One of the Guys

by kpopgeek16

Tenten has never been much for girlish behavior. All her life she's preferred the company of males, to the point where she's eventually considered "one of the guys." But when Neji Hyuga makes an entrance into her life, she suddenly finds herself at the center of a romance she never even dreamed of. But nothing is ever quite that simple, is it? NejiTen, SasuSaku, SasuTen.

4. Chapter 4

"That's so not fair, you totally cheated!"

"You're just a sore loser, Naruto. I can't help the fact that you suck."

"I call bullshit. Do-over!"

"Give it up, Naruto," Kiba snickered.

Scowling, Naruto flung his cards down and folded his arms with a huff. Shikamaru reshuffled the deck, tapping his heel rhythmically against the floor with the faintest hint of a self-satisfied smile.

"It was actually Naruto that cheated," Neji said to me quietly.

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? How did you tell?"

"Remember when he dropped his phone on the floor?" When I nodded, he continued, "When he leaned over to grab it, he palmed one of the cards and hid it behind his phone when he put it back in his pocket."

"Wow. I didn't even notice."

He shrugged offhandedly. "To one only casually watching, it would seem like nothing ever happened. He was rather covert about it."

"Naruto, covert?" I snorted, shaking my head. Neji only quirked his lips in that infuriating not-smile of his. We sat in silence, watching the game, and this time I actually paid attention to each of their movements.

"I win again," Shikamaru said, lazily setting his cards on the table.

"What!" Naruto exclaimed. His blue eyes widened as he stared at the cards; finally he groaned and laid his head on the table with a loud thunk that made me wince.

"He tried again," Neji murmured, shaking his head.

"Seriously, how the hell?" I stared at him incredulously. "I was watching that time, and I didn't see anything."

Neji simply shrugged again. Frustrated, I folded my arms and sat back against the couch.

"Guys, I wanna play a game," Kiba grinned after a few moments of listening to Naruto and Shikamaru bicker over their last match. They shut up instantly and turned to Kiba expectantly. "I know where my dad keeps his booze, so I was thinking we could play 'Never Have I Ever.'"

"Interesting," Shikamaru mused, rubbing his face.

"Um.." Hinata squirmed a bit. "Could we play with juice or something instead?" Silently I thanked her.

"Aww, come on, Hina! Lighten up a bit, it's just for fun."

"How about this," Shikamaru said. "Those who want juice can drink juice, and those who want booze can drink booze. All right?"

Kiba shrugged his consent and went off to retrieve the drinks, Choji trailing behind.

"I've never played this," Neji said in a low voice, flicking his pale eyes to me.

"Oh, it's simple," I said. "Someone says something that they've never done, and if you yourself have done it, you take a drink."

He raised one eyebrow. "Is that all?" When I nodded, he let out a soft scoff. "Seems a little ridiculous."

Naruto grinned at him and nudged his side. "That's what makes it fun!"

Kiba and Choji returned with the drinks and a precarious stack of shot glasses. Neji let out a long sigh through his nose and looked more than a little reluctant as we arranged ourselves in a lopsided circle on the floor.

"All right, I'll go first." Kiba pondered for a little while, tapping his cheek with an index finger. Then he straightened up a bit. "Never have I ever gotten a perfect score on a test."

Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata and I took a drink; Shikamaru opted for a shot of whiskey while Neji, Hinata and I downed some apple juice. A few seconds passed; finally Shikamaru spoke up.

"Never have I ever dated someone for longer than 6 months."

Naruto poured himself a shot of sake and drank along with Hinata. They smiled at each other; Kiba made a gagging noise and mimed puking onto the floor.

"I'll go," Hinata volunteered. She tapped her pale, slender fingers against her shot glass. "Never have I ever...failed a test."

Begrudgingly, Naruto and Choji downed a drink.

"Never have I ever skipped a meal," Choji said. Everyone took a shot, and Choji stared at us with blatant horror.

"Never have I ever kissed someone," I said after a moment of thought. To my relief, Choji, Kiba, and Neji all drank.

"Seriously, Choji?" Shikamaru looked over at him with raised brows. "You and Karui still not there yet?"

Choji flushed red. "Shut up, man!"

Naruto swished the liquid around in his glass. "Never have I ever smoked."

Shikamaru was the only one who drank. "What?" he asked, shrugging. "They're just cigarettes. And I only smoked pot once."

"That doesn't even surprise me," I said.

"How was it?" Kiba asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees with a wolfish grin.

"There's a reason I only did it once," was all Shikamaru said in response.

"Fair enough."

"You're up, Neji," I said to him. His pale eyes looked to me for a brief moment, then moved away, staring into the depths of his shot glass dangling between two long fingers.

"Never have I ever..." He paused, brow furrowing. "Never have I ever tried alcohol."

"We can change that," Shikamaru said as he, Kiba, and Naruto downed their shots.

Neji only shook his head. "No, thank you," was the curt response. I smothered a laugh.

We went through two more rounds, and eventually Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto gave up on the alcohol and joined the rest of us with shots of juice. Kiba looked more than a little out of it as he stumbled through his turn.

"Never have I ever had sex."

All eyes immediately went to Naruto and Hinata. "I'd consider this one carefully, if I were you," Kiba said with another sly smile. I cast a sideways glance at Neji. His face was carefully composed and blank as ever, but his ghostly eyes were narrowed ever so slightly. This one had the potential to get ugly, and Naruto knew it. He and Hinata, the latter blushing furiously, exchanged a look. Neither reached for their glass.

"Oh, you are totally lying," Shikamaru scoffed.

The poor girl looked ready to faint. As the only other female in the room, I felt for her. To be put on the spot like this was already embarrassing, but in front of a family member? And one now living with her, to boot? I shuddered at the thought.

After a grueling silence, Hinata sat up a bit, reached for her glass, and downed the contents. Naruto blinked at her, then followed suit. The room was immediately filled with hoots and catcalls.

"Ohhh, shit!" Kiba slurred, almost knocking over his shot glass.

"Damn, Naruto." Shikamaru gave an affirmative nod, seemingly proud of his friend's accomplishment. "You got there before me."

Neji's face was carefully composed. "I'm not sure I needed to know about this."

"Sorry, Neji," Hinata said weakly. We all looked between the two cousins, wondering if this was about to get more than a little awkward. But then Neji held out his empty shot glass to Shikamaru.

"I think," he said, "I'll have that drink now."

Kiba laughed, and I silenced him with a "you're in enough trouble already" look. Shikamaru looked at Neji a moment, and once he realized that he was indeed serious, he unscrewed the cap to the bottle of whiskey and poured him a shot. Neji hesitated, surveying the liquid, before knocking it back.

"Oh, that is foul." He coughed a bit, expression clearly disgusted.

"Well, there you go, your first drink." Shikamaru replaced the cap on the bottle and set it aside. "All right, we still playing or what?"

"For the sake of me not throwing up from so much apple juice, I think that's enough for me," I said, pressing my hands to my belly with a queasy groan.

"Aww," Kiba complained. "It was just starting to get good, too."

"Kiba, shut up. You're drunk," Naruto mumbled, looking as nauseous as I felt.

"You're both drunk," I sighed.

Shikamaru didn't look so hot either. "I think I'll stay here for the night," he groaned.

Naruto laid his head on Hinata's lap. She stroked his unruly blond hair gently, whispering in his ear until he began to snore.

"Lucky bastard," Kiba muttered under his breath.

"Choji, you might wanna call Ino for a ride," said Shikamaru. His best friend nodded and took out his phone.

I blinked. Somehow I'd forgotten that he and Shikamaru were friends with her. Rarely were they ever seen together in school. I went upstairs with Choji while he waited, not wanting to leave him by himself; we talked for a few minutes, laughing about the highlights of the game, but I couldn't shake the feeling of apprehension knowing Ino was on her way. Our earlier exchange was still crystal clear in my mind. When she pulled up in her silver Focus twenty minutes later, she stepped out of the car and approached me while Choji slid into the passenger seat.

"Hey, Tenten," she said. Her blue eyes didn't meet mine at first; she rubbed her arm. "I just wanted to say sorry for earlier. I didn't mean to be such an airhead."

"Oh," I said, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. "Don't worry about it."

"No, really," she said earnestly. "It was really uncalled for. I still remember when you stood up for me last year, when Kiba yelled at me."

Now the surprise was clear on my face. "You do? Wow. It was the thing about Sasuke, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Now she looked embarrassed. "I was pretty dumb back then. Guess I don't have much to show for improvement."

"That's not true," I said. "Everyone has their moments, and everyone changes. You and Sakura get along a lot better now, right? I'd say that's a pretty big improvement."

She nodded, chewing her lower lip. "She told me about what's going on with you and Sasuke."

I stiffened a bit, but tried to act nonchalant. "Yeah?"

"She said she feels bad about it." Now she looked at me. "I don't think she knew how much it would hurt you. Sasuke isn't too happy either."

I nodded, and my stomach did a little flip. "But has it helped them at all?"

Ino shrugged one slender shoulder. "It's hard for me to tell. They really seem no different, except he sits with her at lunch now. But you already knew that."

"I'm all too aware," I said with a dry smile. Then I shrugged, trying to remain casual. "But hey, whatever helps them out. I'd feel worse if I became the reason for their breakup."

"I don't think I'd ever be able to do that," Ino said. "You know, stay away from someone so important to you. It sounds awful."

"Well, Sakura seems to think that there's something between us, so I guess I really can't blame her. It just kinda...sucks," I ended lamely.

Ino looked a bit uncomfortable. "Welll, the thing is, I don't think she's entirely wrong about that," she said hesitantly, working a hand through her long blonde ponytail.

"If you mean what you said earlier, about me liking Sasuke, you're wrong." I narrowed my eyes slightly.

Ino waved her hands in front of her as though trying to ward off my anger. "Whoa, whoa, calm down. That's not what I meant. I think-"

"Ino!" Choji leaned out of the passenger seat, waving frantically. "My mom is starting to get worried."

"Coming!" she hollered back. "Sorry, I gotta go. Choji's mom fusses like you wouldn't believe."

Before I could even open my mouth to tell her to wait, she was halfway down the driveway to her car, ponytail waving like a banner behind her. I watched her drive away with a heavy feeling in my stomach. With a sigh I sat down on the front step and propped my chin in my hand, and I stayed there for a few minutes, the cool night air soothing against my skin.

What had Ino been about to say? If Choji had just waited a few seconds...I shook my head. There was no helping it now. Sasuke was still apart from me, and all I could do was sit and think about it, completely helpless. What had it been now, three days? Each minute felt like a year. I felt his absence almost as though it were a lost limb, the ghostly sensations still prickling my skin. I couldn't help but think that maybe Ino had been right, saying what she did earlier that day.

No, absolutely not. Sasuke was my best friend, and that was it. Done. To feel any differently was a wasp's nest that I was not keen on disturbing.

The front door creaked open from behind me. "Tenten?" Neji's footsteps drew close. His shadow passed over me, obscuring the glow of the outside lamp light. I turned over my shoulder and looked up at him. His face was swathed in dark shade, but those steely eyes stood out in stark contrast. "Are you all right?"

"What? Oh, yeah," I said, shaking myself free of my stupor. I pushed myself to my feet and brushed off the seat of my jeans. "Just thinking is all."

His long hair fell over one shoulder; he gave it a shake to push it back, and again the smell of woodsy spice wafted toward me with the cool night breeze. The familiarity of it was enough to make the knot filling my stomach almost double. "It's getting cold. You should come inside," was all he said, and vanished back into the house.

I stared after him a moment before letting out a long breath through my nose. Dimly I could hear the sound of someone in the kitchen, probably a member of Kiba's family. A stronger breeze raised the hairs on my arms, and I shivered as I rubbed them. Now my thoughts wandered to Kohaku, wondering, hoping that he was alive and safe and warm.

The things I held most important to me were starting to slip away in such a short amount of time, like leaves swept up on a gust of wind. The helplessness was overwhelming, and made me so furious that it seemed to boil in my blood. Sasuke had cast me off with an ease so apparent I could have been a fly, simply buzzing around his head only to be swatted away; Kohaku was gone because of a stupid mistake that I could have easily avoided.

Just bring one of them back, I silently begged, though I had no idea if there was anything out there, some force that governed this world, that could hear me. Just bring one of them back to me.

"Since you insist on remaining outside, you might as well try to keep warm."

I jumped at the sound of Neji's voice and found myself staring at a cup of steaming liquid. The shadows prevented me from knowing what it was, but the smell that wafted toward me was answer enough. The wind ruffled his hair slightly as he held it out to me.

"I'm not sure how you feel about ginger tea," he said, "but it was all they had."

"Oh no, that's perfectly fine." Gingerly I took the cup from him, and gave a grateful sigh as the heat seeped into my hands. "Thank you."

Again, Sasuke arrived at the forefront of my thoughts. We were each other's caretakers whenever the other was sick. I couldn't count all the times that I'd made him tea for a sore throat, or sat on his bed and nursed his fever with cold packs and washcloths. Back when my mother was still alive I contracted mononucleosis, and even then Sasuke insisted on being around. I could still picture my mother in mind, hear her voice as she told me, "You know, I think he likes you."

I always ignored her.

"You're welcome." He gave an almost imperceptible nod. His ghostly eyes seemed to shine in the darkness as he came to stand beside me; almost instantly I became keenly aware of how close he was, though there was at least two feet of space between us. I shook the thought away and took a careful sip of the tea.

"It's very good," I said. And very hot. The burn immediately roughened the tip of my tongue, but I didn't complain.

"I'm glad you like it." The smile he gave me seemed more genuine than his typical bland, composed expression. But it was gone very quickly, and to my surprise I felt a twinge of sadness to see it disappear. "You seem to have a lot on your mind."

I hummed low in my throat, blowing on the tea before taking another sip. "As do you."

He knew what I was referring to; I could see it in the way his eyes seemed to dim, and the way his brow furrowed as though he were fighting off some painful headache. I could see the pain he felt, because I knew it as well, with awful familiarity.

"I understand how you feel," I said. Part of me wanted to shut up, to not push my boundaries. We didn't know each other, and it was none of my business to intrude on his grief. I was never fond of being dependent on other people, of pushing my woes and troubles onto them when they were in no need of receiving them. Sasuke was the same, but in that similarity we were able to somehow overcome it together.

Neji's eyes stared directly ahead. "Do you?" he said quietly.

I watched the steam roll off from the cup in thin, gray tendrils, disappearing into the cold night air. "I lost my mother a year ago."

"I'm very sorry." He still wouldn't look at me. I took this as a sign that he was in no mood to discuss it further, and we sank into silence. After a moment I noticed his hands shaking against his sides, whether from cold or grief I did not know, and I fought back the sudden urge to reach out and touch him. I had already pushed, and though he hadn't reacted entirely in a negative manner, I was in no hurry to incite him further.

Instead I held out the tea, slightly less warm after being exposed to the chilly night. "Here. You look cold." He shook his head, but I insisted. "Come on, I promise I don't have anything contagious."

He sighed and took the cup. Silence again fell between us, and maybe it was better that way. Part of me was glad to have someone to share the cold with, quiet or not. We were two islands, alone in a sea of our own sorrows.