Recap:
"What do you feel for her?" she asked bluntly. The abruptness of her question shocked him.
"Do you love her? Just as a friend of what?" she pushed on.
He opened and closed his mouth, his spikes tipping back and forth. She smiled at the sight.
"You don't need to tell me, it maybe better for me to remain oblivious, what I don't know won't hurt me. But it is a different case for you, it could hurt her, and everyone else…" Yes, they had discussed more than just teams last night.
She left him to think. Before she slipped out the door, she saw him get into his thinking position.
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Chapter 6: irony
She walked down to the Kyuubi vessel's room after a brief chat to Choji. She didn't notice much emotional attachment from him to any female in particular.
Maybe Ino, but they were teammates.
She knocked on the door. After a few seconds of shuffling, a crash was heard.
Then the door opened to reveal a Naruto with a big lump on his head.
The door creaked and cracked further as she entered and it swung shut after her.
She sweat-dropped.
The splinters were still attached so she deemed the cause of the crash to be when her
blonde subordinate crashed into the door.
She believed in equality greatly, something passed down from her mother, her two uncles and her two older cousins. "Naruto-nii-san, why do you want this so badly?" Naruto sighed. It had all been asked many times before.
"Naruto," he corrected. "
"Or if you feel the need, a not so formal one please." He added.
In Asian countries, it was not uncommon to call any relatives or friends even 'sister' or 'brother' in respect, hence Yumeko calling 'nii or 'nee.'
"nii-chan…" Yumeko's voice hardened in warning.
"I don't know…?" he began.
"Its different to feelings for Iruka and Kakashi they're like my family, along with Sakura, and him. I loved Sakura-chan, or so I thought. It hurt every time she ignored, yelled and hit me. But it turned into fun teasing after a while. She was like ah…white." He said staring and passing his fingers back and forth through the scented candle that burnt in a short, glass bottle.
"It had always seemed so perfect; nothing was tainted, spilt on the spotless sheet of paper. A perfect platonic dream. I suppose I never did know what platonic love is…maybe I do now. But it wasn't what I thought it was. When Sasuke-teme left. The whiteness of my dream had seemed out of place. It was just a simple illusion. Mismatched, misplaced, misunderstood."
It was expected from Naruto. A colourful creative way of describing his confused thoughts and emotions. She had expected him to not hold back like Shikamaru, Naruto was renowned for his gift of trust.
"But everyone else was like… red. My hand never trembles in excitement of seeing you. But he is like blue, a light dainty blue, but white-like." His voice was swollen with confusion mingled with a chuckle at Sasuke being dainty.
"I…don't know. A platonic dream, perhaps…a dream to have him back…But not quite, he's like a jewel, and the colour in him is an imperfection. But it's the imperfection that makes it unique, different, valuable…But…what…is…it?" He asked himself and the younger girl.
"Obvious isn't it?" she muttered under her breath.
Naruto was not thick enough not to know what he was meant so hear and what he isn't meant to hear. His ears did pick up what his new captain said. But he didn't react; what she said just confused him more.
'WHAT IS IT?!' he so badly wanted to ask. But he restrained himself.
'I'm sorry; you have to figure it out for yourself, for her sake, and for the same of everyone else…'
"Have a good sleep, you'll need it…" with that Yumeko left the blonde to ponder over his vanilla essence candle.
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"'Nii-chan and Sai." She muttered as she decided to visit Neji first.
She rapped her knuckles against the door. No one answered, so she just went straight in.
"Oh, gomen ne Neji-nii." She laughed sheepishly after seeing him meditating. Neji opened one eye and smiled. Tenten just happened to be passing by as she entered Neji's quarters.
"Even meditating comes after you in priorities." He said to… Tenten couldn't tell who it was as the angle of the door limited her sight. The weapon specialist couldn't believe her ears. Not even she or even Lee dared to disturb Neji when he was meditating.
After hearing sounds of a deep intake of breath, she heard the girl talk again and recognized the voice.
"You still smell the same." 'Yumeko' Tenten noted.
"Neeji-nii, I wanna ask you something…" Yumeko whined in a childish voice. Tenten merely dismissed the 'nii as she heard her call all the other shinobi the same thing. A thump made her turn her attention back from her thoughts. The two where sitting on the couch, Neji leaning against the wall and Yumeko head rested on his lap.
Tenten recalled one of Neji's lectures on the benefits on meditation when he tried to teach Lee and herself. 'To achieve the best relaxation, I usually have on a pair of loose training pants only. This achieves freedom from the drag and confinement of clothes…lada lada la.' At that time, she had tried her hardest to resist looking at the Hyuuga, in fear of not being able to look away.
Now she can almost feel the blood crawling down her nostrils. His skin was at least three shades paler than her own tanned skin tone. It was smooth, except over the glitches of his abs. His milk pale skin glowed in the light. It radiated like the skin of a pregnant mother. Tenten mustered all her will and turned away. Now she could understand how Hinata felt about Naruto.
A rustle of material made her turn back. Half expecting Neji's bare upper body to be covered, she found the opposite. She noticed, instead, the absence of the younger kunoichi's top; she was only wearing the ANBU singlet that was custom made for ANBU kunoichi.
"Its too hot a night to be wearing this" he said as he cradled the girl's cheeks.
"I've missed you; you must tell me what happened." Neji demanded softly, worry was engraved in those mauve orbs.
"Me too. But I have to go talk to Sai like this-" she paused to see if there was any change in Tenten's chakra signature. Of course she noticed her sempai's presence.
She stared hard into his eyes, then looked at the door and then mouthed 'GO'.
The light that was associated with Tenten's chakra signature moved away and dimmed. The usual vibrant glow was replaced with a somber dull ray signaling her distress and weeping condition.
"I used 'nii as many times as I could I swear…" Yumeko said, looking downcast. She didn't know what possessed her to be 'showy' displaying the fact that they were close. She now regretted the immature gesture.
"Gomen Nasai… I'll go and explain…" she told him in a small voice. Talking to her was fine, just the fact that she would have to recalled memories of THOSE days terrified her.
"No don't, your not ready," Neji patted her head. Getting up, he made his way to the door. He turned to catch the shirt flung towards him and gave the captain a questioning glance.
"It would help… maybe…" she replied with a hint of cheek.
"Good luck talking with Sai. I also know why you came, she's something special, like you, Hinata and Hanabi." He said meaning his old team mate. He chucked her own top back to her.
"But different…" with that he exited his suite.
'If only she was here to hear that…funny how ironic life is isn't it.' She closed the door after her and made her way to the final living suite she planned to visit. 'irony's the only thing that has ever accompanied their relationship, just making more problems with the two people most conservative about their own emotions…maybe that's how it will always be for them, pure emotion, pure irony…'
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For the fourth time that day, she knocked on someone else's door.
"Hn" came the reply. She took that as a yes and pushed open the door gently. She slid through, head first to discover Sai in the same situation as she found Neji in. But her own reaction was different. She had felt no urge to blush with Neji, but here, staring at her childhood sweet heart, her face flushed.
His dark hair contrasted against his rather pale skin. His fair skin stretched over the curves created by his abs. he opened an eye to look at her, a mixture of emotions passed between them before they snapped back to their usual facades. Her blush was visible to Sai. He smirked and remembered their little games.
"Like what you see?" he said huskily, flickering out then in behind her. Yumeko's head snapped up in surprise, she had let her guard down and was trapped with Sai's arms snaking around her waist.
"Oh Very much so…" she caught his drift. She broke his hold on her and turned around, placing his hands lower and winding her own arms around his neck. They both knew they could only that these little games so far. But as his onyx pools bore into hers, she forgot all self control. Caught up in the moment, they both leant in. closing the gap with lust and old feelings flicked in and out of their eyes.
"Ahem…" someone coughed from the open door. The two younger ninjas both flushed and repulsed from each other like magnets of the same pole.
Yumeko's eyes widened and gasped.
"Neji-nii!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Tenten-nee-chan!"
"See-" Neji begun. "I wouldn't lie to you." He proved his point to Tenten and she finally stopped half heartedly struggling and let his arms and head rest on her shoulders from behind her.
"But I think it's someone's bed time…" he trailed off, giving the girl in the room a pointed stare.
"But I think your captain is going to order you to not treat her like she's 5 years old!" she retaliated.
"Just for tonight" she begged, after seeing Neji slightly taken a back.
He glared at Sai, warning him as veins begun to extend out to his eyes. The target shivered inwardly, still exposing no emotion what so ever. But after catching sight of Yumeko's puppy eyes he gave up.
The elder Hyuuga sighed and begun steering Tenten towards her room, muttering
"Fine let it be our bedtime then."
A silence filled the space. Both had millions of thought congested like rush traffic in their brains. Most of them screaming 'THAT WAS TOO CLOSE' and 'NEVER PISS A HYUUGA OFF.'
"So… do you still have feelings for Sakura?" this question took Sai by surprise. Their talk from that afternoon still fresh in their minds.
"Well I ah… meant, it could distract you from the mission," she added.
"So I just came to tell you to either sort those you have for her, or forget them until after the mission. Just those feelings for her, I don't think you like anyone else more than friends?" she asked.
"I'm definitely not interested for personal reasons…." She muttered as an after note to try to reassure herself.
To save herself from further embarrassment, fled before the blush could sweep across her face.
She felt like crying, releasing the emotional dam she created herself. He was the best thing that happened to her in their early years. Even more so than Neji being there. She endured all the bullying in the ANBU orphanage that came with being his 'someone special', at that time anyway. She never cried, because he always ended up knowing she was in trouble. She had a Hinata like personality at that time and was scared of what she would do if she attacked back so she never did. She had become HIS damsel in distress, and she hated and loved it. Having him protecting her was something she craved and detested. The feeling of comfort and security was bliss. But the vulnerability killed her. She believed females were just as good as males if not better.
Now she's older he turned out to be the thing that ruined the perfectly enclosed world she had built with out any pain… but no, she still valued him like she used to. The light in her darkness. No she would not cry, because he told her never to shed a tear. So she won't.
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He wet his lips with his tongue. He could taste the faint essence of her.
'I do need to sort my feelings out. But not those that were never there in the first place, not those feelings that I had being trying to fill the gaping holes with…' his fingers brushed his lips where he yearned her touch again. They felt like ice on his blazing lips.
'I need to sort my feelings, but not for Sakura…'
Ironic, their stubbornness turns into … irony…