Prologue
She stared at the bowl of ramen, uncertain of the funny taste in her mouth. The noodles sat unobtrusive in her bowl, a slight steam rising from the top. Tenten paused for only a slight moment, before fidgeting with her chopsticks. She knew better than to take another bite. She used the time to glance around the restaurant, trying to look nonchalantly as she spinned on her bar stool. She made a mental note that a certain someone was not here. Good. She thought with a sigh of relief.
"Tenten! The power of youth is with you!" Gai smacked her confidently on the shoulder from two bar stools over. Lee joined in with a loud "yosh!" from her immediate left and congratulated her on the upcoming mission and promotion. Neji on her right mumbled something similar and took a sip of his tea.
"Tenten, are you not filled with the hunger only youth can produce? You have hardly eaten any of your food!" Lee comment thickly through a large bite of BBQ pork.
"Gomen, ne" Tenten said politely turning slightly towards him on her bar stool. "It must be nerves for the upcoming mission; I should go home and get some rest." She smiled, slipping her share of the bill as surreptitiously as possible on the table, and with a slight bow headed outside away from her team.She shrugged off a shiver as she entered the cool night outside Ichiraku's Ramen Bar.
She played it off that she was headed towards her house as she had mentioned, but she had to make it to safe ground and she hoped she had thrown her stalker off of her trail, if only momentarily. Running on roof tops as fast as she could, she made it half way to her destination in the Inuzuka district, landing harshly, her head fuzzy from the drugs she had ingested hidden in her ramen. She stopped at Inuzuka Park, vying for a more public place because members of the nearby clan took their pets for walks or training. She collapsed on a sturdy wooden bench underneath two willow trees.
She was getting dizzy and her eye sight started to go wonky.
"Bugger!" she said pushing her heavy body off the bench and blinking her eyes rapidly in hopes to shake the blurred vision. She immediately fell, cursed and repeated the process of trying to gain some distance from what she considered would be an inevitable confrontation.
He dropped silently down from one of the willow trees above the bench. Slowly he straightened up from his crouch, and she replied sarcastically, "what took you so long?"
Her attacker smirked, and kicked the kunai she had hidden in her hand away. Tenten fell backwards from the swimming in her head and the tiny jostle of the kick.
His eyes narrowed in contempt of her.
"You didn't finish your dinner," he said, pushing her attempt to get up with his foot.
"Oh is that what they are calling it these days?" Tenten groaned and pushed his foot off of her forcefully enough that he had to flip backwards a few yards. She used that time to gain some distance between them, pulling out more weapons from her pouch. But she had run out of time.
"Bugger," she repeated and moved the weapons out of her way before she completely passed out on top of them.
Chapter One
"Would you idiots calm down?!" Kiba roared fighting the three Haimaru brothers from destroying the front door trying to get out for their nightly walk. His hands were full of leashes, and loose fur and random bits of saliva filled the air as they made their exodus from the front complex. The air was cool and crisp as he was pulled along by the massive dogs. "Aaah!" Kiba yelped as they took off suddenly, nearly dragging him behind. The night was perfect for an evening walk, but Kiba was concerned that they were a bit too anxious to be outside so early. The boys were normally quite astute to their schedule and stuck to it almost to the minute. Kiba was looking forward to meeting Shino for there sparring match, so walking the dogs a bit early didn't bother him. Curious as to why the dogs were behaving so strangely, he lifted his head to take a better whiff of whatever it was that captured their attention.
He picked up his pace to match the dogs as his apprehension level rose dramatically. He knew that scent.
Blood.
He sniffed again.
And poison? Drugs? He couldn't be certain, but it left a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. The brothers were on the trail, and they were leading Kiba into the middle of it.
Whatever it was, it was probably in the park.
The smell of blood grew stronger, and soon, he wasn't just seeing it, he was hearing it. The dogsbegan to go nuts knowing someone had just left the scene as they approached somebody covered with multiple wounds laying face down on the bench. The blood was flowing so rapidly it dripped loudly in a puddle under him. Or her. Kiba couldn't tell. He flipped him/her over.
"Tenten?!" he gasped sitting her up and scanning her wounds. She had a black eye, at least three broken ribs, a broken arm, and multiple cuts ranging from shallow to deep across her body, he assessed onsite. Her usual white flowing outfit was now almost completely tainted with her blood, and she looked ghastly pale. He quickly smelled her wounds to see if they were from a poisoned weapon then her breath for traces of what kind of poison she might have ingested. He deducted that she had ingested the poison and promptly gave her two pills out of a small pouch in his front jacket pocket.
The Haimaru brothers sniffed around the area with alert anticipation of a battle or at least a good chase. Kiba called them to attention, making them return to the complex alerting his sister Hana of the situation. The brothers barked and nipped the air excitedly and headed out. Kiba picked up Tenten and quickly brought her to his sister at the clinic. The three brothers proudly wagged their tails with enthusiasm, as he brought her in and gently set her on a gurney. Hana put on a fresh pair of gloves to examine her.
"Man, Kiba, what the hell happened?" Hana looked up with a horrified look on her face.
Kiba didn't answer right away; he was caught off guard by his reflection in the front window of the clinic. He was covered in her blood. He shook the terrifying thought of just how much blood was on him and washed his hands in the nearby sink.
"She has been poisoned." Kiba stated matter of factly, "I gave her a blood and soldier pill, but that seemed to not have much effect." He wiped his hands on a towel and took another look at her. He visually cringed.
"I can do my best to patch these wounds," Hana said as she retrieved a kunai from Tenten's side throwing it loudly on the nearby table and applying pressure with some gauze, "but if she was poisoned, she may not heal properly." Hana and Kiba both winced as she did this. "She has lost too much blood, I don't think she is going to make it!" she shouted as Tenten started to convulse looking paler by the second. "Hold her legs Kiba!" Hana shouted.
"What's going on?!" Shino exclaimed as he entered the clinic though the back door. He walked in to a half-dead person convulsing on a gurney, clothes torn and soaked with blood. The half-dead person was... "Tenten?" His kikkai buzzed nervously inside him.
He rushed to Hana's side, looking for direction. "Hold her down!" she ordered, meaning for him to take her place so she could search her drawers for a shot of adrenaline. She uncapped the needle as Tenten continued to flail, oozing blood as she did.
"We don't know what that will do to her if she's been poisoned!" Kiba advised over the clanging of limbs against the metal gurney. His sister squeezed on the syringe till some of its contents sprayed out.
"Does it look like we have a choice!" she screamed grabbing one of Tenten's broken arms, "she's going to die!"
She plunged the needle in, unconsciously saying out loud, "come on come on" then grabbed a flashlight to check her pupils and told Shino to check for a pulse.
"She is freezing!" Kiba announced after her convulsions had died down. Shino immediately took off his bloodied jacket and wrapped it around her torso exposing a white shirt that would inevitably also be covered with blood. No time to think about that now. Kiba did the same with his hooded fur lined coat and wrapped it around her legs as Hana searched the back for more supplies.
"Kiba!" Hana shouted from the small closet.
"Yeah, what do you need?" Kiba's voice implied he would do anything his sister asked him to at the moment.
"Go to my computer and find Tenten's blood-type on my data-base. Code F-I-D-O 847 will get you logged in. Log out as soon as you find it." She reminded, making quite a bit of noise pulling down a large complicated heavy contraption.
"Lets pray this works." Hana whispered overlooking the old machine she so lovingly named "Bessie."
Shino was completely impressed with Kiba, after only a minute on the computer, he found her blood-type and quickly logged out as his sister's request.
Kiba ran a bloody hand through his hair with frustration. "She has B-, Hana!" He shouted to her down the hall. Kiba returned to help with Shino as he looked for needles and thread to patch her up. "Top drawer," he pointed over Shino's shoulder and made an attempt to clean away some the blood from her side before repairing the damages. Shino's hand was steady, but he usually didn't have to do this on such deep wounds. Kiba felt his apprehension as he hesitated for only a split second. No time to waste, Kiba looked up and reassured him with a nod and smile.
"I found the bloody bench outside." Shino distracted himself with small talk. "Thought it was a joke you were playing on me." Shino winked at his friend with a small smile on his face, revealing some white teeth.
Kiba split into a grin, and shook his head. "That wouldn't be the worst joke I ever played on you." Kiba winced again as Shino worked towards where Kiba's hands were holding the bloody flesh together. Tenten's wound was long but mostly shallow. It ran from her right hip along her stomach up to her ribs on the left side ending just behind her scapula, where the kunai was found. Shino had her tipped to her right side so he could repair the deepest part of the wound. Or not. It seems the kunai had also made another large wound on her right side, puncturing her left lung. Not good. Blood continued to seep continuously from the deeper wound on her side leaking through the gauze.
"Kuso!" Kiba exclaimed leaving Shino to grab more bandages. "She is loosing too much blood! We need…"
"We need to give her a blood transfusion." Hana interrupted hauling an IV stand up to the gurney along with more equipment to retrieve fresh blood. She worked swiftly, know that time was becoming a commodity they didn't have.
"B-"Kiba repeated. "That one is pretty rare, we need a B- or…"
"O-," Shino looked up as he interrupted his friend. "I am O-"
"Well, Halleluiah, Aburame, let's get you hooked up to Old Bessie here." Hana said motioning Kiba to take over until she was done with Shino and the large metal contraption.
Kiba agreed to take over with an "alright, but please hurry, I hate stitchin' people up- especially girls." He shuddered, thinking about the one time he had to repair Hinata's arm on a mission to the fire country a year ago. The sound the needle made when it pierced her skin disturbed him greatly, and he hated to think he had caused her more pain by his shotty patch-job.
Shino relaxed against the tiny wall of the clinic on a metal folding chair next to the gurney, letting the machine transfer his blood to Tenten while he watched Hana finish the repairs that he had started on her earlier. She removed tiny strips of her white blood stained clothes as she worked while the monitors regulating her vitals beeped quietly as her breathing apparatus slugged in and out.
An hour later, Shino found himself just outside the clinic's back door sitting on the concrete steps with Kiba, both of them stunned to silence holding their bloody jackets in their hands. Hana had found extra sets of blankets for Tenten in the house, and reminded the boys to switch them out with ones from the closet when she woke up.
"Too bad we couldn't spar tonight, Shino, I so wouldda kicked your ass." Kiba threw his jacket over his shoulder, looking up at the stars dimmed by the light pollution of the clinic's street lamp. Shino stared at his hands, still slightly marred with tinges of blood from the night's ordeal. He wondered to himself if what he witnessed tonight would ever leave his memory.
"Who wants her dead?" He wanted to state out aloud, but didn't. He just kept asking himself that question over and over again. The stoic Shino had never been so scared in his life. Walking in on a fellow ninja so close to death unexpectedly rattled him. Not that anyone could ever tell.
"Whelp," Kiba started standing up, "let's go get some things from your place, your spending the night." He stated more than asked. He knew this was something they both needed. "We can sleep on cots in the clinic. And I have to retrieve that bottle of rum from your house anyways," he added with a feral smirk.
The look on his father's face when the two had entered the Aburame complex was priceless. Kiba nonchalantly leaned himself against the kitchen wall picking off dried bits of clotted blood from his cuticles. "Don't worry, it's not ours," were the only reassuring words Kiba offered Shibi as he looked on in horror. Shino silently collected his things from his room and made a note to take the large bottle of rum from his closet, not bothering to hide it from his dad that he had it or that was taking it with him.
"I will be spending the night at Kiba's, Tou-san," Shino said as he rushed out the door. Shibi stood there, mouth open to say something then, as if he thought better of it, shut it again.
The three brothers were stationed outside of the clinic: two on the front door and one at the back door alongside Akamaru when they got back. Shino was exhausted both from giving blood (which his kikkai where not too happy about) and from the low off the adrenaline rush earlier. He collapsed into his cot and turned to stare at the girl who shouldn't have lived. How could one so small cause so much trouble?
Chapter 2
Morning light revealed the true nature of the beaten kunochi. Tenten woke from her groggy slumber in absolute pain, but with enough sense to realize she needed to move. Screw that! her body told her. Too bad, she needed to make a get away yesterday. She managed to push herself up on the gurney from her elbows to a sitting position. She first spit out the breathing tube then pulled out the IV with relatively little cursing and minimal blood. She carefully lifted her pulse monitor off of her finger after turning off the machine. Man she hated hospitals, or vets offices she corrected herself after looking around. What the hell happened to me? She thought slipping the blanket off of her. It fell silently to the floor undisturbed as she gazed at all the mayhem her stalker did to her body. Her mental cursing lasted at least a minute as she inspected all of her wounds. Well that would explain why she felt the way she did. And then some. Her new pair of matching black bra and panties were worse for wear, and she was wrapped heavily in bandages. She felt the side for face. Swollen. Great. The poison she had ingested was slowing her healing process. She gathered from where she was that she had probably taken at least a soldier pill (which would explain why she was awake) and either had a blood transfusion or blood pill, or both. Probably both. Her broken arm had been set and was healed by some awesome medical jutsu (she made a mental note to thank Hana later) but still very tender do to yet again, the drug cocktail Mr. Wonderful slipped into her food. She was so going to kill his ass. Determined to sneak out before the small clinic was completely filled with sunshine, she swallowed hard and scooted towards the end of her bed. The searing pain only fueled her furry towards her attacker, and she grunted against the pain.
Two guys on cots mostly covered in dried blood (probably her blood she noted to herself) were on either side of her. She guessed the obnoxious one to be Kiba. He promptly snored louder in reply to her thoughts. The other one she guessed was Shino by his length and hair. She forgot sometimes how tall that boy was. He made the cot look small under his body: legs sticking out well past the foot of it and both arms flung over the sides laying face down. His dark blue jeans made him look taller if that was even possible. She wondered how well she would make her escape from her so-called body guards. She scanned the room and saw the large empty bottle of rum on the floor next to the loud one.
Hot damn. Tenten laughed at the thought of the two boys drinking and playing body-guard. She suddenly gasped for air from her punctured lung and broken ribs. Okay, no laughing. That hurts. She started to cough up a decent amount of blood and quickly reached for the nearby bedpan.
One of the boys rolled over.
Better make this getaway a little quicker, she thought groaning forwards through gritted teeth. Then suddenly there was a large shadow blocking out the rays of the sun. Shino towered over her, arms folded across a bloody white shirt, looking rather menacing in his dark shades.
"Ohaio gasiamsu," Tenten greeted the looming figure with a smile. Her back eye was far les puffy today, Shino noticed, she could at least open her right eye.
"Lay down," Shino commanded, jaw set firmly in place. He meant business. She promptly ignored him, and grit her teeth as she took another inch in the direction of the end of the bed.
"No thanks."
"You are going to rip stitches," he stated irritably, placing his hands firmly yet gently on her shoulders," now lay down."
She noticed the bandage on the crook of his arm and reached out to touch it gently, "arigato" she said referring to the implication that he had been her blood donor. This stunned Shino momentarily by her soft gesture and his kakkai buzzed excitedly in his chest at her touch. He momentarily felt himself relax just a tiny bit.
"Lay down," he repeated placing his hand at the crook of her neck to ease her back on the pillow. She complied, knowing full well she couldn't take him in a fight. Well, not at the present moment.
Kiba groggily rolled over and scratched his bell with a yawn. He found his way back into his bloodied gray jacket in the middle of the night which was only half on. His Capri sweat pants crept high looking like shorts on him, a noted sign that he was an active sleeper.
"Shino, you 'wake, man?" he called out with gravel in his voice, standing up and stretching. He ran a hand thru his hair, forgetting that he had dried blood caked in it.
"Gross." he said, still not aware that Tenten was fully awake, and starring at him. He picked out chunks of it until he realized that her eyeball were fully open as she laid still.
"Whoa!" he fell back onto his cot startled. "What in the name of kame are you doing awake?" Kiba asked incredibly.
"Gomen nasai," she spoke quietly. Kiba stared. This was partly because no one on the face of the earth could be awake after sustaining those kinds of wounds and loss of blood. The other part was because she was very scantily clad. She wore mostly bandages and black lacy underwear. She had thrown off her blankets in her attempt to escape and was now sitting quite exposed to Kiba's prowling eyes.
Shino returned from the back with fresh blankets for her, and made sure to throw one directly at Kiba's face to bring him back to his senses. Kiba took the hint of how rude he was being and quickly offered her a glass of water after properly covering her back up with the help of Shino.
She accepted politely, and Shino busied himself with putting her IV back in. No easy task since she ripped it out. He smiled to himself at her bravado. Not many people would attempt that and not scream bloody murder afterwards. She was obviously a hellova lot tougher than he or probably anyone ever gave her credit for. Not to mention she was attempting to run out…not an easy feat with a punctured lung and other nearly mortal wounds. "You shouldn't have tried to run out." Shino stated, locking the IV bag in place.
"Whoever did this to you obviously wants you dead. You're a sitting duck if you left now in your condition." He grabbed a stethoscope and started to check her vitals and breathing. Hana would be in shortly to do so, but he need to keep his mind distracted from the eye-full he got of the so-very-close-to-naked Tenten.
She sat quietly listening to him lecture her. Her silence spoke as if to say: "yes I know."
Hana promptly walked in just in time to break the telling silence. Kiba left for the house to get breakfast started, promising to bring back coffee first.
Tenten smiled warmly at Hana and the two embraced each other like sisters. Shino had no idea their connection ran so deep. Hell, he had no idea Hana even knew her.
Hana broke the embrace and kept her hands firmly on her shoulders looking as if she was about to shake her. "What the hell happened?" Tenten opened her mouth to reply, but found herself coughing up more blood into the bedpan instead. "Kuso!" Hana cursed as she rubbed her back to sooth her fit. "We have got to transfer her to a hospital before she gets so much blood in her lungs she can't breathe." She looked at Shino to help. "You'll have to hold her on the gurney upright; she won't fill her lungs as fast that way. Just keep her as stable as possible while I move her." Hana was busy finding another syringe and poking it into her IV line.
Shino complied, hopping up on the table and pressing his body close to her back in a sitting position. The kakkai once again filled his chest with a delighted hum, and he could see some of the more venturous ones crawl out and explore Tenten's body. Odd, he thought, they have never done that before. Tenten reached out and let one crawl onto her pointer finger then placed the bug carefully on the tip of her nose. She turned to him showing the kakkai that was happily resting on place so very honored. The kakkai seemed to flit its wings with delight at the noted attention.
"I'm keeping this one," she declared, her head resting on his shoulder. At the declaration of her owning him, the bug buzzed with delight and made a small quiet chirping noise.
"He likes me more than you," she said boldly, her head rolling from side to side as Hana began the exodus handing Shino the IV stand to hold on their journey.
Shino wondered what kind of drug she just gave Tenten, and looked from her to Hana with a raised eyebrow and a dubious look.
"She'll try to run away if I didn't," She explained. "This is just something to relax her."
Shino had to force his attention off of the adorable konochi in his lap to pay attention to how this was going to play out. She was still coughing up blood, and stable for the most part, but she needed Tsunade or Sakura at the very least to over look her recovery for the next 24 hours.
"Hey! Where you going so fast?" Kiba walked in with a tray of coffee in his hands, sounding hurt and offended that they were leaving with out him. Not to mention he was a bit jealous that Shino got to be her chair and not him.
"Kiba, we need you to get Saukura and bring her to the Aburame complex medical facility." Hana said to her brother. "You need to tell her that one of your dogs ingested some poison and you need her to tend to him right away at Hana's request."
Shino was about to say nearly the same thing. He applauded Hana mentally for her astute thinking. Taking her to a public hospital would be too risky. Letting anyone know she was alive also was probably not a good idea either.
Tenten pressed her forehead to Shino's neck and promptly traced a line from his chin, past his Adam's apple to his sternal notch. He swallowed hard and noticed the kakkai still resting on her nose.
"You're comfy," Tenten sighed relaxing her body against his fully. "You make a good…" Tenten nodded off before she could finish sentence.
Shino smiled to himself, brushing her bangs out of her face. He noticed her two large buns had finally begun to loosen after all that she had been through, and Shino fought the urge to undo them complete to see the full length of her hair out of sheer curiosity.
Maybe later, he thought to himself.
Chapter 3
Kiba had probably not been the best person to retrieve the Hokage's apprentice in hind-sight, but Kiba actually tried not to make a spectacle getting to her apartment. He casually walked up to her door and noticed none other that Rock Lee about to knock on the same one. He did his best to pretend nothing was going on as they both stood there staring at Sakura's apartment door. Lee with a flower in his hand and Kiba covered in dried blood smelling like booze and looking like hell. Lee took notice and hoped he was in the wrong place.
"So are you looking for Sakura?" he asked as they both continued to stupidly stare at her apartment door.
"Yep," Kiba replied rocking back on his heels. Kiba motioned for him to knock with his hands still firmly planted in his pockets.
"We are eating breakfast in the park this morning." Lee replied after a brief rap on the door.
"That's cool," Kiba replied politely and the silence continued in awkwardness.
"So, what are you doing here?" Lee asked bluntly. The door opened and Sakura was stunned to see Kiba charge at her door bringing himself and her back inside as he said something about needing to talk to her and it taking only a minute. The door was closed in Rock Lee's face and he was left with only the flower. For about two seconds before Sakura reopened the door and yanked him inside. "What's going on?" the two asked in unison, staring at Kiba with arms folded across their chests.
"I need to talk to your sweetie alone, if you don't mind," Kiba crossed his own arms across his chest to act just as intimidating as they were.
"Not smelling like a bum covered in, is that blood?" Rock Lee pointed to the front part of his shirt that was exposed from his coat not being zipped.
"Don't worry, it's not mine," Kiba retorted, zipping it back up.
"Sakura, if I may have a word," he motioned into the nearest room, "privately." He spoke the last word at Lee with emphasis.
"Speak your peace before I kick you out, Kiba." Sakura said in a rather annoyed voice as she tapped her foot.
"Very well," Kiba began straightening up. "One of the dogs at the Inuzuka complex got poisoned and we need your help." He said the sentence with emphasis slowly and with a hand gesture for good measure.
"Hana is perfectly capable of handling a simple poison." Sakura stated flatly, still not moving.
"Hana's request." He added.
She crinkled her brow and after a moment asked demandingly, "whose blood is that on your shirt, Kiba?"
Kiba took a step back, and smiled "It's not mine." Lee rolled his eyes.
"Throw him out Lee," Sakura turned to open the door. Lee started walking towards him with a smug look on his face as if to say: "with pleasure."
"Okay! Okay!" Kiba conceded, backing up from the Jolly Green Ninja. Sakura shut the door.
"Spill." She stated simply.
Kiba sighed and took off his jacket so they could see the full effect of the night before. "It's not mine," Kiba sighed looking completely serious. "It's Tenten's."
Chapter 4
Sakura came out of the Aburame medical unit exhausted but with a hopeful look on her face as she greeted the boys in the waiting room. Kiba had retired to shower, (thank kame) so it was Lee and Shino who had waited rather impatiently for her to return with some good news.
Sakura smiled at the apprehensive looks on their faces, and reassured them that she should be fine in a couple of days. Shino breathed a huge sigh of relief, and Lee approached Sakura, embracing her in a tight hug.
"You are officially off duty," Lee insisted to the worn out konochi, rubbing her shoulders. Sakura moaned in agreement as the tension in her neck released. "I got take-out and a nap with your name on it."
"Oh, I like you," she replied then turned a more serious note to Shino,"Don't let her leave. She may seem like she is fine, but with that poison still in her system, she is going to need to rest for at least another two days." Sakura warned with a pointed finger. "I mean it, if she overdoes it she is likely to tear stitches and reinjure herself. The effects of the poison will wear off in about two days if she gets some rest." Shino nodded in agreement. "The drug fuses with the adrenal gland, so too much pumped into her heart will cause some problems." Sakura finished. Lee squeezed her shoulders tight to comfort her.
"Tenten is stronger than you think; Sakura-chan says she can even beat Neji now!" Lee exclaimed and Sakura elbowed him mumbling something about that not being common knowledge yet. Lee and Shino bumped fists in a manly way as the couple headed out: Lee leading Sakura way for some much needed rest and Shino cautiously walked down the hall towards Tenten's room. He felt compelled to see her, though he couldn't quite reason why.
He came up with some lame excuses if she was awake. Mostly things like if she needed something, which was dumb, because he knew Sakura would have already thought of that. He grabbed a hold of the door handle with baited breath and pushed with a sudden burst of courage.
She wasn't in her bed. Walking further in he heard the shower running and quickly turned tail to head out before she even realized he had invaded the room.
"Hey!" came a muffled voice from Tenten the bathroom. Shino hesitated; hand still on the door knob. She called again. Curse her excellent hearing, Shino thought.
"There are no towels in here! Can you please grab me one?" Tenten paused to listen for a reply, "pleeeease?" Tenten pleadingly cooed.
Shino complied searching the nearby closet for a towel and upon finding it stupidly announced himself as he knocked on the door to the bathroom, saying that he had a towel for her.
"Thanks, just open the door and pitch it in if you would," she shouted through the door.
Shino closed his eyes, opened the door and threw the towel. He closed the door as fast as humanly possible and he heard a loud splashing "plunk" as he did. Shino was mortified. He had thrown her towel directly into the commode.
"Shino?" Tenten asked louder than before, afraid he had taken off already, "Can I have a different towel?"
Shino quietly banged his forehead against the door in frustration. "Yes," he replied trying not sound embarrassed.
He grabbed another towel from the closet and placed it gently near (not in) the sink.
"Arigato," she called to him, ending her shower a moment later. "Might as well just hand it to me while you're here." She said, blindly reaching out a hand from behind the curtain. "If you don't mind, that is."
Shino handed her the towel, and promptly turned to exit the bathroom when he remembered the towel sitting in the toilet. He turned to retrieve it. He knelt down, rolled up his sleeves and pulled the towel out of the toilet and promptly began wringing it out.
Tenten pulled the shower curtain back, wearing only the tiny blue hospital towel around her. Shino gawked as he took sight of her, frozen in mid wring.
His first thought was that her hair was longer than he had expected, brushing the small of her back when wet. And WOW, he thought over and over as his kakkai hummed with rhythmic delight.
"Nice shooting, Ace," she teased as she leaned to the side to gather her hair to wring it out. He continued to watch her, mesmerized, unable to move from his position over the toilet dirty towel in hand. Tenten looked behind her and then back at Shino as if to say: "what are you staring at?"
Shino shook his head to clear his head, mumbled an apology and continued his work over the commode. He placed it by the sink and quickly began to wash his hands in an effort to make a quick exit.
"Shino?" Tenten began suddenly. Shino looked up at her reflection in the mirror over the sink to respond. "I kinda don't have any clothes here…" she started. Shino continued to stare blankly at her until she spoke again. "Was wondering if I could borrow something…" She looked at him to catch on at any moment.
"Of course," he promptly spoke, realizing that his IQ must have dropped 60 points since he saw her in only the towel. He mentally cursed his lack of awareness due to hormones and promised to come back with proper garments.
Shino closed the door to her hospital room, relieved not be making a fool of himself in front of her anymore.
Chapter 5
Shino had a few options for getting her clothes, none of which he actually was comfortable doing. He considered delegating the task to someone else, but he most certainly didn't want Kiba or his father involved with finding Tenten things like underwear. He could buy her new clothes, but he didn't know her size and let's face it, that would be weird. He could break into her apartment and bring her her own clothes, which was illegal and crazy and he considered this option thoroughly. Or he could ask Hinata for clothes. But that would raise too many questions on her end so that option was out. He decided with letting her borrow some of his. That was after all the most logical of all the options he came up with. She could wash her bra and panties in the sink and throw them in the dryer down the hall. That would do. He rummaged through his drawers for something clean and small. She was definitely smaller that he was. He wondered if he had any clothes left from his ninja academy days.
"Mendokusai!" Shino found him self expressing one of Shikamaru's favorite statements.
"Women usually are," Shibi commented from the doorway.
"Tou-san," Shino acknowledged with a nod, then continued rummaging through his things for some thing suitable.
"I heard we have a new house guest," Shibi spoke casually.
"She is staying in the hospital wing." Shino corrected not looking up.
"I thought I saw the Hogake's apprentice and the Green One leave, was she unable to heal her?"
Shibi asked confused.
"She was poisoned." Shino simply explained.
"And beaten to death if that blood was her's from the other night, I reckon." Shibi nodded his head towards his pile of bloody clothes.
"Hai," Shino responded, determined to turn his room up side down in order to find anything that would remotely come close to fitting her.
"Son, is there something I can help you find?" Shibi asked dodging a shirt that Shino threw over his shoulder that he deemed unacceptable.
"She needs something to wear." Shino stated with a frown. "All of my clothes are too big."
"I'm sure some drawstring shorts and an old band shirt will work just fine, Son." Shibi offered.
Shino stopped suddenly and realized that was exactly what he had in his hands: navy blue drawstring shorts that would probably look like capris on her, and an old STOMP band shirt. Perfect. He pulled out a pair of his whitest socks and sniffed them to double check that they were clean. Since he was a boy and he did his own laundry, they were pretty clean. He considered this good enough and headed past his his father in the doorway down the hall.
When he reached Tenten's door in the hospital wing, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. Even his kakkai were somewhat agitated, or maybe they were happy? The buzzing inside him was hard to read when he was nervous. He couldn't even explain why he was nervous. He just was. He knocked quietly on the door.
"Tenten, I have some clothes." Duh he came with clothes, why else would he be back to visit?
"Come in!" Tenten called to him.
Tenten had made her white bed sheet into a makeshift toga while he was out, and she was busy blow-drying her underwear with a hair dryer, hair already put up in their normal two bun routine.
He placed the clothes on her bed as she stopped the hairdryer and held it up like a gun blew on the end. "Good timing, Cowboy." She winked. She grabbed the clothes from the end of the bed and her underwear and headed into the bathroom taking but a few seconds to put the clothes on. She came out of the bathroom sporting the clothes (which were way too big) and balling the bed sheet up while she did. She threw the sheet into the hamper in the corner like a basket ball and promptly thanked Shino for the clothes.
She reached for her sandals, scrapping off bits of dried blood that pooled on the soles of them.
"What do you think you are doing?" Shino asked with a frown.
"At the moment," Tenten stopped to blow the crusted flakes out of her sandal and pound it on the floor for good measure, "I am trying to make sure I don't get your socks dirty as soon as I slip them in my shoes." She did the same with the other sandal and put them on her feet.
"Arigato, Shino, for everything." She said with a bow and proceeded out the door. Shino of course blocked her from leaving with his intimidating large stance. Tenten just smiled politely, "Excuse me, gotta see Hinata, girl talk."
Shino crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head no, the kakkai becoming more agitated by the moment.
"Doctor's orders," Shino reminded, "You are not going anywhere." Tenten rolled her eyes. For a moment, he thought this was in response to his stubbornness and she was being petulant. Until he realized that her eyes were staying in the back of her head and she was falling down. Shino quickly caught her panicking on what to do next. Was this the effect of the drugs again? Or was this something more serious? He had no damn clue.
Suddenly Rock Lee was by his side helping him put her on the bed.
"Sakura is taking a nap so I came to check on her," Lee explained, "what happened?"
"She didn't over exert herself," Shino checked for a pulse, "she just passed out."
"Sakura was afraid of that," Lee frowned, "too many drugs in her system, its over-loading and she can't handle it."
"What can be done?" Shino asked in an even tone, trying his best to remain calm while on the inside he completely panicked.
Lee shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "She has to wait it out, Sakura told me there was a slight chance that she may not make it." He straightened up and said with much enthusiasm, "but Tenten is strong! The power of youth is with her! She is tougher than you think! I have seen the power she can strike! She has bested me more than I care to admit!" Shino raised an eyebrow at this. Lee had mentioned something like this before, and had to admit it was an impressive feat. She could beat Lee? Shino had no idea her strength lied that deep. Apparently there were many things he did not know about this strange konoichi sleeping in front of him. The most puzzling of all was who in the world would do this to her?
Chapter 6
Shino had gotten wrestles about half an hour after Lee had left, shortly after she was stable. Twilight had hit the grounds of the Aburame complex and Shino decided it was time to consult Kiba about the past events. Kiba came to the complex with Akamaru in at his heals and knocked quietly at the front door. Shino slipped outside, wanting to secure the perimeter with Kiba while they talked.
"The poison is untraceable," Kiba began in a low voice, petting his giant dog on his head. "Hana said it's made out of stuff you can find anywhere around Konoha."
"That just means that her attacker is someone from here," Shino pointed out.
"Why bother with poison? That is what I don't get," Kiba pondered out loud.
Shino had plenty of kakkai guarding Tenten's door and others placed at various points around the area for good measure. Reports came back from his bugs nothing out of the ordinary but he sent them back anyways just in case.
"She also mentioned that memory loss was also a side effect, convenient if her attacker didn't finish the job," he continued, "but she had to break into some restricted areas to find that one out."
Shino stopped at looked at Kiba's face to capture his full meaning. Of, course he supposed it was only a matter of time before his other teammate found out. Girls talked, though he wasn't sure which broke confidence first, Sakura or Hana. He supposed it didn't matter. Hinata should be informed if one of her closest friends was in critical condition. Speak of the devil.
"Konbonwa, Hina-chan," the boys greeted in unison as the pearl-eyed konochi walked briskly towards them.
"Konbonwa," Hinata bowed slightly at the two, smiling at the unified greeting they delivered to her, she was glad at how close they all had become over these last few years. She was glad to have them as close as brothers, which is why at the moment she was upset that they themselves had not told them about Tenten. She gave them both a stern look as she put her hands on her hips.
"Gomen, Hina-chan," Kiba apologized quickly.
"Tenten is located in the hospital wing", Shino informed. "She mentioned earlier her wishes to see you." Shino said, wondering why that was. Hinata raised an eyebrow. Apparently she was uncertain of the konochis intentions as well.
Then Hinata opened her eyes wide as if a realization had hit her, and blurted out "Oh," before she could help herself.
Of course, this peaked the boy's interest, and the two expected her to continue to explain her epiphany.
"Um, it's kinda embarrassing," Hinata hesitated. Kiba and Shino exchanged glances nervously. "Not that kind of embarrassing," Hinata replaced a hand on her hip. The boys relaxed. No womanly problems, thank kame.
"Never mind," Hinata brushed it off, pushing past the two.
"Wait, Hina-chan," Shino stopped her after only a few steps. "Any information that you can give would be vital to the apprehension of whomever did this to her."
"Shino-san, I don't believe this applies," she shook her head, "and like I said, it's embarrassing."
"Hinata, please," Kiba pressed. "Every piece of information helps."
Hinata considered their words for a moment, and then exhaled slowly puffing her cheeks as she did.
"Okay," she acquiesced, "but this doesn't go anywhere." She warned them with a pointed finger.
The boys shook their heads in agreement, with the gravity of swearing an oath.
"Tenten was over at the Huuyguya complex the other day," Hinta rushed out, "she had an argument with Neji, it got a little violent, and she ended up winning the fight. That's all," she finished quickly. "I think," she added hesitantly.
"She wouldn't tell you?" Kiba asked.
"She was too upset to say anything to me," Hinata said.
"Wait, how is that embarrassing?" Kiba interrupted, and folded his arms across his chest with a quizzical look, head cocked to the side.
"Well, she's never won a fight with him before."
"Soooo?" Kiba made a motion with his hand to speed this up.
"She's a girl," Hinata blurted, as if that explained everything.
"Oh, trust me, I noticed that," Kiba said with out blushing in a matter of fact tone.
"The Huuyguya is a prideful ninja," Shino offered by explanation.
"Oh, for real?" Kiba said with disgust.
"Hinata, do you know what their argument was about?" Shino asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"I'm pretty sure it had something to do with one of them confessing feelings for the other one," Hinata said, pointing her fingers together with embarrassment for whomever feelings were hurt.
This made perfect sense in Shino's mind. Tenten confesses her love for him, he doesn't accept her back, and she ends up winning a fight out of the sheer frustration of unrequited love.
But that still didn't explain how she ended up almost dead.
Hinata headed inside and the boys were back to square one walking around the perimeter of the Aburame complex. Hinata returned after a few short minutes, looking very confused and distracted.
"Hinata?" Kiba asked to draw her attention towards them. She looked up startled, as if drawn out of a trance.
"I got to go talk to Naruto," she mumbled and promptly left.
Shino didn't like this. Something wasn't adding up. It was time he asked Tenten directly who did this to her. He headed for the house, leaving Kiba and Akamaru to patrol the perimeter. He was going to get some answers tonight.
Chapter 7
Shino nearly barged into Tenten's room before he remembered himself and tried to calm himself before entering the room. He scanned the room for her presence. His kakkai alerted him that she was on the move, heading towards the south side of the complex and very fast. Shino saved all the cursing he wanted to do until later, when he could see her face to face. He sent a third of his kakkai to capture her until he could get there personally, but when he had gotten to where the kakkai were, she was gone and his kakkai were mildly stunned. He noted that they were undamaged just slightly confused for a short time. Impressive. He needed to pick up her trail, so he related a message to Kiba using some of his special kakkai that used Morse code and sent the bugs on their way. He needed Kiba now: his bugs were going to be useless to him if she was going to stun them.
"She's wearing my clothes," Shino reminded him so he could pick up the scent trail. Under normal circumstances, Kiba would have made some kind of inappropriate comment, but he decided to save it for later. They jumped blindly on roof tops as they entered more residential areas. He recognized the area as close to where Naruto lived. But what did he have to do with all of this? They landed on his doorstep and politely knocked.
Naruto answered the door in a white tank top and basketball shorts and rolled his eyes at the two shinobi, "Apparently I am having a party." He said flatly, waving them to come inside with one hand and scratching the back of his head with the other.
"We are looking for Tenten." Kiba stated walking into Naruto's flat. Shino was impressed, for a bachelor pad, it was quite clean, and nice he noted. No clutter, hardwood floors with fluffy rugs under a matching couch and overstuffed chair. He wondered if having Hinata over so much had anything to do with that.
Naruto rolled his eyes again, "Good lord! You, Neji- why does everyone assume that I know where she is? I didn't think anyone knew that we started training together, she said she just recently told Hinata." At this statement he pointed to his girlfriend in the corner of the couch, making room for Kiba and Shino to sit down.
"You didn't tell me Neji was looking for her," Hinata gave Naruto a quizzical look. Kiba came over and sprawled out length wise on the couch resting his head in Hinata's lap. He looked quite comfy until Naruto quickly put the kibosh on this, and grabbed Kiba's face from its spot with one hand (like palming a basket ball) and threw it to the opposite side of the couch with authority. Naruto sat down next to his girlfriend in the middle of the couch and ignored Kiba on his left. Kiba crossed his arms with a look on his face that said: Can't blame a guy for trying.
"Where is Tenten," Shino directed the conversation once again to the task at hand. Naruto threw an arm over his shoulder pointing his thumb down the small hall. Shino could vaguely hear retching from down the hall. What he assumed was the bathroom door was open a crack so he ventured with caution inside.
Tenten was curled up between the toilet and the wall next to the shower resting her head against the white and blue tiles. Then the next moment she was hunched over the toilet, expelling blood and a green substance from the nether regions of her inmost parts as she heaved. Once done, she returned exhausted to rest her head against the wall and delicately whipped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand. "Sorry I made a mess on your shirt," she said referring to the spatters of green and red covering the front first half of the STOMP shirt.
"You can make it up to me later," Shino said grabbing a washcloth from the linen closet giving it to Tenten. Like he was really concerned about his shirt at the moment when her life was on the line.
Tenten smiled at the thought of being indebted to the Aburame and thanked him as she took the washcloth.
"How many stitches did you rip?" Shino asked folding his arms across his chest, aggravated at her reckless behavior.
Tenten split into smile as she leaned back, "Take a guess, Tiger," She dared.
Shino refused to play, though if he had to guess he would say at least two dozen. That was on the low end. She had probably ripped at least 30-40, and it was not going to be a pretty clean up.
"I'm not stichen you back up again," Shino replied with contempt. Her bravado was starting to irritate him; she should have some respect not only for her own life, but for the people who saved her as well.
Tenten arrogantly lifted her shirt exposing her bra and sutures. Her skin was pinkish red were the stitches had been, her skin looked like a month of healing had already occurred. She quickly yanked her shirt down and coughed into her elbow. "You're not the first boy to underestimate me," she said with a sad grin, "and you won't be the last."
Shino could only stare dumbfounded. Tsunade herself was the only one he knew that could heal themselves that fast. And Tenten had been poisoned.
"Tenten!" Naruto called lazily from down the hall, "you done puking up that shit in your system? Or is it gunna take all day? Cuz I had a lot of coffee this morning, and at some point I am going to need to pee." He made no trouble at all to be concerned for her welfare. This bothered Shino for some reason. He made it sound as if she wasn't heaving up a lung.
"I just performed a jutsu that attached all of the molecules of poison to latch on to my red blood cells, then redirected them all into my stomach for evacuation." Tenten clarified to Shino and then turned her head towards the opening of the bathroom door. "That's because you have a bladder the size of a thimble!" Tenten corrected him loudly winking at Shino as she did. Naruto said some thing but as he mumbled she couldn't hear it over her flushing the toilet.
Tenten rose, dusted herself off and closed Shino's open mouth for him with one hand on her way out of the bathroom.
Chapter 8
Tenten expressed her gratitude and farewells as she quickly left the apartment. The door had just shut when Shino, remembering himself suddenly, ran after her. Naruto waved good-bye without looking as the door quickly slammed behind him, leaving Kiba with Naruto and Hinata.
"Get out," Naruto calmly stated to Kiba without so much as blinking.
"I figured," Kiba placed his hands on his lap to get himself up.
"Bye Kiba," Hinata said quietly as she snuggled closer to Naruto on the couch.
Shino found himself following her despite the better part of his reason. He had a feeling he should just let it go, but he couldn't. He needed an explanation in the worst way, not just from what happened to her, but for her. How was she able to heal herself? Why was Naruto unconcerned about her when they seemed so close? What the hell was going on? He had traveled on rooftops distracted with these thoughts until he reached her apartment, and knocked loudly on the door.
Screw this! He thought and opened the door calling her name. She made no answer, but he found her sitting Indian style on her bed meditating with her eyes closed.
"Sit." She commanded quietly with out opening her eyes.
Shino looked around the room. No chairs.
"Tell me what's going on," he demanded losing the better part of his composure.
"Sit." Tenten repeated again, motioning that he sit across from her on her bed. He nodded, first taking off his shoes and jacket. He sat down and Tenten took his large hands into hers, and closed her eyes. "Your blood," she began, "now flows in me, I can draw healing strength with your presence." She made a few hand seals and touched his hands again. His kakkai felt as if they were singing inside him, or drunk, he it was hard for him to tell. She wasn't draining his chakra, more or less making it flow in a circle and energizing it from what he could tell. It felt like she was not only recharging her, but him as well. He could only imagine this is what being high was like, with out the horrible side effects. He felt powerful and revitalized and happy.
After a few minutes she opened her eyes still holding his hands and smiled warmly at him. She slowly let go, but he wished she wouldn't have.
"Please explain," he said desperately. Tenten closed one eye.
"What do you want to know?" she asked not realizing how much he had invested into her mystery.
"Could you start by telling me who did this to you?"
"Oh, right," Tenten stated as if she had forgotten the elephant in the room. She chose her words carefully. "Let's just say it was an argument about a romantic relationship that was never going to happen."
Shino wasn't going to hold back, this tip-toeing around business was driving him nuts. "You confessed your feelings to Neji and he beat the crap out of you?"
Tenten snorted a laugh at the statement, then quickly replied, "Remind me never to go on information retrieving missions with you, but if you ever wanna play telephone, I will be up for a good laugh." She crossed her arms over her chest daring him to ask another stupid question.
"So you don't love him?" he had to hear the words from her for some reason.
"Oh, please," Tenten said looking offended as she rolled her eyes.
"Hinata said she overheard you fighting with Neji," Shino couldn't finish; he wasn't sure what to say.
"Ahh, that," Tenten supplied, "Neji confessed his feelings to me and after I said 'no, we got into a fight."
"So you don't love him?" he repeated for more clarity.
"No," Tenten said slowly. Apparently he hadn't caught on the first time.
Shino felt himself physically relax, but he wasn't sure why he was so concerned over such a trivial matter. He should be more focused on- wait a second that meant…
"Neji attacked you?!?" Shino concluded incredulously. "He attacked you because you turned down his advances?"
"Ding, ding, we have a winner." Tenten said sitting back further on the bed, letting the realization hit Shino more thoroughly.
"You really can beat him in a fair fight?" Shino half asked half said. Tenten just raised her eyebrows in agreement. This was entertaining to watch, she mused.
"He poisoned you?" He again half asked half said, he didn't quite believe it himself.
"Okay, Swift, take it easy, you're going to hurt yourself. Let me explain a bit further."
Tenten took a deep breath and began.
"About six months ago, I noticed some changes. I was faster and stronger and I am only guessing that I have some kind of blood line I am unaware of because I am an orphan. When I sparred with Lee, it was like going in slow motion, like that scene from the Matrix when Neo realizes he is faster than Mr. Smith. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to spar with Neji, to see how far I could advance, but that was around the time I realized he had feelings with me. Thought that would be a bit too much for him to take-me besting him in a fight and me unable to return his 'affection'. So, I trained with Naruto, and on occasion, Kakashi. Sakura taught me a thing or too about regeneration and healing and I just kept advancing. I surreptitiously took a test with out my team knowing it for jounin about 3 months ago and passed it, and last week I got my Anbu mask and first mission. I went to Hinata to tell her the good news, but I ran into Neji at the complex and let him know that I got a promotion and that I was going to be heading out for a long mission soon. He wasn't too happy to hear that. He told me that I was too week to be going on a those 'kinds of dangerous missions that weren't meant for my gender.'" Tenten completed the sentence holding up her hands to quote him.
"So, I once again told him that even though I was just a girl, that didn't stop the powers that be to let me be promoted. He caught a glimpse of my Anbu tattoo with his buyakuya, grabbed my arm, called me a liar, and then confessed his love and got a little handsy. He tried to cop a feel, which did not fly with me. I kicked his ass, told him if he ever touched me again I was going to castrate him and took off. Hinata musta overheard some of our argument. I bumped into her on the way out."
Shino watched her patiently.
"Well," she said with a smile, "at least we know he takes rejection well."
Shino laughed at this. Drugged and gutted. Yeah, he'd say he took it very well, Shino thought sarcastically.
"I was trying to make it to Naruto's place to warn him that he might go and take out his frustrations on Hinata next. I knew he would want to protect her. That is when he caught me by the park after the drugs kicked in. I didn't have time to perform the expelling jutsu so I ended up thrashed and gashed. But the real question is: did he know I would survive his attack or did he underestimate me?" Tenten pensively asked Shino.
"I would wager you could ask him right before you shove his balls down his throat." Shino offered with a smile.
Tenten smiled back then reached behind her neck revealing one of Shino's kakkai. She promptly placed it on her nose. The kakkai bug flitted its wings in delight. Shino was surprised to see him, not thinking he would still be so attached to the konochi in front of him. But, he supposed, great minds think alike, with the exception of Neji that is.
"He likes me more than you," she said again, enticing him to respond. "But if you want him back I understand," she lifted the tiny bug off of her nose and placed him in Shino's hand and closed his other hand over the top so the bug could not escape. She said this with almost a sad smile, one that was hopeful, not expecting. He understood the implications of her actions.
Shino opened his hands and the kakkai bug promptly took its place back on the tip of her nose.
"First my STOMP concert tee, now you're stealing my bugs," Shino shook his head in mock disgust. "And I will have you know that my bugs are very social creatures. If one goes missing they become very upset until the lost one is found, and have to bring him back… or visit him often."
He looked up to see how she would respond to that last part.
"Oh really," she played along with mock belief.
"We might have to be over here several times a week," Shino said, "or it'll be a crying shame for my little bugs, missing their mate and such."
"I see," Tenten replied.
"Also my shirt is ruined," he said making his next point. "You will just have to have to let me take you to their concert tomorrow tonight so that you can buy me a new one." Shino pulled out two tickets for STOMP and placed them like the winning hand in a poker tournament between the two of them. Tenten stared at them in disbelief and then smiled.
"I do need to pay you back that shirt," Tenten sighed, acting as if it were a tough decision, "Very well. Would you mind escorting me to the Huyguya complex really quick? I need to drop by and say farewell to a teammate of mine."
Shino offered his arm for her to take.
"Would be my pleasure."