CHAPTER 1- Video Game Panic

By mirokufan95

Disclaimer: I do not own the idea of Naruto, if I did, the story would be more focused on Tenten and Neji. I guess that if I did own Naruto, it wouldn't be called "Naruto," but NEJI™.

It was a normal day in Konoha. Sixteen year old Tenten and Neji were at Ichiraku's ramen shop, along with Naruto, of course, who had just finished his eighth bowl of ramen.

Tenten and Neji heard him count off the flavors he had already consumed.

"Beef, Shrimp, Chicken, Barbeque Pork, Onion, Miso, Bok Choy, Spicy Curry…" He fell silent for a moment. "Ah! I'll just have another order of Barbeque Pork!"

Tenten heard Naruto slurp down his ninth bowl, but was focusing on Neji's daydreaming stare. She had never seen anything so mesmerizing or hypnotic until she met the Hyuuga. Of course, she didn't seem to know anything without Neji; except for the fact that he was her walking dictionary, sensei, and her living curse, all rolled up in a sixteen-year-old's body.

She cleared her throat, and the Hyuuga perked up, aroused from his state of unawareness, and Tenten continued on with the topic she had been focusing on before she and Neji had fallen into dreamland.

"Neji, you need to get out more." She stated flatly.

His left eyebrow lifted slowly. "What do you mean?" He inquired.

Tenten sighed. "You know exactly what I mean. The only reason you go out of your fabulous manor is to go train, meditate, train, go on missions, TRAIN, or to beat the living hell out of me when we spar!" She was already fuming, even over a small matter such as Neji being anti-social.

Neji stared at her, and grinned. "Tenten, you realize that the only reason that I always go out to train is because I get to see you, and you're the only one I truly care for."

Tenten's eyes widened and she blushed a faint pink. She wasn't expecting this answer… "Really?" She asked slowly.

Neji smiled. "No."

Tenten picked up her bowl of ramen and dunked it on Neji's head. "That'll teach you to mess with me…" She murmured, leaving the money on the counter."

Naruto stared blankly at Tenten, then Neji. Noodles were still hanging out of Naruto's mouth, similar to how they were hanging out of Neji's hair. Suddenly, Naruto burst out laughing, and oddly enough, the noodles still hung there, as if they WANTED Naruto to consume them.

Neji picked up the bowl, and stood up. His clothes were still damp from the broth. He handful of noodles and hurled them at the back of Tenten's neck.

She turned so red that you would have sworn that you saw the ramen noodles char black, and then disintegrate into ash.

Turning around abruptly with flames in her eyes, she yelled, "NEJI HYUUGA, YOU WILL DIE TODAY!"

Neji remained calm. "Okay then, Tenten, I challenge you to a spar."

She glared at him with all the fire in her heart, and then said, "You're on, Hyuuga."

Then, they left Naruto to wonder what the hell just happened, and how he was going to pay for nine full bowls of ramen.

 The Training Ground

Tenten looked at the Hyuuga with contempt, and smiled mischievously. She had formulated this plan the other night, ready to use its effects to get what she wanted.

She dragged Neji to the center of the field-type area and said, "Neji-san, let's make this a bit more interesting."

Neji smirked. "A wager, Tenten-kohai*?"

Tenten rolled her eyes at the insult, but nodded her head. "If I win… You will have to come with me to have some fun!" She smiled.

Neji folded his arms, and said, "And if I win, you will have to do ANYTHING I say, for a day."

Tenten frowned but said, "Deal." She stuck out her hand.

Neji stared at it oddly.

"You shake it, Hyuuga. This is exactly why you need to get out more!" She exclaimed.

He took her arm, and shook it harshly, and horizontally.

Tenten rolled her eyes, not really wanting to correct his mistake.

She backed up, getting one of her scrolls. She let her hands loosely hold the scrolls, and she got multiple kunais and shot them at Neji, which he dodged effortlessly. Her hands gripped a second and third scroll. She let the first scroll fly, as she bit her thumb.

She saw Neji rush toward her, so she jumped and flipped in the air, while releasing a stream of weapons that flew toward Neji.

He shouted, "Kaiten!"

As Tenten landed, she smiled and counted. She flipped backward, and used a simple jutsu that made a simple poof of smoke. Using the smoke as a distraction, she hid in a nearby tree.

"One, two, three, four…"

Neji's kaiten swirled. He said loud enough for Tenten to hear, "Is this your best, Tenten?"

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten…"

She let the two scrolls fly two seconds before Neji's Kaiten stopped. She whispered the words, "Ryuu-wa kumo-no ue-ni tobimasu! **"

The scrolls flew super fast around and around Neji until they formed a type of dome around him. Tenten wove through the scrolls at breakneck speed, not interrupting the scrolls' flow. She wrote with blood on each of the scrolls, sending weapons flying toward Neji with no place for him to go.

"Checkmate." She whispered.

Suddenly, Neji grabbed the two kunais she had thrown at him before, and was using them to block all the weapons that were coming at him. Tenten gasped as he deflected each weapon that was thrown. He ripped through the scrolls, and found a pair of nunchuks.

He attached the two kunais to the nunchuk's handles, and threw them hard at Tenten, who jumped closer to the tree.

The nunchuk's chain bound Tenten across the neck, and the kunais lodged themselves into the tree. As she was about to free herself, Neji grabbed a sword among the many weapons, and lunged at Tenten. As she got the kunais out of the tree, Neji was an inch away from her, holding the tip of the sword to her neck.

Neji smirked and said, "You lose."

As he pulled the sword away, Tenten slumped down to the ground and sighed. "I was so close." She muttered.

Neji sat down next to her, making Tenten blush.

"That," He said, "Was a very well executed plan, Tenten."

Tenten raised an eyebrow, though she wasn't quite as good at it compared to Neji. 'Is Hyuuga Neji complimenting me?' The very thought made Tenten blush even harder.

"Now," Neji said with a smile, "For my end of the bargain."

Tenten groaned. She knew that Neji's compliment was just a cover up.

"I want you to…"

Tenten wince as she waited for the treacherous deed that Neji would make her do.

"I want you to come with me to look around Konoha and to help me 'Get out more.'" He said, making air quotes.

Tenten leapt up and smiled. She hugged Neji and gave him a peck on the on the cheek.

Realizing what she'd done, both of them pulled away, blushing fiercely. Neji turned away.

He broke the silence by clearing his throat and softly saying, "After we pick up all your weapons, would you like to come over to Hyuuga Manor to get cleaned up?" He looked at both of their clothes. "Then we can go around Konoha."

Tenten bowed her head, and softly said, "Thanks Neji-kun."

Hyuuga Manor

Tenten was in Hinata's room, talking to Hinata about Neji. They were both on the floor, but Tenten had nothing to worry about. Hinata's room was completely clean; FREAKISHLY clean. Tenten had already taken a bath, and was in a towel, her hair likewise. Hinata giggled softly.

"You know," Hinata said quietly, "Neji-nii san has never been on a date with a girl before… Of course, many have tried, but…"

Tenten turned a shade darker. "I wouldn't call it a 'date,' I don't even know what Neji-kun thinks of me… I'm not even really sure what I think of him." She became silent.

Hinata looked at Tenten with some concern. "Ten-chan, it's alright not to know. Sometimes it reveals more; whereas knowing only leads to more questions." She smiled, and gave Tenten a brush.

Tenten smiled, and looked on Hinata's laptop. It was on an online game.

She brushed some of the tangles in her dark brown hair, and looked at the screen curiously. "Hinata-chan, what's this?"

Hinata picked up the laptop off her bed and brought it down to the floor. Attached was a pair of odd looking goggles that had a mouthpiece and earphone on it.

"This," started Hinata, "is V-world." She clicked on a button on the screen and it changed to a picture of a character with a purple top that had a lavender cross on it, a dark purple skirt that trailed down to the character's feet. The character had a striking resemblance to Hinata, including the fact that she had pale lavender eyes. Her hair had a headband with a headpiece attached to it.

"V-world" Hinata continued, "is an MMORPG."

Tenten cocked her head to the side. "What is an… MORRGP?"

"MMORPG." Hinata corrected. "It's a 'massive multiplayer online role-playing game. Lots of people from all around Konoha and around the world log on to this game."

After a few minutes of Hinata telling her about the fun things you could do, she started talking about the rules of the game. Tenten decided that she wasn't very interested in them very much, so she decided to change the subject.

"So…" She said, "How's it going with Naruto?"

Hinata blushed fiercely and said, "How did you know about that?"

Tenten chuckled softly, so as to not hurt Hinata's feelings then replied, "It's pretty noticeable; especially how you always fidget when around him, how you always stare at him…."

Hinata unconsciously started fidgeting with her hair. "I was worried about that... Do you think he knows?"

Tenten smiled. She echoed what Hinata had said before, "Hina-chan, sometimes it's alright not to know. Sometimes it reveals more; and sometimes knowing only leads to more questions."

Hinata smiled, and said, "I guess so… I know! Let's find something for you to wear on your date."

This time, Tenten didn't bother to correct her.

The Hyuuga Garden

Neji smelled the various flowers in the garden. There were so many different flowers and plants. His favorite was a purple lily that smelled strangely like lemon. He gently picked the flower and smelled it.

"Tenten," He whispered softly, and put the flower lightly to his lips.

"Yes?" He turned around slowly, and saw Tenten. She was wearing a red jacket that had the sleeves cut off to the elbows. It was halfway zipped, revealing a creamy white shirt beneath. She was wearing a light pink, layered skirt that went down to her knees, with light black leggings underneath. She was wearing just hint of make up, and her eyeliner framed her chocolate eyes perfectly. Hinata added just a bit of glitter to her cheeks.

Neji blushed slightly as he noticed that Tenten's clothes accentuated her curves perfectly.

Her buns were the same, but her bangs were more swept to the side. She smiled slightly, and Neji couldn't help but stare. He slowly walked to her, and gave her the purple lily that he was holding.

"Shall we go?" He asked.

"Sure."

Neji was nervous for some reason, and he hoped that Tenten wouldn't notice that he kept looking at her curves. He couldn't help it, but he put his arm around her shoulders. It was about 4:00, and Neji couldn't help but admit that he was truly nervous. He'd never gone out with ANYONE, except to spar. Plus, today was the last day before their big mission.

As they exited the manor, Hinata gave Tenten a wink and thumbs up, and then turned and went back to her room, smiling and giggling.

The Streets of Konoha

Neji and Tenten went to the highest point in Konoha, the hokage's office, to watch the sunset. Tenten had never seen Neji so happy. She motioned to him to look at the changing colors of the sky. Purple, orange, yellow, and red streaked across the sky. She had always loved the sunset.

"Neji… It's just so…"

"Beautiful?" Neji completed her sentence.

Tenten nodded and sighed as she saw the last of the sun go beyond the horizon; she knew that nothing could compare with what she'd experienced that day.

Neji thought to himself: 'The sunset isn't the only beautiful thing that I see.'

Tenten stood up. "Neji, let's walk around Konoha before we have to leave for the mission tomorrow."

Neji nodded. He had no other thoughts of where to go, but he followed her off the roof anyway.

Tenten took his hand and made him go with her to every shop. They ate pocky, and had some tea. Tenten ran into Sakura and they talked for a while.

As they were leaving, Sakura gave Tenten a nudge, and giggled.

Neji looked at them oddly. He had never bothered to understand members of the opposite sex before.

He stopped as Tenten froze in front of an old store. It had dirty windows, and the sign was hung crooked.

"Neji… Let's go inside!" She said, pulling his hand.

"Tenten…" He said cautiously, "I don't think we should go in…"

"Neji," She said in a playful voice, "Don't be such a fraidy-cat!"

Neji softly said, "I'm a bird person." To which Tenten giggled.

The main thing that Neji was afraid of was BUGS. He hated them. The only people who bothered to kill the bugs in the Hyuuga manor were Hiashi and Hanabi. He never admitted it out loud, but Shino REALLY gave him the creeps; especially after the Chuunin exams.

Tenten went inside anyway and inevitably, Neji followed. The only thing that Tenten didn't notice was that one of the Hair clips that Hinata let her borrow fell off, and landed in front of the shop.

As Tenten opened he door, they found out that it wasn't an old shop, it was an old arcade. Pinball machines, shooting games, and air hockey tables were everywhere. But the only thing that seemed to be in good condition was the large booth in the center of the arcade. It had two round pod-like chambers that were made for lying in, and connected to the two pods was a computer.

It was connected to V-world.

Tenten murmured. "It's the same game that Hinata-chan showed me."

As she clicked the mouse the machine whirred to life. She pressed sign in, and put down all of her information.

Neji said, "Tenten, what are you doing?"

She turned to him. "I'm doing one last fun thing before we go on that stupid mission tomorrow."

She looked at the information, and smiled. "Do you want to create a character, Neji?"

He paused.

Tenten smiled, "It's not like this game is going to change our lives; I just want to try it."

Neji was still skeptical.

Tenten batted her eyelashes. "Please, for me?"

Neji chuckled softly and said, "Fine."

He put down his information and looked at the screen. He clicked, "Ok."

Suddenly, two holographic screens on the pods lit up. One screen said, "Neji Hyuuga," and he other listed Tenten's username. It was just, "Tenten."

"I guess we get in the pod with our name on it." Tenten whispered. She didn't know that Konoha had such advanced technology.

She went into her pod, and Neji slowly went into his. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this…

As the pods closed, a rainbow of colors flashed past them, almost blinding. They saw so many colors on one time, Neji was surprised that he wasn't having epilepsy.

Neji felt the urge to close his eyes…

When Neji briefly closed his eyes and reopened them, he wasn't in a pod anymore. He was in a field, next to a village-type place.

He saw Tenten materialize next to him, and he let out a relieved sigh. The colors were much brighter, and the sky looked like it was still about 3:00. They were still wearing the same clothes, but they had weapons o their belts.

Tenten had a bow and some arrows, whereas Neji had a sword. A sword, that he could tell, that was of bad quality.

"Tenten?" He said slowly,

"Yeah?" She replied, as dazed as he was.

"Where are we?"

"I only know one thing…" She said, "We're not in Konoha anymore…"