Tenten clutched her painful heart as she stared at the black abyss that now swallowed her view. "What happened?" She asked herself, recalling the memories of the few minutes before this happened. Although there was a familiar trickle, nothing solid came up.

"Run now, my young pet." A new, deep and raspy voice said calmly.

"What?" Tenten swirled, looking for the source of the voice. "Who are you?" She asked, apprehensively.

"I am the person who is to change the course of your story." The voice responded.

"Where am I?" She asked, hoping for an answer.

"In your own conciousness. Now, follow the light."

"The light?" Tenten asked as a shimmering light appeared to her right. It appeared to have some solidity, but at the same time it seemed unable to keep its shape. "Are you serious? You're never supposed to follow the light!" She yelled.

"Then stay here forever." The voice boomed out, as if it were a command. Hesitantly, Tenten took a step forward. As soon as she did, she began to feel the sensation of falling. From the way her hair flapped across her face, she guessed it was headfirst. "If this is my conciousness, I shouldn't get hurt, right?" She told herself. Then she saw something move beyond her feet. Looking down, it appeared to be the light. Up close it seemed like a creamy beishe in color, and she could tell that the part of it that had solidity was giving off wavering shapes of light. A small string of light appeared, and she heard a tinkle that she somehow could understand. It seemed to be wanting her to grab it.

Not a moment later she felt heat at the back of her neck. Twisting to look in that direction, she saw the same form and shapes of light, but in a blood red color. It also seemed to be saying something with the deep tones that reminded her of a cymbal. As if it was a warning. Then she finally realised, she wasn't falling anymore, but simply hanging in the balance between the two enigmas. As she looked from left to right, from blood red to beishe.

"And it is here that your story will be shaped." The voice spoke again, and Tenten felt herself being pulled up, almost as if out of some thick, syrupy substance. She heard her voice being called, and then the existince of her conciousness faded into the real world.

"Tenten?" She awoke. It was Lee. "You fainted! I don't know what happened, but we took you to the Konoha Hospital." Tenten slowly sat up, cluching her aching head. A bright white room, completely confined with no windows and only one entrance. A small toilet stood behind a wall that stuck out into the middle of the room, and complicated equipment was on either side of her sitting in the bed. It looked like an Intensive Care Unit. Sakura stood over her with a clipboard. "T-this cannot be.. I don't understand..." She muttered quietly to herself, and then looked at Tenten with strict and demanding eyes. "You must stay here until we have figured out what happened. You may not leave this room, but you may take visitors as you like. It appears not to be contagious."

Tenten's eyes widened. Contagious?

Sakura hurriedly left the room and Lee quickly followed. Tenten was left alone with nothing to understand, nothing to remind her of the world outside her small, white room except for a bright blue vase with a few vibrant pink cherry blossoms in it, their petals slowly falling to the floor as Tenten wished for even a meager understanding of what had happened to her.

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I have the next chapter ready to upload. Guess what? Track just ended! No more staying at school untill five o'clock for me! Also, more detail! I know ya'll like that. I'm really determined to finish this story. Please review and give me some constructive critisism. Thank you!

EraTomo