A/N: I usually don't see the point in these opening chapters where the author tells you something, you probably aren't all that interested in reading in the first place. However, in this case, I feel I need to explain this story before we get into it.

First off, this is mostly for people who aren't aware of where this story comes from… for those of you who've followed 1S:NxT (my difficult abbreviation for my story "One-Shot: Neji x Tenten"), to Wind and Dragon (hereafter W&D), already know how this multi-chapter story came from (I'm sorry… last one… lol)… you can skip to the last paragraph of this note and then continue on to chapter 9.

For the rest of you:

The original Ryoku/Xiu-Juan story came about in chapter 12 of 1S:NxT, initially as just a silly little one-shot… well, Ryoku was so loved (myself included as president of his fan club… though still very much the Kakashi fangirl XP), that, for Christmas, I decided to do a second shot (which is my way of saying story, or one-shot, without the 'one'… not sure if anyone else uses that… but everyone should, just putting it out there XP).

After that, I was asked to do another shot staring Ryoku (and I quote) "giving Neji hell." That one was very well received, and the applications for the Ryoku fan club came pouring in! XP So I did chapters 28 through 32 on the same storyline. However, it was at that point, that I realized I needed to pull it out of my 'One-shot' Collection because the chapters were all scattered about… and for various other reasons, which I won't go into because no one really cares about that… anyway…

So I hope you all enjoy the story!

And for those of you who've followed the chapters over from 1S:NxT… I LOVE YOU!... lol… thanks so much…. Oh, and start at chapter 9, that would have been chapter 32 in 1S:NxT.