Force Majeure
Chapter One: Modus Operandi

Modus Operandi: a particular way or method of doing something, especially one that is characteristic or well-established.

-Part One: Status Quo-
the current situation : the way things are now

Present Day

Neji took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

If he never had to read about torts ever again, it would be too soon. Sadly, he was only partway through the reading for next semester, and that class ran the full sixteen weeks. It wasn't that he didn't understand it, or the nuances. He simply found it to be mind-numbing.

He glanced at the clock. He had been in the library for over three hours, and normally would have completed his reading an hour ago. He rolled his neck and blew out a sigh.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and his plans for the remainder of the day included completing his self-assigned reading schedule, joining his family for dinner, and then probably doing some more reading and then meditating before going to bed relatively early to that he could get up extremely early and begin his routine again.

He ruefully acknowledged that most people in their twenties – especially students - had a semblance of a social life. He wasn't certain that he had any kind of life, much less a social one.

He'd been taking classes at Konoha University since his days at Konoha Academy, the exclusive and internationally renowned all-boys preparatory school.

In those days, the campus library had been one of those imposing, heavy buildings that swallowed sounds and light (and some students suggested, souls.) The average student scrambled for one of the few private study rooms, group study rooms, or music listening cubbies where the air seemed less oppressive, and the light a little brighter. Even the most ardent of bibliophiles found the place to be intimidating, and the braver few would find one of the small tables sandwiched in corners between stacks of books or the odd worn, overstuffed chair that was never quite as comfortable as it should be.

There could be three people in the library or three-thousand; you'd never know while winding through the towering stacks of yellowed books.

"It's because the lights actually run off of the souls of students," one classmate had snarked. "That's why it's brighter at exam time."

It wasn't a wholly implausible theory.

Neji had spent many hours in the dark confines of the library, often without seeing another person. He was in his second year of undergrad when an anonymous donor had given enough to have the library completely redone, as well as for a new law library to be built.

Neji couldn't really bring himself to feel nostalgic for the old, gothic monstrosity that he had visited all through high school as he took university classes to augment his education. There had been enough safety concerns with the building that it had been bulldozed. The old law library had been turned into something else, and for that, Neji was glad.

The original law library was a stately, if not small building with marble floors and rod-iron stairs and balconies with an air of respectability and academia. He had loved studying there, often checking out whatever resources he needed from the other library and reviewing them in the respectable silence. It might have been what made him choose law… or, rather, accept that it had been chosen for him.

Now, in the start of his second year of law school, he was very familiar with each of the newer buildings. Both structures were incredibly modern, complete with a myriad of outlets and desks and computers, and password protected Wi-Fi. They boasted the most cutting edge technology, architecture, and security both in terms of data and student safety.

So many of the resources were online, that he could often study wherever he chose.

It was always a toss-up.

The law library was more exclusive; not everyone could access certain areas, and that was by design. It had better facilities for solo study, and was more serious, but it came with a downside.

It was filled with law students.

Neji did not wish to commiserate with most of his peers. They were either too serious, or not serious enough. They either knew about his family and tried to kiss up, or down play their importance. Others had no idea that he was from a powerful political family, and they said stupidly inane things around him.

It was maddening.

He once sat near a group of students that were ostensibly in a study group when it dawned on him that they were not conversing; they were taking turns giving small monologues. It was all done under the pretense of conversation, but it was an exercise in hearing oneself talk. He wondered if any of them realized what they were doing.

By the end of his first year, he started studying more in the main library. He was quiet and serious, and kept to himself, so that often assured he was left alone.

At least there, the overtures toward conversation by strangers were largely driven by attempts at flirting, rather than to enhance some political connection. It usually took about thirty seconds for the speaker to realize any attempt in that direction of conversation would be completely ineffective.

By the first few weeks of the semester, most people left him alone.

There was always a little flurry of mid-term activity by people who hadn't actually set foot in the library since their campus tour, but it never lasted long. Soon, he would be engrossed in his work, and nothing else would matter.

As it was, there were still a few weeks left before the new semester started, meaning he had the library largely to himself. He had acquired the materials for his classes early, and was systematically going through each syllabus and the assigned reading.

He was well aware of the old adage about law school: the first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death, and the third year they bore you to death.

Of course, Neji hadn't been scared his first year. He had prepared too long and been too well groomed to the task to shy from it. He did wonder if perhaps this upcoming class on tort law was intended to give him a taste of the 'bored to death' aspects of his degree, but that didn't keep him from plowing through his work.

The phone in his pocket buzzed, and as he checked the caller ID, he found himself grateful for the interruption.

"Yes, Uncle?" he asked in his carefully modulated baritone.

"I am sorry to interrupt your studying," his Uncle said without preamble, "but do you think you would be able to join us for an early dinner? I have a client that I would like you to meet."

Neji shuffled a few papers before answering. "I believe I am at a good stopping point," he said casually. "When shall I meet you?"

"The driver can pick you up on campus in fifteen minutes. I presume you are at the main library?"

"I am," he began neatly stacking his books and papers.

"Excellent," his Uncle continued. "Then I shall see you soon."

"Yes. Thank you," Neji replied, and ended the call.

He had a good working relationship with his Uncle, but they weren't especially close. For that matter, his family wasn't a particularly warm one – too many formalities and levels of propriety for displays of emotion or affection. He was close with his father, but they rarely saw one another, since he was usually travelling for the family business.

That being said, he was relieved to the point of gratitude have a reason to shelve any further study of torts, and when he slipped into the passenger seat of his uncle's car, it was without any regret.

-Part Two: Routine Maintenance-
Simple, small-scale activities (usually requiring only minimal skills or training) associated with regular (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) and general upkeep of a building, equipment, machine, plant, or system against normal wear and tear.

"So when do classes start?"

Tenten swiped at the sweat tracking down her face, concentrating on her work.

"Next week," she called back, half buried under the hood of the ancient truck. "Okay," she stepped back. "Try her again."

Kotetsu turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. "Nice," he called over the noise of the happy engine.

"Cut it," Tenten called, and he turned the car off. A few more adjustments and some TLC, and she was satisfied with her work. She closed the hood of the truck, and patted the top of it fondly.

"Still has a few good years left in her," she said as Kotetsu got out and came to stand next to her.

"Yeah, in a junkyard," he snickered. "Why don't you let this old thing go?" he asked. "Ibiki told you, like, a hundred times you could have one of the newer cars."

"Because this is mine," she shrugged. "I don't just throw away friends."

Kotetsu rolled his eyes at her, but she paid him no mind.

"So what are you taking this semester?" he asked.

"A business class, an accounting class, and a half term class on repairing the new built-in GPS systems."

"That it?"

"One other engineering one," she shrugged, reaching for the blue paper towels and taking one to clean her hands.

"That'll make the boss happy," Kotetsu nodded.

"That's why I'm doing it," she muttered, tossing the dirtied towel into the bin. "What's with the Jag in bay three?"

"High end client," Kotetsu nodded to the sleek, expensive car. "Ibiki handles that one personally."

"Lucky," she sighed to herself before checking the time. "I've got to hurry up and get cleaned up. I'm meeting Lee at the gym in twenty minutes."

"Wear something green," Kotetsu called after her, and she flipped him off.

Despite knowing she was going to get sweaty again, Tenten hit the showers. The sweat and dirt of an honest day's work didn't bother her, but going to the gym covered in grease wasn't good form.

"Always start your routine clean and ready to work," Gai had said solemnly. "It will help you focus."

She still took that instruction to heart. After all, if anyone knew about the finer points of working hard, it was Might Gai.

Not that she was a stranger to the concept, even before he had taken her in.

She'd been from a poor, rundown neighborhood. Her mom had been sickly, and hadn't lived much past Tenten's fourth birthday. Her dad was a good mechanic but after her mom died, he gave more into alcoholism that she later learned was caused by PTSD. He had been kind and gentle with her, though, and she loved spending time with him in his tiny autoshop. Unfortunately, he died when she was only ten, and there weren't many people to look after her. Her "Uncle" ended up taking over her dad's shop, claiming it as payment for bad debt. He didn't make her move out of the small apartment above the garage where she'd spent her whole life. Instead, he installed his sweet, half-deaf, half-blind, old-as-dirt aunt as her caretaker. Neither the aunt nor Tenten realized he had turned the business into one of his many chop shops by night, and that he was running a whole crime ring based around stealing, reselling, and disassembling cars. Eventually he roped Tenten into helping with some of the work. By the time she was eleven, she could hotwire a car faster than just about anyone in his gang.

She was thirteen when that job went very, very wrong.

Officer Hatake Kakashi and his partner Might Gai found her curled up in a chair in the hospital waiting room, dirty and tear-stained, and clutching at her bloodied coat. She refused to leave the hospital, or to even tell a nurse about her own injury, until she heard that the man she'd brought in was in stable condition.

Because of that night, the entire criminal ring collapsed, the chop shops were shut down, Uncle and Twitchy were found and jailed, and Tenten found herself up against criminal charges.

Someone must have been looking out for her, though, and she ended up owing community service rather than jail time. It probably didn't hurt that man had survived, and her information had been the final nail in the coffin for Uncle's operation.

In the end, her records were sealed, Officer Gai became her legal guardian, and Lee her adoptive brother.

Gai was a firm believer in the benefits of training and sports. She joined the track team with Lee, took martial arts from Gai, and traded in her street fighting background for darts and archery. The rest of her spare time was spent apprenticing at Morino's garage, where she spent so much time, she had to be evicted to go home to study.

She had always wanted to be a mechanic, and had dreams of one day owning her own garage.

Unfortunately, Uncle had extorted money out of her dad and ran the business into the ground. When Gai brought her back to her dad's building and the apartment above to get what she could, there wasn't really much to take.

The building still legally belonged to her father, and therefore to her, but it was not in good repair. It was going to have to be demolished, and the lot sold.

Gai had contacted Ibiki to help negotiate the sale of whatever equipment he could, and to put the funds from the sale of the property in trust for Tenten, so she had a little nest egg. She added to it with whatever Ibiki paid her through high school, and used some of it to get her associates degree after graduation.

She stayed on working for Ibiki, and her little nest egg continued to grow.

Every day, she went to work, checked in with Gai, trained with Lee, and went home to bed, only to start again early the next morning.

Last December, Tenten had taken Lee out to celebrate finishing his first semester of grad school when they got the call that Gai had been badly injured in the line of duty and rushed to the hospital. They sat side-by-side outside of the operating room for the duration of his extremely complicated surgery. It had been touch and go, but to everyone's immense relief, he pulled through without a hitch. Gai's career on the force ended with him in a wheelchair, but with no shortage of enthusiasm.

Tenten gave up her little apartment and moved back in to help out Gai, and Lee came home from campus every weekend to help.

"I could take a year off," Lee had offered one day while they split an order of steamed dumplings. "It's an awful lot on you."

"Well what good would that do me?" she asked, spearing a dumpling with a plastic take-out fork. "You're training to be a big-time physical therapist! If you quit now, there goes my retirement plan!"

Lee tried not to laugh as she plopped the dumpling in her mouth.

"I'm serious, Tenten," he schooled his features into as stern a look as he could manage.

"So am I," she said around the too-big bite. "Who's going to keep me in the lap of luxury in my old age if you quit school? Being grease monkey doesn't pay for the kind of lifestyle I intend to have at your expense."

"Is that so?" he asked grabbing his own dumpling.

"Well, I could marry rich," she reasoned, "but that takes way to much work. No. This way is simpler. I'll keep an eye on Gai, and you just keep learning to be awesome at your future job."

"I won't let you down, Tenten," Lee promised her, squeezing her hand.

"You never do," she squeezed back.

Six months after the accident, Gai moved into a modest one-level home. Captain Yamato did carpentry work on the side, and helped Lee and Tenten make everything accessible to Gai. They installed ramps, lowered cabinets and countertops, and put railings in different places. The final exterior coat of green paint wasn't even dry before Gai declared himself no longer in need of live-in-help, and insisted that Tenten needed her own place. Before she could even think of disagreeing, Ibiki had offered her the tiny house that had belonged to his parents. He'd been renting it out for a few years, and his most recent tenant had moved out a week ago.

"I'm sick of being a landlord," he muttered as he drove her over to check out the house. "At least you can probably repair anything that breaks."

"I'll try to be a good tenant," she chuckled, "but that still makes you a landlord."

The little house sat back from the road, hidden by a small grove of trees. Ibiki opened the front door, and she walked in, eyes wide, mouth in a small 'o.'

"What kind of rent are you thinking?" she asked, going through the rooms, and poking in the cabinets.

"I was thinking more of a trade," he replied, crossing his arms and leaning against a kitchen counter.

"What kind of trade?" she hopped up and sat on the opposite counter.

"I need a partner," he said bluntly. "The business is expanding, and it will be a hassle to run on my own. I need someone else to help organize and coordinate this stuff – you know, order supplies, make sure payroll is taken care of, all of that crap that takes my time from fixing cars."

"And some of which I do anyway?" she asked playfully.

"Right," he nodded. "You want to own your own garage, right? Well here's your chance to see what it's all about. You'll need to take some classes over at KU, though. Business, management, a few of the classes on GPS and computer repair for these newer vehicles… oh and accounting and bookkeeping. I can't stand that shit."

"So…rent is…"

"I already own the place free and clear," Ibiki shrugged. "You just cover your utilities and we'll call it square. You can live here as long as you like, and your schedule at the garage can be changed as needed while you take the classes I need you to take. If you make it five years, I'll sign over half of the garage, making you a full partner."

Tenten arched an eyebrow. "So I pretty much get a free place to stay, classes, and a garage, and you get a bookkeeper? Sounds more like a pity position than a job."

"Make no mistake," he crossed his large arms over his chest. "I'll work your ass off, understand?"

She smiled and stuck out her hand.

"Now that's the Ibiki I'm used to," she beamed. "It's a deal."

So that was how she ended up living rent-free in the smallest, coziest house in all of Konoha, working for Ibiki, keeping an eye on her adoptive father, and signing up to take classes at Konoha University, starting next week.

"Life is full of surprises," she told her reflection as she pinned her hair up into two buns and hoisted her bag on her shoulder. Her reflection gave a reassuring nod, and Tenten headed out to meet Lee.

This story has 12 chapters and an epilogue. Chapters 1-9 are done, 10 and 11 are in editing, and 12 and Epilogue should be in editing by next week.

Updates will be weekly on Tuesdays (that's a nod to you, AG!). Hope to see you next week, friends!

- Giada