Tsubaki's POV

The shadow gets bigger and bigger and I turn around in time to see a giant bird with outstretched claws, aiming at me.

"Why are you just standing there you idiot?" Neji asks me and I grab him and I pull him to the ground, just as the bird swoops and then flies up.

I look at the bird in annoyance as I get up and it circles over head. "What kind of bird feasts on humans?" I ask as I watch the bird while holding a hand out for Neji.

Neji of course, being the arrogant person he is, doesn't take my hand but whatever. He gets up on his own and we notice the others are missing.

"Wonder when that happened." I say surprised.

I activate my Byakugan and I see them running for their lives because of a giant tiger.

"Uhm, what?" I ask confused.

"What is it?" Neji asks me.

"The others are being chased by a giant tiger." I say ans Neji sighs in annoyance.

The bird swoops and grabs me, but doesn't get Neji.

"Ok look, that's not happening, so let's see what I can do about this." I say and I start tickling its claw and the birds wings stop as the bird sqawks.

We then fall towards the ground. "I did not think this through at all." I say and I hold my hands over my head as well crash to the ground.

I groan quietly and I get out of the dead birds talons.

I cough a bit as the dirt and dust settles.

"You idiot!" Neji yells at me as he runs over.

I look up at Neji as he stops in front of me. "What? I took care of the bird problem." I say to Neji and he looks a little annoyed.

"And you almost died in the process." Neji replies, the annoyance not very hidden in his tone.

"And you would have cared because? Last I checked, you hate the main branch." I say to Neji and he just scowls at me and I nod. "Let's just go help our teams before we get ourselves into deeper trouble." I say to Neji as I start walking.

"Fine." Neji replies and we start running to catch up with the others.

We get to their general vicinity and we just stare at the tiger.

I sigh deeply and my shoulders slump as I watch the twins blubber in front of it, terrified. "I have never been more exasperated with these two in my life." I say and Neji smirks.

I walk in front of the twins and the tiger looks at me. "Bad kitty." I say to the tiger and it growls. "Bad kitty, go!" I say more sternly as I point to the left. It reows at me and I activate my Byakugan. "Go!" I say sternly and it slumps away.

I deactivate my byakugan and I rub my temples.

"T-TSUBAKI!" The twins cry as they hug me.

I sigh and Sensei pats my head. "Good job." Sensei says to me in relief.

Tenten, Lee and Guy smother Neji.

"What happened to you?" Hiroko asks me.

"A giant bird." I say as my eye twitches slightly.

"A giant bird?" Sensei asks confused.

"The bird grabbed me, I tickled it claws go get out of its grasp as it was flying, and we crashed, the bird died." I say and Hiroto pats my head.

"She almost died as well." Neji says to them and I roll my eyes.

We head into the outpost and to a hotel that these guys were staying at.

"Tsubaki is coming with me." Tenten says as she takes my hand and starts pulling me up to her room.

"Huh?" I say confused.

Tenten makes me get cleaned up and she takes care of my injuries and puts my hair up like hers.

"Alright, here is a change of clothes!" Sensei calls from outside the room.

Tenten leaves the bathroom for a moment and comes back with the clothes.

I get changed into a white t-shirt and black leggings with my village headband around my neck.

"Alright, your all done." Tenten says to me with a smile as she has me face a mirror and I don't look half bad.

I give her a thumbs up and Tenten grins and pulls me out of the room and to the dinning hall where everyone else is waiting.

I'm just going along with it because Hinata can get this hyper when she talks about Naruto.

"I'm done!" Tenten calls and everybody looks over and Hiroko spits out his drink at my appearance.

I wave slightly. "Hello." I say to them.

Tenten takes me over to them and Sensei smiles while Lee and Guy go on about youth or something.

"Ridiculous." Neji mutters.

I roll my eyes at him while Hiroko looks away while covering his mouth.

"Alright, let's eat in victory!" Hiroto cheers.

I nod and the twins pout.

"Come in Tsubaki! Emotion! We won!"  Hiroko tries to get me to be excited.

I give him a thumbs up. "Ok, we won, hurray." I say simply and the twins give up. I sit next to them and Sensei orders ramen for the three of us.

"Tsubaki, I dare you to have a ramen eating contest with me." Hiroto says to me. "Whoever can finish their bowl first." Hiroto continues.

"Fine." I say and the ramen gets placed in front of us.

"It's gonna be between the three of us." Hiroko says as he refuses to be left out.

"I don't mind." I say and the twins cheer.

I break my chopsticks. "Thank you for the food." I say to Sensei and he nods with a smile.

The twins follow in suit and we start eating.

I just eat at a normal pace as the twins try to stuff themselves.

I push my bangs back as I pick up the bowl and I drink down the broth.

I then set the bowl down and I lick my lips as the twins stare at me in shock. "I'm done." I say simply and Sensei just smiles like a doting father.

"Glutton!" Hiroto accuses me.

I shrug and I take my bowl to the dish wash table and the dish washer nods to me in thanks.

I head back and I sit down.

I start to get tired, but I push it aside as I watch the twins eat another bowl.

"Alright, I think its time for us to head back to the village." Guy says to everyone with a grin.

"Yes! Guy-Sensei!" Lee says enthusiastically while Tenten and Neji nod.

"Good idea Guy." Sensei says to him. "You three ready to head back?" Sensei asks us.

I nod while the twins scarf down their bowls.

"Alright!" The twins say once they're done.

We grab our stuff and we leave the outpost.

Me and Neji end up walking together again as Tenten, Lee and the twins walk together, and our Sensei's walk at the front.

I yawn quietly and Neji notices but doesn't say anything.

We just kind of not talk to each other.

"Thank you." Neji says to me at last.

I look at him in mild confusion.

"You saved me from getting injured for the most part. And even if your methods are stupid and you keep getting hurt, you were brave for doing that." Neji says to me.

I smile a small smile. "Thank you for saying that Neji." I say and he nods surprised. "The word brave sounds better than the word burden." I say as I look forward with a content look.

Neji nods and after a while, we get to the village and our teams head to the Hokage office to report our mission.

I see my father waiting there and I look away from his gaze as Sensei and Guy give the report.

"You stared down a tiger?" Iruka asks me shocked.

"Bad kitty were her words exactly." Hiroko says to him.

"You two were blubbering behind me!" I say to the twins in exasperation and Sensei laughs at the three of us.

"And she also got carried away by the bird, but then got the bird to crash in mid air." Neji continues.

Iruka looks horrified.

"The bird was killed by the fall." Neji says with sigh.

I look away as I scratch the back of my neck.

"Well, it seems your mission was a success. You got rid of the thieves, Tsubaki even took out the leader." Lord Hokage says to us amused.

"Alright!" The twins cheers.

"I want my sister." I say as I stare at the ground.

"Well, you three are dismissed and you get tomorrow off of missions and training." Sensei says to me and the twins.

The twins cheer extra loud. "Come on Tsubaki! Be excited!" The twins say to me as they attempt to get me to be excited.

But I'm not, I don't want to listen to the impending lecture from Father.

Me and Father leave and he doesn't say anything until we get to the house and we're in the training room.

Hanabi looks confused as Father sits down and looks at me.

"Tsubaki, you were captured, not once, but twice, by thieves and a bird." Father says to me and I look at the ground with a frown. "You were being a burden to not just your team but Neji's team as well." Father says to me and lectures me for an hour and I know Hinata is listening in on the other side of the door.

Once father dismisses me, I leave and Hinata follows me.

"Are you ok?" Hinata asks me once we get into my room.

I shake my head. "No Hina, I'm not." I whisper quietly and I hug her.

She takes the buns out of my hair as I hug her, and we sit on my bed, and I feel a lot better as Hinata hugs me.

We stay like that for a while and then Hina has to leave for training.

I then take a nap for an hour or two, until the twins knock on my window.

"Hey Tsubaki, want to get some ramen?" Hiroko asks at the window.

I sit up with a small yawn and I look at the time to see its like 6 in the evening.

"Did we wake you up?" Hiroto asks me.

I nod. "Its fine. I'll come get Ramen with you guys." I say and they nod with a grin and I climb out the window with my ninja sandals in hand.

I put them on as we walk and we pass Neji and his team.

Neji just stares at me and I realize my hair is up in pig tails, but I'm to tired to take them down

"She's adorable." Tenten and Lee say as they look at me.

We get to Ichiraku's and Touchi looks at us amused.

"Our usual orders please!" The twins say excitedly.

I nod and we sit down.

"Quiet with out Naruto here?" Hiroto asks Ayame.

"Oh yeah." Ayame says amused and I take my hair out of the pig tails and I pull most of my hair into a side pony tail that rests on my shoulder.

"Well, three Miso." Touchi says after a few minutes of the twins chatting.

I break my chopsticks as my bowl gets placed in front of me. "Thank you for the food." I say to Touchi and Ayame.

Me and the twins eat, and they're fighting each other to see who can eat more, I just ignore that as I finish my noodles and I drink the broth.

"May I have one more?" I ask Ayame.

"Of course!" Ayame says to me with a smile and she gets to work on another for me.

"She already finished her first bowl!" The twins say shocked.

Ayame places another bowl in front of me and I nod in thanks and I eat the rice cakes on the top and the meat.

"She's so neat about it." Hiroto says as he sits there with a stomach ache.

I eat the noodles as I move my bangs behind my ear, to keep them out of the way.

"One more bowl please." Hiroko says to Touchi and he nods.

I drink the broth and I end up getting another bowl.

"Gluttons." Hiroto mutters as well eat.

"Well next time don't eat too fast." I say to Hiroto.

"Yes Mom." Hiroto says sarcastically and I roll my eyes.

I finished my bowl before Hiroko and that's when I stop.

"So, who is gonna pay?" Hiroto asks us.

"Who brought money?" I ask the two.

The twins shake their heads and I sigh.

"Ayame, we'll wash dishes to pay for this." I say to her and she sweat drops but nods.

We wash the bowls we ate out of and then we leave.

I cover my mouth with the back of my hand as I yawn and the twins just smile as they walk on either side of me.

"So now what?" Hiroto asks and they look up to see what time it is.

"I think we should take Tsubaki to our house and we can have a sleep over, Mom would love her." Hiroko says to him.

I just watch them with my hands behind my back.

"No, maybe some other time, let's just take Tsubaki back to her home so she can sleep, she seems very tired." Hiroto says amused as he hang off my shoulder and Hiroko nods.

"Good point." Hiroko says and we walk back to my place as the twins talk and once we're outside my window, I climb in.

"Thanks for the dinner." I say to the two and they grin.

"Thanks for agreeing to come." The two chorus and I nod and they leave.

I get ready for bed and I just sleep through the night.
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