Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, etc.
Summary: Tenten is indebt and a really good liar. Neji's family is rich and in need of a temporary niece. What happens when these two meet? ( Nejiten & minor others )
"Do you like someone?"
Tenten nearly dropped her cup. "… What?" she asked, not turning to look at him. He didn't say anything and kept silent once again. She didn't know how to respond, but then she finally said a shaky, "… Yeah… I… I guess…" She didn't notice how his eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Tenten's head snapped up in immediate surprise and she turned to look at him, repeating once again, "What?" She couldn't help but think that he… he… Wasn't he being nosy? Just… a little? However, as she expected, Sasuke didn't repeat the question again. The girl figured that he hated to repeat things. She shifted her attention back to the city lights, searching for the right way to answer the question. She didn't want to say outright… Well…
"I like… I like a snowman."
She watched Sasuke raise a cynical eyebrow. "I see…" He didn't pursue the issue, but she knew that he wasn't totally convinced.
Tenten took a moment to think again in order to backup her answer, and as she did, she let a light smile through. "It looks happy… Almost cute when you look at it," she said slowly. "It looks nice." Then the girl frowned and her eyebrows furrowed. "But when you get close to it… It's actually cold… very cold."
Sasuke still kept silent. He knew it was a metaphor linked to someone… He took a moment to sift through a handful of people that he knew she had met before, but, clearly, it was someone he did not know. At least… he didn't think so… but maybe…
The man shook his head. "Forget it," he told her. He got up and extended a hand to help Tenten up. "I'll drive you back."
Hiashi was entirely pissed when Neji came home without Tenten. But…
Hiashi was entirely pleased when he saw Sasuke bring Tenten home.
Together. Alone. A pair…
TOGETHER.
The man couldn't help but break into a wide smile, unlike the deep, irritated frown he gave to Neji. What happens when you see a family friend walking your niece home? Well… It came as to no surprise when Hiashi's match-making mechanisms in his head began to whir in motion. Ah yes…
This was going to be fun.
"Thank you, Sasuke, for bringing our dear Tenten home!" he said declared loudly. Damn… That smile just wouldn't go away! He turned to Tenten who seemed frazzled by his loud outburst. "You must be exhausted," he said to her. "Go upstairs and go to bed. And as for you…" Hiashi turned to Sasuke. "Why don't you stay for a moment?"
Tenten turned to Sasuke and said a light, "Thanks." Then she trudged up the stairs and walked over to her bedroom door. She stopped momentarily and looked behind her, lingering her gaze on the door of Neji's room for a moment. Then the girl shook her head and opened to her door quickly, slamming it shut.
Neji had perked up at the sound of a door opening. He got up to go downstairs to check on Tenten, but stopped as he heard the oh-so-familiar sound of his Uncle's voice.
"Thank you, Sasuke, for bringing our dear Tenten home!"
Neji's eyes widened in bafflement. Sasuke was there? Tenten was there…? They were both at the doorway, meaning that Sasuke and bought Tenten home after all…
HE bought HER home.
Neji could've sworn his left eye just twitched.
Together. Alone. A pair…
TOGETHER.
(The Hyuuga genes could do wonders.)
His first immediate impulse was to charge down there and drag Tenten up and give her a lecture again. In fact, he began to reach for the doorknob once more, but stopped as he heard a thump of heavy feet go up the stairs. A few seconds later, he heard the door of Tenten's room open and then slam shut.
The mere fact that she didn't come into his room screeching her head off appalled him greatly.
Nonetheless, he still turned the knob and pushed the door open. He walked over to Tenten's bedroom door, prepared to knock, but stopped once more once he heard the shower turn on. Not wanting to repeat… past events, the Hyuuga brought down his fist reluctantly.
He'll just tell her tomorrow.
The next morning, Tenten stretched out and quickly put on a change of clothes. Her mind was clean of whatever had happened last night – a little groggy from the lack of sleep. It was when she opened the door, did she remember.
Standing across from her, dressed for work, was Neji.
Tenten was quite close to going back into her room and slamming the door behind her – acting like a little kid. However, she straightened herself up and brushed past the Hyuuga, making her way toward the stairs without a word. A conversation would be awkward right now and, in truth, she didn't want to talk to that no-good, backstabbing, idiotic moron anyway.
"Just ignore him," she muttered to herself. "Avoid him…" She nodded her head and shrugged as if she no longer cared. "Yeah. Whatever."
She jumped down the last two steps and made her way to the kitchen, preparing Hiashi's tea. As she was pouring the boiled water, she stiffened as she felt someone else's presence in the room.
Neji was at the doorway, watching her without saying anything. Hyuugas don't apologize often. And…
"You should've gone without me."
… Neji was clearly no exception.
Tenten did her best not to slam the tea cup down on the tray in anger.
Clearly her best wasn't enough and there was a loud clatter as the cup hit the solid surface of the tray.
"Well, I'm glad we agree for once!" she spat out, obviously not hiding the venom in that sentence. She shoved her way past him with her tray toward Hiashi's room. She would've stomped her way over, but then she would slosh tea around.
After that, it was silent the entire morning and night between the two of them.
And the morning after that.
Neji did his best to try and listen to what everybody else was saying during the meeting. Of course, he wasn't doing a very good job. A day of silence and a morning of silence can do that to you.
Twirling the pen around in his fingers, he wondered for the fifth time why the hell he had said those words instead of sorry. He was going to… he was supposed to. But fate had been cruel and twisted his mouth and tongue in a weird way making them come out… differently.
For once, he was not noticing how Sasuke had his eyes closed in a quiet nap – clearly quite bored of the meeting (as usual). He was also not aware of Mikoto crumpling up paper balls, throwing them at Sasuke's head when the board director wasn't watching, and harrumphing whenever Sasuke managed to dodge them miraculously without opening his eyes.
Sasuke, in truth, wasn't sleeping (although he was very close to). His mind was focused on what Tenten had said before… In truth, he was quite miffed at her response. However… it was clear that the person she liked did not know that she liked him. And so… perhaps he had a chance. A very small chance. Not only that, but he also reminded himself that she was not the real niece.
There was something about that girl that made him feel natural, but he didn't really know what exactly.
A snowman, he thought. How amusing.
Everything was totally normal in Ino's apartment.
Shikamaru was sleeping (as usual), Ino was yelling (as usual), and Naruto was pressing his freshly dried Ramen House work uniform by the TV watching the latest episode of a Korean drama (as usual as could be). There were no mishaps in the apartment – only your daily dose of trio laziness, loudness, and… laundry? Ah. Either way, nothing was wrong.
Until the doorbell rang.
There were a few moments until the ring finally registered in everybody's minds. Ah yes. The apartment doesn't get too many visitors that often. And so…
"Shikamaru!" Ino's voice was shrill and Shikamaru cringed.
Inwardly, though.
"Get the door you lazy bum!" she ranted. "Do something for once!"
The doorbell rang five more times.
Shikamaru shifted slightly in his position and continued to look out the window with a bored face on. "You go get it," he muttered. "I'm busy." Ino wanted to bean him on the top of his head with something but, sadly, she was holding this month's Glamour Girls magazine which she didn't want to crinkle just because of some moron.
The doorbell ringing turned to loud knocks.
"Naruto!" she barked. "Get the door!"
"Not now, not now!" came the boy's hurried voice. "Can't you see I'm doing something?!" Naruto was currently frowning at the sleeve cuffs. One was a little bit wider than the other. Now how would he fix that? Perhaps he could ask the manager if he could exchange the uniform for another. After all, he couldn't refuse a freshly washed, pressed, orange –
"Get the door or I'll press that iron so hard that it'll burn a hole through your uniform!" Ino snapped in one sentence as she flipped to the horoscope section. She brought the magazine closer to her face as she made a quick scan for her own astrology sign –
"Why don't you get it?" Shikamaru muttered tiredly. At the corner of his mouth he mumbled a quiet "troublesome."
Ino blinked.
She hadn't thought of that.
Not wanting to be seen as lazy as Shikamaru was, the girl reluctantly put down her magazine and went over to the door, opening it after what seemed to be the umpteenth knock. She didn't bother to look through the eyehole since she thought it would be Tenten.
Ino's eyes widened as she stared at the person… people at the door. Her eyes then narrowed trying to figure out who the hell they were.
"Aren't you –"
"Hmmm… Tenten doesn't seem to be here." Kakashi moved past Ino into the apartment, not paying attention to the surprised girl. Iruka followed after him, scratching the back of his neck. Unlike Kakashi, he took notice of the blonde at the doorway.
"Sorry about barging in like this," he said to Ino. "But Naruto said –"
"Ne, dad!" Naruto was holding up his work uniform, seeing how it looked from far away. It was clear that he was not surprised by the pair's appearance. "You know how to sew, right? What if I have a sleeve cuff that is wider than the other?"
Then Iruka brushed past Ino, ignoring her, and going over to him. He shook his head. "You just have to re-sew the ends of the –"
"Hmmm…" Kakashi was taking his own sweet time "observing" the food in the refrigerator. "Marmalade," he muttered, lifting up a jar, deciding whether to eat it or not. "Mm… Nah!" He threw the jar back into the fridge and then went to the pantry…
Ino was still standing bewildered at the door until she shook her head, coming back to earth. "What do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked to Kakashi who was eating a biscuit and also reading…
"G-Give me that!" she cried, swiping the Glamorous Girls magazine from his clutches.
Tenten made her way to Ino's apartment, prepared to tell them about everything.
Well… mostly everything.
The atmosphere was cold, windy, and… cold. Very cold. In fact, it was snowing. And when it was snowing she would usually be in a cheery mood.
As she got to the elevator, she pressed the up button. When the elevator doors didn't open, she began pressing it repeatedly. At last she looked up at the indicator, irritated. "What the hell is wrong with the stupid elevator?!" she muttered heatedly to herself. She nearly slapped herself as she saw the sign tacked to the door:
OUT OF ORDER.
Alas, poor Tenten had to climb up the stairs all the way to the top.
She wasn't in a cheery mood to begin with.
"What are you doing here?!" Ino demanded. "You're supposed to be… be… be in Japan or something!"
"Uh…" Iruka bit the bottom of his lip in apprehension. "It's…"
"It's nothing," Kakashi finished, choosing to shrug off the unknown issue. "Nothing."
Sunday – Gamble House
Hinata went into the house, having the contacts of both mysterious men. The woman had said that both of them usually hung out here… Well, one of them anyway. The girl let out a nervous smile as she began going to the slot machine room. As soon as she found them, everything was going to be alright.
She entered the room, expecting to see one of the men – one with silver-gray hair and the other with brown hair and a scar on his nose. However, she saw no one that fit the description that she was given. Her smile turned into a frown as she approached one man who was clearly the supervisor of the machines.
The man perked up as she went over to him.
"Excuse me," she began hesitantly, "I'm looking for these two men." Hinata handed the photograph to him. "Did you see them anywhere?"
She watched as the man's expression turned to surprise and then to nervousness. "I… I… uh…" The man twiddled his fingers and then said, "No. I haven't seen them anywhere."
Hinata's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you… Are you positive?" she asked.
The man nodded. "Very positive," he confirmed quickly.
She shook her head. "But I –"
"A little lady like you shouldn't be here," he continued, ignoring her protest. He ushered her out of the room. "This is a gamble house. You better leave."
"But –"
"Good day!"
The door was closed gently in her face and a distraught Hinata walked away.
Meanwhile, she happened to cross a man with silver-hair who was coming in the same direction from a different hallway.
Such a shame that she didn't notice.
And Kakashi went over to the room and was quickly intercepted by the same man that Hinata had just talked to.
"Hey Obito!" he greeted. "How are –"
"Kakashi!" he whispered harshly. "There was someone looking for you!"
The man's face was one of puzzlement. "What?!" he cried. "There was –"
"You better leave!" Obito continued. "She might come back!"
Neji was exiting the company building now when a voice stopped him.
"Neji."
He turned around and found Sasuke walking casually up next to him, although his face was a little bit more serious than usual. Not in the best of moods to investigate right now, he picked up his pace. "What is it?" he muttered. "What do you want?"
"Tell Tenten to come to the balcony tonight," he said. "I have to tell her something."
The Hyuuga's eyes narrowed. "What balcony?" he snapped.
Sasuke shook his head. "She'll know." Before Neji could get anything else out of him, Sasuke already walked off.
"Where is Tenten?"
Kurenai looked up from the newspaper she was reading. "What?" she asked Hiashi. "What'd you say?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Tenten," he said. "Did anybody see her this morning?"
Kurenai shrugged. "She'll be back tonight for her party," she assured him. "Neji did tell her about it… Right?" The flipped another page of the newspaper and glanced with interest at a soap opera review in one column.
Asuma came in and peered over her shoulder, glancing at the article. "Sounds sappy," he muttered to himself as silently as he could. However, his remark was heard by Kurenai and she delivered a sharp slap to his head.
"Quiet," she snapped. There was a small pause as she added hastily, "Did you see Tenten anywhere?"
The man shrugged. "She always goes off in the mornings. Heh…" He picked up a piece of apple and sat down, munching on it. "Maybe she visits her father or something," he joked.
Hiashi's eyes flashed mysteriously however. "Really, now…?"
"Damn… STAIRS!" Tenten trudged her way up the last five steps. With a tired shove she blasted the stair doorway open without even bothering to close it – leaving it swing back and forth on its hinges. The girl straightened her buns, mentally noting that the first thing she was going to do once she was in the apartment was to demand Ino to make a complaint call to the manager.
She didn't climb twenty-one damn flights of stairs for nothing.
The girl managed to get to the door without doing a face plant and gave a weary knock on it.
No answer.
She knocked ten more times.
Nada.
"Hello?" She proceeded to bang over and over on the door again once she received no answer. "HEY! HELLLLOOOOOO?!"
The door opened quickly and Tenten halted her fist in mid air, careful not to hit…
"Iruka?!" the girl shrieked. "What are you doing here?!"
"Uncle…" Neji was raising an eyebrow at… something that was in Hiashi's hands. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" the man said quickly. "Nothing… Err…" He looked around the room, realizing that only he and Neji were the ones present. He grinned inwardly. Great, he thought. Now I only have to get him out of the picture and then…
"Neji!" he gasped. "You hear that?"
Neji remained emotionless. "What?" he dead-panned.
"You hear that? I think I hear Kurenai's voice!"
The man narrowed his eyebrows. "I don't hear anything," he stated, beginning to wonder if his uncle was becoming deaf… Either that or delusional.
"Don't question me!" he cried, shoving Neji out of the room. "Now… Now come back when you finish helping Kurenai!"
Neji swerved back, his eyes narrowed in deep suspicion. "Wha-"
However, he was sadly cut off by the slamming of the door.
"Aren't you happy to see us, Tenten?!" Kakashi cried enthusiastically.
The girl responded with the opposite, grunting with a muttered, "Not especially…" She made her point even more as she stomped up the stairs to the room on the second floor, ready to calculate how many more years she would have to work under Neji. But she hadn't noticed that she had dropped something in her rampage.
It was a cell phone.
And it began to ring.
"Who's that?" Ino wondered out loud. A few moments, she shrugged it off. "Oh well," she muttered. "It's probably some lunatic or whatever." There was a clatter and Ino's voice turned hostile. "Wait! What're you – KAKASHI!"
However, the man had already picked it up and answered the call. "Hello?" he asked. His face went through a series of changes until it landed on confusion. He turned to Iruka. "It's for you," he said, bewildered, and tossed it to him.
"For me?" Iruka asked. "Who would want to talk to me?" Kakashi turned around and muttered something like, "I know." However, he ignored this as he talked into the phone. "Hello?" he asked hesitantly. It could've been some stalker or something. You never know…
"Hello?" Hiashi asked, trying to keep his voice down. "Is this Tenten's father?"
"… Yes…" Iruka responded the question suspiciously. "I'm Tenten's father –"
Ino and Naruto's ears perked up at the last said statement. "WHAT?!" they both screamed.
"What?" Iruka turned around and his eyes grew wide as he saw a flash of orange and then a few stars. Naruto had just done a full-blown tackle on the man and he wrestled the phone from Iruka's grip. Kakashi was staring at Naruto with a suspicious look.
His thoughts worked to catch up on what had happened. "Did he just –"
"YEAH! NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN!" Naruto's voice was loud as he picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off. "THIS IS TENTEN'S REAL DAD," he spluttered. "THE OTHER ONE WAS AN IMPOSTER."
Iruka got up only to be shoved down by Ino again as she fumbled her way over to Naruto, kicking a sleeping Shikamaru on her way as well.
On Hiashi's side of the phone… Well, it was a bit chaotic. The man was sitting on his bed, trying to register what the sounds on the other line was. There was a loud thump and a clatter of, his guess, plastic sandwich containers? And then there was a loud cough before…
"YEAH! NICE TO HEAR FROM-" Hiashi winced and moved his head away from the phone. He took a moment to recover and mentally noted to himself to tell Kurenai to buy some q-tips for his aching ears. He shook his head and looked around the room for any sign of people, before turning back to the conversation.
"Yes," he said briskly. "Excellent to hear from you again. Now I wanted to-"
"NO!" Naruto cried, looking at the paper underneath his nose. The boy was rather confused as to why he had said that… More so, why Ino and circled that on the piece of paper. The man didn't even ask anything yet and Naruto was getting nervous by the dead silence on the other side of the phone.
So, for good judgment, Naruto yelled another "NO!" into the phone.
Ino was shaking her head after Naruto repeated his answer again. There was a rustle of napkins on the counter and Ino kicked him in the shins. "Stop making so much noise!" she whispered harshly. "How else am I supposed to hear?"
"NO! ………… NO!"
Hiashi's face twisted into confusion. "Pardon?" he asked into the phone. "Is something wrong?" His mind shifted to the things that Tenten's father could've been possibly doing right now.
Perhaps he was at a fancy restaurant and yelling at a waiter because of his order. Or maybe he was at the most prestigious tuxedo shop in Korea and yelled at the man to get the stupid length right. Hiashi nodded. It had happened more than five times to him.
Clearly he didn't know how rich Tenten's family really was.
But Hiashi decided to continue with what he was going to say. "So…," he began. "Perhaps we can meet sometime –"
"No!"
Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"Yes!"
"What?"
"I… uh… NO!"
"Huh?" There was a moment of silence. "Hello? Hello?"
More silence.
"Hello?"
At last, the man tugged the phone away from his ear and looked at it with bewilderment. The phone had gone dead.
Not wanting to believe that he had just been rejected like that, Hiashi mumbled a half-ass excuse like, "That tailor must be giving him a lot of trouble."
During the whole conversation, Tenten was banging her head against the pillow of her make-shift bed.
"I hate him!" she shouted. Her shouts were muffled by the pillow against her face, however. "I hate him; I hate him, I HATE HIM!" The girl shook her head rapidly. "I NEVER LIKED HIM! HE'S JUST A RETARDED IDIOT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She chucked the pillow on the other side of the room and sat down. How the hell was she supposed to work around Neji with all this tension around them? And more so, she liked – NO! She hated him! "He's an unpunctual bastard!" she shrieked. She was forgetting about her job!
That's right: her job.
Augh.
"This is getting too complicated," she muttered.
If Neji was a Denial King, Tenten was a Denial Queen.
Naruto gently placed the cell phone on the ground where Kakashi had found it, hoping that Tenten wouldn't have noticed that it had not left it's place on the wooden floorboards, although she had never saw it there in the beginning.
"Were you just me?" Iruka asked, dumbfounded. "Were you just –"
"Don't tell Tenten, ANYTHING," Ino snapped. "If she found out that we handled it so-"
"What is going on here?" Kakashi cried frustratingly. "Nothing's making sense –"
Shikamaru opened one lazy eye. "Tenten has a job," he said.
At this, Iruka arched an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked, interested. "How much does it –"
"She's working for some rich guy," Ino butted in. "You're lucky that she's earning so much money this quick!" She shook her head and huffed. "You guys are so selfish!" she chastised. "Tenten is working her ass off to pay back the debt! You're even luckier that she didn't chew your heads off once she saw you here."
"The debt…" Iruka muttered, clearly guilty. Even Kakashi averted his eyes depressingly to the floor. "Right." The man sighed. "We didn't want to make any trouble," he explained. "We were…" His voice trailed off and he came to a pause. And then, "Nevermind. Forget it."
Everyone perked up at the sound of Tenten coming down the stairs. She looked down at the floor and picked up the cell phone and flipped through her messages. "Hmm…" she muttered. "No one called." Perhaps she was hoping that Neji would've called to actually apologize to her. Hmm… As if that would happen.
But the group in front of her didn't need to know that.
Unbeknownst to her, Naruto and the others had previously panicked after finding out the message box installed in her cell phone. But, being the genius that he is, Shikamaru simply snatched the phone away from them – half awake, half asleep – and pressed the "delete" button that was displayed on the last message phoned to her.
But the girl in front of them didn't need to know that.
So Tenten switched her attention to the pair that had joined the party recently.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, a little annoyed. "I've been trying to find out where the hell you two were for weeks! Why didn't any of you answer your cell phone, hmmm?"
"We sold it," Kakashi explained, still feeling a little guilty on how she had been paying the debt back all on her own. There was a pause and he answered again, "Well, I sold Iruka's…" He gulped and rubbed his neck. "I kinda…"
Tenten narrowed her eyes. "You kinda what?" she demanded.
Iruka came in with, "He gambled his" before Kakashi could answer himself.
She swallowed up her anger with a deep breath of oxygen before exhaling. "Ok…" she whispered. "It's ok…" Perhaps punching and throwing pillows did help with controlling that anger chi throughout her body. So she clapped her hands together instead in contentment. "What time is it?" she asked Ino. "I might as well eat a little before going to the party –"
"PARTY?!" Ino screeched. "What party? Why weren't we invited? How come you didn't invite us? How come –"
"Because it's not really her party," Shikamaru interjected. He looked pointedly at Tenten and stated, "Isn't it."
She sighed and shook her head. "No," she confirmed. "The family says that the niece's birthday is today." She shrugged. "Maybe I can bring home leftovers or something. Hiashi might let me or Kurenai."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you just ask Neji –"
"BECAUSE HE'S A MORON THAT'S WHY!"
All conversation ended after that and Ino went to fry up some potatoes and onions or something.
But Iruka and Kakashi retreated to a room in the back of the house, still feeling guilty after what they had done. She was paying the debt back on her own and they weren't even helping! But they shrugged it off when they heard the stove turn off and the frying cease.
Moments later, Tenten returned to the Hyuuga household.
Her mood had been lifted with the laughing with her friends and maybe the sheer joy of seeing Iruka and even Kakashi safe and sound – not ending up as road kill in another god-forsaken country.
And Tenten knew that with all of this laughter and happiness, she was practically ready to face the cold-hearted beast that dwelled in it. She was ready… almost. "But!" she cried out to herself. "I'm going to be ready by the time I sit down in that chair. And HE'LL be the one feeling awkward!" she shouted. "NOT. ME."
So she shoved open the gates and opened the door with the house key she had in her hand. She slowly opened it and put on that dazzling smile that the Hyuugas enjoyed so much.
"Tenten!" Hiashi cried, helping her over to the seat next to him. "We were wondering when you were going to show up. How was your… uh… father?" he asked. "Did he ever find the right size and color for his tux?"
The girl's smile turned into a frown and she looked at him. "What?" she inquired, confused. "What tux –"
"Nothing, nothing," Hiashi said quickly. "Nothing at all. Nothing. Nope. Never talked to him today or at three twenty-six in the afternoon. Nope. Nothing – Oh! There's Kurenai coming with the food!"
Tenten didn't even have time to register what was happening before the food was set up in gigantic heaps as usual. Hinata came through the door and smiled at Tenten. She was about to take her seat down at the end – leaving the middle seat open for You-Know-Who to sit in – until Tenten grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the middle seat.
"Hey!" she said brightly. "Wouldn't you just LOVE to sit next to me tonight?"
Hinata smiled although her features were still in the surprised state. "I –"
"Great!" Tenten cut in. "I'd LOVE your company too!"
Neji finally came down the stairs and Tenten instantly engaged a lengthy conversation about… tortoises with Hinata saying how really "gigantic ones" can live up to be a "whopping 200" years or more. And that every wrinkle on them shows how long they lived.
Well, at least she got one fact right.
So when Neji sat down he felt… left out? Granted, he knew a lot about tortoises himself, but he could tell why Hinata was sitting there in the first place. He also took note of how Tenten hadn't even looked, glared, scoffed, stared, or spat at him during the entire day.
Dinner went relatively slowly with everybody sinking into the conversation except for one little Hyuuga stuck on the last end of the table. They sang "Happy Birthday" – Gai and Lee giving their own personal solos that Tenten actually laughed at in spite of their wrong pitches.
"That's our most beautiful present of all for you – the young budding rose of the family!" Lee cried. He flashed a bright smile and Gai went down and fished something to the side, finally holding up a… green suit made on his own.
"And here's my beautiful present oh youthful blossom!" he cried, shoving the suit into Tenten's hands. "Now we can all be a trio!"
Tenten forced a smile. "I do like the color green," she managed, folding the suit up in a neat pile on the table.
Hiashi, however, also gave her a present. A crystal box with a jeweled pendant inside fastened by a thin, gold chain. Tenten's eyes boggled and the first thought that came to her mind was: I can't wear that in public with these kinds of clothes I have now!
"It's really pretty," she said in a state of shock. Did he buy that without a second thought? She paused to think. I wish I could do that…
"Oh, Tenten!" Kurenai cried. She handed her a gigantic painting over the table and the girl took it with shaky hands. "I was planning to sell it to the museum," she said. "I thought that this was a much more important thing, though."
Tenten smiled brightly feeling a bit guilty. "Eh… Not really that important," she said modestly. Considering it's not even my BIRTHDAY…
But a packet of clothes still fresh in its packet was tossed over to Tenten and she caught that in her hands too. Her eye twitched at the fanciness and her mouth was open at the silk material she could just imagine holding in her hands. She snapped her head up to Asuma – the person she knew tossed it over.
But he shrugged and gave a smile. "Happy birthday," he muttered. Kurenai gave him a bright smile and rubbed his hair out, causing him whack her hand off playfully.
Hinata even handed Tenten a fancy purse. "H-Happy birthday," she said. "I didn't know what kind of color you liked so…"
She shook her head. "No way!" she cried. "White is definitely a cool color." She paused and then quickly added, "But green's my favorite," while sending a bright smile to the duo in front of her.
"Neji…" Hiashi's voice came through the table – the tone of it seemed to suck the life out of everyone.
The man who was pretending not to notice lifted up his head. "Yes?" he asked. "What is it, Uncle?"
The man put on a fake smile. "Did you get Tenten a present?"
Shit.
Neji's brows furrowed and he began to panic. Tenten noticed this and she was tempted – so VERY tempted to just leave him there like a sitting duck to boil or roast. Augh. But she couldn't do that. She really couldn't do that.
"I…" he began. "I didn't have the –"
"Brother bought me to this wonderful family!" Tenten cried out brightly, reaching over to pat his shoulder. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here!"
There was a moment of silence until everybody erupted into laughter and clapping. "So very true!" Kurenai cried. And that was how the dinner past – with laughing, drinking, eating, and some talking every now and then.
Neji, meanwhile, sighed once more. How many times would he have to owe her?
After dinner, everybody went their separate ways… which left Tenten and Neji going up the stairs to go into their own rooms. Neji stopped her, though.
"Thanks," he muttered.
"Hum…" Tenten chuckled. "Wow." A pause and then, "Does that word taste funny to you?"
His eyes narrowed. "Not funny."
The girl nodded. "Whatever."
She brushed past him, but Neji, who was still standing there, said, "Sasuke's looking for you."
He twitched at the grin that was on her face. "He's over at the place you two were last night," he gritted through his teeth. He wondered where they had been too… but of course he wasn't going to ask right out. No. That wouldn't be polite.
Tenten nodded. "Alright. Bye then."
He grabbed her wrist and she looked at him, making him feel awkward. "… Where are you going?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes and tugged at her wrist. "To see Sasuke," she answered. "Duh."
Neji paused for a moment and then said, "Uncle wouldn't want anyone to go out after dinner."
Tenten scoffed. "Then why bother telling me about him?" She nodded to the window. "It's snowing outside," she told him. "It's been snowing outside for the entire day. He'll probably freeze if he waits for me for a long time." She blinked. That last sentence seemed…
He still didn't let go. "But you might freeze if you go outside anyway," he objected.
"Yeah?!" Tenten cried, taking her hand to pry his fingers off her wrist. "Well at least I don't make people wait and I actually SHOW UP!"
Neji let go in surprise and watched as she stomped down the stairs and out the door. He sighed and retreated into his own room.
Tenten took a bus to the balcony from before and sighed when she didn't see anybody there. She went to a nearby bench to sit down and wait when… something already happened to be sitting there already under the lamp light.
A snowman. Completed with a mini scarf and a nose and eyes.
"Aw," she cried. "It's so cute."
Sasuke came out and his mouth was in a content line. "Happy birthday," he said. He sat down next to the snowman and Tenten sat down on the other side, the small little snowman in the middle between them. She smiled.
"Wow," she said. "This is kinda cool." Moments later, she frowned. "I don't know how I'm going to keep it in the fridge, though," she said. "The freezer's full and –"
Sasuke shook his head. "It's not really your present," he said.
"It's not?" she asked, confused.
He turned to her and she was surprised at how serious he looked. He took her hand. Tenten's eyebrows furrowed. "Sasuke," she prompted, nervous about not seeing any joke going on here. "What are you doing?" She laughed nervously but it abruptly ended as he put her hand between his own.
"For your birthday…" he said, "… I give my heart to you."
A/N. Ah. What will she say? Hum. This is probably where the most drama will ensue afterwards.
I'm sorry for the long wait. Thanks to those who PMed me (you know who you are). Typos, editing, etc. drove me up the walls because I hate bad grammar. Finding it in my own story makes me gag. If you find any typos, it would help if you could say which chapter. I have already fixed 1-8 already.
Also, the last part is pretty awkward. I can't see Sasuke saying he likes someone. If I can think of a better way that puts him in character, I will change it.
Thanks to those who read and reviewed. Or just read. :D
Too many names to list. I'm a little busy. Sorry. D: