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Part Four: The Dance
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"So... you backed out?" Ino asked suspiciously, and Tenten nodded lightly. "Told you," She rolled her eyes, "It is useless to get Neji to ask you, but..." She smiled, remembering the double-bladed kunai slipped between her obi.
"But what?" Ino demanded, tying her hair into buns miserably. Tenten smiled and rushed over to help her, "Nothing, Ino. Do you get Shikamaru on?"
"Not really." Ino shrugged, "He said it is way too troublesome, and I think it is troublesome arguing with him either. I have been hanging out with Shikamaru too much..."
"You sure do." Tenten agreed. She checked on her reflection once more and smiled in satisfaction. Sure, she was only wearing a simple light blue kimono with white lilies trailed on it and a navy blue obi to match the kimono up. Her hair was as usual tied in two buns, but Sakura had managed to slip in a lily-shaped hairclip on each of her buns.
She gazed around Ino's room. The girls were busily preparing for their dance. Sakura was tightening her red obi hopelessly around her waist, and Hinata was helping her. Ino was now applying make-up - which Tenten had managed to skip.
Ino was wearing her orange kimono with green leaves seamed on it, her yellow obi wrapped tightly around her waist. She had managed to slip a shuriken between her obi, and only one shuriken. Her obi was too soft that it may rips if she put anything heavier than a shuriken. Besides, what can happen in a dance where ALL jounins were invited? There's the Hokage, for heaven's sake! And Jiraiya-sama's probably there, too!
Hinata rolled up the sleeve of her light green kimono as she tried to tighten her obi too. She was too thin, and she needed someone else to help her wrapped that dark green obi so that it won't fail her waist. Tenten quickly rushed to the rescue, since she was the only one available to help - as in ready to go.
At the end, it was only Hinata and Sakura who managed to win the bet. Sasuke must be the most romantic boy here, Tenten thought desperately, but she comforted herself. After all, she did convinced Neji to come, didn't she?
"Let's get going." She said to her friends. Hinata was ready too, but Ino and Sakura were still busy fixing their kimonos, even though they did not look wrinkled to Tenten's eyes. "Let's get going," She repeated louder, and the girls sped up their reparations.
Soon after that, the four of them flashed quickly to the hall, where the dance was located. When they arrived, the hall was already filled with many jounins. The walls were covered with soft white curtains, and the light was being darkened, making it romantic.
Tenten gazed around the room. She saw Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei talking happily at one corner of the hall, Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama busily arguing near the stage, Kakashi-sensei reading 'Come Come Paradise', Gai-sensei and Lee talking about taijutsus near them, Shikamaru yawning as he heard Chouji speaking, Naruto waved at them and pranced to Hinata, and finally, she spotted Hyuuga Neji.
He was standing with Uchiha Sasuke, talking quietly about something that normal people wouldn't understand. They were leaning against the wall, their faces serious. They were wearing formal clothes, Neji's dark blue while Sasuke's black. Sakura nudged her with her elbow. "He looked so gorgeous!" She whispered to her happily.
"He? Which he?" Tenten asked, even though she knew Sakura was talking about Sasuke. Who else could it be?
"Ooh, Neji looks gorgeous too!" Sakura praised. Ino grinned at them, and said, "Well, I'll leave you to your dates, then. I'll be going to Shikamaru."
"You really don't need to go." A lazy voice said from behind her. It was none other than Nara Shikamaru, "This is really troublesome."
"Don't complain." Ino snapped, faking her anger. Then she smiled evilly, "But since you come, let's dance, Shikamaru!"
"No."
"Come on!" She said, pulling him to the dance floor, and the boy argued no more. Tenten exchanged glances with Sakura, and the emerald-eyes kunoichi smiled at her, "Let's go!"
"Umm," Tenten started to feel nervous suddenly, "I think I'll stay here. I better fade away!" She practically wailed nervously and walked away from Sakura, to the exit. Sakura grabbed her arm and pulled her. That's when Tenten got a little hysterical.
"No, Sakura." She wailed out of nothing, "No." She was really not ready to meet him. She couldn't even remember that she was the one asking him. She couldn't recall that she was very happy when at last he was convinced. Now, without any reason, she freaked out.
Sakura gasped as she strengthened her grip on Tenten's arm, while the weapon kunoichi struggled. "Tenten," She whispered loudly, "What is it?" She loosened her grip and Tenten frowned. "Thank you." She said sarcastically, "I'm going home, Sakura."
"What? Why?" She asked in alarm.
"Because," Tenten replied, "I see no point going here."
"Tenten!" Sakura said loudly, "Come on, don't get so hysterical. You're just meeting with Neji!"
"I know." The weapon kunoichi frowned, "But no. Good bye, Sakura, have a nice night."
Sakura frowned at her when she realized Tenten was really walking away from her. She caught up with her again and grabbed her arm. "No point being childish." She told her, acting like a real lady, "Come on. No backing up." She then thought of something that will make Tenten furious. Furious was always better than freaking out. "Are you afraid of Neji, Tenten?"
"No, I'm not." She immediately responded to her bait.
"Then let's go." Sakura assured, closing her eyes, feeling a little fed up with her own stupid words, "Tell the world that you're not afraid of him! Tell him!" She was practically exaggerating, but... whatever. She closed her eyes, half-hoping that the weapon kunoichi will fall for the dare.
When she opened her eyes, Tenten was already gone.
Sakura opened her mouth in realization when she realized that Neji was the one that made Tenten 'vanished'. His tall figure covered her also-tall figure (which reminds us, Neji is taller than Tenten) from Sakura's sight. "Tenten!" She called, and Tenten waved her hand behind Neji. "Have a good time, Sakura!" She called out.
"Hey!" Sakura cried, suddenly feeling lost. Tenten was gone with Neji, and she couldn't spot her Uchiha around. She was so, so, so alone...
Until a hand grasped her hand.
"Sasuke-kun!"
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"You said it was too troublesome." Ino pouted as she danced in Shikamaru's arms. The shadow boy grinned and smirked, "Well, it was." He admitted, "But Chouji dropped by my house and dragged me that I have no way to escape."
"But you come..." Ino continued softly. "I was thinking that you will not come... you know." She shrugged and gave him a smile, "Did you still think that it was troublesome?"
"Before meeting you, yes." He admitted again, "But I see that now you really dress up. And what will happen if I'm not here?"
"I'll go to some other boys, of course." Ino said happily, as if it was no big deal, "Do you think I will spend this beautiful night alone? Of course not!"
Shikamaru snorted as he shifted his hand to Ino's waist. "That's what I thought." He said grimly, "That's why I come." He was faking a sad tone that Ino misheard as a real sadness that she immediately felt sorry for him. "No, no, no, Shikamaru, I was just kidding!" She said cheerfully, "I will not go to other boys."
"Sure?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.
"Of course!" Ino grinned reassuringly.
He snorted again, but Ino had understood his snorting that she knew that this one meant, "That's good." or "I'm satisfied." or "It's troublesome, but thank you." Since he could be thinking any of them, she shrugged. Any of them was positive, anyway.
"But why do you really come?" She asked finally, "It couldn't be only Chouji. You could refuse him as easy as you say 'Hello'."
Shikamaru smirked. "Know what?" He asked.
"What?" She stated, playing along.
"I know everything."
Ino furrowed her eyebrows. "Everything?" She repeated in confusion, "What everything?"
"Oh, don't play dumb on me." The shadow boy said, "It's troublesome, your bet. And why am I involved in this too, Ino? And why are you and I paired up in this bet?"
The bet! Ino's eyes widened. She backed out of his arms suddenly. "You know?" She hissed.
He smiled approvingly and took her waist in his arms again. "Of course I do."
"... Oh." Ino said, not knowing what to say other than a simple "Oh."
"And you owe me an apology, miss." He said, smirking, "I don't like being in bets..."
"Sorry." She had cut him out.
"... but apparently," he continued, "I happened to like whatever has something to do with you." His eyes gleamed. "It's still troublesome, though," He added quickly.
Ino blushed. "Do you really mean that?"
"..." He smirked secretively. "Find out yourself."
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"What did I just see?" Neji asked Tenten, releasing his grip from her hand. It left red marks there, and Tenten frowned unhappily. "How did I know what you just see?" She shot back.
He smirked, "You're not going to run away from me, aren't you?"
"Of course not!" Tenten groaned. "I was just a bit hysterical, that's all."
"Hysterical?" He noted with a quizzical look on his eyes that made Tenten thinking that she had to answer his not-so-good question. She waved her hand, "It's none of your concern, Neji." She said harshly.
He smirked and stepped closer to her. She moved backwards, a bit afraid of his unusual actions. "Really?" He mouthed, close to her ears.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Tenten asked, pushing him away. "Don't play with me, Neji. I'm not a kid anymore."
"You're not." Neji agreed, "Then can we just get this settled like real adults?"
"I'm only seventeen and you called that an adult?" Tenten shot back.
Neji shrugged, "They call it sweet seventeen for a girl." He said quietly, explaining it like explaining that two plus two is four. "So I assume you could act like an adult now, Tenten."
"Why are we arguing over this?" Tenten asked, frowning unhappily. "Okay, okay. Just put everything aside, okay?" She gave him a sugary sweet smile, "You complied, Neji. You really come."
"Of course." He said, "I've promised you." He gave her a look that means, "Hyuuga Neji never breaks his promise to anybody."
She grinned, "Now that you come, let's have a drink... have a talk... do other things..." She shrugged, shushing away the thought that said 'let's do what couples do' from her head.
Neji smirked. "Wait here." He told her, and a minute after that he returned, bringing two cups of drink. It was a cocktail with drops of wine, and it tasted heavenly. "Thanks." Tenten said as she received the cup. She drank it, filling her thirst and put the cup down on the table.
"..." They were both silent, but they were also enjoying the comfortable silence between them. It felt like nothing was better than being silent, gazing at each other and just listening to the disco music around them. That was when Naruto and Hinata decided to join them.
"He-hello, Neji-niisan..." Hinata greeted her cousin, her cheeks flushed. Naruto was holding her hand, Tenten noticed, and that was what made the Hyuuga girl blushing furiously. "Greetings, Hinata-sama." Neji replied, keeping the politeness required from the branch family to the head. He fixed his gaze to Naruto, and he smirked at him.
"Neji!" Naruto said energetically, "Coupling with Tenten, I see! Like yesterday at the Ichiraku! You are such adorable couple!"
Tenten furrowed her eyebrows, half-waiting Neji to protest. She wasn't going to argue with the kyuubi boy, it would be far too -in Shikamaru's vocabulary- troublesome. Hinata also stood there, expecting to hear some words of refusal from her cousin's lips, but instead what came out of it was, "Really?"
Tenten's eyes widened, and Hinata nearly choked.
"Yes, really!" Naruto said, not absorbing the immediate awkwardness between the girls, "You two make cute couplings! Maybe when you get married one day, you'll have cuter babies than hell!"
Neji smirked. "Hope you and Hinata too." He said, not giving any refusal out. Hinata blushed at his sentence, while Tenten only widened her eyes more. Neji was acting so strangely that she couldn't stop herself from reaching out his forehead and checking his temperature.
"Neji, are you alright?" She asked, a little concern, "You didn't sound so well." She was going to say that he didn't look so well, but how can she say that when all she saw was not a not-too-well but a very annoyingly charming Hyuuga Neji?
"You look more like a couple!" Naruto declared stubbornly, "Ah, are you two going out? I know there's no special announcement or whatsoever, but what the hell! You didn't have to make announcements when you're going out!"
"You're right." Neji agreed.
Still no refusal.
Tenten frowned. Something is definitely wrong with Neji. "Neji, really. What has gotten into you?" She asked, hoping he will give her a direct answer. He didn't. Instead, he only smirked and annoyed Tenten a little bit.
Naruto tapped his foot impatiently, "Are you going out then?"
It was a direct question that needed a direct answer, and Tenten happened to be speechless. Only, Neji wasn't. He smiled at Naruto, "Maybe." and wrapped his arm around Tenten's shoulder, making her even more speechless. Too speechless to realize, maybe.
"Na-Naruto-kun, let's get going..." Hinata whispered shyly, knowing that Tenten was near to freaking out and throwing kunais everywhere. She tugged Naruto's shirt and quickly pulled him away with her. Tenten smiled in gratitude. Thank you, Hinata, she prayed silently.
"Neji, that's really not the way to play with Naruto!" She said to Neji afterwards, "He'll probably gossip anywhere, and your reputation is the bet!"
"I don't care." He simply replied.
"But..." She tried to argue, but he put a finger on her lips and silenced her with a quick peck on her forehead. She blushed slightly. "Neji! What the hell is wrong with you?" She snapped as she blushed furiously. She turned away and began to walk from him, leaving him smirking behind. He caught up with her and whispered to her ear, "Always be ready for consequences, Tenten... since you're dealing with me."
Tenten glared at him. "What consequences?" She asked, "I've done nothing!"
Oh, you have, Neji thought. If she thinks that he didn't know a thing about the bet that's going on with the girls, then she was terribly wrong. He knew that they held a bet; he knew that his name was somehow mentioned inside the bet discussion. He just happened to know - and not only him. Also Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto.
Only... they have a way of showing that they know.
And he had his.
How did they know, you ask? And they will only give you one sentence: "I just know."
Tenten glared at Neji again. "I have done nothing!" She repeated, "And you're wrong if you think you can punish me!" She practically hissed at him, and then she stormed away.
Oh, and Neji happened to know one last thing clearer than the others.
He knew that Tenten had lose the bet miserably...
... but he happened to miss that she had win something else more important (perhaps).
Hyuuga Neji's heart.
End
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Weird ending? Seems unfinished? Yep, I know. I'm writing a sequel to this one - probably'll be posted in a couple or days or so... So if you are interested in reading the real ending, just check every once in a while!
So... Reviews are accepted, as usual. Constructive criticism are waited...
Thanks!
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MyFallenAngel