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50 Shinobi Prompt 47 — Soap Suds (Bubble)
“This is just fantastic!” Tenten grumbled sarcastically as she followed after her silent teammate. “Why am I always the one who ends up with clothes so drenched and dirty that I can’t walk properly?”
“Because you’re the clumsy one.” Neji said stoically.
Tenten snorted. “Jerk.”
“I’m letting you in the compound so you can fix up, aren’t I?”
“It’s your fault I need fixing up.” She grumbled.
Neji scoffed. “I didn’t push you in the mud hole. You fell all on your own.”
“Oh, whatever, Hyuuga.”
Rolling his eyes, Neji pointed her in the direction of the shower. “Hinata or Hanabi will bring you something you could probably wear when you’re done. I’ll be in the kitchen. You remember where that is don’t you?”
Tenten’s eye twitched, remembering the escapade in which she got lost in they Hyuuga compound. Neji and Hinata had laughed at her for weeks. “I’ll manage.”
Neji smirked.
Sometimes, Tenten really wanted to smack that boy.
—
A while later, Tenten managed to find her way into the kitchen, admittedly that was after stumbling into some old lady’s room. Red-faced, Tenten had apologized and tried to hightail it out of there as fast as she could.
Neji was sitting comfortably at a stool chewing on an apple. “Why are you red?”
“N-No reason.”
“Who’d you walk in on?”
“Nobody!” Tenten lied.
Neji smirked. “You really aren’t very good at lying, you realize.”
Tenten glared at him. “Oh, fine. I walked in on some old lady.” She could feel herself blushing more furiously, “I don’t know what she was doing, and let me tell you, I do not want to find out.” She leant against the counter. “Where are my clothes?”
“Getting washed.”
“Where?”
“Laundry room.”
“Which would be?”
“You wouldn’t be able to find it.”
“You could tell me anyway.” She protested.
“I could.”
“Well?” She demanded.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, what?”
“Where is it!?”
“In the east wing of the compound.”
Tenten groaned. “And where is that?”
“East.”
“Dammit, Neji!” She scolded in annoyance.
He snickered at her. Tossing his half eaten apple in the garbage, Neji stood up and headed out of the kitchen. “Come on. Just follow me.”
“You are an unbelievable jerk, Neji Hyuuga.” Tenten grumbled.
“It’s amazing how that doesn’t bother me.”
“Amazing isn’t the word I would use.” She muttered under her breath.
She followed after him through an amazing amount of long and confusing hallways and turns. How on earth did the Hyuuga ever make their way around the stupid compound? It was a wonder some of the kids didn’t get lost and die of starvation in one of the many rooms. She would have asked how that had never happened before, but all that she needed was a glance to recall why they never got lost — their stupid eyes.
Neji stopped abruptly before a door causing Tenten to smack right into him. “Jeez, give a warning, will ya?”
He didn’t reply just opened the door.
“Oh, damn.” Tenten breathed as she looked at the room. “Your laundry room is not supposed to look ritzy!”
Neji frowned. “It doesn’t.”
“Oh, trust me. It does.” The washing machines were shiny and seemed to call in tantalizing whispers for people to wash. The walls were a perfect pristine white. The clothes waiting to be washed were actually folded and, in Tenten’s eyes, appeared very clean. The ready clothes were folded and fluffy and looked so perfectly pretty lying on the polished oak tables. The windows had not one streak and the floor was spotless — not even a splash of water.
“It’s not.” Neji mumbled obviously confused.
“Stop by the orphanage sometime and you’ll see what I mean.” She headed forward then stopped abruptly. “Where exactly are my clothes?”
Neji headed in the opposite direction she had been walking towards, stopping in front of a machine. “Still washing.”
Tenten peered at the machine. “Oh, it’s just fine. Look, all the dirt is gone.”
“It’s still washing.” Neji repeated.
“Nah, it’s good.” Tenten pushed him aside and pulled it open before Neji could utter a word of protest. She shouldn’t have attempted it. As soon as she wrenched the door open a large stream of bubbles and cold water splashed over her.
Tenten sputtered. “Yeuck. I think I got soap in my mouth.” Tenten squeezed the water out of the shirt she was wearing. “Wow, that was cold. Guess, I should’ve listened to you.”
She shivered. “Do I have to put these clothes in the wash again? I mean, the ones that aren’t mine.” Tenten tried to stand up, but slid on the soap suds as she struggled up. She winced. “Oww.”
Noting Neji’s silence, she turned around. “Hey, what’s–” Tenten stared mouth agape at her teammate. Her usually composed teammate was drenched in cold water, hair stringy and clothes falling around him from the water’s weight. Soap suds dusted his chin, lips forehead, hair, and just about every other visible part of his body. He looked like a child who’d just realized that water created a big mess. His mouth was open just the slightest bit, his eyes blinking slowly, and his left eye twitching. Tenten couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Neji’s eyes narrowed at her.
She stifled her laughter as best as she could. “Look, Neji, I’m really, really sorry.”
“Tenten-”
“I didn’t mean to!” She protested. Tenten edged away more than just a little frightened, “Oh, come on! It was an accident! You know I’m an idiot sometimes!”
Neji sighed. “Alright. It’s fine.” He wiped some of the suds off of himself.
Tenten huffed. “Look, don’t do that. I really am sorry! What do you want me to do?”
“It’s fine. You didn’t mean to.”
“Stop pretending it’s fine when you want to kick my ass.” She scolded.
“Tenten-”
“I could clean-no, wait, I’m no good at that. I could-”
“Tenten, relax. I forgive you.”
She frowned thinking it over. “I suppose I could-”
“Tenten!”
“Or maybe, I’ll-”
“Tenten!”
Tenten continued rattling off possible things she could do to make up for drenching him, not even noticing that his eye twitch had started again. In severe annoyance, Neji ambled over to one of the unoccupied washers and filled a bucket with freezing cold soapy water. Tenten, still preoccupied with thinking up ways to make it up to him, didn’t even notice he’d moved. Neji walked over to her and dumped the contents of the bucket on her head.
“HOLY SHIT!” Tenten screamed. She hopped up and jumped up and down periodically on one foot as if it would take away the freezing pin needles crawling up and down her skin. “DAMMIT, NEJI!”
“Are you happy now? We’re even.”
“N-N-not e-ev-even! Th-That was f-f-f-f-freezing!” She shivered. “B-b-besides, what I d-d-did was on ac-ac-acci-accident.”
“So was what I did.”
“L-Liar.” She accused.
“The bucket slipped.”
“Bullshit.”
Neji smirked.
“Wh-What?” She stuttered.
“The soap suds piled around your head make it look like you have devil horns.” His smirk grew more pronounced, “Quite fitting wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh, you’re just a h-horrible jerk.” She growled, somehow still feeling despite her irritation that this was one of the most warming bonding moments she’d ever had with Neji. “H-how you became my friend I’ll never know.”
“I know.”
She blinked. “Oh?”
“You’re like glue; you wouldn’t leave me alone and soon enough I got used to you.”
“You kept saying that I was w-weak! It was so unbelievably sexist. I had to p-p-pr-prove you wrong.”
“Then how come I still think you’re far too weak?”
“Oh, I abs-absolutely h-hate you.” She growled.
Neji rolled his eyes.
50 Shinobi – Prompt 17 (Hopscotch)
The stupidest, or perhaps smartest, thing Gai-sensei had ever proposed to his team was one of his many ‘bonding’ exercises. His ‘bonding’ exercises tended to range from cooking to, oddly enough, playing a prank on the current Hokage. Of the all the exercises they conducted, the pranks never tended to end well. Neither Tenten, nor Neji, nor Lee, nor Gai, were any good at pulling a well orchestrated prank. it was usually either a lame prank or they got caught doing the prank at the worst possible time. Over time, Tenten and Neji became clever enough to find a way out of the training exercises, but in the beginning they were forced along.
One of his few successful exercises was rather impromptu and proposed back when his team was still undeniably at odds with each other. It had began with the end of a rather unorthodox training session in which Gai-sensei had them work on how long they could hold their breath while sparring using only taijutsu. Tenten lost almost immediately. On average she was okay in her taijutsu, combine that with holding her breath and it spelled disaster. Although, she was the best when Gai-sensei allowed them to use weapons while holding their breath; but without weapons she failed miserably. Lee lost about twenty seven times to Neji before finally winning one, though Tenten attributed the win to the fact that Neji was getting exhausted and Neji just didn’t hold the same resilience Lee did at that time.
Lee would eventually surpass Neji in taijutsu, but at the moment, Lee was still lacking in everything but heart.
“Can I go home now?” She had complained to Gai-sensei once Lee had finally bested Neji. “You know, since we’re done?”
“But we must train harder!” Lee protested.
Neji just sat there stoically.
It was at that interval that Gai-sensei seemed to find it appropriate to try to unite them closer as a team once again. Tenten had told him constantly to quit trying. She, Lee, and Neji were far too different to ever get along appropriately. But Gai was just as hard-headed as Lee – they both refused to ever give up on anything.
“I know what youthful exercise we can do!”
“Please no.” Tenten pleaded at the same time Neji sighed in aggravation.
“Let us play hopscotch, my young students!”
Tenten felt her eyebrow twitching. “Hopscotch?” Of all stupid things, Gai had picked hopscotch? She wondered yet again if someone had hit him too hard in the back of his head in a mission. He had to be mentally unwell in some retrospect.
“I have to–” Neji tried to wrangle out of it, but Gai-sensei hushed him with another long monologue on how hopscotch would surely light the inner fires of their youth.
Tenten had no reservations about telling her sensei to shut the hell up, but she’d long since realized that doing so only made his monologue longer. So rather, she picked herself up from the comfy spot on the floor and started digging a kunai into the grass so that the lines of the hopscotch squares were clearly evident by the brown lines of dirt through the brightly colored grass. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.” She interrupted, hoping this would, in effect, shut him up.
Neji hesitated. “I don’t know how.”
Tenten yawned. “How what?”
“How to play.”
It took her a few seconds to register the information, though seemingly it seemed she was the first to understand. Lee gaped at Neji in astonishment and Gai looked a cross between a child who’d just had his candy taken away and a child who couldn’t understand where his mother had gone when peekaboo was being played.
“How can you not know how to play?” She asked baffled. “Doesn’t every kid play hopscotch? Hell, I’m poor as dirt and have no parents, and I’ve played the game.”
He scowled. “Well, I’ve never played.”
She straightened, realizing that she may have inadvertently offended him. She blinked, “Look, I didn’t mean…It’s just…It’s weird okay? I didn’t expect that, especially from you.” Without as second thought, she took his hand in hers and dragged him over to the game she’d just dug into the grass. “Okay, look, there’s these squares.”
Lee seemed to have regained his composure and moved to stand beside her. “They are numbered.”
Tenten nodded. “Right. And the object of the game is really just to get through all the squares and back, but you have to hop through them.” She hopped through her design, “Just like this.” She showed him again coming back.
Lee picked up a pebble. “And you throw a rock to get to the right square. If you do no’t get it in or if it touches the line, you lose your turn.” Lee tossed the pebble in example.
“Also, if while you’re hopping on a single square your other foot touches the ground it’s a violation. Your turn is disregard and you go back to where you lst were. Same thing happens if you hop on a line.” Tenten showed him what she meant.
Neji frowned. “Well, it’s a pretty easy game for a ninja wouldn’t you say?”
Tenten analyzed her rudimentary design. “Now that you mention it…”
“What if we play on a mountain?” Lee suggested.
Tenten nodded. “Yeah…Oh! And instead of a pebble we use a kunai, but we also draw a target on each square where we have to get a bulls-eye or else have our turn skipped!”
“I know!” Gai interrupted, finally falling out of his revere, “We also separate the squares by 25feet!”
Neji’s eye started twitching. “How about between five and eight feet?”
Tenten nodded. “Yeah, five or eight sounds good.” Twenty-five was just ridiculous.
Thirty minutes later, they finished constructing their game of hopscotch on one of the steepest mountains in the village. Despite Tenten’s initial disinclinations to the game, she found herself having fun. “Hey! Cheater!” She accused, pointing her finger at Neji. “You toed the line!”
“I DID NOT!” He protested.
Tenten turned to Lee. “You be the judge. Did he or did he not?”
Lee shook his head. “Tenten, I did not see him touch the line.”
“Gah!” She protested bitterly. “You’re both in cahoots.”
“Who says ‘cahoots’ nowadays?” Neji smirked.
“Who says ‘nowadays’?” She shot back.
“Bitter.” He smirked.
“Cheater.” She snapped. “EP! STOP!” She yelled at Gai.
Gai froze, halting before going to the next jump. “What?”
“You cheated.” Neji explained.
“Exactly.” Tenten harrumphed.
“I did not cheat!” Gai protested.
“Lee?” Tenten inquired.
“Gai-sensei,” Lee said smiling, “you touched the line.”
“Ha-ha!” Tenten grinned. “Told ya!”
Neji rolled his eyes. “It’s about time one of your accusations proved to be true.”
“Hey,” She protested, sticking her tongue out at her teammate. “They were all true; this is just the first time I could get one of you pinned.”
“Sure.” Neji said. “Suure.”
Somehow, that rather strange game of hopscotch made friends out of strangers and teammates of outsiders. As friends, they would always be called the oddest bunch, but that day Tenten found, it really wasn’t so bad. Being friends with them was rather nice, because beneath their skin they were rather different. And it was special to be able to say that she was one of the few who could see it.
Also, it turned out that their modified version of the game of hopscotch became not only the most popular game among shinobi, but one of the only ‘fun’ training exercises that senseis could use to mold their students.
Hunh, they were starting trends. And all because Gai-sensei had another harebrained idea.
50 Shinobi – Prompt 45 (Ribbon)
It was a well known fact that shinobi were often times required to do things of the unsavory nature. Things that left the shinobi reeling with guilt or disgust at some times. She thought the ones that had worst were those who’s justus were specifically designed to kill in stealth; like Shikamaru or even Neji. They could kill someone before the person even realized what was occurring. Tenten wasn’t a stranger to these acts. She’d seen more than her fair share of blood and heard enough screams to last her a lifetime.
Every time she came back from one of those missions, she would despair. She would sit and wallow and cry to her heart’s content. Shinobi aren’t supposed to show their emotions, but when the mission was over, she had to let it out, or else she could never go back. It was all for the best, she knew, but that didn’t make it any easier.
That night, Tenten crouches underneath a large oak tree trying to will away the memory of the day’s actions. She can still hear her scream and see the crimson blood stain the landscape. After the deed, Tenten had wiped and washed and polished the murder weapon forty-seven times. It was the cleanest she’d ever seen it, but everytime she really looked at it, the image of blood dripping around it would not disappear. Killing was one thing, not something appealing, but easy enough to do. Killing your best friend was entirely another.
Tenten had had to kill the only friend she’d had when she was a young girl. She had been kind and affirmative — not the type you’d expect to be the heir to a crime stream. It hurt. It was all for the good, but it still fucking hurt.
There’s a rustle in the leaves and suddenly Neji and Lee are in front of her. Lee frowns in concern. “Tenten?”
She turns just the slightest bit, not even caring that they can see the tears pooling down her face. “Yeah, Lee?” She never liked for others to see her cry, but she was in no mood to pretend it didn’t hurt when it was tearing her apart inside.
Lee opens his mouth to talk, but Neji silences him with a hand on the green-clad boy’s shoulder. Silently almost unbidden the boys sit next to her, one on either side. Lee holds her hand gingerly and squeezes it in comfort. “I’m sorry, Tenten.” His voice holds none of his usual perkiness and overbearing resilient tone, instead he’s comforting and empathetic. She thinks he really means it when he says he’s sorry.
Neji brushes the damp stringy brunette strands out of her face, and braids them gingerly. Neji’s never really done anything like that before and Tenten finds herself more than just a little shocked. “It won’t feel so bad tomorrow.” He says quietly. “We’re here for you.”
It’s then she lets herself break down completely. Neji and Lee sit there beside her. Not condescending, not pushy, not anything. They’re just there for her, and she’s never felt better.
She wakes up at some point her head against Lee’s shoulder and Neji’s head on hers. She stirs, trying hard not to disturb either of her two friends. The sun is rising over the horizon tinting the sky an array of pink and red. There’s still a gaping hole in her chest, but she feels a lot better.
White ribbon dangles in her hair from the braids Neji had done in her hair. Tenten fingers the ribbon carefully and settles back into her previous position. Yeah, shinobi often times have to do things, they would really rather not do. Shinobi often left their completed missions feeling with guilt and shame; but in retrospect, it was really alright. Someone had to do the horrid deed, and someone was always there to help them through the misery.
Since that day, Tenten always tied up her hair into her customary buns with the white silk ribbon Neji had tied her braids with. Through every deed she’d ever done, the weight of the white ribbon reminded her, that her friends would always be there for her. That she was not alone, even when it felt like it.
50 Shinobi — Prompt #22 (Cathedral)
“I won’t go in! You can’t make me!” She protested vehemently, shaking her head to and fro furiously.
Neji stared at her in aggravation. ‘Tenten, it’s just-”
“It’s evil, that’s what it is!” She complained loudly. “EVIL!”
Neji’s eye twitched. “It’s a cathedral. The last thing it could be is evil.”
Tenten narrowed her eyes at the pale Hyuuga. “Just because it’s a cathedral doesn’t mean it has to be good.” She shuddered. “Just look at it! All big, and gothic-like, windows high, and lights low.” She stared at the building before her. “It’s the epitome of evil, my friend.”
“It’s a cathedral.”
“I WON’T GO IN!”
Neji seemed to want to kill her. He seemed to want to wrap his hands around her neck and throttle the life out of her.
She crossed her arms and stared resolutely at the floor. She would not budge. She would not, she would not, she would not! It was filled with evil. She really couldn’t say why she thought so, but she just didn’t like it. Something about the building was unnatural and-and just plain wrong. Maybe it was haunted. Or maybe worse… She dug her feet into the ground. “Let’s go home.”
Neji stared at her quietly for a bit, before giving a resigned sigh. “Tenten, please.”
Tenten hesitated. Never once, in all her life, had Neji ever said ‘please’ to her. Not once. She looked back at the looming and frightening building. She sighed. “Why do you need to go into hell-I mean, the cathedral, again?”
Neji shifted awkwardly. “My mother’s grave…”
Tenten scowled. “Okay, okay. Let’s go in.” She bit her lip. “But…don’t laugh at this okay?” She waited until he nodded before she asked her question. “Can you hold my hand as we go in?”
Neji nodded and Tenten could’ve sworn he looked glad she’d requested that.
She swallowed her fear and took her hand in his gripping it tightly. “The things I do for you people.” She whispered silently.
“I’m grateful for it.” He said silently, almost so softly that the wind attempted to swallow his words.
Luckily, the wind didn’t succeed.
She smiled. Fear was a powerful thing, but friendship topped it by far.
xXxXx
“Breathe.” Shikamaru whispered into her ear as he held her tighter. Her body shook in his arms. Never before had he thought of her as fragile until now.
Swallowing breaths and shaking fingers. Temari clutched at his clothing her fingers digging into the
cloth. With her eyes squeezed shut and heart in her throat she couldn’t think. All she knew was that she was tired.
She was dead tired.
“Breathe.” He repeated again. “Just breathe.”
Temari fingers clutched him tighter. She wasn’t even sure if she remembered how to breathe.
xXxXx
It was all blood.
Blood stained her hands.
Blood stained her soul.
What was she supposed to do with all the blood?
Without a word, Lee took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. “Tenten, it will be fine.”
Fine.
Fine.
How can…How can anything be fine?
“Tenten.” Lee’s eyes search her. “Say something.”
Behind him Neji watches her in apprehension too. He’s worried. Tenten looks at her hands. Is she in such a state that even Neji can look worried? Is she so…
What’s with all the blood?!
Arms wrap around her.
Words are murmured to her.
Someone squeezes her hand.
It will be fine.
Can it? Can it be fine?
xXxXx
Kankurou stares at her.
How could she understand? How could a stupid girl like her ever understand? “Go away.” He tells her. Like he’s told her countless times before.
This time, instead of heading his command she kneels before him. Her pale fingers wrap around his hands, her head bowed, dark brown bangs covering her brown eyes. “I’m here. You matter. I’m here.”
“You don’t know anything.”
She squeezes his hands. “Then tell me.”
Her eyes connect with his.
Tell me.
Blood and sacrifice is matted around his heart. Around his soul. He doesn’t know what’s right anymore. He doesn’t know…He doesn’t know anything but duty anymore.
“Tell me.” She whispers. “Help me understand.”
He knows she isn’t a saint. But he doesn’t want her to carry his troubles on top of her own. “Go away.” He whispers again.
Shinobi are such fragile things. They break so easily.
She nods. “But you know, regardless of how many times you tell me to go away,” She smiles lightly, “I’ll always be here.”
xXxXx
She cranes her head at him. “I think, it’s not so bad.”
He’s aware that he’s shaking. “You think.”
“I think.” She confirms.
The world turns on it’s axis and runs and walks and talks as if he is of no consequence. As if…What does it all matter?
