A/N: A little of OOCness in this chapter on Sasuke's part, but it's not too much, I think...

Chapter Five

The five of us jumped to attention at the small frame of the scary woman. Naruto scrambled to grab his music, which went flying in all directions; Kiba's viola squeaked like a mouse and he looked like he was going to cry, Temari stood, back straight as a board, lightly trembling, and Shikamaru looked as tired as he did before, albeit a little scared. I quickly, and with shaking hands, yanked my music out and shakily set it down in front of me. Anko smiled evilly as she finished her dango and threw her stick into the wall.

"Alright, which one of you maggots is Tenten?"

Immediately, four fingers pointed towards me. I cowered as she slowly sauntered towards me, much like a predator towards her prey. Even though I knew she was a respected pianist and an even better chamber music coach, I wondered what horrible deed I had done in the past to incur the wrath of the gods in the form of the purple haired, trench-coat-wearing coach. I could just see myself being hit over the head over and over again because I knew she would not like how I played. I winced as I could feel each hit being delivered. This was not going to be fun. Before Anko reached my piano, I was able to mutter out a quick prayer to the gods that she would not kill me. She stopped next to my bench and bent over so she was eye level with me. I had to twist my body to be able to make eye contact with her. With her devious smile still in place, she looked me up and down. I knew that she was making judgments about how I played based on how I looked: hands too small, frame too weak, fingers too slim, et cetera. I could feel my cheeks heat up at her disappointed grunt.

"You don't look like much, but we'll see how you play." was all she said to me.

I could smell the red bean paste from her earlier snack on her breath, mixed in with the smell of all the hairspray she must have used to give her ponytail that odd shape.

"Well? What are you idiots waiting for? Impress me!" she demanded.

The five of us looked at each other, looking a little confused. We had only gotten out assignments yesterday, when we checked in, and none of us had any time to practice. The entire song would have to be sight read.

"Move it, maggots, move it!"

Anko sort of reminded me of a drill sergeant, with the continued use of the word maggot and the screaming. I giggled a little, imagining all the band camp kids at a military base. Anko turned on me as she heard the sound of my happy laugh. She smiled sadistically and lifted a thin finger to me.

"Since little miss Tenten thinks it's so funny, why doesn't she start us off with a little solo performance. Play measures seventeen through fifty two!"

I stared at her, a little startled.

"Do it, maggot! Or are you as bad a pianist as you look?"

A little offended, I lifted my fingers to the keyboard. Both the piano and the music felt and looked foreign to me. The piano bench was too low, as I didn't have time to adjust it, and the music stand was a little crooked. I took a deep breath, preparing to face Anko's annoyance at my performance when I finished. Playing the first note, my mind went into a whirl. I desperately tried to keep up my reading with my playing without making a mistake. For those of you who have never sight read before, it's a mess. Your fingers are going too fast for your brain to comprehend and you miss notes. Especially if there are chords or accidentals. I slowed down a little and found myself facing a sharp wooden stick.

"Faster!" Anko shouted, brandishing her dango stick, which she had retrieved from the wall, in my face, father confusing my mind, "I want you playing at full tempo!"

I found myself complying to her demands, my fingers flying and brain whirling. I stumbled through the music, missing over half the notes, until I reached the measure which she wanted me to stop. Panting a little, I looked around, into the stunned faces of my chamber-mates and the unimpressed face of my coach.

"You call that sight-reading? Drop and give me twenty!" She screamed, arms in the air.

I leaned away, trying to get out of range of the dango stick she was still holding. I still had not registered what she was demanding of me, my mind still in a whirl from the sudden sight reading.

"Drop and give me twenty!" Anko yelled again, obviously frustrated by my lack of response, "Wait," Her face of rage turned to one of sickly sweetness, "Make that fifty."

My eyes widened when I finally realized what she wanted me to do. I could barely do ten pushups in gym class at school, let alone fifty. It was Naruto who tried to save me.

"Wait, Miss Anko!" He yelled, just as loudly as she, "This isn't a butt camp! It's a music center!"

Kiba sniggered, "It's boot camp, stupid, not butt camp."

Naruto flushed and Anko grew red, trying to hold back her laughter. She threw her dango stick at the wall behind Naruto, its sharp edge missing his face by centimeters. The blond jumped at the quick shot of wind and let out a yell.

"Hey! What the hell was that for, you bat?"

Anko looked up dangerously. "You drop too. one hundred pushups! Now!" She shouted.

"Wha-? I just said that this is music camp, not butt camp!"

"Boot camp!"

"One hundred pushups!"

Anko continued to argue with Naruto, my punishment completely forgotten.

First chamber practice, status: Failed.

oO0Oo

I walked out of the practice room, a little dazed. For the rest of the hour, Anko yelled at Naruto and I, eventually getting Kiba and Temari involved with the argument. She just screamed at us, pulling her dango stick out of the wall and throwing it at us randomly, each time increasing the number of pushups she demanded. Shikamaru had managed to stay out of the trouble, muttering a quick "Troublesome" before putting away his violin and quickly falling asleep on his chair.

As I walked down the hallway to the main part of the building, I realized that I had forgotten my music. In my hazed state, I had left without bringing anything. Spinning around, I sprinted back to the room, nearly running over a poor Naruto who had just walked out, shouting a last insult to Anko over his shoulder. I stepped into the room as Anko stepped out.

"See you tomorrow, Tenten. We're gonna have a lot of fun here." She smiled sadistically before laughing and skipping towards a man with gray hair in a flyaway fashion wearing an eye-patch and reading a bright orange book.

"Kakashi!"

"Oh! Hey, Anko, didn't see you there."

"You never notice me! I should dump you right on the spot…"

Their conversation faded out and I smiled to myself; the great and scary Anko had a soft spot. For a man, no less. The smile faded as I thought about what was to happen the next practice. I would have to practice it a lot. I sighed; this meant less time to spend with Lee.

"You looking for this?" A lazy voice drawled out from the back of the room.

I spun around to see Shikamaru, holding out the folder of music I had sprinted back for. I looked at him a little suspiciously, not wanting anyone to touch my music.

He gave me a lazy smile, "Don't worry, I didn't even open the folder."

Lightly panting, I took it from him, thanking him.

"It's nothing." He replied, looking as uncaring as ever.

I had already turned to leave when he called for me.

"Hey, Tenten, can I ask a favor?"

I turned to face him and gave him a large smile, "Sure, what is it?"

He scratched the back of his head and said, in a sheepish tone, "Would you be willing to do a couple duets with me? There are a couple piano-violin songs that I need to finish and perform by the end of the week, and your sight-reading isn't horrible. They aren't very hard at all, just some pretty sounding pieces. Please? No other pianist I asked seemed willing to."

I tilted my head in wonder, playing with my two signature buns. Doing this would mean even more time in the practice room and even less time to spend with Neji. I contemplated my options and decided that performing more gave me more of a chance to score a scholarship with a college.

"Alright, I'll do it." I told him.

"Thanks." Was all he said before turning to leave.

"Wait!" I called after his pineapple shaped hairdo, "When and where?"

He looked confused for a second before replying, "Uhh… I guess today's practice time in my practice room. It's number 205."

I nodded to show that I understood and he turned to leave again. Just before he was out of ear shot, he called back to me.

"You might want to get to theory class. Room 515 with Kakashi. You have about 5 minutes."

I looked inside my folder at my schedule to see, printed in small black letters, that I did have theory with Kakashi in five minutes. I grinned. That lazy-ass really did look inside.

oO0Oo

I was the last student to arrive at theory class. Sakura waved me over and I saw that she was happily chatting with Ino, one of my suitemates. I quickly walked over to them and sat down next to Sakura, the seat being the last open one in the classroom. Unluckily, it was the one right next to the ever-so-cold, ever-so-rude, ever-so-cereal-stealing, Neji. I spared him a quick glare before I sat down and turned to the front of the classroom, where I expected a teacher to be waiting to teach. Unfortunately, there was none. The front of the room stood empty and silent as the class waited for Mr. Kakashi Hatake to walk in. As the minutes ticked by, chatter slowly started to fill the room, as still, no one had entered to teach.

"Tenten! Do you know Ino? She's in my chamber group!" Sakura introduced me to her new friend with no delay.

I smiled at the platinum blonde, "Hi, Ino." I then turned to Sakura, "Yes, I know her. She is my suitemate."

Sakura nodded in understanding and turned to continue her gossipy conversation with Ino.

"But I heard that Mr. Kakashi was single!"

"No, I saw him with that scary looking, purple-haired lady…"

"…Damn…"

I shuffled through my papers and pulled out my schedule. Looking at it, I noticed that my practice session was at 4:00 pm, so I had about 6 hours to eat lunch and rest a little. I sighed again as I glanced at the clock, it had been about twenty minutes since class was supposed to start. At that very moment, the gray haired man that I saw with Anko walked in. His fly-away hairstyle was messed up, with some strands hanging in his face. His clothing was wrinkled, looking as if it were just haphazardly thrown on. A sleeve kept slipping off, showing off his muscular shoulder, and he kept trying to pull it back on. Seeing a smear of light pink lipstick on his face, near the corner of his mouth, I let out a small smirk.

Mr. Kakashi, you dog.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, that Neji was smirking as well. The fluttery feeling I got in my stomach every time I saw him intensified as I saw the half smile on his face. On the other side, I could see Sakura and Ino looking a little faint, Ino slightly hyperventilating at the sight of Kakashi's bare skin.

"Alright, class, let's get this party started. I'm Mr. Kakashi and I'll be your theory teacher for the month. Now, I expect you all to know-"

He was cut off by the sound of a familiar (to me) voice. "You're late!"

The gray haired teacher looked over to the source, along with the rest of the class, and saw the bright orange sweater of the ever-so-energetic blond, Naruto.

"Yes, I am. I saw a pretty lady on the way and couldn't help but assist her with her bag."

I giggled as Naruto shouted that Mr. Kakashi was lying; Anko, a pretty lady?

"Anyways, let's start by calling roll. Aburame?"

A boy sitting in the corner, wearing sunglasses and looking a little creepy raised his hand. I saw on his finger was perched a cockroach. I shuddered at the brown colored bug, I had always hated bugs.

Kakashi continued to call out names, and through this, I learned that Sasuke, the so-called "hottest guy at camp," Naruto, and Kiba were in my class, along with Sakura, Ino, and Neji. I sighed as Kakashi started the lesson, reviewing what we already knew. He handed out a worksheet filled with simple problems: transposing, different keys, etc. As we bowed our heads to begin working, Kakashi pulled his bright orange book from his knapsack and buried his nose in it, ,giggling every so often. Soon, class was over and there was a mad rush to the door. I saw Sakura squished against Sasuke and smiled a little at her blush. I watched him let out a small smirk at her and leaned in ever so much closer and whispering something in her ear, prompting an even darker blush on her face. As soon as I pulled my body out from the crowd, I ran to the cafeteria, trying to get there early to grab something edible before anyone else.

Arriving at the cafeteria, I saw that there were only a few people in line in front of me. I hurried to the line and immediately, behind me, a whole crowd of people rushed in. I sighed in relief that I did not get caught in the crowd. I saw a flash of pink and found Sakura pulling Hinata to the back of the line.

"Sakura! Hinata!" I yelled, waving them over when they turned to me. I stepped back when they arrived, letting them cut in front of me, prompting groans from the people behind me.

"Oh, thank you!" Sakura sighed, "How did you get here so fast?"

I laughed at her, "I used to be a sprinter for my school's track team. I'm a fast runner."

"Well, thank goodness for that."

The three of us giggled and hurried into the cafeteria to grab the food. For the first time, I saw a salad that actually looked like real leaves. I hurried to grab the second to last one, the last Cesar salad, and found myself with my hand under Neji's.

"You again?" I hissed in mirth. This damn fluttery feeling was putting off my appetite.

"Yes, me. Now let go."

I glared, "No, you. I was here first. Get the other salad."

And with that, I snatched the Cesar salad and marched off to the table in which Sakura and Hinata were waiting with Lee.

"Geez, Tenten, you and Neji seem to be getting along very well." Hinata mentioned as I slammed my salad on the table and dropped onto the chair.

"Not. At. All." I growled, pausing after each word.

All three of my friends tilted their heads in confusion at my anger, and I just shook my head.

"He's an ass. Sorry, Hinata."

Hinata nodded in understanding and Sakura and Lee laughed. Lee patted my arm, making blood flush to my face. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the redness.

"We have about four hours until the practice time. You guys want to hang out for a while?" Lee asked.

Both Sakura and Hinata shook their heads.

"I have to meet… someone." Hinata said, without missing a beat. I looked at her suspiciously, noticing the small pause between the words "meet" and "someone." It seemed that I was the only one though, as Lee nodded and Sakura explained that Sasuke had invited her to meet him during the time.

"Yeaah, Sakura, git some!" I teased, lightly poking her cheek. She blushed and smacked my hand away, telling me to shut up.

I was still laughing as the two of them left. I hadn't even noticed until Lee pointed it out.

"I guess it's just you and me, now." He said, his large eyes sparkling with energy.

"I guess so." I said, my calm face displaying none of my inner feelings.

I took a deep breath when he wasn't looking. Here we go.