It was well into the evening when Tenten finally arrived at home. After her lunch date with Temari, she had gone to the Hokage's office to be given a further debrief about their upcoming mission. Neji was right behind her as she entered the tower as if he knew exactly what time she would be arriving. It seemed the mission was much more in-depth that she had previously realized. It was an A-rank mission and they are to stay out of sight at all costs.

Removing her shoes at the door, entering her bedroom, she threw clothes into the hamper and headed for the shower. Since she lived alone she had no problem with the lack of clothing. Letting the warm water run over her she began to think. It would be the first time she had ever been alone with him for more than a few hours of a spar, minus the time he was in a coma recovering, let alone a mission. Every mission since his recovery was always Team Gai, or another shinobi would be part of their team if someone couldn't make it. It seemed that this mission required a bit more finesse than the Green Beast and his mini-me were capable of performing, and two people were plenty, so it made sense to be just him and her. She washed her hair removing all the grime from the day's activities and relaxed her muscles.

Not that he would notice, but her chest would begin to flutter whenever he would speak to her. She tried her hardest to push it down but somehow that feeling always found its way back up to the top each and every time they were near. He was always so calm and collected, he never got flustered, and not that she would be the source of that anyway. She laughed to herself, he would never think of her like that, she was just a teammate and a good friend.

Turning off the shower she grabbed her towel and made her way back to her bedroom. Changing into a loose tee shirt she laid down on her bed, shut her eyes and immediately went to sleep.

XXXXXXXX

The next morning came quickly, after preparing her weapon's scroll that always had a place on her back, she prepared a separate smaller scroll that contained items that they would need throughout their journey. Like a tent, blankets and a change of clothes. She made a mental note to train more with the sealing when she returns. She could not seal any food without it coming out on the other end of the summing tasting awful, so she just sealed some emergency water away.

Whenever she was on a mission with team Gai, the others would know to just pack clothes for them self's and some food to share, since she would carry everything else on her scrolls they would need for their mission, those scrolls could hold enough stuff to fill a whole apartment, it was quite convenient.

After gathering the rest of her things, she started to make her way to the front gates. Neji was already standing there, waiting rather impatiently, even though she knew she was right on time for their departure.

Without a word, giving a nod to him and him returning her gesture. They were off running through the trees at an intense speed, they seemed to go on for hours. It would take 2 days to reach the western bordered where it meets the Land of Rivers. From there they are to move North and East along the border, keeping an eye out for the mentioned disturbances, but again to not be seen.

They ran the whole day the same as it started, in utter silence. Tenten didn't really mind it though, it was a nice change of pace from the nonstop chatter session that would occur when it was all of Team Gai. She felt she spent more energy getting the other two to focus on the mission, and not physical contests between them selfs. Neji would always take the back because of his Kekkei Genkai, with an unamused smug on his face the whole time. As the sun began to set, Neji began to slow his pace. Noticing his slacking pace, she glanced over at him.

"This is a good place to rest for the night." He simply stated. They stopped in an area of the forest that would provide enough cover for the night. Even though she could have told him to keep going and she wanted to, but Neji was captain of this mission, not Gai Sensei, so there was no point in arguing. Tenten went to her scroll and began unpacking their things. First the tent, sleeping bags, cooking utensils and a change of clothes.

Neji removed his pack from his back and started to make a small fire. He removed the uncooked soba noodles from his pack and motioned for her to hand him the small pot she removed from her scroll.

"Thank you." He stated.

She nodded in acceptance. The kunoichi then began putting up the tent that they would be sharing, it wouldn't be awkward since usually, it was four of them sharing her tent, but now that it was just two, it felt, more personable. She entered the tent to change her clothes and when she emerged a steaming bowl of noodles awaited on the ground next to where Neji was seated. It wasn't like Tenten to boast, but she always thought to her self, her team is quite lucky to have her. Because of her ability to use scrolls, their nights in the woods on their missions were a bit more comfortable. She knew for a fact that not many other teams would have the ability to have a meal as this either she thought.

"Come sit and eat before it gets cold. It will be a while before we can have a hot meal again." He took a short pause before resuming. "We will be too close to the enemy tomorrow for a fire."

Even though they had gone on hundreds of missions before, it was always un-nerving leaving the protection that the village offered. She would never think that he would be nervous, but she always wondered if he had the same uneasy thoughts as her.

She took a seat and picked up her bowl, "Thank you Neji-kun." Her voice trailed off, trying to find something worthy of conversation. "I hope this doesn't take too long, I promised Temari that I would help her find a new Kimono when I return."

"Ah yes." He replied, "I heard Shikamaru-san asked for her hand."

"Yes, they are planning for a summer wedding, around two months from now. Even though the invitations have not been released yet, I know you are invited and I hope you will come for those two both consider you a valuable teammate and friend."

"Hm, I see….Very well if I am not on a mission, I will attend." He said so cooly.

Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly dulled the feeling. Just because he was going didn't mean that he was going to take her. Even though it is a tradition that those of age are to be accompanied with dates, it's just a village practice for weddings and festivals. Well, of course, people had broken these unspoken rules, for example, Gai Sensei and Hokage – Sama Kakashi. Those two didn't seem to follow any of the rules but no one seemed to care. Neji, on the other hand, was a stickler for the rules and tradition. So who would he take? The faces of his fangirls ran through her mind, though she knew more than anyone how much he loathed those squealing girls.

XXXXXXXXXX

Glancing to make contact with her eyes, he studied her features. Every time she would be in deep thought, she would scrunch her nose up and let out a deep sigh. She seemed relaxed as she ate her noodles. As he was looking at her for a little longer, he had come to the realization that this is the most time that he and Tenten have spent together without Lee and Gai and not training. Even if it was a mission, it was nice, he enjoyed training with her but… there was always a but. The clan elders did not approve of any Hyuga members to spend time with any of the other genders outside of the clan unless it was for a mission or training. The only reason he was allowed to spar one on one with her was that they were on the same team and needed to learn to work with each other developing abilities.

That didn't mean they didn't spend any time together, it was just always accompanied by two men in green spandex jumps suits being the center of attention. Actually, as a team, they spent more time together than most, besides Team 7 and the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho team. Some nights they would just get takeout after training and spend time at Gai Sensei's place. He always appreciated those nights, to get out of the Hyuga compound for a few hours. No, he wasn't the type to tell other others that he enjoyed their company and liked the distraction from the clan, but he somehow knew that they understood without the exchange of words that he appreciated them.

Finishing her food and using some water out of a canteen to rinse out the bowl she had been using, she nudged Neji for him to hand her his bowl, he did so and nodded in appreciation. She then resealed the items into her scroll for another time.

Standing up and stretching her legs, she let out a sigh. "Let's set up some traps so if anyone comes near we can prepare our self's… not that anything would get past you, even sleeping." She smirked.

Without realizing it, Neji let out a small smile. They worked together setting a few traps in every direction of the tent. Paper bombs and Tenten's personal favorite, trip wires set to scrolls that will unseal and send shuriken flying in the intruder's direction. Not enough to kill, but enough to slow them down so they could prepare for the invaders.

When they returned to the tent, she smiled and said, "I think that it is time I head to bed, are you coming?"

He replied with "Yes, just give me a few minutes."

XXXXXX

The next three days had passed seamlessly. No sighting of the Rouge-nin, they fell into a routine. Stopping every few hours to get a drink of water, unpacking at night, setting traps and then returning everything to the scroll once more when the sun would rise.

Sensing something up ahead. Neji activated his Byakugan.

Tenten looked directly at him. Seeing the veins around his eyes pop from the concentration. She hadn't noticed anything strange, but then Neji was much better at picking up foreign charkas than herself. She was more of what she liked to call the "heavy artillery," not the sensing type, but could be silent and discrete when the time can for it.

He leaned in and whispered. "I believe those are who and what we are looking for."

Her muscles unintentionally tensed.

"Mask your charka, we will just follow behind and listen, but keep a good enough distance they won't notice you."

She nodded once again following behind him in his footsteps.

Keeping a distance of about 40 meters, the pair took note of the group of 3 walking side by side. As the report stated, they were all wearing long blue cloaks. The three didn't have any head protectors that they could see, so they couldn't even tell what village they came from or defected from. Their conversation was lacking, but that didn't mean there was silence. Of the men, one seemed to have quite a mouth on him, one even rivaling Naruto's. He was babbling on and on about silly things that she wouldn't have guessed hardcore criminals would be discussing.

Still, nothing was helpful in finding their identity. Neji decided to go around the side to get a better look at the men and their faces.

Noting they were all between the ages of 20 and 25, 30 at the absolute oldest. The shortest of the group had no distinguishing features. His hair was dark and kept short to his head, clean shaven, brown eyes and had hardly spoken a word in the last hour they had been tailing them. The one standing in the middle, the tallest of the group, had long unruly blond hair, he let is sway in the wind. He also had a large scare than ran down from his temple to the base of his neck, though it looked like it had been healed for a very long time. His eyes were black with almost a glassy texture to them. Finally, the last one of the group, the one that enjoyed talking much more than the others. He was small in frame, even with the cloak you could tell that he was significantly smaller than the other two in body weight. His black hair was kept like a dirty mop his head, it looked clean but unruly like the blond's, but since it was shorter it stuck out in all directions. He also adorned a pair of sideburns along each side of his face.

None of the men matched the description of anyone in the bingo book. But anyone with half a brain could tell these men were trained in some sort of combat by the way they carried them self's as they walked, so simply being civilians was out of the question. They didn't seem to have the dark demeanor that one would expect a rogue ninja to bust at the seams with.

Suddenly, the shortest one stopped in his tracks and he glanced around the area. Tenten felt a dark cold feeling, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. In an instant, Neji was beside her and dragged her into the shadows with a hand over her mouth so she couldn't make a sound in reaction to the sudden movements. She knew immediately to mask her charka completely, while he was doing the same standing behind her.

After a few moments, she began to take in her surroundings. All three of the men had tensed and were scanning the area for movements. It seemed like none of them were sensory type. She wouldn't have minded a fight, but it was the Hokage's orders to not be seen, so she kept suppressing her charka, while at the same time feeling their almost demented charka filling the area around them.

She then glanced down and noticed something odd. Neji's hand was wrapped around her waist, almost protectively while the other was still lightly over her mouth to muffle any sounds that might come out. At the sight of this her heart began to beat quicker than it ever had before, she tried so hard to make it stop.

He whispered a soft shhh into her ear. Damit she was on a mission! How could she be acting like this! She was a professional shinobi, but still a romantic girl at heart.

She regained her composer as the other three began to walk farther away from their hiding spot. She heard the short one yet again say, "It must have been nothing, let's hurry the boss is waiting for us."

XXXXXXXXX

Even though the threat was gone, he didn't release his grip. He was unintentionally taking her in. The smell of her long brown hair tied in her buns, along with the grime of being on a mission for the past few days, but he didn't mind one bit, it was the smell of a kunoichi.

Her small stature, her feminine jawline, her long eyelashes, it was like he'd never seen her before. Her uniform was sleeveless, so he could see the defined features of muscles on her arms, defined yes, masculine, absolutely not. He was enticed by her, and he could not figure out why. Sure, he had never had a woman his close without them being an enemy and holding a kunai and slicing their throats a mere second after such contact.

But this, this was different, and he wasn't quite sure what it was.

Before another thought could pass through his mind, her hand reached for his and removed it from her mouth.

She whispered, "Neji, they are gone, you can let me go."

With some hesitant in his movements, he released her from his grip.

He could sense the awkwardness in the air so to break it he spoke quickly.

"Let us return to the village and report our findings."

XXXXXXXXXX

"What do you think of this one?" Temari asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

It really had been almost the hundredth time, they had been all over the village to all the shops and none of the dresses seemed to be adequate for her. Too big, too tight, glitter, too much fabric, not enough fabric so on and so on.

Temari snapped at her, "Tenten! Are you even paying attention?"

She glared at the blonde and said: "It's nice."

"It's nice?" She was almost losing her patience. "Tenten I trust your opinion, let me have. I don't think a bride ever pick out the dress her best friend said was quote, 'nice'."

Pausing she responded. "Hold on."

Tenten rose from her seat and made her way back to rack of dresses, she selected the one that had caught her eye when they were looking earlier while Temari was changing. She grabbed the dress and returned, placing it in her hands.

"Try this one."

Temari nodded in agreement.

When she returned, the girls didn't say anything, rather than just looked on in amazement. When she rounded the corner and looked into the mirror, she was already beginning to form tears in her eyes, something that none of the other dresses had done so far.

"Tenten, it's beautiful, who knew the tomboy had such great taste in dresses?" Temari choked out through the tears.

It was a neutral tan with a deep green along the trim. The design was those of a large tree with the branches creeping along the left side of the gown. It was so natural looking, simple and not over the top, just like Shikamaru and their relationship.

"This is it!" Ino and Sakura said in unison. She glanced over and saw Hinata with a large blush creeping across her face, but Tenten was surprised when she spoke up.

"Yes I agree, Temari-chan, this is the one, but I feel like it is missing something." All the girls looked at Hinata with questions written all over their faces.

"What could be missing? Shikamaru will love it! He's been my teammate for what seems like forever! I know him very well!" Ino spat out.

"Temari-chan, I would like to take the gown home and in stitch the Nara clan symbol on the back of your gown as my present to you, which is if you agree."

Ino and Sakura's eyes filled with tears, they were definitely the sentimental ones of the bunch, but they were all happy for their newly added teammate.

"That is such a wonderful gesture, Hinata-chan, I would be honored for you to in stitch my gown." Another happy tear fell down her face. "You are such a sweetheart." Temari engulfed her in a hug, followed by nodding to the other three to join in.

Smiles across all their faces, this was a happy time. There was no war, the village was more or less safe, and young love was blooming across many of their friends.

Tenten giggled, Temari looked at her, "What?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking, how you managed to get the laziest man in the village whipped into good enough shape to be husband material."

The short-haired blonde's features relaxed, "Well the work is not over yet ladies! Let's celebrate at the bath house! My pleasure since I dragged all of you around town all afternoon!"

All the girls smiled in agreement, Temari changed back into her normal clothes and paid for the gown. After being wrapped in another piece of fabric for safe travel Hinata took it from her hands.

"I will drop this off at the compound then I will join you." She bowed and took her leave.

The remaining women also took their leave and started walking to the edge of the village to the bathhouse.

Tenten and Temari walked side by side behind the other blonde and the pink haired kunoichi.

Temari whispered in her ear, "Ever since you returned from that mission a week ago you've seemed distance, will you talk to me, please? I consider you to be my best friend and you seem upset." She took a pause, "Not here with the others, but later, talk to me?"

Tenten met her gaze, took a deep breath, "Sure, come by to my apartment with me after?"

The blonde smiled and nodded.

The girls reached the bathhouse and only took a few minutes till they were all undressed and soaking with Hinata joining them a few minutes later.

Like anyone expected anything else, Ino was the first to open her mouth.

"So since we all know, Temari's love life the rest of you better spill it! Starting with you Sakura, and don't tell us that you're still holding out for that Uchiha to come back!"

Everyone else tensed, they know the sound of that name can send Sakura into a whirlwind of emotions.

She simply replied, "Well, there is someone that has asked me to go out a few times, but I just don't have time, I work at the hospital and I'm still on the active mission roster. I don't have time."

Her words didn't lie, Sakura was still sent out on missions as well as the split task of running the hospital with Shizune. Her medial skills were much desired, after the war she had been sent out to Suna by a request of the Kazekage to train some of his medical team for a few months. Tenten just always figured that it was a way to pass the time while the one she wanted to come home traveled the world. Since she had brought up the fact that another man seemed interested in her, she wondered if she was finally done chasing that black haired stoic idiot.

Ino giggled with excitement, "Oh come on forehead! Go have fun and do something for yourself for once! I bet it is one of those cute jonin that work at the hospital! Come on don't make me beg, who is it?"

Sakura looked very uncomfortable, but Ino was giving her a gaze as if to say you better tell me or all get in your mind and figure it out myself.

"It's Izumo."

The other girls would have spit out their drinks if they had been drinking any.

Temari smirked while Hinata turned bright red and Tenten just smiled looking at the pink haired girl for an explanation.

"Izumo Kamizuki? Did I hear that right? Forehead he is like an old man! He's only a few years younger than your sensei!"

"Pig, I didn't say anything about it I just said he has asked me to dinner a few times, I've always made excuses to not go, something about being at the hospital." She looked around at the group of girls, "But it would be nice to be taken out and treated like a lady once in a while." She sighed and stared deep into the water.

Tenten chipped in, "Well we all know he is a good guy, and now that were all over 20, why does age matter? I mean if you want to go out with him for dinner that doesn't mean anything more than dinner unless you want it too. Again who cares about the age difference? Now, if he was going after you when you were 15 and he was 25 that would have been unacceptable, but now, who cares?"

Temari took her turn, "Yeah go have some fun!"

All eyes were on Ino, as if Sakura needed her approval the most, "Yeah forehead! Even if he's old! Next time you seem him take him up on his offer!"

Sakura was turning red from embarrassment, but still, a smile was stuck on her face. "Okay, I will. Thank you, girls, for your support, but for Naruto's sake, keep this between us? He goes into big brother mode too easily" Her eyes went directly to Ino, "Pig? I need you to promise me."

With a grunt, "Yes forehead." While she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair.

Trying to get the attention off of herself, Sakura looked to Hinata sitting in the corner, "Hinata- chan, tell us has Naruto been good to you?"

Hinata began playing with her hair to keep her nerves from unwinding. "Yes Sakura-chan, he has." The girl's face was bright red.

Yes, Hinata didn't have the same restrictions with her non-female friends as Neji has. Since she is the daughter of the head, it seems like they are a bit more lax, as long as her choices comply with what they want. It seems Naruto's stance in the village is one that is highly regarded, all the big clans throwing their young ladies at him to have him join their clan.

"Very well, that keeps me from having to beat his head in! Pig, what about you?" The pink haired girl asked.

"Well, Sai is away on missions a lot…" Her voice began to trail off. "But he officially met my mother as my boyfriend last week when he was home. I guess you could say that she was surprised out of the whole group I ended up with him."

"So how did that go? Sai isn't one for first impressions." Temari asked.

"Yeah what awful nickname did he give your mom?" added Tenten

The girls all chuckled once again because no, Sai was not good with first impressions. Most of the people that respected him did so because of his effort on the battlefield, not polite conversation. Those books he read were always getting him into trouble socially, taking things way too literally.

"It went well, we kept it short to have less time and prevent something from slipping. Now my mother wants him over for dinner next time he returns, but I don't think he can go that long without unintentionally insulting her." The blonde said with a straight face. "Well, that's everyone but you Tenten! How is Neji-kun?"

All eyes were on her, "W-what?" Tenten stuttered out her face turning as bright red like the girl next to her.

"Oh come on Tenten! We all know you two are seeing each other! You're just excellent at hiding it! I want details!"

Hinata almost fainted, Temari sat silently by her side, knowing not to poke the bear on this topic.

"Ino." Tenten stated, "Neji-Kun and I are nothing but teammates. I don't know where you got that idea from."

The blonde was not one to give up. "Oh don't lie! I see the way you two look at each other! I know love when I see it!" She said while making a heart with her thumbs and pointer fingers, and puckering up her lips.

Love? How the hell could she see love in our relationship? Yes, we cared for each other, but no that was not love, in the romantic sense as she put it. Yes, we would have each other's backs no matter what it came down to, but that didn't mean we were romantically involved, just friends and teammates.

Seeing the distress coming across her best friend's face, and to prevent some possible weapons flying towards the blonde Temari finally jumped in, "Ino-chan, maybe this is a topic for another time, I think we all need to get going, it's getting late."

The other blonde nodded once in annoyance and they all exited the bath, changed and left to walk back to the inner districts of the village.

After the other girls parted to go their own way home, Temari and Tenten were headed into the latter's apartment. Taking off their shoes, Tenten went to go make tea and motioned for her friend to take a seat at the table.

Taking her seat, Temari was quick with the questions, "I'm assuming the fact that you turned redder than Hinata to Ino's pestering that is the reason you've been distance this past week." Without needing an answer she continued her questioning. "So what happened on that mission? I know it's like top secret and you can't tell me all the details, but you're not breaking code if you tell me about something happening between you two."

After pouring her guest tea and a cup for herself, Tenten sat at the table, sighed and contemplated what to say to her friend. She truly wanted to tell her, to get it off her chest because it was eating away at her, but she couldn't say anything about the mission and what they discovered. So being as vague a possible, she began to speak.

"We were in a position that we had to hide and before I had time to react he was grabbing me, placing a hand over my mouth and other around my waist to pull me into a hiding spot. After the threat left, he didn't move."

Temari's eyes widened and nodded to tell her friend to continue her story.

"It was nice, the feeling he gave off of his body to as if he was protecting more than a teammate, but when the contact didn't break… I was confused." She readjusted herself in her chair. "Temari, I liked it, I liked the contact. He seemed to as well, but who am I kidding? Maybe he could just pick up their movement farther out than I can, so he was waiting for them to be completely gone." Pausing again to let her friend take in the words she had just spoken. "That isn't really what is bothering me, as soon as we reported to the Hokage's he left without a word and hasn't shown up to any of our one on one training sessions we've done for years. I saw him with Lee and Gai sensei a few times, but other than that, nothing, not even in town. It's like he's ignoring me." She trailed off with sadness in her voice.

The blonde didn't know how to respond, again being one that always had something to say she was speechless. She didn't know Neji well enough to know if that was normal behavior, but he didn't seem like one to intentionally avoid his teammate.

"Maybe you just need to talk to him and ask why he is acting like that. As Shikamaru would say that is troublesome. March over to that compound and demand that he speaks to you!"

Tenten giggled at her friend's bluntness, "You and I both know I can't go marching into that compound that would be highly inappropriate." Tenten said as she contemplated a bit more, "We usually meet on Wednesday mornings so I will go out to the training grounds once more to see if he shows. If not I don't know what to do."

The blonde responded, "For his own sake I hope he shows, or he will have two pissed off kunoichi on his hands!"