Neji POV

"Neeeeeeji-kun!" called one of my sisters. I was slouched in the chair, still trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, lest I be recognized. Rolling my eyes, I sat up and turned around. There stood, Keiko, my oldest sister. She had an ear-to-ear smile on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"May I present, the new Tenten!" She stepped aside, holding out her arms like she was on a gameshow displaying a boat. But instead of a boat, there stood an incredibly different girl.

Her hair was a completely new color, and her makeup looked so...different than what I was used to. I felt my face heating up, and had to turn away when I felt a sudden, violent tingling in my nose. That itty bitty dress she was wearing didn't help. I pinched my nose and looked at my shoes.

"You're blushing!!" Akemi said, pointing at me and smiling.

"No, I'm not." I protested weakly, but they saw right through it so I just ignored them. Instead, I chanced a look back at Tenten. She was also looking at the floor, her face turning a dull pink color.

"W...what do you think, Neji?" She asked quietly, and my sisters shut their mouths just long enough to look at me expectantly for an answer. But what did I say?

I liked her anyway she was. She looked great before, and she looked great then. It didn't matter to me. But then, she had agreed to all this to keep my family and me out of harm's way, so saying that would just be rude. Instead, I got up and crossed the room, feeling daring.

I fingered the locks of hair falling at the sides of her face. With a smile that I wasn't used to giving to people, I said "you look great."

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, much to the delight of my sisters. They practically danced with happiness. I felt slightly annoyed by them.

"Go squeal in someone else's ear," I told them. "I need to go to work!"

"Well you can walk Tenten then. She has to work too." They did that on purpose, of course. They were trying to make me blush. Or get a stiffy. Thankfully, I did neither. Instead I just looked calmly at my sisters.

"Fine," I told them. They smiled and walked off to pay for the hair and makeup. "Shall we?" I said, and we exited the stuffy building that smelled too strongly of hairspray.

The walk home was quiet. Not a good quiet, either. It wasn't so much peaceful as awkward. We couldn't look at each other. I finally broke the silence about halfway home, unable to stand it anymore.

"So..." I said, lamely, "you like it?"

"What? Oh! Yeah..." She twisted some hair around her finger in a way that made her look so vulnerable and cute. Then I mentally beat myself for thinking the word vulnerable. Not a good idea when I'd almost had a nosebleed at the sight of her. My overly hormonal mind would conjure up images I didn't want. I shook them away and concentrated on walking.

"That's good," I said, and we didn't speak again until we got to the restaurant. I changed quickly before joining Tenten in the front. We had just opened, so there wouldn't be customers right away. Plus, it was a Monday. It would be slow all day, whether we got customers right away or not.

In the time we had alone, I tried not to look at her. It would only be tempting fate. Though I wouldn't look at her, she was still in my mind nonstop. Nothing could distract my mind from thinking of her. Not even hitting myself repeatedly in the head. It only made me worse.

I banged my head against the counter in front of me angrily, trying to concentrate on something other than her, like the pain I was causing myself. I was making my eyes water.

"Ne-Neji! What are you doing?!" Tenten cried out, coming closer to me to stop me from hurting myself anymore. I clutched my forehead in pain, my eyes watery, teeth clenched, and looked up at her from where I sat. She stood over me, looking down worriedly. "You shouldn't hurt yourself, Neji! What's wrong?" The way she said it was making my nose tingle again, and the way her hair was hanging down into her eyes accelerated the effect.

Quickly I brought my hands away from my head and clamped them over my nose. I turned swiftly away from her and ran into the kitchen crying out an excuse. I barely made it to the living room to get the tissues. My nose had already statred bleeding, and, unfortunately, I doubted it was because I was masochistically beating myself with the help of marble countertops.

I was lucky enough to staunch the flow before I stained my uniform, but I was very lightheaded. I washed my face, cleaning it of the blood that had been pooling on my upper lip and walked back to the front. It seemed, in my absence, we had acquired customers. At least that would occupy me. I got to work immediately, taking orders and busying myself. Then a middle aged man walked in a took a seat.

"Good afternoon, uncle," I said to my father's twin. He greeted me with a polite nod. He then ordered tea and I immediately went to fetch it for him. He didn't like to be kept waiting, though he never tipped, so I didn't know why I was so eager to serve.

In my desperation to distract myself from Tenten, I quickly realized I'd overestimated my abilities that day. I was dizzy, and had almost ten tables to wait on.

"Neji, I can take some tables for you if you'd like. I only have two..." I threw her a grateful glance, which she took as acception, and scrurried off to bring someone more tea. I went to the kitchen and placed a few tables' orders, wiping sweat from my brow as I left the hot kitchen.

Tenten was working hard. She was bustling from table to table making sure everyone had what they needed, under the watchful, scrutinizing eye of my uncle. She turned and smiled as she walked past me into the kitchen, making me blush. I quickly hurried away from the door and gave my uncle his tea.

"You like her, eh, boy?" he said, motioning to the kitchen door with a roll of his head. I blushed again, avoiding his eye.

"I don't know what you mean, uncle."

"Don't play dumb. She makes you blush when she looks at you." I figured it was best just to own up, otherwise, he'd find out later and taunt me.

"She made my nose bleed earlier, uncle."

"So you DO like her?"

"No, uncle."

"Sure, Neji. Go get me some tempura. I no longer wish to speak to you." He rolled his eyes at me, waving his hand as if excusing me. I bowed and walked off to get the tempura he wanted.

Maybe I did like her.

Maybe I was just denying it.

Nah.

When the day ended, and everyone was gone, I went and told my father that uncle had stopped by.

"I know."

"You know?"

"I asked him to come by and keep an eye on you two."

"What?" I was slightly offended. "Why?" I almost thought he meant to say that we couldn't keep our hands off each other, but he explained it more to his true meaning.

"I just wanted to be sure that Tenten was protected whenever you weren't in the room. I couldn't be sure that that one man wasn't waitint guntil you had gone in the kitchen to try and jump her again." I cooled down a bit, my eyes turning steely as I thought of Akira.

That bastard.

"I see." I told him. "Well, thank you. Please tell me know if you're going to do that anymore."

"I am."

"Who will it be tomorrow?"

"Hinata."

"But she can barely protect herself!" I burst out. It was true. She could barely keep herself safe. Even with the extensive combat training she had been givenm she was no match for someone with Akira's strength.

"Even so, we just need her for her eyes. We want to be sure he doesn't jump her. By the time she sees him, she can hold him off long enough for you to get there."

"Are you sure she won't hurt herself?" Even though I wasn't particularly fond of cousin Hinata, I didn't want her getting hurt.

"Yes. Go to bed, you're giving me a headache." Indignantly, I stomped off and went to bed, catching a glimpse of Tenten in her adorable pink pajamas on my way.

Since when did I think pink was adorable? Since when did I use the word adorable?

God, she does things to me that should be done to no man...