[A/N: I do not own Naruto or his "little friends" *laughs evilly* Kishimoto-chan does! Also, I've decided to post the pairings that will be involved in this story here because I didn't have enough room on the summary thingy... They are NejiTen (that's the most prominent one), SasuSaku, NaruHina, and Shikatema (I'm not quite sure who to put Ino with: I've narrowed it down to Kankurou, Kiba and Chouji. Please review/message me on which one you'd like!)]
Chapter 1: The Hole
The rising sun's light washes over my face. I close my eyes briefly and give a little sigh. I guess it's true when they say a new day comes when the sun rises, I think. It's just not always a good day. I turn away from my cell window and rub my neck. "Oh well…" I say.
I glance at the clock that they have been nice enough to provide. The current time is half past five, which gives me thirty minutes until the cell doors are unbarred. I purse my mouth to one side, and then go to stand in the center of my cell. Breathing in, I raise my arms above my head and begin the seventh form of the dance my master, Gai-sensei, had taught me.
When I am done, a bell tolls from somewhere above my head and a loud click sounds from my door. I roll my eyes and say, "Finally," before moving out.
The sounds of my fellow prisoners awakening hit my ears as I head down the hallway. I suppose I'm a little strange, getting up before the bell, but it's a habit. I've no idea when it developed.
"Hey," a low voice from behind says. I jumped a little before turning around. It's Neji, my—how do I put it—not-exactly-best friend. His white eyes stare at me as he leans against a nearby wall. My eyebrows rise when I see that he is up too.
I smile. Maybe I'm not so strange.
"Good morning, Tenten-san," the doctor greets me {disgustedly} cheerfully. I smile at her, just to put on a good show, while inside I'm seething. It's no secret that I absolutely despise doctors. And it's certainly no surprise that I never bother to learn their names.
This doctor has dark blonde hair that presumably runs to her shoulders; I can't really tell because it's tied up into a ponytail. Her squinty eyes are hidden behind oval-shaped eyeglasses, but I can tell she's an old one because I can see lines around her mouth as she hides a smile of eager anticipation (because she's so impatient to prove that I'm real, that I'm not a fantasy creature, that I'm here and solid and so wonderfully freakish {but she doesn't want to touch me because no one does}).
The unnamed physician guides me towards the examination table. I clamber on top of it, noting that she won't help me up herself. Selfish bitch, I think insolently. I watch as she pulls on plastic gloves onto her slim, pale fingers—like she would even dare touch me without them.
I wince a little at the coldness as she dabs antiseptic on my right shoulder. "We're just gonna draw a little blood to see how we're doing here," she says with another smile. Inwardly, I roll my eyes: why must they insist on steering me through each exam like it's my first time? But I don't show my irritation; politics is everything, even in an underground burrow like this one.
I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't notice when the doctor pulls out a shining needle, but I do happen to perceive pain as it enter my skin unexpectedly. I let out a small gasp; she chuckles lightly as a gleam ran across her glasses. "Stings, doesn't it?" she comments. I grit my teeth and close my eyes, picturing her hanging in the air by the light bulb. It helps to calm me.
The rest of the exam goes by quickly—she checks my heart rate, my hearing, my eyesight. She uses a tiny flashlight to look at my nose, inside my ears, at my eyes. She wraps a black strap around my arm and pumps into to show my blood pressure. She marks down my height and weight. All the things that would occur in a normal examination—but then comes the big stuff.
"This way, please, Tenten-san," the doctor says. I get off the table, and she leads me to the immense examination room otherwise known as the Hole.
I cast my eyes over the bubbling test tubes, the intimidating machines standing dark and solemn in their corners, the dozens of computers calculating millions of scenarios, situations, solutions, and formulas. The walls are white, blindingly white, so utterly devoid of color that when I blink there is no darkness. In the distance I can see the dreaded Maze, sprawling and stretching its inky terribleness like a child reaching for help {a despicable, demented child steals candy from babies and beats his own mother, and who laughs when others' blood is spilled}, and I can only pray that I will not be placed in it this time. I narrow my eyebrows at the hovering scientists who are no doubt thinking just how of tortuous ways to discern exactly what they created.
For a moment my resolve waivers at the sight of the large, uncomfortable-looking chair laden with plastic straps and colored wires that the physician was gesturing at. I swallow painfully before moving to sit in it. She smiles at me again as she straps me securely in place {the straps are so that I can't run} and as she reaches for the gag {so that no one can ever hear my screams} I contemplate how ironic it is that as popular legend has it, as you pass the doors to whatever evil and mysterious place is in the newest horror movies, you can hear the screaming: the hideous, horrible, scratching screaming that goes on, on, on. {but not here}
I can only hope that it will be quick.
[A/N: Okay, so this one is a little creepy and disgusting and maybe even a bit disturbing, but oh well. Now you have met the Hole, which, if you didn't catch on, is the really big, enormous lab room that experiments and tests take place in. Also, the text like this: {blah} actually is supposed to be crossed out, or the things Tenten/main character doesn't mean to think but think it anyway... which when I read this doesn't make sense but I tried *sobs*. Anyway, I'll try and update soon!]
