A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A Good Man

Neji comes to visit her often, and as promised, brings her as many books from the library as she pleases. Still bed ridden with a sprained ankle (she has tried to explain to her mother that the injury isn't that serious, but Mirai won't hear any of it), she devours the thick volumes at the pace of one book per afternoon. She reads on all kinds of subjects, from weaponry to biology. In the evening she spends time teaching herself mathematics, and she always has a stack of completed problem sets for Neji to correct (every time he visits, he always tells her that she is a better student than even he was, and she feels her chest swell with pride whenever she thinks of his compliment).

If there is one thing that she is looking forward to when she moves to the Hyuga compound, it is unhindered access to all of this knowledge. She tells Neji this one evening, over steaming mugs of tea, when they have taken a break from studying some of his old military textbooks. He smirks at her, and tells her teasingly that even when she lives at the compound, he does not mind being her book delivery boy.

"You will regret those words," she warns in as serious a tone as she can muster, though she cannot hide her smile.

There is something akin to a challenge in his eyes, and her stomach erupts into butterflies.

He visits her next only a few days later, but she oversleeps and he spends half an hour conversing with her father in the kitchen while Mirai tries to wake her.

"Sleep well?" he asks amusedly, when they are finally alone.

She grimaces. "No actually. My ankle was paining me last night. I didn't fall asleep until late."

The smirk falls from his face, but she stops him before he begins apologizing. Her injury is not his fault, she reminds him.

Still, she spends the afternoon with her foot in his lap, explaining the basics of her work as a blacksmith, while he gently massages her ankle.

She sleeps soundly that night.

A week later, when her ankle is nearly healed, he sends her an invitation to attend the festival in town later that evening. Her father refuses to allow her to go. "If you are seen with him you will be a target," he argues, and Tenten is so angry she spends nearly the entire day in her room.

But Neji visits her anyway. "I thought we could at least watch the fireworks together," is his greeting, when she answers the door, surprise evident in her features.

They sit together on the veranda, and watch the fireworks erupting over the town in the distance. "You didn't have to do this," she starts, "You could have gone to the festival with your family. Or with- what was his name? Lee?"

He turns to her, and considers her for a moment with a certain softness in his eyes that just takes her breath away. "Festivals are only enjoyable in good company."

"And Lee isn't good company?"

"He's not the company I wanted tonight."

She laughs and shakes her head. "I suppose you are better company than the walls of my room."

His lips quirk, "I hope so."

The last time he visits her is a week before the wedding. She is so absorbed in her work in the smithy that she has completely lost track of time, and she is startled when she turns and sees him standing in the doorway.

She begins to apologize, hurriedly wiping her hands on her pants. "Let me wash up."

He shakes his head, a strange expression on his face, and he settles into a chair near her workstation.

He's upset, she realizes. "Is everything all right?"

"I just needed to get away from them."

She does not ask who "them" is, but she suspects he means his family. She watches him worriedly, unsure on what to do.

"You can keep working, Tenten. I just wanted some company."

He stays for an hour, watching her work, though it seems his mind is elsewhere. As he is leaving, he tells her that he won't see her again until the wedding day. "I'm sorry."

She shakes her head, brows furrowing in confusion. "You needn't apologize. I'm sure your family is keeping you busy with all the wedding preparations."

"No. I," he pauses, "I apologize for what they have done to you. What they have taken from you." His gaze is hard with anger as he glances about the smithy, and then at her in her soot covered work clothes. "You belong here."

She takes a moment to respond. Circumstances could be worse, she reminds him. And at the very least, they suit each other (she looks anywhere, but his face when she says this). "Neji, you are a good man, and for that I am grateful."

He remains unconvinced.

"You should get going," she tells him finally. He nods, but then he looks at her strangely again, and reaches hesitantly to tuck a lock of stray hair behind her ear.

"I will see you in a week, Tenten."

"Yes."

She remains frozen in place until she hears the sounds of his escort disappear into the distance.

She shakes her head, touching her ear where his finger had brushed her skin, laughing in disbelief at her fate.

A/N: Thank you for reading and please review!

~M.I.