All of a sudden Tenten was back at the Hyuga mansion, sitting across Neji with a plate of the delicious food he prepared in front of them both. She was asking Neji about why he was seventeen and still a freshman. With how brilliant he was there was no way he could have repeated a grade like her.

"I think we've gone past personal things Neji. You treated the injury on my belly, didn't you?" He treated her injury while she was asleep on his bed. That was...creepy to some extent but somehow she was not worried about him peeking at her chest.

"Touché." Neji actually smiled at her and if that wasn't the most beautiful thing she had seen today other than him in an apron Tenten didn't know what else was.

She squashed those feelings and pointed her chopsticks at him. "So start talking."

Neji made a sound that sounded like a groan and a sigh combined. "You're insufferable." He said but the words had no bite. They almost seemed fond but that was just Tenten's ears pulling pranks on her. "My parents died in an accident when I was little. Between handling the sudden change and moving in with my uncle, I couldn't continue with school for a year. So Hinata caught up with me in grade school and uncle decided to let us, Hanabi included, be in the same school. It makes it easier for me to watch over them."

Tenten was amazed at the end of his summarized explanation by a fraction. She had no idea that the Hyugas were cousins not siblings. "You're so protective of them." She found herself saying when she thought of how Neji acted when Hinata got hurt in gym class because of somebody's whack basketball pass. It was kinda..."cute."

"Beg your pardon?"

She said that out loud, didn't she?

Fortunately before Tenten could begin to wrack her brain on how to correct her slip up, Hanabi tumbled into the dining area, a horrified look on her face. "Neji-nii! Something terrible has happened!"

Immediately Neji was on his feet. "What is it?!" He demanded. Tenten was also worried but it seemed like something that was between them only so she kept shut.

"I can't find Tonton anywhere! This is a disaster! How am I supposed to sleep tonight?!" By the way Tonton is the plushy she and Neji made together in chapter two of Symphony.

Neji knew how important Tonton was to Hanabi, perhaps that was why he failed to notice that the thirteen year old's eyes held a mischievous glint. It was too late before he realised that he was trapped in Hanabi's closet.

"Hanabi!" Neji yelled, banging the door of the walk in closet. Hanabi feigned trying to open it and released an overly fake groan of disappointment.

"Oh snap, it's stuck! Wait here Nii-san, I'd go get help." The only thing Neji heard after that was the sound of Hanabi's running footsteps.

Meanwhile Hinata nervously went to meet Tenten who had already started eating Neji's share of the food. The shy ravenette placed her dishes in the sink and stalked over to Tenten, rubbing her pointers against each other like she always did when she was nervous.

"E-to..."

"Hmm?" Tenten hummed her attention since her mouth was stuffed with food.

"Uhm, I n-need your advice on something a-and– eto– can we g-go to my r-room?" Hinata's face was already practically a tomato by the time she got her sentence done.

Tenten gulped.

"I hope it's not relationship advice." She stated more than asked. Relationship advice wasn't her thing at all. Rather than bring the people involved together she would cause them to be mortal enemies for the rest of their lives.

"N-no." Hinata shook her head.

"Okay then, let's see what I can do. Hold on a sec." Tenten went to place her dishes in the sink, Hinata helped and they both went upstairs to the ravenette's room under her guidance.

"So what's the problem?" Tenten asked as they made their way up the stairs.

"I-I think– please don't laugh at me– but I t-think there's a monster in my closet." Hinata whispered shyly, ducking her head to hide her face under the curtain her hair provided.

Tenten was glad she didn't promise not to laugh because she started laughing. "What are you, five?" At Hinata's pout she relented. "Sorry sorry. It's probably a rat." Hinata paled. "Don't worry, I live with them everyday! I can exterminate em. Show me."

"O-okay."

Tenten blindly followed Hinata into a girly room with lots (LOTS) of plushies only to meet Hanabi there. The younger Hyuga was standing in front of a closed door which, by the way, was shaking due to the thundering of fists against it. Hanabi waved.

"Is that Neji?" Tenten asked in confusion.

"He's scared of rats." Hinata provided.

"Aaahh." Tenten grinned stupidly. Blackmail material. The grin was however wiped off her face when she felt hands on her back and as quickly as anybody could say 'Inakaitakerunomikoto', she found herself stumbling into the now open closet. "Aah!"

While Tenten was smiling at the prospect of holding something over her co-class rep, Hanabi signalled Hinata to push her while she opened the door to the closet.

Neji saw that the door to the closet was finally open and charged out angrily to give Hanabi a piece of his mind, unaware of the plan that his sisters had in mind. Tenten was suddenly tumbling into the closet and worse, unto him. He had no choice but to catch her.

The sound of the closet door slamming closed vaguely registered in the minds of the two classreps because of the position they found themselves in. Tenten was trapped in between Neji's arms with the boy hovering just inches above her. Their faces were so close that they could both feel their breaths fanning each other's cheeks softly and their hips slightly touching.

It didn't take too long for Tenten to start changing colour. Neji wasn't to far behind. Funny enough, neither of them moved or tried to move. They were both flustered and frozen with the spell cast on them by proximity. It was when Neji's lavender eyes moved to Tenten's lips and she found herself licking them invitingly that they broke apart.

They avoided each other since then.

It never lasted long though, because the joint study session brought the two together. And they both found themselves in the same position as before.

"This position seems awfully familiar, now doesn't it?" The whispered words made Tenten turn a new shade of red man had never discovered before. Their position did look familiar. An eep escaped Tenten's mouth before she could stop it when Neji suddenly met his lips with hers.

It left as swift as it came but the electric rush that came with it didn't leave.

"That's your punishment for the stunt you pulled earlier," he leaned to whisper in her ear, hot breath tickling her. "You would only think about me from now on." And he left her to slide onto the floor with a thudding heart and angrily building thoughts.

"You would only think about me from now on. "

"AAAH!"

Tenten shot up from her nightmare with a scream. No. She was going crazy, there was no way she just dreamt of Neji THAT way! No way!

"That's your punishment for the stunt you pulled earlier you would only think about me from now on."

The whispered words were like an ominous mantra typical of horror movies, ringing continuously in her ears until she ran died of madness.

"You would only think about me from now on."

"Kuso!" Tenten cursed, throwing her pillow against the wall. It was two in the morning. "Damn you Neji!"

Shikamaru found himself at the fourth house on Kaguya Avenue as early as eleven in the morning. Turns out that the Sabaku house was closer to the Nara household than he thought. It was funny how he had never ran into any of the Sabaku siblings before but then he was mostly indoors sleeping so it made sense.

Wait. This meant that he would be seeing Temari more often...what a drag, why was he thinking about that troublesome woman now? Shikamaru rang the bell at the gate of the Sabaku house. It was a huge bungalow with clay walls and a few ornamental palms and cacti decorating it. Beautiful architecture.

"Who is it?" Gaara's sudden voice from the intercom was startling enough to make him jump. What was he, a phantom?!

"What a drag, it's Shikamaru." Shikamaru provided after calming his heart down. He could feel Gaara's baffled stare (it was just his usual blank stare, really) from the intercom and he rolled his eyes. Well he would if it wasn't a bother to actually roll it physically. "My mum forced me here, okay?"

Of course Nara freaking Yoshino did! Why else would he be the first to arrive at a joint study session with snacks for everyone? Why else would he be awake at freaking ELEVEN in the morning?! His mother was such a bother. Troublesome witch. He would never marry somebody like her.

"Makes sense." Gaara said after moments of baffled silence. So the guy was capable of bafflement. Enlightening.

The gate opened automatically for Shikamaru and he entered the house. The compound was nice. It was as if they were trying to incorporate all the things they couldn't normally access in the desert into one compound with all the plants and fountains there. It was way better than his house because it had lots of good spots to sleep and watch clouds. His house had drab interlock floors.

Shikamaru was at the front door when he started hearing what sounded like Kankuro's annoyed voice and Temari's sneaky laughter. "Damn you Temari, give it back!" "Hehehe, I haven't seen these shorts before!"

Sounds of running feet got louder until the door suddenly barged open and Shikamaru was met with the most beautiful sight ever. He already figured that Temari was the type to walk around at home in her underwear only but this...this was overload! That purple lingerie set was...

"They're called nipples, not eyes." Temari's deadpan voice lifted his lazy gaze up, and he smirked.

"You're so vulgar." He chuckled. His smile was however wiped out when the temperature suddenly increased in the house. The source of the spike in atmospheric heat turned out to be from the glares Kankuro and Gaara were giving him for staring at their sister for more than 0.5 seconds. He broke into cold sweats immediately.

"Put your clothes on, Temari!" Kankuro commanded as he removed his shirt and threw it at his twin. Now he was left in a speedo (because Temari took his shorts, hence the reason for their scurrying around).

One by one all of the classmates arrived at Gaara's house for the study session. It was easy to gather because they had their parents' approvals and were under teachers' supervision. It was fun studying together weeks before exam, and beneficial too. It prepared one for the unknown.

Unfortunately...

...there were times when the brain decided to take a random dive to the stomach and get digested. Those days were usually during exam periods. Virtually every student has experienced a stage in their exams where they clearly know the solution but the answers seem like they're hiding.

It had obviously happened a lot to class D students so it was natural that they were panicky when they were a day to the exams.

"We can't do this, guys!" Always the leader of random bad ideas, Karui spoke up first. Class D for dumb were in their class on the eve of their exams, looking forlorn partly because of intense studying and partly because of their short memories.

"Our brains are so crammed with knowledge, what if we forget all we were taught?!" Omoi voiced the major fear everyone was feeling right then. After all it had happened very well in the past.

"Heh, simple!" Kiba's outburst was so spontaneous and filled with confidence that everyone's attention was drawn to him immediately. The dog boy leaned back on his chair smugly, a sly grin that revealed just how sharp his canines really were stretching his lips. "We just have to back up our knowledge!"

"Back up our knowledge? How?" Lee asked inquisitively.

"Are you suggesting that we cheat?!" Tamaki gasped in realisation.

Kiba leaned back too far with his chair and fell over at the cat girl's bluntness. Everyone laughed at his expense. "Owch." He groaned as he stood back up. "Don't put it vulgarly like that. Call it making hay while the sun shines. You're just sneaking in the things you can't remember into the exam hall, it's not like you're stealing exam papers."

"Oh you know how to make evil so good. I like it!" Tenten was always down for stuff like these so it surprised nobody when she was the first to decide to go with Kiba's 'backup and restore' plan. Shikamaru could not be bothered and Gaara was smart enough not to need cheats so they were the only ones that were not in on the plan.

"Where are you placing yours?" Tamaki asked Matsuri who grinned slyly and raised her pen. She was slipping her written down mathematical formulas into her pen. Yukata was doing the same thing too but she had a lot to remember so she got three more pens. Tamaki decided to go with their idea too.

Kiba was writing his cheats down on the underside of his uniform while Naruto was hiding his cheats in his shoes. Tenten was planning to hide hers in her hair along with Karui. Omoi was going to wrap his around the stick of his lollipop while Choji chose to scribble his answers on a post it note and glue it to the underside of his desk. It was obviously Shikamaru's idea as Choji was too sweet to come up with a good cheating idea.

Lee's life depended on Tenten as he could not sneak in a cheat even if he was at gunpoint. So the both of them came up with a special sign language to communicate answers. A cough meant he was calling Tenten and a sneeze meant that the invigilator was suspecting them. Subtle finger gestures communicated the answers.

If somebody mistakenly entered class B at that moment they would think they walked into a bunch of serious students studying for their exams with how focused they all were.

• D-day •

The demon called Umino Iruka struck again. His students were not their usual panicky self before exams...it was suspicious. His teacher senses told him that their confidence was not from their joint study session so he decided to act on his hunches.

There was a simultaneous gulp when Iruka came in with a stack of question papers that morning and just stared at his students instead of distributing them. The tanned man dropped the papers, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he continued scrutinizing all of them.

"You all have planned something, haven't you?" He questioned knowingly.

The poor liars among them immediately averted their gazes. Aha! His hunches were correct. He noticed how Naruto crossed his feet when he would normally sit haphazardly at his question and how Yukata's hands tensed around her pen. Choji's hands were under his desk and not above it. Omoi wasn't sucking on candy...what the hell?!

"Everybody rise." Iruka commanded. The sternness in his voice startled all of them except the ones that didn't actually bother with the backup and restore plan and they all rose stiffly. "Remove your shoes, everyone. All pockets should be turned inside out and all shirts untucked. Raise your hands above your heads after you have done that."

For those that snuck cheats in with their shoes and clothes (Naruto and Kiba), their plans were brutally exposed by their demonic teacher.

"No snacks are allowed in the examination hall."

Omoi cried as he threw his loaded lollipop into the bin.

"No extra hair accessories."

Karui almost shed tears as she ripped her also loaded bandana off. Tenten looked strangely relieved when that rule didn't count for her so Iruka told her to move to the front of the class where she would be directly in his scrutiny. There went Lee's hope for the future.

"Just because I don't trust you not to have done anything with your pend, I would be providing you with writing materials for the exams. You would return them after each paper until the last day of exams where you can take them as your own if you want."

Tamaki, Matsuri and Yukata would have started crying then but they stayed strong.

Iruka was about to commence the exam after deeming everyone cheat free but then Choji sighed audibly with relief. There was definitely something with Choji and it must be on his desk if the way he chose keeping his hands under the desk over nervously downing potato chips was any indication.

The teacher went to investigate the desk and found the post it notes the boy stuck underneath them. Iruka sighed. "What am I going to do with you children?" He muttered to himself exasperatedly.

The students had forlorn looks on their faces as Iruka walked back to the front of the class. Disappointing their teacher was the last thing on their minds even if he was a demon spawn at times but they still ended up doing it. Naruto was afraid to meet his guardian's eyes now.

Iruka, noticing their mood, sighed again. Their crestfallen moods could affect their exams worse than not studying would. He needed to fix that. "I am not mad at you all, you just disappointed me. I thought you would have more faith in yourselves but I was apparently wrong."

The man started distributing the question papers backside out and upside down as he admonished them.

"It's okay to be afraid before exams. It is even okay to be afraid during exams. But you know, you should not be afraid because you have actually studied for these questions. I saw how much effort you put into your joint study session first hand and I know that your knowledge is really there. However when you get too panicky you forget.

Exams aren't going to eat you whole, children. In fact they're quite tameable. First you focus on the things you can really do well before going back to struggle with the ones you can't. Sometimes you just need more time to process questions. How would you know that you can do something when your first instinct is to write it off as something you can't?"

Iruka placed the last question paper on the last table which was Gaara's.

"Look. Your thoughts when you write exams should be 'even if I fail, I know that I did my best'. And trust me, your best would never fail you because I know firsthand the potential you all have. I don't need to take paracetamol anymore when I mark your scripts."

The whole class chuckled at their sensei's confession. His words lit up something inside them that gave them determination and assurance. Iruka-sensei was right. They got so scared at the prospect of the promotional exams and forgot that they were just like any other pop quiz that they aced in class. Their panicked minds magnified what was so little and made it a huge giant.

Now they knew better. They could defeat their exams if they calmed and took a closer look at their questions. They could win by taking it easy, at their own paces, little by little, question by question.

Iruka could see the determination lighting up his students' eyes and he smirked. "Now then. Are you ready to start defeating your exams?"

"Hai sensei!" Was the loud chorus.

"Flip your question papers and start!"