Virtue (Temari, Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tenten) SLOW UPDATES

Heaven - Heaven 5

PART ONE: TENTEN

HEAVEN - HEAVEN

CHAPTER FIVE

It had become a common occurrence for Neji to show up randomly to assist Tenten in her work. He always wanted them to do other things like go on a play date on days they were not working but Tenten always disregarded his advances.

It was not that she did not like him, in fact it was quite the opposite. Tenten found that she was afraid of how fast her affection and admiration for the pale eyed beau was growing.

Neji was tender, playful and affectionate. He did not smother her with his superior strength unlike most men did and he truly believed that she was strong and capable of doing things that were stereotyped as men alone works. It was rare to find a man like him in their misogynistic society.

The only other man to treat her and every other woman as her equal and not as a glorified ornament was her beloved deceased husband. And that was where her problem lay.

She knew deep down that Lee, in all his boisterous honesty, would want her to be happy and move on even in death but Tenten could not help the guilt she felt each time she thought of Neji. It was like she was betraying Lee. She hated the feeling.

Anko and Kurenai advised her to follow her heart after she tendered what troubled her mind to the older women. Perhaps because of their experience they had a way of assuaging Tenten's inner turmoil. She would follow her heart and the rest would fall into place. One way or the other, there would be a sign that Neji was truly meant for her.

Tenten was happy about her newfound peace when she went to the farm the next week. She made a promise in her heart to allow Neji to court her when he tried rather than play hard to get. However the pale eyed man was nowhere to be found that day.

Work distracted her from thinking too much about it though. Shinra announced that the lord of the farm, Hyuga-sama, was hosting an event in his courtyard so they were made to gleam and work harder in preparation for the feast.

Tenten didn't mind the extra work as she was more worried for Neji than any other thing. When after a few more days Tenten did not see Neji at the farm she asked Shinra about it. The head servant knew nothing about his absence though. Shame.

The bun haired woman could only hope that nothing too serious was wrong with Neji.

It was a busy day at the vineyard today. Other than the fact that the farm aids were busy harvesting grapes and treading on them to make more wine in place of the one the event was going to exhaust, the aids were busy because Hyuga-sama was supposedly coming to the farm today.

Tenten shook her head inwardly at Neji. She warned him a lot about his bad work ethic but he was always stubbornly adamant that he was not a servant. Now look where it got him. Hyuga-sama would unfortunately not recognise his efforts because he was absent.

Apparently, Hyuga-sama was bringing another lord on a tour of his vineyard that noon. Shinra was working very hard to ensure that the vineyard was presentable so the farm aids were made to work over time. Not that Tenten minded.

She was going to be handsomely rewarded for her extra labour and besides she was the only female servant working on the farm. If Hyuga-sama would see her and appreciate her hard work with a few gold coins, that would be very good.

But of course there were two ways that her meeting with Hyuga-sama could go; either he rewarded her or he found a woman working on a farm as a taboo like the other single minded idiots and dismisses her.