A/N: Chapter two, finally! I had planned for it to be up at bit sooner, but my parents and friends surprised me with a surprise party, so I was not able to finish it as soon as I would have liked.

I hope this lives up to everyone's expectations, I really enjoyed writing it!

I apologize for any grammar errors /spelling mistakes there may or might be. I try my best to avoid as many as possible.

Main pairing: Nejiten
Side pairing(s): Naruhina and possible others
Warning(s): Possible OOCness, medieval era

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

A Sense of Duty
Chapter 2: A Sense of Pride

Tenten stepped into the small bar. She needed a break after the long journey and a bar was the perfect location to do that.

The floors squeaked beneath her, the walls looked unclean, tables and chairs looked old, but it did not really bother her. Not even the thick smell of beer could scare her away. To be honest she actually quite liked the place, although she had no idea why she liked it.

"Maybe it is because it is not a place for hopeless, submissive women?" She wondered to herself with small, proud smile on her lips. Yeah, Tenten was not your everyday woman. She was her own person as she liked call herself.

Tenten began walking over towards the bar, which was located in the back of the room. She zigzagged between tables filled with men getting drunk, but as she was almost halfway something or rather someone stopped her by taking a hold on her right arm.

"Hold on a second, princess" An unfamiliar male voice spoke into her ears. She could feel his hot, smelly breath on her face and turned her face to look at who the fool was.

"Who is he calling princess? I am no one's princess!" Tenten thought to herself angrily as she looked the poor fool over with angry eyes.

The man was big and brawny, he was wearing a dirty, white shirt covered by a brown, leather vest and brown trousers. His hair was brown and it looked like he had never taken a bath before, he even smelled like that.

"Something wrong , princess? Not what you expected?" The man asked with a grin on his face. Tenten tried to free her arm from his grip, but his grip only tightened making it harder for her to free herself.

"With God's ear why did he have to seize my right arm?" Tenten cursed to herself mentally while she tried to twitch her arm free, which sadly did not work.

"Unhand me this instant, you filthy scum!" Tenten yelled out loudly. Tenten saw how the entire bar turned their attention to them, but the man holding her did not seem to take notice at all as he merely moved closer to her.

He moved to touch her face, but Tenten quickly slapped his hand away and tried to twitch her arm free again. But he just would not let go of her, if only she could distract him long enough for her to do something.

"Sir, let go of the woman or you will regret it" An unknown man stepped forward and said in a threatening tone.

Tenten could not see who it was, but by his way of speaking he was most likely from some noble and rich family.

"Great, just what I needed… a noble, rich and foolish man with a hero complex trying to play the knight in the shining armor! Just want I needed" Tenten thought to herself annoyingly. She really did NOT need to be saved!

"The only thing I would regret is to let this whore get away without giving me what I want" The brawny man said before he turned his attention back to her. Once again she had to deal with his smelly breath on her face while thinking of ways to make him suffer for calling her a whore!

Tenten took a step back and heard the sound of fabric being ripped. Suddenly she could feel the chilly air on her legs, which made her look down only to see a rip on her skirt, which exposed a bit of her left leg. She cursed under her breath and began to twitch her whole body.

Bad idea.

The man's grip on her arm did not loosened, which resulted in her blouse being pulled a little more down exposing more of her already exposed shoulder and collarbone as well as exposing the upper half of her chest.

"I need to distract in some way, but how?" Tenten asked herself, she was getting quite desperate seeing as her blouse was almost falling off of her.

"Sir, I am warning you. Let the woman go, now" Prince Charming warned the brawny man once again. This time Tenten took notice in how he took his attention off her and there it was! The moment she had been waiting for!

A cunning smile appeared on her face as she lifted her knee up high and slammed it into his stomach, knocking the air out of him.

*SLAM*

The large man bended over and wrapped his arms around his hurting stomach and he was so focused on the pain that he did not notice that he had just made a fatal mistake.

He had let her loose.

"Shit" He managed to curse out before she hit him right in the face with her leg. Tenten watched as he fell into a table with blood running down his face from his nose, which she had managed to break doing the impact.

"I told you to unhand me, fool" Tenten said in a mocking tone. She adjusted her blouse, placed her hands on her hips and shaked her hair away from her face. She opened her brown eyes again and stared right at the man who had tried to play her hero.

He was dressed quite fancy compared to anyone else wearing black trousers, a royal blue high-collared and sleeveless shirt with a yellow hem and a white blouse underneath. The only brown on him were his boots, his belt and his gloves. One thing that amused Tenten was his hair. It was long and pulled into a high ponytail.

"I was right, it was a fancy looking, rich guy with a hero complex" Tenten thought to herself.

And with a smug smile she said:

"Sorry, Prince Charming, but I am not a damsel in distress"

It seems as if time froze between them while the crowd slowly vanished around them, neither of them moved or looked away from each other. Neji did not know how to react or what to say while Tenten was waiting for him to either react or say something.

They just waited for the other to make the first move.

"I guess I will have to make my leave," Tenten broke the silence," Next time please do not try and save me, Prince Charming, I can take care of myself just fine" Tenten finished before she made her way out of the noisy bar. She did not bother looking back if she had she would have noticed that he was following her.

Tenten had only just turned a corner then someone took a hold around her wrist, her right wrist to be exact. Tenten bit her lip and angrily cursed out:

"What is it with people and grapping my right side? Let go of my wrist, you- Oh! It is only you, Prince Charming" Tenten blinked as she realized that the person, who had taken a hold on her wrist, was the same person who had tried to play hero, Prince Charming!

"Will you please stop calling me that, I am not even a prince" Neji politely asked while he bit the inner side of his cheek. He really did not like being mocked!

"You are not? Could have fooled me with the fancy clothes you are wearing, not many men wears bright colors like blue and yellow you know" Tenten grinned at Neji while looking closely at his clothes.

"And not many women are as rude and arrogant as you are, Miss" Neji calmly said back at her.

"Who are you calling rude and arrogant, Lord noble and mighty? Also, do not call me miss!" Tenten exclaimed angrily at Neji.

"Then what should I call you?" Neji asked as nicely as he could, although he could feel his blood starting to boil. This woma-No girl, was really a pain! Why did he follow her again?

"The name is Tenten!" Tenten proudly said with a loud voice.

"Tenten what?" Neji queried.

"Just Tenten" Tenten replied with puffy red cheeks.

"So no surname?" Neji asked more precisely.

"Uh-huh" Tenten nodded her head with her arms crossed over her chest. Neji gave Tenten a suspicious look before he said:

"Neji Hyuuga"

"Huh?" Tenten looked questioning at him.

"My name is Neji Hyuuga" Neji said once more.

"Oh, okay," Tenten paused, "So does this mean we are done insulting each other?" She asked Neji unsurely. He looked at her with the same unsure expression before he answered:

"I guess so"

"Good because I was just about to call you a very feminine man," Tenten sighed out in relief before she realized, "Oops, it slipped" Tenten said while trying to look as innocent as possible.

Neji stared at her for a moment.

"Did she just call me feminine?" Neji asked himself. To think such an innocent little comment could hurt his pride so much was an understatement!

"I am not feminine!" Neji denied.

"With that long hair and such a flawless skin, I am surprised the man in the bar did not try to hit on you because you could easily be mistaking for a girl, especially if you wore a dress" Tenten teasefully explained.

"I have you know that long hair is a tradition in my family" Neji tried to redeem his pride.

"Well traditions are meant to be broken, especially the odd ones" Tenten said in a carefree voice.

"That does not surprise me" Neji mumbled under his breath.

"What do you mean by that?" Tenten annoyingly asked with her hands placed on her hips.

"Just… traditionally most women are not allowed to do as they please" Neji explained with an honest look on his face. Tenten gave him a small smile and said:

"Well I am not like most women"

"I can see that" Neji admitted truthfully.

"Truth, I may not have met many women in my life, but she is the complete opposite of my cousin. I wonder if they could learn from each other" Neji wondered to himself.

*Growl*

The sound of a hungry stomach suddenly echoes in the ally Neji and Tenten was standing in. Neji looked at Tenten, who gave him an awkward smile.

"I think my stomach has decided that I am hungry" Tenten said with a grin. Neji had an odd feeling that she was trying to imply something.

He sighed.

"Do you want to eat dinner at my place?" Neji proposed.

"Uhhh I would love to" Tenten smiled brightly at him.

"Damn me and my politeness!" Neji thought to himself as he walked out of the ally and towards his uncle's manor with Tenten closely behind him.

Neji secretly hoped that his uncle would not get any wrong idea about this.

Tenten looked amazed at the huge castle before her. It was a two storied, half-timbered house made of mostly brick. The front door was enormous and looked like it was handmade with detailed cutouts of leaves cut into the dark wood.

The manor itself looked very large in Tenten's eyes and she could not help, but wonder about the size of the garden. A house this big would most likely have a large garden to go with it.

"A huge house deserves a sizable garden! I wonder if I will get lost in a house THIS large?" Tenten wondered. She did not notice Neji walking ahead of her before he called out after her:

"Hello Miss Tenten, are you coming are not?" Tenten blinked at him and pouted her lips out at him.

"It is Tenten, not Miss Tenten! I do not need to be reminded of my gender all the time, Prince Charming" Tenten corrected as she walked passed Neji and over to the door.

Neji sighed.

"It is Neji" He mumbled as he walked over to her and opened the door.

Tenten blinked. The inside looked even more glorious than the outside. High ceilings, candles lightening a bright yellowish color in every corner and a red carpet half covering the wooded floor beneath her. The red carpet had been places so it looked like a route, a red route.

The large carpet covered staircase was the first thing that Tenten took notice in. It was large. The next thing Tenten took notice in was how warm it was compared to outside.

"How do you heat this giant place up? It is so big and yet so warm, most places in this size I have been in are quite cold, how do you manage it?" Tenten asked Neji as she looked around her surroundings.

"My uncle has a thing for fireplaces, so we got quite of few of them" Neji answered before he turned left and began walking.

"Where do you think you are going without me, Mister?" Tenten annoyingly yelled after him as she ran after him.

Neji sighed deeply and replied:

"Well firstly, I am going to find my uncle because I need to ask him if he would mind eating dinner with an obnoxious girl, whose lacking proper manner and secondly, just follow me please"

"Lacking manners? I have manners just so you know it and I am not obnoxious! It is called being headstrong!" Tenten ranted on as she followed Neji.

"More like being stubborn since it is impossible to make you see your own faults and flaws" Neji mumbled under his breath.

"I am not the only one with faults and flaws, Prince Perfection" Tenten mumbled right back at him.

Afterwards they both stopped talking since neither of them was willing enough to admit defeat. It was a matter of pride.

Silence surrounded them as they walked through the manor. Tenten looked at the many paintings of family members as they passed them.

"Prince Charming was right about the whole long hair tradition. Every single family member has long hair regardless their gender!" Tenten thought to herself with small smile on her lips.

Suddenly Neji stopped in the middle of nowhere, which resulted in Tenten bumped into him.

"Warn me before you stop like that" Tenten grumbled.

"Sorry, but we are here" Neji said with a firm voice.

"We are where?" Tenten blinked at him cluelessly.

"My uncle's study" Neji shortly replied slightly annoyed by her.

"Okay, why are we here then? I thought we were looking for your uncle, not his study" Tenten cocked her head to the side. Neji sighed out:

"This is my uncle's private study, he will mostly be in here at the moment, which is why we are here, Tenten, " Neji paused," I am going to go in and ask him if he would mind having you join us for dinner while you, "Neji pointed at Tenten, "Are going to wait her until I come and get you"

After Neji had finished speaking he turned around to knock on the door before he walked inside the room leaving a slightly grumpy looking Tenten behind.

"He should know never to order me around" She hissed under her breath.

Neji walked into his uncle's study and closed the door firmly behind him. The room was very dark, most likely because the curtains where closed off leaving only the light from the candles to brighten the room up. His uncle was sitting by his table writing something on a piece of paper.

"Have you gotten rid of all your tension, my nephew?" His uncle asked without even turning his back around to face Neji.

"How do you know it is me, uncle?" Neji asked his uncle, surprised how his uncle without, removing his attention away from the paper before him, could figure out it was him.

"How can I tell? Well firstly, both my daughters know never to come to me when I am in here and secondly, I had a feeling you would seek me out after getting rid of your tension," His uncle stopped writing and turned his head around, "You are either here to ask me what I wanted to talk to you about the Knights of Konoha or to ask me about something completely different" His uncle finished.

Neji did not know what to say, he was dumbfounded. It was like his uncle could read him like an open book, which both amazed him and disturbed him.

"Do not look so shocked, my nephew, I have known your since you were an infant, so of course I would know how you think" His uncle clarified. Neji bowed his head down and spoke with calm, well mannered voice:

"My apologize, uncle, I did not mean to disturb you doing your private time, but I needed to ask you something and no, it is not about the Knights of Konoha," Neji looked up, "It is about-"

*SLAM*

"This is taking WAY too long, what are you two blabbering about anyway?" Tenten invited herself in and asked with loud voice.

Neji felt his face turn red for utter embarrassment. What was he even thinking, bringing her along with him?

"This is it, my life is officially over!" Neji thought pitifully to himself.

"Neji, when I told you to go and relax I was not expecting you to bring home a prostitute" His uncle explained with an unreadable expression on his face.

Neji stared at his uncle with a frozen expression.

His pride was as good as dead by now.

To be continued…

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. We are getting closer to the point where the plot officially starts rolling.

Please leave a review and tell me what you think :)

Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions to maybe events, pairings or characters you would to see/happen tell me. Who knows, I might even use it or get inspired.

And be sure to check out the characters' design on my DeviantART account.