A/N:

I know you guys want to read your chapter and aren't all that interested in reading the ramblings of the authoress, but it's quite important.

If you're one of the readers who have been with me from the start and haven't read the story for a long time, I advise you to go back and read the beginning too before you start on this chapter. I know it's my fault because I haven't updated for a long time, but it'll help a lot for this chapter coz it's mainly an OC's POV this time and it can get a bit confusing if you're not really clear about who the OCs are so far.

My eternal gratitude to Midnight Memories for beta reading this chapter. The original was super long (I've split it up into two chapters) and really screwed up, so a big thank you to her for her excellent editing.

Right. I'll just shut up now and leave you to your chapter.

Disclaimer: The Naruto-verse and all associated characters are the creation of Masashi Kishimoto (not me).

Spring was coming to an end.

In accordance with the change in seasons, the weather had grown increasingly warmer over the last few months. Everyone had long since discarded their winter wear in favour of lighter, loose-fitting clothing they deemed more appropriate for the approaching summer. Yet, as though unwilling to leave or to be forgotten that easily, the cool spring breeze was accompanied with the sweet, almost undetectable scent of cherry blossoms.

The sakura trees had flowered later than usual this year. Some had been afraid that they wouldn't bloom at all before summer set in. However, their fears had been allayed, and their joy heightened when this year's sakura flowers had, in the opinion of many villagers, blossomed even more beautifully than they had for the last ten or so years.

Perhaps it had been the long wait that had made it seem so, but whatever it was, Tenten couldn't help but share the same sentiments as majority of Konoha's inhabitants.

"Back so soon?"

Tenten shrugged off the scroll on her back and threw herself onto the grass.

"Which daimyo's wife was it this time?" the boy sitting beside her asked teasingly.

Tenten didn't know, nor did she care. She merely closed her eyes as her earlier tiredness and irritation began ebbing away.

Despite having been promoted to Chuunin quite some time ago, Tenten had been appalled to find that some of the missions she received were on a similar level to those she had received as a Genin.

No matter how much the owner was willing to pay, and regardless of whether or not the stupid thing was oblivious to the differences between a person and a scratching post, catching a cat was not considered a mission.

However, although it meant a slight decrease in her income, the lack of "real" missions was good news. No missions meant that everything was peaceful both in and outside Konoha.

"I thought you'd be off training with Lee and Hyuuga by now," he commented lightly, though she could hear the hidden question behind his playful tone.

"Neji's on a mission and Lee said something about running five thousand laps around Fire Country."

Tenten opened her eyes and saw the blond shinobi suppressing a smirk. He hadn't been all that familiar with Lee before, but the last few months of being on the same team with said ninja had well-acquainted him with the former's "youthful" ways, something which he'd found rather amusing once he had gotten over the initial shock.

He stood up, nonchalantly brushing away the pink and white petals that had landed in his hair and clothes while he was resting.

"Since neither of them are going to be back any time soon, you up for a spar?"

Tenten smiled and accepted the hand Kazuya offered.

She landed on a sakura covered branch before pushing herself off of it, successfully dodging the fuuma shuriken heading her way. The shuriken's blades skimmed off the tops of several flower petals where her feet had been moments ago.

There goes another one.

Tenten glanced guiltily at the pale pink fragments drifting down to earth and then threw a kunai in the direction the fuuma shuriken had come from.

As Kazuya jumped up to dodge her kunai, his eyes caught hers for a fraction of a second, long enough for her to see the smirk in his eyes.

Tenten turned her head back to see the fuuma shuriken from earlier hurtling towards her. She reached hurriedly into her pouch as she flipped through the air to avoid it. Her fingers met metal and she pulled out a weapon just in time to block the second attack by the same shuriken. Tenten caught the metal ring of Kazuya's fuuma shuriken, formed the necessary hand seals, and hurled both it and the one she had used to block his at him.

The first one she had thrown whistled past his head and lodged itself in the ground, but he had snatched the second out of the air and sent it flying back at her.

Tenten watched her own windmill shuriken speeding towards her. It curving below her at the last minute, missing her by the merest of millimetres. With a small smile, her chakra charged feet landed on the fuuma shuriken at exact moment that it was directly beneath her, before she leapt off it and even higher into the air.

Her fuuma shuriken changed direction instantly. Kazuya landed with a flip to grab the fuuma shuriken embedded in the ground, simultaneously catching the one she had used as leverage when it came back to him, before finally assuming a defensive stance with one shuriken in each hand.

Tenten pulled her scroll off her back and performed a quick pirouette in mid-air to unravel it. The large, symbol covered strip of paper formed a graceful arc in the cloudless sky. She paused for a moment to summon the necessary chakra into her fingertips and to savour the expression on Kazuya's face.

"Soryuu Tensakai!"

Seconds later, her entire arsenal was raining down on her opponent.

Kazuya's wide-eyed shock was replaced with a grin as he pulled out several more of his trademark fuuma shuriken and threw all of them at once.

The air was filled with a series of loud clangs as the barrage of weapons hit the five fuuma shuriken hovering above Kazuya, blocking only those that were headed straight for him. The rest merely embedded themselves in the grass surrounding him.

Before the dust from her attack had settled, two fuuma shuriken came whizzing past her, leaving behind two small tears on the edge of her sleeve. By the time she turned her attention back to the ground, Tenten could feel something cold and hard pressed lightly on the back of her neck.

"I win."

"What now?"

"I have to leave in couple of minutes, so we can relax for a while," Kazuya replied as he lowered himself onto the grass, waiting for Tenten to finish her packing.

As she was sitting down, she heard him say. "I have something for you."

Tenten blinked, looking curiously at the blonde boy as he reached into the holster where he kept his spare weapons. His free hand motioned for her to hold hers out and when she obliged, he placed a brand new fuuma shuriken on her open palm.

"The one I gave you before broke that time, right?"

Tenten nodded, wincing visibly. That definitely had not been one of her better missions.

Kazuya's cheerfulness vanished instantly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright," she smiled.

"Anyway, this is your real present." Kazuya turned around to retrieve said present from his pouch, not noticing the look of confusion on his companion's face. "I got it on my last mission to Snow," he continued, dropping a small box, neatly wrapped with glossy ice-blue paper, onto Tenten's lap.

"Happy birthday," he said quickly, keeping his head bowed and his eyes on the ground.

Tenten merely stared at him, her brows knotting in confusion.

"It's my birthday?"

The young man looked up at her abruptly with an almost incredulous expression.

"You mean you don't remember your own birthday?"

"Well, my birthday is usually after sakura season so I got my dates messed up," she blushed, before smiling brightly at him. "Thanks. It's nice that you remembered," Tenten said, picking the little box up, but not opening it.

"How much did you spend on this?" she asked, turning to Kazuya with a meaningful glance.

"Not much," he shrugged, blatantly avoiding her gaze. "Besides, it's to... err..."

"You don't have to apologize for that. You've done more than enough to make it up to me," she murmured the last line softly, fingering the symbol engraved on her new weapon.

The Fuuma clan did not have a kekkei genkai, and it just so happened that they happened to specialize in the one thing she was best at. That, combined with the fact that she was on quite good terms with its heir, had allowed her to learn their jutsu. It hadn't been easy, but she had succeeded to some extent. That jutsu had saved their lives during the mission in Lava.

But clan jutsus weren't something that could be taught to anyone, even within the clan itself. Lee had told her about how especially secretive the Hyuuga clan was about their techniques, so much that they had a complex main and branch house system to maintain this secrecy. After spending so much time with a few Hyuugas herself, Tenten had gotten a pretty good idea of how most of their jutsus worked. However, byakugan and exceptional chakra control were necessary for almost all the Hyuuga techniques she'd seen so far.

Needless to say, she wasn't going to learn a Hyuuga technique any time soon.

"You know, you shouldn't be so hasty during battle. If you focus enough, your control would be as good as mine."

Tenten rolled her eyes slightly as she tucked the gleaming fuuma shuriken into her thigh holster. Maintaining a general direction was easy, but actually changing it was beyond her, whereas Kazuya's control was so precise that the path of his projectiles was accurate right down to the last degree.

To put it plainly, compared to him, she sucked.

"But you've gotten better," Kazuya said, staring straight ahead, not seeing the 'are you completely insane?' look she was giving him.

"The Chuunin exams are coming," he said suddenly. Tenten could only sigh.

Their first Chuunin exam had been, for a lack of a better word, a disaster. She'd lost terribly to Temari and Lee had nearly gotten killed by Gaara all in the same day. Kazuya's team, on the other hand, didn't even make it to the semi-finals.

"That move earlier, you used it the first time we fought," he commented absently.

"Really?"

"It's been years, no wonder you don't remember," Kazuya murmured with an unusually unfocused look in his grey eyes, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

It started off with a few tiny droplets, but it was getting heavier and heavier by the minute. The corpse of the giant snake that had been attacking her lay limp on the forest floor; the blood that had spurted out onto the ground when he'd killed it was slowly being washed away by the rain that had began to fall.

"I thought we were enemies."

"Enemy or not, I won't deny my help when it's needed," he said almost gently, offering a hand which she did not take. He decided to try a different approach. "Look, if we don't get out of this rain, both of us are going to die from hypothermia," he added in a more business-like tone.

When she didn't respond, he grabbed her hand and helped her up.

"There's a cave further up ahead, we can take shelter there."

The Chuunin exams, huh...

Kazuya had seen the way her brown eyes flickered thoughtfully as she remembered.

If she remembers.

Even if she didn't, he did.

He hadn't been specifically targeting her team nor had he intended to. She had just been unfortunate enough to walk right into his team's genjutsu trap. Of course, his teammates hadn't been too keen on continuing with the plan, and he would have agreed with them if Hyuuga Neji hadn't shown up.

So they had fought, and if his team hadn't retreated, they'd have lost.

Before they began, she had tried to convince them that they didn't need to fight. But, at the time, he had convinced himself that they had no other choice but to fight.

There was always a choice...

You just refused to see it.

Then, almost as if to reiterate the point, the cold words he had spoken to her replayed themselves in his mind.

"Tenten-san, when we're in this forest, everyone else is an enemy regardless of any personal history or relationship we may have with them..."

Kazuya winced inwardly. Then again, he would rather have her not remember that particular part.

Their first meeting as actual shinobi instead of academy classmates hadn't exactly left a very good first impression. But their next encounter had been mere hours after their first, a single meeting of sheer chance that had changed both of their lives forever. If the situation had played out differently from the way it had, or if his and her circumstances hadn't given him the chance to redeem himself in her eyes, she wouldn't be sitting besides him right now

In their right mind, no one would ever imagine that they'd be saving the person they'd attacked only hours ago...

"Are you going to take me hostage for our scroll or something?"

"First of all, I'm not that kind of guy. Second, your team has the Heaven's scroll too."

He was amused when her eyes widened. "How did you-"

"That doujutsu that Hyuga used can see through things right? If we had the scroll you needed, he wouldn't have let us go," he answered simply, ignoring her scrutinizing stare as he returned to his work.

"By the way, what were you doing out at this time?"

"Scouting," she replied briefly, not meeting his gaze.

"Hyuga's idea I presume." He reached for one of the sticks and an explosive tag. "I thought I was the only one who came up with that idea."

For a long time, the only sound that could be heard was the rain tapping on the ground and the crackling of the wood as it burned. The entire cave was bathed in the orange glow of the fire. She edged closer to it, but he could still see her shivering from the chill that lingered where the warmth of the fire could not reach. Her distrust was understandable and more than justified, but even though he knew that is was his fault, he still felt slightly hurt that she would rather freeze than sit any closer to him.

"You made an interesting move back there," he said, trying to start a conversation in an effort to ease her tenseness.

Her emotionless mask was replaced with an expression that could only be described as stunned.

"Nani?"

"With the fuuma shuriken," he explained. "Most ninja outside my clan who use it only think of it as a shuriken. Not many people are aware that it can be used as a kunai."

"Thanks." She didn't say anything else, but her eyes betrayed her confusion.

"Err...That jutsu you used, is it a bloodline limit?" she asked hesitantly, fingering the edge of her damp shirt that was growing less so by the minute.

"It's a clan jutsu. Did you like it?"

She nodded immediately, her true personality shining through from behind the emotionless mask she had tried to maintain before. He shook his head slowly, as the corners of his lips curved upwards into an amused smile.

"You're very different from other girls."

Their eyes met for the first time since he had found her in the forest. Her gaze held only curiosity and what seemed to be barely hidden surprise that he could read from her expressive eyes like an open book.

She wasn't as good at hiding her emotions as she thought.

Although he hadn't really noticed her back when they were classmates, he had seen enough to know that she wasn't one of the spoiled rich girls his position usually forced him to deal with; nor was she one of the gushing, superficial girls that made up most of Konoha's female population.

She held a simplicity and sincerity that most of the other girls he knew lacked. An inner strength that was evident from their earlier encounter. She was an anomaly, an intriguing one.

And he liked it.

It was only when she blushed and looked away that he realized that he had been staring at her too intently. He quickly averted his gaze to glance at the outside world through the cave's entrance.

"The rain is stopping, we should be able to leave soon."

It's already been four years...

Kazuya turned to look at Tenten. He could feel her relaxing, smiling to herself as she tossed her new fuuma shuriken into the air before catching it with a laziness and ease that spoke of talent.

He found himself mirroring her smile as he watched. The wave of nostalgia from earlier faded away and he allowed himself to simply enjoy this single moment that embodied everything that she was.

A lively, spirited girl who brought a smile to the faces of the people around her.

A self-admitted tomboy who still managed to maintain a decidedly feminine appearance contrary to what one would expect.

A beautiful, undeniably talented kunoichi with penchant for all things sharp and dangerous, and a fierce, undying loyalty to her friends and fellow ninja. Not to mention her unique skills and techniques that complemented his own, combined with their excellent teamwork that made them a perfect pair.

Almost perfect.

He grimaced slightly at the thought.

Although he didn't want to admit it, there was only one person whom she had ever truly shared a perfect partnership with, one that could only be accumulated over years and years of being together. A strange, special bond that existed only between them and them alone.

That person wasn't him.

The small frown on his handsome face became a smirk when it occurred to him how ironic it was that he had fallen in love with the same girl as the only person who had a higher ranking than himself in the academy; the very same one he'd lost to during the Chuunin exam finals three years ago...

But, like it or not, this was one fight he wasn't going to lose.

Kazuya stood up and started to dust off his clothes.

"I'd better go or Nee-san will be after my blood."

She laughed, a sound he found particularly pleasant, maybe even musical.

"Say hi to Ayame-san and Kousuke-kun for me."

"Aa," he replied, shouldering his training pack before heading home.

As he was walking towards the gate in the chain link fence that surrounded the training area, Kazuya couldn't help but think how glad he was that Tenten hadn't regained her memories of him.

It may have been, no, it was selfish of him to even think that, but as long she was happier this way...

Is she?

The sudden question made him stop for a moment, but he merely pushed it to the back of his mind as he continued on his way.

Besides, it wasn't as if he would be able to answer it.

He wasn't even sure if she would know the answer herself.

Author's Note:

Hi, I'm back again. Not really much to say at the moment since I said most of it in the beginning.

I hope it wasn't too bad. Some of you must be pretty annoyed that I haven't updated in a very very long time and I'm really really really sorry about that. Please don't kill me or something.