Chapter 2

The one thing that made Tenten so mad was during one of their trainings. They were facing each other, ready to fight.

"I'll make you pay for ruining my hair for the 100th time." Tenten told him. She smirked at him.

" Seems to me that you're amused at what I do to you…" Neji replied with a vacant look at his face.

"Ah, Neji. Totally out of character. Looking at you just now, if I didn't know better, I would say that you never did those things." She said, still holding her smile with difficulty. Her face flushed in frustration. He never felt an ounce of remorse in him. "It's not just about the hair, you know. It's the humiliation." Her smile turned into a scowl.

"I know you're better than me at those things. Even if I'm as vigilant as I can be, I can never detect any of those traps that you set up." She continued. "Where did you learn them anyway?"

"From Kiba. Under the guidance of Shikamaru and Naruto." He still held that impassive look on his face.

She nodded. She continued to eye him closely. He's amused. He likes where this conversation is going. She knows him for so long that even if he wears that vacant look on his face, she knows partly of what he is thinking.

"Why are you doing this? Why turn me into laughing stock?" The frustration in her voice is rising slowly. She gripped the kunai tighter.

"What?" He said coolly as if he'd done nothing wide of the mark. "Can't you take a joke?"

Those last words were all that she can bare to hear. That's the last straw.

Several kunais flew from somewhere behind her going straight for her. Neji stared in alarm. She's not even moving she just stared at him; she is aware that the kunais are going straight at her. All 100 of them.

"G-Get out of the way!" He screamed at her. He tried to run to block her from the kunais but it was too late. They landed on her back. Then she became a log.

Bunshin. He smiled. With one sweep of his kunai, he blocked the other oncoming kunais.

"Byakugan!" There straight ahead, about less than fifty trees from him, was the real Tenten. Her face was stoic, void of any emotion. Somewhere behind him, a hundred katanas flew towards him. To his left came a hundred shurikens, and to his right were a hundred poison tipped needles.

"Hakkesho Kaiten!" He spinned, formed a dome-shaped barrier, and deflected all the weapons, even the weapons that went for his blind spot. As he stopped spinning, he saw Tenten starting conjure another set of weapons. She's emotional right now, she's mad at him. Even if her face doesn't show it, he knows she's frustrated, very frustrated. This made him smile. But even if that's the case her accuracy is still that high, no doubt about it. At least we had the chance to talk.

She formed hand seals and tried to conjure flying discs, a hundred flying discs. She saw him jumped from tree to tree towards her. You're not getting near me. No you're not… The discs formed around of her. She waited for him.

He jumped from tree to tree to where her location is. Darn. Too late. He saw hundreds of flying discs around of her. She's waiting for him to come closer. Some of the edges of the discs touched the others' edges and caused sparks to fly because of friction. He stopped at a tree branch for a while. Think. Think. Think. She hasn't attacked yet. He then jumped down from the tree.

Now where did he go? She shook her head, and set the discs off into several directions. You're not getting away just like that. Then she saw a dome barrier on the ground northeast of where she's at. She set off several of the discs near her to go just beneath the surface and slice their way towards him. I'll attack him from underneath. She thought her attack went successful. But when she saw a cloud of smoke puffed from where the dome is… Bunshin.

He saw her attack his replication from underneath. He managed to run under the tree where she is standing. She won't let any of her weapons near this tree. When the replication turned back into a log, he jumped up in front of her.

"Miss me?" He smirked. In the blink of an eye, he left her no time to retaliate.

"Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" He hit all her chakra channels and stopped the flow. The discs vanished. Her body wobbled and started to fall but he caught her just in time.

"N-Nice m-move…" She sighed. "Great tactic…Seems spending time with Shikamaru paid off eh?"

He nodded.

"But I still hate you."

"You can still fight me. Hand to hand." He suggested. "Vent out all the frustration."

She tried to stand so he helped her. She then jumped back to another tree. She eyed him closely, determined to beat him. Then she went straight at him.

He only stood there and waited for her to attack him. She's fast. Even if she's a long range fighter, she still knows more than enough taijutsus to survive. But he's still better than him. He's a genius right? At first he only dodged the kicks and the punches, and then it got boring for him. Time to have some fun again…

"My turn…" he told her. He threw punches at her, short, fast ones. He's faster than her and the only thing that she can do for now was to dodge and block. But some of his punches still got through and landed at her chest, her stomach, and her thighs. Surprisingly, the punches are quite light. Too light. What is he up to?

He concentrated a small amount of charka in both hands. He's going to use Juuken…in a different way. He threw her fake punches at first then with a sleight of hand he made tiny grazes and rips to her top and pedal pants. When he had done enough scratching, he jumped back suddenly.

"What are you up to?" She asked in between breaths. "You're playing games again, aren't you?"

He panted. He pretended to look tired. "Sorry…Used up…most of my charka…to deflect all your weapons…"

She shook her head. "Not true." She replied. "I know you, Hyuuga. What are you up to!"

"…"

Then she went for him, ready for another attack. 4…3…2…1….He counted.

A ripping sound came, and then he heard her scream. She's now standing at the same branch as he is. Her arms are around her, covering her breasts. Apparently, he got her bra cut off too. She had grown into a damn fine woman. Juicy… He read what was written in her small bikini and smiled to himself.

"You son of bitch!" She was shaking in anger and embarrassment. It was a good thing that they were the only ones in this part of the woods. He almost stripped her naked. Her favorite bra was destroyed. And now here she is, standing in front of her team mate, wearing only a bikini that says 'Juicy'. Her face blushed to its most red, due to anger, due to humiliation. She collapsed on the branch, not taking her arms off her chest. Her body shook. Tears welled up in her eyes. Why is she feeling this way? Why is she so humiliated to him more than to anyone? No. It wasn't that. She was so disappointed in him. She wanted to gain his respect just as she had a high respect for him way back in their Genin days… But look at what he did.

He froze when she saw her cry. She's not weeping or sobbing like a baby but her body is shaking. She just let the tears fall off her eyes. Her eyes, they're filled with frustration, with heartbreak, with humiliation. She turned her back on him. One more stupid little joke from him was all that she could take and still he pushed her. He went for his bag and took his white robe out. He approached her and wrapped the robe around her shoulders. She got up and didn't say a word. She tied the robe around her waist and then faced him. Their faces were so close together they can feel each other's breaths. He saw her red puffy eyes and looked straight into them.

"Don't ever come near me again. Don't ever talk to me again. You. Me. We're through." She turned around. Then she jumped off and went to the direction of Konoha. She left him there standing, unable to move, unable to speak. Guilt. So much guilt. For the first time he wanted to cry. We're through. Those were the only words that kept playing all over his head.

Tenten did not speak to him since then, even before his departure for the A-rank mission. He is 50 sure that he won't make it alive in this mission. He can't even concentrate when he did some house chores. Everyone bid him good luck, break a leg, God bless, etc. Tenten only stayed behind everyone else, watching him when he's not looking. He tried to make eye contact with her but she won't look at him. It's as if she was too embarrassed to face him. Her only reason for going there was to see him go. When everyone left, she approached him. He felt excited inside. Will he talk to her? He would definitely apologize; hell, he would kneel in front of her just so she could forgive him.

"Tenten I…." He started.

She shook her head. Her eyes remained on the ground. Then she handed him a small package. "Your robe…Thanks." He accepted. She bowed to him and tried to leave but he held her back. She stopped.

"Take care." She said without looking at him. She struggled from his grip. Finally he let her go. He watched her ran towards the village. She didn't look back.