Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I am not making any money from this page.

Author's Note: This is the first of two pieces that will examine the relationship of Tenten and Lee, from Lee's perspective. This gives Lee's initial thoughts and reactions concerning Tenten, and the next piece will show them growing closer as friends.

Pairings: Leeten, if you really want to see it there.

Warning: Not betaed, may contain errors.

Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated.

Lee had always thought that girls were somewhat strange.

The girls he had encountered in his twelve years were usually nice for the most part, but transformed into howling monsters when they didn't get their way. They were fussy about their clothes and hair, and would tattle on the boys in class for pulling their hair or pushing them into the mud.

The girl sitting across from him at the table was nothing like that.

The way she sat in her chair showed good posture, but she was relaxed, sitting still without fidgeting, a bad habit so many their age were prone to. She wore a pink shirt with dark green pants, and her hair was bound in two buns on either side of her head in a style reminiscent of a teddy bear. But nothing about her was cute and cuddly: she was pretty, but the remote expression on her face made her seem eerie.

His lone female teammate, known only to him as Tenten.

She never displayed much emotion, agreed with the team when deciding trivialities, because as she put it, she "didn't care for unnecessary altercation." Lee had never seen her express any concern for her clothes and hair; in fact, her clothing frequently became torn or stained with mud or grass, and she always kept her hair bound, probably so it wouldn't get in the way as she hurled grenades at enemies. And Lee was willing to wager that if someone pushed her into mud or pulled her hair, she would slug them in the jaw.

Or perhaps she would poison them.

The information Lee knew about his teammate, or lack thereof, made dining at a restaurant in her company considerably awkward. It was only the two of them, and Lee felt somewhat uncomfortable being alone in Tenten's presence. Team Guy was returning from a mission, and had stopped in a town to spend the night. Neji was perfecting one of his special techniques, and Guy had spent the day practicing with him, while Tenten and Lee had gone to a wooded area and practiced tracking with one another. Neji and Guy had eaten dinner earlier, and that was what Lee and Tenten were doing at the moment.

Neither of them had spoken during the entire time at the restaurant beyond giving their orders to the waitress. Lee felt his cheeks begin to turn red. Here he was, getting dinner with a girl for the first time in his life, and there was only uncomfortable silence.

Well, uncomfortable on his part anyway. Tenten didn't seem to be bothered by it. She was looking at him, her face entirely expressionless. Lee had no idea what she was thinking, and he had no idea what to say to her.

The pretty, young waitress delivered their food- curry for Lee, and an assortment of boiled vegetables for Tenten. Lee thanked the waitress, and Tenten nodded to her, and then woman smiled and moved on to the next table.

Lee picked up his chopsticks, mentally sighing with relief that the silence had been broken. He took a bite of his curry, smiling at the delicious taste of the pungent spice on his tongue. He felt the sensation of eyes on him, and he glanced up at Tenten, who was studying him, chopsticks held still above her plate, paused in the midst of beginning her meal.

"It is good," Lee said happily. He offered the bowl to her. "Would you like to try some?"

" . . . No thank you." Tenten replied, in a tone devoid of thankfulness, or any emotion whatsoever.

"Are you sure?" Lee asked, still gesturing for her to take some of his food.

"Quite."

Lee nodded to acknowledge this, then drew his bowl back to him. "It is just like my mother makes." He looked at Tenten, trying to make conversation. "Have you ever tried curry?"

Tenten looked back at him. "I have not."

"You should try some sometime," Lee encouraged. "My father created a very good recipe. My mother makes it on occasion, but not very often because both of us enjoy it and we don't want to get tired of it. I get could copy the recipe, and then you could give it to one of your parents so they could make it for dinner sometime."

Tenten did not respond immediately. Lee was beginning to notice it was a habit of hers, to wait several seconds before replying. "You're welcome to do so if you want to go thorough the trouble, but if not, don't worry."

"Oh, no, it is fine, Tenten!" Lee assured her. "I will bring you the recipe the next opportunity I have."

"I'll give it to the cook," Tenten acknowledged.

"The cook?" Lee asked in surprise.

"My father and my stepmother are both too busy to prepare meals." Tenten said. "So they pay someone to do so instead."

"Oh," Lee said lamely. Of course that was why Tenten's family had a cook. Lee was aware that this indicated that her family possessed more money than the majority of civilian families, but he was more interested by her parents. "Stepmother . . . does that mean your parents are divorced?" He'd heard of a few marriages that just didn't work out and then the couples divorced their spouses. Not very many, but a large enough number for this to be a possibility.

"No." Tenten replied simply, not elaborating.

A realization hit Lee, and he was suddenly aware that he may have been horribly insensitive. "I am sorry!" He blurted.

Tenten looked up from her meal to meet his eyes, expression unfathomable. "About?"

"I do not, I mean, I did not-" Lee was too flustered to speak coherently. "Your mother is not dead, is she?" He finally asked, blushing that his words were insensitive and straightforward.

Unfortunately for him, Tenten did not allay his fears. "I'm not sure," she shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

"I've never met my mother," Tenten replied indifferently.

Lee was taken aback. "B-but who raised you?" If her father was too busy to make dinner, how had he ever reared a child?

"My grandmother, my father's mother." A small but sincere small came to her lips, and Lee couldn't help but notice how pretty she looked when she smiled. "She was a kunoichi before she retired. Out of all my family members, she was the one I was closest to. Even though I must have been a trial to her, and she had no obligation to me in the first place, she always was kind to me." Tenten's smile grew fainter, but didn't completely vanish. "What about you?"

Lee swallowed his curry before he had finished chewing and felt it scrape against the back of his throat. "My mother is an incredibly strong woman. She owns a fair amount of land that she rents to farmers." A odd feeling struck him, as if he had plunged his head into an icy bucket of water. "My father was a ninja. He died on a mission when I was eight."

"My grandmother died when I was eight," Tenten replied evenly. "I guess it isn't such a great age." She locked eyes with Lee. "I'm sorry about your father. I know it can be difficult to lose someone you love."

A distinct feeling of discomfort washed over Lee. Her brown eyes gazed directly at him, with an intensity unsettling for someone who usually didn't emote. It was odd to speak about those who were dead so casually, especially with Tenten, who he could never quite figure out, and seemed almost unapproachable. And Lee supposed she was somewhat detached; to be honest, Neji was more open than she was, and Neji was like a door that had been barricaded shut.

A change in subject matter was definitely necessary, Lee decided. "So . . . you mentioned you had a stepmother. What is she like?"

Tenten sipped her drink. "She's the Chief of Medicine at the Konoha Hospital. Young, golden blonde, and very good-looking."

"Is she nice?" Lee inquired, inwardly ridiculing himself for his pathetic attempts at conversation.

"She's better then-" Tenten broke off, as if correcting herself. "She's taken an interest in me, which is nice of her, I suppose. She doesn't insult me or ignore me."

Lee's brow furrowed as Tenten continued eating her vegetables, exhibiting flawless table manners all the while. Why should her stepmother ignore or insult her? "You and your father are not very close, then?"

Tenten looked at him and quirked an eyebrow. Heat rushed to Lee's cheeks at the expression on the girl's face, a mixture of amusement at his expense and polite inquisitiveness. But in comparison, it was better than the unreadable expression that she wore ninety-five percent of the time.

"Is your father the reason you want to become a ninja?" Tenten asked without warning.

"What?" Lee dropped his chopsticks in surprise.

"You are determined to overcome all obstacles and become a ninja despite your lack of chakra ability. Are you trying to become a ninja because your father would've wanted you to, or because you want to become a ninja for yourself? Or are you just trying to show up everyone else and prove that you're not a failure?"

Lee clenched his hands into fists to quell the trembling in his hands. Anger at this girl for making inquiries that were none of her business and outrage that she would suggest such things boiled in the pit of his stomach, but he did his best to remain calm. "Does it matter?"

It might have been Lee's imagination, but he thought that he saw a corner of Tenten's mouth give the slightest tug upward, as if she wanted to smirk but suppressed the urge. But she remained totally unexpressive, her emotions from earlier gone without a trace. "Of course it matters. If you're doing this to impress other people, or continue your father's legacy, it's not the same as doing this for yourself."

"Does it matter to you?" Lee clarified, not taking his eyes off Tenten.

Tenten may have been very good at hiding her emotions, but she wasn't a master. Lee saw a hard glimmer in her eyes, and it seemed as if her entire face had darkened. Dread began to surface over his outrage at his teammate, and he distinctly regretted even trying to have a conversation with Tenten.

"Listen to me. I'm only going to say this once, because I don't believe in reiterating my beliefs at every given opportunity as you and Neji evidently do. It is not worth doing something for another person. If you do, you are giving them power over you. You are allowing them to control you. You should only ever live for yourself, because other people will just use you and toss you aside one they're done. You make yourself an easy target if you try to evade such difficult obstacles just to get attention. If you truly want to be a ninja, that's fine. But if you're doing this for someone else, alive or dead, you aren't going to last in this profession very long, so get out while you still can." Her tone stayed even throughout her statement, and she returned to eating her meal.

Lee could only stare in shock, and only after she glanced at him questioningly did he look away. Their table remained silent except for the sounds of their dining; Lee was not eager to begin another conversation.

Out of all the girls at the Academy, he had to end up with the psychotic one on his team.