Misplaced Sympathy
October 2011: Holy crap. I just re-read this and wow..Now while I really like all you folks giving me kind reviews and all, some critique on my style and structure or characterization wouldn't kill me, yah know?
So I did some revisions, so check em out. I mainly changed the dialog between Tenten and Naruto. The original didn't seem very..Naruto-ish or natural...and took out Naruto's knowledge of the Tsukuyomi. He thinks its just a very powerful and demented Genjutsu..which it technically is...
SeikoTuner: Wassup. I'm taking another crack at another fic. It can't possibly hurt after all. You can set this time line somewhere in between Naruto's return to the village after his training trip with Jiraiya and before he sets off again to the land of Sand. Major Spoilers beware!
Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
For what seemed to be the one hundredth time, someone had given her a grim nod and a hand to the shoulder. She responded with a glare. As she walked away, said person muttered, "Poor girl.."
Suck a dick, prick!
For nearly a whole week, people had been giving her hugs she didn't want, solemn glances she could go without, or some stupid 'You'll be okay.' line of thought. What in the hell made everyone thought Neji and her were meant to be? Or that she even wanted him? So they were on the same Team for half a decade. So she had helped him practice or spar outside of Team meetings. AND so WHAT if she had admired him a TINY bit for the first couple of years when Team Gai had first been formed?
So apparently, she MUST have an enormous crush on Neji freaking Hyuuga, mister I-can't-say-I-and-Love in the same fudging sentence. So when Neji finally does pull a 'Naruto' and somehow enters a relationship with some girl within his clan, she MUST be devastated!
As freaking if. She groaned of the memory of Lee trying to.. console her.
Tenten had been minding her own business in her favorite tea house when Lee bumbled in with his usual face of ridiculous seriousness.
"Tenten, I'm sure you've.. heard the news." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She wondered why people like to do that.
"News? What news? Something happened?"
He put a big show of sighing and pulled up a seat next to her.
"Neji.. He seems to have found someone.."
"Found someone? You don't mean.."
Lee suddenly cried out.
"You figured it out so fast! Oh Tenten, if there is anything I could do for you, just say it and I'll be on it like the skin that covers my body!"
"What? Figured ..What are you talking about. I thought maybe Neji got his father's body back or something.."
Tears seem to threaten to fall from the tall, tanned, and bowl cut one.
"Neji.. has a girlfriend."
Relief flooded through her. She had thought something horrible had happened. Melodramatic little ass..
"You moron. I knew that already. Neji told me yesterday." Lee quickly grabbed her in an awkward embrace.
"Oh, Tenten, dearest teammate.. you must be strong!"
"Idiot! I knew already!" Her words didn't seem to register. She stopped her fruitless effort of trying to pull free from Lee's bulk.
"It's okay to be angry! If you must, take your anger out on me. You mustn't blame Neji for moving on when you showed no intention of making a move for so long.."
She gave up. Lee went on and on and she paid no mind to him. And so started the annoying week of unwanted condolences. What started to really annoy her was the fact that when she was humiliatingly defeated in her first Chunin exam, no one had said a word. She had come to ten minutes later with an aching back and a defeated soul. Years later something this small happens and now people give her attention. Nor did they want to listen to her shouts of denial. After learning all this, she opted to merely flick anyone off that tried to 'console' her.
Finally at an area where there weren't anyone who could possibly recognize her, Tenten breathed a sigh of relief. Just then she spotted a couple across the street animatedly talking about something. They both turned to look at her and then shook their heads slowly.
"Oh. My. Kami. You've got to be kidding me!" She stormed into a store idly noting it was a set of curtains she was pushing aside.
And the store stopped three feet from the entrance.
"Yeeeow!" Smashing your knee while storming off hurts. It doesn't really matter how tough or strong you've become over the years, its not as if you train by ramming your knee into boulders. Letting a few more curse words fly out of her mouth, she sat down on a stool and continued to rub her knee.
"Son of a bitch!" There was a gasp to the side of her and she turned to see who she was about to chew out.
It was Naruto. She took a look around and just as she had assumed, she stumbled into Ichiraku. But as to why he seemed to be in the process of shielding his bowl of ramen from her she found distinctly amusing.
"What?" she snapped.
"What do you mean what? You don't just curse someone's mom in front of ramen! You'll spoil its mood and it'll taste bad!"
Tenten had to give it to him. He looked very sincere.
"There are plenty of other words out there to sound your discomfort. Watch me!"
He stood up and banged his knee (it looked like he over did it) into the metal foundation of the stool.
"Fucken piece of shit! Mother of a crack-whore."
Tenten couldn't help but smile for the first time that whole week as he continued to curse. After he had finally calmed down she smirked his way.
"So.. plenty of other words out there to sound my discomfort, eh?"
He scowled.
"I always thought you were the nice one. You're pretty mean."
Out of all the things that had happened that week this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Tenten rushed forward and was nose to nose with him.
"And what if I am?" Her tone was as sharp as a steel blade, or she hoped it was.
He sniffed, clearly not at all intimidated.
"Well.. at least you have to decency to be a big ol' meanie and smell really.. and I mean really nice."
He sniffed again.
Not at all expecting that she sat back down and watched him eat.
"Now why the hell we don't hang around more often?" Gesturing to and forth from her and Naruto theatrically. Sighing, she picked up a menu and started reading.
"I dunno.." he replied in between slurps.
"You have the mannerisms of a four year old."
"Hey! I resent that! And you haven't seen four year olds eat. They have snot coming out of their noses.. gets into their food..and they still eat it!"
"Oh stop exaggerating. I've watched Neji's cousins eat. They eat their food like its gold or something."
Naruto looked at her strangely but started eating again.
"Have you seen Neji's girlfriend? She's uber-hawt."
Seeing her questioning stare he tried to elaborate.
"Okay.. Think Hinata, but much more confident and is really funny. And..uber-hawt. I mean..Hinata is homely cute and all, but her?"
Tenten groaned.
"People have been badgering me all week about her and I haven't even met her."
"Eh? Like wondering if you were okay about it or something? I just assumed you got over it..I remember a couple of times you just.. really wouldn't shut up about him."
"Pork-miso please? Thank you! Seriously?" Tenten squinted at him.
Naruto nodded vigorously.
"You really wouldn't shut up about him." Naruto squeaked his voice in a pathetic attempt to copy her voice. "Neji's a so strong because he's a genius.. Neji learned main branch technique even though he was never taught it.. blah blah blah. I swear you thought the sun shined out of his ass."
She growled.
"I don't remember doing that.."
Between when they first met and now, Naruto had somehow just finished his third helping.
"Well it doesn't really matter now then, does it? You don't like him now do you?"
Tenten thought long and hard to herself. Did she at one time harbor a crush on Neji?
Yes.
Did she still?
"No.." She smiled as if all the anger and sorrow seem to just flow right out of her. "I ..really don't feel that way about him anymore."
Naruto grinned at her.
"If you don't like him, then whats there to care about?"
"Hmm.. I don't know. Annoying ignorant people I guess.."
The pair continued eating. And talking. Enough talking that Naruto was forced to eat at relative humane speeds. Somewhere along the line of trading training tips, the duo was seated right next to each other.
Am I actually flirting with him?
Tenten was only barely paying attention to what Naruto was saying but more to what she was actually doing. Naruto made a reference to Neji's slightly obtuse behavior to Lee's outlandish antics and somehow comparing it an ant and a monkey trying to mate.
She laughed out loud and slapped his thigh calling him dirty minded.
Yup. I'm actually flirting with him... So?
"Feh. And what about your teammates? Bubble gum headed Sakura and that..."
Tenten quieted herself. This was a sore topic with Sakura. Ino had warned everyone to never talk bad about Sasuke and should just never mention his name period. None of the guys had told her anything about Naruto..Then again.. the likely hood of her spending time with Naruto was rather far fetched a while ago yet here they were...
Naruto took it in stride.
"Don't worry.. I'm not Sakura.." Naruto exhaled heavily.
Tenten put her hand atop of his.
"Sorry though..."
Naruto removed his hand to wave her off.
"No. Don't worry about it. Here I am making fun of two great guys who you've known for like what.. Over five years.. I haven't even seen the ..traitor.. in a while."
Never did she think the word 'vulnerable' would describe Naruto. Ever. He's loud, hyper, obnoxious, but vulnerable? Naruto began to pick at his ramen.
Tenten decided to be a bit bold.
"You could.. talk about what happened.. if you wanted to."
He looked up at her confused.
"Like.. Why?" She finished rather lamely.
Naruto chuckled. Darkly.
"You've got to be the first person to ask me that."
"Do I get a prize?" Tenten stole a meatball from his soup. A bit of a pathetic attempt to curb more humor out of him.
"If you asked me why two years ago.. I wouldn't know what to tell you. I wanted to know why. Everything seemed to be great. Our Team had survived an attack by two villages, all three of us was getting better.. but that bugged him."
"He was jealous at your progress?"
Her not so small hatred of Sasuke rose after hearing this. She was already disgusted with Sasuke. Betraying his team, thus forcing Tsunade's hand at sending the hastily assembled team which included Neji with Lee wanting to help his friend..
A deep sense of sorrow and anger had filled her when she saw the state Neji was in. It was a miracle he had survived for the medics to retrieve him when they did. It had tore her heart that Lee had almost yet again destroyed his chances of becoming a successful ninja. All for a traitor.
"Yeah.. I thought it was just soo.. stupid and childish at the time.. but now that I understand.. I'd be glad to let him boss me around and act like his inferior...I somehow doubt that would have helped either way.."
Picking up that he was loosing her with all the missing facts, he decided now was a good time as ever to share what he had learned from Sasuke's files from the three people who had tried to help Sasuke cope after Itachi's madness.
"Does the name Itachi mean anything to you?"
"Yes... He ...killed ..everyone in the clan.. except for Sasuke?"
Naruto nodded.
"Itachi and Sasuke are siblings. And no, Itachi did not leave Sasuke behind merely to have him cause all sorts of ruckus even if he eventually did, he was left alive because Itachi decided that Sasuke wasn't worthy of his time. Or ..that's how Sasuke saw it. Those two are really the only people who knows.."
"How do you know that?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Well its not like files on a missing nin is that hard to find. Hello? Tsunade-sama frigging wuvs my cute blonde self. And oddly enough, Ibiki does to. Hell he was a part of Sasuke's evalutation."
Tenten grumbled something along the lines of her childhood heroes consorting with blond goofballs.
"Isn't that a bit extreme for just a kid at six?"
"Morino isn't stupid. He's good at what he does. He was just there to make sure Sasuke wasn't lying or under any sort of hypnosis. The other two was a psychiatrist and a normal Academy counselor."
The two didn't notice the owner and his daughter were paying rapt attention to what Naruto was saying. They were stuck in a ramen stand all day, information like this was like watching a soap opera.
"Little six year old Sasuke practically adored his older brother..."
"So when he finds out that Itachi was a murdering psychopath.."
"Not just that. He witnessed him slaughtering their mom and dad. It completely and utterly destroyed him. Added to that, Sasuke kept getting nightmares of what happened. They figured it was just normal trauma.. But I know what really happened."
Tenten looked confused.
"What really happened? Sasuke supposedly saw his parents murdered by the person he admired. Good heavens.. it was his own brother. Nightmares should have been the least of their worries."
"Exactly. Kakashi-sensei told me he had a run in with Itachi. Sensei only looked the bastard in the eyes and was put in some crazy genjutsu where three days passed in seconds."
With how many people had hated the Uchiha for their abilities.. for Tenten to hear that it had abilities even further horrified her beyond belief. Then a flash of revelation hit her.
"And..Itachi used this on Sasuke?"
Naruto gave a solemn nod.
"Not just once, but twice. We had a run in before Sasuke defected..All I know is that one moment Itachi is holding Sasuke by his collar, and the next.. he's screaming bloody murder."
"But how does all this tie in to him leaving the village?"
"Sasuke obviously wants to gut the guy. He's even told us that he sees himself as an avenger. For ..his clan.. and family. So he wants to become strong. Really strong. During the first Chunin exams, Sasuke had some harsh reality checks on how weak he really is. Hell, I did too. When Kakashi learned that Sasuke was going to fight Gaara in the finals, he took Sasuke away to prepare him. Sasuke initially thought Kakashi had finally understood him and was giving him one on one training for him to defeat Itachi."
"So when he learned that Kakashi only did that for him to survive Gaara.. it was another bruise to his ego?"
"Exactly."
Tenten gave a slight pause and started concluding.
"So even after the month of preparation with Kakashi, whom I personally think is hawt and badass at the same time, he still can't kill Gaara and then you show up and..so it was just his rage and jealousy gradually building up to a point where he just looses it and figures Konoha can't help him."
"Ditto."
"But how does the Sound Village connect to all this?"
Naruto grinned a little."Jeez. You're quick."
Tenten merely smirked.
"We were all told that the Sound Village's Otokage was the one behind all of the attacks as well as tricking the Sand. What we weren't told was that the Otokage is Orochimaru."
Tenten's eyes widened.
"No way? The one Sannin that betrayed us.."
Naruto had a brief look of hatred before it went away.
"He's the one who killed Sarutobi-sama."
Deciding to leave out the whole body stealing plot out, Naruto continued.
"Orochimaru gave our team a little visit in the Forest of Death. He was trying to recruit Sasuke to join his village. Peppering him with promises of power and all that garbage."
"So that's where he is.."
There was the ominous deafening silence that followed.
For Naruto, having just realized he revealed very private information that he hasn't spoken to with anyone. Not Jiraiya, not Iruka, not Sakura.. anyone. But had anyone asked? Who the hell could he have talk to about this stuff? Jiraiya kept saying move on and forget about Sasuke, Iruka was busy, and Sakura..well the less said the better.
Tenten figured with the way Naruto hadn't spoken in over ten minutes, or the way he looked so pensive, he hadn't had this discussion with anyone. From the course of their talking, she had figured that despite all the pain Sasuke caused, Naruto still cared for the little bastard. To a point. The next few words were crucial if they were to continue to get along and grow to be friends.
"Sasuke is still an asshole."
For the first time in her life, she 'eeped'.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Think of this as just a teaser to take your mind off of Blondie (if you're even reading that). This is going to be a short fanfic, possibly 3 – 5 chapters long. Maybe even less. Its me working on my romance/friendship/interacting writing skills. I hope yall enjoyed this!