A Rose With Thorns

By Paine

------------

It wasn't as though finding Yukarin Tenten fully awake under her polyester quilts at such an obscene hour was a rare occasion.

It wasn't.

She could often be found lying awake in her bed a night staring at the white washed ceiling above her, trying to make out the answers to the universe in the timber.

What was different about this time however was that for once, Tenten was staring at her ceiling, happily. Well, perhaps happy was too strong a word but there was definitely a bubble of contentment swelling in her chest this night.

Neji had almost kissed her.

She was certain of it. And she wasn't certain about a lot of things.

Sure, it hadn't been like in her thousands of fantasies, where angels would sing and shout their blessings from above and bells would toll and somewhere fireworks would go off. But she supposed in these occasions one couldn't be choosy.

And it was still almost kissed. It hadn't been the real event. Those fireworks could still be waiting to go off.

------------

Why had he stopped anyway?

The voice that belonged to reality, the one that only appeared from out of the depths of Tenten's mind on such occasions was of course back again. And it hadn't lost its ability to force her mind into a state of self-criticism either.

In her head she immediately began to list the reasons why he could have terminated his idea to kiss her. Had it been her breath? Her hair? Of course it was her hair, it was always her hair, wasn't it?

Or maybe it had been due to the fact that it was her. Tenten.

Somehow she felt herself leaning towards the last reason.

------------
But they had kissed before. Sure she had been six, it had only lasted about two seconds and afterwards Neji had claimed it to be the most disgusting moment in his life. The fact remained they had kissed.

But one almost kiss doesn't mean that he's going to cancel his wedding, Tenten.

Reality was just rubbing it in her face now.

So what if it hadn't been a real kiss, so what if it hadn't been anything at all, so what if Neji had been standing that close to her because he had liked the smell of her shampoo or the aroma of her fabric softener. So what?

The point was that for a moment she had felt that after years of lusting after her best friend for a moment that maybe he was lusting after her too.

And it had felt pretty damn good.

Maybe you should just go to sleep.

For once she and reality could agree on something. The more Tenten pondered about what exactly had happened, the smaller the happy bubble in her chest had become.

------------
What the hell were you thinking?

Neji hadn't gone very far. In fact he hadn't really gone at all. He had just climbed outside Tenten's bedroom, up, onto her balcony.

He really couldn't tell you why.

But it was there he had stayed for the past few hours pacing absently mindedly and muttering nonsense to himself.

He knew that he must look like a lunatic to those watching him from the streets a few stories below him, he knew he should care but he really did feel like a lunatic at the moment and if someone were to call the mental asylum right now, he couldn't say that he would blame them.

------------

What had he been thinking? He had almost kissed her. Her. Tenten.

Was he insane?

You don't try to passionately make out with your best friend. Neji muttered between strides. You don't. It was some unwritten rule he knew that.

And you especially don't try it when you have a fiancée.

Luckily he had stopped himself before anything could happen. But still if he hadn't stopped, would she have stopped him?

Was she mental as well?

He knew what the solution was. He should barge in there right now and demand an explanation, or maybe he should give her one. Whatever, something more should be said.

But his feet refused to discontinue their pacing and he had to say he was impressed. He had always had relatively intelligent feet.

And he couldn't trust himself to be around Tenten right now anyways. Whatever it was that had made him try to kiss her the first time might come back again.

And he didn't need that.

------------
"Yes, I'm here for the driving test"

"What's your name dear?"

"Tenten Yukarin"

"Hold on just a second"

The lady at the front desk was ancient. Tenten was surprised that she wasn't falling apart at her seams.

She was a comfort in a way how ever. She did make Tenten feel like she wasn't the oldest person in the world right now. Which after looking around the room with the other test takers, Tenten had to say was an accomplishment.

The others, were practically children. Probably just out from the Academy. It made Tenten feel incredibly stupid for not taking the test with the rest of her age group.
For not trying to be normal.

------------
"You're late"

Well of course I am, I can't drive like the rest of the world.

"Sorry, I had problems getting a train"

"You're number two hundred and seven, go straight into room seven, you're tester is Uchiha Sasuke"

She thrust a plastic card into Tenten's palm, and stared at her crossly, until she had shut the door of room seven behind her.

"Tenten-san?"

Tenten jumped at the voice. "Did I frighten you?"

An pale hand was now thrust at her. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke"

"Pleasure" Tenten replied but didn't take his hand.

She didn't like him, for he had scared her with his stupid smooth tone and booming voice.

"Well, is the first time you are taking this test?"

Katie shook her head and held up for fingers, bashful. She didn't see why he was asking her this, the lady from the front desk had written all of it down on the sheet of paper that he was holding his hands.

"Well let's get started, do you know where Ichiraku's is?"

Tenten nodded.

"Well concentrate for me on getting there" He lead her to the car, holding the door open for her on the driver's side before heading to the passenger seat.

Tenten immediately clamped her eyes shut. Okay Tenten just concentrate. You won't loose your head. You won't loose your head.

------------
She felt dizzy and then heavy as her heart sank through her feet. She'd opened her eyes as soon as she'd gotten into the accursed metal contraption to avoid extra casualties. She looked over at the Uchiha.

"Did I make it? I mean, was that good?"

"Yes"

"Do I still have my head? I'm not dead?"

"Yes but part of your elbow's gone…this is why you don't stick your arm out the window…"

"Are you serious"

His laughter answered her. She really didn't like him. He obviously didn't understand her fear of dieing.

"There you are" He quickly signed a piece of paper on his clipboard before handing it to her. "Give this to the lady at the front desk. She'll give you your license.

"You can now legally drive."

"That's it?"

"That's it"

Well that hadn't been that hard, it just went to show that she could be good if she put her mind to something.

"Tenten?"

"Yes"

"I was wondering if you would like to go out with me, sometime"

"I don't understand"

"Would you go to dinner with me tomorrow"

Hell no.

"I'm sorry I think I'm busy, maybe some other time"

"Am I coming on too strong?"

This one was a genius. Since when was a simple 'I'm busy' not good enough anymore?

"No it's not that, it's just that…"

"You have a boyfriend?"

"No, but…"

"A child…"

"No…I––"

"Well then what?"

"I'm busy"

Great , that was really convincing.

"You know you have really beautiful eyes"

"What"

"Your eyes, they are gorgeous"

This guy was something else. Her eyes. Now she knew he was lying. He might as well have said your hair is like a cascading waterfall or something along those lines.

"Thank you but…"

"It's just one date"

"Fine" she sighed, knowing that he wouldn't soon go away.

"Fantastic" his tanned face split into a smile. "Tomorrow night at nine then, meet me here"

"Sure" she knew her force lacked the enthusiasm required to make it sound convincing, but Sasuke obviously didn't notice so why should she worry?

He was gone a second later.

Okay, concentrate Tenten, home, home.

It wasn't much longer after that when Tenten decided to take the train instead, calling up a towing agency to pick up her rented car.

------------
Authors Note:

Thank you again for your support. I don't know Tenten's last name…so I used her seiyu's nickname…Yes, Sasuke's a little…"out there" in this story but…eh…whatevs…
------------

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters except the old lady at the front desk...