Author's Note: Chapter 7 already?! I thought I'd never see the day.

I went to my first con on 11/8. I cosplayed as Tenten and I was the only one! I wasn't really surprised though. The day went from GOOD to UGH when some random guy that was cosplaying Sasuke ran up and glomped me from behind. *shudders*

Well, anyways… I just realized how much I talk about Tenten! Neji needs some screen time!

And yes, there is a little Leeten in this, but so what?! Sue me XP

Thanks,

~Fake Bliss

Tenten sat on the bench, her head in her hands. She was fighting a losing battle to get the previous week's events out of her mind. I-I lost. I lost. She blinked back tears. She was a kunoichi; a shinobi. She would not, could not cry. Her body was shaking, lips trembling. Her control was faltering, she knew she would crack.

"Tenten-san?"

She turned slowly, trying to calm herself down. Who she saw made her eyes widen a little. His bright green outfit matched the gates of Konoha in the background. His bright eyes radiated warmth not unlike the sunlight fading from the tips of the gates as the sun set. She forced a smile. "Hey Lee, um… what's up?"

Lee's eyes lowered knowingly, his hyper attitude gone. "What's wrong Tenten-san?"

"Tenten," she corrected. "Just Tenten."

Lee walked over and sat down beside her. "Tenten." His voice was soft, gentle. "Why are you so down?"

Tenten looked at him. "What are you talking about? I'm perfectly—"

"—fine?" He finished. "Then why has your aim been slightly off and your enthusiasm wearing away for the past week?"

Tenten sighed. There was little she could hide from Lee. He was her friend, her best friend if she was bold enough to say. Whenever she was down, his smile would encourage her to get back up (which in her opinion was really something considering the ridiculous training Gai-sensei put them through). His resilience had given her courage to continue pushing herself, to get up every morning and try harder, to strengthen herself. She knew little to nothing about Lee and his family nor his past, and yet she felt that it was Lee with whom she could connect to most. For that, he was her best friend. Tenten even got the vibe that he too might have felt that way.

"I'm not sure," she mumbled.

"Oh Tenten." His eyes were sad. "I think you do."

There was a long pause.

Tenten was still trembling and slowly, ever so slowly, her lips parted. "I…Neji. He said, he said…something to me that made me angry. I vowed to defeat him the next time I fought him, to prove what he said was wrong."

Lee's bushy eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean? Neji isn't, he isn't…" Lee's words faded. "He is your sparring partner. I know Neji isn't the happiest person, but he is…"

Tenten looked at the ground. "Sparring partner in name only. The only time he ever fought me was in the battle that I, that I—"

"—lost?" Lee finished her sentence again.

Before he could open his mouth again, Tenten began speaking. "He never sparred with me, Lee. We've just been pretending that we have. If he found out that I was telling you this, he'd be worse than angry at me."

It felt so good to have someone to confide to. The strain on her shoulders was lifted and she could almost hug Lee. She looked at him, her eyes almost pleading. "And I don't want him to be mad at me." She knew how desperate she sounded and regretted it, but it just felt so…so…she couldn't describe it.

"And I trained so hard, Lee! I almost accomplished this new jutsu but Gai-sensei made us fight!" She was almost screaming. "And I lost terribly." Her voice was quiet now, her eyes almost in tears. "I feel worse now, Lee. I mastered that jutsu the very next day!" Tears forced themselves down her cheeks. "I couldn't show him."

She clutched her sides. She was angry. She was angry at herself for not mastering her jutsu in time. She was angry that she lost to Neji even after everything she put herself through. And most of all, she was angry how weak she was acting in front of one of the people she admired most.

She heard Lee chuckle softly and she looked back at him. He gave her a heartwarming smile. "Your stronger than you give yourself credit for, Tenten. You came closer to defeating him than I did. You forced him to be serious."

"That's only because he never fought me before. He knows your style better than mine."

Lee sighed. "Alright, you lost. But so what?" Her eyes widened slightly. "There's always a next time. Where would I be if I gave up a first time? It's like you told me. 'You've got to face facts, Neji is a genius.' Well, you're right. Neji is a genius. But Gai-sensei always says that I am a genius of hard work." He puffed out his chest proudly. "I believe there are two types of genius; the naturally gifted, and the hardworkers."

"But that's what you are Lee. Not me. I'm no one, I'm no genius. You and Neji are different. You guys were destined to be strong." She looked at the ground again. "I was meant to be the weak link, to be the one who grudgingly excepts that I would never survive without—"

"Tenten." Lee interrupted, his hand placed gently on hers. "You have been around Neji for too long. Do you remember how I was at the academy?" She nodded. "Gai-sensei showed me how to be strong too, to be my own type of genius. That is not to different for you, and I think you know it. You are just still in shock from the result of your spar. You are stronger now, yes?" She nodded again and he smiled. "Then find your courage and fight him again! Show him that whatever he said to you was wrong! I believe in you Tenten."

Tenten's heart was warm. Lee cared, he believed in her. She had always wondered what it was like to have someone feel like that for you. She had remembered how envious she had felt of those academy students who had their parents to make them feel proud of themselves.

She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Lee." She wanted to say so much, but couldn't find the words. She hoped that her single gesture would tell him. He must have understood because he hugged her back.

They pulled away and she grinned at him almost teasingly. "So, I noticed you've got your eye on that pink-haired girl at the academy. Spill."

She laughed at his now crimson face.

Lee,

You'll make one girl very happy one day.


Neji loathed the main house. It was full of arrogant snakes who only sought the happiness of themselves, of what was good for them. The lower branch was just there for their benefit. All side branch members were born to serve them, destined to live for them, to work for them. He knew that like his father, he was no exception.

Why did fate give him such a destiny? It was only in his older years that he realized that he was truly a caged bird. That in time of desperation, the most he could ever do was peer through the bars. Even now he gave up that little hope that the Hyuga family could change, that they could be equal, that he could fly free. He cursed the little part of his heart that still dreamed of flying, of changing fate; because anyone with sense knows that you cannot.

The two halves of the Hyuga only ate together during dinner, while breakfast and lunch was eaten separately. Neji didn't mind this, for he truly disliked even being in their presence. It was in his defiance that he was teaching himself techniques that only the main branch should know, and he admitted to himself that he enjoyed his small rebellion. He sat quietly, for he knew not how to do otherwise, going over and over the kaiten. He had no idea how to do it, but he had witnessed it being used long enough to know what some of the basics were. However, he was nowhere near achieving his goal.

"Hey, what's up Neji?"

Neji's head throbbed with displeasure at the sound of that voice. It was him. Nonetheless Neji turned and gave a swift nod.

"Hey, no need to be so cold. Lighten up, man." Hideki sloppily sat down next to him.

Hyuga Hideki was a rather rambunctious chuunin, two years his senior. Neji knew not how the boy became a chuunin, with his unruly brown hair and rather informal aura. Hideki, much to Neji's annoyance, had wanted to befriend him, saying that he was an "antisocial weirdo who desperately needed help." As if Neji wanted to make friends with a loud, stupid, boisterous misfit who only seemed to get into trouble. No, Neji kept their little "relationship" private.

There was a long pause.

"So how's you're team? I heard you got that Maito Gai for a sensei. That's gotta be cool." Hideki gave him a grin.

Neji snorted. "You should act your age."

"I do," Hideki said, pointing his chopsticks toward Neji. "You're the one who needs a personality check. You're almost thirteen years old, you're the so-called 'Hyuga prodigy,' you've got a huge fan club that any sixteen year old boy would want, and yet you act like you've got a stick up your butt."

Neji scoffed. "Is this conversation supposed to go anywhere? Because if it isn't, I have to meet my team." With that Neji got up and left the dining room, thankful for the first time that he had Gai as a sensei, seeing as he was probably the only one requiring them to meet at six in the morning.

"Take it easy Neji! I know you're the Hyuga prodigy, but you still have those burns! Heh, what did you do anyway? Try to catch a girl but she was too hot for ya? Ha ha. I wouldn't be surprised."

Pfft, Idiot. Neji continued out of the manor.


"Hey Neji."

Neji grimaced. Great, it was him again. Neji had woken up early, eaten breakfast early, and even stood outside the gates of the Hyuga manor just to find a moment away from Hideki, and the boy had still managed to bother him.

"You ditched me yesterday. You know if you want to make friends, you shouldn't ditch people. 'Cause it's really a turn off."

Silence was exchanged.

"Hey, so I saw you with your team yesterday. Did two C ranks in a day, huh?"

Neji didn't know whether that was a taunt or just a comment.

"So you—"

"HEY NEJI!"

To Neji's relief, Tenten was bounding toward the manor. Wait, what? What was Tenten doing here at nearly five o'clock in the morning?

"Why are you here Tenten?" Neji inquired.

Tenten straitened from her former position of leaning on her knees. Neji thought she looked better than she did for the past week. She was fully awake, she seemed cheery and there was even a smile upon her face.

"I got a message from Lee. Gai-sensei wants us to meet him an hour early today. Lee was supposed to notify you but I didn't think you'd want that loud of a wake up call." She gave a shaky laugh, her voice fading as she talked. She seemed preoccupied with something. That something, Neji realized a moment later, was his bandages.

Hideki must have noticed her constant staring as well because he said, "See something you like?"

That snapped Tenten out of her gaze. She flushed softly before giving Hideki an irritated look. "And you are?"

"Ah, how rude of me not to introduce myself," Hideki said, the air around him suddenly seeming uncharacteristically Neji-like. "I'm Hyuga Hideki, Neji's cousin." He stuck out his hand.

Tenten gave him a small smile before taking it. "Tenten."

This was one of the reasons why Neji disliked Hideki. The boy would act formal around everyone unless he found that he could be himself around them. No one saw the annoying side, the REAL side, of that boy. "Shall we go then?"

Tenten's face grew a slightly darker shade. "As in together, 'go?'"

He glared at her is if she was stupid. "Is there any other way?"

Tenten's eyes darted from his face to his bandages. "I-I have somewhere to stop before training. I'll meet you there." Tenten darted away.

The two Hyuga stood there for a while.

"What did you do?" Hideki asked.

"What are you blathering about?" Neji replied, slightly confused.

Hideki shook his head. "Some people are just idiots," he mumbled to himself as he walked back into the manor.

Neji pulled back a punch. He was not just called an idiot by that boy.


Neji leaned against a tree, his eyes closed, blocking out Gai and Lee's antics again. Where was Tenten? She said she'd be here. Unless she was rushing over, she would probably be late again. Didn't she know that she would be taking time away from his training? He scoffed. She was probably doing her hair or something just as unimportant and stupid. Che, kunoichi.

"Oh no!"

Neji cracked an eye open. Gai was looking about ready to burst into tears. "Our dear Tenten will be late unless she arrives in five, four, three, two—"

"I'm here!" Tenten arrived blissfully towards the training grounds.

Gai's face brightened. "Beautiful, Tenten! I knew you wouldn't be late again! Ah! I see now! Instead of being early or late, you decided to come on time so that you wouldn't have to wait nor keep others waiting! Excellent strategy!"

Neji and Tenten sweat dropped.

"So why are we here early Gai-sensei?" Tenten asked.

"This is a new system that I have created! Since missions take out most of our normal training time, we'll simply come early before and stay late afterwards to make up for the lost time!" Gai gave his infamous good guy pose.

Neji rolled his eyes. The idiocy of some people.

Is he serious?! Tenten's jaw almost dropped. That'll overexert me! I'll die of fatigue alone.

Lee's reaction however was slightly different. "Yosh Gai-sensei! Your plan is simply ingenious! What shall we do first sensei?!"

Gai beamed at them all. "Well, start with an easy fifty laps around Konoha!"


Tenten was utterly confused. She was fighting over whether or not to apologize, hold a grudge against, or totally ignore the boy running almost alongside her. Although it had been another week and his bandages were long gone, it was obvious that despite his pride and ego pushing him to continue, Hyuga Neji was struggling to finish his last lap. Tenten was angry at herself for hurting him and yet another part of her sadistically laughed at his struggle.

She had a right to be angry, didn't she? He made an assumption about her without even knowing the real her, obviously hurting her a lot, and yet he acted like it was nothing! Like their conversation never happened! He was still refusing to train with her even after their spar. What, was that not good enough for him? She wanted to knock that smirk off of his face once and for all. It was time to take Lee's advice.

"Hey, hey Neji!" Tenten called out to his retreating back.

He turned, seeming uninterested. "What is it?"

She looked back. Gai and Lee were now in the background, still doing their crazy training routines. She caught Lee's eye and he nodded encouragingly as he did his push-ups.

She turned back to Neji and took a deep breath. "I want you to fight me again." She took another deep breath. "And if I win, you have to agree to spar with me from now on."

Neji cocked his head slightly, as if considering her. "What's in it for me?"

She was taken aback. She never expected him to say that.

He smirked at her. "You didn't expect me to just agree did you?"

"Okay. If you win, I'll…" She racked her brain for something Hyuga Neji would want of her but she couldn't think of anything. Determination flashed through her eyes. She was prepared for the ultimate sacrifice.

--

"If you win, I'll do anything you want me to."