A/N:

Sorry about taking so long to update, but I really wasn't motivated to work until today.  Hopefully the next chapter won't be so hard to create.  This one is really short, but I promise that the other one will be full of action and fun as an alternative, and I always keep my promises.  Almost always anyway.

Chapter Seven

"Ah TenTen, it's so good to see you."

She smiled at the sound of the timid voice next to her.  "It's only been two days Hinata."

"And a lot has happened." She pressed her index fingers together in that nervous habit of his.  "Is Neji-niisan okay?"

"The doctor says he'll be okay with a little bit of rest." She sighed.  "It's going to take him a while to get over what he saw though.  Everyone died except him, and it's hard for him to acknowledge that he couldn't do anything to help them."

"Ohh…"

"Everything's going to be okay though.  I'll help him to forget."

Hinata smiled.  "You're such a kind person.  I'm glad Neji-niisan has you."

TenTen rested her head on her arms.  "I'm glad to have him.  I don't know what I would've done if I had to go through all of those things alone.  I probably would've become the monster my brother thought I was."

"You both are lucky, to find each other and to have Haruka."

That tipped her off.  "Is something wrong?"

The other girl shook her head.  "No."

"It's okay Hinata, you can tell me."

The girl sighed.  "Um…the truth is…I'm worried about Kiba-kun."

"About him?  He's fine."

"That's what I thought too, but he's been very moody lately."

"How can you tell?  He seemed normal to me.  He's just as loud and boisterous as always."

"I know." The Hyuuga girl hung her head in embarrassment.  "It's just…I can tell that his heart hasn't been in it lately.  He pretends to be having fun with us, but I know he's really not."

TenTen lifted her head and pushed the straw around in her drink idly.  "How long has this been going on?" She'd had him over recently, and she couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed he was depressed.

"Two months, I think."

"Two months?" TenTen echoed, bewildered that none of them hadn't noticed this earlier.

"Ever since Naruto-kun and I started going out."

TenTen let out an all-knowing sigh.  "Ohhh…"

A look of confusion crossed Hinata's face.  "What?"

She smiled deviously.  "I know what's going on."

She didn't know why, but the glint in TenTen's eye made her blush furiously.  "What's wrong with Kiba-kun?"

"I can't believe you didn't see this, but he still has a crush on you." She didn't think it was possible, but Hinata had gone an even deeper shade of red.  To have that much blood hovering in one place had to be bad for the body.  She opted to tease the girl further.  "When he was over the other day we were talking about it, and poor Kiba is absolutely wild about you.  Who knows, he may even decide to fight Naruto for you."

Hinata gasped loudly, her hands covering her mouth.  "Kiba-kun shouldn't!"

"Love does strange things to men.  I never thought Neji was capable of being unselfish, but I learned otherwise."

Hinata got up from the table quickly and stammered something about going to find Kiba.

TenTen giggled at the look of horror she imagined would cross Kiba's face when he would be confronted by his crush about his feelings.  Of course, this was Hinata she was thinking about, so the girl would probably lose her nerve halfway there.  She sighed in dejection.  Meddling wasn't half as much fun as it used to be now that almost all of her friends were pairing off.  Maybe she should get some new friends just to interfere.

"TenTen-sensei!"

Darn.  She thought she'd gotten far enough away from the Academy for lunch that none of her students would be able to find her.  She turned around to find one of the girls from her class panting behind her. 

"TenTen-sensei come quick!  Daijiro and Katsuya are fighting!"

TenTen stood up and allowed the girl to drag her back across town to the schoolyard where most of the students had gathered in a circle around the wildly swinging boys.  "Where are the other teachers?"

"They're having a top-secret meeting.  We tried to tell them what was happening, but they told us to go away."

"What happened?"

"I didn't see most of it.  All I know is that Katsuya said something to Daijiro and then Daijiro punched him and that happened." She gestured at the fight.

TenTen couldn't ignore the childish part of her that wanted to watch this fight out to the end and determine which one of them really had more potential, but the more responsible adult in her told her that it was a part of her job to prevent skirmishes like this between her students.  She sprinted over to the group, parting the crowd easily and grabbed Daijiro around the shoulders, lifting him up into her arms.

"That's enough."

He kicked his legs up in the air, struggling to free himself from her grip.  "Let me go."

"I don't think so."

"Sensei, I want to kick his ass."

Katsuya swept blonde hair away from his eyes, causing all the girls to sigh dreamily and get hearts in their eyes.  "You wouldn't have had a chance baka."

"Oh yeah?  Let's have you say that to my face when the teacher isn't holding me back."

"I was beating you before she came.  Face facts baka, you're a worthless, talentless ninja."

Daijiro's swinging foot connected with her stomach, causing her to drop him and fall to her knees.  The boy was off and running towards his classmate before his feet completely hit the ground.

Katsuya was prepared for this and blocked the boy's attack effortlessly, smirking condescendingly at him from behind crossed arms.  "Is that all you have, loser?"

"Don't you dare hurt Katsuya-kun Daijiro!" A girl's voice warned threateningly. 

"Yeah!" Another one added.  "If you even harm one hair on his head you'll have us to deal with!"

"Then deal with me later!" He shouted back, advancing on his classmate again.  He leapt into the air and aimed a kick at the boy's face, but that too was easily defended against.  Daijiro scowled and landed easily several feet in front of his opponent.

Katsuya's eyes narrowed, but he continued to ignore his opponent.  A large amount of unfamiliar chakra was fluctuating somewhere in the current area.  He scanned the crowd, glancing at all the faces and quickly eliminated all of them.  It definitely wasn't coming from Daijiro, so there was only one person left.  His eyes settled on his teacher who was still kneeling down, her eyes downcast, gazing at the dirt.  He began to back off slowly.

"Where the hell are you going bastard?" Daijiro slammed his fist into Katsuya's cheek, reveling in the thud the boy's body made against the ground.  He pumped his fists into the air.  "Yatta!  I hit him!  Did you see it?"

Katsuya dragged himself back to his feet.  "You don't feel it, do you idiot?"

TenTen stood to her feet, her brown eyes hardening into an expression of anger.  "I thought I broke up this fight."

Daijiro stumbled back unconsciously, bumping into Katsuya who pushed him away quickly.  "Don't touch me idiot!"

"Ano…TenTen-sensei, I didn't mean to hit you."

She didn't even have to think to form the flickering flame around her right hand.  She brandished it at the boys in warning and then touched it to the ground, setting the grass ablaze.  "This fire doesn't go out unless I want it to." She waved at the grass, dissipating the flames.  "So think about that the next time you want to fight." She nodded in the direction of the building.  "Now get back in class."

The boys nodded and turned to go towards the room, but before they could even take a step in that direction there was a loud thud in the dirt behind them.

A girl's scream at the top of her voice alerted them to what the noise was.  "TENTEN-SENSEI!"

Another crowd gathered outside the Ninja Academy just then, but this time it wasn't for a fight, but around the helpless body of their teacher.