In Universe/Alternate Universe
Rating: T
Pairings: NejiTen friendship, not really a pairing…
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it'd be called Lee. XD Neji would be the jack ass traitor, and TenTen would be Sakura.
OOC Warning: Neji is probably a bit too emo in the beginning. Eh, whatever.
- Blades -
..::5. Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.::..
TenTen smiled, almost laughing, when Neji's eyes narrowed at the sunlight.
"It's hot." He said simply, raising his left hand to shield his eyes. He was about as pale as the walls he kept himself in, looking sick with his slightly gaunt frame. Almost like a fragile china doll, but she'd never tell him that.
"When was the last time you were out, huh, Neji-kun? It's always hot in Konoha!" TenTen laughed this time, her skin reflecting a different story than his. Her skin was tanned and her hair was sun kissed. She knew he hadn't seen her hair this light in a long time.
"… The last time you were here and made me come outside would be it." Neji sighed, arm falling limply to his side when his eyes grew accustomed to the bright light. TenTen pouted, poking him in the ribs, slightly scared at the way, even though it was just a brush against her knuckles, could feel each and every one of them.
"When did you last eat, stupid?" She asked, shuddering slightly. Neji always had something about him that could turn any sizzling day chilly. He was an odd character, way different than even the psychotic kids in her school.
"Yesterday morning." Whap. He glared at her, rubbing his right arm slightly. She glared back defiantly, crossing her arms across her nonexistent chest.
"You, Hyuuga, Neji-kun, will eat three meals a day, no questions, no buts. Got it? How can you enter judo competitions when you weigh too little?" TenTen asked, still glaring, though not into his pale blue eyes. When he was glaring (and sometimes just staring), they really freaked her out since they looked white and menacing.
"Hn." He grunted, not agreeing or disagreeing, letting her know he could care less. If he didn't want to eat, he wouldn't, simple as that.
"Ne, Neji-kun, why do you always keep your arm wrapped? And you leg? I know Hiashi-sama can't be beating you… and the day Hinata-chan does, no offense to her, will be the day hell freezes over." TenTen narrowed her eyes at the white Ace bandage tied around his right arm and leg suspiciously. She'd never seen him with out them. The shadows beneath Neji's eyes darkened slightly as his head tilted down, hands absentmindedly pushing back his bangs, undoing his hair tie, and then retying it. His lips were tilted downward somewhat as he thought about whether to tell her or not (or he could have been just thinking randomly about some algebraic expression or something). TenTen waited patiently, hoping he'd tell her his secret this time, unlike the rest where he pretended to not hear her because "he'd been thinking of something else".
Neji held out his right arm, palm up, not looking at her. TenTen grinned, taking his icy hand in her own two and pulling up the tape holding the wrappings on his palm. Carefully, somewhat convinced he had a bad injury that was years old, she undid the wrappings from his fingers to his elbow, getting even more horrified as she went. Various sizes of cuts with random deepness covered his sickly white skin, the red contrasting sharply. TenTen didn't want to seem more when she reached his elbow, bottom lip trembling.
"N-Neji-kun? You… cut? But… why? You're only ten! I thought only attention-craving teenagers cut themselves!" She said, letting his arm drop. The look in Neji's eyes was distant, like he really wasn't listening this time.
"My blood… I was told once the Hyuuga blood ran thicker in mine that anyone else's. I started when I was five, wanting to see if it looked any different than Hinata-hime's. It became… an obsession. My blood…" Neji stopped, a sick smirk on his face. There was hate present in his eyes now. He pulled a pocket knife from his pocket, quickly making another thin, red line appear on his wrist. Neji stared at it, looking transfixed for a moment, before bringing his wrist to his mouth and licking the few beads of blood away. For the first time in her life, TenTen honestly felt… scared of Neji. He had been pulled out of school not even half way into his first year on the principal's request, saying no one felt comfortable around him and he was causing a disturbance with the other children's learning. She had been warned not to go near the Hyuuga just because of his last name and because he was the supposed prodigy of his Clan, but she had ignored them, interested in him. Maybe this was why the other children avoided him… because they felt he was a bit suicidal?
"My blood isn't different than anyone else's except that it's cursed. Don't tell me you're frightened just by this, TenTen-san. You told me you were not scared of anything." Neji's cold, calculating eyes bore into hers, seeing the shock and fear. He let out a cruel chuckle (she just called it a chuckle to give it a human name), slowly wrapping his arm back up and leaving her. TenTen stopped visiting Neji on Sundays after that, wishing she'd never asked.
Seven years later, he reappeared in her life, now taller than her and much wider. His arms, both of them, were wrapped, but she couldn't tell if his legs were or not because of the uniform. Rumors spread about him even before the entrance ceremony began, none even close since no one expected a Hyuuga to be "a cutter". TenTen trembled slightly when he sat next to her in the classroom, eyeing him nervously. His eyes were still as cold as ever, the only thing that seemed to stay constant through the seven year gap.
With age, TenTen's eyes had grown a bit darker to the color of coffee with the cream just poured in. Her hair, though still up in two buns, had been permanently bleached from the sun from the original dark chocolate color to her current variously highlighted cinnamon brown shade. She was now around 169 centimeters instead of 153. TenTen had, of course, gotten a not-so-quite flat chest and slightly rounded hips, and her once round, childish face had sharper angles and a more heart-shaped look.
Neji was now a lanky boy most likely around 180 centimeters instead of 150. His hair looked a lot healthier than she remember, and a shade lighter to look like milk chocolate; not to mention that he didn't keep his bangs back in his old, traditional "ponytail" (she had no idea what to call it) and let them frame his slender face. It reached about to his elbows, too, much longer than she remembered. His features were sharper, though not in a gaunt way, like he ate more than when he wanted or had time to. Though still pale, his skin had a healthier look, like he went outside about every other day for a few minutes.
TenTen waited until their class headed to gym to talk to him. Though he was usually a brisk walker, he had to stay at the back of the pack since he had no idea where he was going, unlike the rest of his class.
"N—Hyuuga-san, I could take you there faster, if you wanted." TenTen said softly, eyeing his arms rather than his face.
"Did I really frighten you?" Caught by surprise, she looked up into his cool, unblinking gaze. She was surprised he still remembered and by the fact his voice was so deep (it used to be so high and girlish).
"… Yes, you did, Hyuuga-san." TenTen replied softly, avoiding his unnatural gaze. Somehow, it had gotten a colder look that when he just stared it felt like he was glaring. Or maybe he'd never really glared at her before, and his eyes had always been soft around her.
"Why?"
"WHY? Oh, Kami-sama, you ask WHY? Hyuuga, Ne—mffph." TenTen was stopped, mid screech, by his cold, bandaged hand covering her lips. His finger tips felt rough and calloused against her cheek, yet they felt much warmer than his palm.
"Don't scream. It' be very unwise of you to even think about yelling about that day in the middle of a practically empty hall where anyone in the classrooms can hear you." His voice was low and threatening, and his breath felt warm, unlike the rest of his body (minus his finger tips). She glared at him over his hand, wishing she could lick or bite him to make him let go, but she knew neither would make him.
"Come with me. Physical Education introduction is unimportant." Neji sighed, taking her wrist with his free one and slowly but surely dragging her, one hand still clamped over her mouth, to a secluded part of the courtyard.
"I will release you if you do not yell." He said, referring to the hand over her mouth since he knew she could have hit him with her free hand if she'd wished to. TenTen nodded, breathing deeply when he removed his hand. It had felt suffocating even though he hadn't pressed hard or anything.
"Hyuuga-san, a suicidal ten-year-old is enough to scare anyone away. Seriously, your arm was covered in marks, like it's natural color was red and not white. And only Kami-sama can imagine what you leg and biceps looked like if that was just your palm to your elbow." She retorted quietly, rubbing the wrist he had taken; she didn't like the feeling she had form his touch (she couldn't rub her lips in front of him or else he'd know she felt repulsed by him).
"I was never suicidal, only homicidal." Neji corrected, crossing his arms over his chest. TenTen couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head.
"Hyuuga-san, that's just as bad. You don't still… you know, do you?" She said, once her laughter had been contained, eyeing his arms for what seemed like the billionth time (and maybe it was).
"See for yourself." Neji said, holding out his right arm, somehow knowing she'd want to check that one first since it was the one that he'd had been cutting since the beginning. TenTen closed her eyes when she took his hand in hers, suddenly knowing it was déjà vu all over again. Slowly, with her eyes still closed, she unwrapped the Ace bandage up to his elbow again.
"If you are not going to look, then why have you bothered? Face your fears, TenTen-san." Neji said, starting to pull his arm away when TenTen dared to peek. Her jaw fell at the sight. There was only one cut. One. And it looked a few days old. She quickly grabbed his left and unwrapped it, too, eyebrows rising at the unmarred skin. Neji was smirking when she kneeled down and rolled his pants leg up to see it untouched by even bandages. TenTen looked up at him from her kneeling position, face openly portraying her shock.
"When you did not visit the next week, I didn't cut myself. The same thing happened a week later. It slowly progressed until I only felt bothered to see my blood one a week, then a month, and then never, and now the only reason why I have a cut is a dinner accident with Hanabi-sama. I did not wish to scare you, so I covered my arms." Neji said, eyes finally, slowly, resembling the one's she seen when he was ten. They were still cold, calculating, distant, and pale as hell, but relenting from the cold fire of nothingness she'd seen earlier.
"… Why?" TenTen asked simply, standing up. She knew cutting was a habit hard to stop, and yet he had, just because she stopped visiting him? That was hardly strong enough…
"You were my first and only friend. You approached me when others didn't. You became the light in my gloomy world. I wished for it to come back. That is also why I have come to this school. It took me years, but I stopped, and I won't be here for long. They will soon ship me off somewhere else once they figure out I'm not a normal child." Neji said simply, voice void of the emotions he said he'd felt. TenTen's eyebrows tilted downward, remembering his mind was way ahead of his age. She agreed silently with him that he'd be gone before she knew it, off to some prestigious college or another. It was obvious to her that he wanted to patch up the seven year gap between them.
"It will take time, you know. You can't really get over seeing your best friend suddenly showing his unstable mentality through the form of self-inflicted cuts." TenTen avoided his eyes again, unsure of what he'd do.
"I know you've always been repulsed by my touch. You have always felt the slightest bit of what everyone else has. Everything takes time. Perhaps in the next seven years, you will heal enough to not feel repulsed by me." TenTen grinned, almost laughing again.
"How ironic. You're being optimistic and I'm being cynical." She glanced at him to see him smirk.
"Don't get used to it. I still hate the human race with your exception." She laughed then, unable to help it. Neji's smirk fell, the only sign that she saw he was confused by her laughter. She took his hand again when she stopped laughing, feeling the rough, calloused alien-ness of it; she dropped it quickly, however, shivering slightly.
"Hyuuga-san, first you need to use lotion. That might help a bit."
A/N: … :D? Well, uh… yeah, I've got nothing. Not the strongest NejiTen fanfic ever, but its still there in friendship at least. This is a new version of the fifth theme for the ten for NejiTen challenge from . since I'm very displeased with my crack-head attempts last year.