Title: Notes
Part 4: Thursday
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Neji/Tenten; minor Naruto/Hinata
Rating: PG(-13)
Word Count: 1,700
Summary: AU. Tenten finds herself developing a strange relationship with the new guy in Homeroom.
Warnings/Spoilers: None, really. Maybe OOC, but it's not OOC as much as it's just AU, if you get what I mean. The teeniest bit of cursing. POV skips like nobody's business. I don't even try to make it make sense.
Notes: Buckets of love for all you lovely readers and reviewers. ButaLove, I forgot to answer your question before; sorry about that. :) Yes, my school is almost exactly like the one described in the fic.
Oh, question: have y'all been getting review and story alerts from FFN? I haven't, not for the past few days, and it's sorta annoying to have to come to the site and check. Yah, I'm lazy, didn't you know. :D
We have a bit of a dilemma in this chapter: some of the lines in the notes are supposed to be crossed out. But strikethroughs aren't processed on FFN so they look like normal text. I couldn't think of any other way to make the cross outs understood, so I left them more or less plain. You'll know when the parts with the strikethroughs come up; it's pretty obvious. When it does, please pretend that you're seeing a line passing through the notes. :D
Thanks to: See first chapter, please.
Disclaimer: Unless I fly to Japan, seduce Kishimoto-sama, get him to marry me, and then off him, I doubt Naruto will ever be mine.
Thursday
Tenten didn't even so much as look at Neji when he walked into class the next day. She just held up the book in her hand so that it blocked the view in front of her, and kept on reading. As he approached his seat, she heard him give a little 'humph'. She scowled, and promptly humphed right back. He grunted again, and she heard him slide his bag to the floor as she reciprocated the annoyed sound in return. She listened for a bit, to see if he wanted to continue with it (she was feeling petty enough) but he sat, and humphed no more.
Kakashi eventually arrived with one of his usual excuses, ("I saw a pretty girl, and, well…" "Sensei, you pervert!") and sat at his desk, ordering them to read chapter twelve. He kicked up his legs, pulled out his own book, and told them to take their time absorbing and understanding it; they were going to discuss it as a class the next day.
Tenten flipped to the page, and glanced over its contents briefly; seemed to be something about the yakuza of old. Looking up, she stared absently at Neji's cocoa brown tresses; the guy even had pretty hair, too. It was like something out of a Pantene commercial, or something. She bet if he flipped it, it would be all… flippy.
And then she remembered that she was annoyed with him – pompous ass, right – and immediately began boring holes into his back with her eyes. (The hell with being childish – this felt good.) Every few minutes, she flicked her eyes book-wards and imbibed something about feuding mobsters, and then resuming her silent glaring.
Until something shot back at her and hit her on the nose.
Momentarily befuddled, it took Tenten a while to realise that it was a note from Neji. She unfolded it before every iota of stubbornness in her could scream out the many reasons why she shouldn't.
I can't concentrate with you glaring daggers into the back of my head. -_-
Hm.
Well, whatever she had been expecting, it hadn't been that. Also, it really was kinda hard to stay mad at him when he made those lame little faces.
It took her a long time to come up with a reply she was satisfied with.
-Well, yesterday, you were being an ass-
-It's your fault anyway-
-I was more aiming for your neck-
Sorry.
She didn't even know what she was apologising for. She just… damn him. Damn him. He made her not know what she was apologising for. He made rethink herself. He made her confused. He made her think in the third person.
Of all the possible replies that his note could have generated, the one that Neji had least expected (hadn't even anticipated, truthfully) was an apology. A snarky comeback had been number one on the list, but it seemed like either she had run out of snappy repartee (though, looking at the things she had crossed out, he had to steer away from that line of thought) or she really was sorry. For what, he wasn't sure, because he would admit that it wasn't her fault that she didn't understand the deep-rooted loyalty he had to everything familial, but if she was going to be the bigger person, and apologise first, he would be nothing but a moron to not make a similar compromise.
Tenten saw when he picked up his pen and ripped away a piece of his notebook page, so she was ready this time when he covertly put his arm back on her table, and dropped the note in her book.
-In your point of view-
-I beg to differ-
-Well, stop it-
So am I.
Tenten smiled. Really smiled. He really had to be careful about how he wielded that fleeting sense of humour of his. When it did make its appearances, it just about knocked her to the floor. Again, she found herself thinking about the possibility that she just might…
Nah.
In any case, she supposed that this meant that she was officially not mad at him. He was still an idiot, but that was forgivable, seeing that he genuinely only wanted the best for his cousin. And besides, this note passing thing that they had going was much more fun than giving each other the evil eye and humphing.
She shoved the notes to one corner of her desk, tried to quell the beam that was pulling at the corner of her lips (Kakashi really couldn't be that absorbed in his book) and gave chapter twelve her undivided attention.
Her undivided attention had other plans for itself, though. In about ten minutes, she was distracted yet again, this time by the rustle of movement in front of her. She looked up to see that Neji was leaning back in his seat, apparently finished with his reading. He folded his arms across his chest, and from the angle at which he turned in order to stoically observe the rest of the class, she was given a clear view of his sharp profile.
She spent a couple of minutes contemplating what a nice chin he had before she glanced further up, and noticed his unsmiling mouth, and his drawn eyebrows. She sat straighter in her seat, and tried to watch him a bit more closely without being overly conspicuous. The expression on anyone else might have seemed angry, but on the Hyuuga, it conveyed an incongruous combination of slight displeasure and utter calm.
It made her think.
Before she could stop herself, she was digging in her bag for a wad of Post-Its (ripping away pieces of paper was too damn noisy; she really was surprised that their sensei hadn't noticed them yet) and shoving her textbook to one side of the table. One eye cast warily on Kakashi, she quickly wrote down her note, and reached forward to plant it on Neji's shoulder.
Doesn't it ever occur to you to smile?
He gave no visible reaction when he read the note, or when writing one of his own and passing it back.
Post-Its?
Tenten cut her eyes. She wasn't going to let him get away with the subject changing again.
My notebooks are suffering. Are you going to answer the question?
He threw her an exasperated look to accompany his next slip of paper.
…Smile? …What for?
Tenten sighed, and rolled her eyes a little. The fact that he wanted her to give him a reason to justify smiling said a lot.
So you would look a little less... unpleasant?
So, one must smile in order to give an impression of pleasantness. That's what you're saying?
Tenten scowled a little. Now wasn't the best time to show that he had knowledge of sarcasm too.
No, it's not what I'm saying, and you know that.
So…?
Look at Sakura. Pink hair, green eyes.
She's not smiling, but she doesn't look like she wants to draw and quarter
the next person who touches her.
Neji glanced over at the girl in question. She was hunched over her book in concentration, pointedly ignoring Naruto as he tried to attract her attention by very subtly waving his hands high in the air, like he was trying to signal a plane. The Hyuuga grunted softly.
I smile when I am given reason to smile.
Tenten waited until their sensei noticed Naruto, reprimanded him casually and returned to his book before passing her reply.
Huh. I'm sure.
You think that I'm unpleasant?
Tenten was caught just the tiniest bit off guard by the abrupt change in subject. He really was too good at that.
I never said that.
Yes, you did. I've gone from having pretty eyes to being unpleasant. Woe. x_x
Tenten's mouth went slightly agape, and she stared at the paper, trying to make her mind accept what her eyes were seeing. Was he…teasing her? His sense of humour was fantastical enough; this was damn near impossible to wrap her mind around. Her mouth started to curl into a hesitant smile as she reached for another Post-It.
If I didn't know better I would say you were trying to squeeze a compliment out of me.
Remarkable, isn't it, how after only four days, you already know better.
Tenten tried not to giggle, but failed. The chucked escaped her lips in a bubble, and she resigned herself to the fact that even though he was stubborn, and arrogant and moody, she liked him. Liked him, liked him. Which was kind of ridiculous, and none too believable, seeing that she didn't even know him that well, past a couple of notes. And Tenten wasn't superficial enough to think that it was only because of his looks (which were considerable, to be completely honest). There was just something about him; that combination of haughtiness and wryness and intelligence that just… drew her to him.
Whatever it was, she mused, fingering the paper and staring at his back, it had developed fast, right before her eyes. She hadn't even seen it happening, but by now, she could recognise it for what it was. And by the looks of things it wasn't going to go away.
Just as well, because she didn't think she wanted it to.
Neji shifted slightly in his seat to glance at the girl behind him, smirking slightly. Tenten, however, wasn't looking at him, but instead was staring down at his last note, a wide smile spreading her lips and creasing a dimple into the surface of her left cheek. Neji watched her smile, felt his heart do some funny sort of antics in his chest, and resignedly acknowledged the fact that he was screwed. Bad.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kakashi look up from his book, and sweep his gaze over the classroom. Swiftly, he faced forward once again, and turned his attention to his text. Behind him, Tenten also noticed that their teacher had trained his mismatched eyes on his students, and it broke her out of her thoughts of the Hyuuga fairly quickly. She shoved the notes into her bag as fast as possible, and went back to reading.
Notes: Awww, they're being all cute and stuff. :D
Comments very much welcome and appreciated.