Rule 5: Absolutely, NO NINJA FRIENDS

Author's Note: My name is Anieca Sophistica [Girl of Light Writer] and this is my story. Never intended to be published but turned into a good story that you might like I hope you'll enjoy it. I hope you'll read my other pieces too. There won't be another of these until the end [of the entire story :) ] :D. Also, if you email me to update then I'll update. If not, I can forget for a while. Enjoy!

Also Also, this chapter does not really start the story. It's more of a necessary intro. Such why it isn't considered a chapter, same goes for the last chapter. Read chapter 1 for a true feel for the story.

Intro: My Ninja Friend

A 8 year old little boy sat alone in the middle of a clearing, far from where everyone else was. He had pale lavender eyes, with no pupils. He was meditating. He did not like his family, especially his uncle. His uncle was the cause of his father's death. His mother had died when he was much younger, Neji could only remember her soft brown eyes. He was all alone in the world, left to his own work and training. All he knew was it was his destiny to protect his cousin, Hinata. He would because that was what kept him alive. The rest, the rest was all his own. He would be stronger and show them the mistake they had made having put him in the cage, under the cursed seal.

"Hi!" Neji was started out of his revere and fell backwards.

Neji stood up and took his stance. His father taught him some things, now was the time. He activated his byakugan and searched, the cause of the sound was no where to be found.

"You're weird!" He jumped back and deactivated his byakugan. It was a girl in a light pink top and khaki shorts. She had brown hair made into two messy balls on her head. "You do have pretty eyes."

He had to say her eyes were the same, they were a deep chocolate brown. They reminded him of his mother's. They had the same kindness in them. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"You're in MY backyard, why are you here?" Neji looked around and found that the, while training and practicing had strayed from his normal grounds.

Neji huffed and turned to walk away, back to his grounds. She put her hand on his shoulder to stop him but as a reflex he turned around to hit her, she ducked. "Wow, are you in training too?"

Too, that implied she was as well. How odd. He did not say a word. "Can you talk?" He huffed again. She made funny expressions, twitching her nose. "You're weird." He continued to walk when she stepped in front of him. "Don't go, talk to me, if you can. Please?" Her face pleaded with him, her eyes made it impossible to say no.

"Neji," he huffed, crossing his arms.

"I'll take that as your name. I'm Tenten. I haven't ever talked to anyone who was training too. What's your specialty? Tai-Jutsu?" Neji huffed. She sighed. "That's a no then… ninjutsu?" He said nothing. "Probably some combination of both, judging from your reflexes and looks."

He was growing tired of her company. "Bye," he mumbled and walked off. She sighed, he wasn't good company anyway. She could do better.

Days turned to months and years and he never saw the girl again. The next time he was practicing 64 palms when a birrage of shuriken and kunai came at him. He tried to deflect them but they were from all angles and he wasn't fast enough. He got one stabbed in his back.

"I am sooo sorry." A girl about 10 landed on the ground in front of you. "I wanted to see how you'd react. I've watched you a few times, normally you don't notice me. I decided to attack. You're not as good as I thought, oddly enough. I heard you were a prodigy."

"I am," Neji answered, arms crossed and very hostile.

"I doubt it, you were slow and you got hurt. There has to be some smarter way." She said. She walked up to him and pulled the kunai out of his back, thankfully it didn't do much damage. "You're lucky, I never miss but this one, this one missed." He had not seen that one, he could see all the others and dodged or deflected them. He hadn't seen that one but thankfully he had moved or she wouldn't have missed his spine. She pulled out a bag from a scroll and bandages came out. He thought it was interesting.

"I'll take care of it." She did, careful and gentle she bandaged him up. "Sorry, bye." Tenten walked away. She had just wanted to talk to him. That was a bad impression of her.

"Stop," he told her in a commanding voice.

"What?" She asked.

"Tenten right?"

"Yeah," he responded.

"Train with me," he said in a commanding voice.

She thought for a few seconds. "All right," that is how it started.

They would train often and hard. They relied on each other to get stronger, to make everything better. They became friends as he opened up to her about his family and life. She shared her own story of being left without a family. They both had no one, no one but each other. Training was an escape from the loneliness and it pushed them to new places and strengths.

9 years later she still trained with Neji everyday and even though their world was bigger and they were less alone, they still saw each other as friends, allies, and the only one the could ever truly trust. They knew the other's secrets well and understood everything about them. It was chance that put them on the same team to continue to grow closer.

He hadn't just decided to open up to her, she had dragged it out of him. He felt relieved for his pain to be understood, to be shared. It felt better than it was not held inside of him. Festering into a hate that distracted him. He knew that she would not hurt him emotionally, she was the only one he had trusted, the only one he ever would.

Loosing her would have been like loosing a piece of himself. He would be alone once more. He had been alone and he did not like it. Meditating hours away trying to remain calm about the horrible things that he had suffered. Having to watch Hinata train and shown techniques that he had to figure out on his own.

He had grown strong through his own intelligence, effort and strength. No one had been there for support. No one but her had ever offered a word of congratulations, respect or care. He had shut most of the world out but it was great relief of the pressure he built up inside to know there was a single door out of it all. That door was Tenten, his companion, his only friend through it all, and on as things continued.