Alright, suckers. Why do you love this stupid story so much?

But I love you for it. (:

Anyways. Chapter…four? Yeah. Four.

OOH! BTW! This chapter is dedicated to:

uchihacutie

AND…

xXImperfect AngelXx

Because they've been pretty damn hardcore reviewers so far. Every freakin' chapter. And I love them for it. (:

Hey, you want a dedication? Review. Go on, go for it. You know you want to.

Ah – anyways…enjoy!

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Chapter Four: Moonlight

Neji took a deep breath as he watched Tenten flounce onto her balcony. She looked a whole lot different, but she looked beautiful all the same. He smiled at her, and she half-smiled back.

"So. You came. You are such a stalker, Hyuuga."

"You really have to stop calling me by my surname." Neji stepped forward, reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind Tenten's ear. "Call me Neji."

"Alright…" Tenten blushed, gulping. "Neji."

"Right."

He put a strong hand on the princess' shoulder and leaned in, lips pursed. When he was just centimeters away, his hot breath on her face, Tenten ducked away leant casually on the railings. She blew upwards when he couldn't see, trying to cool herself down. Neji smirked at Tenten's back and rested his own back against the brick wall.

"Why'd you do that?" Tenten squeaked after a while in a quiet voice. "Try and…you know…k-k-k…"

"Kiss you? I don't know." Neji tilted his head to the sky and closed his silver-grey eyes. "I really like you."

Holy crap, he likes me. What the hell do I say now?

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Tenten rolled onto her stomach and continue to whine into the phone. "Hinata, what do I do? Your freakin' cousin likes me."

"Of course he does. It was so obvious from the start. Ino and I were up on the phone all – night – just talking about it." The dark-haired Hyuuga replied, waving her free hand about in a crazy attempt to dry her nails. Tenten made a mental note; talk now. Kill Yamanaka later.

"What? And you didn't tell me? Two of my best friends talking about my love life behind my back…what is this world coming to?" Tenten tutted, faking shame. Hinata raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Ah, so he's part of your love life, is he?"

Tenten squirmed in her seat and flushed an odd shade of red, fanning her face with her other hand. On the other end of the line, Hinata laughed her usual high pitched, fairy laugh.

"Oh, I'm good. I made Tenten flustered. The Tenten." She mocked her friend, switching the phone from one ear to the other. She held the phone between her cheek and her shoulder, and started to paint her other nails.

"Okay, so you're a pervert, and now you're a mindreader too? Great. Just great." Tenten muttered, tapping her fingers on the armrest of her chair. "I hate you, Hinata."

"Hate you too, Ten-chan." Hinata retorted playfully, swinging her legs over the armrest of her chair and admiring her freshly pedicured toenails. "Oh, I gotta go. Hinabi's going to a party tonight at her friend's house, and she needs my opinion on an outfit."

"Just go, tell her, 'that one', then leave again. Always worked when my mom needed advice on an outfit." Tenten smirked to herself. She leaned over and took a swig of juice. "I want your advice too."

"Okay, okay, one second." Hinata paused, then there was a muffled, "That one."

Tenten held in a round of applause.

"Okay, I'm back. So, what did you say-slash-do after he said…what he said?" Hinata asked, beckoning her maid over and mouthing the words, 'I need some sake'. "Neji wouldn't tell me anything."

"I…I said…" Tenten bit her lip. "I said that it was cool and then I ran off the balcony to hide in the garden."

"Oh, Tenten. Tenten, Tenten, Tenten."

"Hey, no need to Tenten-times-four me! I was caught off guard. A boy's never said it to me…besides, you'd react worse if Naruto said it to you."

"T-that's different!" Hinata squealed, her brain exploding at the mere mention of his name. "You don't feel the same way towards Neji as I feel towards Naruto!"

"So, are you admitting that you'd react worse?" Tenten questioned her friend with a giddy smile on her glossy pink lips.

"Eh – uh – um – if I say yes, will you hang up?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then, yes!" There was a long pause. "You're still there, aren't you?"

"Yep."
Hinata gave an angry, aggravated sigh and threw her head back. "Look, do you want to marry Neji or not?"

"No! Well…yeah, no. Yes. No. What?" Tenten babbled, letting her words become confused whispers.

"What?"

"I don't know."

"Well. If you're so confused, why don't you get to know him better first, then make up your mind? Or make a list of qualities, good and bad, and decide whether or not he's worth it." Hinata suggested, twirling a few strands of her dark hair around her freshly-painted fingers. "I mean…I already know for a fact that he wouldn't mind marrying you."

"Yeah, but…what if I don't want to marry him, but then I can't improve. What do I do then?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that…well, then you're screwed."

"Thank you, Hinata." Tenten scowled, standing up and flouncing over to her window. "You really are helpful. Look, I'll talk to you later…I have something I have to do."

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Tenten took a breath and scraped her hair back into a high, messy ponytail. She rolled her sleeves up to her elbows and rubbed her gloved hands together. "Right. Let's do this."

She was stood in the palace kitchen, alone, and she was going to make enough cakes for Neji, her father, Hinata…plus whoever else wanted one. She was going to prove to herself – and to her father – that she had the willpower and the patience of a real princess.

Tenten turned on the oven, pre-heating it to about three-hundred-and-fifty degrees fareinheight. She lay out about 30 cupcake moulds and started to spray each one thoroughly with the nonstick spray stuff that she'd found in one of Hiro's cupboards. Tenten leaned over the kitchen counter and traced her finger along the page which was open at the recipe simply entitled, 'Dark Chocolate Cupcakes'. She read aloud as she dragged her finger over each word.

"To make the cupcakes, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt." She read, using her free hand to pull the four listed ingredients towards her as she said them. "Okay. Wait, what's sifting? Oh, right, it says here."

Following the directions in the book, Tenten poured some flour into her seive and began shaking the seive back and forth, allowing the soft near-white powder to fall through the minute holes and into the bowl. When all the flour was gone, she sifted the cocoa in, then the baking soda, and finally, the salt.

Once again following what the cookery book said, Tenten grabbed another bowl and put in some brown sugar, white sugar, and a few eggs. She started to whisk them all together, and when the ingredients had become a nice cream-like mixture, she added some milk, coffee, some already-melted butter and began to whisk again. Clutching the bowl under her arm and rotating her wrist like crazy, she smiled. Sure, her arms were killing her already and her favourite silken pyjamas were splattered with flour and milk, but all the bad feelings melted away just imagining the look on her fathers face. On Hinata's, on Neji's. Maybe even on Ino's, if Tenten got drunk enough to give her one of these cupcakes. It was all worth it, in the end.

The kitchen door inched open and some of the unnatural light from the main dining room flooded in. Tenten blinked and put her bowl down, squinting to see who was intruding on her private cooking time. In the gap between the door and the wall, was the faint outline of Hiro.

"Pri – Tenten? What are you doing in here so late, and…cooking?" the chef asked, pushing open the door more and stepping inside. "Did you think again about the whole cake thing?"

"I'm making cupcakes." Tenten muttered, focusing on her incomplete cake mixture and glaring. "It is none of your business, Hiro, and I don't need your help."

"Well…okay. I just thought I'd let you know that I'm leaving tonight."

Tenten's pale face softened. The hand that had been so feircely whisking just seconds ago fell away from the bowl, motionless and limp. "You are?"

"Your father thinks that I am not suitable enough to teach you the arts of cooking. I cannot teach you how to make rice. Therefore, I cannot teach you anything."

"Mm." Tenten looked away and picked up her first bowl and added the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder to the creamy mixture. "Well. It was nice knowing you. Good luck in the future."

Tenten dropped both bowls onto the counter, spun around and hugged the chef. He'd always been like an uncle to her, or a way older brother.

"It's okay, Tenten. I'll be fine. My cousin has already got a home and a job ready for me." Hiro chuckled nervously, rubbing the princesses back comfortingly. "Hey, good luck with these cakes."

"Thanks, Hiro." Tenten pulled away with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. "I'll try my very best for you."

Hiro picked up his spare aprons and oven gloves from the end of the worktop and turned to face Tenten with a wide grin. He winked. "Well, that's all I needed. Take care of yourself."

"I will, I will. When do I not?" she retorted cheekily, winking back.

And with that, Hiro turned and walked out the far door.

Tenten breathed in and turned back to her cooking. I'm going to make you proud, Hiro. The student will become the master.

She finished whisking the sticky mixture and put her bowl down. She grabbed a metal tablespoon and divided the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases. For a little bit of extra sweetness, Tenten sprinkled a tiny amount of sugar into each cupcake before placing a pair of baking trays loaded with cupcakes into the oven. Tenten stood up to her full height and rubbed her hands together.

"Okay, I have fifteen minutes to kill. I suppose I should get the baskets ready." She reached up and opened one of the over head cupboards, pulling out a plastic bag labelled, 'baskets'. She opened the bag and tipped out onto the worktop about five or six perfectly woven miniature picnic baskets, all complete with different colored ribbons and gift tags. She pulled up a barstool, hopped up, grabbed her sparkly blue gel pen from behind her ear and started to patiently write the gift tags.

To Father,

Please remember that I will always love you, and I'm going to try my very best to become a better princess and make you happy.

Love and hugs,

Tenten.

"Yeah, that'll do." Tenten thought out loud, attaching the tag to a basket with a jade green ribbon on it. Scanning over the other baskets, she grabbed one that had a lavender-colored bow tied in a complicated design.

Dear Hinata,

I freakin' love you. Enjoy the cupcakes. But don't enjoy them too much, you'll get fat.

Glomps,

Tenten

xxx

"Okay, that's Hinata's one done…" Tenten's hands went tense and refused to move. The only one she had left to write – the only one that she would be willing to write when still sober – was Neji's. She found the willpower to reach out and pick up a basket, perfectly decorated with a silver ribbon tied in a simple bow.

Neji,

I thought I should give you these to make up for how I ran away like that. I'm sorry.

If it's any constellation,

I like you too.

But not that way.

So don't go getting any ideas, you freakin' stalker.

Tenten

x

She sighed and put her pen back behind her ear. She looked at the digital clock that was set in the headpiece thing of the oven. She'd managed to kill fifteen minutes. Wow. Time flies.

Tenten jumped down off her stool, opened the oven, and was welcomed by a warm, chocolately smell. She pulled on an oven glove over her normal cooking gloves, pulled out the top tray and beamed.

The cupcakes were, not to toot her own horn, perfect. They were a rich, chocolatey color, slightly marbled, but in a pretty way, not all over the place. And the smell…Tenten nearly fell over from how nice they smelt.

The girl plucked the small cakes one by one from the tray, putting about eight cakes in each basket and organising them into three neat rings. She pushed the completed baskets to one side and produced the other tray from the oven, wincing from the heat of the oven on her face. Looking around, she snatched a couple of tupperware boxes from another counter. Careful not to break them, Tenten began to load the remaining cupcakes into the boxes.

With a satisfied smile, Tenten dipped her fingers into a nearby box of icing sugar and sprinkled some of the sweet tasting powder over the cakes that were in the baskets. The sugar glimmered in the low light of the kitchen lamp.

"Okay. Glad that's over." Tenten dusted some flour from her pyjamas. "Now to get these suckers out to the ones I care for most."

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Oooh? Cliffhanger?

No, I didn't think so either. But this chapter will be picked up in the next one though! (:

So, what did you think? Not too awful? Please review. I'll love you forever. x3