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(((Actually, Neji inserted his chakra into Tessen, which means Tessen is at a disadvantage. And, Tessen was layed down on the ground, flat on his back.)))

Neji suddenly tenses his muscles and spiraled down headfirst at Tessen, his fists portruding in front of him. Tessen got up slowly, wobbling. He looked up and saw Neji coming at him in the air. He blinked several times because the poison was playing at his eyes. His breathing became more irregular as well but he knew he couldn't just wait and do nothing. He was only a sitting duck if he made himself one.

Tessen played some hand seals and suddenly two clones appeared beside him. They both jumped into the air after Neji, blocking his view of Tessen. Neji was going at an alarming speed which resulted in him bursting through both the clones. They didn't dissapear in puffs of smoke though.

Neji kept on going, but Tessen wasn't reacting. "This is it!" Neji thought. He began to slow down though and in a second he wasn't moving at all, just floating in the air in front of Tessen. The two clones that Neji had burst had turned into shapeless water bits that were holding Neji back, in front of Tessen's face. He looked at his cousin, wondering how he had concocted that plan so well.

"Good show, Tessen. I didn't think you were smart enough for something like this," He said.

"Why do you mock me when I have you right under my finger, Neji? My clones become shapeless when attacked but they can turn almost solid like in this state. Hmph, I'm going to turn you into a sparring block!" He yelled, proud of his plan. Tessen started things off with a punch and continued on blitzing from out of nowhere, just in case Neji could find a way to defend.

Neji raised his hands and squinted his eyes, peering through at the two clones. He had to get rid of them. The body switching technique wouldn't work, nothing to switch with. He couldn't even perform a simple jutsu because he had to attempt to defend himself, and Tessen would disrupt any seals he made. And it was so damn hard to think while he was getting mauled at the same time! Neji moved his left hand slowly to his weapon purse and extracted a shuriken. It was a risky move and it resulted in him getting struck by a vicious blow to the ribs by Tessen, the side which he had left unguarded.

Tessen pulled back and Neji didn't take the time to catch his breath, instead, he threw the shuriken at him, which was dodged easily. Tessen ran after him again but this time he found that Neji was falling from suspense and his clones were left hovering in the air, but Neji was definantly on the ground. The poison beneath him was growing faint but it was still there, cloaking the ground.

"Cloaking the ground..." Neji was struck harder by an idea than he had been by Tessen the whole match. "Am I that stupid? Why didn't I do it earlier? It would have made things a hell of a lot easier," As Tessen ran at him, Neji began to work on some seals and he was done fairly quickly. The seals were all too familiar too him and the crowd from the Mist could sense what was going on.

Mist began to pour from nowhere by large quantities and it was engulfing the whole arena. Tessen began to run faster but it was too late for when he reached Neji and swung at him, he hit nothing but the mist itself. Teseen looked around, looking for Neji. "Damn it!" He murmured. "I had him!" He yelled, realizing he had missed a great oppurtunity to win.

"You did, but now I have you," The mist whispered to him.

Tessen spun around in every direction but he couldn't see Neji. He thought he had heard him, but he was nowhere in sight. "Damn it. Neji was raised in the Mist, it'll be over soon if I can't get him out of it," He thought. He turned around again, revealing Neji behind him, who could just be seen faintly.

Neji reached up to Tessen's temples and pressed his hands on them, unloading chakra into his system and closing off the flow. Tessen shouted and collapsed to his knees, holding his temple. He turned on the ground and looked behind him, but by this time Neji was gone.

"Damn it, I couldn't even sense him," He moaned quietly. Tessen blinked heavily, laying on the ground, not moving at all. His head throbbed with every pulse, trying to get the chakra flowing back in there but it was too hard. Tessen picked himself up slowly, seeing everything in triples as he got up. "How can I win now?" He asked himself. Then something happened to inspire Tessen.

He remembered the time that Neji and his clan of Mist Hyuugas were brought in to the Leaf branch. Tessen was sitting with his father beside him, legs folded and drinking tea. Across them sat Neji's father and Neji as well, with the other Mist Hyuugas in the background. The room was small but they could all fit since only about 9 of the Mist Hyuugas had made it through the Forest of Death.

"Cousin, a thousand of thanks for accepting us into your homes. We wouldn't have made it much longer if it wasn't for your assistance," Neji's father bowed before him, and so did all the other Mist Hyuugas. When Neji's father bowed, Neji was revealed hiding behind his father. He looked alarmed and crawled over beside his father and bowed as well.

After a second they all sat back into their former position and the Leaf Hyuuga leader looked satisfied by their gratefulness. "It was nothing, you are Hyuugas, be you from the Mist, but you are Hyuugas nonetheless, cousin. Out of curiousity, may I ask if that's your son?" He looked at Neji.

Neji's father nodded. "Yes, his name is Neji. His mother didn't make it on the trip here though." He was saddened by this.

Tessen's father nodded. "How unfortunate," He said, pitying them. He looked at Neji for a second, studying him. Neji looked uncomfortable and twitched slightly, trying to keep a cool gaze on the Hyuuga lord. "He looks promising. Slightly more than Tessen," He said, nodding towards his son. "They are both of the head branch of their families, might I suggest that they train together someday?" He asked.

Tessen was looking slight angry, but he didn't dare pout. Neji didn't look promising at all, he was meak compared to him. "Yes, training would do us both well, dear Uncle," He adressed Neji's father.

Neji's father didn't seem to understand why the tide of conversation had turned toward's their two sons training together, but he wouldn't dream of showing disrespect to his host. "I agree, only good can come out of practice,"

Tessen's father nodded. "Perfect. Now, kids, leave us to settle important matters. I'm afraid they are too formal for children's ears," He bid them off so Neji and Tessen left the room.

Outside, the two walked with about two metres between each other. Neji was behind, looking ahead. "Hey, wait for me!" Neji ran up beside his cousin. Tessen turned around and pushed Neji to the ground.

"Don't follow me! You're not tough at all kid, don't get the idea that you are," Tessen scowled at him.

Neji looked at him from the ground. "I-I'm sorry!" He bowed, apologizing nervously, under the impression that he had done something wrong.

Tessen growled, "Damn it, shut your mouth!" With that he kicked him and ran off. "He doesn't have any promise at all! He's as weak as a sick bird!" Tessen ran off, disturbed by his father's opinions.

In the present, Tessen growled and clutched his fists. "I'm the stronger one, I'll prove it!" Pride ran high in the Hyuuga family. Tessen conjured up some seals and suddenly, the Earth began to rustle. "Water Element, Water Wave!" He finished off the seal and the mist began to fade slowly. It began to turn into a form of rain and hit the ground, dissapearing. In a corner somewhere, Neji was kneeling on the ground.

"Damn it! He's turning my mist back into water!" Neji thought. The rain continued on for minutes and the crowd was awed. Finally, the mist had dissapeared and it had turned into wild waters. It thrashed to and from, but it wasn't moderatly deep enough to fill the whole ring to the brims, only to about Neji's neck line. "Damn it!" He cursed in his mind again." He focused his chakra again to water walk but he was interupted by the whole opposite side of the pond rushing at him. Tessen was behind it yelling,

"Water Element; Explosion Skill!" The water spun at him like a bullet and it hit, sending Neji against the wall. He was pinned back by it, quickly losing his breath. It rushed him with tremendous pressure until it had finally let go and he fell to the ground, into the water.

"Damn it all over again," He cursed.

(((********! ********! ********! ********! IT TOOK ME TWO ******** HOURS TO MAKE A POST, FOUND OUT I WASN'T LOGGED IN, AND ******** LOST THE POST! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!)))

(((Guys? Can I just tell you what happened in the post-that-never-made-it in OoC instead? That post I made was stretched the post thing until that little scroll bar was almost tiny! So, instead of repeating it, I'll just paraphrase it.

Ok, so Neji is floating in the water after Tessen's water attack hit. Tessen is walking over confidentaly when he notices that Neji is sinking in the water. As Neji is sinking, he slips out of his coat unconcsiously, leaving it floating on top of the water. Tessen stops, knowing what to expect. He wheels around and sees a dark spot below the water's surface. Neji springs out, aiming a punch at him, but since Tessen already saw Neji coming he alredy had time to prepare. So, he traps Neji in that water prison Zabuza once used. The referee announces that Neji has 3 minutes to break out of that prison or the match goes to Tessen. He begins to taunt Neji after Neji tries to break through the prison with his fists, but Neji coolly responds that he's still going to win. This response triggers a memory in Tessen. He is angrily sparring on a large tree stump, when he notices Neji behind him, quietly watching. He insults Neji who told him not to wear himself out, than walks away. Neji catches up to him, wheels him around, and punches him in the face, dropping him. He says,

"Quit acting like such a b*****d," Than walks away. Tessen is shocked. He remembers how before that he was just thinking that he might have been training too hard to beat Neji, for Neji appeared all weak and such. That's when he chases after Neji, saying, "Hey! Wait up, I was just kidding before!"

Now, back in the present, he turns his attention to the water prison, seeing that Neji had evaporated in thick smoke. "A clone?!" He thought. Tessen looked around, noticing Neji's jacket over on the other side of the arena. He lets go of the water prison and throws a kunai at the jacket, only to find Neji isn't in it. He is shocked, noticing that he had made a huge mistake when he let go of the water prison. Neji appears out of the smoke which was in the prison and strikes Tessen critically from behind and sends Tessen into the water, knocking him unconcious. The referee dives after Tessen, noticing that the fight was over. When he resurfaces, Neji forfeits. The crowd is extremely surprised when the referee announces that Tessen had won the match by forfeit. Neji walks over to his jacket (across the water. Don't forget that the arena had been flooded and that's how they were fighting for a while) and notices that without it he would have been finished. He picks it up and goes back to the stands, sitting beside Tadaaki.)))

(((Thaaaaaaanks)))

Neji felt that everyone's eyes were on him. He was glad that Tadaaki wasn't glaring at him too, he probably couldn't stand that. When Tadaaki begun to talk though, he felt slightly annoyed. He felt that Tadaaki would at least have the decency not to taunt him like that. So he just shrugged. Neji suddenly felt a little embarassed, though he did not blush. He wondered if Carri had seen this. He wouldn't want her to know that he had threw the match for her, it would cramp his style. When he couldn't see her, he was slightly worried. "Where's Carri?" He asked, after some thought of what Tadaaki would say to that.

(((Awright, now we have to make sure that Assasin's old character (Iforgetthename) was called back to the desert.)))

Neji raised his eyebrow. Everyone seemed to be looking at him again, or at Tadaaki. They couldn't decide on who to look at, the guy who had forfeit the match he had obviously won or the guy making a huge ruckus. "Sure, maybe we can find Slishos (((That's the name!))) too. I haven't seen him, his fight is soon, too."

"Hate to break it to you, but Slishos isn't even going to have a match. He's been called back to the village hidden in the Sand, I thought you knew that?" Tsunade said from behind. Neji turned around,

"What? I didn't know that," He said, a bit confused.

"You didn't? I thought as his teamate, you'd be the first to know. I don't think he'll be back any time soon, you might as well get used to him being gone," Tsunade said casually.

Neji was still awestruck, but he couldn't say he really cared. Him and Slishos were never really on the best of terms, even though they were both equals as ninja. "I'll send him a letter or something. I have something to do know though," He ran up the stairs, looking for Carri.

Tsunade watched him run off, than nearly slapped her head because she forgot to do something. "Say, why did your pupil Neji throw that match?" She asked Tadaaki.

Carri had stayed for the rest of the match, before slipping silently out once Neji forfited. She headed out of the village, having already gotten permission from Tsunade. Tsunade had also promised to keep her leave quiet for awhile. Neji would find out tommorrow at noon(in theory) when Tadaaki gave him the note, until then, Carri would have the reassurance that she wasn't going to be followed and dragged back.

About nightfall, she stopped her run in the middle of the dense forest. She waited. After a minute or so, a man walked out. "Who's the-oh. It's you. I thought you left for Kahona."
"I came back." Carri replied.
"You going back to being the 'Great assasin' Miki of Shadows?" He asked with amusment.
Carri was silent for awhile. "Yes. Take me to him."
The man smirked and started to lead her away. "Will do. Come on. It's great to have you back."
Carri followed him, leaving her identity as Carri and returning to being 'Miki of Shadows'.