Staring unseeingly into her glass, Tenten only registered the sudden appearance of someone to her right when a familiar, newly bejewelled hand placed itself gently on her forearm. Sighing softly, Tenten turned to see Hinata's sympathetic and slightly fearful facial expression, eyes glancing from the glass of alcohol to its bearer and back.

"Please tell me you haven't been sitting here drinking for the last three days," she pleaded gently.

Tenten gave a small laugh and pushed the glass away from her slightly, "No, Hinata. I promise you I have not been sitting here drinking for three days."

She shook her head at the relieved expression on her friend's face and pointed towards the drink before adding,

"To be honest, I haven't really even drunk much of this glass. I was on my way back from training and just…just…I don't know," she sighed, trying to find the words to explain why she couldn't bring herself to go back to her apartment but at the same time didn't really want to do anything else.

Hinata had an amazing ability to draw people into a conversation about whatever was bothering them without saying much herself and she sat patiently beside Tenten, allowing her time to rephrase her explanation. A moment later Tenten settled on, "I'm just frustrated, I suppose."

"Don't get me wrong, Neji and Lee have repeatedly made it clear that I have a bit of a temper," she said holding up her right hand in a placating manner.

"But this was so different, Hinata. Never in my life have I snapped so fast from happy to completely enraged. It was like I had no control at all. And…and Neji…" she looked sidelong at Hinata and the two women locked eyes as she whispered, "I really thought for a second that he might hit me back. He was so angry, and I have no idea why."

Tenten had told Hinata about her sudden and bizarre fight with the Hyuuga prodigy the day it had happened. Somehow, Tenten had assumed from Neji himself, Hinata had caught wind of the altercation and had tracked down the weapons mistress who was beating the living daylights out of a poor tree in her old training area on the opposite side of the village. Tenten had paused in her assault long enough to explain to Hinata that her arrogant, judgemental excuse for a cousin couldn't keep his self-important opinions to himself and had accused Tenten of exploiting her sexuality for money. Hinata had looked shocked for a moment before quietly asking if Tenten wanted to talk about it. Her reply had been a surly and resounding no, and for whatever reason Hinata had not pushed to discuss the matter further. Though in the following two days she had heard from Lee that Hinata had been looking for her.

Hinata felt she now knew exactly what was going on but realised she needed to be careful of her words if she didn't want to cause Neji any further difficulty in his relationship with his…well…girlfriend, she supposed was the word. She turned to her left slightly so that she could face Tenten properly and gave it her best shot.

"Tenten, you need to hear me when I say this," she looked her friend in the eye and willed her to understand, "Neji would never ever hit you outside of a sparring session, and never in anger. You have to know that,"

Tenten gave a slight nod as her eyes dropped to her lap indicating she knew deep down that this was true.

Hinata smiled at that and continued carefully, "But he is angry. He has been prowling around for the last three days doing I don't know what for this assignment he is working on but I don't think his anger is directed entirely towards you. Something has him on edge and I am convinced by his reaction to your mission reports that it has something to do with this investigation."

As she spoke these words, it was as though a light suddenly turned on inside Tenten, and her eyes widened as she realised how badly she had overlooked the meaning of his words in her anger. She dropped her head into her hands before looking back up to Hinata.

"My mission reports," she started, "when he made that comment he said it was because he had read my mission reports. I thought at the time he was angry at me because he knew what I did on those missions and didn't approve but what if it wasn't that at all?"

Hinata nodded slightly as she answered, "You think he was jealous?"

"Jealous maybe, but how about guilty? There are psych evaluations and minute detail in those reports, and I imagine some of them aren't the most pleasant to read. I have always told Neji that its part of my job and its my decision, which is true, but when you have a partner you pretty much automatically stop being assigned those types of missions. What if he thinks that keeping our…thing…quiet to protect him forces me into taking these jobs?"

She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, then explained, "There has always been some tension between us about those missions and things between us are always different for a while after I come back from one, but he never mentioned he was angry about it or felt guilty. I can't tell him he isn't responsible for all of that if he won't bring it up and talk to me…"

Tenten looked to Hinata for a response only to see the other woman's face striken with guilt.

"…What?"

"I…I…um…"

"Hinata, what?!"

"W…well if he does feel responsible for putting you in that position…it…it's possible I may have had something to do with your argument being as explosive as it was…"

Hinata looked deeply apologetic as Tenten's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

Hinata's hands wrung together nervously in her lap as she thought back to the conversation with her cousin while they were training weeks ago.

"You know this cannot keep forever, Neji. Maybe if we spoke to father he would be able to sort something out, speak to the Elders…"

"No, you will say nothing to anyone about her."

"But…"

"But nothing. The Elders will never approve, regardless of what Lord Hiashi does. If they find out, we know what they will do to me, but there is no telling what they might do to Tenten. Please,"

She looked up at Tenten and shook her head slightly, "I didn't realise he knew about your kunoichi missions and felt responsible, I swear. But I mentioned to him that I thought Father would be more supportive than he expected if Neji were to tell him that he was in a relationship with you. With how he handled my engagement to Naruto, I don't think he would disapprove. You have always been such a strong kunoichi, Tenten. I think he quite admires you for your good influence on Neji….I'm sorry."

Tenten shook her head and reached over to pat Hinata on the hand, "Don't be sorry, Hinata. You may have brought it up this time but it's not the first time he has had an issue with the whole 'relationship' idea. I have tried to bring it up once or twice but he just gets all cold and suddenly either has somewhere to be or changes the subject."

With a sad half smile she reaches over and takes a sip of her now warm glass of ale before continuing,

"It's not that I mind…I don't. I am happy just as we are and nothing needs to change unless he wants it to but he has no right to treat me like some kind of criminal just because he doesn't like an aspect of my job. Whether he feels guilty or not is irrelevant…I make my own decisions and I don't need him to be my protector. I haven't done anything wrong, certainly nothing he wouldn't have done."

"Maybe he just needs some time to himself to work it out. You know Neji, he will meditate on it, dive into his work for a while and then come round in his own time," she felt more than saw Tenten nod in agreement then added, "It is probably a good decision just to let him be until he finishes with this assignment and can really assess his decision making process. Then you can beat the crap out of him in the sparring ring for being an ass."

Both women laughed slightly at this, before Hinata said,

"I had planned to do some shopping for the wedding this afternoon, would you like to be my second opinion?"

Tenten smiled and huffed out a breath, blowing her bangs back where they had fallen into her eyes as she pushed her chair back to stand. Hinata stood with her.

"I can't think of a better way to spend my afternoon. I just need to go to the bathroom first. I'll be back in a sec."

As Tenten disappeared up the hallway towards the restrooms, Hinata rounded the corner of the bar to the booth table that was out of view but just within earshot and sat down beside its single occupant. She felt guilty for not being entirely truthful with Tenten but supposed she wouldn't have done it if she didn't agree with the purpose.

"I hope you are happy now," she injected as much venom into her sweet voice as she was able, "I had no idea you had issues with her missions. You should have talked to her about that yourself…"

"Yes" came the soft reply from her cousin.

"Neji, surely there is a better way to do this…" he cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"No, Hinata. There isn't. I need to do this my way."

Hinata sighed and stood slowly. Before she could walk away, Neji's hand shot out to catch her wrist. She looked back to him questioningly.

"Thank you" was all he said, then he released her as he heard the sound of the restroom door closing down the hall.

"I didn't just do it for you," and with that Hinata stepped back around to the bar where Tenten met her a moment later before they headed out to the street and the myriad of shops.