A/N: Yes, it is ANOTHER chapter and yes, I am inconsistent. I think I'm just going to update whenever I can from now on because I'm starting school again and the work will probably kill me.

Does anyone like the Akatsuki Leader/Pein x Unnamed Member/Blue pairing? PeinBlue? I can't be one of the only ones . . . And I wrote a PeinBlue fic too . . .

Yes, shameless advertising.

Give props to my lovely beta phantom1ntheshadows.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

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Chapter 8

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Neji

"Well that went well." Tenten says sarcastically.

"Hn."

She continues muttering obscenities about counseling and Hiashi.

I notice the sky darkening and I think a storm is coming.

Maybe I'll get struck by lightning . . .

We walk back to the Hyuuga house, I refuse to call it home, and thunder sounds in the distance. I'm not fazed, I actually enjoy thunderstorms and such, but Tenten looks over her back hesitantly and moves closer to my side.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Are you afraid?"

Tenten frowns. "A ninja isn't afraid of anything, N—" another crack of thunder and she's clutching my arm. I stare at her dubiously. "Ok, maybe a little." she admits in a high voice. Her eyes close for a moment and I stop to allow her to gather herself. Tenten breathes and lets go of my arm, fisting her hands and placing them by her sides. "I think I'm ok now—" The sky opens up at that exact moment and Tenten lets out a small harsh breath when she sees lightning in the distance. She lets out a small whimper when we hear more thunder and puts her hands over her ears.

I look up at the dark sky and then back at her. We're still quite a ways from the Hyuuga house and I see some shops a few yards away. I take Tenten's arm and drag her over there, taking us both underneath the roof covering of one.

At least we're not going to be rained on anymore.

Tenten slides down against the wall and brings her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and laying her forehead against her arms.

I can see her shaking and it only becomes more pronounced as we hear more thunder.

Pride be damned.

I gracelessly drop to the ground beside her, no one's watching, and wrap an arm around her shoulders reassuringly and bring her into my side. Tenten looks up at me in surprise before she snakes her own arms around my waist and hugs me for all she's worth, burying her face into my shirt.

"You're afraid of thunder." I state simply.

"What of it?" she mumbles into my chest.

"It's surprising."

"Hn."

I raise an eyebrow at her using 'hn'. Had she always used it? "You always appear . . ." I can't find the right adjective. ". . . so I think it's odd that a mere sound can scare you."

Tenten lifts her head and snorts. "And? A lot of things scare me."

I stare down at her. "Like?"

"Well," she bites her lower lip and looks away, "getting married scares me."

This is news to me.

"Marrying me scares you?" I ask.

"Not necessarily you," Tenten muttered, "just the whole thing in general. I'm only seventeen. I'm not ready to 'settle down' yet . . ." She leans comfortably into my side and tightens her arms when we see some lightning.

I finger the collar of her dress. "Neither am I."

"Look at us having a heart-to-heart," she says. "It's so weird."

"Hn."

Tenten lets go of my waist, frowning at me. "You could say more than 'hn' you know. I'm being honest right now."

"Are you sure you're afraid of thunder?" I ask, looking at her and adding, "Because you seem fine now."

"You think I did all that just so you'd hold me?" she responds dryly.

"Hn."

Tenten rolls her eyes. "You're so arrogant." I rolls my eyes right back and she grins, then she's suddenly serious and staring hard into my eyes. "Thank you, Neji," Tenten says sincerely, laying her cheek against my shoulder, "thank you . . ."

I don't say anything and look forward into the rain.

For some reason, sitting here with Tenten is nice.

XXXXX

I didn't hesitate and pushed open her bedroom door, not caring whether or not she was decent. I suppose it was a bad decision on my part seeing as Tenten almost gave me a fashionable piercing on my left eyebrow. When she saw it was me she dropped her senbon tiredly, the needles making a light sound when they met the floor, and lay back onto her bed, groaning. I shut the door quietly behind me and made my way to her bed, sitting down on the edge and making it dip towards me. Her body rolled my way and she quickly held up her hand against my back so she wouldn't crash into me.

I pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. "Are you sick?" Tenten shook her head but her skin was abnormally hot. "Was it the rain last night?"

"I don't know. Maybe." She lay on her back now, staring up at me from her prone position on the bed. "What are you doing here?"

"You forget that I also live here, Tenten." I say monotonously. "We also have a counseling session in an hour."

She throws her arm up over her face. "Oh god, that's right . . ."

"I could go alone."

I'd rather not but she doesn't seem well.

"No." Tenten says flatly. "I can't abandon you with this. . . Stupid thing. It wouldn't be right after what you did for me last night. A friend wouldn't do that to another friend . . ."

"Hn."

We've become friends.

Never thought I'd see the day.

I watch her lips turn downwards in a frown.

"I know what you're thinking and I don't care if I'm sick."

"I wasn't thinking anything."

Tenten lifts her arm and peeks at me from under dark lashes. "Liar." she says accusingly with a playful smirk. "You were worried about me?"

I give her a stony glare. "Don't assume such things." I hate that she can sense that. It's like a woman's sixth sense; an intuition . . . Thing. So what if I was a little worried? I have to make sure she's in good health . . . And . . . It just helps my peace of mind for some reason. I want to sigh but I don't. Instead I look around her bedroom, noticing the half unpacked boxes lining the wall opposite her bed. "You haven't unpacked everything." I state, my gaze returning to her face. "Why?"

She shrugs. "I keep hoping that I'll be able to move back to my apartment. If I unpack everything it makes this seem permanent."

"It is permanent." I remind her patiently.

"I can always dream."

"Foolish."

Tenten reaches up and smacks my shoulder smartly. "I have to change, then we can meet the counselor from hell, ok?"

XXXXX

Guess who our counselor is.

Just guess.

My god, I never thought—never dreamed—Hiashi and the Hokage would go to such lengths.

"Huh," Jiraiya says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "you two obviously lack it."

Tenten looks at me, then back at the white haired Sannin. "'It'?"

"The fire! The spark that will make your romance!"

She laughs. "I hate to burst your bubble, Jiraiya-sama, but I don't think Neji and I have any romance—"

Jiraiya takes her hands in his and looks deeply into her eyes. "No," he says. "I see it. There's definitely some chemistry between you two, however subtle it may be." He caresses the back of Tenten's hand and I narrow my eyes at him. Jiraiya gives Tenten a sly smile. "Why don't you and I talk a little more over d—"

Suddenly his face is sent crashing into the floor and an angry Hokage is standing above him, fist outstretched.

I force myself not to be surprised but Tenten's just staring and staring at her hands, which Jiraiya had been holding only moments before.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade says, voice deadly, "I asked you to help them, not use the time to ask Tenten on dates. She's getting married, you idiot."

Jiraiya picked himself up off the ground, rubbing the back of his head. "It's a wonder my skull isn't broken. Your insane strength is going to kill me one day."

"The girls can rest easier once that day comes." she snaps.

Tenten and I watch the exchange quietly and I can't help but think that these two Sannin seem like an old married couple. Will we be like this twenty or thirty years from now?

Tsunade sighs and runs her fingers through her bangs. "Hurry it up, will you? I need my office back."

Jiraiya rolls his eyes and produces a familiar looking orange book, a book I've seen numerous times in the hands of one, Hatake Kakashi.

I sincerely hope he doesn't expect us to read that.

"You're 'homework' right now is to read this book," he indicates Icha Icha Paradise, "and I'm only giving you one copy so you'll have to read it together. And . . ." Jiraiya produces a brown canvas bag from behind the Hokage's desk and pulls out a small red book with golden letters on the cover. "You two should read this later on." He holds it out and Tenten takes it.

"Kama Sutra!?" she shrieks once she gets a good look at the title.

"For your wedding night and such." he replies seriously. "If you want I can give you m—"

"That won't be necessary, Jiraiya-sama." I say hurriedly, keeping the blush on my cheeks to a minimum. God, this is so uncomfortable . . .

"Oh?" Jiraiya asks with a foxy smile. "So you've experienced the joys of s—"

Tsunade punches him again.

Thankfully, we're allowed to leave.

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Tenten and I sit on her bed, the two books between us.

She bites her lower lip and takes Kama Sutra, placing it in her lap and opening to a random page. Her eyes scan it for a moment before she closes the book slowly.

"It's what you think it is." Tenten says stiffly.

I don't even have to ask.

I'd heard that the complete Kama Sutra had more than just sex positions, but apparently Jiraiya gave us the choppy version.

"So," Tenten's got a weird gleam in her eyes and she smiles coyly. "Do you want to look at them?"

"No."

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Tenten

I run into Hinata while I'm walking through the hallways and I realize suddenly that I haven't been seeing much of her lately. She smiles shyly when I ask her where she's been and mutters something about going out and spending time at Ichiraku.

Holy crap.

"Are you dating him?" I ask, dragging her outside into the gardens so we can have some privacy.

"N-No, it's not w-what y-you think—"

"Then tell me!"

Hinata shifts uncomfortably, then takes my hand and we go deeper into the foliage and away from the house.

I don't understand why she wants to be so secretive, but she tells me.

"M-My father might not a-approve." Hinata says quietly. "There a-are s-still people who dislike Naruto-kun and the fact that," she takes in a shuddering breath, "Kyuubi is inside him doesn't make it any e-easier."

He'd told us himself about being a Jinchuuriki one night while we sat around the memorial stone on Team 7's training ground. I'd always wondered why Naruto was so hated within Konoha and it made sense after he informed us of his unwanted guest. God, I never realized how hard he had it and knowing the truth about him only made him seem more . . . Amazing. It's not like I have a crush on him or anything, Naruto's just really nice and the fact that he's gone through so much only makes him seem that much more awesome. I really hope he becomes Hokage someday. He's been spouting that since the first day I met him and I think he could one of the best Hokages Konoha has ever seen.

"Do you think your father will force you two apart?"

Hinata closes her eyes for a moment before answering. "Maybe. I don't want to risk it b-but the secrecy b-bothers, Naruto. I-I feel bad about l-lying but I'm afraid, Tenten."

The only thing I can do is hug her and tell her it'll be ok.

So I do.

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I drop to the ground to avoid being Jyuuken-ed in the chest and swing my leg around low in hopes of catching Neji off guard. No such luck as he easily avoids my attack. I throw a bunch of kunai, some with exploding tags, in retaliation. He goes into Kaiten like I knew he would and I open my large scroll again and run a bloody thumb across some of the signs, producing a giant spiked bomb.

Neji's slowing down and my bomb detonates above his head.

There's a shower of needles and there's not enough time for him to get into a proper defense so he tries jumping out of the way, getting stabbed a few times in the process.

It's something new I've developed and I'm glad to note that the needles went everywhere when I come out from behind the tree I used as my shield. There's a certain distance where you can stand and not get hit, about five meters, but the trees create such an enclosed space here that it's just easier to hide behind something rather than get away.

Neji pulls out a few of the needles imbedded in his right shoulder roughly. "I've never seen that one," he says calmly, Byakugan moving over my person slowly. I know he can see me. His eyes narrow as I step out from behind the tree. "You always throw me something I'm not ready for. You've improved."

"You flatter me." I reply. "Need help getting those things out of your arm?"

He doesn't give me enough time before he's right in front of me, palm hitting my chest. He doesn't look surprised when the body erupts into smoke and a half-split tree trunk is there instead of me. Neji looks up and jumps back just as I slash the katana downward, missing.

"Stay still!"

"If I listened to you I'd be sporting a good sized cut on my chest right now." he replies.

"Well you'll have to listen to me soon!" I snap, annoyed.

Neji crosses his arms across his chest and studies me with un-Byakugan-ed eyes. "Why is that?"

I smirk. "Husbands have to listen to their wives."

"Hn."

"You don't believe me? Think about it, Neji. All the married women in Konoha have their husbands wrapped around their finger." I say smugly, liking the way he shifts uncomfortably. "I think we'll be just like them, don't you?"

He doesn't respond but there's the slightest bit of worry on his brow.

Score!

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I sigh happily.

Taking a warm bath after training is like heaven.

I lay down on my bed, head sinking into the lush pillows.

Maybe I'll nap a little.

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I wake up to the feeling of something clawing at my shoulder.

Holy crap.

What the hell is that?

Slowly I turn my head to look at my shoulder and the moment I see it's a bird I almost cry out in relief.

And then I realize something.

I get a good look at it and see that yes, it was white and yes, it had a note tied to its' leg.

Oh.

My.

God.

Anonymous.

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A/N: He's BACK! Reviews are my happy crack!