A/N: Oh, I'm a bit late, sorries :D
So it's march break, so I'm hoping to squeeze in at least two more chapter before the week's over.
Just telling you all (:
Thanks so much to my reviewers!
Enjoy chapter 11!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise isn't mine. But the rest is :D

"Tenten's great isn't she?"

It was the thirtieth of December, only two hours away from the New Year. Everyone, even Hinata, was at the bar just hanging out. Neji though, was engrossed in a game of pool with three other people. The longhaired boy found himself wondering why on earth Kankorou was talking to him.

Neji also wondered why on earth Kankorou was talking to him about Tenten.

The nerve of that man. Neji wanted to punch his lights out.

"Yes, she's very nice." His voice was strained as he leaned over the table, lining his pole up with the white ball. He was playing solids, and maybe if he thought of the white ball as Kankorou's head then he could hit it hard enough to get the orange one it.

"I think I'm going to ask her to marry me."

When Kankorou said this, Neji practically fell over. He hit the ball, but it went a completely opposite way then he intended it to. To his horrible luck the white ball hit, out of all the ones on the table, hit the 8 ball, knocking it into a socket. He frowned as Naruto, who was playing on his side, have him a light punch on the shoulder. Kankorou, who was playing on the other side with Kiba, grinned as the two set up for a new game.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Tenten's not one to get married at such a young age. Ask her again in a decade or so." Neji reached over and grabbed a beer from the waiters trolley as the man walked passed.

Kankorou opened his mouth to retort when Tenten came up to the table holding a martini delicately in her fingers. She grinned down at the table, "So, who won?"

"We did." Kankorou said proudly, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Neji there carelessly knocked in the 8 ball." He winked across the table at Neji seeming to say 'let's keep it a secret between us'.

"Tsk. I always thought you were more co-ordinated than that." She suddenly stopped and took a sniff in Kankorou's direction. She frowned as she moved away from him. "I thought you said you'd quit smoking."

He shrugged nonchalantly, even though there was a frown on his face too. "I'm trying, girl, you know I am. It's harder than it might seem though. But I'm really trying, I'll stop soon."

"You better, smoking kills, you know."

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her again. "I didn't know you cared so much."

Tenten didn't reply, but simply smiled as Naruto bent over the break the triangle of balls to start the new game. She blonde stood up and grinned stupidly after getting a solid ball in on the first go. "Looks like we're solid, Neji. Try not to lose this time."

"Yeah, I just remembered something I need to do. I'll be back but let Sasuke play for now." Neji had reached his arm out and pulled the Uchiha out from what seemed to be thin air. He handed the frowning raven-haired boy his pole and some chalk and walked away in the direction of the bar.

Suddenly, he felt a small tug at his sleeve and he turned to see Tenten walking next to him, a concerned look on her face. "Hey, you okay? You seem kind of out of it."

"I'm fine." He twisted the cap of the beer in his hands so it came off and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. He started to take a sip, but stopped halfway to his mouth and put the beer down on the table and sighed.

Tenten watched somewhat amusedly. "So what, you're off alcohol now? What did I tell you? You act so old."

"It's not that. I'm a designated driver." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, regretting his decision. He really could use some alcohol right now.

"Fantastic." Tenten grinned and grabbed the beer he had set down and replaced it with her own empty martini glass. "You can drive me home." She laughed as she took a swig of the beer.

He sighed and shook his head, smiling. "Didn't you drive here?"

"Nope, I came with Ino. But if you look over there, she's the one laughing really loudly. She's intoxicated." Then he noticed the frown on her face. "Don't worry though, Shikamaru'll probably drive her home."

Neji raised an eyebrow at her. "How come it's the guys that are staying sober? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" He paused for a moment. "Where's Haterou, anyway?"

She shrugged and raised her bottle to her mouth again. "He wanted to stay go to my okaa-san's house. It was all the better for me, I'll pick him up tomorrow."

"If you don't have a horrible hangover, that is." He smiled as she laughed.

"Don't worry so much, Neji. I have a high tolerance, so it's all good."

"I think that might actually make things worse." She laughed again and there was a loud squeal. Both of them turned to see that Ino had fallen off her chair and was giggling like mad.

Tenten let out a bark like laugh. "Haha, worse? If I had a low tolerance like Ino-chan then I'd be like her right now." Then she looked again at Neji's face and frowned. She leaned over and placed a hand on his forehead. "You don't feel sick, but you look horrible, like you've seen a ghost.

At his, he laughed quietly. "Not quite a ghost." Tenten puzzled over this for a moment and Neji caught her by surprise when he grabbed onto her shoulder. "I need you to tell me something."

She looked quizzically at him, locking her brown eyes to his pale ones. It struck her once again how incredible pale his eyes were, almost as if he were blind. She snapped her self out of her reverie and pulled her eyes away. "Yeah?"

"How much to you like Kankorou?"

The question caught Tenten off guard, to say the least. She stood there, opening her mouth and closing it again, making her resemble a fish out of water. Nothing was said for at least a minute, as Tenten tried to regain control of her vocal cords.

"What do you mean?"

Neji sighed; he should have guessed that she wouldn't answer the question straight out. "It's not a hard question Tenten. How much do you like Kankorou?"

Indignantly, she shook his hand off her shoulder and made a pouty face. "And what's that supposed to mean? Why do you care how much I like him? What, are you jealous or something?"

"Just answer the question."

She was about to say something else, but her witty retort got lost as she saw the desperation in his eyes, as if this were a life or death matter.

"I…I lo – " Tenten stopped herself, thinking the question that had been bothering her for a whole. Did she really love Kankorou? She pondered so long, that she forgot to finish her sentence.

Before anything else could happen, she found herself being pulled into a hug by Neji. To him, an unfinished answer answered everything. She didn't know if she loved him, which was as good as anything he could have asked for.

He hugged her tightly, knowing that was about as close to her as he was ever going to get. He saw the way people looked at her, but Tenten couldn't help it if she was beautiful. She couldn't help it if she was the girl of every man's dreams. Neji sighed as he let her go.

"Thank you."

Without a final glance, he walked back to the game of pool, leaving Tenten staring quizzically after him.

"Ooh, that was intense."

The brunette turned to see Hanabi leaning against the table, a knowing smirk on her lips. Tenten frowned when she saw a glass in her hands and walked over to take it away. "What are you doing here? You're not old enough to drink legally, so you shouldn't be at the bar."

Hanabi twisted away as the other girl made to grab her drink. "Woah, calm down Tenten. It's ginger ale, I'm not breaking any laws." She held it out so the brunette could sniff it. "Anyways, that was a pretty dramatic moment between you and my cousin there. I mean, did you see his eyes? And the way he asked the question? I think he's in love, Tennie."

The young girl giggled, and Tenten began to doubt that the young girl didn't have anything to drink. Shrugging, she took a long sip of her beer. "In love? Yeah I know, Neji already told me he was in love."

Hanabi stopped laughing and adopted a somewhat solemn look.

"He told you? Well, he must be braver than I thought. So, what about you?"

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"

The younger girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "I mean; you have know how obvious it is that you like him! Just once at you two and people can tell the electricity just like that." She snapped her fingers to indicate what she meant.

But the look on Tenten's face said that she didn't know it was obvious. "What do you mean electricity? I have a boyfriend and Neji's in love with some other girl who I don't know. There's absolutely nothing between us?

"Some other girl?" Hanabi laughed so loudly that some surrounding people looked over curiously to see what the joke was. "Honestly Tenten, how dense can you get? Can you seriously not tell that Neji's in love wit – "

"Hanabi!" the two girls turned around to see Hinata walk up to them, a frown on her face.

A nervous smile crept across Hanabi's face as she saw her older sister come. "Ah, hello Hinata-nee-chan. How are you this lovely evening?"

"Hanabi, if otou-san knew y-you were here, he'd – " She was cut off by her sister's pleading.

" – Hinata-nee, you're not going to tell him are you? Please don't. Otou-san will kill me! He'll murder me. But I wanted to get out, I mean, the New Year is only half an hour away! Please don't help him?"

From what Tenten knew of the youngest Hyuuga, Hanabi was an outspoken tough girl. To see her begging Hinata like that was somewhat comical.

"A-alright. If otou-san asks, I'll t-tell him you were with me. This is the last time I b-bail you out, Hanabi." All three of them knew it was a lie. Hinata wouldn't be Hinata if she let people get in trouble. "But you have to stay where I can s-see you. Come."

And with that the two sisters left, leaving Tenten more confused than ever.

What would an eighteen-year-old girl know that she didn't? Surely Neji wouldn't talk about his love life with his family.

Before she could ponder much more, Kankorou had suddenly appeared beside her. "You enjoying yourself, girl?"

Tenten smiled in what hoped to be a happy way. But inside, her mind was going crazy.

Everything started happening again when she ran into, literally, Neji a month ago. Her life had been good before that, and he made her life great. Maybe she did love him. Maybe she did think of him as more then a friend.

"Hey, you okay?" Kankorou looked concernedly at her and her mind switched gears and thought about him. She'd met him in high school, my random coincidence. He was studying to go into an entrepreneurial business, while she still didn't know what to do about her future. They were polar opposites, but she'd loved him once for certain. But it was different now, he might be the father of her son, but she wasn't sure if she was still in love with him.

Tenten took one last sip of her beer, draining the bottle. Then she smiled up at him.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine."

A/N: So, I'm on a tight schedule today and I didnt have time to edit this chapter (not that my editing is great anyway xD)
So apologies if theres more spelling and grammar mistakes than usual (:
And Hanabi seems to be in this fic a lot..hm, wonder why that is ;)
She's probably going to be a main character now, just saying :D
Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated!
fanny-kun