Overcrowded Hallways
Yugao
Summary: Tenten receives a bouquet of flowers, but she doesn't know who sent it to her. Because of it, her whole life has been turned upside down: Neji is almost always furious for absolutely no reason, and the Uchiha prodigy begins to act strangely. And she wonders, what exactly is going on?
Author's Note: If in all my fics before, I dedicated this to other people, I dedicate this one to myself. Ha ha… no one I know ships this triangle, but I thought it would be interesting. I'm sorry if Sasuke in particular will be out of character. He's so intriguing but at the same time so difficult to write! Constructive criticism is not just welcome – it's encouraged.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 1… Twelve White Roses
Tenten had a strange feeling that something was going to happen that day. She had woken up that morning with a bright smile on her face, induced by the soft morning sunshine spilling from the window onto her room. The weather was perfect – the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and there were huge, puffy clouds in the distance. There was a slight breeze blowing in through her window. It was as if nature set up the day to be absolutely perfect.
And yet, it seemed no different than the other days.
As always, she woke up early, had her usual breakfast. She wore her usual training garb, and tied her hair up in buns on either side of her head. She tied her forehead protector on, and set off from the house.
As always, she soon met up with her teammates Lee and Neji, and their mentor Gai in their usual training area.
As always, Lee and Gai-sensei went off somewhere to start their several hundred laps around Konoha, and the rest of their daily training agenda.
As always, she stood there for a few awkward moments with Neji before finally they started training. Together, the two of them – it was as usual.
And as always, Neji evaded every attack she made until finally the sun was in the mid-afternoon part of the sky.
How could she have thought that something different was going to happen? Life had begun to fit into a little routine, one that she played over and over again each day. She had begun to wonder if this was really what happened to everyone; if, one day in their lives, people wake up to the sinking realization that each day will be a monotonous rerun of yesterday's events.
She shook the thought from her head when she noticed that Neji had paused for a moment, almost hesitantly, and approached her. She, too, stopped to look at him. "Neji, is something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing," he mumbled.
"Oh… all right," she replied, a little confused.
And then, a funny thing happened.
"We've been training for hours. Come on, I'll buy you something to eat," he said quietly.
She looked up, surprised. "What… did you say?" Was this really Neji she was talking to? Maybe it was someone else, an exiled ninja who'd stolen the real Hyuuga Neji away and taken his form. Maybe, because Neji treating her to an afternoon snack before training ended was almost too good to be true.
"I'll buy you something to eat. Weren't you complaining this morning that you didn't have enough for breakfast? Come on," he said again.
Now he's concerned? Come on, this can't be real.
His eyebrow rose ever so slightly as she pushed herself up off the ground and walked over to where he was. Slowly, she held out her hand towards the spot between his pale gray eyes… and, with two fingers, flicked him there.
He didn't so much as flinch. "Is that a new way of saying yes, or are you just not hungry?" he asked, an amused smile on his lips.
Tenten stifled a laugh. "Sorry, Neji, just had to make sure!" she beamed. "Let's go, then!"
So maybe she was wrong.
Life was never routine – and whenever it seemed that way, you knew something strange and something uniquely special was going to happen.
For some strange reason, the ramen house was full that afternoon. It was as if almost everyone they knew had decided to take a break from training and sit down to a hot bowl of miso ramen. By the time they came near the place, they spotted Naruto straightaway (his orange suit was too hard to miss), and he was sitting on the curb alongside his teammates Sakura and Sasuke. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino were also around, as were Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. For such a tiny place, the ramen shop was doing very good business that afternoon.
"I wonder what's going on…" Tenten muttered to herself.
Neji shrugged, and headed for the counter to order a bowl of ramen for her. They sat down together, with Tenten eating her noodles quietly, and Neji watching everyone but her. When she was done, he spoke again.
"Tenten?" he said, his voice sounding a little uncertain. But when was Neji ever uncertain?
She looked at him, trying to read his expression but failing miserably. She took a guess. "Oh… thank you for the ramen, Neji, and I'm sorry I disturbed your training. Should we start getting back now? I know it's not like you to do this, and I really appreciate that you're being concerned, but… I really could've handled a few more hours of training. In fact, we've trained for much longer than that, and you never said anything about stopping. I'm sorry if I led you to believe I couldn't have taken it anymore." she said, and when it came out of her mouth she knew it sounded as if she was babbling.
"No, it's all right… I wanted to tell you something, anyway," he mumbled incoherently, so that she didn't quite know if it was for her or for himself.
She nodded anyway. "Sure, what is it?"
"I…" he began hesitantly.
"Excuse me, are you Tenten?"
Tenten tore her gaze from Neji at the sound of her name. In front of her, she saw a little boy with wide, curious brown eyes look up at her. He was holding something behind his back as his grin widened. She smiled at him. "Yes, that's me. Why?"
"Um…" the boy looked around at all the people who had suddenly stopped eating so that they could stare. "Someone told me to give you something, so… here."
He showed her what he had been hiding before – a bouquet of fresh, dew-laden white roses. The flowers were held in a gauzelike pink paper, and held in place with a red tinsel ribbon. There were perhaps only twelve flowers, but the boy was so small that he struggled with it even as he handed it to her. The semisweet fragrance of the roses filled the air, and she smiled, a blush spreading out on her cheeks.
"Thank you," she told the boy, "But… do you know who asked you to give this to me?"
From the corner of her eye she saw two people tense: Neji, who was beside her, and, for some strange reason, Uchiha Sasuke.
The boy shook his head. "No, I don't."
She could almost hear Neji sigh with relief. No, no, of course not. Why should he? And was it just her imagination, or did Sasuke's shoulders just relax? What exactly was going on around here?
"Thank you, anyway." She laughed, and then pulled out one of the white roses from the bouquet. She offered it to the little boy, and smiled. "Here. Give it to someone special to you."
He took it with a small blush, and a shy "Thank you!" before he finally left.
The moment he disappeared from sight, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Naruto crowded around her with playful smiles. She gave a sheepish laugh, and felt her grip on the bouquet tighten a little, as if she was trying to draw reassurance from it. "Um… hi?"
"Tenten-chan has a secret admirer!" Naruto almost yelled. "Tenten-chan, tell us, who is it, who is it?"
Sakura groaned. "Come on now, Naruto, if she knew, it wouldn't be so secret, now would it?"
"Don't you at least have an idea as to who sent them?" Hinata, who was curiously poking at the flowers, asked.
Ino grinned. "Someone special, I guess! White roses are supposed to mean true love!"
"Wait, wait, wait, guys!" Tenten said, glad to have finally gotten a word in edgewise. "It's just a bunch of flowers. It's not a big deal, right?"
Sakura shook her head. "Of course it's a big deal! You have a secret admirer, and we're all dying to know who it is!"
"If I had to guess," said Naruto loudly, "It'd be Neji!" The moment those words came out of his mouth, he immediately regretted them. He had only just noticed that the Hyuuga prodigy was still behind him, glaring at him dangerously. "Um, uh, I mean…"
Hinata suppressed a giggle, while Ino asked, "So, Tenten, what are you going to do about it now?"
"Me?" she asked, getting up from her seat. She cradled the flowers in the crook of her arm, and smiled. "I'm going to go home and put these in some water."
Neji got up, diverting his death glare from Naruto. "I'll walk you," he offered. Naruto looked as if he couldn't hold his laughter in anymore, but he was silent.
Third miracle in a day, Tenten thought to herself, but shrugged it off. "Thanks," she told him. She turned back to the others and waved goodbye, a smile on her face. And, if only barely, she noticed the small, almost indiscernible smile tugging at the corners of the Uchiha's lips.
She closed the door as she entered, having said goodbye to Neji and thanking him for walking her home. He had seemed a little on the edge, but she took it to be because of Naruto's chiding back at the ramen house. She found a dusty vase, and set the flowers carefully atop a table while she filled the vase with water. She came back, and untied the ribbon from the bouquet. Slowly she set the flowers in the water, and put the whole vase on the center of the table.
Contentedly, she smiled. She was about to turn to leave when her eyes caught a small white envelope stuck to the pink wrapping.
Tenten picked it up, and turned it over. Was it going to tell her who sent her the flowers? She didn't show it, but she was dying to find out.
There was no name on the outside.
Carefully she opened the little envelope, and took out the slip of paper inside. It didn't hold the name of a mysterious admirer, only the words "I hope you like them."
Her brow furrowed. Who could have…?
A sharp knock came at her door, bringing her from her reverie. "Who is it?" she called out, putting the piece of paper down on the table. There was no answer.
Another knock. "Is someone there?" she asked again. This time, her hand reached into her pocket cautiously for a kunai. She walked towards the door slowly.
A third knock, and she gripped the knife tightly in her hand. Quickly she reached out and turned the doorknob, ready to strike.
But no one was in the doorway.
Warily she looked out the door, trying to make out if she could sense anyone hiding nearby. Even if they had left, she was positive whoever it was could have gone so far so fast, but… she shook her head. What was she thinking? There was no one around.
She was about to close the door when another flash of white caught her eye. On the doorstep was a small white envelope much like the one attached to the bouquet.
Tenten bent over to pick it up, and again she noticed that there was no name on it. Apparently, whoever it was wanted to remain anonymous.
She closed the door, and sat down on the couch as she flipped the envelope open. Inside was a note, on which was written: "You're someone special."
At once her own words from that afternoon returned to her. "Thank you, anyway." She laughed, and then pulled out one of the white roses from the bouquet. She offered it to the little boy, and smiled. "Here. Give it to someone special to you."
She held the note close to her, and smiled a little. She was thankful for everything – especially the little miracles that brightened up that day.
Author's Note: I think that if I was in this situation, I'd be scared, but I don't think Tenten has anything to worry about. I'm no kunoichi, after all! Straight off the bat you can see why this story is NejiTentenSasuke, and I'm sorry I suck at suspense. Please review, and oh yeah… tell me what kind of ending you'd want.