Disclaimer: Narutoverse characters do not belong to me. Neither do characters/elements from the three other anime I referenced in this chapter; if you're the first one to name all three I'll do a request oneshot. Or I'll yelp like a dog three times in the middle of the day, take your pick.

As promised, Tenten spent the whole of the next day sparring with Neji. But the day after that she was back at her professed duty of party-manager, getting as early a start as possible. Hiashi found her in the Hyuuga compound's main kitchens before the breakfast meal was served, informing the head chef that they would shortly be receiving a shipment of blue water-peppers – rare in the spring, and absolutely not to be obtained for blood or tears at any point afterwards.

She left the speechless head-chef with a polite bow and hurried over to Hiashi, already pulling out papers from the messenger's-pouch she had taken to carrying with her. Hiashi greeted her with a quiet smile and a nod of his head, saying, "You have eternally secured Hayo-san's affections, I think."

Tenten looked puzzled.

Hiashi gave a low chuckle – frightening two Main House members who were passing by – and changed the subject. "You've mentioned a certain 'they' might have taken the records. Why would you say such a thing?"

"Oh." Tenten smiled sheepishly. "Please don't worry about that - I was only being a little paranoid. Hiashi-sama, you do know Neji has a…fanclub of his own? They were our classmates in the Academy. They used to throw him birthday parties when we were in school…"

"Ah yes," Hiashi remembered long arguments about the necessity of a perfect attendance-record, and also hopeful matrons dropping by the Hyuuga compound. He had been glad those days were over.

"Well, they found out about last year's party. And that I'm to help arrange Neji's sixteenth birthday party this year. And they…they want invitations," Tenten said, choosing her words carefully.

Hiashi was beginning to utter an emphatic and automatic denial when he realized that Tenten wasn't finished.

"Of course I said no." (Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief).

"Neji would never forgive me, for one thing; for another, the list of guests is already confirmed. They were a little…upset by that. Nothing I couldn't handle, of course," and the unconscious, battle-ready arrogance of that statement made Hiashi grin to himself – she resembled his nephew, at that moment, more than he would have thought possible. "But when Neji took the papers I thought that they might have, for once, come up with a semi-dangerous scheme to get into the grounds. They hadn't, of course. They're not even genin, most of them." Tenten's contempt was as obvious – if only to Byakugan-insight eyes – as it was automatic.

"I see," Hiashi said thoughtfully.

That night, Hiashi formed a bodyguard for Tenten – who was, after all, in danger because of a favor she was doing for the clan.

He was a little surprised by the large number of willing – downright eager – volunteers to make up the bodyguard. He hadn't known that Tenten had met so many of the clan, and that they were willing to deprive themselves of sleep/free-time/missions in order to spend the day as her bodyguard/gofers.

Before he could sort through all the enthusiastic would-be bodyguards, too, he had to deal with an indignant nephew who burst into the room and demanded why Tenten needed to be assigned a bodyguard. He, Neji, was perfectly capable of fending off any stupid (he actually was agitated enough to use the adjective) fangirls if Tenten wasn't.

Hiashi pointed out that if the females in question were attacking Tenten because she was arranging a party for Neji – and perhaps because they resented her closeness to him (Hiashi watched Neji's face very carefully as he said that) – then having Neji nearby would not be an intelligent move. In fact he would recommend that Neji stay away from her, for the time being, when they were in town.

(He also noticed with interest the grins several of the other boys sported at this news).

Neji, after more arguing than Hiashi thought would be necessary, grudgingly acquiesced; but he did not then leave. Instead he leaned against a corner of the wall and glowered at his cousins.

Hiashi, shaking his head, soon sorted through the available schedules and had two-shinobi shifts of young Hyuugas arranged for Tenten. Neji, sulking from his earlier defeat, had put his foot down on them accompanying her to their private training-sessions; no fangirls had ever dared bother either of them before, and he doubted they would do so now. Besides, they would be nothing he couldn't handle - Hiashi choking as Neji unconsciously emulated Tenten from earlier in the day.

"Why, where do you train?" One of Neji's cousins – Hyuuga Hatori – asked with studied nonchalance.

Neji slanted a glare at him, then smirked and replied, "Nowadays, at the Forest of Death."

A sudden silence filled the room.

Hyuuga Neji, as ordered, kept out of Tenten's way when they were in town – but not out of Byakugan range, a position he considered entirely in keeping with his duty as Tenten's teammate.

Neji disliked the fact that Tenten was going to so much trouble for his birthday in the first place; he had felt awkward enough last year, when he'd learned what she'd done (and her exhaustion had been explained). And he was even more annoyed by the thought of his burden of a fanclub plaguing her because of that. If they dared harass her now, it would be he, Hyuuga Neji, who would take care of it – and not his cousins, who ought to have nothing at all to do with the affair.

He extended his Byakugan's range slightly to eye both his cousins. Hiashi had presented the two shinobi to Tenten that morning, more as errand-boys than as a bodyguard, which Neji had warned him she would not like. (Now he rather wished he hadn't – maybe Tenten would have refused them then). Accordingly, Tenten had cheerfully made use of her new resources, and both boys had arms piled full of packages.

Neji looked first at the shorter boy to the right. Hyuuga Hiro did not trouble him overmuch; the older Hyuuga had a taciturn, blunt-speaking personality very similar to Neji's own, and the two quiet boys got along quite well. Neji trusted Hiro as much as he trusted any member of his family, even though Hiro was abroad too often for them to be called 'close'. A half-blood (meaning that the clan's genes, usually fully dominant in a Hyuuga-born child, had been superseded by other inherited traits) Hyuuga, born of a foreign father, Hiro had the strange characteristic of being able to activate his Byakugan even though his eyes were the dark blue of his birth-father's, rather than the tell-tale silver of a Hyuuga. True, his Byakugan was weaker than most, but Hiro's skills more than made up for it; and, he was able to go undercover as few Hyuugas were. He was a capable shinobi, intelligent and self-controlled.

Also, Hiro already had a girl to whom he was fiercely devoted; a noble-born girl who was notable for her high rank in her country's government despite her young age. Hiro spent just as much time – perhaps more – at her side as he did with his clan. Neji tried to recall her name – Lilina, wasn't it? In any case, he had no reason to worry for Tenten's virtue around Hiro.

His face settling into a slight scowl, Neji moved his attention to the other Hyuuga. Hyuuga Hige was an entirely different matter. The tall, broad-shouldered teenager ran a hand through his thick light-brown hair in a move Neji sourly suspected him of practicing in front of a mirror, grinning at Tenten. Neji grit his teeth.

Hige was a chuunin, the same rank as Tenten and Neji, but had had to be kicked that far. The nineteen-year-old's interest seemed to be fixed on good food, women, and alcoholic beverages, not necessarily in that order, and he only pursued his shinobi training in that it would help him obtain said objectives. To Neji's disgruntlement (and some bewilderment) Hige always seemed to be possessed of copious amounts of his favorite foods and alcohol and – more annoyingly – to be surrounded by women who liked to coo at him, pinch his cheeks, and cuddle with him. Hige's nickname in the Hyuuga household was 'that wolf', more for his skill with women than for any battle-trait associated with the animal.

No, Neji did not at all like that Hige was one of Tenten's companions. He glared at Hige a little too long, shutting off his Byakugan when Hiro began to look around suspiciously. He turned his head and began to scan for fangirls, hoping to take out his frustration on them. He grinned fiercely when he spotted one; he took off as noiselessly as a shadow, gleefully imagining the jelly-tar-feathers trap he would set.

Vengeance for stupid parties in the Academy – and for other, more recent things – would be his.

Tenten was helping Hiro choose a teddy-bear for his girlfriend – she had smiled so widely when he had quietly asked for her help that it had hurt – when she heard a bloodcurdling scream rip through the mid-morning hum of the market. Hiro and Tenten immediately raced to the scene, shinobi-trained senses at fullest straining alert.

"MY HAIR!"

They just as immediately lost interest in the situation. They turned their backs on the yelping, squealing girl whose long hair had been drenched in some sticky substance and liberally peppered with feathers, and went back to their store. Tenten chewed her lip absent-mindedly, trying to remember if she had seen the girl before. She shrugged when no name came to mind.

It was probably one of Naruto's random pranks. She shoved it to the back of her mind as they met up with Hige, who was contentedly munching on a pastry shaped like a dinosaur's head. "Want one?" he offered her, "They're the specialty of the Matsuda bakery, really tasty."

Tenten smiled and thanked him, then broke the bread in half and gave one part to Hiro. The three ate their snack and chatted – well, what passed for chatting with Hiro; in any case Hige made up whatever lack of words his cousin suffered - as they returned to the Hyuuga compound, unaware of the figure shadowing them.

Preview: The actual party, and the last chapter of Neji's sixteenth birthday. And the fangirls' last assault!

Notes: As I mentioned above, if you can name the three cameos (of a sort) in this chapter first I'll do any request for a oneshot you want. If you want. I dunno, just a sort of game to keep this chapter interesting, seeing as how dragged-out this part's been.

Many thanks go to Ennariel, Tanya Lilac, Kyuubi0sama (and yes, those were her fanboys. As for the kunai-thing…maaaaybe. ) unexpection, HyuugaTenTen, burnished velvet, and Nessie-chan, and everyone else who reviewed and kicked my lazy butt in gear. The plotbunnies thrive thanks to your contributions!

And let's have some cheers for the awesome saccharinesyrup, artist of incredible talent at making adorable, melt-worthy drawings, who actually did a fanart of this; Tenten from chapter 3, all rumpled and tousled and Kakashi-hitai-ate-slipping-ish. She rocks so hard. (glomps saccharinesyrup)