Chapter 2

The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm.

What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still.

Sun Tzu

"You owe me a fight," Neji said looking utterly bored.

"Hey! It's not my fault that this demon was so frail," the kunoichi was not excited about the prospect of fighting a jaded Neji, "I did not mean to break him this quickly."

"I don't care," the Prodigy didn't even get a chance to land a single strike, "You still owe me," before Tenten could protest Neji continued, "And don't forget your last loss."

"I didn't lose! The fight was interrupted," it wasn't just the fight that got interrupted, but Tenten wasn't going to say anything about that. Before her fellow ninja could pursue the subject, she continued. "Killing that demon was too easy," Tenten sounded almost disappointed. "No challenge whatsoever. You should thank me for saving you the trouble." These people did mention that bear demons are weak, but she still imagined it to be a little more difficult then this.

Tenten was the first one to attack the demon while Neji and the rest of the Inuyasha group were right behind her. The Hyuuga did not even bother activating his blood limit, she noticed, after chancing a quick glance back. Summoning three kunai in each hand and throwing them towards the demon, ninja was getting excited about the fight. All doubts and reservations were immediately forgotten in the face of the oncoming fight. All six weapons hit their respective targets – two in the eyes, two in the neck and two more into the shoulder pressure points. Demon roared in pain while blindly trying to hit the offender. Tenten just jumped into the air dislodging a whirlwind of summoned weapons. Neji did not even need to interfere, it seemed, her weapons took care of the demon, and after several moments, the creature was laying motionless on the ground.

Concentrating on her chakra strings that connected her to the launched weapons with a power of her will Tenten forced them to move cutting the fallen body into pieces in the process.

Shard hunters were quietly observing the fight.

"Not bad. Beautiful and deadly," Miroku was slowly making his way towards the Weapon Mistress who was gazing suspiciously at the other ninja.

"Keh, they wouldn't last a minute against something stronger," the half-demon had to point out.

"Inuyasha, at least give these two a chance. They did take down this demon without even breaking a sweat… At least Tenten did. And I'm sure that Neji is pretty close to her level." Kagome was now holding on to Inuyasha's sleeve to make sure he listened, "They could really help us out. We need all the allies we can get especially in the fight against Naraku."

"I agree with Kagome," Sango was observing the body of the dead demon, or what was left of it. "Interesting technique, I have never seen anything like it."

"I don't care!" Inuyasha was not happy, "Fine, whatever! Get the shard, wench! If it has any…" he was about to say something else of a rather rude nature to his favorite miko when he was interrupted.

"Eeep!" Tenten, was not used to the feeling a hand on her rear end. Therefore, she reacted as any proud kunoichi would in such situation. She knocked the offending hand away and then immediately followed it with a spining kick to the person the appendage belonged to. She added extra spin to her attack to make sure it had enough power in it to be memorable and it was. The monk flew away with a speed of a small torpedo. His spectacular flight was interrupted by a near by tree and he landed painfully in the bush under it. At least it sounded like it was painful.

"What the fuck? You… you… pervert!" Tenten was more shocked then anything at that moment and before the angry kunoichi could come up with something more creative to call the Hoshi Sango decided to step in.

"You'll learn to watch out for his wandering hands." Then taking a closer look at her fallen comrade the demon exterminator frowned, "Did you have to hit him so hard? We have need of his skills."

"Hah! I'll say the pervert got what he deserved," Inuyasha was laughing his ass off while Kagome went over to check on her fallen friend, while shaking her head in disapproval.

"He so-o shouldn't have done that," muttering to herself Kagome inspected the wounded hoshi. Nothing was broken, but he was clearly unconscious and pretty badly bruised.

Tenten was still seething with anger. That perverted idiot! Anything could happen in training, kunoichi knew this better then anyone. When Lee touched her chest on an extremely rare occasion, she knew it was an accident and when Neji's hand sometimes came in contact with… well… she knew he didn't mean it and there was no reason to get mad about it. However, this contact was definitely deliberate and the Miroku got what he deserved in her opinion.

Then the Jounin stated to feel bad about her new friend. Maybe hitting him like that was uncalled for. Not like she could have stopped herself. The reaction was almost automatic. The only reason that he was able to come close enough to touch her at all was because she trusted her new friends not to attack her from behind. And they didn't… It wasn't really an attack…

"I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings then this wouldn't have happened." She humbly apologized.

"You should have," Neji was the one to answer. There was something in his voice that Tenten could not name but she heard the message behind his words clearly enough. Incompetent.

"Why you…!"

"Control over your striking power is something they teach first years in the Academy," You are fun to watch when you are angry – Neji was thinking to himself, but Tenten will never know this.

"I would like to see your control when someone grabs your ass," I might actually do that one day myself, purely on accident of course. She smirked internally, her outrageous thought having a calming effect.

One perfectly shaped eyebrow was raised in amusement. Thanking all the gods that Byukagun could not read her mind Tenten chose to end this conversation there. Thinking too much about Neji's butt was bound to get her into trouble.

Making her way to Kagome who just finished inspecting Miroku for any injuries Tenten offered a helping hand. She also missed the expression on Neji's face that was very unusual for the Prodigy.

"He's ok. If you could just help me lift him up, we can get him to a standing position. I think he's waking up."

"Leave him there" Inuyasha was enjoying the monk's predicament far too much.

"If he doesn't wake up it will slow us down in our hunt for shards, Inuyasha," Sango pointed out and it immediately wiped the smirk off the hanyon's face.

"Oi, wench! Hurry up, and help him up already."

Exchanging an amused glance with each other both girls concentrated on the task. Kagome was struggling with the weight of her friend mumbling about diets and monks while Tenten simply swung his arm around her petit shoulder and stood up. Using a small amount of chakra, she made sure that Miroku was mostly on his feet. He was taller then her so it was a little awkward, but after a little struggle and with Kagome's help they were able to get the monk out of the bush. He was slowly regaining consciousness.

Hoshi's hand was deliciously close to the rear end of the brown haired ninja. Monk, in his still clouded brain, thought it was a perfect opportunity to… Before his hand could make contact, an iron grip on his arm stopped him from finishing the motion.

"Do not touch her," calm voice plainly stated, "Wasn't one knock out enough for you?" it took Miroku, who still wasn't completely in his right mind, several seconds to recognize Neji the ninja in the speaker.

"Why, I have no idea what you are talking about. I am a man of the cloth and…"

"Neji?" Tenten was a little surprised to see her friend standing next to her considering he was on the other side of the clearing the last time she saw him.

"Watch your back," with those words he let go of the monk who was sputtering in 'righteous' indignation and quietly walked away.

"I think 'watch your back side' would be a little more accurate in this situation," Sango said dryly.

"Oh," looking suspiciously at the man whose arm was still draped around her Tenten immediately moved away from him. He swayed, but remained upright. Kagome was keeping her distance from Miroku, taught by experience.

"Finally! Lets get going!"

***

"Gennin, Chunnin, Special Jounnin, ANBU and then in some special cases - Hokage. Below all these ranks are Academy students, although technically ANBU is not a rank," Tenten was explaining the system to her new friends for the lack of anything better to do. "Hokage is the strongest ninja of the village who is elected to oversee its well being, among other things. There can only be one Hokage at a time, though. To become Hokage, one must be truly an extraordinary ninja as well as a great person."

"What ranks are you guys?" Kagome asked.

"We are both Jounin," Tenten proudly replied.

"Wow, cool!" Shippo's excitement could be clearly herd in his voice, "You must be pretty strong by your village's standards, right?" Tenten just smiled in response. She could not help but look longingly at the bushy tail, her pride not allowing her do anything more then stare. The little kitsune is so cute.

"I just passed my exam recently and Neji passed his test at the age of fourteen. He is the famous Hyuuga Prodigy and the strongest of his clan," Tenten continued. Neji did not say anything in response but the Weapon Mistress could clearly see that he was happy with her description.

"That meant he's even stronger then you are!" Shippo said cheerfully.

"I haven't seen him fight yet," Inuyasha grudgingly put in.

"We'll get to fight soon enough, Inuyasha," Sango replied looking at the half dog demon accusingly.

"Not soon enough for me," and with these words Inuyasha stalked on ahead.

"There are many pleasant things we can do other then fighting," Miroku was walking closer and closer to Sango, but not quite in arms reach yet. The Demon Exterminator preferred to keep it that way.

"Whatever it is you are thinking about, hoshi – just forget it!" keeping a hand on her boomerang, just in case, Sango eyed the perverted monk suspiciously.

"Why, my dear Sango. What could you be thinking about?" his innocent expression was not fooling anyone, "I just meant that we could just enjoy our walk without any disturbances a fight will cause. But I'm sure your idea was much more interesting," Miroku's expression became as innocent looking as humanly possible while Sango blushed lightly.

Grumbling quietly to herself, the Demon Exterminator stalked ahead almost catching up to Inuyasha pointedly ignoring the monk.

Tenten, Kagome, and Shippo were strolling side by side while Neji was walking slightly behind the trio.

"So, are you and Neji together?" Kagome openly asked the brown haired ninja who tripped over an invisible rock upon hearing the question.

"What gave you that idea?" quickly regaining her balance Tenten questioned while trying to keep her voice impassive.

"Oh, just the impression I got," Kagome was looking straight ahead as if trying to see something.

"No! We are not," Tenten replied quickly while blushing lightly. Chancing a quick glance back showed that Neji was hanging on every word wile not looking directly at them.

"I see," Kagome continued, "It's really none of my business, but I just thought… you know… looking at Neji when he…"

"You are right," Neji interrupted, "It is none of your business," his voice left no room for argument and he was suddenly walking right next to them.

"Hey! There is nothing wrong with asking!" Kagome was not happy and the anger that could be herd in her voice was there to prove it.

"You asked – I answered," Neji's tone of voice did not change.

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it!" He reminds me of… Sesshoumaru. No wonder Inuyasha hates him so much, Kagome was trying to calm down, what is he going to do? Try to kill me? Miko could not rule out the possibility and therefore doubled her efforts to get her rising anger under control.

"Don't mind Neji. He's just grumpy because he's missing his mission," Tenten said cheerfully, "It's nothing personal."

"How can you be so carefree?" disgruntled Hyuuga asked, though no one but Tenten could see it, "I know you are missing your mission too"

"I'm actually happy to get away for a while," and spend some time with you, "I'm trying to think of this as a vacation."

"It's strange that anyone would think of shard hunting as 'vacation'" Kagome was a little surprised by the turn of this conversation. How did we get to this from my 'are you together' question?

"Vacation? I didn't know you ever had one of those"

"I didn't, so it's a nice change," Tenten smiled warmly at her long time friend, "And I know for a fact that you need a break. You never rest." Neji opened his mouth to argue, "Hospital time doesn't count," and then promptly closed it.

"Just don't let your guard down. This place could be dangerous," Neji said grudgingly.

"No 'could be' about it, " Kagome tried to make sure there were no misunderstandings, "we have some powerful enemies, other then Naraku."

"And Inuyasha is not the nicest person to be around," Shippo mentioned, rubbing his head dejectedly, "Especially if Kagome is not around."

"Inuyasha and Kagome are a couple?" it was more a statement then a question as was obvious by Neji's tone of voice.

"They could be if Inuyasha wasn't suck a blockhead," the little fox answered ignoring Kagome who was doing a great imitation of a tomato.

Shaking her head and plastering her hands over Shippo's mouth to stop anything else he might say Kagome proceeded to deny everything but the damage has been done.

Neji was smirking almost evilly while Tenten just smiled at the embarrassed school-girl. There would have been more through discussion on the subject, but Inuyasha's yell from the front of the group interrupted anything anyone might have said.

What the…?