it's gonna start picking up now enjoy!
chapter 3; too close
When the bell rang the three of us stood and left going down the stairs, Neji being the gentleman he was let me pass first so they were both walking behind me. When I made it to the hall I suddenly noticed that they were walking with me Neji on my left Sasuke on my right, soon after, I guess, curiosity go the better
"those welts, you said there was an accident, what kind of accident?" I turned to look at Sasuke not really expecting that, but before I could spill another lie a voice cut in
"don't be nosey Uchiha" Sasuke growled
"i'm not being nosey Hyuuga"
"she said she didn't wanna talk about it so don't push" the boy then huffed and crossed his arms, I sheepishly smile
"don't worry Sasuke maybe ill tell you guys later, ne?" he looked at me and smirked
"i'll hold you up to that" I playfully swatted his arm while rolling my eyes with a smile
"sure, sure" We soon found our selves in front of our science class and entered once again taking three seats in the back in the same order as before.
The moment we sat down yelling was heard
"Get out of my way Ino pig! I got here first!"
"did not forehead! My foot is farther in than yours!"
"either way move your fat ass!"
"move your billboard brow then!" suddenly a boy walked towards us sighing, I recognized him from yesterday also
"they're at it again, troublesome, Sasuke you need to control your woman"
"then control yours Nara" he rolled his eyes then looked at my other side
"Neji" he nodded his head in greeting
"Shikamaru" he did the same. His eyes then landed on me
"oh, Tenten, you're in this class too?" I gave a small smile and nodded, he scratched the back of his head as he took the seat in front of me "yeah, heard that you're not to liked by the female population here" I snorted
"yeah I noticed"
"it's okay we can blame these two" Neji and Sasuke shot him a glare. He put his hands up in mock defense
"what? It's true" I couldn't help but laugh.
We then heard two sets of loud huffing and two disgruntled girls that I once again recognized from yesterday.
"okay Shikamaru"the blonde started "who won?" he shrugged his shoulders "what?! What do you mean you dont know?!"
"damn Ino, do you have to yell so loud"
"Sakura and I went through all of that for nothing?!"
"oh get over it porkster, he is YOUR lazy ass boyfriend"
"why I oughtta-" but Sakura had already pranced over to Sasuke pecking him on the lips. She then noticed me and gasped
"oh my gosh! Tenten! We have this class with you?!" she squealed "no way! Your dancing yesterday was incredible!" she leaned in to my side while Ino leaned in on the front of my desk
"wasn't it? Oh, I loved your dance from Swan Lake it was priceless!" I laughed while thanking them kindly
"thanks, I really enjoyed both of your groups performances they were very well done" a slight blush came to their cheeks
"r-really?'"
"yeah, I was really impressed" I thought they were going to faint
"Ino, THE Tenten just said that SHE was impressed by US!"
"i know, I know, I know!" I giggled slightly.
"um, so wheres the teacher? Class already started"
"he's late! Like always!" a blonde boy stood and made his way to the group, another dancer from yesterday. I lifted an eyebrow
"and this is normal?"
"pretty much, damn pervert teacher"
"pervert?"
"NARUTO!" Ino and Sakura punched him in the head
"Baka!"
"he just reads pervy books, dont worry" I nodded my head slowly, the day progressed like this, meeting new people and pushing down rivals while being the rare girl that could actually have conversations with both Neji Hyuuga and Uchiha Sasuke. I wasn't hungry during lunch so I decided to go to the library, while making my way over to an empty table I heard snickering and a soft voice
"pl-please, j-just leave m-e a-alone" I went around some bookcases and looked to see a familiar red head teasing a girl that she literally had in a corner.
"aw what's that? Your stuttering too much freak"
"you really are a despicable human being" she immediately turned and looked at me with fiery vengeance in her eyes.
"what the hell are you doing here?"
"free country isn't it?" I walked pass Karin to the girl and saw it was the pearl eyed girl from dance
"hey" I softly said, she looked at me with watery eyes "come on" I smiled at her as I jerked my head to the side while I stuck out my hand, she looked at my palm to my face and I smiled a bit more, she shakily place her hand in mine, then tightly gripped it. I held her hand then turned to the three girls in icily said "excuse me" they all just stared and then moved to the side in complete shock.
As we made it out, I heard sniffling and turned around to see the girl crying with running makeup, sighing sadly I lead her to the girls bathroom where I began to help her clean up. I gently rubbed at her cheeks when she quietly said
"thank you" I looked at her and blinked but then smiled
"don't mention it, but the next time those girls give you trouble, just come to me okay?" I winked at her and she gave a small smile
"o-okay"
"besides" I finished cleaning her face "you shouldn't ruin a pretty face with tears" my smile grew as she blushed in appreciation
"M-my name is Hi-hinata Hyuuga"
"oh, do you have a cousin?" her face lit up a bit
"yes, Neji nii san"
"nii san?"
"he's more like a big brother"
"oh ok then, hey! You stopped stutterting" she smiled sheepishly
"it comes and goes" I laughed
"your one funny girl Hinata" I took her hand"come on" we made our way to the school cafeteria and there I saw everyone sitting eating lunch "hey guys" they all turned saying there heys to both Hinata and I.
Sakura turned to her
"Hey Hinata where were you?"
"um.."
"it was Karin again wasn't it?"
"well... yes, but Tenten helped me" everyone turned to look at me
"what? She's a bitch"
"oh man!" Ino threw her arms around me "this is why I love you!" I laughed, I swore I saw a small smile on Neji's face, but as soon as it had come it had left. At the end of the day I walked with Hinata, Sakura, and Ino to the dance building. We walked into the girls locker room and began to change, I was bit hesitant at first but then remembered the excuse I had created and just hoped no one touched them. As I changed I could feel the tension in the room as girls starred at my welts, I finally finished putting on my point shoes and then waited for the other girls to finish completely ignoring Karin and her friends. We walked out together talking and joking around then entered the studio and did our stretches. When the room was full and everyone was socializing and stretching I didn't notice Karin creep up behind me until I heard a loud slap and a stinging pain shoot up my back.
I slapped a hand over my mouth muffling a scream of pain as I clenched my eyes shut and fell to my knees.
"oh my God Tenten!"
"Karin you bitch! How dare you touch her!"
"i'll rip your extensions right off your scalp!" tears were in the corner of my eyes
"Tenten, are you alright?" Hinata's voice was filled with concern, I shakily moved my hand from my mouth to my pulsing lower back, hissing at the pain
"Hinata what is it?"
"Nii san I think Tenten's hurt!"
"Tenten" I heard his deep voice call to me
" ju-just give me a minute..." the pain kept shooting up and down my spine and it wasn't going away but I knew that this was causing a scene, still in pain I shakily stood with Hinata and Neji's help. When I felt his cool hand touch my lower back, even through the leotard, it was extremely comforting making the pain go away, but when it was gone the pain returned.
"i'm fine guys, really" the girls and Neji stood with me as Ino asked
"Tenten what happened? What'd she do"
"did it have anything to do with those welts?" I felt Neji's eyes burn into me after Sakura's question
"uh, yeah, they're from awhile ago, but they're still really sensitive at times" they all took my excuse, and things started to go smoothly again, I was thankful for that.
After dance class we all changed and began to head home, Sakura and Ino had left a little earlier so Hinata and I began to walk out of the building when suddenly a familiar dark haired girl came up to us
"how was class Hanabi?"
"it was good sis, i-" she stopped when she noticed me and I smiled as her eyes got big
"well hello again"
"Ms. Tenten!" she ran up to me and hugged my waist, I laughed as I put my arms around her
"Hanabi!"
"haha, it's fine Hinata, I love kids"
"your my idol! I wanna be just like you!" I giggled at the sweet girl
"don't be such a suck up Hanabi" we turned to see Neji walking towards us. Hanabi stuck out her tongue
"your just jealous that I get to hug the beautiful Ms. Tenten!" I blushed and laughed as did Hinata
"okay kiddo we gotta get back to the dorm", her hold tightened on me
"but why?! I wanted to stay with Ms. Tenten"
"nope, you have homework, and a bedtime!" she huffed and unwantingly let go of me and walked with her sister while grumbling nonsense, I chuckled at the sisterly display.
"walk with me Tenten" I paused and turned around to see Neji walking in the opposite direction, I hesitated a moment but then ran after him soon catching his step, it was then that I noticed that he was about a whole foot taller than me. We walked in comfortable silence. We came to the school garden
"those are some scars you have" I froze at his words, but tried my best to not seem so taken aback
"yeah, I guess you could say that"
"how long ago was it?"
"was what?"
"the accident" I fidgeted slightly
"um, 5 years ago"
"interesting" we were now starting to walk up the white steps of a gazebo that had willow trees surrounding it.
"tell me though" he suddenly turned to look at me, I swallowed thickly as I met his eyes "what could've happened to cause those types of welts" my throat felt dry, I was caught, he knew, I just know he knew, he took a step forward as I took one back,
"i-" I wasn't sure if he knew what caused them, but he knew that it wasn't an accident, he continued moving forward as I stepped back until I felt my back hit a wooden pole, he stuck his arm out so it was right next to my head. Escape, I had to escape,
"were they really because of an accident" dammit, dammit, dammit it all, how could I be so stu- wait, then I got an idea, act stupid! I looked down at my bare wrist
"oh! Look at the time! It's so late! Ishouldreallygetgoing bye!" I quickly ducked under his arm and ran down the steps of the Gazebo and out of the garden all the way to the girls dorm breathing heavily, that was too close...
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