More than Friends

Summary: Tenten's out to find true love. Tired of hearing her best friend, Hyuga Neji, talk about how easy it is to get a girl. Tenten says she can find someone special before he ever could. Neji doesn't know the first thing about love--all he knows about are hormones. But after weeks of dating misery, both are ready to accept defeat...until Neji suggests they date each other. Do friends really make better partners? Pairings: Nejiten and Sasu/Saku

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Rated: PG

Chapter 8

Basking in the sun at Laker's pond, Ino and Neji lounged on a thick plaid blanket. Neji looked at the water thinking how peaceful and calm it was and how happy he was to be young and in love. Hearing the tinkling sound of female laughter, Neji turned his head. But it wasn't Ino who was laughing, it was Tenten. Her well muscled legs were stretched out in front of her. Without questioning, Neji lay down with his head in her lap, smiling into her sparkling eyes. Slowly, Tenten bent down and brushed her lips across the sensitive skin next to his earlobe. Then her mouth moved to his, and Neji hoisted himself to a sitting position. He increased the pressure of his lips. In the next second, they were hugging, holding each other so tightly that Neji felt as if they were two halves of the same person….

In the middle of kissing Tenten, Neji woke up. His heart was pounding, and beads of sweat were forming at his temples. His world felt as if it had been thrown completely off balance. What just happened? Of course he dreamt of Tenten lots of times in the past but his was different. He was KISSING her. Ino should be the one he should be fantasizing about. She was his girlfriend and he was in love with her. But that kiss with Tenten felt so real. Neji rubbed his eyes and looked to his left. The alarm clock read 1.15 P.M. A little chagrined that he had slept so late, he stumbled into the bathroom to brush his teeth, pushing the thoughts of Tenten out of his mind. Neji splashed ice-cold water on his face, deciding that he should go out and find a game of basketball. Some exercise was exactly what he needed. Everyone knew that dreams didn't mean anything.

"Yup the dream about Tenten meant nothing at all." Neji said to his reflection in the mirror.

"Hey Hyuga, how was the dance?" Sasuke asked on Monday morning.

The boys were in the library meeting about their oral report again. Their topic was on Egyptian Pyramids.

"The band sucked, but I had a good time anyway." Neji answered.

Sasuke lifted one eyebrow. "That's funny, I've seen my brother's band a few times, and I think they're pretty good."

"To each his own." Neji shrugged and opened a textbook. "By the way, I didn't see you at the dance. Where were you?"

As Neji predicted, that remark took Sasuke's mind off Itachi and his stupid band. Sasuke pushed his chair back. "I just remembered that I forgot to return one of my books. Be right back," he replied.

Neji watched Sasuke walked towards the library counter. He wondered what Sasuke was doing when he saw Sakura was at the counter too but she had not noticed that Sasuke was approaching her yet. Neji frowned when Sasuke suddenly U-turned and walked back to his seat. What was wrong with that guy?

"What were you doing." Asked Neji.

"Nothing." Replied Sasuke nonchalantly.

"You call that nothing! You were going to return your book because you saw Sakura there too and then you turned back without returning your book? Please explain!"

Sasuke remained silent as he watched Sakura leave the library. Then he put his head in his hands. "I kissed her and she told me that she liked me," Sasuke muttered under his breath but Neji caught what he was saying.

"What? You kissed Sakura? When? She likes you too?" Neji said a little too loud. People were staring at them now and the librarian was glaring at them.

"Don't shout idiot! I'm not telling you anymore!" said an annoyed Sasuke.

"Alright, Ok I'll be quiet. So when did you kiss her? What happened?" whispered Neji.

"During the dance when I was escaping from those stupid girls. I ran into Sakura. And I kissed her to keep her from screaming. And then she suddenly asked me why I hated her and she said that she likes me. What do I do?" asked Sasuke desperately.

Neji tried to take in what Sasuke had just said. "Wow, that must have taken her a lot of courage. To admit that she likes you. You don't usually feel like that when other girls tell you that they like you. What did you say when she said that she likes you?"

"I didnt answer her and she left."

"Do you like her?"

"No…I mean, I don't know. She's not like other girls. Those girls only like me for my looks. I don't know what to say…" muttered Sasuke.

Neji sighed. This was the first time he had seen Sasuke like that. "As your best friend, I can only say, if one day you realize you do really like her, you have to tell her the truth or you'll regret it your whole life."

Sasuke groaned and buried his face into his hands. Neji decided to leave Sasuke alone and turned back to his book on pyramids. The report was due in a week and he had a lot of reading to do.

"I haven't even been here for a semester, and I'm already friends with the right people," Ino said to Neji on Wednesday afternoon. They were sitting in his car and they had been kissing for about fifteen minutes. Neji felt uncomfortable whenever Ino mentioned her current level of popularity. At first he thought she just wanted to get to know people. But now she seemed obsessed. He had seen her being rude to people who were no in the "in" crowd.

"That's fantastic." Muttered Neji flatly. "Now your life is complete."

"And its all thanks to you! Thank goodness I found you." Said Ino as she flipped her hair over one shoulder and smiled at Neji flirtatiously.

"What do you mean by that?" Neji tried to keep his tone light.

"Well, since everyone likes you, they automatically like me. You're my angel."

Over the past few weeks, Neji had been convincing himself that Ino really loved him and he loved her back. But now, the doubts he's been having are flooding his mind. Ino hadn't shown any interest in getting to know his friends unless they happen to be cheerleaders or athletes. And whenever she told him how much she liked him, the word popularity always followed in the next sentence. Basically, Ino was treating him more like a trophy then a boyfriend. In a flash, Neji was hit with the knowledge that he had forced himself to fall in love with Ino because he wanted to win the bet he made with Tenten. Ino's perky voice broke Neji's thoughts.

"We're the best looking couple in Konoha High, don't you think so?"

Neji nodded in silence and he felt as though his whole world was crumbling around him.

Thursday night, Tenten and Neji were hanging out at the den in her house, watching A night to Remember. Neji felt relaxed and Tenten was staring at the television set in silence, shoving popcorn into her mouth. Althought Neji wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having Tenten rub his nose that he might lose the bet, he still wanted to talk to her about Ino. After all she was his best friend and she was a girl and she knew more about woman then he did.

"Tenten, I think Ino is some sort of a social climber," Neji said as he took a handful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.

"No kidding," Tenten responded, sighing.

"Well, I thought maybe I'm not as much in love with her as I thought."

"Hmmm," said Tenten.

"Tenten, are you listening to me?" Neji asked annoyed and he poked her.

"Do you think that Itachi could still be in love with Mia?" she asked without answering his question.

"Tenten, I just told you that I may not be in love with Ino anymore."

Tenten put down the popcorn and looked at Neji.

"The thing is, this morning during poetry lesson, Mrs Henley called on Itachi to read aloud the poem he wrote."

"So?" Neji said, getting more irritated with Tenten. She seemed to have no interest in what he was saying.

"It was a love poem," Tenten said.

"Please spare me the details. I don't want to know what thatloser had to say to you."

"The poem wasn't about me."

"What?" Neji asked, his curiosity rising.

"The words were all about loss and cruel distance and separation." Tenten bit her lip.

"And?"

"I think he wrote that for Mia which means that he's not in love with me."

"That guy is a sleazebag. You'd be better off if he's still in love with Mia."

Neji suddenly thought that if both of them broke off with their respective partners, then they would be even in terms of the bet. And maybe he might fall in love again before the prom. Anything's possible!

"Itachi is not a sleazebag!" Tenten shouted. "If you say that one more time, I'm going to rip your head apart, just shut up!"

Neji was getting totally fed up with Tenten. She just told him that Itachi was still in love with his ex girlfriend. If that did not qualify as a sleazebag, then what did?

"Fine, what do you want me to say?"

Tenten threw herself face down onto the couch and buried her face into a pillow.

"Neji would you mind taking off? I just want to be alone." Tenten said and she switched off the television and closed her eyes.

Without saying goodbye, Neji stormed out of the house. He just wanted to have a serious conversation with Tenten about Ino and all she cared was herself and that wimp she called a boyfriend. As he sped home, he thought of Ino again. Sure she had a few bad points but who doesn't have problems? Everyone does. At least she would be happy to see him, he thought. Then he made a U-turn and drove to Ino's house.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was bitter and cold, just like Tenten's mood. After school, Tenten found Itachi at his locker with his bandmates. When she got near him, his band mates stopped talking and looked at her.

"Are we still on for tomorrow night?" Tenten asked, putting an arm around his waist. Now with the threat of Mia hanging over her head, she was acting more and more possessive of Itachi and she didn't like herself that way.

"I wouldn't miss it." He answered dropping a kiss on Tenten's head.

"So, I'll see you at eight tomorrow." Tenten walked down the halls, feeling better than before. She thought if Itachi wanted to spend time with Mia, he wouldn't have agreed to come over to her house for dinner. As Sakura had insisted, Tenten was just being paranoid.

On Thursday evening…

Tenten and her mom were setting the table for their traditional turkey dinner.

"So is Neji isn't coming tonight?" Tenten's mom asked.

Tenten shook her head. Neji usually came by their house every major holiday. But this year wasn't the same anymore. Their friendship hadn't been the same since they last quarreled.

"Well, he and Itachi aren't really friends," Tenten said.

"Oh that's too bad. Grandma was really looking forward to seeing him. She says that he always made her laugh." Tenten's mom said.

Tenten shrugged. "Well she should be happy to meet Itachi, I mean he's the one who's my boyfriend."

"I'm sure they will be happy to meet Itachi too, honey. I was just saying that they wanted to see Neji too."

"Maybe at Christmas mom."

When the phone rang, Tenten had a sinking feeling in her stomach. It must have been woman's intuition. She ran to the phone and answered it with trembling hands.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tenten, its me." Said Itachi, his voice as sexy as usual.

"Hi Itachi." Maybe he was just calling to see if he could bring us anything, Tenten thought.

"I'm sorry Tenten, I don't think I can make it to your place tonight."

"That's too bad, are your parents giving you a hard time?" said Tenten trying hard to conceal her disappointment. She looked over at her mom who was pretending not to listen to her conversation.

"Yeah..my grandparent are here and everything. Look, I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, my grandparents are visiting too."

"I'll call you this weekend ok?"

"Sure." As Tenten hung up the phone, she braced herself for her mom's comments. She probably would say that Neji never canceled out on her before. However, none came.

"Dinner's ready," was all she said. Tenten took her seat and sliced a pile of turkey for herself. That poor turkey wasn't in any better shape than she was. Suddenly, she lost her appetite.

When the doorbell rang, Tenten jumped up from the table and raced out to the front door. Maybe Itachi could make it after all and wanted to surprise her! And maybe he had a bouquet of flowers ready for her! Tenten pulled open the door excitedly. But she found Neji standing at her door step holding a pumpkin pie instead.

"Special delivery for the family," he said cheerily, stepping inside.

Tenten impulsively ran up to him and gave him a hug. She had forgotten that she could always count on Neji to improve her mood.

"Shouldn't you be taking your mom's homemade pie to Ino's house?" Tenten asked.

"She went home to see her friends and relatives. Besides, you don't think I'd let a tradition slide, do you?" Neji said and headed for the dining room.

"Hyuga Neji!" Tenten heard her grandmother exclaim. "Is it snowing outside?"

Neji walked towards her and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "It just started this very minute. Mother nature must have known you all were coming to town."

"You kids!" she said. "I'm glad you came over. Tenten had been mopping around."

Neji looked at Tenten and raised his eyebrows. Tenten shrugged.

"Well, don't just stand there, go get yourself a plate!" said Tenten's father. All of a sudden, Tenten's appetite came back and pumpkin pie sounded like a perfect remedy for her case of blues.

"Let's go for a walk in the snow," Neji suggested to Tenten after dinner.

Everyone was sitting around the fireplace in the den. Tenten's grandparents were dozing in their armchairs and her dad looked like he was about to follow suit. Ouside, snow was falling heavily.

"Go enjoy yourselves, kids," said Tenten's mom.

"Yeah, I could use some exercise after all that food." Replied Tenten and she headed to the door.

Neji followed her out to the front hall and rummaged through a basket where Tenten kept an assorted range of hats. Neji pulled out an old green and gold polka dot hat with a pom pom onit and stuck it onto Tenten's head.

"I'm not wearing that! People will get a heart attack if they see me!"

Neji ignored her protest and said, "If you wear that, I'll wear this!" He took out a bright pink hat with feathers.

Tenten giggled. "Now that's an offer I cant refuse! Let's so scare the neighbors."

Neji pulled the front door shut behind them and walked across the lawn, kicking up the snow as they went. For several minutes, neither of them spoke. The snow was coming down heavily. Tenten stuck out her tongue and tried to catch a snowflake while Neji was trying to make as many footprints as he could in the snow.

"Maybewe should have called Sakura and Sasuke," Tenten said to break the silence.

"If Sasuke knew Sakura is coming, he probably wouldn't want to come over. I think he's secretly spending his night mooning over Sakura."

"Jeez, both of them… Why doesn't he ask her out already? Sakura already made the first move, you know?" asked Tenten. "What's he thinking anyway?" she added.

"He said that he didn't want to tie himself down and break the hearts of a million girls. But my guess is he's scared to admit he likes her and afraid that she will make a fool out of him and reject him in front of everyone."

"Sakura's not like that. I can see that she really likes him." Said Tenten. "Sasuke should do something about that before he regrets it."

"Would you rather be with Itachi?" Neji asked suddenly.

Tenten didn't answer right away. In the last hour and a half, She had completely took her mind of Itachi and how he broke the date. Being with Neji seemed like the perfect way to enjoy the snow and the festive feeling in the air.

"No, I'm glad to be with you," Tenten said finally. "Why? Are you pining away for Ino?"

Neji scooped up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball. "Nah, Ino's not much fun to throw snowballs at!"

As Neji's snowball hit Tenten squarely in the face, she squealed loudly and knelt down to scoop as much snow as she could and ran over to where Neji was. She dumped all the snow down his back.

He screamed and shouted, "This calls for war!"

For the next twenty minutes or so, they acted like complete lunatics, throwing snowballs and tackling each other to the ground. Tenten was laughing so hard that her stomach ached. Finally, they collapsed next to each other on the ground.

"That felt good but I think its time to seek shelter." Said Tenten.

"First, let's make snow angel," Neji suggested. "I haven't done this for years." Neji lay back and started flapping his arms and legs.

Tenten followed suit and they both stood up to inspect the results.

"Not bad!"

"Yeah, not bad at all!" Neji agreed. "Now let's seek shelter. We need some hot chocolate!"

Minutes later, Neji and Tenten were both back at Tenten's house and changing into warm clothes. Everyone else was asleep and they tiptoed to the den with their hot chocolate. Out of nowhere, Neji let out a deep sigh.

"What was that for?" Tenten asked.

"I don't know. I was just thinking that tonight really is the perfect night for romance."

Tenten stared into the fire and wondered if Itachi and Mia were somewhere else snuggling in each other's arms. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

When Neji turned to her, his eyes looked almost white. He inched close to her on the couch. Tenten's heart started beating quickly and she felt the same confused emotions that she had experienced during the homecoming dance.

"You know that song?" he asked quietly.

Tenten shook her head, unable to tear her eyes away from his. "What song?"

"If you cant be with the one you love…"

"Love the one you're with," Tenten finished. Her gaze dropped to Neji's red lips and she felt mesmerized by his closeness.

Neji put one hand behind her head and gently pulled her closer. Tenten closed her eyes, willing to let his lips touch hers. As soon as she felt his kiss, a liquid fire spread through her. Without thinking, she clutched at the fabric of his shirt, not wanting to let him go. The fireworks she had been hoping with Itachi finally went off in her head. She felt alive and burning.

A moment later, Neji pulled away. As soon as the kiss was over, Tenten felt a wave of humiliation swept over her. Had she done that? Had she just kissed Neji, her best friend in the whole world? A million questions raced through her head and she was speechless.

"Wow, I don't know if that was such a good idea." Neji said, raking his fingers through his hair.

Tenten was quickly replaced with anger. "Why did you do that!" she hissed.

"What do you mean me? You were here too."

Tenten balled her hands into a fist. "It was your idea! Don't deny it!" Tenten was trying to keep her voice down but she felt like screaming.

Neji glared at her. "Well, this was obviously a very, very bad idea."

"You just can't stand the fact that there's one girl in this place who doesn't want to go out with you!"

"Don't flatter yourself Tenten. It'll never happen again."

"Good!" Tenten crossed her arms.

"Good!" Neji said, standing up. "Tell your dad thanks for the clothes, I'll return them as soon as possible."

Neji walked towards the front hall. "And give your grandparents my regard," he said.

Then he stepped out into the snowy night and Tenten slammed the door behind him. She didn't care if she woke up the whole house. The day was the worst day in her life and all she wanted to do now was to curl up in bed and cry herself to sleep.

As she stumbled into her room, the tears she had been holding fell freely down her cheeks. Once again, she had gone and made a big fat mistake of her life.

Thanks to everyone who read and review! I appreciate that! Sorry for the lack of Sasu/Saku in this chapter. I will make it up probably next chapter or the one after next.