A/N: In which we move the plot along! I guess in all honesty, there's minimal plot to this but it's so fun bear with me.

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

Venus or Themis

Part Three: Good Business

By Nessie

As a lawyer with many appointments during the course of every week, Neji Hyuuga had punctuality practically ingrained into his DNA. Lateness was unacceptable and could result in the loss of his monthly check or a valued client. Whether it meant leaving his condo at the crack of dawn or even earlier, he had never once been late to a meeting.

And never, either, had he been forced to wait for a client to show up at a meeting. But there was something undeniably amusing about watching Tenten Long rush through the doors of the Cheesecake Factory at close to twenty minutes past their agreed-upon time, sheepishness working its way into her lovely features. Neji could not possibly feel annoyed by her tardiness. Instead, he noticed her flattering lime-green sleeveless turtleneck that bared perfectly smooth shoulders. And how her lavender scent infiltrated his senses as she came closer, leaving him damnably close to smiling at the apologetic excuse she began to stammer out.

"I'm sorry, Neji, I had this lousy intern at my department who tried to organize the computer files on his own and practically crashed the whole system, so I had to wait until the maintenance center sent someone over and…and…" She trailed, looked at him in open befuddlement. She couldn't have looked more self-conscious if her face had been a question mark.

Amused in spite of himself, Neji folded his arms and spoke aloud what he was actually thinking. "I'm afraid I have no hope of interpreting those frantic hand gestures you're making." His face stayed perfect straight, revealing nothing.

Tenten continued to stand, open-mouthed, for just a moment before her lips spread in a grin and she gave a short laugh. "I tend to do it when I'm nervous," she answered honestly. Sitting, she put aside her handbag and did not hesitate to flip open her menu. "What exactly does the Hyuuga & Nara budget cover?"

They both ordered, and Neji watched while she made polite banter with their waitress, genuinely laughing when the teenage girl made a joke, and he decided he would tip the girl generously for giving him the opportunity to see such a smile. As the waitress took off, Tenten turned that happy face to him, and it lingered momentarily before fading to a more appropriate show of emotion.

"Now, Mr. Hyuuga – Neji – I believe we had some unfinished business to cover?"

He had not missed the way she had gone into lock-down last week when he had merely brought up the subject of her parents. He had seen her shoulders tense standing at the Starbucks counter, saw the impending panic in her eyes when she had returned to the table. Neji was sure he had made the right decision in giving her time to sort out whatever inner demons plagued her.

"Yes, your parents." He pulled her half-completed file from his briefcase, taking a moment to sip from his water glass before clicking his pen. "Their names are?"

When she did not promptly answer, the lawyer looked up from his document and traced the curve of Tenten's stiffened jaw and too-erect head with his eyes. "Can we just skip that question?"

Impatience flitted through his mind. Whatever her personal tragedy, she wasn't the only New Yorker who had one. He did not need her parents' histories, for goodness' sake, he only needed their names. If she had never had any parents, she needed only say so and the matter would be over with. But then Neji saw the acute pain in her sideways gaze and the annoyance dissipated. He could not deny her the favor.

"Very well. Let's talk about Columbia U. On what date did you begin work there?"

They went back and forth in a harmless question/answer session over water and orange chicken. Neji couldn't resist studying her, how the light played upon her skin, the stained-glass overhead lamp casting a rainbow on her neck. And then he could barely keep his eyes from that point, even while she spoke animatedly of her work and the unavoidable legal risks involved, because he knew somehow that the gentle curve would be soft beneath his fingers, his lips—

"Neji? Mr. Hyuuga?"

His gaze snapped to hers, pulse thrumming a little faster than he was comfortable with. Neji gave no outward indication that he had not been attending, yet Tenten repeated herself anyway.

"I asked if you happen to own a sidearm yourself."

The question seemed random at best until he recalled (not too slowly, of course, because he was Neji Hyuuga) that they had been on the subject of her profession. "No," he answered with such confidence it would seem there had never been a break in the flow of conversation. "I have been trained in martial arts, so there has never been a need—"

"Martial arts?" Her eyes were wide, not in naïve ignorance but in curiosity. "What kind? If you don't mind my asking," she added quickly, and he was amused again because politeness seemed a second priority for her.

"Taijutsu." But really, this wasn't the sort of conversation Neji should have been having with his client. This was a business lunch, after all, and they were only meeting for business affairs.

"That's really fascinating. The only guys I know who know anything like that is – well, one is probably very dangerous and the other is absolutely insane. Both are talented, too."

From that, Neji had no idea what to think of the crowd she may have been a part of. Terrible though it was, he was discovering that he had a very strong desire to learn. He didn't know why, and that was what bothered him the most. It could possibly have been caused by the way she wore her hair (he found those buns almost unreasonably attractive).

What made her tick? Neji usually only wondered this of his clients to know whether or not their interests would cause them trouble with the law. Tenten's chief curiosities seemed to be in the design, use, and rules of both modern and classic weaponry, and this could give her a legitimate need for his legal services in the foreseeable future (while she didn't come across as a woman of a violent nature, everyone had hidden urges that could prove capable of irreparable damage if not monitored). But this time, he found his personal interest lay beyond the usual of what he normally held in those he worked for. Still, Neji reminded himself forcefully, business meetings were not the place for discussions of the self. And he was a very good businessman.

"Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow?" He asked the question so quickly Neji hardly realized that he had spoken aloud until Tenten's dark lashes were rising and falling, rising and falling in her astonishment.

"I…I thought you intended to finish all of this," she made a table-encompassing gesture, "today?"

"I do." He had to recover. This wasn't his element. "I would like to. But I…I've heard there's a restaurant opening this evening, a few blocks from here. Or…" One of his hands curled into the loose fabric of his slacks as his mind raced. She was merely staring at him, for God's sake. "Or there are a number of films debuting tomorrow night. If you like movies, that is. I very rarely—"

"Oh!" Tenten exclaimed suddenly. "You're asking me out."

For a second, his cantering brain puttered to a graceless stop. Had his intention not been clear? "Yes," Neji answered slowly when the gears began to whirl again. "I am." He hoped she wouldn't notice the surprised cadence in his voice.

The attorney could have honestly lifted the unused fork beside his place and thrust it straight into his own heart to put an end to his self-inflicted embarrassment. It was so absurd that he had frankly blurted out his question, a question he had not even realized he had desired to voice. Neji Hyuuga had faced countless jury stands, judges, and witnesses. He did not just blurt things out.

He watched the ends of her mouth gently turn upward. "Are you allowed to do that?"

Annoyed at himself, the truth came out rather sharply, although Tenten did not seem affected by it. "No."

She laughed, and some of his inner turmoil lifted at the lighthearted way she took a drink from her water glass before answering. He didn't miss, however, the moments of consideration, the internal debate. "In that case, yes, Neji, I would love to go with you."

It was not, perhaps, the smoothest way of acquiring a date but successful nonetheless. Neji allowed himself to relax his posture somewhat. "Restaurant or movie?" he asked, to confirm.

Tenten grinned at him, the nuance of doubt now cleared from her eyes. "Both, of course."

Neji froze one step beyond the door to Shikamaru's office. Their building was not so quiet that his entrance had made a lot of racket – their secretary, Moegi, insisted upon playing music throughout her shift – but his partner was uncannily good at detecting his arrival even when he was trying to get by unnoticed. It was only when he actually wanted to talk that Shikamaru vocally intercepted his path to Neji's own office.

Backtracking, Neji trained his blank eyes on Shikamaru sat at an enormous oak desk at the far end of the room, typing on a sleek Mac computer. The other man wore casual dress, khakis and a polo shirt, spiky hair forced into his usual high ponytail. "How did what go?"

"Don't dodge, Hyuuga." Though they had been working long enough to be on a first-name basis, the two attorneys preferred to address each other by surname unless the matter beyond normal conversation. "Tenten Long: part two. It usually takes you only one meeting to get a client's information." Shikamaru raised his head from its inclined angle and tilted it far enough for his neck to give a quiet pop before looking at Neji. "It's interesting that Miss Long required a second visit for something so simple."

"It was just a coincidental time collision," Neji told him, switching his briefcase to the opposite hand.

"Did you get everything from her?"

He decided, for a reason he was not certain of, not to tell Shikamaru the whole truth, letting a stern look answer for him.

"Fine. I wanted to speak to you about the Hatake Company's account. You don't know anything about architecture, do you?"

"I can't say that I do," responded Neji cordially, though he was eager to get to his office and finish his work for the day. He wasn't usually a hurry-home type, but this whole day had been a bit unusual for him.

"I was hoping you wouldn't mind meeting with Hatake on Monday. I was supposed to do it tomorrow, but I'm supposed to go to the opening of that restaurant I mentioned to you yesterday, so I had it switched to the start of the week, but I'm meeting with Kankurou Sands. Wednesdays are so unpredictable anyway, I'm trying to make it…what?" Shikamaru's eyes had narrowed, though the lethargic set of his shoulders remained.

"You're going to that? That restaurant opening?"

"Yeah, I told you Temari and I probably would."

Neji didn't recall the word "probably," only phrases involving "Temari's making me" and "can't get out of anything once you're engaged". Looking up at the ceiling, he noted, "I didn't take you for a mid-week date man."

"I'm not. Or at least, I can't. Temari has evening shows during the week, but she's letting the understudy in to go with me. My friend from Jersey, Chouji Akimichi, is the meat chef at this place. Ichiraku's, I think it's called."

"I'm going," Neji said abruptly.

Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Why?"

He didn't figure there was a correct way of putting it, so Neji told him bluntly, "I'm going on a date with Tenten Long."

The other brow shot up to join its twin. "Oh…you asked her?" Neji nodded. "Today at your lunch?" Another nod, and Nara smirked. "That's…incredibly unprofessional of you."

"I know," Neji muttered, still not at terms with the occurrence himself.

"Well, I won't tell. Still," Shikamaru added, a fast chortle escaping, "you're not a mid-week date man. Hell, I was starting to think you didn't date. Like, asexual or something."

"I've been on dates," the Hyuuga retorted defensively, keeping as much inflection from his cadence as possible.

"Man, you went out with that Kin woman, who turned out to be psycho."

He really wanted out of there. "I didn't know she was certifiably mentally ill."

"Until she invited you in, handed you a razor, and asked you to cut her leg before sex." Shikamaru winced. "Ouch."

"I'm going to finish up," Neji told him firmly. "Don't bother me. And give me directions to Ichiraku's tomorrow so I can e-mail her."

Smirk back in place, Shikamaru nodded his assent. "Okay, okay. But Neji, take it easy, all right? As alluring as I know those R&D girls are, Tenten Long is still a client." The younger man had a knack for fitting a dry joke into his counsel. "We don't want to lose any good business."

"I know," Neji agreed before finally continuing onward to his own office. Where Shikamaru's had consisted of a massive desk and little else, Neji's own cherry desk was considerably smaller to allow for more room. His office was lined with bookshelves which held what was essentially the Hyuuga & Nara law library. The most attractive feature was that the one blank wall, desk positioned in front of it, was actually a plane of floor-to-ceiling window that offered him a phenomenal view of the city skyline.

Neji considered his partner's words before filing them in his mind in the way he would order Moegi to file Tenten Long's forms; accessible, but used only when needed. He did not need anyone to tell him that business came before romance – for now. Shikamaru was already past that point, but he had yet to move into an area of life consisting of more than the time between trials.

But now, by his own will, Tenten was suddenly blurring the line between work and recreation in Neji's usually categorized existence. It ruffled him. And more, it actually excited him. Pulling out his Blackberry, he inputted his date for the following evening.

To Be Continued