough, an invisible force sucked her inside and slammed the door shut.
Tsune
