Hey peoples! The response I've been getting so far is awesome, and I hope I can continue entertaining you all. Here's Chapter 2. Enjoy!

Disclaimer:Naruto and all related characters are the property of Kishimoto Masashi-sama. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is made from this fic.


The two people in the clearing just stood before each other silently. Neji couldn't see TenTen's face clearly to know what she was thinking or what her reaction to seeing him again was.

If only he knew…

TenTen was grateful for the hood on her head. It hid her face well, and she didn't want Neji to see the blush that was dusting her cheeks. She also didn't want him to see her staring shamelessly. She couldn't help it!

Neji had definitely come into his own in the last three years. While Neji was definitely handsome back when they were 14 (and even before then), he took the word to a whole new level now in her eyes. 'Looking like that should be illegal.' The Hyuuga prodigy's hair had grown even longer, and he kept it in the same style he did when they were Genin. The only difference was that he allowed the shorter pieces of hair to frame his elegant face. His ivory eyes still held the coldness she always saw, but it seemed more subdued now. A straight, perfect nose and slightly pale lips completed his face. His creamy pale skin was flawless just as she remembered. Then she looked at the Hyuuga prodigy's clothing.

Gone were the khaki vest and navy shorts, and in their place were the traditional Hyuuga style robes she'd seen other members of the clan wear during her visit to the Compound. She liked this new look on Neji; it made him look regal in a way. However, as she continued to stare at her best friend, she got the feeling that something about Neji was different. He… changed somehow. Looking back at his face, she realized what it was. The brunet before her no longer wore an expression of cold contempt. His expression was more calm, confident, and mature.

"Is that really you TenTen?" asked Neji once again.

Oh, that voice. That sinfully delightful voice. How could his voice have gotten any more attractive? 'That should be illegal too.' Neji's voice was a slightly deeper baritone than she remembered, and it was like velvet to her ears. The brunette just continued staring at the Hyuuga prodigy. He was definitely not a boy anymore, but a young man. A proud, tall, strong, incredibly sexy young man.

Neji looked at the person before him with a calculating gaze. If this was TenTen, why was she taking so long to respond? He couldn't tell what the woman hidden beneath the maroon hood was doing or thinking, but he wanted an answer. And he wanted one now. As if she'd heard his inner thoughts, the woman before him took off the cloak that covered her. Familiar chocolate brown eyes stared into his, causing them to widen. It definitely was TenTen, but different from the one his mind's eye always brought up.

The brunette had gotten slightly taller, but Neji could tell that she was still shorter than him. The short brown bangs from three years ago had grown and framed her oval shaped face rather nicely. The twin buns atop her head were replaced by twin braids flowing down her back and stopping near her waist. Wide, innocent eyes were now battle-hardened and sharp. A cute button nose and full pink lips that were smirking at him completed her face.

TenTen's ensemble had changed as well. She no longer wore the usual pink and green garbs as she had during their Genin years. The brunette now wore a sleeveless white qipao-styled top with maroon trimming, and snug maroon Capri pants. Black ninja sandals adorned her feet, black fingerless gloves graced her hands, and a black band with a metal plate representing her village was tight around her left bicep. A large black scroll, reminiscent of Jiraiya's, was on her back. Her body was toned, but still held a feminine beauty about it. Her slight hourglass frame fit her perfectly, and Neji had to fight down a blush as he realized he was staring. TenTen was no longer the tomboy he knew from their Genin days, but a beautiful and deadly young woman. He approved of this change greatly.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Neji?" replied TenTen with a slight smile.

The Hyuuga prodigy wasn't sure if it was just him, but the brunette's voice sounded like one of a seductress. He had to repress another shiver as his mind went back to their little conversation in the forest before their arrival in the village. Her voice surrounded him in something he couldn't name, but welcomed wholly. 'Her looking and sounding like that should be against the law.'

"What was with the cloak?" asked Neji.

That question kept niggling the back of his mind. As he looked back at it, he noticed that the back of it was facing up. In bold letters read "Konoha's Weapons Mistress". 'So she finally took the title,' he thought with pride.

"Well, I needed to be inconspicuous when I went to Otogakure," replied TenTen.

"You went there alone?" asked Neji incredulously. "How did no one not know you were from Konoha with that cloak?"

"My title only shows on the back of the cloak when I put a little chakra into it," replied TenTen.

He looked back at the cloak, and surely enough, the bold letters were fading away.

"And I went there because I wanted to see if Sasuke had anything new on Orochimaru," said TenTen.

Neji felt a rush of possessiveness course through his body. He'd nearly forgotten how close the Uchiha and his TenTen had become before Sasuke left to Sound. He let it go... for now.

"You weren't in their territory anymore when I saw you," said Neji. "So why'd you keep it on?"

TenTen smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I wanted to try the whole 'dark, mysterious, badass anti-hero' persona," said TenTen.

Neji almost laughed. Almost.

"And how did that work for you?" asked Neji with amusement in his eyes.

"Eh, I don't really see what all of the hype is about," said TenTen. Then she smirked. "It's probably something only you or Sasuke could pull off... hell, Gaara might be able to as well, you stoic bastards. Besides, I'm still pretty badass regardless."

Neji actually let out a chuckle this time. It did funny things to TenTen's insides, but she did her best to ignore it.

"Could you imagine me being stoic and acting mysterious all the time?" asked TenTen as she began to laugh. "I'd probably die of boredom."

Neji just shook his head. His best friend was still the same; it made him feel content.

"So, how was training with Hiashi-sama?" asked TenTen after controlling herself.

"It went well enough," said Neji. "What about your training with Jiraiya-sama?"

"Well, I never really trained with him per se," said TenTen. "But I'm satisfied with the results. What did you learn with Hiashi?"

"You'll see when we spar," said Neji with a smirk.

"I see you haven't forgotten our promise," said TenTen with a smirk of her own. "Good."

The two began to slide into their respective fighting positions, a hard look in their eyes as they looked at each other. They were about to charge at each other when…

"NEJI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, HERE YOU ARE!"

Couldn't those two have at least waited until they were done? Or at least begun?

The two Green Beasts of Konoha, Maito Gai and Rock Lee, appeared in the clearing. The unitard clad duo were smiling brightly at Neji, who was glaring at them in return. TenTen was completely ignored by the two new arrivals. She shrugged; not like people immediately recognized her anymore anyway.

"TSUNADE-SAMA SAID WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND YOU HERE!" said Gai.

"ARE YOU READY TO SPAR NEJI?" asked Lee as he got into his taijutsu stance.

"I was, until you two interrupted," said Neji coldly.

Lee and Gai turned to see a woman standing there. The bushy-browed duo turned back to Neji, both wearing sly smiles.

"THE FIRES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY WITHIN YOU NEJI!" said Gai. "REMEMBER TO USE PROTECTION AND-"

Neji immediately clamped a hand over Gai's mouth glared daggers at the man. Why was his former sensei so weird?

"I'm hurt that neither of you have greeted me," said TenTen with mock sadness. "Is that how the two taijutsu specialists of Konoha treat a teammate?"

Gai's and Lee's heads immediately snapped back to TenTen's direction. Their eyes were wide as they took in her appearance.

"T-TenTen?" asked Lee with awe.

"Hey guys," said TenTen. "Long time no see, ne?"

The spandex wearing shinobi immediately went to the weapons mistress and nearly suffocated her to death. It seemed their enthusiasm hadn't dwindled through the years.

"TENTEN OUR YOUTHFUL BLOSSOM! HOW WAS YOUR TRAINING?" asked Lee energetically.

"WE MUST SEE WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED!" said Gai.

"Well, Neji and I were getting ready to spar," said TenTen uneasily as she tried to breathe regularly again.

The two eagerly left TenTen's side and stood beneath the shady trees to give the other two members of Team Gai the space they needed. TenTen turned back to Neji with a shrug.

"I guess some things never change," she said with a giggle.

"Ready?" asked Neji as he slid into his Jyuuken stance.

"Yeah- wait I almost forgot," said TenTen as she stood from her stance. "I'm not gonna need this."

The brunette removed the clasps that held the large scroll to her back. Holding it in one arm, she tossed it behind her toward the trees. The scroll managed to knock a tree over and make a large crashing sound as it landed.

"Oops," said TenTen sheepishly with a light blush.

"How much does that thing weigh?" asked Neji curiously.

"Well…" began TenTen as she scratched the back of her head. "I don't remember."

Neji almost fell over, but kept himself from doing so. What kind of training did TenTen do during her absence?

"Ready?" asked Neji once again.

"Ready," replied TenTen.

With that, the spar began. TenTen began running while wielding a few senbon and Neji took a defensive stance with his Byakugan active. She threw the needles at Neji, and the Hyuuga prodigy dodged them. His movements were still as fluid and graceful as she remembered. TenTen tried to use the distraction to catch Neji with a punch, but Neji immediately blocked the incoming fist. The weapons mistress then attempted a kick, but Neji raised a leg to block it as well. The brunets kept trying to hit each other, but weren't successful. They broke apart from each other and TenTen smiled.

"This is fun," said TenTen.

Neji nodded in agreement, but something was bugging him. TenTen never offensively used taijutsu against him. She only ever used it when Neji managed to get within attacking range, and that was to defend herself. The weapons mistress was never confident in her taijutsu skill. What changed?

The Hyuuga prodigy didn't have time to delve into deeper thinking. TenTen was approaching him again, ready to start another taijutsu duel. Getting back into a defensive stance, he was surprised when TenTen jumped. The kunoichi had two small scrolls in her hand, and Neji smirked. Didn't she remember that he had a defense for that now? Projectiles began to rain down upon Neji, and he immediately used his Kaiten to deflect them.

TenTen landed not far from where Neji was. As she studied Neji's Kaiten, she checked her supplies. She still had plenty of weapons and scrolls left for this fight, and she was trying to think of the best way to surprise Neji with what she developed. Her brown eyes saw that Neji was slowing down, and she immediately began to run toward the glowing dome of chakra. Once he fully stopped, TenTen began to throw barrages of punches and kicks. Neji managed to dodge or block all of them with a smirk on his face.

"Are you done warming up TenTen?" asked Neji.

"So you knew?" asked TenTen as they broke apart again.

"I did see what you did with those Sound nin," stated Neji.

"Oh… right," said TenTen. She completely forgot about that.

Smiling at her best friend, TenTen's stance changed slightly.

"Are you sure?" asked TenTen.

"I don't expect you to hold anything back," said Neji.

"Fine," said TenTen.

Suddenly, she disappeared much like she did in the forests outside of Konoha. Neji used his Byakugan to try and find her. He only saw flickers of her chakra system in different places. Even though it frustrated him that he couldn't exactly pinpoint her location, he smirked. This was going to be a good challenge. Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of him as he stumbled back. TenTen was in front of him with her arm extended, a smirk of victory on her face. She tried to capitalize on this opportunity, and began to deliver a flurry of punches and kicks. Neji dodged and blocked the attacks, looking for the chance to launch his own offensive. When the opportunity finally presented itself, Neji began to launch his own flurry of attacks.

To say the Hyuuga prodigy was surprised that TenTen was dodging the attacks fluidly would be an understatement. Her flexibility had improved a lot, and her movements as he dodged reminded him of Hinata. He continued in the same pattern of attacks to try and make the kunoichi think his offensive was repetitive and obvious.

'Come on Neji, I know you're better than this,' thought TenTen as she dodged more attacks. She knew he had to have something up his sleeve. Before she could figure it out, she felt her feet fly from underneath her and landed on the ground with a thud. Well, she certainly didn't see that leg sweep coming. 'Well played Neji,' she thought with a smile.

"Hakke Kuushou!"

TenTen looked up just in time to see a barely visible wave of chakra hurtling toward her. She managed to dodge, and saw a crater in the spot she had just occupied. TenTen stood once again and tightened the gloves on her hands. Neji stood before her in his stance once again, his eyes and posture serious. The weapons mistress knew she had to really get serious if she even wanted to stand a chance.

TenTen crouched toward the ground. With a shout, she slapped her open palm at the ground. A fissure appeared in the ground and was moving quickly toward Neji. Neji's eyes widened as the ground began to collapse beneath him, and he quickly jumped out of the way. 'When did she learn that?' thought Neji.

Using his surprise to her advantage, TenTen began to launch an offensive against the Hyuuga prodigy once again. She managed to get a solid blow against his ribs, and Neji stumbled back. After regaining his breath, he smirked at his best friend again.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" asked Neji sarcastically.

"You're not the one who almost got a blast of chakra to the face," retorted TenTen. "Serves you right."

Sliding back into their fighting stances, the fight began once more. Neji was trying to find a way to win without having to seal TenTen's tenketsu. Ever since the Forest of Death incident, Neji did everything he could to make sure he only ever attacked enemies with actual Jyuuken strikes.

"Don't hold your Jyuuken attacks back Neji," said TenTen as if she read his thoughts. "We're supposed to be going all out remember? Besides, we can always go to your clan's compound to fix me."

Well, if he had her blessing, who was he to deny?

TenTen saw Neji's eyes gleam with something different. Bringing her attention back to the task at hand, she and Neji rushed at each other. Flurries of punches and kicks came from both sides, and TenTen made sure to keep most of her attention on dodging now. Jyuuken was dangerous after all. One of Neji's blows nicked her side, and she jumped away from the Hyuuga prodigy. 'Damn, that stings,' thought TenTen as she held her right side.

"I almost forgot how potent your attacks are even if they just graze your opponent," said TenTen. "Time for a new game plan."

The weapons mistress took out two more scrolls, but Neji couldn't recognize them. Jumping into the air, TenTen began summoning weapons. Neji changed his stance to prepare a Kaiten as he awaited the incoming attack. TenTen threw enough of the weapons to make Neji start his Kaiten, and studied the attack once again. After she saw how much chakra Neji put into the attack, the brunette summoned some of her special weapons. 'These better work. I put way too much work into them for it to be for nothing.'

After putting a small amount of her chakra into the specially made kunai she held, she threw it with blinding speed. She saw that it managed to pierce the dome slightly and smirked. Gathering more of the kunai and putting more chakra into them than she did the first one, TenTen threw them at the Kaiten.

Neji was spinning quite rapidly inside of the chakra dome. He noticed one of the kunai managed to penetrate his attack, but he thought it was just his imagination. Suddenly, a few kunai flew by him inside of his defense. Stopping quickly, Neji dodged the rest of the barrage before it could hit him. Looking back at the kunoichi, he saw she had an air of satisfaction about her.

"You like?" asked TenTen as she twirled one of the kunai. "I made them myself. It wasn't easy, but definitely worth the time and effort."

The brunets rushed at each other again, and began to attack each other once again. TenTen managed to get some good hits against Neji, and the Hyuuga prodigy managed to close tenketsu in her shoulder. The pain of the sealed tenketsu made TenTen tackle Neji angrily. They tussled on the ground for a bit, but Neji wound up on top of the kunoichi. The brunets' minds instantly brought up the last time they ended up in this position. Both were breathing heavily and looking into each other's eyes. Neji pinned the weapon mistress's hands above her head, and their noses were brushing each other. If they moved just a little...

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH!" announced Gai, completely snapping them out of their little trance. "THAT WAS WONDERFUL! THE POWER OF YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTLY IN BOTH OF YOU!"

Neji and TenTen blushed as they both got up and tried to regain their composure. How could they have forgotten about their two spectators?

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"Uh, yeah… we're gonna go now," said TenTen, immediately knowing where that was heading. "See you guys later."

Gai and Lee ignored her as the two of them continued yelling and hugging each other. Rolling her eyes, TenTen began walking while holding her left shoulder. Jyuuken attacks really hurt. She picked up her large scroll and, with some difficulty, put it back in its original place.

"Come on," said Neji. "Hinata will be able to heal you."

The two began walking back to the village together. It was fairly silent for a while; neither knew what to say to the other.

"So…" began TenTen awkwardly.

She had a strange feeling of déjà vu.

"You've definitely improved," said Neji. "What made you decide to focus on your taijutsu more?"

"Well, there's only so much you can do as a long-range fighter," said TenTen. "I completely perfected my accuracy and became proficient in many different weapons. There wasn't much left for me to learn as a long-range fighter, so I decided to focus on my short-range fighting too."

Neji nodded. TenTen improving her short-range was a good decision since there were enemies capable of forcing long-range fighters to battle outside of their comfort zone.

"Where did you learn some of the attacks and defenses you did today?" asked Neji. "I don't remember you having the ability to cave the ground in or your flexibility being as good as it is now."

"The chakra enhanced attacks is something I learned from Sakura," said TenTen. "I only use them when it's necessary. I did flexibility exercises with Hinata so my defense could improve."

Neji pinned his friend with a hard look. It made TenTen want to squirm.

"You mean you've been back to Konoha multiple times during your three year absence?" he asked venomously.

"I always made sure to come while you were gone on a mission," said TenTen. "I didn't want to see you while you were training and I didn't want you to see my training methods. I wanted our first spar in three years to be a surprise; knowing what you were capable of before going in would've made it less challenging."

The Hyuuga prodigy supposed she did have a point. He certainly was pleasantly surprised with her progress.

The brunets arrived at the Hyuuga Compound to see Hinata practicing katas outside of the dojo with Hanabi. Hiashi was watching the two of them with something akin to pride in his eyes.

"Hiashi-sama," greeted Neji with a slight bow.

The Hyuuga Clan's leader turned to his nephew. One of his elegant brows quirked as he looked at TenTen.

"Good afternoon Neji," greeted Hiashi. "Who's your friend?"

"TenTen-san!" called Hinata happily. Hiashi's other eyebrow rose with the first one.

"Hey Hina-chan!" greeted TenTen as she raised her left arm to wave. "Ow…"

"Are you okay?" asked Hinata as she approached her father and the two newcomers.

"She needs the tenketsu in her shoulder reopened," answered Neji. "We were sparring before we came here."

"It's been a long time TenTen," said Hiashi as he took in the kunoichi's appearance. "I didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," replied TenTen.

Hinata sat next to her father and TenTen sat next to her. The Hyuuga heiress activated her Byakugan to see if there was any severe damage. Finding the tenketsu that needed to be opened again, she deactivated her bloodline and looked at TenTen.

"This is going to hurt," said Hinata.

Without any other warning, Hinata delivered a Jyuuken strike to the weapon mistress's shoulder. TenTen winced in pain and moved her shoulder slowly. At least it didn't hurt as much anymore.

"Thanks," said TenTen gratefully. Hinata smiled in return.

"Did you go to Ichiraku's Hinata?" asked Neji.

Hinata's face heated up instantly. Neji smirked and TenTen had to smother her giggles.

"Y-Y-Yes Neji-nii-san," said Hinata timidly as she poked her fingers together. A small smile was on her face.

"Aww Hinata, I thought you were done stuttering," teased TenTen lightly.

"I told you you'd like the surprise," said Neji with a smug expression.

"What about you Neji-nii-san?" piped up Hanabi mischievously. "I'm sure you enjoyed your surprise as well."

Hanabi gave TenTen a quick glance, and Neji felt a blush rising to his cheeks. Hanabi smirked at Neji's reaction. 'Brat,' thought Neji.


I think this is a good place to end. What'd you all think? I hope the NejiTen spar wasn't horrible (I feel rusty with action sequences... don't ask). Next chapter will probably be out sometime next week (hopefully). See you all next update!

KuroiOokami89