Chapter Four:: An S-Rank Mission


Jealous.

That word sounded so foreign to Neji, so...juvenile. The group of twelve Konoha genin that he had been part of had been forced to grow up so quickly when they were in their early teens, so he concluded that they were living out their teenage years now when they should be acting like the 19-year-old and 20-year-old adults they were. Now they were having boyfriends and girlfriends, playing matchmaker...

...being jealous...

Neji couldn't believe that he was actually jealous.

He wasn't going to deny it. He wasn't going to bullshit himself; he was feeling very envious. Neji had always been over protective of Tenten, but now it was taking on a new form. Now it made him glare at any man that even looked at Tenten for a few seconds too long. It made him want to trade places with Kiba when he saw him making her laugh. Neji wished he could make her laugh.

Because Shikamaru was Tenten's new team leader, he had a key to her apartment and was put in charge of delivering her presents to her place with Chouji (troublesome, he called it.) And when Neji asked them, they reported that she hadn't even been there. Well that would explain why she hadn't come to train with Neji that morning.

If there were an Inner Neji, he would have been screaming out in worry and frustration, but no emotion betrayed Outer Neji's phlegmatic face.

"Have you checked the Inuzuka household?" Neji asked. He hadn't wanted it to come to this.

The Nara genius scoffed, "No way. You check."

"Well you're her team leader." Neji shot back.

"But you're her best friend." Shikamaru said logically.


"Oh...stop licking...my face...oh...no...Ne—" Right then, Tenten had the powerful urge to say Neji's name, but then she realized that Neji wouldn't ever be licking her face. Then she realized that someone was licking her face.

"AHH!!! Get OFF!!!" Tenten's arm swung at the person in front of her face, causing them to yelp. But it wasn't a person, "Oh...Akamaru...you scared me." Tenten apologized to the Inuzuka dog and then took in her surroundings. This was...not her room. It was, however, Kiba's room. In...Kiba's house...

"Yo." Speak of the devil, Kiba grinned down at her position on the floor from his position on the bed.

She groaned, bringing her hand to her aching temples, "Could you not talk so loud? And why the HELL is this room so BRIGHT?!" she squinted and cursed the sunlight. That's right sunlight, fuck you.

Kiba laughed loudly (much to Tenten's displeasure) at her post-drunken state, "I don't get hangovers, but I guess that you're not that lucky."

A moan from Tenten silenced Kiba, "What happened?" she demanded.

"Well you two got smashed last night, and you came back here and passed out." Hana had appeared in the doorway and had her hands on her hips. Then her eyes rolled, "And no, nothing...happened." she answered Tenten's unspoken question, making the weapons mistress blush with embarrassment.

"I, uh, um, I should just...go..." Tenten's face was flushed and she stuttered.

"Hey," Kiba put his hand on her shoulder, making the Tenten's eyes widen, "Don't be embarrassed. Everyone gets drunk." He chuckled a bit.

His sister smirked, "Yeah, especially you Kiba." Kiba shrugged it off with another laugh.

Seeing the sincerity in his face and smile, Tenten's expression calmed. She realized that the whole incident had already been forgotten.

"HEY!" Kiba exclaimed again, "How about that present? I never gave it to you!" he proceeded to run out of the room. Tenten became a little worried.

"OKAY!!! CLOSE YOUR EYES!!" she heard the Inuzuka boy yell from another room.

But she just smiled and closed her eyes, "They're closed!" The next thing she knew, a small bundle of fur was placed in her arms. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked down, shocked, and saw a kitten purring and looking up at her.

"Kiba!" Hana scolded, "Are you an Inuzuka or not?!"

"Well, there was this sick kitten...and...I'm REALLY not a cat person...and I figured that Tenten wouldn't mind having a cat...?" he looked over at Tenten, who was smiling widely.

"I don't mind at all!" she said, "I'm glad you thought of me when you found...her? Or is it a 'him'?"

"A him." He replied certainly. Tenten decided that she wouldn't question this.

The small kitten had soft white fur with orange splotches and patches, and he looked perky and playful, "What should his name be?" Tenten asked the Inuzuka siblings.

Hana shrugged, "Don't ask me. But don't rush when naming him."

"Why?" Tenten wondered out loud.

"Naming is very important. Normally our dogs name themselves...but that cat isn't intelligent enough to convey it's feelings to you..." the female Inuzuka smirked jokingly and then waved her hand in front of her face, "I've got to go anyway. I'll see guys later!!" she headed out.

"Be safe, nee-chan!!" Kiba yelled after his sister and then turned to Tenten, "Even though she's older than me, I'm always worrying about her."

Tenten stroked the purring kitten's orange and white fur, "That's because you're a sweet guy Kiba. Worrying about your sister is natural." She beamed at him.

Kiba grinned back and then unexpectedly gave her a quick but confident kiss on the cheek. Tenten smiled and blushed subconsciously, still petting the kitten, not really realizing what had happened. Unfortunately for Kiba, a certain Hyuuga had seen what he had just done.

No, not Hinata...

Hyuuga Neji had been eavesdropping (or as he calls it, 'gathering information') long enough to see the kiss, but not long enough to see that NOTHING had happened between them last night. Right then, he was thinking the worst.

Kiba had smelled Neji's scent earlier, but had assumed that he was just picking it up off of Tenten because she and Neji's scents were often intertwined because they spend so much time together. But as he sensed the heightened anger in Neji's scent, he knew that the Hyuuga must be nearby.

"Tenten, do you think you can get Akamaru for me?" he suggested nonchalantly, "He really doesn't like cats, so he probably ran over to Shino's house."

The young woman nodded, "Can do, Kiba-kun." She ran quickly out of the house and down the street to the Aburame household still clutching the now-distressed kitten.

The Inuzuka smirked and spoke out to Neji now that Tenten was gone, "C'mon out Hyuuga. I know you're there."

Neji flew into the room from a nearby window without hesitating. He charged up to Kiba angrily, but he still looked relatively calm, "What the hell was that?" he asked, trying to keep the tone of his voice blank, but failing.

Kiba continued to smirk, "It's called flirting. I know you may not like girls, but some of us do."

This statement enraged Neji, and he rushed at Kiba and swiftly took hold of his collar, lifting him about half a foot off the ground, "Damn you Inuzuka!" he growled, "Don't you ever even look at Tenten like that again."

An equally angry Kiba unsheathed his claws and swiped at Neji's face. The attack was dodged, and the two separated.

"I don't think that you want to start a fight without your precious dog here." Neji smirked and raised his eyebrows, "Both you and Akamaru are pretty much useless in a fight with out each other."

"Don't you dare insult me, or Akamaru!" Kiba roared, aiming a high kick at the Hyuuga. Neji's blocked the hit with his strong hand and then threw Kiba against a wall and pinned him there by his shoulders.

"Remember what I said." He stated simply. Kiba winced from the pain in his arms.

"Neji? What's going on?" Tenten had re-entered the Inuzuka household with the orange and white kitten perched on her head and a surprisingly docile Akamaru in her arms.

Kiba's shoulders were immediately released, and he dropped to the floor with a dull 'thud', clutching his upper arms and cursing Neji under his breath, "Get out of my house Hyuuga..." he muttered sourly.

"I'm sorry for anything that this idiot had done Kiba," Tenten shook angrily as Akamaru ran to his master. Her eyes were fixed in a hard glare at Neji as she ushered him out of the Inuzuka household, "What the hell?!" she shrieked at him when they were outside.

Tenten never got an answer, as Shizune could be seen running towards them screaming.

"Hyuuga Neji!!" she screamed, only seeing the long-haired Hyuuga. As she approached the duo, she spotted Tenten, "Tenten!" she sighed, relieved, "I'm so glad that you're here too. You and Hyuuga-kun are needed at Tsunade-sama's office immediately. Come quickly."

As the trio sprinted to the Hokage's office, Tenten spared a glance at Neji. His face was now void of any emotion at all. Well there went any chance of getting an answer out of him. He was all shinobi now; his mission mode. Tenten had always silently wished that she could have that kind of dedication and sternness, but it was hard when she always had so much on her mind.

When they had traveled the small distance to Tsunade's office, the doors were flung open to reveal Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto already there, standing in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I'm glad you're here, thank you Shizune. Now I can explain your mission." The Hokage said to the new arrivals. Shizune nodded and Neji as Tenten stepped up in front of Tsunade.

"The last mission that Team Shikamaru was sent on," she started, "was for records about the Hidden Star Village; Hoshigakure. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, some of the more important documents were hidden away from us and are now being protected by a dangerous set of opponents."

"The Akatsuki?!" Naruto interrupted, mentioning the first 'dangerous set of opponents' he could think of.

"No!" Tsunade yelled at the blond ninja, "Nagano Kuro, or Kiko's father as some of you may know him..." she smirked at Naruto, "...hid certain records with two of his older brothers. Their names are Nagano Shiro and Nagano Katsuro. Out of you five I will assemble one three man team and one two man team—or really one man and one woman team—and each team will go after one of the brothers."

Her eyes narrowed seriously, "These are very powerful criminals. Shiro has developed an immense knowledge of weapons and uses a large arsenal of them. He also has been known to use a technique where he uses shadow clones for spying purposes, and disguises his chakra in them so they can't be seen. And Katsuro is an all-around ninja. He's mastered very important elements of taijustu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. You'll need brute force and intelligence to get rid of him."

Naruto grinned and nodded. Brute force was his thing. Shikamaru could do the intelligence part.

"Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto!" You three will be tailing Katsuro! Tenten, Neji!! You two will be taking down Shiro." Tsunade barked out orders.

"Coordinates?" Shikamaru asked, a bit condescendingly.

Tsunade sighed regretfully, "These maps contain each targets last known coordinates...but you'll have to take it from there." She handed Shikamaru and Neji each a yellowed, folded-up map.

"This is a very serious political matter." She continued, "For reasons I will not disclose, Konoha needs those records on Hoshigakure as soon as possible. This is an S-rank mission that I'm sending you on." The five jounin nodded gravely.

"Well get ready," Tsunade waved them out of her office, "because you leave in an hour."


"So where are we heading off to?" Tenten asked Neji. Neji had already been dressed in the traditional Hyuuga robes, and had what weapons he needed in his bag. Now they were in Tenten's small apartment, where she was pulling a red quarter-sleeved shirt on over the baby blue tank she had worn last night and fallen asleep in.

Neji averted his eyes when she pulled off the jeans she was wearing to put on her dark blue caprice, "Well these coordinates are actually in Wind Country, in Suna."

"Hmmm..." she replied thoughtfully as she redid the buns on her head and then slung two large scrolls on her back, "That's where Temari, Kankurou and Gaara are from. Temari left for there yesterday night after the party. It takes almost three days to get there..."

The pair exited her apartment and walked quickly to the training grounds behind the Hokage's office where they would be meeting Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji, "I'm pretty sure that we can reach this spot in two days or less. Probably less." Neji said confidently, "After all, we've done it before."

She nodded at him and ran ahead, "Just give me a second. I need to ask Ino a favor!"

Neji waited outside the Yamanaka Flower Shop while Tenten asked Ino who knows what. She nodded to him as she came out, and they continued on. Soon enough they reached the training ground already occupied by Tsunade, Shizune, Shikamaru, Chouji and Naruto.

'We're always the late ones….' Both Neji and Tenten thought despairingly.

The Hokage wasted no time giving them orders, "The new and temporary Team Shikamaru—Shikamaru, Naruto and Chouji—you will be heading north east from this spot. The new and temporary Team Neji—Tenten and Neji—will be heading exactly west from this spot. Waste no time. You leave...now!"

As all five Jounin fanned out in their proper directions, Shizune turned to Tsunade, "Are you sure that it's a good idea sending Neji and Tenten alone?" She asked in a concerned voice.

"Why the hell not?!" Tsunade demanded, "Those two together is the perfect team to go after Shiro. With Tenten's mastery of weapons and Neji's byakugan, they should be able to get those records in...record time!!" the blonde Hokage laughed at her own joke. "Sometimes I wish that those two would just have a kid. I could send that kid on solo mission, and he—or she—would have no problem completing them!" Tsunade considered the possibilities.

Shizune nodded nervously, "I'm not sure...they looked like they were fighting earlier. I know that the Hyuuga is good with not letting his emotions mess up his missions...but Tenten has become much more outspoken than him."

"Just a lovers spat I'm sure..." Tsunade snickered, "They'll be fine. They always are."

Another person made their way onto the training ground, "Tsunade-sama?" Yamanaka Ino chirped, "Tenten asked me to take care of her new kitten. She said that Shizune had him...?"

"Oh yes," Shizune handed the small mewing kitten off to Ino, who nodded graciously and then jogged quickly back onto the street.

'Now what was all that about Tenten and Neji having children?' she asked herself as she entered the Yamanaka Flower Shop and placed the kitten on the counter while trying to figure out what to do with it.

'And when Tsunade said they were having a 'lovers spat'.' Ino just might have overheard Shizune and Tsunade's conversation about Neji and Tenten. But she wasn't eavesdropping. That was such a silly word. Spying was more like it.

'Could Tenten be pregnant with...Neji's BABY?! The Hyuuga clan won't like that. I mean, they're not even married! I didn't even know they were together! Oh, you're very clever Tenten, denying your feelings in public...' a very mischievous Inner Ino took the overheard conversation in a new direction.

"Is your owner a ho? A skank? A whore?" Ino asked the tiny kitten innocently. The orange and white kitten cocked its small head at her curiously.

"I didn't think so." Ino said. Was she talking to the kitten? I think she was just talking to herself.

"Still, I think I'll have to do a little...investigation..."


Why is there so much Ino lately? I'm not sure. I rather like her.

I had a bit of a mid-life crisis with this story and changed the names to some of the chapters. I'm not really sure why.

This chapter is shorter than I would have liked, but I hope that you'll forgive me!! Read and review por favor!!

Mori :D

P.S. Wooh! I forgot!! Now that the plot is 'thickening' I can put up the real summary! So that's why it's different. :)