A/N: Well, the last chapter was…interesting xD To say the least.
I never really intended for it to turn into the classic damsel-in-distress scene, (I have a pet peeve, and at the same time, a soft spot for that), but that's what it ended up turning into. –shrug- As long as you guys are happy, I guess.
And thanks for the heads-up about shrink rules xD. As I am NOT the daughter of a psychologist, (not even close…), I seriously had no idea whatsoever. In any case, I was pretty sure that most of the stuff that happens in this story isn't legal to begin with anyways, so it sort of cancels out, compared to all the gang fights and dark alleyways…
And of course, Neji is actually sane, and all of his psychologists, and Hiashi, and Tenten, are aware of this…so you could say that it's a political masquerade of sorts…?
Due to death threats—er, constant nagging…I have finally gotten my lazy bum around to updating. For those of you who decided to stick around…a million hugs and a couple of fresh-baked cookies. With ice cream! Yay!
…Enjoy the chapter!
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Day 23
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"No."
"Hey, hey! Just gimme a chance!" Ino whined pleadingly with the stubborn Tenten, who was promptly hiding behind an upside-down history book on samurai. "You won't ever listen to anything I say," she went on to accuse.
"Yes, because most of it turns out to be absolutely a waste of time," Tenten grumbled under her breath, pushing Ino out of the way and righting the book.
"Shut up," Ino muttered.
"Did you know that samurai women blackened their teeth for fashion?" Tenten retorted.
Ino stared blankly at her.
"Owned!" Sakura crowed at the blonde. Ino's blue eyes narrowed dangerously in the cherryhead's direction, and then zoomed back to Tenten.
"As I was trying to explain before I was so rudely interrupted," she cleared her throat, "was that we should put on a bake sale for charity."
Tenten put down her book, eyebrows arched well into her hair. "Of all times, you decide now that you want to help the homeless? Is this a prank, or am I dreaming?"
Hinata slid down to sit next to Tenten by the beanbag. "No, I-Ino-san needs to help raise money for her f-family's flower shop." She promptly pretended not to see Ino's betrayed expression.
"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Sakura asked from her top bunk, pulling out an earplug.
"It's not like you would have listened," Ino muttered.
"Hinata did," Tenten pointed out. The black-haired girl twiddled her fingers together and fidgeted much like she always had. Tenten was slowly and steadily working to improve her own idea of self-worth and confidence, but it was a very tedious journey. Hinata was so shy that it would have been impossible to believe unless you saw it with your own eyes.
Ino rolled her eyes. "Well, let's get crackin' then!"
O0O
Two hours later, the four girls stood at the small kitchen in their dorm room, surrounded by plastic bags filled with bags of white flour, brown sugar, eggs, butter, a new frying pan, a spatula, a box of aluminum foil, two bags of sugar, a huge bag of chocolate chips, several brownie mix containers…the list went on.
"Well…who's money is this coming out of?" Tenten whispered weakly.
The four very broke girls all glanced at each other, hoping in vain for a volunteer. Ino sighed. "I guess you guys are all going to make me pay in the end, so I might as well say I'll do it now."
"That's okay…why don't the f-four of us just split the cost?" Hinata suggested quickly. "It would be more fair, since we're all taking p-part in this. It's our project as much as it is yours now, Ino-san," she said diplomatically.
"Fine by me," Tenten said, shrugging. "Although Yumi will probably stop paying me soon, since I haven't been to the office for so long."
Sakura smirked. "Looking for more time with Neji-kun, eh?"
Tenten ignored her and instead unknotted the nearest grocery bag, pulling out one of the flour bags and the dark chocolate chips.
"Hm. Where's the eggs?" she asked, searching.
Ino grinned sheepishly as she held up a bag dripping yellow yolk. "Found 'em."
"God, they put them in the bottom," Sakura moaned, pulling out the ruined sticky mess of stuff in the plastic and tossing it into the trashcan. "All that money…goneeeee…" she wailed.
"Relax, it's just the cheap bread I got for our lunch," Ino soothed her. "I can go back for more later. Besides, there's still 8 eggs in here that aren't ruined…and I think we bought another package that's around here someplace…"
There was another carton of eggs, they soon discovered. It was hiding with the sugar.
Hinata whipped out a giant bowl, and dumped in brownie mix, milk, eggs, and chocolate chips. She took out a wooden stirring spoon and began to mash up the mess. Soon, it had started to look less like quicksand and more like lumpy mud.
"Smells good, looks real nasty," Sakura commented, relieving Hinata of her stirring shift and vigorously beating the purple-brown gunk in the bowl. She secretively dipped her finger in and sucked on it when she thought that Ino wasn't looking, and winked conspiratorially at Tenten.
Tenten laughed and flicked a small pile of flour at Sakura. Sakura blinked, as she now had white powder on the tip of her nose, green eyes narrowed.
"Ooh, Weapons Mistress, you goin' down!" she crowed.
Tenten went back to rolling out dough for funnel cake, perfectly unconcerned with the threat. She had a full bag of flour waiting as backup, sitting on the counter next to her.
Hinata and Ino were pouring over a cookbook, trying to decide whether or not their limited baking skills would be enough to make some sort of cake or pie. "Hey, did we buy any pie crust?" Ino questioned randomly.
"Don't think so," Sakura said, pounding a lump of powder in the brownie mix to dust. "I didn't think that you wanted to make pies."
"Well, I didn't think I'd want to either," the blonde admitted. She blew out a breath that made her long bangs flutter. "Maybe I'll just go back and buy some later."
"So…where are we setting this up?" Tenten asked fifteen minutes later, having put the funnel cake aside for a while to mash up some strawberry jam.
"I was thinking the park," Ino decided on the spot. "I mean, lots of people pass by during the summer…"
"Hinata would like that," Tenten laughed. Hinata, (in a very non-Hinata-like manner), flicked a puff of flour at Tenten. The result was a large white spot spanning across the bun-haired girl's nose and cheeks. The Weapons Mistress coughed in mild surprise.
"Wow."
She then proceeded to flick a few drops of brown sugar at Hinata. It splattered over her cheekbone. The black-haired heiress let out a small eep! of surprise and flinched out of the way of Tenten's next assault, which landed on Ino.
The blonde let out a low, angry growl. "Oh no you didn't!" she cried.
Screaming and flying powder ensued. Pandemonium reigned, and it was a miracle that nobody was hurt. Tenten and Ino were throwing fistfuls of fluffy white flour at each other, Sakura had somehow managed to get her hands on the eggs and was now dripping with yellow goop, and Hinata tried to hide but did not succeed. Instead, she resorted to the miniature chocolate chips to defend herself with.
Five minutes later, it was all over with. Ino let out a sigh as she looked at the floor all around her, covered in all of their baking supplies. "I'm not cleaning that up."
Tenten, who's face was chalk white and hair was gray from all of the caked flour, laughed. It turned into a cough partway through, and a cloud of white emerged around her face.
"The brownie mix is a-alright," Hinata murmured, getting up and seeing that the bowl was still upright.
"Thank God," Sakura moaned.
Pause.
"I get the shower first," said Ino.
O0O
Two Hours Later
The girls had set up in the park as planned, near the skateboarding pipes. Several large pieces of butcher paper served as a tablecloth, and the plates that their sweets were piled on were, more often than not, chipped and yellowing. Several had blue designs on them. All were borrowed from the landlady.
They could have picked a better day: the park was so empty that it looked like some shoot-em-up cowboys had decided to ride through town. Tenten was half-expecting to see a lonely tumbleweed cartwheel by.
Although no such thing happened, the loneliness in the air of the usually crowded park was unmistakable. Sakura was impatiently tapping the heel of her foot against the brick wall she was sitting on. Ino had started compulsively straightening the trays of sweets. Even incredibly patient Hinata was looking a little disappointed.
Tenten sighed, and dug out Ino's cell phone from her pocket, (the secret of how it had gotten there was a long story for another time). She quickly dialed in Naruto's number, and waited while the call went through.
Naruto picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Tenten-chan!" he said loudly. Thank God for caller ID.
"Naruto, I need you down at the park…"
"But I've got plans with my friends!" he whined. Tenten ground her teeth in a dangerous way while Ino and Sakura stared hopefully at her.
"…right about now would be nice," she emphasized. "Bring the guys if you have to. Actually, round up as many people as possible and attract attention along the way. There's absolutely no human life at all down here."
"Fine, fine," her blonde friend grumbled, but she could tell that he was only putting on a show to save his pride. "See you in five." He hung up.
"Well?" Ino prodded as soon as Tenten pressed the end-call button and handed the cell phone back to the blonde. In her excitement, Ino didn't even seem to notice that her cell phone had been in Tenten's possession all this time.
"Naruto's coming down with his buddies," Tenten laughed. "This party's getting started!"
O0O
It turned out that Naruto had been the best person to call. His original group had consisted of Akamaru with Kiba, Shino, and Lee. Along the way, they seemed to have picked up a small army.
Several workers from Aki's office had shown up, including Yumi, (much to Tenten's distaste. The taste of sweets is inevitably ruined by the appearance of your boss). Anko was there, looking like she had brought her sweet tooth. Tenten recognized Saburo as well, the guy who had first given her the call to offer a job.
The landlady of the boarding house had brought her family. Ino's parents and her brown-haired little brother had made it. Tenten saw several people from her school, mostly familiar faces. Tayuya and Kin were among them. They smiled tentatively at her, and she offered a meek grin back. Apparently, they didn't hang with the same crowd as Karin anymore.
Hiashi and Hanabi and Neji stood quietly off to the side, as was their way. Tenten immediately headed over to them, grinning broadly. Hiashi nodded at her, and Hanabi gave her a peace sign before the two headed off to join the growing crowd around the bake sale table.
"I didn't think you liked brownies and stuff," Tenten said to Neji.
He grunted. "I didn't come for the food."
"What else is there? You don't like large crowds or family gatherings or whatnot either," she replied, confused. She would have assumed that even if Hanabi and Hiashi and Hinata were all here, Neji would have opted for the quiet isolation of his bedroom, (albeit brightened once Tenten had managed to reverse the close-shutter policy).
Neji managed a stiff shrug. "Naruto can be rather persuasive. You don't give him enough credit."
"Naruto doesn't have enough brains for credit, but hey, I love him anyways," Tenten laughed. "You make me seem like the village idiot, though. I'm sure your brain is as packed as any textbook."
"I would admit to that, perhaps," Neji's white eyes glinted with amusement.
"Hey! I baked some of the stuff, you know," Tenten pouted. "I'm not all that useless."
"True. I cannot bake anything."
"Tch. I knew that."
"…"
"Well, come on! What kind of guy like you bakes?"
"That, Tenten, is a very wrong stereotype."
"It's not like you've ever done anything to prove it wrong. Why shouldn't I go with stereotypes until strong evidence says otherwise?"
"Hn."
She made an exasperated sound somewhere in between a hiccup, sigh, and laugh. "You know what, I'm going to feed you. What do you like best, cookies, or brownies, or cake, or onigiri…"
"Nothing, thank you," he said, "Although I appreciate the offer. Do you have any milk?"
"…Milk?"
"Yes."
"Er, no. But I'll get you some! There's a grocery store around the corner. Wanna come?"
The two turned the sidewalk and exited the scene of the madhouse bake sale.
O0O
It was a while before Ino and the others noticed that Tenten and Neji had disappeared. Ino was crazy trying to sell goods at a fast pace. The line just seemed to get longer and longer as curious passerby stopped to see what all the commotion was about and decided to buy some treats once they discovered that it was a bake sale.
Thankfully, the girls had made enough treats to feed a small army. Their stock was rapidly decreasing, but was still nowhere near dwindling. Hinata was beside herself trying to satisfy all of the customers.
"An onigiri, please," said a quiet drawl.
Ino looked up so fast that she felt her neck bone give a little crack.
Shikamaru smiled a slight, uncertain smile at her. It was a moment before Ino could snap out of it. The corner of her lip twitched up a little, but she lowered her head quickly, and picked up one of the rice balls with meat in the center. "It's 150 yen."
He coughed up the money and placed it in her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. "Thanks, Ino."
He had vanished back into the crowd before she could reply.
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A/N: Ha! An update! Not one of my most eventful chapters…but at least it was something, I guess, lol. I hope you guys thought so too!!