"You've got to be kidding me!" Tenten scowled. "Whose idea was this… wait. It was Ino, wasn't it? Why does that girl always have to come up with such troublesome, time-consuming ideas?" She threw her fist in the air. Behind her, Neji shook his head while smirking. The corner of her eye caught the movement and she rounded on him. "What?"

"It's nothing," he said. She raised an eyebrow. "I think you've been on too many missions with Shikamaru lately is all."

Tenten paused at that before bursting into a fit of giggles. "I guess I have. But that doesn't make Ino's plans any less worse." She was beginning to pace.

Neji's gaze followed her movements for a few minutes before he reached out and pulled her to a stop. "Calm down. This isn't the end of the world." Minimizing the situation seemed like the best course of action, especially since he had the feeling he knew why Tenten was making such a fuss. "And you don't have to wear a dress if you don't want to," he added as an afterthought.

The low tone to his voice did not soothe her as it normally did. "But didn't you hear?" she scoffed. "I've been harangued into wearing a dress that fits in with the other girls' costumes." Tenten rolled her eyes.

His curiosity was piqued. "What are they putting you in?" He asked as he sat down under his tree.

"…"

Neji raised an eyebrow at her lack of answer.

"Er… it's too embarrassing! I can't even explain how much." She groaned loudly. "Everyone is going to see me in it. What will people think? What will they say?" Her feet had unconsciously began to pace again as her ranting grew to near hysterics. "I can't go through with it! Please tell me we have a mission so I don't have to go to this party? Maybe a really dangerous one? I could spend a few days in the hospital…."

A quick shake of Neji's head confirmed her fears. No mission this week. Tenten hung her head. Suddenly though, it popped back up.

"You know, we could work on that new technique of yours this afternoon." She tried to hide the mischievousness from her smile by nonchalantly turning around. "It would be good to try it out on a person rather than the landscape."

Neji was not falling for her ploy. "Tenten, I have not yet mastered the correct flow of chakra for that and I will not send you to the hospital just to get you out of the party."

"But Neji…"

Tenten was clearly being over-dramatic. Nothing could be that bad about the costumes if his cousin was involved. She wouldn't wear anything racy or revealing unlike Ino and Sakura. Plus Kiba would stop them from dragging Hinata out in public in something she was uncomfortable in. "No."

Pouting, she turned around to face him again. He stood up in order to look down into her eyes. "You'll survive the party and the costume. Nothing Ino's done has caused you to die of embarrassment yet and nothing will." He cupped her face between his warm hands. "Now, stop pouting. We have some training to finish."

"Alright." Tenten resigned. "But tell me something first."

"Hn."

"You're going to this party, right?"

"I don't have a choice in the matter. Once Hiashi-sama learned that both his daughters would be attending I was instructed to go watch out for them. He does not trust the attention Kiba gives to Hinata." Neji muttered.

She snickered at this. "What father in his right mind would want a teenaged Inuzuka after his daughter?" Her arms snuck around Neji's back and pulled him closer. Only she could get away with invading his personal space like that. Anyone else would have had a fight on their hands for such a bold move.

"Hn." His chin rested on top her chestnut hair.

"So… What costume are you wearing?" Tenten inquired. She peaked up to see his face.

Neji looked back at her with a bored expression. He was ready for this conversation to be over with. Their training had already been interrupted when Lee had brought up the party and started Tenten on her rant. Lee had then managed to escape before the brunt of Tenten's frustration at Ino had been released.

He sighed. "I'm not wearing a costume."

"But you have to! If I'm stuck in one then you need to be, too!"

"How exactly do you figure that?" Neji would not be caught in some ridiculous get-up. Just attending the party was enough to make the white-eyed shinobi cringe. Dressing up for it would be nearly unbearable.

Tenten stumbled to get her next words out. "… A friend… a good friend would dress up for me," was her conclusion. It was a weak excuse at best and they both knew it. The hold of her arms slackened around him. "Fine. How about a wager then? If I can beat you in a spar, you dress up in a costume."

"And when I win?" Neji prodded.

"When! You mean if." Her confidence in her own abilities was evident in her tone. "If you win, you won't hear another complaint or word about the party from me until it's over."

Pulling away entirely and with a nod of affirmation, the spar began.

As Neji predicted, he won the training spar. In all the years of training with her, though, it had to have been one of the most grueling battles between the two. Tenten only lost because she ran out of chakra just before Neji did. When it came down to sparring without chakra, he clearly had the upper-hand. His size advantage over her only increased his odds.

And true to her word, she had not mentioned the party again. That didn't mean there weren't daily reminders of it.

Ino had arrived the next afternoon in their clearing and unceremoniously dragged Tenten away to measure her for her costume. The day after, Tenten stormed into the area flinging all manner of weapons at every target possible in vent her frustration. She still didn't bring up the party. Practice continued on relatively normal for the remainder of the week with only slight inconveniences occurring when Sakura popped in to update Tenten on the progress of the outfit.

Neji still did not know what the costume was and the other girls found it extremely funny to keep the secret. In all honesty, he didn't much care. His only issue with this whole deal was Tenten's lack of concentration during their daily training.

A noticeable change could be seen on her face as the day of the party grew closer. It was becoming more irritated with every Ino and Sakura interruption. She however, was taking it all in silence.

The day before the party she was in near tears after finishing up with the girls before their practice. She did her best to hide it, but Neji was more observant of her than she assumed.

"Enough." His voice stopped her mid-attack.

Her eyes went wide. "What's wrong? Did I hit you with that last shuriken? I thought it was close to your blind spot but not that close." She sprinted over to where Neji stood.

"No. But we're done for the day."

"Why? We've only been going for a few minutes…" The tone of her voice was full of confusion.

"If you aren't going to go all out this is pointless." He could see her mind was not here with him in the clearing. It was still back with the girls and on the party. "Your mind isn't on this. Go home."

Tenten pulled out a kunai. "No. We came here to train. I'm going to train."

He simply shrugged at her before turning away. "Have it your way." Tenten didn't make a move to stop him as he continued to leave. In her frame of mind, she would admit defeat and leave soon after he did. The stress of this costume party had taken its toll on her. Neji was sure of that. A smirk came to his face when he heard her footsteps moving away from where she had been standing.

"I'll see you at the party tomorrow then?" It came out as a quiet question rather than the statement she was going for. Neji was barely within earshot but he her gave her a head nod to let her know he heard. "Bye!" she called out louder as she grudgingly turned toward her home.

The path of Neji's feet did not lead him home as he had instructed Tenten to do. There was something he needed to do first. Actually, it was more a someone he needed to find; three someones to be more precise.

Hinata, Sakura, and Ino were easy enough for him to locate. They often had lunch together at Ichiraku's on Friday afternoons. They weren't surprised when he approached them.

"It about time!" Ino had exclaimed. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something."

"Ino! Be nice or he won't do it." Sakura harshly whispered to her.

Neji raised an eyebrow. What were these girls talking about? He was here to find out what costume they were sticking Tenten in to find a way to make it more bearable.

"Uh, hi Neji," Hinata was looking at him in astonishment. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, come on! We all know why he's here." Ino dramatically exclaimed. "He's seen how miserable she's been the last few weeks. I've done just about everything short of making her costume pure lingerie in order to make her upset. And I know she's too proud to cry to Neji about it. My plan worked perfectly." She smiled broadly.

"…" Neji was lost for words. Ino's speech made little sense to him.

"Now here's what you need to do, Neji," Ino continued as if he was raptly listening to her. "Just go to this costume shop and give them this paper." He looked to see what she was forcing into his hand and his expression showed the comprehension.

"You were making her miserable on purpose just to get me to wear this." He accused.

"Well, when we picked out our theme you we thought you would be best suited for it. But Hinata said we had a better chance of it raining fire than of you willingly doing it." Sakura said bluntly.

"That's why I planned out a way to make you want to wear the outfit… to make Tenten feel better about her own!" The smile on Ino's face grew even wider.

Neji's face, however, only grew darker. These girls had been working for weeks to trick him. He hadn't planned to dress up for this party. He didn't even really want to be there at all. "I will not be made a pawn in your game." He shoved the paper back into Ino's hand before turning around to leave.

"But didn't you come here to find a way to make Tenten feel better?" Hinata asked quietly.

Neji froze. That was his whole reason for locating his cousin and the others.

Ino took his momentary pause as an opportunity to pounce. "Just wear the costume, Neji. It would make her time at the party better. You costume is meant to compliment hers perfectly after all."

"…" There was a list of reasons why he didn't want to do it. His dignity. His pride. His general distaste of all things of this nature. And only one reason came to mind for why he should do it. "…" But was that one reason enough? "No."

All three girls slumped in their seats. It had been a long shot that he would do it anyway.

"I guess we just go without him then," Neji heard Sakura say as he continued to leave the restaurant. "Our outfits will still be the best."

"Yeah, but I really hoped he would have done it. Not so much for us, but for Tenten." Ino's voice was barely audible and he missed the rest of her comment. "He doesn't have a clue about her feelings, does he?"

Much to his annoyance the rest of his day was plagued with thoughts of the next day's party. Had he made the correct decision? Was his pride more important than seeing Tenten happy?

After arriving at the compound Neji decided mediation would be the best way to ease his mind.

Unfortunately for him, the only images to come to his mind consisted of Tenten. Her hair and how perfectly it would fit the costume. What her costume would look like. How it would look on her. How her face would feign happiness while she was miserable inside. How her eyes would light up if he... Neji shook his head to rid himself of that thought.

There was no way he could go to the party dressed up like that. Ino and Sakura had played him. They'd played Tenten, too. Giving in to them would only open future doors of embarrassment.

"I absolutely refuse," he whispered to himself.

But he knew it was too late. His mind had envisioned Tenten's smiling face when she saw what he had put himself through to be there for her. With a resigned sigh, Neji flopped onto his bed. He had to wait until the streets were dark enough for nobody to notice him going into the costume shop Ino had told him about.

The only thing that would get him through the next night was Tenten, whose fault this was in the first place. Oh the irony.

Neji's morning went by much more quickly than he would have liked. Some light training with his cousins kept his mind occupied enough so that when they both declared they needed to stop to go get ready for the party he was amazed at the late hour.

He slowly moved back to his own room and dressed in everything he had purchased. "If she backs out at the last minute…" he thought a loud. She wouldn't though. Ino would drag her kicking and screaming if necessary.

Rather than be watched by curious eyes as he crossed Konaha, Neji chose to leave for the party late and even then, to utilize the many trees in town. His plan worked. Not a soul saw him leave the compound and not a soul saw him sneak into the darkly lit party.

He immediately found himself in a corner facing the crowded room.

His youngest cousin was already with her friends which meant Neji didn't have to keep much of an eye on her. His uncle was more worried about Hinata and Kiba than about Hanabi anyway.

Scanning through the people, he finally found Hinata. It was pretty obvious she was dressed as Sailor Mars, especially considering the complimentary outfits of Sailor Venus and Sailor Mini-Moon worn by Ino and Sakura.

But it was not any of them that Neji's eyes settled on.

Tenten's back was facing him. Her shoulders were slightly drooping even though he could hear the lightness of her laugh across the room. The music changed to a slow beat as he walked toward her. Couples were merging together to share the dance. Others were shuffling to the side to make room for them.

Neji sighed. It was now or never.

As he reached her, the eyes of the people around her grew wide and their faces showed their surprise. Sensing something was wrong Tenten turned only to be whisked onto the dance floor by the masked man.

She recognized him instantly. "Neji?" she managed to say despite her shock.

"No," he whispered in her ear.

"What do you mean 'no'?" She looked him in the eye. Even with the black mask, top hat, suit, and cape there was no hiding his true identity. Not from her anyway. "I know it's you."

"No. Tonight I am simply the Tuxedo Mask to your Sailor Moon."

Tenten was taken aback. He had done something so out of character, so embarrassing, for her. "You did all this for me? Why would you?"

He twirled her around as their slow dance continued. Her Sailor Moon styled hair twirled with them. "I knew it would make you feel better about having to wear that costume." He pulled her body closer to his. "And for the record, the outfit is not that bad."

"It's still a dress," she murmured.

"Well, yes," Neji kept his voice low. He twirled her one last time as the song ended. "But since it happens to be the perfect match my attire," he smirked down at her, "I can keep you all to myself tonight."

Tenten's face lit up at the suggestion. She practically jumped into his arms when the next song started. "Thank you," the muffled voice came out against his chest. "You have no idea what this means to me."

"Hey, have I ever let you down?" He pulled her in tighter.

She laughed. "You really do fit the part, don't you? The mask doesn't look half bad on you. All you need now is a rose," she teased but got no response from him.

After another song had passed, he produced a red rose out of seemingly thin air. Tenten stumbled in surprise. A chuckle escaped from his mouth. "And apparently you really do fit the part of Sailor Moon. Just a bit klutzy but still graceful in your own way. The perfect match for Tuxedo Mask."

"No. Just the perfect match for you." She leaned up on tip-toes to give him a light kiss.

He leaned in to return the gesture. "Agreed."

Author Note: Wow! I'm on a roll this week. Two new uploads to … granted, they are both already on DeviantArt. If you enjoyed this, please, please, please go vote for it at h t t p : / / s o r c e r e s s 2 0 0 0 . d e v i a n t a r t. c o m / j o u r n a l / p o l l / 2 4 3 3 0 5 9 / (remove the spaces). Right now I'm tied for first place in the NejiTenPlz contest. THANKS!