Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto or any of its lovely characters that are starring in this production. Any and all referances to Cloud and Mask belong to me though.

Now, on with the show!

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Tenten was trying to sort through everything she remembered about her cousin while trying to figure out how to tell Neji she wasn't her. If he didn't believe her he could just end up blowing it off as a joke and getting mad at 'Cloud' for insinuating he couldn't tell her and her alleged cousin apart when it was 'her' he was seeing. She had been pacing her room, what used to be Cloud's, while she thought. It wasn't helping any, so she stalked out into the kitchen and got a bowl and a wooden spoon out. She didn't need directions, she'd made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies so many times she barely had to pay attention. Usually she gave the bulk of what she made to her neighbors, but now that she was thinking about it, Lee probably wouldn't want them. Tenten made a face thinking about the time she'd seen him training in the park. He had been out to kill that tree. Throwing punches and kicks that could quite possibly break her spine if she ever made him mad, all the while keeping this dog-eyed look of determination on his face. Giving a guy like that a ton of cookies might have, unwanted effects during the sugar rush. No tree would be left standing in that poor park.

She dumped flour and sugar into the bowl along with a couple eggs and some melted butter with a little milk. Mixing it up by hand was a little tough, and really tedious, but for the life of her, Tenten did not trust the steel contraption she'd found under the counter to do anything less than catch fire if she so much as plugged it in. Besides, making cookies by hand was terribly fun. Oats and a ton of chocolate chips went into the mix and after awhile the dough was done. She set it on the counter and got a spoon out to taste it. Mmm, cookie taste. Without even thinking she turned to put the spoon in the trash, then stopped, just realizing what she was about to do, and instead putting it in the sink. A small noise akin to laughing brought her out of her thoughts.

Tenten looked up to see Neji sitting on one of the stools on the other side of the counter, laughing at her. She went a little red. The amused smile on his lips was enough to tell her she'd been making facing and mouthing responses to pretend conversations while she was baking again. The fact that he didn't say anything made it worse. At least he gave her the chance to ignore him, so she did, turning back to what she was doing. After spraying the metal cookie sheet with oil she spread the dough out in one big heap onto it to make one huge cookie and shoved it into the preheated oven and went to set the timer.

"The oven's a little old, so you should give it a little more time than normal." Tenten blinked. She'd noticed that the first time she'd ever used it, but that he would point it out. Setting the timer, she looked back over at him curiously. Did he already know? How could he, she'd barely said five words to him. A set of milk glass white eyes looked back at her brown ones. "Good job catching yourself before you threw away the spoon. Cloud usually doesn't until a few minutes after she's done it." Tenten blinked in shock. Cloud did that too? Then she her brow creased in confusion.

"When did you-" Neji shrugged.

"Your buns match." He gestured at her hair and she touched them no less confused than before. "Cloud cut her own hair. One side was a bit longer than the other(so the buns would be slightly uneven sizes). That, and you're at least a centimeter shorter than her." Tenten just stared at him. Those were some pretty detaily details, how much time had he spent around her cousin anyway? Had he been stalking her before she'd died or something? She just shook her head incredulously.

"You must have incredible eyesight to tell that." The bored look he gave somehow felt more like a grimance to her. Maybe his eyes weren't a topic to be discussed...

Thankfully Mask trotted in cheerfully before the silence reigned too long and had a chance to get awkward. Unthankfully, the cheerful dog had a squirrel in her mouth. And it was still alive. Tenten found this out when the happy mutt decided to let it go. Right there. In her kitchen. On the floor right in front of her. It squeaked and bolted away from them, running into the living room to hide under the couch. Tenten mouth was gaping open slightly. What the deuce? She looked down at Mask who looked up at her and wagged her tail like a victory banner. Look what I found! Isn't it cool? It's tiny and moves and we can chase it all day! You like it, right? The dog could have been saying behind those sparkling eyes.

"You might ask her to go get Lee." Tenten looked over at the oh so smart Neji who apparently didn't seem to want to help a girl in distress. He was as calm as ever, despite the squirrel in the house and the traces of bruises she could still see on his face and arms.

"And Lee would be helpful with a squirrel problem?" Tenten asked hopefully.

"It's his squirrel."

"Mask, go get Lee." The dog gave a slight bark before bolting out the doggy door like she was hyped up on sugar. A few minutes later the big dark brown dog came in backwards just as enthusiastically dragging Lee in with her by the back of his green turtle necked jumpsuit. Tenten couldn't help laughing, but she hid it behind a hand. When the good dog let him go, Lee remained face down on the kitchen floor.

"Was there something you wanted?" He tried to make his voice sound all serious, but the smile creeping up on his face made that attempt fail.

"There's a squirrel under the couch." Tenten said, pointing at the couch even though he was still staring at linoleum.

"Ah." Lee got up and dusted himself off. There was quite a bit of dirt still left on him, having been drug a most of the way there.

After Lee coaxed the little red ball of fur out from under the couch and put it outside(much to their lovable dog's disappointment), the three settled into the living room with cut pieces of Tenten's enormous cookie and glasses of lemonade. Both Neji and Lee noticed the cookie was a tad burnt on the bottom, but neither of them said anything. It was a strangely familiar scene with a slightly unnerving, but still unmistakably nice difference. The girl sitting in the wooden rocking chair in the corner on the other side of the coffee table from where they were on the couch was smiling a little and talking with them instead of being quiet while they talked. When the topic arose, Lee couldn't bring himself to tell this familiar stranger about his lost friend. He got a little too engrossed in his thoughts and his hands tightened into fists.

Crack!

Lee looked down to see the glass shattered in his hand. Some of the shards had cut him. Tenten hurried him to the sink in the kitchen, speaking worriedly. He hardly heard her. Mask helpful as ever, volunteered to help clean up the mess of lemonade and glass shards. Neji held her back. The dog looked back at him and snorted as if to say 'Weirdo humans. Letting good food go to waste.' Or some other such grumbling. She leaned forward, hoping to at least smell what was on the floor, but that's a rather hard thing to do when someone has a hold of your collar. Tenten came back with a bunch of paper towels and cleaned up the mess and threw it in the trash. Mask whined in dissappointment. Hey, that was mine! It was only a few more minutes before they were all sitting down again. Lee with a few bandages on his hand, Tenten a little distressed, and Neji still holding Mask who was eyeing the trashcan.

"Let's go outside." Neji interrupted the silence that followed. There were two very grateful nods and they all headed out back. It was a really nice day out. They had relaxed again, so the white eyed boy decided it was the perfect time to ask the question he'd been getting more than a little curious about. "Hey Tenten, you want to spar?"

"Huh?" The set of wool white eyes and the set of coal black that were on her instantly grew shocked.

"You don't know how to fight?" Neji asked in almost total disbelief. Tenten blinked and her shoulders stiffened slightly like she was in trouble.

"Um, no?" The bernet haired girl replied hesitantly. There was a moment of silence, and then Lee broke out laughing. Toppling over on his side(which wasn't too impressive since he had been sitting down), before bouncing up on his feet and dragging Neji up as well. He bolted back inside leaving the other two baffled until he came back with a pair of battered shinai from the hallway closet. He tossed one to the Hyuuga and gave the other to the confused girl, who held it away from her like she'd never held one before in her life. She probably hadn't either. Happy as a duck, Lee trotted away and sat on the grass a ways away from them.

"Alright, have at him." He said confidently.

"Eh?" Tenten floundered, flustered.

"Give it a swing! You can do it, the energy of youth abounds in you! Lop his head off!" Lee cheered her on. She took a step back in surprise.

"What?!" A light tap on her shinai nearly sent in out of her hands and they immediately strengthened their grasp on it. She looked back to see Neji staring back at her. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder with his shinai and she nervously tried to do the same. He blocked the timid slow thing easily. She tried again, and he did it again. Getting a little more confident that she wasn't going to hurt him if she tried harder, she started putting a little more speed and force into her hits. All blocked. When she finally swung like she just wanted to hit him, he parried and slipped in a counter before she could recover, pulling the hit at the last second so it was again, only a light tap hitting her in the side.

Lee was beaming proudly as Tenten tried to hack away at Neji and he kept putting in light blows to make sure she started getting used to blocking and dodging when possible. Mask walked up and sat down next to him, the air around her glowing even more brightly with pride than him. Lee turned to see his squirrel securely held by the scruff of its neck like a pup would be by the dog. He held out his hand for it.

"Drop the squirrel, dog." The furry creature leaned away from him, unwilling to give up its prize a second time. "Give it." He said warningly, but the dog shook tossed its head like a wild pony and stalked off.

Neji and Tenten stopped their play sparring lesson when a certain squirrel started squeaking in distress. Lee was chasing Mask around who had the tinier beasty in her grinning mouth. She'd let Lee get just close enough to grab it before dancing out of the way or putting her two back feet together and spinning on them to go another direction and galloping away. Giggling at the comical sight, Tenten went back inside and came back out with something good in her hand. She dropped it on the ground and then made a face.

"Oops." Tenten looked all sincerely like at Neji. "Neji, I'm so clumsy, I just dropped a huge piece of cookie on the ground." The dog had froze and looked around expectantly as soon as she had said the word oops. It was now eyeing the cookie on the ground and debating whether or not it was worth more than its current toy. Leaving Lee in the dust it went up and tried to get the cookie into the side of its mouth without letting the squirrel go. Mashing the entire side of its face against the ground, it was doing its utmost to try and eat the cookie and keep its toy. But standing still that long had Lee catching up with it and he took the tiny squeaker box away. Finding itself now unhindered, it gobbled up the cookie like a vacuum cleaner and pranced around the side of the house.

"Stupid dog."

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Ta-dah! Another chapter is up and running! Gotta love me for actually trying to get it so it doesn't read like dry soap.

-Mask the Magic Fox