Chapter Three (edited)
Tenten rested her hand on the surface of the old cherry blossom tree trunk planted in the middle of Konoha's village center, and her brown chocolate eyes revolved once more everything around her. She had been, for quite some time, searching every corner of that garden looking for clues as to what might have happened last night at Hinata's wedding party, but her efforts were not yielding any results. She sighed and drop her head disheartened. Ahhh… I'll never drink again, I swear.
"Tenten-san." Called a gentle and sweet shooting voice.
The weapons kunoichi raised her head and looked over her shoulder at a dark blue haired girl with exquisite pearl eyes walking towards her.
"Ah, Hinata."
"Still can't remember anything?" She looked at her friend concerned.
Tenten crossed her arms and gave her a discouraged look before sighing.
"No. Nothing all."
She didn't even want to believe her long best friendship could had been ruined overnight because of sake, she felt so ashamed of herself. How would she talk to Lee again? How would she face him? Would things between them ever return to how they used to be? Was that even possible? The more she thought about it the more anxious and sicker she felt.
"Why don't you get some rest?" Hinata handed her a bottle of tea she carried with her. Tenten gladly accepted it.
"Thank you Hinata." She gave a slight bow with her head. "And I'm sorry for all the inconvenience and trouble. I know you just married, and you must be very busy now."
Hinata smiled gently at her.
"Oh, please do not worry Tenten-san, you're not troubling at all-"
A sudden gust of wind disturbed the surface of the lake and shook the tree branches making some cherry blossom petals fall to the ground. The two kunoichi startled with the intensity and Tenten covered the top of her cup to prevent anything from falling into.
"It's getting windy." Remarked Hinata. "Maybe we should try again tomorrow." She was turning to leave when Tenten stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait." Tenten's countenance become serious and Hinata blinked confused.
Tenten stretched her arm and reached the top of Hinata's head. When she dropped it, she was grabbing a cherry blossom petal with her fingers.
"There was something on your head…" She uttered slowly and meditative while gazing closely at the petal in her hand. "Wait…" Tenten frowned. "Why does this sound… familiar?"
Hinata's eyes bulged and her expression brightened.
"What? Did you remember something Tenten-san?" She smiled excited and curious.
Tenten narrowed her eyes focusing.
"Lee!" She looked at her teammate vexed and sighed. "Your clothes are wrinkled!" Her hands ran gently through his traditional Chinese outfit in an attempt to fix it or at least make it more pleasant looking. "You should be more careful, this is a Hyuuga's wedding party we're talking about." Tenten straight up the collar of his tangzhuang jacket and looked him close in the eyes.
Lee starched the back of his head and chuckled embarrassed.
"Sorry Tenten, Gai-sensei and I had a race to see who first arrived here."
"Race?!" Her eyes widened flabbergasted, imagining Lee running like the wind through the streets and Gai-sensei madly driving his wheelchair like a kid. Her astonishment gave place to disconcert. "Jezz, do you guys even realize you're coming to a wedding?!" Tenten face palmed and sighed. "I don't know why I still even try to knock some sense into your minds, you guys never learn, seriously." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away disappointed.
Lee's mouth was starting to form an apology when suddenly his black eyes caught eye of something small and pink, they widened and quickly narrowed.
"Tenten," Lee began, stepping towards her with a puzzled expression.
"What?" She raised her head and looked at him slightly annoyed just to become suddenly surprised by his unexpected closeness.
"Your hair," His bandaged hand moved slowly towards her face. Tenten's cheeks heat up when she felt his knuckles touch her brown hair softly. "You have something on your hair Tenten." Lee's fingers captured a little cherry-blossom petal and he brought it down to her eye level, so she could see it.
She gazed at the flower petal just to look back at him again.
"Thank you." She uttered slightly embarrassed while picking up the petal from his hand. The following bright smile he flashed in her direction took her breath away, and she decided on that precise moment that no one could beat him on that.
"You're welcome, Tenten."
"I remembered something…" Stated Tenten, still a bit shaken by the sudden memory fragment that popped up in her head.
"Really?" Exclaimed an excited Hinata. "That's great!"
Tenten looked over her shoulder to the other side of the garden and another memory flashed back.
Quickly, as if her life depended on it, Tenten ran towards a table were a man with a black chinese outfit was standing in front of.
"STOP!" She screamed, stretching out her arm to pick up a glass from the man's hands just in time of it touching his lips.
"T-Tenten?!" The man stuttered, surprised with her abrupt apparition.
"What, what," She articulated while gasping for some air in between. "What the hell are you doing trying to drink champagne?!" Tenten's eyes flamed at him with anger. Lee gulped, shocked by her menacing look. "Are you crazy?!" She shoved the pale yellowish-orange like liquid down her throat, making sure the hot-blooded shinobi in front of her wouldn't touch a single drop of it. "You know you mustn't drink alcohol!"
He shuddered taken aback by her hostility.
"I-I thought it was apple juice…" Lee uttered naively while trying to justify his actions.
Tenten face-palmed shocked.
"Who would serve apple juice in a champagne glass, you dork!" She lectured, at his clueless nonsense.
"I'm sorry…"
(…)
"Would you care for a drink young man?" Asked a Hyuuga maid, holding out a small cup towards a man with a bowl haircut and big dark round eyes. The man took it's time to notice the maid's presence because his eyes were focused on a pinkinette chatting with friends some meters away from him.
"Ah, ye-" He began, but in the nick of time a hand coming from nowhere took the cup from the maid's hand.
"Hahaha! Thank you very much!" Chuckled a woman with two braided buns, who the hand belonged to, accepting the drink as if it had been poured for her. She thanked the maid with a slight bow. The brunette quickly turned back to her teammate with flames burning in her eyes. "Pease tell me you're not planning on ruining this party by drinking sake?!"
Lee stepped backwards fearing for his life, Tenten usually flashed him that look before throwing a rain of ninja weapons at him, so he reacted by instinct.
"No, Tenten!" He swallowed. "I swear it was an honest mistake!"
Tenten had a flashback of what her sensei had told her the previous day: "Tenten, my lotus flower, no matter what, you have to make sure Lee doesn't touch a single drop of alcohol during the wedding party! It's a matter of life or death!"
"Jezz, keeping you away from alcohol is harder than keeping children away from candy." She rolled her eyes and face palmed.
(…)
"Tenten, don't you think you drank enough already?" Said Ino worried, looking at the state of her brunette friend who stand in front of a party table drinking her second, or maybe third, bottle of sake.
The weapons kunoichi pushed away the bottle from her lips and clumsily turned to look at her.
"What, you think I can't hold my liquor?" Tenten chuckled amused, her cheeks already flushed red.
Ino sweat dropped and narrowed her blue eyes.
"No, I just think you shouldn't be drinking all the alcohol in the party to make sure Lee won't touch it." She mumbled between closed teeth.
"What did you say?" Asked the brunette dizzy, feeling her head spinning.
Ino sighed defeated.
"Nothing."
(…)
"Ah! It's Lee!" Tenten giggled amused pointing her shaky forefinger clumsily at him "The person I like, Rock Lee…"
She was sitting on the ground by the roots of a tree with her elbows on her lap and her hands on her chin supporting her head. For some odd reason her body felt light as a feather, her whole face felt hot, she couldn't stop seeing things spin even though she was sure her head wasn't moving and there was a feeling of carefreeness and unexpected joy.
Lee, who had been looking for her for five minutes, lifted a bushy eyebrow.
"Tenten, are you… drunk?" He had some difficulty pronouncing the last word, confused as he was at her peculiar altered state of being.
She shook her hands 'no' in disagreement.
"No. I'm not drunk. I'm not even a little bit drunk!" And so her head dropped, and she fell asleep on her lap letting out a loud snore.
Lee's eyes bulged in surprise.
"Tenten!" Quickly he run and sit beside her worried she might have fainted, but her loud snoring gave him another hint. "Tenten, are you sleeping?" he touched her arm and shook her a bit.
Suddenly, she woke up and put her hands on his face squeezing his cheeks together, making his lips pout.
"Lee, you stupid dork!" She complained visibly drunk. "I even drank all that alcohol for you!" And so, she rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep again letting him completely baffled with the situation.
When Tenten returned from her memories recall Hinata was right beside her, touching her arm, and gazing at her visibly curious, and a bit worried.
"Tenten-san?" She called gently.
The weapons kunoichi face was painted with embarrassment from the shameful actions she seemed to have committed the night before. She cleared her throat before pursuing the conversation.
"Hinata, I remembered something." She said giving back her friend's tea bottle. "I think maybe I can recall the rest of my memories if I go down the path I took when I left the party."
"Really? That's great Tenten-san."
Or maybe not... thought Tenten to herself, remembering all the embarrassing things she just recalled. The brunette gave her friend a slight bow and wished her farewell before parting on.
"Thanks for everything."
Hinata smiled at her.
"You're welcome Tenten-san." The Hyuuga bowed too. "I hope you recall the rest of your memories soon."
"Thanks, Hinata." The weapons kunoichi waved back at the pearl eyed girl and left shortly after. She turned right at the corner and walked down the street looking around in search of something that could trigger another memory. After some time, walking, she spotted a wood bench from her right eye corner and stopped in from of it, her eyes narrowed. Why do I feel like something happened here…Hmm…?
She decided to sit on the bench and close her eyes.
When Tenten managed to open her sleepy eyes there was a brawn arm around her waist and her own arm was wrapped around a broad neck. It seemed like someone was helping her walk, or at least dragging her across the ground, because her feet kept repeatedly stumbling. Slowly, she cocked her head to the left and it took her glassy eyes some time to puzzle out who the person was.
"This way won't do." Said a familiar voice, and she felt a man sat her down on a bench. He kneeled in front of her and his bushy brows come together in a frown. "Tenten, hop on."
"Lee?" The sleepy brunette rubbed her eyes and looked at him with difficulty, since her vision was still a bit turve from the alcohol consumption.
Lee turned his head to look back at her.
"I'll piggyback you so hop on."
Her brain took it's time to process the information, then she slowly and clumsily put her arms around his neck, he grabbed both her legs and smoothly lift her from the bench seat.
"Much better this way." He stated pleased.
They still had not walked much when he felt her fingers start messing with his hair.
"T-Tenten? What are you d-doing?" He asked flustered while feeling chills run down his spin. When she buried her fingers near the nape of his neck, he had to stop to prevent dropping her. "Y-you're making me shivers!"
She laughed goofily at his reaction.
"I kind of like the bowl haircut now." She looked at his hair contemplative and chuckled. "Maybe I'll give myself one too, or at least a youthful fringe!" She nodded convinced. "Yeah that would be cool!"
Lee was struck by her words, and the first thing that occurred him was how she would never say that if she was on her right mind, or at least he thought so. It was also quite difficult for him to imagine her with a bowl haircut similar to his.
"I thought you didn't like it." He noted perplexed. "I remember you saying it wasn't very fashionable." He remarked still trying to control the chills her fingertips on his scalp were giving him.
"What?" Shocked, her hands stopped moving around his hair and Lee sighed from relief. "I think it's hot and sexy!" She grumbled. "In fact, now that I think about it, every man should wear a bowl haircut, it would give them a more masculine look!" She said oddly serious. "Don't you think so?"
It was getting harder to imagine the amount of alcohol she must have consumed to say something as unconceivable as that. 'Tenten you're seriously drunk…' Even though, somehow it made him feel happy inside. He doubted there would ever be a woman who would say something of the sort to him, that kind of made him smile.
"Oh, look! It's a playground!" Tenten exclaimed happily, touching his shoulder frantically.
Lee looked to the right with difficulty due to her excitement.
"Oh, yes. It's the children playgrou-" Before he could finish Tenten had hopped off his back, making him almost loose is balance, and ran towards the park play structures. "Tenten!" He called, still in shock from her sudden reaction.
The brunette run towards the children's swing and sat on it.
"Hey Lee! Push me, push me!" She yelled excited, kicking her feet on the floor. "Common!"
He looked at her dumbfounded, unsure of how to act. Seeing Tenten drunk was new to him, he was looking at a totally new side of her he never experienced before. Who knew she could behave like that after drinking some alcohol?
"Lee!" She cried impatient.
He sighed and draw close to her.
"Tenten, let's go home okay?" Lee tried to get around but was welcomed with a frown.
"No way! I'm not going home!" She said in an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I want to play, I want to play!" Her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout.
Lee heaved a loud, exasperated sigh, and obviously decided it was futile to argue with Tenten since her mental age shad dropped to 7 years old.
"Okay, okay." Defeated, he quickly stood behind her. "I'll push you." Lee laid his hands on her back and pushed her forward, Tenten hoorayed content and a giggle come out of her lips.
"More, more! I want to fly!" She laughed, feeling her braided hair swing back and forward. "You're weak Lee!"
"And you're not in yourself…" He muttered softly between is teeth, feeling like they just switched roles. He was the one playing the straight-man now.
At her request he pushed harder making the swing go higher.
"Wait, wait! Stop!" She uttered a cry. "My head!" Tenten struggled to stop the swing motion and Lee, who soon noticed her intentions, quickly grabbed the ropes who sustained it to stop its quick oscillation.
"Tenten, are you okay?" He asked worried when he saw her lean forward writhing in pain while putting one hand over her mouth and other over her stomach.
Tenten felt the nausea clawed at her throat, she tried to force down the nausea, but it was too late. Her stomach kept on contracting violently, forcing everything up and out. Her face was white and dripping bile, sweat, and tears. She lurched forward, and she vomited even though there was nothing left to go. Lee walked around and pressed a hand against her forehead to prevent her head from leaning forward, making sure she wouldn't choke on her own vomit. After she had let it all out and the nausea decreased, he picked her up from the swing sit and carefully helped her walk to the playground park drinking fountain, where he helped her rinse her mouth and face with water.
"I've had it, now I'm taking you home Tenten!" His face grew serious, he wasn't going to let her get around anymore so, he hold her by the arm and dragged her outside the playground.
Her brown eyes become teary and even with her current weakened muscles and slow reflexes she managed to shove his arm in an uncontrolled sheer frustration.
"I'm not going home!" She cried, crossing her arms and stomping around. "I don't want to!"
The taijustsu master was taken aback by her teammate's outburst of anger. Tenten having a temper tantrum fuelled by alcohol circulating in her bloodstream was something he never had to deal with before, therefore he was lacking on effective counter-measures. He took a minute to compose himself, choosing to remain poised, no matter how difficult the situation seemed to look like.
"Tenten," He said softly in a neutral, unadulterated tone. "It's late, we should go home." He hoped speaking gently and showing empathy would lower her emotional guard.
"I'm not going home!" She gave a loud, sharp cry and stared pouting at him. "I want to stay with Lee!" Her gaze become serious for a moment. "I'm only staying home with Lee!"
He blinked twice and his eyebrows rose at her statement.
"What?"
Tenten advanced forward in his direction and her eyes welled up.
"I want to be with Lee!" She sniffled. "I don't want to be alone!"
When tears rolled down her face, he lost it, panic rose to his mind and his brain went in overload searching for the best solution to reassure and cheer up his crying teammate.
"I'll… I'll take you home with me! That way you won't be alone right?" He tried to appease her by acceding to her demands, to prevent further disagreement in arguments and further bawling. "Please don't cry!"
"Really?" She let out a small stifled sob and rubbed her eyes before giving him a more pleased look.
"Of course." He sighed from relief when he felt her body relax, she was finally calming down. "Now be a good and come here." He reached out his hand to her.
Tenten's pout turned into a broad grin.
"Ok!" Overjoyed she bring him close to her in a hug. Lee's eyes bulged and his mouth gaped open. Even though she was especially abnormal that night he wasn't expecting her to just bluntly throw her arms around him as if it was the most usual thing of all. What he wasn't expecting too, was to hear a loud snore just a few seconds after, the beasty beauty had fallen asleep again and was drooling all over his black jacket.
Lee let out a soft and gentle sigh and picked her up bridal style before start to head home.
