Alrighty, the InoTen stuff starts here! R&R and enjoy!

I…I can't believe my eyes… She's here… she's alive. I know it can't be her, but… it looks exactly like her. Her eyes are the same shade of brown, as well as her hair. Her face has the same round shape. It's her… I'm sure of it. My heart starts to beat faster.

She gets tired of waiting for me to move and ducks under me to leave. I stare after her as she walks away, even her stride is the same. "What do you want, Yamanaka?" Hyuuga's cold voice says to me. I half hear him and hold out the folder I'm carrying. He takes it and I walk off before he can speak.

I look around and find her picking up the papers that Hinata had dropped. I slowly walk up to her, still not believing it's her. "Need any help?" I say, trying and succeeding to keep my voice steady. She looks up at me with an odd stare, "Sure…" she says.

I kneel down, still staring at her. I know it can't be her. There's no way. I saw her die, all those centuries ago. I buried her burned corpse. And yet…

I hand her a stack of papers, and she thanks me for them. "Is something wrong?" she asks, the way I'm staring at her must be making her uncomfortable. I say nothing. I reach out my hand to touch hers. Before I make contact, the pager that Nara gave me goes off.

"Shouldn't you check that?" she says as my hand lays over hers. Oh god, her skin feels the same. It's just as soft, just as smooth. It's her. I'm sure of it. "No," I say, staring directly into her chocolate eyes, "I care not of it." I start to lean in, I need to taste her lips, to finalize my suspicion.

She doesn't pull away, she's under my spell. "Tenten, where are those other copies!" Hyuuga's voice shouts out, pulling her out of her trance, "Coming, Neji-kun!" she grabs the rest of the papers and runs back to Hyuuga's office. I growl and hit the silent button on the pager. "Soon, my dear." I stand up and head back down to Nara's office to see what the bastard wants.

I stop halfway down the staircase and press myself against the wall, my hand coming up to grab the pendant around my neck. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. "I can't believe it." I say to myself. I pull the necklace out of my shirt and stare at the ruby, "She's come back to me…" I grasp the pendant tight before replacing it, composing myself, and moving on.

I get back to Nara's office, "What?" I ask sternly as I step into the room, He sits behind his desk, fingers crossed in front of him, and a TV set off to his right. "What kept you?" he says, a smug smirk on his face. "What do you want?" I ask again, "A little snippy tonight aren't we?" he says, that smug smirk still plastered on his face.

"I've got a problem, Yamanaka-san, and I think you can help me solve it." He holds up a disk, "See, there's a slight anomaly in the timetables for the past couple of weeks. You've been clocking in on time, but I never see you until a couple of hours after that." I cock an eyebrow at him, "And then tonight, one of the other workers saw you moseying in through the front door, and the thing is, he never saw you leave in the first place."

He stands up, "So, I'm thinking… that you've been late to work every night since you were hired. But I'll tell you what," he sat on the front of the desk, "Admit to it now, and maybe we can make a deal so that you don't lose your job, or, we can just bring one of the higher ups down here, and they can take a look at the security feed from tonight."

"Go ahead." I shrug, "See if I care." He smiles triumphantly, and picks up his phone and presses a key, "Hey, can you come down here for a sec," he glances back at me, "We might be losing someone tonight."

He hangs up, and we sit staring at each other for a few moments until there's a knock at the door, "Come it." Nara says, and Hyuuga walks in, Tenten close behind. She's so beautiful, it's like she never died.

"Alright, Shikamaru, what do you want?" He says. "This will explain." Nara put the disk into the disk in the tray of the DvD player and pushed it in. A picture of the front door came up on the screen, "Now, this is three hours after Yamanaka-san was supposed to be in." He glances back at me, "And I think in a moment, we'll see her coming in… right about…" he doesn't finish his sentence as the doors open and close, with no image in them, of course.

Hyuuga glares at Nara, who starts to sweat, "Um, I…uh…" he repeatedly rewinds and plays the tape over and over, "Shikamaru, next time you want to waste my time," Hyuuga starts to walk away, "Don't."

"I'm gonna take my lunch now." I say as I stretch out my arms and walk out of the office. I see Hyuuga and Yoshiko getting into separate elevators, Yoshiko's going down. I speed up and just barely make the doors.

She stares at me still with that odd expression, "Is something wrong?" I ask her, "Oh, uh, no." she blushes at being caught staring, and looks away, "You're new here, aren't you?" I ask calmly, though inside my heart is fluttering at being so close to her, "Yeah, I'm Tenten." She says and holds out her hand, "Ino." I say. I don't shake her hand, just look at her with a sense of longing, "Hey, you wanna grab a bite with me?" she says.

I smile knowingly, "Of course." I smile knowingly. "I'd love to." We step out of the elevator at the ground floor. So her name's Tenten now, huh? I smirk as I walk behind her looking her up and down as we walk out the front door, "So," She says suddenly as we walk, "How long have you been working at the firm?"

"Two weeks." I say. "Oh, so you're just a newbie yourself?" she chuckles, "Birds of a feather."

"Indeed."

We go into a small ramen shop. We are seated and the waiter comes to take our drink orders, "Hmm…" she looked over the drink menu, "how about just a bottle of the… Merlot."

"And you?" he turned to me, "I'm fine." I wave him off, "We'll just split." 'Tenten' says. The man nods and walks off, "So did you go to law school?" she asks, "Nope. I'm just a secretary."

"Oh. Well, be glad you didn't. That place was a bitch. And the worst part is, I'm a fully licensed lawyer, but Neji's got me doing all of his secretary work." She grimaces at the thought. I look down at her hands, and see the diamond ring on her finger. Jealousy spreads through me at the thought of her being with someone else.

"So who's the lucky man?" I ask, gesturing to the ring. She looks down, "Oh, it's Neji," I clench my fists. He's not good enough for her. Not for my Yoshiko, or Tenten, or whatever.

"But I don't even like the guy. It's one of those arranged marriage things. I mean, he's arrogant, a complete asshole, and treats those he sees lesser than him like dirt." I smirk at this new information, "And plus, his family's obsessed with the occult, they believe that shit like vampires, werewolves, and such are all real. I mean, they're fucking insane!"

My eyebrows shoot up. I wonder how smart they are about it though. The waiter brings the wine and two glasses, "And what would you like to eat?" Tenten orders a beef ramen, and I just order a plate of sub-rare meat. They both stare at me like I'm crazy, "Uh, miss, I must advise against that, there are serious risks…"

"I don't care. Just bring it." I say, and he scurries off to get it, "Ino-san, are you insane? You can get salmonella by eating meat that rare!" I chuckle, "Don't you worry about me." I pat her hand, God, her skin is soft.

She shakes her head and pours herself, and me, a glass of wine, and passes one over, "Here."

I look at the glass, and then at her, "I never drink wine. (1)" She chuckles, "Sure. Right."

The waiter brings us our food, and we eat in silence, me just staring at her. I watch her as she eats. I wonder if her lips taste the same as they did so long ago… "Uh, could you not stare at me like that?" she says after she finishes eating, "Like what?" I say sweetly. "Like you want to sleep with me." She chuckles.

"Oh?" I say as we split the check and walk out, "I wasn't aware."

"Mmhmm" she says, "Look," she stops and says once we've walked awhile, "I'm flattered, really. And it's not like I've never thought of experimenting, but A, I'm engaged, and I may not like it, but I take it seriously, and B, I'm straight. No grey area. A couple urges in college, but that was it."

She stares me square in the face. So, there's a seed of doubt about Hyuuga, and an urge to be with another woman. I smile at her. It's the type of smile that sends shivers down her spine, "Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?" a look of worry spreads onto her face.

I start to chuckle, "Why, Tenten," I say, "you should have told me from the beginning that you have these urges."

"Had." She says, "Had them. They're gone now." My smile doesn't falter, "But the thing is," I grab her wrist, and pull her back into an alley, putting her up against the wall, her wrists pinned to the sides of her head, "They never are, when you are born with them."

She struggles somewhat, "What the fuck are you doing? L-Let me go!"

"Look into my eyes." I tell her. Her struggling lessens as our eyes meet, and she's brought into a trance, "I've been waiting, endless years of loneliness for you. I've transcended the ages, only to have you drop into my life." I lean in, and our lips connect. Her lips are soft, and taste just like they did so long ago. I deepen the kiss, needing more of her taste.

I kiss down to her neck, and pause at her jugular. I can smell her blood pulsing through her body. I let go of her hands and wrap an arm around her waist, and one around her neck, pulling it to one side. I bare my teeth and prepare to drink from her. She groans, as my teeth break the skin, her blood gushing out.

Oh my god. It's sweeter than sugar. I want more of it. I want to make her mine, make her like me. Share the rest of eternity with her, as we should have done, but I can't. Not here. Not like this. I pull away, and gasp for breath. I lick my lips. Tenten gasps and slides down the wall. "Wow…" she says, out of her trance, "You…You're quite the kisser."

I kneel down and cup her cheek and our eyes meet again, "Do you know the old hotel, just outside of the pleasure district?" She nods, still breathless, "Go there tomorrow night. At sunset. Understand?" She nods again and I kiss her forehead, "See you tomorrow. And don't worry about going to work. It won't matter." I stand up and start to walk away, "A-Are you just going to leave me here?" She asks, "Don't worry, the feeling will come back soon. Just don't stand up too fast."

She is going to be mine. One way or another. I need to get ready. The seeds of passion have been planted, now to make them grow, and to get my beloved back.

(1) One of the best lines ever uttered by the late, great, Bela Lugosi

Alrighty, I'm off to bed, and to plan the next chapter... which is going to be difficult... and just fyi, i probably won't be able to update all next week. volunteer work and stuff. anyway, review por favor!