Chapter 1: The House
"Freedom!" Naruto cried, leaping from the car onto the sidewalk. He began to dance around, happy to finally be out of the stuffy automobile. I climbed out with equal excitement, though I didn't show it as enthusiastically as my brother. Then when I saw our house, I frowned. It looked like it could be from the age of ninja. It was very plain, with two stories and a nice balcony. But if that was the length of the description I could give, it wouldn't have been half bad. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. The house was right next to a cemetery, and an enormous weeping willow hovered over the building, its swinging branches dangling just over the first story window. Even though it was summer, I felt really chilly standing before that ordinary house with the willow tree.
"Hey Dad?" I asked uncertainly and he began to unpack the back of the car, slinging bags across his arms. He glanced at me and his blue eyes met my chocolate ones, instantly knowing that I was uneasy. "I don't like this place…" I cursed myself for reading too many Stephen King stories, and clutched his arm as we walked into the house. It was as nice inside as it was outside, but it still had that creepy air about it that I didn't like.
Inside, I released my dad's arm and glanced around the bottom floor, taking in the surroundings. The people we rented it from left it furnished for us, which was nice. It was some friend of my dad's named Tsunade, a lady I've never met before, but my dad knows her from his favorite college professor Jiraiya. I don't like Jiraiya very much. He's a mega-perv, no joke. He even wanted me to pose for the cover of his pervy book! Daddy got really mad and told him he wasn't going let his daughter pose for some hentai piece of crap and threw the book out the sixteenth story window of Jiraiya's office. I had been on the floor; tears of mirth sliding down my cheeks because I was laughing so hard.
Soon I found myself in the dining room, seeing an old set consisting of a long wooden table and four fancy chairs situated around it. A small chandelier hung above the table and the sunshine from outside reflected through the crystal onto the wall, leaving a miniature rainbow. After running my hand across the sleek wood finish of the table, I moved into the family room, already equipped with a television the Naruto had connected his dumb Playstation to. "You need to read more," I scolded him, whacking the blond in the back of his spiky head. He glared up at me from his game, then turned back to helping whoever to do whatever to beat the game. He has no attention span for anything besides his dumb video games.
When I moved on to the kitchen, I noted that I could see right to the next door house from it, and I ran up to the window. It was decorated with tan curtains, which were kind of lovely, and my eyes trailed into their window next door. Abruptly, my eyes met the beautiful pearl colored ones of the most handsome boy I had ever seen in my life. Even hotter than that Uchiha Sasuke I dated a few months ago. His face was delicately shaped, and he had long coconut colored hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. I couldn't quite tear my gaze away from his eyes, and his impassive expression that never changed. I felt some sort of shock fly up my back, like someone had attached a jumper cable to my spine, and I suppressed a shudder. I vaguely noted a sponge and dish in his hand, and that he was obviously doing chores, but it didn't really register. Suddenly, he looked to the side, as if someone had called him, and the spell his eyes put on me was broken. I quickly moved away from the window to go check out the rest of the house, but the feeling that he might still be watching our kitchen window while he was doing the dishes never left my mind.
"Tenten," my dad told me gently, putting all the bags down inside what would soon be our living room. "Why don't you go pick out your room, okay? I'll give you dibs over Naruto since you're the oldest." I smiled at him and ran upstairs, glancing around the upper story. I ran into the first room, an enormous space with a walk in closet that I was sure my dad would want, so I moved on. Turned out that all of the rooms were like that, so I just took the first one I came across. Entering, I stepped onto the hard wooden floor in my blue sneakers, and scanned around the interior. Opening the metal closet door, I entered the walk-in excitedly. I searched around the wall for a light switch, but as soon as I flipped it on the bulb burst. I stumbled back in shock from the sparks, reaching for the door to get out, but it was stuck in the tracks beneath. I pulled desperately at it, trying to pry it open but to no avail.
I began to panic. The dark was one of the few things I was not fond of, and even at age seventeen I continued to use a nightlight. I had to threaten to beat the pulp out of Naruto if he told anyone about it before he'd stop threatening to spill the beans, as it were. A light, about as weak as a dying flashlight, abruptly shone in the corner of the closet and I turned towards it. An enormous mirror stood on a stand in the end of the room, framed in a thick silver border intricately carved with what looked like roses. I stared at it in shock, walking towards it with an almost mesmerized expression. It was so beautiful, and the mirror was so flawless that it looked like quicksilver. It seemed like a voice was coming from it. Like a sad voice crying, calling out to me and I simply had to respond. I reached a hand out to touch the glass, my fingertips inches from the pane, but my brother's voice snapped me out of the reverie. "Oi, Tenten! Where the hell are you?"
Taking a step back from the ancient looking artifact, I realized that the crying had stopped and my eyes were wide as I stared at the mirror. Realizing that Naruto was on the other side of the door, I banged on it, yelling, "Naruto! Get me out of here!" I heard him start to laugh, and frowned angrily as he slid the metal to reveal me. He was still in the middle of his fit of laughter and I gave him a threatening glare, only making his chuckles louder. "Shut up you little bastard," I growled to him, glancing back into the closet. Much to my shock, the silver encased mirror… was gone. I stared at the empty space in surprise, trying to find out what had happened. I even considered going back in to find it, but I was certain Naruto would bar me in there, so I just exited the closet with that uncertainty in my mind. "This is going to be my room, I call dibs," I told him, crossing my arms.
"Like I care," he answered, walking out of the room in a huff.
I laughed, though it sounded weak and nervous. "Of course." I followed him downstairs to my dad, who was reading over a list of things to do intently. "Dad? What's up?" He glanced at the two of us and frowned, holding the list out to me. I read over it, and saw that it was a grocery list. I blinked and tilted my head as I turned to watch him again. "Want me to go shopping Dad?"
He looked relieved beyond words. "Could you, Tenten? We passed a store on the way here, and you could take the car if you want." I nodded and he handed me his keys. I loved to drive; it was one of my favorite things to do in the world. I keep teasing Naruto since he's not old enough to drive without Dad in the car, and he gets all pissed. I skipped out the door and into the car and, putting the key into the ignition, started the vehicle. Backing out of the driveway, I turned down the street to where I remembered the store to be. I saw it there, and grinned. Parking in the lot, I got out of the car and took a cart from the rack outside and headed in. It was a small store, not very crowded either. In fact, there was only two other cars in the parking lot besides Dad's.
I strolled through the aisles and tossed a few things into my cart, trying to find something Naruto wasn't picky about, which is everything but ramen. I shook my head. I should send him to a rehab clinic for that junk, he was addicted to it, I swear. Sighing, I got a tub of ice cream to celebrate our… well, just because I like ice cream, and I headed up to to the cashier. Only one girl was ahead of me. She had dark blue hair and wore a blue coat with tan sleeves and blue pants. When she turned to look at the cashier, I saw that she had identically colored eyes to the boy that I had seen in the window of my kitchen. "Excuse me," I said to her, watching her in awe.
She girl jumped and blushed, watching me for a moment before taking her things and rushing out the door. I felt slightly confused, and shook my head, turning to the young lady. She was a pretty blonde girl with deep green eyes, and her nametag said, "Hello my name is: Temari." She told me, "Don't feel bad. Hinata's shy around everyone except her twin brother. I can barely get two words out of her and I've known her since we were kids!" They're twins…?
I nodded and she handed my bags and waved goodbye, helping the next person in line. I exited out of the store and saw that the blue haired girl was walking home and I tapped her shoulder. "Hinata? Hi I'm Tenten, your next door neighbor." She nodded at me and stopped walking, biting her lip. "Would you like a ride home?"
She looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled very shyly. "Y-yes, p-please," she replied in a soft voice, and my first thought was to not let her around Naruto. He would scare the living daylights out of the poor thing. I motioned for her to follow me, and I tossed my groceries haphazardly into the trunk, but Hinata opted to carry hers in the cab with her instead. The drive home was short and silent, but not uncomfortably so. It seemed this girl was someone that could be quiet, yet it wasn't awkward. In fact, I felt it was kind of a break from Naruto's big mouth.
When we arrived, I parked my Dad's car in the driveway and got out, going over to the other side and letting Hinata out as well. She thanked me and walked to her house, where the door was open and a person was standing in it. I let out a small gasp, and saw that it was that boy, her twin brother. "Neji-nisan, Tenten-san was kind enough to give me a ride him," she told him, not a stutter in her voice.
The boy, Neji, looked at me and told me, "Thank you."
I smiled at him. "I was happy to. I live right next door after all." He nodded and I waved goodbye to him, tugging my groceries out of the trunk and lugging them to the house. I frowned. I knew I shouldn't buy more that I could carry. I was about to call for Naruto, but Neji was taking them out of my hands, much to my surprise. "It's fine Neji, I'll get my brother to do it."
"I'm happy to, I'm right here after all," he replied, giving me a sly smirk. I watched after him in shock, my empty hands hanging limply by my side. Hinata nudged me and I snapped out of my reverie. I glanced down at her and saw her staring into my house. My little brother was standing in the living room, in nothing but his boxers, a tee shirt and a… was that a beanie?… dancing around with a pair of headphones on. I wasn't surprised that she was staring. Finally, after getting aggravated, I took my shoe off and clunked him in the head with it.
"Naruto!" I yelled at him. He toppled over a chair and a loud crash was heard, and soon Naruto was spewing out curses faster than a sailor. I sighed and motioned to Hinata. "Would you like to come in?"
A/N: Man, I update four months later, and it's this short ass chapter. I'm sorry; you all probably hate me now. Review if you want T.T.