Beauty and the Beast

Legend has it that a beast resides in Konoha. Well, other than the green beasts of Konoha- or blue. Which ever colour it is. It is a beast of a different kind- it is one of the antisocial varieties, cutting down any suits of courtship and things of the like, because while it is so handsomely attractive on the outside, this beast has the personality of a monster. This antisocial beast went by the name of Hyuuga Neji- the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan, a complete jerk in some people's opinions because while being so unfairly good looking on the outside, his cruelty was just too sharp for most to bear. The point was, anyway, that he was alone, and suffering on the inside- not much, but just a little, acknowledged the stormy night he was confronted by Shizune...

"Hyuuga Neji!" Shizune came out of the shadows in her disguise.

"Shizune-san?" Neji inquired coolly.

Shizune crossed her arms and huffed.

"Do you want to know what I have to say or not?"

"Please, go ahead." Neji replied, somewhat bemused.

"You have been cursed!" she shrieked, and a lightning bolt illuminated her face, and Neji recoiled.

She threw a rose at him.

"You are destined to remain alone and unloved… unless you find a young woman and fall in love with her by your eighteenth birthday… or I will find a poison that will give you pox for life!" she cackled. "However, if this rose is destroyed before you fall in love, you will get the pox anyway!" she cackled once again, and ran off, and Neji sighed, turning the rose in his hands. It was red, and the prodigy shrugged before throwing it over his shoulder. His birthday was in three days anyway- there was no way he would even try.

The next day however, he woke to find the rose on his bedside table, with a note from Shizune.

"I mean it Neji," the note read. "Start socialising or I'll get the Hokage to force you to!"

Neji sighed, and threw out the note, keeping the rose… just for good measure, the prodigy said. Not because he was freaked out by a woman with nothing to do in her spare time.

That day, Neji was relieved when he received a mission. It involved simply capturing a target for interrogation, and then releasing him. Tenten would help with the capture, and Neji would handle the interrogation. It was simple- they would travel for a day, and work on capture and interrogation for the next few days, and return as soon as possible. All up, Neji planned to be back in three days- on his birthday.

The only problem was, he realised, that next day was that Tenten was involved- and she was to wear a low cut dress… with her hair unbound.

"So, Neji," Tenten smiled as she twirled around in her dress. "How do I look?"

Neji swallowed, taping his hands with shaking fingers.

"Fine." He said curtly. "Tie up your hair because it'll get in the way."

With a frown, Tenten did as he asked, and left the room without saying another word.

-----x-----

Tenten smiled, slightly bemused, as a man sat in the chair opposite her. She gently stirred the iced tea in her cup and sipped at it slowly, all the while eyeing the man in front of her.

"So… you're a dancer?" The man asked softly, almost purring as he said her name, "Hanako?"

"Yes…" Tenten lowered her eyes, smiling coyly. "It's the greatest thrill of my life… just dancing for an audience of ten thousand people- and knowing that they're all watching you… it's incredibly breathtaking."

Stupid identity profile. Tenten vowed to bust Shikamaru's ass when she got home for creating such a corny character for her.

"Yes… you are," he purred yet again, and Tenten rubbed her neck, smiling yet again, trying to resist the urge to punch him to bits. The slight movement caused her hair piece to fall from her locks, onto the table. Tenten blushed and toyed with it in her fingers.

"So have you ever done any… private performances?" he asked, sly sneaking a hand to her knee beneath the table.

Tenten started, her knee flying up, causing the man's hand to connect solidly with the wood. The jolt went through her elbows, and some tea sloshed out of the glass, onto his shirt.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Tenten simpered, grabbing a napkin and dabbing it ineffectively at his shirt while ignoring his obvious pain. "I hope you'll let me make it up to you somehow…" she suggested softly, her fingers brushing against the skin on his neck.

"How about I go get some ice for this…" she said, looking like she was thinking, "And you go to your room and change… and I'll come up… and we'll see about this… 'Private performance'," she met his eyes, seeing only lust there, and smiled voraciously. He was hooked.

------x-----

Neji, who had been listening and watching from a few tables away, fumed silently. How dare he make such advances!

Tenten was his team mate- and he would do everything to save her honour from men like him!

He watched as Tenten left the room, her hair rippling down her back like silk… down to her swaying hips wrapped in gold chiffon. Not that he liked watching her hips, of course; he was just checking for her well being after that man molested her!

The anger kept bubbling up as he followed the man up to his room. He waited ten minutes before knocking lightly on the door, and the main naively opened it without checking who it was.

He literally did not know what had hit him. It was Neji's chakra engulfed hand, of course, damaging all of his internal organs, but seeing as he passed out after the first hit to the heart, it didn't really matter.

Tenten appeared in the doorway behind him, and he turned, blinded by the sudden lights that clicked on.

Her hands rested upon those graceful hips of hers, and her hair was pooling over her shoulder, her eyes angry and her mouth set in a line as her head tilted to the side, analysing the events that had conspired in her absence.

"I thought the point was to interrogate him here- not almost annihilate him and drag him back to Konoha tomorrow." She said, sounding annoyed.

She tied him up to a chair with brisk knots, and they left him in the room, locking it as they left for the room that they shared; right across the hall.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, watching his movements intently.

"do what?" Neji asked, feigning innocence.

Tenten sighed.

"You almost killed that man in there," she said softly, sitting rigidly on the bed.

"He touched you!" Neji protested, much to his dismay.

"Thank you, but I don't need to be rescued. I'm a shinobi, remember?" Tenten looked at him with an unreadable look in her eyes. "But it was only natural- he saw me, desired me… and, well, believed he could have me."

"But he can't!" Neji snapped.

"Neji," Tenten said, standing up. "What is this really about? Is there something wrong with you?" she placed her hand on his forehead, checking for fever, but found nothing.

"It's about men who always stare at you, drooling after you like animals- and you let them do that?" Neji asked angrily. Tenten stepped back, glaring.

"I can't stop them, even if they do!" Tenten shouted back. "Stop acting like I'm yours to be rescued and protected!"

Silence fell, and Neji scowled.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, admitting defeat.

Tenten tried to hide her smile.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I acted out of line, and I shouldn't have. I know you are your own person… it's just that…"

"It's just that what?" Tenten asked, stepping closer to him again.

"Well…" Neji looked away from her, and her face fell. He turned away, and she sat back on the bed, feeling dejected.

Needless to say, however, she received the shock of her life when Neji came back to her and kissed her, right on the lips, sending shivers shooting down her spine to her fingertips and toes.

------x------

The next morning, Neji woke to find Tenten lying on his chest, her amber eyes open as she watched him.

She kissed his lips.

Smiled.

Sighed.

"Happy birthday, Neji." She said happily, kissing him once again. Somewhere inside the corner of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder what Shizune had told him… but whatever she had done, it worked.