A/N: Hey, peeps…
It's little me, back from Paris…
Not really.
But I did have to take a break from writing fanfics for a while. For…creative reasons…(coughlazinesscough). So, my apologies, and as a sorry-present, I present the next chapter in the Poisoned Cinnamon fanfic! Enjoy. (-spoiler-OMG, Itachi's innocent…-insert mad giggle here-xD) Geez, it turns out most of the most popular conspiracy theories about Naruto were right after all O.o
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Day 24
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"Tenten…will you marry me?"
All blushing brilliance and just the right amount of shyness, a very red Tenten nodded weakly at Neji, who was currently poised over her hand like he was about to kiss it on bended knee.
The fact that they had an audience wasn't making it any better.
And she was wearing a dress. A fluffy, poufy, it-wears-you and all white wedding dress with full out seven flounces.
She didn't even want to know what kind of state her feet would be in once she got out of those blasted high heels…
But she had more important things to worry about.
Neji's pale, opal-like eyes were staring up at her with the most serious expression set into his pale face, his cheekbones sort-of sucked in like he was actually holding his breath in anticipation of her reply.
Tenten opened her mouth…
Two things happened at once. She let out a burp that she had been trying to suppress for the past minute, and the strings that Ino had tied extra-tight around her waist popped.
"CUT!! Tenten, you have got to stop eating so much curry!" Ino shook her head and pranced onto the set waving around her favorite, official-looking clipboard. She turned to Neji, who had gotten up to standing position and looking like he was not concerned at all about what had just happened. Tenten grimaced as Ino beamed at Neji like he was the rising sun.
"That was an amazing performance, Neji-san!" Ino said with gusto, giving Tenten a pointed look. "I didn't know you could act like that."
Of course, nobody had thought that Neji could act like that. Neji, for God's sake, was an ice cube. He wasn't actually supposed to have facial expressions, let alone know how to propose to a girl.
Tenten had been more than a little disgruntled when Ino had decided to begin filming a movie for her photography class that would begin in the fall. She had described it as "great practice ground for my future career" and had talked about it so incessantly that Tenten had eventually given in and taken a part.
How Ino had got Neji in on it was still a mystery.
In any case, Tenten had weaseled and whined about her part of the blushing bride: wouldn't Hinata have been better suited for the part, seeing her natural blushing talents? And what was with the fact that she was already WEARING THE WEDDING DRESS when Neji was proposing? It just didn't match up.
Obviously, Ino had no directing skills. But she pretended she did. Or she was really good at convincing herself that she had real talent.
As the cast disbanded for a short fifteen minute break while Ino vented some steam about Tenten's mistake, the bun-haired girl walked out into the hallway to get away from all of the hubbub in their dorm.
It wasn't long before she heard soft footsteps, and then Neji came out to sit next to her against the wall on the ground.
"You can laugh," she said flatly.
Neji kept a remarkably innocent straight face. "Burping is healthy."
Tenten snorted. "Not when you're supposed to be answering a proposal."
Neji shrugged. "It is just your friend's summer project. You are taking it too seriously."
"Me? You're the one that's going full out I-Am-In-Love acting skills."
"I believe it is best to try your best at everything. But you, Tenten, should not be too hard on yourself for making mistakes."
"You sound like my mother."
"…I should like to meet her sometime, then."
"I'll get it on videotape, don't worry."
They sat in silence for a while, before Tenten spoke on a sudden thought.
"Are you actually going to propose to Hinata?"
Neji looked at her with the face that was labeled "surprise". "Why would I need to propose to her? We both know that we are to be wed in a matter of years. Hiashi-sama has arranged for it to be so."
Tenten stared at him and tried to echo his serious expression on her own features. "But…" she struggled with words. "Where's the love in that? Or even the romance, for that matter?"
"There is none," Neji said matter-of-factly. "It is a necessary sacrifice that we make for our clan." He paused slightly, and then said softly, "I consider it an honor."
Tenten bit her lip. "Well, even if you think it's alright to just throw away your chance at true love like that…what about Hinata? Don't you think that she at least deserves a choice if she wants it?"
Neji's lips drew together into a hard line. "It is not for you to voice your thoughts on that, Tenten."
"If I'm not going to do it, then who is?" she demanded, her voice rising a little. "Look, it's just stupid to make Hinata marry you if she doesn't want to! Even you should be able to tell that she's head-over-heels for my best friend!"
"Lower your voice," Neji said passively.
"Neji, you and I both know that Hinata doesn't want you to be her husband," Tenten said softly.
Neji's white eyes flashed with something akin to anger. "You do not believe I would be capable of being a suitable husband for her?"
Tenten's brown eyes widened a little. "No, that's not it! It's just that the two of you are getting married for all the wrong reasons. You're a good person, so I'm sure that some lucky girl would want to marry you someday." She shut her mouth quickly. She'd said more than she'd intended to.
Neji raised one of his eyebrows, a corner of his mouth twitching. "Tell me, then…what kind of woman do you think would wish to wed a man like me?"
Tenten opened her mouth without really knowing what she was going to say.
What came out was, "Maybe somebody like me."
For a moment, her unexpected (by both of them) reply sat on the air, Tenten wondering where in the world her head had gone.
"For a person that has never courted in their life, you do seem to know a lot about relationships," Neji finally said.
Tenten flushed. "I d-don't…but, I know right from wrong. Most of the time."
"Fair enough," Neji said. He smiled a little at her. "I wonder how stable your mind is if you think you could marry me. Perhaps I should be the one that is afraid for your mental state."
Tenten laughed, the awkwardness gone. "Yeah. Maybe."
O0O
"So, you're going to talk to him, right?"
Hinata stared at Tenten with a deer-in-the-headlights expression in her white eyes.
"I c-could try, but Tenten, I r-really don't think that it would w-work…"
"If that's what you think will happen, that's what will happen," Tenten said in a firm, life-coach sort of voice. "You've got to think that you're going to succeed! We're talking about your own father here! He must want what's best for his daughter, right?"
Hinata bit her lower lip and chewed on it, curling a strand of ebony black hair around her index finger. "I don't know about t-this…"
"Hinata, listen to me, okay? You really should have a say about who you want to marry, and you definitely choose who you love. If you don't want to be permanently bonded to your own cousin in sickness and in health, well…you've got to speak up sooner or later."
"What she said," Sakura called from the top bunk, her earpieces plugged in.
Hinata smiled. "A-Alright then. A-Arigato."
"Awesome," Tenten smiled back at her.
"…hate to break up the party, but where's Ino?" Sakura asked.
O0O
"Ino?"
"Hey," the blonde smiled timidly in a manner very unlike herself at a surprised looking Shikamaru. She wrung the little yellow roses that she was holding in her entwined hands, rocking back on her heels outside on his doorstep.
"These are for you." She thrust the flowers at him before she could have time to chicken out. The boy took them with an expression that clearly stated he thought he was hallucinating.
"What are you doing here?" he drawled, (it might have sounded mean, but Ino knew that he didn't mean it that way).
"Well…we never did officially stop fighting, did we?" she said nervously.
Shikamaru tugged on his ponytail, and then turned to go into the house, gesturing with his hand that Ino should follow him.
They ended up in his bedroom, where there was a shogi board set up in the middle of the room. Apparently, the genius of strategy had been playing against himself again when Ino arrived. The blonde smiled, and sat cross-legged on the ground in the place where a player should sit. Shika sat on the opposite side.
"Temari's gone," Shika said once they both realized that Ino had no idea how to start for once.
"…Gone?! Whaddya mean, gone? She can't be gone!" Ino exploded. After how hard she had worked to swallow her pride and apologize, after all the guilt and regret she had gone through…Temari wasn't there to accept her apology? Oh, for God's sake.
Shikamaru smiled wryly. "We were back together for a little while, but in the end, we went our separate ways."
"But…b-but, why?" Ino stammered. "I thought you loved her. You guys were the perfect couple."
Shikamaru raised both his eyebrows. "This coming from you?"
Ino shrugged.
Shika sighed. "Like I always knew, women are too troublesome. I said something that ticked her off, apparently…next thing you knew, she was walking out. Life happens. Mendokusai."
Ino let out a long breath of air. At last, she extended her palm to Shikamaru over the shogi board.
"Truce?"
Shikamaru grinned and clasped her hand in a firm shake. "Friends, Ino. It's not going to change."
O0O
Tenten walked into the curry shop with a strange sense of being safe in her chest.
She shouldn't have felt secure entering the restaurant where one of her former friends who was now together with a guy who had cornered her in a dark alley was working as a hostess. She shouldn't have been wasting her summer money buying takeout curry all the time, (going to the grocery and cooking store-bought food was really much, much cheaper).
But despite all that, she felt safe.
Karin's glasses were the same classic black frames, and she seemed pretty sober besides the fact that her flaming red hair was a tad tussled, (nothing significant; Tenten's was more than a little unkempt at the time). She glanced up at Tenten without the slightest hint of surprise.
"Hey. 'Sup," she said in a lazy drawl that would have rivaled Shikamaru's. It was a drastic contrast to Karin's usual fiery voice.
"Hi," Tenten said quietly.
"Just four of the usual, I'm guessing?" Karin said in a tone that betrayed how exhausted she must have been.
"Yeah."
Ten minutes later, the boxes were inside a bag and dangling from Tenten's fingers. Karin pushed her mane of red hair back from her face and pressed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, staring at Tenten. "Listen…did Suigetsu do something to you?" she asked quietly.
Tenten felt her spine stiffen. "No," she said.
Karin smiled a tired sort of smile. "You don't have to lie to me."
"It's the truth."
Whether she read it in Tenten's eyes, or because she really didn't have the energy to actually question her further, Karin nodded hesitantly. "Alright."
When Tenten left the shop, she was filled with a profound and strange new pity for Karin, and she couldn't quite name the reason why it hit her so strongly.
Perhaps the redhead was not so different from her after all.
O0O
The greeting back at the dorm was a bit of a surprise for Tenten.
The first thing that happened once she got through the door was that Ino sprung on her, squealing and screaming unintelligible words. She had a bath towel wrapped around her head, complete with a matching bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.
"Easy, easy!" Tenten shouted. "I've got curry on me and I'm not afraid to use it!"
After Sakura had finally dragged the overexcited Ino away, the pink-haired girl grinned at Tenten.
"We're going to a masquerade ball."
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A/N: Teehee, the next chapter should be interesting!! Stick around, please, and review…