Disclaimer: I do not have Naruto in my arsenal of 'own'!

Is it I, or are these day so long…

Five in the late afternoon was not a great time to set out for a mission. Usually people would prefer the dead of midnight, or the brink of dawn. But those options were for the regular 'covering distance' or 'stealth' missions. Not that this one wasn't the same. No. This one was the usual cover the distance and all the sneaking around thingamajig. Yet there was also another one about. It was call 'find, kill, destroy'.

Usually he would put the killing and destroying to the other Jounins. He wasn't the type to kill, yet. He was a ninja, not a murderer. True, ninja was Japanese for assassin, but Neji always tried to overlook that fact. Stained by the guilt of death he might be, but those situations didn't give him much of a choice. It was the 'either kill, or be killed'.

The mission was one to Water Country, a truly dangerous venture. There had been a number of killings reported there, all who were Fire Country residence. Neji's mission: Find the killer, and if possible, kill him or her. If it was an unknown organization, then report back a quickly as he could. A bit of a strange request really. Usually they would do a lot of things to find out the real cause. Why so hasty?

So now after several attempts of pathetic attempts of assassination, detours, and rough grounds, Neji was now enjoying, or trying to enjoy a cup of green tea.

"Would you like some more tea, sir?" A waitress came up to him and politely asked.

"That would be greatly appreciated." Neji answered back. The waitress seemed to blush a light red as she carefully poured Neji some more tea, not spilling even a tiny drop. Neji, of course, noticed that and took no heed. He had enough of that stuff when he was little, but he could still coop with that right now.

"You are from somewhere else, aren't you?" She asked shyly. Neji was quite amused now. How did she know? Oh yeah, duh. People in Wave dressed completely different than he did. A bad move. At least his eyes were hidden behind shades, courtesy of seeing Shino wearing them every single day of his life. At least his ties to the Hyuuga clan were hidden. For now at least… "Visiting, eh?"

"Very good." Neji smirked. Careful there, Hyuuga. Everyone's a suspect. And this girl knows more than a regular waitress is suppose to… Regular waitresses are supposed to just serve tea and, and go away.

The waitress blushed some more, clearly pleased by Neji's comment. "Why, thank you." She thanked him. More blushing. Neji was getting sick of red these days.

"Hey! Waitress! Over here!" Oh, did I mention it was the local bar? Well, that's where most people think of first when trying to collect information. (Eavesdropping really) No one would be much help in a fancy restaurant. Besides, they cost a bundle of cash, which Neji did not posses. Always travel as light as possible, just in case someone steals all you have. (Though we know that would never happen to Neji.)

The waitress shot him a remorseful look, clearly not wanting to leave him, but nonetheless, preceded to the next table. But not before whispering a warning in Neji's ear.

"I know why and what you you're doing here. Be careful, and leave here at once. Do not touch your drink." She whispered quickly to him before heading off.

Something was wrong. What that waitress just uttered… Something was wrong. Neji look at his tea, which sat in front of him like any ordinary tea would do. Neji looked closer. Sleep powder. Another attempt. Tch.

He got up, and briskly proceeded to the door. Just as he had expected, two huge thugs blocked it, and the rest of them got up and drew whatever weapon they possessed. Neji knew his mistake as soon as the waitress had told him she knew he was not from around here, and he knew he had sunk deeper into that tomb of quicksand when she told him to leave at once. An ambush. How could he have been so foolish?

Getting sloppy, Hyuuga. You should have seen this coming. Curses. Guess there's no other way out of this than to fight…

"Where do you think you're going?" One of the bigger characters grunted.

"Just get out of my way." Neji snapped. He stole a glance at the waitress, who drew several kunais. Great, even she was in on this. To think I actually trusted her. Why is this a solo mission? Why couldn't Lee be here to protest we go a little further?

"Get him!" The leader, whom Neji just snapped and shouted at ordered, and in an instant, everyone began attacking him.

"Byakugan!" He muttered, swiftly performing all the necessary seals. Lucky for him, these fools were all muscle, no brains, and in no time, they were all lying on the ground in a heap. He wasn't really worried about them; it was just the waitress he was worried about. Apparently, her brains were still very much in tact.

"I don't know who you are, but get out of Water Country. We don't want anything to do with you!" She yelled at him from behind as she flung several kunais at his back. Lucky he was a Hyuuga as he easily dodged them all, except for one that hit him square in his blind angle.

This girl's no ordinary waitress. No ordinary waitress could throw it that accurately, at me blind angle. Then again, no ordinary person could.

"Hey! How could you-" She gasped bewildered at how Neji was able to dodge without looking, even though he did take one hit.

Neji wrenched the kunai out of his back. How could she hit him? At his blind angle, his only disadvantage. No ordinary waitress or let alone any ordinary ninja could hit like that. The only people who actually knew were Lee, Gai, TenTen, the Hyuuga clan, and the person whose name he didn't even want to think about whom he had killed.

"How could you dodge those?!" She gasped.

"Secret." Neji told her in a cocky way. He was in no mood to fight a girl, let a lone even have anything to even do with her. He didn't hit girls, even ones that were about to try and kill him. "Sorry, but I don't do girls." And he disappeared, well, genjutsu only, but that's beside the point.

The waitress looked at where he had disappeared to and shot another kunai in that direction, revealing Neji.

"Hey, you ruined my exit." He muttered, catching the kunai in his hand. Clearly he was not enjoying this. Not only did he completely blow his cover, he was meddling with a little girl. Okay, so she was around his age, but to Neji, everyone was little in someway.

"Speaking the obvious." She sneered, and shot another kunai at his heart. Neji easily dodged, only to have it come back and hit him in the back again.

"Strings?" He observed as he wrenched that one out of his blind spot again. Who was this person?

"What, you think you're the only one with actual brains in tact?" She smiled sweetly, yet in a dead dangerous way.

I can't risk using anything that might blow my cover even more. Looks like I'll have to retreat in another way other that disappearing in a ball of smoke or some other cheap stuff…

More blows were exchanged, Neji getting hit in his stupid blind spot every-so-often. The waitress, or whomever she was preferred to stay in one place. Well, seeing she had a dress on, she didn't exactly wanted to consider moving at rapid pastes an option.

Man what am I doing these days? Neji thought. He had an idea, a very, very, very stupid and Lee-ish idea. Kind of…

"Here." He said as he took her hand and put a few coins in.

"What? You and I are supposed to be trying to kill each other!" She screamed. "And you're giving me money?!"

"For the tea. And since I paid, I'll be going…" Neji told her and departed. The waitress made no move to kill him. In fact, she was gone…

She's vaguely familiar in a way… Stop these thought and concentrate, Neji. Why am I talking to myself?

It was night now as Neji proceeded on. He had left at five o' clock, took him nearly a day to get there, and here he was, cover completely exposed and facing a country to whom he was sure didn't want him meddling with their affairs.

I could go back, but then I'd fail the mission, or I could go on and possibly get myself killed. What am I thinking? Why is humor puncturing its way into me? Naruto…

-X-

"Hokage-Sama, I just don't understand why you sent Neji alone on such a dangerous and rash mission like that!" Lee exclaimed to Sakura. Naruto was taking a break on persuading her and was currently eating Ramen at the Ramen bar. "You should have at least sent me with him! Or someone else at that matter!"

"Lee, I sent him on a mission to find an old friend of mine." Sakura told him patiently.

"Hokage-Sama, you sent him on a mission to Water country to find and kill some assassin!!!" Lee exclaimed. He was over that whole Sakura thing, so he had dared to argue with her, even if she was Hokage.

"Lee, Lee, Lee, I have that mission…" She reached for one of the many scrolls by her. "Right… Oh my gosh…" She whispered the last part. Lee had seen what was wrong. The mission written on that scroll was the one that she had told him about. The one about finding an old friend of hers.

"D-Does that mean…" Lee stuttered.

"Oh! What did I do?!"