Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto… If I did, romance will be sparkling somewhere over there. I love 'love'!

o-x-o

Chapter 5

Was This For REAL?

o-x-o

"You want me to do that?" Sakura asked, her eyes widened in shock. "But I can't. I don't think Sasuke will like it too. Are you sure, Shikamaru?"

"Deadly sure."

The pink-haired medic sighed heavily. "If I do this, would it help them?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Spare me." He told her, "If you didn't do this, she will tell Temari about the day after I met her in the markets."

Sakura's eyes widened again. "What happened then?"

"Nothing worth to be shared." Shikamaru said darkly. "Now is it a yes or a no?"

"I better ask Sasuke-kun first."

"I have. He is also involved."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, and he told me to tell you that you shouldn't get mad and accept because this is..." Shikamaru smirked, "... Interesting. Or so he says."

Sakura slapped her forehead. "I'm in." She said energetically. "As long as Sasuke-kun's in, count me in."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said, "Then goodbye. You already know what to do and when to, right?"

"Yep."

"Cool."

o-x-o

Tenten walked out of the bath house, her face fresh and she seemed satisfied. She saw Shikamaru waiting for her on the side of the bridge. She waved and ran to him.

"Well?" she asked.

"Everything's set." He told her, "Now don't you dare to tell Temari that thing."

"Okay."

"Oh, since ALL of the guys are out there somewhere, I only have Sasuke in hand." Shikamaru explained, "So you'll be with him. It's okay, since he agrees to do this. He said this is..." he mimicked Sasuke's gesture, "... Interesting."

"You mean Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

"Sakura's crush?"

"And Ino's."

Tenten's eyes widened in horror. "You want me to get killed?"

"Sometimes." Shikamaru replied honestly, "Well, you won't. He agrees, remember? And what Sasuke agrees, the girls support." He said it in such a mocking way. "But then, are you sure that this will get Neji?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"It's interesting."

Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Kay. Whatever." He held up his hand. "Well, I'll be going."

"Shika?" Tenten stopped him. He turned back with a 'What' expression on his face, as Tenten grinned thankfully at him and said, "Thanks."

Shikamaru grinned, and then he smirked. "Just make sure that at the end you'll be with him, Tenten."

"NO."

"Just kidding."

"Thankfully."

Shikamaru smirked again and left the place, leaving Tenten perfecting her ultimate plan. No, it wasn't seducing Neji. She tried, remember? And she failed miserably. No, it wasn't battling Neji. Hello? He's a genius and she's someone sane. It's something else.

Tenten smirked to herself and walked away from the bath house. When she arrived at her apartment door, she noticed that someone had already been waiting for her. She arched her eyebrows.

"Why are you here?"

And he smirked. "..."

"Anyway," Tenten sighed heavily, "Come in. I'll fix you a drink, Uchiha. Anyway, thanks for the time."

"No problem." He smirked again, "It seems..."

"Interesting, I know. Just get in." She told him, "Before anyone sees."

He silenced and stepped into Tenten's apartment. As Tenten locked the door from inside, he took a good look around the room as he was led into the living room. He took another good look.

"It's..." He looked thoughtful for a while, choosing his words carefully since this girl was not Sakura, who will definitely agree to whatever he says, nor Ino, who supports him a great deal. "It's neat."

Tenten blushed sweetly. "Thanks." She gave him a cup of tea. "This is chinese tea," She explained, "It's healthy for the body, and believe me, it tastes better than a mere tea."

Sasuke eyed his steamy cup eeriely, blew on it and took a sip of it. He smiled, "It's good."

Tenten gave him a smile too in return, "I figured that out." She said slowly. "Well then, why are you here?"

"Just visiting." He said. "It's about fifteen minutes from now, so I figure that you must have been on your way home. Shikamaru told you everything, right?"

Tenten nodded. "You know," She said with a laugh, "I thought it would be Shino or Kiba. I never thought it would be you, Uchiha. And I never thought you will think this kind of plan... is interesting."

Sasuke put his cup down after he took another good sip from it. "Well," He paused for a while and smirked, "I just wanted to know what will happen, since you're dealing with Neji."

"Everyone thinks highly of him."

"You're right." Sasuke grinned, "Me too. That's partly the reason I'm here, anyway. It's also that I have nothing to do."

"... I'm glad."

"Hn?"

"If it was you, he'll probably act more." Tenten said, revealing a little more of herself to Sasuke, "I mean, you're both geniuses, and he thinks of you as high as you think of him. He considers you as a rival, you know, until now."

Sasuke nodded. "He's strong."

"You could say that."

An awkward silence.

Sasuke sipped his tea again, liking the soft light liquid which warmed his stomach. He took another look around the room, and this time his eyes met something interesting. "What's that?" he pointed out to a set of katanas with different types of pommels, which were being hung on the wall.

Tenten glanced at her katanas as she took a sip from her cup too. "It's the most expensive set of katanas from my house," she told him, "Basically, it has no difference with other katanas, except that its pommels are harder and stronger, and the blades are practically longer."

Sasuke examined the silver blades, looking pure and wonderful. "You like weapons, I gather?"

"Yes." Tenten said, laughing as she blushed, "People say I'm weird."

"I would say not." The Uchiha prodigy replied, a little more gently than he was before, "You are unique, you know that? Not many girls fancy weapons."

Tenten went red hearing the compliment. "I don't know that." She said quickly, "But thanks anyway."

"No problem." Sasuke smirked as he laid his eyes on a fuuma shuriken, also on Tenten's wall. "That's a fuuma shuriken, am I right?"

Tenten turned and saw the fuuma shuriken behind her. "Yes." She replied. "Do you find anything interesting with it?"

"... Let me see." Sasuke, knowing the girl would love to give him a test on his knowledge on weapons, examined the fuuma shuriken carefully. "I don't think so."

"There is something." Tenten grinned.

"What is it, then?" Sasuke asked, growing a little interest in this vivacious girl.

"You see the blades?" She asked slowly, "Usually fuuma shurikens have two curves on the each of the blades, butthis onehas three, even though the third is smaller. You may not see it." She pointed at the end of her fuuma shuriken's blade. "Here."

Sasuke smirked. "A little blade, eh?" he said, "Interesting."

"Yeah." Tenten smiled, "The uses are not much different from the major two blades, but it's sharper and thinner. My parents are craftsmen, you see, so I know quite a lot of these things."

The prodigy stood up. "Let's get going," He said as he put the cup down. "It's almost six."

Tenten nodded as she rose too. "Okay. This way." She led him to her room.

o-x-o

"Haruno? Yamanaka?" Neji stood, wide-eyes seeing two girls he never dreamt getting close to him in front of the Hyuuga residence. He was just going to take an afternoon walk, and then get into night training, but seeing these two girls made him forget all about his plan.

"Hi, err... Hyuuga." Ino decided to take the lead. "I say, would you like to take a walk around for a while?" She smiled, carefully choosing her words. She doesn't want to end up in the hospital, does she? She glared at Sakura, which silenced that right moment.

"A walk?" Neji repeated. "Why?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. A reason, she screamed in her heart, give him a good reason and he'll accept! "Well, I figure out that..." She silenced, and furrowed her eyebrows even more, "... maybe you would like to talk about..."

"What?" Neji asked again.

Think, think, think. Sakura thought. She examined the expression on Neji's face, but still found no idea. It was Ino who jumped to the rescue... Not.

"We saw a quite good restaurant there." She pointed to the end of the street, "It was a chinese food restaurant, and... you see, when three people came, they gave a mini discount of 5 ."

"And?"

"Sakura, you, and I." Ino said, a little afraid of the moody expression in his pale snow-white eyes. "Please." she added, trying to sound confident.

"You should have asked Tenten." The prodigy replied calmly, "She loves Chinese food."

"Tenten..." Sakura breathed as she decided to take a chance and see if she succeeds, "... is with Sasuke-kun. He visits her just then."

She succeeded. Big-time, even though Neji didn't really show it. He arched an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tenten?" he repeated, "With Uchiha?"

Got him, Sakura and Ino thought at the same time, exchanging glances to each other. Shikamaru had had reminded them to be friendly to each other, moreover because they're dealing with Neji. He's not any guy, he's THE Neji.

"Yes. With Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled and she looked at Ino expectantly. "Oh, I do hope they'll get together! They make a perfect couple, seems like it." She was horribly exaggerating, but Ino nodded in a way that somehow had made Neji 'hot'.

"Hy-Hyuuga?" Ino repeated, "Would you like to go there and eat?"

"Nope." Neji said, coldly rejecting her offer, "I just remember that I have some things to do." He held up his hand and walked away.

Ino and Sakura exchanged glances again as they moved closer to each other.

"Did we get him?" Ino whispered.

Sakura took a good look at the emerging figure of Neji. "I think so," She whispered back, "He suddenly remembers that he has something to do, right? And that way is the way to Tenten's apartment."

"You mean, he will come and break the date?"

"They're not dating!" Sakura hissed, "Sasuke-kun is helping Tenten!"

Ino sighed, "Yeah. Whatever you called it." She rolled her eyes. "Then shouldn't we be going to Tenten's apartment? We have to remind her!"

"No. Going there will be too risky." Sakura reminded her, "Shikamaru did say that she's expecting Neji to come, right?"

Ino smacked her forehead. "Yeah!"

"Then let's go."

"'kay."

Meanwhile, Neji was heading to Tenten's apartment. He was still acting cool yet calm, but inside his heart was a raging blaze. He was walking to his teammate's apartment, when Rock Lee happened to pass by. He had just been going home from his special training with Gai-sensei, and when he saw Neji, being a good teammate he was, he greeted him cheerfully.

"Hey, Neji!" He beamed, "I am filled by the passions of youth! Gai-sensei has just taught me about how to get your teammates filled by youth! I'm going to practice it with you!"

Neji glared daggers at him, and that alone made Lee scared. He looked anxiously at his cool teammate. "Neji, what exactly happened?" He asked worriedly. "Where is Tenten? How can I not see her?"

"She's with Uchiha Sasuke." He took his time to reply as he maintained his composure. "Yamanaka and Haruno told me that. I'm going to her apartment to check."

"Ah! Tenten got herself a boyfriend!" Lee said insensitively. "Oh, now she may be having a date with Uchiha Sasuke. Do you think we have to bother them, Neji?"

"Suit yourself. I'm going there." Neji said coldly as he began to walk away. Lee followed him, "I'll follow! I want to see how Sasuke got Tenten's heart! She's always oblivious to other people's affection, heh?"

"But now Sasuke got her. He's incredible!" Lee continued, enraging Neji without knowing it. Unfortunately for him, Neji had had enough. He glared at him. "Shut up." He said, getting into a perfect kaiten stance. "Or die."

Lee grinned. "Fine." he said, even though he doesn't really get why Neji was so mad. They both walked in silence until they reached her apartment. Just as Lee was about to knock on it, Tenten had opened it first from inside, Sasuke following her from behind.

An awkward silence.

As the other three fell silent, Lee was the one who stayed insensitive and brought up a mere greeting.

"Hey, Tenten!" He tapped her on the shoulder as his eyes get watered, "I never know that you and Uchiha Sasuke are going out!"

Tenten blushed, and the Uchiha guy scratched the back of his head, not denying Lee's words at all. He yawned and strecthed himself, a little exaggerating on act.

"Lee... and you! ... Why are you here?" Tenten asked, a little taken aback. She did expect Neji, but Lee? Oh, nooo...

Sasuke feigned a yawn again, looking bored. Neji clenched and unclenched his fist. "Uchiha." He said coldly. Sasuke looked up, and his eyes widened a little just as if he didn't notice Neji's presence until the Byakugan user called him. "Oh. You're here, Hyuuga." he said, also coldly.

Tenten smirked. He was taking this too far, she thought as she eyed Sasuke, no wonder, though. They're rivals for... five years already, I reckoned. "Well, aren't you going to congratulate me?" She asked, more to Lee than to Neji. The energetic guy replied, "Of course! Congratulations, Tenten!" He nudged Neji with his elbow. "Aren't you going to congratulate Tenten too?"

"Do I need to?" Neji shot back, looking unhappy. He arched his eyebrows and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, I'm off." He said to particularly no one and vanished - just like that.

"What's with him?" Lee asked Tenten, but the girl shook her head. "I'm sorry Lee," She said, "I have a date with Sasuke, so..."

"It's okay!" Lee gave her the Nice Guy pose. "Just go!"

"Lee, I don't quite know what's with Neji, but..." Tenten gave him a pitying look, "You better don't get near him. He's... very emotional these days."

Sasuke smirked. It's because of you, he thought calmly as he scratched the back of his head again. He was beginning to enjoy every minute with the weapon mistress. Not only that she wasn't like the other girls who practically drool over him, she knew a LOT about weaponry, so spending hours with her was an easy matter. They can talk about weaponry all day.

Lee looked a little worried. "But... Neji..."

Tenten smiled. "I'll meet him later."

"Promise?" Lee held out his pinky as he showed his teeth. It goes 'ping', and Tenten laughed heartily and stuck her pinky with his. "Yeah, of course." she said clearly. "I'll be going, Lee."

"Yeah. Have a nice..." He cleared his throat, "Date with Sasuke, Tenten."

Tenten grinned, and Lee vanished. She turned towards Sasuke. "Well, thanks." She told him, "If you please, you may go now."

Sasuke smirked, "What if I don't want to?"

"... What?" Tenten asked as she widened her eyes, "You don't want to? What do you want, then? I'll grant you a wish for sure, in return of your help..."

"I mean," Sasuke paused, choosing his words carefully again, "You're free tonight, right? How about a date? A real one?"

"Why?" Tenten arched her eyebrows suspiciously. Uchiha Sasuke, asking her out on a REAL date? That thing was surely not in her dictionary!

"No reason." Sasuke looked at her innocently, "It's nice talking to you, you know? So now I'm asking you on a real date."

"Wh-what?" She gasped.

Sasuke smiled a teeny little bit, "You know, that new chinese restaurant over the street?" He asked slowly, "My treat. Do it as a favor for me."

"Really?" Tenten beamed happily. It had been ages since she last touched chinese food. The last time she had, it was her birthday. Neji had treated her too.

Neji.

She shook her head violently. Now don't think about him first, Tenten, she told herself as she turned back to the Uchiha prodigy, who was standing calmly with his hands in his pockets. "... So?"

"Okay."

o-x-o

Yay! Tenten accepted his offer! (Evil grin) Oh, I love Tenten so much! (A bullet shot me in the head and I fainted). Apparently my dad brought his laptop and I can update while it's still my holiday! Yay!

About the fuuma shuriken, it's completely my imagination based on the least information I know about fuuma shuriken... so... you get what I mean, hopefully. Thanks!

Well, as usual, please review! (Grin).

Thanks!