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

26. Chapter 26

Disillusioned

by: Faraway Dawn and Kigen

AN: You guys are freaking incredible. You have stayed with our story through thick and thin and...a whole year of me being in college with little time to work! Well this is for all of you still out there, still reading. I do hope you enjoy a very particular line of Tenten's in this chapter...hehe it's one of my more 'proud' writing moments haha.

ENJOY! I'm back to school in a week, but I will try to update a bit more since I only have classes 2 days a week in the summer.

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Chapter 26

Tenten was back to work in the evenings within a week or two; to their great relief, she only had to deal with increased security. She admitted that dealing with Haru's chakra was irritating but not impossible. For whatever reason, she joked, chakra poisoning did her some good. Neji was less than amused that it meant he was back to dealing with girls who were obsessed with him, and boys that were obsessed with her. Neither of which seemed capable of passing a simple test about basic poisons and antidotes.

"It could be much worse." Tetsumi said quietly. "It could have been a field test and not a written one..."

Neji had cringed at the thought of a field test. Last time one of his students had attempted to hit a target, they managed to singe his hair, which lead to an hour of trimming and straightening ends. The poisons and antidotes however had been one of the worst tests thus far, and sadly the 'antidotes' listed by the students, were usually more deadly the poisons themselves.

"It's just a major concern that half the class listed other poisons as antidotes." Tetsumi rubbed his forehead lightly and sighed. "Shows how many were paying attention."

"They're too distracted, we need to think of another teaching method." Neji frowned, rubbing his cheek. They had been improving so much for so short a time.

"Well they did really well for a while, even if they are bad at this, they're so much better than they were." He shifted graded papers around and looked through his things. "Winter is a bad time for a field test, so they're lucky we can't do a field test of poisons and antidotes, because sadly, out in the field is the best place to learn about natural antidotes."

"The main problem is that they're distracted. They're too busy paying attention to the melodrama of their childhood lives to pay attention to what they're doing." Neji frowned, if he was going to go for victory, he was going to go for full victory. "We need another teaching method."

"Like what? If they're distracted the only way to fix it is to eliminate the source of distraction. Kind of hard to do..."

"Not if they're too busy focusing on other things..." a bit of an evil smirk played at the corner of his lips.

His assistant was slightly nervous at his expression. "Tsubasa? What do you have in mind?"

"I'm just thinking of taking the peer teaching to another level. Have the possibility of embarrassment to come into play..." he leaned back in his chair and continued. "Each child is assigned a different project and forced to give a presentation to the class. Afterwards, I give my own presentation, correcting upon the mistakes of the children."

His assistant liked the idea. "It'll force them to focus on their work, or suffer humiliation in front of the entire class...Harsh, but effective."

"If that doesn't work, two students will give reports on the same thing. The class will take a vote on who did it better. The child lacking will be forced to do another report and so on until they're falling over themselves to get out of the extra work."

The two always paid close attention to the whispers in the room. Usually they were hushed arguments between boy and girl over who was better, Tsubasa or Amaya. Others were about who didn't pass the last test and since no one had gotten a perfect score, who had done the worst. The whispers stopped, and turned to other subjects. Now there were whispers that they were going to be overloaded with work if they didn't do better, and Neji's assistant chuckled. "Well someone has gotten better at listening into our conversations." He picked up a little origami flower from the garbage one of the girls had thrown away and looked it over. Unfolding it revealed badly done, but effective seals. "Clever." He handed Tsubasa the flower. "I imagine there is one in the back of the class that covers the flower with our speech so it can be read at any time."

Neji chuckled. Clever kids. "Destroy it; after you do, come up with a list of poisons and antidotes. We'll go along with the first idea for now. Choose whatever you think they'd have to work hardest to get."

The flower was quickly destroyed and returned to the wastebasket. Tetsumi compiled a list rather quickly, all consisting of foreign poisons and their antidotes, something that generally was not learned until one was a chuunin. "It'll be ready by their break time."

"Good, we'll assign it for tonight and have it due this time next week, it will be interesting to say the least."

A few hours later, it wasn't so much 'interesting' in the class, as it was a state of total paranoia. Children apparently did not take well to being threatened in a manner that involved their embarrassment. One of the brighter students pointed out that the poisons were not native to Lightning Country, another argued that was far from the problem, most of the antidotes weren't native to the country the poison originated in. "Well...at least two people will pass." Tetsumi muttered.

Neji heard that. "If the entire class does not pass, then there will be more essays for every student until everyone passes the same round of reports. For every two reports that anyone does not pass, the length of the papers will be doubled."

"That's not fair!" One of the boys argued. "Why are we being punished because some people," he shot an irritated glare to a quarter of the room, "refuse to be productive and work?" Tetsumi noted the boy was one of the few in the class not in any danger of failing. The girl sitting next to the boy nodded fervently.

"This will teach you all teamwork. After the first report, you'll be allowed to help each other with your reports, as long as you are not writing the report for them." He knew the pressure would undoubtedly convince a few stranglers to try harder, if their classmates didn't.

"Can we at least choose who we work with on the second one?" The girl asked hopefully, like her classmate, sending death glares at the students who were giggling and saying she just wanted to work with her 'boyfriend' alone. "Oh, forgive me for wanting to pass, unlike the rest of you."

"No partners. Peer helping. You have the choice to help those around you. You are under no obligations, unless you like writing twenty page papers."

"I'd rather write a twenty page paper with a partner who pulls their own weight than help someone do a ten page paper with who'll make me do all the work." The girl mumbled resuming her seat next to her partner and sighing. Her and her partner's expressions very reminiscent of a time when it had been he and Tenten irritated with their class.

"Alright then, Aya and Ren, you each have a twenty page paper due on your poison and antidote for the report, feel free to help each other." Neji leaned back in his chair while Tetsumi quirked a brow at their rather...pleased expressions.

"They really shouldn't look happy about it." Tetsumi muttered to Neji.

"Maybe I should limit them to a page long report to see if it kills them." Neji mused while making a few notes.

"You want to kill off your best students?" His assistant finished assigning the last of the poisons and antidotes. There were more whines and protests, but none worth paying attention to. Most were merely that five pages was too long, and others argued that there was no way they could get the materials they would need for research.

"You have a week. Get creative. If you can't find material in the library or your books, talk to some of the local poison makers. They'll be more than willing to help if you ask properly." Neji answered their complaints with a small sigh.

While most of the class whined a few had already begun sharing what information they had on other people's assigned poison or antidote. "They remind me of a couple I know." Neji's assistant said lightly . Aya and Ren were already sharing their information both looked more or less amused by their workload than concerned by it. "At least the way they act around each other, they remind me of you and your wife, not sure why."

Neji would have turned and given him a look if he wasn't pretending to be blind. "They do act similar to when Amaya and I were in school, though she was more obsessed with trying to outwit me." He only half lied. Tenten had been interested in trying to prove she was smarter, but only for a while. There were times Neji could admit he was certain Tenten was smarter than him, but most of the time he felt as though they were on a very level playing field.

"Whatever works, if they push each other to do well, I'm not complaining. Pity the rest of the class can't do it." He handed Neji the graded papers and continued with his work, grateful that there was only another hour left in the long day of whining children.

It was an interesting, Neji admitted to himself, and perhaps the children where a bit more like him and Tenten than he admitted. The thought was reinforced when he felt the boy's chakra brush the girl's, and her chakra brightened, clearly responding positively to his. They certainly would make good partners when they grew older, Neji mused, much like he and Tenten.

Tetsumi handed Neji a few more reports before the approaching end of another long day. "The snow storms are getting worse, we have leave to send the kids home a bit early before it gets too dark."

Neji nodded, he stood and shoved his chair back into place. "All right class. Head out. There's another storm coming in, so go straight home, understood?

Most of the students hurried and got their things to leave, a few agreed to walk home together because they lived nearby, others were plain going out of their ways. "I'll see you next week," Tetsumi said gathering his own things, "I'll try to make sure everyone on the north end of the village gets home."

"All right, I'll take Kotaru home." He was the only student on the southern end of the village that lived far enough away from the school to need walked home in foul weather.

The snow piled up rapidly through the day and the encroaching storm only appeared to be making it worse. Tenten laid on the couch with the cat curled up against her. She was still worn out from her night out, but admittedly she wasn't suffering anymore. Ryuu purred loudly in his sleep and she shifted slightly. Neji would be home any minute. Then she could spoil him with fantastic news.

After dropping the kid off and trudging through outrageous amounts of snow only because the child could not yet run across the top of the snow, Neji quickly returned home and let out a slight sigh when he shut the door behind him. "I'm home." He called out, taking off his snow heavy clothing, how he wished for Konoha's mild winters. He swore in his mind he would never complain about them again.

"In here." She answered, smirking when Ryuu promptly woke and stretched. "How was the day? Minus the trudging through snow of course."

"The children hate me and think I'm evil incarnate, but other than that good." He walked into the living room, sat on the couch next to her, and groaned quietly. "Being around children all day, should not be as tiring as it is."

"Well, better than being their 'boy toy' right?" She asked stretching out slightly. "I have good news for you though."

"What's that?" He asked shoving Ryuu off his lap and onto the floor.

With a bright smirk she lifted three scrolls. "All done, I can start working on the tags, I have more than enough to make some to start testing."

The faintest hints of a smile tugged at Neji's lips. "Good. Now we might be able to sneak into the laboratories." To his relief, it also meant Tenten wouldn't be going out every night, and would no longer in great danger of returning with severe chakra poisoning. "We can start working on them tonight."

"We?" She blinked a few times, he was going to help? "You're...going to help me?"

"Did you think you were going to do this by yourself?" Neji raised an elegant brow in her direction, almost amused that she thought he wouldn't be helping.

She shrugged. "It's a lot of work."

"This is exactly why I am going to help you Tenten. You shouldn't be surprised by this."

"I guess I shouldn't be. It'll be...irritating though." She smiled though and thanked him. She caught Ryuu when he tried to jump onto Neji, and held him still. "I could use the company at the least."

"I may not know as much as you, but I know enough to help with the bindings at least." Haru's chakra didn't react as strongly with his either, and he hoped at least the presence of his chakra would help her work easier.

"Yeah, you know more than enough to help me with this actually." Ryuu managed to climb free and up onto her shoulders. She felt the cat swatting at her bangs and trying to paw at her buns lightly and she simply rolled her eyes at the feline's antics. "I'd let Ryuu help too if I knew my seals wouldn't be marked with paw prints all over the place."

"Or that he wouldn't accidently open a scroll that would incinerate the house." Reaching into the couch cushions, he pulled out a toy mouse and chucked it down the hall for Ryuu to chase. Ryuu hopped first from Tenten's shoulder, then off the couch, and then he scampered down the hall.

"If only you could take care of kids so easily..." Tenten teased lightly.

"I can. Ever see two dozen kids scramble after an extra credit kunai?" He chuckled, that had been an amusing lesson, and it had taught the class the value of being perceptive and quick.

"Yeah...our entire class did it at the end of basic combat training, because only three of us did well, you and me among them."

"Only one of my kunai was worth the extra credit though, not multiple kunai." He answered with a satisfied tone. Now he understood why their instructors had been so satisfied with the idea of extra credit kunai.

"Cute." She stretched again slowly. "What torture did you subject them to today?"

"Poisons and Antidotes. They all have a five page paper and oral presentation for next week. Except Ren and Aya, they get to do twenty page reports."

"OK, twenty pages for two of them? What did they do to piss you off?"

He smirked. "They implied that they were too good for the rules I set in place. They enjoy it."

Tenten rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Wow that sounds so familiar."

"Does it?" He leaned back into the couch, enjoying the feel of it after a long day at a desk.

"It sounds like us in school. You used to get us double the work load all the time." She smiled though and leaned back as well. She had no complaints, she got a lot of extra credit for it, and he was granted the honor of being labeled the most arrogant, brilliant jerk in the class.

"The schoolwork was boring."He answered, getting to his feet. "I'm going to get started on dinner."

"I'll get the table set and get some tea made."

He nodded, stepping into the kitchen. When Ryuu ran at him with the toy, he kicked it down the hall for him to chase again. "In the mood for anything in particular?

"Anything you want is fine." She answered pulling out plates and cups for tea.

He nodded again, getting out the various things to make their dinner. "Stop it cat." He glared down at the feline who had dropped its toy at his feet. "I don't want to play with you now."

"We'll play in a bit Ryuu, let him cook." The cat, promptly grabbed his toy and returned to the living room to sleep on the couch. "Oh yeah, that too, I got Ryuu to learn when to leave you be."

"What was that,a secret hand signal?" The cat did not understand what they said; the cat did not answer to vocal commands that complex.

"Chakra. Barely detectable." She smiled and held out a small cup of tea for him. "Animals respond to chakra like all living things. You just have to find the right amount."

"You'll have to show me." There was no way he'd use the byakugan to figure out a chakra kitty command.

She laughed lightly. "Yeah, no problem."

"Go ahead and set the table. The food will be ready shortly." Dinner was fast, pleasant, and as usual filled with discussion about evil children. Occasionally they'd discuss their real work but for the time, Neji seemed alright with just talking about the kids in his class.

"So your assistant said that pair you have in your class, reminds him of us...creepy that he's making that connection, considering he really has no idea how similar they do sound to us." Ryuu was sitting quietly on the floor, not trying to steal food at all, and Tenten knew Neji would be demanding by the end of the night to learn the simple trick that had Ryuu behaving.

"We don't act anything like that anymore, especially as Amaya and Tsubasa. I don't know how he caught it." Neji admitted, glaring at the kitten. "Shoo. You're food is in the kitchen."

"Ryuu, food's in the kitchen." She nodded and watched the cat trot off. "He probably caught it because we are in fact best friends. It's kind hard to miss that."

Neji looked at the kitten, incredibly annoyed. "That is true," he muttered, glaring at the cat.

"Don't worry I'll teach you what to do." Tenten smiled while finishing off her food. "I need to make stronger chakra wards for the basement." She added absentmindedly, considering how much chakra she'd be working with, her current wards wouldn't be strong enough.

"I'll make several of my own to compliment yours." He gathered their empty plates to take to the kitchen. While he washed, she dried and put away the dishes. The cat continued to only behave and respond to Tenten's orders. The whole while Neji grumbled and glared at the cat, she was lost in thought about how to go about making and testing the seals they would be using.

Neji put away the last plate, finally unable to take it any longer. "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" She asked while placing the last few plates in a cupboard.

"Making the cat listen to your commands."

"I already told you, my chakra." She took his hand and held it to her own. "Synchronize your chakra with mine, and tell him to do something, keep it simple though."

Neji contemplated telling the kitten to go visit the crazy cat lady seven houses down, but restrained himself. Matching his chakra to Tenten's, he thought of a command. "Bring me your toy."

Tenten smirked when very promptly the cat returned with the toy Neji had thrown earlier and plopped it down by his feet. "See what happens when you have days in bed alone with nothing to do?"

"That doesn't explain how he knows what I'm saying." He was sure that the cat had been taught through repetition and certain chakra flares to follow a select few commands. "It's not smart enough to understand us."

"Sure he is. All the chakra does is focus the animal's attention, the same way it does a dog or a horse."

"But it shouldn't know what I'm saying." Neji argued. He focused his chakra again. "If I tell it to," he paused, "if I tell it to bring me the third scroll on the bottom shelf of the dining room, it won't understand what I'm saying."

"Do it." She smiled confidently.

He sighed, concentrating his chakra. "Ryuu, bring me the third scroll on the bottom shelf of the dining room." he repeated, fully expecting the cat to bring another of its toys.

Tenten however glanced over her shoulder and chuckled when the cat dashed promptly to the exact scroll and started trying to tug it loose from the shelf. "I was thinking of having him help me clean this way actually." She tried to conceal her quiet laughter when the cat meowed and finally got the scroll and pawed and nudged it back to Neji.

"You have got to be kidding me." Neji muttered, bending down to lift the scroll. "And now, not only can the cat understand me, but it can count as well?"

She laughed at his reaction and lightly pat his shoulder. "Animals are smart Neji, admitting that is the first step to acceptance that they can do simple things."

"Counting should not be simple for a cat." He frowned, placing the scroll on the table.

"It doesn't matter much does it? The cat will listen to you now." She continued to smile at the situation. "At least now you know he won't set the house on fire..."

He shook his head. There had to be some trick to this. Muttering to himself in his mind, he turned and returned the scroll to it rightful place. "He doesn't have thumbs. He couldn't set himself on fire unless he knocked something over."

"You're the one who was worried about it." While put the scroll away she was busy looking her hand over. "We should get those wards made soon."

He nodded. "Strengthen the ones you've already set in place. I'll increase the number we have around the perimeter of the house before adding more to the ones in the basement." He grabbed his jacket, and slipped out into the bitter cold.

While Neji worked outside, Ryuu pawed at a pair of empty scrolls while watching his female master make stronger versions of the wards already in the basement. Soon she was placing them over the former tags and began making additional ones to add. Certain that Neji was still outside she looked down at the cat and muttered a quiet confession. "He's driving me insane Ryuu. I haven't had a 'decent' dream in weeks." He was working quickly and wouldn't be much longer outside. The cat mewed with concern, though it didn't quite know what his master meant by decent. Why, she practically purred when she slept now. Maybe she wasn't getting enough sleep? That was it. The male owner wasn't letting her rest as much as she wanted to. He would have to rectify that, Ryuu's little kitty mind decided.

"I keep having these just...obscene dreams...and..." She ran a hand quickly through her hair and paused. He was done outside, she could tell. "Oh it doesn't matter, it's just so frustrating."

The kitten cried sympathetically. He got frustrated sometimes as well. Maybe his master needed to use his scratching post. Especially now, since finding all the socks he was hiding for her to hunt didn't seem to be doing its job.

"You didn't hear me say a thing ok?" She told the cat while placing one final tag. The cat couldn't speak, so her dirty little secret was safe temporarily. She didn't want Neji knowing about her crazy dreams. A smirk curved her lips while she sat down. It wasn't a crime to admit she liked her dreams, sexually frustrating though they were when she woke up.

Neji was brushing snow out of his hair as he walked down the stairs. "The outside should hide any stray blasts of chakra that manage to make it outside the first barrier." He sat down, taking the paper and ink to begin making his own tags.

"O-oh good. You took care of that fast." She watched him work while looking over her scrolls.

"The barriers we have are already good. I didn't need to do much more then strengthen them." The ones in the basement would need a bit of an upgrade he admitted.

"Yeah, these are designed to keep our chakra from being detected, not Haru's. So..." She looked around the basement, examining each wall. "I strengthened the main ones," she began opening one of her scrolls, "the ward on this scroll, should contain most of Haru's chakra if we add it to the ones that are already up."

Neji nodded, waiting for the ink to dry for his own wards. "Set it up, and we'll test it."

She placed the seals strategically around the room. "It's going to be a very unpleasant process, making the seals." She said after placing the last of his wards up with her own, "I don't think it will drain my strength like gathering the chakra did, but it could."

"We'll be careful. No one expects to see me until Monday. I'll be able to watch over you again if you need it."

"Yeah." She turned and sat across from him and opened her first scroll. "It's a lot of trial and error you know." She told him, looking up from the scroll.

"I'm well aware." Neji said placing his wards on the walls, checking and double checking everything. "Put the cat upstairs."

Tenten gave Neji a strange look before replacing it with a smile and heading up the stairs, calling the cat after her. When he was upstairs she told him to play with his toys and behave, or to sleep, before slipping into the basement and pulling the door shut.

"We don't need it getting in the way, or having traces of Haru's chakra clinging to it and giving away our identity." Neji defended himself.

"I didn't say anything." She answered his defense quietly, still smiling at his suggestion to keep the cat upstairs.

"You were smirking at me. That said enough." Neji secured the last tag in place."We're ready to begin."

"Smiling and smirking are two different things." She placed out a single blank tag on the floor next to the scroll and looked back and forth between the two.

"Your smile was far too pleased. You were smirking." He answered, returning to her side and taking a seat next to her.

"I thought it was sweet that you were concerned about the cat, that's all." Just looking at the scroll sealing Haru's chakra made her nervous.

"I was concerned that it would compromise our position. Do not read so heavily into things." Neji took out the notes they had made and read through the long pages of ifs, ands, or buts regarding Haru's chakra.

"Whatever you say, Neji." She shifted to lay on her side while looking over the scrolls. It was rather cute, no matter how he tried to spin it, that he wanted the cat to stay upstairs, because it all looked like he was concerned about the cat. Even when he explained otherwise, his voice wasn't as convincing as it should have been. Her hand brushed over the three seals inscribed on the scroll, stopping at the last. It had the least amount of chakra bound to it, so that was where she would start when they were both ready.

Neji on the other hand was mentally reasoning that he wasn't concerned about the cat at all, merely worried that it would compromise the mission. He had no idea why Tenten was so focused on him liking the annoying fuzz ball. "I'm ready whenever you are Tenten. Just give the word." He steadied his chakra, waiting for her to start the process.

"This seal has the least, so I'll start here. Just remember, it's gonna get nasty down here." She held out a prepared seal for him. "You know basic chakra sealing jutsus right?

He nodded, taking the paper tag marked only with a crude seal. "I do. How exactly do you plan to go about doing this?"

"I'm going to release some of the chakra from this seal," she told him, then she explained that he would need to seal what was released in the very basic tag she had handed him, "so you see, what I'll do is modify the tag to not only contain, but to release the chakra in a steady stream, rather than a strong burst. It should mimic proper chakra flow. We have to work out the kinks to this before we make the real tags, so I won't release a lot of chakra for you to bind."

It was a simple process. Much more simple than Neji first thought it would be, but realistically, Tenten was a master of making things that seemed overly complicated very simple. "If it works on the test run, do you plan on making the final tags the same way, or modifying them for the higher power levels?" He placed the tag on the ground before him, hands poised for the signs.

"The real ones are going to be a lot stronger, they'll be a lot harder to make. The amount of chakra they'll be holding is harder to contain than what we're doing now. These scrolls can handle it, but a tag is going to need a seriously complex spell to hold back what we'll be requiring." She lifted her gaze to him for a second, he was ready, so she forced her chakra into the seal forcing it to release Haru's. Even the slightest bit she released still made her lightheaded, but at least that was all it did. She watched Neji's hands work through the seals and removed her own hands from the scroll. Her eyes were temporarily mesmerized by the motion of his hands. You know Tenten, now is a really bad time to be entertaining all those crazy fantasies about his hands.

Neji was too busy with the seals, the binding of the chakra that leaked out, to pay any attention to Tenten staring at his seals. He tried to bind it as fully and as quickly as possible so as to keep Tenten from suffering the chakra too much. Even now her breath was hitching and her jaw trembled a moment before she steadied it. Despite her grown resistance to Haru's chakra, it still was taking its toll on her.

When the chakra did dissipate she let out a soft sigh of relief. "Well that wasn't too bad." She said lightly, still lying on her side. She had been expecting more than a light dizzy spell. The amount she had released was perfectly contained in the tag, and they could begin to alter the enchantment on the tag as they saw fit.

"Will you be able to handle a larger amount?" He asked seeing her take a few deep breathes. It had gone off without any hitches. This plan looked like it was going to work without any complications.

"Yeah, let's not stress it tonight though. Let's see what we can and can't do with that tag hm?" She smiled and held up a brush and ink. "Despite the hazards to my health, this was a pretty good idea you know."

"Yes. Your sensitivity to the project is the only thing that made me hesitant." He took the tag and stood. He looked over the seal, tested it with his chakra, to make sure that there were no leaks or weak areas on the seal.

She tilted her head to the side, he had already indicated that he was concerned for her while they were gathering the chakra, and he indicated he would do it, if she could not. Hearing him say directly that her sensitivity to Haru's chakra made him hesitant... "You didn't have to worry, I got through it."

"I know, but the process wasn't pleasant. I wish to avoid it if possible." He didn't bother arguing about not being worried. He had stopped pretending that he didn't care months prior.

"So..." She forced herself up into a sitting position and crossed her arms. "Ok, the seal is strong enough for this, obviously we'll need to make it stronger on a stronger tag. We need to add the enchantment to release chakra, and the desired method."

"How much chakra are you planning to put into each tag?" The more chakra, the more dangerous the tags became. If it became too great a risk, it would make more sense to make several smaller tags than a few large ones.

"A good bit, not enough to make the tags unstable, none that last an obscene amount of time either, we just need them to last long enough, we'll probably get a few strong ones out of it, and a lot more commonly used weaker ones." She handed him the ink and brush and told him to alter the enchantment to release chakra slowly and steadily when the seal was released. "You know best what normal chakra flow looks like, natural chakra flow, so we'll alter the enchantment until the chakra released looks, and feels natural." Easier said than done; an hour later they were still altering the seal and it still wasn't how it needed to be.

It took a few attempts. It had been easy enough to make Haru's chakra flow naturally, but it didn't feel right. Each person's chakra flow was as unique as their personality. He didn't have much exposure to Haru's chakra, and with the exposure he did get, he didn't dare use his byakugan to observe him. "This isn't flowing correctly."Neji set the seal down and held in a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah." She mumbled rubbing her head. "It just feels wrong. Smooth, perfect natural flow, but it doesn't feel right." She pointed out that was probably because they'd both been exposed to him at his worst, more often than him naturally. "Ok, Haru has hard time controlling his chakra..." She grabbed the seal and smudged slightly at the main seal that restricted the flow of chakra. "There, it's enough to hold back the chakra and make it undetectable, but weak enough that maybe, it will feel right."

He winced mentally at the smudging of his perfect seal. Taking the seal from Tenten's hands, he tried it. "Much more believable." He nodded, examining the seal's imperfection. "We'll have to modify it even more for spikes, to make it seem more authentic." Haru's mood was clearly detectable by small shifts of his chakra, so if they altered the seals to mimic small spikes, it could benefit them in the manner they wished it to. At least, Neji mused, it was probable.

"It'll be a risk to weaken the seals on stronger tags, you know, more of a chakra leak threat." She smiled though. "But at least, we got the weak practice seal to work a bit." It was at the very least, very encouraging.

"No, we wouldn't want to weaken the strongest seals, however we can modify the seal to make it more erratic, to mimic his moods." He placed the tag back down, turning to Tenten. "This is working better than I expected. We'll be able to have working tags within a month."

"Security was increased the last time I was there, I couldn't go in as far as I wanted to, as far as I have been able to." She looked up at him seriously. "It's going to get worse, even if we get working tags, things are just going to get more complicated here."

"But we'll be able to get past the sensors. We can handle the other ninja, especially if we're working together rather than sending you on your own."

"We don't have any idea what's on the other side of those sensors, we don't know how much are traps and useless space, or how much more security there is." She was certain there was plenty more security, and plenty of useless space. One of the best ways to prevent intruders was to force them to spend time in useless, confusing space, while reinforcements gathered.

"We'll deal with that when we get to it." They were close and getting so much closer. There was no way that they were going to fail, not when they had gotten so much closer to their targets and goal.

Noting his expression Tenten sighed and rolled her eyes before allowing herself to fall over onto her side again. There was no point arguing with Neji on the rare occasion he decided to be optimistic. Deciding to deal with things as they came, was a sign he was in a better than average mood.

"Are you feeling up to trying another one for the night?" He didn't want to push her limits. Even if it had gone better than planned, it was clear the chakra still had a negative effect on Tenten.

"Why not?" She shrugged. Neji worked faster than Sasuke did with things like this, and that was all that mattered.

"We'll do one at 45% more strength." He told her after grabbing a new tag and beginning to write the seals it. He made the needed adjustments for the larger chakra amount and slight changes in the flow of chakra. "There, that should be enough." He determined after a quick look over the seal.

"You want me to smudge it so you don't flaw perfection?" She teased with a small smirk tugging at her lips.

"There's no need to smudge it. I made the proper modifications in the seal."Neji was not going to let her tease him about his slight perfectionist tendencies. It's what made him as great at his seal work as it did.

"We'll see." She sat up again and placed her hands over her seal on her scroll. "We got plenty of extra chakra left, so a bit more this time, ready?" She looked up at him, waiting for him to prepare. She'd have a headache without a doubt, but she could live with a headache, and headaches were far easier to remedy than losing consciousness or severe chakra poisoning was.

"I'm ready. Cut the flow if you feel faint. Losing concentration at this point could result in the seal exploding and releasing Haru's chakra." The wards would keep the flash from being detected, but Tenten would be in agony from the exposure.

"Yeah, I got it." Her hands rested over the seal and released it. Haru's chakra quickly filled the room and she pulled her hands away. It was exactly how much Neji had asked her to release, no more, no less. "It could be worse." She nodded. "I could be curled up in a little vent..." She lay back on the floor and waited. She told herself again and again that a headache was a small price to pay.

He nodded, binding the chakra in the tag. "I think this went successfully though." There were no leaks, no points stressed or weakened, and he didn't even have to smudge the ink. Placing the seal safely away, he helped Tenten to her feet. "Come on, I think you've done enough for the night."

"Yeah, it's a lot less stressful with your help. It doesn't use up as much of my energy with your help." She straightened her clothes and gave him a smile. "You know, less headaches, less aches and pains..."

"Good." After making sure Tenten made it up the stairs, Neji carefully caught the kitten when it tried to run down the stairs. "No. You will stay out of there." He used the chakra command that Tenten had taught him to emphasize his point.

The cat stopped trying to squirm past Neji and instead rubbed against his leg and snuck down the hall to the bedroom. "Still think he can't understand you?" Tenten asked curiously, watching the cat hop up onto the bed and curl up on her pillow.

"Even an animal can understand the word no, Tenten." He grabbed her a few pain pills and a cup of tea, placing them on the bedside table.

"When has he ever listened to you prior to this, hm?" She sat on the bed and pet the purring cat on her pillow before taking the medicine he brought her.

"When I yelled at him." It didn't make him proud to admit he yelled at the cat, but the feline responded to little else.

"And now you don't have to yell at him." She pointed out before tossing her extra scrolls in her bag and sliding them out of sight.

"I will admit it makes him listen better." Neji answered while changing into his night clothes.

Tenten glanced over her shoulder for a few seconds when he started changing and bit her tongue. How could anyone blame her? She quickly looked away before her mind grew too entertained and he noticed. She grabbed her nightclothes and tugged hers clothing off. "A lot better you mean?"

"Faster."Neji clarified, climbing into bed and curling on his side.

Tenten dropped her shirt. "Huh?" She glanced over her shoulder again. The mind processed things oddly sometimes, especially when one was inadvertently thinking about their partner naked.

"He listens faster than he does without it." Neji repeated, as he stretched and pushed the cat off his chest before he got the opportunity to curl up.

"Oh yeah..." She tugged on her shirt and pajama pants and stared at the wall before untying her hair. "Of course he does, he's more focused."

"I will believe that." He sighed, allowing his eyes to drift closed. It had been a long day and the sealing had tired him a bit more then he was willing to admit.

"Worn out?" She asked before sliding under the blankets herself.

"A bit tired. The children are trying, as were the seals."

She snuggled closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. "I still think it's funny, that you have a pair who would rather write twenty page papers than deal with their classmates." She smirked and said quietly, that they sounded exactly like a younger Neji.

"Next time I end up pairing them pair off, I'm going to pair each of them with lower level students, and do something that requires thinking outside the textbook."

"You'll torture them." She paused and propped herself up on her elbow. "How much like us are they?" She recalled him mentioning the pair before, and that they were very much like them, but he had never explained how much or what made him or others see a similarity.

"The way they interact; not so much the way we were in school as when we became genin. They work together, read each other well, and prefer each other's company to any of the other students. Just little things…"

"Little things?" She asked trying to read his expression. The early winter winds howled outside causing her to shiver involuntarily.

"Just the way they act with each other; their personalities. It's just little things that remind me of us."

"Chakra?" Only faint surprise registered in his eyes that she'd have made that guess, but there were few 'little things' that could be listed, chakra interaction being one of them. "Good guess on my part I take it?" She asked before her head returned to its place against his shoulder.

He nodded. "Nothing extreme or complicated. They're still pre-genin. However there's definite brushes and mingling of chakra. They'll even comfort and soothe each other with their own chakra when one's hurt or annoyed."

"Really..." She bit her tongue at the urge to say they sounded less like them, and more like boyfriend and girlfriend. Then again, didn't the majority of Konoha think that she and Neji were a pair? "Yeah that's...interesting."

"Interesting? Why is that interesting?"

"Well..." She started slowly, debating how to say it without it coming out wrong. "Chakra interaction like that happens naturally over the years with eh...couples that are uh...romantically involved normally. Most people would say it was odd for it to just be naturally present. That's why everyone thinks we're a couple, besides the fact that we just get along."

"It can also be siblings or close friends. It signifies a deep bond and understanding. It's not my fault the rest of the world sees it as something only lovers do."

"It's not that they see it that way, it's that it's really far more common among...well..." She thought as much as she could, and only one word came to mind,"…lovers."

He shrugged. "They can see it as an action between lovers, it often is. It is not always the case though, people who are simply close to each other, and have a deep understanding for the other person for example, has nothing to do with sexual relations. After all, we share such a bond without physically being lovers."

Tenten didn't answer but nodded slightly. No words came to her mind, and her mind was wandering in so many different directions at once, perhaps a few too many directions. She found herself unable to think clearly whenever reminded that they were in fact merely friends, there was nothing more there.

Neji let out a breath and wrapped an arm around Tenten's body, letting his chakra wash over her to soothe over the light chakra poisoning she had again received. He berated himself slightly. Despite his attempts not to, with his last words he had insinuated that his relationship with Tenten was as that of lovers without the physical aspect. Fortunately, she had not noticed the slip of the tongue and thought he had only referred to them as friends.

Tenten jumped slightly when Ryuu meowed loudly in his sleep, her thoughts remained scattered; too scattered as far as she was concerned. One had to be not thinking clearly to be startled by a cat meowing in their sleep. "I think...I spaced out, because he startled me." She mumbled something about the fact that a ninja shouldn't be startled by a cat, a ninja should always be aware of their surroundings..."Ugh this mission is turning me into a civilian..."

"Hardly." He pat her shoulder comfortingly. "If your skills were waning, you would have been discovered a long time ago." He lightly poked the cat, trying to shoo it out of their bed and onto his own cushion on the floor. He had conceded long ago and decided that the best way to keep the cat off his pillow was to give the small animal its own pillow.

"I'm starting to feel less like a ninja and more like a girl." She mumbled.

"You are a girl Tenten." Neji reminded her. "You are however, also a ninja. That's what kounichi are by definition."

"I'm thinking too much like a civilian girl. It's not...me." She mumbled.

"Give it some time. You'll be back to your normal self once this mission is over." He yawned and closed his eyes, muttering his typical 'good night Tenten' before taking the deep breath he usually did before falling asleep.

At least, she mused, he was sure that she'd get back to normal. "Good night, Neji." She said quitely before biting her lip. Getting back to 'normal' was just impossible. She ignored the various thoughts running through her mind, wrapped her arms around him, and snuggled closer.

---

Tenten sighed on the couch. Cleaning the entire house took so little time that a day often became boring. Even with personal alone time, and time spent socializing minimally with the other women, Tenten found herself counting down the hours till Neji got back. "You know, he hasn't driven me entirely crazy yet, but one of these days..." She mumbled to the cat on the couch before her gaze turned to the door. Someone was approaching the house, one of the tags had responded to chakra growing closer and then...Ryuu woke completely from his half nap at the sharp knock on the door. "Coming..." Tenten called, grumbling to herself. It was only a matter of time before someone showed up again. She cracked open the door and held back a frustrated groan. "Is there...something I can help you with?" She asked as pleasantly as possible to the man standing outside in the snow.

"Hi she-harpy. Just some questions for you and lover boy. routine procedure, I'm sure you know about the recent string of murders." Nobaru looked tired and cranky as he stood in the doorway.

"Tsubasa is at work, and you know it. He won't be home for at least another twenty minutes." She grumbled. "Kind of hard to not hear about the murders, the village women will talk about anything once everyone's bedroom story of the week gets dull to relive." Tenten added sarcastically, though it was somewhat true. Once the women got bored talking about their sex lives they moved on to more important matters. There were murders, some were fearful for their husbands, some were concerned about their children, living in a major shinobi village...how could they have not expected such a thing to eventually occur?

"Standard procedure." Nobaru repeated, rolling his eyes. "I've been going around time, as have several of my team members. You can ask anyone if you like, or call the security office if you don't believe me." He drawled out, rolling his eyes. "So if i could come in Mrs Taikumura?" He asked with the most sarcastic courtesy he could muster.

"I've got enough reasons to say no." She mumbled before opening the door further and allowing him to step inside. Ryuu hissed lightly at the stranger that entered his home before his female owner lightly shook her head at him. "None of that Ryuu," she told the cat while throwing a glance at Nobaru. "don't mind him, it took him months to warm up to Tsubasa. I'll answer any questions I can, I doubt I could be much help though." She returned to the living room and gestured to one of the seats. "Make yourself...comfortable, Tsubasa will be home shortly I'm sure you'd want to speak to him too."

"I have questions for both of you Amaya." Nobaru did more than make himself comfortable as he sat on the couch, reaching down to pat the kitten. Cats usually liked him. This one didn't however. "Bitch pussy." He muttered at the hissing cat, taking out the scroll with the questions. "Notice anything unusual lately Amaya?"

"Besides the dead ninja I keep hearing about? The entire village being on edge? I mean unless you call that normal..." She pet Ryuu when he moved closer to her. "One of the women mentioned some jounin acting strange, she said it was probably just stress, I don't remember the man's name. Eiko told us about it, she might remember his name."

"Hmm." He quickly made the note in the scroll. "One of the other house wives reported that as well. Any noticable changes in chakra structures or just something that didn't seem right to you? You did go through some ninja training, so you might have noticed something useful." Nobaru yawned openly while looking at her.

"I didn't notice all that much, just that..." She paused and thought for a few minutes. The more she thought about it, the more a lot of people had been acting very strange. "A week ago, a few...chuunin maybe, were saying they were sure they saw the person. I brushed it off as them trying to sound tough and...well you know." She shrugged in fact, she was certain they were just talking tough. "I wonder if they were saying it to be tough or to lead people looking for information astray...I told Tsubasa about it, he thinks they were just trying to sound tough to their team."

He nodded, jotting it all down. He paused a moment, sensing something that was a touch off. "Tsubasa's been upping house security?" There was a strange feeling of excess chakra in the house, and a binding that was similar in the creation of tags in the air.

"He's been worried about me being home alone most of the day with all that's been going on, we've also had a few of his students follow him home..." She nodded to the windows. "There's a few tags outside to detect badly concealed chakra, as well as a few more advanced ones I think to detect well concealed chakra. Some for students, some for intruders he said..." She pulled out a tag of her own creation from under the table and showed it to Nobaru. "I'm no good at detecting chakra, but I can feel it from this tag when someone gets near the house. Usually the cat notices it first though." She admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"So you did learn something from your schooling." It made sense that she could do that much. He sensed something else though, something a bit different than the house tags. He shook his head; he was tired and exhausted. It wouldn't surprise him if he was imagining things for once. If they really were hiding something, he would be able to better notice it.

"Tsubasa tries to keep the basics refreshed with me. I'm grateful too, the love letters from his students..." She laughed. "Well his female students scare me a bit, I think they have it in for me."

Nobaru snorted, making a note. "I doubt you have anything to fear from the infantile she-harpies in training." He continued to scribble in the scroll. "Anything else you might have noticed? Pretty boy been secretive or missing at night?"

"Tsubasa?" She quirked a brow and shook her head slightly. "Gosh no, I practically cling to him at night, I'd know if he was gone." She rubbed her forehead slightly and bit her lip only slightly. She just wanted him to leave, but she was sure her frustrated gestures came across more concerned. "Some of the women mentioned there were break-ins in homes near them, we've all be concerned it might be us next, Tsubasa feels bad enough leaving me here alone in the day, it's really bad isn't it? He really doesn't get worried about things, and he's been worried lately, always telling me to be careful if I go out, insisting I go with Karou or one of the other women if I do go anywhere..."

"Strange he would worry about you so much." it was a bit odd. "I've already had the break ins investigated. It's the work of a few low level genin; which has already been dealt with... two days ago I believe. Not only that, but from what I can feel of Pretty boy's home security system here, it's more then capable of handling a couple of hoodlums. And civilians aren't being targeted unless they are in areas unauthorized to the public. Seems a bit paranoid to me."

"He's been making sure the students all get home safe before he returns, I think it's just his protective nature." She shrugged. "I don't think I'm in any danger, I mean, there've been jounin everywhere lately. I'm sure if anyone was in danger, they'd help."

"It's the protective nature part that I'm finding hard to swallow; and trust me, I'd swallow just about anything that had to do with Tsubasa." Nobaru smirked a moment. "I'll be blunt Amaya. Even if I believed you were a civilian with a few good moves in the ninja world; he seems to have more trust and respect for you than that. You're an annoyance, but aren't stupid. He knows well enough that you wouldn't do anything stupid." so he may have been a bit frustrated and pressing into tender areas. What he had said was true. Amaya wasn't stupid and Tsubasa had a deep trust in her. He shouldn't be so overly paranoid.

"Have you ever really been in love with someone? You can't help worrying about them, I know he can take care of himself, he's smart, he's strong, blind or not he can hold his own." Tenten brushed her hand over the cat's head and scratched his ears lightly. "That never stops me from worrying about him." She tried not to roll her eyes as her memories of Neji's more overprotective moments drifted around in her mind. "Trust me, when he gets worried over stupid little things, he acts like it's the end of the world. If I got a cold he'd probably act like I'm dying. He doesn't even let me get out of bed for water when I'm sick, he gets it for me." Not that she was complaining...

"And you have been quite sick recently, haven't you Amaya? The school's reported Tsubasa misisng work to stay home with you several times; a few days landing right after a few questionable dates." dates of murders, or known break-ins. Of course, those were happening every few days now; so it could easily be coincidence. "He's gotten the bare minimum of required shots to be an acting jounin; but you haven't gotten a single immunization. I would think that for you being so sick, you would more than gladly allow yourself to sustain a few needle pricks in comparison to days laying sick and pained in a bed."

"He's been trying to convince me to get them." Tenten crossed her arms and sighed slightly. "I was pretty sick last time, a lot of his students got sick around the same time, he probably brought something home and I caught it." She argued that she was hoping to tough out the illnesses as much as possible, but with the severity of her last 'cold' she would consider the immunizations. "I don't like being practically crippled in bed from coughing and struggling to breathe, I admit it's a lot worse than I thought it would be. We had some bad ones in Konoha, but nothing quite like that." Her eyes shifted to the door when it creaked a bit. "Tsubasa," She called while leaning sideways on the couch to attempt to see Neji, "Nobaru is here, he wanted to ask us both some questions." She was sure he had felt the chakra before arriving, but it never hurt to be certain.

"I know Amaya, he's hard to miss." Neji kicked off his ninja sandals, a bit of exhaustion evident from his actions. He had spent the entire day out running students in a ninja version of seek and destroy. "I'm not in the mood for pleasantries Nobaru. What are you doing here?" There was one advantage to Nobaru thinking his wife was a ninja. He could be as rude as he liked to the other without suspicion.

"Questioning the natives pretty boy. Standard procedure. You can check. I've already hit up about a dozen other houses in your neighborhood." Nobaru leaned back on the couch like he was a welcome guest. "If you're not in the mood to bullshit, I can come back for a more private questioning session." Nobaru only flirted out of habit now. He was less likely to actually make a move on Tsubasa, fine ass aside, when he was harboring a spy.

Tenten shifted her gaze from Nobaru to Neji. Half of her wanted to smack Nobaru upside the head. The other half of her just wanted to ignore him, and shove Neji against a wall and... "I'm gonna go make some tea..." She said quietly before sneaking off the kitchen. It wasn't her fault that his hair was slightly damp from snow and looked good that way dammit!

"Your guard dog's a little overprotective of you Tsubasa." Nobaru pulled out the scroll and went over the list. He still had half a dozen houses to hit up for questioning before he had to return to the usual stomping grounds. "How's the schoolwork going for you?" He asked boredly, while scribbling a few notes down.

"As expected." Neji answered shortly, sitting on the couch. He pat the kitten when it climbed into his lap, sighing with exasperation. Stupid animal.

"Not in the talking mood are you?" Nobaru noted.

"One tends not to be too sociable with someone they abhor after dealing with pre-genin students all day." Neji said, picking up the kitten and dropping him on the floor.

Ryuu again hopped up onto the couch and crawled into Neji's lap. Someone had to keep an eye on him while his better half was out of the room. Purring loudly, Ryuu curled into a ball and closed his eyes, whiskers twitching slightly until he was in the most comfortable position. If the loud obnoxious one woke him up, he would pounce and bite.

"Fair enough. Must be a pain with the flock of mini harpies and ninja wanna-bes harassing you all day. We'll keep it short enough. Seen- well, felt or experienced anything suspicious lately? Unusual spikes of unfamiliar chakra that made you take a second look, so to speak?" With Tsubasa blind, it made his input different then others; but it gave him something else valuable. Tsubasa would be much more likely to notice strange changes in chakra or an unusual mood in the air that would make a ninja look twice.

"Nothing unusual. I'm afraid that I haven't had a chance to learn about the other ninja in the area to tell you if one was unfamiliar to the area. Everyone's been acting in various states of paranoia and unrest; as is expected for the time being." Neji answered, thinking about it himself. Unfortunately, or rather perhaps, very fortunately, he didn't know that much about the nin in the area to be notice anything helpful.

"Uh-huh." Nobaru continued to scribble. "Notice anything different about the she-harpy?"

"For the last time you assuming bastard, Amaya is not a spy!" Neji snapped,getting to his feet and ready to play the part of the overprotective husband Ryuu hissed indignantly when he fell to the floor. He pawed at Neji's foot and scampered off to the kitchen for comfort.

Nobaru snorted. "Seems pussy seems to disagree with you in general." Nobaru chuckled, not reacting to Tsubasa's angry shout. "I'm asking questions about the she-harpy that have nothing to do with my thoughts of her being a ninja. She has been very ill for the past month or so and is still refusing immunizations. It's a suspicious point. It's my duty to question. She also admitted to being home by herself for most of the day. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine she'd be able to hide a few things from you."

"Yeah, how much laundry I do, and how I finally managed to cook one thing without burning it." Tenten mumbled returning with tea. "Oh or, how fast I clean the kitchen...or fold the laundry."

"Or break into unauthorized areas, kill a few people, or clean the litter box. Standard procedure, have to question everything." Nobaru drank the tea and nibbled the cookies, the first solid thing he'd eaten all day. "I asked the Hanamori's down the street what grandma did alone all day in the house, I'm going to ask you too."

"After I clean the house and do the laundry, I touch myself while thinking about my husband, take a shower, and divulge my sex life to the women here who clearly don't have their own. Satisfied?" Tenten answered sarcastically while Ryuu curled up on her lap instead, certain that she at least would remain seated.

Nobaru coughed and put the cookies down. There went his appetite. "Thank you so much for those disgusting mental images."Nobaru shook his head a few times in a desperate attempt to get the mental images out of his head. "Gross. I get it, I'm leaving. I'll send someone else if more question are needed, because that was fucking nasty." Of all the things the woman could have said, that was the last thing his overworked mind needed.

Tenten bit back her satisfied smirk. One problem eliminated and only slight embarrassment to suffer for it. "You sure? I mean, you did want to know what I did here alone all day."

He rolled his eyes. "A low blow. I'll give you credit for that one harpy. Rest assured that mental image will haunt the little sleep I get."

"Well if we notice anything we'll let you know." She was almost struggling to not allow the light flicker of amusement show too strongly in her eyes or allow it to be heard in her voice. "I do hope the neighbors are able to help you more than we were."

He snorted, shutting the scroll and leaving the house, once again feeling that strange flicker of chakra. Frowning, he made a note of it in the scroll. It was probably just exhaustion playing tricks on him, but if he had noticed it twice... His instincts were never wrong about anything.

After Nobaru had distanced himself greatly from the house, Tenten released her held in laughter into her cup. The cat had fallen asleep beside her and Neji hadn't said a word since her comment. "You ok?" She asked glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. His face was slightly flushed, and he shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you said that to him." Mirth teased the corners of his mouth.

She shrugged through her light laughter and took note of the faintest traces of a smirk or maybe even a smile from him. "Not like I had anything to lose saying it. I mean, hey at least it worked. He is gone."

"I actually regret that I wasn't able to see his face when you said that." Neji chuckled. "I wish I had known it would get rid of him earlier. I might have made something up to make him leave."

"Well," Tenten said lightly while lifting the bandages away from his eyes, "I can tell you one thing for certain about his expression- It was just priceless." Her eyes fell shut and a devious smile replaced her previous one. "I don't think I've ever said anything like that to anyone in my life," her eyes snapped open and met his, "it was totally worth it." She added that she was just happy she was able to say it with a straight face and that she had been able to sound convincing. Neji chuckled quietly and his hands reached up to hold Tenten's before gently taking the bandages from her. His fingers brushed lightly over her hands as he did so.

"I do regret missing it." He said while placing the bandages on the table near the cookies. "Have you taken up baking now too? These aren't even burnt."

"Oh no, I'm not testing my luck." She admitted that Karou had brought them over earlier, thinking they would help with the cold. She was certain too that even as she explained things calmly, her hands were shaking slightly and her heart was pounding, and what from? The lightest of touches? "Her cookies are safe to eat, mine still aren't."

"Does she think you're ill?" He placed the cookies in the pantry with the others, beginning to make dinner. He threw the cookies that Nobaru had bitten into the trash

"No, she just thinks it helps deal with the cold weather, said her mother used to make them for her." She stared at her hands for a few minutes before snapping out of her light daze. Looking back on the few minutes that had passed her cheeks turned slightly red. "I-I can't believe I really said what I said to Nobaru." She stuttered as embarrassment set in. Nobaru had heard truth, Neji had only heard what he assumed to be a well played bluff.

"It worked well." Neji pointed out, starting to slice meat and veggies for an easy stir fry. "It looks like all your lunches with the lonely house wives did have something positive come from it

"What do you mean?" She asked getting up slowly, carefully shifting Ryuu so he would remain a sleeping ball of fuzz while she retreated to the kitchen.

"Isn't that where you came up with the masturbation story?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. "Or was it horrible daytime television

She shrugged nervously and fidgeted slightly when he looked over his shoulder at her. "I just kind of blurted it out. A few seconds later I realized what I had said and saw his reaction and realized it worked well."

"You came up with that on your own?" that surprised him. He thought that Tenten didn't have thoughts like that

"I had a creative moment? It sounded like something that would freak him out." She said quickly in defense of herself. The surprise and curiosity in his eyes made her very nervous.

"It worked." Neji said starting to fry their evening meal. "Will you set the table? Dinner will be ready soon."

"Yeah." She hurried and grabbed everything she'd need, their tea, their plates, some chopsticks, and for the love of all things, why was he reacting so well to her very bold statement that had sent Nobaru packing? Normally he'd at least be embarrassed, or...something. He had handled it much better than she imagined, almost as though he were totally oblivious. He is oblivious. She set the table and sighed.

Neji was far from oblivious; he was also far from embarrassed. The thought of Tenten touching herself was far from an unpleasant one. Though, she seemed a bit too preoccupied with her enjoyment of messing with Nobaru to notice his slight blush from the statement.

She poured them each tea at roughly the same time he finished cooking and she rolled her eyes and laughed lightly. It was still a bit funny, even after years of it being the norm, to work in such perfect sync.

"We're getting too used to each other." Neji noted, carrying the plate of stir fry into the room. He set one at Tenten's side, the other on his own. "In the kitchen fur ball, I filled your bowl."

"How do you get 'too' used to someone anyway?" She asked watching the cat trot off into the kitchen to eat.

"Look at us; we're in synch with each other's daily habits without trying or realizing." Neji answered, drinking his tea.

"It was weirder when we were teenagers. I could always tell when you were having a hard time sleeping. There were some nights I'd be at home and just tossed and turned all night and just sort of knew you weren't getting much sleep either." She referenced the exact time he woke up each morning and pointed out that after a month of training with him, she had started to wake at the same time.

"You picked up on my anxiety through the day and took it as your own." He explained, eating his dinner. "You started to adjust your life to my schedule without realizing it, and I did the same to yours." He usually only ate two meals a day unless prompted otherwise, Tenten had gotten him into the habit of eating three times a day, and occasionally having a small snack here and there.

"I actually meditate," She admitted while eating, "twice a day." She confessed after a few minutes.

"You used to hate it." Neji had argued with her about why one needed to meditate more than was barely necessary when they were younger. Tenten preferred moving to sitting still and focusing.

"It's helped a lot over the years." She smiled. "You sharpen your weapons more frequently than you used to." She smirked, he had picked up that habit from helping her clean up her weapons after training.

"Only because you berated me for the state of my own weapons..." Neji rolled his eyes. It wasn't a habit. It just became something he did to avoid her nagging.

"You sharpened half of mine too though." She smiled while sipping her tea.

He didn't answer to that. If he was sharpening blades, he didn't have to clean the litter box. He knew what he was doing.

She watched his eyes for any shifts, any changes and smiled slightly. He was clever to do most of the things he did, but she was certain he sharpened her weapons to get out of something. She wouldn't call him out on it, or ask exactly what he was trying to get out of by doing her the favor. "Thanks, it saves a lot of time with your help."

"It's not a problem." He smiled, eating his dinner peacefully. She would not figure this out.

She smirked slightly and drank her tea; he'd get away with whatever he was avoiding, for a while anyway. "I still think Nobaru is a wee bit suspicious of me."

"He's been suspicious of both of us since the beginning Tenten. The only reason he's not actively pursuing me is because he thinks I'm too attractive to be the enemy." He answered calmly.

"Ironic isn't it, too attractive and the enemy?" She commented while eating the last of her food and smirking at the light purr from beside her chair. The kitten was sitting next to Tenten, chewing on a piece of chicken that had not come from Tenten's plate. It looked up at her a mewled happily before devouring the human food. "Neji...did you give him some of our food?" She glanced at Neji out of the corner of her eye, a bit of disbelief in her features.

"It fell on the floor, so I put it in its dish." He wasn't going to waste it, but he wasn't going to feed it to Tenten either.

"Well, he likes it." She reached down and scratched Ryuu's back lightly. "He sensed something Neji. Nobaru did...I just have a feeling."

"He has no proof Tenten. We'll deny everything; they don't have enough evidence about anything to search us."

"I'm going to make more wards just in case."

"I'll strengthen the ones we have now as well." Neji finished his meal and cleared the table, Tenten followed with her dishes, which they did quickly.

"I think it can wait till tomorrow though." She said while putting away the last dish. "It's been an irritating afternoon." She folded up the towel she had used to dry the dishes and glanced at her partner.

"It could always have been worse." Neji reminded her as he dried his hands. "He could have noticed Haru's chakra. He's familiar with it."

"I think he did feel it." She told him, leaning lightly back against a counter. "Just the look in his eyes, I think he felt it. He probably is too worn out to think about it too much though." Nobaru did after all look like he hadn't slept in a few days.

He nodded. Nobaru was so used to Haru's chakra, that he would also have less sensitivity to it as long as it wasn't strong. "I've heard that he's taking most of the heat for the killings and is working harder to keep the higher ups happy."

"So he's over worked, and being held accountable for something that slipped by probably at least a few years ago?"

"Something like that, you know that council members and elders only bitch after things happen and turn a blind eye to past events or look for signs of future events."

"I imagine they're on his case for being so suspicious of us." It was good that the village was so concerned about who was a serious threat at the moment but losing that person would make it harder for them to work. "Neji, we need to try to keep Nobaru off course as long as possible. I gave him the same information the other house wives did, because I know it's all just rumors. There's about a hundred ninja in the village that fit the descriptions they gave and the information I gave Nobaru. The longer he's looking, the more time we have to work in peace."

Neji nodded picking up the cat's water bowl and filled it with fresh water. "I told him the gossip I've heard. I think you distracted him well enough with your words." He chuckled softly, remembering Nobaru's priceless reaction. In his mind, justice had been served and there was no doubt that Tenten had delivered it to Nobaru, for all his harassment, rather smoothly.

Tenten flushed slightly and looked away. "I was just being creative. It was worth a shot, I didn't think it would work though."

"At least we know what to say to him next time." Though Neji doubted he'd be creative enough to come up with anything quite as lewd. He didn't have the same daily talks with pervert6ed housewives as Tenten did, and clearly he wasn't quite as skilled at coming up with a lie that could send the man running on the spot.

"He's not going to ask you what you do all day, he knows." She mumbled crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm going to run out of clever ideas though." There were only so many things she could say with a straight face after all.

"You're a housewife Tenten. It's not like you're supposed to be living an excited, varied life." Neji pointed out. "Take up some hobby or something if you need more excuses."

She merely shot him an irritated look, daring him almost to suggest a single 'hobby' that would be remotely entertaining. "Why? My fake sex life is working fine for now, I'll just sit in bed all day and be as perverse as I can with my thoughts so I can turn them on Nobaru next time he pokes around."

He rolled his eyes. "Start reading bad romance novels or something then. If not, I don't know. Take up knitting or something."

"Knitting? I don't think so..." She'd take her chances with her imagination, and just not tell him. "The cat and I will just discuss the strategy at a later time."

"Tenten, I understand you have a new level of communication with the cat; but it can't talk."

"He doesn't need to, I just need someone to listen that won't turn red when I talk about certain things." She smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, have your dirty sexual fantasies with the cat, just as long as I don't have to witness it."

"You don't have to witness it." She bent down and picked up the cat. "I can't assure you I won't use you as inspiration." The cat pawed lightly at her bangs when she held him up.

"Have a mental affair." Neji turned his head, coughing. He didn't want to admit the thought of Tenten thinking about someone else bothered him.

"You ok?" She glanced past the cat at Neji's rather odd expression.

"Strange mental images that's all." Neji waved it off, going to change his clothes

"Strange how?" She headed to the living room and sat down with the cat. Tempting though it was to just follow him and watch she knew he'd never let her live it down. Ryuu climbed up her clothes and across her shoulders.

"A mental image of you sitting on the couch, reading bad porn stories to the cat out loud."

Tenten rolled her eyes and pat the cat lightly. She'd insist that they just rest for the night, and start working on the new seals and strengthening the wards in the basement the following day. She threw a quick glance out the windows and sighed. Seeing the snow, feeling the cold, remembering the storms and winds that they had started with reminded her each day that they had been away from home for nearly a full nine months.

The next day, as planned, Neji strengthened the wards, while she worked on creating the new seals. They discussed their days while they worked, he mentioned that his pair of overachieving students were still the only ones passing poisons and antidotes with flying colors, and she chuckled and added that the women were starting to demand proof that Tsubasa was an only child. "Guess I'm getting a bit too creative about our non-existent sex life." She said while carefully brushing the ink into place for the next seal. Making at least a good amount of weak seals for testing was vital, and she placed another on the completed stack. "Good to see that at least some of your kids know what they're doing. Let me guess, they're the only ones that don't have a crush on either you or me huh?"

"No, there are a few who are uninterested. They're the only ones who actually study and focus on their work, a pair of rivals." He said, making sure the wards in the room would withstand any blast of chakra.

She turned each seal over in the full stack of 'test' samples they had made. She examined each one to be sure each would release chakra as their individual seals dictated they should be. "Sounds more like you'll have to worry more about if they wind up with a crush on each other." She mumbled while fixing only the slightest of flaws on a seal in the middle of the stack.

"They're already blatantly involved, albeit in denial, they're too young for anything serious anyway." Neji said, picking up a cat toy that had been left behind and tossing it to the other side of the room. "I'm about to start using a henge to turn into an ugly old man if it makes the others focus more."

Tenten chuckled. Neji's brilliant overachieving pair of students had a thing for each other? Well, at least she mused, they were better off than she had been. "How'd they do on their twenty page papers?" She found another seal that needed fine tuning, but she was certain at least that nothing would escape the basement. Her eyes flickered around the room to each ward he had 'improved' ever so slightly. "God damn Neji, are you trying to turn this place into the ultimate containment unit?"

"I'm making sure that no amount of chakra can escape. I admit I may have been a bit overzealous in my pursuit, but I don't want to take any chances." He examined the room with an air of satisfaction. He would admit to being a bit anal, but that meant that he always got his job done.

"Well," she said while altering one last seal, "overzealous is putting it lightly, but it's a good thing you did go overboard with it." She held up the stack of roughly twenty seals, all bound with a set amount of chakra, all designed to release chakra in a certain way. "Now we have to test this against chakra detection."

Neji held up the first of his own chakra detectors. "I've made these to specifically pick up on your chakra. Start with one of the weaker seals. This is only a test run and I want to see how well Haru's chakra masks you, and how much the detector will pick up of yours while you're suppressing it."

Tenten nodded, took a deep breath and suppressed her chakra before holding out one of the seals they had made. She focused on it for a moment before placing it on the floor and forcing the seal to release Haru's chakra. It still made her feel lightheaded and made her hearing slightly fuzzy, but it passed more quickly than it used to. She lifted her gaze a few minutes later and waited for Neji to say something.

Neji was paying close attention to the seal, it was meant so that he could see how much of Tenten's chakra was being detected while he watched to see how much she was actually admitting. After several long moments, nodded and gestured for Tenten to stop. "The seal masks your chakra so that only 23% of what you are actually giving off can be detected."

"It's still not enough to get past the detectors underground." She mumbled while Haru's chakra dispersed. "Well, at least they release the way they're supposed to."

"It was a weak seal. The other ones should mask your chakra much better than this one." Neji pointed out, running a hand along her body to make sure she was purged of Haru's chakra.

Tenten watched his hand out of the corner of her eye. "I don't think the stronger ones we made will be enough either. I need to be undetectable, and that'll take a lot of fine tuning."

"But it will be possible. You have a harder time controlling your chakra with Haru's inside of you. It'll just take practice, and as you said, fine tuning."

"Another test then." She held out a tag for him. "I'm not doing this mission solo after all, let me see how much of your chakra I can detect."

"Very well." Neji took a tag and took a breath. Pressing his chakra down as much as he could, he released the tag, letting Haru's chakra slide over his, covering and blinding him as much it could from the detectors. Letting out a slow count in his mind, he let Haru's chakra disperse and his own swell back to normal. "How was that?"

Tenten's eyebrow twitched slightly. "Biased opinion aside...we really gotta work on your suppression skills and get you a much stronger tag. It cloaked even less of your chakra than mine. Less than half of what I detected was Haru's." She frowned and looked over the tags. "You respond much better to his chakra, so you probably will need a much stronger tag, and well you are a Hyuuga, chakra like yours isn't going to be masked as easily."

He frowned. "I made these tags particularly sensitive for this reason Tenten. I know that seals of Haru's chakra at this level are not going to mask neither you nor myself fully."

"I know, but they masked significantly less chakra of yours than mine, we should assume you're going to need a much stronger tag than I will to mask yours enough." She began taking notes on a scroll, some listing adjustments to chakra release rate, potency, and even the results of their first 'tests' of their weakest seals.

He looked over the results. "Are you going to able to handle the stronger bursts of chakra?" Tenten had held fine for a few minutes at the lowest power level of the seals; but who knew how she would react to the stronger ones? Her immunity to Haru's chakra was not growing quickly at all.

"I'm going to have to be able to handle it." She lay on her side while adding the notes. Her notes grew progressively more detailed and she mumbled incoherently under her breath.

"We should try and make a buffer; a layer of protection between you and Haru's chakra." It would make the masking a bit more difficult, but it would help protect her from the worst of it.

"Flattered though I am that you're so concerned for me...we'd be wasting time doing that." She looked over her notes and sighed before shifting to lie on her back. She stared up at the ceiling, now covered with wards. "I just need to develop a slightly stronger resistance to it."

"And how do you plan on doing that without a repeat of last time?" She had been wailing that she'd rather die than hurt, and while melodramatic, the words hadn't been truly false. He could always tell when she was just being dramatic and when she was being serious.

She held her breath for a moment and thought long and hard about the kind of pain she had been in. She thought about how hard it was to breathe, how painful it was. She thought about how Neji had to force the chakra into different locations, causing more widespread pain, but eliminating the unbearable pain she had been in. "I'm not sure, but I'll just have to find a way."

He shook his head. "A weak guard, even one that just protects you from the worst of it will be better." Besides, who knows how long it will take to allow her immunity to build up? "It's not like we can mix it with Nobaru's or someone who's more compatible with you."

"It'll take a good deal of time to make one that will work without making things harder for us." She argued, counting in her head the number of wards that Neji had added. There were three per corner at least, four total on almost every wall face, the ceiling had a few more. He had even gone so far as to cut into small corners of the carpet to place wards under the carpet. She lost count at twenty, certain he had placed a few more here and there.

Neji pondered a moment, rubbing his chin. "What if the other seal was made from my chakra?"

"It'd take a stronger seal to mask my suppressed chakra and the small amount of yours, but..." She trailed off while she thought about how chakra worked, how theirs interacted, how strongly his affected her. Neji's chakra affected her as strongly as Haru's but in completely the opposite way. His chakra could temporarily strengthen hers, making her more resistant to Haru's. "...I guess it could work."

"It's better than you burning yourself out trying to get used to Haru's chakra." He took the notes, making a few notes of his own based on what he knew of his and Tenten's chakra interaction. "It would have to be short acting so it won't over power Haru's chakra."

"I could try to suppress it with mine, it would more or less contain your chakra in me temporarily, it would more strongly affect mine that way." She suggested, pointing out that it was similar to what would happen when she suppressed both their chakras. "…Minus the exhaustion, because I'm not suppressing all your chakra; I was able to do it for so long because of how our chakra interacts."

Neji nodded, adding her notes to his own. They would have to factor in more variables, make two or possibly up to six tags to balance the chakra properly. "My chakra should buffer yours against Haru's. As you said, considering how much less you will be forced to suppress of mine, it should be easier to handle and still afford you some protection."

"Why are you going through so much effort for me?" She shifted to her side and watched him. "Normally you'd tell someone to just deal with it."

"Because you're my partner and it also increases the chances of the mission being fulfilled successfully." He had called her his partner before citing the mission, and in his noticing it, he was vividly aware that it was something that did not slip past Tenten either.

His words made her pulse quicken only slightly, but very noticeably for her. "You're more concerned about me than the mission?"

"What?" He asked, he hadn't noticed his slip of the tongue. "I am concerned over both. I am not heartless Tenten."

"You mentioned me first, order of words spoken often indicates personal priority, that's why it's easy to profile people in interrogation, ask what they like, they'll always say the first thing on their mind. I asked why you were going through so much effort," she paused and took a breath, "you said because I was your partner, then pointed out the mission." Did she really take priority in his mind? Or was her mind simply hearing what she wanted to hear? It was confusing and she shook her head lightly. "I had a few classes in interrogation."

"I have had those classes as well. However, this isn't an interrogation, and I'm simply speaking my words without any restraint. I'm more focused on you at the moment because that is what we're working on and what my mind is focused on. You and the mission are equally important." Neji noted that for once, he had to think quickly to talk his way out of a little slip of words. He was never fond of those moments.

"Good point..." She said quietly. The mind did indeed see what it hoped to see. She mentally berated herself for her carelessness. Hoping for something that was not there, because she wanted it to be was just...just...foolish. She was sure that he knew without any doubt, that no mission was ever more important to her than him. She closed her eyes and smirked. "I must be getting tired, that's really not like me." Or maybe...maybe he really didn't know.

"It has been an exhausting night." Neji muttered, his own eyes aching slightly from the exhaustion that had caught up to him. "We can wrap up for tonight. There will be plenty to do for tomorrow."

She nodded. It would take weeks, at least another month and a half before they were ready for anything anyway, they had plenty of time to test, to fail, to correct any flaws. "If you feel up to it, I know those kids wear on you."

"I'll be fine Tenten." The kids were more mentally exhausting than anything. "If you put the seals away, I'll release the wards so we can go upstairs."

She nodded, grabbed the scrolls and seals, and placed them in a box and placed a brand new chakra binding seal on it once she closed it. She smirked slightly. "We really are being exceedingly cautious." It never hurt though, with Nobaru on the prowl. Between the twenty-some chakra wards, the binding seal on the box, and the natural seals she had placed on all the scrolls...It was overboard without a doubt, but she couldn't help but admire their work.

"It's best to err on caution, especially with the heightened security." Neji pointed out, carefully examining the area so they could leave the room without setting off their own chakra sensors, When they left the basement Ryuu was sitting in front of the door, staring at them. He had been ignored almost all night, and he wasn't happy about it. "Move fur ball. You're going to get stepped on." Neji moved past the cat, scrolls in hand for later review.

Tenten lightly picked up Ryuu and carried him to the bedroom. "You know we've been here almost a full nine months..."

"Yes. What's your point Tenten?"

She flopped back onto the bed with the cat and let him crawl across her to her pillow. "It's so hard to believe we've been here for that long, almost a year already, it doesn't feel like we've been here for that long."

Neji agreed. "It will take a bit of adjusting to move back to Konoha after this."

Konoha's winters would feel like a heat wave. Konoha's rainstorms would seem like nothing. Sleeping at night would be lonely, she'd be back to work, a few missions a week, he'd get married, they'd see each other less and less and...She shifted onto her side. She wanted to bang her head against the wall. The list wasn't so bad until she got to the part where he'd get married. It was like a torturous little mantra in her head that never seemed to go away. "I miss home, but I'm not exactly looking forward to going back."

He nodded."I cannot say that I am truly eager to return." While he did not enjoy the Cloud ninja, their village, or country by any means, he certainly enjoyed not being a Hyuuga for a short while.

"Maybe if we could go back to being sixteen it wouldn't be so bad." Ryuu took up the task of trying to crawl across her side to get to her pillow. It resulted in him hopping onto her and falling off a lot before she moved him to the pillow herself. "There were a lot of things I wanted to do then, that I just didn't do, things I should have done that I won't have a chance at again." She laughed lightly. "I wouldn't mind going back if I could be sixteen again, even if it meant I would still be a chuunin."

"I enjoy my current age." Neji said. He wouldn't go through puberty again if it was his mission. Changing into his night clothes, he sat and eventually laid back in bed.

"You were very pleasant at sixteen. At least till you found out about what your clan had in mind..." She mumbled. Neji went from pleasant to pissed in about twelve minutes, and it resulted in a very destroyed training ground.

"You act like I threw a hissy fit and hid myself in my room while writing depressing poetry in my diary." Neji mumbled. He had handled his displeasure with grace and dignity as far as he was concerned.

"No, you were just a lot more aggressive in training. I could feel the resentment and anger." She shifted back onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "You really trashed the training field, Lee was afraid to talk to you that day. You sounded calm and collected when you told me-" She paused; Neji had a gift for speaking volumes with his eyes. It just took a good deal of practice to read a Hyuuga by just their eyes. "but I knew you were angry about it."

"You're imagining the brunt of it. I'm sure I was significantly affronted, but I doubt that I scared Lee anymore than usual."

"After training he insisted that for his sake, and Gai-sensei's, that I spent some time alone with you so that you didn't lash out at him. Lee was just thinking of when you were twelve and thirteen, that's all." Lee had good reason; Neji had seemed very cold that day, more so than he had in years, he kept all his comments short and somewhat harsh. When he did speak, he avoided eye contact, focused on something at a slight distance with his eyes narrowed. "Anyone who'd been around you as long as Lee or I would have known it was better to just let me deal with you that day."

"And what were you then, a healing balm for my aching teenaged soul?" He disliked the way Lee had made it seem like Tenten was a comforting plush for a rampaging three year old. He knew he could have kept the overwhelming sarcasm out of his voice, but Tenten could easily understand where it was coming from.

"No," she corrected gently, "just a friend who was willing to listen." She smiled slightly at his comment though. "Lee knew you'd sooner talk to me. I'd like to think what little I could do wasn't totally wasted effort." Neji had after all, always listened to her. When she was frustrated, or had pushed herself to far, or when she was excited, he had always listened, either with a roll of his eyes or a smirk, or sometimes even a bit of laughter.

"I don't recall doing much talking." He wasn't the gushing type, he never had been. Usually their 'talks' had been scrimmages and training, working until his body was exhausted to he point where he could barely think of his troubles. It was only then that he would reveal to Tenten what was bothering him, in single sentence form.

"You never did say much. I think all you said was 'they're making me marry someone' and you just sounded so bitter." She leaned back into her pillow and took a slow breath. "We grabbed lunch, went to the field I used to train in and just stayed there most of the day. It was three days after you became a jounin. Mom wanted you to spend the night when I finally got home, we didn't have any active missions so..." She tried to think of what they had done before chuckling. "I think we camped out on the roof, and just stayed up there all night." He had admitted he saw it coming, he just wasn't sure when it would happen. He admitted he didn't like it, but he also admitted there was nothing he could really do about it. His tone had been very bitter and she knew exactly why.

He shrugged. He didn't remember much of that day, just being pissy and taking it out on everyone. Though he did remember clearly that they did camp out on her roof. "I remember that you cried when you thought I was sleeping." He mumbled to himself, aware that when he did so, she almost always heard him.

Tenten tensed. "You can't remember most of the day, but you remember that?" Why of all things did he have to remember that? "Sure you don't have it messed up with a different day?" She suggested, she had been so certain he had been asleep.

"I believe it was the same day. You mumbled something about crying because I wouldn't." It had seemed stupid to him at the time. He didn't need to cry, it had just been his lot in life, much as he detest it. He would be lying though, if he did not admit that it had made him feel somewhat better. At least someone cared enough about him and what he may have wanted to cry.

Ryuu snuck across the pillows and pawed lightly at his male owners hair. Not much, but enough to get a hand waving him away once, a much more amusing object to swat at. Tenten sighed and lifted Ryuu away from Neji. "It was difficult to deal with at that age, you always said I was too emotional, always letting things get to me." She pet the cat until he crawled onto her stomach and laid down, purring very loudly.

"You are a girl, and were going through puberty and hormone changes. In retrospect, you were nowhere near as volatile as Sakura or Ino." He answered calmly, thinking of all the horrible cat fights that had started from that time in their lives.

"Thanks, I think." She chuckled.

He smiled. "Go to sleep Tenten. We have a lot more work we need to start tomorrow."

"I'll work on preparing some seals while you're working, so we have less preparation time when you get home." She sighed and rolled her eyes at the cat, already falling asleep on her stomach.

He nodded, closing his eyes with an amused smirk on his face. He didn't think it was going to be a night of reminicing, but he certainly didn't mind.

---

AN: If you ever wondered WHY my updating takes so long, it's sporadic comments like this in our work that are totally out of character that I have to go and edit out while Kigen and I are typing.

Kigen: tenten isn't allowed to call neji on his not nejiness!

FarawayDawn: sure she is! :/ she had a psychology 101 moment!

Kigen: nu! neji's nejiness is than
psychology 101. it's like calling kamichan on her fangirlism. it's just not
done

FarawayDawn: XD psychology 101 dicates all
things even Kamichan's fangirlism is dictated by psychology

Kigen: Kamichan is directed by kamichan.
kamichan psychology

Till next time guys~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the random discussion between Kigen and I.