Grrrr…. I hate school. I'm trying to get a schedule going as to when I'll write each chapter, but it never works.

By the way, I was reading through chapter 2, and realized I left a part out. You can go back and read the extra two sentences at the part where Temari shows up.

blackmisery: First of all, great name. Second of all, thanks for the great review! You're so nice! (reads review again and faints from joyful overload)

Rubi: my e-mails to you still won't go through. TT Try putting me in your address book again. Call me or Ino for the address. (Her e-mails won't go through either.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Evangelion. (See if you can catch the NGE reference)

Chapter 6: A Lonely Nindo

The world was a fuzzy thing of black and white.

Neji blinked blearily, finding himself in what appeared to be a bedroom. Was it his? He couldn't tell.

It was…

all a dream…

Neji sighed, and shifted around a little. As his vision cleared, he noticed something.

The ceiling wasn't his.

His ceiling was white. This ceiling was green.

He jumped up, realizing that the bed and sheets weren't his either. A rush of adrenaline sent him leaping off the bed, and he landed in a crouch, slipping himself along the wall to the door. He carefully slid it open a crack, wary of traps. He waited until he thought it was safe, and then sent a wave of chakra to his ears.

Clink

Chink

Clatter

BANG!

"Shoot! I gotta get the oven started!"

Schlick

Schlick

SCRAPE

Neji opened the door wider. No cannibal was going to eat this Hyuuga's flesh. (AK: Um, interesting interpretation, Neji) He slid along the wall wary of traps, and made his way down the hall. Silently, he stepped around the corner and into what appeared to be a kitchen. There weren't any lights on, so he couldn't' judge the size of his opponent. He'd have to go with a surprise attack. He didn't have his kunai holster, but found something better on the counter above him.

Ah. Sweet, sweet butcher knives. Neji picked one up and tossed it around experimentally. It had wonderful balance. He crawled along the floor until he was under the table. His opponent was still walking around the kitchen muttering about spices and looking for a blender. Neji rolled out from under the table and lunged from behind.

His opponent leapt onto the counter and tried to defend himself with a serving spoon. Neji twirled it from his or her hand, and managed to give them a cut on the arm. Suddenly, Neji was thrown back and hit the wall, the recipient of a rather brutal spinning kick. The lights flicked on, and both were surprised to see who they were fighting.

"NANI ZA JIGOKU?"

"Nara?"

"HYUUGA! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

There was a momentary silence. "I thought you were a cannibal."

Shikamaru gave Neji a look that suggested that he'd just proclaimed that Naruto was princess of faeries and Orochimaru was straight.(XD) An 'unbelievable' type of look.

"Um… okay then. I'm not going to ask why you didn't just use your byakugan to see where you were. Now if you don't mind-" Here he paused to heal the wound Neji had dealt him- "I'm trying to bake a cake here. So stay outta my way." He sighed and went back to work.

Feeling like an idiot, Neji sat at the table. "Who are you making a cake for?"

Shikamaru blushed. "None of your damn business."

"Subaku no Temari, right?"

Shikamaru threw a knife at Neji's head, barely missing. "SHE HAS A COLD, ALRIGHT! Now shut up and get something to eat. There's stuff in the fridge." Neji frowned, wondering what cake had to do with the common cold, and why Shikamaru felt it necessary to come up with such a stupid lie, but consented. He pulled out a bento box full of leftover Kashiwa Mochi and dug in, starving. As Neji was finishing his third one, Shikamaru put the cake in the oven. "So, what exactly were you doing at that old dump?"

Neji paused, and thought about how to best answer the question. He decided to be as frank and as unspecific as possible. "Just looking for someone." Shikamaru shrugged. "No one's lived there for 10 years." Neji raised his eyebrows. "Who lived there?" Shikamaru sighed. "It's not the most pleasant story but… you really want to know?" Neji nodded.

"Alright then. About… I dunno, must have been 12 years ago, a lady moved here from the Hidden Waterfall Village. Her name was Gina Kanayama, and she was an excellent Kunoichi, so Sandaime Hokage welcomed her. She said she didn't want to live in town, that she preferred the woods. So my grandmother rented out that house to her. It was a pretty run down old place, but she made it real cozy, and she loved having visitors. I remember Choji and I used to go there and bring her tea bags that my grandmother made, and she'd always give us cookies for our troubles. Of course, we also went to play with Nami…"

Neji frowned. "Nami?"

Shikamaru face went dark. "Yeah. After she'd lived here for a year, Gina went out on a mission and rescued a Shinobi from the Rain village, named Ryuji. She helped nurse him back to health, then they started dating, and before anyone could figure out what had happened, they got married. Their daughter's name was Sorako, 'child of the sky'. We always called her Nami though, I can't remember why."

"I thought her name was Tenny."

Shikamaru looked surprised. "Uh… yeah actually, that's what her mom called her. It was short for Tennyo."

At least I found the right place. "So, if you had so much fun there, then why the scowl?"

Shikamaru gritted his teeth together. "Ryuji was a scumbag who didn't deserve to be 'rescued'. When Nami was 3, Dad, Chouza and Inoichi caught him sending messages about Konaha's inner workings to the Raikage, leader of the Cloud Village. They told the Hokage, and he sent a bunch of Jounin out to capture him. They figured that he was going to try and get Gina to help him, so they went to the house. By the time they got there though, he was already gone. Gina chased him out, pretty violently I hear. Apparently she was going through some of his stuff, and found an old scroll. It was from Raikage, and it was instructions on some elaborate plot he'd cooked up. Ryuji and some other ninja would make it look like the he was a messenger to Konaha from the Rain village who got captured by some Cloud Village thugs. The scroll said that his job was to get himself 'rescued' by some Konaha Ninja, seduce a Konaha Kunoichi, produce and heir, and train that heir as a weapon against Konaha. They also planned to capture the three-tailed turtle demon, Sanbi, and make Nami his Jinchuuriki. They thought it was the perfect plan to bring down Konaha. But, needless to say, Gina didn't think so. When he came back to the house, she told him to get out. He refused to leave, so she had to fight him. She finally managed to chase him out, and he managed to get away, but he swore he'd be back for Nami… You okay?"

Neji jumped, realizing that his hands were balled into such tight fists that his fingernails were cutting into his palms. "Um, sure. But, there's more to the story, right?"

Shikamaru nodded. "You obviously remember the night Raikage came to kidnap Hinata? Well, apparently he brought Ryuji with him. And while Raikage worried about Hinata, he went off to get Nami. When he got to the house, Gina hid Nami and tried to get rid of him once and for all. But he was just too strong for her. He overpowered her almost immediately, but he didn't just kill her. He drew it out, torturing her, like a cat playing with a half-dead mouse. Slowly, he just let her bleed to death. Then, he went inside and started blowing fire all around, hoping to smoke Nami out of hiding, like hunters do to get foxes out of their dens. It must have worked, because we never saw her again."

There was a long silence, and Neji frowned. Obviously that wasn't right, but he couldn't think of what might have happened, until he remembered the strange flashbacks.

"No. She went out the back door and made a run for it."

Shikamaru glared at Neji. "How would you know?"

"Because I saw her. She was running around town, trying to lose him."

"Prove it."

Neji smirked. "She always wore a green nightgown to bed right? And she loved to dress up. Her favorite outfit was the pink feudal princess dress."

Shikamaru's face brightened. "That's her alright. Do you know if she got away?"

Neji mulled on this, and decided on what he thought was a safe, if unfair, answer. "I don't know."

Shikamaru sighed. "Mendokusai… oh well. No use loosing valuable sleep on it. So, what were you looking for at Kanayama's house? And I'd really like to know why you tried to boil your leg."

Neji shuffled about in his seat, finally admitting to himself that he needed help finding Tenny. "First, what time is it?" Shikamaru looked at the stove clock. "Looks like… 12:13 AM." Neji almost gagged on that information. IT'S ALREADY AFTER MIDNIGHT! Neji jumped up and headed for the door, and Shikamaru followed him.

"Where are we going?"

"TO FIND TENTEN!"

Shikamaru couldn't make sense of anything that was going on, but decided to try and be helpful. "Why don't we ask the others if they've seen her? I can think of at least one person who might have been training until 11!"

Neji skidded to a halt, and let Shikamaru run ahead before following, silently thanking him for bandaging his leg.

I'm coming Tenten…

Meanwhile…

The world was a blurry thing of black and white.

Tenten groaned, and tried to turn on one side to get some more sleep, and hit the floor. Looking around, she realized she'd been on a couch, not a bed. And it wasn't her couch either.

Whose couch was it?

Well, that was actually a very easy question. Tenten was sitting on the floor of a studio apartment like Naruto's, wrapped in a wool blanket. Less than five feet in front of her, in the kitchen area, was Uchiha Sasuke. He had his back to her, and had a cube of noodles in one hand, and a physics book in the other.

Tenten stood up and walked up behind him. "Whatcha doin?"

"Trying to make ramen for Tenten."

"Tenten would like to know why a physics book is necessary."

Sasuke turned around. "Oh… um… hi."

She raised her eyebrows.

He blushed. "This cube seems to be defying the law of conservation of mass. There's no way this thing could ever become the thing on the package."

Tenten glanced at the picture Sasuke was referring to, a picture of a steaming bowl of ramen. "You're supposed to add water."

"… oh… okay then."

There was a momentary silence. "I'm not really hungry for ramen. I'd actually prefer… Kashiwa Mochi?"

Sasuke nodded, and opened up the fridge, which was packed with bentos, all of which seemed to contain simple meals. As he did so, Tenten took a look around.

The apartment contained a couch, a futon, a kitchenette, a dresser, a closet a small TV, a handheld radio, and a desk and chair. There was nothing lying around randomly. Everything was spotless, except the walls. Almost every inch of space on the walls was filled with paper. Posters depicting the parts of the human eyes, the history of Konaha, a map of the world, a full history of the Uchiha clan, pictures of Sasuke and other Uchihas, pictures of different jutsus, and tons of other stuff that she didn't recognize. She was stunned at the boundless knowledge plastered on the… plaster.

"You haven't even seen my closet yet. It's full of nothing but scrolls." Sasuke handed her a plate of Kashiwa Mochi. Tenten took the plate and continued to gawk. She couldn't believe that this was how Sasuke spent his spare time: memorizing stuff.

"Um… I… wow…"

Sasuke frowned. "You don't like it?"

Tenten blushed. "Well, it's just not what I expected."

This interested Sasuke. "What did you expect?" Tenten thought about this. "I don't actually know. My house is covered in traditional paintings and other junk. But I kind of expected a secret lair or something-" Tenten stopped when she realized that Sasuke was staring at her. Very intently.

"Um… is there something on my face?"

Sasuke shook his head. "But you live alone too, right?"

Tenten nodded. "True. So I guess it makes sense that we have similar tastes. You know, like plastering the walls with stuff. But...What is with all this anyway?"

Sasuke seemed surprised at this, and it occurred to her that he probably hadn't ever been asked this question. He swept his eyes about the room, as though seeing the 'decorations' for the very first time. He took a deep breath.

"I guess… I'm just jealous."

"Jealous of who?" Tenten couldn't think of anyone Sasuke had to envy.

"Of him. Itachi."

"Why should you be jealous of him?"

"Because he knows more than I do. He was our clan's greatest ninja, and I know that he knows more than I do about our clan. He knows all the secrets, traditions, history, everything you can't learn about our clan from a book. He got the chance to prove himself to them, and I never did. He's the only one left that I can prove myself to. If I'm not worthy to him, than I'm worthy to no one. He got everything, and I got nothing. And he's so ungrateful… he just doesn't realize how much I needed that clan. It was mine. He's a rotten thief, and I want what's rightfully mine."

Tenten could almost feel the hate, confusion and resentment emanate from his flesh.

"But what is rightfully yours?"

Sasuke sighed. "That's the problem. I don't know."

Tenten snorted. Sasuke was shocked to see that she seemed annoyed at that response. "What's your problem? Am I making you too sad?" Sasuke's words were dripping with sarcasm, and Tenten stood, snarling.

"You think you're just such a sad case! 'Look at me, the last Uchiha, all alone.' But if you stopped being so self-centered you might realize that you're surrounded by people who all care about you! Ino and Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto and everybody else cares about you goddammit! If you would stop whining for 1 second you might realize just how good you've got it considering your situation! But all you can do is worry about your training and be all jaded and think that you have to be the best or you're the biggest loser of all! YOU GODDANM WHINER!" Tenten took the empty plate and hurled it at him, missing by a single centimeter. It shattered against the wall, bringing with it any faith Sasuke had had in the sanity of Kunoichi.

The air filled with pure tension, the echo of her words still peeling the paint off the walls. Sasuke was stunned. Nobody had ever yelled at him before, except his dad.

Then something bizarre happened. Tenten fell down and cried.

Sasuke was thoroughly baffled at this point, but refused to put Tenten's behavior up to female hormones. So he sat down next to her and waited for her to stop long enough to breathe so she could talk. After a while, she was able to do so.

"It's just sniffle I can't sniffle even remember my family. All I remember is a bunch of muddled crap of a man and woman laughing, and then Tsunade carrying me back to Konaha. That's my first coherent memory. And nobody would tell me anything. I was only 5! And they wouldn't tell me a thing! They just told me I didn't have parents and that my name was Tenten. That's all. That's all I know. Tsunade, my name, and people laughing. That's all. So don't you ever whine that you don't know anything. YOU KNOW MORE THAN ME GODDAMMIT!"

Sasuke felt sick. She had a point after all. And everybody always thought she was so cheerful. But clearly, no one knew her very well at all.

"Hey… Tenten?"

"Sniffle What?"

"Why don't you lie down some more. You look beat."

"I don't wanna. Sniffle"

"I think you should." Sasuke had decided that after all that, she was bound to pass out any minute, and her preferred that she not die of a head injury from hitting the floor.

"I told you I don't wanna! I'm fine!"

"No you're not! You spent all that time trying to outrun me, and now you just used up all your energy to yell at me!"

"Stop acting like you're worried about me!"

"I AM!"

Tenten's face dropped out of its angry position so fast it almost hit the floor. Sasuke took advantage of this to pick her up and try to drag her to the couch. Obviously, Tenten wasn't to keen about the idea.

"Put me down you baka!" She swung one leg out and hit him squarely in the knee, sending them both crashing to the floor with a yelp.

Back to Neji…

Shikamaru led Neji up a final flight of stairs. Neji sneezed for the thousandth time.

"Are you sure you don't have a cold?"

"I told you I'm fine! Achoo! "

Shikamaru sighed. "Alright, this is Sasuke's apartment. Let's ask him if he's seen Tenten-" He raised his hand to knock on the door, but Neji kicked it open before he got a chance.

What he saw did not make him happy.

Quite the opposite actually.

What he saw was Sasuke and Tenten. Tenten was lying on the floor, on her back. Sasuke however, was lying on top of her. He had one of her wrists pinned to the floor, and had his knees positioned between hers. To top of this beautiful picture, Tenten was using her free hand to try on push Sasuke off by his chin, and her kimono had fallen open slightly at the top.

(Please keep in mind that this was purely by accident. Although I did plan it. Yes, yes I am terrible. Giggles and runs from SasuXSaku and SasuXIno fangirls)

There was a momentary moment of stillness, in which all 4 Shinobi uttered a few choice swear words that I won't type here for fear of having to raise the rating.

Neji was the first to react, by activating his byakugan and launching himself at Sasuke, who jumped back, swearing some more. Shikamaru scuttled foreward and helped Tenten up.

"Um… please tell me that that wasn't what it looked like and that I'm just too smart for my own good and that I won't have to try and convince Ino that Sasuke isn't the kind of person she should have a crush on and that I won't have to tell Inoichi about this when she doesn't believe me."

Tenten's face was beet red as she retied her kimono. "You're just too smart."

"Okay then. Um… so do you wanna stop them or should I?"

Tenten noticed that Neji was still trying to kill Sasuke, who was enjoying the workout. "I will."

In a true Kunoichi style, Tenten picked a rolling pin up off Sasuke's counter and hit Neji over the head with it. He hit the floor so fast there just isn't a metaphor that could do it justice.

"I'll be taking him home then. Thank you Shikamaru for taking care of Neji and thank you Sasuke for dinner. I'll see you all in a day or two."

As the door shut behind her, Shikamaru and Sasuke shuddered.

Kunoichi are scary…

At the Hyuuga Mansion…

Hinabi rubbed her eyes as the walked down the hall to the front door Someone out front had the manners of a certain Uzumaki, and they wouldn't stop ringing the doorbell. In the interest of letting the older Hyuugas get some much needed beauty sleep, Hinabi was going to give that visitor a piece of her mind.

"Stupid fangirls always trying to bribe their way in so they can take pictures of Neji while he sleeps…" She ripped the door open. "Go away or I swear to god I'll-" She stopped.

No one was there.

She shrugged and was about to shut the door when something bumped against it. It was an unconscious Neji, with his leg bleeding through the slashed bandages and a large ump on his head. Hinabi jumped backwards and shrieked. "HINATA! HIASHI-SAMA! COME QUICK!"

While she pulled Neji into the house, she failed to see the slightly Kunoichi dash towards Hokage tower from the bushes.

At Tsunade's office…

After having another nightmare and coming to Shizune for sleep pills, Anko opened to door to leave, only to find someone else outside.

"Huh? Tenten? I thought you were in Suna-"

She was interrupted as Tenten fell asleep while standing up.

"Um… Shizune?"

"What is it Mitarashi-san?"

"You haven't given these pills to anyone else have you?"

Well, I hope you liked it. Even if you aren't a member, I love to hear what you guys think. Constructive criticisms welcome.

Next time: Neji gets some rest, and comes to some startling conclusions! Meanwhile, Tenny hangs out with the Konahamaru squad, only to be involved in a scheme that won't end well…

Chapter 7: Can You Say Espresso Grande?