A/N: Yay, now to continue.
--
Day 2
--
Tenten dragged herself out of bed.
The second day of work that week was not treating her well. Though she had finally been allowed a coffee break. Tenten admitted it: she was a coffee addict. Could coffee kill you? Was being addicted to it lethal? She shrugged it off and ran her fingers distractedly through her hair.
"Could you shut the damn alarm clock?" Ino groaned and rolled over in her bed, putting a (pink) pillow over her head. Tenten sighed and slammed her hand down on the offending noise and went to use the bathroom.
Just as she was about to close the door and take a pee, there was a knock on the dorm door. Curiously and half agitatedly, she walked towards the door, wondering who could be calling for them this early. Groggily, she stood on tiptoes and peered through the peephole.
Outside was a boy with a bored expression, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his brown hair stuck casually back into a messy, spiky ponytail. She furrowed her eyebrows. Had she called for a delivery or something? Maybe Ino had ordered pizza.
She opened it, realizing that she was still in her pajamas and probably had a twitching eye. The boy raised his eyebrows at her mussed appearance.
"Ino here?" he drawled without bothering to introduce himself.
Tenten paused and then nodded. Hey, if he happened to be a stalker, then maybe he would take Ino off of her hands.
"Ino, wake up," he shook the blonde's shoulder. Ino gave a muffled groan and pulled the pillow tighter over her head. Tenten sighed and went back into the bathroom.
"Shika!" she heard Ino squeal a minute later.
Shika? Odd name. She brushed her teeth, rinsed, and grabbed a pile of clothes out of her trunk, eyeing Shika suspiciously before retreating back into the bathroom to change. She was running late, as usual. She charged out of the door without so much as saying goodbye.
O0O
"You'll be sorting cabinet number two today."
Yumi smiled her stiff smile, and backed carefully out of the room with her nose wrinkled, as if it gave off some sort of unpleasant smell. The door clicked shut with a rather ominous sound. Tenten eyed the file cabinets warily.
"Are you mocking me?" she asked the second cabinet detachedly as she picked up an empty plastic crate with her arms. "Well, you better not be. You're not the one who's breaking their back day after day like this for just a little over minimum wage." She paused thoughtfully. "You're a good listener, huh? Well, I'm not even sure why I took this job. Seems kind of stupid now." Another pause. "I suppose I could use the extra money…Mom'll be impressed."
"I am sure that she will be," said a deep voice from the door. Tenten wasn't thinking straight. She nodded amiably in agreement, while continuing to messily sort exploding files.
"Yeah. You think so?"
"Hn."
"This is a nice room."
"You are talking to a file cabinet."
Tenten whirled and nearly sprained her back as she realized that she was talking to somebody and that the somebody had been watching her, and that she was acting really, really stupid.
A boy stood at the door.
Tenten wasn't like most girls with boys. She didn't get the whole "chemistry" thing. To her, boys were either idiots or friends. She had lots of friends that were boys. Not boyfriends. But she wasn't stupid. She had to know that this guy was pretty good-looking, though a bit odd. His face was icy pale, to match his eyes. Was he blind? His brown hair, usually average, was long and tied into a loose ponytail. His features were severe and mature, though he could not have been much older than herself.
She scowled.
"Look, are you lost or something?" she prompted, fighting to keep her annoyance and frustration under control.
"No."
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Not in particular." He raised his eyebrows at her.
She sighed and threw down the files. "Well, then can you leave me alone? I've got to work, or I don't get paid." She eyed his clothing, which didn't seem shabby. He didn't give her something to work with. Tenten was no expert with clothes. Even so, the simple white shirt and black shorts weren't anything fancy. But better than she was dressed. There was something neat about this guy. And not just his clothing, either.
He bowed formally. She winced. That totally belonged in some kung fu movie starring Jackie Chan.
"As you wish." He backed out of the room. The sounds of footsteps going down the hall were all but invisible when muffled by the carpet.
She nearly pulled her hair out, willing herself not to scream out loud. Life really, really sucked.
O0O
"So?"
Tenten scowled at Ino. It seemed like she was doing a lot of this lately. Scowling. Not spending time with Ino.
"So what?" She had just finished relating the story of the mysterious boy to Ino, who, she grudgingly admitted to herself, would probably know more about this type of thing than she did. She folded a hideous green collared shirt her mom had leant her and stuffed it under the bed with her foot.
"Was he hot?" Ino wiggled her blonde eyebrows. Tenten sighed and fell backwards onto the bed.
"You know what?"
"What?" Ino said eagerly.
"I hate you. I really do. I wish that you would die a slow and painful death, and then I would cackle over your grave and throw you into an incinerator."
That wasn't what she really said. She said, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Ino prodded, sounding rather exasperated. "Didn't you at least look at him? C'mon, Ugly. Give me details."
Tenten flipped her legs over onto the bed, and pushed her hands behind her head against the cool side of the pillow. "I honestly don't really care," she mumbled. "He was just a guy in passing. I'll probably never see him again."
Ino smirked. "You say that like you're regretting it."
"Regretting what?" Tenten asked, confused.
"That you're not going to see him again."
Tenten flushed all the way up to her hairline. "Well, I could've at least asked his name. I'm just curious, is all."
Ino smiled, showing all of her perfectly white teeth, (though they were hidden behind braces. The rubber bands were pink, white, and red.), and shook her head. "Right."
"Yes. That's right." Tenten turned off the light. She tossed and turned all night.
O0O
The next day, she woke up early, but willingly. She smiled to herself and hummed a tune as she dressed in the bathroom, hurrying to brush her teeth. Ino actually laughed at her in the bathroom, chuckling to herself. Tenten shrugged.
"What?" she said around the toothpaste foam.
"You're actually happy today."
Tenten shrugged again. "Is that illegal? I have the day off. Sue me."
Ino rolled her eyes and began carefully combing her long, corn silk hair. Tenten felt a slight stab of envy, though she would never admit it. Her own hair, though it was still pretty in its own way, was short and brown and average. Ino looked like Repunzel.
"What are you, Barbie?" she said instead. Ino scowled. Her features were small: small, straight nose; small, colorless lips, and a small, heart-shaped face. All except for her bright blue eyes, which were about as big as eyes could go.
"Shut up."
"Touchy, aren't you?"
Tenten laughed when Ino took a swipe at her with the hairbrush, and danced out of the room. She slipped on a pair of ankle socks and her Nikes, and then she burst out of the door, down the steps, and into the fresh air of the bustling street. She sighed and inhaled deeply. Freedom.
Her first stop was to the Starbucks located down the street. The air inside was just right for the weather. She ordered an Arabian Mocha Sanani, and sat at a booth quietly sipping. She wished she could walk in, and go, "Hey, the usual please," like they did in movies. That would have been rather awesome.
She tapped her toes lightly under the table. Her cotton shorts swished slightly. She absently fiddled with the hem of her soccer jersey, which she had tied with rubber bands at the shoulders.
There was a girl ordering coffee at the counter. She stood out, Tenten thought wryly. She wore combat boots and striped knee socks and an overall-mini-skirt thing that had Sharpe names written all over it. Her hair was…Tenten laughed. She didn't even know that you could dye your hair that color. It was all stuck back into her baseball cap.
"Arabian Mocha Sanani," she ordered. Tenten smiled in surprise. Her voice was pleasant: in a range between soprano and alto, and bell-like.
She turned, and stared at Tenten. Then she raised her eyebrows, and drummed her fingers against the countertop, losing interest in a moment. Tenten went back to her coffee. She wasn't an interesting person.
"Mind if I sit here?"
Tenten looked up, at the girl with her Arabian Mocha Sanani, and nodded weakly. The girl looked at Tenten as if she thought she might be dumb. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief as she slid expertly across the booth and towards the window.
Pink. Hair.
Tenten stared.
"Your name?" the girl inquired matter of factly as Tenten continued to gape.
"Tenten," she said. The girl laughed.
Tenten waited. "You aren't going to tell me your name too?"
Pink-Hair shook her head, sipping her coffee calmly and watching Tenten with those strange green eyes. She was rather attractive, Tenten thought. The girl had mascara on her eyes and a slight tinge of lip gloss on her mouth. Tenten suddenly felt underdressed. And plain.
"No."
"Why not?"
She shrugged. "It's personal info. Don't want to give it out." She winked obviously, and stood up suddenly. Tenten unconsciously felt herself stand too.
"Listen. I need a favor," she said, slinging a pack over her shoulder. Tenten had not noticed it before then. It was made of jean.
"Yeah?" she said.
"I'm looking for a place to stay." Pinky paused, and pressed her lips together. Tenten wondered if it was because she was spreading the lip gloss, or worried about something she was not willing to tell. Something about the way she was talking was unusual.
"You know any?"
"Any what?" she asked, startled out of her reverie.
"Places to stay. I couldn't come with you, could I?" she asked, hardly suppressing the tone of hope in her voice. Tenten faltered. The place she was staying at could use a few more customers.
"Follow me."
O0O
"Yo Ugly, I can't find m…who's she?"
Tenten sighed and shook her head at Ino. "I don't know," she said honestly.
Pink-Hair took out her baseball cap and rolled her green eyes. Her hair was actually pretty, though it was cut shorter than Tenten's. She kicked off her combat boots and sat cross-legged on the bunk on top of Ino's.
"Name's Haruno Sakura, Piggy. You got a problem with me staying here?" she challenged, leaning over the edge to talk with Ino, all of the blood in her draining to her face. Ino opened her mouth in anger.
"Hey, I haven't done anything to you," she protested. "Why are you all hating on me?"
Sakura smirked. "It's just the way that you're so disgustingly…preppy. And pink." She shuddered, and Tenten was a bit put out that Ino had learned her name before she had. But glad that Sakura was not another pink addict, as her hair suggested. She frowned. Why had she dyed it if she hated pink?
"Pink is nationally recognized as a girl's color," Ino protested hotly, glaring in turn at Tenten and Sakura. "It's not my fault that I'm stuck with an Ugly and a…a…" She stared at Sakura. "And a Forehead-girl. Weirdos."
She grumbled to herself.
Tenten furrowed her eyebrows at Sakura. Sakura winked at Tenten and stuck her tongue out at Ino. She did have a rather large forehead. It made her seem innocent in all her punkish, gothic, emo glory.
"What's your name, piggy?" she called to Ino.
"Yamanaka Ino, Forehead-Girl. Don't you forget it."
"Sure, Ino-pig."
Tenten stared at the pair of girls, her new domestic nightmare, and wanted very badly to scream.
O0O
Tenten was an alone-person. She preferred working. Alone. Well. She didn't particularly enjoy work, either, but it was just an expression. She was also a James Bond fan, though nobody would ever get that out of her. She was good at skateboarding. A coffee addict. Usually good at making jokes. She pondered. Did she have any other skills?
Well, she was good at being a brat.
She sighed as she walked once more through the doors of the office, feeling worse for the wear as Sakura and Ino flicking crumpled pieces of paper at each other throughout the night had prevented her from sleeping. Not to mention that Ino now hated her with more ferocity than ever for bringing Sakura to their dorm. And Sakura was grateful to Tenten because she had a place to stay, and also because she now had somebody to torture. Tenten wasn't sure which was worse: anger, or gratefulness for something that she really regretted doing.
She took the elevator with the music up to her floor. Yumi nodded at her as she passed by, but didn't bother to show her the way. Tenten rubbed at her eyes. She never wore makeup. Her eyelashes were stuck together in triangles. There were purple circles under her eyes. She probably looked like she had seen some type of horrific traumatic event. Well. Ino and Sakuratrauma. Figures.
The file room. Also known as Disguised Torture Chamber.
She sighed again and pushed open the door, to be met by her mounds of unfinished sorting from the fruitless days before this. The kink in her neck was already whimpering in fear of the long day to come.
She just sat down and picked up a file labeled "B TO D" in red pen, (running low on ink, by the look of the fading letters), when Yumi pushed open the door, her red fingernails clacking against the doorknob. She smiled at Tenten.
"Uh…Tenten…" Tenten scowled. Yumi didn't remember her name. She was staring at Tenten's blue and white HI! I'M TENTEN! Nametag. It just made it that much worse. "…there's somebody I'd like you to meet."
She pushed forward a scowling boy with a cold face and long, brown hair. And white eyes that might possibly be blind. She stared, her mouth hanging open. Was it her, or was he taller?
"This is Hyuuga Neji," said Yumi, looking back and forth between the two of them. "He's coming in for therapy on childhood trauma." She coughed. She was probably the only person in the room who could say "trauma" with a bright, truly happy smile on her face. Tenten couldn't help but think that this Hyuuga Neji was all about trauma. He was freakish and mean and…
"…come with us to lunch break, please," Yumi's voice once again interrupted her thoughts. She coughed again, uncomfortable. "There's some things that we need to discuss." She gave Tenten the Look.
Warily, she pushed herself up from the floor and dusted off her old jean cutoffs. "Hyuuga Neji" raised his eyebrows. Damn it, he was better dressed again. She mentally slapped herself. Since when had this evolved into a competition? What girl compared how good she looked with a guy?! She was nuts. She wasn't normal.
"Okay. Shoot," she told Yumi.
"I think you'd better sit down," she said after a slight pause.
Tenten did. She wasn't one for surprises.
Yumi took a deeeeep breath. "Hyuuga Neji is going to be seeing you for therapy from now on."
--
A/N: Ooh. Cliffy. Questions like "why is Tenten, who is completely untrained, supposed to give Neji therapy" and "God, why is Yumi suddenly pushing Neji onto Tenten as a responsibility anyways?" will be answered in the next chapter. Happy reviewing. Eat duck. Be happy. That is all. Ja ne.