Just Another Nejiten

Chapter the first

It was late at night in the so-called hidden village of the Leaf. It was so-called because because it was, firstly rather too large to be regarded as a mere village and secondly, it was not hidden in any way. In a windowless room deep within the Hyuuga Compound, home of the most envied and influential ninja clan in the "village", the honorable council of elders were having a meeting of great importance.

"The motion is carried," said the head elder. "Branch members are now only allowed one pudding snack per meal." He rapped his gavel on the conference table.

"Next on the agenda..." he trailed off as he peered myopically at the papers in front of him a slightly glazed expression coming over his face."Neji's engagement."

The elders groaned in unison, a token few even swore colorfully.

"Didn't we address this already?" complained one, as he scratched his chin absentmindedly.

"Lady Hinata said no."another said as he shook his head rigorously, as if to emphasize the point.

"Since when has that mattered?" another replied, somewhat indignant.

The lead elder looked down at the table with a sheepish, throughly embarrassed expression on his face. "She did that blasted…thing...you know."He raised his gaze, his face reddening in embarrassment. "…where she makes water come out of her eyes." The council shuddered at the power of Hinata's Teary-eyes-no-jutsu.

"Well, what about one of the other Hyuuga girls?" piped out another.

"They are all terrified of him." responded the lead elder, a scowl forming on his face.

"So, someone outside the family then..."

The chamber grew quiet as the elders lowered their heads in thought. After what felt like eternity one of the younger elders (only 75) raised his voice tentatively.

"What about that one girl?" He was met with nothing but blank looks so he continued. "You know, sort of plain, wears her hair up like..." he made two fists and placed them on the sides of his head in the international gesture for hair buns.

"Oooooooh." they chorused, finally understanding that it was the Weapons Mistress he spoke of.

"What was her name?"

They thought hard.

"Xian-pu?"

"Chun-li?"

"Mu-Lan?"

No one could remember. After several minutes of attempting to jog their rusty memoriesthe elders gave up.

"Just put 'Bun Girl'."

"Works for me." replied the leader with a slight nod and gaveled the matter closed.

0-0

"That was pathetic Tenten." said Neji, his voice as cold as ice. "I expected much better from you." he told the girl who was completely drenched with sweat, caked in mud and bent over, hands on her knees, her chest heaving with each breath.

"But Neji-"

"No excuses, Tenten." he snapped, cutting her off.

"Right Neji, Sorry Neji." she apologized, her voice dripping with shame.

"You will be punished."

"Um...what?" Quickly before her tired body could react he pulled her down across his lap, pinning her left arm against his torso and twisting the other behind her back in a perfectly executed hammerlock. She kicked and bucked wildly but failed to extricate herself from her teammate's iron hold.

"Neji, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Hn…providing motivation." he spoke smoothlyas he brought a hand to her rear.

+SMACK+SMACK+SMACK+SMA-

Neji jerked awake, sitting bolt upright, panting, sweating and uncomfortably aroused as he propped himself up on his hands. He sat there for several minutes blinking into the darkness. 'Another one,' he thought. This was unacceptable, he should not be lusting after his teammate, it was...unprofessional. Glancing at the clock next to his bed he saw it was time for training. Attempting to forget the rather disturbing dream he headed for the shower.

0-0

Hiashi frowned at the piece of paper in front of him, not believing his eyes. He looked at the other side, still disbelieving what he saw he activated his byakugan. Finally deciding that it was, in fact, real he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'senile old bastards' and sent for Hinata.

"Y-yes Father?"said the future clan head as she entered Hiashi's office. He got right to the point.

"The Elders have chosen a bride for Neji." he said eying his daughter seriously.

Hinata paled visibly.

"W-who?" she asked timorously, wringing her hands together.

"Someone called 'Bun Girl'."

She felt tremendous relief, and resisted the urge to sigh. "Tenten?"

Hiashi crossed out 'Bun Girl' and penciled in 'Tenten'. He paused, that name sounded vaguely familiar. Then he remembered.

"Is she one of Neji's teammates?"

"Yes, Father."

Hiashi chuckled softly. "She was rather taken with him as I recall. Are they sleeping together?"

"No, Father." Hiashi frowned, puzzled. What was wrong with his nephew? When he was Neji's age he'd have been all over that girl like an (oh, dear god censored).

"Is Neji gay?" he wondered aloud.

"I-I don't t-think so."her cheeks reddening

Hiashi paused in thought for a moment. "Hinata," he said conspiratorially, "I have a job for you."

0-0

Neji was several minutes late to training , having lingered a bit in his traditional post Tenten dream cold shower. Lee had gotten here ahead of him and for some mysterious reason had set up a tent. Neji sighed; he just knew this was going to be something stupid.

"Lee, why is-"he began but Lee put his finger up to his lips and pointed into the tent. Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt Neji walked over crossing his arms over his chest and looked into the tent. He looked away a moment later, that couldn't be right. He activated his byakugan to dispel the genjutsu but nothing happened.

Turning to the spandex clad ninja, he asked, "Lee, why is Tenten sleeping in a field?"

"I don't know Neji, perhaps we should ask?"

"Hn..." The violence of Tenten's reaction to being awakened was generally in inverse proportion to how peaceful she looked. And she looked very peaceful.

"We should find a stick," suggested Lee, he looked back into the tent. "a very long stick." The next few minutes were rather chaotic but the end result was Lee, on his back with Tenten's rather large knife at his throat. Neji smirked up from his position on the ground from where she tackled him a few moments earlier; he had given her that knife.

"Lee?"she said, blinking in the sunlight. She turned to her left. "Neji?" She got up off of Lee and sheathed her blade, it was more a knife than a machete but only just. "Um...what exactly are you guys doing here?" she asked deliberately as she placed her hands on her hips and eyed them with interest.

"Training." answered Neji bluntly.

"...Right." she said embarrassed. 'I must have overslept.' she thought, 'I meant to have my stuff put away by now'.

"Tenten." Said Neji, interrupting her thoughts. "Did you get kicked out of another apartment?"

"No."

He frowned, eying her disapprovingly.

"...Yes." Neji pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What was it this time."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Tenten..."

"Something about unsecured explosives." she admitted. "I wasn't really paying attention."She shrugged her shoulders offhandedly as if to blow it off.

Neji nearly face palmed.

"How are my youthful students this fine morning!" interrupted Gai as he bolted towards the group with inhuman speed.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei, our youthful blossom has once more run afoul of the most unyouthful tenant's association!"

"Well then Lee, we shall have to make room for her in the Casa del Youth!"

"That is a wonderful idea Gai-sensei!"

"She'll be staying with me." Interrupted Neji, as the mental image of Tenten with a bowl cut and orange leg warmers filled him with unvarnished dread. The tight, clingy spandex, on the other hand...he banished that thought from his mind. She shot him a grateful smile, he stoically nodded his head and definitely didn't stand up a little straighter and puff his chest out.

"Excellent Neji, you should always help out your precious teammates! Now we shall warm up for Youthful training with 10 laps around the village!" Thus team Gai began their day.

0-0

Hinata was fretting, not that this is in any way unusual for the future clan head but the reason behind it was definitely unique. Her father wanted her to matchmake! His exact words were 'encourage them to discover one another'. What did that even mean? She couldn't manage her own lack of love life, much less interfere in someone else's. She drew in a slow calming breath. Okay she could do this, there must be dozens of things she could do, like...

Um.

Uh.

No.

Oh! She could...no, never mind.

She was really bad at this. She was torn away from her musings when she heard the doorbell sound. Grateful for the distraction she waved off the servants and answered it herself. She opened the door to reveal a tattered Tenten looking embarrassed.

"Um, hi Hinata."

"Hello Tenten, good afternoon." The two normally got on rather well but today there was something awkward in the air. Hinata waited patiently for her to speak.

"Well, um, the thing is, I got kicked out of my apartment and, uh, Neji said I could stay here, um, if thats all right?" Hinata just stared her mouth slightly agape. 'Wow,' she thought, 'isn't this convenient.' She was never this lucky, perhaps it was some kind of karmic payback for her crappy childhood, she was suddenly filled with the urge to go find Naruto.

"Hinata?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry, yes, thats fine." If she remembered correctly the room next to Neji was empty. "I know just where to put you."

A/N:Well that wraps up the first chapter, I'd like to thank clancrusher and temarixshikamaruluva for their beta work, yes I needed two, bite me.

next time: Tenten gets settled in, meets her new landlord aka: Hiashi, and discovers the benefits and drawbacks of cohabitation, don't hold your breath.

Oh, I don't own Naruto.