Title: Hyuuga Engaged

Chapter: 4 – Of Weapons, Matches and Girls

Author: Rekino

My eyes opened to find Neji giving me a dark glare as he carried me in his arms.

Oops…

That was the first thing that came into mind whilst I sheepishly gave Neji a tiny grin. I hadn't really thought of what else to say, nor think in any case. Considering, he had just saved me from a rather embarrassing death that would have been caused by myself.

So as he carried me, one arm hooked under both of my legs and another balancing me neatly within his hold and that same stern gaze boring into me. Well, I was more than a little ashamed.

Ok, in truth and by the honesty of God, I was secretly praising him. But he shall never know that.

"Nice catch," came my breathy reply. Wait! Did I just say that in a breathy voice? Is that even possible?

… Don't answer that. I doubt the answer would make much sense anyway.

I could feel the air whistle as Neji jumped onto – what I believe, was another section of the roof – undoubtedly unharmed. He held me close and I would have sworn that I heard his heartbeat pulsing through his chest as his grip on me loosened and gradually became gentler.

His face was near my forehead and if I didn't know better, I would say he was trying to kiss me. Or maybe it was just my hyper-active imagination? And for a moment I just wanted this to last, no matter how short this may be for. But it wasn't so. He pulled away just as his lips brushed over my temple. I was praying I wasn't blushing. Gods, what I wouldn't give for him to do it properly this time!

He laid me slowly on the tiles. As if I was something fragile that would have broken at the slightest touch. Neji has a very soft spot, one that both surprises and makes me feel strangely content for some reason. I knew that he would make his wife happy… Oh god. I feel sadly sick now. Damn, that Yuki!

"I trust you won't have any more accidents from this point onwards concerning roofs?" he inquired. I flushed. My heart was beating like a drum and my knees were weak. I was afraid they'd buckle anytime now. Neji seemed to have that effect on me. I wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or not.

"Thanks," I murmured sardonically, not really knowing what else to say.

He didn't reply but gave me a questioning glance. Dumbly, I blinked at him several times. "What?" I frowned. Rarely had he ever looked at me the way he just had. It was quite intimidating considering it was coming from him.

Neji shrugged, not bothering to respond and leapt down onto the ground. I re-enacted his movements – eyeing the weapon-maimed area warily. That was when I noticed the carnage I had dealt upon Neji's innocent abode. A small grin made its way on my features as I looked onwards with satisfaction at my skill.

Turning to face me, Neji ruined my little bubble of emotions by saying– "Don't look so happy. We have to clean it up." My little bubble promptly burst.

I scowled.

The Hyuuga successor began to pick up the fallen items effortlessly. Watching, I saw him slide said-weapons into his hand gracefully. I mentally comprehended how elegant Neji was.

Leaning down to pick up a sickle I unlatched the scroll from my side and winded it up in the air, causing all the weapons to fly up from its designated positions to join the sudden whirlwind that had been created. Dust gusted everywhere. Wind blew in an upward arc. Weapons impaled on the floor shook out from its spots and joined the others. Neji – whose collection of my weapons had flown out of his hand once I started the retraction – watched blandly making no movement attempting to help. Not that I needed any. He didn't even seem to be impressed by my show.

From the corner of my eye, Neji was easily balancing my new kodachi and his katana in one hand.

"Kai!" I called out, and with a pop and puff of smoke all the items disappeared back into the scroll, which I retracted with ease and snapped closed. The whirlwind subsided and the wind died down, returning to its calm self.

"Show off," he deadpanned. I caught the kodachi he had been trying to aim at my head with a growl.

"Hey! Be a little careful with that would you?" I snarled hotly – yes – snarled at him. I was that mad. I mean it was a NEW kodachi. He could at least show some respect to this finely crafted instrument of death. MY finely crafted instrument of– you get my drift.

Neji once told me that at those rare times when I get mad, I act very feline. He also mentioned that when I fight I tend to be graceful and lithe. Like a lynx, he previously said. I think it's because he thinks I act feline in general. I'm pretty sure he heard me purr today when I was clutching my kodachi soundlessly near my heart. Apparently, to him I was a cat in my other life.

The question was… did Hyuuga Neji like cats?

…

Where the hell did that come from? Oh Kami… STOP THINKING LIKE THAT TENTEN!

Neji ignored my little outburst and walked away. My mind was weighing two separate options; the first was to become lost in the complex Hyuuga household if I didn't follow Neji, which honestly scared me. And the second was to swallow my pride and simply tag along. I briefly imagined what it would be like to walk around on my own, however, images of a confused and puzzled me with no direction whatsoever coursed through my mind like flashes of a movie. It deathly frightened me. And especially, I had no desire to walk around and talk to conceited maids or servants, and seriously, this place was huge.

So I dismissed the nagging voice of inner me who was practically screaming, 'HE ALMOST KILLED YOUR KODACHI!' and caught up with Neji who led. Visualize it if I led, then I would never leave for I would never find the exit. Not that that would be a bad thing – seeing how Neji lives here and all…

"Where are we going?" I asked coming to walk at the same pace as he. Our footsteps seemed to echo in the silence of the Hyuuga mansion, resonating eerily. We passed a servant who bowed politely.

"Its sundown, you should return home," Pausing mid-step, I took a look at the sky. Its pastel orange and dark hues casting deep shadows onto the ground.

Neji continued on, and I had to catch up once more. "Are you going to take me home?" rolled my question, which I asked out of pure curiosity. Neji stopped and shifted slightly.

"Do you want me to?" the cool retort.

Instantaneous was my reply. "Yes." I honestly don't know why I just answered that. But I guess having a team mate escort you home has its perks.

He began to take stroll again. "Fine."

"Hey, Neji…"

"What?"

"You owe me another match…" I murmured.

He merely nodded.

We walked for a while, and soon I got weary of the silence. Before when we started together in the same team I had tried to find out what was going on in that head of his. Tried being the keyword as I was unable to read him, something I usually did with precise ease. His character was different. Very unique. I had never encountered anybody with the same personality like Neji's.

He soon did something that surprised me. "Is Lee still fawning over Haruno?" he asked suddenly.

I blinked – once, twice – and shook my head vaguely, knowing that he could see my actions clearly. "Nope, apparently Lee is talking about someone else."

It was easy to tell Neji was curious from the way he spoke, I knew him better than anyone. "Who?" He wondered.

I smirked and tried to not let him see my face, which was useless since he could anyway, when I chuckled out, "Your cousin."

Neji almost froze when he heard me. "Which?" wondering whether it was either Hanabi or Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," I snickered and Neji almost stiffened.

"Are you joking?" he said, pace speeding up. I followed him easily.

I shook my head furiously. "Of course not!" I answered in mock disbelief.

He was silent for a second before answering. "Well let's see if he manages to win over." I could hear the smirk in his voice and I almost laughed out loud over Neji's demonic tendencies. It seemed as if there was a new matchmaker in town. Yes, Neji does have chronic bouts of demonic intentions at times.

Neji and I suddenly came to a halt.

… Why?

You want to know why?

Well…

As we strode among the corridors, a heated conversation about shuriken and its uses spurring about us, a paper door snapped open. With the training instilled within us, we spun around holding our weapons defensively.

Well at least I was holding mine.

Neji seeing as it was his home at all, just looked bored, as if occurrences like these were daily. Which led me to wonder what truly happens here everyday.

I silently – and with a very astounded face– watched as a girl my age threw herself upon Neji, whose look of boredom quickly disappeared having been replaced by the same bewildered expression as me – that didn't consist of a gaping mouth and a twitching brow – but still a surprised Neji nevertheless. Her arms came to wrap around him to give him a very deliberate hug, which resulted in him dropping his katana that he could have used at this moment.

A pleasant shriek of "Neji-kun!" erupted breaking the silence that had fallen right back after this exclamation.

Dimly in my shocked state, I could recall hearing the tweeting of the birds that had flown off at the loud shout. The sun picked its time to set directly behind, causing darkness to befall upon us. Then I noticed – this girl was definitely not Mihito Yuki.

Well, at least the Hyuuga household was never boring.

"Miyabi?" came Neji's less than pleasant voice as he cautiously studied the bundle in his arms. He looked confused between removing said bundle and keeping her there. I briefly pondered why. The girl looked up, dark chestnut hair wafting off her face as she grinned that made her look exceptionally pretty. I think I felt a little stab near my heart. It's not pleasant.

"Neji-kun!" she said, an attractive smile covering her face as her amethyst eyes sparkled, the traditional yellow kimono she wore only serving to enhance her beauty.

I was stunned. I never knew that girls literally threw themselves on Neji.

Neji managed to find his voice, unlike me. "What are you doing here?" I somehow couldn't close my gaping mouth. I also couldn't seem to help that repetitive pricking sensation in my chest. I believe some people call it jealousy. But for that I would have to be jealous, which would mean that I probably liked–

My head hurts.

"Neji-kun's getting married to Yuki-chan! Miyabi came to congratulate Neji-kun!" The way she spoke her name as if she were a pet or an animal was cute, unlike the way Yuki said it. The girl talked fast, her joy radiating in her words and animated expression. She seemed a bit hyped up on sugar though, too hyped.

Neji said, unable to hide his twitch whilst he replied calmly, "Is that so?"

Miyabi broke out in a wide-grin. "Hai! So," she pulled apart from Neji, clasping her hands in front of her and bowing slightly, strands of her from her long braid escaping the style. "Congratulations! Neji-kun!"

The Kaiten user gave a small smile. "Thank you." He relaxed, his posture no longer tense as he regarded the girl in front of him. Simply, I stood by the sidelines. My brain having being overloaded with too much information concerning; Neji, jealousy, the word 'like' and Miyabi. Oh, and don't forget 'Yuki'.

Miyabi stood upright and beamed cheerily. She blinked having noticed my company and tilted her head towards me, inquiring. "Hai?"

It took me a second to comprehend the fact that she was addressing me. I had finally snapped out of shock and was about to respond before Neji beat me to it. "This is Tenten, she's a team-mate and a good friend," I blinked in wonder at Neji's answer.

Good friend?

Woah, who would have ever thought?

Yet for some reason, a pang of mild disappoint welded inside me. I honestly didn't know what I was expecting. Here was my best friend who's engaged and thoughts of kissing him is streaming into my head…

Please erase that last line from your mind, if you will

"Tenten," he turned to me, ivory locking onto ebony, "This is Mito Miyabi, Yuki's brother." I nodded but then stopped.

My mouth suddenly felt dry.

Blinking, I stared at Neji then to Miyabi, whose braided head bobbed enthusiastically, "Brother?" I repeated. I believe I was about to have a seizure or something close to the sort.

The girl/guy smiled mischievously and laced her fingers with one another before saying, "I'm Yuki-chan's brother. Nice to meet you!" Cue beautiful smile.

I don't think one could suffer as much shocks as I and not faint, which I gladly didn't do. Still, it didn't prevent me from wishing I did.

To be continued…

Apologies for the late update. Please don't kill me for this badly written chapter, I did it in thirty minutes --;;. I can understand if it's bad… Thanks to all those who reviewed. There was supposed to be a conversation during their walk, thus the fact that this chapter is extremely short. So yes, you can blame me for being extremely lazy.

Not much Neji and Tenten hints in this chap, I believe there will be more in the next one. And to Aventri-san – I'm so sorry about posting this without your beta-ing! I didn't mean to! But all the reviewers (well most), were screaming at me to continue! (whimpers) Please edit this chapter if you have the chance.

Rekino

P.S. I usually write review replies down here and I'm sorry because now I can't…. There's just too many reviews to reply to! 0.o I apologise if you guys had some questions you wanted me to answer, but you can just e-mail me about them if you like. Thanks for everyone's support. I hope I can write more soon.

Thanks to the following; (in no particular order)

Phoe-chan, angel-an, Gambit Gurl Isis, NEJI+TENTENLOVE4EVER, arimi-yume, cherry arrow, ms-aya-chan, ShenLi, HanaTenshiHimeko, SGL, LightDreamer, Lady Light, hujin, Hosaki, tentenhyuuganeji88, Ayuka-chan, potpourrigrl, Bakutiku, Sakura Uchiha Sasuke, Fwoggie, Bianca, Cyberwing, starry096, boredathome, allyluv, FireDragonBL, sweetlitojulie, Sweartoad with a scythe, anonymous, Eadhn Ohn, Firerra, calla lily, Heh, moonlightpath, harukakanata, Azure, shedevilz, micalilly, WinglessAngel and icekaia.