WLH: My hit Nejixten story. I'm beginning to edit the chapters to file out the noobness. Here's the first one. Enjoy!!

I don't own Naruto. If I did, Tenten would be the main character and Sakura would be the one without any background information. Plus Neji would like pickles. A lot. And Itachi would totally pwn Sasuke.

It was a cold morning.

Tenten's normally deft fingers were fumbling numbly with her house keys as she stepped out of her house, the outside temperature staining her nose bright red.

"Shoot," she hissed, drawing her jacket around herself as she pocketed her keys. "I really picked the wrong day to see him." With reluctant sigh, she began the long walk to the other side of the village, to the biggest building in sight in the misty haze of the chilly January morning.

The Hyuuga compound.

As she stomped down the snow sprayed street, the nineteen year old kunoichi silently cursed the Hyuugas for building their compound way in the corner of Konoha. After a while of letting out her anger on the clan itself, she figured it was Iruka's fault for placing her with Neji instead of anyone else. Then again, if it had been anyone else, she would have managed to give him his long awaited present punctually. And then, it was also her own fault for being such a coward. A clump of snow came crashing down on her head as if to say, What the heck are you blabbing about?

She shook her head. Whatever.

About half of the way there, she stopped to pull a messily wrapped package out of her pocket and sigh in frustration. It was New Year's Day and she still hadn't worked up the guts to give Neji his Christmas present. And finally, after a few long nights of practice in front of her mirror, she decided, well, it's either now or never.

"Okay, let's go, Tenten!" She rubbed her hands determinedly and broke out in the traditional shinobi sprint, making the rest of her way across the giant village. It suddenly began to snow and she immediately zipped up her thin jacket. Three miles away, she could make out the Hyuuga compound glowing warmly in the distance.

Curse the Hyuugas indeed.

Hyuuga Hanabi was rather enjoying the cold morning, sipping on a cup of tea and watching the snow fall in little drifts. She was startled out of her moment by a girl with ruddy cheeks who just happened to be running up to her home. The stranger reached the compound gate, and Hanabi got a closer look at her. Her buns were lopsided and she had a scowl of irritation on her face.

The young Hyuuga instantly decided that she liked this stranger, who apparently didn't notice her as she reached out gruffly to knock on the door of the compound. Hanabi stopped her with a sharp, "Fight me."

The girl, who just happened to be our unlikely heroine Tenten, whirled around, a bewildered expression outlining her face. She stared down at the thirteen year old girl glaring challengingly up at her. What was this girl, some sort of Hyuuga watch dog?

"What? Now? I'm kinda busy right now, so how about later?" She seemed visibly distracted by the package in her hand. Hanabi studied her further. All of a sudden, Tenten looked down at her and asked, "You're a Hyuuga, right? Do you know where the heck Neji's supposed to be in this place?"

Hanabi smirked. She liked her, this girl. "Yes. Are you his girlfriend?" She took a cusory glance at the package, which tightened in Tenten's grip. "That for him?"

"Tche, as if I would tell you," the other retorted rather sourly (she's in a bad mood.) "I hardly even know who you are, for all I know, you could be…" she studied the younger girl for a moment before saying, "Hinata's sister. So, where's Neji?"

Very blunt and to the point, Hanabi noticed quietly. Too much like Neji to not have known him for a while. "Fight me and maybe I'll tell you."

The exasperated teen whipped out a few scrolls and released her immense chakra. "Whatever. Just hurry up then, I barely have time for this."

And so began the fight.

Tenten unfurled a scroll hastily and backbit her thumb. Drawing her blood across the scroll, she focused and summoned a katana, which surprised Hanabi slightly. The katana was a very basic weapon, and not exactly the best of close combat weapons.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Well, I once beat Neji single handedly with a katana, but that was when he was sick. I might try my luck…" Tenten twirled the blade expertly in her hands, waiting wisely for the younger one to strike first.

Hanabi scowled and moved her palms in a wide arc. "SIXTY FOUR TRIGRAMS!!" She launched herself at the older girl, palms splayed out in the move Tenten had gotten to know so well over the past years.

Immediately, Tenten began to make various hand signals. Tiger. Ox. Dog. Rabbit. Snake. Ox again for stability. "Mizu Kaiten no Jutsu!" She recited. A rapidly spinning shield made of water and embedded with her chakra surrounded her.

Hanabi's eyes widened. Woah… wait a second here…

She rammed straight into the prison and was propelled backwards, the momentum knocking her over and sending her flying towards the door and into her cousin, who had just woken up. Not exactly the first thing you want happening to you in the morning.

"Ahh! Neji nii-chan!" Hanabi quickly got up, nodding politely with haste before facing her opponent again. Tenten looked up brightly at the familiar face.

"Hi Neji." She gave him a smile and grunted slightly as she blocked an upcoming Jyuuken blow coming from Hanabi with her katana.

Hanabi stared at the horizontal cut across her palm. It was shallow, and she could tell that the older girl had only let out a fraction of her chakra. "Is that all you got?" she taunted.

Neji's brow creased. "What is this about?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Tenten shrugged at him and unfurled her scrolls menacingly towards Hanabi. "No, but consider your options carefully. Do you really want to die?"

Hanabi's eyes widened again for a brief moment. "You hard-"

"Enough," Neji cut in. "Stop challenging her, Hanabi. You'll never win."

The youngest Hyuuga paid no heed to her cousin's admonitions and launched herself full at Tenten who sighed in exasperation.

She's… just like I was when I was her age… she thought with a small smile. She braced herself. Alright. This time, I'm not holding back!

They connected with a large clang and flew upwards in a whirl of silver and blue, a limb popping out here and then. Tenten was amazed at how much the younger was able to keep up, but she wanted to end it as quickly as possible. She threw her katana straight at Hanabi and used the moment the younger wrenched it aside to summon several shuriken. In a fluid motion, she had the younger girl pinned to a nearby tree and landed deftly to hold a kunai against her neck.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Hanabi suddenly cracked an unexpected grin and said cheerfully from her position on the tree, "I like you."

Tenten returned the kunai to her pouch and muttered, "Kai!" under her breath, making the summoned shuriken poof away. The Hyuuga dropped down with a tap and Tenten gave her a small smile. "Same here. I'm Tenten." She held out her hand and Hanabi noted how strangely small and unscarred they were for an obviously skilled weapons specialist.

She grasped Tenten's hand. "Hyuuga Hanabi, of the main house."

"Tenten?" Neji asked, his tone a little dangerous.

"What?" She retaliated bluntly, shaking from the sudden cold that had returned after she stopped fighting. "Could we talk inside?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Neji closed his eyes. "Yeah. Hanabi-sama, let's go."

"Are you sure you guys don't need any time alone or anything?" She asked smugly. Neji twitched. This was just not his morning.

Tenten smiled sarcastically. "Hey Hanabi, are you sure you don't want to go back up on that tree?"

Hanabi smirked back and decided that if Neji was going to have a girlfriend, it would have to be the confident and feisty young woman in front of her. (Really, she just wants a good cousin in law of course…)

Time for Operation Matchmaker, Hanabi-chan to the rescue!!

WLH: Hope you enjoyed the edit! I didn't really, but yay anyways!! Constructive criticism would be much appreciated.