What, TWO updates in one day? After 3 whole years? Must be Christmas in March.

So sorry guys! Life has been crazy, but please enjoy the chapter (I'll try to get this fic done!) and stay safe!

The Senju Hotel, Konoha's CBD

June 29 | 2001 UTC

It really only hit Tenten, mere moments after her arrival, that Neji would also be at the Namikaze Memorial Dinner.

She was on Gaara's arm, taking in the sheer majesty of The Senju Hotel's function room. The pristine marbled columns, the muted blue and gold table decor, the elegant lighting, the Konoha elite flitting across the room. It was so classy, so befitting of Minato Namikaze's name.

(She had a huge crush on him in high school and hopes that Temari won't tell anyone about it.)

And then she saw Neji smack-bang in the centre of the room, lightly conversing with the Hyuga sisters as he sipped at his champagne flute. Alone, in atypical Neji fashion. He hadn't seen her yet and she prayed that he wouldn't at all tonight.

Because that would be awkward. And Tenten could handle many things but awkward encounters with your boss was not her forte.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Gaara smiled down at her and she beamed.

"I've seen my fair share of fancy ballrooms but this is just…wow."

"Too bad Temari's working tonight," they both glanced over at Temari, who was deep in conversation with Shikamaru and Sasuke, "She would've enjoyed it otherwise."

"I'm very sure she'll be using KIA tech to record the entire thing tonight," Tenten laughed, "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Tell me about it," Gaara winced, as if remembering something traumatic, "In high school she recorded the entire Winter Dance, specifically zooming into me dancing with a girl and then showed it to our parents. I had pimples."

"Aww," Tenten cooed, "Little Gaara with Matsuri. So cuute, you even had your little gourd pin instead of a pocket square!"

Gaara, mortified, swivelled his head to face her. "She showed you."

"Every bit of it. With narration. At least ten times even when I got sick of it."

"I'm deleting that footage."

"How? She guards it with her life."

"I'm an LPD sergeant," he replied mischievously.

"That is wildly illegal and unethical. I could report you for that."

"Ten bucks. You get to keep a copy."

"Wo-ow," Tenten grinned, with a tone of mock disappointment, "Unbelievable. This is bribery. Am I not worth more than ten bucks and a copy?"

He took her bait like a champion. "You're worth a million." She smiled at him, allowing herself to feel that little bit of happiness that pops up into her heart. "…copies. If you don't report me."

Tenten punched his arm, laughing louder than she had in weeks.

MINATO NAMIKAZE MEMORIAL DINNER

TABLE 1

Naruto Uzumaki

Kushina Uzumaki

Jiraiya

Tsunade Senju

Sasuke Uchiha

Sakura Haruno

Gaara No Sabaku and guest

Table 1, The Senju Hotel

June 29 | 2100 UTC

She felt distinctly out of place at the table for two reasons.

One.

She was sitting, wide-eyed, at a table with some of the most famous and powerful in all of Konoha and they were all so friendly, asking her about herself and getting to know her as a person. She was not used to this. At all.

Two.

At the bottom of the table seating arrangement, with said people, was her. 'and guest'. She really hated that.

Gaara had apologised profusely, stating that it was because he'd invited her at the very last minute despite Naruto (who, apparently, was a very good and old friend of his?) badgering about bringing a date for weeks.

Tenten felt a swarm of butterflies in her stomach at the word 'date' and mentally berated herself. Without badass bodyguard Tenten, she was still this very sensitive and romantic girl at heart and Gaara was such a gentleman to her.

Maybe she should've listened to Temari earlier. The thought made her guffaw, at the exact same time that Naruto finished making his joke.

He shot her the happiest grin, like no one ever laughed at his jokes. Or, no one at the table laughed at his jokes since they all either knew him from childbirth or did not feel the need to boost his ego. "I knew you had a great sense of humour! I like you, lets be friends."

"Sure," she replied. Sasuke grimaced, no doubt imagining the hell that would put him through, but said nothing when Sakura elbowed him.

"So Tenten, how is it being a bodyguard?" Kushina Uzumaki - the Kushina Uzumaki, fiery philanthropist, badass fighter - asked, "I imagine it's a very demanding job."

"Definitely demanding, the hours are long and it's difficult keeping on track with the clients, but Sasuke's a great boss and I love my job. I couldn't be happier," she answered honestly, because it was true. Save for the times she'd been feeling more invisible lately, she adored her job.

It was the little things. The 2am jokes with the rest of the protection team, Kiba's weird obsession with dogs, Shikamaru's increasingly spiky hairdo, the baked goods Chouji never forgets to bring to work every day - just for the team to share. They were the reason she felt a bit happier every day going to work.

Kushina smiled. Naruto grinned at her, as if confirming his own preconceptions. Jiraiya gave her a thumbs up and even Tsunade looked up from her wine glass to smirk at her approvingly. Tenten felt a flush creep up her cheeks.

Underneath the table, she felt Sakura's hand find hers and squeeze it.

Entrance, The Senju Hotel

June 29 | 2210 UTC

All in all, Tenten would say the night went off without a hitch.

After their chat, dinner was served. Tenten ate her way through the entree, then was shocked by how well every member of the table managed to hold riveting conversations while eating their salmon filets at the same time, and swooned when dessert arrived. It was a selection of pastries, dango (her favourite) and an assortment of delicacies from other Lands.

Scratch that about enjoying the little things. This was her favourite part of the job. Good food.

Several speeches followed, with quite literally every person on her table save her, Gaara and Sasuke presenting and blowing the entire room away with their eloquence and wit. At some points, out of the corner of her eye, she'd see Neji angling his head around to her table and looked away.

And the best part? The dance floor opened up and she managed to see Hiruzen Sarutobi spin around in a drunken stupor with his wife Biwako, Naruto making funny faces at Kurenai's infant son, Killer B greet her like an old friend, Sasuke actually smiling at Sakura, Temari and Shikamaru hitting it off on the sidelines, and no Neji.

Which, she wasn't sure why, made her feel a bit guilty.

But then Gaara literally swooped in, open tuxedo and all, and was a surprisingly great dancer. She couldn't remember the last time she was wrapping her arms around someone's shoulders and laughing so much, but it hadn't been for a long, long time.

The function started to close after that. Guests filed out one by one to grab their coats, and Tenten helped the other security personnel in making sure every guest found their way to a vehicle safely. Gaara promised to meet her at the entrance after he was done talking to his new captain.

"Fancy seeing you here," Tenten froze. Neji held out a hand for his keys and she found it in its pigeonhole before dropping it into his hand. "Aren't you supposed to lead me out?"

Yikes. His tone was ice cold. Tenten nodded, noting the hard set of his jaw, and escorted him to the entrance. "Did you enjoy yourself, Mr Hyuga?"

"I did," Neji continued walking down the stairs at a rapid pace, "I thought you had dinner plans with a friend."

"I did," Tenten recognised Kiba standing at the helm of Neji's car and almost breathed a sigh of relief. "Gaara invited me to this Dinner at the last minute. I would have told you-"

They reached the car and Neji held up a hand to silence her. She bit her tongue, irritated. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you at work tomorrow."

He couldn't have jumped inside any faster. Kiba closed the door after him and looked at her with a worried expression before settling himself into the drivers seat and driving off.

Tenten tried to shrug it off.

It didn't work.

Hyuga Manor

July 3 | 0600 UTC

Neji's birthday fell on a Sunday, and Tenten had no idea what to say.

They hadn't spoken in days, save for the clipped tone he always took whenever he absolutely had to address her. The new personal secretary had politely informed the security team that Neji was swamped with work so would appreciate it if they gave him some space than usual until he caught up.

Shikamaru had shrugged at the news, no doubt rejoicing in the lessening workload. 'Workload', since Neji basically spent most of his days in the office these days anyway. Yeah, right? They were all surprised at that.

So was Hiashi, evidently. On Friday he'd visited Neji's office and emerged looking pleased. Which happened absolutely never, in the week Tenten's been working at Hyuga Industries.

Even all the tabloid papers were starting to diverge away from Neji's spotlight. Hyuga Industries was quite literally flourishing in their silence.

To put the cherry on top…

Hinata only recently realised Tenten was living in the outhouse this entire time, which was frankly insulting. Tenten had pouted about it until Hinata started coming over every night to reintroduce her to trashy Netflix romcoms and squeal about Gaara.

Gentlemanly Gaara, they nicknamed him. She hadn't seen him in the few days since the Memorial Dinner but he'd been talking to her every now and then and they arranged to meet for dinner whenever they were both free next week. Temari, who was probably there with Gaara when they planned it, immediately called her and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Tenten swore she'd gotten tinnitus from that one call.

Ear-related injuries and silver linings aside, Tenten was ridiculously worried.

It was Sunday, the day of Neji's birthday, and the first thing she heard when she woke up at a tender 6am was a knock on her door.

Tenten pulled herself out of bed and wandered over, taking no effort in her appearance and regretting it the moment she opened the door.

Neji stood on the other side, mouth slightly agape at her Harry Potter pyjamas, holding a coffee flask and bagels.

Tenten, with all the dignity she could muster, said, "Hi?"

He smiled, very awkwardly. "Can we talk?"

Oh, Kami.

~Daily Horoscope~

Be open to discomfort.