I worked all stinkin' day on this. Plus a couple of hours last night. Yeah.

Muchos gracias much to the many bands that got me through: Fall Out Boy; The Afters; Falling Up; Switchfoot. They rock.

Anyway. This is a one-shot basically about Neji's teammates coming to his house for what is formally the first time. Mhm. I wrote this as in-between the time skip, sort of. They're seventeen, so it's close to when Naruto returns. There are some spoilers. Proceed at your own caution.

Neji/TenTen pairing!! Yay!!

If it's OoC, I extremely apologize. I tried as best I could.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns all of this. Unfortunately.

Maybe.

"Neji . . . I think we're outnumbered."

Neji's mouth quirked in a grim smirk that read: You think?

"Obviously," he finally said lowly.

TenTen narrowed her eyes.

"How do you want to do this?" he asked her quietly, before she could respond to his previous comment.

TenTen looked around the tree bark slightly. Their targets had been changing location often since they had caught wind their illegal activity had been noticed. Fortunately for TenTen and Neji, their targets had stopped in a clearing to set up plans for their next deal.

"Well," started TenTen anxiously, "preferably a way that neither of us dies."

Neji rolled his eyes, glancing at her.

"You're not scared are you?" he asked, searching her face thoroughly with the infamous Byakugan eyes.

TenTen looked away so he wouldn't see the fear in her brown eyes.

"No," she replied crisply.

Neji let a quiet chuckle escape his lips.

"TenTen, you always were a terrible liar. You didn't even try, that time."

TenTen half-turned to him.

"What do you mean I'm a terrible liar? I'm a great liar!" she hissed. "Just because you can see through everything, you human x-ray, doesn't mean I'm not a great liar!"

Neji snorted.

"Human x-ray?" he inquired to her, smirking.

TenTen narrowed her eyes, and let her arm fly, intending to hit the Hyuga across the chest. Neji caught her wrist however, before she could make contact.

"We need to focus," said Neji seriously, activating his Byakugan to see their target below.

TenTen snatched her wrist back and grunted, turning once more, slightly, to see them.

They were standing around a low stump, using it as a makeshift table.

"Hey, Neji," whispered TenTen, a thought occurring to her.

Neji raised an eyebrow to signal for her to go ahead.

"We've never had dinner at your house," said TenTen, turning to look at Neji once more.

Neji retracted his Byakugan to look over at his teammate in astonishment, his brow furrowed.

"What?"

"You've had dinner with us plenty of times. Even Guy-sensei. But we've never had dinner with you, at your house."

Neji stared at her.

"Can we talk about this later? Now is not the time, in case you haven't noticed," replied Neji, turning his back to her as he watched their targets again.

"Fine," grumbled TenTen, disgruntled. "I'm going now."

Neji didn't protest as TenTen flung herself from behind the tree, a scroll already finding its way into her grasp. He rolled his eyes. Great. Apparently in her haste, she had forgotten their previous conversation on the element of surprise. Neji dropped down from the tree also, grudgingly, and began fighting with his teammate.

After they had taken out their targets and disposed of them, TenTen and Neji started back to Konoha to report their completion to Lady Tsunade.

"So, can we?" inquired TenTen as they neared Konoha's gate.

"Can we what?" asked Neji, wondering just who she was referring to by using 'we'.

"Me, Lee, and Guy-sensei come eat at your house!"

Neji glanced over at her. She looked . . . hopeful.

"It's not a good idea," Neji said bluntly.

"Why not?" TenTen asked, while hitting him on the arm playfully.

"Because," Neji answered firmly.

"What's the reason?" asked TenTen, bristling.

Neji turned to her, stopping on the road.

"You remember before the Chunin Exams, a few years ago, don't you?"

TenTen nodded impatiently.

"Well, even though attitudes between my family and I have improved, there's still tension. You wouldn't want to be there, subject to questioning."

TenTen thought about this for a second before her eyes lit up. Neji looked away, wary of that look she got sometimes.

"You care about us," TenTen said finally, pleased, and starting to walk again.

Neji didn't say anything. TenTen grinned, but Neji, who was dutifully avoiding her gaze, did not see it.

"You're embarrassed, aren't you?" asked TenTen after another minute of silence.

Neji jerked his head in a noncommittal way, but TenTen knew that, deep down, he was. TenTen smirked, and closed some of the distance between them, pulling Neji into a half-hug. Neji stiffened, and TenTen pulled away, disappointed.

"Well," started TenTen after another moment of awkward silence, "after I talk to Lee, it's a sure thing."

Neji finally looked over to her, his brow bent in a threatening way.

"You wouldn't," he said, glaring.

TenTen stared back.

"I don't think I have to prove you wrong, do I, Neji?"

Neji glowered a little more, before finally shaking his head, defeated.

"Fine, but let me get permission first. Don't tell Lee before I get permission," he warned.

TenTen smirked the trademark Hyuga smirk, which she had picked up from Neji.

"What'll happen if I go against your wishes?" she teased.

Neji smiled grimly.

"I don't think you want to know," he answered.

They glared at each other before reaching the Hokage's office.

"Hokage-sama," they greeted Tsunade.

Lady Tsunade's head was on her desk, a bottle of sake in her loose grasp. Sakura was crouched near Lady Tsunade, shaking her arm. At the sound of TenTen and Neji entering, however, Sakura stood and faced the two.

"I'm sorry. You finished your mission, then?" she asked them.

Neji nodded.

"We detained and disposed of them," he answered.

Sakura nodded, and reached for a file on the Hokage's desk, writing something down.

"Well, she's . . . sleeping right now. I'll tell her you two have returned when she wakes," said Sakura, shutting the file.

TenTen and Neji nodded, and left.

Neji, who had nothing better to do, walked TenTen to her apartment a few streets over. TenTen protested the whole way.

"Neji, I'm not incapable of walking. You can go," TenTen said, resting against the doorframe of her front door.

"I know you aren't," he answered.

"Then why did you walk me here?" she asked, her eyes squinting to see his face against the glare of the outside light.

"It's not like there's anything else to do right now," he answered, looking up at her.

TenTen was going to reprimand him, but doing so would probably wake her neighbors; it was pretty late.

Neji smirked and turned, starting to walk towards the Hyuga compound.

When he reached the compound, Neji crept quietly through the gate, striding quickly but quietly to reach his room.

"Neji," said Lord Hiashi's voice, coming from a hall Neji had just passed.

Neji backtracked and bowed slightly to his uncle.

"You just returned from your mission?" asked Hiashi.

Neji nodded.

"It went well?"

"Yes," answered Neji.

Lord Hiashi nodded, and started back to wherever he was going.

"Lord Hiashi," called Neji, remembering the lengthy conversation he had had with TenTen.

Lord Hiashi turned, his eyebrow raised for Neji to go ahead.

"My teammate . . . my teammates want to . . . eat here."

Lord Hiashi looked at his nephew.

"Why are you asking me this?" he finally inquired.

"I needed your permission," replied Neji carefully.

"You think you need my permission for your friends to visit you?"

Neji looked up at his uncle. He was older now, he had grown.

"It's your house," Neji finally responded.

Lord Hiashi smiled.

"It is fine with me if they want to come and eat with you. Would you like for them to eat with the household, or just with you?"

"It's all right; I don't want to trouble the household," Neji said quickly.

Just TenTen herself would be fine with the household, but Guy and Lee were another story. Best it just be us together, thought Neji.

Lord Hiashi frowned, but nodded.

"Perhaps I could join you four," mused Lord Hiashi, watching carefully for his nephew's reaction.

"If you wish," replied Neji hesitantly.

Lord Hiashi nodded again, and Neji took that as his signal that he could leave. He bowed again and continued on to his room.

Lord Hiashi watched his nephew leave, shaking his head as he himself started towards bed.

"So, he said yes?" asked TenTen during a break between spars the next morning.

Neji nodded, sitting down at the roots of a tree. TenTen stood before him, pulling in the kusari-gama chain and stowing it away.

"Well, that's good," she said, distracted, as she retrieved two sais. She turned to Neji, holding up the sais. "Can we do some close-combat next?"

Neji nodded, eyeing the two sais.

"Okay!" TenTen said brightly.

"Did you go through with your threat?" Neji asked her.

TenTen looked confused for a second before she understood.

"No," she answered simply.

Neji looked at her.

"You bluffed."

TenTen shrugged, pleased.

"See? I told you I was a good liar."

Neji rolled his eyes, but stood up, ready to spar again.

"Wait," said TenTen, holding up a hand while she processed some of her thoughts.

Neji waited.

"When are we coming over?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Tomorrow evening?" Neji offered.

TenTen smiled and nodded.

"I have to go tell Lee and Guy-sensei!" she said, too excited to remember they were training.

"TenTen," said Neji, but she was already gone.

He rolled his eyes and picked up TenTen's forgotten stuff, leaving their training ground to go and drop her things off at her apartment.

"They're coming tomorrow?" confirmed Lord Hiashi.

Neji nodded.

"Your teammates . . . Who are they again?"

Neji felt a flare of anger rise up in him.

"TenTen, Lee, and Guy-sensei," Neji answered, strained.

"Ah," remembered Lord Hiashi.

Neji narrowed his eyes, disappointed and irritated.

"All right then. You won't mind, if I join you?"

Neji made himself nod.

"Why are you so worried about this?" inquired TenTen, as they all waited for Neji to approve their entrance.

"Because," he answered shortly, looking her over quickly.

"Neji, let us inside!" whined Lee.

"Yes, Neji, your sensei is getting older by the second," expressed Guy-sensei.

Neji glared at them all and slid open the door. His teammates entered, Guy and Lee excited. TenTen just glanced at Neji, and walked inside. Neji took a deep breath and followed, sliding the door back. Lord Hiashi was already there, at the head of the table. He nodded at them as greeting.

Guy and Lee bowed slightly. TenTen did not; she thought it unnecessary. Lord Hiashi glared at her, displeased with her flippancy. Neji directed TenTen to a seat beside him, Lee across, and Guy-sensei at the other end, across from Lord Hiashi.

Lord Hiashi nodded his approval for them to start eating, and Guy-sensei raised his hands, on the verge of crying.

"What a youthful time of remembrance!" he exclaimed.

Lee seconded this and the two started to recall times with their team and past missions. TenTen all but tuned these out, nibbling on some fish. TenTen glanced at Neji, who was clenching his fist so tightly that his knuckles were white. TenTen reached over and squeezed his hand. Neji looked over to her.

"Relax," she told him in a low voice.

"I can't," he whispered back, glancing at Lee and Guy-sensei, who were now sobbing.

"Well, you're going to have to," she hissed.

This little exchange did not go unnoticed by Lord Hiashi, who was watching the two closely.

"TenTen, is it?" he spoke, glaring at the girl.

TenTen looked up, surprised, and snatching her hand from Neji's grip.

"Yes," she answered, unabashed.

Lord Hiashi nodded, watching her every movement. TenTen felt like she was under a microscope, which she didn't appreciate.

"You are Chunin, correct?" inquired Hiashi.

TenTen nodded slowly, wondering what Neji's uncle was getting at.

"What do you plan to do next?"

"ANBU," she answered confidently. "Actually, Neji, Lee, and I have been training harder to be accepted to take the exam in the next few months."

Hiashi flicked his gaze towards his nephew.

"You never mentioned this," criticized Hiashi.

"I didn't know I had to," replied Neji.

Hiashi didn't say anything else to his nephew, clearly annoyed.

"You want to be ANBU?" queried Hiashi to TenTen. "That's a lot of commitment. It takes up much of your time."

TenTen met that with a hard gaze.

"You don't think I can do it?" she challenged.

Hiashi shook his head.

"No, I know you can do it. Neji recounted your fight at the last Chunin Exams, where you became Chunin. Impressive," said Hiashi.

TenTen looked smug. Under the table, Neji squeezed her knee in a way that said, Don't get cocky; you're not out of this yet.

TenTen smirked up at him. Neji rolled his eyes.

"You don't want a family?" continued Hiashi, looking intently at the seventeen year old girl in front of him.

Neji glared at his uncle. TenTen considered the question.

"Yes, but I have time for that, I think."

"But ANBU is different," Neji said, surprising himself. "It's higher risk."

"I know that," she told him, surprised herself. "But, I'm shinobi. I can't run away from something just because it has a high risk."

Neji glared at her, angry . . . but not angry at the same time.

Across the table, Hiashi was nodding. Neji had picked an admirable girl.

Lee and Guy-sensei had heard the end of the conversation, and were congratulating 'their youthful flower!' on her magnificent and youthful kunoichi ways. TenTen began conversing with the two, and Lord Hiashi and Neji were left out of the conversation. Not that they minded. Neji was wrapped up in his own thoughts, trying to get his head in a place where it wasn't confused. Hiashi watched his nephew tense up the rest of the night, not saying much to anyone.

The night ended with Guy-sensei having a little too much sake, and having to be taken home by Lee. TenTen wasn't really sure if she should leave or not. To be honest with herself, she kind of didn't want to. But it was awkward here, with Neji and his uncle.

"I think I'll retire for the night," said Hiashi stood and left his nephew and company.

TenTen turned to Neji, her forehead wrinkled.

"That was weird," she said.

Neji nodded.

"See? It wasn't as bad you thought," she continued.

Neji nodded again. TenTen glanced at him.

"What's wrong? You're more . . . subdued than usual," she told him, peering at those pale eyes.

"Nothing," he lied.

He faked a smile and stood.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked quietly.

"No, that's okay," replied TenTen, also standing.

They walked out of the room, Neji walking her to the compound gate. He leaned against the post, looking down at her. There was a half-moon tonight, but it was enough to see by. TenTen glanced at the sky, and then back to Neji, unsure of what to say.

"I had a good time, surprisingly," she said lamely.

"Did you?"

"Yeah. It wasn't as bad as you made it out to be," she laughed, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Yeah." Neji paused. "Did you mean what you said about family and ANBU?"

"Maybe," teased TenTen, stepping a little closer to him.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe."

Neji looked at her. What was she trying to do, confuse him?

"Neji, I'm kidding," snorted TenTen.

"Sure you are."

TenTen rolled her eyes. She hesitated for a second before finishing answering Neji's unasked question.

"I mean, I might change my mind if I ever found the right person."

"The right person?" inquired Neji, his jaw clenching.

TenTen nodded, glancing up at him.

"I mean, I'm only seventeen, Neji. I'm young. I don't want to make a rash decision and then regret it later."

Neji nodded, understanding and deciding that she was right. However, Neji couldn't stop himself from asking the question that determined their future.

"Do you think I could be . . . that right one?"

Neji wanted to shoot himself the second the words had escaped his lips. Unfortunately, a gun was not in his possession.

TenTen stared at Neji, a little shocked. She covered it quickly though, turning her face away, to get her head around what he had just revealed. She bit her lip, something she did when she was nervous. TenTen looked back at him. But . . . her expression. Neji recognized it as confidence.

"Maybe," she answered.

TenTen grabbed Neji's neck and stood on her toes so she could kiss him. Neji was so stunned, it took him more than a minute to actually understand. TenTen withdrew her lips and snorted, taking in Neji's look of surprise.

"Why are you so surprised? Silly boy, I've loved you since after our first Chunin Exam."

Neji's shock expanded, and TenTen rolled her eyes, only to kiss him again.

Lord Hiashi watched as his nephew's comprehension dawned.

Finally, thought Hiashi. Finally he understands.

Hiashi had picked it up years before that Neji was in love with his female teammate, and sparring partner. It wasn't hard to figure out. It was only six months ago, after Neji had become Jonin, that Hiashi figured Neji was aware of his feelings. He hadn't pressed his nephew on this issue, deciding that he would figure it out on his own. And he did, reasoned Hiashi, turning his back on the two seventeen year olds. He smirked. Maybe Neji would ask his permission tomorrow. Maybe not. Hiashi wasn't altogether worried; his nephew would ask in due time. My nephew wouldn't let a kunoichi like that go so easily, Hiashi concluded.

Now tell me how I did. Review. :D