Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Spring Tournament

This school year was being less of a drag to Shikamaru. First, he was amused to see a girl pretending to be a man. He had his doubts on the first day at lunch, but he was sure that Tenshi was a woman on the second day. He wasn't a snitch, or he didn't really care about it, so he would just let the girl be.

Then, a week later he figured that Lee found out too. How, he didn't know, but the way Lee was acting around Tenshi gave him away. It was amusing to see the interaction of the two. After some time, the guy, or girl, turned into a love guru. After Sasuke and Sakura somehow got closer after Sakura started to talk more with Tenshi, the girls started to get closer too. Soon enough, Ino was asked to a date with Sai, someone she was crushing for some time. Then there was Hinata. It didn't take long before Naruto started chirping around her, and Neji behaved, not interrupting, and if started to get restless, a simple look from Tenshi made him go back into behaving.

Speaking of him, it was Neji's turn to act oddly. The man was glaring at whoever cahtted closely enough with Tenshi. Shikamaru was sure, however, that Neji was oblivious of the fact that the guy was actually a woman, to further Shikamaru's amusement. It would be too troublesome to point the fact that the guy was a woman, not to mention that he was having a good time, watching the interactions around this Tenshi girl. So he would do what he did best, mind his own business and take a nap.

...

Tenten was excited. Finally, the tests were over and they would have the spring tournament. It would consist in three days. The first day they would have two games, the second day one game and the third day it was the final. If they won, they would go to nationals, but if they lost a game, they would be out of the tournament. She was feeling good though, their team is strong, not like the one she was before, where girls were more worried with damaging their nails than to actually win a game.

"Tenshi-kun! Let's give our all and show them our youth!" Lee was excited too, jumping in place. It was their last practice before the tournament, and they were wrapping everything up, from the starters to who were the other teams competing.

"Yeah!" She raised her fist, grinning. Everyone was in good spirits, even Sasuke had a smirk on his face.

"Settle down, I'm still talking" Neji called them out, annoyed. He was still going over some details. After settling down, Tenten grinned at Neji, who ignored her, but she could see a ghost of a smile in his lips. He was happy too. "For starters, we will have Lee, Tenshi, Sai, Naruto, Kiba, Me and Sasuke." He told them. Nomura glared at Tenten for her taking his spot as a starter, but she ignored him, too happy for being a starter. So far, her plan was going smoothly.

After that she didn't listen much to anything else, she was eager to go to her room and prepare, and also sleep, she was tired, after tests and practices, this week has been exhausting. Neji dismissed them shortly after.

"You are going to be a starter! How wonderful is that! All your hard work is coming to fruition" Lee congratulated her while they walked back to the dorms. Tenten grinned.

"Yeah, it's been way challenging be on this team than in the others, and I'm glad that I made it. I hope to be able to support you guys well enough."

"You are being modest, you are an awesome setter. I mean, because of you, we won that game against Neji-kun, remember? You may not have the heigh or physical strength of a man, but your other talents more than make up for that!" Lee told her, giving his iconic thumbs up.

"Thanks Lee" she smiled tenderly at him while they walked, now in silence, to the dorms. It was a nice night, the weather was, as always, nice. They reached the point where their paths diverged, saying their good nights. Walking alone now in the hallways of the dorms, she thought that maybe her plan wasn't so crazy or farfetched. She was finally going to participate in a top tournament, and she would give her blood and soul to prove how good she could be, then they would go to Nationals.

Smiling to herself, she got into her room, getting a hot shower, and laying on her bed, where sweet sleep claimed her.

The sun was up, and so she was. even though she wasn't a morning person, Tenten was in a good mood. Getting her gym bag ready, she went to the cafeteria, where she found Lee, Neji, Sasuke and Sai.

"What's up" she greeted them. Sai and Sasuke nodded at her, and Lee smiled his blinding smile at her.

"Good morning Tenshi-kun! Ready to use prove your youth today?" Independent of the time of the day, Lee was always so loud and energetic, she wondered how.

"Yosh!" She answered, using the term that he and Guy-sensei liked to use. Lee's smile widened. The sound of someone clearing his throat claimed her attention.

"Are you going to sit?" Neji asked her, his back turned to her. He didn't seem to be in such a good mood, and she wondered if he was also not a morning person.

"Oh, right" she sat by Lee's side, grinning at the boys, "where's the rest?" She asked, starting her breakfast.

"They should be here soon. I woke up Dobe before leaving the room." Sasuke answered monotonously. She hummed, wondering if the freshmen would be alright too. Hanataro seemed like a very responsible guy, but Kanji didn't seem that responsible. The other guy she never had a good chance to talk with, not that she tried to.

Soon enough, more familiar faces started to show, and her worries eased away. The freshmen and the rest of the juniors joined them, making the breakfast livelier. Tenten observed them, enjoying the noise and happy atmosphere.

"Let's round up, the bus must be waiting" and there was the fun spoiler. Neji commanded them, getting on his feet and walking away, and soon everyone followed him, Tenten following lastly. To be fair, the bus was already waiting for them, with their coach. But, the bus was just a minibus, with barely enough space for their coach and all players.

For her dismay, and for her girly side excitement, there was only one seat available. Naruto sat with Lee, apparently, he was too loud to sit by Sasuke. Kiba was with Shino, Sasuke with Sai, Nomura with Fuki, Kanji with Hanataro. The only seat available was by Neji's.

"May I sit here?" she asked Neji. He glanced at her, nodding, then went looking back to the window. She sat quietly, hopping that the trip to the main gymnasium would be quick, Neji's scent already giving her a funny feeling in her stomach. Looking at her other side, she was met with Nomura's glare, making her look the other way immediately.

"Let's switch seats" Neji startled her, already rising to his feet. She didn't know how, but she knew that he sensed Nomura's hostility towards her.

"Uh, sure" she got up, letting him pass her, then she sat by the window, and he sat by her side, staying between her and Nomura. She was extremely relieved. And for another plus side, she had window view. Sighing happily, she contented herself in watching the window, even though the bus didn't move an inch. Peeking back at Neji, he had his eyes closed, and she supposed that he was meditating. He seemed to do that before there was an important task to do, like tests for example, he would always be doing this before starting them.

The bus started, and she felt like a ten year old kid who just got their first video game, bubbling from excitement. Smiling widely to herself, she watched the window, hopping to get to the gymnasium soon.

It was a half hour drive before they got there. And when they exited the bus, Neji gathered them.

"Our game starts at ten sharp, be at the court number three at nine thirty to start warming up" they all nodded and walked away, everyone minding their own business. Tenten, however, had a question for Neji.

"Who are we playing?" She asked, and she could see his right eye twitch.

"Weren't you listening yesterday?" He was grumpy white her now.

"Erm, after you told the starters, not really" she smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. She could hear him sigh.

"We are playing against Iwa, they are not so strong, but aren't weak either. Then, if we win, we go against the winner of Yuga and Oto, it will probably be Oto though. For the second day we can't really tell, but if we make it to the third and final day, we will probably face Suna, they are the toughest alongside us in this tournament. We both are favorites" he explained, and she nodded.

"I see, thanks!" She waived at him and ran off, before he could say anything else. It was 8am, she had an hour and half before she needed to go to the court and warm up.

There were busses and busses arriving, both from players and crowd. Some players were scary looking, while others looked like they were almost shitting their pants. At least she wasn't that nervous, just a little warm feeling in her stomach. Walking around even more, she spotted someone rather familiar, then it became two persons rather familiar, standing in an empty corner. In utter despair, she raced towards said people.

"What in the name of every known god are you two doing in here?" She asked in disbelief. In front of her was her twin brother and butler.

"Hey handsome! Long time no see! How's school?" Tenshi greeted her, going for a hug. She punched him in the gut, then glared at Julio, who was smiling.

"Hello Tenten-San, we came to watch your game" he said politely. Tenten smacked her forehead. If people saw a much more masculine Tenshi in the crowd, questions would be brought up.

"Do you guys have any idea of how this could go wrong?" She was exasperated, "if someone's sees this dumb head in the crowd, or hear you calling me like that, they will know something is up!"

"Relax sis, I got cover" her brother said after recovering from her punch, "and damn, did you grow some muscles? Your punches are actually hurting now" he laughed at her, making her punch him again on the top of his head.

"What kind of cover?" She asked, after beating her brother. Julio kneeled by Tenshi's side, trying to help him somewhat.

"This" Tenshi raised a trembling hand, holding a pair of sunglasses and face mask. She stared at the items for a moment, sighing in the process.

"Just put them on and don't take them out at any time, if someone from Konoha sees you without them, I'll kill you." She warned them, both nodded, well, Julio nodded and Tenshi gave a weak thumbs up.

"Ahh, long time no see, Tenten-san" if her day couldn't be worse, it just got. Turning slowly around, she was met with her former principal, Kakashi Hatake.

"Ka-Kakashi-San!" She shrieked. He saw right through her, although it wasn't hard when she just beat her twin brother. In that closed space, while also scowling him. Kakashi seemed to study her, and she couldn't tell what was going on in his head, with one of his eyes covered and his face mask. After a while, she could tell he was smiling.

"Why are you cosplaying as Tenshi-kun?" He asked. She gulped.

"Well, you see, I-"

"And you are also wearing the Konoha high uniform. I thought they were a only men team" he pressed on.

"You see, I, well" she looked at where she tonight her brother and butler were, in hopes of some support, but they seemed to have escaped when they got a chance.

"They left a while ago" Kakashi confirmed it for her, making her sigh.

"What are you doing in here? Kakashi-san" she tried changing the subject, because really, Whirlpool high tech didn't participate in tournaments of this caliber, and if they did, they would participate in their region, not in the other side of country.

"I studied in Konoha high, the volleyball's team coach is a close friend of mine" he told her honestly, surprising her.

"You studied in Konoha?" She asked dumbfounded. Kakashi nodded. "Why are you at Whirlpool then?"

"Tsunade-sama thought it was better for me to be the principal than Jiraya. So she suggested my name, and the board agreed" he explained, and she was suddenly very glad that Tsunade suggested him. If it was Jiraya the principal, things could have been way worse in Whirlpool.

"My eternal rival!" Uh-oh, that was bad news. With her eyes almost jumping out from her skull, she stared at the source of the sound. She must have pissed some god for her luck to be like this. Her coach, Guy-Sensei, was running towards hem. And eternal rival? Don't tell her that the eternal rival that Guy always talked about was Kakashi.

"Oh, hey Guy" Kakashi casually greeted the older green beast.

"I'm so glad you came to see the youth was of my team! Oh, and I see that you've met Tenshi-kun" guy said, smiling widely. That was it, she was dead. Kakashi glanced at her, raising his visible eyebrow, then looked back at Guy.

"Oh yeah, Tenshi-kun is a former student of mine" he said while smiling, "but I have to go now, if I want to get a good spot to watch the games. Be seeing you Guy, Tenshi-kun" and with that, he left. Tenten blinked, not really knowing what happened. Did Kakashi just covered up for her? Oh boy, she would buy and send him the next copy of icha icha book that he always reads.

"Oh, didn't know that my youthful student studied in my rivals' school!" Now she turned to Guy, who had tears streaming down his cheeks. She sweat dropped.

"Yeah" she said awkwardly, not wanting to prolong their talk, "look at the time, I should really get going, or Neji will kill me for being late!" She started to walk away, but guy grabbed her.

"What a coincidence, I was going over our court too!" He started to drag her while laughing maniacally. The rest of her supposed free time she spent it doing Guy's crazy warmups.

For her relief, Neji and the others started to arrive, soon starting to do the normal warmups. The time for the game to start came way too fast, and now she was feeling her nerves start to take the best of her. She could tell that the freshmen were the same.

"Relax" Neji told her, appearing by her side, scaring her. She wondered how he could do that, appearing from nowhere.

"It's just the first time I've been in a big tournament" she mumbled, and he chuckled.

"You'll do good, don't worry, just relax" he reassured her, making her feel better. Smiling at him, she nodded.

And so, the game started. It was a best of three, and they won easily with two sets against none.

"Yosh! I'm so proud! Great work everyone!" Guy beamed at them, "now it's lunch time, eat lightly as we have another game later today!" He gave us a thumbs up. Everyone, minus Lee left, Lee staying there to cry out tears of joy with Guy-sensei.

Joining up with Naruto and Kiba, she watched the other games with them. She wasn't tired, their first game has been quite easy, so Guy changed a lot of players, letting them rest a lot. Something she found very thoughtful of him, considering he liked to drive them into their limits. She chatted with the boys while they watched the matches, pointing out mistakes and great plays of the other teams. Soon enough, the time for their other game was up, and as Neji predicted, it would be against Oto.

"Looks like Konoha is recurring to girly boys now. Don't you have any real man to take this wimp place?" One of the Oto players yelled at them, making Nomura snicker. Neji glared both the player and Nomura. Tenten just rolled her eyes, she was expecting people to underestimate her. She contented herself in fighting them in the court, where she could make up for her lack of heigh and strength, smashing Oto. Another game won, another two sets against none.

"Looks like this girly boy just handed your ass" she sneaked her commentary towards the Oto player that yelled at them before, making her team snicker. The guy glared daggers at her, but she ignored him, way happy with their first day. It was a success after all! Making their way towards the bus, she realized how tired she was, and probably all the team too. Their Oto match was harder, Guy made less changes, so they played more. Not to say that all the tension and nervousness was tiring too. And she also had the extra warm up session with Guy.

Slumping in her seat, she could feel Neji sitting by her side, but paid him no mind, she wanted to sleep, so she did just that. Closing her eyes, she let herself fall into a sweet nap.

...

Neji's day has been good. They won both games and had no injuries. There were some things that troubled him, but he just needed to keep an eye. The first one was Nomura, whose hostility towards Tenshi was becoming clearer each hour. He understood that Nomura was butthurt of not being a starter, but he had to concede that Tenshi was way more talented and skillful than him. Plus, Nomura would have another year more to be a starter. The next thing was again related to Tenshi. A lot of players tried to pick on him, for him looking girly and so. He agreed that the boy did look girly, but still, it was a problem if it got to Tenshi's nerves. Which thankfully, didn't, and it might even have made the guy play better. But he would keep an eye nontheless.

Speaking of Tenshi, the little guy was sleeping by his side. He didn't blame him, he was the one who did the most running around after all. And how he was good, he let Neji spike whenever he could, wherever he was. It didn't matter really where he was, the boy would lift the ball exactly to his hands. It was the right choice to put him as a starter. Stealing a glance towards the boy, Neji saw how relaxed and peaceful the boy looked, and he had to admit that he did look more feminine when he looked like that.

Someone wants to lend a shoulder for the sleeping head

No I don't

Yes you do

Shaking his head in dismissal, forgetting about his last thought before his inner butted in, Neji poked Tenshi's shoulder.

"We are arriving" he informed when the boy gave him a lazy look. He did look tired.

"Hn" the boy grunted, and Neji refrained from smiling, enjoying his sleepy side.

...

Her cellphone alarm sounded, and she cursed it, but she got up anyway. Today would be an easier day. Only one game, and if they won they would be in the finals. Grinning to herself, she went for a cold shower, shivering when she got under the water. It woke her up at least. Getting her things ready, she went for the cafeteria, finding the same four men she met yesterday. Grinning, she sat today by Neji's side, as Lee was by the end of the table today.

"Morning" she greeted them, earning some grunts, nods, and Lee's blinding smile.

"Yo guys! Ready to kick some ass today?" Kiba joined them, sitting by Tenten's side, "who are we playing today, captain?" He asked Neji.

"Tsume" Neji answered without even looking at the guy, and Tenten was sure that he wasn't a morning person.

"The claw guys, those are strong" he commented, then put an arm around Tenten's shoulder, making her tense, "but don't worry little guy, I'm sure you gonna show'em who's boss" he told her.

"Uh, yeah, sure" she said, chucking nervously while inching away from Kiba and closer to Neji. Kiba's hand was still on her shoulder, and apparently the boy was oblivious to it.

"Kiba, don't be so loud in the morning" Neji said, his voice extremely angry. Kiba winced, retreating his hand and shrinking his seat. Tenten sighed in relief, thanking Neji mentally again. He was being a life saver over and over again lately.

The rest of the boys showed up, and breakfast got lively again, with Neji interrupting by saying that they needed to go to the bus. Everyone sat at the same spot as the day before and the ride went peacefully, or as peaceful as having Lee, Naruto, Kiba and Kanji in the same bus. Tenten didn't say a word, just observed outside the window while Neji meditated. When they arrived, Neji gathered everyone again.

"Our game is the first one, so we will head for the main court right now. Our opponent is very tall and strong, but their only strategy is to use brute force." He informed everyone, beginning to walk towards the main building. Everyone followed.

"Where's Guy-Sensei?" Tenten asked Lee. Their coach disappeared as soon as the bus parked both today and yesterday.

"Oh, Guy has to go talk with some tournament officials, so he always goes to do that right away" Lee told her. She nodded, surprised of how responsible Guy was, while all the other times he was reckless with his students. They kept walking in silence, and Tenten noticed, as soon as she entered the main building, that the atmosphere was a little different. All eyes would be on them. The semifinals, with only two games, there was no room to divide the attention. She gulped, feeling everyone looking at her, judging her wimpy look.

"Don't worry, just show your youth and everything will be alright" today, it was lee who reassured her, and she smiled at him, feeling glad that she had people backing her up.

The game started and she felt the difference in strength right away. If she thought Neji had a bazooka like arm, those guys had a missile like arm. Cursing under her breath as she received the first serve, she focused on the game.

In the end, they won two sets against one. They lost the first one but adapted immediately and turned the game into their favor. Guy dismissed them for lunch, telling them that the bus would leave after the other semifinal game, and it was important for them to watch it and analyze their future opponent. Tenten was about to go with her friends, when her phone buzzed. It was her brother. Grunting, she answered.

"What?"

"Hey! Can you meet us really quick?" Tenshi chirped on the other side of the phone, she rolled her eyes.

"Where?" she asked while she pinched the bridge of her nose. She loved her brother and Julio, but it was dangerous being close to them right now.

"Close to the bathrooms?"

"Which bathroom? There are like five different bathroom spots you dork"

"Uhh, I think it's the one closest to where you were playing?" He didn't sound very sure.

"Fine" Groaning, she went after them.

It turned out that it wasn't the closest one, but she did find the duo in her second try. At least they were still using the shades and facemask.

"Ten! You were awesome yesterday and today! I'm so proud of you little one" Tenshi exclaimed when he saw her, and all her anger dissipated. They traveled all the country just to see her playing. It was a nice action from them.

"Thanks, but the last ones had a very powerful arm... God I'm gonna feel it tomorrow" She complained, already feeling some bruises on her forearms.

"Oh, Amarai-san, do you want me to make you a lotion?" Julio offered, and she smiled at him, glad that he didn't call her by her name. They were taking this seriously apparently, for once.

"If it isn't too much trouble, I'd love it Julio" He was such a good old man.

"Nothing is too much trouble for you two. Now, to the important topic, has anyone captured your heart yet?" And there goes Julio and his obsession with her love life. She groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Ohhh, I bet is this Neji guy" Now she chocked on her saliva.

"WHAT? Why did you think that?" She was blushing hard while trying not to yell at her brother, who was laughing maniacally.

"Neji? If I would say I think it's the one with long hair, he resembles a woman when he has his back turned" Julio complemented, making Tenshi laugh harder. Tenten couldn't decide if she amused for him calling Neji feminine nor to be more ashamed that the guy got the right person. Not that she liked Neji. "Well, Amarai-san?"

"Well, yeah, that's Neji alright" Julio grinned victoriously, "but its not like I like him. I mean, he's an awesome guy and all, but really, no. And stop laughing you idiot" She glared at Tenshi, who controlled himself.

"Oh really? Then why do you always smile so much when you talk about him on the phone, and lets face it, you always have something to say about the guy" If she could see Tenshi's expression, he must have had a smug face on.

"I d-don't talk only about him!" She defended herself, still blushing madly. "I talk about Lee too, and, uhm" She was at a lost. Did she really talk so much about Neji?

"I think you mention Lee about once or twice in our calls, whereas you mention Neji about five times" Tenshi refuted her.

"Do you really keep tabs on that?" She was impressed by that, still embarrassed though.

"So, is it him?" Julio came back with the question, not dropping it. As she was about to answer them, she received a message. It was Neji, informing that the next semifinal game was about to begin.

"I have to go now" Neji, once again, saved her, "You two, behave" she told them before storming out of there, cheeks still red. For the rest of the day, she refused facing Neji. Even when they sat on the bus, she didn't take her eyes out of the window, afraid that her cheeks may get red again.

…

He had too many questions. Who where those two guys? What is their relationship with Tenshi? Why were they hiding their identities? And what the hell was that conversation. He had heard everything and didn't know if he felt happy or not. Tenshi didn't say that he liked him, but one of the strange men said that he talked a lot about him, smiling. That was good, no? But there were so many questions that Neji felt better leave it like that, also now Tenshi ignored his presence at all, which bothered him, but he didn't try to question. Neji guessed that the boy must be very affected by that conversation.

But why would he be affected by that? If there was no way then he would have ignored it, right? Or did he like Neji? After all, he did blush here and there when he was around. All these thoughts were troubling Neji to no end, and he decided that it was, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome to have crushes. He had enough worries with anyone finding out already, and now this. Groaning, he decided to take another hot shower, in hopes to relax and be able to sleep. Tomorrow were the finals after all.

…

Tenten woke up late, she didn't have time to waste. Rushing out of her room, she made it to the bus, where her team was already going in.

"Tenshi-kun! I was almost going to your room to see if you were alright!" Lee came to her, worry in his eyes. She could feel the gaze of other teammates.

"I'm fine, just overslept. Had trouble falling asleep" She scratched the back of her head, giving a weak smile. Lee just nodded, and accompanied her into the bus. Getting to her seat, she sighed. She did had trouble sleeping, too confused with all that Tenshi said to her. Did she really talk so much about Neji, and she smiled while doing so? If she did, it was unconsciously. A sound brought her back to reality, and it was her stomach, begging for food. She groaned, she didn't have time for breakfast, with all the binding and putting her hair up.

"Here" A sandwich came into her field of vision. Looking at her side, she saw that Neji was already sitting by her side and was handing her the sandwich.

"Thank you" She practically whispered, taking in the sandwich, adding one more point to the times that he had saved her in the last days. Munching her sandwich, she spaced out looking through the window, while Neji did his meditation.

…

"This is Suna, they are extremely skillful, their defense is the best of the tournament, if not of the country. It won't be easy, but they are old acquaintances. The one who tires first loses, so just do necessary movements, no jumping around unnecessarily. That goes especially for you Naruto and Lee. This is a best of five, after all" Neji did his usual meeting after everyone got out of the bus. Tenten gulped, a best of five game was tiring, even more against a good defenses. The attackers would tire more, as it would require more spikes to score points.

"Hey! Its Suna!" Naruto chirped, ignoring Neji's speech. Everyone looked at the direction the he pointed, and sure enough, some scary looking guys were passing by.

"Oe, Naruto!" A guy with make up and spiky brown hair came to greet them, he was accompanied by a red-haired man. Why did that guy wear make up?

"Ready to have your asses kicked? Kankuro and Gaara?" Kiba said, grinning at them. The brown-haired man grinned back.

"And you think you can kick our asses? If I'm not mistaken, we kicked your guy's asses the last time"

"Oh yeah? But this time we got this one" Kiba grabbed Tenten by the shoulders, pushing her to stand in front of the Suna boys.

"You got yourself a male cheerleader?" The guy said, blinking.

"No! This is our new setter! And he kicks ass!" Naruto yelled, smiling widely.

"You're the setter huh?" Tenten nodded. The guy may be wearing make up, but he was intimidating enough close by, "Well, good luck. My lil brother Gaara is one of the best liberos out there" He said laughing. So, this one was Kankuro, and the other one was Gaara, Tenten noted.

"Neji-san" Talking about Gaara, he looked like he was having a less loudly conversation with Neji.

"Gaara-san" Or they were only having a mental conversation while saying each others names.

"Well, anyway, see you guys on court. Be ready and good luck" Kankuro smiled sincerely, walking away. Gaara bowed to them and followed the taller man.

"Why was he wearing make up?" Tenten had to ask, Kiba and Naruto started to laugh.

…

Neji wasn't kidding when he said that those guys were tough, she had lost count of how many super rallies they had in this match. It went up until the fifth, and last, set. If that wasn't enough, the game was tied, 15 to 15, the first to have a two point lead would win. And to make things worse, Kiba's hand was in a bad shape after his last block. They needed to use their last time out, and Kiba was rushed to the infirmary.

"You better win this shit!" He yelled while he was being dragged away.

"Kanji, you're up" Guy called the guy. Was he nervous? he was, but he was also pumped.

"Alright, time to show 'em!" Tenten smiled at him. He was taller and stronger than Kiba, but he was way behind in experience. Going in, in the situation that he was right now, was nerve wrecking, him taking it like that was refreshing.

"Neji" She called the man, who promptly went to her, "Can you lead Kanji on the blocking?" She asked. It would be good for someone experienced to give some tempo's tips to the freshman.

"Sure" Neji looked at Kanji, then called him over to talk. She sighed, she was tired, her hands trembled, and her arms were in pain from receiving so much strong shots from yesterday's match. It was the end of the game, she could make it, she just needed to go on a little more.

"If you feel like you cant do it just ask to switch" Nomura said to her, taking her out of her concentration. While his words could be taken as a good advice, his face didn't, he had a look that told her that she was weak.

"Don't worry, I can do it" She smirked at him. For his dismay, when someone said she couldn't do it, that's when she wanted to do it even more, just to prove them wrong.

The time out finished, and they went back into game. Another super rally went by, and she was running from place to place to lift the balls. Surely, they could just pass the ball easily, but it would be a lost opportunity to score. It ended when Neji used all his strength to explore Suna's block, sending the ball to the bleachers. While it was an awesome point, she could see that he was as tired, if not more tired, as her. She cursed under her breath, in her hurry to get the ball to always attack, she didn't switch between attackers much, mostly sending to Neji, who always used a lot of strength, both in jumping and spiking. She couldn't help it though, she knew he was a safe bet.

"Are you ok?" She whispered to him, while he was going to the end of the court, to serve.

"I'll be once this is over" He said while panting, an she felt a pang of guilt of running him so much. His serve was still bazooka like, and she wondered if he could do much more after that. Gaara managed to easily receive his serve. She couldn't help but be amazed, that guy really stood up for his title of one of the best liberos around. Glancing back at Neji, he was still breathing heavily, something telling her that he wouldn't be able to receive well the next ball. Her prediction proved right, when he did receive Suna's attack, but the ball went way to high, going over the net. Kankuro jumped to pass the ball at first touch, but he was met with a wall. Kanji, who already was taller than the other boy, jumped in fornt of him, disputing the ball with Kankuro. With his raw strength, Kanji won, sending the ball to Suna's side, scoring the set and match point.

It was over. They won .They were going to the Nationals. Exploding from happiness, everyone of her team invaded the court, hugging kanji, making the man fall on his butt. Tenten, however, hurried by Neji's side, worried that he might collapse anytime.

"Are you ok?" She asked, worried as he was still breathing way too heavily. He looked up to her and gave one rare smile.

"Now I am" She could swear that her heart stopped right there.

The rest of the day passed by in a flash, the award ceremony, Kiba coming back with a broken finger, he and Naruto making fun of Kankuro, who swore that the next time Suna would win, the ride back with everyone partying in the bus, making Neji groan from annoyance all the time, and then, she found herself in her room. Sighing happily, she went straight to bed, shower could wait, she was too damned tired. Checking her phone, she saw she had a message from her brother.

'Going back home now, really proud of you sis. You were awesome!

Btw

I saw that little concern of yours with the guy

Here's a photo to prove it

Love ya, bye!'

There was a photo annexed, of her by Neji's side, a hand on his shoulder, checking to see if he was alright. She rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. Not bothering to reply, she embraced sweet sleep.

…

Neji was tired, if he had had a good night to sleep, he wouldn't have been that exhausted during the match. But he was happy. Tenshi stopped ignoring him, they won the finals, and Tenshi got worried about him. He grinned while remembering that.

You are hopeless

Hn

This was a longer chapter, I apoligize for that. Ah, and for the grammar errors too. Hope you all liked it! Leave your reviews and let me know how do you like it so far.

Be well, and see you all in the next chapter.