"I'd say this apartment could suffice, if only there was proper light for chowing down on Ichiraku's Takeout." Guy stated while having trouble finding the box with his chopsticks.

"Tenten, you own a million things in that scroll of yours right? How about it, you got a flashlight?" Takamitsu asked.

"Who am I, Tim the Tool Man Taylor?" she sarcastically replied before spawning a lantern.

"Does that make it a yes?"

After him being slapped for the remark, the team finished a meal minutes later and they resumed sparring outside. Takamitsu remained home and took the time to read up on substitution jutsu tactics. Three weeks pass with a lot of books, and the medical nin of the leaf helped his hand recover at a much faster rate than anticipated. It would be another 2 weeks before he had full range back again, and a nasty scar ran half way to the wrist. The skin burn resembled a jagged lightning bolt, likely from his chakra firing off when the wound was opened.

"How much for the dragon saber?" Takamitsu approached Tenten while she was taking inventory at the practice field.

"Wait what?"

"How much for the blade?"

"Why would you want to buy this from me?"

"Can I please buy the saber?"

"No, you don't get the concept. I carry these things all with me in this enormous scroll." She fanned out the device more to reveal a couple hundred kunai. "Anything you and Lee carry is just wasted energy when I can hold onto it."

"But what if we're ambushed and you don't have tie to pull things out for us?"

"Then either you're dead, or you rely too much on a weapon to save you."

"But… Don't you own an entire arsenal of these weapons to rely on?"

"I'm saying you've handled yourself better without the sword." she gritted her teeth. Takamitsu had a fond feeling of finally getting to annoy her.

"But in order to get better I need to practice with it right?"

"Well, you never asked."

"And what about Lee's ankle weights?"

"Could you stop pestering me like a toddler?"

"And see, when I was about to ask a question I get shut down."

"Ugh, it is impossible to count these things when you're nagging on about-"

"276."

"Wait… 1, 2, 47… How did you count that so fast?"

"I have my ways."

"No, it takes me a minute to count the kunai alone, how did you-"

"It's a trade secret. Most ninja would kill to find out." Takamitsu faked a professional anchorman's voice.

"Not what I'm gonna do to you after-"

"For the price of one Dragon saber, tell me miss, how does one attempt to count faster than the blink of an eye?"

"It's gonna be hard to blink when you got a black eye!" She swung a heavy hook toward Takamitsu, and he easily ducked under it. He couldn't help but fail to stifle a giggle.

"Tune in next week when co-host Jerry Springer attempts to sort domestic violence abuse when it happened outside of owned property."

"Grr! Who the hell even is Jerry Springer!?" But not even Kusakegro saved Takamitsu from a direct hit from one of Tenten's maces. He tumbled to the ground, and felt his cheek was cut deeply. He could see hesitation of what Tenten felt right after hitting him. He spat some blood out and grinned before the pain hit his face from the blow.

"Careful Tenten... You know, some people are into that..." He chuckled through his wincing.

"Oh for crying out loud you idiot! You're lucky I didn't sharpen that object before hitting you!"

"Does this mean I get to buy the Dragon Saber from you?"

"Utter one more word, and no dragon alive is going to fix what I'll do to you!"

"H-h-, hot…" He mumbled.

"Do you have a death wish?" Tenten clenched her jaw before administering alcohol to the open wound.

"Ow! Can you go a bit easy on the stitches?"

"Oh I thought you were into that." She mocked.

"I have returned from my ten kilometer sprint!" Lee bolstered as he approached the two. "And now Takamitsu, it's time to face the newly made Green Beanst of the Le-, Did I miss something?"

"Oh just a- OW- little bit of an – OWW- oopsie of not dodging a- Motherfucker can you be any rougher with the damn needle!? -Attack…"

"Maybe if you did't move your jaw as much this wouldn't look like a jigsaw puzzle!"

"I do not know of this 'jigsaw puzzle' you speak of. Is this a new secret move?"

"Lee, how about you use your imagination and make a move name after it?" Tenten groaned.

"Ah yes! A formidable challenge I must commit to! Fear not Tenten, I will commence learning a new technique featuring the cross stitchings uneven on Takamitsu's face!" Immediately following, Lee dashed off into the woods now out of view of the two. She finished up, and patched a removable fabric cloth onto the treated wound.

"Tenten, I appreciate you."

"Huh? Great, you got a concussion too?"

"No, I shouldn't have any brain damlage, but you take care and put up with me and Lee."

"I mean, that's what teammates are for, right?"

"Yes, but, sometimes you go out of your way a little bit more than what I see from others."

"I mean, I usually just clean up after myself and correct my mistakes. How is that more than others?"

"It's because you're genuine. I know that you won't kill me unless it somehow becomes absolutely necessary."

"No, have you seen the cut on your face? You're lucky I didn't gouge out your left eye."

"And you didn't kill me. Honestly, that's enough for me to say, I trust you."

"Seriously, brain to skull, do you read me? Someone working third shift or is this a call-in?"

"Tenten, I want to say that I- like you, like you."

"Oh… um…" She looked down and hesitated. "That's very flattering Takamitsu…"

And with that his heart skipped a beat over joy for the moment she replied with an awkward reaction. Surely it felt great to get that off his chest, no matter what happened next.

"But you see. I think you need to know that Neji and I are seeing each other…" Except that… That was something that shouldn't have happened.