Broken Youth
(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)
Ch. 3.7: Closer
A droopy brown eyed boy, seated in the middle of the science room couldn't continue to maintain his wake-less eyelids opened, for much longer. His cheek rested in the palm of his left hand, which served as a nice cushion for his seemingly heavy head. He often leaned his spiky pony-tailed head back and yawned, but how could he not, the teacher's lecture bore him to death.
It didn't take long, for the boy's already heavy eyelids to feel heavier. He soon started drifting in and out of consciousness. Finally his weariness (or to put it in better terms his laziness) won him over and he began to fall into full slumber.
Just as the brown eyed boy, sunk into dormancy, he felt a sharp jab at his right side. His eyelids quickly flung open and his head automatically turned in the direction of the poke. The boy's eyes soon met with those of the girl seated beside him, and it didn't take him long to realize, that the girl had jabbed his lower rib with her elbow to try to wake him up.
The glistening green glaring eyes of the sandy blonde girl with four pigtails; Were directed at the sleepy-eyed boy beside her. The glare could have shattered even the toughest of guys' soul and given them unending nightmares. It might have even had the same affect on the slothful boy, if he hadn't already witnessed the same gaze a billion times before. In response to the glare, the boy only shrugged his shoulder as if saying. Sorry, I couldn't help it.
The same occurrence took place a couple more times, the droopy eyed boy would begin to fall asleep, his emerald eyed partner would elbow his side to wake him. He'd look over giving her the same tired expression.
After a while the girl completely stopped the pattern, which allowed the boy to finally stick his head in the clouds. The boy's moment of peace was like a dream...but we all know how those usually end up...to good to be true. The boy had almost lost full consciousness when a loud, "Wake up sleepyhead!" rang through his right ear. His eyes opened as fast as lightning and he mechanically turned his head to the direction of the voice that disrupted his nap.
The boy being in a half asleep state, had blurred vision, it took his eyes a long moment to get rid of the fuzziness and focus. The first thing he saw as his sight regained were a twin set of turquoise spheres, which to him appeared to be floating in midair. As his eyesight clarified, he perceived that it wasn't spheres he saw, but a pair of eyes. He obliviously continued staring into the eyes in front of him, until he noticed what he was doing and averted his eyes. When his eyes changed direction, he made another discovery, that made his face redden more rapidly than it already had.
In the action of averting his eyes downward, he finally understood why the girl's eyes were right in front of him. The girl stood inches away from him with her upper body leaning forward. Her face so close to his, that her nose almost touched his. Realizing this closeness between them, made the boy very uneasy.
His discomfort made him want to inch as far away from the girl as possible. In order to do that, he pulled back his head and rapidly scooted his body to the left corner of his stool.
Moving away, soon turned out to be a task that he'd regret. The boy ended up scooting his body too far too fast, which in turn ended up making him lose balance on the stool and in conclusion he fell off.
The green-eyed girl stood helplessly as she watched the boy tumble before her eyes.
Even though the boy came crashing to the floor in the middle of the classroom, everybody, excluding the girl standing before him, seemed to be unconcerned of his fall. The reason for his classmates indifference, was their undivided attention to the awe striking occurrence taking place in the front of desks in the class.
"Are you okay!?" asked the sandy blonde girl frantically, as she rushed to him. She knelt down next to the tumbled body.
"I guess," replied the boy trying to lift himself up.
"Here let me help you," offered the girl. She placed her arm behind his back to support him as he sat up.
"Thanks." he replied. He instinctively lifted one of his hands and placed it on the point of impact.
"Are you sure you're okay? You might have a concussion. How many fingers am I holding up?" the girl asked rapidly. She moved into his line of sight holding up two fingers.
"Two," answered the boy in a slightly irritated tone as he pushed the hand away from his face. "I assure you I'm fine, it's nothing worry or overreact about."
"Me worry?" the girl sprung to her feet in laughter. "About you? You've got to be kidding me. I'm only worried about my grade which now requires your participation."
'Is that seriously why she freaked out?' thought the boy. 'Well, I'm not buying it. I know she is just trying to hide the fact that she is a lot nicer than she's willing to admit.'
The boy rolled his eyes and began to lift himself up. Once he finished elevating himself off the ground, he picked up his stool and sat down. His body faced inward (towards the girl), but his face resting once again in the palm of his left hand, was turned towards the front of the class.
The girl followed the boys lead and took a seat as well, but she didn't avoid looking at him. After a brief moment of silence, the girl was the first to speak.
"I'm sure that throbbing little bump you got from that fall, will help you stay awake at least for the end of the period." she said with a giggle. "And it's a good thing too, or else I would have had to do it, and I wouldn't have gone so easy on you." She continued to laugh.
The boy didn't say a word or move a muscle. 'For the rest of the period! It's more like the rest of the day! I'll be lucky if I get any sleep tonight, with this aching bump.' thought the boy.
"But seriously," started the girl after she stopped laughing. "Why did you freak out like that all of a sudden? It's not like you never met me before."
A cynical idea popped into the boys head. "Technically, I haven't," replied the boy without a twitch.
"What do you mean?You're joking, right? " said the girl with slight alarm coming across her green eyes. "Of course you know me! Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard when you fell?"
The boy didn't say anything, he just turned to look at her and began to laugh uncontrollably. The girl stared at him with tremendous alarm.
"I don't see what you find so funny," said the girl. The boy couldn't stop laughing like a hyaena. "Okay, you're starting to scare me."
" If you don't explain yourself this instant, I don't know whether to hit you or to take to the nurse for help." threatened the girl when she reached her tolerance level.
The spiky pony-tailed haired boy, held up a finger which implied, that the sandy blonde girl should wait a moment until he could calm his laughter.
"It's not joke, nor because I hit my head," started the boy with some laughter still in his voice. "I was just following instructions." The boy pointed at the board at the front of the classroom.
"What?" replied the girl, looking at the board. "So, you made me worry for nothing!"
"I thought you said, you didn't worry about anything other than your grade," replied the boy in a teasing tone.
"That's what I was worried about," responded the girl.
"Right," said the boy rolling his eyes. The girl light punched the boy on the shoulder. "Ow!"
"Okay, that's enough lollygagging for one day," said the girl. "Let's get the interview game thing started before we run out of time and I don't get my points. So I can ensure that we don't waste anymore time, I'll start first. Or do you disagree?"
"It's fine by me," replied the boy. "Go ahead."
The sandy blonde girl stood up. She stared at her partner, until he gave her, his full attention. After gaining his undivided attention, she began.
"I am Temari Sabuku or Temari of the Desert as I'm know to others. I 'm the eldest and only daughter of the current Kazekage." announced the girl. "And you are?"
The boy stood up with a sigh, in front of Temari.
"I am Shikamaru Nara. Only child of the head of the Nara Clan." he declared.
"It's nice to meet you, Shikamaru," said Temari with a smile. She extended her right arm for a hand shake.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Temari," replied Shikamaru taking clasp of Temari's right hand, with his own. He shook her hand. Just as he wanted to pull away, Temari grasped his hand harder.
"Be a man, and shake it like you mean it," informed Temari.
Shikamaru did as she requested. He held Temari's hand with a tighter grip, and gave her hand a few assertive shakes.
"Happy now?" asked Shikamaru.
"Yes," answered Temari with a smile. She let go of his hand and sat back down.
Once Temari let go of his arm, Shikamaru turned his back to her. He shook off his hand and massaged it a little, Temari had such a strong grip on his hand, that he had felt it was going to fall off. After he finished tending his hand, he also sat back down.
When he sat down, he look over at Temari. He automatically saw that her attention was elsewhere. On two boys a few rows away, her brothers, to be exact. Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at Temari's compassionate side.
'Even if you try to hide it from everyone, with that tough ruthless facade; I can clearly see, that you're a sweet caring girl underneath it all, that's afraid of showing any weakness. I only wish you would understand that there is nothing wrong with weakness, because in the end it could make us stronger.' Shikamaru thought as he continued looking at her.
"What are you looking at bub?" said Temari as she looked back at Shikamaru all of a sudden.
"Nothing," replied Shikamaru.
"Then stop wasting time staring off into space and let's continue with the interview." retorted Temari.
Shikamaru chuckled and shook his head.
"What's so funny?" asked Temari.
"Nothing," replied Shikamaru. "Let's just continue with the interview."
Meanwhile at the desk behind them:
"...And that's why Tsunade-sama has inspired me and is my idol. I know I can never be a great medic like her, because my skills in medical ninjutsu are the worst, but that doesn't stop me from trying to become a great kunoichi like her in my own way. That's why my lifelong dream is to become the greatest kunoichi in my own strength, weapon wielding."
"I didn't know you idolized Tsunade-sama so much, Tenten." stated the brown haired, purple eyed boy. Who sat to the left of her.
"Yeah, she's been my hero ever since a was little. She was the first to make me realize, that it didn't matter whether you were male or female, you could still leave a mark on this world." replied Tenten.
"But enough about that... I feel like I've hogging up the spotlight this whole time, why don't you tell me about your dream Neji?"
"I don't mind you taking the spotlight," answered Neji.
"You might not, but I do. Come on Neji, I want to know more about you," said Tenten in complaint. "Besides it's only fair, I told you my dream, and that was a little embarrassing."
Neji sat quietly for a moment debating in his mind whether or not to comply with her request. His mental query was settled when Tenten brought out a tactic that never fails, the famous puppy-dog eyes. Tenten's gaze was so hypnotic that Neji had trouble trying to look away.
"Oh, okay, you win," said Neji giving in. "I'll tell you, but promise not to laugh."
"Okay, pinky promise," said Tenten smiling of her success. She extended her hand to him, with her pinky being her only lifted finger. Neji had no choice but to accept it.
"Yubikiri" Neji and Tenten both stated as they finished sealing the pinky promise with three shakes of their wrists.
'I wouldn't have laughed even if you didn't make me promise Neji,' thought Tenten as she unhooked her pinky from Neji's. 'I believe dreams are to be taken seriously no matter how impossible they may seem.'
"So now that we settled things. You can start telling me." stated Tenten.
"All right, but I'm not sure where to start?" said Neji.
"Just start from the very beginning," suggested Tenten with a smile.
"That's easier said than done," replied Neji in a murmur.
"Just explain what you can, I'll try to follow along the best I can."
"Okay, the beginning..." he thought aloud. After a second he took a long deep sigh and began to explain. "You are familiar with how strict and traditional my clan is, right?"
Tenten nodded her head.'Of course I am! I still remember the first time I went to the Hyuuga house without Neji as an escort. I went through an extensive interrogation with the doorman (which was more like a guard-dog) and I would have gone through an exaggerated search of my belongings, if Neji didn't come in the nick of time.'
"My family has always been strong in their discipline on tradition with no tolerance of change. One of the sternest traditions is the separation of the main house and the branch house." Neji took a brief pause in his continuation. "As you already know I was born a member of the branch house. The reason , simple, my father was born a few minutes too late."
Neji looked profoundly at Tenten (who was following Neji's explanation attentively), for a instant, before sighing once more and resuming his explanation.
"My father followed the branch house standards with dedication and without any resent against the main house. He worked hard his entire life, serving the main house without complaint, and for what? Nothing! The entire main house couldn't even acknowledge any of his accomplishments he did for them as important." said Neji with a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice. "I find it unfair how my clan grants automatic special privileges to those that were lucky enough to be born first. Instead of rewarding the privileges to those who really deserve and worked hard to gain them."
Neji took another pause, to pick out right words to express how he felt.
"Being a first-hand victim of this unfair tradition, makes my motivation to stop it, a whole lot stronger. My dream is a simple one, but that won't be simple to attain; My dream is to have equality amongst all my clans-people, and abolish all the inessential traditions once in for all." declared Neji. "I know the task won't be easy to accomplish and might have to face it alone, but that won't stop me from trying my utmost to achieve it, even if it ends up being the last thing I do."
Tenten remained silent after Neji had finished explaining.
"You know Neji I'm sure your not alone in your aspiration," Tenten said in a quiet murmur, which caught Neji by surprise. "I'm almost 100% positive that Hinata-chan feels the same way and would gladly be willing to help you!" Tenten said with more convection. "And if I'm wrong (which I highly doubt it), you still won't have to face you task alone because...you can always on me for support...and of Lee and Gai-sensei as well."
"I suppose you right Tenten," replied Neji with a slight smile on his face. "...Thank you for understanding...and keeping you promise."
"No problem," replied Tenten with slight blush on her cheeks.
Once again Neji and Tenten grew silent.
"You know Tenten, I just noticed something," said Neji breaking the ice.
"What?" she replied turning her face slightly to see him.
"You always wear you hair up in buns," Neji said as he obliviously reached for one of the golden ribbons, that encircled and dangled from her pink bun covers, and rubbed it in between his thumb and forefinger.
"Yes?" she said confused. She lightly blushed at his contact of her lace ribbon.
"Why do you wear it that way?" he asked. He stopped stroking the ribbon with his fingers and dropped his hand to his lap.
"Oh, just to keep it out of my face and to avoid getting it caught when I'm using artillery." she answered. "Also I like the way it looks."
After a pause, Neji asked,"Now that I think about it. I don't recall ever seeing your hair down or in any other fashion, in all the time I've known you."
'Hmm. You're very observant, I didn't even notice.' thought Tenten.
"So how long is it?...Your hair if you were to let it down?" Neji asked.
"Um...well it's definitely not as lengthy as your majestic mane." Tenten responded with a giggle. "I'd suppose that it's a bit below my shoulders."
"I think it would look cute if you wore it down sometime," Neji thought accidentally murmured aloud. When he realized his slip of the tongue, his face transformed into a bright crimson color, and he inverted face away.
'I can't believe I said that,' thought Neji with discomfit. 'There is no doubt she heard.'
'Huh? Did I just hear Neji use the word 'cute'? And not only that, but he used it to describe me? Or am I jut imagining things?' thought Tenten also with a reddened face.
For a long time Neji and Tenten stayed still. Eventually they both looked at each other, to try to say something, but all they manage to do was open there mouths, when the bell rang. At the sound of the bell they both sprang out of there seats, while still looking at each other.
"It was nice conversing with you Neji," Tenten manged to say. She bowed her head afterward.
"With you as well Tenten," replied Neji mimicking a bow.
"Um, see you later," they both said in sync as they left in the opposite direction.
They said there farewell as if they wouldn't see each other in some time, when in actuality they would see each other very soon. Next period to be precise.
'If I'm lucky Tenten won't make anything of my accidental comment. She probably already completely forget about it.' Neji thought as he headed out the door.
'Maybe I should try to wear my hair down someday,' thought Tenten, as she joined with her friends in the hall, with a smile on her face as she twirled the same strand of ribbon that Neji had touched earlier.
End of 3.7 & chapter 3.