Virtue (Temari, Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tenten) SLOW UPDATES

Heaven - Heaven 7

PART ONE: TENTEN

HEAVEN - HEAVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Tenten, goodness gracious, stop scowling!" Kurenai was forced to exclaim when the young woman refused to relax her face for what she was helping her to do.

Anko, who knew the kind of person her daughter in law was and had thrown her to Kurenai for that specific reason, chuckled at their theatrics. She didn't blame Tenten though. Having your face smothered with powder and kohl could be exhausting if you're not used to it.

"I am trying my best, Kurenai-san." Tenten grumbled.

"Well try harder!" The red eyed raven tutted right back at her.

Tenten had been bathed with herbs and spices and arrayed with the best clothes Anko had. With Kurenai's help with her face beautification, Tenten looked like an entirely new person when she checked herself in the looking glass.

"I look..." She was lost for words.

"Wonderful, exquisite, beautiful." Kurenai supplied.

"... like a cheap harlot." Tenten finished her sentence and earned two hits on each of her arms for it.

"Perish that thought!"

"Hush, you child!"

Kurenai and Anko exclaimed at the same time. Tenten looked at them guiltily but it did not help that she felt awkward in the attire.

"Hyuga-sama would be unable to resist you!" Anko took her hands and held them close to her chest. "You love this fellow and you want his eyes on only you amongst numerous other noble women that would be at the party so you have to look different than he is used to seeing."

"You have to capture his attention and hold it tight." Kurenai added from the sidelines. "It's how I got married to Asuma, believe me."

Tenten didn't doubt the older woman's words for a little bit but what worked for her might not work for Tenten. Still she bore with her mother in law and her mother in law's friend dressing her up for Hyuga-sama's feast.

She was given a series of helpful (suggestive) advice and sent off with a prayer of peace and good luck. Tenten certainly prayed for the latter for she knew not what she was doing.

Having lived as a rebellious girl all her life she had no idea how feasts are or what they did in one. She supposed there would be food, music and dance in a feast but she was not going to eat or listen to music. She was going to the feast to claim Neji as hers.

How?

Anko made it sound so easy. Being at the event herself, Tenten felt so pale in comparison to the glamorous women in the place. She did not allow herself to feel naked for too long, borrowing some self encouragement words from Anko, and proceeded to look for the center of her attraction.

It did not take too long to find him; he was literally at the center of the feast on a high table with other noble men. He looked like he would rather be elsewhere than his own feast when nobody was talking to him. Then, his face would magically morph into a pleasant smile and change back to his dry look after the person had left.

If Tenten wasn't nervous before she certainly was now. Various thoughts and scenarios began to filter into her head against her will. What if she was rebuked by Neji and his noble friends for disrupting their feast? What if she was mocked for her cheap clothes?

"Are you a dancer or a statue?!" A snappish voice jarred Tenten out of her depreciating thoughts.

The young widow looked down at a short middle aged man who looked as grumpy as his voice was. The hanging lights reflected from the center of his bald head in a way that almost caused Tenten to chortle. He certainly used olive oil on his head.

The man rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Of all the..." He mumbled some incorrigible things and then snapped crankily at Tenten. "Look at that!" He pointed at Neji who was looking downright miserable. "I hire the best and most beautiful dancers in all of the Fire Kingdom and that is all they can get from Hyuga-sama?! Useless! Utterly useless!"

An idea dropped into Tenten's head then. What would happen if she enticed Neji through dance? "If I may find favour in your sight sir, I can try to appease the lord. He has not seen me dance yet." She had barely gotten her words down before the short bald man snapped (once again) at her.

"Well what are you waiting for, the king's golden stamp?! Go out there and make Hyuga-sama smile! It's what I pay you for!"

That was how come Tenten stumbled into the dance floor with a timbrel in hand and awkward surprise all over her face. She certainly caught Neji's interest though for the man perked up. He could however not recognize her because of the veil she wore.

Her sharp cocoa eyes caught his pale lilac ones and the music started. Tenten had absolutely not tried to dance before (this she remembered when the instruments started playing) but by some divine intervention, the moves came easy to her.

Her bangles and anklets clanged against each other in time with the sound of her timbrel, creating an harmonious melody with the string instruments that had Neji very enticed. He gazed on with a wide eyed look, as if he were asking himself whether she was really there or not.

Tenten's triumphant smile was hidden behind her veil but her eyes narrowed seductively at him. It was his undoing. Before long he declared that she should sit at his feet until the feast was over.

Anko's plan had been to break into his chambers and lay beside him until day break but this worked too, right?

Tenten had to help a drunk Neji into his chambers once the feast was over. She ignored the suggestive whistles and looks sent her way in favour of getting the man to his room in one piece.

Once they got there, Tenten threw him on the bed unceremoniously and made to remove his shoes and clothes. The man was silent as she did so, choosing instead to stare unnervingly at her.

She wasn't uncomfortable by it, she was rather amused by the scrutinizing way he gazed on. He still couldn't recognize her even though she had discarded her veil a while ago. This time it was the strong drink disrupting his cognitive abilities.

They continued gazing at each other in silence. Neji made no move towards her and neither did she except to lie beside him. Bathed in the dim lantern light and moonlight streaming from the open window, Neji looked ethereal despite his drunken state.

The man reached out then and placed a large warm hand on her cheek. His thumb caressed her cheek gently, almost wistfully, as he gazed into her eyes with his silvery ones of various emotions.

"You look a lot like her." He whispered sleepily. His eyelids began to smack wearily against each other in an attempt to stay awake. It was a losing battle. "The things...I would do to have her beside...me..."

Tenten held the sleeping man's hand against her cheek fondly and moved closer to him. Sleep was also overtaking her bit by bit. "So silly. I am right next to you." She managed before she gave in to nature's strong hold.

***

The next chapter would be the last for the first part of Virtue. Thanks for reading. Votes and comments please.

-Star.