"So is the rumor true?" Ino leaned forward expectantly.

Tenten was confused by the sudden shift in conversation. She had just been explaining to the girl's the importance of weapon upkeep. No wonder Ino had looked so excited about metal polish. "What rumor?"

"About the mission of course!? I heard from Oyone who heard from Mizaki who heard from Shizune who heard from Tsunade that you would be going on a week long mission with Naruto and Neji."

"Umm yea, it's true. Lee was supposed to go, but after he carried Guy Sensei around Konoha 200 times he overextended his leg again."

"He's lucky the stupid thing hasn't snapped off yet," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Yah, yah, boring leg, stupid haircut…but back to the important part! This is perfect. It's been forever since one of us was teamed up with Naruto and I've come up with the perfect plan to get Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja to finally see the light." Ino was practically bouncing in her seat.

Tenten shifted her chair further away, wishing for the umpteenth time that night that she hadn't gone to the market and subsequently been kidnapped by Ino and Sakura. At least Hinata was there too, though the girl had barely spoken. With the mention of Naruto though the girl had perked up.

"What's wrong with Naruto?" Hinata whispered, her eyes wide and worried.

"It would be easier to give you a list of what isn't wrong with him," Sakura said distractedly. She was back to her original task of messing with Tenten's buns. Tenten was tempted to swat the pinkette's hands away as if she was an annoying fly buzzing around, but she doubted it would do any good. If there was one thing Tenten knew about Sakura and Ino it was that once they set their minds to something they didn't let go.

"There's nothing wrong with Naruto, Hinata. I just saw him a few hours ago and he was his usual chipper self. I'd be more worried about him once we hit the road – Neji is not the most patient shinobi in the world. He was really looking forward to having a mission without Lee for once, so he was not happy in the slightest when Tsunade told us at the last second that Naruto would be tagging along."

"Oh I'm sure he was really looking forward to being alone on the road with just you." Ino was smirking knowingly across from her, her eyebrows wagging suggestively.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked, regretting it the second the words left her mouth. Ino's smirk morphed into a look of disbelief and Sakura's hands stopped fiddling with Tenten's hair. Even Hinata looked bemused as she avoided eye contact and fidgeted with her hands.

"Kami-sama, you might need this more than Naruto does."

Tenten ignored Ino's vague answer and leapt at the opportunity to finally escape Sakura's apartment now that all three girls were distracted. "Look, we leave really early for this mission tomorrow morning, so I really need to get home to pack. Thanks for having me over."

Ino ran to stop Tenten, using her body to block the narrow hallway that led to the door. "Wait! At least let me tell you the plan! It's for Hinata's sake." Ino flashed Tenten her famous wide, blue, puppy-dog eyes. Tenten hesitated. She didn't really need to go pack. She'd been ready to go for over a week now. And she was very fond of Hinata, especially since the sweet girl was her teammate's cousin. Not to mention she was curious…

"Five minutes." Tenten deadpanned. She shuffled back to her seat flashing Hinata a smile as the poor girl's face turned a faint shade of pink. It was a shame that Naruto only ever saw Hinata when she was tomato-red.

Sakura's hands were back in her hair in an instant, but Tenten just slumped in defeat. She waved her hand in Ino's direction, inviting the girl to start talking.

...

This was not a good idea. Not a good idea at all.

And yet it was brilliant. It had potential and might actually be dumb witted enough to work, but Kami it was insane.

Tenten tugged nervously at her bun as she thought through the plan that Ino had laid out the night before. Tenten was totally on board, right up until the moment when Ino forbade her from telling Neji. She could think of no possible reason to explain why Neji's knowledge of the plan would ruin it. All that his ignorance would lead to was a world of embarrassment for her. Ino had been adamant though, so in the end she had grudgingly agreed.

For the next week, Tenten would take on all of the mannerisms of Hinata around Neji. The plan relied on Tenten keeping Naruto as a confidant, convincing him that she had feelings for her partner, and then acting like Hinata around said partner until Naruto was able to connect the dots. She really hoped he wasn't as dimwitted as everyone always made him sound so that she could call this secret mission off as soon as possible. The fact that Naruto was the only shinobi – hell, the only citizen – in the entire Leaf Village that was ignorant of Hinata's feelings didn't leave her with much confidence.

Tenten was distracted by these thoughts as she trudged through the dimly lit streets of Konoha on her way to the gate. It wasn't until she had already walked 10 paces past him that her sleep-deprived brain registered his presence leaning against the guard post.

She swung around to face him and was surprised to see a bemused grin on his face. "Still asleep are we?" If Tenten had thought her partner capable of making jokes, she might of thought he was teasing her. But Neji didn't like jokes. She wrote it off as bad lighting and assumed his question was out of concern for the mission.

"No, I'm awake. I was just thinking about something Sakura and Ino were talking about last night." Neji's eyes narrowed as if he might be worried and he looked as if he was about to say something, but before he was able to respond an orange blur leapt down from the roof above them.

"Yo, Neji, Tenten! Let's get this party on the road!"

"You're late." Neji's tone had grown bitter, which confused Tenten since he had seemed to be in such a good mood only a moment ago. Tenten cast him a questioning look, but he was too busy scowling at Naruto to notice.

"Am not! Granny said we were meeting at the gate at 5. It's 5!"

"Being on time means that you're ten minutes late on this team. Don't sweat it though. I was late too, right Neji?"

Naruto clapped his hand on Tenten's shoulder. "Thanks for the warning. I will be early from hear on out, Captain." Naruto stood at attention, grinning from ear to ear.

Tenten shifted nervously as she observed Neji glaring between the two of them. He had been known for his angry temper as a genin, but since his promotion to Chunin Neji had been much more level-headed and fair.

She slid to the side as Neji stalked between the gap separating her from Naruto. Naruto leaned down to whisper in Tenten's ear. "Not a morning person, eh?"

Tenten giggled. "You could say that."

...

The two trailed behind Neji as the pre-dawn light made its first debut. Tenten knew that now was the perfect time to lay the framework for Ino's plan. Neji wouldn't have them take to the trees until dawn hit and he was far enough ahead of them that if she whispered he wouldn't overhear.

"I'm kind of nervous about this mission." Tenten turned to eye Naruto as she tried really hard to infuse an undertone of anxiety into her voice.

"Why? It's only a Rank B mission." Tenten wanted to slam her head into one of these trees. Naruto was loud as ever. Tenten watched nervously out of the corner of her eye as Neji looked over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed.

When Neji's attention was turned back towards the path in front of them she pressed on. "Shhhh…he'll hear you." Hinata's mannerisms. Tenten racked her brain trying to think of what Hinata did when she was nervous. The image of the girl playing with her fingers the night before flashed to the forefront of Tenten's memories, so she began nervously pushing her two pointer fingers together.

Naruto caught onto the fact that Tenten was trying to be secretive. He lowered his head to whisper. "Why are you worried about Neji hearing? If there's something about the mission you're worried about we should all talk about it now before the plan is already set in motion."

Tenten ducked her head like Hinata did when trying to avoid Ino's prying questions about a certain blonde ninja. She also began tugging at the strands of hair around her face, willing her cheeks to warm up out of embarrassment. How did Hinata manage to do this all the time? It was a lot of hard work.

"It's not the mission….it's…it's him." Tenten threw in Hinata's telltale stutter.

Naruto's expression took on a hard look as he glared at the boy in front of them. "What did he do to you?"

Tenten giggled again. If only Ino could see her now. Two giggles in one morning. "No, silly." She swatted his arm. "Neji is….he's amazing." Tenten tried to mimic the star struck look Hinata always got when defending Naruto to their friends.

"If he's amazing then what are you worried about?" Naruto looked confused. Tenten had hoped he would have picked up on all of this by now – she had been laying it on pretty thick.

She pressed her eyes shut, preparing herself to do a Hinata rant where she extoled Neji's every virtue, but she bumped into something before she could open her mouth.

Her eyes popped open and were met with the famous Hyuga glare. It wasn't directed at her though, but just over her shoulder. The intensity of his white eyes reminded her of how he looked when his Byakugan was activated – like he could see through everything with one glance.

Of course! The light bulb went off in Tenten's head as she stealthily slid her arm up to her neck.

Training with Neji these last few years had added a whole new arsenal to her close-quarters combat capabilities. But one trick in particular would be particularly beneficial in this moment. Not only had he taught her where to hit chakra points, but he had also showed her where to press on a person's neck to make them pass out. The faint: a classic Hinata move since their genin days.

Tenten sucked in a deep breath as she jabbed just the right spot on her neck. Black spots filled her vision, knees buckling, and two pairs of strong arms grasped her around the waist as her world faded to black.

...

"What did you do?" Neji growled at the blonde idiot who was staring confusedly at Tenten's slumped form.

"Nothing, she was just talking and then she bumped into you. It's kind of weird that she passed out. She seemed fine a second ago." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

Neji rolled his eyes as he slid his right arm down to get a grip under Tenten's knees. He lifted her bridal style, her head coming to rest against his neck. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Neji turned back to the path.

"Shouldn't we let her rest….like against a tree or something?"

"Hn."

"It's just that that's what Kiba and Shino always do with Hinata. Now that girl passes out a lot. I wonder if it's a girl thing. I don't get teamed up with Tenten very often. Does she do this a lot? Sakura never really faints….or at least not since we were genin. Back when it was the three of us, she used to pass out all the time. It was the weirdest thing. Maybe I should ask Shikamaru if Ino passes out a lot. I mean, I know that her mind transfer technique makes her body appear to pass out all the time, but I wonder if she does it when she isn't using any jutsu as well."

Neji glared at the path in front of him as he tried to tune out Naruto's incessant talking. He was angry, seething. With his Byakugan activated earlier he had watched as Tenten flirted with Naruto. He'd known Tenten for over ten years and not once had she ever acted shy and nervous. Around anyone. Ever.

"The way Tenten passed out was weird though." That sentence caught Neji's attention.

"How so?"

Naruto's voice took on a more excited tone as he realized he had an audience to listen to him. "Well I was just thinking about the times when Hinata used to pass out. She would always get really incoherent, her face would get really red, and then her body would sway around before she lost consciousness. Tenten didn't do any of that. It looked more like Ino's jutsu. That sudden collapse; no warning signs."

Neji stared down at the girl in his arms. Naruto was right. Neji had spent years watching his cousin embarrass herself in front of her crush. It took a lot of anxiety for Hinata to get worked up into a state that would cause her to pass out, and it only happened when in close proximity to the world's most clueless shinobi.

Neji activated his Byakugan, scanning Tenten's chakra network. His eyes narrowed in on the spot on her neck. Pinpoint precision. He smirked. His teammate always did have perfect aim.

Neji cast another look behind him where Naruto was still blathering on about the girls in the Konoha 12. And it clicked. A laugh escaped his lips before he could suppress it. Ino and Sakura. Tenten had told him less than half an hour ago about how she was caught up thinking about something Ino and Sakura had said. And now here she was, acting completely unlike his Tenten and exactly like his cousin.

This was going to be fun.