two.

It was Saturday night and Tenten was on the phone.

She had been on the phone for the last twenty minutes, actually, and it was starting to aggravate her. Normally she would hang up, but in this case, she couldn't possibly just do that. If she did, she would never be able to live it down, her parents would never be able to live it down, and she was pretty sure that hanging up wasn't the right way to deal with it.

"… when I was your age, I was already pregnant with my third child!" the woman on the other end was saying, her tone annoyingly, unnecessarily harsh. "Twenty-five is a very agreeable age for marriage, Tenten. It is best that you start looking for your potential spouses now, before that skin catches wrinkles and your eyelids start to droop. You know what they say about wrinkles, don't you?"

"No—um, well, yes," Tenten sighed. "I do know a thing or two about wrinkles."

"That's good, my dear! I'm glad your mother taught you well," her caller sounded extremely pleased to hear that. "Listen to me, my dear niece. I know how hard it is to get a husband in this era—"

Oh, do you? Tenten thought desperately. Seriously. She loved her family, she really did—even this fire-breathing, patience-eating dragon of an aunt—but her personal life was supposed to be hers and hers alone! No one was supposed to lecture her on this. She was twenty-five, for Christ's sake, and while that was a 'very agreeable age for marriage' a thousand years ago, it wasn't that necessary to get married now. Couldn't Meihua-yiyi just leave her for a month? It had only been two weeks since she got back from China, and already was she drilled with needless conversations on her lack of a boyfriend from her most meddlesome aunt.

"—but at least get a boyfriend, won't you?"

"Oh, Yiyi," she sighed, eyebrows dipping in annoyance. "Look, I really appreciate your concern and I'll think hard about everything you just said, but I really have to go."

To her surprise and utmost relief, Meihua let her off the hook easily this time, hanging up after another two minutes of lecture. Returning her BlackBerry to her handbag, she sighed and turned around, only to half-gasp when she found a familiar face behind the bar.

Neji, for his part, had seen her first. He had been here for about an hour, going over the bar's drinks menu and making sure that everything was being done the way it should be done. The hotel was one of the company's latest projects, and he had to make sure that even the bar was perfect. Once the meeting was over, he decided to spend the rest of the night behind the bar, trying out their new drinks and what-not. After all, it was very assuring to see things working in order right before his eyes.

"Hello," Tenten decided to say, only smiling when she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "I thought you were on a business meeting to China."

Neji's voice was smooth when he spoke. "I was."

"I didn't know bartenders go on business meetings," she said, a hint of careful curiosity in her voice as she looked up at him, quickly adding, "No offense."

"This isn't my day job." He smirked, retrieving something from behind the bar. "Would you like a drink, Tenten-san?"

Tenten's eyes sparkled with growing amusement when she noticed what was in his hands. A cocktail shaker. Of all the occupations he seemed most perfect for, bartending didn't even make the list. "What drinks can you make?"

"Try me."

Leaning forward, she tapped her chin thoughtfully and smiled up at him. "A strawberry daiquiri, then? It's my favorite drink."

As soon as he went to mix her cocktail, she took the opportunity to study him freely. He still made a fine and sophisticated image, even if his choice of dress was not what she would have expected from what little conversation they had that day on the plane. His shirt was white and flawlessly cut, sleeves rolled up just high enough to show some degree of casualness. Comfortable without being ignorant.

"Extra strawberries," he said, setting the cocktail glass in front of her.

"Thank you," she beamed, taking a slow, testing sip. Her smile widened when the familiar taste spread on her tongue. Setting it down, she crossed her legs and rested her chin on the tips of her fingers on the table. "Now, this only makes me curious. What is your day job, Neji-san, if I may know?"

Neji turned around and watched her, rather liking the way the dim, yellow lighting above her played on her features. She still wore her hair the way he first saw her and he guessed that it was her customary, signature hairstyle, but this time there were strands of hair betraying the otherwise neat do, hanging behind the half-moons at her ears. "Do you see that building beside you?"

"Yeah," Tenten nodded after a quick glance. The building behind her was one of the most well-known offices in the city. Although it wasn't that big in terms of physical size, it had one of the best architectural structures she had ever seen—a minimalistic theme, with large glass windows and a dark gray color scheme—and housed one of the most profitable companies around here. If she wasn't mistaken, it belonged to—

"Oh!" she gasped, realization dawning. "I see. You're Hyuuga Neji. You're that Hyuuga Neji."

Neji looked at her expectantly. "That Hyuuga Neji?"

Sheepishly, she bit her lip. "Um, well…"

"What that Hyuuga Neji?"

"You're the one they dub as the man who saved the Hyuuga company in the media," Tenten elaborated, not missing the way his eyes flickered in response to her words. She had heard of him before, of his name and of his position, though—the Hyuuga's was one of the biggest companies around, after all. "The one with the iron hands, the genius. Right?"

Somewhat amused, a smirk tugged the corners of his lips. "So you know who I am."

"Hardly," she sipped her strawberry daiquiri with a flourish. "I did wonder about you when you ranked the seventh in the Most Eligible Bachelors poll Entertainment Weekly did for fun, though." This much was true. She did wonder about him because, hello, every other man listed had at least a picture, while he didnot. "You don't like having your pictures taken, do you?"

"I didn't think my picture was necessary," Neji replied with a dry smile, making a mental note to call one of his contacts in Entertainment Weekly to confirm what the hell happened with his clear refusal to be included in that particular poll.

"Why not?" Tenten asked. "It's a useful marketing tool."

He raised his eyebrows quizzically, "My picture?"

"Well, your face." A mischievous grin curved her lips as she added, almost teasingly. "You're not bad-looking, you know."

This prompted him to smirk again. "Is that what you think?"

"It's what I think," she answered, shrugging as if it wasn't anything special. Her fingers fiddled with the frame of her glass, and another smile spread on her pink lips. "They didn't list bartending as one of your favorite pastimes in the magazine."

"This isn't what I usually do."

"Well, this is pretty damn close to what I normally drink," she commented lightly, bringing the glass to her lips and sipping very slowly, the smile blossoming on her lips reaching up all the way to her eyes. "Is that why you're here? Because bartending seems to be your, um, forte?"

"No. I'm just here to supervise." His chuckle was low, husky. "And a little bit of learning, perhaps."

Tenten looked at him questioningly. "Learning?"

"I want to open a restaurant someday."

"You want to open a restaurant someday," she repeated, surprise clearly evident in her voice. "Couldn't you just open one now?" When he looked at her, she quickly added, "I mean, you practically own the Hyuuga's. I'm pretty sure you guys have enough money to open a restaurant, right?"

Neji looked at her. He didn't know what it was—how they immediately clicked upon meeting, how friendly her smile was, how warm her brown eyes were—but he found her really easy to talk to, and for some reason, rather trusted her.

"Well, my restaurant has nothing to do with the Hyuuga's. At least not with the company," he said. "It was my father's dream before he passed away."

"Ah." Tenten was silent for a while. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "He passed away when I was ten."

She smiled, but said nothing.

"What are you doing here?"

"I got locked out of my apartment," she replied, looking noticeably relieved at the sudden turn of conversation. "Normally I'd call my flatmate and she'll come immediately, but she's on a… well, I guess it's a date. She's on a date tonight."

"I see."

She glanced at the watch on her wrist and sighed deeply, a slight crease forming between her brows. "She's probably going to come home a little late."

He just nodded. "And what about you?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have a date tonight?" Neji asked, meeting her eyes, his gaze unreadable.

Tenten studied his face for a long good while, resting her chin on the edge of her fingers, elbow on the table. Her brown eyes were large and her gaze was curious, but then her growing amusement overtook her and she grinned. "Is this a more subtle way of asking me whether or not I have a boyfriend, Neji-san?"

His face was void from any emotion, but the corners of his lips twitched suspiciously. "I was hoping you wouldn't catch on that."

"Yes, well…" she smiled. "As you can see, I'm—"

"Tenten!" As if on cue, a pink-haired woman suddenly appeared beside her. "I'm sorry for taking so long. God, he was just really difficult. And irritating, and so full of himself, and I just—" she halted when she caught on to the atmosphere between the two people in front of her. Sheepishly, she grinned. "Whoops. Sorry. Did I disturb something?"

Tenten laughed and proceeded to the introductions. "Sakura, this is Hyuuga Neji-san. Neji-san, Sakura. She's my flatmate."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Sakura said, blushing just a bit.

Neji took her offered hand and replied, "Pleasure's mine."

"What happened?" Tenten asked. "I thought you were going to take way longer than this."

"I thought so, too," Sakura admitted. "Do you want to go now?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," the brunette said thoughtfully, and then turned to Neji. "Well then, I'll see you around, Neji-san. It was nice meeting you again."

"It was nice meeting you again, too," Neji echoed, and watched as she left with Sakura, whispering between the two of them, only stopping when she had to pay. It was a surprise, but his visit to this bar ended up more worthwhile than he originally thought it would be. Hanabi had been relentlessly asking about his lack of friends of the female kind, after all, and perhaps it was time to show her that he wasn't lacking in that department at all.

One week later, Neji found himself accompanying Hinata to the bike store—they had come to the store today to get a utility bike for one of the Hyuuga elders, to make it easier for him to run his daily errands—when he saw Tenten again.

At first he had been amused. It seemed to him that their meetings had occurred far too often for him to simply dismiss it as just a mere coincidence. It wasn't like he had time to ponder much about it, anyway, because as soon as he saw her, he remembered what he had failed to do for two times already, remembered that slight irritation he always felt whenever he failed to do something.

Neji grunted. Failure never did sit well with him, and sure as hell he wasn't going to fail this time, but leaving his cousin without saying anything first to her was simply unthinkable. "Hinata."

Hinata looked up and followed Neji's gaze—oh, a woman!—and a flash of understanding lit her lavender eyes. "Go on," she urged sweetly. "We're almost done anyway. I'll pay and I'll wait for you in the car, Neji-niisan."

Neji nodded gratefully and made his way across the store. "Tenten."

Looking up, she smiled at him. "Hi," she said, and there was something in her tone that told him that she had seen this coming. "Fancy seeing you here. We seem to knock into each other often, don't we?"

"Yes," he agreed. "What are you doing here?"

"Research." She pulled a face. "You?"

He gestured to the corner of the shop, where Hinata was currently making her payment and conversing with the cashier. "A little bit of business."

"Business, eh?" Tenten followed his gaze and laughed good-naturedly. "I see."

"I wanted to know if…" he hesitated and immediately felt annoyed at himself. He was never unsure. It was just so out of character that for a moment, he wanted to stab himself with a giant fork and bleed to death. "Well, if you're free this Sunday?"

"Sunday?" she looked apologetic at once. "I'm afraid not."

Mustering up all the courage he still had left from the all-too-quick rejection, Neji muttered, "That's alright."

"I can make it on any other day?" Tenten offered, her smile faltering.

He took this opportunity to study her. The concern in her large brown eyes and the nervous smile on her lips made her even more adorable. It had to be illegal to look like that, he thought, almost a little distressed. It just had to be.

"Neji-san?"

He immediately returned to earth. "Yes?"

"I can make it any other day," she suggested, her smile knowing.

"Good," he said. "Will you be fine with Saturday?"

"Saturday's perfect," Tenten assured, her eyes sparkling with mischief and amusement. To his surprise, she reached for the pen in his breast pocket and reached for his hand, penning her phone number on his palm. When she was done, she slipped the pen between his fingers and smiled. "I'll see you then, Neji-san."

With a flourish, she left, and he looked down at his hand. Her handwriting was neat and small, her sevens lined just like his were. Tenten. Ten strokes, quick and smooth across the surface of his palm. Ten strokes. Twice heaven.

Neji pocketed his hand and walked out into the sunshine, feeling more contented than he had been in a long, long while.

tbc.

Because Tenten's half-Chinese, I suppose I should start taking advantage of that part of her heritage. So there you have it.

Yiyi is what you call your mother's younger sister in Mandarin, pronounced "EE". To make it clear, Meihua is Tenten's aunt from her mother's side. I'm actually quite fond of her. I don't have any annoyingly meddling relative, so I can only imagine what it's like to have one. Her name means "beautiful flower", so I'm sure she can be quite sweet later on. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, when Tenten speaks to Lee, she uses the Japanese honorific "obasan" to address Meihua, but to her face she uses "Yiyi". Just clarifying!

Thanks for the amazing reviews for the first chapter, you people!