Hello again! Here comes the update! Thanks to everybody who reviewed: Byakuganrage, Hermion8, Hyuugafan, MissPriss998, tiggermoogle, Nanadaime, Sierra Tsuki (thanks for the cookie!), KozumiFan, Neji x Tenten, sasukeandrockleelvr, Tenshi no Jigoku, AmazinGSensatiOn, minoko-chan, antan-saki, kitty demon, stardust113, The Uchiha & Hyuuga sweet f…(Thank you very much! Your comment was very encouraging), scorpion05, HunnySnowBunny, Taski, Hime Hikari, Hamtaro-craz, Kitty Kat Mac, Aria's star, riotgirl 8268, ihearttenten, evilevergreen, cheriez, little wolf blossom, Blood Stained Sorceress, Cearo Dameer, Kyasarinyume 07 and Tanya Lilac .

Neji doesn't think Tenten loves Naruto, but he's totally disoriented since Tenten has never shown any clear feelings towards anyone.

In this chapter I'm keeping Neji's feelings. Tenten's will be shown sometimes over the whole story, but I've decided it'll be more Neji-centered (basically because it's more unusual). And sorry if I can't speed up the story, I really try! I'd like to spend ages writing, but I've exams in college and I've to study a lot --

No more rambling, on with the story!

Neji arrived at his room with soaked Tenten and left her on the couch. He called two maids from the hotel and ordered her to take off Tenten's wet kimono, wash her, put on her clean clothes and lay her on the bed. He went out from the room, closed the door and waited leaning against the opposite wall. Lee and Shigeru joined him shortly afterwards, but he didn't look at them and remained with his eyes closed. Suddenly, the door opened and the two maids went out bowing. Neji bowed to them and entered his room, followed by the other two ninjas. Tenten lay on the bed covered by a light blanket, a damp towel on her forehead and with her hair in a pigtail. Lee approached to the bed and whispered softly (a thing none of them knew he could do):

"Tenten? Are you ok?"

She remained with her eyes closed but spoke quietly "Kind of. I'd be better if Neji stopped glaring at me"

Lee looked at Neji, who was in fact frowning, and smiled.

"Well, you know he always gets worried when we're hurt. When I got surgery he always frowned at me whenever he saw me trying to climb the stairs"

She smiled faintly "Yeah, but then he can perfectly come back from a mission with a hole in his shoulder and we have to stand him wanting to train the next day"

Neji smiled reluctantly at that comment and helped her gently when she tried to incorporate. She took the towel from her forehead, opened her eyes and tried to focus. She observed the three of them; Shigeru stood near the door, behaving for once, Lee sat at the feet of the bed and Neji took a chair.

"So, what happened?" Lee finally asked.

Tenten took her time observing her audience. Her eyes shone with excitement and her pale face transformed when she smiled. She loved telling stories and Lee and Neji knew that. In all those years of partnership there had been times she related the last movie she had seen or the last book she had read; and every time she did that Tenten enjoyed it enormously. She cleaned her throat one time and started speaking:

"Well, all began when one of the Mist-nins was throwing kunais at Lord Goda. After a long time parrying then I decided it was time to…"

Neji observed her while she related the fight. She was gesturing and mimicking every move she described with her hands and her eyes were flying from one of them to another. When they made eye contact, he looked at her directly. It was curious…it had been six years they had known each other and sometimes he felt that he discovered her everyday. To him, she was the sensation you feel when you inhale fresh air after being into a crowded and hot place. He was not a Hyuuga genius anymore, just Neji. She never questioned him, never pushed him or tried to change him. She knew he needed his time and she respected it. He went out from his weird thoughts and paid attention again. She was now looking at Lee:

"…then I took the fan out of my mouth (I almost forgot I had it there!) and said: 'I'm not in favour of bragging in the middle of a battle, but since you're asking… ' I embedded my two kodachis and I spoke again '…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'"

She waited for the reaction with a smile and Lee raised a fist. Shigeru looked at her almost adoringly and Neji smirked:

"Show-off" he teased

"Hey, he started!" she retorted before resuming her account "I ran towards him taking out my two scrolls. I charged with all my weapons against him, but I have to say he was quite good. He parried most of them, so he was hurt but still standing when I finished my attack. He attacked me with his katana and I dodged it. Most of the times" she added wincing.

"But those were scratches so I didn't stop" she continued "I got away from him and threw my two last shurikens while taking out my fan again. He stroke frontally with his blade, directing it to my belly, but I opened my fan and let the katana trespass it; then I shut it fast getting the blade trapped and spun it strongly, making him lose his last weapon. We were tied in one thing: we were without our beloved weapons. But I was in disadvantage, because although my taijutsu is not bad, he was way stronger than me" she stretched her arms indicating the size of the mentioned ninja "so I decided to use that strength against him. As I expected, he knew I knew he was stronger, so I faked. I let him think I was scared, and kept looking at my sides, making him think I was trying to escape. He ran towards me again and took out a kunai from his right boot. He gripped it with his two hands and jumped, falling directly to me" she made a dramatic pause.

Lee was opening her eyes greatly, making an astonished face. Shigeru covered his mouth and Neji narrowed his eyes.

"Instead of running" she continued "I blocked his attack and he started using all his strength. We struggled and finally I let him think I gave up; he lost his balance towards me, achieving to give me a new scar on my shoulder" she pointed her left shoulder "He smiled at me arrogantly and said 'Weapon Master rule number five…' but then I smirked and completed the sentence for him '…always have a hidden weapon'. Saying this, I took out from my bun the poisoned senbon I had and embedded it on his neck with a fast movement. He didn't expect it at all so he couldn't dodge it. I treated roughly my wounds, recovered my weapons, and headed to the hotel. I was tired so I walked slowly until I bumped against our leader. You know the rest of the story" she ended.

"You had a poisoned senbon on your hair?" Lee asked "That's dangerous!"

She shrugged and Neji shook her head. Tenten felt dizzy for a moment, Neji stood up and touched her forehead; she had a light fever.

"Ok, enough talking. You should rest" he said

"Let's go Shigeru-kun" Lee commanded "take care, Tenten" he took Shigeru's arm, made him exit from the room and closed the door behind them.

Tenten looked at Neji "C'mon, do it. You're wishing it"

"Excuse me?" he said cocking an eyebrow.

"You want to tell me off badly, I know you. Just do it"

He sighed and sat again "Your behaviour was highly irresponsible" he started "you could have been badly hurt or worse, dead. The mission was to protect Lord Goda, you hadn't to fight that ninja"

"But he was going to escape!" she said

"That wasn't important. Lord Goda was the most important thing in the mission"

"He was weapon master! I HAD to fight him! It was the first time I had that opportunity in my life. The opportunity to test me against someone like me! I knew you could handle perfectly, the battle was almost won when I left!"

"But what if he had reinforcements? Maybe he was heading you to a trap. You could have been killed, don't you understand?" he said apparently calm.

"At the end I won, so stop it, please. I'm not feeling very well" her eyes started to water and Neji shut up. Although his calm face didn't show it, he panicked when a tear ran down on her cheek.

"Tenten, sorry, I didn't mean to…" but he stopped when she laughed hardly.

"Busted! My eyes started crying because of this damn cold" she wiped the tear "but you should have seen your face, hahahaha"

Neji narrowed his eyes menacingly. For a moment he had felt horrible but that feeling dispelled when he saw her laughing. She then sneezed strongly and her forehead hit her own knee in a pitiful way. That stopped her laughing and she started moaning touching her reddening forehead. Neji smirked loudly and she glared at him:

"Yes, laugh at a poor sick girl"

"Divine justice" he said.

That earned him another glare, but he ignored it. She crossed her arms and sighed:

"I hate being sick, and if you're going to tell me I deserve it, you better shut up"

"I wasn't" he said "I'm glad you came back in one piece. A sick piece, thought" he stood up and took his backpack "I'm going to take a shower. It's time to sleep"

He headed to the bathroom and started taking his shower. He sighed heavily while the water ran. He had been dead worried, and it had been less than two hours of absence. He knew she was perfectly capable to take care of herself, but he couldn't help it. He finished and got dressed with an old black t-shirt and his pyjama's trousers. When he got out and opened the wardrobe to hang his attire he spotted Tenten's torn kimono.

"Your kimono is ruined" he commented

She shrugged "I'll buy another. A black one, without flowers." She said slightly and sneezed loudly again.

Neji took some aspirins and a glass of water and came near. She wrinkled her nose with disgust.

"I don't like medicines" She refused shaking her head

"You have to take them, you could have pneumonia"

"No, I don't have it. When you have pneumonia, your chest hurts. I read it" She added when Neji looked at her questioning.

"Take them. You can't get worse" he insisted.

She took them reluctantly and shoved them in her mouth. She started drinking water and gulped hard.

"It has been a long day. We should rest." Neji said heading to the sofa.

"Hey, that's my bed"

He turned to look at her again "You're not going to sleep here today"

"Why?"

"Because you're sick"

"What a stupid answer. This bed is harder than that one. And that one's too short for you, so don't be stubborn and help me" she said pulling the covers.

He shook his head but approached to the bed and helped her to her feet. She stood in a precarious way and looked at him, noticing his height. She was one of the tallest kunoichis around their age, but she was still shorter than him.

"You know, they say you grow when you have a fever. Maybe I grow as tall as you" she said merrily

"I doubt it. No one could grow four inches just in one night" he responded.

"Who knows? Maybe I'm the exception"

"Why do you want to be as tall as me?"

"Well, it's annoying having to look upwards all the time to talk to you, Lee and Gai-sensei. It gives me neck ache"

"You'll have to get used. I don't think you're going to reach Gai-sensei's six feet"

"It could be interesting" she mused "I'd be able to look over a lot of people's heads, seeing everything from another view…I'd be able to reach my kitchen's upper cupboards without a chair and…"

"Tenten, you're rambling" he cut her "Maybe your fever is getting higher"

Neji helped her to lie on her bed and touched her forehead. He put the light blanket over her body and took the small towel again. He went to the bathroom, wet it and wringed it out. He came back to the room and saw she had already her eyes shut in a tired expression. Neji kneeled near her head, removed her bangs from her forehead and put there the damp towel. She frowned at the first contact, but shortly afterwards relaxed. He left his hand on her hair for a few moments and frowned. She was a bit pale, and he was wondering if she was getting worse.

"I'm ok, just tired" she mumbled as if reading his mind.

"If you say so… Tomorrow we'll leave to Konoha. If you're better you'll make the way with us, if you get worse I'll carry you to Tsunade-sama. Is an order" he added when he saw she was frowning and opening her mouth to protest.

"Aye, aye, captain" she answered mockingly "but I'll be able to make the way tomorrow by myself"

Neji stared at her for a while until he stood up "If you want something, wake me up"

"Don't worry" she said suppressing a yawn "'Night, Neji. And thank you"

He didn't answer and headed to his bed. Neji sat and kept watching her carefully. Definitely, she was paler in despite her blushing cheeks and seemed to be in pain due to her light frown. He lied down and started reviving all the sensations he had felt that day. Anger, concern, powerlessness and finally relief when he saw she wasn't in danger. He sighed and realized he was very tired too; his eyes started closing and he fell heavily asleep on the top of his covers.

At last! o-o

Sorry for keeping all of you waiting for so long –dodges several objects thrown at her-. First I got exams and then I had an enormous block. I started writing another story (Advertising time: "Not anymore", a SangoxMiroku fic from Inuyasha…check it if you want n-n) to refresh me from this one and I could write at last this chapter, phew!

It's not one of the best, but next one will be better for sure!

Well, you know everything you have to comment or correct is always welcome, thank you! See you soon!