Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (though I dream).
I have decided that I am not going to read any reviews I get on this story until it's finished. I know that sounds really…er…strange XDD but I have a phobia of criticism :/ Yea. I know. Confidence issues. Anyways, if there are any major grammatical problems that need fixing asap, just pm me (or whatever you do here xDD). Anyways, enjoy this chapter:DD
As Tenten turned around to leave, something wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back. She landed on her butt with an 'oomf!' and looked up to see Neji's hand pulling on hers.
"What the hell? That's the second time you've cause me to fall down in less than twenty four hours! I'm not a frickin punching bag you know!" she scowled, standing and rubbing her butt. Neji still hadn't released his grip and a light blush spread across her cheeks.
"About that favor…" He let go of her and a serious look came over his face. "I need to use it. Pity. I was really hoping to save it for something…better, but something came up I need you to take care of".
"Er, about that. When I said that I wasn't really thinking. You can't trust what I say when I go on like that," she laughed nervously, terrified about what this favor could be. Knowing the Hyuuga's personality, it would be brutal. "Favors aren't obligations, you know. They're something you do to help someone out. It's a choice".
"Hn" was his reply. He eyed her curiously, wondering what was making her so flustered and at a struggle for words.
"Okay, then. I need you to do something for me, and you can choose whether or not to take the job," Neji revised his sentence.
"Why don't you ask a fangirl? They would be willing to do anything for you. Anything," Tenten pointed out, still unnaturally curious about what this urgent favor could be.
"I need someone with a higher I.Q than a squirrel for this. Sorry. That narrows the selection," he said. Tenten eyed his face for a smile or a teasing smirk, but he was still very serious. She decided to take the comment as a compliment.
"Okay, whatever. Shoot"
"I need you to take care of my cousin this weekend. She's seven. I would, but I have an important A rank mission I'm going on that day," he explained. Tenten's eye twitched in annoyance. She had expected something a bit more pride-preserving than babysitting. You know, sparring, accompanying him to a fancy Hyuuga dinner party.
"So uhm. You want me to babysit, basically. I guess I could…from when to when?" she sighed, slightly frustrated. There went her weekend. She didn't have a particularly busy or colorful social life, but she had planned to spend her precious off-school time doing something more productive. But if this could help her win the bet, what the hey?
"I'll only be gone Saturday, unless something unexpected happens. I can drop her off at your place in the morning if you'd like?" Tenten's face turned crimson.
"Uh. Er. No. Uhm. I'll come by yours. Really, it's more convenient. I'll be up by then, anyways," she lied, barely able to string together a sentence. Not only was her apartment small and messy, but he'd figure out that she practically lived alone. She doubted he knew she was an orphan. It would probably be a 'disgrace' to someone from a noble family such as his.
Neji lifted his eyebrow questioningly. Did he say something wrong? "That's fine, then. Be there by six"
"Okay," Tenten nodded. Damn. So much for sleeping in… "I'm going to go now. I have like two minutes to dress out. You too," she said, turning to leave. She was about halfway down the hall when Neji called out to her.
"Hey, Tenten?"
"Mmmm?"
"Thanks for doing this. Hanabi is a little devil"
Tenten gulped, wondering if she should've turned down the offer. She seemed to be making a lot of wrong choices lately.
"No problem," she managed to say, then quickly scurried into the locker room. Several remaining girls remained in the locker room when she burst in and ran to her gym bag. They stopped giggling and turned to look at her.
"What were you doing out there, bun head?" one sneered. Tenten ignored them and tried to find her other slipper in the bag.
"Hey! I was talking to you ugly!" the same girl shrieked. She heard footsteps behind her, barely turning her head in time enough to see the blonde approaching her.
"What the f-" Tenten started. Usually the Paris Hilton snobs stopped at insults. She was way muscular than any of those makeup obsessed freakazoids. The girl proceeded to grab both of her buns and yank on them.
"We saw you with our Neji-kins! What do you think you were doing?!" The girl fell back as both of Tenten's ribbons snapped in two and her long hair came cascading down. The other two blondes gasped.
"What?" Tenten asked, confused. She rubbed her head to make sure her hair was still there , and finding it was (but barely), stuffed her bag back into her locker and slammed it shut.
"FYI, he was asking me for a favor and I was apologizing for being a bitch. And unless you would like me to be much more than a bitch to you, I'd suggest keeping your hands off me, kay?" she hissed, her scalp stinging. The three girls nodded, eyes still widened slightly.
"What the hell was that about?" she asked herself, trying to find Sakura. "Was I that scary? Damn. I thought I had my other ribbons in my purse, but I guess not. Where's that lousy best friend when you need her? I hate wearing my hair like this," She frowned, looking up and down the halls.
The bell overhead rang twice. Tenten scowled. "Looks like I'm stuck like this for the beginning of lunch. Sakura better be there"
Sakura was not, in fact, at lunch. She had fainted in class from "Over Sasuke-ing", otherwise known as "The Fangirl Syndrome". Apparently Sasuke's invitation had gone to her head.
And so, Tenten went to lunch alone. But though she was alone, she couldn't shake the feeling she had a line of guys following her wherever she went. Her suspicions we confirmed when an acne-faced boy whistled at her when she passed by his table.
"What the?" she asked herself, confused, then angered. If he was whistling at her (which was a completely different direction than what she was used to), then he was going to pay. Tenten's feminist side took over as she strolled over to him.
"Shit…" Neji was sitting at the table next to him. She reconsidered for a moment, but far too stubborn to let Neji interfere with her thoughts, decided to ignore him.
"Excuse me, but was that for me?" Tenten asked sweetly, faking a smile. The boy paused, glancing at her shirt whose top two buttons were undone. He could see a small portion of her lacy black bra (gift from her aunt). In her quick change of clothes, she hadn't noticed, but caught on to where he was looking. Before the teen knew what was happening, his face was smashed into his macaroni.
"Take that pizza face!" she yelled (a/n omg. Best. Insult. Ever. XDD). Neji turned to see what all the screaming was about and found a long haired girl storming away.
"….whoah baby. Who was that?" a boy next to him asked the table. Everyone shrugged.
"I think," Neji began, "that was Tenten. Either that or Tenten just gave up her clothes to some stranger"
"Psh. Yeah right. Stop joking Hyuuga. Tenten doesn't look like that," another boy snorted. Neji glared at him, then forked in his mashed potatoes.
Tenten, beyond pissed off, decided to go sit at her table and skip lunch. If starving herself was what it took to avoid those jackasses, she'd do it. Sakura wasn't at the table, depressing her further. She slumped next to Kiba , Lee, Shino, and Naruto.
"Holy crap. Look guys, a hot girl is sitting at our table today!" Kiba growled, nudging an unresponsive Shino in the side. Tenten boiled over.
"What in god's name is going on with the freaking male species today?!" she yelled at them, yanking her legs up and ripping the decorative strings off her shoes (thus ruining them). "Those airheads yank my hair ties and suddenly I'm being ogled by a frickin flea bag!"
"I resent that," Kiba huffed. Tenten ignored him and hastily tied up two lumps on her head. She didn't care how crappily done they were as long as she could have a normal lunch.
"There! Can you tell who I am now, you hormonally driven weirdoes?"
"…Tenten?" Kiba asked.
"No. I'm the Pilsbury Dough Boy here to pass out cinnamon rolls. No duh it's me."
"I want some cinnamon rolls," Naruto pouted two seats down. Tenten gave him a ferocious look. He shut up.
Laying her head down in her arms, she spent the rest of the lunch listening to the boys discuss their health project (the sheer stupidity of it made Tenten glad she didn't take health as well)
"I don't get it. Why is it special K? What makes it so special? What happened to the regular K?" Naruto asked.
"I have looked at youthful Cinnamon Toast Crunch before, but I have not seen its youthful taste. Tell me, how do you see a taste? Isn't taste sense? How do you use a sense to taste a sense? The taste you cannot see! Yosh!" Lee dragged on, much like that morning. Tenten groaned.
The moment the lunch bell rang, she sprinted from the cafeteria and to her locker, banging her head inside of it many times until feeling sane enough to survive the rest of the day.
"Damn you, Sakura! This is totally your fault!"
The day ended normally, much to Tenten's relief, and Sakura had recovered enough to go home. She caught up to Tenten who was slumped over and dragging herself down the hall.
"Whoah. Did someone listen to Hilary Duff's new CD, or did you just die?" Sakura joked, poking her friend in the side. She didn't respond.
"Seriously. Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay. First Lee embarrasses me in front of everyone, then I get stuck babysitting for a demon Hyuuga, then the gym bitches pull my hair ties out causing about every frickin teenage guy at lunch to ogle me, then I have to listen to Naruto and Lee discuss cereal, cereal Sakura! I think I failed everything I did in all my other classes today. Trust me, I would trade that for a Hilary Duff CD any day"
"Eek. Tough day. I'm sorry," Sakura sympathized.
"Would've helped if you were there," Tenten mumbled. "Where were you anyways?" Sakura blushed.
"I…er…didn't feel well. Ooh! Guess what?!? Sasuke invited me over to his house to work on our cereal-" Sakura was stopped short when Tenten stopped and glared at her, "I mean…health project together"
"Grads" came the halfhearted reply. Sakura wilted. The rest of the walk was silent.
"Since you're going to Sasuke's and I'm mentally scarred for the rest of today, I'll just go in," Tenten said when they reached her apartment complex. Sakura nodded.
"See you tomorrow, Tennie," she teased before rushing off. "Tennie" scowled, then walked up three flights of stairs, unlocked her front door and almost collapsed at her entryway. However, she managed to drag herself to her couch and lay there with her head face-down in the pillow.
"Tenten? How was your day?" her aunt asked from the kitchen. She was home early.
"Fine," came a muffled reply. A minute of silence passed.
"Hey auntie?"
"Yes Tenten?"
"……do we have any cinnamon rolls?
Forgive me for the crappy chapter 8( I kinda forgot where I was going with it half way through xD FYI, I don't own any of those cereals, or Hilary Duff (Thank god). This story will get more romantical, I promise. I want to make my way there, though. I don't want 'omg he's an emo' to go to 'omg he's in love with tenten and they're making out' in two chappies ;P Review:DD