Writing this was a bitch. 90% headcanon of course. Also before anyone asks, this was written before any information on Metal's mother (or lack there of in this case) came out. I know it's not canon, that's the point.
Most of this was already written but I held back on posting it because I kind of planned on making the ending to a larger fic? With it's own set of crack ships because I cannot fucking help myself. Then it never came to fruition, also I ended up basically rewriting the entire thing. I had to rewrite it like THREE TIMES before I got a version I liked. This moves a little fast for my taste, but yea, you make what you can.
They found him during a trip to a little town that was supposed to be selling rare weapons. Tenten had found the visit to be unfulfilling, but she and Lee decided to make the best of it regardless. Really it just meant staying the night and walking back to Konoha, but only on the scenic route; Lee had called it. Which meant going off trail and exploring, but she didn't mind it much.
Until she could began to notice the thin haze in the air, coupled with a muggy, humid like atmosphere the slight smell of smoke. It just enough to make her wonder if a fire was nearby, or on it's way. Lee was the one who ran ahead, insisting that if there was a fire they should at least check if it was still ongoing.
Stumbling after him, the two of them found a large clearing, in the middle sat a single black house, charred in the ashes of a fire. As they walked onto the brunt property, Lee insisted on looking around for anyone who could possibly still be alive. He took to investigate one half of the house, near what used to the front while she investigate the back.
From what she could tell, the roof had collapsed in on itself and whatever was left sagged heavily above her. One of the supports had fallen and part of it was now a pile wood ash. Taking out one of her metal rods (maybe it wasn't the best choice with burnt houses, but she was no fire expert) she began poking and moving around the ashes and debris. She could only find rusty metal objects that were likely kunai at one point, discarded bowls, pots, and whatever over trash found its way inside.
Frowning, she searched around the house more. Layers and layers of dirt and dust covered what was left of the wood flooring, especially near the back entrance. There looked to be claw marks from whatever animals ran through here. She found what looked like a washroom, with a wooden tub and a partially melted shower head. A large portion of the roof had collapsed here, and it looked like it had landed on something. Tenten once again began investigating with her rod, hitting the side of the roof a few times, expecting it to crumble or move.
Instead, something fell out. She gasped, backing away from the sight. An arm, bent at the wrong angle, was hanging down from some unknown compartment. The arm itself was not only covered in third degree burns, but it looked liked it had been slashed open. Dried blood was caked on it's side. Judging from the size, it seemed to be a woman's hand.
Pursing her lips, she stuck the rod under the rubble, and heaved. The roof (or, what was left of it) lifted up, and now she saw an even worse scene. There was only one body, burned, crushed and mummified beyond recognition. She looks away, taking away the rod and letting the roof cover the makeshift grave. She continues searching, despite the sight giving her chills.
The rest of her search didn't yield any more bodies, outside of a cat carcass. The area surrounding the house seemed mostly unharmed, as the fire only got to the inside. Tenten was no fire expert, but it was likely to her that there was only a fire on the ground floor and it had eaten away at the support beams, causing it to collapse and burn up.
"Tenten!" Lee called, breaking the silence and making her jump. "I think I found something!"
She turns to see Lee wave to her from the side of the house, beckoning her. As she draws closer, she realizes he's holding something against his chest. Something wrapped in white, and small. As she closes in, all she can do is stare. In Lee's arms, there was a sleeping baby, breathing softly.
"What the—Where did you get that?" She asks, genuinely confused. "How long has he been out here?"
"I have no idea, but I found him under some wood not too far away. I am not sure how he got there. He didn't look upset when I picked him up." Lee explains. He tries to show her, but the blanket he's wrapped in is makes it difficult for her to get a good look. Tenten moves to stand closer to him, squinting as she looked the baby over. He looked so calm, like he belonged there.
"Here, let me see him." Tenten says. Lee hands him off, and the boy opens his eyes, looking up at her. He coos softly, and as Tenten moves the blanket away, his arms reach up too try and reach her. He couldn't be older than fourth months at least, if she remembered what she read. She tries to remember if there was any procedure for checking a baby's breathing, since he was in the vicinity of a fire for who knows how long. She tries to move her ear down to his face, but his hands reach up to grab one of her hair buns. Laughing, Lee takes him back.
"He seems to like you too." Lee jokes.
"My question is, what's a baby doing all the way out here?" she asks. "He couldn't have come from the fire, right? If your house is on fire, wouldn't make more sense to just run away with your baby?"
"I think it all depends on what the parents wanted to do." Lee says. "But I'm not sure this was even his home. Something about it seems… old."
"Old? What do you mean?"
"I mean that it was abandoned, and perhaps burned down recently." He says. "Perhaps multiple times, since the building looks so damaged."
She opens her mouth to argue otherwise, but quickly closes it, thinking it over. The house did look outdated, with the way it sagged under its own weight, the layers of dirt and dust, then the claw marks on the wood like animals had been walking in. The woman back there didn't look like a fresh corpse.
"If that's the case, then why was he there?" she asks, pointing to the boy. "Do you think someone just left him here?" She had heard that people would leave thier unwanted newborns out by abandoned places, where they were less likely to be noticed. But if that were the case, couldn't they have left him somewhere safer?
"I believe so." Lee says, looking down at the boy with a sad look in his eyes. "We can not leave him out here, I think we should take him back into town."
"Well, Lee, if someone left him out here, then they clearly had no other options." She points out. "Besides, what are we supposed to do?"
"There is an orphanage in Konoha." He says. "Kabuto recently opened one just outside."
"Right…" Tenten draws out in a slow, skeptic tone. "Are you sure you would trust him around a bunch of kids?"
"Well, Sakura volunteers there." he says with a sense of pride. "I think igt would be the safest place for him to grow up!"
"For such a good orphanage, their service really sucks." Tenten mutters. There was no one at the reception desk, only a sign next to a bell that said "please ring for service."
She could only assume there was no one around because of how new this place was. It had all the tell-tale signs of a new building; clean, well structured, eerily quiet. She thought she heard kids running around nearby, but saw no one.
Frustrated, she rang the bell again, rapidly this time. "Hello?" She called. As her voice echoed down the hallway, she gives out a sigh of frustration. She turns to Lee, who had sat down.
"Lee, c'mon, let's look around."
"But..it says to wait." he says, pointing to the sign.
"Yes, and we have a baby. Let's go." She says, standing him and taking him by the arm. Lee doesn't protest, instead deciding to trust Tenten and follows her down the hallway.
As Tenten leads him down, she hears voices, and takes a sharp turn to follow them. Eventually, she does find what she's looking for: A window showing a courtyard of some children playing, luckily with one adult supervising. Tenten smiles, crossing her arms with a sense of pride.
"See? I knew what I was looking for." She boasts. However, after a good minute passes without the adult noticing, her proud smile quickly fades. "I guess we'll just have to do the polite thing and wait."
"It looks like a good place to grow up." He says. "I would have wanted to grow up in one of these."
"No, I don't think you would've." Tenten remarks. "It's not… great. At least, my experience wasn't."
"But you were able to grow up around others." he says. "Wasn't that fun?"
"Well, I never reunited with anyone after I left." she looks away, trying not to left herself dwell on it for too long. The longer she spent thinking about the more sad she gets, and this wasn't the right place for that. "I guess this place is better, but.. I don't know. Something about leaving him alone in an orphanage, it feels strange."
There was a moment of silence between them, as Tenten watched the kids play in the courtyard. Geez, was she really going to be upset at a time like this? She wondered if Lee was feeling the same things, since his parents had abandoned him. She wondered if that was why he bonded with him so quickly.
"What if we took him in?" Lee says, breaking the silence. Tenten looks up at him.
"Taking care of a baby? Us?" She asks, surprised. "You don't really think I would make a good parent, would you?"
"Of course you can!" Lee says excitedly. "You would make a great mother Tenten."
Tenten tries to continue the argument,but as she looked into his hopeful eyes, she found she couldn't find the arguments to refuse. Her eyes trail down to the baby again, and this time she feels something well up in her chest at the thought of lsing that boy. Looking back up to Lee, she smiles.
"Okay." She says, taking Lee by the arm to lead him down out of the hallway. "We… can try."
"But what aout a name?" Lee asks as they made their way out. "That should be the first thing we do."
"Hmm." Tenten hums, "What about Metal?"
"Metal?"
"Yeah! Because you're Rock Lee, and he has a ninja tool specialist for a mom." She explains. "Our son, Metal lee."