Another World | NejiTen

Chapter 31 | Ice Skating

Over a week had passed since Black Friday, and it was currently Sunday. Her weird dreams continued, but the faces were mostly blurred still, the voices were blurred too, and she barely remembered anything when she woke up. So, she didn't think too much about it.

Tenten pulled on a pair of knit gloves. It was currently 48 degrees fahrenheit and 2:19 in the afternoon, and Ino was dragging everyone to the skating rink. They were to meet in the lobby at 2:30. Yesterday was spent doing dorm decoration shopping, and Ino drove them to a bunch of stores for that and then afterwards, the girls decorated their dorms. Ino also drove them to a sports store where they all got a pair of ice skates, since she claimed that the rent ones were horribly uncomfortable.

She and Aito were still dating, and he'd taken her out for dinner the day before. He was still sweet, but no intimate gestures were made so far. However, she did slightly feel...something. Admiration, perhaps? Or perhaps it was just friendship. It was hard to describe her feelings towards the man, although it seemed too much like the other relationships she experienced in the past; someone asks her out, they date, they break up, and they both go their separate ways.

After pulling on a pair of earmuffs and a coat plus grabbing her purse and her pair of ice skates, she and Neji left the dorm and headed down to the lobby. Once everyone got to the rink, everyone learned that there were apparently two skating rinks and that Ino had rented a private one for two hours, allowing the group to skate without being bothered. After giving the entire group directions on where the second rink was, the group started splitting up, some going to rent skates, others going to the snack area, and the rest going off to somewhere.

The five girls sat on benches behind the skating rink walls, watching through the glass as a few of their friends skated. "So, how good can you all skate?" Temari asked.

"I used to be a figure skater," Hinata said.

Ino nodded, saying, "Same."

Tenten shrugged, "When I was younger I took a bit of lessons. I'm not that good though."

"I've gone here a few times," Sakura replied.

"Alrighty, so we've all had some skating experience whatsoever," Temari declared.

"What's yours?" Tenten asked.

Temari grinned in reply, "Former women's hockey player. Anyways, let's all get on the ice."

The girls walked to the door. The first thing they noticed was Naruto half-running half-skating across the ice, looking very ridiculous as he chased after Sasuke, who just looked bored. The duckbutt-haired man was skating perfectly across the ice with no trouble at all.

"How does Naruto not fall from doing that?!" Sakura grumbled, rolling her eyes.

Hinata stepped out onto the ice, gracefully gliding across it before trying to skate backwards, succeeding at doing so.

"Hmm, I may be a little rusty at this, but I'll give it a shot," Ino murmured, stepping onto the ice as well. She skated in a small circle before doing a small spin, beaming when she accomplished it. By now, Hinata had managed to leap into the air, twirl, then land back on the ice flawlessly.

"How do you people do it?" Tenten muttered, giving a sigh. She stepped onto the ice tentatively, gripping onto the wall's ledge for support. After skating a few feet ahead, she let go of the wall, trying to remember everything she learned. Her feet were slightly wobbling but other than that, she managed to skate without falling. Temari didn't skate gracefully like Ino and Hinata, but she was very fast and was currently zooming around the skating rink without any trouble at all.