Naruto-
Ambitions and Issue
Part 2-
The day of the wedding came faster than Tenten expected. Practice often involved one-sided conversations and avoidance as much as possible, with Tenten's monotone answer to Neji's awfully chatty conversations. Now that she remembered, it was often the other way around. How the times have changed. 'Great, now I sound like I'm old' she thought, 'I just get through today, and I'll prove to Sakura and Ino that I do not have an issue and I'll be helping Hinata!'
"You have an issue?" A deep voice said.
"No, I do not have an issue! Why does everyone keep saying that!?" Tenten said.
"Because when you start talking to yourself, it sends warning bells," The deep voice said.
"Well the warning bells have been ringing for a long time then. Stupid conscious, I thought it'd have more of a girl voice since I'm a girl," Tenten pondered.
"Well, I won't know how the voice of your conscious sounds, but I do know that I'm not a girl," the voice said again.
Tenten, who still hadn't noticed, kept going, "Of course you're a girl, I mean you're a part of me."
The owner of the voice raised an eyebrow, "Well that's sweet to know, but I'm going to cut to the chase, since apparently you lost some brain cells over 8 years, I'm not your conscious and your thinking out loud again."
"I'm thinking out loud?" Tenten paused, "Then if I'm thinking out loud, who am I talking too?"
"Don't tell me you're blind as well. Turn around." When Tenten did, she moaned out loud. Why did she always seem to make a fool of herself in front of him.
Neji smirked, "It's nice to know some things don't change."
"That's one thing I wish I could change," Tenten muttered.
To her surprise (or not), he heard her, "Well, I don't. How else am I suppose to know what you're thinking? That's how I figured out you have a teddy bear name Mr. Cuddlekins and that you're afraid of the thunder."
Tenten frowned, no matter how much time passed, she wished he had never learned about Mr. Cuddlekins, "Had…I had a teddy bear name Mr. Cuddlekins and I'm not afraid of thunder anymore."
"Liar," Neji said deadpanned. Another annoying trait of his, he knew when she was lying.
"Fine, I was lying about Mr. Cuddlekins, but not about thunder," Tenten was looking for an escape route, quick.
Neji, the stupid mind-reader, predicted this and sat down on a sofa and dragged her down with him, "Isn't nice to meet up with old friends, once in a while?"
Friends, she thought, with a pang. That's all they ever were, in past. Might as well keep up the charade for the moment, "Yeah," she commented.
He pulled her tighter in, so that her head was on his shoulder, "To look back at good times and past regrets. Do you have any regrets, Tenten?"
'Millions of them, mostly dealing with you,' she thought, "Well a couple." 'What was he trying to get to?' she thought, 'the only time he talked this much was to get something.'
"Well, I have a couple of them, too, but I have one big one. Can you give me some advice, Tennie-chan?" 'Old nicknames," she thought, 'He was really trying to kill her wasn't he?'
"Sure, depends on what," she managed to say calmly.
Neji held a tight grip on her, "Well, I have a friend that I haven't seen in a long time. I never had the chance to tell them something important. Do you think I should tell them?"
Tenten, thought for a moment, "Well, if it's that important to you, then you should, it's better to live than regret." Just like she was, she thought bitterly.
"Well, I hope they don't regret it," Neji said, "We should be helping the bride and groom, shouldn't we?"
They should be, and he was offering her an escape, so why wasn't she taking it? She had already told herself to avoid any one-on-one contact with him, so why did she fell so comfortable right now. She needed to get over her issue now. She got up, even from Neji who loosened his grip after a while, and managed a response, "Your right, as their Maid of Honor and Best Man, we should be there when they start crying tears."
Neji (why did she think he looked slightly regretfully?) got up and agreed, "Your right, Hinata is very emotional."
"I was referring to Naruto."
Neji smirked, "Him, too." Content with that, Tenten turned to leave.
"Wait!" Neji called, Tenten turned from the door, "Meet me after reception on the balcony. There's something I want to show you." She can't remember what she said, but some how she managed to get out of that room in one piece, both physically and mentally.
The wedding was a glorious one; Hinata looked beautiful, Naruto stunning (for once not wearing an orange jacket, but rather an orange bowtie), and the Hyuuga's weren't as such asses as before (with her father actually not frowning…he actually smiled when passing her on, a small one, but one none of the less). Some of them even cried, to her shock. The reception went smoothly, with the occasional drunks and the hilarity of Kiba catching the flowers, and when everyone left, the groomsman and the bridesmaid, all slumped onto any seat close by. "Who knew that Choji would eat half of the cake by himself?" Sakura asked.
"Who knew that Choji and his dad would decide to have an eating contest at a wedding?" Ino questioned back.
"Actually, Shikamaru did," Sasuke said. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was sleeping, to none of their surprise.
"Let me guess, you guys made bets and Shikamaru won them all," Tenten asked.
"Yes! All except for-" Lee started, rather calm for a drunk Lee, but was interrupted by a fist.
"For one bet which hasn't been decided yet," Gaara said, holding an unconscious Lee.
Tenten scrunched her face in confusion, "You guys already started to bet how long it takes for Hinata to end up pregnant?"
"I bet one month," Ino said.
"2 weeks, Naruto likes to work quickly," Sakura commented.
"That's not something appropriate to tell when her cousin is sitting right here," Neji said, not entirely comfortable with the idea of Naruto with his cousin, doing that.
"Personally, I'll say a month and a half, but if that isn't the last bet, what is?" Tenten asked.
Sasuke had an eerie smirk, "We'll tell you when Naruto and Hinata get back. They made us promise to wait until then."
"They're on the bet too?"
"You'd be surprised who's on the bet," Gaara said rather eerily.
"Tenten," Tenten turned to see Neji behind her, "Could you come with me for a minute?"
She blinked, "Sure, you wanted to show me something?" Unaware of the looks that the others to exchanging with each other.
They left and went to the balcony. Tenten stared up at the moon for a while and let silence hang for a while. In the past, it would always Tenten who started the conversations.
"Tenten?"
Tenten turned to face him, "Yeah?"
"Do you think you'll get married soon?" 'Great,' she thought, 'her parent's conversation was coming back to haunt her.'
Tenten laughed, "From the looks of it, not any time soon. How about you?"
There was a long pregnant pause, "Hopefully." She looked at him in surprise, he didn't seem like the type to want to have a family considering his past.
Tenten prodded, "Rather strange that all of a sudden that you want to get married."
He smirked, "Well, considering what just happened, I don't think it's rather strange," he leaned against the banister, "They were happy. I realize that I haven't had many opportunities with happiness, so getting that kind of package doesn't seem so bad."
She sweatdropped, "You make marriage sound like a travel trip."
Neji looked at her seriously, "Isn't it thought? A new start of life, a journey?"
She pondered, "A journey maybe, but not a new life. Marriage shouldn't totally change your life, it should meld in with it. It should seem natural."
"You seem to have given this a lot of thought," he noted.
She gave a small snort, "Well, let's just say, there have been forces on me to influence me to settle down."
Neji nodded understandingly, "You're parents?"
Tenten stared confused, "How did you know that?"
"I heard from Sakura and Ino about your so-called issues."
"They told you about my issues!?" Tenten could not believe it. Sakura was really dying, after this, "Which I do not have!"
Neji chuckled, "No, in great depth, but just enough to get the message."
"And that makes it better," So Sakura was going to get half killed.
"Can I help with your issue?" Tenten just stared at him…did he ask what she thought he asked?
Neji actually seemed flustered or was she seeing things? "Well, I heard about your issues with that guy and how you're hung up on him…"
"Huh?" Tenten was confused, what exactly did Sakura and Ino tell him?
"Well, I know I can't really add up to the guy, but I could fill in for the guy, you know, as your friend." Friend, that stupid word, at this point, she wanted to stomp on it to death.
Tenten started, "Well…"
"You don't have to accept or deny my proposition right now," he said rubbing the back of his neck.
He abruptly stared at her, "Do you remember what you told me on the day of graduation?"
How could she forget? That's the day she made a fool of herself.
Thinking that she had forgotten, Neji continued, "You said that by the time of 25 if we weren't married or engaged, we'd marry each other?"
Tenten tried to laugh it off, "You know me back then. Nothing I said back then was serious."
"Well, want to make it serious?" Neji firmly stared at her. All Tenten could do was gape.
"While you're in a shock, I'll take advantage of it," Neji slipped a ring on her finger and kissed her.
It took a while for Tenten's brain to compute, she pushed back and stared at Neji in shock, "What!?" She looked between the ring on her hand and Neji, "What's going on?"
"I'm asking you to marry me," Neji firmly replied, holding her close.
Tenten stammered, "But this is the first time we've seen each other in 8 years."
Neji glared at her, "I would have asked you earlier, if you hadn't claimed missing in action every time we had a get-together."
"I can't." She pulled the ring off and handed it back to a disappointed Neji, "I can't suddenly just marry you after 8 years. We've both changed."
Neji was not giving up at this point, "But we can get to know each other again. All I need to know is what happened in the last 8 years, I know everything else about you, from your first word to your first crush and everything in between."
"Yes, but you just want to marry the past me, not the now me and even then, after I said that you avoided me for the rest of the day!" Tenten tried to argue.
He grabbed her by the shoulders, "I loved the past Tenten. I love the now Tenten. What's it going to take for you to see that!?"
Tenten tried to get a grasp of the situation, "It's not the seeing I have trouble with. It's the believing I have trouble with." She took a step away from him. Neji resisted the temptation to grab her and run to the nearest chapel. "How am I suppose to believe that you love me all of a sudden after 8 years of not seeing each other!?"
"I've loved you more than that," Neji said seriously.
"You're joking," Tenten said, not looking at him.
Neji crossed the breadth and turned her around, "I am not joking. I was…afraid to tell you," he ended nervously.
She tried to comprehend this, "You…afraid?" she shook her head, "No that's definitely unbelievable."
He frowned, "No, it isn't. Think about it. All that time in high school, I thought you only saw me as a friend, nothing more. So what was I suppose to do? Risk that friendship by telling you?" he paced, "And then to add to my pain, on graduation, all of a sudden you decide to tell me! How was I supposed to react?"
She shot back, "Well, maybe if you hadn't acted like I was just your friend, I would have confessed. But for the fact that you kept dating all the time, what was I suppose to assume?"
He smoothed his hair with a hand agitatedly, "I was trying to forget my feelings about you. You were something I wasn't supposed to touch. I really did love you back then, and I love you now. What will it take for you to believe me?"
Tenten sighed and closed her eyes, "Time. It'll take me time for me to believe you."
"Fine," Tenten's eyes snapped open, "If it's time, you want. Then it's time you get. We're now in a relationship." He grabbed her again and kissed her, "I've solved your issues."
"No, you haven't," Tenten managed to reply.
"How so?"
"You've made me even more confused," Tenten tried to pull away. Neji just pulled her back in, "Sounds like you're scared," Neji commented.
"Am not!" Tenten said indignantly.
Smirking, Neji said, "Then let's make a bet. If I can't get you to agree to marry me in 2 years, I'll abandon the idea of us."
"And I guess I don't need to ask what happens if you win, right?" Tenten asked annoyed.
Actually smiling now, "I always knew you were smart."
"You agree to your own terms," Tenten said, watching him closely for any hints of lying.
"A hundred percent," Neji said, holding out his hand.
Pausing, Tenten stared at his hand. What's the worse she could lose? She shook the hand, "Bet on, but I want a contract signed. You were always a sneaky bastard." Looks like she was about to get some excitement.
--author's note--
To be honest, this ended differently than I had expected when I started out...it almost seems like it should be a full-blown story rather than a two-shot. Well, I guess I'll leave it to you to decide.
Ja ne!
NinjaPower signing out!