Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
After the events that had taken place, Tenten would have thought that, come Monday, she would be the one to have trouble keeping her composure, considering she had kissed her own team captain.
This, surprisingly, was not so.
"Sakura," A muscle tick had developed on Tenten's forehead as she tried to drag the younger girl towards Konoha Academy, "Come on. Be a woman and own up to your actions! We're going to be late!"
"Yes, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-san will probably not talk to you about it anyway, so please stop being difficult." Hinata insisted, trying to be helpful as she, Ino, and Toyo tried dragging the unwilling girl towards the academic part of the campus, to the bemusement of the other students.
"No, he will incinerate me with his eyes!" wailed Sakura overdramatically, digging her heels into the ground and significantly slowing down the process.
"What's she talking about?" Tenten asked Ino in an undertone. Ino looked surprised, and a little condescending.
"Haven't you noticed? Sasuke-kun has very, well, strange eyes; sometimes, they even turn red." Explained Ino in the same volume. Tenten briefly thought that Neji's eyes did something similar, though then the veins around his eyes bulged out, which was considerably creepier.
"They don't just turn red, they're laser beams!" Sakura's hearing, in her distress, seemed to have sharpened dramatically. "They'll kill me!"
"Sakura, just shut up and stop making a scene!" Ino was being pushed to a breaking point, making Tenten wary.
"No! Let me go back to the dorm." Despite the three other girls (or two girls, one boy to outsiders) hanging onto her, Sakura turned around and began to, quite determinedly, go in the opposite direction.
"Oh, be a woman, Sakura!" exploded Ino in frustration, "You made me lose way too much beauty sleep this past weekend with your incessant wailing! Unless you face yourself, I won't be getting any sleep! So shut up and accept that you did something stupid! I do all the time; and don't even think about commenting, Toyo!" She added, glaring meaningfully at her friend.
"Sakura-chan, don't worry, come on." Hinata tried pulling on Sakura's arm, but the girl would not budge.
"I'm still not going." She sulked.
Hinata persisted. "But Sasuke-san is heading this way, you must—" Tenten suddenly found herself completely unbalanced and knocking heads with Ino as Sakura promptly pivoted and headed for the school, fast as lightening.
Once her vision stopped spinning, Tenten looked around suspiciously for a dark-haired emo boy, and not finding any, turned an inquiring eye on Hinata. The girl blushed, before a slightly wicked smile made its way onto her face.
"Well, we were going to be late. And she needed motivation, anyway."
Tenten stared at her friend in disbelief before turning to Ino, an expression of utmost severity on her face.
"Yamanaka Ino," she began, "How do you plead to being accused of being a horrible influence on the innocent Hinata?"
"Very, very guilty." Said the blonde smugly.
"How much alcohol consumption do you think a person has to have before they do or think something completely irrational?"
Tenten blinked. "I beg pardon?" she asked, confused. When she had walked into Ibiki's classroom and taken a seat in front of Neji, she half expected to be drilled about her 'cousin's' odd behavior on Saturday.
Instead, she got something completely random.
"I suppose it depends on the person, and how crazy they are ordinarily." She hypothesized uncertainly. "Why?"
"It seems that a few members of our own team are sadly susceptible even to well-diluted alcohol." Neji didn't even glance at her as he responded, copying the characters on the board into his notebook as he did so. "I wondered if you knew exactly how much liquor they can consume, diluted or otherwise."
"If you're talking about Sakura or Hinata, I honestly can't answer that. Ask them yourselves. Besides, you're the genius here."
Neji glanced at her, annoyed. "My cousin has nothing to do with this. However, Sakura does have a good deal to do with this."
"What do you mean?"
"Apparently—I haven't found any concrete sources yet—while moderately under the influence, Sakura did something very foolish to Uchiha." Here he did glance at Tenten, while his pen continued to sketch out the characters perfectly onto his paper. "Do you have any knowledge of this? Because frankly, everyone else looked too drunk to notice if Kakashi had waltzed in dressed as a drag queen on Gai's arm."
Tenten shuddered at the horrible mental image.
"Never use that analogy again, but you're right, as usual."
"So you know why Uchiha looks like a hunted dog?"
"Sakura would kill me if I told you."
"I doubt that. Now tell me."
"No, really, she'd kill me."
"I don't care, tell me." Tenten glared at him.
"You're awfully sensitive. Fine. But if I have to spend the rest of Shinobi season in the hospital, it's your fault."
"I got that. Tell me."
"You're as bad as Tenten. But anyway, apparently Sakura was so drunk that her repressed hormonal feelings for Sasuke exploded and she kissed him to relieve them." Tenten explained, improvising on the spot.
Neji actually paused in his character practice to absorb the information before continuing.
"That's all?"
"Pretty much."
"Hmph. Just like the Uchiha to get so worked up over something so trivial." He snorted, shaking his head. "How ridiculous."
"What's so trivial about being involuntarily kissed?" asked Tenten, slightly incredulous. "Tenten wasn't exactly stoic about it after you planted—"
"Excuse me?" to her extreme amusement, Neji had suddenly gone from looking superior to almost cowed (or at least as close to cowed as a Hyuuga's facial muscles could get).
"Yeah, well, she gushed to Sakura and Ino all about it and they reported it to me," she went on, impressed with Neji's rapid color change, "And let me tell you, hearing exactly how silky she thought your hair was, or how soft she thought your mouth was—"
"That's enough," Neji looked unusually flushed, and Tenten couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.
"Yeah, it's creepy stuff, huh? Almost as bad as Lee's attempts at waxing." Tenten turned around in her seat, looking for the bowl cut boy, "Where is Lee, anyway?"
"He hasn't left the dorm. Like our less inhibitive peers, he overdosed on alcohol and hasn't yet recovered from his hangover."
"Ouch. Too bad for him, he'll be completely lost tomorrow when psycho Mister-Ibiki-the-Drill-Sergeant gets to him."
Smack!
Everyone in the room jumped when the ruler came crashing down on Tenten's desk. She took one look at Ibiki's face and gulped.
"Really, Katana? Considering how proficient Lee's Chinese is, he will probably struggle about as much as you will today. So tell me, what radicals make up the character for 'school'?"
"Uh…I don't know?"
The look on Ibiki's face made Tenten desperately wish she could eat her words.
Four periods later, Tenten sat down for lunch with the usual group. Along with Lee, Kiba and Sakura were also missing.
"Where's Sakura-chan?" Asked Naruto as he set down his tray, "I've barely seen her all day." Tenten noted that Sasuke seemed to be his normal apathetic self, albeit stiffer than usual. He scarcely glanced at her, prompting Tenten to wonder if he had forgotten his suspicions.
She certainly hoped so.
"I dunno, maybe her headaches came back." Said Ino, shrugging. Naruto seemed to accept the explanation, but Tenten knew that if Ino really had no idea where Sakura was, she would be worried at least a little.
"But Sakura-chan gets that affected by alcohol?" Naruto looked a little skeptical, " I mean, I know Hinata-chan holds it better than most people," Hinata blanched and dropped her fork, "But I thought Sakura-chan was more like Tsunade baa-chaaan—yeOUCH!"
The blonde principal, who had been passing, bopped Naruto as hard as she could on the head, sending him into his curry rice.
"I'm not old! That boy never learns…" she was heard muttering as she walked away. The group made sure she was well out of earshot before continuing their thread of conversation.
"So teme, whadda do this time to her?" Sasuke blatantly ignored his blond friend, much to his annoyance. Others at the table turned to different conversations, dropping the conversation thread of drunken friends all together.
"You sure Sakura's okay?" Tenten directed the question to Ino, who seemed determined to make it obvious to Shikamaru that she was giving him the cold shoulder. For his part, Shikamaru seemed completely oblivious.
"Forehead girl's fine. Don't worry, I checked up on her." She smiled at Tenten, "As soon as we get Sasuke to talk to her, she'll be fine. I guarantee it." The girls quickly peeked in the Uchiha's direction. He was blatantly ignoring Naruto's hounding and talking to Shino, seemingly unaware of the eyes on him.
"How will you accomplish that?" asked Tenten, leaning forward and lowering her voice so that the others wouldn't hear her.
Ino did the same. "It's called 'manipulation through best friend'. Works every time." Tenten let out a sigh of exasperation.
"That didn't answer my question. What did you do?" Ino swallowed a mouthful of rice before answering.
"You'll see. Naruto's been asking about Sakura all day; Sasuke's going to snap pretty soon, and will be coerced into talking to her."
Tenten thought the concept extremely optimistic.
"Wait, I thought Naruto liked Sakura. Why would he make Sasuke talk to her?"
Ino sighed impatiently. "You really need to listen to me more. He does like Sakura, but more importantly, he's friends with both of them, and even more importantly, he enjoys messing with people's love lives as much as I do."
Tenten blinked. "Really?"
"Yep, I didn't expect it either. But when one has an advantage, one must use it." Ino's expression went very smug as she finished her meal.
"Why don't you just go out with him then, instead of Mr. Pineapple over there? You two have a lot in common." The look the blonde bestowed on Tenten was completely deadpan.
"Tch, please." She snorted, "He's too stupid for my tastes. Pineapple-chan over there, while oblivious, is much more interesting to poke at. Besides, even I don't ask someone out who's clearly already taken."
"Oh." Tenten began on the next problem she had spotted. "Well, Sasuke may be taken care of, but what about Sakura? Unless you lock them in a closet or something, how will you get her to talk to him?"
"Billboard Brow? I've already convinced her; don't worry about it. As far as she's concerned, she's doing this to provide a cover, and not 'cause she likes him." She let out an indulgent chuckle, "Which we all know she does. But really, she was much more reasonable in second period; I don't know why she isn't here right now. Probably at the library, tch."
"The library's not so bad."
"It is if you're alone and some creep tries to hit on you! Let me tell you something…"
And so they moved on to more mundane conversation.
It was sixth period PE when Tenten saw Ino's plan take effect.
After the daily run, when Tenten sat down along with her other classmates to catch her breath, she noticed Sasuke get up and head towards the water fountains. This occurrence wouldn't have been exceptional, had not Sakura been there as well, nervously waiting for him.
No one else seemed to find this exceptional, except for Naruto, whose face resembled a Cheshire cat's, prompting Tenten to wonder exactly what other methods he had used to persuade Sasuke. She watched the two like a hawk, but couldn't discern whether the conversation was going well or not.
After only a few minutes of conversation, Sasuke and Sakura returned to the group. Surprisingly, neither Sakura nor Sasuke looked embarrassed, and Sasuke even looked a little pleased with himself. Whatever happened, Tenten could assume, had been beneficial to the relationship—friends or whatnot—that the two had. Once they reached the bleachers, they parted; Sakura went to sit with Ino and Hinata, Sasuke came to sit with Naruto, Neji, and Tenten.
Naruto did not try to contain his curiosity. "Hey teme, what didja say to Sakura-chan, huh? Huh?"
"None of your business, dobe." With the same self-satisfied look on his face, Sasuke evaded Naruto's question.
Of course, Naruto was not put off easily, "Teme, you're smiling creepy. As your friend, it's my duty to protect others from not knowing the explanation of your creepy smile so that they don't drop dead from the unnaturalful-ness of it."
"Again, none of your business, dobe." Sasuke followed the statement up with a smack to the back of the blond head. "And I don't have a creepy smile," he added as an afterthought.
"OW!" Naruto doubled over, rubbing the bump on his head, "You better watch it, teme! When I get—"
"What were you doing at the Inuzuka's party, by the way?" Sasuke ignored Naruto and turned to Tenten, who was caught off guard by the question.
"Beg pardon?"
"You never explained how you ended up with make up all over your face." Sasuke pointed to his own for emphasis, looking at her expectantly. For some reason, Tenten felt like she was being cornered.
Unable to remember the reason she had made up for the occasion, she licked her lips and opened her mouth, intending to answer with the first thing that came to mind. Neji, however, beat her to it.
"So you ended up getting ambushed by your fan girls after all, Toyo?" he asked, amused. "Amateur."
Tenten gave him a deadpan look.
"Fan girls? What fan girls?" asked Naruto, looking from Neji to Tenten, while Sasuke also looked rather surprised.
"It seems that Toyo joined our ranks, Uchiha. The mentality of his fan girls seems to be the same as ours, unfortunately."
"Wait! You've been here for less than a semester, and already you have fan girls? Unfair!" Naruto looked ready to sulk, before a new thought struck him. "Or not. Teme has some pretty creepy ones."
He snickered, dodged the upcoming fist, and muttering about cold homicidal bastards who couldn't take a joke, went looking for Shino to bother him.
"Well, that makes some sense. I could believe that." Despite his words, it was clear from his face that Sasuke didn't entirely believe her. Remembering Sakura's reasons, Tenten mentally cringed and vowed to make sure she wouldn't get in the same situation again. Not only was it stressful, but if Sasuke caught even a glimpse of her becoming Toyo or Tenten…well, it wouldn't be good news for her.
After PE, as usual, Tenten changed in the bathroom stall into her uniform, before exiting the locker rooms with Neji, who was generally the quickest to change.
"Just warm up and wait for everyone to come into the gym," Neji instructed, "Kakashi have something important that I need to say to all of them."
"Yes sir!" Tenten raised her hand in mock salute, and laughed, ignoring Neji's annoyed expression.
Once everyone had gathered in the center of the gym, Gai and Kakashi called for attention, found themselves unable to be heard among the chatter, and was forced to resort to whistles to get the team to quiet down.
"Do I have everyone's attention?" asked Kakashi. A chorus of grumbles answered him as various Shinobi team members tried to stop the ringing in their ears. "Good. As your captain, I have an important announcement to make. Starting next week, we will be participating in the Intercity Shinobi Tournament—" A loud roar of approval exploded from the team. Again, Kakashi was forced to use the whistles to calm them down.
"Well, it's nice to see you all enthusiastic, for once," he continued dryly, "But before you are allowed to beat others to a bloody pulp, there will be a formal lunch on Sunday that all teams are required to attend." He listened with what seemed to Tenten to be sadistic amusement at the groans and noises of disgust coming from the team.
"Yes, it will be formal." He repeated, "And I expect every single one of you to be on your best behavior. I was going to make you all have dates—" A chorus of Ehh?s from the slightly horrified team, "But I'll make it optional instead. Oh, and the lunch will take place at the Hokage hotel. Any questions?" Other than the resentful glowers, he didn't get a response. "All right then! We'll do sparring for today; we'll start the drills tomorrow."
The team broke off into squads. Tenten went to spar with Gai while Neji took on Lee (who had recovered) for a change.
"Toyo," Gai spoke in an undertone as they fought, quietly enough that Tenten had to strain to catch his words. "I'm not sure it would be a good idea to go to that event in your current state."
"Why not?" she asked, ducking a headshot and jabbing Gai in the left arm. He blocked the blow and sent her halfway across the room. She was forced to somersault while in the air in order to land on her feet.
"You were on the Suna team, am I right?" he asked when she came within earshot again.
"No—I mean, yeah…what of it?" Remembering her cover, she quickly rectified her mistake. She slammed into his side, sending Gai stumbling, though he quickly regained his balance.
"All teams are required to be there, you know. Especially the prominent ones, like Suna or Oto."
Realization hit her. "Oh. But I wanna go. Even if it is kind of cheesy, I don't want to miss anything."
"Nothing important is going to go on, it's just a ceremony." Gai insisted, unusually stubborn in refusing her pleas that nothing was wrong with going to the lunch in disguise. She saw his point, but still, danger or not, she wanted to go and see what sort of fuss and hassle Shinobi teams went through before the fun happened.
After a few more minutes of sparring and arguing, she acquiesced to his suggestion. Pleased, Gai pushed no further, his unassuming personality around his students clearing away all suspicions that Tenten might try another way around him.
In a way, she wasn't really ignoring Gai's warnings, Tenten thought to herself as they took a quick break from the exercise. She was just…exploiting loopholes, as it were.
"Hey Neji, do you think we could bring guests to this lunch thing?" she asked as he took a seat next to her on the newly repaired bleachers and took a swig from his water bottle.
"Certainly. My uncle and Hanabi will be coming, and some of the other families." He cast her a sideways glance, "Why?"
She smiled at him. "I think Tenten will probably come in that case."
Now Toyo, on the other hand, I don't think he'll be able to make it…
A/N: This chapter took so long it's not funny. Well, for some reason it was a struggle to write, despite the fact that almost nothing happened!
Bleh, well, up next is the lunch at the Hokage hotel, and I can't wait to write it. To those who've seen the luncheon scene in She's the Man could probably guess why, it's the best part of the movie, I think.
Review! I'd like to hear from the lurkers, please! Nothing much, just a quick opinion or something would do.