Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

Venus or Themis

Part Two: Best Interest

By Nessie

Tenten couldn't find her new sky-blue silk shirt, and it was driving her crazy.

She walked barefoot around the bedroom of her spacious apartment, clothed only in grey, striped Capri pants and a plain white bra. Only half of her hair was its bun, the other hanging wavy and dark over her right shoulder. At least her makeup was finished.

She didn't know why she was so worked up; she had never been a neat person. Even now she ripped through closet racks and rifled through armoire drawers, not caring what organization or lack thereof the contents fell in. Various paraphernalia from old files to a curling iron littered the carpet. But neat or not, she had no one to impress. Rather, she expected someone else to impress her.

She paused in her rampage to loop a pair of gold hoops in her ears, reaching for the matching necklace from the jumble of jewelry ranging from classy to tacky in the box atop her vanity table. Sliding her Rolex onto her wrist, Tenten swore as she saw the time.

In the study adjoining the living room, her laptop computer hummed, and on its screen was an e-mail from the law office of Hyuuga & Nara telling her that she had a meeting with Neji Hyuuga at a coffeehouse on Fifth Avenue at ten in the morning. Not early enough for breakfast, Tenten had noted, not late enough for lunch. She had taken the day off, knowing the only work to pile up were a few reports for the dean at Columbia. Her team would handle everything else.

Tenten was putting her hair the rest of the way up and wondering what else she had was unwrinkled when she remembered with a flash that she had steamed the shirt the night before and raced to the hallway. Pulling back the folding doors that hid her washer/dryer and ironing board, she grabbed the longed-for garment and buttoned it on, adjusting the three-quarter sleeves before running for the door. She snatched up her purse and literally jumped into a pair of flats before dashing from her apartment.

Nine o' five. The subway would just get her there. Possibly. Probably.

Tenten groaned. Probably not.

---

She hit Starbucks at exactly ten-ten. Ha, ha, she thought bitterly, shaking a mental fist at whoever had it out for her.

The impeccable form of Neji Hyuuga was not difficult to zero in on, and Tenten made her way through the light business in the coffeehouse, weaving between round tables and hoping she didn't look as though she was running late – even if she was.

His choice of dress was more casual than it had been during the Gaara Sands trial, khakis and white button-up shirt a good idea enduring the heat outside. The long black hair she had tried to resist noticing at the courthouse was loose and hanging down his back. He sat at a corner table with a latte and caught sight of her almost immediately.

She made her approach rather guiltily as Neji scooted back his chair and stood. "Mr. Hyuuga? I'm so sorry, I'm afraid I was pretty sluggish this morn…"

The pearl gaze that met her own was enough to shut her up instantaneously. "It's perfectly fine," the attorney replied in an irritation-free voice. Tenten hardly realized she had given him her hand before he was shaking it. "Would you like to order a drink or get started?"

Tenten wondered if the hand of an invisible force had turned the dial on her brain to "ridiculously slow." She set her purse on the table, still flustered and hating it. "Get started?"

She saw the corners of his lips tip up in possible amusement at her uncertainty. "I promise there's nothing to be nervous about. We'll take care of you." It was clearly a recycled assurance, but Tenten couldn't say it didn't help her. Besides, she wasn't entirely positive she disliked the way his voice sounded with the words.

Neji gestured for her to sit but did not try to guide her to the chair; gentlemanly without sexist. Tenten liked that. She watched him pull forms and files from his sleek briefcase and noted the definite lack of a wedding ring. Letting herself relax a little (she tended to have trouble working with married men), Tenten waited for him to get situated.

"It's a fairly painless process," he began. "At some point, I would like it if you met my partner, Shikamaru Nara, so that you're familiar with our firm as a whole." He went on to ask her the usual questions; what her level of education was, her legal history, whether her business was of the particularly delicate kind regarding the law.

When at last he came to the basics regarding her family, Tenten's defenses went on high alert. "Have you ever been married?" he asked, not a note of interest in the question.

"No," she told him, not sure why she felt faintly disappointed.

"Are you an only child, Miss Long?"

"Tenten, please." Anxiousness began to creep up her spine and clench needle-like fingers in her neck. She didn't like formalities anyway. "And yes, I am."

He didn't leap to use her first name but continued with his train of thought. "That would make your next of kin your parents. What are their names?"

She got to her feet with unneeded celerity. "You know, Mr. Hyuuga, I will have that drink. I'll just… I'll be back in a minute. Excuse me." The last came out in a murmur, and then she was walking away from their table and toward the service counter. Tenten did not look back to see her attorney-to-be's expression, which was befuddled and narrow-eyed.

She stood in line with crossed arms. Tenten did not like being asked about her parentage, not even when the asking was completely valid. Too many bad memories coupled with too few good ones were enough to nurture a preference for avoiding the subject entirely.

Tenten inwardly sighed, shoulders hunching, as she collected her white mocha Frappuccino. With a mental berate to stop acting like a child, she plastered a pleasant smile on her face and returned to the table. Neji sat, unmoved, but his eyes watched her closely. "Thank you for waiting," she said politely although the temperature in the room seemed to be skyrocketing. "You asked me the names of—"

"Actually, Tenten," interposed the Hyuuga smoothly, jolting her a tad with the use of her first name, "I believe it would be a better idea to continue this on another day. I have a meeting in thirty minutes, and I've already kept you too long."

Tenten checked the time, saw she had been there only forty-five minutes. "I thought the e-mail from your office said an hour?"

"It did." Methodically, he started to repack his briefcase. Pausing for just a moment, he looked up and gave her the same smirk he'd used during the trial when she had been on the witness stand. "But now we both have an extra fifteen minutes."

She couldn't help it; Tenten grinned. "I like the way you think, Mr. Hyuuga."

"Neji, please." He didn't say it as easily as she did, but with more certainty, perhaps. Clasping the case, he straightened and turned to her. "How does next Tuesday sound for a business lunch? We'll wrap this up."

"Good," she agreed quickly, shifting her coffee cup to her left hand to shake his right one. "Thank you for being so patient with me. I've no idea of legal matters."

"No one does," he told her, all honesty. "That's what lawyers are for. I have only your best interest in mind. Have a good day, Tenten."

"You too, Neji." Her voice came out cheerfully this time, and as she sipped from her drink she watched him go. Clean lines and varying shades; that was Neji Hyuuga. Tenten was surprised to find that he had, without noticeable effort, improved her mood a hundredfold after souring it only minutes before.

No wonder he was such a good lawyer.

With a new spring in her step, Tenten left the Starbucks and headed down Fifth Avenue. She had a half-an-hour all to herself before she had her one remaining appointment for the day.

---

"What do you think, Tenten? Better than the ivory?"

Tenten folded her hands on top of her crossed legs. "I like this one best," she told the pink-haired woman standing before the three-part mirror, her back to Tenten. "So far anyway. It's only ten past one. Did you want to try a different designer?"

"Hm, maybe. Ino was sure I'd go with this one." Turning back to the glass, Sakura Haruno, medical doctor, and soon to be Doctor Sakura Haruno-Uchiha, studied the bridal gown she wore. A halter strap secured it to her body, the material fitting at the torso but not enough to be skintight. From her waist, yards of cream satin flowed to the floor. "In fact, the longer I wear it, the more I love it. Damn, I'm glad my eating habits are so irregular," the surgeon declared. "Gaining two pounds would do me in with this."

"Ino has good taste. Is she going to be able to make the wedding?"

"She's flying in from L.A. the day before. Ino's part of the reason the wedding's so small; we don't want too much attention. The Uchiha-Haruno wedding could very quickly turn into Ino Yamanaka's homecoming." With a roll of her eyes, Sakura added, "It's obnoxious sometimes that's she such a popular model, but it can't be helped." Turning to the left, Sakura looked over her shoulder to study the dress's plunging backline. "I don't want press mucking up my wedding. And I need Ino to be there."

Tenten nodded. "It's sweet that you've been friends since kindergarten."

"Believe me, we've had our bad times. But I love her anyway." Sakura smiled. She had been worried, Tenten knew, about choosing Ino over her for maid of honor. And while Sakura and Tenten had been roommates in college, Tenten had always known Ino would be the immediate choice. "Don't tell her I took her advice, she'd be insufferable."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"So how did that court thing go?" the younger woman asked, disappearing into the adjacent changing room to strip off the gown. "You never told me."

"Not much to tell, really. I gave them some statistics from the college, smiled and looked pretty. I was on time, so there's something."

"Very good!" was Sakura's congratulatory praise.

"Oh. And I found a lawyer there." Tenten mentioned this with trepidation, predicting Sakura's response.

"The guy who asked you to come to court?"

"No…the defense counsel who questioned me after him. Neji Hyuuga."

Sakura burst from the changing room with a crash of wooden door against wooden wall. Her jade eyes were positively bulging. "The ball buster, Neji Hyuuga?"

"He's not the only ball-busting lawyer in New York," Tenten pointed out.

"No, but he's Neji Hyuuga! From Hyuuga & Nara, right?" When her friend nodded, Sakura let out a breathy chuckle. "Jeez, Tenten, when do you think you'll get in so much trouble you'll need him?"

"Who knows? My profession's not all that safe, Sakura." She gathered her purse and went with the slightly younger woman to the front counter. All this white was reminding her of her new attorney's eyes, and that was disconcerting. "Our research helps get illegal weapons off the street, and not everyone is all yay-rah about that. I had this poor kid on my team, he got beat up by his roommate's boyfriend when the guy's rifle was seized by the authorities."

"Wow. You know, you'd have a lot more protection if you would go ahead and sign with the government. More money too."

"I don't need more money. Columbia pays well. And I'd rather not have to go through all that crap you told me about when you first signed up; people getting on your case because you've got a uterus."

"It's so much better than that now," Sakura protested. "They're getting used to women holding positions there, Tenten."

"Doctors, maybe. I can't imagine any man's man wanting to listen while I told them the rights and wrongs of civilian armament."

"Well, you should at least consider it further." Sakura grinned mischievously as she laid her Visa on the counter to pay for her dress. "Besides, don't think I don't know a diversion when I hear it. You're trying to avoid the Neji Hyuuga topic."

Tenten stared at her. "I'm not—"

"Good. Is he as young as they say?"

"He's my age."

"And handsome?"

"Well," Tenten began, "he's a lot more attractive than the lawyers I've seen. I've never seen any guy fill out a suit like that before. It's really quite…magnificent."

"You," Sakura announced as they walked into the sunshine outside the bridal boutique, "are interested."

The Asian woman let out a short laugh. "No. Not my type. He's ninety percent serious, eight percent arrogant, and two percent workaholic. Though I might be wrong about the arrangement of those numbers."

"As long as he's one-hundred percent man…"

"Sakura!" she exclaimed. "He's my lawyer."

The doctor simply beamed at her. "Advantageous, isn't it?" She behaved and listened while Tenten told her of the business lunch set up for the coming Tuesday. "You should at least have fun with it. Dress yourself up, enjoy the sight, and as I assume he's paying out of the sincere gratitude of Hyuuga & Nara, do better at ordering than just a salad."

"You're insatiably nosy," Tenten informed her on a chuckle. "You're almost as dangerous as a handgun. Maybe that's why I like you so much."

"I'm a doctor, dear." Sakura returned Tenten's amused grin with one of her own. "And I diagnose you to be in desperate need of a fling."

---

The thing about Sakura's diagnosis was that Tenten was not a fling kind of person. She had dated once in high school and very rarely in college, preferring studying to partying. She had graduated near the top of her class and proceeded to get a job early on at a prestigious school. She loved her career and the work she was doing. The only company she had truly needed for the past eight or so years was that of friends, and they had been more than there for her.

When it came down to it, she thought as she went home for the night, she wasn't a relationship person. Tenten had gone to a therapist once and only once to ask why. Predictably, the bespectacled, middle-aged man had interpreted the situation as a direct response to the death of her parents during her sophomore year of high school.

Two Chinese-American citizens of New York, Mr. and Mrs. Ying Por Long, were shot down on a walk through Central Park just after sunset. Their fifteen-year-old daughter, Tenten, had been getting after-school tutoring at a schoolmate's apartment when she received a visit from the NYPD.

It had been the main factor in determining her life goal – to make weapon use safer, more controlled, without ridding the local citizen of his right to bear arms. She appreciated the protective good a gun could do and the science involved in producing a well-made weapon, but she needed to see the appropriate use of them in her lifetime.

Still, talking of her parents was difficult. Neji Hyuuga's asking had very nearly given her an anxiety attack. She had loved her mother and father, and she believed they would have approved of her choice of path in life.

Since their deaths, however, Tenten had learned how to be alone and happy at the same time. And she didn't like the idea of that being undone just yet.

Even if Neji Hyuuga did claim to have her "best interest in mind."

To Be Continued