Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to Anaquine, rao hyuga 18, DSaph, 372259, CrowGoddess, and kit for all your reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this to their favoites and follows lists!

Author's Note: Eight months after the last update (to the day), I bring you another! I really appreciate your patience, because my co-author and I are putting every effort into this story - but we're also both really busy. I've learned a lot about writing since originally writing this several years ago, which is why I'm able to do things more smoothly with my other stories. But back then I was a mess, and it's taking us quite a while to fix all the things I messed up way back then. Plus this story has a huge scope, and we're always having to double, triple, even quadruple check after ourselves to make sure we're not contradicting ourselves or slipping off our timeline. I know it seems like forever between updates, but I promise, each chapter is so much better than it would be otherwise if we rushed the updates and skimped on the quality. So both Mama Jo and I appreciate your patience so much. Thanks for reading!

*~Chapter XXVI~*

~Dangerous~

The last Friday of every month was rapidly becoming her favorite day.

Warmth lingered in her muscles as Tenten slipped from her private bath house in the guards' barracks. With plenty of time left until Hinata finished her meetings with the heads of the household staff, Tenten was free to spend it with Neji now she'd completed her other usual routine.

Steps light, she hurried along the now-familiar paths through the gardens to the rose-covered gazebo Tenten thought of as hers and Neji's. Mentally preparing herself for the possibility that he might be late again, she felt surprised delight flare through her when a flicker of movement just within the doorway greeted her arrival in the tiny clearing. Neji had actually beaten her to the gazebo!

She hurtled across the open space and up the steps. He met her at the top, catching her to his chest hard enough to make her gasp slightly. Lifting her from her feet as he took a couple of steps backward into the sweetly scented dimness, he brought his mouth down on hers in a deep, demanding kiss that left her dizzy, and breathless, and ready to go down to him in a moment if he so desired.

Still kissing her, Neji continued to retreat deeper into the gazebo, turning to one side as he did so, until they fetched up in the corner to the right of the entrance. Arms twined tightly around his neck, Tenten barely realized she clung just as tightly to him with her legs, using their considerable strength to pull him even closer to her. When he eventually would have released her lips and pulled away, she followed after him, with a husky whisper of, "My Lord Neji-"

He brushed his lips lingeringly across hers, while his hands moved in small, shiver-inducing patterns on her back. His breath puffed sweetly into her mouth as he started to whisper in return, "My Lady Tenaci-"

"Tenten! Tenten, are you in there?"

Even as panic kicked her heart into an entirely different racing beat, and she felt herself go instantly from flushed to pale, Tenten's mind was calculating, triangulating the location of the unexpected male voice: He's just barely inside the clearing. Slipping silently free of her love's embrace, she pressed a hand briefly to his rigid chest, which vibrated to the beat of his own pounding heart. She urged him into a deeper pool of shadows as she mouthed, I'll get rid of whoever it is, before she stepped away from him, reaching deep within for that icy calm center she found in the heat of battle. Pressing her lips together into a line of displeasure, as much to conceal any swelling in them as to bolster her act, she marched coolly to the doorway and halted squarely within the opening.

Hyuuga Kō.

She immediately recognized the man, who halted his advance halfway across the clearing at the sight of her, as one of Hinata's many-times-removed cousins and a higher-ranking member of the guard corps, a man not too many years older than herself. His lips curved in a hesitant smile as he said brightly, "So this is where you got to, Tenten! I thought I'd lost you." He turned his head to glance around his surroundings and added in an amazed tone, "I didn't even know this place was here! How did you find it?"

"Lady Hinata showed it to me," Tenten replied distantly. She added, a touch repressively, "My lady knows, guarding her as I do, I don't have the chance to meditate as much as I'm used to. She assured me I would be able to do so here on my day off-" she paused half a second to give the word more weight "-undisturbed."

"Oh." A touch of color came into Kō's cheeks. "And I disturbed you. I'm sorry, Tenten." She got the distinct impression he was fighting an urge to shuffle his feet. He went on in a rush, "I just- I've spoken with Hatake Kakashi about you, and I know he said you're not interested in romance - because you're so devoted to your job, I mean, and you're really good at what you do - but I still had to try. Would - would you like to have dinner with me, maybe? Like after we finish training next time? I'd really like to court you."

He looked so hopeful, Tenten had the sense she was kicking a puppy even as a fierce denial rose up and roared inside her. She had nothing against Kō. He was a strong man, loyal and smart and not bad looking at all. But she could never love him.

She loved Neji. Whose life hung in the balance this very second.

"I'm sorry," she said, giving her head a single, firm shake. "I admire you greatly, Kō, as a man and as a warrior. But my brother is right. I am too committed to my job to even consider romance. Lady Hinata's safety and well-being are my sole focus."

It was a lie, certainly. But she could unflinchingly utter it with the knowledge it was the best thing she could say for everyone's sake. Better for Kō to think she rejected his advance because of her job, not because she already loved someone else. He might get curious if he knew, and start asking around, or observing her more closely. And that was just too messy and dangerous to risk.

"Oh." Kō searched her expression with an earnest look. Hard as it was, Tenten maintained an attitude of indifference under it. His shoulders slumped with obvious disappointment as he did actually shuffle his feet against the path. "I-I'm sorry I bothered you, Tenten. I'll let you get back to meditating in peace, then." With a sad little bow, he turned and ambled off dejectedly out of the clearing.

She watched him go with her heart in her throat, keenly aware of Neji on the other side of the wall from her. Now that the immediate danger of discovery was over, she wanted to shake, but didn't dare let herself succumb to such weakness. Not yet. After a slow sixty-count, she murmured over her shoulder into the dimness of the gazebo's interior, "I'm going to make sure he's really gone," before descending the steps and crossing the open space to the enclosing hedge. More quietly than the shadows falling over the path, she ghosted along in Kō's wake.

Nothing. The guardsman was well and truly gone.

Fighting off the incipient tremors in her limbs, Tenten returned to the gazebo, and Neji. She couldn't hold them back, though, once she was in his arms again. They clung together for a long time, shivering almost in unison at the closeness of their call.

"Run away with me."

The words fell between their barely-parted lips with the weight of a brick, heavy and condemning and dangerous. Tenten bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood as Neji's breath audibly caught in his throat. His body snapped into rigidity against hers. She sensed him pulling back from her, emotionally as well as physically.

"What?" Neji's whisper, a breathy thread of sound, felt almost worse than Tenten's own words.

Turning her face from his shocked gaze, Tenten shook her head. "I shouldn't have said that," she whispered, feeling tears threaten. "I'm sorry." But she wasn't, not really. She knew if she were given a chance to go back in time and relive the moment, she'd still say the same thing.

It was frightening, knowing this ugly side of her existed. To realize she would willingly walk away from it all: her brother, who had loved, and cared for, and taught her everything she knew; Konoha, the one place in the world she felt she could so easily call home; and most of all Hinata, her gentle mistress and friend, who didn't deserve such a betrayal. But she loved Neji that much. Enough to turn her back on everything and everyone; to leave the safe and familiar if it meant being able to carry the man she loved away from this terrible existence, and having him all to herself for the rest of their lives.

"Tenten..." As Neji stared at her, she saw so many emotions warring for dominance behind his eyes. She sensed the love, hope, hesitance, fear, distrust - not of her, but that such a thing might even be possible - and a thousand other things it broke her heart to see. "If I but could." He looked away, releasing her from the guilt-inducing weight of his gaze. "But if we did, we would not have a life. Maybe we could marry under false names, but we would be running, always running. And not necessarily just from anything tangible, like people - though I'm sure guards would be dispatched to attempt to find us - but from guilt. Which is worse, Tenten?"

It was devastatingly humbling, knowing Neji was the more rational one between them. He, who would receive so many advantages if they did run away, knew the wisdom in not doing so.

Did that make her a bad person for wanting to run? For suggesting they do so, let alone even thinking it?

He drew in a deep breath, his chest expanding jerkily against hers. "No," he whispered, his breath stirring the hairs at the crown of her head as he rested his cheek on top of it. "Better for you to forget me and marry someone like Kō. Someone who could give you a good life, a safe life; who could give you the world." A nearly silent laugh escaped him, sounding bitter. "Not like me, who can give you nothing. Nothing but strife, and heartache, and the promise of death, were we ever to be caught." His arms briefly tightened around her, then began to loosen. "You deserve far better than that."

"But I don't want what you describe," Tenten insisted firmly. She tightened her arms around Neji, determined not to let go even though he seemed equally determined about setting her away from him. "I want you, Neji. I - love - you. Not him. Not anyone else. Any amount of pain is worth it, just so long as we can be together. Even - even like this." It's better than nothing - than not having you in my life at all. Her throat felt too tight to let the words escape. So she caught his face between her hands and tried to let her eyes say everything instead.

Neji was silent for a long time, his hands resting loosely against her waist, his intense pearlescent eyes studying her as if to ascertain the truth in her words. Tenten saw the shift in his gaze only an instant before he gathered her to him again, holding her body fiercely against his as he whispered, "Ancestors help me-" his breath caught for a moment before he continued "-but I love you, too. Enough to give up everything, even though I have nothing to give."

His mouth came down hungrily on hers again. Responding to his kiss with more than a little desperation, Tenten knew this had to be enough, at least for now, as she hung on to the belief there was hope on the horizon.

Ching ching ching, ching-ching, ching ching ching-

The kunai blades chimed and sang against each other in a strict yet fluid rhythm.

Pirouette, block low, then high-

The tempo of the dance picked up as its climax approached; the part where Hinata usually got overwhelmed by the sense of how seriously dangerous a misstep could be and lost her timing. C'mon, Hina, Tenten silently urged her friend without losing an iota of her own concentration. You can do this, I know you can- She herself always took the role of "loser" in the dance, assuring the heiress she would easily be able to compensate for any miscalculations on her part as the "aggressor." Plus, she privately didn't consider it a good idea if someone like, oh, say, Hanabi, discovered them with her seemingly trying to kill her mistress...

The crucial series of movements arrived. Instead of backing off as she normally did, Hinata pressed her choreographed attack, her knives flashing and connecting with Tenten's in a fierce onslaught that ended with Tenten disarmed and the heiress's weapons scissored a handspan from her bodyguard's throat. The two young women held their final poses for a moment before Tenten broke out in a wide grin as Hinata simultaneously looked disbelieving.

"I-I-I-" Hinata stammered, allowing her hands to drop to her sides.

Tenten grabbed her in an enthusiastic hug. "You did it! You broke through the wall that's been holding you back! Oh, I am so proud of you, Hina, I wish I could show you off to someone who can really appreciate what you're capable of doing, like Kakashi!"

Hinata's expression shifted to one of pleasure, and pride, and embarrassment all at once. "D-do you really think he'd b-be impressed?"

"I know he would be!"

They ran through the dance twice more, to consolidate the advance in Hinata's confidence. Each time the heiress's performance was even smoother than the last, proving the first had been no fluke. At the end of it, her mistress executed a little impromptu dance step and virtually crowed, "I m-mastered it! Finally! Now, p-please say I'm ready to learn to use a k-katana, Tenten."

Tenten had to laugh affectionately. "You are something else, Hinata. Tell me, did your foremothers actually fight in the battle to rule Konoha?" She sobered. "You do realize learning to wield a katana is going to be a lot harder than throwing shuriken or doing this dance. You'll need to increase your overall body strength, as well as your stamina."

Hinata put her chin up slightly, her eyes - so like Neji's - gleaming with excitement and determination. "You d-don't think I can d-do it?"

"No, I believe you can," Tenten said seriously. "I just want you to be aware that, even though we'll start out with bamboo swords, you're going to be very, very sore for what will feel like a very, very long time."

It was Hinata's turn to breathe a soft laugh. "It c-can't be worse than learning t-to ride a horse!" she said wryly, rubbing her backside reminiscently.

Tenten's lips quirked. "Don't be too sure about that."

Hinata jerked her chin downward in a firm nod. "Then let's g-get started on making me stronger right n-now."

Much later, as she waited for her turn, Tenten reflected that one of the major advantages to being a princess was always having first dibs on the bathing room. Though to be honest, the heiress had totally earned the right. She'd thrown herself whole-heartedly into the exercise regimen Tenten devised for her, working out until sweat drenched her raven hair and her limbs trembled with exhaustion, all without a word of complaint. In light of her extremely sheltered upbringing, she couldn't help but wonder where the other young woman got her healthy dose of spunk.

Just as she and Kakashi did for each other after an intense workout, Tenten gave Hinata a thorough rubdown once she'd exited the bath. Leaving the heiress bonelessly prone on her bed, she took a bath herself, despite the fact she'd barely broken a sweat. Still, it felt good to scrub down and then soak luxuriously in the deep tub. She more than half expected her friend to be sound asleep when she finished her own bath. To her surprise, however, she saw the bedroom was empty as she entered it. Curious, she stepped lightly to the door to the sitting room.

Hinata stood staring out into the garden, a loosely-rolled scroll dangling from one hand. Her expression, which had been so bright and joyful even through her exhaustion, was now shuttered and distant. Already certain what she would see, Tenten's eyes darted from her mistress's face to what she could see of the scroll, unsurprised to discern part of the ruler of Suna's crest on the outside of the parchment.

"Hinata?" she queried softly. "Are you all right?"

For a long moment Tenten didn't think the other woman was going to answer; didn't know if she'd even been heard. Then, without looking around, Hinata said tonelessly, "Lord G-Gaara will b-be arriving in Konoha in a c-couple of weeks. He writes that he's v-very m-much looking f-forward to the t-tea ceremony my f-father has promised I will p-perform f-for him."

Tenten's heart stuttered in horror and hatred as she recognized another high-handed attempt on Lord Hiashi's part to force his daughter to accept the Sunese lord's suit. For the first time in her life, she fiercely wished she could cold-bloodedly take someone's head: namely, Hiashi's. Battling back the urge, she asked in a near-whisper, "What are you going to do, Hinata?"

The heiress made a bitter, bitten-off sound. "Other than p-possibly c-committing seppuku? What else c-can I d-do? I c-cannot insult G-Gaara by refusing to p-perform the ceremony. This is n-not his f-fault."

"And - beyond that?" Tenten forced the words through her tight throat. When she received no immediate reply, she pushed a little harder. "There have been no further attempts on Lord Sasuke's life. We have no proof he was the target of the dog attack. Do you think he's willing for you to sacrifice yourself to save him from a threat that may not even exist?" And what about Neji? she wanted to scream in addition.

The sound of parchment crackling sharply pierced the tension-charged air between them as Hinata's fist clenched on the scroll. In the next instant, she flung it away from her in the most violent, uncontrolled gesture Tenten had ever seen her make. "L-leave m-me alone!" she cried. "I d-don't need you pressuring m-me, t-too! G-get out, and g-give me some p-peace f-for a while!"

Shocked, Tenten froze for a moment before bending at the waist in a deep bow, her face burning. "Very well, milady," she said quietly. She added as she moved to step out onto the verandah, "Be assured I shall not go far should you require me."

Not until she'd reached the bottom step did Hinata's shaky voice make her pause. "T-Tenten. Kn-know this: If I d-do accept Lord Gaara's suit, I've already d-decided to m-make N-Neji's accompanying m-me to S-Suna a condition of m-my acceptance. N-now g-go."

Tenten went.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: Eight months (to the day!) after the last update, I bring you another! Mama Jo and I really do appreciate your patience, though. We're both very busy, so we're having to work in rewrites of this story among several other things, both writing wise and in real life. I originally wrote this several years ago, and I've learned a lot since then, so my more recent projects flow a lot more smoothly, which is why I update them so much faster. But I made such a mess of this one way back when, it's taking us a while to untangle all the threads and rework it so it makes sense. I know a lot of time does pass between chapters, but we want to give you quality, so we take the time to make sure everything ties in with the continuity we've previously set, and that it works with our timeline. We double, triple, even quadruple check ourselves to make sure we're bringing you the best story we can, because this story really has turned into our pet project. We both love it so much, and we don't want to disappoint you all by giving you something not up to par with the rest. Having said that, there was going to be a third scene, but the two characters involved in it dug in their heels and refused to cooperate with either of us, insisting it should come later, and we finally gave in. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, thank you so much for your patience, and I hope to see you again for the next update!