Okay, here's chapter two. Right now I really don't know what to do about revealing Neji's past. I have a poll open right now on my profile so for right now there's not going to be anything about his past until people let me know what they want. But before you vote for Neji should just tell her, remember that the whole purpose of this story is Neji not being able to talk until he comes to terms with things that have happened to him in the past. It really defeats the purpose. I just put it up because…I don't know.

Right now I like the snooping and flashbacks one. It's like you'll know a little about Neji from the snooping, but then you'll understand deeper because of the flashbacks.

Oh, and of course, they're all fourteen here.

Anyway, people, don't worry, Neji isn't going to be a baby or anything, he's going to be his normal bad-ass self.

And even though I hate Sakura, she's going to be a big part of this story. I need her to fill that spot in Tenten's group and I don't want to make any more OCs then I need to.

Oh, and I'm to defy the ordinary with this story. Like Ino is never going to have a boyfriend or be kissed or anything like that, Gai is not going to be the gym teacher, the Hyuuga aren't rich and the owner of some large company, and all that kind of stuff. It gets to be to a point where anyone can use those ideas, and no one thinks up anything original. I'm going to follow the basic guidelines of Naruto, like Neji's father is going to be "murdered" by Hiashi, but not because of some business reason.

Now, thank you to all who actually read my rambling. XP Put "the official nejiten cheese" in your review, and the next chapter will be dedicated to you. :3

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Gai would moonwalk. Everywhere.

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"Hinata's cousin is living with you?" Ino asked in awe.

"Are you sure?" Lee asked, eyes wide.

"Yes, I'm sure! He has her eyes and looks like her and his name is Neji! That is his name right?" Tenten replied, last part directed at Hinata.

Hinata nodded nervously.

"Why didn't you tell us he didn't talk?" Tenten asked, in a slightly winey voice.

"Neji? Not talk?" Hinata said incredibly.

Tenten nodded. "My mom told me that the lady at the shelter said he hasn't talked in two years."

Hinata seemed to think for a second. "Well, that would mean that he stopped talking a little after…" But then she stopped herself, as if afraid she was going to say something she would regret.

"What happened?" Tenten asked, eager to find out anything about the boy who now lived in the room two doors down from her.

"Well…um…I really shouldn't tell you…I really don't know much about it…" Hinata said, blushing and poking her fingers together.

"Okay, fine. What was he like before whatever happened that you won't tell me about?" Tenten said, sighing.

"Well…he definitely wasn't silent…he fought a lot with Father, they really didn't get along…I really didn't get along with him…He used to get into a lot of trouble at school…He's real smart but he rarely ever went to school…he preferred to just cut class or just not go altogether…he used to stay out until three in the morning…I don't know what he was doing…He spent a lot of time with Uchiha Sasuke-" Hinata said this while looking up at the sky, as though thinking about what would be safe to say and what wasn't until Sakura and Ino cut her off.

"He knows Sasuke!" Ino screeched.

"Can he hook us up?" Sakura also screeched.

"Shut up you two, I'm trying to listen!" Tenten yelled, glaring at them. "You were saying Hinata?"

"Well…basically he's just a trouble maker…He can be really sweet though. He just doesn't like to get close to people because he's been hurt too many times by-" Hinata seemed to gain confidence as she talked, but then suddenly stoped as though she realized she said too much.

"By who?" Lee asked before Tenten could.

"A lot of people…but…I really don't think I should be telling you this…" Hinata said, tapping her fingers together.

"Come on Hinata! It can't be that bad!" Tenten wailed.

Hinata shook her head in a way that told all of them that there was going to be no more input from her.

Tenten sighed as she looked both towards the other members of her tight group.

"So what do you guys think?"

Lee shrugged. "I really don't know him so I don't know what to think."

Sakura sighed dreamily. "He knows Sasuke…I bet he could hook us up…"

"No way!" Ino said.

Tenten sighed. Her two friends were obsessed with Sasuke. She honestly didn't see what was so great about the guy. Then again, she really didn't see him a lot, he often skipped school.

"But back to business, we have to hook you and Neji up first." Ino said, looking at Tenten.

"What!" She exclaimed, but not as a question.

"You heard me! We need to hook you guys up! It's about time you got a boyfriend!" Ino said.

"It's about time I got a boyfriend? Have any of you ever had a boyfriend?" Tenten asked, the three other girls looking down.

"I do!" Lee said happily.

Tenten smiled. Lee had been picked on and teased by the other kids a lot for his sexual orientation when he was younger, and it had caused him to be very sad. Tenten and the others girls of course didn't mind, but nearly everyone else did. Boys didn't want to share a locker room with him, no one wanted to sit with him at lunch, and he had no real friends up until he was thirteen and met Tenten who gladly excepted him. She found him to be a real sweetheart. People just never bothered to look at what was inside Lee, other than organs of course.

On the other hand, Lee had found himself spending a lot of time in the guidance office. Their guidance counselor was, for lack of better word, unique. At first, he seemed over the top, exuberant, and unhealthy. With his obsession with green, he wore it every day, his massive eyebrows, and his exuberant personality he was a bit much for many of the students. But Tenten, like many others, had discovered that Gai-sensei, that was his name, was very good at his job. He could make you feel great about yourself, and genuinely seemed to care. He even made house visits if it was needed.

But anyway, there was a new student one day by the name of Gaara. No one really liked him because he was very creepy, but Lee has made it his goal to become great friends with him. He always jumped at the possibility to make more friends, and usually started to succeed, but then someone would blab about the fact that he was gay and they would leave him.

However, Gaara didn't and the two of them ended up being great friends, and soon Gaara admitted that he was gay, and after a little bit, they started dating.

Lee was happier than he had ever been, and Tenten in turn was happy for him.

"Great, the only boy in out group has a boyfriend, and none of us do." Ino said, rolling her eyes.

Lee glared at her. "Don't ruin it for me." Lee said with a fake sob.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Ino cooed at him, and gave him a hug.

Tenten laughed. Lee really was irresistible…

"But back to business. You need to hook up with him! He could be like your live-in boyfriend!" Ino said, grinning at her.

Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. It's almost my curfew anyway."

"Okay, bye! But remember what I said!" Ino called as she waved.

Tenten stuck out her tongue as she walked out the front door to Ino's house.

"Father's not going to like this…" Hinata said with a sigh.

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When Hinata walked through the front door to her house and into her kitchen, her father was on the phone, muttering the occasional 'yes' 'uh-huh' and 'I see.'

Hinata sat down at the table and pulled out her homework. Her father had very high expectations of her and wanted her to get into a school like Harvard.

Finally, Hiashi hung up the phone and turned to Hinata.

"I just got a very interesting call." He said.

Hinata gulped. This wasn't going to end well.

"They found Neji. It's been what, two years about?" He said, giving her a strange look.

Hinata gulped then nodded her head.

"But of course I told you that the other day. What's really interesting is that someone took him in today." He said in a tone that clearly told her that he knew something important, and that so did she, and that he wanted her just to outright say it.

"Really?" Hinata asked, deciding just to act naïve.

"Do you know who?" He asked, leaning towards her.

"No." She squeaked.

"Guess."

"…Us?"

Hiashi promptly did something Hinata never thought she would see him do- smack his head on the table then look up at her. "No. Your friend Kouki Tenten's family did."

Hinata looked down. "I know…"

"Now, let's get one thing clear." Hiashi said, his voice back to it's normal stern self. "You are not to, under any circumstance, interact with him. He's a bad kid, and he'll drag you down. The Kouki family has no clue what they've done."

Hinata wanted to tell her father that Neji was not a bad kid, and that he wasn't going to drag anyone down, but instead replied with the usual, "Yes Father."

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Gai smiled and walked up the driveway. He knew one of the members who lived there, a girl by the name of Tenten. He really did like her, she was sweet, nice, and helped out many people in need, but right now, she wasn't his target.

He was here to talk to their new kid, and try to get him ready to start school. He had done a little snooping and had discovered that Neji was listed as a student at Konaha Middle School, but not for Konaha High. After doing a bit more research, he found it was because Neji had mysteriously stopped going to school about half way through seventh grade. This intrigued him greatly, seeing as Neji was now part of ninth grade.

But that really didn't matter. Right now he just needed to do some tests, seeing his level of intelligence, and then work out weather Neji would go into ninth grade, or just go back to seventh.

He knocked on the door and heard someone shout "Coming!"

He door then opened to reveal Tenten's face.

"Hi Tenten!" Gai said, smiling. He never bothered with the whole calling his students Ms. or Mr., and most certainly did not use words like 'Hello' and 'Greetings' like other teachers.

"Hey Gai-sensei!" She said, grinning at him. "What's up?"

"I'm here to see Neji." He replied, looking over her shoulder as though he expected him to be standing right there. It was a habit that he himself had past onto Tenten.

"Oh, he's in here! We were playing Uno." Tenten said, leading him into the living room.

"I love Uno…" Gai muttered, a big smile on his face.

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Neji looked at the doorway, checking to make sure that Tenten wasn't coming.

After a few seconds, Neji seemed satisfied and started to look at her cards when he heard, "And this is Neji!"

Neji quickly dropped the cards and looked towards the doorway where Tenten and some strange, and he meant strange, man stood. He was wearing green jeans, green sweatshirt, green sneakers, was carrying a green briefcase, had a ridiculous bowl cut, and his eyebrows were practically alive.

"Were you trying to look at my cards?" Tenten asked, glaring at him.

Neji simply cocked his head to the side and gave her the most innocent look he could, which was actually very good. He had lots of practice in the whole pretending to be innocent department.

Tenten sighed. "He's all yours. Have fun and play nicely. See you later!" She said, waving as she left before ducking around the doorway to say, "Oh, and good luck."

Gai wondered what she meant as he sat down across from Neji and smiled. "Hi, I'm Miato Gai, but you could just call me Gai-sensei. I'm the guidance counselor at Konaha High."

Neji inwardly groaned. He hated guidance counselors…

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Keizo chucked into the phone. "So he doesn't talk?"

"No, but he's still pretty cool." Tenten's voice came from the other end. "I beat him in Uno twelve times."

"Let me guess, it was because he wasn't saying Uno."

"Shut up!" Tenten wailed.

Keizo laughed. "Sounds interesting. Just give it some time, I'm sure he'll talk."

"I know that! He seems pretty cool so far."

"So what are you naming the kids?"

"KEIZO!" Tenten yelled, causing Keizo to hold the receiver a foot away from him. "Geez, I was just kidding."

"I know…"

"What's a matter?"

"Well, Ino was also talking about us getting together."

"Oh, that. Don't worry, Ino try's to hook everyone up. Remember Temari and-"

"Kankuro? Before she found out they were siblings? That was pretty funny!" Tenten said, laughing at the memory. She never let Ino forget that…

"I can't wait to meet him, now I've got to go, it's time for dinner."

"Okay, bye."

"Talk to you later!" Keizo said, hanging up the phone.

Really, Kankuro and Temari…

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Gai looked at the results curiously. Even though he hadn't been to school in years, he had easily passed every single test.

There was one little problem though.

"So you really don't talk, do you?" Gai asked, lowering the papers to look at him.

Neji nodded his head.

Gai thought for a moment, then sighed and looked at the papers again.

"I bet we could work around that, it's no reason that you shouldn't be able to get a proper education…" He muttered.

"We could always just give you a mini whiteboard or something and write on there and show it to the teachers to ask questions and stuff. And I'm sure Tenten while help you make friends, even if you can't talk. Yeah, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to attend school normally." He said, thinking about what they could do. He wouldn't want Neji to have to go to an alternative school or something simply because he didn't talk. That would really just be a last resort.

Neji thought about for a second, then shrugged his shoulders and slouched down a little bit. He had long ago learned that you couldn't control many things in life. His father used to call it destiny.

His father.

Neji felt his eyes go down and his body slacken.

He heard the words of his uncle ringing in his ears, "What kind of baby cries over their dead daddy eight years later? Pathetic…"

Well, that was easy for him to say, it was his uncle's fault he was dead in the first place…

"Neji, are you all right?" Gai said in a concerned voice.

Neji's head jerked up and he looked at Gai. He nodded his head, and looked down again.

Gai gave him a sad look. "Well, remember, you can always talk to me." He ended with a big smile.

Neji gave him an odd look then went back to looking down.

That's why he hated guidance counselors.

They always tried to find out "what was wrong."

They said they would understand.

They wouldn't.

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"So he should be able to go to school normally?" Tenten's mom asked.

Gai nodded with a smile on his face. "I don't see why not."

Tenten's mom gave her a relived sigh.

"We were getting worried." Tenten's father said, smiling widely.

"So when will he be able to start?" Tenten's mom asked.

"Probably next week if Neji feels up to it, which he urm…not exactly said…but when I asked if he was ready he nodded his head." Gai said, still smiling.

Tenten's mother and father smiled. This wasn't as hard as they thought it would be…

"But you'll have to bring him in for orientation some time." Gai said. "And there will be paperwork."

Tenten's mother and father sighed.

Of course.

There was always a lot of paperwork.

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Tenten sighed as she stared at her ceiling, unable to sleep.

She had tried everything- counting sheep, picturing a peaceful landscape, playing a movie in her head, and she still couldn't sleep.

She sighed again and stepped out of bed.

She wondered if Neji was awake.

She tiptoed down the hall and gently opened his door.

"Neji…?" She called.

But then of course, she really wasn't expecting a reply.

She gently walked over to the bed and poked the lump of blankets.

'Neji sure is soft…' She thought to herself. And he was going to suffocate under all those blankets anyway.

She pulled back the blankets to at least reveal his head, and saw nothing.

She gasped as she remembered what Hinata has said, "He used to stay out until three in the morning…I don't know what he was doing…"

What if he was hurt or something?

She ran to the front door, threw on her shoes, and, ignoring the fact she was still in her pajamas, snuck out the door.

"Neji…Come here boy…I'll give you a cookie…" God, she felt like she was calling a dog.

She walked around to the back of the house and saw Neji sitting by their pool.

"Oh my god, you scared me…" She said, sitting next to him.

Neji shrugged and went back to looking at the moon.

Tenten looked at his eyes for a second, then compared them to the moon.

"You know, you're eyes are very pretty…" She mumbled.

Neji just gave her a look that clearly said, 'Call me pretty again. I dare you.'

Tenten sighed and looked away. "Fine, fine, no pretty for Neji. Though you are. Why do you keep your hair so long?" She asked, tugging on his long, black hair.

Neji swatted her hand away, glared at her, then gave her a shrug.

"Some sort of complicated tradition or something?" Tenten guessed. "Hinata's father's hair is long."

Neji tensed when he heard that.

"So talking about Hiashi I think it is, is a no-no?" She asked.

Neji nodded, eyes closed, as though remembering something unpleasant.

Tenten shook her head. "What happened to you to make you like this?" She asked, her voice cracking with concern.

Neji looked sadly down at his feet.

Tenten sighed. "Oh well. I'll learn to live with you."

Tenten then felt a sharp poke to her side and jerked her head to look at Neji.

"Hey!"

Neji gave her a smirk, then looked back up. Tenten sighed and smiled, then braved resting her head on his shoulder. Neji tensed for a second, then relaxed and let his head rest on top of hers.

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Well, that's it for right now. Don't forget to vote!

Oh, and review.

It'll make the next chapter come faster.

This chapter was hard because I didn't know how to start it. It was originally supposed to start with a flashback, but I didn't like it, so then I made it when they first meet, didn't work, tried it Tenten talking to Hinata on the phone, didn't work, NOTHING WORKED! –sob-

But no matter, this terrible chapter is out. It's harder than I thought to write a story like this. I'm trying to break almost all clichés, so I have nothing to read and get a spark of inspiration!

It's moving slowly right now, but it's because I want to make it decent and something people will actually want to read.