I have always dreamed to fly. Dreamed to unfold my wings and just take off into the sky, letting the winds of time take me wherever they chose. But I knew that everything that I took for granted would soon fade and disappear. Nothing in this world is so pure; not even the baby chicks that chirp to be fed; not even the wise elderly that chose to be dead. And I am certainly no exception.

tobitatsu
kokoro kara tobitatsu
chapitre 1. wings

disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Tenten. No surname or traces of a family history. Age sixteen. Known on the streets as 'The Lioness'. Has multiple benefactors, all of whom hire her for quick assassinations with no traces of evidence for the investigative team. A weapons mistress by trade who is known to be able to wield any weapon known to man."

"Yes, that is the girl. Her skills are required now. You must find her and bring her back. Alive, if you will."

A silent shuffling echoed through the darkness as eyes as white as moonlight seemed to shine through the darkness.

"Do not let your wings be seen."

"I have no wings."

A pair of brilliant, white teeth seemed to flash through the dark abyss, chuckling beginning to ricochet off the unseen walls.

"But you have always wished to fly."

A young woman of twenty impatiently tapped her fingers on her mahogany table, irritated at her uncontrollable boredom of having no daytime job and no entertainment to live off the sunlight before her exclusive nightlife began. Her brown tresses were always placed at two buns atop her forehead, threatening her with annoyance whenever they were loose and free. Her chestnut eyes stared into the space of who-knows-what, seeming to search for something that could not be found. Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, she exasperatedly sighed and got up from her place at the table. Taking a thin jacket and her keys, she slammed her apartment door and breathed in the fresh air.

As she walked through the busy streets of Konoha, she shoved her hands in her pockets as she continued to wonder about absolutely nothing, lost in her thoughts that provided her with absolutely nothing. She inwardly laughed at herself, shaking her head in disapproval, at the thought that the only thing that made her feel alive was to kill someone else. But she could not control such a despicable feeling; it was something that had sprouted through her veins and rooted into her heart at the young age of five. Ever since she was five years old, she was alone. Her parents had abandoned her and her siblings disappeared. She was left to thrive off the streets of every single city, resorted to pick pocketing and begging, to get enough food for her to continue to live.

She managed to smirk at all those horrid memories of her childhood. It amused her when she thought of the disgusted faces of those that walked past her in her nasty, shaggy, homeless form, amused her when she was looked down upon because her skin was dirty and her clothes were torn. It made her hate humanity even more, made her hate the way that every single person was a selfish being, made her hate the way that people put so much faith in a high being when she believed it was that high being that made humanity so despicable. But she knew more than anything that she was hypocritical, or, at least, in no position to complain about humanity's despicability. If she had despised humanity so much, she should be attempting to change the way the world thought. But, no, she was just given the tasks of killing despicable people. And what was so sad and hypocritical was that she agreed.

But she could not help but wish for wings. She wished that she had the willpower and determination to say "no", to carve her own path in the world and just fly.

If anything, the wings on her back were wired, bloodied, and useless, too weighted down by the blood of every human she killed.

She wanted to cleanse those wings.

She was Tenten. And she wanted to fly.

"How's living coming off for you?"

Tenten offered a detached look to one of her few friends, Sabaku no Temari. Temari offered a smirk as she nonchalantly twirled a kunai around her index finger.

The two had met under interesting circumstances. Tenten had been sent to assassinate a prestigious businessman in Sunagakure. In response, Temari was dispatched from Suna's underground police system, only used to assassinate assassins. After a long, grueling battle, the two had taken to be friends, so ravaged and torn in their minds and hearts that they had immediately taken a liking to each other.

However, unlike Tenten, who was hardly making enough money to live in her apartment, Temari was relatively rich. She was elder sister to Sabaku no Gaara, the leader of Suna's underground police system. To make matters more complicated, her father was the head honcho of the town, and interweaved into a crime syndicate. Temari's family was separated through a middle, fine, line; she, Gaara, and her other brother, Kankuro, relatively cared about Suna's safety and welfare, and tried their hardest to keep assassinations at bay. However, their father was the leader of the dangerous crime syndicate, along with many of his subordinates and the city council.

"Same old," Tenten replied, pulling out her favorite kunai and running her finger across the relatively sharp blade.

"You seem like you've been busy. Your house is dirtier than ever," Temari remarked, observing how Tenten's usually clean home was cluttered and messy all over the place.

Tenten smiled.

"Not like it matters whether my house is clean or not. The only visits I get are from you."

Temari smiled, dryly laughing as she leaned back on Tenten's couch.

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

There was a comfortable silence between the two friends, both nonchalantly twirling kunai around their fingers. They were not particularly people of many words, reserved and too serious to ever be buoyant and outgoing.

"Shoot, I have to go now, Tenten. Gaara made me promise that I'd be back before nightfall. You know how crazy things get once the sun goes down," Temari said, getting off the couch and placing her kunai in a specialized pouch, hidden beneath her jeans.

Tenten nodded and offered a tiny smile.

"Thanks for stopping by, Temari. I'll see you soon."

Temari nodded.

"Hopefully, not too soon, yeah?"

"Hopefully."

Flying is an interesting spectacle, even to a crime syndicate's best member. Even in the eyes that have seen all: blood, death, dreams shattered, hearts broken, lungs twisted, bodies dismembered, flying was something that could never compare to such a darkness. It seemed to defy all gravity, seemed to create a world in the sky where there was no such darkness as did the Earth's crust.

Even to Hyuuga Neji, flying was something that he knew he could never accomplish. To be able to fly, one needed wings. And he most certainly did not have wings. He most certainly did not deserve those wings. What bird would so graciously flaunt bloodied wings, tattered and torn, flying in the ever-beautiful cerulean skies? He was not going to be that bird.

He would continue to be a predator, stealthily walking through every shadow of the Earth's crust, to do what he did best: to kill.

There was no room for anything else. No room for emotions, and flying certainly was no exception.

"You have never looked at peace as now, Neji."

Neji turned and found his younger cousin, and daughter of the head honcho of their crime syndicate, Hyuuga Hinata. She, perhaps, was the one who had stained her hands with blood only a few times, usually working on a team so the pure hands of their boss's daughter would go untainted. She was also some sort of sisterly figure to her older cousin, Neji, helping him cope with such ridiculous expectations set upon by her father.

"I am just thinking of flying."

Hinata smiled as she took a seat beside him, lying down to gaze at the cerulean sky above her. A comfortable silence reigned between the two cousins as Neji continued to watch the birds in the sky fly. Both made no move to break the comfortable silence; the moments between them like the moment now were scarce.

"You can fly, you know," Hinata's gentle voice finally said. "You have wings."

"No," Neji quietly said, his baritone voice seeming to leave a heavyweight in the air. "Such a being like me cannot hope to stain the beautiful sky with my bloodied wings."

And as her cousin looked up to the sky, remaining silent as more birds danced the elegant dance of flight, Hinata felt sympathy towards her older cousin.

He dreamed to fly.

But he was stripped of that dream because he was given no choice.

Stripped of his wings because her father did not trust his flight.

Hyuuga Neji yearned to be free. To fly with his torn wings.

But BYAKGUAN would not allow that.

Tenten strapped on her specialized pouch around her thigh, making sure her weapons remained hidden through her uniform. In her hair lay senbon, holding up her two buns as if they were only there for decoration; in her clothing laid various weapons, ready to be pulled out at her whim if called for. Her most prized weapon comfortably sat in her pocket, her skin too used to the feeling to be perturbed by the heavy metal. Throwing on her uncomfortable skinny jeans, her bartender's vest and shirt, and uncomfortable high heels, she locked the door behind her and began her trek to her job.

When Tenten arrived at the bar, she immediately crinkled her nose at the strong scent of smoke and alcohol. She was not particularly fond of working in this place, her senses so well trained that the drowning smoke of alcoholics and smokers seemed to suffocate her. Considering the fact that many of her female colleagues were skinny, she was the one who immediately stood out due to her lean, muscular body, with many parts of her skin showing the places where her flesh was once torn apart. Tenten grew sick of the place after the first night, having to go through a long series of perverted men trying to get into her pants, but knew that she did not have a choice.

This bar was where her benefactors called upon her to do their dirty deeds. It was the least suspicious of all places for underground honchos to request an assassination, as everyone in the bar deemed to have something unusual about them. Tenten would have skipped work tonight, had she not been sent a note from one of her benefactors that she was given a new assignment.

Regardless of living alone, in a tiny apartment, she had wished to sit atop her roof, sharpening her weapons, under the stars and the moon. It was a beautiful night out; a night where she would not be interrupted by the despicability of humanity and could gaze at the nighttime birds gracefully flying through the skies.

She found her life incredibly ironic. The night where she wished to fly the most was the night where her wings would be weighted down by more blood.

"Tenten, you've got a customer in Booth 5, darling."

Tenten was snapped out of her reverie by one of her colleagues, one who sported blonde hair and teal eyes. Her colleague was less modest than she, always wearing short skirts and heels, never wearing clothes that would promote her innocence. This colleague was Yamanaka Ino.

Ino was not only Tenten's coworker as a bartender and "waitress" in the bar, but was also an assassin, who was hired by many of Tenten's benefactors. At times, they were required to work together, as Tenten's quick kills and Ino's incredible ability to infiltrate headquarters or interrogate prisoners, balanced out nicely.

"Thanks, Ino. Any jobs tonight?"

Ino grinned, her white teeth blinding under the strobe lights of the bar.

"I'm watching out for the bar. I've heard some people are out for us, if you know what I mean, darling."

"Wouldn't they have sent out Karin for that? She can sense and track people like no other."

"Tenten, I care about this bar, unlike you. And Karin does, too. She would be out on the patrol with me, but she's busy tonight. You're such an oddball. Figures how KOKORO became a three-man team. But whatever," Ino said, nonchalantly waving the topic off and placing prepared drinks onto a tray to carry around, "Benefactor's waiting. Hate to see them angry. You better hurry."

Tenten made a face.

"Yeah, yeah. They'd wait all night and day if I made them. We're the only ones they trust."

Without another word, Tenten turned and disappeared into the crowded, dense dance floor, navigating her way through the sweat, alcohol, and smoke.

Whatever, she thought. My wings are already weighted down. No difference to add more.

When Tenten walked into the lovely Booth number 5, she was surprised. Usually, benefactors were middle-aged men who smoked and drank, their clothes fashionable and alluring. But the man sitting before her was none of that. He looked a few months older than she, with his pale skin quietly tapping away on the regular fabric on his knees. His eyes were an interesting color of ivory, seeming to blend in with his equally pale skin. The hair on his head was long, silky, and black, tied together at a loose knot in the middle of his back. A suitcase lay by his feet, most likely armed with guns and other projectiles, whilst Tenten noticed and observed the many places where she could see the weapons hidden.

As she quietly took a seat in the opposite chair, her heart instantly sped up when she felt a familiar, cold metal against her forehead. She supposed that she was a screwed up person, when a gun that could shoot her skull open and splatter her brain all over did not make her scared; rather, it made her heart race with exhilaration, with a feeling of thrill she hardly ever experience. Tenten smiled as she pulled out her own gun, holding it to his chest, unlocking the safety and letting her finger rest against the trigger.

"Well, shoot," the man smoothly said, eyeing Tenten with sadistic amusement. "That's not a great way to treat a benefactor is it?"

"Hm, that's true," Tenten said, her tone equally steady. "Except you can't expect me to let you attempt to blast my brain out without me attempting as well, do you?"

The man humorlessly chuckled, releasing the safety of his gun and pushing it harder against her skin.

"You obviously want something from me, or else you wouldn't have come to this bar to look for me," Tenten said.

There was silence.

"Yes. Except what I require doesn't involve killing anyone."

"Then you've come to the wrong place."

"I'm not exactly sure why you hang around a group of three assassins under the codename KOKORO. They aren't your type, are they? I'm sure they go to bed with someone new every night. I'm even more sure you go to bed alone."

"Their sex lives have nothing to do with mine," Tenten icily said. "KOKORO only kills. That is what we offer. And I'm afraid your request is not part of the vague line of our services."

"Then tell me," the man continued, letting his gun inch away from her forehead, "Do you enjoy KOKORO?"

Tenten bit her lip as she contemplated pulling the trigger.

She was compelled to do so. She did not like this man. He was breaking into her barriers – fast – and he seemed to know every single soft spot she held, penetrating them and pushing farther into her personal space that nobody ever ventured.

"No," She finally admitted, her chestnut eyes clashing with his moonlight orbs for the first time that night. "But it gets me by."

He smirked and applied to safety to his gun once more, tucking it back into his coat. Digging through his pockets for a few moments, his smirk growing wider when he felt Tenten's muscle tense as her fingers seemed to itch to pull the trigger on him, he held a silver object in his hand.

Tenten looked at the shiny piece. It was a silver ring, its craft delicate and elegant. It was in the shape of a dragon, with tiny, garnet eyes engraved onto its surface.

"Then I assure you, what I am offering you now will get you by even more."

Tenten eyed her heart-shaped ring on her slender finger.

These rings were a connection to two different lives. One of a past that so dull, so despicable, that it made her feel exactly like the highest being on Earth: cruel, despicable, and a sadist whom created pawns for enjoyment, and killed them when they became boring. Another was of a future that she had never expected, but was so promising to her freedom. By the design of the ring, she realized that the syndicate must be huge, considering the fact that the ring was expensive and well crafted.

"Have you ever wondered about flying?" Tenten managed to ask.

The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, allowing a tiny smile to grace his pale lips.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

There was silence, as Tenten slowly pulled off the heart-shaped ring on her finger, allowing it to fall to the ground and roll before it stilled. Hesitantly, she took the ring from his palm and placed it on her finger, holding her hand up to the strobe lights in the bar and enjoying the shine from her new ring.

"Because I wish to fly. Yet my wings are weighted down by the blood of my enemies."

The man smirked and averted his gaze, watching as the red, blue, and yellow lights streaked across the bar, temporarily shining different parts. He watched as different kinds of people lived their lives in the bar. Watched as lusting couples danced and groped each other on the dance floor, watched as innocent couples drank together with no inner intention of harm. But he realized that there was nothing more interesting in the room than the girl in front of him.

"That is one way to interpret it," He finally said, his pallid eyes once more clashing with her chestnut orbs. "Yet I believe that we are all born with wings. And the wings like ours – tattered, bloodied, torn – do not deserve to grace the beautiful sky with their despicability."

Another comfortable silence loomed between them.

"I suppose. You probably know already, but I'm Tenten."

The man smiled.

"Neji. Hyuuga Neji."

"You nasty bitch," Ino muttered, pulling out her gun in the dark alleyway behind the bar.

Tenten froze in her steps, muttering curses under her breath and pulling out her own gun. Neji stopped and eyed the two girls carefully, wondering if it was worth it for him to waste his energy. He did not worry for his new recruit's safety; she was the Lioness, and she was famed and feared for one thing: give her a gun, give her any weapon, and she will never miss. He was especially unthreatened by the fact that it was only Yamanaka Ino. He remembered other members of the syndicate mentioning her in their mission reports, and had said that she was useless without a partner. She was ridiculed for her bad marksmanship but famed for her interrogational and infiltration skills.

"We gave you a job. You seemed happy enough," Ino said, releasing the safety of her gun. "Or is it the fact that your new benefactor might just take you to bed tonight?"

Tenten bit her lip, attempting to suppress her anger and the strongest urge to just shoot the whore and get it done with. She felt Neji's amused smirk play on his lips as the fight between the friends continued to unfold.

"I left it all behind, Ino. Go back to the booth and get that stupid little ring. The only reason why KOKORO persevered so much over the years was because I became a member. And now, all you two are good for are for infiltrating bases and tracking down members."

"Don't take all the credit, Tenten. We were doing fine, even before you showed up and became a part of our team."

There was a tense silence between them.

"So you leave behind your friends for a man. You whore."

Without another word, Tenten released the safety of her gun with an expert flick of her finger, and pulled the trigger. Turning away, not even offering her ex-friend one last glance, her uncomfortable high heels echoed across the dark alleyway.

"You didn't kill her," Neji finally said.

"Didn't need to."

Tenten gazed at the ring on her finger as she quietly sat in his fancy car as he drove them towards the end of the city. Her eyes glanced at the skyscrapers passing them by, catching the bright rays of moonlight every now and then.

"Why do you need me?" She finally asked.

Neji offered a sideways glance and shrugged.

"Why else do we ever need anyone? You need to balance us out. My uncle has been watching out for you for a long time now."

"But why?" Tenten persisted. "I'm sure there are more people out there who are better marksmen than me."

At this, Neji humorlessly chuckled.

"Oh, please. There may be people who are equally level to you in skill, but there is one thing they all lack – and let me speak this with experience – and you undeniably have. Faced with a friend and with darkness, they would wimp out and just go back to the side of security. But you shot her without a second thought, once she had insulted you."

"Everyone does that."

"You just don't understand. You have wings."

"That are weighted down by blood."

"But they are still wings."

There are three important rules to living a despicable life of being a member of a prestigious city's largest crime syndicate.

You never hesitate in killing anyone who threatens the mission. You never defy orders from benefactors, squad leaders, and the all-time head honcho. And you never, ever fall in love with your partner-in-crime.

TOBITATSU.

TBC.

A/N: So, this is sort of like a sister-fic to "Something Profound". I sort of wanted to try a new approach to crime syndicates and wanted to put Neji and Tenten on the bad side of the world. I guess it's more of a reflection on society, if anything. Anywho, I'm not sure if I want to continue this or not. Just a random thought that came to mind when I saw the ending of Blood+. (Amazing ending, by the way!)

If I did continue this, it'd be more on the basis of Neji and Tenten killing people, and how they perceive their jobs to be. And, yes, the idea of "fake wings" is a major, major theme in the story. This is another "screwed-up-actions" story, and a lot darker than Something Profound will turn out to be if I continue this.

Tobitatsu – fly away

Kokoro kara tobitatsu – fly away from my heart (and mind)

Thanks for reading, loves!

(s-makn: I know, I'm sorry! I WILL FINISH THEM ALL. (: )

Also, I'm sorry for ugly use of line breaks. What I usually use to indicate a new scene or whatever, for some reason, ISN'T WORKING ON THIS DOC. EDITOR. Sorrryyyyyyy! ):