A/N: Okay, I haven't been keeping up with the Shippuden anime lately, and last night I started watching it again! I am reinspiried by the awesomeness of Neji and Tenten! (I love Tenten's shirt, lol. Her outfit is awesome. And Neji just got more PWNFUL. His hair will take over the world). And that moment where he saves Tenten from suffocation and he's holding her is so cute, xD.

Anyways, I know my rambling is creepy. But, as there are already way too many Sasuke fangirls in this world, I would think that Neji deserves some too, lol. (But I can't be one of them, simply because I am very bad at being a fangirl. I don't think it's in my blood xD).

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Day 16

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Tenten had always considered herself as more of a nightowl than a morning-person. Sakura was both: sometimes, Tenten wondered if Sakura actually ever slept. Ino was neither: the blonde was early to bed and late to rise. Hinata was a chipper morning person: she had trouble staying awake at night and was usually up earliest.

When she was small and still had a few "girlfriends", she used to always be the one that stayed up latest at slumber parties and birthday sleepovers. All of the others would have dozed off before she fell asleep: Hana and Kin and Tayuya and Karin and all of the others that she had left behind.

She had never gotten along well with other girls: Naruto and Lee were so much more simple to understand. They didn't gossip behind your back, or laugh cruelly at you in front of everybody if you wore your shirt inside out by accident.

Looking back, Tenten couldn't pinpoint the exact day where she had stopped hanging out with the other girls at her middle school. It had just kind of happened: space had seemed to land between them and there was no more bridging of the huge gap. So, she had taken to Naruto and Lee and Kiba and Shino, and she'd been happy with them because they were her real friends.

Of course, she had never really been mad at them. Hana, at least, was still her good friend. They had been an interesting bunch: especially Karin and Tayuya, both red haired, both very loud, both with attitude problems. Both, most likely, with just a wee bit of schizophrenia. Tenten had laughed with them and let them yell at her and yelled back at them and practiced her skateboarding with them and went to slumber parties together with them and…and…

In the end, here she was, alone with Naruto and co.

But back to the subject at hand.

Tenten had always been a night person, especially with her (almost) unhealthy addiction to all products caffeinated. But, she didn't appreciate being woken up at 3 AM in the morning.

When Sakura shook her shoulder and hissed her name into the dark, Tenten had to use all of her subconscious self control not to lash out and punch her right twixt the eyes.

Or maybe she was just too drowsy.

But that didn't stop her mouth. All the boys were loud, so Tenten had learned to adapt so that she could be heard over their ruckus. To make a long story short, she had the voice of a bullhorn when she wanted to.

"WHAT THE FRICKIN HELL?" she screamed. This was rather unusual of her: it sounded more like something Sakura or Ino might say. Tenten wasn't usually much of a curser.

"My God," Ino winced. "Shut up a bit, will you, Tenten?"

Tenten glared at her. Hinata had jolted awake at her outburst, her hands clutching the blankets and very, very pale.

"T-Tenten-san!" she stuttered. "Daijoubu?"

"Er…yeah," she muttered more quietly, shooting a venomous hairy-eyeball at Sakura, who shrugged carelessly and stood up straight.

"Let's go," she motioned.

"Go?" Tenten repeated, dumbfounded, still in her pajamas.

"Yes," said Sakura in the most matter-of-fact voice that she had, her green eyes shining mischievously. She motioned with her hand again. "Ikou. I presume that you're familiar with your own language?"

Tenten opened her mouth to argue even as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, and then shut it again, noticing for the first time that all of the toilet paper was gone…and that Ino and Sakura both had bulging backpacks slung over their shoulders. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What exactly…?"

"Less talking, more walking," said Ino in a business-like manner, and pulled a sleepy Hinata and a confused Tenten to their feet, pushing them out of the door.

O0O

Tenten had to give it to herself, and not in a good way.

Later, when she thought back on her stupidity, she might have reflected that she had been half-conscious, sleep-deprived, and in a mood that resembled a crossover of sugar low and depression, and then forgiven her mistakes.

But, Tenten wasn't really the type of person to do that kind of reflection.

"No. Way," she mumbled in her sleep-deprived tone.

The Uchiha household loomed before the four girls, standing very alone in the dark street, their countenance lit only by the vague eddies of golden street lamp lights pooling at their closed-toe shoes, (Ino had insisted on "safety first"). Even as the protest left Tenten's lips, she realized that she really didn't have the mental or physical energy for an argument, and apparently, the more awake Ino and Sakura realized that as well.

Hinata rubbed her eye blearily, her eyelids drooping dangerously over her pale orbs. "H-mmmm…." She managed a confused mumble, but didn't offer much more. Tenten glanced at her half sympathetically and half with annoyance. It would be good if Hinata suddenly came up with a speech of brilliancy and told off the pink haired demon standing next to her for dragging them out in the middle of the night to…

Hey, what were they going to do anyways?

"Eh…Sakura…" Tenten mumbled.

"Yeah?" said the pink-head, smirking. (And once again, both Ino and Tenten were simultaneously reminded of Uchiha Sasuke).

"What're we gonna do here?" Tenten sputtered out with difficulty, the words running together.

"Don't you worry your little head," Ino said triumphantly, in a mocking soothing-mother tone of voice, pushing Tenten and Hinata until they were both sitting childishly on the edge of the curb like scolded young children.

"Shall we?" Sakura said, offering an arm to the blonde. Tenten decided she must be dreaming. Was this…cooperation?

Ino smiled brightly, this angelic image ruined by the roll of toilet paper she was holding under her left arm as she took Sakura's offered one with her right. "We shall."

Together, arm in arm, they trotted up the stone pathway to the front door. It occurred to Tenten that she should probably drag Hinata behind that nearby perfectly pruned hedge so that they wouldn't be seen, but it was only a thought, and her exhausted body failed to keep up with her brain, (which was pretty sluggish itself).

A small voice in the back of her head was saying that she should have expected something like this all along. Seeing as Ino and Sakura both had minds that worked in strange, unfathomable ways, this situation could be seen as unavoidable. She sighed, and let Hinata lean against her and close her eyes.

She risked a glance back at Ino and Sakura, and felt a jolt of surprise when they were not there: gone.

She craned her neck around a little further, expecting them to pop out from behind a hedge at any moment, but the night around them was peacefully silent, but for the crickets in the bushes chirping. The sky was dusted by specks of glittering stars, the houses looming down on the street like giant sentinels, their windows like dark, watchful eyes.

Tenten shuddered. This felt just a tad creepy, though not really in a Halloween sort of way; more like a Murphy's Law sort of way.

Hinata had nodded off, her eyes closed and a strand of raven hair in her face, her breathing slow and gentle. Tenten couldn't stand up if she had wanted to: unless she would let Hinata bash her brains out on the sidewalk, but that wasn't going to happen.

"My God, I hate you, Ino," she muttered under her breath as if it had been a swear word.

And then…

"Ah…a familiar face," said a cold voice in her ear, the breath tickling her lobe and an icy cold hand, much like that of a wax sculpture, pressed briefly against her neck. Tenten's muscles in her entire body clenched and then relaxed in the period of half a second, hairs rising up on her arm, and she suppressed the immediate reaction to scream in surprise.

Uchiha Sasuke was standing behind her, fully dressed as if it were customary for people to be sitting on his curb in pajamas after midnight, a smirk gracing his pale features. With Tenten craning her neck to look up at him, his head seemed to block out the moon. She gulped.

"Er. Hi," she choked.

His smirk grew wider. "I know why you're here, so don't bother," he said smoothly, swooping down to squat beside her.

"Um. Well. If you know, would you mind telling me? I have no idea what I'm doing here," she said honestly, raising an eyebrow at him. Both of his raven eyebrows raised.

"Is that so?" He glanced apathetically at the sky, as one might glance at their watch. "How odd." His coal black eyes bore holes into her face, but she determinedly stared straight back at him, refusing to turn away. His eyebrows arched slightly higher, the expression making his cold, dark features turn almost boyish for a moment.

"Yep, no idea why I'm here," Tenten sighed, turning to make sure that Hinata was still soundly asleep. She was.

The black-haired man chuckled darkly. "Assuming that you are speaking the truth, you are utterly ignorant of the fact that as we speak, Sakura and that blonde are in my backyard, painting a threatening message on my wall in red paint, and also adding streamers of toilet paper?"

Tenten's eyes widened in surprise. "That's what they're here for? A teepee of your house? My God!" she exclaimed. "Ino's going to get it in the morning once I'm sober!"

"You are not sober?" The Uchiha let a tinge of surprise leak into his voice, though not tinged with disdain as she might have expected. Well. He had delved into drugs, hadn't he? What would alcohol be to him?

She laughed. "Well, just sleepy, but I might as well have had some spiked punch before going to bed. I hope that Ino can run faster than I can, or she's not going to be alive to gloat about this tomorrow."

"Aa," said the Uchiha, not really caring what happened to the blonde.

"Well…aren't you going to stop them from desecrating your house?" Tenten suggested in a mild tone. She was beyond trying to understand him. He was an even harder concept to grasp than Sakura's personality.

"No, let them have their fun," he said in a dry voice.

Tenten didn't press him further on this odd decision, and instead chose to ignore him, half-closing her eyes as to try and drop off like Hinata had. After a while, though, the silence and the cold got to her.

"Er…Uchiha-san?" she said uncertainly.

He shot her an amused smirk. "Hn."

"Look, Hinata's asleep…could you get her a blanket or something? I think she'll catch a cold out here," Tenten explained.

Sasuke stood, his arms still hanging by his sides with the hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans. Tenten stood very carefully, also, supporting the sleeping Hinata.

"Follow," he said coldly. She sighed and got a better grip on her unconscious friend, and scrambled after Uchiha Sasuke.

O0O

"Here."

He threw an old quilt at her, which landed, of course, over her head so that she couldn't see anything. Stumbling about for a second, she tripped over the edge of what felt like a sofa, and fell into the cushions of what had to be some sort of armchair.

"Umph." She untangled herself from Hinata and the blanket, and then carefully tucked her friend in, eyeing her surroundings.

Sasuke's home was very simple: all of the walls and the carpet and much of the decorations were white; the tables and bureau were wood, and pretty much everything else like the sofa and the armchair were either blue or black. She shrugged. There were sounds of splashing coming from the open window towards the back.

"Hm. They're pretty loud, huh?" she said.

Sasuke either ignored her, or didn't hear her remark. He sat back on the sofa.

Even though she could defend herself perfectly well, and Hinata could hold her own if called upon, Tenten was feeling a bit on edge being practically alone in the same room as Uchiha Sasuke, who had nearly killed Naruto. There was bitter resentment of him somewhere in her chest, but at least he had given her a blanket.

You're forgiving him for attempting to kill your best friend because he gave you a quilt? Smooth, Tenten.

"So…" she said dumbly.

Sasuke glanced in her direction this time. "She may stay here for the night," he said, nodding towards Hinata.

"Why aren't you getting rid of Sakura and Ino?" Tenten asked, forgetting to thank him for letting Hinata be.

Sasuke's cold eyes glimmered when he tilted his head towards the window and the sounds of paint sploshing and what was unmistakably Ino giggling.

"Annoying," he murmured. Then he turned back toward Tenten. "I presume this was the blonde's idea?"

"Yeah, probably," Tenten sighed, sitting on the arm of the chair that Hinata was dozing in.

"Hn." He ran a hand through his already rumpled black hair. "Sakura is a very odd person," he said quietly. "She has a long memory."

Tenten didn't really ask him to elaborate, and stood. "Um. Thanks for…uh…" she swallowed. "I'll be outside."

He ignored her as she let herself out through the front door.

O0O

Hinata woke up to a strange house.

Her white eyes widened as she realized that she was neither in the Hyuuga Compound nor the dorm that she shared with Tenten, Sakura, and Ino. She clutched the quilt covering her body experimentally, and touched the fabric of the armchair, glancing about at the house's interior furnishings. It all seemed rather real.

"Hn. You're awake," said a voice.

She flinched when she saw Neji sitting on the couch, his white eyes like chips of ice and his mouth set into a disapproving frown. The events of the night before vaguely crept into her brain. "N-Neji-nii-san? How did y-you know I was here?" she stuttered.

"Tenten gave me a call," he said sternly. "She asked if I could pick you up for her." His eyes narrowed. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

Hinata searched her mind desperately for some excuse that didn't sound like she was deranged, and came up empty-handed. Just as Neji looked like he couldn't be any more furious, Uchiha Sasuke ambled into the room, hands in his pockets as always.

"Ah, Hyuuga Neji," he drawled. "A pleasure." He held out a hand, and Neji stiffly shook it as he stood.

"I will be taking my leave now, thank you," Neji said stiffly as Hinata stood and made her way over to him.

"Hn." Sasuke scrutinized the two of them, and stood aside. "You know the way."

O0O

"Hinata! You're alright!" Ino chirped as soon as the Hyuuga heiress got through the door.

Tenten smiled in relief. "God, I was almost afraid that he ate you."

"Who, Sasuke or Neji?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

Hinata went to sit quietly on her bed.

"Neji-kun didn't give you too hard a time, did he?" Tenten questioned worriedly, seeing Hinata's sad expression. "That jerk, I'll give him a good whack in the jaw for you if he did. It's my fault that I let you stay there overnight anyways."

"No, it's a-alright, Tenten-san," Hinata said hurriedly. "Neji-nii-san is a b-bit angry, but I think he'll b-be alright."

"Good," Tenten said, though she didn't sound very believing.

"Ah, I didn't think I had enough immaturity in me to do a prank like that," Sakura sighed, picking at the wood slats of the top bunk. "I wonder how dear Sasuke-kun liked our decoration of his back wall." She eyed Ino carefully. "Honestly, I am never doing something like that again. It was so childish."

"What did you write, anyways?" Tenten asked.

"Ah, nothing much," Ino waved it away. "Typical blackmail message, you know, the works."

Tenten raised her right eyebrow, and decided that she really did not want to know.

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A/N: Terribly sorry for the long wait!!