NejiTen Oneshots And Drabbles

Chance Encounters

You really wouldn't think a simple mistake of grabbing the shoulder of a stranger could cause such nonsense in your life. I mean, it usually ends with an extremely awkward "I'm sorry," and then the two people go their separate ways, and things end peachy-keen. But take a chance and step into Tenten's shoes, and trust me - you'll start to see a lot of things differently.

Differently? Um, badly.

It could have happened to anyone...really.

She had just finished her own grocery shopping, and the street was crowded with many people - hordes - so that she could only get a slight glimpse of their figures and hair colors. And she wasn't really tall at the age of 13 anyways, so mistaking him was probably a common issue. Tenten had only seen the top of his head, so it was only natural that she thought it belonged to the tall old lady who lived next door since she always had her hair long and pulled back like that. And of course, she had to chase after the lady's figure, because she was the type to greet every acquaintance she had.

She had grabbed the woman's arm, and before her mind could process her fingers clenching against smooth instead of wrinkly skin, she had blurted out brightly: "Hello! Granny, can I help you with your bags?"

And then the signal of the feel of a more muscular arm reached her mind, and Tenten realized how completely humiliating her mistake had been.

He had turned his head and looked at her with such disdain that she found it difficult to laugh it off, quickly removing her hand from his bicep.

"Ah, sorry, wrong person. Sorry for disturbing you!" she had said with a wavering smile.

His voice, low and rumbling, overcame the clamor of the crowd. "Refrain from touching me or communicating with me in any way in the future."

And then he had walked away, leaving her stunned and incredulous at his terrible attitude, mentally wondering what poor object had found its way up his butt and lodged itself there for the rest of his life.

The worst part was, that wasn't even the last time she saw him.

They had met at crossroads, and now she could not get rid of him.

It turned out, his haunts were her haunts too, so she could never get a break away from him - and she sure as hell was not going to strike up a conversation with that antisocial man. He looked like he could freeze her with simply a glance; like Medusa, but worse since she could actually tolerate looking at him.

Because although he had a presence that made people keep a 5 meter radius away from (she doubted he was on good terms with anyone), Tenten had to admit that his good looks were wasted on such a simply awful personality.

She was keeping her distance pretty well; considering that he was freaking everywhere she went. And he definitely couldn't have ever noticed her since she was content to turn her head whenever they may have made eye contact, or was always coincidentally engrossed in some action when he passed her by.

It would have been good if it stayed like that, but heavens no, he had to go up to her one day and purposely initiate humiliating contact yet again.

"Will you quit following me?" he said harshly, and Tenten was surprised. Not because he had actually talked to her (though that was a tad odd), but because he had the audacity to chew her out in front of yet another crowd, and blame her for something she had no intention of doing.