"Is a name what makes a person?"
Tenten sighed as she walked home that night, shedding off her bulky, heaving white shirt and just leaving herself in a black, half-tank top she dawned underneath it. Today had been, by far, one of the worst ones of her life. None of her teammates were around, they were all busy that day, And as for everyone else? They didn't have time either, can you believe that? And on today of all days, the day she wanted to forget everything and just do something that she would have to completely focus on. Today is the very day of the anniversary of her parents' death, during the Kyuubi attack on the village, sixteen years ago. This day also being known as a certain Uzumaki's birthday, but she didn't burden that as such. She knew it wasn't Naruto's fault, and she didn't view it as that at all. She was only a year old, and now the only thing she had left of them was three pictures. One taken of her, herself, and her father on the day she was born, a picture of her with her mother when she was about four months old, and then another with her father when she was about ten months old.
Like earlier said, she was completely willing to have done anything that day just to focus on something else. Things like training with Gai and Lee despite how excruciating it is to do so. Or watch Hinata faint around Naruto for the way the tan-skin teen acts, or Sakura beat up the same said blond, or watch Ino fight with the same pinkette, or a certain lazy Nara male. But, to be honest, what she wanted most was to train with her long haired, male, pale lilac-eyed teammate Neji Hyuga. When she trained with Neji, everything else left her mind. When they were in that field, it was like it was their own world. No worries of what was going on around them entered here at all; the only things there were the training, sweat, and hard work that they each put forward every day. But, that hadn't happened because everyone had been setting up a surprise birthday party for Naruto, and that was bound to happen in the next hour, at 4 o'clock or rather known as 16 hundred hours, and it would be completely dark by then due to daylight savings. Tsunade had though it would be funny for the Uzumaki teen's sixteenth birthday party to happen on the sixteenth hour.
And, if this party had been on any other day, she would think it so. But not today; she would never really think anything funny on today. Yes, she would fake happiness, and laughter, if she had run into anyone, but none would be real. This was the first one they've been able to celebrate at all of Naruto's birthday since this is his first time back in the village for it since coming home from training.
Tenten had gotten out of the party by telling the holders of it, that being Sai, Yamato, Kakashi, and Sakura, that she was sick and wasn't going to go anywhere that day when they had all stopped by to collect her first out of the others to start preparing for the party. She had, obviously, lied. The bun-haired girl had snuck out, going to the training grounds to try and train on her own. She gave up rather shortly after arriving, and ended up sleeping until now. So, when she awoke, she simply snuck back home. All she had to do was take hair down, take off her headband, and remove her weapons gloves. Not a single person showed recognition of her appearance, or even glanced at her like she was ninja; Tenten was pretty damn sure, to all of them, that she just looked like some depressed, sadly emotional teenage girl like any average citizen.
The brunette girl walked into her bathroom of her small apartment; her home wasn't much, just big enough for one to live in. She entered into her washing facility, shutting and locking the door behind herself just for good measure. It wasn't long until she stripped down, and stepped into the almost-to-hot shower flowing water, but hadn't even noticed she'd done this until the water hit her skin; before it did, it was like she was in a daze. Suddenly, a small thought crossed her mind, and she chuckled dryly at it. No one knew her last name, they all thinking she truly didn't have one, but she did. It's Haryana-Badeshi; her full name is Tenten Haryana-Badeshi, of the almost destroyed Haryana and Badeshi clans. The reason she never let anyone know her name, and why she didn't even let others know she had one? Why she lied and claimed she was orphaned in Konoha at the age of five by her mother, and she didn't remember her parents at all besides that? The reason is because seeing her last name next to her first hurt too much.
Tenten was a citizen of Konoha, but her parent's hadn't been, they had emigrated from Earth Country. Her family's clans, both her mother's and father's, had almost been demolished. They had been caught taking harvested metals of the Earth Country lands and smuggling them to Konoha because they believe in the fire country cause more than their own homeland. Tenten's father, Hitoshi Haryana, and her mother, Sakami Badeshi, had only been recently married, were the only members of each clan to make it out alive, and her mother had barely been four months along with her when all this occurred. But, all that is gone now, everything for her just seems so far gone. Everything in her life matters, but then doesn't at all. All the good in her life doesn't change the fact she's been living on her own since she started at the academy, the orphanage not wanting a ninja in training running through the place all scot free with weapons someday. All the good doesn't change the fact she's been coming home to a small, empty apartment for nine years, she having been struggling to keep up with rent and buying food for herself, and also pay bills, ever since she turned fourteen because that's when Konoha stopped giving a certain amount of money to orphans each month because they believe them old enough to sustain themselves.
Most of all, it doesn't change the fact she alone is the last of her clan. And what makes her feel even worse about this whole thing? She doesn't even use her last name. The very last known, and pretty much only possible living member of the two most former strongest clans of Earth Country, and she doesn't even use her last name because it hurts! I'm a shame to my last names, that's what I am! Tenten screamed in her mind, slamming her fists hard against the wall of her shower as she began to shake lightly. Both halves of her family were looked upon as heroes throughout all of Fire Country; if it hadn't been for her father's Haryana clan, and then her mother's Badeshi clan, The Land of Fire would have been destroyed—even though they had the help of Water country— by the Earth and Wind countries. She'd be looked at as the last survivor, almost royalty in a way; her name would be known everywhere! People wouldn't see just and average kunochi, or an average teen girl. No, they would all see the last hope of the clan that had all members but herself now pay the debt that all must pay one day, because they had believed in this land. This land where all honest of the world's most honest, true hope first burned.
But, Tenten just couldn't do it. Despite the fact it hurt to see her last name, she didn't want to be known for it. She wanted to be known for who she is, for what she can do for this world, before the world knows her true identity. Why do my hands hurt? The brunette kunochi suddenly thought, blinking as she emerged from her thoughts. She glanced at her clenched fists against the wall, and gasped; She had hit them hard enough to make the bleed from the impact, but she could tell right away if had only been that much, and not enough to break anything. The brown-eyed girl turned off the trickling shower water, she then getting out and wrapping a towel firmly around herself before setting off from the bathroom, once unlocking the door, and heading off to her bedroom. Once in there, she once again locked the door behind herself for good measure. She dropped the towel, now completely bare skinned in her room but didn't mind. She had only one window, and that was blocked with lowered blinds and a dark maroon colored curtain at the moment, so it's not like anyone could see inside, or at her.
The seventeen year old female pulled open the top drawer of her dresser, she rummaging through the junk in there before pulling out a small, chakra infused, healing creaming. Her cuts she just received on her hands would heal in about an hour's time with this stuff on since the wounds where so minor, but they would still need to be wrapped. And, wrapping the knuckles of her hands is exactly what she did as soon as she had applied the cream. After spending about ten minutes total within the bedroom, the girl emerged. She was wearing simple clothing that consisted of a plan black tank top, and then some navy blue sleeping pants. They were nothing fancy; just simple things to lounge around the house, to sleep in, or to clean in. On the way to her tiny living room, she stopped at her hall closet. She opened the door, walked inside, and a cloud of dust exploded from the small storage space before a now coughing, slightly dusty and still wet-hair-let-down brunette holding a small box, emerged from the closet.
Tenten had lied to herself earlier in her thoughts when she had said all she had left of her parents where those three pictures, because she also had a brown, stuffed, fuzzy teddy bear that, even after all these years, never stopped being soft. She sat down on her sofa, she placing herself cross legged and setting the container down next to herself on the puffy, purple loveseat. She opened the lid, the bear resting on top, and the pictures underneath it; each and every picture in its own separate frame. The brunette held the bear in and almost cradle-pose in her lap, she caressing its fur gently with her thumbs. But, it wasn't until she saw warm drop of water that had leaked from her eyes hit the fur of the bear, that she finally hugged it snuggly, but gently, to her; the girl then burying her face gingerly into the soft material of the old, stuffed toy within the same second.
After what seemed she sat there an eternity, but was only really just a few minutes, the girl jumped. She nearly falling off the couch as her depression filled silence was killed by the sudden knocking at the door. "Just a minute, please!" Tenten called, she quickly, but still carefully, placing her bear toy into the box over the pictures and closing the lid on the cardboard holder, before she then hurriedly placing it under the coffee table in front of the sofa. The girl hoped to her feet, she rubbed at her eyes and cheeks with the heels of her hands as she headed towards the door; her face was wet with tears, so her eyes where likely a bit puffy and blood-shot already. That didn't matter, though. She could easily blame the watered, puffy, red eyes on throwing up. The girl was supposed to be home sick with a flu bug, after all.
She unlocked the door, and froze for a millisecond once she saw who it was. It was, of course, Neji. The person she had wanted to have around her so desperately earlier, and now she just wished he would disappear like the stars do when the sun rises. But, she kept calm; she was a kunochi, after all. She knows how to keep composer, even around some of her technically closest people. So, Tenten put on a small and sickly looking smile, adding a slight scruffy tone to her voice as she said a simple, "Hey, Neji."
"Hello, Tenten." The pale-eyed male replied in his monotone voice, that being a usual sort of reply for him. Tenten didn't even bother to ask the next question, she just simply stepped aside to make room for Neji to cross the threshold of the door. He wouldn't be at her house if he didn't want to come in, no matter how brief the time spent within her small apartment might be. The boy did step over, flipping on the light as he did; Tenten only then just noticing the only light she had before he came was that of the light she had left on in the bathroom that loomed down the hall. "Are you alright?" The Hyuga male asked, and that cause shock to come to the girl. That question was a new one, even for the boy, but then Tenten remembered how her face probably looked at the moment. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I just threw up a little a few minutes ago. I guess the after effects just aren't completely gone yet." She replied simply, her tone believable and sincere, hopefully, to anyone who heard it.
Neji looked disbelieving, but a few moments later gave a brief nod before speaking out a simple, "I see." Tenten gave another small, slightly sickle smile at that; it all part of her current little act. "Are you thirsty? I was just about to make some tea, do you maybe want some?" She questioned of her male teammate simply, and he nodded a short yes gesture. "Alright, make yourself comfortable then, I'll go grab the tea." And with that, Tenten left the room. Neji glanced around the living room, and then after removing his shoes he walked over to the sofa before then placing himself down onto it. A moment later, Tenten calling a question from the kitchen, "So why are you here, anyways? I thought you're supposed to be at Naruto's party." She had been wondering why he was there, especially with that going on. "I will be; it's only another half hour until the party, so I have twenty minutes until I have to be there." The reply had made the brunette in the kitchen blink in shock, had all she done with the shower, and wrapping her wounds, and the box only taken a little under half an hour?
Neji sat in the living room, glancing around the living room a little as he listened to the faint rustles and clicks of Tenten moving about the kitchen while preparing tea. It honestly had been a while since he'd been here; the last time being a before Gaara had been kidnapped from Suna a little under a year ago. Suddenly though, however, the Hyuga male blinked, something that seemed out of place falling into the line of vision of his pale. It was a cardboard box, the box a faded navy blue, quite a bit dusty, and a bit old looking. This teen male wasn't usually one to look into things that didn't concern him, or wasn't his own, at all. But, the box just seems so out of place… I wonder what's inside. The long-haired shinobi leaned over slightly within his seat on the sofa, he gripping the box with his hand and bringing it up. He rested the container in his lap a moment, he placing it on the sofa next to him after a few seconds more, and slowly cracking the lid open.
The Hyuga didn't want to pry completely, so he only cracked the lid open enough to slip his hand inside. He felt around, feeling some medium objects that felt bumpy in spots, and then smooth in most. Might be picture frames. He noted in his thoughts, and then he turned his attention to the largest object in the box. The texture of this object shocked him a bit more than that of a mild measuring scale; why would something that seems fuzzy be in a box like this. The pale lilac-eyed male cupped the object in his hand, pulling it out then. If what the texture of this object had done on his mild shock scale, this identity of this object sent it far over the end of the scale. It's just a stuffed teddy bear? What the hell? Who would hold a child's toy in a box to collect dirt? And on another note, why would the brunette girl have that in the first place? The teammate he's grown to know the personality about through the years, she didn't seem the type to store and old toy.
Tenten entered back into the living room, she having just placed the tea kettle on the stove. She didn't believe in that instant stuff thinks it tastes disgusting. But, as soon as her eyes accused on the room, she froze while gasping. She was seeing, almost instantly, Neji and what he now held in his hands. "Don't touch that!" The girl exclaimed, that actually causing the naturally calm stoic male to jump slightly as he snapped his attention over to her. The kunochi ran over, she snatching the bear out of his hands hugging it gently, bit snuggly, to her person, she also burying her face into the soft, gently fur on the top of the bear's head. "…You know, for someone who is apparently sick, you're voice sounded pretty clear just now after sounding so crackly only a few minutes ago…" The Hyuga male comment, and it caused the brown-haired girl to freeze lightly again.
Neji waited a good minute for an answer, but he quickly became annoyed so he walked around to the front of the girl, he speaking out in a demanding, and firm tone, "I'm going to ask you once, and only once; Why did you lie, and say you were too sick to go to Naruto's party, when you obviously aren't sick at all?" Tenten remained silent she not daring to look up at the boy. This silence, again, was a good long moment before anything happened. Soon, though, the female gently set the bear toy down on the sofa. After that, she opened the lid to the box, tossing that aside, and pulled out the pictures frames. "Those should be answer enough, I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out." Tenten muttered out to the male. Neji blinked, getting a slightly confused look from his kunochi teammate's words, and at the pictures shoved into his hand.
He stared at them, a look of recognitions slowly coming to his face, before questioning, "I know the two adults, they were in our books at the academy. And the baby in each picture is their daughter right?" Tenten nodded simply, she still not looking up at him. "How did you possibly get a picture of their child~" Neji had begun to question this, but cut himself off mid-inquiry as the logic of the situation clicked in his brain, and as he looked at the features of the baby girl in the photo. Dark chocolate eyes, deep burgundy-brown, soft locks of hair… The Hyuga boy would know those features anywhere; he's been training with the holder of them, practically every day of his life, for the past five years almost. "You're their child, their daughter?" Shocked was clearly identifiable on the male's usually stoic, composed face.
Tenten kept her stare on the ground, her body lightly starting to shake, before she muttered out, "Yeah, I'm their daughter. My full name is Tenten Haryana-Badeshi, so what of it?" She turned around, snapping her attention up to him then as she did. "Are you going to start treating me different? Fine! You going to think I assume I'm better than everyone else? That's fine! You know my name now, and know who I truly am, so go ahead! Hell, even go and tell everyone. I couldn't care less!" She exclaimed all of this, her eyes watering, she turning her head back down towards the ground. She didn't want him to see that she was about to cry, let alone cry in front of him. Neji listened to all the female said, he not trying to interrupt her. Once Tenten finished, and the Hyuga boy viewed the starting of someone who was going to cry, he did something that shocked both Tenten, and would also shock anyone else. Neji moved over to the girl, placed his hand with surprising gentle, but firm grips on her shoulders, turned her around, and then wrapped his arm around her in a warm, ginger embrace.
"Is that why you've kept your last name hidden so long, have lied all these years, just because you were afraid I, our senseis, and all of the people we know would treat you different?" Neji asked of the girl, but she was still getting over the shock of him hugging her like this, her eyes also beginning to water more. Without a response from her, the Hyuga male continued to speak, "Tsunade knows who you truly are, she is Hokage and has all your files, but she doesn't treat you different. Gai Sensei and Lee wouldn't treat you different, either; they'd just say you seem even more youthful then before, and then go on as if there was no difference at all." He had begun to stroke his fingers gently through her let down hair, still damp hair, and as a reaction from that, the brunette girl slowly began to wrap her arms around her male teammate as well to return the embrace he had one her.
"Granted, there are a lot of people you don't know that will treat you different, but everyone you know will just act the same as ever. And if they do treat you differently at first, it will go back to normal in a blink of an eye." The pale-eyed boy tightened his ginger hold on her enough to make it body snug then, that being because he had begun to her the soft sobs of tears that the Haryana-Badeshi girl had started to let escape herself, and also rom feeling her begin to shake from those exact same sobs.
"You've got to believe this, though. When I look at you, even now, all I see it Tenten. Not Tenten Haryana-Badeshi, not some child of hero's, not some girl who shouldn't be a kunochi because it could be the end of existence for the clans that saved the Land of Fire, I'll never see that. All I see is brown hair," He stroked his fingers through Tenten's hair in one long, gentle stroke, "Soft skin, surprisingly gentle despite how many rough weapons that have been used," The chestnut-haired teen slid his hand slowly to her upper back, down along her arm, and clasp her hand in his, "And then those beautiful, dark chocolate eyes of someone so determined to be there best, and to want to be seen for who she is." The Hyuga slid his hand slowly and gently back up his kunochi teammate's arm, he trailing his fingers gently up her neck, firmly but gingerly gripping her chin, and turning her face to look towards him. Watered, blood-shot eyes meet pale lilac, strong, but somehow still caring, eyes.
"That's what I'll always see, and just that. Because to me, you are, and always will be, just my Tenten; a strong kunochi, a proud person, a funny, cute girl, and the beautiful women that holds that all together." Neji's words were nothing but gentle as he said this to her, noting but truth behind their reason. Tenten looked up at him, tears still trailing down her face. They simply looked at one another's eyes, a long moment of comfortable silence between them. And then, suddenly, the girl went up on her tiptoes, closing her eyes and pressing her lips in a firm, but gentle, kiss. It was a moment's hesitation, it need for getting over mild shock, before Neji closed his own eyes. Returning the kiss the girl had begun. It was a long, tender, romantic moment of a kiss. Soft lips moved in sync, both of their faces tinted with the lightest of pink tints. But, like all things, the perfect moment in time had to end due to both needing air.
"Now, you're going to go to your bedroom," Neji placed his forehead against Tenten's, "Get dressed to go out," he paused, kissed her cheek, "Put on your headband just for the sake of it," he then kissed her other cheek, that brining more pink color to the girl's face just like the first had, "And then we're going to go to Naruto's party, and be ready to call out 'Surprise!' for when he gets there. We still have ten minutes before we have to be there, and wait for him." He finished speaking, he nuzzling his nose softly against the brunette girl's. Tenten nodded, giving a small smile. She moved her head, kissing his cheek softly before then weaving herself out of Neji's embrace, and then walked hurriedly off down the hall.
It wasn't long until Tenten returned, and she wasn't wearing anything special, just her usual, normal ninja wear. Her damp hair also back up into its usual buns. Neji looked over to her, and smirked his small gentle smirk. "See? There's nothing different, you're still just Tenten." The male said, moving over to her. "To make a small correction there; I'm still just your Tenten, Neji." The brunette girl corrected, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his waist with a smile, and the male couldn't help but to actually, for real, smile back at her. The two shared one more long, emotion filled, but tender kiss. And after that, they were off from the small apartment. They heading out to the recently moon lightened night.
"No, a name isn't what makes a person. What makes a person is how they act, who they truly are. A name doesn't make a person; a person is what makes a name."