Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, etc.
Summary: Tenten is indebt and a really good liar. Neji's family is rich and is in need of a temporary niece. What happens when these two meet? ( Nejiten & minor others )
Neji dropped her off at the hospital, but didn't follow her inside.
He looked pointedly at her and sighed. "Go and get your ankle healed. And don't try to do anything like this again. Ever." Tenten looked down from shame. "Right."
He sped away.
Tenten looked at the doors of the hospital with sad eyes. "Did he really think I have the money to go and get my ankle healed?" She looked at where the car had gone. "He's an honorable man, but he's not as smart as he think he is."
Sighing, she made her way to the nearest drug store to get a quick and large band-aid to heal her ankle.
"Are you excited to return to Korea?" An orange haired pig-tailed girl was sipping delightfully from her glass of water. She turned to the girl beside her and noticed her pensive state. "… Sakura?"
The girl said just shrugged and chuckled to herself. "I really…" she began. "I-I just don't know, Moegi." The small girl beside her sighed.
"You're not… still thinking about him, are you?"
Sakura shrugged again.
Moegi shook her head. "You can't afford to do any relationships now! There's another tournament coming up. We'll be practicing all day. You can't-" The tennis player stopped her rambling with her mere hand.
"I get it, Moegi. I get it."
Unbeknownst to them, another pair was on the run, flustered from their latest "escape."
A dark-haired boy was panting loudly. Both he and his advisor had just rushed onto the plane, hoping to escape the bulky man "Eduardo."
The advisor turned to him, trying to adjust the awkward pose his sunglasses took when they had fled for the airport. "Sasuke-sir," the man began. "What were you thinking?! You said that you came for busine-"
The man named Sasuke smirked, flapping the collar of his shirt a bit. "Please," he said. "You know how bad work is for me. Neji only gave me that job so I could be 'useful,'" he made air quotes "but…" He turned to the advisor. "You know how it is."
The man was not convinced. "But still," he said. "Conversing with woman again. You know how your mother would react! Gosh, we almost got killed by her boyfriend! You ought to find a girl to settle down with and-"
Sasuke snorted. "Enough."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, you can deal with Mrs. Uchiha." He sweat dropped a bit. "I'm not getting in her way once we return home."
"I prefer... A nice vacation first." Sasuke then mumbled something else that was out of the earshot of his partner. In honest, he was not that willing to return home. Especially to deal with his mother.
"Oh? And what will you tell your mother once she finds out… again?"
He gave him a rare smile. "France was nice this time of year."
Slap.
Tenten crudely stuck the gigantic band-aid onto her ankle. She took the wrappings and crinkled it in her hands. Seeing the trash can before her, she threw the wad of trash, making it land straight into the canister. Ah… The gift of good aim. How everyone wishes that.
She was inside one of those small general stores that are kind of shabby, but still good. Stores that sold junk food and other random necessities. She swerved the green stool she was sitting on, so that she was facing the counter table.
Sighing to herself in satisfaction, she clicked open her chopsticks and began to stir the noodles in the ramen cup around. It was the only thing she was able to afford with what little pocket money she had (money that was not gained from selling oranges).
Nonetheless, it was a god meal that even she was lucky to get. And plus, the store was a good heating source. It looked so chilly outside from the window. She stuffed a big heap of noodles into her mouth and began to slurp.
RING.
Neji had been on his way to the hotel again, when his cell phone had rung once more. Rolling his eyes again, he pressed the button. The voice line went to the earphone in his… well… ear.
"Yes?" he asked dryly. "What is it?"
On the other line, a man was twiddling his fingers over the hotel phone's extension cord. "Hyuuga-sir," he began nervously, "The guests… They're a bit… uncomfortable…"
Neji furrowed his eyebrows. Uncomfortable? With what? They were perfectly fine this morning with the new translator. What had happened here? In a disbelieving tone, he asked, "What?"
"Well…" The man hesitated a bit. "I-It's to be… expected…"
"Expected?" the Hyuuga repeated dumbly. "Expected."
"Well… Last week they…" the man had begun to stammer. "They… you… They seemed to be…" He sighed – even at his own incompetence. "They say that they and I quote: 'Miss the other girl because she was so nice and all this one talks about is how fancy his shoes are and-'"
"Hn." Neji butted in with a word. He was tired of receiving disappointing calls from this man. He hung up immediately.
His mind went straight to Tenten. Was she that popular with everyone? Even he had found himself get somewhat attracted to her own humor and her (ridiculous) survival skills. He shook his head at that thought and swerved his car to head back to the hospital.
Neji's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean she's not on your list?"
The nurse shook her head with an awkward glance at the Hyuuga. "I'm sorry. A 'Tenten' isn't on our list. Did you escort her inside?" He furrowed his brow. No, he did not.
"I see," he mumbled, and bowed his head in a small thanks. He left the hospital, his face in a worried expression. Perhaps he should've escorted her inside… He frowned again. Or maybe she was lying about hurting her ankle?
He kept on driving, rushing past a convenience store on the way.
The car screeched as he came to a stop.
He then drove backwards.
He saw someone in the window.
BEEP!
Startled, Tenten looked up from her cup of ramen, and saw a silver car. Slowly, the window rolled down revealing…
NEJI?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
The mound of noodles that was in Tenten's gaping mouth slid out back into the cup with a PLOP! Neji grimaced at this with some partial disgust. Noticing this, she just smiled kindly at him in embarrassment and reached over to get a napkin to wipe her mouth.
But got a band-aid instead.
Neji grimaced even more. Tenten realized what she was holding, and became even more embarassed.
"Look," Tenten said, her hands clasped together in a desperate prayer for forgiveness. "I'm really sorry about the oranges! I can't afford to end up in-"
Neji stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
Tenten looked back at him. "You mean you're not taking me to jail?!" Neji snorted at her ridiculous imagination. At last, he decided not to beat around the bush, and give her the real reason he's come here.
"The money…" he started. Tenten butted in with, "What about the money?"
He glared at her for interrupting, but continued none the less. "Would you like to get it all back?" Tenten's eyes widened.
"What the-" She stopped. She was going to say "Are you crazy?" next, but she changed her motive. "Can you…" she began, choosing words carefully. "Can you seriously do that?"
He shrugged.
Her eyes shone in happiness. "FOR FREE?!?!?!?!" she screeched.
Neji stared her down. "No."
Tenten composed herself. "Oh."
"You will be working for it." Tenten's face collapsed. Crap…
"I hate work."
"Hello again!" she cried out cheerfully to the Chinese. The guests that were standing around, doing nothing, broke into a smile.
"Oh! Hello again!"
"Nice to see you once more!"
"Our paths cross again!"
They all bowed to her in greeting, and she did the same, her smile branded on her face. She quickly turned to Neji. "Now what?" she hissed over at him. "What the heck am I supposed to do with them?!"
"Tour them around the island," he said simply.
Tenten grumbled her disappointment. She couldn't even count how many times she had been around the island with the other tour groups from her old job. She said the same things over and over again, and did the same things over and over again. It was nerve-racking to the extreme.
"Joy," she said (sarcastically).
"And from here," Tenten told her audience. "You can see the beautiful mountain ranges from the other island at the other side!" She shifted a bit, uncomfortable from all the attention she was getting from the tourists everywhere.
However, her attention turned back to the Chinese guests, who wanted to take a picture with her… AGAIN. She groaned. She had to do this over and over again in her own job. She put on a fake smile as she walked over to them.
Just smile Tenten! she told herself furiously. You've done this a million times – one shouldn't make any difference! But it had, and she found herself being relieved once her job was done.
That was until her stomach twisted.
Sasuke surveyed the area. It was just a small island off the coast of Korea, yet there were a lot of things to see and do over here. He drove his sleek blue corvette over to the sea-side to get a better look over at the city.
It would be a lot better than returning to his mom. He cringed inwardly, thinking of what she would do. He snorted. His advisor would slip up the news sometime, and then he'll get the three hour lecture that came tied up in the package.
He sighed.
Great. Just great.
DEBT COLLECTORS was obviously the first thing that popped into Tenten's mind. It was bad – mortifying – to see them again. Her eyes narrowed. A tour bus had pulled up next to their black car.
Oh great. Naruto was here to screw things up again. Perfect. Just what she needed.
Once he got out of the bus, Tenten made frantic motions to him. Such as the "pointing to mouth" motion, the "shake head with hands moving back and forth" motion, and the "right hand slicing the neck" motion. The message was clear:
Talk and you're dead.
Naruto, fortunately, noticed these signs of trouble and quickly looked away. He spotted the collectors himself, and hastily hopped into the bus and drove away. His original plan was to say good-bye to Tenten first before leaving for the city, but he thinks (and hopes) that she'll be alive to see him again anyways.
Tenten swiftly hunched over and wrapped her scarf about her head. She dove into a pack of Japanese tourists that were walking up the stone steps to the sea-side view. She greeted them with a pleasant smile, despite what she was feeling inside. "Ohayo! How are you today? Isn't the sea so nice?"
The man quickly responded with a "yes," and they engaged in a colorful conversation, comparing and contrasting Japan and Korea together. "Well," Tenten began. "I think that Korea has more of the natural highlights, whereas Japan-" She stopped.
They were right behind her.
The man looked confused; wondering why she had stopped. "You were saying?"
"Oh, uh…" Tenten shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said to the man. "I-I have some business that I need to attend to. It was nice meeting you and, well… so long!"
She quickly dashed out of the group, still holding the scarf around her head until a man grabbed her arm. She snapped around. OH SHIT!
The man holding her arm shouted to the others, "I FOUND HER!" All at once, she was surrounded by men in black. She looked around frantically, searching for a way out, but found none. There was only one way…
"GET OFF OF ME!" Tenten shouted angrily, still in Japanese. She snapped her right fist back, about to deliver a punch to the man's face, when someone else beat her to it.
Sasuke, at first, was admiring the calm ocean waves of the island. It was a marvelous view – one you couldn't get in the city. It was a shame that the island was so secluded from everything else.
A shout came from a group of tourists up front. Sasuke snapped his head in that direction, and quickly dashed on over. There, he saw a girl in the middle of a ring of men. One was clutching her left arm.
Seeing that she was being ganged up upon, he did the only logical thing to do. He jumped in and started bashing their faces.
Tenten glanced at the person in surprise. What the- How did he get here?!
She didn't say anything as she watched him make a flying kick to the other man. All at once, the debt collectors tightened the circle around them, attacking the mysterious man with everything they had. In a few moments, however, he had cleared half the circle of goons.
Quickly grabbing her hand, he shouted, "Come on!" Tenten had begun to protest – that he had defeated practically all of them, and to tell him her thanks. However, she turned around and her eyes grew wide.
Even more were coming up the stairs! She really had to figure out how they were finding her all over the place.
Seriously.
Sasuke dragged the tourist girl from the pack of wild men that were following her. He didn't even question as to why they were following her in the first place, but it was an unwritten code that if you randomly gang up on someone, that's called a beating.
And, well, you can't just leave a pedestrian to suffer.
So he grabbed her arm before she could argue and dashed over to his car. He quickly opened the car door and shoved her inside, rushing over to the front to the other side to get in. Just as the men were about to climb onto it, he pressed the gas pedal and the car sped away.
Realizing that they couldn't possibly catch them on foot, the men quickly got into their own black cars and chased after them.
Tenten, meanwhile, was on the verge of screaming. But screaming was a girly thing to do, so she tried to restrain herself from doing so.
Of course, she was also occupied with… other things. Like how the car was so new and shiny with that "fresh car smell." She saw the man press a button near the stereo, and gasped as a roof over them slowly locked into place.
The man smirked at her amazed expression, but frowned as he saw two black cars going at full speed ahead were coming after them. "Damn," he muttered to himself, and he pressed on the gas pedal even harder.
Tenten lurched back at the unexpected increase of speed. "GAH!" she cried as they nearly collided into a honking truck, entering into the wrong lane of the road. She turned to the man next to her with wide eyes. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" she shrieked in Korean. "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US ALL KILLED?!"
The man was equally surprised. "You can speak Korean?" he asked in a confused expression.
"Of course I can what do you- LOOK OUT!" she sputtered as they nearly collided into a red van next to them.
The man swerved out of the way just in time and stared at her. "I thought you were a tourist," he admitted. "That's why I tried to-"
"You mean you wouldn't have saved me if I wasn't a tourist?" she asked bewildered.
"Hn."
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Please don't do that," she groaned. "I get that enough from somebody else."
Sasuke smirked again. Her sarcasm could be especially amusing. He swerved past another car, attempting to lose the other ones that were chasing him.
At last, the girl spoke again. "You know, just dodging cars won't lose them," she muttered.
"The least you could do is, like, do one of those awesome flips that causes the cars to crash into each other and then BOOM and stuff." Tenten could've just stopped right there, but she didn't.
"And then flames come shooting out of no where! BOOM! The ignition tank goes BOOM and then the cars go BOOM and then the highway is broken up… BOOM." She thought for a moment and her eyes narrowed at the string of sentences she just said.
She's been watching too many action movies lately. She hit the car window again as he swerved right.
"You've been watching too many action movies lately."
Her face collapsed. Speak of the devil. She opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly "shut up" by the leering of the car going to the right. Sasuke smiled as he came up with a new means of escape.
Being the proud, egotistic boy he is, he turned to the girl next to him and says, "Watch this." She looked at him, perplexity written on her face. "What the hell are you- ACK!"
Taking the car, he sped forward with as much agility as he can, the other two cars following him, just as fast. She leaned back even more with the gaining speed, but then at the last minute, he leaned the car on one side and turned, surprising both parties.
The other two black cars collided with each other as they tried to attempt the same feat as him. However, they lost the girl again, because of luck. Pure luck. The men cursed loudly as they watched the car speed away.
Neji hunched over his work… again. He was aware of his lack of social life, but running the business was important for himself and his family. Even this he couldn't deny. The last time he attempted a social life… well…
He didn't like to talk about it.
RING.
Neji picked up the phone again, and heard Hinata's voice on the other line, mixed with other voices in the background. "B-Brother," she began. "Father is… He's…" A frustrated sigh came from a woman beside her that he could define as Kurenai.
He heard the fumbling of hands, meaning that the cell phone was being passed along.
"What she's… trying to say," Kurenai mended. "Is that… Master's condition-"
"What is it?" he demanded impassively. It was exhausting for him to hear them beating around the bush like so.
Another fumble. Asuma's voice could be heard. "His condition has gone for the worst."
His eyes narrowed. "The worst," he repeated dumbly. "What do you mean?"
At this Asuma choked. He heard many fumbles. Hinata's voice came up. "He means… Father is… he's-" Another fumble.
"MASTER SHALL LOSE HIS POWER OF YOUTH!" Gai's voice boomed onto the phone. Another fumble. "IN A MATTER OF DAYS!" Lee.
Neji panicked inwardly. "What?"
Kurenai picked up the phone at last, her reasonable tone heard: "He's… dying, Neji."
Before anyone could add anything else, Neji had hung up and immediately called the secretary.
"Yes, Mr. Hyuuga?"
"Get me a ticket to the city."
Tenten faced the sea-side. Her sides still ached from the mystery-man's rough driving, but she supposed it was for a good cause. If it wasn't for him, she'd be caught by them by now. She shuddered, thinking about what could have happened to her if she had.
Her attention went to a pile of stones to the right of her. She heaved a long sigh as she stared at the stones and remembered their reason and their significance.
They were to commemorate a new start. A new beginning. She chuckled sadly to herself, remembering how she, Naruto, and Iruka and piled the stones on their own. They had claimed the land as their own using them.
Flashback
"What the-" Tenten gives the two of them a strange look. "What the hell are you two doing?"
Iruka is the first to look up, and then gestures over to Naruto – the look in his eyes saying clearly that it was "his idea." Then Naruto comes over carrying another slab of stone. He puts the stone down near Iruka, narrowly missing the man's foot.
"We're claiming our property, Tenten," he states naturally. "Duh."
She rolled her eyes at them. "Naruto, unless you have five hundred stones or more, you're not going to cover the whole property. Plus, that's such a ridiculous idea!"
Iruka sighs a bit. "She does… have a point."
"Ne," Naruto says, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was only kidding, Tenten."
Tenten snorts. "Yeah right, Naruto. I know you. You always do stuff like this." She hands him and Iruka a cup of hot cocoa. "Here. It's cold outside." As if they both noticed their lack of body heat, they both rush up to Tenten to claim their own cups.
As they are sipping their hot beverages, Tenten takes her first good look at the pile of rocks. The stack was high. A few fallen stones were around it. She smiles to herself, and then, playing along with Naruto for once, she goes up and picks up another slab of rock to add to the stack.
Naruto looks up. "Ne, Tenten. What are you doing?"
"Claiming property," she says. Naruto and Iruka give her a weird look. "Well I bought it after you-" She points an accusing finger at Iruka. "got rid of all of our money again!"
Iruka sighs and explains again: "Tenten! I told you that was Kakashi!"
She just laughs as she went back to get another stone. Pretty soon, Iruka and Naruto did the same, laughing as if it was a game only they understood how to play.
"This will be our new land," Tenten tells them. "And we'll be starting off fresh!"
End.
Tenten unconsciously wiped a stray tear that's fallen down on her face. Now Iruka was far away again, and she didn't know how long he'd be away. She didn't know anymore. How long would it take to repay the debt? How long will it be until she sees him again?
Cursing at her stray tears, Tenten quickly got up and walked over to the stack of rocks. And one by one, she took them apart. She chucked them in random directions all across the shore.
And finally, she yelled into the horizon. "I'M TENTEN, AND I'LL BE STRONG! NOTHING CAN STOP ME!"
Sasuke walked down over to the shore again with two cups of coffee in his hand. He stopped as he saw the girl take apart a stack of stones and flings them everywhere. He heard her shout to the world as loud as she can.
He continued watching in puzzlement, as she went back and picked up all of the stones again. He watched her place them again in the same stack, placing the stones that were around it in the same exact places.
He shook his head in bewilderment.
Tenten finally collapsed down. Next to her, Sasuke sat down too.
They still don't know each other's names, but they don't really ask anyway.
He turned to her and gives her the cup of coffee. "Thanks," she managed to mumble, and took a sip from it and sighs. He does the same. A moment of silence, and then:
"Do you do that often?"
Tenten turned to Sasuke in surprise. "What?"
He gave her a look. "Get up and scream," he said simply. "Do you do that often?"
She looked out toward the horizon and simply shrugged. "Sometimes… I guess…" Then to keep the conversation going, she asked him the same thing. "Do you?"
"Hn."
"Not really, I'm guessing," she said slowly with an arched eyebrow. She looked at him and grinned. "You look like the type to get drunk when you're depressed!"
Sasuke smirked at her. "Do I?" She rolled her eyes at his smirk and looked surprised at his red, swollen hand. She glanced at him, then back at his hand.
"What did you do?!" she hissed. Sasuke raised an eyebrow – his expression in a dull "what" look. She jabbed at his hand. "What did you do to it?"
He looked down as if he just noticed it there, then shrugged and takes a sip of his coffee. "Guess I hit too hard." Tenten sighed and she takes out a spare band-aid from her pocket – the same type she slapped on her ankle from before.
Taking it out of their wrappers, she quickly slapped it on his hand and pats it down. "There," she said. She handed him the wrappers. "You throw them away." She laughed at his face expression and then takes a sip of her drink. "Thanks, by the way," she quickly added.
"Hn," he said, rubbing his hand over his injured one. "What were you doing over there anyway?"
"Me?" she asked incredulously. She then shrugged. "It was just a job I was hired to do. Nothing special. You see, he said that he'd pay me the rest of the money for these-" Her eyes widened. "OH MY GOD!" she cried. "I HAVE TO GET MY PAYMENT!"
Sasuke looked at her in puzzlement as she stood straight up and runs up the hill. "Wait! What're you-"
"Thanks for all the help!" she called out to him. "Seriously – I'll buy you dinner one day!"
"What…?" he began, but realized that she's already gone. He gave out a rare smile as he fiddled with the remains of his cup. Interesting…
"Sorry. You just missed Mr. Hyuuga. He's on his way over to the city right now on the-"
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"
Tenten slammed through the airport doors and quickly ran over to Terminal 16. There, she saw Neji just about to board. Putting on an extra surge of speed, she bellowed out, "HEY YOU!"
Neji looked up and sees Tenten. "Now what?" he asked sourly to himself.
She took deep breaths as she stood in front of him. "What (huff) about (huff) my (huff) payment (huff)?!"
He groaned. "Ugh. I'm busy!" he shouted, his frustration pouring out on her. "I've got my own things to do right now."
"Then go do them!" Tenten shouted right back. "Just do it after you give me my- GAH!" Neji had flung all the money at her face. He had so many things to worry about right now. Why does she have to show up?!
She glared hatefully at him. How dare he throw them at her in such a disrespectful manner! She didn't deserve to be talked down like that.
"There!" he spat. "There's your money!"
He began to charge out to the plane, but someone stopped him. Tenten. She glared at him. "Say sorry." Neji's eyes narrowed. "Say it!" Tenten shouted. "OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!" Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted people coming closer to them.
He shrugged out of her grasp and goes to walk out. Her glare intensified on him as she glomped on his leg.
"NO MY LOVE!" she cried out dramatically. Déjà vu… she thought to herself. "Don't leave me again! You can't just leave our only son here, with no protection or…"
The crowd around them thickened as many people came to witness this spectacle. Neji tried desperately now to release her hold on his leg, but she wouldn't break free. He turned to the crowd, addressing them. "She's lying," he said impassively. "I've got nothing to do with her!"
But with some form of miracle, Tenten shed some fake tears and sobbed uncontrollably. "Please dear!" she cried. "Please don't leave my only son- NOOOOOOOO!"
Neji kicked her off of him and stalked down into the plane. Tenten cried even more as people around her help scoop up the fallen money and hand it to her. She bowed and said "Thank you" over and over again. Alas, the people gave her their sympathy, and then returned back to what they were doing before.
However, a large number of them were assigned to the same plane Hyuuga Neji on. Tenten smirked at this.
That's what you get for messing with me!
She walked throughout the airport until someone grabbed hold of her roughly. "ACK!"
She was dragged into a secluded room in the airport. There, she came face to face with a man... that looks like a dog? But there's no doubt that he's wearing black – debt collector.
"What do you want?!" she shouted loudly. The man snorted and turns to another guy next to him who's wearing sunglasses.
"Shino," he began, "What do we do?"
The man, Shino, turned to the man next to him. "Chouji."
A… well… "big-boned" man in front of her looked at her with a little bit of annoyance. "We're just here to get what we came for," he told her nicely. The rest of the debt collectors were right behind him. "I mean… you keep running, so…"
"Well of course!" Tenten spat. "I mean, do you seriously expect me to just sit there and let you drain my money?!"
"Well… yeah," Chouji said.
"Ok…" Tenten said, a little bit confused. "Well…" she began, trying to sort this out like a civilized person, "I don't have the money with me right now."
A man next to Shino shouted, "SHE'S LYING! I SAY WE BEAT THE-"
"Wait!" the dog – looking man was rummaging through her bag. Tenten managed a "Hey!" before she widened her eyes at what he was holding.
Shino looked at it. "Kiba…" he began. "It's a business card."
Kiba waved it in front of him. "But look at it! It has gold trimmings – wealth! I say we use her as a hostage!" He turned to her. "But if that doesn't work, we can always go to your lover. Of course he'll help you… right?"
"Eh heh…" Tenten laughed nervously. "Of course…"
"Where is he?"
"City… area…"
Neji entered the plane, exhausted by Tenten's actions. She was ridiculous – she really was.
He couldn't help but notice the number of hateful stares he was getting from everyone as he found his seat and sat down. Next to him, an old lady huffed. He looked at her with an expression mixed with annoyance and distaste.
The lady met his glare and growled. "Leaving your lover with her only son!" she shouted. "How cruel!"
Neji's eyes narrowed. "You don't understand. She's-"
A young man that was in front of him turned to look at him. "You're not a man if you just leave your wife like that! You're a wimp!"
Neji growled threateningly. "You've got it all wrong. It's not me, it's-"
All at once, people on the plane started chastising him.
He sighed.
This was going to be a long ride.
"Look!" Kiba pointed to Neji who was walking down the airport walk with Hinata at his side. He looked at Tenten with seriousness. "Now's your chance!" he hissed at her. "Go!"
"But I-" Tenten sputtered. Kiba butted in with another "GO!" and he shoved her roughly in front of Neji himself. She bumped into him and squeaked. She looked up. The face she met with was not a pretty one by all means.
Neji glared at her. "YOU!"
"Heh…" Tenten smiled weakly. "Hello… again…!"
Neji kept on glaring at her. Through his teeth he growled, 'What. Do. You. WANT?!"
"I-"
"No. Forget it. I don't want to hear it."
"But I-"
"Do you know how much trouble I went through on that plane?!" he seethed. "Do you?!" He was acting OOC right now, and even Hinata was amazed. "I was chastised by old ladies, insulted by hooligans, and mocked by freakishly devised fan girls!" Tenten could've sworn she saw smoke come out of his ears.
"Neji! I-"
"Forget it!" And with that, he stomped angrily away.
Kiba, Chouji, and Shino came out of their hiding place behind the pole. All of them were surprised – even Shino.
Kiba was the first to speak. "What was that?!" he yelled. He glared at the direction where Neji went off into. "What a cruel human being! Why do you even go after him?!"
Chouji nodded in agreement, and noticed the distressed face of Tenten. "Don't worry," he said, patting her on the back. "We'll go talk to him."
"B-Brother," Hinata began, "May I ask… Who was-"
"She's no one!" he shouted, still frustrated.
"HEY YOU!" Neji rolled his eyes. OH NOW WHAT?! He turned to the source of the voices and found Tenten running toward him with three men at her heels. Kiba stepped forward first and jabbed Neji in his chest.
"Who do you think you are?!" he shouted. He pointed to Tenten, who had put on her guilty face. "This lady is desperately in love with you and you push her away like you-"
The prodigy sighed for what must've been the 12th time today. "You completely misunderstand. You see-"
"Neji! Please! This is important!" Tenten cried. "The debt-"
"I don't want to hear it," he said, and he shoved Tenten away. She widened her eyes in surprise from the unexpected shove and landed on the floor. Shino and Chouji quickly went over while Kiba still cursed at the Hyuuga, who was now driving away in his sleek black car.
Hinata and Neji were at the hospital, climbing the stairs. Neji was ahead of her by a long shot, clearly concerned about the condition of their head family member. At last, Hinata began, "Brother…"
"What is it?"
"That girl-"
"Please. I don't want to hear anything about her ever again."
"But she looks…" Hinata twiddled with her fingers. "She looks a lot like… like Auntie doesn't she, when she lets her hair down…?"
Neji stopped and turned to look at her. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Well…" She looked down. "Before… Before you were talking about… having a temporary replacement…"
Neji remembered their conversation that had seemed like ages ago:
Flashback
"B-Brother," Hinata began hesitantly.
"What is it?"
"You know…" she started. "H-How Father's c-case has w-worsened?"
"Yes," he muttered. "I know." He closed the first file and put it to the side of his desk. "The only thing that can save him now is the appearance of his niece…" He hit his fist harshly on the desk. "And that's one thing we don't have!"
Hinata hung her head low in despair, but then her eyes sparked with an idea. She looked at him. "W-What if… W-What if w-we g-get a temporary r-replacement?"
"What?"
End.
Neji's eyes widened at the epiphany he had just received.
A/N. Yes, the new chapter is here. So sorry for not updating yesterday, but I released another story thing. It's kinda… mellow.
Yes, I know. It's weird that Sasuke is represented as a playboy, and seems a little OOC to me. I know. I'll try to fix it. Later.
And for some footnote, Moegi is not an OC. She's that girl that always hangs around Konohamaru. :) I try to use no OCs. (edited thanks to Tsukiko Yuki)
Thanks to those who read and reviewed. Or just read.
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