And here you go, one-shot number two. I guess I'm going to sort of go in chronologic al order through these memories. Originally I had thought about making them all out of order, tying each one into the other one by subject and memory triggers, I wanted to make them seem sort of jumbled like I would imagine Tentens thoughts to be after losing a loved one. BUT, for the sake of clarity, I'm not going to do that.

I pretty much took a lot of the dialogue out of shippuden episode 237. It's a pretty cute episode haha. Anyways, I'll have the next chapter out tomorrow, maybe even the next two or three. :) I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! *Sobs*

Kindred spirits

"Team four" Iruka-sensei continued as he went down the list. "Consists of Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee. You will be meeting your sensei in room 4C in two hours. Team five will consist of-"

Tenten groaned to herself as she looked on at her teammates. "Great" she thought to herself. "I'm teamed with that boy who can't use chakra and the class genius!"

She looked at the boy named Lee and studied him for a minute.

"Well" She thought to herself "He's a hard worker, and very determined. He may lack talent, but at least he's nice to people… Unlike…" her eyes immediately turned to Neji Hyuuga, who was sitting by the window with a bored expression on his face as he watched a flock of birds fly by.

It wasn't that he was mean, per say, actually she had no idea what his temperament was like. She'd never once spoken to the boy. She'd never been paired with him for any sort of training or exercise nor had she ever approached him throughout all the years they'd had classes together.

The boy honestly intimidated her. He gave off this unapproachable aura that Tenten knew better then to cross. It wasn't that Tenten was a coward, but she didn't see the need of pushing her luck.

She liked to think herself a sensible, and analytical enough that if a situation sounds unpleasant and isn't necessary, then why engage it?

Approach Neji Hyuuga and possibly be embarrassed? No thank you.

She'd rather just stay out of people like that's way, too much trouble. As long as he doesn't mess with her, she wouldn't mess with him.

Except, now they were team mates, so obviously she would have to associate with him.

"Damn." She thought while giving him another cringing look. "Why'd I have to get those two as team mates? Why not give Neji one of his fan girls? They've been practically salivating over whether or not one of them would be on his team all day."

Suddenly, Neji's eyes flashed away from the window and made direct eye contact with her. The sharp look on his face made Tenten immediately blush in embarrassment as her eyes went wide.

The eye contact continued for as few seconds, with Tenten refusing to break it first, even as she was dying of mortification.

After another eternal second a small smirk plastered Neji's face before he turned his head back to the window with a small "Hn."

Tentens shoulders immediately relaxed as her heart began to rapidly beat again. "Jeesh!" She thought, face still flushed from embarrassment. "Way to go Tenten! Get caught staring at your new teammate. He probably thinks you're a total creep now!"

She groaned to herself in embarrassment.

This was going to be a long day, Tenten could already tell her next few years, or however long they'd be teamed up, was going to be completely and utterly mortifying.

Little did she know that the mortification had only just begun, and its name, was Maito Gai.

"Yosh! I am honored to be teaching such youthful student such as yourselves! From today on, you will be Genin. I'd like to take this time to hear about your goals." Said the strange man in the green jumpsuit.

"HE is my senei!?" She thought to herself, not fully convinced that this man was really her sensei. After all, when he entered the room the three of them had been waiting in, he literally kicked in the door and flew into the room in the most exaggerated and dramatic pose she'd ever seen a full grown man do. He had both legs spread, and his hand in the victory sign. And his teeth! They literally sparkled at them as he introduced himself to them as Konoha's beautiful green beast. Then, he went on a ten minute speech about how he's been waiting his whole life for such youthful student to be given to him, and then swore up and down that he would turn them into formidable shinobi, or else he would run 1000 laps around the village walls on his thumbs.

Really, Tenten was afraid he had locked their real sensei in a closet somewhere. At least she somewhat hoped.

She looked at her two teammates, wondering if they were as disturbed as she was by this Gai-sensei character in front of her.

Lee was currently staring at him with wide eyes filled with adoration. Neji on the other hand had a scowl present on his face and turned his head away from their sensei.

"Tch." He scoffed. "I don't want to talk about that."

"Hmm?" Gai-sensei question before Lee's hand shot up into the air.

"Sensei!" he yelled, startling Tenten and making her lean closer towards Neji.

She quickly realised what she had done and turned beet red before getting it together and sitting straight up in her spot while politely listening to Lee.

"I want to prove that even without mastering ninjutsu or genjutsu one can become a great ninja! That is what I live for!" he said with conviction.

Tenten couldn't help but admire the passion and determination the boy held in his voice. He seemed so sincere; she began to think that she really hoped this boy, her new team mate, could do it. That he could prove all those other kids in their class wrong.

An amused chuckle from beside her got her attention as she looked to the stoic boy next to her. His chuckle didn't pass Lee's notice either.

"Hey! What's so funny!" he shouted while standing up and pointing an exaggerated finger at him.

Neji opened his eyes and gave Lee a harsh look. "Listen, if you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, you can't be a shinobi. It's as simple as that."

Tenten felt her face fall in sympathy for the poor boy to her left.

"What? Are you stupid?" Neji's voice finished carelessly as he looked at Lee with a scowl.

Tenten's attention shifted towards Lee and the expression on his face made her feel truly sorry for the boy. His face was downcast, and he stood there looking completely beaten.

All the determination and willpower she had previously seen in the boy had drained out of him in an instant. Anger rushed over her as she turned to tell Neji how unnecessary that comment had been.

Before she could open her mouth though, her new sensei's now serious voice cut into the conversation.

"No." he said. "That's not necessarily true, if one has the passion." He finished with a wink.

Lee turned to his sensei shocked, obviously not used to this sort of encouragement. Neji's face however, betrayed no emotion. Tenten on the other hand, felt hope fill her chest at her sensei's words.

"He's actually… kind of cool." She thought to herself, not knowing that in a few more minutes she'd be taking that thought back and burning it in her mind.

"If you spend your youth with a rival, sparring together and honing your skills, there's no doubt you will become a fine shinobi. But," he said while giving Lee a thumbs-up. "You will need determination"

Lee's face filled with confidence. "Hai!" he said, the previous vigor once again filling his voice.

Gai-sensei's eyes turned to Tenten, and he addressed her specifically for the first time.

"And you?" he said with an encouraging smile.

She jumped up and immediately answered. "Oh! I want to become just like the legendary kunoichi Tsunade-sama!" she said with passion.

All three pairs of eyes turned to her, Gai and Lee with approval, and Neji with a thoughtful look. She didn't know what to make out of his look, but between it, and the full attention she had from the other two males she began for feel her nerves being put on edge as a blush formed on her cheeks.

She gave a nervous sort of giggle and Neji's expression turned bored again as his eyes slipped off her form.

"Yosh!" Gai-sensei exclaimed. "What a youthful goal for a young kunoichi! I'll do everything in my power to help and encourage our only flower to bloom to the full springtime of youth!"

Tenten felt herself sweat drop and she plopped back into her seat, but not before noticing that Neji's expression had turned into somewhat of a disbelieving stare towards their sensei.

"Springtime of youth sensei? What is that?" Lee questioned Gai-sensei.

"Why Lee-kun, it is the most important time in a person's life! When they grow and flourish with skills, ambitions, dreams, hope, and not to mention love! You three are in it right now and it is my deepest honour that I will promise to guide and encourage you, even with my very last breath!" He exclaimed while giving his "good guy pose"

Lee mimicked the pose immediately and "GAI-SENSEI!" He exclaimed. "I wish to learn every bit about this springtime of youth from you! You are so wise, I will try with every last ounce of my will to learn and accomplish every goal you have set for me! If I don't I will do one thousand and five hundred push-ups! And if I can't do those then I will do seven hundred one handed pull ups!"

"Lee-kun!" Gai exclaimed with tears filling his eyes. "Lets us not waste our time then! We shall begin training immediately! Come on you three! To training field 7! We are going to start by running five hundred laps around the training fields! First one there wins the title of most youthful for the day!"

And with that, their new sensei immediately began to jump away before catching himself and stumbling.

"Ah! I almost forgot! I brought something for the three of you!" He said before reaching behind his back and pulling three of the most hideous jumpsuits Tenten had ever seen in her life out. Tenten noticed immediately that they were identical to the one he was wearing and gagged before she could stop herself.

"Ugh." She heard from the long-haired boy to her right.

Their sensei threw one at each of them. Neji dropped it as if it had burnt him, and Tenten held it away from her as if it would attack her at any moment.

"This is….THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!" Lee shouted while jumping around with joy. "I will change into it immediately Gai-sensei! Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift!"

Gai gave Lee a thumbs up, "Good Lee-kun, I see you are embracing your youth! Let us race now" He said before quickly taking off into the blaring Konoha heat.

Lee stumbled for a moment before quickly taking off after their sensei with a scream of "Gai-senseeiiiii!"

Tenten dropped her jumpsuit and immediately dropped her head into her hands with a groan.

"We're doomed." She said morosely to herself.

"Hai." A quiet voice said next to her, startling her.

She had forgotten that Neji was sitting to her right. A disturbed scowl was present on his face as he stared off in the direction that their teammate and sensei had run off to. As his eyes turned from them, to the green jumpsuits on the ground he appeared to give a small shudder.

Tenten's eyes went wide at the displays of emotion, even if they were of disgust, considering it was the most she'd ever seen out of him before.

His eyes turned from the jumpsuits on the ground and made contact with her own A small smirk adorned his face, this time it wasn't unfriendly.

"Just wonderful. My Sensei is completely crazy, as is the 'approachable' one of my team mates, and the only other kindred spirit I have here, is with him."

As she took a good look at him, she noticed that he had really fine, almost aristocratic features. His hair was long and brown, tied back in a loose ponytail behind his head. His nose was straight, his jaw somewhat prominent on his young face, and his eyes, they were like endless pearls.

Tenten hadn't met many Hyuuga's before, but she knew all their eyes were similar. Although, this was the first time she had ever gotten a good look at them. She had always thought they looked sort of empty, almost like a blind man's eyes. But, now that she was getting a good look into Neji's, she could see a faint spark of amusement, one that grew with each passing moment.

Suddenly, a small smile appeared on her face as she stood to join her teammates.

"Well," she thought to herself with a little smile as she kicked the ugly green spandex suit under the bench. "He is kind of cute, I guess it could be worse."

And there we go, end of the second one-shot. I hope you enjoyed it. Obviously, it's not full of angst like the last one, but it shows her first opinions of him, which is important, as I want to show how her feelings for him grew and evolved into the love she had with him before his death.

Anyways, like always, if you have any suggestions about the story-line or if you see any errors, please let me know! :) I occasionally do miss things as I edit, especially because I always write my stuff between 11-4 am. While running on about 3-4 hours of sleep. Lol.

Until next time!

-Laurie