Tenten smoothed over her dress as she examined herself in the mirror. Now she wasn't the kind of girl who typically wore dresses or spent a lot of time getting ready – she was a kunoichi and a member of Team Gai to boot, so her schedule simply didn't allow it – but today she could make an exception.

Today, she had a date.

A date with her teammate; Neji. She just couldn't bring herself to call him her boyfriend; she wasn't sure if they were at that stage yet. So instead of calling him her boyfriend and running the risk of embarrassing herself, or worse, him (while an embarrassed Neji was cute, he wasn't any fun to deal with), she figured it was best to stick to calling him what she always did: her teammate.

They had started dating a while ago but had never been on an actual date. Being shinobi meant they couldn't exactly have a conventional relationship. Missions kept them busy but Tenten didn't mind too much. As long as she got to see him, she didn't care where they were or what they did. She had assumed Neji felt the same, and had been surprised when one day he'd suggested that they go to one of the fancier restaurants in the village together, just the two of them. He hadn't called it a date, but it sure sounded like one to her.

To be sure it was in fact a date and she wasn't overanalysing things, she had made the mistake of asking her girlfriends. She hadn't gone to them specifically, just casually mentioned it when they were all having a get together at a tea shop.

She hadn't expected the positive reinforcement she received.

"Of course it's a date!" Ino had exclaimed.

"I want one too," Sakura had sighed, and Hinata had quietly agreed with both sentiments.

The discussion had quickly moved on to the details of her date and Tenten had struggled to keep up with her friends' questions.

When Ino had finally asked her what she was going to wear, she had replied she hadn't really thought about it. That had been her second mistake. Ino had then decided that, as her friends, it was their job to help her get ready.

It was how, a day later, Tenten had woken up to the incessant ringing of the bell to find Ino at her doorstep, wearing her 'let's get down to business' face. Knowing resistance was futile, Tenten had grudgingly let her in.

They had spent the next hour rifling through Tenten's closet to find something acceptable for her to wear, and had eventually discovered a red cheongsam embroidered with a red dragon hidden at the bottom of her closet.

Ino had looked at the dress, then at Tenten, back and the dress again, and let out a low whistle.

"You are going to look so hot in this."

She had then urged her to try it on, and Tenten had, all the while wondering if there was really any point to it. It wasn't like she was trying to make a good first impression. She'd known Neji for years. And he was observant, sure, but Tenten was willing to bet her kunai collection he wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between the dress and her mission attire.

When she had finally donned the dress and emerged, Ino had gushed about how good it looked on her. Tenten had accepted her compliments with grace, and even promised her that she would indeed wear the dress to her date.

Ino had clapped her hands gleefully and declared, "And I have just the thing to go with it."

She had then retrieved a fancy box stuffed with tissue and silk and opened it to pull out a pair of black stilettos.

Tenten had deadpanned. "No, Ino. There's no way I'll be able to walk in those."

Ino had seemed unfazed, like she'd expected some sort of protest. "But Tenten, the girls and I bought them just for you," She had argued, "They're your size and everything. Besides, they'll make your feet look smaller and your legs look longer and well, they just go perfectly with your dress!"

Tenten had looked at Ino with that disgruntled look she usually reserved for Gai and Lee. She didn't understand why women would willingly put such deadly contraptions on their feet. The heel on those things had to be at least four inches long. And it was so pointy…and shiny. Tenten's eyes had glinted. Maybe the stilettos were good for something after all: they would make great weapons!

Ino's eyes had narrowed like she knew exactly what Tenten was thinking as she stared at the stilettos with an almost demonic look in her eye. "No, Tenten. No. Focus!"

As Ino had suspected, Tenten had indeed been thinking of all the ways she could maim, poke, and cut someone with the weap – shoes, shoes even held in her hands, but she snapped her head up at Ino's words.

Ino looked at her expectantly, relieved to see that the evil glint had left her eyes. Her relief was short-lived, however, for Tenten simply took to examining her nails disinterestedly when she realized Ino was not going to allow her to "play" with the stilettos.

"But why not?" Ino half-asked, half-whined.

"Let's see. They're uncomfortable. They'll make my feet hurt. They'll give me blisters. I don't know how to walk in them. I'll either keep tripping or end up walking so slowly I'll be trailing behind Neji all night…Should I go on?" Tenten had replied, using her fingers to mark the number of points she had and could make.

"Tsk Tsk Tenten! I'm astonished! Haven't you ever heard? No pain, no gain. Besides, you haven't even tried them on! If you did, you'd see. It doesn't even hurt that much. And besides, you can totally use the fact that you can't walk in them to your advantage! If you keep tripping, he'll have to catch you. Better yet you can use that as an excuse to grab his arm! And if you have to walk slowly that just means you can spend more time with him!"

Tenten had resisted the urge to face-palm. Where did Ino get this stuff?

"Oh come on! I'll even show you how to walk in them," Ino had offered, but Tenten had refused to budge.

Unfortunately, at that moment the rest of Tenten's date-prep brigade aka Hinata and Sakura had shown up.

Ino had looked to them for support. "Come on, guys! Help me convince Tenten that she should wear these totally gorgeous black stilettos that we – her loving friends – all chipped in to buy for her as a first date present, to her, I don't know, first date maybe?"

Tenten had groaned. Emotional blackmail? That was so unfair.

"You know what? Fine, Fine. I'll wear the damned shoes. Can we just move on from this topic already?"

Ino had grinned. "Great. Let's do her hair."

And that had been the end of that.

Only it hadn't been an end. It had been a beginning. A very painful beginning.

Tenten was surprised Ino hadn't made her sign a contract in blood declaring she would wear the shoes. They were sitting in her closet at this very moment, neatly tucked in their box. She had tried them on before, just so Ino could give her a few pointers on how to walk in them. It had been a little like what she imagined walking on stilts felt like. After an hour or two under Ino's tutelage, she had managed to learn how to walk in them without looking like a choking penguin on fire.

Tenten supposed she could just not wear the shoes, but she had her scruples. She'd more or less promised the girls that she would. Besides, the fact that they had bothered to buy her a present was really sweet and something she couldn't ignore.

So strengthening her resolve, Tenten made her way to her closet and took out the shoes. She slipped them on and looked over herself in the mirror once more. She had to admit she looked pretty good. Her hair was done up the usual way, except she'd added braids around the buns like Hinata had shown her. She'd even put on a little make up. As for the shoes, Tenten had to grudgingly admit that they looked well, amazing. They made her legs look hot, and this was the tallest she'd ever been.

Who would've thought? Dressing cute for a change was actually kind of nice.

She glanced at the clock in her room and decided it was time to leave. There was a still a while till the time she and Neji had agreed to meet, but she wanted to leave a little early because she wasn't sure how long it would take her to walk to the restaurant and she didn't want to be late.

As she left her apartment and made her way through the streets of Konoha, she realised that she felt a tad uncomfortable in her new clothes. She was used to the comfort of her baggy tops and pants and flat shoes. She felt like people (specifically males) were staring at her even though they probably weren't and she was just being self-conscious. She also realised that while the dress she had on was short, it felt even shorter because of the heels and she had to adjust it several times so she didn't feel like it was barely covering her butt. She should've put on some tights, she thought, and considered going back for some but decided it wasn't worth it because it would definitely make her late.

It surprisingly didn't take her as long as she thought it would to get to the restaurant and she managed to make it there before Neji. She was dying to sit down at that point so she went inside and got a table for the two of them.

Neji showed up a few minutes later right on time, looking in Tenten's opinion, as handsome as ever in a grey tsumugi.

The waitress showed him to the table Tenten had picked for them, and Neji looked slightly alarmed to see her there.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you?" he asked.

"No. I just got here five minutes ago."

She saw him give her a once over. If he noticed her new look, he didn't say. She'd expected as much, but she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, especially after all the trouble she'd gone through with the stilettos.

Dinner went well, and Tenten found herself unconsciously searching for signs that this was date. She noticed how Neji kept re-directing conversations about missions and training and village politics to other more generic topics throughout their meal, and once they were done, insisting on paying. She objected at first but eventually agreed. Neji was so stubborn; they would be at it all night if she didn't accept his request. It would just have to be her treat next time.

As they got up to leave, Tenten realised she hadn't been thinking all that much about her feet. She'd been too busy eating and talking, and well, not standing or walking. She'd forgotten she had the stilettos on. Her feet had been stewing in the cramped shoes for so long, they were completely sore. She found herself having to balance herself by placing a hand on Neji's shoulder.

Neji turned to look at her, concerned.

"Are you alright, Tenten?"

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied, letting go off his shoulder and wiggling her feet in her shoes.

His eyes wandered to her feet, but he didn't say anything.

"Shall we go?" Tenten asked.

Neji nodded.

They left the restaurant and wandered away from the lights and commotion of the shops and eateries in the village square to a secluded alleyway.

They stood in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the night: the hushed chatter of passer-by, the cricket song, and the hubbub of the village square that was barely audible from this distance.

Tenten finally spoke, breaking the silence. "We should head home."

Neji nodded, "Yes." He paused and stood up straight. "I'll walk you home."

Tenten found herself shaking her head. She could barely walk at this point and she didn't want him to see her hobbling home on account of her impractical choice of shoes.

Ok, so it hadn't really been a choice. But that wasn't a story she wanted to tell.

"There's no need for that. You don't have to go out of your way for me," she argued.

Neji's eyes travelled from the hem of her dress, down her legs, to her shoes. He frowned.

"Are you sure you'll be fine walking home by yourself?"

"I'll be fine. I can take care of myself."

"I never said you couldn't."

"Then you don't have to worry." She squeezed his hand goodbye and left.

Tenten tried to walk as slowly as possible as she proceeded home. Her feet were killing her. She'd had the heels on for so long now the pain was almost unbearable. She could feel her blistered skin rubbing against the inside of the shoes, and it burned. Her feet seriously needed to breathe. She just wanted the damned heels off. She had no idea how some women managed to wear such shoes on a daily basis.

"Hey gorgeous, would you like to grab a drink with me and my friend?"

Two men appeared out of nowhere in front of her, and Tenten almost tripped as she instinctively stepped back. She resisted the urge to groan. She did not want to deal with this right now.

"No. Get out of my face," she said bluntly, not bothering to be nice.

"Aw don't be like that," the one who had spoken before said, circling her like a vulture; his eyes roving up and down her body while the other one just stood there grinning at her like an idiot.

Tenten's face twisted in disgust.

"Seriously, I'm not interested. Get lost," she said with all the spite she could muster.

"Aw feisty," Idiot number one leered as he placed an arm around her.

And that was when Tenten lost it. She started to laugh. It was a full on shoulders-shaking manic out-of-control laugh. She felt sorry for these men. She did. They probably had no idea she was a kunoichi who could kick their sorry asses in her sleep. Worse, she was a tired and pissed-off kunoichi with blistered feet who was going to annihilate them.

The men began to slowly back away when they realized she was laughing and emanating a deadly sort of aura.

"I've waited a long time to do this," she said as she slipped off her stilettos and held them in her hands like weapons.

The men paled. Tenten made quick work of them, leaving them hanging by a tree from their underwear. Hopefully she'd taught them a lesson and they would think twice before harassing a woman wearing stilettos. Or any woman at all, really.

"Was that really necessary?" an amused male voice said aloud.

"Neji!" Tenten exclaimed, turning around to the direction of the voice. "Wha – wait, were you tailing me?"

Neji ignored her question. "You could have easily beaten them with your taijutsu skills alone."

Tenten pouted as she slipped on the heels. "Where's the fun in that?"

Neji made his way over to her. "Your feet hurt." It was a statement, not a question.

Tenten sighed.

He looked down at her shoes. "Those look uncomfortable."

"They are."

Neji looked like he wanted to ask then why wear them, but thought better of it.

Tenten, noticing Neji's unasked question, did something unexpected. She slid her arms around his neck and looked up at him seductively as she said, "Because they're a weapon in more than one way."

She expected him to scoff or just look at her blankly. Instead she saw his gaze unintentionally divert towards her bare legs and linger for a moment before he blushed and looked away.

Boy, did he know what she was talking about.

"Know what?" she said, linking her arm with his and grinning. "I think I'll let you walk me home after all."