Tenten and Temari's Room Is Now Open For Business.

[pencil_mistress]

Tenten's stomach had settled a bit since her run in with her two best friends. She sat up from her bed and looked in a mirror directly across the room. With a frustrated sigh, she fixed her disshoveled hair, making sure all the loose ends were tucked in their proper places. She paused when she saw something behind her in the reflection. It was her

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[caged_kaiten]

Neji stared at his hands before entering. It had taken him a great deal of courage to get to her place, and now that he was actually there he found it hard to get the words out.

Damn it, your hands are empty! You could have at least brought something.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. "IT'S ME," he yelled. There was a long pause with no response. "I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!"

His heart was already starting to beat furiously and his stomach was beginning to churn. Yet for once he didn't feel afraid - he felt more open and happy that matters were finally beginning to resolve.

[pencil_mistress]

There was no mistaking that voice. Neji... She froze, so she didn't respond right away. She shook the feeling off and walked over to the door. He was probably going to tell her what she already had found out in that hallway. She didn't know if she was prepared for it.

"I'm coming, just a second," she shouted for him to here as she made her way to the door. She opened it and did her best to smile, "Umm...hi, Neji."

[caged_kaiten]

"Hey," he started. Shit. What was he supposed to say? All the self-practices he had seem to have disappeared. You know, I'm sorry to have been ignoring you for the past few days, but I've been a total idiot. This kind of sounds stupid, but well.. I just want to say that you've been important, and I.. and of course, Neji would finish by proclaiming boldly that he would bring her to the Valentine's dance (of which she would gladly accept, obviously) and everything would be happy-ever-after. Yes, Tenten, that was what I always wanted to say but I guess I couldn't. Thank God you're here.

"I'msorrythatI'vebeenignoringyou," he mumbled incoherently. "Irealizedsomethingveryimportantand-"

Long pause.

"-well actually you're very important to me and I..."

Neji broke off halfway at his attempts to enunciate his words, embarrassed at what he was going to say.

[pencil_mistress]

Tenten furrowed her brows not fully understanding what he was going on about. She openned the door wider to let him in. She was about to tell him to slow down, that was until she heard him say that she was important to him. Her cheeks instantly flushed, but she really hated the silence between them. "...Neji...what are you trying to say?"

[caged_kaiten]

"Never mind," he said quietly. "It's not important."

Neji paused and closed his eyes. "I, darn, don't know how to say it..."

Inside, he was itching to say everything, but Neji was beginning to feel extremely awkward and embarrassed. Almost suddenly, without thinking, he grabbed hold of her shoulders and squeezed her into a tight hug.

[pencil_mistress]

Tenten was really trying to make as much sense of this as possible. Much to her surprise, she soon felt his arms around her. She had no idea how to react to this. It felt right to her, but now she was confused.

Pulling back slightly, she tilted her head up to look at him. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, "N-Neji...w-w-what are you doing?"

[caged_kaiten]

"I dunno," he admitted truthfully. Neji didn't quite know what to answer. Some things he should have done, he never did - some things he could have said, he wouldn't say.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

[pencil_mistress]

How do I go about answering that without being further embarrassed? She looked down, staring blankly at his shirt as her eyes began to sting.

"You're clearly hugging me...I know that much at least...why you are I have no idea. Shouldn't you be hugging Temari or am I missing something completely?" she paused suddenly, "If you like her, I promise I won't cry..."

[caged_kaiten]

"You're already going to cry, regardless of what I'm going to say." Neji said pointedly. He turned away for a moment and sighed, refusing to face her eyes. "She likes Shikamaru. I thought you knew."

"I like buns over ponytails, if you don't already know."

[pencil_mistress]

Damn it, she hated when he was right. No sooner did he say that, she closed her eyes and felt a trail of built up tears fall. It made her happy that he had turned away, she hated others seeing her cry.

"Buns over ponytails?" Did she just hear that right? She wasn't sure what to make of all this. Was this just a joke, or maybe some twisted dream. She didn't care either way. At least for the moment she could enjoy this, right?

"Neji..." she had no idea what else to say, so instead she returned the embrace.

[[yeah ignore the last entry >.>]]

[caged_kaiten]

"I wasn't ignoring you." Neji began. "Okay well, technically I was.. but this world is just so ridiculously screwed at times..."

"You shouldn't be hugging me. You should slap me or something."

[pencil_mistress]

"I don't think I could bring myself to do that right now...I...well...was there a reason you were ignoring me? I mean, for a long time I thought you hated me for something." The thought caused her to tighten her grip on him slightly.

[caged_kaiten]

A long pause.

"For a long time I hated myself."

[pencil_mistress]

She was not expecting that for an anwer. "Do you mind explaining?"

[caged_kaiten]

"As a matter of fact, I do," Neji said mildly. "Those are things that are not quite important anymore. Not worth talking about. You probably know the feeling of insignificance, of feeling useless, that sometimes things are just entirely up to fate."

He glanced sideways at the tarot cards for a quick instance. "And then you realize it's not the case."

Neji reverted his gaze back into her eyes.

[pencil_mistress]

"That makes sense," she responded calmly, never moving her eyes away from his gaze. She wanted him to be able to tell her anything, but she didn't want to push him or anything. For the moment it was a good enough answer, something that actually made her smile.