Chapter 6: Arguments, Confessions and Relationships
Tenten woke up early and stretched before making her bed. She left her room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Apparently she wasn't the only one awake at that hour for she found Neji boiling the kettle.
"Morning Neji" she greeted warmly with a smile
"Good morning Tenten"
She took out a mug from the cabinet and waited for the kettle to finish boiling so she could have a cup of tea. It was now or never.
"Neji can I talk to you?" she got serious
"Of course"
"Outside; it's quite long overdue" she walked around the counter and headed to the front door with Neji following behind her. Their ears were greeted with the sounds of waves crashing against the shore which grew louder with every step they took closer to the beach. Tenten finally stopped and took a seat on the sand; Neji followed suit.
"So what did you want to talk about?" he looked at her
"You know what I want to talk about; that night back at school but everytime I bring it up you change the subject"
"Because it's a topic I don't want to talk about"
"Well what about me; does my opinion not count anymore; you think you understa—
—I understand fine— he snapped
—Will you let me speak dammit!?" she yelled at him "I'm going to tell you what happened and you are going to listen" she took a deep breath and calmed herself down before explaining "First of all I didn't stand you up, your little bastard fangirls locked me in my room and took your cellphone—which I managed to get back by the way" his eyes widened slightly upon hearing the news; he'd thought wrong completely
"If that's the case then why didn't you say so?"
"Are you kidding me? I tried to tell you the minute I saw you but you kept cutting me off which I am sick of!"
"I just needed time to think"
"If that's your excuse then why didn't you try talking to me the next day or the day after instead of giving me this silent treatment for three weeks?!" Tenten couldn't hold back her frustrations anymore
"I didn't want to hear you tell me that you don't have feelings for me!" Neji himself was getting angry
"Don't have feelings for—is that it; is that what you thought I was going to say!' she yelled back with the same amount of force he did. The crashing waves had nothing on the volume Neji and Tenten were yelling at each other with. She straddled his waist—too angry to care how he'd react
"Well sorry to disappoint you Neji but I do have feelings for you" he looked surprised for a second then returned to his serious demeanour so she carried on speaking "Do you think I didn't show up on purpose for some implicit way of telling you that I have no feelings for you?" he couldn't look her in the eyes anymore
"Neji I would never do that; you know that…right?" he still didn't look at her and remained silent "If I didn't have feelings for you I would have told you the truth to your face straight from the beginning, I wouldn't lead you on; you know I wouldn't…or do you even know me at all?" she felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.
"Neji Hyuuga you look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you know I would never do that to you" she made him look at her and all he could see was pain in her eyes "Say something" her voice was starting to break from her getting emotional. Neji remained as silent as he was.
"Unbelievable" she stood up and headed back to the house. As soon as she walked inside she saw Sasuke in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. She glanced at him for the briefest moment with her tearful eyes before carrying on up the stairs. He watched her walk up then decided to take out another cup—he was going to need it.
Tenten was sitting in one of the chairs on the balcony; hugging her knees and looking out to the ocean. She heard someone open her door and walk in but she didn't bother turning around for she already knew who it was. He walked out onto the balcony and handed her a cup of tea.
"Thanks Sasuke" she took the cup and began sipping her tea. Neither of them made eye contact with each other; they just stared out to the ocean; drinking their hot beverages in complete silence but it was a comfortable silence. Tenten was just glad he was there with her. After a few minutes of silence Tenten finally spoke up.
"I thought we were friends, him and me but he's made it quite clear that he doesn't trust me" she never tore her gaze away from the ocean. Sasuke wasn't there to talk he was there to listen.
"We've been friends for years and now because of one misunderstanding, we've stopped talking to each other. I just don't know what to do anymore" just when she finished speaking he walked into her room. Tenten and Sasuke stood and turned to look at him
"I need to talk to you Tenten"
"I'm not so sure she wants to talk to you Hyuuga" Sasuke spoke first
"I'm sorry was I talking to you or Tenten?"
"Listen here—
"Sasuke…it's okay, he's right, we need to talk" she put her hand on his shoulder when she spoke to him. He looked at her one last time before walking to the door but not before casting a glare at Neji which he returned with just as much intensity.
"The nerve of that Uchiha"
"He was just protecting me; you know something friends do for each other" she emphasised "So what did you want to tell me?"
"I'm sorry—
"It's going to take a lot more than sorry to fix this Neji"
"I know it will, I read the situation wrong and was too arrogant to apologise for it which ended up hurting you in the process. But it was never my intention to hurt you"
"You could've fooled me; I mean you're pretty good at it. First you shut me out for three weeks and then you tell me or rather you don't tell me that you trust me"
"I didn't come here to argue with you again Tenten" she sighed and sat next to him on the bed
"I know I'm sorry…it's just…" she wiped away her tears
"Tenten I trust you, with my life if I need to"
"You have no idea how much what you said hurt me; you and I have been friends for years and I don't want that to change because of a little misunderstanding" she repositioned herself so she straddled his waist and looked him in the eyes "I care about you Neji, I really really do and I just don't want to lose you…you're too important to me" she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly and he immediately hugged back
"You'll never lose me" he whispered
They stayed in each other's embrace for a few minutes until they finally separated. Neji wiped away her remaining tears with his hand then cupped her face, she smiled at him—that same smile she only ever showed him. He then brought his lips to hers in a long chaste kiss. They separated after a while.
Naruto was on his way downstairs when he walked past Tenten's room and heard laughing coming from inside. Curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to check out what was going on. He walked in to find Neji sitting on Tenten's bed with her sitting in his lap—straddling his waist to be more precise—with her arms around his neck and his hands resting on her thighs. He immediately regretted walking in.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked while eyeing them suspiciously
"Not at all Naruto, we're just talking" Tenten answered
"I'm sure you are" he spoke slowly while rubbing his chin then looking at them one last time before walking out the door. He went downstairs to join the others who were relaxing in the living room
"What's the matter with you Naruto?" Sakura asked as she turned the page of the magazine she was reading
"It's Neji and Tenten" he answered as he plopped down on the couch next to Hinata
"What about them?"
"Well when I walked in on them they said they were just talking but the way they were sitting said otherwise. They looked just about ready to get serious"
"I can't say I'm surprised they've been up there for what, like two hours now, I'm sure they've had all kinds of fun" Ino spoke up seated on the couch across from Naruto
With Neji and Tenten
"Is it me or did Naruto look extremely suspicious when he walked in here?" Tenten asked still seated in Neji's lap
"I can't say I blame him"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you telling me that this doesn't look suspicious?" he referred to the way they were positioned
"No, I mean we weren't doing anything" she looked at him questioningly
"But he doesn't know that, just think about it, we've been up here for about two hours now and he walks in finding us as we are now. It's not difficult to figure out what he thought we were doing"
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" she smirked at him knowing he wouldn't answer her; he just looked at her with a raised brow.
They decided to head downstairs and join their friends. And they both knew what was coming their way when they walked in.
"Hey guys did you fun?" Ino was the first to speak
"Save it Ino we weren't doing anything upstairs other than talking. The only other thing we did was kiss—it was a chaste kiss" Tenten cut Ino off before she could suggest anything less innocent then sat down on an empty couch
"Maybe this time" Ino said quietly earning her a glare from both Neji and Tenten
"Why is it that even though all of us are dating, you guys find the need to only talk about Neji and me?"
"Because you two have a lot more drama, I mean you two have been friends for as long as anyone can remember; everyone— except you two—can see that there's chemistry between you but you guys are all like 'Oh no were just friends and were going to stay friends' and now look at you." Ino explained
"Yeah we even placed bets on you guys on when you would crack, by the way Ino you owe me, I said they'd kiss after they talked about what happened back at school" Sakura held out her hand
"You guys were listening to our argument?" Tenten raised her eyebrow in question
"How could we not, you were louder than the ocean" Sasuke spoke up for the first time
"Yeah you guys woke me up; it was such a drag being woken up so early" Shikamaru complained
The group spent the rest of the afternoon in the living room; relaxing and chatting into the early evening. Tenten was in the kitchen making dinner for everyone when Sasuke came in and joined her.
"What's on the menu for tonight?" he asked as he stood behind her and looked into the pots
"I'm making chicken Stir-fry" she stirred the meat then turned off the stove "You want to taste before anyone else?" she poked a piece of meat with a fork and held it up for him to taste
"It tastes great" he managed to steal another piece and eat it before she could stop him
"Hey, save some for everyone else Sasuke, the foods almost done." She playfully poked him in the chest
"So everything worked out between you two?" he asked getting a bit more serious
"Yeah, we finally talked and let everything out" she turned off the spaghetti pot then sat on the counter in front of Sasuke, now she was on eye level with him.
"Thanks for sticking up for me…in both situations" It didn't take him long to figure out which two times she was talking about. The first was obviously in the bedroom with Neji and the second…
"So in the car on our way here you weren't…
"No I wasn't completely asleep. I caught some of that conversation between you two" she looked him in those onyx eyes of his that she at times found herself drawn into and this time was no different in fact she was literally drawn in for she felt herself leaning in and he did the same. But they both stopped at the same time—when their faces were a little too close to be acceptable and they drew back.
"Whoa that was close, maybe a little too close" she looked away from him
"Yeah you're right"
They put what happened behind them and dished up the food together. Everyone sat at the table and ate dinner.
"Hey I've got an idea" Ino spoke up
"Does it involve anything wild?" Tenten asked before taking a sip of her drink
"No, why do you always think that? I was going to say that— if were all up for—we should have a stay awake here downstairs" she suggested
"Sounds interesting" sakura said
"I bet I'll stay awake longer than any of you!" Naruto exclaimed
"You'll probably be the first one to fall asleep" Sasuke commented which caused laughter around the table
Everyone agreed to Ino's idea and cleared the table. They then settled in the living room after rearranging the furniture to make sure they could all fit together. Each of them had a pillow and a blanket for the evening and they were in their pyjamas.
"Alright first order of business—truth or dare"
"Fine but one rule, no kissing other peoples partners" Sakura said
"That's okay, I can still make this game interesting" she smiled to herself
"Alright then who's first?" Tenten asked