How life will play us all.

Neji stared. Staring wasn't anything particularly new to the Hyuuga, but staring at the newly proclaimed jonin Tenten (insert last name here) was.

Tenten's team (Gai and Lee, not the Hyuuga) had decided to take her out for dinner following her recent promotion, but dinner in the establishments of Konoha almost always meant alcohol, sake to be precise, hence and why Neji Hyuuga was staring.

After a few hours, Tenten (insert last name here) had consumed approximately enough alcohol to cause a small elephant to keel over (the bartender had needed assistance carrying the several boxes of hard liquor from the basement to Team Gai's table).

Neji had never seen Tenten drink. He had never even seen her consume traditional wine; she'd always claimed that wine made her feel womanly. Neji had never considered that she might just prefer stronger alcoholic beverages.

Lee, being the fool that he was, continued to cheer Tenten on, while Gai had a smug look of pride on his face. Neji didn't say anything.

Tenten did not look phased in the slightest as she stared down the older, taller, more muscular, more experienced, more . . . slouched, sloshed, slurring jonin of Mist, while Neji couldn't stop staring at Tenten. He had known that she was strong, he had trained with her after all, but this was just strange and horrifying. Both of his old teammates apparently became monsters whenever alcohol entered their systems.

When the visiting ninja from Mist had appeared and called Tenten a 菟athetic excuse for a jonin,Tenten already had about five drinks in her system; frighteningly, they'd only been in the restaurant for twenty minutes.

Tenten, the well-adjusted teammate, the one who balanced Neji's stoicism with Lee's exuberance, had raised her eyes from the greasy mass of slop that she'd insisted on ordering, and her face had faded from a true smile, into an evil smirk complete with squinted eyes, ever so slowly. She had looked at the jonin, up and down very slowly, still saying nothing, and then completely calmly said, 展ere you insulting my abilities? Because if you were, then I must tell you that I will rip out your intestines through your sliced throat. And don't worry about the impossibility of that act, as I can assure you from experience that your meters of intestine will come out through your severed trachea. I had to do it once, a moronic Mist-nin not unlike yourself had seen fit to swallow a key that I needed. It actually took him several minutes to die since I didn't sever the head completely, and allowed his brain to keep processing. I occasionally wonder what he was thinking, since I stared into his eyes as he died. I'm not very skilled in medical ninjustu, one of my few flaws which I would accept criticism for, but I do have enough talent to keep victims alive as long as I need."

She then turned away from the Mist jonin, maintaining her smirk for only a few moments before it faded back into a true smile for her teammates. She acted as if nothing had happened, and Gai and Lee didn't even seem to notice. Neither had jumped to her defense (an extreme surprise) and both just continued with their meal as if their fairly calm and fairly rationale teammate had not just threatened another jonin with some frightening form of murder that not even Neji had ever considered.

The Mist jonin must have seen fit to return to his own table, although Neji could still feel his killing intent drifting toward Team Gai. Neji brushed off the slight, preferring instead to focus on his teammate. She had gone back to eating, chatting, and pounding down drinks.

Neji didn't like surprises. He actually hated surprises with a passion only rivaling his hate of fate, as such, he hated seeing someone that he had believed complete in his assessment, do something unexpected.

He'd tried to return to the conversation, answering questions with his monosyllabic responses, but he was distracted and a few times didn't respond at all to his teammates questions. Tenten had drunk an entire three bottles of sake, four bottles of some other 砥ltra potentbeverage, and another sixteen beers. Tenten, and by association and the lack of response, Gai and Lee, were hiding something from him.

After she finished her last drink, Tenten calmly excused herself and left for the bathroom. Neji finally had moments in which to question his teammates, all he needed to do was intercept her on her return, but he noticed the Mist jonin following Tenten. The killing intent had abated, but Neji could not see any good interaction taking place between the newest jonin of Konoha, and the Mist-nin.

He'd made a move to stand, when Gai had firmly grasped Neji's arm from across the table, without even pausing in his story to Lee. Gai and Lee were still physically stronger than Neji, and Gai easily pulled Neji back into the booth without a word.

Neji scowled at his sensei, trying to force the man to tell him what was going on through sheer strength of will. Gai ignored the stare, not even releasing Neji's arm until Tenten sauntered back into view with the Mist-nin arm-in-arm.

Tenten returned to her seat next to Lee, and the Mist-nin, much to Neji's displeasure, sat next to the silent brooder.

"Lee, Gai-sensei, Neji,Tenten began with a deeper voice than Neji recalled her ever using, 鍍his is Mizu. He just asked to join us for the evening to celebrate my promotion!

Neji once more watched Tenten's face morph. Gone were the harsh lines and toughness of the kunoichi, in their places were the finesse and softness of a woman. She touched the man in front of her, stroking his face, his hand, and unless Neji were sorely mistaken, his leg from beneath the table.

Neji had sat back and observed. He'd watched Tenten and the Mizu guy drink together, with Tenten slowly becoming more and more flirtatious. He'd seen her pinch , lick, and kiss the Mist-nin's cheek, and do several unknown things beneath the table. Lee and Gai hadn't reacted to any of this at all, unless cheering on the impromptu drinking contest counted, but Neji, poor Neji had wanted desperately to escape from the restaurant. He'd kept his eyes on the faces of Lee, Gai, and occasionally Tenten, avoiding looking anywhere else. Only Gai-sensei's earlier grasp on his arm told Neji that something else was going on.

Mizu had drunkenly reached forward once more to pat the cheek of a sultry Tenten, when he had slumped forward and not lifted himself back up. Tenten had reached forward then, touched the Mist-nin's neck for a moment, before slumping forward herself. Neji hadn't been swift enough to stop her from falling, but Lee and Gai had easily caught her before she had slid out of the booth.

"Yosh, our lovely flower of a teammate has passed out from too much libations!Lee had shouted in despair. 敵ai-sensei, we'll have to return her home ourselves!"

"Yosh my wonderful student! Let us return our lovely flower to her home!The two green-clad men had seemed much too calm and . . . rational than Neji knew them to be. He followed them as they sped across the rooftops, expecting the two green beasts to head toward Tenten's home, only feeling mildly surprised when they had ended up at Konoha's hospital. Something was going on, and the Hokage's presence at the hospital entrance was a welcomed relief.

Lee dropped down, right in front of the Hokage, following Lady Tsunade into the bleak and semi-dark halls of the hospital.

"How'd she do, Gai?Lady Tsunade asked without looking back.

Gai's enthusiasm had returned for real, as he shouted far too loud for a near empty hall way. 添osh! Our beautiful flower of youthful exuberance has battled and slain her first foe as a jonin! We must have another celebration to celebrate her youthful triumph! If we do not, then I will . . . Neji blocked out the rest of what he had to say and whatever Lee shouted in reply. They reached a room in the far corner of the hospital, where Lee gently laid Tenten down before he and Gai continued on their youthful rant.

Lady Tsunade stepped forward and spread her hands over Tenten as an all too familiar green chakra spread out over Tenten. 鏑ady Tsunade,Neji asked, trying very hard not to disrupt whatever the Hokage was doing, 殿m I to understand that Tenten was assigned to kill that Mizu from Mist?"

She did not pause in her jutsu before replying, 添es, but you weren't there for Tenten's jonin trials. You missed that bit. Mizu was not from Mist. He was a missing-nin from Sand. He joined Mist and was giving away village secrets. Sand couldn't kill him without an international incident and unless there was an 殿ccident,there was no way to avoid a fight. Tenten did Gaara a favor by killing the bastard. His brother, that puppet-guy, asked Tenten to take out Mizu during the matches. She'd asked my permission, which I had hastily given (it was always good to have a favored owed from a Kazekage) and come up with the plan 's chakra slowly faded away, leaving Tenten looking peaceful on the bed. 溺izu will never wake up from his overzealous drinking binge. Official reports will state that he killed himself; unofficial will take note of Tenten's jutsu for alcohol transfers. It's an A-class secret, so keep your mouth Hokage finished and removed her hands before transferring her attention back to everyone in the room."

"Tenten is fine,she declared to the three men. Lee and Gai had stopped momentarily in their insane tirades about youth and flowers, and beauty to listen to the Hokage. 鉄he'll need some rest after that jutsu, though. Nothing's wrong except a bit of chakra depletion. She can go home in the Hokage walked out of the room without another word. It was far too late, and the Hokage was clammering for some alcohol herself.

Lee and Gai-sensei followed shortly after, leaving with far too loud goodbyes and congratulations for a resting Tenten.

Neji stayed behind to watch Tenten until she awoke. He decided to never miss another momentous occasion in Tenten's life again; Neji hated surprises, especially anything related to his female teammate.