Heading down a long alleyway at three o'clock in the morning obviously wasn't a good idea. But she was tired. Her night job worked her into the late hours; her morning job woke her up early. So she took the shortcut home.

"Hello beautiful, aren't you out a little late?" She turned around. A man in his early thirties stood next to a boy around her age. They both had chestnut colored hair and pale pupilless eyes. It was obvious that the man had spoken. The boy looked uninterested and was staring off into space. She snorted and then turned around and walked away. The man appeared in front of her. Not surprised that they followed her, she grimaced and stepped back into a defensive stance.

"So the girl wants to fight. I hope she knows who she's dealing with." He smirked. She said nothing only nodded. "Alright then, Neji." He beckoned the boy over.

"Come on Hiashi-." She yawned. She was tired. This was getting annoying. Neji growled. "Fine, the girl will learn." She rolled her eyes.

"Neji…" Hiashi said warningly.

"What?" He snapped. Hiashi shook his head.

"…Never mind." Neji stepped beck into the well known Hyuuga stance. He glared at her. She sighed; this was going to be a long night. He moved forward. She stepped to the side. He threw her a well aimed left hook. She leaned back, bending her knees and watched the punch fly past where her face was moments ago. His eyes widened and he retreated a couple of steps. She straitened and backed away. He threw her a couple of punches; she successfully blocked most of them. But what she didn't catch was a kick to her stomach. She doubled over and he hit her in the face. She flew back. She got back up and glared at the oncoming Hyuuga. He faked a punch to her face and hit her in the abdomen. She gasped when she hit the wall behind her as the breath was knocked out of her lungs. She fell to the ground. He smirked and turned around, walking away. Hiashi shook his head and sighed.

"What?" Neji snapped.

"Nothing."

They stopped behind a building. Neji turned to Hiashi.

"Why are we stopping?" His voice was cold. Hiashi turned and pointed to the girl they just left. She still sat there, looking at the ground.

"What about her?" Hiashi sighed.

"Watch." Neji turned to look at her. She got up and walked towards her home. She didn't even wobble.

"She-She could have gotten up and fought." Neji stammered. He turned to Hiashi. "Why didn't she Uncle?"

"I don't know." He stated matter-of-factly. "Just thought she might interest you." Neji snorted.

"Whatever."

When she finally reached her home, she threw her bag down and kicked off her shoes. She read the note on the table.

'wake me up. You were late. R u ok?' she sighed and went to the bathroom. She cleaned all of the blood off of her self. Then she quickly ran a brush through her hair. She brushed her teeth and then walked into the room next door. She smiled at the sleeping boy in the bed.

"Romoko…" She shook his shoulder, his eyes opened.

"Tenny… What happened? You came home late."

"Nothing. Kiba just kept me late at work again." He nodded slightly and closed his eyes. "Goodnight Moko."

She got up and went into the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and sat down. She looked out the window. The stars were clear tonight. She coughed. She drank a sip of the water and then coughed again. She dropped her glass and it shattered as she gripped her side. She coughed harder and blood splattered over the floor as she fell out of her chair coughing.

"Tenten!" She heard Romoko come into the kitchen. He knelt down beside her and handed her a rag. She covered her mouth and continuously coughed up blood. He looked away sadly. Third time this week, she needed to go to the Hospital.

"Tenny…"

"No(cough). We can't afford(cough)it." Tears pricked his eyes. She stopped coughing and he wordlessly got up and got her a glass of water. He didn't want to have this argument again. After she got herself situated she cleaned up the blood and told him to go to bed and forget about it. He did. There wasn't much else he could do.

She got up at the annoying ring of her alarm clock. Forcing herself to get up, she quickly got ready and gave Romoko a kiss and left him money for meals. She rushed out the door realizing she was late. Pushing herself, she got to the flower shop in record time. She sneaked in the back door, making sure not to be seen by the shops owner, Mr. Yamanaka.

"TENTEN!" She flinched as she heard his deep voice. "THAT'S IT! I'M SICK OF YOU BEING LATE! YOUR FIRED!" She gasped and turned around.

"But..." He cut her off.

"NO BUTTS. OUT. NOW!" She sighed and left, heading home. She stared sadly at the ground. When she reached her house she groaned. The landlady, Karin, stood at her doorstep.

"Tenten." She growled angrily, waving a bunch of envelopes at her. "Three weeks now? When are you going to pay these?"

"I'm sorry Karin, I –." Karin shook her head.

"No, I don't want your apologies, I want you and your brother out of here. You have until tonight." She walked away. Tenten sighed. She opened the door and walked strait into Romoko's room. She reached under his bed and pulled out a backpack full of his extra clothes and an extra toothbrush. She picked up the phone. Tears pricked her eyes as she called the number taped to the back of the phone.

"Hello? May I speak to Sakura Uchiha please?"

"This is she, may I ask who is speaking?"

"Sakura, its Tenten."

"…oh…Tenten, I'm so sorry, I-I'll be right there." She hung up and headed into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass of whisky. There was a knock at the door.

"Come on in." Her voice sounded strangled. The door opened softly, Sakura walked in.

"I'm sorry Tenten, I really am." She downed the glass.

"It's ok, are you sure Sasuke's ok with this?" Sakura nodded. Tenten mumbled a thanks. They got into Sakura's car and drove to Romoko's school. They walked in and Tenten asked the secretary for Romoko. A few moments later, Romoko stood in the door way, his eyes wide.

"Tenny?" She wiped the tears away from her eyes. She held out the backpack, he walked forward and took it, staring solemnly at it.

"I understand." He whispered. He hugged her. "Good bye Tenny." Tears streamed down her face.

"Goodbye Romoko."

"Tenny, do you-?"

"We talked about this Romoko, I can't." His head turned away from her.

"Your running away."

"No, I'm facing my problems and leaving you out of them. Goodbye." She whispered. He walked over to Sakura and took her hand. Sakura looked at her sadly. She rushed over to Tenten and hugged her tightly.

"Good luck." Tenten nodded. Sakura led Romoko to her car. Then she turned around.

"Do you need a ride?" She shook her head. She watched them leave. She headed towards her second job, Kiba's bar. She saw him sitting outside the building. He was leaned up against the door. The bar was closed.

"Kiba…?"He looked up at her sadly.

"I'm sorry Tenten, I really am. I tried, but they took it away from me." She felt her frustration build up inside of her. She clenched her fists and then punched the wall, leaving a good mark. Kiba looked up at her.

"Nice hook you got, I might not have a place for you to work at, but I can get you money." She looked at him questioningly. "There's a fight-hear me out- a fight club down town near the clubs and they pay good money for good fighters."

"I would manage you, if you wanted me to of course. Oh but wait, they only let the guys fight. Sorry."

She smirked.

"I can take care of that." He brightened.

"Really?" she nodded. "Ok, meet me here in, like, half an hour good?" She nodded.

She walked into the alley way, dressed in baggy clothes and her breasts were bandaged to her chest. She had a hat and stuffed her long brown hair into it, leaving out only her bangs. She spotted Kiba approaching her cautiously.

"Kiba…" She started in a deep voice, actually convincing him she was a guy as he walked away. She changed her tone. "Kiba!" her whirled around and stared at her.

"Tenten? Oh god, that's an awesome outfit, didn't even recognize you." She smirked. He walked into the alley way, with her in tow. About fifteen minutes later they reached a club. He smirked and showed a guard an I.D. and Tenten showed him her new fake one Kiba got her. He nodded and let them in. They walked past the dance floor and headed to the back of the club. He opened a door and led her down a flight of stairs. She heard the fighting before she saw it. And when she saw it she stepped back in surprise. She hadn't even known about this. She quickly composed herself and followed Kiba through the crowd.

He led her to a stand with a clipboard and signed his name on it. She signed her name as Mokino Uzimaki under his. He chuckled.

"Naruto's your cousin isn't he." She nodded. "Yeah, I thought so, the Uzimaki's have fighter blood in them." She sighed.

"You'll be called up soon, there weren't many contestants today, maybe you'll even get to fight the champ."

"Who's that?" He smirked.

"Hyuuga, Neji. Hyuuga, Hiashi's nephew." She stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed. He was the one who caused all of this. Kiba stopped.

"Oh sorry, forgot." Then he chuckled. "You'll get your revenge then wouldn't you." She grimaced.

"Oh, your up! Against Shikamaru Nara, the laziest fighter they've got, but he's smart so watch out." She nodded and stepped up onto the ring. The Nara dude looked no older than her. He slouched and his head was thrown back in a bored way. He smirked when he saw her, chuckling slightly.

"Another rookie, Kiba?" Kiba ignored the comment.

"Good luck Mokino." He said. She nodded.

"Alright… begin." The announcer said. Shikamaru stepped into his stance, and she leaned back into hers. He threw her a kick and she jumped out of the way, returning with a couple of punches of her own. She hit about two and he threw his fist into her face. It buster her lip. She backed away for a second, catching her breath.

"Troublesome…" he mumbled. Her eyes narrowed and she threw a flurry of quick punches at him and she hit him in some of his pressure points. He wobbled before his legs gave out and he collapsed.

"Damn…Troublesome women." He breathed as he sat himself up, supporting himself with one arm. He wiped blood away from his mouth on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Good fight though."

"Huh?" she straitened. He nodded.

"I quit, to troublesome, and I'm tired." She rolled her eyes.

"See you around rookie," he turned to Kiba. "You got yourself a strong kid, train him well." Kiba grinned and nodded.

After fighting a few more people, Shino, Rock Lee(creepy kid), and Gai(creepy guy). She sat next to Kiba, panting. She greedily drank the water that he gave her. Still panting, she clutched her chest.

"Are you ok?" she shook her head. She started coughing. Kiba's eyes widened. He handed her a napkin.

"Tenten what's going on?!" He freaked and she shook her head, patting him on the shoulder in an attempt to calm him down as her coughing fit continued. He stopped freaking but was still worried. He handed her a glass of water. She downed it quickly, clearing the flavor of blood from her mouth.

"Tenten, how long?" he asked, looking away.

"Three months." He jerked his head towards her.

"THREE MONTHS!" His eyes were burning. "Damn it Tenten! You could have died!" she put a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up." He narrowed his eyes and pulled her hand away.

"No Tenten were going to take you to the Hospital, now." She shook her head.

"No, Kiba… please, I don't have the money."

"I don't care! We'll get you a loan and then you will go-." She cut him off.

"Go were?! I lost the apartment, I lost my job. Kiba, I lost Romoko." Kiba's eyes widened.

"Tenten, you need to get help." She looked away. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Next, our champ, Hyuuga, Neji against rookie Mokino Uzimaki." She got up. Kiba pulled her down.

"No!" she pulled away.

"Yes!" she quickly entered the rink before Kiba could stop her. She stood across from the famous Hyuuga. He smirked. She grimaced as pain ran through her side. His smirk faded as if he read her mind. She swallowed her cough as she tasted blood. His eyes narrowed.

"You can't fight in that condition." He murmured loud enough for only her to hear. She glared at him.

"Watch me." She hissed. He leaned back into his stance and she copied him. He kicked her in the chest, knocking the breath out of her lungs as she skidded back slightly. She recovered quickly and shot him a couple of punches. She grazed his jaw, but it was all she needed. He reeled back from the impact. He growled throwing her quick punches and a couple of kicks. Again, blocking most, not all, she wiped the blood away from a cut on her lip. He threw her a right hook. Avoiding it in the same manner she did when they first met. His eyes widened as only one thought crossed his mind.

'no…not her. 'He missed a kick to his chest and he flew back. She stared at him from the other end of the rink. Her familiar chocolate orbs glaring at him. It was devastating to watch her whole world dissolve around her in one day, and then to be diminished to a fighting tool. He did this for fun. She did it to survive. He saw her hatred for him clear as day in her eyes. He looked away, ashamed. He didn't get up. He fell back and let his head hit the ground, Hiashi would kill him for giving up. But then remembering what he had said, though, maybe not.

She sighed in both annoyance and relief. She walked to Kiba who wordlessly handed her a drink.

He spotted her in the alley way. He followed her to her supposed destination. The park. She sat on the swing, rocking back and forth softly. He sat down in the swing next to her, facing the opposite way. She didn't give any sign that she noticed him.

"What's your real name." He asked.

"Tenten." She whispered, not moving.

"You need to go to the hospital."

"I know." He waited, but she didn't move. He just barely noticed the tears streaming down her face before he looked away.

"What's wrong?" Stupid question, he thought.

"Everything."

"I meant at the moment." She didn't answer for a moment. He got up and turned to face her, she did not move. He looked into her watery eyes. Fear was the overpowering emotion. He gave her a questioning look.

"I-I can't move." She stumbled over her words as more tears streamed down her face. With her muscles not working, she fell into his outstretched arms. Fear filled his mind as he stared down t the dying beauty in his arms.

"I-I'm sorry." He whispered. He stood up gently and carried her to the nearest house, pounding loudly. Sasuke Uchiha opened the door. He quickly moved out of his way and Neji laid her down on his couch. He turned to the older boy.

"Call an ambulance, hurry!" Sasuke nodded and rushed to the other side of the room. He picked up the phone and quickly called the hospital. Neji returned his focus to Tenten. She stared at him with scared eyes. He stroked her cheek.

"It's going to be ok, I promise." He whispered reassuringly. She bit her lip and nodded slightly. He didn't turn away when Sasuke spoke.

"There on there way now. Do I really want to …?" Neji shook his head.

"Where's Romoko?" her weak voice barely reached the Uchiha's ears.

"With Sakura, and the lawyer. There going over the adoption papers. You don't want me to tell him about this incident do you?"

"No, and Sasuke, thanks, for both taking him in and now." He nodded. Neji looked at her questioningly.

"Who's Romoko?"

"My brother."