Melody (Konoha School Of Arts)

18. Neji's cute, but not as cute as his butt

Quirky chapter title, I know 😂😂😂.

***

Neji could tell fairly well by now when Tenten was injured. Her injuries were not rhythmical but they were consistent enough to know when she had one or not. The Hyuga ignored it for the most part, but in some cases she was just too injured to ignore.

It was a Saturday and the two of them were at the town's local library studying. It was Neji's idea to meet up there for study sessions since they became partners for the mentor-mentee stuff. Well Neji was studying. Tenten, however, had a faraway look on her face.

The girl gazed at the exercise he had given her for minutes without blinking and while he would have normally bopped her head to pay attention, Neji could not bring it in himself to do that. She was slouching. Well Tenten slouched on every normal day but today's was bad. She couldn't sit up.

Other than her slouch, the bags of exhaustion over her eyes were getting prominent as the days passed. He feared that they would grow to be as bad as Gaara's if she continued this way. She was also very tense all morning like she was shying away from something, not to mention how clearly hungry she was if her stomach's wamble was anything to  go by. What was wrong with her?

His book slammed closed, effectively jolting her out of her dazed state, and Neji arose, packing his bag. "I forgot an important material to teach you with at home. Come on, let's go." That was casual, right? He didn't make it too obvious that he was inviting her over to the Hyuga mansion basically because for some strange reason he wanted to feed her, right?!

Tenten's scowl was predicted and well utilized enough to have gotten used to so it didn't faze Neji when she practically cursed him with her eyes as he dragged her out of the library. He had ordered for a taxi moments prior and fortunately one was in the area so it was waiting for them outside the library.

"Where the hell are you dragging me to, Rapunzel?!" Here comes the complaints. "Forgetting to bring something, coming from you, is too farfetched for even a three year old to believe!" And the exaggeration. "Let me out of here! Driver stop!" And the protests.

Neji almost knew Tenten like the back of his hands already. "Driver don't." He commanded the man at the driver's seat. Tenten struggled, even opened the door (thank God for child lock) and voiced her protest as loud as her girly voice could go but Neji managed to hold her back.

The driver thankfully minded his business so there were no extra troubles from that end. They finally got to Kaguya Avenue. Tenten was quiet; she had been for the past five minutes and this had Neji wondering what was wrong. A look of realisation washed over his face as he saw Tenten gritting her teeth and subtly clenching her torso. She must've hurt herself even more with her struggle.

The way she took in his house with child-like wonder amused Neji. It was too bad he could not take her on a tour, at least not yet, so he led her to the front door which was automatically opened for him by a servant. "Welcome back home, young master Neji. Would you like anything?" The servant asked.

"No thank you." Neji replied politely. "I would be in my room with her for now, please inform my sisters not to disturb when they get back." If Neji was aware of how compromising he made that sentence sound, he kept an awfully good poker face even as the servant's own bloomed with misunderstanding.

Neji led Tenten up many stairs till they finally reached his room. It was twice bigger than Tenten's whole apartment, and it still managed to be blander than her very bland house. There were no decorations of any sort or pictures save for one small one on the bed stand. Other than the furniture, Neji's room was empty.

"Nice room, it looks like a cell." Said Tenten sarcastically which had Neji chuckling. Before she had time to be amazed by the sound though, Neji had schooled in his facial expressions and stopped laughing. He fumbled with a reclining chair at a corner in the room for a bit before beckoning her.