Merry Christmas : D!

Special cookie for HunnySnowBunny! (since was the first) and cookie for everyone who said Samurai Champloo!Yep, they're our dear Jin, Mugen and Fuu. Lord Goda's strategy of having bodyguards as a decoy came into my mind and when I thought about bodyguards I couldn't help but include them. I'm not going to give them a lot of spotlight though, because then this story would have too much OCs. As I said before, this chapter is their last.

Nanadaime: Thanks, I love Neji's jealousy as well : D

Gatita: Thank you! About Neji, I have to say he's one of my favourites (I think it's clear), and what makes him special to me is his development. At the beginning in the manga, we met a fate-obsessed mean child, focused on himself and just plain rude. After Naruto's beating he changes and becomes a caring partner (we can see him helping Lee when he got surgery and later -MANGA SPOILER; BEWARE- in Kisame's fight he saves both of them from the water prisons and even helps Tenten to get up (between other things and changes of attitude))-END OF SPOILER-. So, in short, I'm writing him as I think he would keep developing until seventeen years old, his age in this fic. But you're right, he seems OOC : P

Scorpion05: Thanks for reviewing again. Neji's a ninja so he has to have fast reflexes ; )

TheSilveerMirror: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thank you very much for your nice review.

Sasukeandrockleelvr: No, he's not a perv; you'll read about his impression of the Red Light District in this chapter.

Ihearttenten: Thanks!

Kitty Kat Mac: It will take a little longer (Neji kind of knows his feelings, but he's not the extrovert type). I'm enjoying writing this fic a lot, so I don't want to end this soon. Shigeru, freaked Tenten and jealous Neji are so fun to write…

Twightlight16: Thanks! Well, Lee was kind of dragged, and Jin…I used to think that of him too, but then I watched chapter 15 and saw he liked that kind of places sometimes. Mugen must be a bad influence : P

Ninja –x- Kunoichi: Thank you! Here's the update.

Hamtaro-craz: Thanks for reviewing again. Yeah, Neji can be mean sometimes and Shigeru…you'll see he can get even MORE stupid. He's based on Kuno, after all.

I'm leaving some reviews without comment; sorry, but if I keep writing this will be longer than the chapter itself, and we don't want that ; ). Thank you everybody for your nice comments and I'm going to pay attention to TheWhiteMonk and discard dashes. Quotation marks will show speech, cursive and quotation marks: thoughts. Once I finish the fic, I'll fix the previous chapters.

This chapter will contain bad language and violence (what do you expect having Mugen over there:P)

On with the story!

Neji and a frowning Tenten kept walking in silence. He observed her and finally spoke:

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, just thinking" she answered making a gesture with her free hand.

"Tell me"

She shook her head and frowned deeper. After a brief silence she looked at him again.

"Do I look desperate?" she asked suddenly.

He stopped dead and looked at her. She was frowning in a questioning way. She didn't look angry or sad, she looked almost curious in fact.

"Why are you saying that?" he asked deeply intrigued.

"Because if someone thought I would pay for having sex maybe that means I look that desperate" she reasoned.

"That's stupid" Neji rolled his eyes and resumed their walking.

"You avoided my question" she teased him.

"I didn't." he stopped again "Of course you don't look desperate."

"Then, why did that guy…" she started

"Because, I remind you, we are in the Red Light District and you were alone."

"Yeah, but…Why me? There are plenty of women over here"

Neji sighed patiently "Haven't you thought that maybe he liked you and was trying to make two catches with one hit?"

"How's it?"

"Well, if he had convinced you to pay him and liked you, he would have earned money making something pleasant" he said eloquently.

"That has some sense…anyway, I would have never paid for that" she made a face of disgust and resumed their walking again.

"Since Shigeru would gladly do it for free" Neji smirked.

If looks could kill, Neji would have died in his spot instantly. He felt her shuddering and smiled widely when she closed firmly her eyes in a try to erase the mental images she was having. Once she recovered she looked at him with hate again:

"That was a low punch" she said dead serious "So that's what you were referring earlier"

"Hn?"

"When you said I could get sex for free you were referring Shigeru? I would have chosen the other guy, of course!" she shook in disgust again.

"It's true Shigeru would happily volunteer" Neji said "but in fact I was referring your suitors in Konoha"

"My suitors? Since when do I have suitors?" she asked sceptical.

"A few months, I think."

"And how's it they never approach me? I don't even know who they are!" she said in astonishment.

"I think they don't approach because you seem unreachable" Neji commented "And maybe because I glare them a little when she's not looking…"

"Unreachable? Me?" Tenten laughed "I'm the blandest kunoichi in all Konoha! I have not awesome medical skills like Sakura, or family jutsus like Ino or advanced bloodline limit like Hinata. For God's sake, I don't have even a surname!"

He frowned a little bit "And what's the matter? They have all those qualities, but if they ran out of chakra their skills are useless, while you have your taijutsu and one hundred per cent accuracy. And you're faster" he added.

"You have your point there. To keep up with Gai-sensei, Lee and you during all these years I had to be really fast" she agreed.

"Plus, you train with me" he said arrogantly.

She laughed again "So that was all about. At the end you were praising me to praise yourself indirectly"

Neji chuckled "I meant what I said. I don't see you as a bland kunoichi at all"

Tenten shrugged "I'm your only sane team-mate after all"

"More than that; you're one of my few friends" he said seriously.

A silence overcame them for a few moments. Smiling weakly she spoke softly:

"I feel honoured"

"You should. If someone else in a bathrobe had broken into my room by the balcony in the middle of the night, be sure I would have kicked out him with no dilation" he joked to play the situation down.

She laughed again merrily "Well, the day you enter my room running away from a fan girl, hell will freeze"

"Why?" he asked amused.

"Every fan girl I have seen in all these years has cracked down after one of your anti-social Hyuuga glares" she joked

"I use to glare a lot, yes…" he commented thoughtfully.

"Really?" she teased with sarcasm, earning one of the mentioned glares, and she smiled "See?"

"I don't see you cracking"

"I'm not one of your fan girls" she said "Actually, we are used to them"

"We?"

"Lee and me. We made a ranking a few years ago. That one you gave me a few moments ago was a five in our 'Hyuuga Glare Scale'. It's the softest one"

Neji raised his eyebrows amused "And how are they ranked?"

"I'm glad you make me this question, since this is result of a deep study" she said mockingly, extending her free hand "on the fifth rank we have the 'Stop-mocking-me' glare. It's the most frequent towards me" she counted with her fingers "on the fourth rank it's the 'I'm-not-going-to-fight-you-again' glare, especially reserved for Lee and usually preceded with a roll of eyes. The 'Stop-pestering-me' glare is the third on our rank, and it's dedicated to all your fan girls. Finally, on our top two are the 'You're-pissing-me-of-badly' and the 'I-hate-my-seal' ones" she ended beaming.

"You have too much spare time, you know" he said impressed. She shrugged. "Anyway, that's not fair. The glare for my fan girls is a three while my glare for you it's a five. That's why you don't crack"

"I don't deserve a third grade glare. What would you do if I keep following you saying 'Neji-kuuun!', interrupting your training and drooling the entire day?" she enquired.

"Be happy" He thought firstly, but he knew that was false. One of the many thinks he liked about her was precisely that. She never drooled for anyone. She was always there for train, but never looked at him with puppy eyes or something like that. Realizing he was taking a lot of time to answer he finally spoke "That would be really unlike you".

"I think so too. Not my style to hook a guy"

"What's your style then?" he asked curiously.

"Patience. They start seeing me as 'one more girl', but I work everyday a little and wait in the shadows until they realize they're deeply in love with me, mwa hahahahaha!" she said joking in a Machiavellian whisper.

Neji got impressed again. Joking or not, that was exactly what had happened with him. From seeing her as a useless kunoichi he had passed to care deeply for her and respect her as a comrade.

"Have it worked?" he asked casually.

"Actually, no." Her shoulders fell, but she recovered quickly "At least not with the one I want, but I'm still young. I still have my hopes"

"What if it doesn't work?"

"I don't care. I'll stay there for him. I don't like any one besides him; and I have tried to forget him, but it's useless" she sighed "That's why I can understand Sakura perfectly"

"Do you like Uchiha Sasuke?" he questioned bewildered.

"For being a genius you can be really dense sometimes" she commented "I don't like Sasuke, but I can understand how Sakura feels, liking someone who doesn't like you back" for a moment she seemed miserable "Well, at least he treats me way better than Sasuke treats Sakura" she comforted herself.

"How do you know? Did you confess?" he tensed inwardly waiting for her answer.

"Mmmm, not exactly."

"Not exactly? What do you mean?"

"Ok, no, I haven't confessed. But I can feel he doesn't see me as I see him. It's a kind of feminine intuition"

"That was the lamest excuse I've ever heard"

"I've tried to confess! Honestly! But when I'm going to, he looks at me so seriously and I simply can't." she shook her head miserably "He's very kind to me in his way, and I don't want to create a tense situation between us if he doesn't correspond me"

"Who is he?" he asked suddenly, frowning.

"What?"

"Who is he? Maybe I can talk to him" he offered. In true, he was not going to talk to him at all; he was going just to hate him in silence and maybe let him have an accident.

"No way. I'm not telling and don't insist." She added when he opened his mouth to protest. "It's hard to confess when you're not sure about the reaction you'll receive" she remained silent after saying this.

Neji looked at her and analyzed her behaviour. After thinking and putting in order his thoughts, he realized:

"You think you're not worth for him" he said accusingly "You can't underestimate yourself. You are a proud ninja of Konoha."

"I'm a ninja, and I'm proud of being able to reach the jounin level. It was very hard to achieve, and you know how much I trained for it" she said

"Then?"

"I'm still nobody. And that's a fact. You don't know how it feels when nobody's expecting something from you, when everyone sees how you fail and they don't get surprised. When you're not part of a clan, you arrive at home and nobody's congrats you or asks you how was your day. I was really depressed when I was a genin, seeing everyone's improvement, while I didn't get better at all. Even Lee without chakra control was far better than me. I started thinking my dream was a shit, that I would be better not being a ninja, since I didn't have great skills or bloodline limits. I thought that right after Temari beat me badly without any effort. I thought you had to be a real artist in the hidden techniques to prevail. But then, I saw the impossible" she smiled with the memory "An outcast, an orphan who was the worst in his year beat an outstanding genius from one of the strongest clans in Konoha. I felt sorry for you, but I realized Naruto had given to all of us a very valuable lesson. Guts, and go for your dream. That was his way of the ninja, and that's mine too. I'm sure he'll become the Hokage someday, and I'm sure I'll be a legendary weapon mistress. But I'm still far from there."

She looked at the night sky with a determinate smile on her face. The moment of silence that followed her speech was interrupted by her own laugh.

"Whoa, you ask me a simple question and I end rambling nonsense" she chuckled "Anyway, I usually don't get too worried about my non-existent love life. I'm still young and I have a goal to achieve"

"I see" Neji was smiling faintly. He had never known she felt that way when they were genins, but then again, he was an asshole at thirteen years old after all "Our future Hokage really knows how to give an incentive to people. He was the one who showed me the way to escape from the darkness. He has better eyes than me".

Tenten's smile widened as they continued walking. She had never spoken with such sincerity before, but she didn't regret it. Neji had proven to be a very good confident, so she felt lighter, knowing she had shared one of her worries with a reliable person. Neji, on the other hand, felt warm inside; he liked being trusted like this. They kept walking towards the hotel, hands entwined, not realizing they had passed the Red Light District long ago.

The next morning, when they arrived to have breakfast they saw Lord Goda's bodyguards, Shigeru and Lee were already there. The girl spotted them and waved merrily:

"Good morning!" She squeaked

"Aaaaaarg, lower your voice, you whore" the dishevelled man gripped his head with both hands, making a pain gesture.

"Why? Just because you're a totally asshole and have a hangover?" the girl shouted in his ear.

"I'm going to shut your fucking mouth" he growled.

The girl breathed deeply to yell with all her forces, but the silent samurai looked at her.

"Please, stop it" he asked "You're going to embarrass Lord Goda's guests"

The girl released the air and blushed. She didn't like to be treated like a child, but she remained silent. Lee then focused his round eyes on Tenten:

"Tenten! You're not going to believe it!" he exclaimed, not paying attention to the scruffy man's pain moans "Yesterday we went to the Red Light District!"

Tenten made an exaggerated shocked face "No! Really?"

Lee nodded blushing furiously "I've never seen such weird people! Plenty of women and men selling their springtime of youth!" he said horrified.

Suddenly the girl laughed:

"She was there too! We arrived later than you"

"WHAT!" Shigeru roared, much to weird samurai's displeasure. Lee had a shocked expression and Neji was looking rather bored. Shigeru stood up violently "BUT TENTEN, MY LOVE!" Everyone at the restaurant started staring at them "YOU NOW YOU CAN HAVE ME FOR FREE!" A few giggles were heard over the place, and a dead pale looking Tenten rubbed her temples. Lee blushed and Neji was divided among amusement, embarrassment and anger "I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY!"

"Haaaahahahahahahahaha!" the girl started hitting the table with her fist laughing like crazy "Poor Tenten…"

"You're just jealous because no one would go to bed with a girl like you!" Shigeru retorted hurt.

"What? Well, for your information, yesterday plenty of men insinuated to me! By the way, Tenten, I found a place where men are gorgeous! We have to go tonight after the mission!" she said happily. Tenten shook her head slowly, still extremely embarrassed.

"SHE'S NOT GOING!" Shigeru roared "TONIGHT WE'RE HEADING BACK TO KONOHA ONCE WE FINISH THE MISSION"

"I think I am the one supposed to decide that" Neji commented casually.

"WELL, I'M SURE EVERYONE'S WILLING TO BE AT HOME AND-AG!"

The bad mouthed samurai had gripped Shigeru by his hakama and had unsheathed his sword. He glared Shigeru with blood shot eyes and growled "If you want to keep that sissy voice, shut up".

They resumed their breakfast in dead silence and headed towards the hall to meet Lord Goda. All gathered, they went to the festival and started having a nice day like the previous one. Tenten was eating dango beside the girl, listening to her continuous and entertaining talk when she felt a violent aura. She glanced at Neji a brief moment and he nodded, he had felt it too. She noticed both samurais were tenser too and when the group turned an alley found it was dead end.

"What? We took this way yesterday and it was ok!" The girl said surprised. Then, at the exit of the alley another wall appeared. Both ninjas and samurais surrounded the girl and Lord Goda.

"BYAKUGAN!" Veins protruded near Neji's eyes and he looked in every direction "Tenten; six o'clock and a quarter to three on our same level. Ten and a quarter and eight o'clock five metres high on the walls. Eight in total." He whispered.

"What the fuck are you? A coronel? And what happened to your eyes?" the scruffy man unsheathed his sword and looked at Neji.

"Shhhh! Don't be rude! He's blind!" Shigeru whispered.

"What? The bald man didn't say anything about taking care of an impaired! This will increase the cost!"

Shigeru answered him but nobody paid attention to them. Neji nodded to Tenten and she jumped in the air.

"Oi, miss! You're going to get hurt!" the dirty samurai shouted.

She ignored him and introduced her hands on her obi speedily. She took out her shurikens and threw them expertly at the places Neji had indicated her. Instead of hearing the sound of metal hitting stone, they heard metal repelling metal and (for Tenten's joy) metal meeting flesh.

"Just as I thought" the calm samurai commented "Ninjas"

"We're gonna have fun then" the other one smiled avidly.

From the spots where Tenten had thrown the shurikens, eight ninjas emerged, wearing headbands from the Hidden Mist Village. One of them had a shuriken embedded on a shoulder and another ninja on his leg. The one who was directly in front of them spoke:

"We're supposed to take Lord Goda's life; we hold no grudge against you. Go away now"

"Sorry, but that can't be done" Neji answered "Our mission is to protect him"

"Same here! Prepare yourselves!" the rude samurai spoke and charged against the one nearest him. Taking this as the beginning of the battle, everyone moved. The girl and Lord Goda were escorted by Lee, Tenten and Shigeru, while the offensive task was the two samurais and Neji's responsibility. Soon, one of the ninjas was trying to evade the scruffy samurai's weird movements; he was unpredictable and fiery, yet very skilled. On the other hand, the collected and accurate technique of the glassed samurai was equally effective. Neji trapped two of them within his divinity field and Lee showed his extremely advanced taijutsu. Even in the heat of a battle, Tenten always appreciated the art of fighting. And she knew she had two great artists in her team. While repelling kunais and shurikens with her metal fan, she could take a glimpse of Neji's fluid movements, precise strikes and collected face. Even the way his hair followed his movements seemed calculated. That was the mystery of Hyuuga Neji. When she looked at Lee, she could admire his determination, his strength and passion. That was the explosion of Rock Lee. She concentred on her own task again and decided to charge against the ninja who was throwing kunais at Lord Goda. Tenten closed her fan, bit her thumb and held the fan between her teeth while taking out one of her hidden scrolls. She opened it skilfully; in less than a second she arrived to the kanji she was looking for, stained it with her bloody thumb and pressed the paper. From nowhere, two kodachi materialized, making the kanji disappear, and she grabbed them. With no hesitation, she ran towards her enemy, repelling every shuriken with her swords. When the ninja realized she was getting really near, started to move back and climbed the wall using chakra. Tenten followed him until they were gone from the alley, arriving to a nearby clearing. A first tear from the sky landed between them, soon followed by others until a storm exploded violently. The ninja unsheathed his sword and smirked. Ignoring the provocation, Tenten stood still, letting the drops wet her face until he charged against her. She blocked easily his attack, the sound of steel colliding resounded over the area, followed by the creaking produced by the two blades pushing mutually. At the sound of a thunder, Tenten swung her other kodachi in her hand and aimed his abdomen; he dodged it going backward again and then the real dance begun. Spinning, stepping and swinging to a silent music, they continued their deadly choreography taking mental notes of each one's mistakes, trying to find the moment for the final strike. Steel moved on their hands like water, and lightning involved them in light and shadows. They parted again and the man spoke:

"No woman has beaten me before, and you won't be the first" Seeing Tenten was not going to answer he spoke again "Did the cat eat your tongue, kunoichi?"

Slowly, Tenten took the fan she was still holding in her mouth and put it back into her obi "I'm not in favour of bragging in the middle of a battle, but since you're asking…" she embedded both kodachi on the muddy floor and looked at him "…you may have more stamina, chakra control or strength than me, but I assure you one thing. There's no weapon able to hurt me" saying this, she put her hands into her sleeves, grabbed her scrolls and ran towards him. That was her battle…

Neji stood in the hall of the hotel with his arms crossed over his chest. The mission was already finished. They had protected Lord Goda and the festival had ended, so the 'fake' body wards had resumed their journey. The only problem they had to return the village (although Lord Goda had offered them to stay the last night at the hotel) was Tenten. She wasn't back. The protocol to follow in case of missing member was to wait in the meeting point for two hours. If that time period expired, then one of the team could go to search the lost partner while the others reported the status of the mission. Half an hour had passed and Neji looked at the outside frowning. The storm grew stronger as time passed and he couldn't take it anymore. He headed with heavy steps towards the door, opened it and bumped into a soaked form. He stepped back and found Tenten smiling weakly. Her kimono was a little ripped and she had some minor bruises. She was trembling and blushing slightly; her hair was undone and stuck to her skull due to the water.

"Where have you been?" he asked calmly, hiding the amount of emotions that had kicked him when he saw her.

"A fight. I won" she smiled and fell forwards, but never met the floor.

Neji took her in his arms, not caring she was soaking him. When he passed the place where Shigeru and Lee were waiting they stood quickly and he spoke to them:

"We're staying tonight too; we'll part tomorrow if she's able to make the journey." He started climbing the stairs.

"I can watch over her tonight" Shigeru offered eagerly. Neji stopped dead and glared at him.

"She is my responsibility. Stay way" he growled.

Leaving them dumbfounded by his sudden outburst he resumed his way to his room, bringing her nearer protectively.

Wow! Sorry for the late update, it was Christmas after all! Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and let's go with a little authoress rambling:

- Dango: the weird balls in a stick Anko is always eating.

-Kodachi: Shorter sword than the katana meant for defence and fast attack.

I gave Tenten a little of battle spotlight! Hallelujah! I hope you like it, it was my first battle intend! Anyway, tell me what you think (even if you think it was dreadful!) I'll extend it more in the next chapter (Tenten will relate what happened).

Next chapter! Tenten is sick! That's what happens when you battle for hours under a storm…pneumonia attacks! Another long night…

Important: this fic has always shown Neji's thoughts and feelings more than Tenten's. I'm thinking about switching that in further chapters so we can know how is Tenten living this. What do you think? Let me know what you think, please!