A/N: I'm warning this time, this is an AU. (: (again)

Word count: 1,963 words

Characters: Neji, Tenten

Summary: From the moment he met her, he realized, they were polar opposites. At least that was what he forced himself to believe. It didn't took long for him to realize both were compulsive liars.

Chapter 4:

One Same Difference

He met her on his first year of high school; truth was they had been together in the same schools since kindergarten.

She came in the first day, bobbing twin buns on her head, and a carefree smile that made him instantly enlist her on his infamous 'must avoid' list. From that moment on, he realized, they were polar opposites.

He was popular for all the wrong reasons; she wasn't popular at all but everyone who knew her wouldn't describe her with anything less than amazing—different from all the variety of adjectives often alluded to him.

Everything about him revolved around his last name –Hyuuga Neji, the closest thing to nobility in the flesh. Everyone called her by her alias Tenten. He was sure he'd never heard of her last name and he didn't know whether or not that was her real name either; he'd never have enough courage to ask.

He passed all his classes effortlessly and refused to visit the sacred Bulletin Board to see if he'd make it to the Honors Student List. Tenten, she often took personal tutoring, participated in class and worked hard on every homework and assignment. It had always been an adverse fascination watching her chew her bottom lip before making her mind and watch her walk out the door towards the overcrowded hallway were the Bulletin Board hanged. He'd never approached when he saw her cry every once in a while.

He was socially awkward. He was relentlessly invited to parties of people he didn't know, and even when he was constantly surrounded by people, he felt alone. He was popular, Tenten had friends. He had always found befuddling the easiness with which she approached, the gracefulness with which she moved, and how she naturally attracted people to her. (She would later tell him her secret. She just happened to be friendly.)

As a Hyuuga, he drew attention to himself without trying. Whether it was the latest gossip concerning his family, the way he had turned down a club position proposal or the prettiest girl in the school, Neji always had pestering people following his footsteps. He had always admired the way she blended with the crowd. She didn't have an endless number of guys chasing after her, she did club activities without turmoil and no one every spoke about her family. He once heard she hated being overlooked; Neji thought she didn't know how lucky she was.

Neji doesn't do club activities after school—his uncle is very especial about their unique fighting style. Yet the Martial Arts Club, Baseball Club and Kendo Club don't deter from insisting him every two weeks. Tenten, she had to force herself into the Martial Arts Club. All he heard was that she refused to train with the female rookies like she was instructed and was instantly banned. She challenged the club leader for a spar the next day. Nobody officially knew of the outcome but Tenten started training Advanced Judo with her male counterparts the week after.

He dislikes thinking about the future. His uncle has a perfectly structured plan for him; Neji doesn't know what to do of that yet. Tenten, she had told their class several times of her plans to become a doctor and, why not, postulate for Tokyo's governor like her idol Tsunade, not before (of course) proving to everyone else that girls could be just as good as boys. He doesn't think much of her ideals, but respects her nonetheless.

Coldhearted, that's what they call him around the school. Neji doesn't mind, he would rather keep his feelings hidden from the general public than making a fuss over a nickname that, to be fair, was quite accurate. Tenten wears her heart on her sleeve. She speaks loudly, makes a ruckus when she's mad and cries in the corner when she thinks no one is looking. She's also two-faced, loves to pretend she's strong when she isn't and her fake smiles are the best he had ever seen.

When asked in class, Neji says his favorite animal is the phoenix. It is beautiful, peaceful, it is born from the ashes but over all, it is overwhelmingly free. Tenten is quick to declare that her favorite animal is the dragon, for all its power and wisdom. Soon she strikes him up into a verbal quarrel of which's better. No one wins but Kakashi-sensei makes a note and says they're meant for each other. Tenten giggles but he sits in the back grumpily for the rest of the day.



They don't talk again until August by the start of the second semester. The sitting chart had changed, Tenten's place was twenty-four, he was sixteen, and they were right next to each other (fate was very feisty that day).

He tried to ignore her the first week, both of them arrived early to school and silence between them proved to be almost mandatory until someone arrived and broke Tenten free of her chains. By the second week, silence proved to be intolerable, at least for the brunette.

Her eyes were slightly red from sleep depravation and the way she turned to him made him assume the action had taken her a lot of effort.

"So, why are you so early here?" her voice was slightly drowsy, the yawn that followed after affirmed him of his presumptions.

"My uncle has to drive my cousins' to their respective schools and I'm the nearest," Neji wasn't quite sure why he answered but he did, even when it wasn't exactly true. His uncle dropped him first so his daughters wouldn't have to wait much around school before classes started.

"I hate waking early but I always have Judo practice before school," she yawned again, this was the first time he noticed the small bag she carried with her, apparently she still needed to take it to her locker for safe-keep.

There was a pause. It didn't pass more than a minute when Tenten decided she didn't like silence at all.

"You do any club activities?" the way her brown eyes looked at him curiously unnerved him, it was almost as if he was being inspected. For a reason, he didn't doubt in her ability to read him.

"No,"

"What do you do then?" she insisted after his dry remark. This time her elbow was on her desk and her head rested nicely over her hand signaling him that she was giving him all of her attention.

"I meditate," half truths weren't necessarily lies.

She narrowed her eyes slightly and frowned, "That's boring," she stated flatly and started biting on a chocolate bar that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere; of course, he just wasn't paying proper attention.

He wanted to remark her that he didn't find it boring but thought better of it; he wasn't keen of ridiculous squabbles. He turned his gaze to the front and closed his eyes; it didn't pass more than half a minute for her to speak again.

"Are you ignoring me?" Tenten didn't sound disturbed or offended, quite the contrary, as her amused smile was enough to tick him off endlessly.

"I just don't think we have much in common," he pretended to end it with a monotonous reply but it back fired.

"Do you like Chocolate?"

"Vanilla,"

"Soccer?"

"Baseball,"

"Coffee?"

"Tea,"

"Afternoon or night?"

"Morning,"

"Bed?"

"Futon,"

"Apple juice or orange juice?"

"Orange juice,"

"I guess you're right, as always," Tenten smiled, one of those mysterious smiles you're not supposed to understand, and turned her head away.

Neji stared at her for a couple of seconds and turned away too. Three minutes passed in aberrant quiet until a girl by the name of Momoko arrived and snatched Tenten into early gossip.

It became something regular for the rest of the week; Tenten would return from her Judo practice sleepy, she would turn to him after a while and ask him questions. By Friday, they had learned that Neji preferred classical music and Tenten didn't have a preference at all, that she would love to travel to American while he would be happy with a simple trip to Europe, and that she loved horror movies while Neji would rather watch a well performed thriller between other random nonsense.

She turned to him with one half-opened eye, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

If she noticed the way his back tensed with the question, she ignored it.

"No,"

"I have two older brothers, they're at university now," she paused. Neji stopped himself from smiling; Tenten had the very strange habit of answering to unasked questions. (Maybe she just figured talking to him would have turned repetitive otherwise.)

"My father is a police officer and my mama, she's gone," her voice was slightly quieter this time, from the way her eyes twinkled Neji was sure he wasn't supposed to ask about the matter.

"What about your family?" The strain that accompanied her question made it seem forced. She refused to look him in the eye, she was hunched over her desk, like she often did when she was particularly tired.

Neji remained silent and pursed his lips ever so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable. He knew that the whole school knew of his incident and had it always been an unspoken rule not to mention it in his presence.

"So… it is true, you really are an orphan," it was the quietest he had ever heard her, over her hunched position Tenten looked at him from the corner of her eye. The quality of that look prevented him from becoming instantly furious at her. She turned away and her eyes became moist.

They didn't talk again until the end of the day. He had been left with class representative duties and was instructed with the responsibility of writing the class' journal. He didn't notice her leaning against the frame of the door until she approached his huddled form sitting by the window. Her shadow covered the little sunlight he received and he looked up.

"I lied," her voice wasn't remorseful. Neji refused looking at her and stood up, laid the white notebook inside the teacher's desk cabinet and made his way towards the door.

Tenten's face was red when she shielded the entrance of the classroom with her body. Neji stood motionless in front of her. It didn't took him long to notice he way her body shook with unconcealed emotion.

"I'm an orphan too, I…I am adopted, my mama wanted a girl and…" she sounded almost alarmed and the way she stared at the floor obscured her face as a single tear made its way to the floor.

He remained quiet as the number of tears that met with the floor increased. He read people like magazines, but when it came to her, he was often helpless. There was a part he could work out and another that he couldn't get to materialize.

The moment her shaky hands embraced around him came as a shock; he stepped back but let her hold on to him as her tears stained his uniform. He didn't comforted her (partly because she actually knew what a family felt like and he didn't, partly because it wasn't a very Neji-like thing to do) and refrained himself from speaking a word, he didn't want her to think he felt something about it.



When she broke away, took her bag and exited the classroom in a running daze he didn't dash after her. He was Neji, she was Tenten and they were polar opposites who just happened to share one same difference.

At least that was what he forced himself to believe. It wouldn't take him long to realize both were compulsive liars for complete different reasons.

TBC?

A/n: It was about time that I updated, don't you think? Truth is that I have lots of one-shots hanging in my computer but I wasn't quite sure what to post up next. This formulated in my mind two days ago and gave it a shot. Finally, something more Neji-centric. Lolz

Personally, I think it went well, although I do think the end was a little too unresolved. Reason: I think there will be follows up to this universe with other one-shots (I don't think I could cope with a multi-chaptered fic), but not too often. You could locate this in the Konoha Gakuen Den universe if you want (if you haven't seen it, it's a spin-off special involving the Naruto cast in high school) because I am basing stuff of that (I think). If I come up with an ending less unresolved (and I'm not lazy) I could change the ending but I doubt it.

As you have probably noticed, I love AUs, I think the whole idea of creating a different universe and try implementing previously established characters is fun and a challenge. So I will continue writing them, along with Naruto universe ones.

If you have a special genre you would like me to try, go ahead and I might give it a try. I have a lot of stuff prewritten (sort of), so I could grant people their wishes.

Also, I might write a multi-chaptered fic. I'm not too sure yet (because of my inconsistency) but I would love to, especially an AU, I think I have enough with Kishimoto butchering the series for me to try it. I'm holding a poll (in my profile) to help me decide the time (70s, 80s, Edo, etc). I have pre-thought ideas and I would love to know your opinion and see what the general reader would like to read. Just to give me an idea, I might no necessarily go ahead with it but it would be a nice experiment.

I hope you continue the reading. Constructive criticism is always welcomed, just as positive feedback or if you just happen to have an opinion, a comment/suggestion or whatever, don't hesitate to leave a review. It's always nice to read what you guys think.

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