SN

Sasuke jerks back, almost tumbling off the stairs backwards, and flinches away from the figure in the doorway, silhouetted against the light spilling out. For a frozen moment, while Sasuke’s eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, nobody moves. And then the figure speaks.

“Tenten. Gai wants to see you.” Neji’s voice sends ice water coursing through Sasuke’s veins. “Something about your props.” His tone is frosty, to say the least. He sounds furious.

Tenten hears it too. “I’m coming, hold on.” She scrambles to her feet, shoves her hair behind her ear, snatches her phone out of the bush, and pauses to stretch out a hand to Sasuke. “Come on.”

Sasuke gratefully accepts her proffered hand, glad to have something to focus on besides Neji, whose gaze is boring a hole into his forehead. “Thanks.”

“I gotta go.” Tenten jerks her head towards Neji. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Tenten is looking at him expectantly, and for a moment Sasuke blanches. Does she want me to kiss her back…?

“Um. Can I have my hand back, please?” Tenten raises her eyebrows, and Sasuke realizes that he’s still gripping her hand.

“Oh. Sorry.” He quickly releases her hand and blushes. Good thing it’s dark. He turns away into the darkness as Tenten’s footsteps recede and the door clicks shut, and only when he’s sure she’s gone does he release the breath he’s been holding since Neji had opened the door.

“Sasuke.” Sasuke nearly leaps out of his skin. Neji’s soft footfalls in the darkness had been hidden by his own heartbeat roaring in his ears, and now the Hyuga boy is standing right next to him. “Just what, exactly, were you doing out here?”

“Um, what?” Neji is so close to Sasuke he’s practically on top of him. Weirded out, Sasuke takes a step back. “Did I… do something wrong?”

Neji is scowling. No, scratch that, he’s glowering. “Nothing at all,” he spits, and flicks his hair over his shoulder, somehow managing to make the simple gesture look menacing. “Whoever Tenten chooses to hook up with is none of my business.”

It takes Sasuke a moment to process that. Then it takes him another moment to reprocess it. “Wh-- you-- I j-- I di-- wh-- what?”

“Forget it. Forget all of it.” Neji turns away slightly. “I don’t care if Tenten -- just forget it. It doesn’t matter.” He draws in a deep, shuddering breath, and Sasuke sees his hands clench. And then -- only then, seeing the taunt strain of muscles in the pale inside of his wrist, standing there in the dark next to this boy -- then he realizes.

Sasuke is an idiot.

“Neji,” he says hurriedly, and reaches out to touch the boy’s shoulder. Neji flinches away, and Sasuke shrinks back in response but keeps talking. “I’m sorry -- I think there was a misunderstanding. I don’t -- I mean, Tenten and I -- we’re not dating.” Neji’s hiss of breath is audible, but Sasuke plows forward. “I wouldn’t do that. I --” his breath catches in his throat, and his voice cracks a little, for some reason “-- I know you care for her. I know you, um, know her better than I ever could. She deserves someone like you. I wouldn’t want to get in the way between you two.”

A silence ensues, one that rivals the silence of the vacuum of space. Sasuke is pretty sure Neji isn’t breathing. Should I not have said it like that? he wonders. Should I have not told him that -- that I understand he likes Tenten? Should I have told him that she’s a lesbian?

“Sasuke.” Neji’s voice is ragged and raw, like he’s been screaming. “Please. Leave.”

Sasuke blinks and takes a step back as the words and his accompanying emotions hit him. “Oh. Okay.” His heart feels like it’s being wrung out in his chest. Stop it, he tells himself. He just needs to be alone right now. Sasuke takes another step back and reaches for the door, but pauses. “Sorry,” he says in a small voice, for the third time that night, and steps back inside, leaving Neji standing like a statue and staring off into the dark.

. . .

The next morning, Sasuke finds a singular note in his locker. He’s exhausted, half-asleep on his feet after a long night spent lying awake in bed, replaying his conversations with Neji and Tenten over and over in his head, and he almost tosses it in the trash like every other note he’s received, but the memory of his conversation with Sakura the day before makes him pause.

The note is small and folded into a square, unlike the usual elaborate heart origami they usually arrive in. For a moment Sasuke wonders if it’s from Neji. Yeah, right, he thinks, and unfolds it.

I doubt you’ve been reading all of these notes, the note says, in carefully loopy cursive. but this is the last one. I’ll explain that you’re not interested. You don’t deserve him, anyway.

Sasuke reads the note over three times, but he’s still puzzled. Sakura certainly must’ve left this in his locker, but he can’t make head nor tail of it. Who was she explaining to? Who was this “he?”

With a sigh, Sasuke crumples the note and tosses it in the trash bin at the end of the hall. It’s probably just some stupid miscommunication. If Sakura decides to confront me again, I’ll just explain that she’s mixed up. With this decision, Sasuke marches off to class, and succeeds in shoving the strange case of the notes out of his mind altogether.

. . .

That afternoon, Sasuke automatically migrates to the table in the cafeteria where he’s been sitting with Naruto. Only when he’s sitting, and Naruto is going into details about the test he failed during third period (“It was like she made the questions on purpose to trick us! And we didn’t even, like, learn half that stuff!”), does Sasuke realize what he’s done. When did he stop wanting to be alone? What happened to lunch in the hallway, avoiding everyone else?

“Hey.” Gaara slides into the seat next to Naruto and begins to unpack his lunch. “Are you two still coming over after school today to work?”

“Yeah, sure.” Naruto slurps up a noodle. “Are you coming, Sasuke?”

“I guess.” Sasuke is distracted by the bobbing Mickey-Mouse buns he’s suddenly spotted in the cafeteria’s crowd.

“Oh yeah.” Naruto frowns. “Sakura’s been acting weird lately. I’m not sure where she’s been eating lunch. Did either of you two seen her today?”

Before either of them can respond, Tenten plunks down next to Sasuke, and Lee slides into the seat next to Gaara (Sasuke doesn’t miss the way his ears go red as he sits).

“Hey guys, thanks for showing up to the rehearsal yesterday.” Tenten grins at each of the boys in turn, but her eyes linger a little longer on Sasuke, and -- is it his imagination? -- her cheeks are a soft pink. “That was really nice of you.”

“It was no problem.” Naruto has a strange look on his face as he answers Tenten, almost like he’s frowning at her. “You were all, um, pretty good.”

“That is kind of you to say, but,” Lee sighs deeply, “we still have much to work on. Though my marvelous friends Tenten and Neji were quite magnificent. Would you like to attend our next practice?” He brightens visibly at the prospect, and glances shyly at Gaara.

Sasuke grips the edge of the table and tries to swallow around the sudden lump in his throat. “Where’s Neji? You two aren’t eating lunch with him?” He tries to sound casual, but his voice comes out a little hoarse.

Tenten rolls her eyes. “He’s been avoiding us all day, for some reason. Well, avoiding me.” She shoots an accusing look at Lee. “You two were chatting it up outside Chem class, but when I showed up, Neji took off like he’d seen a ghost.” She cuts her gaze to Sasuke. “What did you guys talk about last night?” she asks, softly, in a way that makes Sasuke think she doesn’t want to know the answer.

“Nothing.” Sasuke looks down at the table and focuses on his lunch. He can feel Tenten’s gaze, but he stays silent. He can’t tell her that Neji has a crush on her. It would ruin their friendship -- and break Neji’s heart. Break his heart. Sasuke clenches his hands into fists and tries not to grit his teeth in anger. This is so stupid. Why’d Neji have to go and fall for her?

“Ahem.” Gaara interrupts the silence by clearing his throat. “Lee. I’d love to go to your practices. Maybe sometime next week? We have to work on a writing project this week after school.”

“Yes!” Lee grins and scoots a little closer to Gaara. “That would be wonderful! Right, Tenten? I’m certain that you and Neji will put aside your problems to give the musical one hundred and ten percent!” He pumps his fist and nods vigorously.

Naruto slurps up a mouthful of noodles. “How do you have the time to do all this stuff, Bushy Brows? The musical and all that random training after school and your homework too?”

“Simple! I do my homework in the bathroom between classes!”

“Seriously? Why don’t you just do it at night?”

“A good night’s sleep is vital to a healthy body and mind!”

As the two of them begin an argument about the amount of sleep necessary for a day of school, Sasuke glances up and catches Tenten’s eye. She quirks an eyebrow at him. Can I talk to you alone? she mouths.

Sasuke shrugs. She squints at him, and he sighs. Later, he mouths back.

When? Tenten holds up her hands, palms up.

After school. By the library. Sasuke gestures, and Tenten nods. With a sigh of relief, he glances at the others to see if they noticed the nonverbal conversation, and finds Gaara staring at him. The redhead quickly looks away, but Sasuke sees the way he bites his lip and flicks his eyes to Tenten.

Sasuke huffs and returns to his food, tuning into Naruto and Lee’s conversation (which is now, inexplicably, about pork cutlet bowls). This is too much drama to deal with. No wonder he usually eats alone.