The Royal Adversity (Nejiten Fanfic)

3

Another part of Gai and Lee that she liked was that they did not rush her. She could tell that they could move quickly, they made walking looked so easy with the heavy weights attached to their ankles. But they did not. They followed her pace as she reluctantly moved towards the meeting area. Tenten walked serenely upon the pine needle carpet, that calming spread to the Earth, her feet walked on, smooth and steadily. Tenten could make out two men wearing tailored black suits. Their faces were hidden under the shadows of the forest canopy. But she could tell from their features that one had
dark short hair with long side bangs, and lots of layers at the back. He had a suave cool look, similar to that of Kakashi's although, this guy forgot to learn how to smile, a grim look was plastered on his face. It looked pretty similar to his partner's.

As opposed to this guy's short and layered haircut, the second male's dark black hair was long and luscious, tied up to a ponytail. His pale skin contrasted his dark hair; he too, sadly did not possess the ability to smile. His forehead was covered in a black cloth. The long haired guy was either oblivious to his surroundings or he did not care that they were supposed to welcome a person of royalty. He was puffing out his cigarette lazily. He only stopped when his partner mumbled.

"She's here."

The long haired male nodded, threw down his cigarette and stepped on it to diffuse the fire.

They bowed down upon seeing Tenten, as they looked up towards her, their faces were shone through the morning light that seemed to seep through the forest canopy.  The short haired man had dark eyes that seemed to turn a slightly crimson colour under the light. The longer haired male's eyes were pale- extremely pale. Tenten could have sworn that she saw the exact same eyes before.. but where?

Her thoughts were halted when the shorter haired male spoke in his gruff voice, "Greetings your excellency, my name is Uchihaa Sasuke and this is.."

"Hyuuga Neji." The long haired male spoke.

".. we will be your bodyguards from here on out." Sasuke finished.

Gai and Lee did not seem to really like the vibes that was emitting from the duo, but as they were well aware, they did not have much of a choice to begin with. They could not care for her and these two were the best in their field.

Gai cleared his throat and spoke, "Well now, Princess, if you need help in any way. ANY WAY.." Gai stressed in the word used as he eyed the duo before him, ".. just summon me using Ningame- I believe Kakashi has taught you how that works?"

"Yes, Gai-San. Yes he has. Don't worry about me. All the best to you and Lee. Go and spread your..." Tenten had to bite her lower lip before she continued, ".. youthful awareness to others.."

Lee and Gai cried out loud, with actual tears streaming down their eyes when she said that and yelled even louder, "YOU DO LISTEN! Now go Princess! We shall persevere, FOR YOUTH!"

The duo marched away from the forest at the speed of light, continuously yelling about youth. The trio, who witnessed the scene gave each other momentary stunned looks before heading out from the scene as well.

If Gai and Lee were patient with her, these two bodyguards were the exact opposite. They walked as fast as their feet could carry as Tenten trudged along clumsily at the back. At one point, she had lost sight of them and had to wait there for 30 minutes before Sasuke found her.

"Can we walk at a HUMAN APPROVED pace?!" Tenten grumbled.

Sasuke grunted as a response. Not that Tenten knew what that meant, the next thing she knew, he had lifted her up over his shoulder and walked along effortlessly to the end of the forest, where Neji was waiting impatiently.

"Seriously? We need to ferry you from one place to another now?" Neji grumbled.

"Excuse YOU, you LEFT me. And I didn't asked to be carried, thank you very much." Tenten replied heatedly.

"Listen, we can't act all chivalry around you because one; we are under cover. Two; we don't know how to. Three; that's not part of the contract. So you have to get used to this arrangement." Neji explained flatly.

Tenten was fuming mad, not only was Neji rude, he was obnoxious as well.

"For your information Hyuuga-San. I have NEVER asked for ANY of that kind of treatment before. Not with my protector, not with Gai and Lee not even from my servants. NEVER. All I asked for a while ago was for you to SLOW DOWN so that I could catch up with you. Now, was that a difficult REQUEST?" Tenten fumed.

Sasuke mumbled lowly, "Just say yes. We are going to attract unwanted attention."

Neji sighed as he took out his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke and nodded reluctantly. He motioned Sasuke to stay while he gestured the Princess to his side.

"What? Am I supposed to now understand what the hell that means?" Tenten questioned.

Neji gave her an annoyed look. He blew two more puffs of smoke and spoke, "Sasuke has to be on the lookout. He will be walking away from us. You will be walking with me. Just act the part already." Neji opened up the palm of his hand while Tenten looked at it in horror.

Looking at her disgruntled look made Neji realised that she did not know what was going on.

"Kakashi didn't tell you did he?" Neji asked her as he threw his cigarette stick on the floor and stepped on it. He chuckled lowly and spoke, "You need to pretend to be my wife for the time being."

Tenten literally fainted when Neji said those words out.