Tenten was walking to Ichiraku's to get some ramen when she saw Lee and Neji walking towards the shop too. "Lee! Neji! Are you going to get ramen, too?" she called.

Neji nodded, while Lee yelled "Kiba told me that I could find Sakura-chan here!" Before anyone could stop him, Lee barged into the shop. He froze suddenly in the doorway. Neji and Tenten looked in to see Sakura and Sasuke. This would have been fine, had Sakura not had Sasuke up against the wall with her tongue halfway down his throat.

A strangled sob burst from Lee's throat as he ran as fast as he could from the restaurant.

"Lee! Wait!" Tenten yelled as she ran after him.

Neji smacked Sakura across the head and joined the many people in the restaurant throwing Sakura dirty looks.

Tenten chased Lee to the training grounds. She figured that he would vent his emotions on one of the dummies. She was surprised when he slumped down next to the dummy and put his head in his hands. Approaching him from behind, she heard him making a strange sound. Her heard sank when she realized he was crying. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and did her best to envelop him in a hug.

Lee felt Tenten gently put her arms around him. He wiped his eyes and turned around to face her. Tenten held his head against her shoulder and stroked his hair gently. "It's okay, Lee." She whispered gently.

Lee shakily stood up and shook his head to clear it. He slowly wrapped his arms around Tenten's waist and buried his head in her hair, accidentally knocking one of the pins out of her hair. He watched, dazed as part of her hair fell loose around her shoulders. He slowly removed the rest of the pins, letting the rest of her hair fall.

"You should wear your hair down more often." he said, putting the pins in her pocket. Suddenly, he realized that it was getting dark. "You should be getting home. Your parents will go crazy."

"You're right." Tenten sighed, "The problem is, I don't want to go back. My parents won't shut up about Neji. They keep trying to get Hiashi to let them marry me off to him. They don't understand…" she trailed off.

"Don't understand what?" Lee asked, concerned.

"I don't like Neji." she admitted. "He's a good friend, but that's all. They make me keep my hair in these stupid buns so no other guys will notice me."

"It didn't work." Lee muttered.

"What?"

"Umm… The bun thing. I-It didn't really work…"Lee stumbled over himself for a second. Tenten gave him an annoyed glare. "Fine. The buns didn't work. Even I noticed that you're really beautiful." Lee blushed deeply.

"Lee…" Tenten muttered, "Thank you. That means so much to me." She pulled his head down to hers and pressed her lips gently against his.

Lee pulled her close as they kissed. He marveled at the softness in her lips. He felt Tenten's warm breath on his face as they broke away. He inhaled, taking in the sweet scent of her breath.

Tenten gasped as she realized what she had just done. She broke away from Lee and ran, tears streaming from her eyes. She felt horrible. Lee had just had his heart broken by Sakura, and she was kissing him!

Lee watched Tenten run, bewildered.

"Go get her. She feels bad about kissing you." A bored voice droned from behind Lee.

"How long have you been here, Shikamaru?" Lee asked

"If I tell you the whole time will you go already?" Shikamaru asked impatiently. "She's not getting any closer!"

"Shikamaru…. Thank you." Lee said, running after Tenten.

"Jiminy… I think Naruto has competition for Most Clueless." Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

Tenten was so upset that she forgot to pin her hair back up before she got home. She burst through the door and was about to run up to her room when she was stopped cold by a loud "Where do you think you're going?"

Tenten turned to face her father, who was standing by the door, obviously angry. "You missed dinner. And your hair! What are you doing with your hair down?"

Tenten tried to stay calm, but couldn't. This was the last straw." Dad, I'm a ninja! If you think I'm going to be home on time for dinner every night, you've got another thing coming! And I'm sick of wearing my hair up! Face it, Neji doesn't want me, and I don't want him!"

"I don't care if you want him, you're marrying him!" her father yelled angrily.

Tenten screamed in frustration. "You are the ONLY ONE that wants that marriage, and you know it! You make me wear my hair in these stupid buns because you don't want another guy noticing me!" she shoved her face right in his, "Well, you FAILED! I'm not marrying Neji! Lee loves me, and I don't care what you say, I love him b-"Tenten recoiled as her father smacked her across the face.

"How DARE you speak to me like that you ungrateful little b-"Tenten flinched as her father raised his hand again.

Tenten looked up suddenly when she heard wood splinter. Her eyes widened as she saw a bandaged hand wrapped around her father's neck. The rest of the door shattered to show that Lee was attached to the arm, snarling murderously at her father.

"Let's make something perfectly clear." he growled, pinning him to the wall," I don't care who you are, NOBODY hurts Tenten. NOBODY makes Tenten cry like you have. And NOBODY, NOBODY hits Tenten!" He yelled in her father's face, leaking enough killing intent that Tenten's father had to fight to stay conscious. "Am I clear?" he snarled, quieter. When Tenten's father tried to pull away from him, Lee grabbed his hair and turned him to face him again. "I asked you a question. AM. I. CLEAR?" he screamed. Tenten had to cover her ears to protect herself from the overwhelming rage in his voice.

Tenten's father nodded weakly, and Lee threw him aside like a doll. Lee bent down next to Tenten, gently touching her cheek with his hand, all killing intent gone. "Tenten" he whispered, his voice infinitely softer, "Are you all right?" She nodded slowly. He carefully lifted her in his arms and carried her out the door. Soon, they were jumping across the village's rooftops.

"Since you never ate dinner, we'll go to my place. Later, I'll get Neji and Kiba to go with me to get your stuff." He muttered into her ear.

"Stuff?" Tenten looked up at Lee quizzically.

"Do you think I'm going to let you go back there after that? I'm going to ask Hinata if you can stay in the Hyuuga complex." Lee explained.

"Lee…"Tenten muttered, "Thank you" she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his chest.

Lee kissed her on the forehead and continued running in silence.