It's pretty strange that this story seems to be getting updated more frequently that my first one is, and for those of you who are still waiting, I refined all of the earlier chapters already and there's some inconsequential changes that you might want to read. Anyway, thanks to all the favourites, follows and reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Unforunately, I don't own anything.

Temari narrows her eyes at the screen when she types Ichiraku's Ramen into the search bar, waiting for the result to pop up. She hurriedly opens up street view with the click of a button, and we all crowd around the computer even though we frequent the area (and, my home) at least twice a week.

Ino pushes Temari aside, pointing a manicured finger at my apartment complex. She looks over at Sakura, who's scrutinising the screen carefully. "Here?"

"Oh, yeah," her pink hair bounces when she nods in affirmation, "that's the place. Isn't it gross?"

She's met with an awkward silence. I scratch the back of my head while scrunching up my face. "Well you're not wrong..."

Ino claps her hands together gleefully, electing to gloss over Sakura's statement. "I say we hold a sleepover tomorrow," she links an arm around Sakura's and gives the girl a wink, "for your initiation ceremony."

"What? At Sasuke's?" Her eyes widen to the size of golf balls. "Isn't that illegal?"

Temari waves her questions off merrily. "Nonsense! We'll go to Tenten's! In fact, let's head over right now."

"Absolutely not," I shake my head for reiteration and dismiss the pouts with an eye roll. "We have a maths test tomorrow, and I'm not risking another detention just for faili - oh, shit." I collapse onto Ino's bed miserably. They give me confused glances. "It's Wednesday."

As if waiting for a cue, Shikamaru jumps out from the shadows and leans on the doorframe, tie slung carelessly over his shoulder and an unmistakably dried trail of drool still stuck on his face. He nods a greeting at his cousin, and Temari, and shoots me a knowing smirk.

"I skipped detention."

The whine in my voice actually manages to make him laugh.

Unlocking a door after an annoyingly long day of tears, stress and after-after-hours detention, as it turns out, is an extremely difficult task for many reasons.

Here's why:

The phone starts ringing before I can even pull the key out of my backpack, so everything from the extra textbooks in my hands to the heavy weight on my back has to be dropped unceremoniously into the ground for me to answer the call.

It's Grandpa Hiruzen, who's so bad at working with technology that Konohamaru has to work part time in his office just for the computer, and he's furious. Apparently the school has an extremely efficient notification policy, and seeing as he's my legal guardian, and the Mayor, it's a double lecture for me.

When all that is well and truly over, it takes about three hours (okay, so maybe five minutes tops) to remove all the contents of my bag to locate the keys which were IN MY BLAZER POCKET THE ENTIRE TIME. So I calmly, elegantly, scream out in frustration, prompting the one other resident who lives down the hall to open their door in shock.

Life is wildly cruel, and unfair, because the very same Sasuke Uchiha we'd been talking about hours earlier just so happens to live down the hall and happens to possess a very nicely sculpted set of cheekbones.

"Oh." I stammer out awkwardly, picking up the piles of books littering the floor, "hello. Did I disturb you?"

He scratches the back of his head, revealing a pained expression. "No-" he starts off politely, then thinks otherwise, "Yes. I was studying. For Professor Shimura's test tomorrow." He turns his gaze downwards to where a tampon box was open and revealing it's contents. I don't swallow my pride, shamelessly acting like that's perfectly not disturbing. It's not. We all live in the 21st century. "Do you need any help?"

I shake my head. "No, no, I should be fine. The door's right here any- okay..." My refusal trails off when he picks up the books and the tampon box with ease, raising an impatient eyebrow at me. "You really didn't have to." He doesn't reply and decides to focus all of his energy into burning a hole through the door. Eerie, indeed.

I slam the key into the lock (finally) and lead him inside with the rest of my items in tow. It's messy, which is sadly typical, making me wish that my underwear could stay in the bedroom for once. Sasuke places the books on the breakfast bar and thankfully focuses on the books in front of him only.

"Do you want a drink?"

"No, I have one at home." Right, I forgot. He makes his way towards the door briskly, like he cannot wait to get the hell out of my apartment. Honestly, I really don't blame him.

"Sasuke, thank you," I say this gratefully when he reaches the door. Sasuke turns back, opens his mouth in contemplation, and slams it shut before levelling his gaze with mine.

"No problem, Tenten."

You mouth his name silently, feeling the blood drain from your face when he nimbly climbs through the window. How did he sneak past the guards?

"Why are you here?"

He pointedly ignores your question and attempts to draw you in for an embrace. You curl your lips up into a snarl and push him back. He jumps back in shock; you don't miss the hurt in his eyes.

"Remove that mask and answer me!" You hiss out, careful not to alert anyone to the man's presence. He removes the black cloth covering his lower face.

"I am here for you." He slowly, cautiously, edges closer towards you and you don't stop him. The man plants a soft kiss on your lips while saying your name over and over again, like a never ending mantra. "I've missed you."

Light footsteps patter around outside your door, bringing you back to your senses. You push him away again, this time standing up and stalking over to the other side of your chambers. The betrothal necklace on your dressing table glints at you suspiciously.

"Leave," you command, "I am a married woman."

"Not yet," he fires back, anger creeping into his voice, "You don't love him, I know it. You know it." His voice begins to crack, "Please. Come with me. We can live in the mountains, like before. Start a new life together. You, and me."

You swivel around to face him furiously. "No! I have a duty to fulfil to my father, and my country. Our country." You straighten your posture to level with him. "I refuse to run away from the people who need me."

He scoffs, narrowing his eyes at you. "That never stopped you before! The woman I met two years ago would have done anything to run away from the palace! How badly did they brainwash you?"

You slap him angrily, and the exhilaration you feel doing this frightens you for all the wrong reasons. He notices this, and smirks. "There you are." He places a finger over your heart, just above the area were your breasts lie, heaving heavily. "I know you're still there, my love, deep down."

"And even deeper down," you retort coolly, "Is a woman who is tired of running." He steps back again, face falling at the implied message. "Every one grows up, my Lord, and it's time you did too. Leave the Jade Palace; if you return, I'll see to it that your head is given to the Emperor on a silver platter."

He doesn't call your obvious bluff, and covers his face again before jumping out of the window with a melancholy droop to his shoulders.

The next morning, you sleepily wake up to see a familiar looking fan resting on top of your necklace.

"You look like a herd of elephants stampeded all over your face and asked the monkeys to iron out your uniform."

I glower at Neji when we take a seat next to Lee, who was waving us over frantically a few minutes ago. He returns my look with a shrug of his shoulders. It's still weird - not to mention random - seeing Neji start to jump out of his conservative shell and turn into a wittier, more reserved version of Naruto. With better grades and a polished appearance, so maybe not quite like Naruto. I'm honestly drawing these parallels because of the headbands.

"It's true."

"Indeed!" Lee inserts himself into the conversation energetically. "You are looking significantly less enthused than usual, Tenten, I suggest you run three hundred laps around the oval with me after school. It really boosts up your energy levels!"

I squeeze my eyes shut in annoyance. "Thank you Lee, you're a darling but I'll pass for today."

Lee shrugs. "Your loss, dear daffodil."

"Perhaps you could reserve that for the taekwondo try outs after school, just to get the team warmed up." Neji suggests with a malicious smirk that Lee clearly misses. I give him the stink eye.

"An excellent idea! I'll bring this up with Mr Gai right away!" He dashes off to the gym, leaving me to continue giving Neji dirty looks.

"You're pushing it."

"Break a leg."

"I'm considering it," I reply, almost - almost - genuinely. He shoots back an aye-aye captain, no doubt taking great joy in my inevitable three hundred laps. "Oh, by the way," an email I remember receiving last night pops up in my memory, "Gai emailed me, saying that your uncle placed a recommendation for you to join the team today." Neji's shoulders stiffen before he drops his fork onto the plate. It lands in the spaghetti Bolognese with a squelch, sinking in the same way my statement does.

"So that means-"

"Oh, yeah," I lean forward in faux-enthusiasm, placing my chin in my hand and smiling up at Neji's shell-shocked expression, "Right after last period, I'll give you a warm welcome to your first three hundred laps around the school." He meets my gaze, and only then do I notice how close our faces are. Coughing pointedly, I sit back, ignoring the beet-red flush forming at my cheeks. So damn hot.

His mortification quickly melts away when he realises that his fork is gone, and politely excuses himself to grab a new one.

"Tenten." I nearly jump out of my seat when Sasuke's voices calls me from behind. I hastily wipe the spaghetti sauce away with a napkin before turning around to face him. He's standing next to Naruto passionlessly while the blonde looks over at us curiously. That's when it hits me: Sasuke's the rude Ichiraku's server from the other day.

"Yes?" I blink innocently.

"Is there any spare space on your table?" I look around me. It's mostly comprised of the team members and late stragglers, plus Neji now, so the only seat left is...oh. Lee.

"Well..." I start hesitantly.

"Uchiha, a pleasure to see you again. How have you been?" Neji returns with a new fork, analysing the scene before him with an unnervingly cold gaze.

Sasuke nods stiffly as a reply, eyes hardening when he registers Neji's presence. "Fine enough." Neji doesn't seem to care that Sasuke doesn't follow through with the small talk and sits down to eat without another word. Okay, awkward. They really don't seem to like each other. Naruto and Sasuke look at me expectantly.

"Well," then I notice Ino looking at me expectantly from a few tables over, her eyes flitting from Sasuke to the multiple seats across from her, Hinata, Sakura and Temari, "Lee's coming back to finish off lunch, soon." A blatant lie, he never comes back for lunch because Gai always has curry. "But that table over there has two extra seats?" They look at where I'm pointing, and thankfully Naruto's immediately open to the idea because, hey, his girlfriend is there. Ino shoots me a grateful grin, and a thumbs up when they turn back to me.

"Thanks Tennie, we owe you one."

"See you around, Tenten."

Neji coughs beside me. "You know him?"

I nod slowly, slurping up my pasta like an animal. Funny how I'm less inclined to look pretty in front of Neji. Then again, he's seen me in various states of distress, so it really doesn't matter anymore. "Yeah, he lives down the hall from me." His grip tightens for a split second, then relaxes. "Do you?"

Neji grimaces. "I occasionally accompany my uncle to business meetings, to 'get a feel of the field'. Uchiha was there on the latest one with his father, so we were encouraged - for lack of a better word - to spend time together." His expression morphs into one of disgust when he glances over at Ino's table. "Not a very pleasant person."

I look over with him and see Yamato standing sentry next to Hinata, pointedly glaring at Naruto, while Sasuke makes his discomfort around the four girls evident. "He seems okay," I reply thoughtfully, "helped me carry my books into the apartment yesterday."

Neji shrugs distantly, shoving another load of food into his mouth. "Actions don't always reflect a person's true nature, Tenten."

For the first time ever, my friends actually show up to taekwondo try outs as active participants, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn't for moral support. I guess they didn't get the memo about running laps, though, because they don't look discouraged at all.

We congregate in the dojo situated a few hundred meters away from the oval, in a clearing surrounded by neatly-maintained trees. It's one of the more prestigious clubs in the Academy, hence the prime on-campus location. I remember being awestruck on my first visit, because the last dojo I was in was essentially a gym, as was every other normal dojo in Konoha. It's an intimidating school, with its extravagant displays of wealth and prestige, and it takes a lot of getting used to for everyone.

I count the heads in front of me. Most of the original team left after graduating last year, so our numbers have dwindled down to a meagre three people: me, Lee, and Naruto. With only seven spots left, and about thirty others in the dojo, it's going to take a massive load of elimination rounds to gain the exact number that we need. I step forward, easily spotting my friends in the crowd. Then again, with hair as pink as Sakura's, its impossible not to.

Clearing my throat, I start off with introductions. "Hi." There's a sudden murmur in the crowd, and I see Neji and Sasuke sizing each other up ominously. I put my fingers in my mouth and let out a shrill whistle that catches everyone's attention. "Thank you. I'm Tenten, the team captain, and these two are Lee and Naruto, my vice captains." They grin enthusiastically. "As you all know, we only have seven spaces left, and another two for subs. That means only nine of the thirty here will gain a place on this team when the day is over. I suggest showing us three the full array of your abilities today, and remember that everyone's an equal here - I don't care whose family you come from, or how well you sponsor the Academy, because ultimately we will be competing agains the best of the best, and there'll only be room for people who are determined and willing to make sacrifices to improve." I look at my friends pointedly. "No one will be selected based on his or her relationship with the three of us. If you are, at any point, heavily inclined to drop out of try outs, the door is that way - be my guest."

When I conclude and step back, Naruto clasps his glee as Lee starts nodding over and over again. Round one: scare them away. "Now, let's do a quick four hundred laps around oval!"

The numbers quickly decrease to fifteen in a matter of seconds. It's a tactic that the captains have been using since before Lee and I tried out together - a brutal way of scaring away lily-livered dunderheads within the first few minutes. Obviously, Lee actually feels a sense of euphoria running around the oval, and succeeded in shocking the captains when he actually did run five hundred laps instead of the twenty. I see Neji smirk from the corner of my vision, and count down the heads again. Neji and Sasuke (surprising no one). Temari. Ino. Sakura. Hinata. Kiba, oh god. Choji and Shikamaru, probably at Ino's insistence. Sai, Omoi and Karui, three juniors. Shino, Hinata's gardening friend. Kin, of all people. After a few warm-up stretches and thirty laps (Neji subtly let out a sigh of relief), we meet back in the dojo again.

Naruto takes over, commencing round two - the sparring round robin. We separate everyone into pairs and pit them up against each other while we scrutinise their skills. Temari beats down Kin in a matter of seconds, eliminating Kin, who honestly didn't put up much of a fight, then promptly hands Shika's ass to him in the next round. Shino and Kiba battle it out bravely, and Shino is the one to make it through even though most of his time is spent dodging Kibbles' attacks. Neji, in a valiant display of skills and adept fighting, rises above Choji and Sai effortlessly, and Ino, in true team vs team fashion, drops like, a million moves onto Hinata, who barely scrapes her way through that match. In the end, it's Neji, Sasuke, Temari, Sakura, Sai and Karui who make it onto the team (even though they don't know it yet), so we start the third round after a quick break to determine the final three members we want.

"So," I say chirpily, "We've already decided on six team members." Their eyes widen curiously. "Now, only three places remain and as a final demonstration of your abilities to us, try your best in this last round. Keep in mind that you will all be participating regardless of whether you're on the team or not, and this match can still lend a considerable amount of weight towards our decisions. Each and everyone one of you will be fighting against Lee." Several groans resonate throughout the room. I frown. "It's simple. Land a hit, and you might just get a position." Everyone perks up, grabbing onto my bait immediately. Clearly, no one seems to remember just how evasive Lee can be.

Everyone is blind-folded to prevent any cheating or unfair analyses from happening. Neji goes first, and the moment we remove his blindfold, he pounces on Lee like a snake. Needless to say, it's probably the quickest landing on record. Sasuke and Temari are similar in the way that they both blink to adjust their eyes to the light, then Lee's sporadic movements. It takes a few minutes for them to realise that his hair is his biggest weakness, because it flies everywhere when he moves. They grab hold of it and use it to gently tap on his arm - victory. Everyone else, save for Kiba, Omoi and Ino, completely fails, leaving us with three new members and potential re-considerations of our current one.

The refined list is up on the central bulletin by the time Friday morning hits, and we beam at each other when a bustling crowd gathers around the notice. A job well done, indeed.

Neji Hyuga. Sasuke Uchiha. Sai Satoshi. Omoi Kawamoto. Karui Komatsu. Temari no Sabaku. Sakura Haruno. Substitute members: Kiba Inuzuka. Ino Yamanaka.

It actually took a few weeks just to get the first part of this story out of my brain, and roughly five hours to do the rest of it (which was pretty much my night last night). The characters without surnames (Sai, Karui, Omoi) were given surnames based off the Japanese voice actors who voiced them, so I thought it was a nice touch. They kind of have a nice ring to them as well, even though Sai is technically a Yamanaka now, and Karui is an Akimichi (spoilers, sorry!).

Thanks for reading, and please leave a review to let me know about any errors or lapses in judgement, or just to talk. Any is fine!

- misspandalily