Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

-okay, so I know that I should be finishing the other stories I have instead of starting a new one but this story got stuck in my head so now I have to write it. Sorry. The story starts out a little slow because I have to set the tone and everything, but I'm hoping it will pick up speed as the story develops.

...

It wasn't intentional; in fact it was a complete accident. An accident started off by a chance encounter at a noisy party in a busy club.

...

The club music blasted out of the speakers, bringing the room to life with its pulsating beat and commanding the people to dance. Neon lights flashed across the room giving it the air of something dangerous and unreal. Out on the dance floor people bumped and ground against each other in a mass of swaying bodies; the party was in full swing and all but a few people were enjoying it. Of those people was one young woman who sat alone at the bar.

Her auburn brown hair fell to the small of her back in a cascade of waves and curls while her bangs framed her heart-shaped face. Her gold-brown eyes were rimed with black and shaded by long black eyelashes. She wore a fishnet top with a forest green halter and black washed jeans that showed of the slender shape of her legs. A margarita glass was poised at her rose-red lips as she surveyed the crowd.

It was a special party, planned for Tsunade's star apprentice: Haruno Sakura. Having just turned twenty-one she had been especially excited to go to a club for her birthday so her closest friends, Hyuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Tenten, had rented one out as a joined birthday present.

Tenten couldn't be happier for her friend, but as she took a long sip of her margarita she had to admit that she was considerably jealous. Sakura was smart, determined, and kind, she was the apprentice of Tenten's hero, and she had the attention of Hyuga Neji; the very same cold-hearted prodigy that Tenten had unwittingly fallen in love with. So it was because of this, and the fact that each of her friends had a boyfriend to dance with, that she was currently sitting alone at the bar finishing off her second margarita.

"My youthful flower you cannot sit here alone on such a glorious occasion!" Tenten nearly dropped her margarita in surprise and cursed herself for not having sensed her teammate's approach earlier.

"Lee, I'm fine here. I just didn't get enough sleep last night so I'm not quite up to dancing right now." Lee gave her a scrutinizing stare. Though most believed Rock Lee to be thoroughly oblivious to everything he was actually quite perceptive, it was therefore very obvious to him that his best friend was lying through her teeth.

"Nonsense!" he boomed, "You will waste your precious youth sitting here alone! Now, seeing as I surely cannot allow our team's beautiful flower to waste her youth I must request a dance!"

"Lee, we aren't a team anymore, and I'm hardly a flower." Nevertheless Tenten allowed Lee to pull her towards the giant mass of people crowding on the dance floor. Her gloomy mood temporarily forgotten she laughed as Lee spun about the dance floor, knocking into eleven different people in the process.

After making it through four very chaotic dances Tenten excused herself from Lee and stumbled over to the rows of couches lined up in one of the dark corners of the club. Most of the couches were taken by couples who were completely engrossed in each other (and probably a little drunk as well), but she managed to find a couch occupied by only one other person and proceeded to collapse.

"You seem tired." Tenten turned and found herself staring at her friend Ino's boyfriend, Nara Shikamaru. She smiled a wiped a hand across her forehead.

"I think I've discovered a new form of training: dancing with Lee." Shikamaru smirked and reached for his glass, tossing back a shot of tequila. Tenten stared, 1. because she'd never seen Shikamaru drink, and 2. because she'd never been close enough to Shikamaru to realize that he was actually very good looking.

'CUT THAT OUT!' she thought to herself. 'This is Ino's boyfriend you're thinking about for god's sake! I've obviously had way too much to drink!' She was brought out of her reverie by a hand waving in her face.

"WOAH! Uh, I'm sorry, what did you say Shikamaru-san?" He stared at her a second before shaking his head and muttering a quiet "troublesome."

He'd never noticed before, but Tenten was actually very cute. Her gold-brown eyes sparkled and a light pink blush spread across her cheeks and nose. He shook his head and looked back out at the crowd.

"I know you didn't just call me troublesome, right Shikamaru?" He glanced back at her, taken aback by the sudden venom in her tone. "Because that would be incredibly rude, you know." She scowled at him.

"Sorry, force of habit." She glared at him a little longer before grumbling and turning away.

"So why aren't you dancing with Ino?" she asked, her tone considerably less annoyed. Shikamaru groaned and shrugged.

"She doesn't need me to dance with her; she's already danced with six other guys." Tenten frowned.

"She likes to dance, that's all. Just go ask her to dance with you; I know she'd be happy if you did." It was true that Ino was a terrible flirt, and even though she was with Shikamaru she was known to flirt with other guys, however Tenten couldn't help but defend her friend.

"Why bother? Whenever I try to do something like that with her she criticizes me, troublesome woman. It's such a drag."

"Well you're never going to get anywhere with that attitude! You can't sit here and do nothing and expect everything to go your way!" Shikamaru turned to her angrily.

"Like you're one to talk! Everyone in Konoha knows that you like Neji, but you just sat back and let Sakura get him. If you had spoken up even once it would probably be you out there dancing with him instead of her!" Tenten recoiled as though he'd slapped her. Her skin flushed again, but this time it had nothing to do with embarrassment or alcohol.

"Shut up! You know nothing about my situation with Neji! You think you're so damn smart but you don't even realize that you're losing your own girlfriend because you're too lazy to try and..." but she never got to finish that sentence because Shikamaru had suddenly shot forward and pressed his lips against hers. He pulled back and they stared at each other for a few seconds before they were kissing again.

'What the hell am I doing? This is Ino's boyfriend I'm kissing! If she finds out about this she'll never forgive me!' However she didn't pull back. Even as Shikamaru deepened their kiss, sliding his tongue in to meet hers she didn't pull away. It wasn't until a little later when they pulled apart for air that Tenten felt reality come crashing back down on her. She jumped up from her seat, muttered a quick "sorry," and ran off back into the crowd.

Shikamaru sat there staring at the spot where she'd vanished. He combed a shaky hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh.

"Damn, I actually enjoyed that."

...

Later that night, after the party had ended, Tenten sat at home in her tiny apartment polishing of a bottle of vodka.

"Oh god, I'm such an idiot! I can't believe I just did that! Ino is going to kill me; we'll probably never be friends again!" She took another swig from the vodka bottle, "But it's not like she's been exactly loyal to him. Hell, I can cite at least two...three...two times she's cheated on him! ...And he's cute...fuck." She raised the bottle back to her lips and was about to take another drink when she looked down at the bottle; it was half empty.

"Heh, half empty or half full? Oh god, I've had way too much to drink." She closed the bottle and stumbled off to her bedroom to collapse on top to the covers.

...

She woke up the next morning to a loud knock on the door. Bleary eyed she stumbled out of her room and towards the door. Half expecting to find a furious Ino at the door she was surprised to find instead a cheery Lee.

"Ugg, Lee, can you turn down your smile? The shine is killing me right now." She let him in and went off to make a large cup of coffee.

"My dear flower, what has happened to your youth? You look sick!" Tenten groaned as her head throbbed painfully.

"I think I partied a little too hard last night, I can't really remember..." It wasn't a complete lie, after her kiss with Shikamaru she'd retreated to the bar, ordered another drink, and after that she couldn't remember anything. Lee nodded sympathetically.

"You go take a cold shower to wake up and I'll make you some coffee and breakfast. Do you think you can hold anything down?" Tenten smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks Lee. I don't know what I'd do without you!" With that she stumbled towards the bathroom hoping to clear the fog in her head.

One ice cold shower later she was sitting at the table with a large cup of coffee and a plate of toast.

"So what brings you here this early, Lee?" She asked him between bites of toast.

"You have a mission today, and I thought you might need some time to get ready." He scrutinized her carefully for a second and Tenten wondered if he knew what had happened last night. However a second later he smiled and Tenten let out an unconscious sigh of relief. If he knew what had happened he wasn't going to tell.

"Thanks Lee, do you know what this mission is about?"

"Not really, all I know is that you're going to the Sunagakure (sp?)."

"Ugg, I hate crossing the desert! Alright, I should probably get going so I'm not late. Bye Lee, thanks for breakfast!" She grabbed her mission bag and set off towards Hokage Tower. She didn't see Lee's worried look as she took off out the door.

...

"I'm sorry if I'm late Hokage-sama!" Tenten called as she came in the door.

"Not to worry Tenten, you're just on time. I'm just about to start the mission briefing." Tenten glanced around the room and her breath caught in her throat. There in the corner was her partner for the mission: Nara Shikamaru.

...

A/N: so, what do you think? I know I left it on a cliff hanger, which is bad because I'm an awful updater but it's summer and I'm here for a while so it should be okay. Tell me what you think because I really need some feedback on this. It should be a lot more dramatic in the upcoming chapters. I'd really appreciate reviews (especially constructive criticism) and if you plan on sending a flame, the only thing I can say is at least have the guts to send a flame with your penname and not just anonymously. Thanks for reading!!