Disillusioned

by Faraway Dawn

Two weeks to prepare, two years to complete, sometimes best friends are the best people to send undercover. But how many times can you say 'I love you' before you start to mean it? NejiTen

21. Chapter 21

Disillusioned

Chapter 21

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There were two methods to go about testing jounin. There was always a physical exam which was a standard deciding factor in the skill of a jounin, and there was a written exam. That was the part most would-be jounin failed. The testing of Tsubasa, was far from standard. There had been hundreds of people who worked on setting up a proper test, down to an oral examination, which he had passed with flying colors, and another more personal exam that would be given by Nobaru.

The Raikage was pleased with this idea. An interrogation room was set aside, and a chuunin would escort Tsubasa to the testing location. Nobaru however, had his own ideas about what was appropriate in a test of this nature.

"Come on, why can't I use the blindfold?" Nobaru asked, looking up at Taiki as he flipped through the files on Tsubasa. "This is an interrogation after all."

Taiki crossed his arms. A good week of rest had done wonders, and he was back to his old self. "Because he's blind, his eyes are covered anyway, and this is a test for a possible new jounin of our village, not the interrogation of a criminal." Taiki groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "I'd think you had enough of interrogating anyway. You've been dealing with that kid for nearly a week since Haru was ordered more time off."

"Bah, I'm not a pedo. I don't go for the prepubescent." Nobaru placed the file down. The kid, Isuri, had been something else, talking to him was like talking to an impassable wall with a very sick sense of humor. Sick even, by the standards of some of the most sadistic killers perhaps. As far as Nobaru was concerned, he was a real messed up bastard of a brat. "Besides, kid wasn't even cute." Or sane. "Tsubasa will be a lot more fun to deal with."

"Behave yourself. I have no doubt at all that his wife would be happy to get you removed from service if she finds out you did anything inappropriate." Taiki's eyes snapped to the door when there was a light knock, indicating that Tsubasa was in the interrogation room waiting. "You couldn't just do this somewhere else, hm? It had to be in the interrogation rooms?"

"This is an interrogation, and it does set a certain mood." He smirked a moment, before giving Taiki a serious look. "I still don't trust him like you do, perfect ass aside. If he's hiding anything. I'll find it." He strode over to the door and threw it open with a broad grin. "Nice of you to join us, sunshine."

"I'm here for a test Nobaru, not a date." Neji sighed, he felt a headache forming rapidly. "How do you want to do this?" He asked Taiki, knowing he'd get a better answer by asking the chuunin.

Taiki sighed. He pointed to Nobaru and then to Tsubasa. "Nobaru, you ask questions, Tsubasa you answer. I make sure no lines are crossed. Keep it simple and to the point, Nobaru." He sat down against a wall and rubbed his forehead lightly. Somehow, he was certain it was going to be a long, long morning.

"Well, let's get to it. Take a seat Tsubasa, and we'll get started." He waited until Tsubasa was seated, and strode around, sizing the man up. Tsubasa didn't flinch or fidget, not that he expected him to. The man was good at hiding his nervousness. In an almost bored tone, he started asking the basic questions: name, rank, origins, level of schooling completed, and so on. Everything one would expect from the standardized testing methods. Of course, Tsubasa answered them all perfectly. It was time to go a bit deeper. "Why become a jounin?"

Tsubasa tilted his head back. "You're the ones who asked me to become a teacher, I was told I would have to be a jounin by the village's standards. I want to make use of my abilities, despite my recent blindness and leaving the Leaf and my former status as a chuunin, I still have skills to offer."

Taiki's eyes lightly shifted from Tsubasa to Nobaru. The use of the interrogation room was really a bit overboard. It wasn't like Tsubasa could appreciate the cold, steely, intimidating feel of the dark, tiny room. How did you intimidate someone who couldn't see what they were dealing with anyway?

"But why become a ninja again at all? Didn't you leave Konoha for a new life, a quiet existence with your wife? Have a kid or two and become a family man? Why give that up and risk your life for our nation?"

"A ninja is a ninja until the day he dies, wouldn't you agree Nobaru? Just because I can't perform the same duties I have before, doesn't mean I can't do it at all." Neji answered calmly.

"Even if it was more than just teaching a bunch of kids? This isn't an interview for the school, Tsubasa. This is your test to become a jounin. Yes, we'll be keeping you at the school for the time being, but will you be prepared to fight and kill in the name of the Cloud Village?"

"If the Raikage asks it of me, then yes. I will fight for this country."

Taiki sighed and leaned back against the wall. Was Nobaru truly expecting anything less? So far though, at least Nobaru wasn't crossing any lines. There was no touching, no flirting, and it was all business just like Taiki liked it.

"Even if it meant fighting your home village, friends, and your family?" Nobaru laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "If the Raikage asked you to kill your wife, would you do it without hesitation?"

"Nobaru." Taiki muttered as a single warning. It was a fair question, but it was a question he never liked.

"It's an honest question Taiki." Nobaru said, leaning over Tsubasa. "One that needs answered, Tsubasa." Taiki sighed quietly and nodded more to Nobaru than anyone else. He agreed, sadly, that it was a question that had to be answered, even if he didn't like it.

Tsubasa took a deep breath, making an effort not to jerk away from Nobaru. "If my wife was a threat to the security of the land I swore allegiance to, and there was evidence that she needed to be dealt with, I would."

"What if you hadn't seen the evidence? What if the Raikage wanted you to kill your wife, without telling you why?" Nobaru prodded, his grip tightening lightly.

"I would ask a reason." Neji jerked his shoulder away as he spoke. "I hope that the Raikage would honor me with that much before I agreed to willingly kill the woman I love."

"Fair enough." Nobaru stepped back and circled the room once more. "But since we're on the subject, let's talk more about the she-harpy."

"She has a name." Taiki muttered.

"Yeah, yeah. Amanda or whatever." Nobaru waved him away. Taiki was always so sensitive about things like that, and it was the first time he had even called her something insulting that day! "What does she think about you becoming a ninja again? I would think she'd was looking forward to a quiet life even more than you. I doubt she's happy that you're going back to duty so soon."

"Amaya isn't looking forward to the fact that I will be an active ninja again." Neji admitted, hands resting in his lap. "My injury has her concerned as well. However, she does agree with me that teaching children should not be too hazardous to my health." The words were said with faint amusement. Every ninja knew that academy kids in the midst of learning jutsu could be far more dangerous than a real fight with the enemy. "She knows how much I miss working as well, and she is supportive."

"I'm sure you will survive." Nobaru continued to circle the man, making Taiki feel vaguely dizzy. "Though it really doesn't matter what she thinks. She won't be around much longer."

Neji made a disgusted sound. "How many times have I told you, I'm not leaving her for you." He frowned. Really, he thought that Nobaru was finally getting over him and focusing on Taiki.

Taiki remained tactfully silent. Mind games were all apart of the deal, all new jounin were subjected to basic interrogation methods before becoming jounin, and it included some less than pleasant interrogation. Nothing physical...all just a game. So he sat back and closed his eyes, content to just listen, and yell at Nobaru if need be.

"Oh, not that sweetheart. Though I am open to whatever you're willing to do." Nobaru smiled, fingers brushing Tsubasa's hair off his shoulder. Taiki didn't even crack his eyes open a peek.

"Nobaru. Hands off."

"Party pooper." Nobaru did take his hands off. "But that's not what I mean Tsubasa." He stroked his chin, acting as though he was contemplating something serious. "This is supposed to be classified information. But I suppose I could let you in on it. The fact of the matter Tsubasa, is that you've already been accepted as a jounin for Lightning Country. This interrogation and the tests, are just a formality. You're a Cloud Jounin now."

"And what does that have to do with Amaya?" Tsubasa asked, leaning back in the chair. His fingers twitched, but otherwise, he was the picture of calmness.

"Nobaru, just get to the point." Taiki mumbled dully. Nobaru was enjoying making Tsubasa as nervous as possible, and it wasn't working as quickly as he intended.

"The point is, Amaya is going to be killed."

"What?" His voice was confused, posture tensing. He made sure that confusion was the main emotion being shone. "Why is Amaya going to be killed?"

"There has been several compromises in our security since you've moved here Tsubasa. Top secret files are missing."

"Damaged camera in the hospital too." Taiki said quietly.

"Not all of them fortunately." Nobaru smirked, keeping his eyes on Tsubasa's tense form. "There's an image of her on one of the cameras. Not to mention all the times that a break in happened, you and Amaya were not being watched."

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that." Tsubasa sighed. There was no way that they knew it was him or Tenten. This was nothing more then a mind trick for the interrogation. It was all a lie.

Taiki could feel the almost unnerving energy in the small room. Tsubasa was not fooled easily. He was uncomfortable, that much was for certain, but he could tell that he wasn't buying it. His chakra did not spike in panic, his breathing did not accelerate, and it was almost as if he was completely calm.

"Wish I was making it up sweetheart. I bet it was lucky for Konoha when you lost your eye sight. They take their times with plans though. Training her from a young age, having her hide her talents from you, having her purposely fail out of the academy for more advanced training, even having her pretend to fall in love with you. I mean, it's a common story. A ninja past their prime, a nice civilian wife; they move away to another nation where they hope to start a new life without missions, without wars-Except here the civilian wife is a secret ninja spy of the jounin level who's been sent to gather intelligence on the enemy."

Taiki rolled his eyes lightly. Still nothing, Tsubasa was eerily calm and he shrugged at Nobaru. Sometimes, a good jounin really did just fall on a nation's doorstep. "You're so calm, considering the possible consequences, Tsubasa, the Raikage could ask you to kill her to prove your loyalty. I know I said I hate tests of loyalty but, with rather damning evidence..." Taiki tried not to sigh. Nobaru was a much better liar than he was.

Nobaru scoffed. "The Raikage isn't that cruel Taiki. He wouldn't force someone to kill his lover when he could avoid it." His smirk widened. "That's Haru's job."

Neji frowned at that. The psychopath had been near their house for the past few days. He had even spoken to Tenten on a few occasions. "And this Haru is going to kill Amaya?" Still, he kept his voice even, unbelieving.. He wasn't going to fall for this trick.

Taiki shrugged. "Having Haru kill someone would be merciful." Taiki muttered. Haru's genjutsu made him feel on edge.

"Mm. You forget though. They need to interrogate her first Taiki." he chuckled. "Can't say I'm not getting a bit of morbid enjoyment from it. The she-harpy is a bitch, breaking Tsubasa's heart like that."

"And what would Haru do that's so horrible?" Even as Neji kept his voice steady and a bit curious, his mind was shouting at him. Genjutsu. Genjutsu that rivals the Uchiha clan's in the hands of a psycho who can't control himself. Even though she never said it, Neji knew that genjutsu scared Tenten, it had ever since her ANBU exam.

"He could make her wish, that he had simply killed her." Taiki said quietly. "You love her? You're calm, but you're concerned for her, I feel it."

"Of course I'm concerned for her. She's my life and I care deeply for her. However, I know she is not a spy and this is nothing but a part of my initiation tests." Neji said simply.

Taiki smirked at Nobaru and shrugged. Clearly, Tsubasa was a very cool customer. What now? He knows you're just toying with him Nobaru. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the cold metal walls.

"You really are jounin material, aren't you Tsubasa? Not even flinching when we speak of torturing and murdering your wife." Nobaru came to a stop behind the other.

"He scored higher than you and Haru on the verbal test too." Taiki mumbled with a chuckle.

"Big words impress Matsuri." Nobaru scoffed, his hands rested on the back of the chair. "What I want to know is what you think service is going to be like without your eyesight." His fingers traced the bandages around Neji's head, going through his hair again.

Neji stiffened. "Hands off Nobaru."

"I'm only going to see what you're hiding under that blindfold." Nobaru said softly, leaning down to speak in the other's ear. "Or there something I'm not supposed to see?" His fingers found and untied the first knot.

"Nobaru, the Raikage gave you specific orders to not touch him, at all...I've been lenient." Taiki called from his corner of the room.

"I've kept my hands to myself." Nobaru said, bandage in hand. "This is just another test. I want to see what's under the bandages."

"Nobaru if you make me get up, I'm going to be in a foul mood with you for the rest of the week."

"Jealous?" Nobaru rose though, dropping the bandages in the process. "Does that mean if you stay where you are, you'll be in a good mood with me all night?" He wasn't going to get anything in an interrogation room with Tsubasa. He was too good; Nobaru knew it. There was no point dragging the interrogation on any longer.

"It means I won't tell the Raikage that you did have physical contact during the exam." Taiki shrugged. Nobaru wasn't getting anywhere fast with anyone, except maybe Haru. "You might want to go find that chuunin who offered to be an aid to the jounin at the academy. You need to finish the report on this exam also, I have to add it to the main report."

Nobaru sighed and waved Tsubasa off. "You're free to go Tsubasa. Someone will contact you when we're ready to instate you." Once Neji had nodded and left, Nobaru's teasing face turned hard. "He's a spy." He told Taiki.

"Oh will you stop it already?" Taiki grumbled. "You have no proof, and of all people, you think his wife is an active ninja? You're losing it Nobaru. Even the best make mistakes. Deal with it."

"I'll accept that Amaya is a civilian, but there is no way that Tsubasa is. Have you looked over the tests? He's perfect jounin material!"

"Have you actually read his file??" Taiki muttered in mock amusement. "He was going to be tested as a leaf jounin, his injury put a stop to that. He never claimed to be a civilian, he knows his stuff, and should have been a jounin by his mission record." Taiki shrugged. "I should be a jounin, some people choose not to, others simply can't."

"He should have been made jounin a long time ago; back years ago if this is his current level. Doesn't it make you wonder?"

"I was supposed to be a jounin at eighteen. I'm twenty-two now so, to be honest, it doesn't make me wonder." Taiki finally stood and stretched. "They don't need to be watched anymore, fortunately we're down to the last weeks of watching them. Don't you think your boys would like to hear that, they don't have to worry about sitting out in this weather?"

"I still want him monitored occasionally, and for him to be limited to the academy until more time has passed. I don't care what anyone says, my instincts are never wrong."

"The grocer..." Taiki muttered. "Fine, he can be monitored at the academy, and we will restrict his access to the rest of the important facilities, thus limiting him to the academy. Deal?" Taiki offered as he walked to the door. The small interrogation rooms lacked the warm feel of immigration's larger, more comfortable rooms. "You probably shouldn't have tried to make use of home turf here, I don't think it's easy to intimidate someone who can't see how small and cramped this room is."

"Deal." Nobaru followed Taiki out of the room and into the hall. "The room sets the mood through." Nobaru said, as he walked. "I doubted we'd get anything out of him anyways. He's too well trained to walk into an obvious trap."

"Hopefully he can pass some of that on to the kids. We haven't had a good group out of the academy since...jeeze my class was it?" Taiki mused while walking down the dark halls. "Get your report to the Raikage. We already sent in the test results from the other day."

"Yeah yeah." Nobaru sighed and threw his arm around Taiki's shoulder. "Listen, I know you think I'm being paranoid, more so then normal, but keep your guard up. Humor me if nothing else."

"Fine...fine..." Taiki muttered. "You are being paranoid though."

"Better safe than sorry love." He stole a kiss before turning on heal and heading to finish the report. "Catch ya later, Taiki."

Taiki merely rolled his eyes and turned down a different hall to head back to the shelters. Things were running more smoothly, but someone still had to bark orders every once in a while. He laughed quietly in the dark cold tunnels leading to the shelters. Tsubasa, was without a doubt, one of the most relaxed men he had ever seen interrogated by Nobaru. He couldn't help but laugh to himself again. At least he was going home to a nice, warm, comfortable home, instead of the shelters and a cot in a makeshift tent.

---

Neji hurried through the village, it was still raining a bit, not as much as the previous week, and he heard that a storm was on the way in yet again. He didn't so much mind being damp, he had made it out of the interrogation unscathed, and that was far more than he had hoped for. "I'm home." He called, slipping his sandals off at the door.

Tenten called from downstairs. She was practicing, because cleaning was easily done almost a few minutes after he had left. Ryuu was pouncing on her scrolls in a corner, and tried every so often to balance on them, while she practiced being 'more fluid' with her taijutsu. As far as she was concerned, Neji would never be satisfied. "How'd it go?" She called over her shoulder when she turned her back to the stairs.

"As expected. I passed with flying colors." Neji walked down the stairs, watching her shift from one low stance to the next. "Nobaru tried to make it out that Haru was going to kill you for being a spy. Taiki is convinced we're not."

Tenten stumbled slightly in her step. "Kill me?? Mr. Super-Murder-Genjutsu-of-Doom? Seriously they tried to play that card?" Tenten shuddered though. Execution at the hands of a genjutsu user was never pretty.

"They did play it. I don't think they were taking it seriously." He sat on the pillow pile and shoved Ryuu off his lap when the kitten abandoned Tenten's scrolls in favor of harassing him.

"I figured they'd do something like that. So it went just like you thought it would?" She asked quietly. "Did you get felt up?"

"He played with my hair a bit." Neji admitted with a sour expression. "The only thing missing was him declaring me a spy and strip searching me."

"Guess it went ok then." She sighed softly in relief. She didn't have to kick down a door and beat the life out of Nobaru, and that made her feel better. "I have some bad news though." She held out a piece of paper in front of him. A dinner invitation. "Nobaru and Taiki are expecting us later tonight, for dinner. It's like they knew you'd pass or something..."

"It's not too big of a surprise. Nobaru even said this was only a formality, though it may have been part of the interrogation." Neji groaned as he took the paper. He had had more than his fill of Nobaru for the next decade.

"I've gotta go too, if it makes you feel any better. I get to be tortured too this time." She offered with a smile.

"Great, a double date." Neji muttered, snorting a bit at the mental image. "How long until we meet them?" He asked as he lifted the kitten by the scruff of the neck off his lap and set him on the floor.

"Well it's still morning, and we're not expected till later." She answered reading over the invitation. "About six hours, or five and a half to be on the safe side. So you can take a nap or something...You look like you have a headache." Tenten smirked. "I'll just get back to practicing. Yeah, I already know, I'm still not fluid enough." She rolled her eyes and returned to her practicing.

He agreed with the headache part. He could feel the pounding in his temple starting with Tenten's words. A nap didn't sound particularly enjoyable though. "I'll pass on the nap." He watched Tenten maneuver her way across the floor, his eyes followed the curve of her body from one stance to the next. "Did you strain a muscle?" He asked, seeing the way she favored her left leg rather than her right.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder. "You can tell just by watching me?" She titled her head, not entirely surprised, he was the most observant person she knew. "I just pulled it about fifteen minutes ago." He had probably noticed her delayed motion, or perhaps that she was applying less pressure to that leg when she shifted. "You are way too observant."

"You're favoring your left leg." He pointed out, sitting up and watching her more closely. "It's hindering your movement." She would have to be careful not to strain it any further, or Nobaru and Taiki would notice.

"It's just a pulled muscle, it'll be fine in a bit." She watched him watch her every move and her imagination just happened to wander while she continued. Spacing out was common for her, so he probably wouldn't call attention to that unless she hurt herself in the process. "So where exactly in the village did they take you for the interrogation anyway? Probably no place special, just as a precaution."

"It felt like an interrogation room." He hadn't dared used his Byakugan to find out. However, it had the cold feel of metal and echoed slightly when they spoke. "It didn't last long, and it didn't quite seem like Nobaru was taking it seriously." He had mentioned Tenten, but that had been expected, Neji was certain he did it only to gauge his reaction. He was also certain, that Nobaru wasn't taking the interrogation seriously, like it was a game and he was just waiting for a wrong move in it.

"I doubt he would take it seriously." She shifted through each stance as fluidly as her body would allow with a pulled muscle. "I mean, it doesn't really fit in with the way this village has been. A serious interrogation would be like, a serious investigation right off the bat when we arrived. You'd be expecting it, you'd be more likely to make mistakes if something happened you weren't quite expecting." She felt her leg protest when she shifted into a different stance, one that had made her blush wildly in the woods. The kitten was watching her intently. "Last time I tried to stand like this for long, without support, I fell on my face." She pointed at the kitten. "I swear he was smirking at me, just like you would have been."

"I think you've been locked away in the house for too long. You're mistaking the kitten for a person." Neji stood, moving to brace Tenten with a hand. "You need to move your foot slightly, like this," he used his own foot to nudge her into the proper position, "this way, the ball of your foot takes a bit more weight and makes it easier to balance."

"I'm gonna fall over again." She told him as she felt her leg cramp up slightly. She noted though, that just as he said, she felt more balanced than she had previously.

"Then stand up straight." Neji pulled her upright, letting her rest against him a moment while she regained her balance. "You need to adjust yourself to suit your body rather than what you've seen me do. The positions I stand in will not suit you as they suit me."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Her father had said something similar once. He told her she needed to take what she had learned, and adjust it to suit herself. "It was a lot easier to apply that to weapons though." She muttered, dully throwing a kunai across the room at a target, one that appeared to have taken quite a beating. The way she threw her weapons was different from her father. Her grip was loose by comparison, his was more firm, but she had started almost exactly like her father. "So, if I move like this," she began as she shifted back into the stance she had left off at, "and just put my weight on my foot a bit differently," she said as she shifted into the next stance, "it won't be as difficult. I guess I keep forgetting to factor in our height and weight difference."

"That's the one flaw to learning by watching. Even if you mimic the other perfectly, unless you can make it work for you, then you've learned nothing useful."

"That's what the practicing part is for." She stopped and stretched slowly. "At least I have someone to tell me when I'm making mistakes. It really is impressive, that you learned all this just by watching, and practicing on your own, before you started training with me."

"You make it sound easy. It was a lot of trial and error before I learned anything." Though he had been called a genius by ninja standards, there had been a lot of failure before success, and very few people were privy to such knowledge about him.

Tenten nodded. "That's why it's impressive. Trial and error all on your own, and heck now you're the best at it." She gave him an affectionate smile before she looked away. "I guess that's why I chose to mimic you, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I never wanted it to be easy." It made her feel closer to him, even though she would have never admitted it out loud. "It's so similar to how I fight and so different. It's like a close range version of my long range fighting."

"That's to be expected with our history." They were teammates for years, and had developed many of their best skills to counter each other. "It would only make sense that our abilities would mirror each other in many ways. We've learned from each other. You found my weaknesses and utilized your strengths to help me overcome them, and I've done what I could to help you do the same. We compliment each other."

"Compliment..." Tenten began before trailing off. They did compliment each other, and in her mind, in more ways than one. "Oh. Oh! Ha-ha, yeah we do huh?" She rubbed her head slightly, well aware that he knew she had totally spaced out.

"You do need to get out more. Your mind is starting to play with you." Neji started walking up the stairs with Ryuu at his heals. "I'm going to make lunch now. Hopefully tonight will at least do you some good."

"Yeah..." Tenten sighed and looked around. Maybe a good bit of time being harassed by Nobaru would snap her out of whatever daze she was in. She hurried up the stairs and glanced out the window. "Eh...that's what they call a nice day?" It was still raining, just not as hard as it had been. It was more a light drizzle with little breaks of sunlight between passing clouds. "It's so wierd seeing rain for so long." Summer was more or less half a month, at least by Tenten's count.

"It is by this country's standards. Enjoy it while you can, there's another storm on the way." Neji answered, putting away dishes from the last washing. "What do you feel like eating?"

"Doesn't matter, as long as I'm not cooking, it'll be fine." She sat down on the couch. "Is it sad that I'm looking forward to dinner? For the eh, entertainment?"

"Only if you're embracing a masochistic side I haven't seen before." He settled for some spicy noodles and stir fried vegetables and went about combining the ingredients.

"Hm, yeah I just love the idea of being miserable for hours watching you fidget while Nobaru tries to get you to admit you want him." She laughed to herself. "I just haven't had much human interaction this past week. Even you were busy most of it." Only the previous night had they spent a large amount of time together in the entire week. "Guess I should get used to it, with you working I'm going to be spending most of the day home alone huh?"

"Go out and interact with Karou and the other housewives. It'll occupy you and make you seem more like a normal, bored housewife of a jounin."

Tenten mumbled under her breath. It would make her seem like a normal, bored housewife of a jounin. She wasn't normal by any standards though, and even though she was bored, she sure as hell was no housewife. Appearing more the bored housewife though would probably be better than appearing the bored assassin.

Neji smiled at her mumbles. "I know. You hated the housewife angle from the beginning. Try to play along, even if it does get dull."

"Remind me to wring Naruto's neck when I see him again." She said when the kitten hopped up onto the couch and curled up beside her. She scratched his head and chuckled, apparently cooking got boring when food didn't fall on the floor.

"Will do." Neji said from the kitchen, out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryuu purr and stand up. He crouched down, wiggled his bottom in the air before jumping and landing on Tenten's shoulder. It dug it's claws into her shirt, clinging there with a mewl as it struggled to steady itself.

Tenten winced but smiled. "Ooh, hey now." She helped the kitten get a better seat on her shoulder. "Careful, that hurts you know?" She was far more gentle with the kitten than Neji was, and far more tolerant of the tiny claws digging into her skin. The kitten had a habit of trying to play with her buns sometimes, just like every so often he would try to swat at Neji's hair when he was sitting down. "He's so curious," she laughed, "sort of like Naruto but less orange."

Neji peered into the living room. "Well, he can see better from up there. Careful he doesn't scratch your face." The kitten just nuzzled Tenten's face and purred contently. Tenten laughed for a few minutes while the kitten tickled her face, she only paused every so often to comment to the kitten that the food smelled great, or that the rain storms would be starting up again in a few days, or even that, he distinctly reminded her of a more affectionate version of Neji. "That thing is nothing like me." Neji objected while he set the table. "I don't climb on top of you and nuzzle you, do I?"

"You had to a couple times." Tenten pointed out calmly. The kitten seemed to mirror her amused expression.

"Name one." He was certain he had never done it.

"The night we faked it in the bedroom? Remember the peep that just wouldn't go away?" She recounted the many times he did have to 'climb on top of her and nuzzle her,' for an audience sure, but he still had done it.

He rolled his eyes. "Name a time when I wasn't acting as Tsubasa, and did it as myself."

"Uh..." She recalled countless times he did it...In my dreams. "Hm...Ok! Last night!" She said triumphantly. "You were practically on top of me a few times and you did 'nuzzle' was it? Yep, right against my neck. Woke me up fast." And you loved every second of it, a little voice teased her. It was so much like having a mentally pocket sized Ino commenting on life.

He paused, chopsticks half way to his mouth. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming this?" He never had a habit of nuzzling in his sleep as far as he knew. It bothered him, when had it begun if he really had done it? Subconscious reaction to a dream-I have no idea what I dreamt about last night…

"Oh yeah, I'm sure I wasn't." She pointed to the kitten. "Ryuu was chewing on your bangs. Oh yeah, and your lips, were right here." She tilted her head to the side and pointed to her neck, right where it met her shoulder. "Girls remember when stuff like that wakes them up, that stuff happens in corny romance movies, rarely in real life."

"Are you sure I wasn't just trying to swat away the cat?" That made sense, trying to squirm away from the cat, that apparently was chewing his hair while he slept.

Tenten shrugged. "Then, I guess you had a bad dream last night too hm? If you weren't having one, you looked like you were." She told him while the kitten attempted to sniff the food she picked up with her chopsticks. She showed it to him to humor him, curiosity didn't hurt when you were young.

"If you let the kitten eat that, he'll get diarrhea, and I'm not going to clean it up." He took a bit of the noodles himself, frowning at the spiciness. He hated them this strong, but kept finding himself making them hotter for Tenten. "I doubt I just started to nuzzle you in my sleep after all these years."

"I think you were having a bad dream. You did less cuddling and more sighing when I played with your hair a bit." She smirked slightly at his expression while the kitten backed away from her noodles. "Oh look at this, another thing you two have in common, a dislike for spicy food."

"I did not cuddle." Neji frowned, reaching over to pick up the kitten and place it on the floor. "Of course it hates the food, it may be a demon, but even demons listen to their instincts and know what's bad for them."

"Well like I said, you were more sighing contently when I started playing with your hair." Tenten stated simply before devouring most of her food. "It got you to stop moving so much though. So did you have a bad dream? Or was it a good one?" She teased.

"A wonderful dream. You declared your never ending love for me and I took you to the bed and had my way with you until you were begging me to stop." Neji muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I don't remember what I was dreaming." Tenten had stopped eating though.

She nearly dropped her chopsticks and her cheeks were slightly pink, due mainly to the fact that he joked about having a dream she was certain she actually had a few times. "Cute...ok then I'm guessing it was a bad dream."

He shrugged. "I really don't remember it. I believe it was a good one though. I woke up in a pleasant enough mood, all things considered."

"Well that's good, since I imagine dealing with Nobaru was pretty annoying." She finished her food quickly. "I was having a bad one before you woke me up, so I guess I should thank you."

"Oh? What were you dreaming about?" Tenten didn't usually have bad dreams, not ones that would wake her at least.

"My exams..." She said quietly. She didn't want to say too much, but her jounin exams had been kind to her, compared to her ANBU examination. "...the genjutsu portion."

Neji frowned. It was selfish, but he didn't want to know what had happened to Tenten, he didn't want to know what she had been put through. He had an idea of course, but didn't want to admit it or accept it. "It's best not to think of such things. Just remember, they never really happened."

"I get to tell myself that every single time I wake up from it. Haven't told a single person what it was about, no one really would want to know anyway." She pouted at her empty bowl and pointed to his. "You gonna finish all that or what?"

He finished the bite on his chopsticks before handing the bowl over to Tenten. "It's a wonder that you don't have a hole in your stomach from that waste." He said, taking the subject change when he saw it.

"You are such a baby." She answered finishing off his noodles as well. "It's a good thing you're such a good cook. You'd be starving I could actually cook this."

"Your cooking would burn holes through the pots." He picked up the kitten that had again made its way onto the table. "Get off there." He mumbled, setting it on the floor. "If I couldn't cook, we'd likely be living off of instant ramen and take out."

"I know how much you'd just hate that." Tenten smirked. "I'd get sick of it too I think." Her smirk only grew wider when the kitten hopped up onto her lap, placed a pair of paws on the table, and poked his head up.

"Don't let it get on the table." Neji frowned. "We eat here."

"And I clean it every day." She answered scratching the kitten behind the ears lightly. "So what exactly are we going to do for the rest of the day till torture begins?"

He shrugged. "I would suggest sparring, but it wouldn't do any good to injure your leg further."

"You could work on your aim, but you miss a lot more when I'm watching." The kitten sniffed her bowl empty and broke out into a sneezing fit. "It's just a pulled muscle you know, it'll be fine in a bit."

Neji wrinkled his nose at the sneezing animal. It was perfect, animal snot, all over his dishes. "Still, if you stress it anymore, Nobaru and Taiki will notice. Best not stress it if we can avoid it."

"I guess. Still, what to do the rest of the day?" She looked around. "They day's gonna be pretty dull. Ok, how about this, you practice hitting a target without injuring either of us, I mean actually hitting the target, not the wall near it, the target." Tenten teased. "I'll stretch lightly so I don't make the pulled muscle worse, and we'll make ridiculous small talk just like old times?"

"Like last night with pointy weapons instead of me pinning you to the floor." He stood, cleared the dishes, and wrinkled his nose slightly at Tenten's bowl.

"You want me to wash that bowl?" She smirked. She always thought he would be a good father, but for some reason, she was right about him not being the best pet owner.

"I can wash a bowl." Neji scowled. He picked it up and resisted the urge to drop it. The bowl was slimy where the cat sneezed on it. "Go ahead and stretch, I'll meet you downstairs."

"You are such a baby. It's cute though." She laughed slightly at his expression and headed downstairs with the kitten.

"Disliking mucus spewed from a kitten's nostrils does not make me childish!" Neji called down the stairs after her.

"Neji, it's like a mist, it's not like Lee with a runny nose." She laughed as she set the cat down.

"There's a film Tenten." Neji took a breath and bit his tongue. He would not make a big deal over kitten snot.

"Big deal. Stop making a fuss over it." She called up the stairs and smirked proudly at the cat. "He hasn't made a fuss like this since that time Lee was hurt and Neji had to carry him." She sat down and stretched out on the floor. "He sneezed on his shoulder, pretty nasty actually." Tenten nodded at the kitten who climbed across her legs while she stretched. "His whole shoulder was covered with blood and snot everywhere, made Ino nauseated when she saw it."

The cat jumped onto Tenten's shoudler, sniffed her hair, let out a soft 'mew' before breaking into another sneezing fit. Tenten laughed softly as Neji, having finished the dishes, walked slowly down the stairs. "Enjoying youself?" He asked, seeing her sprawled out on the floor, looking significantly more comfortable than he felt.

"My leg still kinda hurts." She answered. The kitten had taken up pawing at her bangs. "It should be ok later though."

"It's going to claw your eyes out if you aren't careful." He grabbed a few kunai and turned to the well used targets throughout the room. Tenten's strikes were painfully obvious on the targets.

"Nah." Tenten said petting the kitten and pulling her bangs away from his little paws. "He's more careful with me than you." She set one of her scrolls down for the kitten to play on while she continued to stretch. "You know, this basement kinda looks like..." She looked around the room. "Like mine..." Her father used it for storage and indoor training, her mother did the laundry there, but appearance wise, and just going by size, they were very similar. "Minus the dirty clothes mom hasn't cleaned yet, and the various damaged walls from my dad throwing stuff at them."

"Give it time. I'm sure you'll punch a few hole in the wall." It was true enough, now that he thought of it. It was like her parents basement, right down to the ugly carpet. "Now, are you going to give me any challenges other than hitting the targets?"

"Hit the same spot on the target, twenty times. No misses, I'll be watching."

Neji sighed and did as she asked. She was right, it had been a while since he had a chance to practice his accuracy. It took effort just to hit the targets. "I need to train more."

"Yeah I can see that." She said quietly. He missed his mark a lot. "It's ok though, long range combat was never your specialty." There were so many things she could correct...

"Then show me." He was hitting the targets, he had done what she had asked, but he should have done it better.

Slowly, Tenten got up and walked in circles around him. "Ok first off..." She stood behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. "This will feel weird at first but shift your weight back a bit, keep yourself lined up with your target." She lifted his hand to aim at the target. "Remember that line of sight, does not mean your weapon will strike that point. You're aiming at what you think you're seeing, not what's there." She lowered his arm slightly. "You're taller than me, look where the target is, you need to aim lower than your line of sight."

Neji followed her advice, it was hard shifting his body the way she asked, it was harder to correct his aim. He threw a kunai and cursed. He barely hit the target. He would have to adjust his aim a bit more.

Tenten smiled and watched him adjust his arm a bit. "Try this. Close your eyes." She said quietly. It was how her father had taught her.

"Close my eyes?" Of course that meant she wanted him to not look at the target. "How is not seeing the target going to help my aim?"

"Ok fine, watch." She stepped to the side of him, shut her eyes, and drew a kunai. "You know where the target is. Even with my eyes shut, I can visualize exactly where it is, and..." She threw the kunai and struck the exact place his had. "I can hit any point on it, because I use my chakra to focus on that single point. Find a point and focus your chakra at it. Follow that line of chakra, and strike at it."

"Chakra visualization?" Neji asked, turning to her. He tried it again, and while he hit closer, it was still off. "It must have taken you years to learn this technique. Did your father teach you?"

"Yeah." She smiled slightly. "I was always a natural, my dad used to say." It took precise chakra control, to do it without being detected, she explained. "It should be easier for you than anyone else we know, except maybe Sakura."

"All it takes is practice." He already had the basics down. All it would take was fine tuning. He flinched inwardly as he missed his intended target. A lot of fine tuning. He was used to controlling chakra, but not so far out of his body, not quite to this degree.

Tenten looked at exactly the spot he was aiming at. She shifted his arm slightly. "It might take a lot of practice. Try it now though." At least now, the trajectory would be right.

He tried again and again. Each time slowly getting closer and closer to the target. "It will take a lot of time and devotion to learn to aim this way." He mumbled and attempted to deepen his concentration.

"Yeah." That however, was something he was good at it. "You're good at it though, you always have been." She leaned her head against his shoulder for a second. "You'll get it."

"I know. It'll just take time." He stood still and allowed Tenten to rest against him. It was comfortable, the gentle weight of her head against his shoulder.

"Ok, now, let's see if we can get you to hit that mark today." She moved behind him, stood on her toes and rested her chin on his shoulder so she could see. "Hm...yeah, I think you can hit that." She handed him a kunai and guided his arm into position to aim. "Move your arm where you think it should be to hit the mark."

He did as directed, getting close, but a tad too far to the right. He frowned, tried to concentrate hard, and tried over and over again. He adjusted himself each time to see how he could improve. Lowering his arm a bit, shifting it a bit to the right, no left, then raising it a fraction of a degree and-

"Loosen up your grip a bit. Hehe, you throw a bit too hard, just let the motion flow smoothly, you know...be more, oh what do you always tell me?" She teased. "Be more fluid is it?"

"There is a difference between being fluid and being limp Tenten." He obeyed none the less as he adjusted his grip accordingly.

"Hey, just be happy I'm letting you stand still while you do this." She muttered. "Dad made me run around, dodge his attacks, and hit the targets."

"There's not much room to maneuver down here." Neji pointed out as he turned and hit a target on the opposite wall.

"The less room the easier it is. There's less room for error." She told him, casually throwing a kunai over her shoulder at the same target he had struck. She tried not to smile, knowing with absolute certainty that she had struck the very center of the target. "It was all second nature to me, sort of like, instinct I guess."

"Weapons are you specialty. I'm sure you can do things with them that no one's ever thought of." Neji turned to face another target, this time he struck the center.

"You have no idea..." She smirked. "Actually, there's an older technique in my family, meant to be used with the other clans actually." She went over to the corner and pulled out one of her older scrolls. "It's part of the reason I underwent intensive chakra control instruction, and learned to suppress the chakra of others as well as my own. It requires I use a lot of my chakra, and draw on the chakra of another."

Neji blinked, surprise clearly registered in his features. He had never heard of this technique, and had not expected it to involve large amounts of chakra. Tenten's family was known for their masterful weapon creation and utilizing them, not their ninjutsu. "Oh, and what would that be?"

"It'll deplete most of my chakra, so it's a last resort kind of thing. My family had designed it to work most effectively with one of two clans." She opened the scroll and showed him. "It was designed to work with the Uchiha and the Hyuuga. The reason you haven't heard of this, is because the person who uses it needs to have expert control, and one other important factor. Perfect accuracy."

"So what does it entail?" His curiosity was more than piqued. As far as he knew, his family had not worked with Tenten's in many years, and it went without saying their bond with the Uchiha was practically nonexistent. "I'm curious." He admitted.

"I could show you, but I'm gonna need a nap until dinner tonight to recover my chakra fast enough, it's eh..." She paused and thought it over. It was very difficult to explain with just words. Words were never her strong point anyway, Neji was much better at explaining things, she was better at demonstrating. "...It's hard to explain."

"Wouldn't it be harder to show than explain?" He didn't doubt that Tenten was able to do what she said, but from her words it didn't seem the least bit easy.

"Ok, a combination of both. This won't be impressive here, we'd need a lot more space for it to be impressive." She placed her hand on his back and gave him a simple command. Activate his byakugan, pick anything in the room and focus on it, "Not the cat either, I'll hit you very hard if you pick him." She told him not to tell her what he was focusing on. "You'll see why."

Neji had the general idea what would happen, and for a moment contemplated using the cat. However, even he was not that cruel. He only wanted the monster gone, not injured. He chose a target on the far wall, one behind Tenten. "Okay, I have the target."

Tenten tugged lightly on Neji's hair. "Yeah good choice too, I really would have injured you, if you had in fact chosen to focus on the cat. Yeah...I know you thought about it, I felt your chakra direct at him for about a half second. Either way..." She promptly threw multiple weapons over her shoulder directly at the target she felt his chakra focused on. "Creepy part is I can see exactly which target is, clearly, because I'm temporarily using your chakra as my own to visualize which target to hit. It means, you probably can't feel it, but a lot of my chakra is in your system right now, or I wouldn't be able to use it at all. The perfect accuracy is important because, when you have to use so much chakra, you really don't want to miss. You can see targets that are in my range of hitting, targets that I just can't see, but could hit if I could...it was designed specifically to be used with a Hyuuga, a very skilled one, or an Uchiha, for assassinations that required multiple targets eliminated."

"What about the ones that are out of your range?" Neji asked, impressed. It was as he thought it would be, and he didn't doubt that Tenten could hit that target without looking and without his aid, but he let his mind wander to the bigger picture. To be used in battle, against enemies in a larger space, targets that she couldn't see that he could...there were too many possibilities, too many remarkable possibilities.

"Those can be forced into it with my traps, that's why I was given extensive training for traps and explosives when I was fifteen." She waited until she could draw most of her chakra back from his system and into her before removing her hand. It left her lightheaded for a few moments, and she quickly sat down. "My father told me, that it is so rarely used, because my family never had strong ties with the Uchiha, and naturally, the Hyuuga kept so much to themselves. There has to be a strong bond between the user and the person who's allowing their chakra and skills to be used. Otherwise, it's too hard to allow the chakra to mingle properly, chakra poisoning is a likely end result if the two haven't worked together long enough."

"Which was why your father was so adamant that you and I be on the same team." Neji said, realizing now the fuss her father had made all those years ago. His mind replayed Tenten's words as he sat next to her on the floor. "So, I'm the only one that you can do this with, correct? You couldn't do this with Hinata or Hanabi, could you?"

She shook her head. "They'd probably kill me with their chakra, or I would severely injure them with mine. I-" She looked down dejectedly. "I was reckless once, I attempted it on a mission with Sasuke, because it allowed me to force the effects of his chakra into my weapons, direct strikes would force the targets into potent genjutsu, and was less stress on his sharingan." She stared down at the floor, recalling the almost devastating results. Sasuke had come out from it with complaints of mild illness and fatigue, she had been unable to move, paralyzed for nearly two weeks, while Shizune and Sakura worked diligently to draw out the remaining chakra that left her crippled. "We failed the mission, Shino got me back to the village safely, I was the only one who couldn't move."

"The time I came back from a mission, when you were confined to a bed for two weeks, that's what happened?" He asked, remembering those days well. It had been one of the few times he had been unable to visit his teammate, and no one would tell him why. "Why would you have tried that with Sasuke? You two had barely worked together at that point. You said that there needed to be a level of familiarity to prevent the chances of chakra poisoning."

"I admitted I was reckless too." She said quietly. "I knew, even when I did try it, that it wouldn't work. I felt it, I could hear this little voice in my head telling me it would never work with anyone but you. I was afraid to try it again after that, so I put myself through more chakra control training. I didn't want to be responsible for hurting you if I couldn't withdraw my chakra and separate it from yours easily." She explained that Sasuke did get sick, but that had been luck, he could have been worse off. "He could have ended up like me, I didn't want that to happen to you, if I ever got the guts to try it again."

"So it would be alright if you were stuck bedbound with chakra poisoning as long as I didn't get sick?" A part of Neji was sick at the thought. She'd probably risk her health for his and he'd never know she did it, if she masked it well enough. Did Tenten reallly think so little of her own safety?

"I knew it wouldn't happen to me with you, the problem would be if I couldn't extract chakra fully from you." She tilted her head at his strange expression. "Which is why I took the additional chakra control lessons...so that it wouldn't cause me problems, and so that it wouldn't cause you any...you heard the part where I said 'me' also right??" She knew that expression, oh yes, it usually came right before a lecture about taking better care of herself.

"Yet you brush off what happened to you, and speak about what could happen to me." Neji sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Why aren't you more concerned about yourself, rather than everyone else around you?"

"Would you get mad at yourself, if something you could do, severely hurt me? Would you stop thinking about your own life for anyone, ever?" She shrugged. "It's always risky to worry about someone else before yourself, I know I can take care of myself, I took the additional lessons in chakra control to ensure my own safety first, after what happened with Sasuke. If I hadn't been working with you for so long, your chakra would be able to kill me so easily." She reminded him that at one point, he had almost killed Hinata, and just as easily, his chakra out of control in her system could kill her. "The first time we sparred I couldn't move much for a few weeks, you told me I was acting like a girl..."

"Getting hurt in a fair spar and getting injured from a stupid mistake with disregard to your own, personal safety are two completely different things." Neji took another deep breath. It had happened years ago because of a stupid mistake. Tenten had obviously taken measures to make sure it wouldn't happen again. So why am I so irritated by it?

"You know...you're giving me the roundabout lecture about worrying about my safety through all this, but you're not talking at all about your safety. It's kind of hypocritical to be telling me to worry about myself, when you're not mentioning your own safety."

"I trust you to protect those around you. I don't trust you to put your safety before theirs." If he didn't worry about Tenten, who would?

"Ok, how about we make a deal? I'll worry about you, so that you can focus on worrying about me." She teased. In all honesty, that's how the situation felt. Why was he so worried though? I went through all the training to ensure my safety and the safety of others...why are you so worried about me? She titled her head to the other side and smirked cheerfully at him while she awaited his response. I'm not a little girl anymore Neji. I can take care of myself.

"Fine, fine." Neji sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on and figured it was nearly time to go out with Nobaru and Taiki. "I'm going to go wash up before we go out."

"Good idea." She said quietly before messing up his hair. "Just make it fast, I need a shower too you know? Oh, I finished all the laundry, yours is up on the bed." She pointed at the ceiling above them. Her mother had told her once, doing a man's laundry was like being engaged to them. Only significant others or a mother did the laundry of any man that did not do their own. She tried not to twitch. What did that make her anyway?

"Thank you." Neji had never had anyone to wash his laundry from him other than servants. His views on the matter were slightly skewed when it came to the opinions from Tenten's mother. Although, he did had to admit there was always a strange feeling whenever Tenten folded his underwear. He couldn't tell if it was embarrassment, or because she folded them at an improper angle.

"Except your underwear. That's your job this time, I swear if you correct how I fold one more time, I'm just going to cut your hair like Lee's while you're sleeping. So you can do it this time. Let's see you fold better." She smirked triumphantly. Neji was horrible at folding clothes, as he demonstrated one of the few times she allowed him to help.

"You never complain about how I fold your clothes." The panties, the shirts, and pants, he folded them all reasonably well. Though Tenten did like to complain about his way of folding towels into fourths rather than thirds. He couldn't tell the difference in all honesty.

"Because I don't care how wrinkled my close are." She smiled. "Oh, and I refold them when you're not in the room." She pointed to the stairs. "Go on, get your shower in, we've been down here a lot longer than we thought."

Neji waved an arm dismissively and headed up the stairs for the shower. After a quick wash, he went to the bedroom and nearly groaned at the fancy outfit on the bed. "Please, tell me we aren't going to the lightning country's equivalent of Akiko's."

"You know, I think you've gotten kinda lax in your style since we got here. This is exactly like what you wore to the festival the night you became a jounin." She pulled her hair up in a single bun and turned her back to him. "Like, exactly like it. You said you wore it because it was not only nice, but comfortable." At least he didn't have to wear a dress. She tossed her robe to the side and dressed slowly. "It could be worse, Ino could have picked it out."

"But it's still dressy clothing." He frowned, reminding himself that if he turned to speak to Tenten face to face, she'd be topless and he didn't need to see her topless at the moment. "This feels like one of Ino's ideas, but worse because Nobaru is behind this.

"I've already seen the place, it's just a bit formal, it's nothing like Akiko's." She assured him while she pulled on her dress. It was one Sakura would have approved of, one that she had purchased in the cloud village. "You're gonna need to help me with this." She jerked her head over her shoulder. "I can't find the uh..." She reached for the clasp she knew should have been there, but it simply eluded her fingers.

Neji shook his head and turned, closing the dress for Tenten. "I swear, Naruto has an easier time dressing like a woman then you do." He muttered, half teasing. It was still strange, seeing Tenten in clothing that was so feminine. So strange even that it was hard to shake, that it was something as simple as a dress that made her look so-

"I'm not really quite as in touch with my feminine side as he is." Tenten answered leaning back slightly. She could hear the teasing tone of his voice, and knew that her comment would be appreciated enough to earn her the faintest chuckle or smirk.

Neji let out an amused breath and straightened Tenten's clothes. "I can't argue with that." He answered, giving the dress one last tug before turning back to his own clothing.

"Neji?" She sat down on the bed and tried not to think too much. What if Nobaru started asking her stupid questions? What if he made a scene? What if, what if, what if...

"Hm?" He focused on tying the sash for his waist. The outfit was comfortable and relativity simple, but the belt was a pain to tie. If there was one thing you'd think was simple, it would be a belt, who the hell thought it was a good idea to make a belt complicated anyway?

"The next time Lee bursts in and asks us to enjoy a 'youthful dinner' with him and Sakura as a 'double date' can we just do it and count ourselves fortunate that we're not having dinner with Nobaru?"

"Agreed." It would be heavenly, compared to how tonight is sure to go. He thought still trying to tie the belt.

Tenten smiled and turned to help him tie the belt. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

"The sooner the better." Neji took her hand and headed for the door.

---

Tenten sat at their table lightly tapping her fingers. She was certain Nobaru had done everything in his power to make the night as irritating as possible. Only ten minutes after they sat down, she was certain the waiter was being slow on purpose. He was smirking, she was annoyed by it, Taiki and Neji appeared to be trying to avoid getting drawn into the strange staring contest. "It was so nice of you two to treat us to dinner after Tsubasa's tests, he's been so annoyed just sitting around doing nothing." She said sweetly. Neji did hate doing nothing, he loved doing something, anything productive. Lee often told him he was all work and no play, and Tenten agreed.

"The pleasure's mine Amaya." He smiled, it was a sickeningly sweet one and he acted like his one hand wasn't under the table and Taiki wasn't blushing. "I can only imagine how stressed and bored the two of you are with all the testing going on." Not stressed enough for his liking though. He always thought the jounin test should be enough to make weaker men cry for their mommies. Sadly, it appeared he wouldn't be seeing that in Tsubasa.

"I've been the bored one, with him out of the house so much the past few days." She tried not to twitch when she felt a foot, distinctly male rub her leg. Somehow, she had a feeling that it was aiming for Neji's leg, and missed. She leaned her head over onto Neji's shoulder to hide her lightly tugging his hair to command him to say something. "I think he was a little stressed, but you know how easily a stressful day can be worked out at night." She maintained the most innocent smile she could, and enjoyed the faint, but obvious shift in Nobaru's expression. Taiki, she noticed, finally slapped Nobaru upside the head for no apparent reason.

"Ow, what was that for? You know where my hands are."

"He may know where your hands are, but you've made my wife very aware of where your feet are. If you could kindly keep them to yourself, it would be appreciated." Neji said, wrapping an arm around Tenten's shoulders. Taiki slapped the hand away and tried not to chuckle. Nobaru trying to play footsie under the table was just so typical.

"My mistake. Rest assured Tsubasa, I have no interest what so ever in your wife." Nobaru's hand was back on Taiki's thigh again. The hand rested a little bit higher than before.

"If you want to use that hand tomorrow Nobaru, remove it." Taiki muttered. If there was one thing he was not in the mood for, it was being felt up over dinner. He sharply elbowed Nobaru in the side.

In turn, Nobaru rubbed his side and pouted. "And you were so nice and eager to please the other night." More like too tired and exhausted to fight off a few kisses and snuggles, but he wasn't complaining.

"Probably too wiped out to fight back..." Tenten muttered. Taiki still looked exhausted, his hair was messier than usual, and he had faint dark circles under his eyes.

"You say it like I assaulted him. I merely made sure he slept without drugging or performing an jutsu on him."

"Oh, you must be hearing things, I didn't say anything important." Tenten smiled politely and ordered her drink when the waiter finally returned. It's going to be one long irritating night, she thought despite her best attempts not to. She could already feel the tension and annoyance radiating from her normally cool, calm partner. She leaned a bit closer to Neji and told him that when they got home, she was going to require a massage, because headache medicine alone was not going to do the trick.

The hand on Tenten's shoulder went to her neck and lightly rubbed the skin there. They would both have killer headaches before the night was through. Just relax, he tried to tell her, grit your teeth and wait for it to be over.

Fate perhaps, was mocking both of them. Their waiter went home sick, which meant, their orders would be delayed, to avoid them catching anything. Someone new was being called in for the night, and all the orders had backed up, it would be at least a half hour before theirs was taken care of.

Tenten sighed when the manager apologized. She made sure not to glare daggers at Nobaru, who seemed most amused by the horrible turn of events. There was simply no way it was planned, but her mind was certain that if he could have planned it that way, Nobaru would have.

"My apologies. If I knew that this would happen, I would have suggested another night." Nobaru sipped his drink, looking far too thrilled. "Now that you've been in this country for the worst of the storms, how do you find it compared to your Konoha?"

"It's still a bit strange to consider a heavy rainstorm with slight breaks of sun a 'nice day' especially if, you consider that Kohona's worst rain storms were light showers in the spring." Tenten answered watching her drink. "I don't think the weather bothers Tsubasa much. I'm the one not used to such strange weather shifts."

Neji shrugged, his hand rested still on Tenten's neck. "I'm sure I'll hate it with a passion next year when I'm dealing with kids through it. Are all seasons beginnings this bad though? I recall being told that this year is the worst it's been in a long time."

"Every fifty years or so." Taiki said quietly. "Next year probably will be stormy as well. It's usually very predictable storm seasons for about fifty years, then a year or two of horrible weather. It always clears up in the summer though."

"We will know to expect it though. The death count will be lower next year." Nobaru patted Taiki's shoulder before retracting his hand. The country always got so lax after so long with calm.

"It's the bad thing about the long calm periods of predictable weather. It's always the younger generation that suffers the most in dealing with the next wave of bad storms." Taiki looked up slightly. "The last time it was like this, none of us were alive. Even we are only used to the predictable storms. Some of us are smart enough to know to always expect the worst. Compared to the last great storm season fifty years ago, we lost significantly less lives."

"Our ninja have improved greatly since that time." Nobaru turned, smiling as a new waiter made his way over. "It appears as though they've called in the backup."

Tenten mentally rejoiced. "Fantastic, I'm not sure about you guys, but the smells coming out of that kitchen are making me hungry. Not quite as good as Tsubasa's cooking I'm sure, but at least tonight he won't have to worry about me trying to learn to cook better."

"A relief indeed." Neji teased, giving his order when the waiter arrived. To his satisfaction the man apologized profusely for the delay and mess. If there was ever a time someone should have apologized for inconvenience, it was that night. Being stuck with Nobaru for longer than an hour was irritating.

Taiki tried not to chuckle when he gave his order. What Amaya had ordered made Tsubasa wince visibly. "Not one for spicy food I take it?" He asked. "I give it a winter, you'll come around." He watched the pair of them closely. Both were eager to leave, more than likely because Nobaru set just about everyone on edge, but at the same time they seemed so calm as a pair. "You two are much closer than you let on directly. Even for newly weds, you're very comfortable with each other." While it was true, that most newly weds were close and cuddly, the pair were more at ease and relaxed. They were more likebest friends. He shoved the thought away though.

Tenten shifted slightly. "He's never been one for spicy food." She sipped her drink and tried to think of how to explain their comfort with each other. "We've been together for years, being comfortable with each other just comes with the turf I guess." She offered. "From what I gathered, most of the women here don't get to spend a great deal of time with their husbands, why is that?" There was no way they'd tell her the real reason, she knew they would not admit that a large portion of the village was involved in the research, but it would be nice if, for one part of the night, they were the ones asking the questions.

"Most of the men here are either researchers or active ninja. As I'm sure you can tell, we work them very hard. Most of the civilian wives moved to this area with their husbands a few years ago." Nobaru answered, keeping his answer vague.

"Researching what?" Tenten acted as confused as she could. "Like hospital researchers? Konoha didn't have many, I think we had a good deal who specialized in medical ninjutsu, so maybe we just didn't need as much research." She lightly nudged Neji. It just wouldn't look right if she kept asking all the questions, he'd need to do more talking. She laughed mentally to herself. Neji? Start and maintain a conversation with someone besides me or Lee? Yeah, that might be asking too much.

"You could say that. It's highly classified material, beyond even your husbands reach at the moment, I'm afraid." Nobaru smiled, leaning back in his chair.

"Medical research?" Neji asked leaning forward. "I am confused as to why this country needs so many? Is there an illness in these lands uncommon outside of it?" Neji quickly straightened. "Forgive me for prying into classified information. I just wish to know if there's anything we should be aware of, or take precaution against."

Taiki answered carefully. "We've always been a bit behind the other villages in terms of medical care and skill. The country has a history of bad blood and warmongering. In a time of peace like this, we should focus on the well being of our people, better trained medics, and better supplied hospitals are a part of that. With the kind of devastation that can come from our weather, we should be one of the best in medicine, not the worst." He glanced at Nobaru. "With the bad weather, often comes less common illnesses, particularly when so many people have to be so close together because of evacuations."

Nobaru nodded. "There isn't too much to worry about for you though Tsubasa. The children in the area are kept well vaccinated. That's at least one thing we don't fall behind on. As long as you or your wife don't spend long amounts of time in the lower levels in the country, and take some minor precautions when out and about, there is nothing to worry about." He nodded, their question was well within the limits of a less than suspicious question. He still didn't trust them, even though their question was well disguised. "That being said, set up a time at the hospital to start a series of vaccinations."

Tenten winced. "S-shots?" She didn't mind them, but she didn't like them. The idea of being given a shot in a foreign country worried her as well. One little swab of a needle afterwards and a good DNA test would tell them all they needed to know. "I hate shots..." She lied and rubbed her shoulder lightly. "I still remember getting them when I first moved to Konoha. Father told me I cried like a baby for nearly two days."

"It would be in your best interests." Nobaru pressed on. "You can catch of lo of nasty things around here if you aren't careful. And skipping out because you're afraid of needles is about as careless as you can get

"Like you really care if I get sick or not..." She mumbled. Nobaru would probably be thrilled if she was out of commission.

Taiki merely chuckled into his cup. "She's feisty." He commented quietly.

"Let's see how feisty she is when she's running a fever of 105 and going into convulsions." Nobaru smirked. "Ah well, your funeral. Tsubasa however, you'll be required to get them as a jounin. It's standard procedure, you understand."

Neji frowned. "They need to be screened first. I had a few bad reactions to injections in the past."

"That can be done...but with how ill you became from just a cold, the vaccinations are in your best interest. We don't want you dropping dead on us." Taiki added.

"It'd be a waste." Nobaru added, hand slipping under the table.

Taiki quickly elbowed Nobaru. "Don't even think about it." He muttered when their waiter returned at last with their food.

"I didn't even do anything." Nobaru defended. Was it that hard to believe his leg itched?

They made small talk while eating, Tenten attempted to be as lady-like as she could while eating, while Neji tried to find out more about the Raikage and the changes in the country, since clearly he was not the same one they had encountered in the past. It was hard to be so quiet, to not poke too far into things, to not comment on everything that begged to be commented on. It was contrary to Tenten's nature, and very contrary to Neji's to talk so much.

Nobaru kept his eyes on Tsubasa and Taiki's knife. Surviving one stabbing attempt was nothing to be proud of, Taiki would try again eventually. His eyes however, kept flickering to Amaya. She seemed to be holding herself back, like she wanted to ask questions, but knew she couldn't. It didn't help Nobaru's suspicions against her.

Finally, Tenten sighed. "What is it? You've been staring at me for the last twenty minutes, and it's rude." She said staring directly across the table at the jounin who seemed intent on being their personal nightmare in the village. "If there's something on my face, you've made me look like an idiot long enough, so whatever it is spit it out."

"Waiting to see if you actually finish that bowl of Mapo doufu. Most people would be crying by now or at least unable to feel their taste buds." Nobaru feigned innocence.

"One of the places in Konoha makes it pack a bit more punch..." She said quietly finishing her food. "You're looking at me like you expect me to sprout two heads and breathe fire." She said calmly as she picked up her drink and took a sip.

"I wouldn't be surprised about you breathing fire after eating that." He answered, smirking. "Though, if you did spout another head, it'd certainly make you more interesting."

"Yeah I'm sure Tsubasa would be thrilled..." She mumbled sarcastically. Nobaru was horrible at hiding what he really thought, she mused while she rested her head on Neji's shoulder again. She could see it in his eyes. He thought she was still an undercover ninja. "Is something else bothering you though? I figured you'd be gawking at my husband all night or staring at Taiki, not me."

"I've been staring plenty at your husband, but trying to be polite. Taiki is easy to stare at when he's not holding pointy cutlery." He smiled staring her down.

She took her lessons to heart. Ino had told her if a man stared her down, acting like a civilian woman meant not staring back to see who blinked first. It meant averting ones eyes, which she did promptly before looking back at Nobaru and repeating her question. "Is there something else bothering you? You look like there's something you've been wanting to do or say all night. I doubt it's an apology for rubbing my leg in an attempt to get to my husbands either so..." She waited patiently for his reply.

"Simply some inner thoughts I'm sure you don't want to hear about. After all, I must be polite to you, or both our lovers with castrate me." He grinned as his hand reached down to grope Taiki's ass. When in doubt, perv your way out.

Taiki however quickly caught the hand and twisted the offending wrist sharply. "He thinks you're a ninja." He shot an annoyed look at Nobaru. "I am not your lover," he hissed in annoyance, "and there, I said it for you."

Tenten tilted her head to the side. "A...ninja?" She gave Nobaru a bored look. "You know, I'm not surprised. I can't even do the most basic ninjutsu." She thought of Lee and Naruto. Lee who could not use ninjutsu at all, and Naruto who had, according to Sakura struggled with a good deal of it in the academy. "I was so bad they didn't even let me try genjutsu, and taijutsu was more a joke for me, I can dance, and that's about it. I understand it's your job to be suspicious of people, but I think you're a little off this time."

He shrugged. "You can think whatever you want then, and I'll think whatever I want. Deal?" Nobaru's features were set calmly, as though he just brushed it off, but they could all feel the downright murderous spike to his chakra.

"You weren't exactly subtle about it." Tenten said quietly, leaning back against Neji. She didn't like the feel of Nobaru's chakra. "Even Tsubasa thought that was what was going on." Her voice took on a mildly bitter tone. "He's blind, not an idiot."

"As lovely as it's been, I believe it's time for us to be heading home. Thank you for the dinner Taiki, Nobaru." Neji spat the last name out, bringing Tenten to her feet. There was something a little too uncomfortable about the feel of Nobaru's chakra even by his standards. He didn't want Tenten exposed to it for too long, incase she had a reaction like she did to Haru's. "If you'll excuse us." Neji all but dragged Tenten out of the restaurant, like he wasn't going to explain to his civilian wife what the hurry was.

Taiki also stood. "I'm taking this to the Raikage, I'm getting you moved off their investigation. He's scheduled to be instated in a week, their observation period ends this week. You've had your time to build a case against them, and all you have is a 'gut feeling' with no proof. The Raikage will want this to end."

"Do what you want Taiki, you've been doing enough as it is." Nobaru frowned, glaring at the other. "You revealed classified information to Tsubasa and Amaya with that little stunt you just pulled. I don't care how desperate we are for skilled ninja, I'm not going to let outsiders and potential spies waltz in here with nothing more then a few laughable jounin tests. They've only been here a handful of months. You're too eager to trust Taiki."

"They're orders from above." He answered slamming down a small scroll on the table. "These are orders from the Raikage's advisors, we can't be wasting our time when, in the time you've had, you've failed to come up with anything against them. Your job is to investigate people, my job is to protect them from a country with a habit of blurring the very clear line between right and wrong. If you don't like the orders I've received, take it up with the Raikage's advisors who believe you're becoming obsessed with this. Your entire team thinks you are as well."

"Just remember why we blur the line Taiki, why we're doing what we do. History has a bad habit of repeating itself, and this is just the Yusuge massacre all over again. Our country has been crippled in the past because of our lax attitudes and our inability to learn from the past. I am not obsessed because I refuse to ignore my suspicions. I've stayed within my parameters every time my leash was tightened on this case. You're the ones who insist I'm taking it too far."

"There are more important matters that you've let slide worrying about them." He set down a few reports in a folder. Reports of a researcher going insane, reports of test subjects dying, reports of the boy being held in solitary killing one of his guards without being let out of his cell. "You're needed elsewhere. There are those who were threats in our own country we did not see, and never saw. You're one of the best at what you do, and I don't know who in those shelters I can trust. I know one of them is not who they say they are, I just don't know which one."

"Don't try to placate me." Nobaru snatched the scroll away. "I'll take your missions. I will be digging deeper. Don't worry, I won't do anything to make the elders raise their wrinkled brows or make poor little Amaya uncomfortable. I am going to check my sources to see what their real past is."

---

Clear across the village, Tenten shut the door behind them when Neji pulled them into the basement. She practically fell down the stairs after him and pulled him to a stop. She turned him around to face her and carefully pushed the bandages up from his eyes. "You felt it too then..." She said simply. It was the same suffocating, murderous feel Haru's chakra had.

Neji nodded. "He had the same chakra as Haru. It felt familiar though, not just to Haru's." The chakra had a distinctly Uchiha feel to it, despite his best efforts to deny it. Neji rubbed his chin. "He's a little too suspicious for my liking, thankfully he seems to be the only one."

"Suspicious? Neji, he knows." Neji wasn't panicked, he was clearly concerned, but not frightened. She was frightened. "You know, I'm really glad now that the Sand is in on this too, because we're going to need all the backup on our life stories as we can get. He knows Neji." She said quietly before turning away and pacing the room.

"After an outburst like that, he'll be reassigned." Neji grasped her shoulders. He held her still and made her look in his eyes. "It will be fine. Everyone thinks he's crazy. We're safe Tenten. We're perfectly safe."

"We are not safe! Look around you! We're in a country we're working on peace negotiations with, that's secretly conducting genetic research based on Orochimaru's research! This is not 'safe' Neji!" She focused on his eyes. They were always so calm. How did he always look so damn calm? She felt tears form in her eyes. "We're not safe." She repeated.

"We'll be fine Tenten. We have the advantage. We know more about them then they do us. If push comes to shove, we can leave. The only thing that we have here is your demon fluff. They're too desperate for more nin. It's making them careless. Nobaru is our only threat for now, and at the rate he's going, he won't be a problem for us much longer."

His words were not assuaging her fears as they normally did. "He was mad at Taiki, but all that murderous intent, you felt it, it was directed at me. No one else in that room, just me." She had so many assassination missions, that being confronted with murderous intent, was rare. Assassins were meant to be undetected, it was hard to feel murderous intent in targets that had no idea they were marked for death.

"He can't touch you. He has no proof, so much as injuring you would be an act of treason, and he's too loyal to his country to do that." He sighed and drew her into his arms. "Don't worry Tenten. When it comes down to it, I won't let him hurt you."

She gripped his shirt tightly and let him hold her. "You're really not afraid of anything, are you?" She asked him quietly. She forced herself to not cry, and she tried to calm herself.

"There's a difference between being afraid and feeling fear." He pet her hair lightly and prayed with every fiber of his being, that she didn't start crying. "I am fearful now Tenten, but I'm not letting it consume me. You just have to feel the fear and move past it."

"I just can't shake the feeling-" She paused and glanced down at the kitten pawing at her leg lightly. Lee had always said that animals could tell when their owners were distraught. "I can't shake the feeling that we really might not make it out of here. Konoha didn't have any idea they'd completed enough to start testing on their own ninja. We're in well beyond what anyone could have imagined." She looked back at him and found him still calm. His eyes brought the smallest smile to her lips. "I'd kill for us to have never landed this mission, but since we got so unlucky, I'm glad I'm stuck here with you."

He nodded. "If it had been anyone else, cover would have been blown long ago." He took Tenten to the pile of pillows. He sat down and pulled her down with him, his fingers continued to run gently through her hair. He wasn't good expressing himself verbally and found that the best way to calm Tenten when she was distraught was physical contact.

"I've done missions like this, on a significantly smaller scale." She confessed. "I was hired a few times for co-op missions with the Sand, I had to pretend I was Kankuro's fiancé one time." She leaned closer to Neji. "It's a miracle we got that mission done. He was so nervous the whole time, he stood out like Lee's or Naruto's clothing against a strict dress code of white or black." It made her laugh slightly, and that did calm her a bit. "I've actually been on a lot of missions like this, no where near as important, B-Rank tops...no national security on the line...no war looming overhead if the mission failed."

"At this point, there may be a war even if we succeed." Neji muttered. "I want to find out how much success they've had with this. Nobaru and Haru might just be the exceptions. They've more than likely had more horrible failures than successes."

She nodded in agreement, but warned him quietly to be careful. "You still don't really miss home much, do you?" She glanced up at him from where her head rested against his chest.

"I miss the lack of dry shoes." He admitted. "Aside from that and the people, life here isn't much different than life in Konoha."

"You never told me it felt like this." She whispered with more than a twinge of guilt in her voice. He never once truly complained about the lack of freedom, or the constant frustration of being controlled. Every so often she could get him to talk about it, and every so often he willfully admitted his frustrations. She closed her eyes and bit her lip. "I used to think I was the only one who really understood how you felt sometimes, just because I knew you so well. I guess now, I really do get it..."

He shrugged, "It really isn't that much different. I will admit, here there are even more limits to my free will than in Konoha, and the company is far from preferred. However, you have to learn to push the bad to the side, and focus on the positive."

Tenten remained silent. There was a positive end to being inside enemy territory, with a pair of obscenely powerful jounin, and a chuunin who probably should have been a jounin? "Aren't you optimistic...." She muttered.

Neji snorted. "I'd hardly call focusing on positive aspects of one's miserable life optimism." He told her as he continued to run his hand gently through her hair, and his other hand continued to shove the kitten off him.

"Has it all been miserable?" She felt the cat climb across her back and up her shoulders. There was a slight prick of claws on her shoulders that made her smirk a bit. She could feel the cat swatting at Neji's hand.

"Not all of it." Neji admitted, waving his hand at the kitten and keeping his fingers just out of reach. He was not playing with the kitten, he was merely waving it away and carefully avoiding cuts from the creature's tiny, but very sharp claws.

"Stop teasing the cat..." She muttered into his shirt with a smile. She could feel the kitten trying to balance on her back to catch Neji's hand the moment he was distracted.

"I'm not teasing it." Neji frowned, looking almost offended at the suggestion. "That would imply I care enough about it to care about its reaction to my actions." He was almost oblivious to the cat catching his hand at last and licking his fingers.

"Yeah," she laugh softly, "and it's kind of cute." She hoped Neji wouldn't make her move too much. "Like when I found out you actually knew the summer festival dances." She poked him lightly. That had actually been cute. He had defended himself intelligently. Just because he didn't dance, didn't mean he didn't watch. "I think you with the kitten is a bit more adorable though."

"I fail to see the adorable factor of me pushing away hell spawn." Neji frowned, dropping his hand away from the kitten completely

Tenten didn't answer, she remained silent and continued to smile. The kitten was clearly annoyed by Neji ignoring him, and crept down her back and onto the floor to find some other way to pester him. "Don't worry about it..." She said before pulling away from him slowly. "Thanks, for uh, well you know..." She drifted off.

"Keeping Nobaru from murdering you?" He smiled, a small reassuring one, before he leaned back and relaxed against the pile of pillows. "We need to start sleeping in our bed again soon."

Tenten blushed slightly but shook her head lightly to force it away. "Yeah I guess, another night down here wouldn't hurt though. Right?" She looked at him hopefully.

He sighed and rolled his eyes behind the bandages. "You haven't tried using puppy eyes like that since we were chuunin." He told her while a hand reached over to grab one of the thick blankets.

Her smile turned into an almost wicked smirk. "It still works on you..."

"For goodness sakes, it does not. I simply don't feel like arguing with you tonight."

"Deny it all you want." She covered her mouth to cover her laughter when the kitten pounced onto his arm. Sleeping in 'their' bed again wouldn't be all that bad. That was what he called wasn't it? She shook her head again. Her mind was fuzzy enough in her sleep.

Annoyed, Neji flicked his hair tie across the room. Ryuu scampered away after the thing, and he turned onto his side. "Stupid Fuzz ball." Neji muttered, the barest hint of a yawn in his voice.

"He is not stupid." Tenten reached behind his head and started to remove the bandages, even the ones he wore to cover the mark on his forehead. Neji's slight frown deepened when Tenten removed them, her fingers barely brushed across the mark on his forehead, but it caused his breath to catch in his throat. A part of him was unsure if he was comfortable with her touching something so personal, so intimate. "You do like him more than you let on," she continued, "you gave him something to play with after all." After discarding the bandages she nodded to her dress. "So are you gonna get me out of this thing or what?"

"I can't undress you if you're lying down like that."

Tenten promptly sat up, turned her back to him and waited, her cheeks a faint shade of red. He could undress her lying down any time he wanted. Oh bad, it's way too early in the night for this, he's not even asleep yet for crying out loud! Her eyes drifted to the kitten swatting the tie around the room.

Neji undid the ties of the dress, loosening it enough for Tenten to wiggle out of it on her own. His fingers brushed only lightly against the bare skin of her neck before he turned away. "There." He said. "You can take it off yourself."

"Thanks. I just can't reach that part of the back." She did squirm out of it slowly. "Think anyone noticed?" She tried not to laugh at herself even as she felt his eyes focusing on her. Beneath her rather form fitting dress, she had managed to conceal the tank top and shorts that she wore.

"No, they didn't notice. How did you learn to hide regular clothing under things like that anyways?" He took the dress from her when she fully removed it, and tossed it across the room, it crumpled to the ground along with a collection of other articles of clothing that had piled up.

"Oh, you think that's all I've ever had to hide?" She slid a hand under her tank top, right against her stomach, and pulled out a pair of kunai. She spun each one on a finger before flipping them into the air and catching them with ease. "Come on Neji, I kill for a living, I have to hide weapons. Hiding clothes under a dress, is a piece of cake by comparison."

Neji's face colored briefly. "Good night Tenten." He said quickly after turning away from her. He did not blush, not obviously, and he would not let her see it happen.

She threw the kunai against the wall and flopped down beside him. She threw an arm around his waist and hugged him. "Thank you, Neji. I mean really, thank you, for earlier." She rested her head against his back. "Not just for at dinner-" she said quickly. "here too, for calming me down."

"We're partners Tenten. It's what we do," He answered, his own hand rested over one of hers. "Now go to sleep." She didn't need to be told twice, she was asleep within minutes, completely unaware of anything, even the kitten trying to worm his way between her hand and Neji. "Stupid fur ball." Neji repeated as he lifted the cat and dropped it on the floor. He shifted carefully onto his back, making sure to keep Tenten from being squished, while still keeping her close. He let her hand remain across his stomach as she slept peacefully. At least she could, he sighed and stared at the ceiling while contemplating all the things she had said earlier. His pale eyes slid shut only for a moment as he released a deep breath. We really are in deep.

---

AN: Whoa long chappie. Hope you guys handled it well, next one is super long too. Oh noes long chapters!!! Don't get too comfy with em, they're a pain in the ass to edit!! Next chapter will be uh…well if it's not up in two weeks, that means I'm STILL editing it! Because it is sooo written. It's just…well…long. I gotta edit out all of our OOC comments that we occasionally spam the RP with. Hehe.

The below is an idea of what we do…what we really do when you think we're working hard.

Kigen: "I didn't even do anything." Nobaru defended. Was it that hard to believe his leg itched?

Faraway Dawn: ( XD yes )

Kigen: ( his groping would be less obvious, like a ninja!)

Till next time!~