A/N: I feel blessed to have so many reviewers, thanks to you all!
"Tenten, what on Earth are you doing here? And like this too?"
As far as Tenten could tell, she had two options: either to explain the truth to Gai, and hope he could keep a secret, or deny it so vehemently that he wouldn't believe her anyway.
Unfortunately, both choices had similar results.
I really hope he understands why I'm doing this…
"They shut down the Kunoichi team at Suna, and me, Ino, and Sakura weren't allowed to try out for the boys."
"I heard about that," Gai's impossibly bushy eyebrows rose, "But since when did you start dressing like a boy? I know boys generally have more youth than girls, but there are easier ways to gain—"
"No, that's not it!" Tenten smacked her forehead, "My friends and I came up with a plan to prove that we were as good as the boys, and it involved me being like this." Tenten spoke quietly, despite the fact there was no one else in the gym. "Are you going to tell?"
Gai regarded her with a slight smile, "Tenten, you've been fooling people left and right about your gender." He also spoke quietly, "And clearly, you've been working hard. Why would I unravel all of that? Besides, you have a point."
"So you won't tell." Tenten shoulders sagged, she felt relief course through her veins.
"No, I won't." His expression became serious, "But you need to start exercising more caution. Use more generic Shinobi moves. The moves I taught you gave you away to me, and thank God that Lee can keep a secret—"
"Lee knows!" Tenten almost screamed. Damn!
"No, no, he only knows that you are a former student of mine, he doesn't know who you are exactly."
"Does he know my gender?"
"Not yet. Lee, thankfully, is incredibly naïve at times. Youth it seems, does not help observation skills." Tenten sighed in relief. "But he'll be watching you carefully. I generally do not take on private pupils, and he will wonder."
"I know," Tenten assured him, "I'm just glad that you aren't about to rat me out."
"I told you, you have good reasons and I'm not about to unravel results achieved by solid, hard work. But I warn you, things are about to become much more complicated. You'll have to be very careful." Tenten nodded solemnly.
"I know."
"Good. Now go get dressed—no, wait…" Gai suddenly looked slightly disturbed. Tenten couldn't really blame him.
"Can Shinobi wear their gym uniforms to practice?"
"Only until they get their official uniforms." He had a very odd look on his face. "How have you…"
"I'd really rather not talk about it, but a lot of hiding and hurrying."
"Understood. I think."
Gai still looked disturbed, and Tenten quickly slipped into the almost empty locker room. She was practically giddy with relief, Gai wasn't about to tell, she was going to be safe…
…But she still had to be careful, more so than ever. The more people who knew her secret, the more difficult it would be to keep it a secret. Gai and Lee would probably stay on her side, but who else would?
The only thing that Tenten didn't like about Ninjutsu was how there was always at least a couple of months of conditioning, with no matches in sight. But to her surprise, she found she rather liked sparring with Lee and Neji. Unlike Kunoichi, the Shinobi sparred in groups, each one with their own instructor suited to their style.
Tenten had assumed, considering how all the girls were Genin, they would all be grouped together. To her surprise, this was not the case.
"We need to have everyone grouped equally, with strengths that play off one another." Neji explained to her while they sparred (Gai was keeping Lee busy), "It does not matter what level they are at, if they can function well and learn how to counteract their weaknesses, and they will be fine."
"But most matches are one-on-one, why does it matter so much?" asked Tenten, trying to sweep Neji's feet off of the gym floor. Quick as ever, the Hyuuga jumped and kicked her in the stomach. It wasn't especially hard, so Tenten landed on her feet, only stumbling slightly.
"I'm not sure, but it helps teamwork."
"You sure?"
"Assuredly so."
"Even when Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all on the same team?" Her question was conveniently followed by a loud "NARUTO! SASUKE! IF YOU TWO WON'T STOP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER, I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!"
"Their skills mesh well together." Neji turned to look where Tenten was looking, at a boiling mad Sakura smashing her teammates' heads together with a sickening crack. Everyone who was watching winced sympathetically as the boys' hit the ground.
"But their personalities certainly don't." Tenten commented. Sasuke had gotten up off of the floor and was now arguing with Sakura. They weren't being loud enough for Tenten to hear, so she couldn't discern their topic of choice. But whatever it was had Sakura gesturing extravagantly and Sasuke obviously aggravated.
"A factor of little consequence." Tenten opened her mouth to disagree when Ino rudely interrupted her.
"Hyuuga, just because you don't have a personality doesn't mean everyone else is so blessed. We have to deal with bad chemistry." Snapped Ino, pausing in her throttling of Shikamaru. Asuma and Chouji tried to free the boy from her clutches, with little success.
"Well, Yamanaka, please take your emotional issues with Shikamaru out of practice. You're killing him." Ino glanced at the blue-faced Shikamaru and hastily loosened her grip on his neck.
"You know, normal people usually make noise when someone is hurting them." She scolded.
"I'm not normal." Shikamaru wasn't even looking at Ino, but elsewhere.
"Of course you would take the easier way out—you are normal!"
"I'm not."
"You are!"
"I'm not."
"You are!" And so on…
At this point, Chouji and Asuma gave up trying to separate the bickering pair and went back to sparring. Tenten and Neji also turned back to their own sparring, but not quite at the driven pace it was before.
"Well?" Tenten prodded.
"Well what? Be specific."
"You're not Iruka-sensei, don't give me a lecture. How does putting people who argue so much make a difference in teamwork?" The Kunoichi may not have practiced in groups, but they mostly got along just fine. There were occasional catfights, but they were very rare, largely thanks to a policy enforced by the coach that too much fighting resulted in being kicked off the team.
"It does, eventually."
"Not in Ino's case, or Sakura's." Tenten jerked her head to the left, where Ino was still shrieking at Shikamaru, and to where Sakura was stalking away from Sasuke, who had an unusually exasperated look on his face.
"They are simply girls having a personality clash. That will fade in time."
"I doubt that."
"Hn."
"At least Hinata's team gets along." Tenten glanced over to Kiba, Shino, and the aforementioned girl was taking a break with Kurenai. They were the only group that hadn't once bickered throughout the whole practice. Considering that they were already close, she wasn't surprised.
"Hn."
"Why do you and Sasuke always answer like that?"
"Hn." Annoyed, Tenten re-engaged Neji in a driven spar that would (and did) make Gai proud.
Before Tenten knew it, it was the middle of October. She had been able to successfully keep her cover for six weeks, despite the complications. She was doing well in all of her classes, her stamina had improved, and not to mention, she had finally reached an understanding with Neji. They were now somewhat friends, even though they tolerated each other more than actually liking each other.
Her friends also were progressing well. Hinata seemed to be talking to Naruto more and blushing less, though Neji was halting the progress quite a bit, much to everyone's annoyance. Sakura and Sasuke also seemed to becoming comfortable with one another, though they still clashed at times. Ino, to everyone's surprise, became good friends with Chouji. To nobody's surprise, she and Shikamaru still didn't like each other.
Despite all of the work and the disguising, Tenten made sure that she wasn't abandoning her girl friends. Whenever they could, on weekends the four girls went off to Suna, wandering around in the one area of Fire City they were most comfortable with and the one place no Konoha students would be. They even met up with Temari sometimes, who had somehow had accumulated detailed accounts of everything that happened in the last month and a half (she had joked that the school was rigged with cameras, Tenten half-believed her). Kankuro usually tagged along, and gave Tenten some useful pointers about guy relationships, helping prove her theory that guys were all probably clinically insane.
Unfortunately, Tenten forgot one tiny little thing about pretending to be a different person: to the rest of the world, she was still Tenten. Just because Toyo now existed, didn't mean that Tenten had disappeared.
One Friday afternoon, after a long, hard day at school and an equally hard practice, Tenten dragged herself through her apartment door, schoolbag over one shoulder and her mail in the opposite hand.
Once she had showered and changed into more feminine wear, Tenten began the task of sorting her mail. While all of her bills went to the orphanage, she still got catalogues, magazines, school information and personal letters.
What have we gotten today…junk…ShinobiNews…more junk…what's this? Tenten extracted a letter from the orphanage from the pile. Curiously, she slit the envelope open and unfolded the letter inside.
Dear Tenten,
We hope you have not forgotten about the carnival fundraiser for the orphanage this year. It will be held earlier than usual this year, this coming Saturday to be exact, and as always, we would like for the well-placed orphans such as yourself to help us out with the carnival games. Let us know if you can do so, we need people to supervise the dart boards, the popcorn cart, and the kissing booth (we need one more girl).
As Always,
Kaede Sugimoto
P.S. You'll be paid. I apologize for the late notice.
Tenten read the letter a second time, and tilted back her head thoughtfully. There really was nothing wrong with helping out at the carnival—she had been doing it for the past three years after all. Mentally, she ran through her schedule—she had practically nothing to do this weekend, so taking on the dart boards wouldn't be so bad. Besides, she owed the orphanage more than a few thanks yous.
Best of all, it was always held in the Suna district. No one from Konoha would be there, so she wouldn't have to run the risk of being discovered by anyone. And she was positive the orphanage wouldn't mind if she brought along some friends along.
Making up her mind, Tenten reached over and grabbed her phone off of the coffee table.
"Hello?"
"Hey girls, want to earn some easy money?"
"Why are we here in a carnival in Suna of all places?" Neji looked around his surroundings with well-concealed dislike. Everything was too bright, too cheerful, too upbeat. Neji might not have been (as Kiba called him) 'emo', but he preferred subtle and calm to loud and raucous. Lee was the only exception to this rule.
Of course, Lee was the exception to every rule.
"But Neji, my rival, don't you remember? This is a fundraiser; it's for a very good cause!" Lee was, as usual, bent on living everything to the fullest. He was all over the place with Naruto and Kiba, looking around excitedly. The rest of the Chuunin Shinobi lagged behind, all of them less than enthusiastic about being there.
"Besides, didn't our parents threaten us with bodily harm if we didn't show up?" asked Chouji. Despite having only been physically in the carnival for about five minutes, he had already amassed armfuls of sweet snacks.
"Hn. Still seems like a waste of time to me." Sasuke's hands were interlocked behind his head as he glanced around the bright stalls and games with complete disinterest. The looks on Shino's and Shikamaru's faces indicated similar opinions.
"That's 'cause none of you have any idea how to have fun!" Naruto sighed, "I wish the girls or Toyo were here. They would appreciate it."
Neji wouldn't have minded Toyo here with them either. The boy was suspicious, but he wasn't prone to the bouts of emotion that plagued Lee, and he usually understood what he was talking about. As he scanned the grounds, a habit well refined over the years, he spotted three very familiar figures. His cousin and her entourage. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, so Neji wasn't about to spoil their good time by calling attention to them.
"HINATA-CHANNNN! SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto's quick eyes had locked on the girls and he made a beeline for them, almost pouncing on Hinata, had not Ino gotten in front of the girl and nearly slapped his face off. He howled with pain and stumbled backwards, a red handprint decorating his cheek. Sakura clapped in approval, while Hinata looked alarmed and rushed over to tend to him.
"Woah! Nice aim, Ino!" Kiba came up to her and clapped her on the back, not even flinching when she 'playfully' punched his shoulder. "What are you all dressed up for?" While Hinata and Sakura were wearing reasonably casual clothes, Ino was wearing clothes more appropriate for a date than for a day having fun.
"I'm going to be working at the kissing booth. Come and see me." She grinned and addressed the whole group of boys, blatantly ignoring how all of them exchanged wary glances.
"What are all of you doing here anyway?" Neji asked Hinata, "You said nothing about coming here today.
"I-I didn't think you would be interested." Explained Hinata softly, slightly uncomfortable with Naruto's proximity to her right side, "Besides, Tenten invited us."
"Tenten?"
"A friend of ours; she's still going to Suna." Explained Ino.
"Ah. Have fun." Neji made to leave, but was held back by Ino and Lee. "What?" he snapped irritably.
"Neji, you need your own blossom!" Everyone listening almost fell over anime-style. The only exceptions were Sakura and Sasuke, who were too into their own conversation to notice.
"What?" Neji wondered if he had heard correctly.
"You want to set Neji up with Tenten?" Ino shook her head as though to clear it. "Where did that come from?"
"From what you told me of this Tenten at school, she is strong. Neji likes strong girls." Said Lee, shrugging. The others in the group received this information with great amusement.
"Hyuuga has a type? " Kiba mock gasped, "And all this time I thought you were asexual. Though you seem to have been talking to Toyo an awful lot late—"
Neji hit him before the statement could go any further. The rest of the group, stifling a laugh, helped the hapless Inuzuka back on his feet. They proceeded to follow Ino and Hinata, with no knowledge as to where they were going.
Without realizing it, they had left Sakura and Sasuke behind them. Together. Alone.
It was only when Lee tried to talk to his beloved Sakura that the group realized they had left the two behind. Lee (naturally) wanted to go back and retrieve them. But Ino and Naruto, uncanny glints in their eyes, suggested that they leave them be, in case something 'happened'.
As they walked through the carnival grounds, their group began to dwindle in number, Ino running off when she realized that her shift was about to start, while Chouji found a new food he wanted to try and dragged Shikamaru off to get some. Then Naruto dragged Hinata off to a ramen stand, Kiba and Shino at their heels. Neji had wanted very badly to follow, but Lee insisted that Neji at least see Tenten before heading off to stalk and possibly maim Naruto.
"There she is!" Lee pointed indiscreetly at the girl in charge of the dart contest. She had her hair done up in two buns, wearing a long sleeved red shirt and black jeans, and was twirling a kunai on one finger. Her facial expression and body told Neji she was clearly bored. But what really struck Neji was how similar she looked to Toyo. They were almost twins, though the girl's face looked softer than Toyo's. Was she a relative?
With Lee watching from behind the popcorn booth and nothing better to do, he walked over to where the dart boards were. The girl's (Tenten, he reminded himself) eyes snapped up to him and she did a double take.
"What?" he snapped, not in an especially cordial mood.
"Nothing, just not everyday you see a Hyuuga." She said, a little quickly. The second he heard her voice, Neji recognized it as that of the girl who had been so rude as to disturb his meditation then hang up on him exactly eight weeks, three days, and eight hours ago.
Not that he was holding a grudge or anything.
"Hn."
"Well, do you want to try out the dart boards?" the hand that was twirling the kunai stopped, and with a flick of the wrist sent it flying at the target behind her. It hit the center with a dull thud and remained there, quivering.
"Not particularly."
"Then leave. You're probably scaring the kids away, and they're my main customers."
"Hn."
"What does that mean?" Unlike Toyo, however, this girl seemed to have much more emotion and a smarter mouth.
"Do you know a Katana Toyo?" he asked, ignoring her question. Frankly, it was just a habit he picked up; he had no idea what 'hn' meant. Tenten started slightly, staring at him.
"Yeah, he's my cousin." She sounded a little wary, "What of it."
"Hn." He wasn't entirely sure he believed that, but considering how nearly all Hyuugas looked very alike, he let it slide. "How did you do that?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Do what?" she blinked in confusion.
"The kunai." He gestured behind her.
"Oh?" Tenten shrugged, "I've been training since I was really young. It's easy once you get used to it."
"Get used to it." Neji repeated, smirking slightly, "To what, hitting the target center every time?"
"You bet." She grinned impishly at him, "I have a one hundred percent accuracy rate."
"Care to prove that theory?" Neji had to see this; even he didn't have one hundred percent accuracy. He only had a ninety eight percent accuracy rate, and there was no way this smart-mouthed girl was better than him.
"Certainly. Do you have a hundred kunai?" Her eyebrows lifted in an almost mocking expression.
"No. But you do." He pointed at the bag behind her, recognizing it as a weapons' cache. Tenten followed his gaze and winced as she turned back to face his smug expression.
"But they'll get dirty," she protested.
"Then you'll just have to clean them. Besides, weapons are not for display, they are toys meant for death."
"I know, I know. You don't have to be so Confucian about it," she grumbled. She dragged her weapons' cache out to the marked line about twenty feet away from the target.
Confucian? For possibly the third time in two minutes, Neji was confused. This girl was weird. But she also was reasonably easy to talk to, not to mention somewhat interesting.
"Well?" she prodded, startling him out of his thoughts. "Are you going to see if I'll actually do this right or not?"
"Hn."
"Stop that." Without even looking at the target, she began to throw her kunai.
Within a matter of minutes, the barrage of kunai against the target had ceased, and Neji had walked over to inspect the target. Sure enough, each one was within the center mark. Not only that, but when he pulled on them, they didn't budge.
"It looks like you weren't lying, considering that you weren't even looking when you threw half of these." Neji remarked, slightly impressed.
"Yeah, it would have been better if I had practiced." Tenten remarked, rubbing her shoulder, "There was a time when I could have thrown anything sharp and have it land dead center." She sighed, "But there is so little appreciation for different knives, designs of kunai, everything, I haven't been able to practice. People forget that Shinobi did use weapons, sometimes more than their fists."
"True, but few people are as comfortable with sharp objects as you seem to be. Are you good with a katana?"
"You have no idea; I'm a mistress of weapons of all kinds." She grinned at him.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Sure. When I was six, I would toss dulled butter knives around, despite the orphanage people telling me not to—"
"No, I mean," Neji couldn't really understand what he was about to do, but pushed on anyways, "after your shift here is done. Do you want to…walk around?"
The girl stared at him, mouth slightly agape.
"Well?" he asked, slightly irritated.
"Um, sure. My shift ends in an hour."
"Hn. I'll wait." He was slightly a taken back by her sudden grin.
"In that case, be useful! Come on, we can talk while we wait, and I can get someone to help me when the sugar high brats come around."
"What sugar high brats?"
"The ones coming right now." Tenten pointed to somewhere behind Neji. When he turned around, sure enough, he could see a group of kids heading towards them, all sorts of candy and cheap prizes crammed in their arms. All of them were yelling, jumping, and giggling.
Oh, crap…
Tenten could not remember feeling more relaxed, despite the fact that she was in the company of the one person who, ironically, made her the most uncomfortable at school. But then again, watching the Hyuuga prodigy try to actually help kids…was very humanizing and satisfying. Even more satisfying was the number of times he had to do so. For some reason, despite the fact that business had been dreadfully slow before Neji came, they soon had their hands full, showing the kids how to throw so that they might win a prize.
She blamed his hair for the sudden popularity of the games; it drew the little girls like flies to honey.
But true to her word, once the hour had been up, she had kept her promise and handed over her shift to the next post-orphan who had volunteered. She had been somewhat confused and questioning her sanity in accepting his offer of what sounded suspiciously like a date.
But to her surprise (and pleasure), Neji was extremely knowledgeable about weapons of all kinds, even though it was more limited than hers. They were able to spend the better part of two hours wandering around the carnival grounds, just talking comfortably with one another. It was only when they had begun a debate about shruiken designs that she remembered something important.
"Hey Neji," she asked suddenly.
"What?"
"I know you know Hinata, obviously, but do you know Ino and Sakura?"
"Unfortunately."
"Did you see them on your way in here? They were supposed to visit me."
"Yes, I did, and I wouldn't worry about that if I was you. The blonde went off for her job, Sakura is somewhere with the Uchiha, and an idiot kidnapped Hinata and is probably force-feeding her ramen as we speak."
Tenten chuckled, "Aw, Naruto-kun's mate-feeding her, that's kinda cute!" Upon seeing Neji's deathly glower hastily rectified, "Well, not literally mate-feeding her, 'cause that would mean he was throwing up in her mouth and no matter how much she likes him, that's just nasty—"
"How do you know Naruto?" interrupted Neji, eyeing Tenten a little suspiciously.
Oops. Think of something! Fast!
"It's Hinata-chan, how do you think I know about him?" Tenten mentally cheered, Good excuse, thank goodness for Hinata's blatant crushing!
"Hn." Neji seemed to accept that answer, and they returned to their weaponry discussion.
But even the most enthused experts eventually grow weary of their topics, and soon Tenten was barely listening to Neji, just wandering around the carnival and nodding her head in the appropriate places. But once she spotted a few games she wanted to try, she regained interest and dragged Neji forcibly to them, taking great amusement in not only playing the games, but forcing Neji to play them as well. What was even more amusing was seeing him actually enjoy playing those games.
Of course, Neji being Neji, he was very good at these games, and had soon amassed several prizes, which he gave to Tenten, telling her gruffly that he had no use for stuffed animals and that she better not take it the wrong way. Tenten accepted them, and wondered why his face wasn't as pale as usual when she thanked him.
After a couple of hours passed in that way, Tenten looked at her watch and realized that she needed to get back if she wanted to be on time for her shift.
"Hey Neji, I should be getting back to my job." Though Tenten wouldn't admit it, she was sorry to have to leave. She had actually been enjoying her time with Neji and wanted to talk to him a little more as a girl, not just as a 'friend'.
"Hn." Neji looked slightly disgruntled, but quickly returned to acting apathetic. Tenten laughed, and on impulse got up on her toes and pecked him on the cheek before running off, still laughing, towards the dart board booth.
She would probably regret that implusive action later, but for now, she couldn't be bothered to have any regrets.
Neji stood stock still, as though he could not move his feet from the spot where Tenten had kissed him. That she had done so was a surprise, that he hadn't minded it was a shock.
He would have to ask Toyo about her, and maybe ask Hinata too. Tenten was tough and interesting, which were nice traits to find in anyone, and Neji thought that he wouldn't mind seeing her again. In fact, he might even look forward to it.
Out of nowhere, Lee appeared, his grin three times wider than usual and a whole lot shinier.
"NEJI, MY RIVAL! YOU HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS! FOR I WAS WATCHING AND COULD CLEARLY SEE THAT—"
Neji had to put his curiosity about Tenten on hold while he beat poor Lee to a pulp.
A/N: Well, I'm dissatisfied. I wanted to write some believable fluff, but Neji was being difficult. Did I make him too OOC? I'm really sorry about this chapter. Next one is the other couples, and I'm a little worried.
Review please! I have a feeling I'm going to need some constructive criticism.