A/N: I think school is trying to screw me over. That is the only explanation I can offer for the lateness of this chapter.
"Go Tenten, go Tenten! Did you see that Kankuro?"
"Yeah, Temari, I did, now please stop with the victory dance. Gaara's going to have a hard time this year, won't he?"
"Yeah, probably will—crap! Forgot about him!"
"What?"
"Gaara!"
"What about Gaara?"
"Does he know about Tenten?"
"No, but does it matter? He wouldn't mind seeing Dad knocked down a few pegs."
"Not the point. Remember that Neji kid?"
"What about him?"
"He might actually have the brains to call Gaara and ask him about Tenten!"
"So?"
"Think about it. Gaara. Shi-no-bi captain. Of team 'Toyo' was former member of but he does not know that other he former member, because he no exist!"
"…Temari, you aren't making any sense."
Slap
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"Just call Gaara. Now."
If there was one thing that Tenten could be counted on to do, it was to be able to wake up ridiculously early in the morning completely refreshed and ready to start the day.
But only on the weekdays.
Weekends were a completely different story. When it was the weekend, all she wanted to do was sleep until three in the afternoon or even later.
She had yet to achieve this goal, but nevertheless she liked knowing that she had the option.
So when the phone rang one Saturday at five in the morning, Tenten woke up fervently hoping it was just a dream.
Ring
Someone, anyone, please turn off the hell bell!
Ring
I'm waiting…
Ring
God, apparently, is deaf to my prayers. Maybe he was offended when I swore?
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Grumbled Tenten as she felt around on her bedside table for where her phone was supposed to be. Once her fingers had located the piece of metal, she clicked the talk button and put it up to her ear.
"Who is this and what do you want?" she snapped not-very-cordially into the phone.
"Tenten?" The sound of Neji's voice made her eyes snap open and fall off the bed. Hastily, she clambered back onto her bed, heart thudding in her throat.
"Neji-san? Why are you calling me? Actually, how'd you get my phone number?"
"Just call me Neji, it's easier. Hinata gave it to me when I asked her."
"Oh."
Awkward pause.
"So, what are you calling me about, Neji?" She asked, annoyed that just calling him by his name as a girl, when she had been doing it for months as a boy, she was turning red with embarrassment.
"I hope I won't sound too forward, or disturbing, or stalker-like by asking this," he began awkwardly (Tenten wondered how he could use so many large words so early in the morning), "But I was wondering…you were captain of the Sand Kunoichi, correct?"
"Yeah, I was. Did you call just to confirm this fact?" Her early weekend morning crankiness inadvertently seeped into her tone, and almost immediately she forced it back. "Besides, my room only has one window that no one can see into. I don't have to worry about a stalker. Which you would know if you were stalking me. Duh."
"Of course." There was some amusement in Neji's voice, Tenten was relieved that he hadn't taken offense at her sarcasm. "Anyway, I was wondering, would you like to spar with me some time?"
"Spar with you?" repeated Tenten, a little confused.
"Yes, so that, well, we could get to know each other." The last five words were spoken in an almost incomprehensible mutter.
"Like a date?"
"…only romantics would call it that."
Tenten felt a smile lift the corners of her mouth.
"Well, Neji, you'll be glad to know I'm not a very romantic person. What time?"
"Ten in the morning sound good?"
"Today?"
"Is that a problem?"
"No."
"Good. Do you know where the house is?"
"Yeah but—"
"See you here." There was a click on the other line, and Tenten could only stare at her now-buzzing phone before she snorted in amusement.
"Sakura's right, the pretty ones always has revenge issues." She mumbled to herself as she rolled out of bed (she wasn't about to fall back asleep) to get ready for the day ahead of her.
Despite having been a friend of Hinata's for three years, she had only visited the enormous Hyuuga home once or twice before, both times when it was empty save for Hanabi, Hinata's little sister.
Tenten was secretly grateful that Hinata never suggested her house for their gatherings, as the place struck her as rather empty and forbidding.
She drove up into the driveway, feeling, as she always did in such wealthy neighborhoods, that she stood out like a sore thumb. The white house was completely immaculate and perfect looking, as though it was still brand new. The yard was arranged elegantly with native flowers and plants, with a koi pond right in the center.
She rang the doorbell, feeling even more self conscious, as though every neighbor on that perfect street was pulling back their curtains to see who was disturbing their perfect tranquility.
The feeling quickly went away as soon as Hinata opened the door and smiled at her.
"Good morning, Tenten-chan. Neji's already down in the training room. Follow me." Tenten nodded gratefully and entered the house, closing the door behind her before going after Hinata.
The 'training room' was actually a refurbished basement, turned into a miniature dojo by Hiashi. Or so Hinata explained as they went down the stairs that led to the so called training room.
When they entered, true to Hinata's words, Neji was already there, tossing kunai at a target with deadly accuracy, almost as deadly as her own. He stopped and turned to them, offering both girls a short bow.
"Thanks for showing Tenten down here, Hinata-sama."
"Not a problem, Neji-kun. Tenten-chan, I'll be with Hanabi upstairs if you need me." With a quick, small smile, Hinata exited the room.
"Why did you call her Hinata-sama?" asked Tenten once she was sure that Hinata couldn't hear her anymore.
"Habit." Neji shrugged very lightly, looking almost embarrassed, "When we were younger, we used to play games where she was a queen and I was her deadliest commander. It just stuck. But enough of that, shall we spar?"
Tenten nodded and moved into a defensive stance. With a flick of the wrist, she beckoned him to her.
"Your lead."
They sparred until noon, but unlike the serious spars which 'Toyo' and Neji generally had, this spar was more relaxed, not so much sparring as talking while giving their bodies something to do.
Tenten couldn't help but feel secretly pleased with how well everything was going. It was nice just to be able to talk to Neji, and as long as she remembered that she was not Toyo at the moment, she was safe. For the most part, their conversation's main subjects were Sakura and Ino, though he did ask her about Kankuro and Gaara at one point. It seemed that they were actually friends of sorts off the Shinobi season.
But gradually, the subject turned to the Sand Kunoichi.
"Why did they cut the team?" asked Neji as they sat under a shady tree out in the backyard during a break in their sparring. Tenten gulped down half a glass of water before answering. Sparring with Neji always made her very thirsty.
"Something about budget, not enough girls signed up to try out, the usual bull," she said conversationally, setting the glass on the tray of refreshments that Hinata had thoughtfully provided. She stretched luxuriously, almost catlike, not noticing Neji's eyes on her.
"Bull?" he inquired politely.
"Well, no matter what way you look at it, the decision to actually cut the team was just stupid. Enough girls signed up to make a team, just not enough to cull the weaker ones. We would've had to take them on anyway and 'waste time and money' with them. At least, in his words." She snorted contemptuously.
"I see. And you were not permitted to join the boys' team?"
"No, and even if we had been, it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. Girls are only allowed to be Genin, after all." Contempt seeped into her tone.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Neji, brow furrowing.
Tenten stared incredulously at him.
"…You did not just ask me that. Neji, everyone knows that recruiters never look at the Genin matches except to check the score ratio to the Chuunin matches! Keeping girls on Shinobi teams as Genin keeps them out of the spotlight, and thus, we don't get recruited, because they assume we aren't very good."
"But many of the girls who are serious about it usually…" he trailed off awkwardly, realizing that the good kunoichi weren't able to do anything 'usually'.
"See my point?" Tenten smiled, slightly bitterly.
"Yes," Neji admitted, "But it is also true that most girls who try out for the Shinobi team are not exceptional enough to make Chuunin."
"Sakura and Ino were Chuunin on my team." She pointed out, a little miffed, "Why aren't they good enough to be Chuunin on yours? I know you had room." Upon seeing his inquiring expression she added, "Toyo-kun told me."
"I don't need to explain to you, but to keep you from persisting: there were guys trying out for Genin that should have been on Chuunin. Like Shikamaru. Know him?"
"The lazy ass?"
"For the most part."
"Ino has been ranting about him nonstop for the past two or three months, I have a good idea of his personality by now."
"Ah." Amusement, mused Tenten, really became Neji.
"But what's your stand on the Kunoichi-Shinobi problem?" Tenten stared directly at him, making sure that Neji would take her question seriously. He kept eye contact, but while his face betrayed no emotions, Tenten noted that his fingers were tugging the grass minutely, unconsciously pulling out the blades.
It reminded her, for some silly reason, of Hinata's habit of poking her forefingers together when she was nervous.
"I don't have much of an opinion on it. I just think that the best need to be at the top. Gender isn't much of an issue." He abruptly stood, intimidating Tenten with his towering height. "Your friends were good, but they would not have been able to defeat most of any male opponents they might have had. Mentally, perhaps, but not physically. But enough of this, did my answer satisfy you?"
"No. But I'm not going to be getting another one, will I?"
Neji's mouth curled up into something that could have almost been called a smile, had he not been Neji.
"No, and thank you for recognizing that. Would you like to spar some more, or do you want to go home?"
"I still need to kick your ass." Tenten quickly jumped to her feet and readied herself as though they were going to start fighting right then and there.
"Very well. Good luck with that."
A couple hours later, Tenten was ready to go home. Sparring was fun and all, but she did have weekend homework, and needed to at least start it.
"Thank you for inviting me over, Neji."
"You're welcome."
Awkward silence.
"We should do this again, sometimes."
"I suppose so, but…" Tenten was astonished to see Neji looking almost embarrassed, "We probably should do things differently."
"Like?" Tenten prompted. She found the irritated glare he gave her when she refused to give him an easy way out amusing, and fought down a laugh.
"A date."
"Isn't this a date?" she joked, trying to calm down the sudden butterflies in her stomach.
"…"
"Okay, okay, totally not funny. Sure, I'd like to date you. I mean, um, well, uh—yeah." Tenten wished she didn't babble so much. It would make things so much easier.
"Hm. I'll call you then?" Apparently pleased with her answer, Neji no longer looked embarrassed, just apathetic as usual. One of the hands at his side came up and brushed the side of her face.
"Uh, sure, yeah." She was blushing, she could feel it.
"Very well." He nodded good-bye to her before heading back into the house. Tenten watched his retreating back with a dumbfounded look on her face. She quickly shook herself out of it, got into her car, and drove off.
I need advice. Now.
"Hello?"
"Sakura?"
"Hey Tenten, what's up?"
"Is Ino there? I need help. Now."
"Oh…sure. Hang on a sec." Tenten heard Sakura call her roommate's name and the sound of heels clip clopping towards the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Ino, it's Tenten."
"No duh. What's up?"
"I've been having some, um, guy problems."
"Ah. What did you do to Neji?"
"How did you—"
"It's pretty obvious when one's friend is romantically-obsessed. Now spill."
"Well, today he invited me over to spar—"
"Were you Toyo or Tenten?"
"Tenten."
"Ah, interesting. Anything juicy happen?"
"Not really, we just talked and sparred for a few hours. After that," Tenten briefly swallowed before continuing, "He asked if we could go out some time, you know, like a real date."
Tenten dropped the phone at the two sudden, girlish squeals that emitted from the phone.
"Tenten that's great!" Sakura gushed; Tenten could hear the grin in her voice. There were sounds of struggle on the other line and Ino's voice came through.
"Yeah, so what's the problem? Clearly, you two have chemistry. What's stopping you?"
"Let me see, if he knows me as a girl, he might rat me out, 'cause he's that smart. Second, what if I pull an Ino—"
"Hey!"
"You didn't even let me finish."
"I already know it's going to be bad!"
"Ugh," Tenten rolled her eyes but didn't finish her train of thought. "You get my point, what should I do?"
"Go for it. Duh."
"Seriously?"
"Of course she's serious. Gossip is the only thing that Ino takes seriously." Sakura had taken control of the phone a second time. Tenten could hear Ino yelling indignantly in the background.
"But didn't you hear me—"
"Tenten, must I remind you of your pitiful list of past boyfriends?"
"No you don't—"
"Let's see," Ino had stolen back control of the phone, "First you had an obscene crush on some weirdo called Gyoza, of all things—"
"He was really nice!" protested Tenten, feeling a blush crawl across her cheeks. "Even if his parents were a tad obsessed with food!"
"Meh, whatever."
"Yeah," agreed Sakura, back on the phone, and judging from the lack of outside sounds, Tenten concluded that the two friends had finally figured out that they should share the phone. "And then you dated that person, oh, what's-his-name…"
"Idate?" suggested Ino.
"Exactly, pig. Then there was Souta, the kid who stalked you, and some guy that had rabies. Oh, and don't get me started with Kankuro—"
"It was one date!" protested Tenten, trying desperately to block her memories of that little date. Sakura of all people should remember the mental scarring!
"—Then you decided you wanted to be a cradle robber and started going out with Gaara of all people…"
"Hey! I'm one year older! That's not a big difference! Ino, I know you can hear me! Don't be a hypocrite!"
"Maybe not, I'm just glad that relationship ended. Imagine having an insomniac of all people as a husband!" Ino laughed good-naturedly into the phone, cheerfully oblivious to the Tenten Death Glower from the other end.
"Can we stop focusing on my past love life please?" snapped Tenten in annoyance. "I need advice on what is happening now."
"Tenten, don't worry. Go for him!"
"But what about my cover?"
"You can handle it, don't worry." The confidence in Ino's voice reassured Tenten.
"Well, if you say so…"
"Listen to Ino-pig, Tenten. Just focus on impressing him on your date."
"I guess. One problem though—he hasn't asked me out officially yet."
"Want me to stalk him for you until he does? It's easy enough to do."
"INO!"
Exactly one week later, Tenten found herself at a party with Neji…one that "Toyo" was required to attend.
"This sucks," she grumbled half-heartedly to herself as she pulled off the dress she had arrived at the party in, putting on instead a pair of slacks and a t shirt.
"But Tenten-chan, didn't you expect that this would happen?" Hinata leaned on the wall opposite her, watching as her friend turned into Toyo, if only for a moment.
"Well, yeah. Just not for it to be this troublesome!" Grabbing some tissues, she wiped the light make up off her face and undid her hair, pulling it into a makeshift ponytail. Tenten stuffed her clothes into the bag she had brought for the occasion and straightened herself out, hoping like hell that she looked convincing.
"Then why go through it all?" Tenten looked towards Hinata, making eye contact with the genuinely confused girl.
"You know why, don't ask me that."
"But couldn't you have cancelled, at least Toyo's appearance, if you want so badly to be with my cousin?" inquired Hinata, an unusually small, smug smile on her face. Tenten shot her a mild glare.
"If you were Ino or Sakura I would smack you."
"I am very well aware of that Tenten-chan." Tenten redirected her glare to the cup Hinata was holding, wondering suspiciously if it was tainted with alcohol, because the younger girl was not being herself.
"Besides, Kakashi made it mandatory for all male team members to be at this party, though how he would know that we were here when he isn't here I don't know. But everyone says he will, so I had to come."
"He is a talented man, Kakashi-sensei." Was all Hinata had to say on the topic. Tenten simply rolled her eyes and left the room, Hinata following close behind.
Under ordinary circumstances, Tenten would have probably enjoyed herself very much. Kiba had organized the whole thing himself, and she swore that at least half the school was jammed into the house. People were dancing, drinking spiked punch, making fools of themselves and generally having a blast.
Tenten pushed through the crowd, trying to get to where Neji was; the living room. They had arrived together, Tenten not having the guts (or the will) to turn him down when he asked her to come with him. His reasoning was that they should have a date somewhere in public where her friends would be, to keep her from being too nervous.
Ordinarily, she would have appreciated his thoughtfulness, but the night ahead promised to be a hectic one, and she couldn't help but feel very irritated, mostly with herself. She comforted herself with knowing that Neji would probably only have to see "Toyo" a couple of times before she wouldn't have to change back any more.
"Oi, Hyuuga!" she called, consciously remembering that she was, right now, Toyo, and if she screwed up she would be stuck in something nasty. Neji looked up from his conversation with Lee, and acknowledged her with a nod.
"Have you seen your cousin?" he asked once Tenten was within hearing range of him.
"Yeah, I saw Tenten. She's doing something with her friends involving matchmaking, I was afraid to ask." The lie was an easy one; Tenten knew she would have been dragged into such activities, had she not had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Aa," agreed Neji.
"Listen, Tenten's a big girl; she can take care of herself and any man who tries to take advantage of her. So don't expect to see me very often. That good?"
"If it's fine with Tenten. I merely assumed that she would be more comfortable if she was surrounded with people she knew."
"Then inviting her to this party was pretty stupid, I mean, she knows only like, five percent of the people here." Neji simply shrugged at the comment.
"Nevertheless, she accepted me. And unless you have anything you absolutely must say, I would suggest that you hide." Offended, Tenten almost opened her mouth to retort, but something in his face made her turn around to look behind her instead.
She did a double take. Standing directly behind her were three girls, with different hair and eye colors, but with three identical, maniacal grins plastered on their faces.
"Hi, Toyo-kun!" they chorused, the creepy smiles never leaving their faces. Tenten, freaked out, nervously backed away and around them, catching Neji's barely audible mutter about fan girls.
"Um, hi?" Tenten attempted a nervous smile and immediately regretted it when the girls' smiles became even more disturbing.
"Do you want to dance with us?" they asked, their creepy smiles becoming even creepier. Behind them, Neji and Lee were making rapid shooing gestures. Tenten chose to follow the unspoken advice.
"No, thank you," she said with a weak smile, slowly backing away from the psychos, feeling distinctly cornered.
"Aw, come on, Toyo-kun!" The three lunged at poor Tenten, but she sidestepped and turned to run in the opposite direction, as far away from the three as possible. They followed, but it was easy for Tenten to lose them in the crowd of dancers.
And there were only three of them! How do Neji and Sasuke bear the hordes?
Considerably creeped out, Tenten searched and entered the first empty closet she could find; figuring that Neji had been kept waiting for long enough. Besides, by the time she had to resurface as a boy, the fan girls would probably be busy bothering someone else.
She changed quickly, half-wishing that she had a mirror with her to help her fix her hair buns. They kept feeling like they were done wrong when she couldn't see them, and in a fit of anger at the fifth try, Tenten chose not to bother, leaving her hair loose around her shoulders.
Hoping desperately the Chinese-styled dress and quick make up job would be enough as a disguise, Tenten exited from the closet and began to yet again wind her way through the crowd. She passed Hinata dancing with Naruto, clearly emboldened by the spiked punch (not that Naruto was complaining) and Ino flirting with boys that Tenten didn't know while Shikamaru scowled from across the room where he and Chouji were sitting together.
Sakura was nowhere in sight, but Tenten noted Sasuke scanning the dancers, looking (for him) unusually perplexed. Their eyes met as she passed, and his scowl seemed to deepen for some strange reason. Uneasily, Tenten wondered if he had recognized her, but brushed it off. There was no way he could make that sort of connection without some very strong proof.
Tenten made her way back to Neji, making sure that her dress was straight and her hair as tame as it could possibly be.
"Neji!" she called, to get his attention. Neji immediately looked up from his conversation with Lee and beckoned her over with a small smile. She smiled back and sat down next to him, across from Lee, who looked like he would burst a blood vessel from smiling so widely.
"I don't think that we've met, flower of youth!" Lee took her hand and pretended to kiss it, without his lips making contact with her skin, for which Tenten was grateful. "I am the Green Beast, Rock Lee."
"Pleasure to meet you, Lee. I'm Tenten." Tenten smiled amicably at Lee, amused by his unusually gentlemanly manners.
"Neji had told me much about you, you two seem to have gotten very close in such a short period of time."
"Knowing the same people helps," admitted Tenten, shrugging. "And my cousin's a good source of information. Heh, Toyo's been complaining about being interrogated every time I see him."
"Neji is not very good at making requests of people." Agreed Lee, smiling.
"Toyo actually told me that Neji prefers to fight to being polite, is that true?"
"He was mixing me up with Uchiha."
"I doubt it. Toyo never lies, at least not to me."
"Well, Tenten-san, is he very close to you?"
"For the most part, sometimes he acts more like an annoying brother than a cousin."
"Then perhaps he is like Neji, who never allows Hinata-san anywhere near a young man." Startled by the subtle jab at Neji coming from Lee of all people, Tenten burst out laughing.
"Lee…" growled Neji in warning.
"What?" Lee was somehow managing to look completely unabashed, "There are many boys who would have liked a chance with Hinata-san, but you chased almost all of them away!" The murderous look on Neji's face had Tenten doubling over with laughter.
To add fuel to the fire, Tenten asked "But what about Naruto? I passed him and Hinata dancing together, he didn't look put off at all!"
Lee chuckled, pointedly ignoring the steam rising from Neji's ears, "Naruto-san has always been an, ah, special case."
"Oh really? Do tell."
The conversation continued in this thread for some time, until Neji inexplicably decided that he wanted to dance and dragged Tenten away from Lee. While he achieved his purpose, a slow song had started to play, and Tenten forced him to stay on the dance floor, swaying with her and other couples to the music. Other than slight grumbling, he didn't seem to mind very much.
Tenten was able to dance for two songs with Neji before they were interrupted by a disheveled Kiba.
"Hey Neji," he interrupted, panting, "Have you seen Toyo anywhere? Some crazy fan girls of his are tearing the place up!" Upon noticing Tenten he promptly did a double take, "Whoa! Who's the pretty lady who looks freakishly like Toyo?"
"This is Tenten, Toyo's cousin." Explained Neji briefly. Despite his surprise, Kiba grinned, amused.
"Nice to meet 'cha. I'm Kiba, your cousin probably mentioned me and my awesomeness. But anyway, Neji, I thought you told Naruto that people shouldn't date their friends' relatives. Are you being a hypocrite? I thought you said you hated hypocrites—"
"What do you need Toyo for?" cut in Tenten, wanting very much to avoid a maiming.
"I dunno, just lure them out of the house or something. Do you know where he is?"
"I'll go look for him. Be back soon, Neji." Tenten darted away before her date could say anything else.
Once again she wove through the crowd, returning to the same closet, and after a quick check inside for kissing couples, locked herself in as she changed a third time.
"This is getting more troublesome by the moment," she grumbled, rushing out as quickly as she could, almost bumping into Sasuke, who looked mildly surprised to see her exiting a closet.
"Sorry," she mumbled, skirting around him.
"Katana," Tenten stopped and turned reluctantly to face Sasuke.
"What?"
"Why are you wearing lipstick?" Confused, Tenten gingerly touched her lips. Her fingers came away pink with gloss. She had forgotten to clean her face of cosmetics.
"Don't ask." She hurried away from Sasuke as fast as she could, mentally and physically hitting herself on the head for her carelessness. If anyone else asked, she would remember to mention a nonexistent girlfriend.
That wouldn't explain the mascara, but it was good enough.
The fan girls weren't hard to locate and even easier to get rid of. Really, all she had to do was let them catch sight of her besides the pool, let them capture her, agree to dance with them, then while they were squabbling over who got to dance with her first, gently 'nudge' them into the pool. The fan girls' distress over their state meant that they would be preoccupied for the rest of the night, and that Tenten (hopefully) wouldn't have to bother with being Toyo again, considering that pretty much everyone had seen her after that amusing little stunt.
So, once again, Tenten slipped into the same closet and changed, but this time checking quickly around for Sasuke; she had seen him around this particular area one too many times for her not to be suspicious of him being suspicious of her. Fortunately, he was nowhere to be seen.
As usual, she changed quickly, taking extra care not to be careless and forget something that could give her double identity away. She opened the closet door carefully, casting a wary eye around, and seeing no one looking in her particular direction, exited and began to make her way back to Neji.
Sakura was bored.
Why was she bored? Well, for starters, Hinata had quickly gotten slightly drunk from the spiked punch and had left her to dance with Naruto. Not that Sakura was complaining, it was about time the girl took the initiative, and Naruto was definitely enjoying himself, judging from the stupid grin on his face.
Second, Ino had found boys that she wanted to flirt with and also abandoned her for them. Her purpose, it seemed, was to make Shikamaru jealous and come get her. While the first part of the plan was clearly taking effect, the second part seemed to be a very long work in progress, and not one Ino planned on giving up any time soon.
So that left Sakura, for the most part, by herself. Occasionally she found diversion with a pretty boy or two who would ask her to dance, but for most part she spent her time leaning against the wall, a cup in her hand which she sipped out of while observing the intimates in the room.
She hoped Tenten was having a good time with Neji. However, despite the advice she gave to the contrary, Sakura wasn't entirely sure that going out with him when she had a second identity to maintain was such a good idea. It was confusing, and would be a sticky, complicated mess if anybody found out.
As a disheveled, still wearing make-up 'Toyo' dashed by her, heading for a closet-turned-changing room, she couldn't help but wonder if telling Tenten to accept Neji's invitation had been such a good idea after all.
Her doubts were further increased when she saw Sasuke begin to make his way over to where Tenten was situated. Sakura quickly made a beeline for him, having a good idea of what he was after.
"Hey Sasuke!" The Uchiha reluctantly stopped and turned around to face Sakura.
"What?"
"Nothing, but it's boring and I saw you, so whatcha doing?" she asked in a perky, overtly cheerful tone.
"None of your business." He tried to turn around and resume his path, but Sakura grabbed his arm to prevent him from doing so, the first time she willingly made physical contact with him all year. He stared at her hand on his sleeve, and then redirected his gaze to her face, making her flush.
"Why are you following Toyo?" she asked in what she hoped was an innocent tone.
"He's been acting weird." Was the short reply as he tried to turn around again. Sakura kept her firm grip on him, knowing that she was strong enough to keep him facing her and away from Tenten for at least a little while longer.
"So? He always acts funny." She kept one eye on the door Tenten was behind, hoping desperately that the girl would come out and make her escape quickly.
"I don't think that cross-dressing is funny, do you?"
"What are you talking about?" Sakura tried not to show the fear she suddenly felt.
Did he find out?
"Toyo has been going in that room or closet or whatever all night." Sasuke gestured behind him, "And every time I turn around, I see a girl who isn't Toyo but looks a lot like him come out. I might be wrong, but I just need to make sure." He pulled out of Sakura's grip and began to turn around a second time, right as Tenten (as a girl) was exiting the closet.
Panicking, Sakura did something both ingenious and very stupid.
Grabbing Sasuke's shoulder, she forced him yet again to face her, then grabbed the front of his shirt, jerked him down, and…
She kissed him.
It wasn't much of a kiss, all things considered, as Sakura was in a distressed state of mind and Sasuke had probably gone into shock from the action, but it was still a mind-numbing experience.
After a few, very long moments had passed, Sakura broke the kiss.
"Oh, God, Sasuke-kun! I'm sorry, I didn't mean—I mean—it was, um—something in the punch! Yeah, the alcohol made me do it, I'm really sorry…"
Sasuke only looked dumbfounded.
"I gotta go, bye!" Sakura dashed off, her mind scrambled, knowing only that she needed to get far away from Sasuke as quickly as she could.
For his part, while Sasuke remembered what his original purpose had been, and probably could have connected the kiss to the purpose had he tried, his hormones clouded his brain completely and forced out most rational thought.
He turned and began to search for Naruto; punching something always made him feel better.
Oblivious to Sakura's plight, Tenten spent the rest of the night as herself, with Neji and some of the other boys he hung out with. She enjoyed talking to them immensely, though she almost slipped up on a couple of occasions. Because of the probability of her slipping up when she was sober was pretty high, Tenten made sure not to touch the punch (which, after Naruto's attempt to strip, she knew was spiked).It was midnight before she pleaded exhaustion with Neji and they left the party. He drove her to her apartment, and being the gentleman that he was, insisted on walking her to her apartment door.
"That was a lot of fun, Neji." They were standing outside her door.
"It wasn't bad. Why did you keep disappearing?"
"To look for Toyo. He's always disappearing all over the place; he isn't very fond of parties, you know."
"Ah." Tenten waited for him to say anything else, but he didn't.
"Well, good night." Standing on tiptoe, she leaned forward, intending just to kiss him on the cheek. However, Neji turned his head, so that their lips met instead.
While surprising, it was most certainly not unpleasant, and Tenten returned the kiss as much as she could.
"You know, you could have just asked," she remarked when they broke for air, slightly annoyed by the smug look on Neji's face.
"Sorry." He said, not looking the least bit apologetic. Tenten just smirked and shook her head.
"Yeah right. I'll call you?" Neji inclined his head slightly to show his agreement, and Tenten gave him a quick peck on the cheek (which he did not stop) before unlocking the door and entering her apartment.
She waited for Neji's footsteps to fade before letting out a raucous laugh and flopping over onto the couch. Tenten knew that things would get difficult, she always knew that, but as of right now, she really didn't give a damn.
A/N: Hope you all liked the NejiTen. I didn't mean to make it this fluffy, actually.
The SasuSaku may seem a bit random, but these two need something big to propel any relationship they'll ever have forward, and it shows (I hope) that Sakura (and Ino) are willing to do almost anything to get what they want.
Please review!