Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. As someone pointed out previously in their disclaimer he belongs to Hinata smirk

Winds of Change

They were fighting. Both Jounins were going at each other with determination and murderous intent that they could only use against one another. There was no holding back. Every ninja knew that holding back in a fight meant death.

It had been far too long since they had an opportunity to fight the other this way. Both missed the feelings it brought out.

"Come on, Neji. You can do better then that," Tenten taunted her companion. "I thought you're supposed to be getting better as the time goes by and not worse! "She smirked. Usually her taunts were stoically ignored. This time was no different.

"Concentrate on the fight Tenten, or you won't be thinking about anything anymore," you'll be unconscious. Both of them knew what Neji meant.

It was fortunate for both of them that they agreed to use no skills other then tai-jitsu. After reaching ranks of Jounin both were confident in their techniques. Living through some of the missions they did forced them to learn some deeply unpleasant jitsus, being on receiving end of which was far from fun.

In these dangerous times it came as no surprise that every ninja of Konoha village had to do his or her best. It also was not surprising that their skills had to improve because of it. No matter that these two ninjas fighting against each other were only seventeen. Both of them were full fledged Jonin who earned their respect.

"It feels good fighting with you again!" I missed you, Neji. Team nine split up once they became strong enough to fight on their own. It grew to be very rare for the three of them to get together. Each moment they spend in each other's company had to be relished. That's why Tenten was enjoying every minute of this spar, even though Lee wasn't here with them.

"Fighting you is a challenge." I missed you too, Tenten. With Hyuuga Neji learning to read between the lines was a must and both of his old teammates were frighteningly good at it by now.

Tenten had two kunai in each hand while Neji was weaponless. Jumping high in the air the kunoichi threw one of her kunai at her opponent and followed it herself with a punch to his beautiful face. He blocked it, countering with a low strike to her abdomen that she avoided by jumping back.

Landing on a near by branch Tenten was getting ready to attack again. But before she could think of a good strategy Neji attacked firs and she was forced in to defense.

"Shit, you really did get better, didn't you?"

"You spend too much time with Naruto, " Neji's voice held no inflection, but amusement danced in his nearly-white eyes.

This went on for hours. Nether ninja was giving up or retreating. It would have been faster to just use something other then tai-jitsu to finish the fight, but they both agreed to hand to hand combat only.

Occupied by each other they didn't notice that wind was picking up nor did they notice the ominous clouds covering the sky. And when suddenly the scenery changed from familiar trees to strange forest both of them just continued fighting.

The clouds were gone but the fight wasn't slowing down. Drained and weary from fighting the entire day away but uncharacteristically happy the two Jounin flew at each other with renewed vigor.

Finally, tiredness was making itself know, at least in Tenten's case. She made a mistake of getting too close. Being better at long-range fighting she always preferred to fight from afar, summoning her weapons as needed, but this time was different.

Getting a hold of Neji's right hand, that was currently holding a kunai, the brown haired girl tried to perform a throw. His momentum was directed slightly forward and if she could successfully complete her technique the fight would be over. But her balance was a little off which with a weaker opponent wouldn't have mattered, but Neji was far too good.

Tenten ended up flat on her back with Neji on top of her. Adrenalin from the fight coursing through kunoichi's blood made her head swim giving Tenten some interesting thoughts about her current opponent. Or maybe it wasn't the adrenalin. Neji's nearness always affected her strangely. Even though they grew up from the kids they used to be her reactions didn't change. Got more intense – maybe, but did they change? No.

Neji's face was slowly coming closer to her own. Breath catching in her throat Tenten couldn't form a coherent thought much less understand what was happening.

"Oi, bastard! Let her up!" the perfect moment was interrupted by a loud and arrogant sounding voice yelling out the demand. Something close to annoyance fluttered on Neji's face, but it was gone before Tenten could be sure. "Did you hear me? Get the fuck off her?"

"This is not your fight, whoever you are." Neji's calm voice answered as he slowly got to his feet. Every ninja in Konoha knew not to interfere with another's fights, outside of missions. These people had to be strangers.

"Inuyasha, come one! We need to help the poor girl." A girl's voice insisted.

"Yeh, Inuyasha." Another voice could be heard. From her position on the ground, Tenten couldn't see the intruders very well and Neji's impassionate face was… well… impassionate.

Tenten quickly flipped back up to her feet standing beside her old teammate and trying to assess the situation. She saw five people and a cat. Two men - one with strange dog ears on top of his had and silver-white hair. The other male wore priest's robes and carried a staff. One boy-child with a tail and pointy ears was also part of this group. The little boy was cute, Tenten absently noted. The two females of the group looked just as strange as the males did. One of the girls carried a bow and wore almost indecently short skirt while the other held an oversized boomerang.

"Who…? " Tenten's question was interrupted when the monk spoke to her.

"Don't worry, fair maiden, you are safe now. We won't let anyone taint your delicate beauty." The monk of this strange group spoke.

Blushing, Tenten couldn't form the right words to explain the situation when annoyed… he sounded annoyed to Tenten... Neji spoke up. "This is none of your business so stay out of it."

"You arrogant bastard! Attacking…"

"It is not what you think," Tenten interrupted before this got any more ridiculous. They were trying to protect her, a Jounin, from her fellow teammate. This was actually beyond ridiculous. If she wasn't so flustered Tenten would have been laughing her ass off. "We were just…," but again she wasn't allowed to finish her sentence.

"That son of a bitch is going to pay. I'll kick his ass right now," and the man with silver hair started moving. He had no headband to show him as a ninja but he moved faster then a regular person would. Neji's stance didn't change.

"You are welcome to try," if Tenten didn't know her ninja partner as well as she did she would have been amazed at how calm he was. It was obvious to her that Neji was looking forward to this fight but she tried to stop it anyway.

"Wait! This is all just a big misunderstanding!"

"You're dead, asshole!" the silver haired man didn't slow down nor did he show that Tenten's words were heard.

"Inuyasha, sit!" immediately Inuyasha's face met the dirt. Explicit curses followed his landing.

"What did you do that for!" could be filtered out from the stream of profanity with some difficulty.

"Let's hear what the girl has to say first. Maybe we got it all wrong and then no one will have to fight." Turning to one of her companions, "What do you think, Sango?"

"From the looks of it, we might have made a mistake." The woman named Sango slowly put her boomerang behind her back shifting into a more relaxed stance. "She doesn't look like someone who needs to be saved."

"But dear Sango, we clearly saw him flipping her over his head and onto the ground" the monk spoke once again, "Then he…"

"We were just training! It was nothing, really." Tenten tried to explain hurriedly, "If I kept my balance right you'll be the one on the ground and not me," she spoke quietly to Neji. Inuyasha's ears twitched while Neji replied with something suspiciously close to "You wish."

Silver haired man slowly got up, half turning to his companions.

"But I really wanted to kick this guy's ass."

"Inuyasha," the warning was clear in the girl's voice after a moment's hesitation the man just huffed. It was clear that he just wanted to leave, but was not about to abandon his friends with strangers. So he stayed near the group, pouting.

The girl with the bow spoke once again.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your training, but we were just trying to help, "and before Tenten or Neji could summon forth a suitable reply she continued.

"My name is Kagome," with a friendly smile she pointed to the woman with the boomerang "this is my friend Sango and this," she gestured to the monk "is Miroku." Kirara and Shippo were introduced next. "And you already know Inuyasha"

"Keh"

"Who are you?" Sango spoke.

"We are… "Tenten started to speak when suddenly a realization dawned on her. She sharply turned to her companion. "Where are we?"

Neji shrugged.

"What is this place?" Tenten slowly looked around. This was definitely not Konoha forest anymore. And the strangeness of it all was not lost on the Jounin.

"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha impatiently spoke, "Maybe you are just Naraku's allies send after the shards." The last was said in a near growl.

"Who is Naraku?" Tenten didn't wait for an answer, "I don't care. Just point us in the direction of Konoha and we'll be on out way. I'm starving."

"Ko-no-ha?" monk slowly repeated, "Never heard of it."

"Country of Fire?" after receiving almost identical blank looks Tenten groaned.

"It seems like we will have to catch our own dinner tonight." Neji, as composed as ever, didn't show any reaction to the events. But both ninjas were beyond confused, but only one of them was any good at hiding it.

"Where are we?" Tenten tried again hoping that this was all just a communication problem.

"You're trespassing in my forest!" Inuyasha snared.

"Your forest?" Neji raised an eyebrow,

The raven-haired girl with the bow, Kagome, replied before her friend could, "It's named after him. Inuyasha's Forest. So, I guess, theoretically it is his."

"No 'theoretically' about it," the boy in question grumbled, but was ignored by both parties.

"Inuyasha's Forest?" Tenten repeated before groaning in despair, "How the fuck did we get here? One minute we were training near our village and the next we are in Inuyasha's forest."

"Gen-jitsu of some kind? But no one can create an illusionary technique of this magnitude," Neji was trying hard to understand what happened, "It feels like we have been transported to a completely different world."

"B-but things like this happen only in the movies! This c-can't be true," kunoichi turned to face Neji fully, eyes wide. Hating the stammer in her voice Tenten forced herself to stay calm.

"M-movies," now it was Kagome's turn to stutter.

"It's a thing from your time you sometimes talk about, right Kagome?" little boy, Shippo, innocently asked.

"Could they be from the future?"

"No one went through the well," Inuyasha spoke, "I would have smelled it if someone did."

"They can't be from my time. There is no Konoha in my time. There is nothing called Country of Fire in my time ether,"

"I think we might have a slight problem…"

***

They were all comfortably seated in the village hut as it was mutually agreed upon relocation to a more comfortable environment.

Discussion continued well into the night on topic of time travel and other unbelievable things. It took better part of the evening to finish the telling of their individual stories. Monk and his cursed hand, demon exterminator and Kirara, a girl from the future with miko powers, half-demon with thirst for power, little orphaned demon adapted into the group and of course the jewel of four souls. All this and more has been thoroughly explained to the newcomers.

After that was out of the way the conversation shifted to Tenten and Neji. Trying to figure out the mystery of two ninjas occupied the rest of the evening. Even Inuyasha participated in the conversation after it has been proven that nether guest knew anything about Naraku.

"Feudal Japan, you say." Neji repeated, "Never heard of it."

"To-kio sounds strange to me too. I don't think I've ever heard of a village called that, "Tenten shook her head.

"If you were from the future you would have known about it"

"Maybe they are from a different future, child." Their host spoke up. She was a kind woman named Kaede. "But let us continue this discussion tomorrow. We still have much to talk about, but for now you can all stay in my hut."

"Why would someone from a different world be sent to us? What purpose can it serve?" monk asked.

"Who could have done it? Orichimaru?" Tenten said worriedly, "Maybe he was trying to get us away from the village?"

"He could, if he was alive, that is," Neji was just as confused as everyone in the hut, but only someone who knew him very well could see it. And Tenten knew him very well.

"There might not be a purpose at all," Inuyasha got up to walk out of the hut, "Some things are utterly pointless."

"Inuyasha may be right. But we won't find the answer tonight," the old woman spoke again, "Let us all discuss what has happened tomorrow. Nothing can be done about any of this today."

"Fine with me, I'm sleepy," Shippo was only too eager to end this lengthy conversation.

Everyone started getting up and getting ready to rest when the monk suddenly moved closer to Tenten. He took her hand in both of his while standing far too close to her for comfort. She allowed it, thinking that it might be a local custom and offending her new friends was not something kunoichi wanted to do.

"Will you do me the honor and give me the absolute pleasure of bearing my child?" the question was so unexpected that Tenten's breath caught in her throat. She could do nothing but stare at the monk that was now holding both her hands in his. Miroku was patiently awaiting her answer, but the weapon mistress was far too shocked to form coherent words.

"W-what!" Tenten was frozen in her spot, "What are you talking about?"

"I…" the monk took a step forward that brought him closer to already blushing Tenten. She was sure that her face was probably glowing from embarrassment by now.

"Shut up, monk" it was Sango who decided to speak up. Cutting the monk off, she dragged him away from the blushing kunoichi.

"But…"

"If you don't shut up I swear I will kill you myself!"

"We should listen to the old woman and just go to sleep," Neji spoke as if nothing has happened. Tenten was too out of it to notice the slight annoyance in his voice and no one else in the hut knew him well enough to be sure.

Not saying anything more the group split up and began preparing for sleep.

***

"Pervert!" the yell woke every one up immediately. A loud slap could be heard that followed the scream.

"But my dear Sango, you know about this curse. My hand moved of its own accord," monk with a red handprint on his face was trying to defend himself.

"Yeh, and completely on its own your hand found its way to my but and squeezed it?!" sarcasm unmistakable, eyes glowing with anger Sango was toying with the idea of killing the troublesome hoshi.

"I am glad you understand my situation," Miroku's innocent smile was not met gracefully by an angered Sango.

"You demented pervert! Stay away from me or I swear I'll… "

"Why won't you just kill him and be done with it?" suddenly a dispassionate voice asked.

"Who...? Oh," it actually took some time for the occupants of the hut to remember their two new additions.

"Kill me? My Lady Sango would never do a stupid thing like that. Loosing my company would cost her far too much," but after saying that the monk wisely moved out of the demon exterminator's reach.

"Don't push your luck, hoshi. I'm tempted, very temped."

"I can do the job for you even without my usual fee," Neji's smirk could be called nothing but evil.

"Neji!" Tenten was not happy with her friend's 'selfless' offer but he didn't even have the decency to look guilty. "Don't." There was clear warning in her voice.

"Or what?"

"We still didn't finish our fight from yesterday"

"If I remember correctly – you lost,"

"No, I didn't. The fight was interrupted."

"'Care for a rematch?"

"Wait. Wait. Wait," Kagome spoke up. "What did he mean by 'his usual fee'?" it occurred to the miko before that they knew almost nothing about these people. They didn't look threatening, regardless of how creepy Neji's eyes were. But now she was forced to reevaluate her opinion.

"We usually get paid for this kind of thing," Tenten answered not sure about what was confusing the younger girl. She was too used to everyone recognizing her as a ninja and everyone knew that assassinations were a normal part of ninja life. "It depends on the difficulty of the mission, though."

"And killing a weakling like him would not pay very much so loosing my payment for it will not be much of a loss," Neji spoke with his emotionless voice once again.

"Neji! Will you stop it already?" Tenten spoke, now clearly annoyed. But no one in the hut was paying attention to her.

"So, you two are hired killers?" Kagome clearly resented the possibility. She actually took a step back from the two.

Tenten's mouth fell open in shock. Kunoichi has never been called that before, though thinking about it she had to admit that in some missions a ninja was forced to assume the role.

"No. We are Jounin of Hidden Village of the Leaf." Kunoichi said proudly.

"Ninjas," the Byakugan user simplified, noticing the blank stares aimed their way.

"Wow," was miko's response.

"Hmm…"

"Keh"

"What's a ninja?" Shippo's question wasn't something any of them expected. That's why no one answered it right away.

"What say you people if we go outside after breakfast to talk? It's a beautiful weather and we have a lot of things to discuss."

After the breakfast was finished and the group proceeded to vacate the hut to continue their conversation elsewhere everyone's mood improved.

Discussion on ninja life style and training took a lot less time then the conversation from the previous evening did. After Tenten explained the basics, she changed the topic of the talk.

"You went through a lot of troubles because of that jewel," both ninjas had time to analyze their new friend's stories and Tenten was the first one to give voice to her thoughts, "I'm sorry that you had to go through all that."

"We have each other, so it's not as bad as it sounds."

"Keh."

"We will help you in any way we can while we're here, right Neji?" Tenten didn't expect a response from her comrade, " and we won't even charge you anything for it," kunoichi winked and smiled to show that she was not serious.

"We don't need your help. Ninjas or no – we'll probably end up protecting your sorry asses." Inuyasha was not happy with the offer.

"Maybe. And maybe not, "before Neji could object Tenten continued, "we really don't know much about this world, but our techniques can be useful against demons. I am confident in our abilities."

"My Byakugan works, so the rest of the techniques will work also. And no – I am not going to show it to you."

"What an arrogant bastard…" Inuyasha said with feeling.

Neji didn't react. And Tenten chose to ignore the comment. She couldn't dispute a very well known fact after all…

"So, now what?"

"Lets go hunt more shads. And if these two get killed then it's their own fault."

"Inuyasha – be nice"

"Keh. I am!"

***

"It's a demon!" half-surprised and half-worried Tenten could not believe she was in the presence of an actual demon. The weapon master only heard stories about the Nine-Tail Fox and she was positive that the two demons looked nothing alike.

"No shit. What was your first clue?" Inuyasha smirked while extending his claws and getting ready for battle.

"Inuyasha, they're probably never seen a demon before"

"It's just a weak Bear demon, but I think maybe you two should keep away from this fight," Sango suggested looking pointedly at Neji and Tenten.

"Yes, a beauty like you shouldn't be subjected to such violence," if Miroku was close enough to touch the kunoichi he would have emphasized his words with an 'encouraging' grope. Luckily for the ninja, or for the monk's life expectancy, he was standing closer to Inuyasha then Tenten who was occupying a spot to the farthest right.

Rolling her eyes Tenten attacked, expecting Neji to do the same.

Konetz pervoy chasti