Chapter 3

Tenten was sitting on a chair in front of Hinata's dressing table looking at her own reflection in the mirror. The Hyuga had dressed her in one of her best yukata's, she tried to persuade her that a more humble one would be perfect, but Hinata wouldn't listen so she accepted it. It was a red yukata with yellow, pink and white flowers. The obi was a soft yellow cloth tied up in a huge bow on her back, around it was a red obijime cord with some white beads. Tenten couldn't believe she was dressing such a fine and expensive yukata, she was feeling really uncomfortable thinking she could ruin it.

"Tenten-san, I found the hair strips!" said Hinata who had been looking for them in her bed table drawers. Tenten felt her friend braid them very carefully around her buns making a bow at the end. "Tenten-san, look at me please." the bun haired girl did has she said and turned around her chair to face her. Hinata smiled in her direction and took a red lipstick from her side pocket pressing it against Tenten's lips who turned crimson red. Then Hinata turned her to the mirror and put her hands on Tenten's shoulders lowering her head a little to stay side-side with the weapons kunoichi "You look so beautiful…"

Tenten looked at herself in the mirror and analysed her appearance. She couldn't believe that strange beauty reflection was herself. She never had dressed so beautifully in her life before so it gave her a mixed feeling. She liked it and didn't liked it. She felt that she could be very pretty but felt too that it wasn't like her.

"Hinata I appreciate all your help but I think you exaggerated a bit. I'm… too pretty… too pretty for myself…" said Tenten while still examining her face. Hinata smiled.

"Don't you want to be pretty to the man you like?"

Tenten lifted an eyebrow and looked at Hinata through the mirror.

"The man I like?"

"Yes. Lee-san."

"W-w-what are you talking about Hinata?!" said her blushing hard and gazing away.

Hinata looked at her a bit confused.

"You don't like Lee-san? I though you did…" The black haired kunoichi put her hand on her mouth, "Oh, I'm so sorry. But you seem so close…"

Tenten turned to face her.

"Well of course we're close! We've been teammates for years!"

"Even so…" started the Hyuga but was interrupted.

"And Lee likes Sakura!" Tenten turned to the mirror again "You know that." Tenten felt insecure for a moment and felt a knot form on her stomach. She just vented the words out but now she began to really think about it. Does he still like her? Why am I feeling depressed now? This is so stupid! But she really didn't know how he felt about the pink haired kunoichi now.

"I don't think you have to worry about Sakura-san," said Hinata smiling. Tenten remembered young Lee throwing love hearts at her kunoichi friend and swearing he would protect her with all his might.

"Well, look at the time!" said the weapons kunoichi dead to escape the subject "We will be late!"

"You're in denial Tenten-san."

"I'm not!" she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Meanwhile someone knocked the door and Naruto's voice sound behind it.

"Honey, are you ready?" Hinata leaved Tenten's side and walked forward to the bedrooms door.

"Yes. Is everything alright?"

"Well…" he sighed "It seems my kimono has a hole…" Tenten could imagine Naruto's embarrassed face behind the door.

"A hole?" Asked Hinata a little confused and Tenten begun to laugh.

"Yes… In a not so convenient place…"

"Just one minute! I'll sew it for you."

"Thanks Hinata-chan."

Hinata approached Tenten who was still laughing like a drain and looked at her.

"Could you get up and turn around please?" Tenten calm herself down and did as she said. Hinata made her stop to adjust the obi bow a bit. "You're done! Now…" She passed through her and opened the top dressing table's drawer "The sewing kit. I'm sure I putted it here…" she get out of the drawer a dark wooden box "Here." The Hyuga putted it on the table and Tenten noticed how organized it was inside. As I expected, Hinata is a really tidy person… "I'll be right back!"

"Take your time sugar." Tenten smiled and when Hinata closed the door she approached the full-length mirror, where she could see herself head to toes. She turned around a few times and looked at herself again. Will he like me…? Realizing what she just thought she turned red and buried her face in her hands. Geez… Stop infiltrate my mind…

000

"You could've dressed in my father's old kimono" said Hinata who was walking arm-in-arm with her husband.

"Oh, I couldn't do that!" he rubbed the back of his head and force smiled "I couldn't afford ruining something so valuable…" Hinata looked at Naruto and put a hand on her mouth while laughing. He was still the same.

Tenten who was walking a little behind them slowed her pace to let them be alone. How did you fall in love with such a dork? She laughed and looked at the night sky. Well, who am I to talk…? The streets were getting more and more illuminated every time they get close to the park where the festival was occurring. Tenten could see red paper lanterns hanging on wires along the streets. Through the air she could already smell the food spices and her stomach growled. There were so many people on the streets. Kids were running around their parents legs while holding little water balloons and some mums were getting really pissed when they fell on the ground and hurt themselves. A group of young shinobis passed through them really excited, Tenten could hear them talking about some ninja jutsu's. She remembered her genin days when she struggled to be a legendary kunoichi like Tsunade-sama but found out she had no talent at all for medical ninjutsu. Then again it was Lee's will of iron that motivated her to surpass her insecurities and became the best of herself.

"Yo! The married couple over there!" called a familiar voice while they were approaching the park's entrance. Tenten walked closer and took Hinata's right side. Kiba, the one who called them, was in front of them waving his hand, behind him was Shino, still in his sunglasses even though he was wearing a kimono, and at is right side was Lee wearing green, as usually, but in a kimono. Tenten's heart skipped a bit when he looked at her. She noticed he blushed a little while analysing her figure. She approached him and smiled.

"Hi." she said looking at him. Lee remained silent still gazing at her. "Lee?" Tenten felt really awkward so she just punched his arm in an attempt to break free from her own embarrassment. "I said 'Hi' you dork! Listen to people when they are greeting you!"

"Ouch! ... I'm sorry. I'm really sorry!" He rubbed his own arm trying to ease the pain. "I… wasn't thinking…" he whispered. Tenten felt her cheeks heat up.

"Idiot…"

Meanwhile, a smiling Hinata approached them both and bowed. "Hi Lee-san."

"Oh! Hinata-san!" said Lee bowing too. "Hope you're doing great!" the Hyuga smiled and looked at her own teammates. "Hi Kiba-kun, Shino-kun."

"Hi guys!" Naruto put a hand on Kiba's shoulder "So how are you?"

"Fine." replied Kiba and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Just hoping you've been taking good care of our team's princess."

Naruto pointed at himself with his thumb and wore a confident smile.

"Of course I'm taking good care of my wife! I'm an excellent husband, right Hinata-chan?" Kiba looked at him with an analysing gaze.

"If he does something funny to you just say so, Hinata." Kiba grabbed Hinata's hands "I'll beat him to a pulp!" Naruto took a step forward a little pissed.

"What did you say?"

"I'm just saying we will be on guard." teased the Inuzuka. Hinata got in the middle of them.

"Kiba-kun! Naruto-kun! Please stop!"

"This guy is getting on my nerves!" growled Naruto and grabbed Kiba's kimono.

"Wanna fight? Mr. Hokage?" Kiba grabbed Naruto's kimono too.

Shino shook his head in disapproval behind them and Lee moved to stop them, however Tenten's fists were faster, she punched their heads and they were projected against a wall.

"Ouch…"

"Stop right there you two! This is a festival not a sumo ring!" Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand "Let's go, Hinata! Leave these two idiots to do what they want!" They walked away, with Hinata always looking back. Kiba and Naruto looked at the girls, each one with a big dark eye.

"E-except for Hinata-chan there are only scary females on our teams." said Naruto. Kiba tried to get up but couldn't.

"H-how did she learn to punch like that?"

Lee looked at the girls who were getting away and laughed.

"I guess she has been practicing on me for a long time." He said remembering all the times he had been violently shaken up or punched in the face by his teammate.

"Let's get up or I won't see my wife again the whole night!" said Naruto and Lee put his arm around his neck, helping him get up. They both went looking for the girls.

"Hey! Wait," said Kiba, while trying to get up by himself. He saw Shino pass beside him to head after the others. "Shino! Help me get up." the bug user continued walking. "Hey! Shino! I'm talking to you!" His teammate stopped and looked back at him.

"You started the fight. You stay here." He then turned away again.

"Hey! Are you going to abandon your teammate who you knew for so many years here?" Shino didn't respond. "Ok! Fine! Then don't say everybody ignores you! You're an unsociable asshole with creepy bugs who suck!" Shino stopped again and turned very slowly to his teammate.

"What did you say?" He asked him in a low voice.

"What did I say?" Kiba snorted. "I said your bugs suck and you are an unsociable bastard!" Shino looked at him.

"My bugs… suck?" He opened his arms and a cloud of dark bugs flew through his kimono's sleeves towards Kiba.

"W-what are you doing?!"

The last thing Kiba could see and hear, before getting eaten by a swarm of bugs, was Shino adjusting his sunglasses and saying, "See you later."

000

"Tenten-san." called Hinata. "We will lose them if we continue walking." Tenten snorted.

"That stupid duo!" the brown haired kunoichi stopped abruptly and Hinata crashed into her. "Why are there only stupid man on our teams?" She sighed and lowered her head.

"Tenten-san, you left Lee-san stranded." Tenten raised up her head and gasped.

"Oh… Geez! I got so mad I forgot about him!" She face palmed. "What do I do now?" before she could do anything a voice sounded behind them.

"Uff! Finally found you!" said Lee who was helping an injured Naruto walking. Naruto released himself from the bowl haired cut man and put his hands on Hinata's shoulders.

"Please don't disappear with my wife again." He gave her his arm.

"Then don't get yourself into a fight again!" Tenten crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him annoyed. Lee took her right side and tried to figure out a way to get rid of all the tense atmosphere, he was deciding on a frontal approach when he heard a voice saying, "Fortune cookies! Get your fortune and eat a sweat!" An old man with a tray held by a strap around his neck passed right beside them. "Fortune cookies! Get to know your future!"

"Let's buy some cookies!" said Lee feeling like the old man had just saved him a trouble. "Tenten, I know how fond you are of fortune-telling." Tenten felt really embarrassed. Why did he have to tell everybody about her strange hobby?

"I'm not fond of fortune-telling," she began, while steeping on his foot. "I just found it a curious science." she force smiled and then turned at Lee with a look that clearly said: You're dead if you keep talking. Lee gulped. Then she turned back at the others. "Well…," she cleared her throat. "Since Lee suggested it, I think we should give it a try!" she smiled happily and tagged the old man. "Excuse me sir! Could my friends and I get a cookie?"

The old man turned to her with a large smile that showed his only three teeth.

"Oh, of course young lady! If you buy one you get two more for free!" Tenten's eyes shined. Lee, Naruto, Hinata and Shino sweat-dropped.

"Oh great!" she took her first cookie while the others stepped forward to take one too. Naruto reached for the first one and cracked it.

"Sorry. You're fortune is in another cookie." he read, slowly. "Oh, I see." he then looked at the paper again. "W-what?! That's not fair!"

"Calm down young man, you have two more cookies to tell you your future." the old man put another one on Naruto's hand. He opened it and narrowed his eyes to read it.

"Fortune not found? Abort, retry, ignore." he teared the paper, pissed. "This is not funny at all! Hinata what does yours say?" he looked at his wife's hand and read the little paper. "Help me! I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery! What?! Such stupid cookies!"

Tenten cracked her first one and took out the little paper.

"You love Chinese food." she smiled. "Well, it's true." she took another one. "Perhaps you have been focusing too much on that one thing…" she blushed and looked at Lee who was reading his cookie.

"You may be hungry soon: order a take out." his lips pronounced. "Well, that's something that could certainly happen." He ate the cookie and took another one from the old man's tray. "Love is in your hands, be glad and hold onto it." Lee's cheeks heated up. Wow! Tenten is right, these things are really accurate! He glanced at her and found her glancing at him too. They both turned away embarrassed.

"Shino! What does yours say?" asked Naruto after reading a cookie that said: Suppose you can get what you want...

Shino took is little paper and read it, slowly:

"The next time someone asks if you are god, say 'yes'."

"What?! Shino? God?!" exclaimed the blond one. Everyone begun to laugh. Shino adjusted his sunglasses and ate his cookie. They all paid the old man their share and went walking through the large number of stalls that the festival held. The place was getting crowded, lots of people were still arriving so it was getting hard to walk in a large group. Suddenly Naruto lift his head and sniffed the air.

"Don't tell me old man Teuchi is here?" he drooled. "Hinata-chan! Let's eat some ramen. I'm starved!" He grabbed his wife's hand and dragged her at full speed through the crowd.

"Naruto-kunnnnn!"

Shino quickened his pace and with the agility of a feline, dodged all the people in front of him. Lee followed him too, as fast as he could. When he was almost at Shino's side he looked back to check on Tenten and found her nowhere to be found.

"Tenten?" he said looking around. He couldn't spot her anywhere. "Tenten?! Where are yo-?" A teenage boy bumped into him. "Oh. I'm sorry!" the guy mumbled something but Lee paid no attention and looked back at Shino, Naruto and Hinata. They were getting away, they haven't noticed that he and Tenten were staying behind. Lee backtracked and went looking for his teammate. "Tenten?! Can you hear me?!" He dodged a group of young women, chatting about their nail colour. "Tenten?!" he spotted two brown buns in the middle of a crowd who was waiting in front of a food stall. Lee rushed and asked a few times for permission to pass. "Tenten! Finally found you." he sighed.

"This is getting crowed! There's so many people, I can't even walk!" she shouted while fighting to pass through a bunch of people who were separating her from Lee. The taijustsu user stepped forward and moved his arms to part two persons in front of him.

"I'm sorry. Would you let me pass?" They both nodded and moved to the side. Lee finally reached his teammate.

"Where's Hinata?" she asked.

"We got separated. I don't know where they are now." Tenten was going to answer but someone pushed her in Lee's direction and she bumped into his chest. "Oh! I'm sorry! Someone pushed me…" she looked down and blushed, they were really close to each other. Tenten could see part of his chest skin because his kimono was slightly open and that caused her to feel a chill go rushing down her spine. She breathed in the smell of his cologne too. How she liked that smell… Tenten woke up from her thoughts when she felt Lee grab her hand and pull her out of the crowd.

"This way we won't get separated." she looked down at their hands, which were so perfectly clutched. He had held her hand before, but not like this. They really seemed like a couple and that made her cheeks heat up and her heart beat against her chest. She wished they could stay like this forever.

Lee and Tenten passed through a lot of people, he was being her shield. He was in the front penetrating the crowd so they could pass. A lot of people were wearing their yukatas so everything was colourful around them. They passed through a lot of different stalls and rounded around a stage were traditional dances were being performed. A few minutes after they found themselves in front of stall with a small pool full of goldfish. The man who was taking care of the pool had a white band around his head. Some children were already trying to scoop their fishes with the paper scoopers.

"I don't remember the last time I played this." stated Tenten as she and Lee looked at the pool.

"We ninjas have to work hard and train a lot! The time I would waste scooping a goldfish would be enough to lap 10,000 times around the park!" His eyes burned with fighting spirit. Tenten sweat-dropped.

"Well, you're free now, so STOP talking about training and let's give it a try!" She pulled him and asked for two paper scoops and two bowls. The man promptly provided them and Tenten passed Lee his own. "Well, let's see if I didn't lose the skill." she rolled up her yukata sleeves and bent down. Lee watched her focus and put the scoop paper slowly under the water. Tenten get her bowl at hand and tagged a group of fishes. She waited patiently until one fish stopped above her paper net, then quick as a flash she hoisted the fish and put it in the bowl. "See? I'm a natural. You can't beat me!" Lee frowned.

"Of course I can! This is just a simple game." he bent down, placing his paper scoop under the water and looked for the biggest goldfish in the pool. When he found it he tagged it and tried to scoop it up, but his net broke. He gasped and Tenten giggled.

"So, as you can see this isn't a piece of cake!"

"I wasn't focused." he cleared his throat. "This time I'll get it!" Lee tried again but the same thing occurred. "Maybe this fish is too big for the net... I'll scoop a smaller one, just you wait!" he broke his third scoop paper. "Damn it! I swear I'll scoop one!" his eyes burned. Tenten sighed and then touched his hand.

"You have no patient, and this game requires a great amount of patience." Still grabbing his hand she put the paper net under the water and guided his movements. "You have to do it slowly so the fish doesn't notice you." She glanced at him and saw that he was feeling very enthusiastic. "Easy... Easy… Now!" They both moved their hands upwards and the fish entered the bowl.

"Yes, I did it!" Lee rejoiced.

"See?" she smiled. "You just have to take it easy."

"Tenten you're amazing, you did this with a half broken net!" Lee looked at her astonished. Tenten gave him an uppity smile.

"Well, I couldn't blame you if you were feeling a little down now." she pointed at herself with her thumb and wore a proudly expression. "You're competing against quite a skilled person." Lee felt really stupid. He couldn't even scoop a little fish! That was like a punch in his stomach. "But don't worry, you can stay with this one." she said offering him the bowl.

"No way!" he pushed it to her again. "If I can't do this by myself I don't deserve to take one home! Gai-sensei would never approve such un-youthful and half-hearted behaviour!"

"Ok, ok. I get it..." Tenten sighed. Here we go again…

Lee asked the man for another paper scooper and tried his luck again. Every time he missed a fish he would get more and more determined in scooping the next one. Tenten tried to help but he was so absorbed he didn't even noticed her talking. The man of the goldfish stall, feeling sorry for him, tried to offer one of his fishes but Lee refused. He wasn't acknowledging defeat, as usual.

"Lee, look." she pulled his arm so he would look at her. "This is not such a big of a deal. Accept the fish the man is offering you."

"That would be admitting defeat Tenten!"

"Look. I know you're a person who takes seriously all challenges and I like that in you, but we can't stay scooping goldfishes until the festival ends!" While they were arguing with each other a little goldfish entered Lee's bowl, who was half under the water.

"…so stop being stubbor-!" Tenten gasped. "Lee! Look, you've just scooped one!" Lee looked back at his bowl.

"W-wha-!" He clenched his fist and cried proudly. "Oh! I did it! I really did it this time!" Tenten smiled, he seemed like a little kid who had just received candy. After Lee's small inner party they paid the stall keeper and he gave them their fishes in two special bags filled with water.

"This was super fun!" he said.

Tenten laughed at Lee, every little thing was enough to make him overreact. He had the ability to transform the smallest and insignificant moment in a big and important one, she loved his positive character. Lee had no idea how powerful his warm smile was, always so full of hope. That smile had saved her from feeling depressed so many times she had lost the count of it.

"Tenten?" Lee's put his hand on her shoulder and moved his head to the left. "Isn't that Shikamaru and Chouji?" Tenten moved her head too.

"Where? I can't see." His head bend close to hers and he reached out his left arm to point the place.

"On the red stall near that huge tent." Tenten reddened with the proximity but still managed to look. In the stall balcony was a brunet guy with a pineapple shaped hair leaning back on a bench with both arms behind his head. He looked tired. At his side was a chubby guy that was looking at the people passing by while eating a packet of potato chips.

"Yeah." Agreed Tenten. "It's definitely them."

To be Continued…

Author's note: This chapter was supposed to be the last one, but I decided to part it in two. So look forward to Chapter 4.

I'll be thanking Samuraipanda85 who beta'd my chapter and helped me a lot! Thank you! :)

Hope you enjoy Chapter 3!