Story: Fiction
Author: Claes Winterspell
Chapter: One
0.o.0
It was just about a quarter past twelve when a girl- no, a lady with peculiar twin buns of chocolate hair tied on both sides of her head came staggering to an apartment building. The doors slid noiselessly open upon registering her approaching figure automatically, allowing her to enter without having to exert more effort- it was already a challenge to take a step with her current exhausted condition!
The doorman smiled fondly at her, the once little girl who was practically his own daughter.
"G'd evening, Tenten." He gave a small bow, and a tip of a hat.
Tenten peered at him quizzically for a moment or so, not really registering who spoke to her with her blurry eyesight. The doorman, Normand, just smiled patiently at her. She let out a tiny "Oh…!" and returned the greeting before heading to the elevator.
…Where she almost collided with had Normand not ran ahead and pressed the elevator button, making the doors slide open almost immediately. Tenten mumbled her slurred thanks, and got in.
Finally the elevator arrived at her floor; and, jolting back to reality by the force of the stop, the brunette continued with her strenuous journey to her room.
The lock clicked open, and Tenten walked in with such sluggishness that would make a zombie envious. Her purse, her jacket, her bag, and other miscellaneous things of hers were one by one dropped to the floor, creating a trail to her bedroom.
Hopefully she reached her bed, and she unceremoniously plopped down, muttering "Sleep…"
o.0.o
The morning sun's rays, warm and beautiful, shone above all of Konoha, the hidden leaf village of the Fire country. The birds chirped, and the worms have long since been eaten by said birds. All was happy, and peaceful.
One would love to say that, however there are always exceptions in this world; and one specific exception was glowering at a certain green-jumpsuit clad Rock Lee. Hopefully, said victim remained unfazed by this dark mood, and continued on with his usual fervent cheer.
"What ails you, my dear Neji-san?" inquired Lee, bending down to level his eyes with his comrade's moon-colored ones.
He continued to scowl.
Lee looked at him quizzically for a while, then his face changed from curiosity to thoughtfulness to proud (of what he had thought), then finally to determination mingled with excitement. The Green Beast jumped up, and took a stance from a distance- right leg folded up, knee facing the side; right arm spread to the side, with the palm facing the same direction; other arm raised and bent, also facing the right; the left hand, fisted. He turned his head to Neji, whose countenance softened infinitesimally due to mild, mild- meaning very, very, very mild- curiosity.
The Hyuuga waited for the explanation that was surely to come.
"Perhaps a Taijutsu routine would ease your sufferings, Neji-san!" he beamed to his team-mate.
It would have worked had Neji been just like Lee, or Gai, their teacher. But he was, unfortunately, completely the opposite. Neji, in an act of pacifying himself before he killed his team-mate, let out a sigh- a huge sigh- and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger.
Thinking that Neji would rather watch his -wonderful- performance, Lee proceeded to start the routine. Neji ignored him.
The Hyuuga began meditating, his usual way of reflecting on things, focusing on the very disturbing dream he had the night prior to todays. The dream! He almost groaned, the wretched dream where he found himself in thick fog, and helping a mysterious girl from getting lost. These things wouldn't usually bother him if not for the fact that he woke up sweating, and almost coming up with a life-threatening fever.
He continued to breathe deeply through his nose, and rid himself of the stupid recollections- he decided it was merely paranoia getting to him, he had just come home from an equally disturbing mission that same day, after all.
Deeming that he had used way too much time for meditating, he stood up, and was not unfazed to see that Lee had moved on to another Taijutsu routine without noticing that his stoic team-mate was not paying any attention to his acts at all. Neji wanted to sigh.
"Lee." Said person immediately halted his actions; he looked expectant. "Let's spar."
"My pleasure, Neji-san!" the green-clad ninja exclaimed, his expectations were not disappointed.
They both stood, unblinking, at a large clearing as if waiting for something to happen. Then, a gust of wind blew, and as if a play button was pressed, Lee disappeared only to reappear beside Neji, his orange leg-warmer-clad shin against his opponents forearm.
o.0.o
Awretched beeping noise induced a tiny grunt from Tenten, who was dreaming wonderfully until that point. Maybe if she didn't move for a while the noise would stop. It would only last a minute, right? Just a few more seconds before that annoying sound ceases. Grrr! It's not stopping! She pressed her pillow against her ear to obscure the beeps. But the sound did not end.
Finally giving in, Tenten turned to her other side to permanently eradicate he life of the stupid clock- perhaps if she smashes it to pieces…? But before she could move her arm another inch, she froze: a man- no, a girl? – Whatever, was lying beside her, their faces scarcely inches apart.
Pandemonium.
Before she could let out her scream- a scream that would make sirens sound like a baby's coo- he/she suddenly woke up, spun them- his/her full body weight pressed on top of her- and was now covering her mouth with one free hand.
"Who are you?" Oh, he's a boy, Tenten mused, her brain processing probably slow from shock. He didn't bother with an answer, muffled or not muffled by his hand; instead, with a muffled "Byakuugan", he scanned the room, and the exteriors of the building. What he saw shocked him, though he did not show.
After he had calmed himself, he turned back to his "captive", and said, "I will now let go of you. You will not scream, or do anything reckless, do you understand? "
Tenten gave out a nod.
He slowly let go of her, and stood up to let her sit straight. Tenten, who already calmed herself down by this point, redirected his question back to him, "Who are you?"
The Hyuuga considered things for a while, and deemed it safe to give out certain information. "I am Hyuuga Neji of Konohagakure."
Tenten nodded, thinking over his answer. Konohagakure…she had heard of this name before, but where exactly? Fuzuki once mentioned that name before, so has Anna. When was that, again? It was at school…
"-you?"
"Huh?" Tenten answered, snapping out of her musings.
Neji repressed a sigh- he hates repeating his words. "Who are you?" he asked again.
"My name is Tenten…I don't really have a last name…so yeah, just Tenten." She smiled almost sadly; Neji did not miss it.
"Where did you buy your contacts? They look really cool."
"These are not contacts." He answered, noticing her attempt to change the subject.
"Oh." …So much for a change of subject, Tenten thought. "Oh!"
Neji turned his attention back to her, following her every movement with his eyes. "What is it?" he wanted to ask, but settled for a raise of an eyebrow.
She was rummaging through her bag, and after a minute or two, came back to the bed, book in hand. Neji's attention first went to her, but then changed to the cover of the book…it was a manga; the cover was…a picture of team seven.
0.o.0
Hi, guys! For those who are going to read this story for the first time: Welcome! To those who got notified or have read this before: Welcome back!
I re-wrote this story 'cause one day I was sitting in front of our newly acquired laptop- my brother got kicked out of the house, and took the computer with him..ggrrr...- and thought, "Maybe I'll update" But when I re-read my story I changed my mind, and , instead, re-wrote the story!
I'll be more loyal in updating now- the laptop's mine! All mine! Buwahahahaha! xD lolz.
And finally, as always, Review! Flame! I don't care go bumping in the review page...nah, don't follow that one. Constructive criticism is always, always welcome, just be specific please! Don't go "You Suck!!! Dx " without stating why...Thank you all!
-Claes Winterspell known before as Super Blahblahblah