A/N: Wow! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you like my story so far!
Just a note: She's the Man inspired this fic, but there won't be much correlation between the movie and the fic, since there are so many differences. I may throw in a reference or work a scene to fit the story, but otherwise, this fic follows its own storyline.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
When a female is required to go undercover as a boy, the first and most important thing she must work on is her voice. A good male voice is very difficult to produce, and is even harder to produce when the female in question feels like she is back in Foreign Language class.
"Try again, deeper this time."
"Why do I have to say the same thing over and over again? I feel so stupid!"
"Because you keep screwing up."
"Thanks Kankuro, you really know how to cheer up a girl."
"Whatever, try to pretend you're learning Spanish."
"Why?"
"In Spanish you sometimes have to focus more on the words you're saying than what you mean, because if you do, you feel stupid. Now say it."
"Hi there. My name is Tenten! I am a healthy red-blooded male." recited Tenten, trying not to feel as stupid as she sounded. Her voice sounded like she had a sore throat, not pleasant at all.
"That's better…" Temari's puppeteer brother and Tenten's voice coach Kankuro stood in front of her, "But your voice should go down a couple of pitches. Right now you sound like a convincing male seventh grader, when you should sound at least like a freshman." Tenten groaned and sank into the chair right behind her. She was grateful that no one else was in her apartment to witness this, that the other girls were all out boy-watching. Normally Tenten would have thought the activity was quite creepy, but in this case it was necessary. Kankuro was a fine model, but Tenten would need to learn how to act like a boy from others so she could find a way of walking and talking she was comfortable with. Ino and Temari had volunteered only too readily to help in this manner.
"Stop moping and get up," Kankuro pulled her back out of the chair, "Look, you're doing pretty well, and since you volunteered to be a boy," Tenten rolled her eyes at the reminder. "You shouldn't be sulking. No one said this was going to be easy."
"I know, I know. But no one said it would be this hard either." She directed a glare at him, "Why don't you make this easier for me, since you're my coach?"
"No, I'm not allowed to, that would go against the point of being a coach, but I can offer some advice. Speak from your stomach; that might help."
"My stomach?" Tenten had never been knowledgeable about the human body, but she didn't have to be to know that sounded strange.
"You seem to be speaking from your chest right now, so just go lower than that. It will make your voice sound deeper. And don't try to talk in exclamation points all of the time, that makes your voice go too high and makes it more obvious that you're actually a girl."
"I still can't believe I'm taking advice from a guy who wears make up." muttered Tenten, before saying, yet again, "Hello, my name is Tenten. I am a red-blooded male." This time she was pleased with how her voice came out, considerably lower and a lot less exaggerated than her other attempts, with no scratchy sound. Kankuro nodded, also pleased.
"That's much better, so I'll ignore that crack about my face paint." He cocked his head and scrutinized Tenten for a moment. "We'll keep practicing that voice, but you can take the rest of the day off."
Tenten grinned happily, relieved that she was finally making progress, "Thanks, Kankuro, for helping me with this." She and Kankuro had been friends since they were kids, but they hadn't seen each other much since Kankuro dropped out of school to pursue his work in puppetry, thus leading to the feud with his father. However, when Temari had called him with a request to help them in their master plan, he had been only too happy to assist.
"No problem, but are you really sure you want to do this? It's going to be a very tricky illusion to maintain, and a lot of the guys in Konoha are actually pretty sharp. And what if you develop a crush on one of the guys?" Tenten grimaced, she still hadn't figured out a solution to that particular problem. Despite the hours the girls had spent poring over possible scenarios (some of which Tenten considered EXTREMELY unlikely, but Ino and Sakura had vivid imaginations); the path to take if that complication came up was undecided.
"I'm not sure, but I'll manage." A loud knocking announced the girls' return. Kankuro gathered up his stuff (including a large puppet called Karasu he lugged everywhere) and allowed Tenten to hug him.
"I'll go now. Much as I love my sister, I can't stay long in a room of giggling girls and not lose my sanity."
"And sitting alone in a room with just Gaara for company is just what the therapist ordered." Said Tenten sarcastically, grinning nonetheless, "and we don't giggle. We laugh, or chuckle, or snort." She added as an afterthought at Kankuro's back as he headed towards the door.
"Gaara at least has empathy for me; no matter what the people in the cuckoo nest think or say. And you do giggle, and you smacked me if I didn't giggle." He called over his shoulder as he opened the door and let himself out and blocked the girls from coming in. A loud whack was heard, which Tenten could bet had been across the back of poor Kankuro's head. Chuckling slightly (she did not giggle, no matter what Kankuro said), she went to the door and admitted her friends inside.
"And he wonders why I hit him." Grumbled Temari, dumping a pair of gigantic shopping bags on the couch.
"Must you always be so cruel to him, Temari?" asked Hinata, setting down her own (smaller) bags next to the door and heading to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"Of course Hinata! Temari must be tough, she's an older sister, after all." declared Ino cheerfully, "Anyway, Tenten, we were able to boy watch, but you are going to have to come with us when we go out tomorrow."
"What?! Do I have to?" asked Tenten, mentally groaning at the idea of boy-watching with Ino and Temari of all people. Hinata already liked someone and Sakura was fine now, though according to the stories Ino told, Sakura had been quite a fan girl when she was in middle school.
"Well, you are the one who's going to imitate them, so I thought you shouldn't miss out on such outings." Said Sakura cheekily, yanking a hair band out of her hair and letting the pink locks fan out and frame her face.
"Sakura, that's cruel." Sakura shrugged her shoulders and took the water bottle Hinata handed her.
"Maybe, but none of us are good at mimicking, so you have to come if you want to find someone to imitate." Tenten had to admit, Sakura made a good point. Charades had become practically taboo during their girl time thanks to the girls' outrageously bad skills.
"So what have you been doing for the last four hours, if you haven't been boy-watching?" Tenten directed the question at Temari, the older, supposedly more mature one.
"Shopping for you. It's amazing how few clothes there are in the men's department. We had to go through at least eight stores to find what we wanted" Answered Temari. Grinning at Tenten's surprised expression she explained, "Well, you should probably get used to dressing as a boy. You could probably get away with gender neutral clothes, but you should still own some guy clothes. I mean, if guys came over here and found a closet full of skirts, what do you think they would think you were?"
"A drag queen, but there's one detail you're forgetting: I don't own skirts."
"But you do own very feminine underclothes, so I think you should have some boy clothes on hand to hide them. Now go try those on."
"Do I have to? Couldn't I borrow some of Kankuro's or Gaara's old clothes?"
"I did their laundry. Trust me, you wouldn't want their hand-me-downs." Temari said flatly, her face dead serious. Tenten chose to let the topic drop. Instead she went over to the bags and began to rummage around inside them, pulling out short sleeved shirts, long sleeved shirts, jeans, cargos, slacks, jackets, and (for some bizarre reason) a pack of boxer shorts.
"Temari," began Tenten, holding the boxers between her thumb and index finger, "what's the point of these? You don't think I'll actually wear them, do you?" Temari took one look at what Tenten was referring to and her expression, looked at Ino, and then both girls promptly burst out laughing.
"Ino and Temari believed that it would be a good idea for you to have them, so that no one would be surprised if they came poking around." Hinata explained, holding her hands up as if to say 'it wasn't my idea'. Sakura did the same, though a slight smirk on her face told Tenten otherwise.
"Well, I'm not gonna wear them." She dropped the boxers on the couch, "But everything else seems to be all right."
"Really? In that case, stop stalling and try them on." Before she could even blink Tenten found herself being dragged to her room by her psychotic friends.
"I' m going to hand it to you, Temari. You're good at picking out boys' clothes."
Tenten now stood in front of a full length mirror in a pair of tan cargos and loose blue polo shirt. Her hair had been taken out of her buns and tied back in a low ponytail to be messed with later.
"Having brothers can be a virtue, Sakura, even if they are little savages." Said Temari as she walked in a circle around Tenten, examining the girl from all angles. "Now Tenten, these clothes are good, but you're going to have to bandage your chest, and all of your shirts will be a bit loose, okay?"
"I'm prepared for that, but what about my hair? Should I cut it off?" Despite her stress on practicality over style, Tenten was very vain about her long brown hair.
"We have all summer to work on that, for now just tie it back."
"So Tenten, how did your voice lessons with Kankuro go?" asked Ino as she passed a new shirt and jeans to Tenten to try on.
"Better than yesterday; we finally found a voice that is actually passable." Said Tenten as she shed the old clothes and pulled on the new ones without a second thought. They were all girls, after all.
"Can we hear it?" asked Hinata
"Sure, hang on a sec." Tenten cleared her throat and said, in a very different voice, "Hey, my name is Tenten, what's up?", even going so far as to act the way she thought a boy would. All four girls promptly applauded her.
"Good job! That was loads better than the last few times." said Sakura, clearly pleased.
"Yeah, now you sound like you might actually be in high school. Before you sounded like a chipmunk with strep throat." Ino said bluntly.
"It's good, Tenten-chan." Said Hinata softly
"Yeah, it's good." Agreed Temari, "But you're going to need a new name. I'm sorry but, Tenten sounds too strange coming from a guy's mouth."
"Oh, right." Truth be told, Tenten had hoped that she would be able to keep her name as a boy. After all, it wasn't exactly the most feminine name to be called. But Temari had a point, she had never met any other Tentens, and it would become messy if her classmates met up with her as Tenten-the-girl and associated her with Tenten-the-boy. "Well, what do you guys suggest?"
"Well, it's not like these clothes, Tenten. We can't just pick one out and stick it on you; you're the one who will be stuck with the name, you'll have to think of one. If the name doesn't reflect you correctly, it won't make a good alias." Explained Ino, displaying for once a good amount of philosophical sense. "And that shirt looks absolutely dreadful, take it off and put this on." She held up a long sleeved checkered shirt and a plain white t-shirt. Tenten did as she ordered, removing the striped collared shirt and pulling on Ino's suggestion.
"The pig's right, Tenten. We'll leave the name for now and let you think about it." Agreed Sakura, "Then while we're boy-watching, you can decide!" Tenten paused in critiquing her appearance long enough to glare venomously at Sakura.
"I hate you, must you remind me?"
"Hey, you want to pull this off right?"
"Right…"
"Then stop complaining!"
What did I get myself into?! Tenten wondered for the thousandth time since she had first accepted the plan.
As it turned out, boy-watching wasn't as creepy as Tenten had assumed it would be. She had thought that they would be hiding behind stuff with a camera and dark glasses, watching certain boys' every move.
Instead, it turned out that Sakura, Ino and Temari's definitions of boy-watching actually meant sitting at a picnic table watching boys pass by and chatting in between observations.
"Well, this is mostly to watch mannerisms and ways of walking." Sakura had explained to Tenten in the car, "You're going to mimic the way different boys walk and act until you find one that you are comfortable with. Feel free to mix and match different mannerisms, makes things interesting." Tenten had just nodded and didn't even try to point out that personality traits weren't exactly accessories to be worn and taken off at will.
Currently, Tenten had practiced the postures and expressions worn by athletic busybodies, Goths, preps, losers, lazy boys, even hyper idiots. She didn't do most of these of her own free will, if she had had her way she would have just watched until she saw something she liked. But she had to admit inwardly that if it had been Ino or Sakura or Temari doing it (there was no way she could force Hinata) she would be doing the same thing, egging them on enthusiastically while laughing at how ridiculous they looked.
She took comfort in the fact that the saying "what goes around comes around" still applied to life.
"This isn't working." After more than two hours of observing boys and copying them, Tenten was completely worn out. Her logical side was wondering how she could train for half a day before admitting exhaustion, yet after only watching and imitating for a third of that time, she could be twice as tired. It made no sense, and her tired brain didn't want it to make sense.
"I wonder why not," Temari frowned thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the picnic table where she and the other girls sat. "I mean, imitating people usually leads to creating your own unique style, so why can't you?"
"Maybe because I have no idea what to do." Said Tenten sarcastically, flopping down on the grass.
"Tenten-chan, please calm down."
"Yeah, it's not like we teach one of our best friends to walk like a guy everyday." Said Sakura, flicking through her book (yet again), "So we don't really know what we're doing."
"I really hope that none of your patients ever have to hear you say that."
"They won't. I'll gain experience first." said Sakura smugly. "And the next time any of us want to cross-dress; I will be able to safely say I had experience." Tenten stuck her tongue out at Sakura, who copied the gesture.
"How about this: Tenten, just show us how you think you should walk and act, and we'll drop it for today." Offered Ino. Tenten nodded, not really having any energy to argue. She got off of the grass and stood for a minute, trying to think about how boys walked (the comments she and her friends had been making made her feel like a freakin' zoologist). Feeling more ridiculous than ever, she walked a sort of I-don't-care strut from one side of the hill to the other. Then, more confident, she repeated the strut-thingy, this time relaxing a bit. It was easier to keep up than the other walks she had tried out.
"That's good," said Sakura with approval, "You don't look like a clomping camel this time!
Tenten's eye twitched. "A clomping camel?"
"Well, when you were imitating the jock that's what it looked like! He probably thought that he was some big king of the jungle, but he was definitely like a camel clomping along."
"And what was the prep?" challenged Tenten, not liking the idea of looking like a camel, even if it was unintentional.
"A preening peacock." Said Hinata, for once showing no qualms about insulting someone.
"I'll say! He and pig would have been perfect together!" agreed Sakura
"Hey! I'm not shameless, I do have some standards!"
"Yeah, the boys have to be idiot enough to fall for your charms!"
"At least I had boyfriends!"
"At least I don't need relationships to enjoy myself."
"S-Sakura-chan! Ino-chan! Please stop."
"Yeah girls, calm down. Don't let yourselves get worked up." Said Temari. Unfortunately neither Sakura nor Ino were listening to the voices of reason. They maintained their argument for the rest of the time in the park and in the drive back to Tenten's apartment. It was annoying, yet at the same time very amusing. There were very few people on this earth after all who can alternate between insulting each other and commenting on clothes and the weather in the same breaths.
When they reached the apartment, Ino and Sakura abandoned their bickering in favor of raiding Tenten's freezer for ice cream, dishing out good sized bowls for the five of them.
"It's so nice when you two put aside your bickering and do something productive." Remarked Temari lazily, grabbing a bowl and spoon and digging in to the creamy mint ice cream. She would have preferred coffee flavor, but hey, Tenten didn't have any and Temari wasn't about to turn down free ice cream.
"I'll say," said Tenten, reclining on the couch and eating from her own bowl. "Sometimes I thought that they joined the Sand Kunoichi just to vent out their frustrations with each other."
"Really?" asked Hinata, who sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor with her back to the couch while she ate her own ice cream.
"Now, now. You know those are just lies, Hinata-chan." Said Ino cheerfully, plopping herself next to the blue-haired girl. "Though beating the crap out of my opponents certainly helped me calm down."
"It is good for anger management." Agreed Sakura, resting her legs over the arm of the chair she was sitting on.
The conversation continued in this vein for a while, as the girls unwound and relaxed. Eventually, the problem of renaming Tenten came up.
"Tenten, you really need to choose a name. I'm sending the files to Konoha tonight and I need to fix it so that you aren't a boy called Tenten."
"Fine, but how should I choose?"
"Well, your name as a boy will have to have some similarity to your real name." said Sakura.
"As long as the similarity wasn't too obvious." Agreed Hinata
"So I take it Tonton is out?" Ino laughed as she dodged the pillow projectile Tenten launched at her.
"Ino, being named after a piglet is not amusing. Particularly when the piglet in question is female!"
"I've been known as the boar for ages, I assure you, it's not that bad."
"A two syllable name would be easier for you to remember." Said Sakura, ignoring Tenten and Ino's 'conversation'.
"Yeah, and it should start with 'T' so the adjustment wouldn't be very bad." Neither was Hinata.
"So how about Touya?" suggested Temari
"Nah. Isn't that the older brother in Cardcaptor Sakura?"
"The hot older brother, yes."
"No thanks."
"How about Tenchi?"
"Hell no! No characters from harem manga! I do not want a tainted name!"
"Takeshi?"
"Too many syllables and much too common to use, Ino."
"Oh, right. How does Tenshi sound?"
"Nah."
"Tenkai?"
"Uh-uh."
"Rikki Tikki Tavi?" offered Ino
"…what?"
"Hey, I just want you to pick something."
"Well, I kinda like the name Toyo." Remarked Tenten
"There's no 'ten' in Toyo."
"But the end sounds are the same, two syllables, starts with "T", Tenten, I think you have a winner." Declared Sakura once she had ticked the advantages off her fingers.
"I think you could be a good Toyo-kun, Tenten-chan."
"Thanks Hinata."
"So your name is now Toyo…do you have a last name you want?" asked Temari
"How about Katana?"
"…Tenten, we've supported your strange love of sharp, pointy objects, but isn't that kind of weird?" asked Sakura, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, katanas are cool."
"Suit yourself." Temari scribbled down the name in a small pocket notebook. "Tomorrow morning, Tsunade will think that she is reading Katana Toyo's records."
"So I guess we'll have to get used to calling you Toyo-kun. Man, this is going to be weird." Commented Ino
"Good thing we have the whole summer to practice. Starting tomorrow." Said Sakura
"What?"
"You heard me; tomorrow it won't be Tenten walking around Konoha district with us, but Toyo-kun."
"No freakin' way."
"You have to get used to being a boy in public, you know."
"I know, but tomorrow? If this keeps up, by the time I get into Konoha I'll be dead."
"I can see the headlines: Girl Desperate to Prove that Girls are as Good as Boys Dies of Exhaustion. Yeah, you're right, that wouldn't exactly help our cause."
"How about this; in a couple of weeks when I can act and talk properly, I'll walk around as a boy."
"Excellent, now that that's taken care of, anyone up for some TV?" Sakura grabbed the remote and flicked on the television as though the entire discussion had not taken place.
Ichiraku's Ramen was the best noodle restaurant in the whole Fire City. It was popular for being clean, quick, and having very tasty ramen. Young people were its main patrons, so Ichiraku's was also known as a place to meet new people.
So currently, the gossiping of most of the groups of girls and boys was about the new boy who had just walked through the doors and was sitting ALONE at the counter, waiting for his order and twirling a dulled kunai expertly on his finger.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know, he must be new."
"How old do you think he is?"
"About fifteen, I would guess."
"He looks pretty girly to me."
"I think he's cute."
"Cradle-robber!"
"Hey, I'm eighteen, not that old…"
Tenten did her best to ignore the comments regarding her, twirling the kunai faster and faster as she tried to block out the voices. She felt incredibly awkward, though at least no boys would try to hit on her while she looked like this.
She had to admit, she looked pretty good. She wasn't as slender as Hinata and Sakura or as curvaceous as Ino and Temari, so when they had worked on 'androgynizing' her figure, there wasn't too much hassle. Working out also had its benefits, since it kept her from looking like a wimp.
Tenten had chosen to wear a pair of faded jeans and since it was cool and breezy, a blue, long-sleeved polo shirt. She had finally figured out that wearing her hair in a tight braid and wearing a sweatband to keep her bangs out of her face would allow her to keep her long hair and keep her face from appearing delicate and thus, too feminine. Though it helps that I don't wear make up or pluck my eyebrows, she mused
Unfortunately, Tenten still had absolutely no idea what to do. Sakura had said she was mostly here to be 'exhibited', but Tenten had no idea what she meant.
"Hey," a voice came from besides her, almost making Tenten fall out of her seat. She glanced curiously to the side only to find Kankuro grinning at her and almost fell off her stool anyway. Why?
Kankuro wasn't wearing make up. Tenten knew him well enough to know that he never removed his make-up. Not even in his sleep.
"What the-?" she began.
"Temari sent me here to help you, since none of the girls can really interfere." He nodded over to a table near the back of the restaurant where Sakura, Hinata, and Ino were all sitting. Temari had gone to the Academy, supposedly for some business. "And if you wanted to talk up those girls over there, it wouldn't help your reputation if you were hanging out with a guy in face paint."
"Ah, got it." Then she realized what the rest of his statement meant, "Whaa? Talk up girls? What are you, crazy?!"
"No, look, those girls over there have been eyeing you, and if you approach them, you can prove to anyone who's watching that you're a real man!"
"Or I could screw up and have everyone laugh at me!"
"Well, a little embarrassment never killed anyone. Now listen to me closely…"
Kankuro chuckled as he watched Tenten get up and walk over to the group of teens in a table by the wall that had been talking about her. Her voice and manner of walking had greatly improved, she was actually pretty convincing as a guy. But this would be a real test to see if Tenten could handle acting like a boy in front of others.
He couldn't hear the conversation, but judging from Tenten's body language and the facial expressions of some of the girls in the group, it wasn't going very well. A couple of boys in the group made sneering remarks at her, probably telling Tenten to go buzz off. But she was persistent, and managed to say something that caused one of the girls to blush prettily and her verbal offenders to back off. At the same time, it also made the boy sitting next to the blushing girl angry.
He got out of his chair and got right in Tenten's face, cracking his knuckles to make a point. Tenten was beginning to look a little nervous, which wasn't all that surprising, since the guy was almost a foot taller than she was. But she managed to keep her head in a typical Tenten way and tried to calm him down; despite the fact he wasn't listening.
Finally she seemed to give up. But instead of walking away (which would have been deadly at this point) Tenten stopped twirling her kunai, and with one casual flick of the wrist, pinned the boy to the wall by his shirt. She then apologized (or it looked like an apology) to the girl and left them, the gazes of the whole group following her.
"Nice," said Kankuro when she came back in earshot, "Unorthodox, but it worked in the end. What did you do that almost made you a laughing stock?"
"I sounded like a strangled cat."
"Ah, you forgot how to speak?"
"Pretty much, but then I said something about how the girl looked and she went all gooey and forgot about it."
"That was pretty smart of you." Kankuro looked over to the other girls in time to see the looks of complete confusion on their faces. He gave them a discreet thumb up before turning to Tenten.
"So who was the guy?"
"The girl's boyfriend."
"Whoops,"
"Big time. Next time you set me up to flirt with someone, make sure that person's other isn't around! I just lost a good kunai."
"I'll keep that in mind. Now get out of here before that guy gathers enough brain cells to get out of his shirt and come after you."
"Good idea." Tenten beckoned at her friends and they made a hasty exit. Kankuro chose not to leave just yet, instead grabbing Tenten's uneaten ramen and digging in.
Hey, why waste a perfectly good bowl?
As the summer flew by, Tenten's charade as a boy got better and better. Soon she
was able to go out in public and successfully act like a boy, even going so far as to pretend to flirt with girls and have those girls (to her horror and everyone else's amusement) flirt back. She ran into no more trouble with angry boyfriends, and was grateful.
Despite this accomplishment, there was still the possibility that she might not get in. According to Hinata, the acceptance letters wouldn't arrive until August, so she wouldn't know whether or not her training was in vain until the school year was about to begin. And even if she was accepted, it still wouldn't be worth it without a scholarship. Tenten was still technically a minor, and was reliant on the orphanage for money to live on. It wasn't that the orphanage was stingy—they weren't—but they needed all the funds possible to give the kids they housed a good life. A scholarship would help her get around these obstacles, and the orphanage representatives would made sure she was fine would never need to know about it.
But since there was little she could do about it, Tenten just pushed it to the back of her head and forgot about it. Sometimes during the summer the issue would resurface in her thoughts and a small knot would form in her stomach as she worried irrationally about what she would do if she didn't get in. Not only would she have to return to a Sand Kunoichi-less Suna High, but she would also have to deal with the fact that she would have to stop fighting. And that was just unacceptable.
So when that hot, August day finally arrived, Tenten was experiencing mingled feelings of excitement and absolute terror as she held the envelope in her hands, the rest of her mail tossed carelessly onto the kitchen table. She wasted no time in opening it, unconsciously wondering why the school would waste such good paper on acceptance or no acceptance letters. There was absolutely no need for the golden To Toyo-sama stamped on the back of the envelope, or for the intricate wax seal on the other side holding it closed. However, the seal was nice enough that Tenten took care not to tear it.
The paper inside, much to Tenten's dry amusement, was plain business paper. Hm, either they only care about presentation, or they don't bother with nice rejection letters.
Tenten fervently hoped it was the former.
Fingers trembling, she unfolded the letter and began to read.
Dear Toyo-kun,
We would love to have a student like you at our school. Your amazing Shinobi skills will be an asset to our team, and your grades are also exceptional.
Because of your circumstances I have agreed to give you a scholarship to pay for your tuition, your school uniform, and any other expenses you will need for the Academy. However, since you plan on living in your apartment, there is no money in this scholarship for boarding.
School begins on the second of September, be sure to have all of the supplies needed. I look forward to having you here.
Signed,
Tsunade
Complete euphoria swept through Tenten, coupled with intense relief. She hadn't wasted her summer; she was actually going to get the chance to prove that girls were as good as boys, and she was going to the best school in the city with her three best—wait.
Tenten grabbed her phone off its cradle and quickly dialed Sakura, hoping that Sakura would be in the same mood she was for the same reason.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sakura, its Tenten, listen, I just got the letter from Konoha, and…" she waited for Sakura to finish the thought.
"You got in!" It really was nice to have a friend who "got" things quickly.
"Yep, Toyo-kun officially is a senior of the Academy!"
"That's great!" squealed Sakura, "I just got the letter, and apparently, I'm now a scholarship student!"
"That's great! Knew your brains would help you one day Sakura! What about Ino?" If Ino had gotten in, Tenten would be absolutely delighted. The blonde was annoying, but she was very clever at getting Tenten into and (more importantly) out of social situations.
"I don't know, let me call her and we'll do a three way." Tenten waited while Sakura dialed Ino, and when she heard the blonde's voice, didn't waste any time with formalities.
"Ino, did you get a letter from Konoha yet?"
"Actually, yes. I was about to answer it when billboard brow so rudely interrupted me."
"I'll ignore that insult if you just open the envelope and tell us if you got in."
"Fine, fine. Jeez, Sakura, someone is awfully short today." There was a sound of paper ripping and a relieved sigh, followed by a very loud shriek that resulted in a loud clunk from Sakura's side and Tenten almost dropping the phone.
"I GOT IN!!!" she squealed. "No scholarship, but my parents said they'd pay if I got in."
"Fantastic! But please warn me the next time you imitate a whistle." Said Tenten, not really meaning what she said. "Sakura, are you still there?"
"Yeah, the stupid pig made me drop the phone when she squealed."
"Should we call Hinata?" asked Ino, completely ignoring the "pig" comment.
"Yeah, I'll do it." Tenten dialed Hinata's number and listened to the phone ring, absently humming to herself. When the phone was picked up she didn't even wait for Hinata to even say hello.
"Hey Hinata-chan, guess what? Sakura, Ino, and I all got—"
"Hinata-sama is not here at the moment." A deep male voice cut her off curtly, "Who is this?"
"Her friend, who is this?" As far as Tenten knew, no one except for Hinata answered her personal phone. Did she have a boyfriend? "Are you her boyfriend?"
The already irritated voice became icy cold. "No I certainly am not; I'm Hyuuga Neji, her cousin." Oh, Oops.
"Ah, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, Neji-san. Can you tell me where Hinata currently is?"
"You have no right to know." Said Neji coldly. Tenten gaped at the phone for a full minute before responding.
"She's my friend; of course I have a right!"
"No, you don't. If she has not told you where she was going then she probably does not want you to disturb her."
"Hinata has her own life; she doesn't have to tell me everything! Look, just tell me if she has her cell phone with her and I won't bother you anymore."
"No."
"Why not?" Tenten was beginning to get very frustrated.
"I can't."
"Why? Do you even know where she is?"
"No." Tenten was getting to the point that she wanted to reach into the phone and throttle the annoying boy to death.
"Then what was the point of answering her personal phone, the line people who want to know where she is, call?!"
"It was annoying me."
Tenten hung up. She didn't want to hear another word from Neji-san's throat. I don't care how hot he sounds, he's a jerk!
Woah. She did not just think that.
Shaking her head to clear it of strange thoughts, Tenten dialed Hinata's cell phone, hoping that she wouldn't have to talk to another Hyuuga. Fortunately, luck was on her side.
"Hello?" It was definitely Hinata.
"Hey Hinata, Sakura, Ino and I all have good news."
"What?'
"On my count, girls, 1…2…3!"
"We got in!" all three girls shouted into the phone.
"T-that's great!"
"Looks like the training wasn't for nothing," said Tenten, giddy with relief.
"I'll say, that would have sucked." Agreed Ino "Hey, what took you so long to come back? Sakura and I ran out of stuff to talk about and we almost had to resort to name calling."
"I ran into a bit of trouble with your cousin, Hinata."
"Which one?"
"Neji."
"Neji-nii-san? What happened?"
"He was being rude and wouldn't tell me where you were, not even when I insisted, then he insulted me, and then I found out he actually had no idea where you were so I hung up on him." recounted Tenten. Sakura and Ino promptly burst out laughing and even Hinata chuckled.
"You're going to have to forgive him." Said Sakura, "He tolerates me and Ino since we dragged Hinata out of her shell, but he's hostile to anyone he's never met before."
"You mean he tolerates you. He hates me." Complained Ino as Sakura laughed. "He once called me a blabbering bird with the voice of a chipmunk in middle school."
"You're just sore that an older boy didn't fall for your charms." Teased Sakura.
"How much older is he?" asked Tenten.
"He's your age, Tenten-chan. And he's going to be the class president of Konoha." Said Hinata.
Oh, crap. Well, she would just stay out of his way. It wasn't like she insulted him, after all, though she might end up doing so if he spoke like that again. All she would have to do was stay out of his way, and she would be fine.
Right?
A/N: Maybe, Tenten, but unlikely.
I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but if I had skipped to the first day of school, it wouldn't have made much sense.
I will update as frequently as I can, but I'm starting high school soon, and I may not have as much time to type as I want.
Please PLEASE Review! I'll keep updating, but I want to know what you think!