Author's note: Please let me know what you think ^^I will be glad if you do so in a comment. Also, I recently found out about the PM function in the FFnet phone app (probably something old, but still). FYI, it is not connected to the browser version; it's more of a chat. So if you want to share something regarding the story or ask anything, you can reach me there.

Summary: Kankuro gently direct her into the right direction of being braver... bolder. Neji slips... It would have been better to keep his lips sealed...

Chapter 11: Something New

They walked slowly towards the training grounds. She was quiet and distracted — something Kankuro already knew wasn't her normal demeanour. Soon, they were going to reach the crossroads where their ways would have to part. It was a "now or never" situation.

"What's the trouble?" He asked nonchalantly. Deliberately, he observed the trees instead of looking at her to give her some space to evade if she needed that. Plus, there were some interesting marks on the trees' barks, and he could've justified being seemingly distracted.

"Nothin'," she said, looking at her feet.

He could've just dropped it right there, but... Tenten really looked like she could use a friendly ear. Why would he even bother? Well… One more attempt, he decided. If she wanted to talk, she would.

"You sure?"

She glanced at him and huffed.

"I've been struggling to win a fight against my sparring partner."

There… Kankuro turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"You fight Hyuuga, yes?"

She confirmed weakly, "Yes."

He's a hell of a shinobi," was his comment, which made her let out a brief laugh in answer.

Her mood improved in an instant. "He is, isn't he?"

"Must be good to have him watchin' your back." Kankuro's words were carefully chosen.

"It is." She agreed. "But fighting him is tedious if he's always the one to win."

"Yeah, I can imagine." He chuckled. "Got one of these back home."

Of course, she thought in amusement, Gaara has been on his team... "How can one… cope with it?"

"Well." Kankuro huffed, reading himself to play it her way. "For a start, one should perfect their original techniques and get them proficient," Kankuro said seriously.

"What if their attacks are always expected and the partner can predict every move?"

"Then you need to come up with something new that the partner isn't familiar with. A surprise."

"But until one learns to use the new thing, the partner would have already learned how to dodge it," she said unhappily.

"True that." He nodded. "But even if your first attempts are destined to fail, that shouldn't stop you from improving yourself. Everything is hard before it becomes easy, Tenten. Don't be afraid to try." Kankuro's voice softened, and he gave her a warm smile. "The worst that can happen is for you to decide in which direction to take this new thing in order for it to work."

Tenten looked at him, wide-eyed. Damn, sand shinobi, he was right...

Kankuro chuckled. Or," he smirked, "you can always change the partner."

The kunoichi blinked, then burst out in a laughing fit.

"Tenten, what happened to you?" Lee stopped in front of her; concern could be seen all over his overly honest face.

She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"You look like you didn't sleep at all!"

She sighed, remembering the hints from her… roommate that he had heard weird sounds from her bedroom at some point during the night. A few times, as he had stated.

"Have you been restrained from sleeping by—?" He started low, with a threat in his voice.

Tanten rolled her eyes, interrupting, "No!"

Lee pulled back a bit but didn't retreat; the question remained on his face.

"That…" She jumped a few times so her body could start warming up... And give herself some extra seconds for an answer. "Bad dreams. That's all."

The relief her teammate radiated at her words made her smile inwardly. Lee really worried for her and was ready to challenge everyone who dared to treat her less than well.

"Do you remember anything about them? What kind of bad dreams?"

Tenten threw him a crooked smile. Lee was... superstitious, and in order to avoid his dramatic interpretation, she would tell him nothing. Even if she actually remembered.

"I really can't recall a thing." She shrugged and moved on to warm up her joints with circular movements.

Lee looked unconvinced but decided to drop it. The time to start training had almost come, so he also started to warm up. He knew that sparring with Gai-sensei was dangerous if his body wasn't ready.

Neji approached her carefully. There was a distinctive frown on his pale face.

"Does he treat you badly?" he quietly asked.

Tenten abruptly stopped and turned to him. "No."

She tilted her head and crossed her arms, mumbling, "What's wrong with you two? First Lee, then you...?"

Neji ignored her comment."If he does anything, you can tell me," Neji insisted. "If he's trying to push you for whatever... out of the agreements—"

She breathed out loudly, interrupting him: "He has been the nicest roommate I could've asked for."

The man's face twisted in a grimace, which Tenten interpreted as an "attempt at comprehension."

Tenten couldn't help but take pity on her teammate. So, she explained, "He ain't messy; he cleans up after himself; he cooks for both of us; and actually..." She flashed him a cocky grin and said, "He doesn't mind my movies."

Neji looked taken aback. He actually took a step backwards — he couldn't stand the movies she loved so much. If Kankuro liked them, or at least didn't mind them, something was definitely wrong with him.

"And no, he hasn't asked for anything… weird. Plus... You think I'm a woman who'd just let someone mistreat her?" She didn't wait for his answer; instead, she went straight to her bag and pulled her weapon scrolls out.

Her warm-up had been completed, and she was ready to spar. She shot a challenging look at her teammate. "Come on, let's get started."

He pressed his lips firmly together at her commanding tone but obeyed, taking his usual battle stance.

Tenten had been struggling for years, always being the one to lose in sparring. What if the real enemy had Neji's fighting qualities — or better? Was she going to just die there like a less-than-mediocre shinobi? Nope. That wasn't the plan for her life. She had to find a way to beat him. That's why she had been trying to create an attack that could penetrate Neji's ultimate defence. If an attack worked on his Kaiten, then it would work on almost everything, right?

She had been considering a few ideas for some time now, never sharing them with him. She wanted to surprise him, to prove she was capable enough without his explicit help; she really needed to have the upper hand at least once. It was exhausting and discouraging to lose all the time, especially to the same opponent.

For that purpose, she had been spending a few evenings a week in the library for the last six months in search of something helpful. She had found it about a month ago: the mirroring kunai. It was a technique that lacked versatility and had very limited use due to the insane level of accuracy required. It was simply hard to achieve. But that was what drew Tenten to this technique in the first place.

The idea of how she could apply the technique came to Tenten one night just last week, forcing her out of bed: two scrolls with smooth, mirror-like surfaces. She could correct the flaws with the right seals. In particular, the ancient book on practical seals that she borrowed from Sakura contained a few that would work wonders — with some variations, of course.

She dug in and read the statistics and descriptions of all the diligently recorded attempts. The conclusions: only working when used between two intact mirrors. In all the other cases, there had been launch prediction problems; it wasn't possible for precise calculations to be made.

Frankly, the mirrors weren't a popular weapon choice unless a kekkei genkai was involved; they just had the nasty habit of breaking and ruining your day, fight, or life…

Tenten paid special attention to the handwritten notes about some attempts at using water due to its mirroring qualities. They failed every time, exactly because the water lacked prediction — it needed to be very still. In short, the liquids in general always moved, preventing precise calculations and predicting where the kunai would be launched. That could easily end in a lethal friendly fire...

The technique was far from ready. Maybe she would have advanced more if Tsunade-sama hadn't picked her for… this mission. All she had prepared were the transition seals connecting the two scrolls. Still, she really wanted to try to see if that even worked or if it needed more adjusting. She had to try something new if the old techniques didn't do the job, as Kankuro said. So she made up her mind.

The very basic mechanics were two scrolls forming a one-way entrance-exit passage. Tenten had to keep the entrance scroll with her all the time. But here came the big question: how to get the exit scroll into Neji's Kaiten? If she could do that, she would have an attack that could penetrate almost anything.

The time for wondering was over as Neji signalled the start of the spar. Right after, he jumped ahead and attempted to hit her shoulder so as to disable her better arm. Tenten knew what he was aiming for and instantly dashed out of there, summoning a chain in the process. She threw it at Neji's feet; he probably expected such a move — they had been doing that for more than a thousand times — and wasn't going to trip; she would slow him at least. He jumped… The chain flew free of obstacles until it hit the nearest tree in its path.

Tenten had to run. Now! If he cornered her, the spar would be over; they both knew that. So she jumped up to use the trees' crowns for a temporary hideout. That was only until Neji activated his Byakugan, which, by experience, she knew was going to happen any second. She was right.

The veins around the man's eyes popped out, and he stilled in place, observing her. She felt like a mouse stalked by a hungry cat. But he wasn't going to stay there forever. She had to make him stay. Tenten pulled a scroll with shuriken and opened it with a snap, showering her teammate with precisely directed projectiles. A lot of them.

There was no point trying to avoid all of them; he couldn't anyway. Neji spun, activating his Kaiten and instantly hiding under the chakra dome, reflecting everything that touched it. No safer place existed than inside the well-moulded chakra.

Tenten's eyes fell on the scattered shuriken. A discreet smile graced her face as she finally got an idea about a way to sneak her scroll close enough to Neji. If, theoretically, the scroll was transformed into a simple weapon and thrown at him together with some more? But she needed time and distraction. What could she do to make him distracted enough? She made the decision in a fraction of a second. After performing the signs, three more Tentens dashed in different directions. The kunoichi knew that Neji was well aware that those were shadow copies. She didn't believe, even for a moment, that she could deceive him with this jutsu. That wasn't the purpose. Tenten acted according to her new plan: she made each of her copies open scrolls and shower Neji with additional projectiles. She needed to force him to spin and borrow just a few seconds…

"You lose too much chakra, Tenten," Neji informed her as if she didn't know.

"I know," she answered, surprised that her voice went out in pants.

It was Neji's turn to attack, so he graciously pounced ahead and succeeded in hitting her knee while she was flying to the next tree, as far away from him as she could reach. She staggered when she landed. He was damn right — she had lost too much chakra with this idea of hers; maintaining the copies was really exhausting. But anyway, she wrapped her fingers tightly around the ex-scroll, now a weapon. The kunai felt heavy and calming in her hand.

The kunoichi charged a small amount of chakra to another kunai and threw it at Neji's shoulder. Of course he was going to dodge with no effort. She just had to keep him calm. So no more surprises until the scroll was close to him.

When the kunai lodged behind him, their eyes met. A tiny smile tugged on his lips; that was her usual move. No surprises there. Tenten knew that if she broke the usual patterns, he would suspect something in an instant.

She launched her special kunai together with two more, and Neji gracefully dodged, his movements deft and smooth. The weapons dropped near his feet.

Tenten invested most of the remains of her chakra to make her shadow copies shower him in shurikens one more time, getting Neji to start spinning. When he did, the kunoichi hastily opened the entrance scroll on the ground. She stamped her palm right on one of the seals, forcing the transformed scroll to pop out of its borrowed shape and open with a puff. Her hands quickly performed the required sequence of signs, but before she succeeded in directing a kunai, Neji abruptly stopped. His foot made a short arc, leaving a notch in the ground. He jumped aside and landed a few feet further away from her scroll.

Tenten bit her bottom lip in obvious irritation. She still hasn't tested if the transition worked properly. So, even though her plans were half-exposed, she threw the kunai at the first scroll. When it disappeared into the smooth surface, Neji's eyebrows raised. It reappeared right away from the exit scroll, which was still lying on the ground, and flew up towards the man's head. He beat it off with his hand, easily defending himself. Right after that, he deactivated his Byakugan and headed right for the scroll with a curious expression on his face.

"That's new," he commented while picking it up. "It's a surprising move, Tenten," he admitted, almost happy, turning the paper piece in his hands.

Tenten just averted her face with a huff, the irritation still plastered on her face.

"What are you doing here, Kankuro?" Neji asked suddenly, turning his head to the left.

She instantly followed his gaze to see the sand shinobi emerging from between the trees with a grin.

"I got my training postponed. So what better way to pass the time than watching my girlfriend kicking your ass?" His merry voice drew an unwilling smile on Tenten's lips while he approached them.

A brief frown passed over Neji's face. "She didn't kick anything," he said.

"Yet," added Kankuro; he stopped next to the woman. "I can already see her getting there."

"Don't make bets you can't win," stated Neji with a dry tone.

Tenten's eyes snapped at him. "Really?" She asked, and her voice trembled slightly when she tried to hide the hurt. "You never considered me winning against you?"

It dawned on him... A bit too late when her face had already written disappointment all over it. Honestly… no. He never believed for real that she would beat him. She gave him a hard time, but he was just better. He'd always been better.

Neji looked at Kankuro's face and found only amusement there. The sand shinobi knew full well that the other man had put himself in an awful position. And Neji understood it was his own fault for falling for this.

"Tenten… It's not like that," he stated.

"And how is it then, Neji?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Am I just not worthy of an opponent?"

"I've never said such a thing," he firmly denied.

He really appreciated the resistance when she fought back during their sparring. It just… wasn't enough to press him fully out of control.

"Then what are you saying?" Tenten insisted.

"Please drop it," Neji breathed with a plea in his tone, glancing at Kankuro.

She pressed her lips together and bore an angry gaze into the pale eyes of her teammate. She could tell he felt extremely uncomfortable and was struggling for the right words. Though there were no such words, if she knew he thought lowly of her. Did he really never think she couldn't win against him? Ever? Even once?

Tenten shook her head.

"Is Sakura busy with something else?" She turned to Kankuro, granting Neji's wish to change the topic.

"Yes. We'd just started when she got called into the hospital."

"And you came here to find Tenten?"

"Yes. I thought I could join her for lunch."

He had actually told her that he'd come to pick her up for lunch when they separated in the morning. Frankly, she was so tired and distracted at the time that she didn't pay him much attention. It was before their last talk, in which he suggested she try something new. And... here he was. Standing tall right next to her. She felt strangely grateful for his presence. While she glanced at him, a sudden flash of memory about their conversation from the day before forced a shiver to run down her spine; her whole body tensed for a brief moment afterward.

Lee and Gai showed up on the other end of the open meadow; they approached, lost in a lively discussion about something. Gai grabbed Lee's right hand and moved it in an arc, pointing with the other hand at the position of his shoulder.

"...for this to work, you need to keep the shoulder joint closed down, ok?" He said.

Lee nodded thoughtfully and repeated the movement a few times while walking.

"Got it. Thanks, sensei." He smiled.

Gai patted his back and flashed a smile at the other three. "Have you finished? Time for a break?"

"Yeah, we are… done for now," Tenten said carefully, avoiding looking at Neji.

Lee's gaze fell on Kankuro; even though there was distrust in his eyes, the anger had somehow subsided. He looked… calmer.

Tenten assessed the men around her. Their senior had probably given Lee a talk, and no matter what he had said, it was enough to make her overprotective teammate settle down.

Kankuro took one small step closer to her, as if to remind her he was still there. She swallowed and pressed herself to take one as well.

"Are you ready?" He asked quietly. Since no one was talking, his almost whispered voice drew all of the attention anyway.

She narrowed her eyes. "Ready for what?"

"I'm taking you to the village for lunch. Remember?" He grinned and winked at her.

"Channel that when we interact outside. Just remember that you 'kind of like me', and let that feeling carry you," Kaknuro had said. Tenten pulled herself together. She could do this.

"Are you, now?" she replied with a smile. "Taking me on a date in the middle of the day?" Tenten's voice was almost flirty. Almost.

Neji flinched and blinked a few times, as if he couldn't deal with her unusual behaviour. He had never heard her talk like that. It was weird and alarming, and he didn't like it. But she was doing great on the mission, so he should be at least content. Right?

"We're also heading to the village," Lee said in a bit of a hesitant tone, a blush blooming over his cheeks.

Gai smiled and huffed. "Do you two lovebirds mind if we join you on the way there?"

Kankuro looked at Tenten, a silent question hanging in the air. She simply shrugged.

"Not at all," she said.

While they headed towards the village, Kankuro showed a genuine interest in Tenten's fighting by asking her various questions about weapons. And she was surprised by his knowledge of rare facts. They had sunk into their conversation, and she looked really happy, Neji noticed. He had never spoken with her so much on this matter. Of course, he didn't mind knowing more about the weapons, but only as much as would help him push them back. Whenever they had team discussions about techniques, collaborations, tactics, and so on, she was mostly professional and a bit stiff. She seemed at ease now, and Neji, reluctantly, admitted she looked more radiant this way. Beautiful even…

Lee seemed to relax more and more. Tenten was guiding him to better tolerance for Kankuro as he saw her relaxing around him. Neji reasoned that Lee was intuitive and was able to sense his female teammate's positive feelings.

Tenten closed the small distance between herself and Kankuro, intentionally forcing herself to step over her own boundaries. She had thought about her actions and reactions while she still lay in bed. She had successfully used the positive thinking method to try imagining herself behaving more intimately with the sand shinobi — in the sense of standing close to him, holding his hand, even. Tenten could recall with ease the way his skin felt over hers from that moment when he touched her hand over the table. Technically, he'd let her be more intimate; he'd said that himself. No one would think poorly of her; she knew that. So the only objective obstacle was in her head. That was why she hooked her hand on Kankuro's elbow and tried hard to look casual.

"Did you get your letter today?" she asked nonchalantly.

His warmth flooded her senses. The feeling wasn't at all unpleasant.

Kankuro gave her a curious look but eventually nodded. Anyway, he didn't miss the opportunity to give her an encouraging smile. She said she'd try harder, and the result could be seen the next day. He was content with her efforts. What he wasn't content with was the topic since her teammates were within earshot.

"And?" she insisted.

He shrugged. Kankuro had to give her an answer, so he did — a vague one, though: "All the same. No change."

"Ah, but that's good, right?" She looked at his painted face. The purple lines were proficient at hiding his emotions and expressions. But she was already able to imagine his bare face and the life written all over it.

"Yes, that's right." He gave her the smallest smile.

Thank you, mfw_no_gf!

PS: Her story can be found in Ao3 under that nickname :) (If you're curious, it includes Karin, Suigetsu, Orochimaru, and many other not-so-popular characters ^^)