Hey everybody! This is actually my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic (well attempt might not be the word, I've tried this is just the only one that actually ended up with a plot) But in any case this is my first Naruto fanfic. So I'm aware there will probably be some mistakes... I did my best to try and fix them, but if anyone points some out for me I'll be extremely grateful.
Yes it's a NejiTen, cause I really liked Tenten for some reason. I originally started posting this on deviantart. So if you find it up there, it's most likely mine... Well enjoy...
It was early morning in the Hidden Village of Konoha, the sun just beginning to paint the Hokage faces with sunlight. The birds were sleepily awakening and the sounds of people getting ready for the day filled almost every house.
It was much the same in Tenten's small apartment. She stood in the bathroom, a towel draped around her waist as she tied her damp brown hair up into two buns. She glanced anxiously at the digital clock in the bathroom, it read: 6:06. Drat she was already running late! She quickly threw on the clothes she had placed on the toilet seat, a pink oriental shirt and navy pants. A finishing touch came in the form of her forehead protector being tied tightly across her forehead.
Someone knocked on her door. "Just a minute!" She yelled and her already hectic pace increased. She brushed her teeth quickly and on her way to the door grabbed her bag, a muffin and a key from the counter. She threw open the door and as she locked up, she apologised. "Hey Neji, sorry I took so long."
Neji, her friend, training partner and teammate was standing at the door looked at her with pale eyes, his dark brown hair tied neatly back. "Hn. Let's go then," He spoke in a deep emotionless voice. Together the two left her apartment, Tenten eating her muffin on the way.
"So how was your day yesterday?" She asked as they walked, already used to the fact that he was not much of a conversationalist.
"The same as usual," the young man replied.
"Oh..." she answered, looking down at the ground. It should have been obvious.
"Tenten!" The sound of her name being called made her jerk her head up in time to see a pink headed girl chasing after her. "Hey!" Sakura said as she caught up and then noticed whom Tenten was with. "Oh hello Neji. Are you guys going to train?"
Neji nodded before Tenten could answer.
"Oh well then I won't keep you long. I was going to ask if you wanted to come out for lunch with the rest of us, Tenten." By us, Tenten knew she meant the rest of the girls. "Of course, Neji can come too if he'd like," Sakura added.
"Where are we meeting?" Tenten asked.
"The usual," Sakura replied, a smirk appearing on her face. "Well I better be off, Have fun you guys," Sakura said as she left giving a subtle wink to Tenten and then silence fell between the two teammates.
"Hakkeshou Kaiten!" The words were spoken and the clatter of metal hitting the ground was heard for a few seconds. Tenten smiled as her teammate and training partner emerged from her attack unharmed.
"Well that's the last round... You win again, I guess," Tenten said. Both of the Konoha nin packed up their belongings. "Didn't you mention that you had something to do this afternoon?" Tenten asked.
"Yeah, I have plans," Neji answered. "See you tomorrow."
"See you," Tenten answered, but by then he was already gone. Tenten finished packing up her scrolls and glanced at her watch. If she hurried she might be able to fit in a quick shower before going out to lunch.
A half an hour later, Tenten sat in a chic dinner, surrounded by her friends. Tenten sat on the inside of the booth, Hinata beside her. Sakura and Ino sat across from them. The meal was already ordered and for now Tenten could relax as her friends chatted. As they chatted Tenten glanced at her friends. Ino was loud mouthed and obnoxious, with her blonde hair and good looks she thought she was the center of the world. Sakura, Ino's best friend and rival was a unique beauty. Even with her wide forehead she still had a shocking shade of pink hair and an innocent look about her that caught everyone eye. Still Sakura was quick tempered and very strong. Then there was Hinata, the shy girl and Neji's cousin. Hinata's dark hair had grown out longer and her pale eyes marked her as a Hyuuga. Hinata was kind and very shy, she was also the heiress of the Hyuuga.
"So Tenten, I hear you were training with Neji today," Ino smirked.
"Yes, we were training," Tenten answered, ignoring the intended meaning.
"C'mon you gotta give us more details than that woman!" Ino protested loudly, causing customers in the restaurant to stare at the blonde girl and her companions.
"Here's details for you, Neji won of course. But he wasn't really into it today. Happy now?"
"I wonder if Neji-niisan is upset about it..." she heard Hinata mutter from beside her.
"What was that?" Tenten asked Hinata.
"Oh nothing..." Hinata blushed and looked away. Tenten shrugged and turned back to talk to Ino.
"Why don't you just admit you like him?" Sakura asked. "I mean it's obvious, you care so much about his opinion. You're always together..."
"To train. Just to train," Tenten interrupted and tried to point out, despite the blush on her face.
"Neji-niisan talks about you alot," Hinata told her.
"Well duh, we're teammates. We train together almost every day..."
Luckily the meals came at that precise moment so for a while the girls were too busy eating to talk. Tenten had just finished and was pushing her plate in when Shikamaru walked in the door. "Tenten!" he called loudly.
Tenten turned to see who had called her name and upon seeing the lazy genius called out her greetings. "Hey Shikamaru-kun."
"Hi," Shikamaru responded as he sat down next to Ino. "Tsunade-sama has a mission for you. You're supposed to go immediately."
Instead of smiling like she normally would have, Sakura frowned. "If Tsunade-shishou wanted to see you I'm sure she would have told us. She knows we go out for lunch almost everyday..."
"Maybe it just came in..." Hinata suggested.
"Well I should be going then. I'll pay on the way out. See you!" Tenten left and raced to the Hokage's place as fast as she could. She knocked politely on the door and waited. Then she heard two familiar voices talking.
"Hiashi-sama is quite upset with you, you disrupted important Hyuuga talks in coming to get me for this mission."
"Aw save it," Tsunade answered. "I know that you didn't want to participate in those discussions."
"What is the mission about?" The person speaking obviously ignored the jibe that the Hokage had given.
"I can't tell you until you're partner gets here. Oh she's here already! Please come in Tenten."
Tenten entered to see Neji and Tsunade-sama. "Good Morning," she said politely. The two returned her greetings.
"I am sending both of you on a Rank B mission, it might even turn out to be a rank A mission. Despite that it's fairly standard. You are to retrieve a scroll from the Sato Family. Part of the reason I chose both of you is the fact that you could easily match these two servants." Tsunade threw down two cards on the table with pictures and information. Tenten leaned closer to examine them and realised that if her hair were down she could indeed pass for 'Amaya Hayashi.' Neji, with shorter hair was a dead ringer for 'Isao Nakamura.'
"Simply put, you disguise yourselves in these servant uniforms," Tsunade held up two black and white uniforms, fairly standard, "steal the scroll and get out of there without alarming the Sato Family, without leaving any traces of Konoha. Also part of the reason it may be a Rank A mission is the fact that the Sato Family is rich and quite powerful enough to send enemy shinobi after you. You will have to deal with them. So take all the time you may require."
"Thank you Hokage-sama," Neji bowed politely and pulled Tenten out after him.
"So when are we leaving?" Tenten asked her partner, running slightly to catch up with him.
"In an hour at the front gate, wear civilian clothes but ones you can fight in."
"I'll see you then Isao," Tenten answered, smirking. Before wending her way through Konoha back to her place.
As Tenten entered her apartment she was surprised to see that her friends had already made themselves at home without her permission. Sakura was flipping through television channels, Hinata was examining her bookshelf and Ino was yelling loudly for Sakura to switch back to channel ten.
"How'd you guys get in here?" Tenten asked, dumbfound.
"What? Like it's that hard to break into your place? We're kunoichi after all," Ino answered. "By the way you must have one of crappiest locks in the world," Ino added flippantly.
"So you broke into my apartment while I wasn't here? Without my permission?!" Tenten was slightly angry, they had violated her privacy.
"Oh no, Tenten-chan," Hinata was quick to protest, "we wanted to see you off before you left and we knew you'd come home to get some things before you leave. Then Ino-chan got annoyed at waiting so she lock-picked her way in."
"Fine then, Ino-pig!" Tenten borrowed Sakura's nickname for the blonde. "Just don't do it again. Or else."
"So who's on the mission with you?" Sakura asked. "Shikamaru mentioned someone else."
"Oh just Neji," Tenten answered, beginning to pack her bags and quickly change her outfit.
But before Sakura or Ino could tease her, Hinata spoke up. "Otou-san will not be pleased. The talks were supposed to be held today... How long is the mission supposed to take?" Hinata asked quietly.
"Tsunade-sama said we could take as long as we wanted... but I expect about a week," Tenten answered, slightly puzzled.
"What are the talks for?" Ino asked.
"It's Neji-niisan's business. I won't tell," Hinata bit down on her lip as if to keep herself from speaking.
Rather than question their shy friend, Sakura offered to help Tenten, "Here, let me do your hair. Why do you always wear it in those buns?"
"Habit, I guess, and it keeps the hair off my face." Tenten brushed a strand of hair that had fallen forward, away from her face. "Besides when I put down I get so annoyed with it that I put it back up a couple minutes later."
"But your hair is so long and beautiful," Hinata said, coming up to stand by Sakura and running her hands through Tenten's hair.
"Can you just put it in a braid then?" Tenten asked Sakura gruffly, blushing slightly from her friend's comment.
"Here," Ino passed Tenten a bag. "Here's your weapons bag. I put some kunai in the secret pouches for you. The scrolls are in there and... Well we were supposed to give it to you later but we figured you'd like it now..."
Tenten reached into the bag to pull out a fan. "Er... thank you but why would I need a fan?"
"Shows what you know, 'Weapons Mistress,' It's a tessen," Sakura said, her hands twitching upwards in an attempt to cover her grin but then remembered her hands were currently occupied with Tenten's hair.
"Really?" Tenten popped it open and sure enough she could see the sharpened edges of it. "I've never seen a real live one, I thought they only made them in the Hidden Village of Cloud." Awe-struck she ran her finger over the edge and was delighted to find that it was wickedly sharp.
"I thought you'd like it," Hinata said. "A weapon that if you think you're in danger and don't want to complicate things by carrying a weapon openly, you can use."
"Almost makes me wish I had one..." Ino sighed in a voice full of envy, gently running fingers over the tessen.
"I like the design," Tenten murmured. The tessen was a shade of honeyed brown with pale lavender dots along the edges. "But I can't take this... it's way too expensive."
"It was supposed to be for your twentieth birthday but... you may as well get an early present," Sakura explained. "And we all bought it together so it wasn't so bad. Just don't expect any presents for your next birthday," Sakura added jokingly.
"But I can't..." Tenten continued to protest, trying to hand it back to Ino.
"Just take it!" Ino got fed up and shoved it into her hands.
Tenten glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time to leave, "Ugh I have to go." Tenten grabbed her weapons bag and placed it inside her other bag with her clothes and food. "Goodbye Hinata, Sakura and Ino. Thank you so much for the gift..." Tenten gave the girls a hug. "You don't need to walk me to the gate I have to stop and speak to my landlady. See you guys in a week."
"Bye!" Ino and Sakura said, and the two headed off to the Hospital to keep working. Hinata remained behind for a bit.
"Tenten, please be careful," Hinata said finally. "And please keep an eye on Neji-niisan. And if he places trust in you, please don't break it," Hinata added.
"I wouldn't think of backing out him, ever. Of course I'll keep an eye on him, and of course I'll be careful. I'll see you later." Tenten gave the smaller girl a hug. Tenten sometimes felt that she'd want Hinata as a younger sister, if she could have one.
Ultimately it was just Tenten left in her small apartment. "Goodbye," she spoke softly, speaking to the empty house. Her mother was dead from way before she could even remember, and her father when she was barely six. On her way out she spoke to the landlady about leaving for a mission. Tenten was glad that she had a kind landlady. Tooru, the landlady's husband had been a shinobi so she knew all about the difficulties. Tooru promised she'd look after her apartment while she was away. Tenten smiled and then left, arriving in good time at the gate, only to find Neji waiting there already.
Tenten observed the changes that her partner had made, he wore much the same outfit only tidier, and without the bandages and kunai pouch. His forehead protector gone, replaced instead with bandages. "How long have you been waiting?" Tenten asked frowning, she was already twenty minutes early.
"Hn. Not too long I suppose," Neji answered, lugging his pack over his shoulder. "You look different."
"That wasn't really an answer you know! And don't avoid the question," Tenten huffs, annoyed. Still once they're out the gates she ceases complaining. They fall into their pattern, she's walking a couple steps behind him, trusting him to keep an eye on almost everything. And he trusts her to watch their backs. He'll set the pace and she'll decide when they need a break. It's from habit as much as teamwork. They've been teammates for eight years, and known each other for almost sixteen now. They're used to each other and used to cooperating.
They'd been walking for the better part of the day, with only a quick break for supper, when Neji decided it was late enough to set up camp. "I'll get firewood if you set up camp," he offered.
"Sure. Why not?" Tenten agreed, smiling widely. She laid out their sleeping bags and began to work on the fire pit. She built it in a hole in the ground to prevent others from seeing their position and lined the rim with small rocks. Without anything else to do she sat down to wait for Neji to come back, but realised suddenly he might take a while. Then she curled up inside her sleeping bag to keep warm because already the sun was fading, taking with it the warmth of the day.
She jerked up when she heard Neji come back to the camp, "Welcome back."
Neji nodded in response to her greeting and knelt to light the fire. Once it burned merrily, Tenten filled a pot with water from the creek they'd passed a while ago. "Would you like some tea, Neji?"
"Yes please," Neji answered, filling two mugs with tea leaves as Tenten put the pot over the flames.
"What are we going to do after we get the scroll?" Tenten asked, while they waited for the water to boil. The night was closing in around them and there was only them now.
"We'll go and stay in an inn about three days from the Sato Family House. It would lead them away from Konoha," Neji spoke quietly to keep them from being overheard.
"Do you even have enough money for both of us?" Tenten asked, she barely made enough income to feed herself and keep her house. She couldn't afford a vacation.
Neji held up a pouch, "Paid for by the Hokage."
Tenten yawned widely, the tea had made her tired. Still mindful of her mission she asked, "Are we going to keep watch tonight?"
"No, we should be okay, but we'll set up traps," Neji answered, looking skyward.
After the two of them set up traps of various sorts, Tenten decided it was time to sleep. "Well I'm going to get ready for bed then, don't peek!" Tenten teased the Byakugan user. She doubted he'd ever thought of spying on girls, let alone her.
When she came back she noticed that Neji was sitting atop his sleeping bag, meditating. She wondered if he was cold, because she certainly was. She slipped quietly into her sleeping bag, trying not to disturb him. "Goodnight," she whispered.
Tenten was asleep within moments, her stoic partner still meditating. Somewhere between a dream and wakefulness, Tenten felt lips press against her forehead. Still asleep however she let out a sigh of contentment and curled up even further into a ball.