Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did, Neji would still be alive.

A/N 1/1/14: Happy New Year! AU FIC TIME! I had an idea. It's a really dark idea. I don't think anyone has ever tried this, and I'm a little nervous to be trying this. Well you'll see just how dark my mind can get with this story. And emotion, lots and lots of emotion! Well enough bullshiting, here it is!

Summary: She thought he was an ass when he ended their friendship a couple of years ago. Now, they are forced to reconnect, and as they grow close once more, Tenten discovers the dark and horrific reason why he walked away in the first place. Semi-Dark AU NejiTen with other pairings on the side.

Warning: Nothing just yet

Chapter 1: We Meet Again

Math. She hated math. She was pretty sure most people did too. Even so, she forced herself to pay attention. She ranked second in her class, and there was no way in hell that she was going to lose that place. Not that she was satisfied just holding second place. Her competitive spirit would not allow her to rest until she obtained the number one spot. She'd been trying for years, but there was always one person who beat her in everything. That person was the person she hated with a burning passion.

Luckily for her, he wasn't here today. Or maybe he was late as usual. Whatever, it didn't matter to her if he was there or not. But she smirked at the fact that he was not there. Because the more class he missed, the more lessons he missed. And that would give her the opportunity to snatch that number one spot from him. She turned her attention back to the lecture, but the teacher's droning tone was making it increasingly difficult. Even so, she'd trained herself to stay up. She couldn't care less about derivatives and integrals, but if she was to graduate at the top of her class, she knew damn well to pay attention.

From the corner of her eye she saw HIM walk in. He was about 15 minutes late to class, but the expression on his face clearly told all that he didn't care.

The teacher stopped talking and turned to look at the young man who had just walked in. He looked less than pleased. "You're late Mr. Hyuuga, once again. Care to come up to the front and explain?"

Yeah that was him. Tenten's academic rival and most hated enemy for the past two years, Neji Hyuuga. She didn't get how he of all people could top her at everything. He was always late, barely gave a damn about school, and barely had any friends. So how did a guy like that get perfect grades and test scores? The answer was beyond her.

Her and Neji used to be friends. They'd been friends from kindergarten all the way up to their sophomore year. They were best friends one could even say, always playing together and hanging out. They'd always had had a healthy competition when it came to school, but that all changed in their sophomore year. His mother had gone AWOL and he became more and more distant until one day he just ended their friendship. No questions asked or answers given. Ever since then, Tenten threw herself into her school work, while swearing revenge on Neji for just walking away.

"I'm so sorry, I had some car trouble. Forgive me sir," he bowed his head slightly. Tenten rolled her eyes. That's how he always got himself out of trouble, by being a polite gentleman. It pissed her off that all of the teachers in this school seemed to be such suckers.

The teacher's expression softened and he nodded his head, "Well, make sure you don't make this a usual thing. Please take a seat."

Neji nodded his head and took the seat behind Tenten. Tenten had the urge to turn around and swing her left into his face, but she refrained. No she wouldn't beat him physically; she would beat him with her mind.

The bell finally rang a half an hour later. Tenten rushed to history and tried to get as far away from Neji as she possibly could. That was until she realized that they had the same advanced history class together. Of course that would happen. She groaned, but she could always just keep her mind off of that unfortunate fact by focusing on the lesson.

She sat down and got out her notebook, putting the header for today's lesson. Everyone was walking and for the first time, Neji walked in on time. Why was she even paying attention? She didn't really know. All she wanted to focus on was kicking his ass in terms of school work.

The teacher walked in. He turned and wrote something on the chalkboard. Tenten looked up and saw what he had written. It was a project and it was a partner project. She groaned. She hated partner projects. She was independent and she felt like someone else would only weigh her down.

The groans and moans only made the teacher smile. The first words that came out of his mouth made the groans even louder: "Assigned partners!"

'Anyone but that jackass,' Tenten said mentally.

"First up is….Tenten, you'll be working with Neji over there!" the teacher announced. Tenten wanted to rip into her teacher at that very moment. Her dislike of Neji was no secret, so what the hell was the teacher even thinking?

She peeked over at Neji, who looked at her for a split second before going back to what he was doing. He didn't seem to care, so she raised her hand.

"Yes Tenten?"

"May I request a change of partners?" she asked with a hint of reproach in her voice.

The teacher just smiled, "No can do. It's just one project. Besides you and Neji are at the top of my class. Let's see what you two can accomplish together!"

'This teacher seriously has a death wish…'

"Then can I work by myself?" she tried, knowing that it was a long shot.

"Partner project Tenten," he repeated, tapping the chalkboard.

Tenten huffed, annoyed. This teacher had an agenda, she just knew it. But why the hell did he care if she and Neji got along or not? It wasn't his problem. It's not like there were open hostilities either, well it was mainly on her side. That was probably why she was paired with him.

Tenten looked at Neji, who seemed to have been completely unaffected by her question. He wouldn't even look at her. He was too busy scribbling something in his notebook.

"Okay, you have five minutes to discuss the project with your partner!" the teacher announced and immediately people all over the room got up and started moving around. Neji and Tenten stayed glued to their chairs. Neji because he was still scribbling something in his notebook and Tenten because she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

Well, apparently they were being graded on interaction with their partners, so Tenten figured that she had to break the ice since Neji probably wasn't going to. She crossed the room swiftly and everyone stared and talked as she did so. The tension between the two had been obvious. Not only from Tenten's end either.

There was an empty seat next to him and she plopped down on it. He didn't seem to notice. Well he probably did, but he wasn't acknowledging her.

"Neji."

Neji tore his gaze from his notebook for a second to look at her before he went back to what he was doing, "Tenten."

'Keep calm Tenten, keep calm.'

"In case you weren't aware, you and I got paired up for a project. And a good chunk of the grade comes from interacting with each other. So talk, because I won't have you screwing up my average by making me fail this project," she said, annoyance coating her tone.

Neji smirked, "Hn. Well we can't have that can we?"

Tenten bit her tongue to keep herself from spitting in Neji's face, "Look, we have to work together, so can we pretend that we can stand each other for the next few weeks?"

Neji shrugged, "I guess we can."

Tenten was only a little relieved by that. "Okay, we'll go to your house after school. My house is being worked on right now and…"

"Then we'll go to the library. No need to go to my place."

"The library is far. Your house is closer," Tenten said, matter-of-factly.

"It's either your house or the library or we don't do it today," Neji said with finality.

What the hell was his problem? She'd been to his house millions of times when they were younger. "Fine the library. But just this once."

"Will the work on your house be done by tomorrow?" Neji inquired.

"It'll take a week," Tenten eyed him suspiciously. Where was this going anyway?

"Then we'll continue to go to the library until the work on your house is finished. Or we meet somewhere else. Or as a third option we don't meet at all," Neji offered.

Tenten's eyebrows twitched, the nerve! "Why the hell can't we just go to your place? What? Do you have something going on at your place?"

"You could say that," he mumbled.

"And what would that be?" Tenten pressed on. It seemed to annoy him even more.

"It's none of your business," he sneered. Tenten's eyes narrowed.

"All right guys, time up! Let's get on with the rest of the day shall we?" the teacher announced.

Tenten shot Neji a nasty look before saying, "Whatever, I don't really care."

Tenten walked back to her desk and plopped back down. He had used those same exact words, in that same exact tone when he had ended their friendship. Tenten had spent so much time convincing herself that she didn't care about him anymore, that she was surprised that her chest started hurting when he had said that.

The lesson was boring. She didn't really care about ancient history or what long dead dictators did, because all she could think about was how miserable she was going to be for the next few weeks. Well, if she had to go to therapy by the end of this, she could just sue her teacher and Neji.

The bell couldn't have come as more of a blessing when it rang. She didn't have any more classes with Neji for the rest of the day, and that suited her just fine. Neji walked out before her. His two friends, Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for him. Unlike Neji, she didn't mind them. Naruto was going out with her best friend, and Sasuke was quiet, but not as much of an ass like Neji.

He was about to turn and walk towards him when Tenten said, "Library, after school Hyuuga."

Neji turned his head slightly as he watched her walk away. Naruto and Sasuke walked up to him. They noticed the sour look on the girl's face.

"What's her problem?" Sasuke asked.

Neji shrugged, "We got paired up for a project."

"So what's the problem? I haven't seen her so pissed off since the day you told her off," Naruto raised an eyebrow, before he added, "You know you can't hide this from her forever."

Neji ignored the last part of his comment, "She wanted to work at my house because it's closer."

"Like Naruto was saying, you can't hide this from her forever. Especially not now," Sasuke added.

"Well I don't intend on getting close to her. So just watch me," Neji challenged.

"You know the more you do that, the more she's going to hate you, right?" Naruto yawned. They'd been through this millions of times.

"I'll take her hate over what she'll feel if she finds out any day," Neji said before changing the subject, "Hey Sasuke, is your brother going to be home tonight?"

"Uh, no not tonight," Sasuke answered.

"I want to come over. I need a few beers," Neji requested.

"Yeah sure, but don't you have some at your place?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, but I have to go to the library after school for that project. And since your house is near the library, I think I'll drink there today," Neji answered.

Sasuke nodded, but when Neji wasn't looking, he looked at Naruto and shook his head. Saying that Neji was a frequent drinker was a tragic understatement. But Neji didn't listen when it came to alcohol, so Sasuke and Naruto never did anything about it. They wanted to, but they knew if they did, Neji would be in more trouble than anyone else thought. And it would go beyond just the underage drinking.

The three teenagers didn't say anything more. Neji, especially, didn't want to say anything. More than anything, he was wondering just how he was supposed to deal with Tenten for two hours. He had ended their friendship in one of the worst possible ways and hadn't really talked to her since. But the scary thing was that with their former friendship, Tenten had become the only girl who knew how to break down his walls. He couldn't have that. He just couldn't…

Please Review.

Yay done with the first chapter of my first Naruto AU fic! So, does anyone want to know what Neji is hiding? Yeah, I had to throw in the fact that Neji has an alcohol problem. You'll see why. Well if you stay with the story! Loved it? Hated it? Let me know! Plz R&R! Thanks! Til next time!

CherryXButterfly(Angel)