A/N:

So, yeah. I'm starting another one. I know I really shouldn't be, but… I couldn't keep this idea to myself! Help Wanted WILL be getting updated eventually, I promise. :) That fic is almost finished anyway, so whatever, right? … Right?

Please read the following:

So I just want to make this clear right now: This story will be rated M because there are adult themes. However, I do like to keep things tasteful. There is an element of prostitution in this fic, and the things I write aren't meant to make light of the issues—it's just a thing that is happening. On the other hand, I'm not going to sugar-coat things that shouldn't be sugar-coated. If you don't want anything to do with it, that's completely understandable. :)

On a lighter note, this story isn't meant to address the weighty issues, because I don't feel like doing that right now. I'm not going to get too serious, because this is a romance/action type of thing. I just want to write a fun story!

So please, please enjoy! And thanks so much for reading!

"What is your name?"

"Nanami."

"What is your real name?"

"Chikaho, no last name."

"What is your profession?"

"High-end call girl."

"Where are you from?"

"The Hiroshi Swamps, a little hamlet a few miles south of the Hidden Mist."

"Who were your parents?"

This question was met with a groan. "Can't we just take a break already? I know who I am!" Tenten was on the verge of attacking her mission leader. Shino didn't even have the decency to look sorry—he just looked irritated. Or at least she thought he did; it was impossible to read his expressions.

"You must know every detail of this person's life. Why? Because if you don't you will not be effective undercover."

"You're acting like I've never been on this type of operation before," Tenten complained. It was taking a great deal of effort not to pummel the Aburame. She was an expert at staying calm in the face of incredibly exasperating people (Lee, Neji, and Gai-sensei had all made sure of that), but Shino Aburame was on a whole other level.

"This is an important mission."

"I'm aware," she said, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. "I've already gone over this in my head countless times, though. Saying it out loud a thousand times isn't going to help me memorize it more—it's going to annoy me and make me nervous," she explained calmly.

The Universe must have been feeling merciful, because Shino sat quietly from that moment on.

Tenten had been on missions with him before, but it had never been just the two of them. When she first learned that she was assigned to work undercover with him, she'd actually been excited. She respected Shino Aburame; he was professional, quiet and hard-working, but she'd never actually had the opportunity to get to know him one-on-one. She admired him professionally, and was truly glad to work with someone a little more… subtle. Although she had a deep love for her teammates, it was nice change things up every once in a while.

It wasn't long before she realized that Shino was exasperating in his own special way.

He was professional, yes… but he didn't seem to have any interest in small talk or conversation, even while they were travelling and needed to pass the time. He was obsessive about their cover stories, which was fine until he'd drilled her for the millionth time. He was acting as if she'd never even been on a mission before. It was condescending, and worse, and it made her feel like he thought less of her than she did of him. Did he really think her too foolish to remember her own cover story?

Shino couldn't help but question his current teammate's impatience. He was genuinely trying to ensure the success of their mission by constantly testing her—a lot was riding on them at the moment. Perhaps it was too much pressure, he thought. After she'd snapped at him he'd chosen to stay silent.

He adjusted his sunglasses. He felt nearly naked without his large collar, but he was fortunate to be able to keep his eyewear. Tenten seemed to have made the most changes since the beginning of their trip. Over the few days they'd traveled on foot, she'd worn her usual practical clothing and had kept her hair in the usual odango style. But when they'd gone officially undercover, she'd had to wear soft, silky kimonos and keep her hair in a low updo so she wouldn't be recognized. He imagined that she had weapons hidden in her clothing, but not nearly as many as usual. He wondered if she felt exposed as well.

He sighed and adjusted his glasses again. It was a nervous tick he couldn't seem to shake, a sign of stress. And he was stressed. The mission ahead would not be easy.

Another team of ninja from the Sand had already been this way. They had been going after information about one of the men who ran the brothels. Rumors were that a missing-nin from the Hidden Sand was working for one of the bosses, and they'd wanted to take him back to their village—dead or alive. Confirmation had come that they'd made it to Kurohara, but after that the Hidden Sand hadn't received any information.

They'd sent two jounin and one high-level chunin, and none of them had been heard from for two months.

That was when the Sand village had turned to their allies in Konoha, worried that their shinobi had been discovered and captured. And since Naruto (who just so happened to be hokage) just couldn't resist doing favors for his old friend Gaara, he'd been all too willing to assign two of his own to the mission.

The situation required a delicate hand, so naturally Shino had been chosen as mission leader. He was a commodity for his intelligence-gathering kikkai and his dicrete nature. And then there was Tenten, who had been on several successful undercover missions before.

Shino admired Tenten. She was overshadowed by her two teammates, but she was obviously talented. She, unlike her colleagues, was okay without being in the spotlight, and he appreciated that. There were too many shinobi who wanted to be the center of attention. She was intelligent, smart, and assertive. If Shino was the type of person to care about looks, he would also have said that her plainness made her refreshingly ordinary. She was earnestly pretty in a kimono, but not so beautiful that she would have turned heads. She was perfect undercover.

The two of them had traveled on foot for three days until they reached a large village. There, they began the act: he was Souza Nakamura, a suave young man who liked women. She was Nanami, a pretty young call girl (Shino and Tenten both liked to stay away from the word 'prostitute') who was very popular in the brothel she worked in.

As Nanami and Souza, they boarded a small but cozy carriage and set a quick pace for where they were headed—another big village in the mountains called Kurohara.

Their story was that he was a playboy noble who'd grown fond of her and offered to take her to the infamous Kurohara red light district, where they would engage in all kinds of debauchery. In reality, they would be quietly scoping out the management and searching for the missing team.

So there they sat, going on four days of travelling in close quarters on the bumpy road to Kurohara Mountain. Shino was perfectly content to stay in his head, preparing their identities and planning. But he could see that his partner was getting restless.

He sighed softly. He imagined that she wasn't too thrilled about getting stuck with him, of all people. The creepy bug-boy.

"Sorry for snapping at you," her voice nearly startled him after the long stretch of silence. He looked up to see that she was waving her ornate fan at her face to cool off and smiling tiredly. "I guess I'm getting restless."

"I understand," he replied.

"We're far from home," she sighed. She leaned back and studied his face—without his collar she had thought it would be easier to figure him out. But he kept his countenance stoic and his sunglasses on. She could admire his well-sculpted cheekbones all she wanted, but it still seemed that the mystery that was Shino Aburame would never be solved. "Tell me again about about Kurohara. What are we facing here?"

"We will be staying in the very center of town at Kurohara's most popular resort," he recited, feeling a little uneasy at the thought. It was a high-end brothel. It would be the ideal place to see the comings and goings of the people who worked in the red-light district. "We'll be looking out for the Sand's shinobi. They were supposed to be deep undercover as entertainers, but they haven't been heard from in two months. We need to find them and extract them as quietly as possible."

"What if they aren't there?"

"Then we'll take our leave quietly," he said. "Perhaps we'll be able to use these covers for something useful another day. This is a popular place for missing-nin."

"I wonder why," Tenten said with a smirk. Shino didn't laugh at her wry joke but that didn't surprise her anymore. "So, 'Nakamura-san,' will you and I be sharing quarters, or will we have our own rooms?"

"We will share a room," Shino replied, unable to stop the wave of embarrassment that washed over him. "Since you'll be my… guest, we'll be spending a lot of time together."

Tenten almost laughed at the light blush that was creeping up Shino's neck. "Understood," she said with a grin, wondering if he missed his overcoat. "I do have a question, though, Shino-san," she said, suddenly very serious. "What if we find their missing-nin?"

"That is not our mission," Shino said sternly. "We are here strictly to find their missing team. If we find their criminal we will send intelligence."

Tenten nodded but Shino knew that she was not in agreement with him. She'd mentioned earlier in their trip that she didn't see why they couldn't just, quote, 'take him out themselves' if they found him. As mission leader he had insisted that they were to stick to the terms of their original mission. To her credit, she dropped the subject, but he knew what she was thinking. There'd been a look on her face that he knew well. Kiba, his insubordinate teammate, had it almost every time they were out in the field for some reason or other.

"Whatever you say," she said, her tone neutral. "Although I feel like I should point out that you and I are more than enough to take him."

"We still don't know how the team before us got lost," he pointed out, once again adjusting his glasses. "I'm not willing to take that risk when we're so far from Konoha with no back-up."

"You're the boss," she said with a nod.

They both jerked upright when the carriage suddenly stopped moving. "We must be here," Shino observed. The door to the coach opened, letting in light from the setting sun. A man dressed in a simple, dark yukata greeted them with a polite bow. They had, in fact, reached their destination—they were right in the middle of Kurohara's red light district. The village was large and its lights were bright—a beacon of warmth in the cooling night. The sounds of people hustling up and down the streets and vendors calling out to potential customers surrounded them.

Shino climbed gracefully out of the coach, as if he hadn't been travelling for four days.

"You travel quickly," said the black-haired servant. "You can call me Kato; I'll be your attendant, Nakamura-san."

"We were eager to arrive," Shino said with a matching bow. "I've brought a friend."

That was her cue. Tenten climbed as gracefully as she could out of the coach she had been confined in for days. She was surprised to see that Shino had extended his hand for her to help her down. The act started now, she supposed. She accepted his hand and landed lightly on the ground.

"Thank you, Nakamura-san," she said.

"Nanami-san, you must be exhausted from your journey," Kato said with smile that nauseated the brunette. She looked at Shino, who gave her a slight nod.

"I'll be alright," she said meekly, letting her true fatigue show. She gave a respectful, low bow to the attendant. "I'm thankful to have a bed tonight, I must admit."

"She thinks my pace was cruel," Shino said lightly—so lightly that Tenten was surprised. Sure, they were undercover, but it was still strange to witness Shino in his character. "But we were eager to arrive, weren't we?" He gave her what she supposed would be as sleazy of a look that an Aburame could give.

Tenten gave an embarrassed laugh and covered her mouth. "Nakamura-san, you're teasing me again." Shino gave her a kind smile—yet another out-of-character gesture. She had know it was going to be strange to go undercover with someone who was normally so reserved, but watching him smile was flat-out bizarre.

Kato gave a long-suffering smile and gestured toward the large hotel that stood in front of them. "If you'll allow me, I will show you to your room." There were already people unloading their bags for them and carrying them into the hotel; a nerve-wracking situation for two undercover shinobi. Thankfully, everything was carefully packed so that no errant weapons would fall out on unsuspecting employees.

They followed the attendant into the large, ornate hotel. It was a luxurious place to be sure, and Tenten briefly wondered how their stay was being funded. They walked through the doors, passing professionals and patrons alike on the journey to their room.

The inside of the hotel was enormous. The lobby was a wide, open space, with strung lights and lanterns hanging from the ceiling to create a frivolous and festive mood. Rich, dark colors seemed to be the theme—midnight purples and dark blues painted the walls. People were everywhere, coming and going, chattering and laughing. It was busy and cheerful and overwhelming.

Their room was right up the stairs on the second and top floor of the building. Shino was listening to Kato, their attendant, carefully as they walked.

"There are only two floors, but this is the largest and most luxurious hotel in our little town," Kato explained cheerfully. "We have two buildings: the one we're in now and the bathhouse. On the south end of the building there's a large garden that many of our guests like to enjoy. Your room has a balcony that overlooks it."

"How lucky," Tenten gushed, the perfect picture of an excited country-bumpkin.

"Yes, indeed," agreed Kato, stopping in front of the door and offering the keys to Shino and Tenten. "It's a small but coveted room. I hope that you will enjoy your stay. There are plenty of things to do in Kurohara, and if you need any help or advice I hope you'll call for me."

"Thank you, we'll be sure to remember," Shino said politely, subtly guiding Tenten inside by placing his hand on the small of her back.

"Yes, thank you, Kato-san," Tenten added airily as she floated inside. They kept smiles pasted on their faces until they were completely inside of their room. A moment of silence passed before she whispered: "Is he gone?"

Without a word, Shino called on one of his bugs and instructed it to check outside. After a moment, "It appears that no one is outside our door." They took a moment to inspect their luggage, which was placed neatly in the corner of the room by the staff, and relaxed when they found that nothing had been tampered with.

She let out a big huff of air. "This may be the swankiest place I've ever been to," she said, letting herself fall onto the large canopy bed. "I'm actually shocked that it's in the red light district."

Shino stationed a few kikkai outside the door and at the balcony before replying. "It's a discreet place for the wealthy." He busied himself by taking his sleeping bag out and spreading it out beside the bed. "Tonight we will get some rest. Tomorrow we'll wake up and socialize."

"Uh-huh," she said, amused by his wording. "Shino-san, you don't have to sleep down there. This bed is enormous." If the bed had been smaller, she wouldn't have said anything. But the bed she was sitting on was so huge that it felt almost redundant to have him sleep on the floor. She didn't mind; she knew that there was no way he'd try to pull a move.

"I'll take the floor. Why? Because it would be indecent for me to share the bed with you."

Tenten scoffed. "C'mon, this bed has to be at least a king-size. We're both adults, aren't we? I share with my teammates all the time."

"I must insist," he said stiffly, and he looked so uncomfortable that she decided not to push the matter any further.

"You're in charge," she muttered. She supposed that it would be nice to have all that space for herself after spending four days cramped up in a coach.

It wasn't long before she was snoozing, letting the feeling of the warm bed envelope her and draw her into darkness.

A/N:

So, this story is an attempt at the "undercover couple" theme I see all the time. I really love the idea, but I thought I'd spice it up. Instead of being married/boyfriend-girlfriend/engaged, I thought I'd make it real sleazy and make them call girl/client. What do you all think?

I truly hope you all enjoy this story! I am putting a lot of thought into this one, so hopefully it will turn out as good as I want it to. The Shino/Tenten ship has a really special place in my heart and I want to do it justice! This is going to (hopefully) be a pretty interesting story with lots of romance, action, and intrigue. So buckle up!

I'll be writing and updating even if there aren't many reviews, although I'm not gonna lie, I would absolutely adore some feedback! I have this story pretty much figured out but as usual, I am totally open to suggestions. ;) Longer chapters are coming!