Well, here is the second chapter, as promised.

Hopefully everybody is having a great Fourth of July!

Have a nice day! ;D

The party was booming. It had only been an hour and already some of the sensei's were swaying around and making fools of themselves. Of course their pupils weren't fairing much better, and they were sober. Tenten had found a nice spot along the back wall, just barely visible due to the pulsing lights. Her eyes roamed over the many familiar faces, and she swore she would never be able to take half of them seriously again.

Kakashi was partially under a table, his Make Out Paradise book in hand, giggling like a little girl on Christmas morning. Asuma and Kurenai were currently doing things while dancing that should have been left behind closed doors, especially with all of the impressionable minds standing around (coughNarutocough). She couldn't really say anything about Guy-sensei because, well, he already acted like an over-dramatic, youth-filled child on a daily basis. Tsunade had long ago disappeared from her perch by the bar table, leaving with a very smug Jiraiya as he tried to stop his nosebleed.

Luckily not everyone's minds had been warped by the party. Sasuke appeared perfectly normal as he glared at any girl who approached him. The only one not scared away by his dark onyx gaze was his pink haired teammate, who seemed very content with just standing near him, arms touching. Tenten couldn't be sure whether the lights were causing her eyes to play tricks on her, but she could have sworn that the Uchiha looked a bit flushed in the face.

Shikamaru, however, did not appear to be so lucky. Tenten remembered seeing him walk in half an hour late and immediately finding an empty table to lay his head on. Unfortunately for him, Tenten wasn't the only one who noticed his presence. The moment his head hit the table, an angry blonde appeared next to him, ready to dance, and she wasn't taking no (or troublesome) for an answer.

And then there was her close friend Hinata, who would normally blend into the crowd. Tenten smiled as she watched none other than Naruto Uzumaki coax her to join him out on the dance floor. Hinata had never looked so happy in her life as Naruto circled her as he danced. Slowly, the music took over, and her body began swaying gracefully to the tune, causing Naruto to laugh loudly and grab her hands as they continued to move to the beat.

There was only one person who appeared to be absent from the crowd. Tenten scanned over the numerous faces over and over, but she couldn't find his piercing white eyes. After arriving at the party, her friends had swept her away for some more girl time, and she had not been able to find him since. Normally, at events such as these, the two would be found standing along the wall, side by side, but today she was the lone figure.

"Tenten, youthful flower of our team, you must come join the party! A lady should never be left alone, so I shall accompany you in a dance of youth! Guy-sensei, I will make you proud!" Tenten sweat dropped as Lee had tears gushing down his face, but she gave into his request, allowing him to grab hold of her hand and drag her towards the other dancing ninjas. If she had to be here, then the least she could do was let loose and have some fun.

Three songs later and Tenten was staring longingly over at her wall. Lee though a perfect gentleman, had turned dancing into a new form of training. Rather than moving to the music, he chose to perform one tai-justu move after another, in rapid succession. The attention that Tenten had so desperately wished to escape earlier now found its way back in her direction. At this point, she would gladly welcome any excuse to leave the confines of Lee's 'dancing.'

As if reading her mind, a boy, probably a few years older than her, stepped foreword, causing Lee to abruptly stop flaying his limbs around, and requested to step in and dance with her. As he directed her over towards the edge of the dance floor, Tenten felt nothing but relief. And then the song changed. The tempo slowed, the flashing lights stopped, the dazzling sparkles from the disco ball reflected off of every surface, and two hands landed on her waist.

Tensing immediately, she swung her head to face this stranger as her hand dove into her hair, retrieving a senbon which immediately found its way into his neck. Or at least it would have if not for the strong grip on her wrist, the needle just centimeters away from the stranger's neck.

"I-I was just try-trying to dance with you." Tenten immediately realized her mistake as she took in her savior's wide, fearful eyes. But then her gaze fell to the hand gripping her, feeling tingles travel up her arm. She followed the length of the arm up to the stone-cold face of Neji Hyuga. His eyes were directed away from her, boring into the shaking young man who still had yet to remove his hands from her person.

"I'll take it from here. You are dismissed." Tenten was slightly shocked from the anger resonating in his voice. She hadn't heard him talk like that since Naruto beat him during their first Chunin exam. But sure enough, his eyes were hardened, his other hand balled into a fist at his side. For whatever reason, Neji seemed to hate this person. She racked her brain, trying to figure out why Neji would dislike the total stranger who looked about ready to pee his pants, but nothing came to mind.

The hands dropped away from her waist, and the boy backed away slowly before disappearing completely into the crowd. Luckily, everyone else seemed completely oblivious to the little incident that took place. Finally realizing, that the tingles along her arm had stopped, Tenten looked back to her teammate, slipping the senbon smoothly into her hair.

"I suppose I should have guessed that you wouldn't be able to resist bringing at least one of your weapons."

Tenten giggles a bit, glad that whatever anger within Neji had diffused with the boy's disappearance. "Oh this isn't my only one. There are about five senbon sewn into the dress, two in my hair, along with three kunai strapped to each thigh, a spike in the bottom of the heels, and paper bombs lining the entirety of the inside of the dress. And of course, my personal favorite, I coated the nail polish with a paralysis poison which enters the bloodstream and takes effect immediately."

She smiled gleefully at the Hyuga's surprised gaze. "And to think the only weapon I brought was a kunai tucked into my jacket pocket. They certainly don't call you Konoha's Weapon Mistress for nothing." Tenten's heart sped up as she faintly detected another compliment, two in one day. She was especially baffled when he stepped forward, setting her hands upon his shoulders, and placing his hands on her sides. "People are beginning to stare." He whispered under his breath.

Gradually Tenten grew to like the slight warmness she could feel through her dress where his hands were, and she especially enjoyed to silence that fell over them as they quietly enjoyed the other's presence. All too soon, the song ended, and Neji slowly retracted his hands, as did she, though neither of them stepped apart.

"Yo, Neji! Bought time you asked her to dance! It was starting to get a little creepy with you just staring at her from across the room." Naruto, completely oblivious to the two friends' darkening faces, gleefully patted both on the back. "Anyways, I promised Hinata that I'd- umph."

In the blink of an eye, the shining smile on Naruto's face fell away, and an arrow had driven a hole through his shoulder. Tenten faintly picked up on a terrified Hinata pushing through the crowd, headed in their direction. Then a scream erupted in the corner of the room. Sasuke had a similar arrow through his shoulder, and a desperate Sakura was screaming his name over and over.

"SHIKA! SHIKAMARU!" Ino's ear deafening cries resonated off of every surface, creating an eerie echo.

Silence was thick, no one seemed able to comprehend the unknown situation that had arisen during such a great party. Even the always calm Neji Hyuga was panting heavily…in fact, his loud, erratic breathing was the loudest sound in the room. Tenten's head swung back to her teammate to see blood. Being in such close proximity, the only thing that registered in Tenten's mind was the blood dripping from the gold arrow; the blood splattered on the dress Neji had picked just for her; the blood staining the pristine white of the Hyuga's suit.

Then, all at once, the arrow split into four directions, taking the shape of a grappling hook, before the slack was pulled tight and all four prodigies went flying through the wall in the blink of an eye. Those sober enough to process what had just taken place flew into a frenzy, trying to organize some kind of retrieval amongst the chaos.

Only Tenten noticed the lone figure of the stranger who she had almost stabbed moments before slip through the hole in the wall and disappear into the night.

And thus, the pursuit began.

Hopefully that wasn't too bad. It sounds a bit rushed to me, but I don't know how to fix that.

I'll probably have Chapter three up in the next couple of days.