Baa-chan - 5

Two Days Later

Kankuro was thoroughly impressed with the replacement blades he had received for Karasu. They fit perfectly and were actually an improvement from the blades previously concealed within his puppet.

He thanked Tenten by paying more than what was necessary and leaving before she could notice.

Rather than chasing the thankful Sand ninja down the street, Tenten decided to treat herself and Lee to lunch that day.

She chose a nice restaurant and when Lee had asked if Gai-sensei was invited she sheepishly admitted she hadn't been given that much money. So they ate without their teacher around noon and Lee had still been very excitable even without his idol nearby.

Tenten felt her appetite waver a bit at the sight of Lee ordering curry and eating it like it was ice cream. She was hungry enough to order a large platter of dumplings for them to share. She could not deny her favorite food.

While munching on dessert Lee began to ask questions on Neji's whereabouts, being that neither of them had seen him for the past two days.

"I'm not really sure…I guess he's been training with his uncle like he was earlier this week." She theorized and was privately frustrated with the Hyuga prodigy for not having the courtesy to come tell them that himself.

The more she began to like Neji the more she found he got on her nerves, 'Maybe I care too much, that could explain why my head hasn't been screwed on straight recently.'

Lee eyed the platter of dumplings settled between them on the table with the beginnings of an idea visible on his face, "Tenten, do you suppose our teammate has had anything to eat yet this afternoon?"

"Probably not. Why?"

He stood, grinning, "We will deliver these fine dumplings to him as a peace offering, and in the process, find out why he has been avoiding us!"

"That's a brilliant plan, Lee," She said it with sincerity, "I don't know if he likes these all that much, though."

Lee dismissed the thought and she paid for their meal before following him to the Hyuga compound, wondering if it was a better idea than she had first assumed.

They ambushed him while he was meditating, very successful in startling him.

Tenten found his astounded face very amusing and couldn't help but grin as Lee practically forced Neji to eat the food they had brought for him, "Go ahead, my eternal rival! This food will fuel your soul!"

"Hardly…" Neji muttered, taking a seat again in the grass of the lawn and Lee and Tenten sat down beside him, watching as he grudgingly helped himself to a dumpling and bit into it, all in the hope they'd stop staring at him.

"You've disappeared off the face of the planet for the past few days, Neji," Tenten purposefully exaggerated to indicate that they were concerned, "What have you been up to?"

Neji looked at her for a long moment, "I was being evaluated."

There was a moment in which Lee and Tenten exchanged a confused glance, wondering if that in any way answered the question correctly.

"I am the new Hyuga clan heir."

Somewhere in the village a window shattered and a cat's tail was run over by a bicycle.

They looked at Neji with wide eyes, quite stunned.

"You look shocked." Neji pointed out flatly, as if they weren't supposed to.

'I wonder when he intended to come and find us so he could tell us this!' Tenten thought in exasperation, but she honestly knew there was no point in getting worked up again. The title was his now, fair and square, even if he had to beat down several people in his way to earn it.

"Congratulations then, Neji!" Lee looked genuinely glad for him, something Tenten had not been expecting. Maybe perhaps because she was still touchy on the subject of Neji vying with his younger cousin in order to be granted her title.

Neji seemed to notice her disappointment, "Hinata-sama was not at all upset that I replaced her. She is still part of the Main House, as is Hanabi-sama. My uncle did what he judged to be right."

"I see…well then…" Tenten smiled at him, "I'm glad, Neji. This is great, I mean, you've really worked hard for this. Like Lee said; congratulations."

Neji's eyes softened on her and he seemed to have a boost in confidence. Perhaps being the new heir to his clan was giving him some anxiety, Tenten wondered.

And of course, Lee's curiosity had bad timing, "So you will still be training with us, yes?"

There was a silence and Tenten felt her stomach do some horrifying acrobatics.

"It isn't very likely." Neji answered, looking as if he wasn't troubled by the idea.

Lee's eyes flickered worriedly over to Tenten, sensing her distress, and he wondered if he may have said something very, very stupid.

'It…isn't very likely?'

She paused to think it over again.

'Isn't likely?'

Tenten's eyes narrowed and she suddenly found that no amount of apologizing was going to fix her new foul mood. As if the Hyuga prodigy was going to apologize when he hadn't even realized how deeply he had insulted her.

She reached out and took a dumpling from the platter and took a fierce chomp out of the morsel, knowing that would be enough at the time to keep her from screaming at the top of her lungs.

'Isn't likely, he says! Why do I even bother?'

Lee looked horrified as she stood and began to walk away mechanically, knowing that he'd never forgive himself if he let Tenten drown in her own despair while there was something he could have done about it.

So he did something very bold and turned to Neji, "Neji! My eternal rival! Please understand women have very delicate feelings and that you may have offended Tenten by forsaking training with her!"

Neji gave him an incredulous look, "Offended? It's nothing personal, she shouldn't-"

Tenten continued to walk away but Neji was finally watching her leave, and Lee prayed that the Hyuga prodigy held at least a stitch of compassion for her, "For the sake of preserving your friendship with the beautiful flower of our team, I must insist you do something!"

Neji didn't take too well to Lee's pleading, maybe because it seemed like a command. Even if he didn't say it, Neji was worried that he had upset Tenten.

Lee found it was exceptionally hard to explain Tenten's feelings to Neji without giving away too much. He stood up, almost frantic, and pondered what Gai-sensei would do.

Neji, fed up with the cryptic behavior of his teammates, stood up and threw a kunai at the back of Tenten's head.

Angrily, she blocked it and wheeled around, throwing a dozen shuriken back at him.

It wasn't what Lee had in mind when they had first intended to feed Neji…

Tenten stomped back to the two boys, no longer containing her anger, "Why not train with us, Neji?" She continued to block his incoming projectiles, "Are we that disposable to you?"

"Is this what you want?" He shouted. He was at least trying to understand what had her so upset, "Training with my clan is something you object to?"

They finally stopped throwing crap at each other and Lee calmed down marginally.

Tenten could see he still didn't fully grasp the point of why they had even stopped by the Hyuga estate to see him, and decided to dumb it down a bit so he could comprehend, "You're from a prestigious clan, yes," She admitted, "But you can't use Primary or Hidden Lotus."

Lee found that obvious.

"You and your uncle can't shoot an arrow several hundred yards accurately, and no one here can summon weapons as rapidly as I can. There are so many things you Hyuga can't do. No one will replace us! There is no one here who even comes close to how Lee and I support you!" Tenten hoped she was being clear enough on how unique she and Lee were.

Neji understood her point, but wasn't going to concede as if he had done something wrong, "You have no right to doubt my family."

'Like hell I do…' Tenten groaned mentally, and decided his pride needed to be attacked if he was going to let her win this argument.

She reached into her hip pouch and drew out a scroll. She gracefully summoned Chinigui. At first Neji suspected she was picking a fight, but he was puzzled when she dropped the monstrous zanbato to the ground in front of him and the blade sunk into the damp soil like a fang into flesh.

"Of course I have a right to doubt your family! I'm your teammate! I know you better than they do," Tenten rested her hand on her hip, "I'll tell you what, if you can pick it up I'll believe you. Prove to me that is something a Hyuga can do!"

Neji was fully aware that he couldn't, not without hurting himself and looking like a fool.

Lee, seeing his reluctance, snickered playfully and Neji scowled at him

Deciding that he'd be defeated before he even tried, he attempted to budge to zanbato. Neji got a fair amount of leverage on it, but holding a sword a few inches off of the ground hardly counts as lifting, Tenten scoffed. He dropped it quickly anyway. His face was furious.

They started laughing at him and his mood began to sour. He would not let himself be patronized, "This is pointless, Tenten!"

She unsummoned the sword and sighed, wishing that he would lighten up, "The point is that we're your friends, Neji. Because of that you shouldn't turn your back on us; we'd never do that to you."

Lee agreed ardently, "It is true, Neji!" He smirked knowingly before following after Tenten, "We will see you at our training grounds tomorrow!"

Once they had left they had made their point quite vividly, if not ridiculously.

Neji decided he'd excuse their behavior and succumb to their demands if they had to be so difficult about it. He looked down at the ground and saw that the platter of dumplings was still there waiting for him.

Neji smiled at the sight of it.