"I cannot wait for you to meet him on Monday, Tenten." Rock Lee, Tenten's friend and fellow worker at Extreme Fitness, exclaimed over dinner on Saturday night. "He was my roommate in college and is a gifted photographer."

Tenten smiled at the man before her; he was always so excited about everything. "I'm happy to hear that. I'm sure he will do a fine job." She took another swig of her beer, washing down the chicken she had been eating.

Lee took a large gulp of his own beer, and Tenten winced at the amount left in the glass when he had finished. Lee had never been a good drinker, and Tenten had quickly learned to cut him off before he got to his second glass. "I invited him here tonight so the two of you could get acquainted before Monday, but he was busy."

"That's okay. We'll have plenty of time over the next two weeks to get to know each other."

Tenten and Lee had become fast friends after she started at Extreme Fitness. Lee was a little too excitable, but he was funny and sweet, and, like Guy, he didn't pry into her personal life. The duo enjoyed sparring together during their down-time when the dojo was quiet, and he had even started teaching her some Kung-Fu moves.

"Will you be able to be my partner on Monday? I have a new move I want to teach my students while the photographer is here." Tenten asked.

"Of course! I enjoy taking part in your lessons."

The topic moved on to the crush Lee currently had on the woman from their local coffee shop. He updated her on their latest conversation and Tenten smiled at how cute he was when he spoke about her. He asked for help on what he should do—he didn't know if and how to confess his feelings—and Tenten did her best to give him helpful advice. As they continued to talk, her mind wandered to Monday's lesson, her excitement mounting om the knowledge that soon her classes will be promoted. She couldn't wait for the opportunity to have new pupils!

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"Tenten, the photographer will be here soon." Guy called, poking his head out of his office to give her the heads up. "He wants to meet you before your students turn up."

Tenten was in the corner, working on her stretches before the start of her lesson. She still had another fifteen minutes, but Tenten liked to make sure she was sufficiently warmed up in order to give her best for her students. "Okay. Just direct him to my corner when he arrives." She replied, her head tucked against her knees as they lay flat against the ground in front of her.

She continued her stretches, making slow movements in order to avoid straining her muscles. She had her feet pressed together in front of her, knees making the shape of a diamond with her body stretched over the top, arms reaching long on the floor when she heard a camera shutter. She shot up, her wide eyes meeting a long, dark haired figure, his face obscured by the lens of his device. Tenten's heart pounded in her chest, unable to believe the sight before her. Surely this couldn't be happening. Out of all the photographers, why did it have to be him?

"Oh no." Tenten hadn't realized she had said that out loud until Neji moved the camera from his face, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you that disappointed to see me?" He asked her, his beautiful lavender eyes holding her captive. "I suppose that should not surprise me. You ran out the morning after we made love multiple times-"

Tenten hissed at him to be quiet, blushing a dark shade of red. She glanced around frantically, checking to make sure no one was in hearing distance.

"-and going by your expression, you must have been hoping we wouldn't meet again. Am I correct?"

Tenten couldn't deal with this right now, not when her students would start arriving any moment. And how could he just say that so casually? Tenten sent him a glare so fierce she was surprised he didn't wither under it. "Can we talk about that later, if we must? You're here to do a job right now, so please focus on that."

"I will hold you to that." He gave her a pointed stare to show that he was serious before he walked closer to where she was still seated. "I assume Guy mentioned that I will be here to observe your lessons for the next two weeks?"

Tenten scrambled to stand up so she wouldn't have to look up at him, and she regretted it instantly. Her body rebelled against her rational side, wanting to move closer to him, to close the gap that was currently separating them. But that would be inappropriate and unprofessional to do in the workplace. Not to mention completely and utterly stupid, Tenten. She chided herself.

"Yes. He told me that the photographer will be taking shots of the different techniques throughout our lessons." Right, she could do this. Keep it professional; talk about work. As long as she doesn't think about him or that night, she would be fine.

Neji nodded, all businesslike, and Tenten wondered if he was having similar thoughts to her. But of course he wouldn't be; that night wouldn't have meant anything to him. For all she knew, Tenten was probably just another notch on his belt.

"Today will be a trial run. After the lesson, you can look at the photos. If you are satisfied with them, we will move ahead with this arrangement. Is that fine with you, Tenten?"

It was the first time Neji had called her by name. Tenten realized that, despite her having asked his name that night three weeks ago, she had never told him hers. He must have heard it from Guy.

"That's fine." She tried to hold his gaze, not wanting to show him how flustered she was from his presence.

Her students filed in, excitement evident in their faces as they glanced at the man standing beside Tenten. They had been thrilled to hear they would have an opportunity to be featured on the dojo's website, and Tenten could tell they had put a little more effort than usual into their makeup and hair. Tenten, on the other hand, had her hair in its usual buns and her face free of makeup.

"How is everyone today, class?" She asked by way of introduction, as she did every lesson. A chorus of "good" echoed in response and she smiled at the women in front of her. "I would like to introduce you all to Neji. He will be our photographer for the next two weeks."

The women voiced their greetings and Neji smiled in return. Tenten had to hide her shock at the sight of it. This smile was completely different to the smirks he normally sent her; it held warmth and softened his face considerably. It was beautiful.

"Good morning ladies." As Neji introduced himself, telling the women his plans for the next couple of weeks, Tenten began to worry that half of the class would be too distracted by this attractive man to concentrate on the techniques Tenten had to teach them.

Neji continued talking, drawing Tenten out of her musings. "You will not even notice I am here. I will be in the background, so go about your lesson as you normally would. Please do not try and pose for the photos. I will be able to take the best shots when you are in action." He turned to Tenten, indicating it was once again her turn to speak.

"Okay class. Let's do our best today." Tenten clapped her hands, the lesson officially starting.

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The session had gone smoothly for the most part, except for the times when Tenten had to remind herself to forget he was there, watching and documenting the whole session with his camera. She knew her face must have been giving her away—she could feel her cheeks burning on more than one occasion—but she tried to focus on the women and the moves she was teaching them. Lee had been her partner, as usual, while she initially taught them a new technique, and then she allowed the class to practice their skills on one another while she watched on, giving pointers and encouragement. It was just like any other class, and by the end of the session she had forgotten he was even there at all.

"Are you ready to take a look at the photos I captured?" Tenten jumped at hearing his voice and cursed herself for being so nervous around him.

She turned to face him, only to find that he was close. Too close. "Can you please maintain a professional distance?" She asked, taking a large step backwards.

"Why?" Neji's eyes shone with amusement and he closed the distance once more, bridging the gap she had just made. "Do I make you nervous?"

"Of c-course not." Too close, too close. Tenten spun on her heel, needing space between the two of them. She could hardly think when he was so near, and she needed to be in full control of her faculties around him—she refused to have a repeat of last time. Tenten sat down against the wall and held out her hand. "I can look through the photos while you get a drink or something, if you'd like."

"I would rather stay."

Of course you would. She groaned inwardly. He walked over and sat down beside her, so close their shoulders and hips were touching. Tenten's skin burned at the contact, the events of that night springing to her mind. She shot him a glare, her face and neck on fire. "Have you ever heard of personal space?"

"I need to be close enough to see the camera as well." He passed her said device and she settled back against the wall, trying her hardest to block him out as she perused the photos. Tenten wished she could find a fault in his work so she could let him go, but his shots were flawless. Each photo captured the women's feelings and movements perfectly. She turned to the next photo and her breath hitched, mouth opening at the sight.

It was her demonstrating a new technique to her students. Somehow, though, Neji had managed to capture the excitement in her eyes, the flush in her cheeks and the determined set of her jaw as she slammed Lee's body into the ground. Tenten couldn't take her eyes off the photo; it captured a beauty in her she didn't even know she had.

Neji shifted beside her, his hand moving to rest on her knee. He chuckled as the movement caused her to stiffen. "Don't look so nervous, Angel. I won't do anything to you." His eyes caught hers, and the look in his lavender gaze betrayed the innocence of his words.

Tenten knew she didn't look attractive; she had no makeup on, her hair was a mess after the lesson, and she was wearing the traditional dojo getup that did nothing to flatter her figure. But none of that seemed to matter to Neji. He looked at her with so much hunger that she wondered briefly if she was, in fact, naked after all. Stop it. She chided herself, feeling her body respond to his gaze. This is neither the time nor the place for those kinds of thoughts. Besides, you already told yourself you wouldn't get involved with him again! But oh, how she wanted to. Neji had this incredible ability of making her forget what was right and wrong; what she should be doing—or, in this case, should not be doing—and focus solely on what she wanted to do.

Neji noticed the change in her demeanour, felt her press against him, and took the opportunity to lean closer, resting his mouth on hers so softly that they were barely touching.

"You said you wouldn't do anything." Tenten mumbled against his lips, her heart spiking at the light contact. But she didn't retreat. Rather, she inwardly screamed for him to press closer, to kiss her with as much passion as he had the first day they had met.

"I won't do anything, unless you want me to." His voice was low, but he didn't move from her lips. He didn't press forward, but neither did he back away. He just stayed right where he was, driving her crazy with need. "Do you want me to do something, Tenten?"

Yes. A million times yes. "No."

He drew away just a fraction and an involuntary whimper escaped her. Neji smirked at the sound. "Are you sure?"

She paused before whispering, "No."

Neji's smirk widened against her lips and he pressed forward, finally giving her the contact she had been wanting. He leaned his body into hers, plucking his camera out of her hand and safely placing it on the wooden floor beside them. Then, he drew his arms around her and lifted her with ease until she was sitting in his lap.

Oh, how Tenten had longed for this. For him. His lips trailed from her mouth to her neck, and he bit down on the sensitive skin. She groaned in response, her hips shifting closer to him involuntarily. He grinned wickedly against her skin before trailing kisses back to her mouth, where he enticed her tongue to play with his.

Her body soared from the feelings he was stimulating within her and she never wanted to come down. But she knew this was wrong. She didn't deserve to experience these feelings. He made it possible for her to forget her shortcomings, and she didn't deserve to forget, even for a moment, what she had done.

Tenten pushed against his chest, using all her willpower to remove herself from his lips and turn her head away from his intoxicating kisses. "I-I can't do this." Her breathing was ragged, and she clutched his shirt as she fought for control.

His smile was wicked, not yet understanding the implications of her words. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away. Your workplace isn't the best location for doing what I have in mind."

Tenten shook her head, scrambling out of his hold and onto her feet. "No. I mean this. Us. I just can't. I'm sorry." Tears sprung to her eyes. Every nerve ending in her body screamed at her to crawl back into his arms, to feel the strength and protection he afforded her. She took a deep breath, steeling her emotions into a professional mask before she allowed herself to look at him again. "The photos look great, Neji. I'm happy for you to come back and shoot the rest of the classes, but this," she pointed between their bodies, "can't happen again."

She turned and fled without waiting for a response. The locker room was quiet, both Lee and Guy busy with a meeting in Guy's office, and Tenten decided to hide there until Neji left. She knew her outburst would make their next encounter extremely awkward, but she would deal with that when the time came.

Tenten took her time changing and collecting her belongings, not bothering to wipe the silent tears that ran down her face.

I'm trying to keep the chapters a week apart, but at the same time I really want to post them as soon as I can. So here you go, please enjoy this a few days ahead of time.

Please let me know what you think so far. I'm quite liking Neji's character (if I do say so myself) and I assure you that he is more layered than he may seem to be at the moment.

Also, my dear readers, please let me know your opinion on how graphic (if I can say that...) you would like the 'saucy' scenes to be. Now, bear in mind that I don't think I'll be doing anything majorly graphic, but I don't know if what I wrote in the second chapter was decent enough, or if ya'll are wanting it to be more... um... saucy.