Disclaimer: I want to own Naruto, but I just can't. Tee-hee.

Dedicated to all NejixTenten lovers out there.

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THE RIGHT WAY

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Chapter 1

Avoiding Him IS Hard

Tenten looked around her, making sure that all targets were put correctly on the correct places.

"Yosh!" She grinned at Lee, who was sitting peacefully, watching her, on a bench, "Check this out!"

She stepped forwards, leaped from her ready stance and threw all kind of weapons: shurikens, kunais, spears, and swords, to the targets. Having nearly one hundred percent accuracy, her weapons jabbed right on the middle of the target, leaving Lee cheering. "Wow, Tenten! You sure have enough flames for our lovely youth training!"

Tenten smiled. A soft smile, that's what. She put her hands on her hips as she said, "Now after warming up, let's get the sparring match on, Lee!" She instructed energetically, and Lee stood up, getting into his battle stance. Tenten skipped away from him, readying her weapons.

Just as Tenten got the urge to blow all of her weapons to Lee, a certain boy happened to approach their place. That boy was the one and only Hyuuga Neji. Or should I say, THE Hyuuga Neji.

"Hello, Neji!" Lee greeted cheerfully as the Hyuuga walked to them, "Isn't today a splendid wonderful day for training?"

"..." was all he gave as reply. Neji turned to Tenten, who was now arranging her weapons skillfully. "... Tenten..." He muttered, "I thought yesterday you said that you are too tired to be training today?"

It was more like a statement than a question.

Tenten grinned half-heartedly, avoiding eye contact with the Byakugan user. "Yeah, but I figured out that I'm fine..." She replied hastily, "So I came to train with Lee."

"I see..."

An awkward silence.

"Then shall we, Tenten?" asked Lee, breaking the silence, although he was being insensitive. Tenten exhaled her breath and skipped backwards. "Okay."

Neji stepped away and sat on a branch while Lee and Tenten get the sparring match on. It was strange, he thought as he kept his eyes to his teammates, but Tenten seems to be busier these days.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud "Hayah!" that came from Lee. That boy was running around in circles, like there was no tomorrow anymore. Neji turned to look at Tenten. The weapon mistress looked greatly annoyed, and strangely uncomfortable.

"Lee, we're not finished!" She shouted, and Lee came prancing to her, kicking and punching randomly in process. He tripped just when he arrived in front of his female teammate.

The girl shook her head in disapproval. As Lee stood up, she practically yelled, "What's wrong with you, Lee!"

Lee grinned happily. "I'm too happy that we are ALL HERE TO CELEBRATE THE DAYS OF YOUTH!"

"No, we're not. We're having a spar match, remember?" Tenten interrupted his happiness.

"But the days of youth-!" Lee protested, and five shurikens flew to him, which he dodged easily. He stared at Tenten hard and long. She returned the look with a glare, "Now you're serious?"

Lee readied himself as he ran to Tenten. The weapon mistress looked calm and impassive, just un-Tenten-ly that Lee stopped right in front of her again. "Let's celebrate our days of youth, Tente..." He was just about to begin, when five shurikens were threw at the unready him, sticking him on a tree straight from Tenten's position.

The girl sighed and gathered her weapons, then stepped to Lee, who was really stuck to the tree. "I shouldn't have been training with you, then, Lee." She said sharply, "I'll find Shikamaru to train with me tomorrow."

Oddly enough, friendship has started to bloom between the two ever since they met at the markets a few months ago. They were not best friends, but if it was for training, Shikamaru had always agree, even though he never stopped saying, "How troublesome." to Tenten.

"You can train with me." A cold, manly voice interrupted. Without even looking back, Tenten knew that it was Neji. She turned and faced Neji. "You train with Lee." She said, more like an order than an advice.

Neji stared at Tenten, a little confusion heading to his brain, but he didn't show it. Oh, the emotionless Hyuuga wouldn't even think of showing it, so he gave nothing except a short "Hn." as a reply.

"I'll be off." Tenten waved goodbye and walked away, leaving Lee stabbed to the tree and Neji silent, thinking.

What was that? He thought, was Tenten avoiding me? But why?

"Neji, hey, Neji." Lee called, interrupting his thoughts, "Since Tenten put too much power in her blow just then, I can't get free without ruining my clothes."

Neji stared at him quizzically. "..."

"Help me." Lee stated, and Neji did.

Neither of them -Lee was too dense, and Neji was practically too occupied by his thoughts- noticed that Maito Gai was peeking behind a tree, one kilometer from their spot, grinning wildly. "Oh, the beautiful days of youth!" He whispered to himself as he vanished.

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Knock! Knock!

Shikamaru sighed. Now who was going to bother my peaceful day? he thought grimly as he walked to the door and opened it, only to reveal a seventeen years old weapon mistress there. "Oh. You."

"It's me." Tenten replied huffily.

"What dya want?"

The girl looked a little hesitant, but she quickly replied, "I need you to train with me tomorrow, Shikamaru." She said, "Please. It won't be boring."

"How troublesome." Shikamaru answered as he stretched himself. "Why me?"

"No reason."

"Then go with Neji." The shadow boy replied, "I wanna play cards all day, you know."

Tenten shrugged, and she looked at Shikamaru hopefully. The boy looked at her with a 'how-troublesome look and asked, "Is there something between you and Neji?"

"No."

That was to hasty for a reply.

Shikamaru eyed Tenten suspiciously. "Oh, whatever."

"Then, tomorrow, 5.30 AM, meet me at the training grounds..."

"How troublesome." Shikamaru interrupted before Tenten even finished saying her sentence.

"... Or else." She finished, readying shurikens between her fingers.

Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Okay."

"Thanks."

"You're troublesome, you know that?"

"Yeah." Tenten nodded, "Then, goodbye."

With that settled, she leaped out from his house, and quickly vanished between the people in the streets.

o-x-o

Very early in the morning, Tenten went out of her house, thinking that she will have a good walk around Konoha first before training with Shikamaru.

As she exited the gate, she noticed that a certain boy was there, standing with a cool expression on his face. It was, as you may have already guessed, Neji.

Having a faithful good instinct, Neji noticed that Tenten was there, staring at him. "Hey." He greeted casually and took a step forward, as Tenten stepped backwards instead.

"Why are you here?" She asked flatly, obviously avoiding Neji's eyes.

"I want to talk to you." The Hyuuga prodigy replied coolly, as he walked closer to Tenten.

The weapon mistress shook her head wildly. "Sorry. Got no time." Seeing a disbelieving expression on Neji's eyes, she quickly reasoned, "Shikamaru will be waiting for me at the woods."

"Oh."

A very awkward silence.

"Then, I'll be going." Tenten said nervously as she walked away. "Bye, err... Hyuuga."

Hyuuga? Neji winked as he watched his female teammate walked away. She called him Hyuuga? Now, what did I do wrong? He turned, wanting to stop Tenten, but the girl seemed to have vanished.

He frowned as he walked away. Why do I even care, anyway?

Meanwhile, Tenten walked -no, she practically ran- to Shikamaru's house. She had made up a reason to Neji just then, and knowing him, he wouldn't buy it.

She knocked on the door anxiously, and the door opened in about five seconds. It was Shikamaru's mother. "Shikamaru, your girlfriend is here!" She said, making Tenten more anxious at that right thought. She heard Shikamaru sighed grumpily as he appeared to the door.

"Mom, Tenten is not my girlfriend!" He protested, and his mom left the door as soon as he approached Tenten. "So, why are you here now? It's not 5.30. Yet."

"Please start now." Tenten pleaded, exhausted. "I've made a huge mistake."

"Oh?" Shikamaru yawned. "How troublesome."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The weapon mistress said irritatedly, "Then let's go."

Without waiting for Shikamaru's answer, she dragged him away from his house. "Oi, Oi, Tenten..." he protested, but the girl made no respond.

Shikamaru sighed. Girls, are troublesome.

They arrived at the woods, and Shikamaru laid himself under a tree. "I'm lazy." He declared, and Tenten kicked his side. "Wake up, fool. We'll train. Nah, I mean, you train me."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

Tenten grinned. "I told you, it won't be boring." She said. "Let's play Shougi."

Shikamaru leaned up, looking shocked. "Shougi?" He repeated, a little worried. It was not often when a girl asked him to play Shougi. Worse, it's Tenten who did. Tenten, the weapon mistress, who loves training as she loves chinese food! It was a little unbelievable. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine."

Shikamaru sighed. "Now that you're acting weird," He said, "I was beginning to get really curious about what happened between you and Neji."

"This has nothing to do with him!" Tenten shrieked, looking flushed all of a sudden. "It's only... Shikamaru, since when do you care about these things?"

The boy grinned. "It's troublesome." He pointed out, "But Temari told me that troublesome things are worth it. Sometimes, though." He added hastily, making Tenten laughed half-heartedly.

Silence.

"So?" Shikamaru broke the silence. "Do you have any intention in telling me?"

"How come you and Temari got together?" Tenten replied with a question, having changing the subject sharply. Shikamaru sighed. "Is it that weird?"

"Nah. You make a good couple."

"I know. You and Neji too."

"Why always him?" Tenten asked desperately. "Why always Neji?"

"Do you prefer Lee, then?"

"No, but why Neji?" The weapon mistress looked enraged that Shikamaru even felt a little scared of her actions. "I mean, right. Neji's cool, calm, and collected, but he's... Oh, screw that! Why him?"

Shikamaru looked thoughtful for a while - an expression he hardly ever shown - and answered, "Well... maybe it's because you love him."

"I do not!"

"Really?" The shadow user looked surprised. "But you two looked like it..."

"WHAT?" Tenten pulled Shikamaru's shoulders and shook him violently, "We do not! WE DO NOT, OKAY? Oh, geez!"

Shikamaru grinned. "Okay, okay, you do not look like a couple." He said, freeing himself from Tenten's hands. "Don't get so violent, okay? But you do look like you love him."

"I so do not!" Tenten screamed, grabbing Shikamaru's collars, but the guy cleverly dodged it. "Geez! Why do you say that?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Now, Tenten. It's pointless to hide your feelings from me." He grinned. "I can see it."

"You can't see something that doesn't even exist!" The girl said energetically, "Now let's just put off the topic and started training!"

"It's still Shougi, right?" Shikamaru grinned as he pulled out a board of shougi from his bag. "I happened to bring this thing with me."

"Okay." Tenten answered and settled down, even though she looked uncertain. After a while, they were both too occupied with the game to notice that Hyuuga Neji was standing not far away from them, clearly listening to every word they said.

And neither of them noticed that he was wearing a very cold expression in his eyes.

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Shougi: Japanese chess.

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This is my first shot on NejiTen - also my first fic for Naruto, and it will consist of two chapters. It will not be long, but I tried to write it lightly so that it would bring no heavy effects… if you know what I mean.

And thank you to all who reads this. Please review and tell me what I should do to improve this piece of writing!

Thanks!