Misunderstood
A Neji/Tenten Fanfic by Kazue
Based off of the anime/manga: Naruto
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sama. If I owned Naruto, then I would make a Naruto version of myself to be Sasuke's girlfriend and Hinata and Tenten's best friend.
Italic letters are thoughts.
Anything in "quotation marks" is talking.
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Misunderstood...
That was the single word that rang through their minds when they stole a glance at one another. Whenever one decided to steal that glance, anger would fill their mind, they would look away, and the word would ring in their mind: Misunderstood. And the anger would keep rising.
But it wasn't real anger. It was a strong feeling, but not anger. They called it anger just to hide the real feeling. The real feeling that had taken over their hearts.
Sometimes, they didn't want to have those feelings for each other. They wished that things would be normal, that there was no bond as strong as that between the two. Because of that, he usually stayed by himself, and she stayed with the other member of her squad, and their sensei.
His name was Neji Hyuga. 13 years old. He was usually destiny-obsessed, until he became obsessed with her. He was born into the branch family of the Hyuga Clan, and was 'destined' to serve and protect his two cousins of the main family, both younger than him, at ages 12 and 7, Hinata and Hanabi. He always acted so cold-hearted, and had the look of it on his face. He didn't seem to care about anything, or anyone, except for her. But he would never admit it. But he really needed the kind of attention that he drove away with his attitude. He was misunderstood.
Her name was Tenten. Also 13 years old. She was called the 'Weapons Mistress of Kohona' for her amazing ability with weapons. Sometimes, she was even called 'Dragon' for her main ability, 'Rising Twin Dragons.' Her family was never known by anyone. She usually acted very happy and cheerful, but was actually miserable all the time. She always cared about him so much, but when she tried to help him with anything, he wouldn't accept it. She was always so miserable. She was misunderstood.
So what, you may ask, makes them like each other?
Neji always loved her cheery attitude. He felt peaceful when he watched her being (or pretending to be) happy about something, which sometimes could be as simple as a wildflower. Her smile melted his heart of cold stone, and the way she had her hair put up reminded him of panda ears. And he thought her hair was even more beautiful when she would let it down. Her hair came a little past her shoulders, and it always shined. But what captivated him most was her eyes. Deep chocolate-brown eyes. Those eyes gave him a warm feeling, that same warm feeling that he always felt around her, just stronger.
Tenten always felt so bad for Neji, thinking that maybe he felt no real emotions, and felt nothing but pain. Sometimes, just by watching him stand there, with no emotion showing at all, was enough to make her cry. She loved spending time with him, no matter how he acted. Even though their time together was, at the most, glaring at each other with 'misunderstood' ringing through their minds. But what captivated her most was his eyes. Deep pools of whitish-violet, shining like gems. She felt like she could drown in their depths. Those eyes gave her a warm feeling, that same warm feeling that she always had around him, just stronger.
The two thought things would always be that way. That they would act like they hate each other, that they would go on little missions with Lee and Guy-sensei, that they would never be close to each other, and that they would always be 'misunderstood.'
But that began to change one day. A day when they sat together, alone in a Kohona forest, while Guy-sensei and Lee were out, probably telling everyone about the 'power of youth.'
Neji sat on the ground, staring at the sky, with the same look on his face. Neither his eyes or any other part of his face showed emotion. A look so cold that it could really make you feel like you were freezing to death. His gaze never turned away from the light blue sky. A few birds flew over the treetops, and Neji's gaze turned to them-He had always liked birds for their freedom.
Tenten sat about three feet away from him, staring at a nearby flower. She smiled, and her eyes shined with the fake happiness she always had. Neji really thought she was happy. But she wasn't. Never was, and she thought, never would be.
Then, it happened again. They both turned their heads to see what the other was doing, at the same time, and brown eyes met light violet eyes. The warm feeling ran through them. They both tried their best to put on a mad face, and Neji actually growled a little. Both tried so hard to hold back the blush that would make them look like tomatoes. They turned away from each other, and the familier word rang once through their minds at the same time...
Misunderstood...
Both looked up to the sky for a moment, as a question followed the word in their minds.
Why am I so misunderstood? Why...
The warm feeling kept flowing through them. The warm feeling that often destracted them from other things. The warm feeling that made them love it when they acted like they hated each other. The warm feeling, that, no matter how much they denied it, was...
Love.
The two sat completley silent for a long time. A breeze blew, making the flower sway slightly, and a bird flew from a tree, silently. Neji looked up at the bird gliding silently through the sky, and Tenten looked down to the flower, blowing side-to-side, and it looked like it might pull out of the ground. But it was all silent. It was just completely, and almost scarily, silent.
Until finally, Neji's emotionless voice broke the scilence.
"Tenten?"
She could've jumped three feet in the air right then. Even with the emotionless voice, she still felt like she would faint whenever Neji said her name. She slowly turned her head to see that Neji was still staring at the sky, and she relaxed slightly. But, she still put on as much of a mad face as she could. "Yes?"
Neji looked down to the ground, glanced up at Tenten for a moment, and looked at the ground again. He didn't say anything, and the silence was almost deadly. Tenten stared at Neji, waiting for him to say something. He turned his head to look at her once again, and Tenten put on the maddest face she could. But when she did, Neji's eyes widended for a second, then turned his head away. But Tenten could still see, what looked to be...Tears. She felt a harsh pain stab at her heart, and mentally slapped herself.
Did I upset him that badly? But Neji? Crying? No way...But...Oh, how could I do something so terrible? Make Kohona's most emotionless ninja cry?
Tenten wanted to cry, too.
A breeze blew again, and Tenten heard Neji whisper something...Something that made her blood turn to ice at the sound. A question that made her hate herself:
"Why do you hate me so much?"
Tenten instantly looked down to the ground also, mainly because she didn't want Neji to see the tears forming in her chocolate-colored eyes. It felt as though her heart had stopped. Am I that mean to him? She almost thought she would have to hit herself in the chest bofore her heart would beat again. But finally, she felt her heart pounding in her chest, and her soul screamed a single word: 'Misunderstood.' Misunderstood...She had never hated that word so much. Silence rose again, and it made tension grow between the two. Tenten finally looked back up at Neji, and tried her hardest to smile, even though she felt like she could drown in her tears.
"Who says I hate you?"
"I just know," Neji said, still sounding emotionless, and still looking at the ground. "You give me the look of death if I even turn my head to you. You ignore me all the time." He was silent again for a moment, until the tears began to fall from his eyes. He looked up at her, and Tenten saw the pain he was going through right then. "Shall I continue?"
Tenten turned her gaze away. "No." She tried her hardest to hold the tears back. She acted like she didn't want to cry at all. But her voice gave away the want to cry, as it was small and scared. She felt like she was going to choke right then. She was almost wishing her voice was gone, so she wouldn't have to answer him. She finally spoke again. "But you act like you don't want anyone to have anything to do with you at all."
"Don't you get it?" Neji asked, tears still falling from his jewel-like eyes. "All I want is for someone to have something to do with me. All I want is for someone to care about me. No one has ever cared about me before."
Tenten was screaming in her mind. She wanted to scream everything from her heart. All the love she felt for him. All the pain she felt because of his pain. She wanted to tell him that she cared about him more than life itself. But she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. It was too hard. She mananged another question:
"What about Hinata and Hanabi? And Hiashi?"
The tears came faster from Neji's eyes. "Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama are scared of me. And..." He closed his eyes for a moment, as though the thought of them scared him, then opened them again. "And Hiashi-sama hates me." Neji fell silent.
Tenten wanted to hold him in her arms so badly right then. To kiss him and tell him that it would be okay, and that she cared about him so much.
Suddenly, Neji reached behind his head and untied his headband, then the bandages around his head. What is he doing? Tenten wondered. He pulled them off, stood up, then turned to face Tenten.
Now, she really, really wanted to cry.
There, on Neji's forehead, was the curse mark of the Hyuga Clan. The green X and lines shape...That was the curse mark that caused it's wearer so much pain. That's what she had heard. "If Hiashi-sama cared about me," Neji said, then stopped for a moment, then almost screamed, "Then why would he give me this pain and burden I must carry for the rest of my life?" He fell to his knees, and cried harder than before.
Tenten couldn't say anything. She didn't really feel anything right then, besides the pity eating away at her soul. He, like her, really was misunderstood.
Neji...Tenten was close to really slapping herself. Does he really think no one cares about him? That no one loves him? Really...He shouldn't think that...He's wrong...
Because you have no idea, Neji...How much I love you...
Before Tenten had any idea what she was doing, she stood up and walked over to Neji, before sitting down next to him. She watched him cry for a moment, and then whispered his name. He looked up at her with sorrowful eyes and tears still running down his cheeks. Tenten lifted her hand to Neji's face, which felt ice-cold . She wiped away the tears, and Neji's eyes widened again. Tenten kept her gaze away from Neji's, and she smiled gently.
The time to let you know...Because it's now or never...
Tenten quickly kissed Neji's forehead, right where the curse mark was. The second her lips touched his skin, she felt the pain, too, and hated that curse mark as much as he did. She then put her arms around Neji's neck and layed her head on his shoulder, buring her face into it and hiding the tears falling from her eyes. She didn't even care what he thought of her right then.
Neji was completley shocked. The warm feeling of love kept running through him, setting his soul on fire. Making his heart cry out, trying to tell her now much he needed her.
There's no way...He wondered. There's no way that she...That Tenten likes me that way...But it's now or never...She has to know, I have to let her know...
Neji had tried to deny it so many times, but in his mind, he said it proudly...
I love you, Tenten...
Neji put his arms around Tenten's waist, and she almost instantly looked up with tear-filled eyes. Their gazes locked. For the first time, when their chocolate and whitish gazes met, and they didn't even deny the feeling that was making their hearts pound. After what seemed to be years, Neji closed his eyes, breaking the gazes apart. He quickly kissed Tenten's cheek, and pulled her closer to him. He didn't even care what she thought of him right then.
He held her like that for a long time, never wanting to let her go. Tenten didn't want him to let her go. That was the best moment either one could ever remember right then. Tenten would occasionally lean up and kiss Neji's cheek. Then, Neji reached up and untied the ribbons that were holding Tenten's hair into the small puff-like style. It hair fell down a little past her shoulders, and Neji began to run his fingers through her hair.
"Tenten..." Neji whispered after a while. "What...Is this feeling?..."
Tenten smiled. "What feeling?" She was happy that Neji was being so nice to her right then, but she was scared of what feeling he could be asking about. Maybe he's just being nice to me to make me happy, Tenten guessed. And he really hates me...
"That warm feeling I feel whenever I'm around you," Neji said. "That feeling I get when I stare into your eyes, or see you smile. That feeling that got stronger the moment you kissed me. That feeling."
Did he really just say that? No way...
Tenten pulled away slightly, shocked. There's no way he feels that way about me...But knew she had to answer him. This, too, was her chance.
"That, Neji, is love, and that's exactly how I feel about you."
Before Neji had any time to react, Tenten leaned foward and pressed her lips to his, and kissed him deeply.
In that moment, the love feeling went from warmth to a burning fire of passion, and seared through their hearts and souls. They saw each others pain and suffering from the past. Neji saw a four-year-old Tenten, standing before the graves of her parents, as her home burned behind her. As the strange people surrounded her, and began yelling curses at her, and she began to cry. Tenten saw a four-year old Neji, crying in pain from the curse mark on his forehead. As Hiashi laughed at him. As Hinata tried to put on a sad act, but was really happy to see Neji in pain. But they only saw it. And for the first time in their lives, both of them couldn't feel that pain. They were truely happy.
They pulled away, and stared into each others eyes. Tenten's eyes sparkled like they were filled with tiny diamonds, and her smile was real. She put her hand on Neji's cheek again, and stroked it with her thumb. A moment later, she put her arms around his neck again, and layed her head on his shoulder. Neji smiled, also a real smile, and kept stroking her hair as he layed back on the ground, with Tenten's head resting on his chest.
By then, the sun had gone down, and the stars had risen into the dark sky, followed by a full moon. Fireflies shined all around the young couple. The two were once again silent for a while, staring at the beautiful scene. But the silence was broken again, this time by Tenten. "Neji?" she whispered.
"Yes?"
"No one would ever expect this from us," Tenten said. "Everyone thinks we really hate each other."
"Yeah..." Neji whispered. "But we are pretty unpredictable."
Tenten looked up at him and smiled. "I guess."
"But you know what we are, even more than unpredictable?" Neji asked.
"What?"
"Misunderstood."
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Table of Contents
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Story notes: This is my first story.
Chapter end notes: Yeah, that's it.
I know it's from both POVs at first, then Tenten's, then Neji's, then both.
Just try to get over it.
I don't care if it was good or bad. I write by a quote:
"Write like no one is gonna read your words."
(Neji and Tenten walk in)
Neji: You made me look like a pathetic sap who's obsessed over Tenten!
(Me and Tenten stare at Neji)
Neji: Don't answer that.
Tenten: Ooooookay...Weird.
Me: So, that's all folks!
The End