Another almost filler chapter, but it's moving along nicely. I'm only planing on one more chapter to wrap things up nicely, possibly two. Thank you for all your reviews and kind words during the writing of this story.

I hope you enjoy.

Sakura steadied her walking as she came up on the right hand turn that would start to take her to the main Hyuga complex. Early enough in the morning that not that many people were out, she still didn't want to take any chances. Their attitude towards outsiders was well known. The further upwards she walked, the more people she saw. It didn't become uncomfortable until she reached the gates to the main house.

"I'm here to see Hinata-sama," Sakura told the man at the gate. He nodded and motioned for her to enter. Determined to keep her cool, Sakura used her medical skills to regulate her temperature to give the impression that she wasn't nervous when in fact, she was. She kept walking when Hinata came around from the side of the traditionally laid out house.

"Hinata-chan! Ohiyo," Sakura greeted.

"Ohiyo Sakura-chan, I'm so glad you made it. I was just going to go get started, are you ready?" Hinata looked at Sakura puzzled.

"Yes, I think so. I brought my fan, is something wrong?"

Hinata clasped Sakura by her elbow pulled her along a path, "How much do you know about traditional tessen Sakura-chan?"

"I only really know what they taught us as chunin. Nothing more. I want to learn more however, it's a beautiful way of fighting. I always like seeing the patterns during exhibitions," Sakura shrugged.

"Ah. Well here in the compound we, mostly the women, are taught to use the tessen from a very early age. I had to get father's approval for you to come learn with us. However there are some traditions that we follow and one of them is is that we learn to fight while dressed in a practice in traditional garb." Hinata led her into the house.

Sakura's face reddened slightly before she she was able to smooth it back under control. She had shown up in her basic work-out clothes, she should have guessed when Hinata came around the building in what she had thought was an everyday kimono that most of the Hyuga seem to wear.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, I thought this might happen, so I have one of mine ready for you to put on. We're almost at my room. Then we can talk more privately."

Sakura had never been this deep into the compound. It wasn't that she and Hinata weren't friendly, Sakura usually invited her over to her house. She knew the pressure's that Hinata was under and hoped that she could give her friend some time away from them by getting her away from questioning white eyes. Hinata slid open a door and ushered Sakura in.

"Here," Hinata handed her a bundle of clothes, "You can change in my bathroom to the left."

Sakura stepped into the bathroom and took of her training clothes. She didn't want to completely get rid of her underclothing though. Turning and twisting she noticed the somewhat restricted movement caused by the clothes. It would be interesting to see how to get around this. Sakura walked back into the room with Hinata.

"All set," She tried to be cheery about it, giving Hinata her best Naruto smile.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. Everyone will see how lovely you are and they won't believe what certain people are saying about you," Hinata said reassuringly.

The grin slid off of Sakura's face, "You know about the rumors?"

"Hai, I also know who's spreading them. You'll see. They're just jealous clan members. Neji-niisan is popular amongst the women members and it doesn't sit well with them that he's showing more interest to someone outside the clan. Don't worry I'm on your side. I don't even think he knows about what's being said. So, I'm glad that I can invite you to learn tessen with us. That way you can show them your skills," Hinata said as she came to stand in front of Sakura.

Sakura was surprised, every time she thought that she knew the quiet girl, a new face was revealed. Whoever was doing this was going to get their comeuppance, delivered by Sakura. She smiled conspiratorially and motioned for Hinata to lead the way to the training grounds.

It wasn't going to be easy, but anything that was worth anything never was. To Sakura's glad delight, Hinata had taken one look at the tessen that Neji had bought her and declared it too beautiful to practice with. She called her sister Hinabi over to take a look at it also. Sakura had been puzzled at first, but then realizing that the other clan members that had been in attendance in the training grounds were covertly listening in on their conversation.

Apart from that the rest of the training was brutal. She had to learn how to get around in the constricting clothes before she could do any real blocking. They had used lighter weight tessen, but the hits still left bruises on her body.

It continued like this, first for one week, then three, time slowly turned into a month. Sakura identified the main women behind the rumors. Her name was Chiyoko, she was a branch member of the Hyuga clan and Sakura learned that she was very skilled with the tessen. Sakura learned this at the first day of training. At the end of the training time, they would cool down by playing a game. A game almost like hot potato, with dangerous weapons.

They would stand in a circle and run through a complicated Kata were they would dip and throw the tessen, sometimes to the person on the right, sometimes the left. It was like watching butterfly's flit on the breeze. In an uncomplicated dance, there would only be one fan going around the circle. For the more practiced pupils they would add more tessens. The most complicated dances had everyone each having two fans. She learned from Hinata that it depended on which form they were practicing. Completely silent in concentration, only the sound of the silk weaving in the air could be heard in the deadly dance.

It had taken Sakura a moment of watching to want to be in the circle, to dance with them, worthy of their attention. It had taken a month of morning practices, complimented with secret afternoon and night practices to be able to be invited into her first two handed tessen circle. There they were all equals, they didn't use their bloodline limits against her and she didn't use the fact that most of them weren't really ninja against them. Although she had her doubts about that they even took her seriously. It wasn't what was said, it was how her progression with the tessen was handled. The side looks she got from a few of the clan members, Chiyoko especially. Sakura wouldn't have even realized it but she'd been closely studying Neji and had been friends with Hinata for years and was proud to say that she could pick up the subtleties of the Hyuga. She had been judged and from what looks like had been found wanting.

It had almost been a month and a half since She'd started training when Chiyoko approached her for a dance.

"Sakura-sama, I would be honored if you would cool down with me this morning," Chiyoko said from behind Sakura. The clan member almost serenely stared at her. It would have been intimidating had she not been use to others who did the same to her.

"The honor would be mine Chiyoko-sama," Sakura bowed slightly tilting her head in acquiesce. Besides teaching her a new weapons skill, learning the tessen had also taught Sakura to control her temper, outwardly and inwardly. Another side effect was it built up her chakra stamina, having to keep tight control of her body functions.

There were four of them in the circle. Hanabi, Hinata, Chiyoko and herself. The game started off with three tessen, slowly going round with Chiyoko passing to Sakura. Sakura knew that something was up. As the game sped up, her control over catching the tessen lessened. She didn't know exactly what Chiyoko was doing, but she knew something was up. With each pass the tessen grew heavier and slanted more and more out of place with her hands. Sakura was having difficulties adjusting to make sure she didn't slice her fingers off or her hand open. With the last through she stepped back and moved her hand out of the way of the tessen, it landed in the ground with a deadly thunk. Sakura knew she would have been missing a few fingers if she hadn't moved out of the way.

"As Sakura-sama, don't worry, you've come a long way, you shouldn't get discouraged by one little drop," Chiyoko said demurely, "After all, you weren't brought up learning."

'Like us was what she implied,' Sakura bent and plucked the steal fan out of the ground, shaking the dirt off. Eyes narrowing, she flicked the fan open and deflected 2 kunai that were in a direct path to her head, settling, fans open to her right, facing the roof where her attacker was standing. She could see him clearly over top of the fan that covered her face. Neji, in his anbu uniform, back from his mission.

"Fight me kunoichi."

His voice sent shivers through her body and she watched as he lept to the middle of the clearing, waiting for her. She walked slowly to him, tuning out the Hyuga that had moved back encircling them.

"Come at me then," Sakura demanded, sinking into a ready stance. 'Time to play.'