Sorry for the late update, I was really busy with school and stuff.
I own nothing
-
-
-
Sakura Haruno looks in the mirror with wet hair, fresh from the shower. She stares at herself, unsure if she is doing the right thing.
Tenten stares into the glass of a broken mirror. A towel is draped around her shoulders, like a jock. Her hair is also wet, right from a bath.
Sakura blow dries her hair.
Tenten shakes her hair dry with a towel with short, hard bursts.
Sakura opens a make-up case, loads a brush and applies it to her face.
Tenten pries open a make-up case. Dabs a pad, turns her face to the mirror and blots out a small tattoo on her neck.
A stocking is drawn up a leg. Who's leg?
A hand yanks a blouse off a close rack. A plastic store bag is torn open. A button is fastened. Up with a zipper. Bracelets are loaded onto a wrist. In quick secession a ring is slid onto four fingers. A foot slides into a boot. Lipstick, red and wet. Black glass studs fit into ears. An earring is removed. Hand loads a purse with gum and money.
-
Neji is in the shower. The water is beating on his face, and he is singing loudly.
"Round and Round she goes, the world of Sakura Jones, I said round and round and round, and round…" (A/N this is a song, so let's pretend that Neji is really singing and is adapting this song to fit Sakura's name.)
Hiashi stands outside the bathroom door. He is listening with a rising anger.
"The little girl she just wanders about, 'till it's time for her coming out…"
Hiashi enters the room, and pulls the toilet handle, flushing the toilet. Neji continues singing.
"Round and Round and Round…"
The water suddenly turns cold. Neji's eyes open in shock and he screams. He pulls the shower curtain aside to revel Hiashi staring at him with a stern look.
"Uncle! What are you doing?"
Hiashi continues to stare, arms folded across his chest. "Get dressed. I want to talk to you."
Neji's mind quickly goes to the money. He knows it's about the money.
-
Hiashi stands at the window in Neji's room. Neji walks in wearing jeans and an unbuttoned shirt. Hiashi turns as Neji comes in. There's an exchange of looks.
"I want to know what's wrong."
Neji doesn't answer.
"Are you in trouble?"
"No." Neji says
"Were you at the bank recently?"
Neji blanches. His uncle knows. The game is up.
"You withdrew the college money?"
Neji realizes there is no point in lying.
"Yeah." He says
"It's going back, Neji, Every last damn cent is going back. You don't get this close to something and through it away."
"It's not going back, because I don't have it. I spent it."
"What did you buy? A car? Whatever you bought, you can take it back. Anmd you are going to take it back!"
"Uncle I can't. I don't want to." Neji says
I don't care what you want the money is going back to the bank!"
"You're not listening to me. I don't have it. I can't get it back."
"You had no right to touch that money!"
"I had every right. I earned it!" Neji says
"Where's the money?"
"Uncle, listen to me. The money is not important."
"You don't know what the hell you're saying."
"I know what I'm saying. You never listen. You only hear what you want. Listen to me. I'm not going to college. The money is gone, it's over! The whole dream! It's not what I want it's what you want. I never wanted it. I just didn't have the guts to tell you."
"You're eighteen years old, for heaven's sake!"
"Next year I'm nineteen. Then I'm twenty. When does my life belong to me?"
Hiashi doesn't have the answer. It's something he's never considered.
"I'm going out with a girl tonight." Neji continues "She's beautiful, and everybody's in love with her, and she's going out with me. In the eyes of most people around here, I'm nothing. And probably in her eyes, too. She's going out with me to get back at her boyfriend. They've got this plan together to beat me up…"
"Who?" Hiashi asks
"People at school. It's all right. I can handle it. The point is, nobody thinks anything of me. To them, I'm a zero, and so I don't start agreeing with them, I'm going through with this date. I'm going to show this girl that I'm as good as anybody else."
"You're going to impress her with money? That's not a solution, Neji."
"Didn't you have guys at school that didn't fit in?" Neji asks
Hiashi thinks about it, he recalls a few.
"Well I'm one of those guys."
Hiashi looks down. He's never given much though to his nephew's social status. He always assumed that things were fine.
"I thought things were all going well for you."
Neji shrugs.
"I like art, I work in a gas station, and my best friend is a tomboy. These are not things that fly too well in high school."
"So, what's the money for?"
"The date." Neji answers
"You were serious?" Hiashi says
Neji nods his head. Dead serious.
"How can you blow all that money?"
"It doesn't make sense unless you're me. But I did it. If you want to nail me, I'll understand. Tonight's for my future. No matter what happens, I'll come out of it knowing that I mean something, if only to myself, and that's worth forty-two hundred dollars. If I have to wait a year before I go to college, then that's the way it has to be."
Hiashi looks at him for a long moment, then nods. A bit of a smile slides across his features. Pride. He slaps his knee and stands.
"Get dressed. You're going to be late." He says as he stands in front of a stunned Neji.
Neji offers his hand, and Hiashi takes it. They shake, and Hiashi slaps Neji on the shoulder.
"Thanks." Neji says
"If it's legal, I don't care what you did with that money." Hiashi says
"It's all square." Neji replies
Hiashi reaches in his pocket and comes up with a couple of bills. He sets them on Neji's desk.
"So long as you're blowing it, here's a little more."
"I'm covered. It's not necessary." Neji waves his hands
"Keep it, or I'll feel lousy."
"For what?" Neji asks
"For not taking ten minutes out of the last ten years to realize how lucky I am to be able to call you my nephew."
Neji smiles.
"Don't be a hero." Hiashi claps Neji on the shoulder again.
Neji shakes his head. Hiashi grabs the door knob and opens the door. Hanabi is standing in the doorway. He's holding a butter knife.
"Hi. I was just coming to tell Neji that Tenten is downstairs to pick him up." She says
"Don't bug him. He's in a hurry." Hiashi says as he walks down the hall.
"Neji do you think it's possible that Dad'll stay this cool, or do you think he'll go back to normal in the morning?" Hanabi asks Neji
"I think he'll stay cool." He answers
"I'll pray. Good luck tonight. I've got all my friends crossing their fingers for you." Hanabi smiles "You want me to lock up for you?"
She twists the butter knife, and Neji nods.
-
-
-
At Sakura's house, it's dusk. Magic hour. The Jaguar Neji has been working on glides into the driveway.
The driver's door opens, and Tenten gets out. She is completely transformed. She's forsaken the macho image and is coiffed and dressed in a fashion that isn't a sell-out, but that is more true to her biological status. A dark blue long sleeve dress shirt is covered by a black vest, buttoned up and fitting her form tightly. The pants are just as black as the vest and slightly loose. What remains of her old wardrobe are the red gloves and the buns in her hair. She walks around the car to the rear door and opens it. Neji steps out. It's a new Neji. No grease, no blackness. Bright, new, strong. He offers his hand to Tenten. She takes it and kisses it.
"Gimme a break. Look at us, for Kami's sake." She says
"I think you look amazing." Neji says
"It's too bad my grandmother bit the dust. She'd be proud. I'm wearing a bra." Tenten comments
Neji smiles
"Yes, it's true. I broke down and got a boulder holder. It's very weird and highly uncomfortable, and I guess this is personal, and I don't know why I'm talking like this; it's none of your business, so go get over yourself and let's roll."
She leans back against the car. Neji salutes her and heads up to the house. Tenten fidgets with the bra.
Neji rings the doorbell, and Sakura comes down the stairs. She looks better then ever, to Neji. She yells a farewell on her way out.
"That's for me! Bye!"
"What time will you be home?" a male voice calls back
"Early!" she answers
"Tell Sasuke hello for us!" A female voice calls this time.
Sakura hesitates "I will!"
She pulls open the door, and freezes. She takes a closer look. Sakura is startled by the change in Neji.
"Hi," she says
Neji nods to her "You ready?"
She smiles
"You look," diplomatically "different."
"Then what?" Neji asks
"Before."
"No grease?" he says
Tenten stands at the car with the back door open. Sakura and Neji come down off the porch. Sakura slows as she sees the Jaguar. She looks at Neji again.
"What?" he asks
"Is that your car?" she asks
"For right now it is." He answers
"How did you get it?" Sakura asks
"Is it that important? Do you not want to ride in it?" Neji says
"It's fine. I just wondered."
"I can tell you. It's not very exciting." He pauses "It's stolen."
A little hint of a smile spreads across her cheeks.
"Does the owner know about it?" she asks
"No. Should I call him?"
She smiles again.
"No? Yeah, let's call him."
Neji starts back to her house, but she stops him.
"I was just kidding." He says
-
Tenten smiles sheepishly as Neji and Sakura step to the car. There's a moment of recognition as Sakura and Tenten exchange looks. Sakura recognizes the clothes Tenten is wearing as the clothes she was looking at when Tenten was tailing her at the mall. Tenten knows she knows.
"Yeah it's me." Tenten says
Sakura gets in the car. Neji gives Tenten a wink and gets in. She closes the door.
"I'm gonna love this one. I can just feel it." Tenten says
-
-
-
A nice long one right? Again sorry for the late update, and I hope you enjoyed This. Please review! It makes me update faster!!!