A bet on Love

21 | From the bottom of my Heart

"What do you want?" Tenten sulked at her phone as she lay lazily on her bed, eyes still heavy with sleep. It was currently 6:11 in the morning and like always, Neji Hyūga never knew the right time to call someone.

"Um... did I wake you?" She felt a vein pop at the side of her head and her fist tightened. Seriously?

"Look at your phone screen and tell me the time Hyūga." Neji pursed his lips as he eyed the bold numbering at the top of his phone screen. "No, you didn't wake me up because I was too busy forgetting something that happened ages ago in my life. What do you want?" She heard him heave out a sigh on the other end of the line and she rolled her eyes.

"Are you free today? I could use a sparring partner?" His sentence came out more like a question than a statement, making him cringe about how unsure and vulnerable he sounded.

"What a brilliant way to relieve stress. Sure, count me in, but this means nothing Hyūga." And the call ended.

She was back to using last names.

-

Tenten gazed at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. What am I doing? What was I thinking? "Tenten you stupid stupid rat what were you thinking?!" She hissed, hitting her head, "Why did I answer the call in the first place? And agreed to meet up. Why did I bring that up?! Ugh! What is wrong with me?!"

-

"Alright, let's get this over with. I have things to do." The brunette took a fighting stance, glaring into the pupilless eyes of the Hyūga across her, a calm and unfazed look masking her face. With a low breath, Neji latched at her with a closed fist. She changed her stance to defensive, blocking his attack and directing it to her side with the palm of her hand then countered with her own punch which he blocked.

She let out a low breath, regulating her breathing, then went in for another blow, then another, and another with him blocking each and every one of them. She caught the smug look that flashed across his face for a split second as he went in for his attack. Clicking her tongue, she dropped to the floor then, with her dominant leg, spun round, tripping the Hyūga over. He fell but unsurprisingly bounced back into a defensive posture.

She leapt into the air and with force, fell back with her right leg up, ready to knock him unconscious. He barely blocked the attack as his arms shook under the intense pressure of her kick. "You were lucky," she clicked her tongue, doing a backflip that created space between them.

"What's wrong?" The Hyūga questioned as he offered blow after blow at the brunette, watching her blocking rate slow down, "You seem tired," he smirked. Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Oh no! I was just using half of my might forgetting scenarios that I was not supposed to be in. Sorry if I was slacking off," she answered sarcastically, wiping the smirk off the Hyūga's face. "Why don't you focus on yourself instead of worrying about other people's feelings? Cuz last time I checked, you were brilliant at that."

Neji frowned as he flapped her attack away, countering with his but at the rate they were going, there was no certainty of who was going to win.

-

Momona stared at her supposed master as she fixed her 'disguise' that looked nothing like a disguise at all. The bluenette wore a lavender scarf over her head with a black face mask and blue contact lenses to hide her Hyūga features. She wore a white woollen turtleneck jumper with black leggings and sat at the doorstep, fixing her boots on.

"Hinata-sama," the brunette started, glancing around the empty house, "I don't think this is a good idea. And for someone whose forte is impersonation, these disguises are rubbish. No offence," she balanced the black sunglasses on her eyes and stuffed her hands in her coat pocket, "I mean who needs sunglasses in winter?" She whispered to herself but her words to the bluenette were like water poured on rock.