Naruto Tales: The Next Uchiha | SasuSaku, NaruHina, InoShikaTema, NejiTen +

XIV: The Next Hyuga

QOTC: You're too soft. Such a disgrace. The Hyuga clan doesn't have any place for a heiress.

- Hiashi to Hinata

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Chapter 14: The Next Hyuga

"I'm sorry about your dad.."

"Don't.. Seriously,"

On a night that started like any other—no, it wasn't that current. Team Gai sent on an escort mission, and instead of making campfire outdoors, the coterie decided to check in at an ordinary tavern. It wasn't that much but it was everything TenTen adored. Gai and Lee sleeping in heavy noises, while he and Neji would stay up all night and catch up with the physical world.

Neji tried to hide his smile. "Very well. On to a proper subject then, like how captivating you look on that hair."

"I really don't sleep with my hair tied up." She grinned, letting her frizzy bistred hair sway down her shoulders.

"Who says anything about having a doze?" Neji asked, sitting at one stool. "Come on TenTen, talk to me. I dare you."

TenTen giggled. "This is bad of us."

"I'm your best friend. We've done the worst. The bad thing is how you subjected me to jealousy on the way to Iwa earlier,"

TenTen looked surprised. "I do NOT like him, okay? God how many times do I have to tell you I'm never gonna have a boyfriend."

Neji raised his arms in surrender. "Good. I want you all mine."

Around a few seconds TenTen decided to do something. She asked for Neji to go to bed but the latter refused, rather he sat against the fireplace as if his whole world was depending on it.

"You're supposed to be asleep," Neji said silently. She sat next to him, as if sharing his condolences upon savouring the golden flames of the holocaust—the light, as if so little he could see of it. "What are we, Neji?"

It was a good thing he didn't meet her twitching gaze. "You know, when you meet someone, it's either you become friends, or you fall inlove with them." They held hands, as TenTen gladly placed her head against his shoulder. "I think you can be both."

TenTen lit up like a blooming flower. She raised her other pinky towards him, to honor the pledge of their undying friendship. "Best friends?"

Neji wasn't into some girly stuff, but he'd be willing to throw himself a bunch of names for TenTen's sake. He took a deep breath and took her pinky. "Best friends."

Some part of her came apart, and when she looked back at the glass she was handling it was five minutes broken. "Oh, I-I'm terribly sorry..."

Neji stood up, wiping his hands into the napkin. "That's it. You're hurt, and I'm taking you home."

"I'm asking you a question." TenTen's dillatory habits were getting worse.

Neji slammed a fist into the table. "Hiashi-san, we haven't talked about this before!"

"I have the right to ask for her permission,"

"But you didn't ask for mine!"

TenTen stared at her empty plate, her hand shaking tremendously. She lost the lungs to breathe, or the adrenaline to move. She was stiff and frozen as crystal ice of an enemy they've clashed into.