Chapter Four

"Nice, Neji. Your use of chakra is impressive."

When Neji turned to scowl at Tenten, she only smiled.

In fact, she had been smiling for the past couple of hours; she was watching every moment of his training in admiration. There was no doubt that Neji's training sessions were more interesting than hers, or anyone else's for that matter; Neji trained and trained until he had almost no chakra left. Then, instead of resting like any other normal person, he proceeded to practice techniques that didn't require chakra.

Tenten watched in awe as he hauled himself up after falling countless of times, panting only slightly as he pressed on his knees for support. The edges of her eyes softened at his sheer willpower and perseverance. The way he stayed composed and poised despite the searing pain that probably tore at his muscles—it made her wonder whether or not he was suffering at all. But then she would see his repetitive stretching and know that he was clearly ignoring the intense throbbing at his legs and arms.

Neji suddenly broke into a sprint towards the nearest tree. Three shurikens appeared between the gaps of his fingers with a flick of his wrist. The weapons disappeared from his grasp as soon as they appeared though, as three sharp impacts were then heard.

The weapons were already lodged into the tree.

And Tenten couldn't help but grin wider.

It was noon, with the sun burning brightly over the Hyuuga estate and the rest of Konoha. Neji had been awake before the crack of dawn and had been training since. Tenten had been there the entire time because she had followed him outside and seated herself comfortably on a log of wood.

This had been their routine for the past week. Even though Neji didn't like it, he couldn't do anything about Tenten's coming out to watch him. She made pointless comments all the time but she wasn't doing anything to actually prevent him from training.

"Neji, it's time for lunch."

The Hyuuga prodigy scowled and turned around to glare at her. When Tenten's cheerful expression did not falter the slightest bit, his eyes narrowed by a fraction. What was with this girl?

Not only was she unbelievably annoying, she was also seemingly immune to his coldness. Normally, anyone would cower under his intense gaze. It was like a natural instinct, really, like how one would instinctively run away from an irritated bear despite knowing that abrupt movements would only anger it more. But this girl—his eyebrows furrowed momentarily. It was like she had been building immunity against his hostility since they had met and with each passing day she grew happier and happier around him.

It made him indescribably irritated.

In truth, nobody enjoyed his company—not even his two teammates, who seemed to train almost as much as him by running laps around the entire village. This, of course, Neji didn't mind because he liked being alone.

So what was different about this girl?

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find a justification as to why she had not fled yet. Just her eyes were enough to tell him that she was afraid; he often heard her sighing from relief every time she thought that he was out of sight. She obviously disliked the way members of this clan treated her. She did not particularly enjoy the strange looks people gave her whenever she was seen with him either. Perhaps it was the money she needed?

"Leave," he said shortly.

"No, not without you."

Neji inwardly sighed. Hiashi had told him before that Tenten wasn't one to give up without a fight. And that, Neji admitted grudgingly, was true; nothing had been affecting her. Not even Hanabi's rude antics were enough to drive her out of Konoha. And of course, since Hiashi was on Tenten's side, nobody dared to blatantly kick her out—and it definitely didn't help that the clan head was absolutely thrilled about it all.

"Leave."

It was just one word, yet one could easily recognise his growing irritation the instant he parted his lips.

He clenched his fists when he saw Tenten's head tilt sideways, questioningly, at him. The tinkling sound from her little hair ornaments were perhaps the most unnerving part of it all. "I'm not leaving without you," she chirped happily, making the usual response.

"Your presence is useless."

"Oh really?"

Neji watched Tenten with a frown as she stood up. Seriousness suddenly replaced the playfulness in her eyes as she looked directly at him. "You're probably bored from training alone all the time," she said. "Why don't you find a sparring partner?"

He raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively.

Smiling confidently, she slid a sword out smoothly from its sheath, reflecting the brilliant rays of the sun in the process. She pointed its sharp tip directly at him, her body falling into a defensive stance as she wielded the sword effortlessly. "Fight me," she said simply, all traces of cheerfulness gone. Flinging her bangs backwards at his glare, she added, "If you beat me, I'll leave you alone for three days."

This seemed to pique Neji's interest, as he, too, positioned himself in the middle of the small clearing. He drew out a long sword and held it confidently, almost smirking. Maybe he would finally be able to put his mind at ease for once. Three days were better than nothing.

"Let me see what the Hyuuga prodigy can do," Tenten challenged bravely.

"Let me see what a pathetic fool can do."

The brunette's eyes narrowed slightly at the rude comment. She quickly darted her eyes around the area, carefully scrutinising the clearing to familiarise herself with the environment as any ninja would do before engaging in a fight. She mentally cursed as she realised that this would be yet another advantage in Neji's favour, the first being his competence as a noble clan's prodigy. Gripping her sword tightly, she charged at him.

The sound of steel on steel echoed endlessly as they met, metals clashing as they blocked each other's attack. Tenten jumped high when Neji took a swipe at her feet. She thrust her weapon downwards as she came down, smirking when he didn't move or react the slightest bit.

When she landed, however, her eyes widened. Neji disappeared into nothing but a log of wood, into which her sword was lodged; before she could draw it back out or see where he had gone, he was already behind her, hand drawn back, preparing to plunge the sword straight into her back. "Too slow," he murmured. Realisation hit him when she didn't move. Did she...?

"Too slow," Tenten mimicked mockingly from behind as she managed to graze the side of his cheek. Just as she was about to crack a triumphant grin, she felt a knee connect hard with her stomach and she involuntarily wheezed from having the air knocked out of her lungs. She then quickly retreated back in flips, and after taking a deep breath, wiped off the light blood trail at her mouth with the end of her sleeve. "Getting serious already?"

"Getting started."

"So am I."

Before Neji could even answer, she began sprinting towards him, this time with a sword in each hand. Both blades swept in from opposite sides with the intent to slash him. He backed away just enough to escape, and then dove in with a low stab when Tenten's arms were momentarily crossed. She recovered from the slight shock just in time and brought both blades upwards to form an "X", trapping his weapon in the small gap. When she twisted her body, he was forced to let go of his sword and it fell to the ground with a clatter. Though she had effectively disarmed him, Neji quickly approached her and struck her hard across the jaw with his fist.

"Expected from the Hyuuga prodigy, I suppose," Tenten said breathlessly. She wiped the blood off her chin once more.

"Whatever."

The brunette then lunged forward again, her blades whirling to force Neji to play defence. Automatically he ran to pick up his sword and turned his body just in time to block her first attack. Then he began moving his sword from side to side, barely blocking every strike, having no time to spare to plan a counterattack. Finally, when her speed began to falter, he quickly stepped to the right and pushed both swords to one side in one, clean sweep; it didn't disarm her, but he took this as an opportunity to plant a hard kick on her side. Tenten was almost knocked off her feet again and had to take a few steps before she was able to regain her balance. The Hyuuga in the meantime backed up, creating a considerable amount of distance as he recuperated within one single breath.

The kunoichi, on the other hand, was panting heavily, trying to flick her dampened bangs out of her eyes as she planned another assault. She had to admit that she was impressed; he was able to put up a good fight even after hours of training. It was now overt that his stamina was better than hers by a long shot.

Tenten willed herself to focus, as there was virtually nothing more useless than admiring an opponent during a fight. There had to be a way to beat him, even if he was undoubtedly in better shape. After all, losing this match also meant failing at her job, and she couldn't afford to lose the money that Hiashi offered.

She eyed Neji carefully. She was fairly acquainted with his fighting style after a week's worth of observation; he was able to combine his taijutsu skills with his naturally quick reactions, his unique-to-Hyuugas attacks were flawless, and he had clearly proved his talent in weaponry through the last move. Since his offensive moves were literally perfect, she quickly decided to test his defence. She knew that Neji had the Kaiten perfected and under his belt—this was a known fact after he had showcased it years ago in a tournament—but she also knew that that technique required a constant flow of chakra. And Neji's supply of it had to be almost depleted by now, since he had been training for hours. It was the reason why he mainly used hand-to-hand combat moves on her, right?

Tenten, desperately hoping that this was her ticket to victory, instantly broke into a brisk run. She circled around him as she concentrated on Neji's every movement. The prodigy was slightly startled, as she had just started sprinting before fully catching her breath. He quickly activated his Byakugan, as he had a instant gut feeling that he would need to use it. After making a complete circle around him, she vaulted into the air, performing a series of complex flips and turns, spinning her body with grace and ease; just the gracefulness alone indicated that she was all too familiar with this assault. The scroll whipped around her as she straightened her body and began to spin, determination ignited in her eyes. Abruptly, the speed of her rotations increased, and an assortment of weapons appeared within the grasp of her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, a slew of weapons were sent towards Neji.

The Hyuuga took a step back, his knees bending slightly for stabilisation. Expelling an intense burst of chakra, he spun at an incredible speed, and once surrounded by the whirl he created, he was able to deflect all of Tenten's weapons. They all skipped off the surface of his Kaiten and hit the ground with a dull thud.

Tenten quickly shook off the feeling of awe once more and planned another way to get through that seemingly impenetrable whirl of chakra. Since Neji had to concentrate and expel a large amount of chakra every time he performed the famous Kaiten, she wondered if there would be some sort of delay in-between. Furthermore, how much longer could he keep this up, given that he had already used up most of his chakra this morning?

With a small smile, she summoned a Fuuma shuriken and fanned out its blades like fangs until she could grasp it by the circle in the middle. She did not often use this particular weapon simply because they were excessively large and heavy, and as a result she would only be able to throw one at a time. However, they were good for testing her accuracy and strength, and the momentum gained by the heavy weapon would greatly increase her opponent's struggle to repel it.

The large black shuriken left her fingers in a swift movement before Neji finished rotating. He seemed to notice it as he started to slow down; his eyes narrowed as he assessed its speed. It was coming down too fast for him to dodge and its blades were rotating too quickly for him to catch it without hurting himself. Using the last remains of his chakra, he sped up and performed the Kaiten once more.

Meanwhile, Tenten had already vaulted into the air, invisible strings attached to her fingers as she held her scattered weapons into the air. And at the exact moment Neji's whirl of chakra began to weaken, she thrust every single weapon she had: kunai, senbon, fuuma shuriken, katana, flails, maces, shuriken and scythes.

Neji's eyes widened as he was caught off guard. He grasped the first object thrown at him—a long sword—and began twirling it, performing something similar to Kaiten as he deflected the weapons.

Well, most of them, at least.

There was that sickening squelch that he had become used to after years of missions and training, and that was the sound of pierced flesh and blood spurting. The prodigy gazed down in slight surprise when he discovered that three kunai had struck his right leg and there was a shuriken planted in the crook of his shoulder. Tenten smiled triumphantly in the air as she learned that Neji wasn't that hard to graze.

And then she summoned and threw a couple more weapons before flinging her last weapon—a scythe. She watched as it sliced through the air, heading directly towards the gap between his shoulder blades that would directly lead into his heart. However, she started to frown when Neji suddenly slowed down. He visibly winced as three more senbon pierced him in the back.

Tenten stopped breathing. Why had she thrown so many weapons? Wasn't he already wounded? Moreover she had known all along that he was tired, so why did she attack so relentlessly? Killing him wasn't part of her job. "Neji, move!"

Her eyes were wide with horror as she realised that he wasn't even looking up anymore. There way no way that he could dodge the last weapon she threw—not in his current state at least. She desperately shouted his name in an attempt to make him to roll away, to do something, but it was of no use.

The next few events were almost simultaneous: her yelling Neji's name; her landing; her running towards him to push him out of the way; and finally, her watching her own weapon puncturing his shoulder.

The silent scream of horror never left her as she stood there for a couple of moments, frozen. And with his clothes soaked in his own blood, Neji fell to the ground, unconscious.

A/N: Excuse the dramatic slowmo at the end haha. Wanted to emphasize the thought process and how things can happen like that. Hope you enjoyed this read, all comments are welcomed!

C.S
xoxo

Posted May 2007, edited August 2013.