Well, I'm back from camp. Whoopee. Now it's time for the ever lovely SAT classes. sobs
For those of you who asked: Tenten's family was created by Hiashi to serve as a cover for her origins.
Chapter Nine: Sinking Suspicions
He pushed through the milling crowd with a thread of annoyance. Good lord, Tenten's aunt must have invited half the world's population to the party. Held in a vast, illuminated, undoubtedly luxurious ballroom, the occasion seemed a bit too overly lavish…but then again, Neji surmised, he'd never been to such a large gala before, and if he looked through the eyes of experienced social butterflies, he highly expected that he'd find this event rather redundant.
How he was to find Tenten in this throng was going to prove a challenge without his Byakugan. Tilting his head so that his hair fell over his eyes (the veins that throbbed at his eyes would look quite disconcerting to the average onlooker), he deftly flicked an amplified gaze around the ballroom, neatly pinpointing his target sulking against a pillar downstairs. The Hyuuga descended the imposing marble staircase and picked his way through the groups of Armani-clad men and Chanel-decked women until he noiselessly came up behind the Tenten's slender frame.
After a period of five minutes, the brunette turned around and started in surprise as she witnessed Neji's form behind her.
"Neji! Don't scare me like that!" One delicate hand pressed itself against her heart.
She was magnificent in all her feminine glory. Her hair was done up in its customary buns, though she'd artfully threaded pale irises through her glossy locks. Her body was dripped into a stunning midnight velvet dress which clung in all the right places, accentuating every curve, every slope. The neckline was swoopingly low, displaying the barest hint of cleavage, and a glittering opal necklace laced upon a silver chain adorned her neck, complimenting the pearl-drop earrings that depended from her ears. She looked up at Neji's absolutely stunned countenance through thick, long lashes.
"So, how do you like it so far?" Her voice was like satin. Neji suddenly found that his tongue had somehow developed a rather thick layer of grit that was almost impossible to get rid of.
"It's magnificent so far," he used the chance to avert his eyes. "Your aunt did a fine job selecting the place and the company." He said in what he hoped was a calm tone. Tenten let out a bell-like laugh.
"Please don't start patronizing me." She murmured, then slid across the marble-tiled floor, delicately plucked a glass from a nearby tray, and handed it to Neji.
"Champagne?"
Neji politely declined the offer; Tenten shrugged and took a delicate sip, fingers artfully grasping the fragile stem of her glass.
Just then something flashed across his vision and Neji turned, suddenly wary. This was no random movement of the crowd. He was sure it was something more, something crucial, something to be aware of. Whispering an excuse for his distraction, Neji took the opportunity to scan the surrounding area for any signs of suspicious movement. Thrice he closely scrutinized the ballroom, and thrice the movement had eluded him. Nevertheless, Neji kept his perpetual vision finely tuned in case it decided to show itself again.
"Neji? Is something wrong?" Tenten's voice cut through his thoughts. The Hyuuga quickly reassured her and hastily started a light conversation about school, all the while still on the alert for any signs of distrustful movement.
It flashed across his vision again, and this time he didn't bother to hide his alarm. Neji executed a perfect right face, staring directly into the spot where he'd seen it before. On an impulse, he activated Byakugan, but could locate nothing out of the ordinary. After a few more minutes of trying, he reluctantly gave up and turned his attention back to Tenten, though every nerve was more alert than ever before.
"Neji, are you sure everything's okay?" Tenten's concerned voice once again disrupted his thoughts. Neji turned back to her with a comforting smile.
"I'm fine, I mistook someone over there for another person." Neji lied through his teeth. Tenten cocked an eyebrow, then cracked a tentative smile, looking for all the world like she didn't believe him.
"Well, if you say so…" She suddenly brightened. "Hey, let me take you to the dance floor! That will take your mind off of things…"
Before he could protest, Tenten had a surprisingly vice-like grip on his wrist and was pulling him gently towards the middle of the room. Soft music was playing, and people were already paired up, bodies swaying gently to the music. Tenten arranged his hands around her body and leaned into him, physically inviting him to move to the music. The Hyuuga decided to humor her and gently moved them around the floor, any last vestiges about the strange movement completely forgotten.
Blood slowly trickled down the side of his mouth as his teeth cruelly sank themselves into his lower lip. The crimson liquid dripped unnoticed onto the white sheets, spawning scarlet poppies as he gnawed on said appendage, relishing in the pain that blossomed at his mouth. He watched in cold, enraged silence as the swirling red mist in front of him showed the Hyuuga dancing with his bitch out in the middle of the garishly furnished room. The fox had served him well, he had to admit…a little too well. The details that were playing out before his eyes were a little too finely-tuned. Fists clenched, leaving blood-red crescents in the middle of his palm. Curse his inability to do something about the matter. He ferociously hated having to sit and watch his best friend fall for a slut, but if he had any say in it, he'd drag that brazen hussy over a bed of sharp, rusty staples, dig her appendix out with a grapefruit spoon, ram a pint of iodine down her thyroid gland, and—
He shook his head in utter hopelessness. A surge of pity flowed through his veins. Poor Neji…he had no idea how completely hypocritical his woman was. The blonde winced at the term. Tenten wasn't really his woman, but if worse came to worst, that's what he'd have to start calling her. If worst came to extreme worst and Neji started devoting every single iota of his time to her, then he, Uzumaki Naruto, would have no other choice but to break off their friendship completely. It would be extremely difficult to do, given his feelings for the dark-haired figure, but then again, he'd had to make several soul-gashing decisions in the years he'd been alive.
The red pulsed warningly as Neji suddenly whipped his head and stared straight into Naruto's face. The blonde jumped back, alarmed…and then realized that Neji couldn't see him. Though he certainly seemed to see something, no doubt…
A sudden terrifying thought seared a line across his mind. Suppose Neji could see the red energy floating around him…judging by the way he'd been craning his head from side to side, Naruto half-suspected he could actually see right through to the blonde himself. A second later, the Hyuuga turned away, and to Naruto's great dismay, continued chatting with the brownette beside him. The blonde gritted his teeth. Neji definitely saw something though. He'd have to take more precautions later.
He decided to go to bed and turn off the—for lack of a better word—fox camera for now. Neji probably wouldn't come home until the wee hours of the night, and besides, he had instructed his little crucible to alert him if any sudden bursts of emotion were felt. He got into bed and irritably pulled up the covers, dropping out like a light. Fox would tell him when it was over too…despite making the most unwise choice of attending the party, Neji was still his friend, and he at least owed him back for driving him to school that other day…
Eventually trickles of people broke away from the crowd, returning to their cars like small torrents from a stream. The trickles eventually became a flood as the party came to a close. Neji did nothing to resist the flood, moving easily along with the exiting people, Tenten at his side, artfully maneuvering throughout the swarm of bodies. The Hyuuga breathed a sigh of relief as the surrounding pressure suddenly lightened as the throng of people went their own separate ways. He felt something rest against his shoulder and looked down to see Tenten leaning against him. The girl breathed a sigh of profound relief.
"Thank god that's over with." She sighed, then pulled away from him and turned so they were face to face. Slim, slender hands coquettishly clasped themselves together and she dipped her head, gazing coyly up at him through thick, long lashes.
"Thank you for coming with me. I really appreciate it." She said in a sweet voice. One side of Neji's mouth crooked up in a ghost of a smile.
"My pleasure." He said sincerely and turned to leave. He felt a tug on his sleeve and turned around to see Tenten's delicate fingers entwined around the fabric of his jacket, an unreadable expression on her lovely features.
"I'll…see you at school, right?" She said hesitantly. A brief frown marred Neji's elegant countenance. This Tenten was so unlike the headstrong girl he was used to seeing. Nevertheless, he answered her.
"It would be impossible not to." He replied, staying stationary in case she wanted to say anything else.
Tenten stepped a bit closer and lowered her eyes a fraction of an inch.
"No really, I do appreciate what you've done for me. I didn't force you to come, you know." She said, her voice several octaves lower than normal. Neji was thoroughly confused by now.
"You aren't ill, are you Tenten?" He inquired gently. She shook her head slightly and stepped even closer until she was almost touching his body with hers.
"No…at least I don't believe I am. All I'm saying is," she stepped even closer, one hand winding gently around his neck, the other entwining itself in his hair. "Thank you for coming."
Opalescent eyes burned with perplexity. Neji was now bewildered to the point of no return, and yet he suddenly found that he mysteriously couldn't, or perhaps, wouldn't move. He stood rooted to the spot with her arms around him, his entrails suddenly writhing inside of him. Feelings of sudden apprehension and unease surged through his veins, but though his mind screamed at him to act, to move, to do something, anything, his body apparently had a different agenda as he found he was quite helpless. Tenten was drawing closer by the minute, eyes at half-mast now, her body pressed against his so tightly that he could almost feel every curve of her figure through her dress. Her face drew closer and closer to his, her nose brushing his, brushing past his…she was so close, he could feel puffs of her breath on his lips…he could almost feel her glossy mouth close on his…
A blinding burst of crimson-red exploded right smack in the line of his peripheral vision, and it was then that his body, for once, listened to his panicked mind and reacted.
He grasped Tenten's shoulders and wrenched her away from him, throwing them apart like two opposite ends of a magnet. The girl staggered back and almost fell over the hem of her dress, a small scream escaping her throat as she teetered off-balance. Neji spun around and fully activated Byakugan, caring not if some passing individual caught sight of his pale, vein-shot eyes. He strained to the point of inducing a sharp, splitting pain in the region of his optical nerves, but to his great agitation, the red was nowhere to be seen. The Hyuuga clenched his jaw in frustration, opalescent eyes burning caustically, mentally begging and pleading with the anonymous substance to identify itself as a last resort. To his great disappointment, the streets looked more normal than ever; he deactivated Byakugan, calming himself and steadying his breathing.
"Neji, are you absolutely certain you're all right?" Tenten's urgent voice cut through the thick silence.
"I shall manage, I'm a bit tired as of the moment…" Neji said, hurriedly sliding into his car.
"I bid you a good night, Tenten. I shall see you at school." Not bothering to wipe the bewildered look on her beautiful features, Neji gunned the engine and revved out into the street, dissipating quickly into the traffic.
He was rather rudely awakened by a sharp pulsing in his brain. The small flame of red fox-shaped energy was standing over him with what looked like a vaguely accomplished look in its nonexistent eyes. Naruto grumbled, coughed, and rose, running a vacant hand through his butter-hued locks. It seemed like the party was over…and then a dreadful thought hit his mind and he turned to the fox so fast that his blankets sailed through half of the floating red energy. The animal seemed to cast a reproachful glance in his direction.
"Play back what happened after the dance." Naruto ordered urgently. After a moment's hesitation, the fox dissolved into a wide, squarish sort of screen, leaving the blonde to sort out the jumbled mess of events currently displaying.
He stopped short on one scene, sharp blue eyes cutting daggers at what he saw. Tenten had her arms around Neji and was leaning far too close to him. Naruto's breath started coming in quick, shallow gasps as her lips traveled closer and closer to Neji's own mouth…
The playback cut off abruptly. For a minute, Naruto wondered why it did that…and then memory came flooding back to him as well as a burning liquid known as rage. He remembered now. How could he not have—he himself shut off the playback when
(the shameless whore)
Tenten was on the verge of swapping spit with his best friend. Yes, that was right. He also remembered the four gouges he'd ripped open in the plaster of his wall right before her lips collided with Neji's. How could he forget such a thing, forget the feelings of bloodlust and hatred surge through his veins like electricity through white-hot metal. Thankfully, the playback had ended soon enough for him to see Neji throw her from him…that in itself had made Naruto want to cram his head out the window and yodel for joy at the top of his well-toned lungs.
The blonde sighed and ran yet another paw through his hair, caring not if he shredded a few locks in the process. He carelessly threw on some clothes and whirled out the door. Whore or no whore, Neji was still his best friend, and he owed him at least that to honor his promise.
Slipping like a wraith through the alleyways of the city, Naruto arrived once more in front of the imposing doors of the Semaruku apartment complex. A smirk poured onto his face like molasses on a cold December day. Never had he thought he'd be able to enter this place again; it seemed like Lady Luck herself had somehow taken a fancy to him, or, he thought with a smirk, according to the most sapient philosophies of his exceedingly competent teacher Jiraiya-sensei, his ass.
He carefully opened the door to the complex, thankful that a plant roughly the size of a small palm tree partially covered the entrance. Sliding himself behind said plant, he slanted a glance at the dimly lit reception desk, judged the person behind the desk was asleep (he certainly looked so, and if not, Naruto wasn't in any sort of remote danger of being caught; the man snoozing behind the desk had what looked suspiciously like a porn magazine completely draped over his face), and slithered sneakily into the elevator, positively dripping ironic smirks onto the finely woven elevator carpeting. A thumb depressed the button for the seventeenth floor, and Naruto reveled in the strong sense of déjà vu as he ascended to his destination.
Long ago, I told you this would be a NejiNaru ficcie, right? Well...tbc...until the next chappie then...
