Unexpected Hero


Chapter Four: Knowledge

Tenten didn't wake to her alarm. It screeched loudly, only for her to slam it against a wall, turning in her futon and falling back to sleep. Of course, this was done in a matter of seconds, and being a shinobi, she was trained to sleep as instantly as possible to attain the most she can possible have (if on a mission she must go through days with lack thereof). Thus, when an hour passed, and she still did not awaken, it would make a shinobi of high skills (and subjective paranoia) to investigate.

Neji sighed, gazing at the hunched figure breathing serenely in her bed. There were no traps; she must have gotten up at night when Sasuke returned. Deactivating his Byakagun, he opened the door quietly, her back faced him. He stepped in carefully, before stopping at the doorway.

"Tenten."

She mumbled something incoherent, pulling the covers over her head. Neji ran through possible courses of action. Of course, waking her with physical contact would not be an option, thus being last night's attempt. He could leave her sleeping and let her rest, guiltily knowing he had caused much pain for her the morning before.

He stuck with that course, leaving as silently as a top shinobi can.

Tenten didn't wake until noon, the sunbeams high in the sky forcing her eyes open. She mumbled to herself for a moment, before belatedly realizing her position and the time.

---

They sat around the living room, more comfortable than the stiff cobwebs it once was; Lee wrapping his arms with fresh bandages, Sasuke and Shikamaru playing Shoji while Naruto watched and Neji reading another mission scroll. There was a scream, and all five jumped. The shinobi looked up, staring at the panting kunoichi glared at them, chest heaving.

"Why the hell did no one wake me up!" she screamed, face flushed, strands of chocolate over her cheeks.

"You were sleeping," Neji responded calmly, the twitch of his eyebrow a sure sign that Tenten never got this out of control. Tenten never bound out of anywhere without her hair securely up in two buns and dressed more than a thin cotton shirt (if that was what it was called) and shorts that tended to ride up her leg, especially in her tense state.

"I am so behind in my work now!" she yelled again, turning her full fury on Neji. His eyes lowered to his scroll, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Be more responsible."

"Who else can have more responsibilities than I do?" she shrieked. "I have to clean after all you stuck up shinobi who can't even dust your stupid living room, cook for you picky-asses, and train with a stoic bastard like you!"

There was a sudden silence, as the whole estate stared at her. Naruto's mouth opened, and Shikamaru's eyes closed, brain whirling with tactics. Lee stared at Tenten, eyes hurt, and Sasuke fought a smirk from his face, reasoning that this insane woman was nothing like his mother. Her cheeks flushed red at her insults, before she stormed to the kitchen, the shinobi hearing the banging of pots and pans.

Shikamaru murmured words softly under his breath, words Neji could catch that made him frown and return to his work, pride battered.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman late with work."

---

"Breakfast!" she yelled, and all five shinobi stood, heading to the kitchen. Tenten glared at all of them, especially Neji.

"Tenten-chan, what's wrong?" Lee asked, worried. Tenten never insulted Neji, never. Did something upset her sanity?

"It's that time of the month," Shikamaru replied.

A few moments later, with Shikamaru sporting a black eye, Sasuke a growing smirk, Lee with confused horror, Naruto with fits of uncontrollable laughter and finally Neji with a look of disparagement mixed with obvious truth in the lazy-ass's statement, all five sat down for breakfast.

Tenten had stormed back to her room to change and get ready.

"Damn, that troublesome woman can punch," Shikamaru growled.

"You deserved it," Sasuke grunted.

"Why did Tenten hurt Shikamaru with such an act of passion?" Lee asked, confused, causing Naruto to upchuck his breakfast in laughter. Neji gripped his chopsticks so hard they broke in the process.

"Women go through a 'time of the month'," Naruto explained, chewing slowly after his fit subsided. "It's when they get sudden mood swings..."

"Like Neji?" Lee asked brightly. "Does Neji have a 'time of the month'?"

Again, Naruto upchucked his breakfast and Sasuke's smirk couldn't get any bigger. Neji's eyes twitched, fists clenched and Byakagun on the verge of activating full fury. Lee was dim, incredibly dim, and now he will pay.

"Yes," Naruto responded, causing a blast of chakra from the other end of the table. He was pushed back by the impact, sprawling to the floor in obvious pain. Naruto howled, and they heard bounding of stairs.

"What the hell happened?" Tenten shrieked shirt half-open and pants hanging loosely around her hips. Her hair was still down, and the insane look was still in her eyes.

Naruto screeched with pain. Neji sniffed, relaxing his stance and leaning back down.

"You need to buy more chopsticks," he commented to a startled Tenten.

"Neji," Tenten sighed, giggling. "You shouldn't be doing that to Naruto-kun."

Neji frowned as Tenten went to help the blond boy up, the said ninja screaming curses at the Hyuuga. After she had thwacked Naruto on the back of his head to quiet down, she went back upstairs. Of course, all five boys had a good glimpse at her collarbone and a bit lower and her undergarments, but to avoid Tenten's wrath, had shied away.

---

The rest of the day passed without much event, but as the days grew the bond between the six shinobi increased. Lee had stopped asking embarrassing questions, Neji had learned to share, Naruto had shut up for more than an hour, and Sasuke had managed to speak coherent sentences to the rest of the household. Tenten had stayed pretty much the same, still being more of the mother of the estate, cleaning, cooking, and training with each respective member.

Of course, Neji had obviously not liked sharing Tenten with the other boys on one-on-one training, and Sasuke had still continued to ignore her and refused to train with her. Shikamaru barely trained, and preferred playing Shoji or Go with the girl, finding her a good (but not better) opponent. Naruto and Lee were Neji's main opponents for Tenten's training time, but he hardly saw them as a threat. Besides, Tenten had enjoyed Neji's training sessions (he had gotten considerably easier on her) more than the two loudmouths, and continued to train with him in the morning.

Neji had noted, with much uneasiness, that Tenten ended each respective member's name with a –kun, even Sasuke-kun, except himself. Neji's name was just informal yet not casual 'Neji' without anything to end it. He of course, still floated down Denial River, frowning at Shikamaru-kun, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, and Lee-kun.

Since ANBU teams were of teams of four, Sasuke being the odd one out, all four shinobi would leave. Usually, Sasuke took a mission or two, preferring to be out killing enemy shinobi than sitting around with the dorm mother. So Tenten was often be alone, spending the time studying up, training, and reading cookbooks and mechanical books. Sometimes, she went out drinking, not able to kick the habit cold turkey.

No one except Neji knew of her drinking problem, and she preferred to keep it that way.

---

"You've been drinking again."

Tenten pouted, taking the kunai he handed her. He gazed down at her, Byakagun activated and staring full view to her chakra lines.

"If you wish to get stronger, you must stop. If you don't, then training isn't necessary."

"It was one saucer."

Neji's brows furrowed, and he frowned. Tenten straightened her back, in time; her heart began to beat normally. She shrugged, stretching sore muscles before flipping the kunai back into her pouch.

"Well, I'm going to go make breakfast. Ja."

As she walked back to her house, she closed her eyes and sighed. She hated it, how her muscles couldn't move fast enough when Neji was open for that nanosecond, and no matter what, they wouldn't. She felt like giving up at those moments. But she told herself to wait, to wait for the next Jonin exams. If she didn't make it in this time, she'll quit being a shinobi. She was sure of it.

---

As months passed by, Tenten began to stiffen. She was tense often, biting her lower lip and murmuring things to herself. She felt like an average maid, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, she had no purpose to wake up in the morning except to train with Neji. She wanted more; she wanted to spend her prime age at the top of the peak of shinobi, not at the bottom. She didn't have time toiling, and traded time cleaning and cooking with training. And she felt herself falling for Neji again.

Just seeing him in the morning, pale eyes watching her made her heart beat faster. He would nod and she would smile, and his old familiar stance would start. He trained her up from his basic Kaiten to more different techniques, increasing her cardio activity and reflexes. Her worn-old alcohol-fatigued body began to build up as it used to, and she developed stronger techniques. He would wait for her to pick up her weapons, sometimes casting one up in the air with a kick of his foot, and catching it. He would watch her constantly, making sure she wouldn't fall or hurt herself.

But he never touched her after that time when he healed her closed tenketsu. He never smiled and he didn't even smirk. Tenten knew he didn't have to, Neji didn't particularly like her and it wasn't in his nature. Neji saw her as a training partner, as he did in their Genin years. He trained her because they were former teammates, and he still had the duty of reviving a failed comrade. He treated her like he treated a mission, with criticism and expectations. And she wouldn't expect him to do anything different.

He was still Hyuuga Neji. And he will always still be Hyuuga Neji.

And she knew that Neji's twentieth birthday was arriving, the age when he was (he was a bit late) to provide children for the Hyuuga clan. He would soon leave the estate, Shikamaru had said so that he would take on clan leader, being that Hinata and Hanabi were incapable of. He would marry a wealthy woman, a pretty girl from a prodigious clan either in or out of Konoha, and he would be the father to strong sons. Neji would be a man, a true, glorious man who didn't need her.


A/N: Sorry… not a lot of hormonal jealous Neji. Hormonal jealous Neji just sporadically poofs into my story, so forcing him to appear is tough! Sowwy. Also, for anyone who wants to know, this is not a SasuTen. Although I adore that couple, I've decided to keep this is a NejiTen. There is a lot of, oh how you say, "opponents" for Tenten's attention in Neji's paranoid mind (hehe bring forth the hormonal jealous Neji). Therefore I add SasuTen bonding time to agitate the Hyuuga. I sure aggravate the poor guy. Loves for reviews! Sorry it's semi-late, my internet was down. It's barely edited, so this is the bare chunk of my writing, not so good, sorry.