Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, etc.

Summary: Tenten is indebt and a really good liar. Neji's family is rich and is in need of a temporary niece. What happens when these two meet? ( Nejiten & minor others )

RING.

Neji picked up the phone again. "Hello?" he asked dryly.

"Excuse me, Hyuuga-san," the desk secretary began, "but there is a girl here saying that she's on business and wants to see you."

Neji furrowed his brows. Girl? Is it the same one from the hospital?

"Send her in."

"Sir."

The desk assistant hung up.

Tenten entered the doorway and bowed slightly.

"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully. "I am Tenten. Pleased to meet your acquaintance!"

The man twitched from the happiness she was emanating from herself. "… Hn," Neji responded. This girl reminded him vaguely of Gai and Lee, caretakers of his Uncle, but he REALLY didn't want to think of those two at the moment right now.

Tenten raised her eyebrows. "Hn"? What kind of word was "Hn"? Gee, she thought sarcastically. What a great "Hello! How are you today?"

"I'm sorry," she responded with a false smile, "But I'm not quite sure what 'Hn' means. Perhaps you could try explaining it to me?"

Neji wisely avoided the question. Instead, he nodded toward her brown shoulder bag. "You left your luggage," he stated.

Tenten shrugged and took it. "There was nothing valuable in there anyway," she told out loud to herself (and maybe to the Hyuuga too – if he was even interested).

"Hn."

She raised her eyebrows again. Ok…

"Anyways, I'm here to ask you for some…" What was a nice way of saying it? She rubbed her thumb and fingers together in thought. BINGO! "Compensation," she finished loudly.

Silence.

"Hn."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes…?" Tenten prompted. She was trying to be polite, but she had one nerve left from today's events. And he was getting on it with his constant "hn's."

He grunted. "Why, may I ask, do you want 'compensation'?"

Tenten widened her eyes. Damn… she thought angrily. I need a reason! I didn't think of one… Or I didn't think I'd need one… She closed her eyes and thought. She really didn't think the man would be that stiff. She wasn't wrong all the time. Just… most of the time.

"The hospital today," Tenten said suddenly. He snorted.

"Was taking you there not enough?"

"Ah, well, you…" she stammered, buying time. "You could've nearly run me over you know!" Full of confidence, she gestured to her wounds. "And what about these cuts? You probably-"

"The doctor informed me that your cuts weren't because of the car," he recited. "Perhaps from your fall."

Hum. This guy was bright.

Switch to Plan B.

"Who said anything about physical pain?" Tenten asked. "What about mentally? I nearly got killed! I'll get scarred for life!"

Neji smirked. She really wanted some money, didn't she?

"That's your problem," Neji stated. "I already paid for your medical bill. Now… Please leave."

Switch to Plan C.

"Cheh!" Tenten huffed. "FINE! I will! I hope you get scarred for life! I hope you feel so guilty that you will rid yourself of this world!"

And with that, she walked out and closed (slammed) the door.

Neji shook his head in disgrace. Temper, temper, temper. His attention was quickly caught by the un-tidiness in the room since the girl came by.

He shifted some ruffled papers into some neat piles. They had become unorganized and some were fluttered on the ground. A neon green business card peeked out from behind a form.

Seeing it, Neji picked it up and took a look at it. The girl's picture was to the left. He smirked at her seemingly bright and cheery smile. However, to him, she just looked naïve.

"Tenten," he read out loud in a deadpanned voice. "Travel Agency expertise, tour guide. Spoken Languages: Japanese, Korean-"

He stopped.

Tenten
Travel Agency expertise, Tour Guide
Spoken Languages: Japanese, Korean, Chinese

That girl! She knew how to speak Chinese!

"Damn!" he cried and he hurried after her.

Tenten pressed the down button on the escalator.

"Cheh!" she hissed. "What's wrong with that guy? He has serious emotional issues! Not even taking pity on the weak and poor!" She pressed the button again – eager to get down.

She whipped out the business card angrily. "Look at this card!" she cried. "Gold trimmings - cursive typing! This guy is rich." She glared at his room. "But of course he's too stingy to give to charity."

DING.

The elevator doors opened and Tenten stepped inside. She pressed Floor 1 and the Close button to shut the doors. She shifted her shoulder bag a bit.

Inside she sighed to herself. The first plan to get some dough was ruined. Now she had to do some hard labor in order to free Iruka and Kakashi from their debts. Like always.

Before the doors closed, Neji Hyuuga extended a hand to keep it open. She stared wide-eyed at the visitor. Her mind snapped at the familiar face and Tenten's eyes narrowed.

"Y-You!" she cried.

Neji ignored the sudden outburst and quickly asked her, "Do you (huff) know how (huff) to speak (huff) Chinese?"

She stared at him in silence. Then:

"What of it?" How did he know that? She looked at him and then raised her eyebrows suspiciously. A stalker most likely!

"Come with me."

Mmm… This coffee is actually pretty good. She glanced at the Hyuuga and then scoffed lightly. Good, unlike this man's personality.

"Ok…" Tenten said. The two of them were in his office. "So you say that you'll reward me - if I can translate what your guests say for you."

Neji nodded. "And vice versa," he quickly added. She nodded. "Vice versa," she repeated.

Silence from both parties. Neji grew tense. If she didn't agree then-

"Hum… How much are we talking here?"

The prodigy sighed clutching his cup a bit tighter than before.

"Is that all you think about in that head of yours?" Neji inquired. "Money?"

"I think about it for a good reason!" Tenten retorted. "I've got to look after Naruto and–" She stopped. "Wait! Quick changing the subject!"

He snorted. He never even asked. "Just settle your payment with the secretary. I haven't got time for haggling."

The girl heaved a sigh that was filled with annoyance. "Gee," Tenten muttered. "Couldn't you have said that without insulting me?"

Neji glared at her. It was a wonder how she could tick him off without really trying. "For a woman, you're pretty aggressive." Vulgar is more like it.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She stared at the empty bowls of her coffee cup. "The way you're treating me is no different!" She huffed angrily.

"Besides that, I can tell from your personality that I won't even get a proper thank-"

RING.

Tenten shut up and let the man talk on the phone. He was lucky that it rang. Very lucky.

"Hello?"

"Hyuuga-sir, the guests are waiting for a tour of the hotel."

"Right. We'll be there." He put the phone down.

Tenten looked at him curiously. "So, when do I begin?"

"Right now."

"Tell them I say, 'Welcome,'" Neji instructed to her. On the right of him, Tenten mimicked his instructions distastefully with her hands.

"Tenten," he said harshly without looking at her. She immediately stopped and muttered something about "Hyuuga" and "stupid freakish 360 vision."

A group of business Chinese men were present in front of them, murmuring to each other. Tenten could make out "Is she the translator?" or "Is that his girlfriend?" She blushed furiously at that comment.

"Eh… W-Welcome (6)," Tenten began.

"Uh… Today, I will be your translator. Mr. Hyuuga and I will tour you around the hotel grounds." As she saw that they understood, she gained more confidence and continued, "If you find that you have anything that you'd like to say to the manager, just tell me and I'll pass it on." She finished with a polite smile.

However, Neji stared at her. He admitted that he was 16 percent impressed with the string of fluent Chinese that came out of her mouth in the past 20 seconds.

He decided that the rest of the 84 percent was just mere confuzzlement.

"What else did you tell them?" he asked. Or demanded. Or both.

"Kenji…" she began.

"It's Neji," he corrected, eyes narrowed. "And since when have we been on a first name basis?"

Tenten scoffed. "Whatever." She turned to him. "Anyways, does it matter? I got your message across." She thought. "Besides, just 'Welcome' is too dry of a greeting."

"How do you know that?" he snapped from embarrassment. "Maybe I was going to tell you to say something else." He couldn't deny that she was partially right though. But he would never admit that. Especially to her.

Tenten gave him a look. "Then just say it. Jeez… I just added some fluff to it." She snorted. "You're making such a fuss over a few words."

"Couple."

"Whatever."

"Hn." He was saying too much lately. And it was all because of that giddy bun-head.

Tenten rolled her eyes as she muttered to herself, "Are all Hyuugas this difficult?"

Neji pretended to not hear. He soon realized that she always had to have the last word. He was unaware of Tenten thinking the same thing.

The guests looked at each other and chuckled.

Peals of laughter could be heard throughout the night.

"Sometimes the manager can be quite stingy," she described to the guests. When she wasn't translating for Neji, she was entertaining the guests in her own way.

"Today I went up to him to ask for a reward for rescuing his luggage from the hospital!" Ok, so it was a lie. "And he wouldn't give me anything! He's as stingy as a-"

"This is the garden," Neji explained, cutting in. "We will go in and eat now." He turned to Tenten. "Translate."

Tenten glared at the Hyuuga. Why couldn't he treat her better? She was the one doing all the work. She turned around and smiled at the guests.

"We will be going to eat now!" Tenten said happily (she was quite hungry). "Let us go see if the stingy manager spared enough money to buy us a feast!"

The guests laughed once more.

Neji was irritated as to why the guests were laughing. He sighed. It was clear that Tenten added a bit more… What did she call it? "Fluff" to the sentences. He was a bit curious as to why they are laughing, but knew he would be giving in (to her) if he asked.

The group entered into the dining area.

Tenten's eyes widened.

Mountains of food were arranged on the table. There were vegetables cut and arranged by color. Turkey drowning in gravy with spices littered around the edges. Fish cut and layered out with parsley and basil trimmings. Potatoes, onions, and peppers sautéed in hot oil.

Tenten secretly wished that she could grab some leftovers for Naruto. If he was here, he'd probably eat everything. She laughed as she imagined how Naruto would be if he was here.

Well, not everything. She thought to herself, amused. There was no ramen in the feast.

"This man is not too stingy," a man next to her laughed.

"What a banquet," another said.

"Eh heh…" Tenten laughed nervously. She would hurt someone later.

The girl's stomach grumbled. She had managed to survive 25 minutes without eating. But she didn't know how much more she could without a tiny morsel. Now, you ask: Why hadn't Tenten eaten?

(1) She couldn't talk/translate while eating. (2) Hyuuga Neji would insult her if she didn't translate.

Of course, Tenten didn't want to sully her pride over a trivial matter – such as a piece of bread. So she was content (well, not really) to wait by the sidelines as she watched (hungrily) the others eat their food.

Actually, scratch the last part. Tenten was doing all she could to get some grub, and by all means she was going to succeed! This, she told herself. (Mentally of course).

And so…

Tenten began to reach for a spoon to scoop her some potatoes.

"I wonder," a guest began, "where did this delicious wine come from?"

"What did he say?" Neji asked, turning to her. She snatched her hand back. He eyed it (and her) suspiciously.

"U-uh… He just wants to know where you get your wine," Tenten quickly mumbled back staring at the food again. Darn this job. She couldn't talk and eat at the same time!

"This wine is freshly grown on the islands east of here," Neji said. "We order it directly so it maintains its flavor." He looked at Tenten, who had just snatched a piece of bread, expecting her to translate.

"Uh… The wine came from the islands nearby," she translated ripping of a section of the bread. "The hotel company orders it directly, so the wine still has its flavor." She popped the piece into her mouth and began to chew.

"Our fruit also come from that island." Tenten made small strangled sounds and hit her chest a few times. This guy's quick of thinking up things to say!

"He said," she began, still chewing the bread, "Ahm, hm, hm!" She coughed a bit and hit her chest again to swallow the pieces. "He said that (ahm) the fruit also come from (ahm) the same island." She quickly grabbed for her cup of water and chugged it down in one stroke.

The guests laughed at her appearance.

"You've worked hard today, you should eat!" one said. Tenten's eyes widened in surprise. The rest of his colleagues agreed.

"Yes! Don't worry about your job. Just eat for now and then do it later." She found herself nodding in agreement.

"We wouldn't want you to starve," another said. Again she agreed. Yes, that was quite reasonable on her part.

"Thank you!" Tenten cried, grinning. "Thank you!" She bowed slightly to each of the men.

"What did they say?" Neji asked eyeing the guests and her. They got along so easily that it made him feel like an extra wheel. Hyuugas disliked being an extra wheel. And Neji was a Hyuuga.

"Oh, nothing much." Tenten helped herself to the fried potatoes and onions. "They just told me to eat and not worry about my job."

"…" Ha-ha. Sure. Right. And if you didn't know, that was sarcasm. "What?" he asked again.

"You heard me," Tenten grunted as she stuffed a spoonful of food into her mouth. These potatoes are good. I wonder how the chicken tastes…

However, noticing the glare the Hyuuga was giving her, she set down her spoon. Gee, if she knew this was going to happen (which she partially knew), she would have tried to persuade the guests to not worry about her.

Cheh! Like I would put him before the guests in my list of priorities. She mentally prepared herself to give him a mouthful of bashing, but stopped herself.

"Just don't complain," she said simply. She nodded to the guests. "They aren't."

Neji grunted disapprovingly, but didn't say anything.

Tenten took it as an "I don't like it, but if it's what they want, then whatever" grunt.

(6) The words in italics are Tenten speaking to the guests in Chinese. I wasn't too patient to translate it using English sounds, so that will have to do.

A/N. Heh. I have a feeling that my chapters are getting a bit longer. (o.o) Ne… For viewers of the drama, you will notice that I have made some weird changes. XD This is just for my own pleasure and… well… screwiness. Now I shall go and write the next chapter.

Thanks to those who read and reviewed. Or just read.

Hatake Megumi
Ice Phnix
Pyro – Momo
Spetiane
Shadow – Ninja – Fay
ninjafrogofHNM