A few days later, in the city of Konoha our young Tenten was having an encounter of her own.

After the special sale things had been very quiet in her master's store. The man had already bought his suit for the ball and since Sakura was nearly done with both her gown and Tenten's as well they put the ball aside for the moment and work went on as usual.

Tenten, however, found herself lounging in the back room of the shop bored out of her mind. It was her turn to man the shop in case anyone dropped by and it had been a very slow day. Suddenly, she heard the tinkle of the bell which announced that someone had entered the shop.

Getting up she stepped out of the back room with a pleasant smile plastered on her face, which abruptly changed to a look of surprise when she saw the one and only Hyuuga Neji staring back at her.

"May I help you with anything Neji-sama?"

He smirked slightly before answering, "Yes, you may. I want you to come with me."

She starred at him and said, "What, now?"

"Yes, now." It was a statement, and he wasn't one to take no for an answer.

"But, I need to stay here and watch the sho.."

Before she could finish he cut in, "I don't think the place will go out of business if you close a bit early."

She knew that was true, and besides that most of their products were sold out due to their recent event. She decided that this would be a unique opportunity to learn more about Hinata's family so she just shrugged and left a note for her master before locking up.

Neji took the lead and made his way out of the city to the relative privacy of the surrounding woods. Tenten couldn't help but get a bit wary, what was this man planning to do with her? Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to follow a stranger who was undoubtedly quite powerful to the woods…alone.

"Anou, Neji-sama, what is it you want from me anyway?"

"I want you to train with me." He bluntly responded.

Well that was a perfectly healthy response, she didn't really think he was the sort, but one never knows.

"Why?"

He let out a small hmmpf and a brief smirk before saying, "Your fighting style interests me, and would be a good test against my family's techniques. Besides, I know that you are my cousin's friend and I was sure that curiosity would get the best of you."

"You know that Hinata and I are friends?" She was definitely worried now.

"Of course, I have my contacts in the city, and she visits you during her weekly visits to the market." Seeing Tenten's worried look he added, "There is no need to worry, it doesn't concern me who she spends time with."

That made sense; if they did care then they wouldn't let her spend so much time on her own. But his comment gave her pause for thought. If he believed her to be trustworthy because she was Hinata's friend, then he must think well of Hinata, at least to some degree.

"Do you trust Hinata's judge of character then?" She asked, with a touch of humor to her voice.

Coming to a secluded clearing he stopped, and turned to her, "I don't know Hinata very well, but I do know that she isn't stupid. This is a good place to practice."

Tenten couldn't exactly fault Neji's logic there, well she might as well make the most of this situation; goodness knows when she'd next get to spar with such a skilled opponent.

She took her stance and they began.

Tenten soon discovered that Neji was the toughest opponent she'd ever sparred with. She had to use everything she had against him and even then she was defeated. Panting heavily and sitting on the ground she watched him walk over to her, he didn't look the least bit winded.

His techniques were just as Hinata described; a perfect defense, her own skills worked well to test the boundaries of his techniques.

"Hmmm, I thought you'd give me more of a challenge." He stated rather bluntly before heading towards the main road.

"Hey where are you going?" She shouted after him.

"Home, where else." And with that he left.

Tenten stared after him with her mouth hanging open for a minute before she felt a surge of anger well up insider of her, What A JERK!

She fumed all the way home; he could have at least walked me home! She grumbled to herself. After all, he had led her so far out of the city that it was already dark and she still had a ways to go.

If he was any kind of gentlemen he wouldn't have just left like that! She was so angry that she could hardly see what was in front of her, let alone in her general surroundings. Which is why she suddenly found herself in a tight situation; her senses warned her that she was not alone, but it was too late to simply run.

She was at the edge of the city, where a great many undesirables had created a slum that was the center of the city's more seedy activity. Cursing herself, she hadn't even realized that she was headed towards this area; she'd been that distracted.

A group of rather unpleasant looking men had surrounded her and she knew they weren't going to let her pass easily.

A tall and rather greasy looking man came forward and said, "Look what we have here, are you lost little lady?"

The other men snickered and she grew rather nervous. "No, not lost." She replied whilst thinking up a plan.

"Really, well then would you like to join us for a drink?"

Tenten suddenly realized something she'd almost forgotten, as she had been living a respectable life for quite some time. She used to be a bum just like them.

She visibly relaxed her body and said, "Sure, why not, as long as you are buying."

The men obviously hadn't expected that. Since she was neat and clean in appearance they assumed that she was a daughter of one of the wealthier citizens of the city who had gotten lost; an easy prey for men like them with perhaps a purse to be stolen, or potentially kidnapped and ransomed off.

Despite her neat clothing and clean countenance everything from Tenten's body language to her way of speech screamed that she had lived a life on the streets.

Laughing a little, the man who had addressed her asked, "Now now young lady you look like you can afford to pay for your own drink."

"I work for my money and I work hard, I used to be poor and starving, but I'm telling you now that I am perfectly capable of taking you down so let me pass."

One of the men came forward growling, "Cheeky bitch!" She was tired from her match with Neji so while she dodged him she wasn't able to avoid the fist from the man who snuck around her.

She fell to the ground from the impact, her face throbbing, but quickly stood back up. With that she whipped out a retractable wooden staff and did some fancy spinning, knocking down her closest attackers. The men quickly backed off and when they did she took off running. She had no desire to get into an all out brawl like the olden days.

When she finally got home Akio-san was worried sick. He fussed and scolded but finally she was able to go to bed. Carefully resting the uninjured side of her face on her pillow, she tried to relax. But it was hard; she was still angry and upset, it had been a long time since she'd been in a situation like that and it had frightened her. Stupid Neji, this was entirely his fault! Sniffling, she turned her face into the pillow and cried bitter tears.