Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own the plot.

Back into business after the 7-day trip (is anyone even interested as to where the hell I disappeared to?). Anyway, have fun reading this chapter!

Just A Mission-ch3

Someone is in her house.

Tenten's eyes snapped open. She had been a shinobi long enough that she can go from deep sleep to full alert in less than a few seconds. The house was quiet but she could feel someone's presence. Maybe she was over paranoid but her gut feelings had saved her enough times to convince her to continue to believe in them.

She couldn't think of anyone that would have a reason to come to her house tonight (she lives alone). Therefore, the chance of having an adversary in her house is far greater than a friend.

Tenten remained in her position, lying sideways with her back facing the door of her room. She didn't want to alert the intruder that she knew his or her presence. She was curious as to what the intruder wants from her. After all, she wasn't like Naruto (who was wanted by the Akatsuki) nor was she a descendent of a powerful clan.

Her feelings were confirmed when she heard the sound of her bedroom door opening with a quiet squeak. She could hear soft footsteps heading toward her bed so she discreetly reached for her kunai that is hidden beneath her pillow. When the intruder touched her shoulder, she pulled out the kunai and got into a defensive position. However, the intruder seemed to know her line of thinking and reached her for her wrist. The intruder twisted the knife out of her hand while turning on her bed lamp, illuminating the room.

The kurai hit the carpet floor with a thud.

The intruder was Neji.

Tenten let out a sigh of relieve when Neji let go of her hand. If she was even sleepy, she is fully awake now that she got adrenaline pumping through her veins, "god, what are you doing here at this hour."

It was already one in the morning.

But Neji was not someone who drops by to say hello. They didn't talk much during the mission since she wasn't able to get much out of him. He still talked to her only when it was only necessary. Tenten shrugged it off, not wanting to let him to make her mood foul. If Neji wanted to be that way then she'll just have to let him be. After all, she can't grab him by the collar and shake some sense into him. Hyuuga Neji had a will of steel.

Neji took out a small glass cylinder bottle. From the colour of the lid, she recognized that it was an ointment that was made by his cousin, Hinata. She saw it several times when Hinata had taken it out to help her injured team-mates. Hinata had finally given up on using the medicine on Naruto because by the time she lifted off the lid, his wounds were already healed. Nevertheless, the cream was quite effective in ridding bruises quickly.

Thinking back, Tenten was still amazed at how Naruto (injured or not) was able to launch himself onto Hinata whenever he sees her after a mission. It was as if he could transform from a serious ANBU to a whiny brat in less than three seconds. She would often shake her head as she watched the couple, wondering how the loudmouth is going to take on the role as the Hokage. If he is like that in the future…

The sound of Neji clearing his throat brought her back to the present.

Tenten said 'thank you' before reaching out, trying to take the bottle from his hand only to find that his grip on the object wasn't loosening.

Tenten sighed.

This is going to be a long night.

"Gently!" Tenten hissed as she felt the pain on her back.

Currently, she was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, Indian style. The back of her shirt was pulled up to her shoulders, revealing her bare back. A brown blanket covered the front of her body. Neji sat at the side of the bed behind her. He was massaging the medical ointment onto her back. Therefore, she could estimate the amount of pressure he was applying on her bruise by the pain she felt.

Tenten could feel a slight jerk of Neji's hand. However, almost immediately, he continued on with his work. She looked at the alarm clock in her desk, which stood not far from her bed.

It was already 1:30am.

No, she wasn't going to get any sleep at all.

Tenten yawned, blinking a few times, trying to keep her eyes open. She tiled her head and looked at Neji. He didn't look up at her in response to her stares. Instead, he was observing her back like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

They hadn't talk to each other for the last half an hour ever since he had showed up. Tenten knew that he had something in his mind that he wanted to tell her (simply because it doesn't take half an hour to apply the ointment on her back). Normally, she would wait until Neji was ready to talk. However, not tonight, she was dead tired and she wanted to close her eyes and fall back onto her bed.

She sighed as she realized that he is not going to say anything soon. Therefore, she'll just have to take initiative.

"Neji." Tenten pulled the back of her shirt down as she turned her body around. Facing Neji, she grabbed his retreating hand and held it gently. She looked at him in the eyes. "Do you have something that you want to tell me?"

The said man didn't answer.

Tenten crossed her arms before her breast. Her right forefinger was tapping her left arm as she waited.

And waited…

And waited…

"Neji." Tenten said in her most patient voice. When she saw that he wasn't about to open his mouth, she continued. "It's really late and I'm really tired. Why don't we continue this in the morn…"

"Does it hurt?" He asked suddenly.

"What?" She asked, startled. By now, she wasn't expecting him to do anything other than to take his leave.

"Does it hurt?" Neji rephrased, slower this time. He reached out hesitantly and caressed her bruise on her cheek—the one he'd hit several days ago that had already turned into an angry reddish purple colour.

"No, of course not." Tenten said immediately, she gave a small uneasy chuckle as she ducked away from Neji's hand. The pain she'd felt that day was long gone. It was slowly healing; it wouldn't hurt unless she rubbed it. It wasn't the pain that was annoying her, but rather, it was the attention she got from the large ugly bruise. She had to explain (unwillingly) to those who saw her that she got hit by Isamu (because she couldn't tell them that Neji hit her). Therefore, the uninjured-on-mission streak that she had up till now was down the drain.

However, she couldn't stay mad at Neji since she knew that he didn't strike her on purpose. She got over it a long time ago. What she felt now was curiosity as to why Neji did the things he did.

"You shouldn't have tried to stop me Tenten." Neji said quietly as he slowly applied the ointment onto her face.

Tenten flinched at his remark.

"So I'm supposed to let you beat him to a bloody pulp?" Tenten questioned incredulously. "Neji, he's our mission. If you put him into coma then what's the point of retrieving him? He's useless to us unconscious. We need him to be at least to speak coherently when he reaches here. What has gotten into you anyway?"

Once again, Neji didn't respond to her question. Instead, with his fingers, he got some more ointment from the jar. When his hand was about to touch her face, Tenten slapped his hands away.

"My face is fine Neji." She stated with a touch of annoyance in her voice. God, he is impossible!

Neji, for the first time sighed, he placed the bottle on the desk next to her bed and stood up. Tenten only watched silently as he did so. It was only then did she realize how little things she could talk to Neji with. True, they had been seeing each other, as in meeting, for ages. However, the number of topics they would talk other than training, mission, or other shinobis were few. It is impossible to ask what he is thinking when he doesn't want to tell. His expression would turn stoic and look at you like you are the stupidest person in the world.

Therefore, Lee and she were better at reading his body language to interpret what he is thinking. She tilted her head as she continued to observe him.

"Have you met him before Neji?"

The only possibility she could come up with was that Isamu had somehow done Neji wrong in the past. Therefore, Neji wanted take revenge or something.

The pale eyed man looked at her for a moment before saying 'no'.

Tenten bit her lower lip to suppress another sigh. This Q&A session was going nowhere.

"I'm going to sleep now." Tenten said as she crawled under her covers, indicating that she wanted Neji to leave. She turned off her bed lamp and darkness filled the room. She'll prod him tomorrow when she sees him. She closed her eyes, knowing full well that Neji would lock the front door for her when he exits. He and Lee were the only two who possessed a set of her house keys. It was so that when she was on a mission with some other team (other than Neji and Lee), she wouldn't have to worry about watering her plants. She, herself, had keys to Lee's house (he lives alone too) but not Neji's. Since Neji still lives within the Hyuuga household, there are others who would take care of his stuff while he's away.

As a shinobi, Tenten had excellent hearing. Neji had not move one inch from his spot. He remained standing next to her bed. However, she also got a feeling that he was staring at her face. However, she didn't open her eyes, she was so tired. It was already two am when she flopped onto her bed; it was way past her usual sleeping time in Konoha, when she was not on a mission. If the previous mission hadn't taken so much out of her, then she'll probably let Neji take all the time in the world.

She was hoping that Neji would get the hint and leave.

Tenten was about to doze off when she felt Neji sat on the side of her bed. He lay down next to her with his body on top of the blanket.

Lazily, Tenten opened one eye and looked at him. He was facing her, lying on the mattress sideways. It wasn't the first time that they had shared a bed. She knew how that must've sounded but nothing happened, well, at least nothing sexually.

She could remember a time when she had a high fever and he had stayed with her for the whole night just to take care of her. When her fever was finally gone, he fell asleep next to her, exhausted.

There was another time he had slept over. He had run into some problem with the main family during their genin years (Tenten had never found out what it was). Therefore, in his anger, he didn't want to stay in the Hyuuga household for the night. She was surprised to find him standing in front of her apartment. When she heard that he wanted to stay, her response was to pull the door wider to let him through. Since she only had a small apartment then, the furniture she had was also limited. Neji had nowhere to sleep but the ground. However, since there was a mission tomorrow morning, Tenten shifted and let him sleep on the other side of her bed. After all, she convinced herself, she wanted her team mate to perform in perfect condition.

Tenten closed her eyes again. If he wanted to sleep here, then—

"He touched you." He stated.

From his tone, she could hear a touch of anger and…frustration? No, it was something she couldn't really identify. Crap, her mind was getting cloudy. It was so damn late…

"A lot of people touched me before." She muttered without a second thought. "Besides, I was seducing him. I'll start to worry if he doesn't react to me."

Tenten turned so that her back was facing Neji, getting into a more comfortable sleeping position.

"You should never have taken him on alone. There are other things we can do to…"

"But we'd searched all around town." Tenten interrupted. "And we couldn't find him. That's why we waited. It's the simplest method. Luring him into a room before capturing him allows us to get away without coming in contact with the Cloud shinobis. The mission went quite well, he showed up and we caught him. You personally approved the mission remember? I don't know why you changed your mind all of a sudden."

"It's because I can't help regretting." Neji said slowly.

"What the hell does that mean?" Tenten turned back to face him as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. The weapon expert reached for the bed lamp and turned it on. Light flooded in the room. She could take the fact that she'd made a mistake. However, she could stand it when Neji, or anybody, question her abilities. If he says anything about…

"You had thrown yourself to him…"

"Excuse me?" Tenten said incredulously. "Because I think you just called me a slut."

Neji looked at her for a moment, Tenten narrowed her eyes. She wasn't here to take his insults!

"There are other ways to lure the man out of the bar." Neji said simply.

The hidden meaning behind the statement was as clear as day to Tenten. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up into a sitting position also.

"Hyuuga Neji, do you want to take this outside?" She demanded. "I'll kick your ass right now!"

Neji touched her wrists, holding her at the pressure points, forcing her to get go of him. He stated calmly, "If I didn't get there in time, the situation would've gotten out of hand."

"I am completely capable of taking care of him myself. Even if you didn't show up, I would have caught him." Tenten argued. "He's right within my grasp..."

"You don't know what you are talking about." His voice turned icy.

"Of course I do!" By then Tenten was practically yelling. God! What the hell is wrong with him? He's mocking her as a shinobi, a job that she loves and is proud of. "In fact Isamu is…!"

Before she could finish her sentence, she found herself pushed backward onto the bed. Neji placed his hands on both of her shoulders as he hovered above her.

"Neji, what the hell are you…hmpf!"

Neji pressed his mouth on hers. She lifted her hands to his chest, trying to push him away and off of her. He quickly removed his grasps on her shoulder. He grabbed her by the wrists and pressed her hand onto the bed above her head, seizing her from making any movement. Tenten wasn't able to kick him because he had entangled his legs with hers in such a way that moving was impossible.

At this moment, Tenten was scared. The Neji before her wasn't Neji at all.

This is a monster!

She tried to scream but her voice was muffled into a quiet moan. The kisses he was giving weren't gentle, it was rough and painful. She could hear the sound of her heart thumping as blood pulsed through her veins.

Thud-dup.

Thud-dup.

Thud-dup.

A chilling thought came into her mind: is he going to rape her?

Without even realizing it, her hands were clenched into fists. Tears began to swell in Tenten's eyes, making her vision blurry, but she stubbornly refused to let any of her tears fall.

She's going to keep her dignity damn it.

Then she felt something warm and wet on her face.

One drop.

Two drops.

Three drops.

Her tears…

They rolled off her check and dampened the pillow that she was lying on.

Just when she thought that Neji's not going to stop, he did.

Tenten slapped him hard across the cheek. She moved away from him, not looking behind her; she lost her balance and fell off the bed. She continued to move backward until her back hit one of the walls of her room.

Neji stood up, walked toward her. He opened his mouth to speak when…

"Get out!" She screamed. "Get the fuck out of my house!"

Neji obeyed. Taking a last look at her, he walked out of her bedroom door. Just when he was about to close the door, he paused.

"You couldn't even fight me off of you…and I didn't use my full strength yet. Don't ever underestimate a man's strength. Shinobi or not, a man can easily overpower a woman if necessary. The moment woman threw herself at a man; she has already lost her ability to say no. It'll be too late to struggle if he is to force himself upon you."

With that, he shut the door quietly behind him.

Right after Neji had left, Tenten curled herself up into fetal-style, with her head resting on her knees and her arms around her legs.

It was much later did she realize that her body was shaking.

She is afraid of Neji.

Love it? Hate it? Please review! Need motivation haha.