Author's note: Thanks to all my lovely reviewers. Hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Then there was you

Summary: Neji and Tenten are the Romeo and Juliet of the Business world.
Childhood friends with rival fathers, they meet years later, to find themselves in the middle of a corporate face-off with one another.

Rated: PG

Chapter 4

A cold and bright Christmas morning greeted Tenten as the radiant rays of the sunlight shone through the half-closed curtains. Sunlight fell on Tenten's face and it caused her to glow beautifully. Soon, Tenten stirred under the comfortable blankets and opened her eyes slowly. A smile danced upon her lips as the memory of last night's party came directly into her mind. Her long, slender fingers reached out for her alarm clock by her bed and she glanced at the time. It was early for a Christmas morning, after all she was used to lazing in bed till her mother came and tempted her with the glorious food that awaited her once she got out of bed. After checking out the time, her fingers returned to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. Tenten sat up and threw the covers over her body; she did a long stretch which was accompanied by an equally long yawn. Boy was she exhausted. But she was never too tired to present the Christmas gifts to Ino and Sakura.

After washing up, Tenten changed out of her pajamas into something presentable enough to walk around the campus with. She grabbed Ino's and Sakura's gifts and walked towards the door. But just then, she remembered that it was always better to carry some sweets and candies along with her, just in case she met some friends who were not as close. It would not be nice to walk away from someone whom she knew without giving something to the person. And this rule applies that day, Christmas Day! After pondering for a few seconds, she stuffed some candies and small gifts that she bought for that purpose into her bag. Then, immediately after she locked her door and was on the way to the main corridor, which led to Ino's room, she walked into someone. Tenten was her usual apologetic self and apologized to the person without looking up. Just as she was about to leave, the person, whom she collided with, said something.

"Tenten, glad to see you up early!" the person certainly owned a very cheerful voice. Tenten turned around and saw that Uchiha Itachi was standing right in front of her. She was speechless. What was he doing her in the girls' dormitory early in the morning? Seeing her surprised look, Itachi quickly answered to her thought. The reason was that he persuaded the charge to let him in, as he wanted to give a Christmas present to his girlfriend.

Tenten's mind screamed "He has a girlfriend! Then what was he doing with me last night?"

Then again, just as if Itachi could read her thoughts, he said softly "I lied about the girlfriend thing. I just wanted to get through so as to pass you something which is none other than this." He then presented a beautifully wrapped box to Tenten and urged her to open it. Tenten who was silent throughout the whole thing was certainly and absolutely surprised at the tricks that Itachi had up his sleeve.

Tenten did as she was told obediently and to her amazement, the most beautiful piece of jewelry was found in the box. An exquisite silver necklace with a heart shaped pendant sparkled in Tenten's eyes. On the pendent was an engraving in pink. It read "Amour, Merry Christmas". Tenten was astonished!

"Didn't Amour mean my love? What was he hinting at? " she thought. Immediately, Tenten found the motive to talk.

She exclaimed, "Itachi, this is beautiful but I cannot accept this! It is too special to be given to me!"

With this, she hurriedly placed the box and its contents into his hand. Itachi looked disappointed and hurt, his charming smile took a plunge and he wasn't smiling anymore. Tenten saw this but she was adamant about her decision. She knew it was expensive and too romantic to treat it as a gift for platonic friends. Even though Uchiha Itachi was from a more than well- to-do family, she simply did not want to take advantage of his generosity. Tenten quickly thanked him for his kind act and amusingly left him some candies in the open palm that held the opened box. She felt the need to be nice every time he was around. Tenten then took this chance while he was still in shock and left him quietly at the corridor, briskly walking to Ino's room.

Itachi was truly in the state of dejection, he was sad. But he silently swore that he would win Tenten's love. Maybe it was because he was moving too fast on her. After last night he had fallen completely in love with her and he wanted to make his feelings known. But he did not quite know how, he had to go one step at a time. This time, he had to do it right. He could not stand feeling miserable over his beloved.

Tenten soon reached Ino's room and was had all sorts of feelings. It was obvious that Uchiha Itachi was interested in her and it was part of the wooing process. But she just felt that he was moving at a rather fast pace. Besides, she swore that she would not be in love with Itachi. He proved himself a dear friend and a friend worth keeping. She would not want to risk what they have as friends because of her rejection. Now, she feared that she had already hurt him badly. Oh! She simply felt horrible. Tenten had to pour everything out to Ino and Sakura. In the mist of her busy thoughts, just when she was about to knock on the door, Ino opened the door. And she was pleased to see that Sakura was in Ino's room too. At the soothing sight of her best friends, Tenten wasted no time in throwing herself at her dear friends.

"Ino! Sakura! I feel so Arrgh….. ! I can't describe this feeling!" Tenten cried. Both girls hugged her back and brought Tenten into the room. It took a while for Tenten to calm down and all this while she was silently moaning over the incident with her head lying in the crook of Ino's neck. Sakura was comforting her by stroking her long, brown hair.

Finally, Tenten decided to talk. She sat up and spoke softly; she then described the incident vividly and with her hands, animating the movements. Ino and Sakura looked on with concern and also with amusement as Tenten did look adorable when she was flustered. Soon, the description was over and Ino immediately laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Tenten asked furiously.

"Yeah Ino! Its not funny! This could get serious!" Sakura scolded.

"I cannot believe that such an encounter can be so amusing to you! This is serious. I am not a player and I really don't want to lead him on. But then again it is really flattering to have such a guy wooing me." moaned Tenten

She then sat up straight suddenly, scaring Ino by her sudden seriousness.

"No, no, no. Stop Tenten. Stop harboring such awful thoughts!" She muttered to herself. She then shook her head roughly and looked at Ino and Sakura.

"So…. What should I do?" Tenten asked her friends. Ino pretended to be in serious thought.

"Well if you do not like him in that way then just act normally and if he gets too close for comfort…, then I guess you will have to let him know that you wish for the both of you to be good friends." suggested Sakura.

Upon hearing that, Tenten wrinkled her nose. She shook her head.

"But wouldn't that be awfully terrible by not letting him know my real feelings in the first place. I would be intentionally giving him the wrong idea that I wanted us to get to know each other better?"

Ino got off the bed and stood in front of Tenten.

"Look my dear girl, you have to keep your options open. Things change, people change and feelings change. Somehow, I sense that there is someone holding you back. But whoever this guy is, normal girls do not simply turn down eligible men so quickly just because they don't feel right. They test the waters first. Anyway, you have not got to know him better yet. Who knows? He might be even better then the guy who is subconsciously holding you back."

Tenten blushed deeply and the only face that her mind saw was that of Hyuga Neji.

She sighed and brushed his face out of her thoughts and remembered what she was here for. She presented her gifts to Ino and Sakura. They thanked her and started dragging her out of the room with Ino's hands covering Tenten's eyes.

"Hey…" Tenten protested.

"Tenten, we got a surprise for you!" said Ino excitedly.

The girls then brought Tenten to a small decorated room at the other end of the dormitory. Tenten squirmed in anticipation and was speechless at the sight in front of her. Her jaw dropped. A large, colorfully wrapped package on the coffee table was in front of her. Even more interesting was the small birthday cake it sat beside, on which the words Happy 18th Birthday were carefully written in pale pink frosting, glowing in the light of the eighteen candles that barely managed to fit onto the cake's round surface. Across from her was a table filled with sumptuous food.

"OH MY GOD! How did you guys know!" Tenten squealed.

Ino grinned and said, "We just found out yesterday! Remember while we're dressing up for the party in your room? I saw your calendar and yeah, you knowthe rest…Why didn't you tell us!"

"Oh, you guys are my angels! Well, I didn't think my birthday was that important…"

"Don't say that! Of course it's important!" said Sakura.

"Oh THANK you soooo much! I love you guys! You're the best!" With that, Tenten lunged herself at her friends and hugged both of them. At that moment, she felt so fortunate and content that she managed to find such good friends that all previous thoughts of a certain black haired, lilac eyed man left her mind.

One year later…

"Tenten, would you be kind enough to share with the class your winning business strategy that was used by Microsoft?"

Tenten stood up and smiled in acceptance at her Professor. She quickly got into the motion of things and explained the technique that she thought of and answered students' enquires.

True to her ambition, Tenten worked really hard and diligently during her freshman year. She became known for her quick thinking and ability to point out flaws in business plans. In Harvard, her professors loved her because they could always depend on Tenten to make lectures interesting and it helped as well that she was a crowd puller. Her good looks and fame was the reason why twice as many male students signed up for the business class. Suddenly, business class was the place to be.

In sophomore year, all business students were supposed to go for internships. The popular ones those students headed for or were the ones by Kenji and Hyuga Cooperation. Although Tenten automatically qualified for any type of internship, she chose neither. Since it was family business, she knew everything at the back of her hand. She was not being complacent but she decided that since she was going to be working at the company sooner or later, she'll rather use the time to pursue something that she always wanted to do. She decided to forgo her internship and take up a short course in law. An exchange program at New York University appealed to her.

First of all, it offered a breath of fresh air from Boston and of course she could have some quality time to herself for six months, without her father breathing down her neck and of course a nice break from her major. There was no doubt that she enjoyed her major but she always remembered her first love and her favorite city.

Raring to go, she needed to keep her parents in the dark first. She informed her parents that she was going on a road trip. Surprisingly, her father gave his approval and even told her to enjoy herself. It was unbelievable! She could hardly believe it but what the heck... It was good for her anyway.

When the time came for her to go, Ino and Sakura held her arm tightly, not wanting her to leave them.

"Oh Tenten , do you have to go? Please stay!" sobbed Sakura.

Tenten felt really bad when she saw her best friends in tears but she had to make a decision.

"I'm sorry both of you. But I really have to go. This is my dream and once in a lifetime chance. I will never have this chance again when I start working at my dad's company. I'm sorry…" said Tenten as gently as she could.

"Oh, we understand, Tenten. Sorry for being crybabies, we didn't mean to make you feel bad. Do take care. We'll miss you. Call us if you need anything. Email us and tell us all about it." Ino said sadly.

"Girls, you have to let go of my arm before I can go." Tenten giggled in between sobs.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Ino, you on the other hand have to contend with bimbotic interns who have nothing on their minds except to be the wife of Hyuga Neji. I worry about you actually. But hang on, heck no! You have Shikamaru doing this internship with you." Tenten suddenly recalled. Ino blushed at the mention of her boyfriend's name.

Tenten continued, "Remember Ino, if you do get the chance to meet Neji, you have to call me immediately and tell me about what he's like. I just wonder whether Neji is the same dear friend I had." Tenten sighed wistfully.

"You know, all you have to do is just call him, or just go to one of those gala functions that Hyuga Corp always holds and then you can see for yourself." Ino pointed out. Tenten gave her a look.

"Oh ok, I know, I know, you're afraid that your Dad will find out and wage war against the Hyugas and all that blah blah.. stuff." Said Ino.

"Oh come on Ino, you know it is more than that, a friendship between me and Neji right now is just not in both our best interests. Rival companies' executives "best friends"? Such news will totally cause the Stock Exchange to go into limbo."

Then at that moment, they both sighed and burst out laughing.

"Well, just take good care of yourself ok? And I hope you enjoy yourself there." added Sakura.

"Sakura darling, I will, you take care too and good luck to you and Sasuke!" Tenten replied teasingly.

Sakura playfully whacked Tenten and hugged her. After hugging fiercely, Tenten took her luggage and headed to the Airport. She couldn't wait to be in the Big Apple!

I've fast forward the girl's time in Harvard a bit cuz it would be too boring to go through the whole 4 years in college. Sorry for the lack of Neji/Tenten action in this chapter. Next chapter would be the months in New York City and then they finally meet! Yay! Goodbye for now:)