I wrote this back in March (I think) and I've grown to really like this fanfic. It is something different to what I usually do, but then again, I like to be diverse to keep everyone happy ^-^

I should be up and writing some more for my Fruits basket 100 theme challenge, got loads of ideas, but it's just transfering those ideas to sentences. Anyway, I hope you enjoy

Tenten's fateful childhood

She was a beautiful little baby girl. One who could do no wrong except for cry when she yearned for attention. She had a mother whose face said everything about how joyful she was to hold this little darling and a father who was proud to call this baby his daughter. That was four years ago. Now that tiny baby had grown into a little girl with two brown buns either side of her head and her parents are a completely different story.

"What is she doing in my sight?" Yelled a drunken woman who appeared to be this little girl's mother.

The little girl could just stand there in fear. Her legs were like two pieces of wood nailed to the ground. The more she stood there, the more this woman's face grew angrier.

"Tenten!" She shrieked. "Get out of my sight and fetch me more booze!"

The little girl, Tenten, finally reconnected with her legs and run out of the living room and into her room. She shut the door and slid down against the door. She stared across her room and saw her dolls situated in her doll house. She crawled across the floor and picked up a doll with long brown hair which came down to the dolls hip, a glamorous pink Chinese dress and pink shoes and just stared at it for a bit. She placed the doll into the house and made her walk to what appeared to be a cot.

"My little baby. I love you so much and I would never hurt you." She softly said.

She froze for a second and let go of the doll so it fell to the floor. She lifted her knees up and placed her head in her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. Then she gave out a few little sobs.

Knock, knock.

"Tenten, it's daddy. I'm coming in." And with that knock, a man whose hair was the same colour as Tenten's and a muscular body built for a shinobi appeared. He sat himself next to her and pulled her into his chest for comfort.

"Daddy, why does mummy hate me so much?" She asked him, with sadness in her voice.

He just sat there thinking of a way to express the situation in which Tenten would understand.

"She doesn't hate you Tenten. She is just unwell at the moment. She will get better soon. I promise and then we will all go out to the park and have a wonderful time."

She just continued to hug him tightly. You see, Tenten's mother was not unwell, she was an alcoholic. She had been this way since Tenten was about six months old. She had gotten into a state of depression and the one way she had found peace was to turn to drinking. Whenever Tenten appeared before her, she would start yelling at her because she felt Tenten was to blame for her depression. Everything was fine before she conceived Tenten. She had a happy life with Tenten's father, but then she started to become jealous that Tenten was getting all the attention. Something in her brain snapped and she has never been the same since.

"Daddy." A little voice piped up from under his arms.

"Yes my little angel."

"Do you think you can teach me how to throw those sharp things you carry?" She pointed to his left chest pocket which were carrying his old kunai. Tenten's father used to be a shinobi, but because of what happened to Tenten's mother he stopped to take care of Tenten. He still wore his clothes as this kept his shinobi days alive.

He picked the little angel up and sat on her bed. He placed Tenten on his left knee.

"Why do you want me to teach you that?" He asked. The girl kept fiddling with the clip on the pocket and didn't look into his eyes when she said:

"I want to protect mummy from the monster that is inside her and make it go away." She looked up into his eyes and he couldn't believe what this four year old just said. He gripped her tighter and all he could say was:

"Yes."

He picked the girl up and carried her out of her room and into the living room. Tenten's mother was asleep on the couch. This was good. This meant that he could teach Tenten without being interrupted. He carefully walked through the living room and into the garden. He placed her down and she could see three tree stumps with targets on.

"Now Tenten. Those three targets are what you will be aiming at. Let me show you how a brilliant teacher does it." Tenten just smiled.

He took out a kunai from his pocket and instantly threw it at the middle tree stump.

"Wow, Daddy hit the middle." She was jumping up and down in amazement. He turned round and came down to her level. He took out a small kunai from his pocket and handed it to Tenten.

"Now, what I want you to do is to look at one of the targets and focus on the middle part. When you think the kunai will hit that part throw the kunai with all your power. Ok, give it a try."

She did exactly as he told her. She focused on the middle part of the target, loosened up her arm and after a few seconds concentration she let go of the kunai. She watched as the kunai went flying through the air and then hit the ground one meter in front of her. She started to frown at the kunai and started telling it off.

"You are meant to hit the target you silly kunni."

All her Dad could do was laugh at his adorable little girl.

"Tenten, stand a little bit closer to the target and try again. It might take you a few tries but you will get there."

Tenten nodded and took a few steps closer. She re-focused, aimed her kunai at the target and let go with all her might. This time she watched it as it hit the outer ring of the target. She started jumping for joy in astonishment. She hit the target, she actually hit it.

"Well done Tenten, now keep in that spot and keep throwing it until you hit the centre." He praised her.

This is what she did. She continued doing this until after a week, she kept hitting the middle continuously.

Months started to pass and he could see her improvement. She was now able to stand about 5 meters away from the target and hit the centre every time. She couldn't believe how good she was.

"Ok, Tenten. It's time for bed now as it's late." He could see her rubbing her eyes and trying to stay awake. He held onto her hand and led her to her bedroom. He helped her get dressed into her kitty pyjamas and tucked her into bed. He read her a goodnight story and kissed her goodnight. He watched as her eyes closed tightly and made a quiet get away and hoped he didn't wake her up. Mission accomplished.

He made his way down to the living room to sit and watch some television to unwind. He could also see his wife asleep on the couch with a bottle of wine that was half empty. He decided to remove the bottle and place it in the kitchen but she had just woken up and seen that the bottle had disappeared.

"Where is my drink? Honey what have you done with it? I need it." She screamed from the kitchen.

He reappeared from the kitchen into the living room.

"I've put it back in the kitchen as you don't need it, and be quiet as Tenten is sleeping."

"Who cares about her? She is the reason I'm like this. Everyone adores her as she is such a perfect child." She got herself up off the couch and started to stumble to the kitchen. He stopped her before she could leave the living room.

"I think we need to get you some help. It's been too long now. We should have done it years ago like I said."

"I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine." She slurred.

"No you're not. Now I'm taking you to bed." He placed his arm around her back and moved her arm so it was around his shoulders. He tucked her into their bed like he did with Tenten and tip-toed out of the room and into the kitchen. He managed to find a lock and locked all the alcohol into it in an attempted to stop his wife drinking. He knew that her drinking had become severe. He had to find help, so he left.

The morning came and Tenten leapt out of bed and into the garden. She found two Kunai by the tree stump and a note.

Tenten

I think you can now start to use my kunai for training

Lots of love

Dad xx

She grinned in happiness. She didn't bother getting her small kunai and went straight for the bigger one. She could feel the weight difference and knew it would take a lot more to throw it. So she did exactly the same as when she first started training. She stood close to the targets and went further back every time she hit the centre.

An hour had passed and she could hear screaming coming from the house. Tenten just froze as she could hear the horrific yells which she knew ever so well.

"Why? Why is my drink locked up?"

Tenten wanted to run and hide but she couldn't. Her legs were frozen solid. The next thing she could see out of her terrified eyes was her mother in the doorway.

"You!" She pointed to Tenten. "You have done this. You locked it up didn't you?"

Tenten started to shake her head. No words would come out.

"Oh you didn't. I doubt that. It's your entire fault. You caused all of this."

She started to wobble closer to Tenten. Tenten still couldn't move but the kunai she was holding, she gripped tighter and tighter with every step her mother took.

"If I didn't have you I would be happy. I would have my life back and I would be adored. I wouldn't have had sleepless nights of you crying over and over and over again."

All that was going through Tenten's head was move, legs move, but nothing happened. They were still fixated to the ground like frozen sculptures.

Her mother kept getting closer, arms out ready to grab Tenten. She was now three feet away from her and homing in. Everything in Tenten's eyes was moving in slow motion. She was still shaking, terrified of what was going to happen. And the next image that flicked through Tenten's eyes was her mother falling. Not just falling to the ground but falling in her direction. She couldn't move to avoid her mother falling onto her. So what was a few seconds felt like a few minutes. Tenten quickly shut her eyes so she couldn't see what was going to happen and when she opened them all she could see was wavy light brown hair over her face and a heavy skinny framed woman on top of her. Not moving.

"Mummy, you are hurting me. Please can you get off me?" She cried out.

But there was no response. Tenten couldn't even wriggle herself out from underneath the heavy weight. All she could do was cry as she was confused on what happened.

"Tenten!" Shouted a familiar and deep voice. The next thing to appear was her father rushing to her aide. Streams of tears were sliding down her face.

He picked up his wife and all he could see was a sea of red trickling down her chest. He could not speak. He didn't know what to do. He kept flickering from his wife expressionless face and a terrified Tenten clutching a dripping red kunai. He checked to see if there was a heart beat coming from his wife, but nothing. He quickly picked up his wife and Tenten's hand and run out of the house.

Many faces turned to look at the two females covered in red. They finally reached the hospital. Tenten and her Dad where in a little cubical getting Tenten checked over. The Nurse left a few minutes later and a doctor appeared with an expressionless face declaring the news of Tenten's mother. Tenten couldn't understand what was being said. It was as if she had become deaf and didn't want to hear anything and as soon as the Doctor left she turned to her dad and in a quiet voice said:

"What's happened to mummy?"

He looked round to her and held her hands and told her:

"Mummy had fought the bad monsters inside of her, but they injured her too much."

Both of them started crying and Tenten leapt into his arms.

Fourteen years passed and to this day, that memory haunts Tenten, but it has also made her stronger and more determined to help people.