DISCLAIMER: Don't Own Naruto, sucks for me
I SAW MANY OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS USING THIS STYLE OF WRITING AND I HOPE THAT I AM ABLE TO SAY THAT I SUCCEEDED IN USING IT. THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE AUTHORS: naash. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. AND THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE THE MY FIRST STORY THAT IS'NT A ONESHOT. BUT ONLY IF I HAVE PEOPLE TELLING ME WHAT THEY THINK.
Chapter One: A New mask
RRRIIINnnnng!
I sighed when I woke up and pushed the snooze button on my bedside alarm clock. I felt so tired, yet it felt like I'd been sleeping forever. When I looked at the time, it was 4:00 pm. I slowly got up, trudged to the bathroom and glanced at the mirror. It was a habit – a routine. It was always the first thing I did when I woke up.
I looked up at my reflection and was surprised to see a stranger staring back at me. She was different from what I remembered. Yesterday, I'd seen a girl with rosy cheeks and hazel eyes filled with jubilation. Today, however, I couldn't remember who she was, or rather who I was. I was a whole different person – my old self a distant memory. My skin was pallid and I had dark circles underneath my eyes, my hair was in disarray as well not restricted in the usual twin buns.
I sighed again, weary with life. It still struck me funny, in a sick way, how, in one day, so much could change.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I finally managed to fall into slumber, when five minutes later; I was awoken by a light tap on my glass window. With the alertness of a ninja, I sprang out of bed without a moment's hesitation and grabbed my scrolls. You know, my weapons scrolls.
As I carefully made my way to the window, I made to tuck the scroll away into one of the many pockets of my baggy jeans and replaced them with a single kunai. I reached the window and paused, holding the kunai knife in a ready position in front of me.
I quickly unlocked the window and swung it open, drawing my hand (the one with the kunai) back to increase the force and speed it could retain when needed. But when I saw who it was, surprise was etched on my face and I could not help but stand there like a statue. I continued to stare at the figure outside the window, which at the moment jumped and landed gracefully at my window sill.
Rock Lee had a look of urgency on his face.
"Lee? What are you doing here?" I asked, a little peeved that I was awaken. However, I took one glance at his expression and I knew something was wrong. "Lee, what's the matter? You look upset." I knew his presence here was not for some idle chat because, one, it was about 1:30 in the morning, and two, Rock Lee would never pop by my place with that look engraved on his usually 'youthful' features.
"Tenten." He gave a curt nod before continuing. "Do not worry, my flower. Nothing is the matter; it is just that our teammate, Neji, requested that I give you this note. He said it was important and knew that I would pass by your house." He thrust an envelope into her hand. "Here you go. I have not read it. Do not worry."
"Thank you, Lee. I would have trusted you with this letter, anyway." I gave him a smile and he flashed a grin that almost blinded me. He turned his back to me signifying the end of his visit. "Oh… And Lee? One more question…"
"Yes, my fair blossom?"
"Why didn't you just come through the door? Why the window?" I hid my amusement, knowing very well that he had no reason, really, for his actions.
Lee sweat dropped. "Ehhh…I…I-It's cool, that's why!" He leapt out from the window sill. I stuck my head out and gave a heart-felt laughter. Lee was the best. But still…I couldn't shake off the feeling that the note was not the only thing that brought him here. I knew that he wanted to tell me something else but then thought better of it and kept his mouth shut.
I looked back at the envelope that I had unknowingly dropped on my bed. I tore the letter open and read the contents.
Dearest Tenten,
Iwis htom eety ouat ther amen shop inth
ecen tero ftow niex pect you tobe ther eatt welv eocl
ockn oonp leas emak esur eyou reth erei have
some thin gimp orta ntto disc ussw ithy
ouiw illa wait your arri val.
Neji Hyuuga
It was in the same code that we always used in our private messages. It was also the reason I did not care if Lee had read it. He would not have understood it. The words were there, but they were grouped into fours, so if you read across it would still read the same.
If translated, the note said, "I wish to meet you at the ramen shop in the center of town. I expect you to be there at twelve o'clock noon. Please make sure you're there. I have something important to discuss with you. I will wait for your arrival."
At that moment, several thoughts came into my mind at once. What if Neji was finally going to ask her hand in marriage? What if?... What if he was going to give her a gift to show his love? I didn't think, at the moment, about the negative outcomes.
I jumped into bed and quickly fell asleep, thinking that the day could not come sooner. But come it did…too soon
oOoOoOoO
I brushed my bangs away from my face. I was waiting for Neji to arrive at the local ramen shop, Ichiraku's. and he was already a half an hour late. It wasn't like him. He was usually punctual. I was getting nervous and a million possibilities for his tardiness aroused in my head. Maybe he was in an accident or maybe he had forgotten?
I was scared. What if something had happened to him on his way here? What if he's angry with me? What if…? I was about to get up and walk out of the shop in my anxious state when I saw Neji. With Sakura. They were holding hands.
I was confused; my eyes round at their close proximity. They were too close to my liking. All I could do was stare at the two as I was rendered speechless and that was when I caught Neji's eye. He met my gaze, the smile on his face fading, and walked over to where I was. Sakura's smile, too, melted off her face as she started to follow Neji's lead. He stopped in front of me with Sakura behind him. I was no longer the most cheerful kunoichi of the Leaf; I was staring at them with suspicion lining every inch of my face and later I found that I was right.
Never had I wanted to be so wrong in my whole life. yay…I like this sentence too
"Tenten, I meant to tell you earlier. I just hadn't the time," Neji stopped for a minute and looked down. His eyes were distant and he took a deep breath to steady his wavering voice. "I and Sakura…we're…together…And I…you…we're…not. I am sorry."
This must have been what Lee wanted to tell me. That he'd seen Neji and Sakura together.
At that moment I just froze. I wanted to shatter into a million pieces and more than anything, I wanted to hurt Neji. I had never felt that feeling before. Everything before my eyes turned into a haze as the tears came. 'No, Tenten. You can not cry. Not in front of him.' Neji was breaking up with me. I told myself to find strength but it wasn't helping me.
I don't understand. I gave him everything. Or at least I tried my best to. Apparently, though, it wasn't good enough for him. I love Neji with my heart and now, with nothing but a few words and a corny apology, he was walking away with another girl. Before my very eyes.
I wondered if he knew how much it pained me inside, seeing his back turned away from me.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I tore my eyes away from the mirror. It reflected my despair that I would like to forget. As I searched around my too-small bathroom for a brush to comb my hair, I caught the glimpse of a kunai. Oh shit! I forgot! The ANBU mission briefing…I am going to miss it!
…
Last year, I had become an ANBU along with my former teammates, Neji and Rock Lee. The test had been pretty simple to comprehend but not the easiest we'd had. The mission was tough and challenging.
They (current ANBU who refused to reveal their identities) gave us an A-rank mission that seemed suitable only for ANBU to complete.
If we failed in our mission we failed the test. If we died, we failed the test (duh.) and were to be held responsible for our own death. And if by chance, we survived and managed to complete the task, we were deemed as honorary ANBU members.
Our mission was to find two missing-nins and return them to the Leaf village alive…or dead. The battle was brutal but short, both missing ninja were more skilled than I, but Neji and Lee made up for what I had lacked, which wasn't really a lot. We had a medic nin with us, Sakura, and she managed to paralyze the two nin after Neji, Lee, and I had dealt with them.
When we had returned to the village, I entered first to see what the reaction would be if we returned empty-handed. No one seemed surprised; none of them even seemed to flinch…it wasn't as if I could tell, though. They were wearing masks. Duh.
That was when Neji, Lee and Sakura made their entrance, the two males supporting the two bodies of the ninja. That was when the mutterings ensued. I smiled. "Mission accomplished!"
…
In haste, I showered and then dressed myself in my ANBU uniform. I ran out of door with everything I needed. For once, I felt I could not trust Neji even with the smallest things now. It pained me to feel this way.
«§§§»
I ran along the village roads, constantly having to jump on a tree branch to avoid slamming into a civilian. With just minutes to spare, I reached the ANBU office. The office was located at the edge of town and apparently had an Illusion technique cast on it. However, all current ANBU's where immune to it as we were not easily deceived.
As I whizzed through the narrow hallways of the large dome-shaped building, many greetings from fellow ninjas found their way to my ears and I answered back politely before I reached a large door at the end of the hallway. I paused, took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
The heads of my colleagues rose to look at me and I dove into a string of explanations, being careful not to look at Neji.
"I'm really sorry; it wasn't my fault––"
"Yes, Tenten, I under––"
"You see, I had a lot on my mind and…" I kept blabbering before Lee came up and covered my mouth with his hands.
"Tenten, my fair blossom. Let us listen to the mission briefing first. Then, state the reason of your lateness." Lee stated.
I opened my mouth to say something else but closed it and nodded. "Of course."
Our squad leader never spoke to us with his mask on. I liked that about him. He was a large man with two thin scars on his face. Our squad was part of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force. We tortured our enemies, not killing them unless necessary, until they revealed certain information to us that we deemed necessary for the safety of our village.
He gave me one of his rare crinkly-eyed smiles that he usually saved for me alone. We had grown to be close during the two weeks of training that I had asked him for to help me with mastering my basic techniques and my secret, Sōshōryū No Jutsu (Twin Dragon Rising), technique.
It was this smile that Sakura would get ticked off about. I guess she was used to being the teacher's-pet. Now as I thought of this, I smirked secretly but then slapped myself mentally.
It wasn't her fault she liked Neji; she couldn't help it…I would know. I had to stop treating her this way and live with the fact that her and my ex were now together. (A/N: This small passage was very random but it's like a filler arc of a sort, so deal with it.)
"Don't worry, Tenten. I had not started the briefing yet. I waited for you. I knew you had something important; you would never be late, otherwise. Anyways," He sighed and looked down at the details of the mission they were going to be given. "The mission that you are assigned is very similar to the one that you had on the day you were recruited for this squadron. Yet, this one is S-ranked as opposed to A. There are two missing ninja from our village, currently residing in the former land of Rice Fields, now known as the sound village. Orochimaru himself however, is being dealt with personally, by Tsunade over in Sunagakure No Sato, so you have no need to worry about him."
"There are actually, at the moment, a few more ninja at that same location that will most likely want to fight you. We, however, cannot send more ninja into that region because of other S-ranked missions that need more attention, so you are on your own."
He finished speaking, giving us the rest of details, his eyes glazing over at the ninjas under his command. We nodded, understanding the objective of the mission. He wished us good luck and gave us the coordinates to the location in which the targets could be found.
"Bring them back dead or alive. You are dismissed." He turned away from us and we disappeared in a puff of smoke.
«§§§»
Four members of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force stood at the edge of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, where an extremely thin forest range stood in the way to their destination. One of them was me.
I could tell that Neji, too, was trying to avoid looking at me as best as possible but this could only put our mission in danger. He knew that I was best in our squad when it came to ambush and interrogation.
"Neji, what are the coordinates of our targets? Can you pinpoint the exact location?"
Neji turned to Lee and gave a brief nod. "A small city by the name of Aki. That's where we should head. Akindo Sai and Katagi Sai, our targets, were last sighted there. That's 33.30N and 133.54E."
I opened a map and searched for the coordinates. "It's the forest range that separates Hi No Kuni from Oto No Kuni. We'll most likely find them closer to the Sound village, as most ninjas find escape in that village. What do you think?" I asked, glancing at Lee, Neji and Sakura.
Lee nodded. "I trust in your opinion, Tenten." He turned towards the other two, Neji and Sakura, who had remained quiet. It was natural for Neji but Sakura was never this quiet. I guess it had something to do with my break up and her hook up with Neji. I sighed.
"We ought to go. We can't waste time or we'll need another update on the Sai brothers' coordinates. And this time, it probably wouldn't be within range of the Byakugan."
I got a vigorous nod from Lee and Neji returned a curt one. I didn't get a response from Sakura but I didn't care about that at the moment. I dove into the forest ahead and heard the sound of three other ninjas follow me from behind.
«§§§»
After a few minutes of running through the dense forest, I hurtled to a fluid stop and the others stopped in front of me, unable to stop so suddenly, with the exception of Neji, who had halted a few feet behind me.
"This is it." I muttered but I knew they heard every word. "This is where they ought to be. I am certain…but…where are they?"
I was interrupted at that very moment by the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze. I turned towards the sound and threw a couple of shuriken in the direction of the movements. I heard the metallic-ish sound of weapons making contact with a solid object in the distant.
I waited. Nothing moved and for a moment I thought it had been my imagination. Suddenly, a heavy body of a large man fell out of the tree with a shuriken just at the hollow base of his neck. I walked towards the body and felt his pulse.
"He's dead."
We all just stood for a moment staring at the body. Then, Neji spoke.
"We should split u––"
He didn't have a chance to finish speaking before another forty or fifty ninja came into the clearing. Hmmm…according to the images that Ibiki-san had given us, the blue-mohawked ninja (Akindo) and the red-haired ninja(Katagi) were coming straight at…Me.
I jumped back several feet and hurriedly pulled out my scrolls, biting my thumb.
The blood sacrifice was necessary for this technique. I threw open the scrolls and offered my blood. Several kunai, shuriken and other weapons were summoned and I sent them all flying towards the band of ninja making their way towards us. I took several ninja down with just that one attack, and as I was so accustomed to using this art, I was able to maintain my chakra level.
However, I could not stop there. I saw, out of the corner of my eye that my other three squad members had chosen their opponents and were having countless duels with countless ninja. I made the necessary hand signs for another jutsu that I found helpful. Bakuretsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
Several of my shadow clones appeared and I managed to maneuver them away from my teammates. I watched from the shadows of the trees as my clones took out several more ninja.
Then, the clones started to explode. I watched on, amused, as the first of my suicidal clones burst into a bomb of fire and took out the numerous ninja surrounding it. Lee stopped completely, fascinated by the exploding, masked Tenten. His opponent, too, had stopped and turned to watch, but fearfully.
Slowly, my other bunshins, my clones, started to disappear, always taking countless ninja with them. In the last few minutes of the fight only three ninja were left, two being the missing-nin we were after.
Neji was dealing with those two at the moment, as I could see from my perch in the tree. I saw the last charging towards Neji.
These were ninja who had fully embraced the way of the shinobi; they cared not for the safety of their companions. I knew this but it still sickened me how they use sneak tactics in such an unfair way.
I quickly poofed off the tree branch only to appear in front of the ninja that was heading towards Neji.
"AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING?!" With speed that I did not believe I actually possessed, I chucked a kunai at the ninja. From what I noticed by the way he fell, it had pierced his heart. I felt satisfied as I gave the corpse a once-over. I sighed and turned to look at Neji. He had Akindo and Katagi Sai trapped against a tree and was ultimately shutting off their main chakra points. He looked at me briefly and quickly turned away, giving his attention to the two evil ninja.
In a low voice, but loud enough as so I could hear, Neji said. "We ought to get back. This mission has been a success, Ibiki-san would be glad. These two, however, need not live….it'll only slow down our arrival back home."
"I don't think that's necessary. Do not take their lives if it is not needed. Lee and I can carry the bodies if you are too tired.
Through the mask, his eyes flashed white. "I am sorry, Tenten-san, if I have offended you. I do not need your help. I shall take the body instead."
I was confused. Since when was I Tenten-san? I pursed my lips and nodded, before dashing back the way I had come, removing my mask to reveal to the others what I had underneath. My skin.
SO, THEN, WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK? I WAS TOLD THA IN MY OTHER STORY, SITTING IN A TREE, MY PLOT SEQUENCE TOO RUSHED. I HAVE TRIED MY BEST TO SLOW IT DOWN AND HOPE FOR SUCCESS. PLEASE REVIEW; EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A ACCOUNT, I AM OPEN FOR ANONYMOUS REVIEWS. GOOD DAY, MY FAIR PEOPLE!