Tenten looked at her teammate Rock Lee, as he "ran" laps. His crutch clanking on the ground. He was determined, and he looked it. He was still training his heart out, even after they had told him he would never be able to become a ninja again. His dream was to make it, and show others that you could do whatever you put your mind to.

Neji, her other teammate thought it was inevitable. He was a believer in fate, and thought that your fate was decided at birth, what you would do, who you would marry, ect. He and Lee would fight, almost everyday, and Lee would always loose, but from the sidelines Tenten could bluntly see that Lee was getting better, and that one day he would catch up to Neji's standards.

However, today Neji would go too far. He was in a bad mood already, and seeing Lee trip and fall while running apparently angered him to the point of stepping on the poor boy while Neji ran his laps. Tenten was running as well, and looked over to see Lee clutching his red and swollen fingers, Neji continued running like nothing ever happened.

"Neji!" Tenten yelled, "What the hell is your problem?"

Neji lazily looked up, "He won't become a ninja, he should just give up. I've told him before, it's useless," he blatantly said.

"You are a jerk Neji Hyuuga!" Tenten yelled, cheeks flushed. She hated it more than anything when Neji was like this, because neither she nor Lee could do a damn thing about it.

"Hn, shut up girl," Neji muttered.

Tenten noticeably stiffened, but still helped Lee up before taking what little dignity she had and walked away. She would not let Neji and his sexist remarks get to her. She would not, she was stronger than this. Dammit, who was she kidding?

Tenten slammed her front door and collapsed on the floor, sobbing. Why couldn't Neji just freaking notice that she cared about him and what he though of her more than anything else?

Luckily for her, her departure did have an effect on the cold hearted Hyuuga. He watched her leave in honest surprise, and turned to Lee when he realized that she wasn't coming back.

"I just can't get this right can I?" he asked rhetorically and shook his head. Lee sighed and tried his best to comfort his comrade, with no avail.

The next day, Lee and Sakura were the last to see Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji leave. Not knowing that four out of the five would come back in need of urgent medical attention.

Tenten was training by herself that evening, thinking it sheer luck that she had not run into Neji that day. When she was returning home early for some much needed rest, she saw Lee.

"Tenten! You must come with me!" he said, pulling her to the hospital. Before he even told her what was going on she had a guess. One that almost made her heart stop.

Neji.

Lee led her to the operating room that he was currently in. Tenten sat there, numb, in front of the door for a few minutes watching the green light flash to show that Neji was still not ok. Finally, a tear slipped, and she was silently crying in front of the door.

Lee looked over at his teammate and was crushed by what he saw. Tenten was absolutely terrified from the looks of it, and heartbroken on top of that. He tried to convince her to go home, and get some sleep, but she wouldn't even acknowledge his existence until she knew Neji was ok.

When all the medical nin came out, looking weary, but pleased, Tenten let a few more tears fall and left. She was done crying today.

The next day she had received news that Neji had left the hospital and that he was doing fine, and she remained quiet for the rest of the day, until about sunset. By then she was done training, and everyone else was eating dinner. So, she walked out by the bridge and sat down, letting her legs dangle over the edge.

A tear slipped and she quickly brushed it off, she felt so weak, crying over someone who made it painfully obvious that he didn't give a shit about her.

"Why?" she finally choked out. "How come I always have to cry? When is it going to be my turn to not get hurt?" she said aloud.

"Because girls are always hurt, they hurt until they find someone who makes sure they won't be hurt anymore,"

Tenten looked back to see Neji, wrapped in bandages and frankly looking like crap, but serious as ever. She stood up and looked him in the eye.

"Well then, oh genius, why the hell am I the only one without someone?" she asked.

"Your not, Sakura and Ino lost Sasuke, they're now alone too,"

"Yeah well Sakura's got Lee and Naruto, and Ino could probably get any damn guy she wants,"

"If you think pessimistically those worries will become true," Neji pointed out.

"God dammit Neji leave me alone! I should have taken your advice and shut up! Because all I am is a stupid girl, who's not even good at being that because girl's are supposed to be pretty and I obviously can't do that because no one wants me. No one really cares about me and obviously no one wants me not to hurt anymore!"

Neji stared in what looked like stunned silence. Then he hung his head.

Tenten looked at him genuinely confused, what the hell was he doing?

"I don't want you to hurt anymore," he mumbled.

"Don't make me laugh Neji," she said, "Just leave me alone,"

"I'm not being funny, and no," he said, raising his head and grabbing her arm. Pulling her over he gently kissed her. Tenten froze for a moment, then pushed him away.

"You can not start screwing with my head like this!" she yelled, her voice showing the fear she felt.

Neji did not reply, but pulled her back and kissed her again. This time he broke the kiss and held her close, holding her against him.

"I have no problem kissing you until you believe me," he whispered and felt her start crying.

Few more words were spoken, but true to his word, after that, Neji made sure that Tenten did not hurt anymore.