Disclaimer: Characters in this piece of fiction are...NOT MINE! Come on, I know you were surprised.

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Training

Training grounds, Konoha

Neji stood, eyes closed, breathing calm. Centering in his mind his objective for training, he drew the chakra necessary for activating his Byukyugan. Feeling it spread out like ripples in a pond Neji opened his eyes to their fullest extent giving that needed mental push.

"Byukyugan!"

The world went into negative colours, awareness of everything rushing into his mind. Holding his concentration Neji succeeded in finding that centre, that balance that let him see everything without being overwhelmed by it. A chosen filtering of information. He held his position a moment longer before starting the mental rundown of events.

I will stand here my byukyugan activated, Tenten will be somewhere in the trees.

Neji extended his vision into the surrounding trees as if searching for his absent teammate.

She will launch her attack before I can pinpoint her position.

Neji mimed his reaction as imaginary weapons burst out from their hiding places.

I will wait until the right moment and then I will start the spin.

Neji turned slowly on the spot throwing chakra weakly into his practice spin.

And Tenten will be surprised.

Smiling in satisfaction Neji opened his eyes releasing his Byukyugan. The world returned to normal. Neji considered warning Tenten about today's change in training, but decided against it. The point of today's training was to try and catch her off guard.

She was the only living person outside of the Hyuuga Clan who understood so much about the Byukyugan. She who had trained against him for years now. She should be ready for it. He felt confident she would be, she was Tenten.

Neji refused to check the time again. She would not be late, she was never late to meet for training. He was just impatient to test his newly strenghtened Kaiten against her weaponed attacks. Even Hiashi-sama had been pleased at the growth his ultimate defense had shown.

Neji smiled faintly, Tenten would be proud of his growth too. He was proud of his growth. Deeming it useless to continue practicing for his coming training session Neji sat down against a tree, pulling his long hair over his shoulder so it didn't catch on the bark.

Tenten has the right idea with tying her hair up. Neji thought tugging free the tie to comb through his hair with his fingers.

Just grooming his hair took too long, but he was a Hyuuga, and the Hyuuga had standards when it came to personal grooming. Besides, with his hair long he resembled even more strongly his father, and it was soothing to run his hands through his hair. The gentle tug on his scalp, the feel of the silky texture against his own skin. It was one of his favourite memories of his father, the feel of his father's hair brushing against Neji's fingers the few times Hizashi allowed his son a rare moment of physical affection. The feel of his father's long hair brushing against Neji's forehead when he kissed him goodnight.

Taking a sip from his water bottle, Neji tugged on his forehead protector with his free hand. It slipped free and Neji sighed in relief. He scratched at the spot absently, rubbing away the feeling of trapped sweat. He would sometimes leave it uncovered, but only when he was around those who already knew about it. He was trying to learn to live with it, instead of pretending it didn't exist, instead of focusing all his hatred on it. It was carved into his very skin, hating it was the same as hating himself, he'd realised, he had enough things holding him back without adding to them. The curse seal couldn't hold him back, he wouldn't let it.

Naruto had promised that when he was Hokage he would change it. Neji hoped he would, it would be better. Until then, Neji had training to do, strength to acquire, wings to try.

And he felt free today, his current progress with the Kaiten had put him into an unusually good mood. He looked up through the trees watching the sunlight, slowly he closed his eyes running through the training just one last time before she got there. He wanted to have everything perfect.

Tenten will be somewhere in the trees.

For a change he imagined himself beside Tenten. Sometimes he did this, to try and understand his own attacks better. He saw her crouching silently in the trees waiting for him to activate his Byukyugan. Her hand played restlessly with her kunai, a habit he'd been trying to break her of. In his head, he reached out and stilled that bouncing hand willing patience into her. She calmed under his touch and narrowed her eyes looking down on Neji below her. In the clearing Neji stood relaxed, sinking slowly into his meditation phase.

Tenten turned her head minutetly and looked at her traps. In his head he saw again her quick hands deftly tying the trip wires, the seriousness of her face as she prepared herself for the attack. Her eyes returned to Neji, watching from her hiding place. Neji looked down onto his imagined self. He saw the length of his hair, the stance he took, the way the loose light coloured clothing he wore hid muscularity of his body. Everything about him was hidden. Just by looking at him you would think he was doing nothing more than enjoying the sunlight.

But he knew that Tenten knew differently, she could tell the difference between Neji at rest and Neji preparing his Byukyugan. She tensed again and her hand started that annoying jiggling again. Again Neji reached out to calm her. He really did have to speak to her about that. Even in his imagination it was starting to annoy him.

There, somehow Tenten had picked up on the infintesimal signals that indicated the activation of the Byukyugan. She reacted instantly before the extending vision could find her, slicing the control wire for her traps. Springing into action Neji followed her, knowing her movements exactly from the hundreds of times he'd trained against her, the hundreds of times the Byukyugan had revealed her movements to him. The arching leap, the spin, the chakra extending into strings, attaching to her flying weapons.

He knew perfectly the way she could manipulate all those weapons equally, as if she were doing nothing more difficult than handling one. How seemingly without effort she could control all of them with an accuracy that was mindblowing. The way that the weapons would pass you once, only to turn in midair and restrike and restrike, searching for that slip, that momentary weakness. She truely was the perfect training partner for his Byukyugan and the Kaiten.

Eventually she would pause, and signal end. Sometimes she would not stop until one of them was out of chakra, one of them, usually him collaspsing onto the ground panting, feeling the stinging ache that signalled chakra depletion. Tenten could conserve her chakra, keeping him defending with his Kaiten until he couldn't stand. She was the only living person outside the Hyuugas who had practice in that.

Opening his eyes, he tilted his head up looking at the brown haired kunoichi inching head first down the tree trunk, a kunai in her mouth. She frowned in frustration as he gave a superior smirk. A tendril of hair escaped from her habitual buns, leaves and twigs marking the difficult path she'd chosen to try and sneak up on him. Neji reached up and touched the wisp of hair dangling before her eyes. She jerked her head back, baring her teeth around the kunai. Neji could feel the annoyance rolling off her and the way her muscles ached in the awkard position. He smirked again and smoothly stood up. Before Tenten could drop to the ground he took the wisp of hair again and tucked it back into her careful buns, then he pulled out the biggest leaves. Tenten watched him her eyes wide.

Carefully and with the most condescending smile he could muster he patted her on the head and turned away. Tenten's eyes narrowed, Neji could almost hear her blood boil. He didn't know where this sudden desire to best him had come from, but it certainly made training more interesting. He dropped his forehead protector beside the tree and left his hair free for the wind to play with. He really was in an unusually good mood.

"Come Tenten." Was all he said.

It was certainly a good thing he knew her movements so well, he reflected later, or that first kunai would've really hurt.

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Slowly slowly, Neji moves slowly. I'm ripping my hair out, how can he move soooo slowly! Damn characterisation.

As usual let me know if you think I've gone OOC, and let me know where!