Act Two

Awareness

I was busy training, working on hitting the targets for a new technique I was learning on my own, one that I had found in a tattered scroll, deep in the forest in a hollow trunk, on some obscure training grounds I'd never seen before. How it had survived for so many years I don't know, but the style suited me. Gathering chakra to my feet I leapt into the air, flipping myself upside down, I closed my eyes and spun, when I landed again, I was slightly disappointed with myself, but I kept at it, working patiently until I had hit most of the targets, some of the shuriken were still scattered on the ground but I was grinning from ear to ear. I had the feeling that something was out there but, it was probably some small forest creature. I looked up, the training grounds had gotten dark now, I could the chirping of crickets and waved my hand in front of my face to dispel the cloud of gnats, it was time for me to go home.

Early the next morning I met my team and began weapons practice with Lee, since he had expressed a desire to learn. We both had quarter staffs and started things off with a quick series of blocks and thrusts, I began gathering my chakra and leaped over him, my staff aiming for his head. He moved out of the way quickly, and I turned to block him as I landed, Lee was aiming for my head, and I ducked under him thrusting it into his gut. But I knew that it would take more then that to bring down the Taijutsu master. He slid back, not allowing himself to loose his footing and I charged after him, I feinted to the left and then tucked into a roll, and came up behind him swinging down fast, he blocked me just as fast, moving the staff behind him, before pivoting on his foot and facing me, we were locked in a powerful struggle before I kicked him away, or tried to anyways. Lee was too fast, his leg hooked beneath my knee and we both fell to the ground, but I twisted my body pushing off with my good leg and leaped off him.

I had a feeling someone was watching us, and I turned my head, feeling the flash of a chakra signature. Neji felt it too, but before I had time to go investigate I was knocked off my feet by my exuberant teammate and crashed into Neji. I felt sudden displeasure radiating for just a moment. I turned around, accepting Lee's outstretched hand. "Thanks Lee." I said, embarrassed to have been caught off guard. "Sorry Neji." I apologized to the disgruntled Hyuuga genius lying beneath me.

"Next time pay attention." He informed me haughtily. I decided that this was where the displeasure had come from.

This time I took up a katana and I allowed Lee the first move, Lee swung the sword down, and I countered with a high block, taking up the offensive, I swept the sword down, aiming for his left thigh, he blocked it and I began advancing quickly, my sword moving like a blur as began trapping him into a deceptive pattern, swinging the sword left and right so quickly that he was backing towards a root in the ground and had no time to do anything other then try and block me, he tripped on the root and I used the killing blow, but he was too quick and rolled out from the blade, aiming for my head. I ducked under it and began another rapid series of movements, I was everywhere at once, up high, too his side, behind him, the clash of metal against metal was sweet music to my ears, ignoring the reverberation of hard clashing hits, the katana was meant for speed and dexterity.

I flipped over his head, nearly knocking the sword from his hand, he held onto it, I crouched on the ground thrusting my sword and forcing him into the ai., I moved to his right getting kicked hard and pushing off the ground again, I was in front of him, swinging left, swinging down, swinging up, forward thrust, he landed, face streaked with dirt and sweat, barely winded, blood trickling from various cuts on his torn jumpsuit, one particularly big wound was on his calf.

"Very good Lee, your reflexes were a lot quicker this time." He gave a beaming smile and glomped me.

I was at the obscure training grounds again, working to perfect the technique from the Uchiha scroll, I began molding my chakra around me, leaping, hanging upside down like a bat, before spinning wildly, fighting off the disorientation and slight nausea behind my closed eyes, I leapt down, lightly instead of heavily and grinned, this time all but one, then my head snapped, seeing splashes of red in the bushes. Pushing chakra to my feet I flew after the intruder, but there was no one there. I searched for a chakra signature, but there was none to be had, whoever was doing it obviously hadn't wanted to be caught. I was a little aggravated, this beautiful, yet simple grounds had become something like a sanctuary for me, and it felt like it had my space had been rudely breached.

Alert and tense, I gathered up my shuriken and left the area, it was almost lunch time and I was supposed to be meeting Sakura and Ino for lunch, again I felt a surge of displeasure coming from somewhere as I rubbed my aching sun burned shoulders. The feeling of being watched intensified over the next few weeks, as I trained relentlessly for the upcoming Chunin exams. I became paranoid and was constantly scanning the area for unfamiliar chakra signatures, coupled with my nervousness on passing the exams, I became edgy and tense and once had thrown a kunai at someone coming silently behind me in the deepening gloom, Neji caught it in his hand, looking irritated with me, I didn't apologize this time around, I just walked home.

For a while I was more at ease, and I became absorbed in my day-to-day life. One beautiful day, just a week before the final exams I began practicing my technique with Ino, asking her to make some clones of herself and disperse them in different areas, my eyes shut as I sought out her chakra signature, propelling myself into the air I performed the technique and watched as the blue flashes whirled and blurred in my mind's eye, I began releasing kunai here and there, watching the chakra try to dodge, I heard the odd noise they made as they dispelled before landing on the ground, there wasn't a single clone left and Ino herself was pinned to a tree by five shuriken, eyes wide panting heavily, and without a single scratch on her. I was glowing inside with excitement and pride, I was ready, the exercise had calmed me down, and I was sure nothing could spoil my good mood.

I began looking at the people around me, waiting for our matches. My opponent was a boy from Ame, most of the Genin this year were from Rain, and sixteen of us had made it to the final exams. Three of us were from Konoha, including Kiba and Shino. One boy was from Suna, ten from Ame, and two girls from Kusa.

I watched as two Genin from Ame had to fight each other off. One was a girl, with long bright hair, shimmering white, and pale blue eyes. She was a tactician and wove her genjutsu while the boy, with light brown hair, and light green eyes, this one was a hothead and her teammate. A major disadvantage for both, since they were intimate with each other's techniques, at some point he even threw a kunai at the girl, slicing her arm and shattering her concentration, while he began employing clones against her. It was a long drawn out battle, and the girl won but just barely, her cool head and tactical skills had won out over his overconfidence. I suspected that this happened often, judging from the scowl on his face and the taunting smirk on hers, not unlike with Neji and Lee, though he had certainly put up a good fight.

Kiba and the puppet nin from Suna were next and their battle was brief but incredibly intense, pumping up the crowds as they clashed. The puppet nin controlled three puppets at once, making him a quadruple threat to Kiba and Akamaru. It ended up in a draw, Kiba and Akamaru got hit by a mild poison, though at the last moment, Kiba managed to knock him out, the medics rushing both boys out of the arena.

"Our next match will be Tenten from Konoha and Yuga from Ame. Come on down you two."

We walked down together and faced each other. I sized him up, he was smaller then me, his head barely coming up to my chin, his hair was gray, his eyes were gray too. He had a smirk on his face, not an overconfident smirk, not an arrogant smirk, but a malicious smirk. I didn't like it at all. I kept two kunai at the ready, and the proctor told us to begin. He began forming hand signs and I let a kunai fly, breaking his concentration when he caught a glimpse of an exploding tag. He melted into water. Damn! It was a water clone! I cursed silently, my other kunai clutched in my hand suddenly clones were everywhere and I began throwing shuriken at them in a panic, but they just kept coming back, I was getting frustrated and fast.

Neji watched his teammate, she must have been quite a spectacle as she slashed at absolutely nothing while her opponent sat back and openly laughed at her. She was caught in a genjutsu, and I realized that a clone had walked down in his place with her, for he had appeared moments later, right before the match officially started.

I struck down clone after clone, watching them break up and then reform like some kind of weird ooze. "Stop Tenten!" I silently commanded myself. I slowed down my breathing and began to think; suddenly I knew what to do. I closed my eyes and searched for the one whose chakra burned more brightly, his clones had very little chakra, and I saw a large area burning brightly, cutting him off from my battle and at the same time connecting him to it! Genjutsu! I wasn't battling clones after all! I tried breaking the genjutsu but to no avail!

His genjutsu was incredibly powerful and-wait! What was that? Was he-I was really mad now! He was standing there laughing at me! Practically doubled over laughing at my attempts to dispel the genjutsu and fight off clones. It was time for my special technique, all the extra training with Ino and Sakura about learning to visualize another's chakra signature had paid off. I grabbed a handful of shuriken from my pouch and leaped into the air, flinging them haphazardly, but then there was a yelp of pain, and most of the crowd had gone silent.

The genjutsu broken, I took a flash bomb and threw it at him blinding him, and then I rushed in to finish him off! Using my nun chucks I began forcing the blinded boy back, he heard me and was trying desperately to avoid it, he stumbled here, dodged clumsily there and I got him in the ribs, there was a sharp intake of breath as the ribs cracked loudly underneath the cool metal. He began coughing up blood, unable to continue the match.

I walked back up the stairs, hearing the shocked whispers all around me.

"Did you see what that girl did?"

"Where did she learn a technique like that?"

"I haven't seen that move since before the Uchiha clan was slaughtered!"

"Has she been stealing techniques from them?"

I glanced up, even the Hokage seemed surprised, her eyebrows raised at me as I ascended upwards my teammates. After the exams were officially over and the decisions had been made, I was ecstatic to know that I had been one of the four to be promoted to Chunin! I was questioned about where I learned the technique afterwards, producing the scroll and showing them where I had found it. Since the training grounds were close too, but not officially on Uchiha property, Tsunade allowed me to train there. Only dojos and backyard training grounds were private property, anything else was open for anyone who came upon them, I was vastly relieved at this, and feeling light-hearted again, I walked back to my apartment to get ready for the festivities that were soon to follow.

Ino and Sakura had taken me out to a bar to celebrate me becoming a Chunin, "To Tenten! Congrats on making Chunin! Cheers!" we toasted and laughed drinking down sake after sake, my buns had worked themselves loose as we sat and talked, when he approached me. "Tenten I wanted to congratulate you." Neji said, placing his hand on my shoulders. I was surprised at the look on his face! He had never given me or anyone else that look before! It was like he was seeing me in a whole new light, I couldn't help the blush that spread across my face, pale eyes gazing into mine with a burning intimacy and strong need. I felt the tight coils of desire tightening in my stomach, warm and lazy along with the sake, spreading through my limbs as we leaned in closer. The whole world stopped and it was just me and Neji.

Then I got blasted by a heat of another kind, one quivering with rage and jealousy. I wasn't the only one who felt it, Neji felt it too. I was concentrating hard on it, feeling it slowly fade away when Lee came over. "Congratulations Tenten! I am so happy that you passed the Chunin exams this year!" He tackle hugged me, spilling my drink on me. The jealousy flaring again, though this time it was more muted. "OH! Tenten I am so sorry!" Lee apologized.

"Lee! Geez your such a klutz!" Ino complained loudly.

"I'm sorry Tenten, here lemme get you some napkins-"

"Lee it's alright I-"

Sakura growled at Lee. "Lee watch it you almost spilled my sake on me! If you ruin this dress I swear I'll-"

"Oh! Sakura-chan! My apologies! Here Tenten! I'll help you clean up."

"No that's not necessary, it's alright Lee really. I'll just go home and change real fast."

"But I ruined your gloriously youthful moment!" Lee cried.

I took Lee's hands, "No. No you didn't I'll be right back I promise, kay. Don't worry about it." He didn't look convinced, and I caught Neji's exasperated and amused look out of the corner of my eye. Lee had given me the perfect opportunity to investigate the source of paranoia.

I stepped out into the warm night air, carefully, cautiously. My eyes scanning the area, searching for whoever was spying on me. Suddenly I sensed someone, I looked up and I was ready to attack, when a kunai came flying somewhere to my right, I leapt into the tree and onto the roof, but they were gone. My drunken state had vanished into thin air as I searched the village, hot on the trail of that nameless someone.

For days afterwards, I no longer sensed the presence of watchful eyes, peering at me from the underbrush, though I did sense very faint traces of unknown chakra around my apartment.

I began to dream, dreams of red hair, and brown eyes, and accompanying those dreams was a feeling of loss and terror. I woke up every night in a cold sweat, body trembling, and my breathing harsh, I never saw the full face, just eyes and hair. Those eyes were empty, as though devoid of life, like a-like a doll's eyes, or a mannequin's perhaps, I couldn't understand why those eyes disturbed me so much! They were cold and dead almost, like there was nothing alive behind it, but at the same time, there was. Always watching me, rarely blinking, emotionless, chilling, there was a bad feeling in my gut after the dreams started, intensifying everyday.

It subsided for a while when we left Konoha to escort a minor lord back to Suna, but it came back full force when a badly injured ANBU rushed into the Hokage's office while we were debriefing. He was burned all over, blood trickling from his nose and mouth, skin blackened, heat blisters on his exposed skin, uniform scorched, and hair missing in chunks. "Lady Hokage, there are two Akatsuki moving across our borders! My entire team was killed in the blasts. We need back up quickly!"

"Lady Hokage we will be back-up!" Said Gai. Neji and Lee looked at each other, I knew they were itching for a real mission. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, and I clenched my teeth! Whatever it was! I was going to face it head on!

Author's Notes:

This chapter didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it. sighs But it wasn't too bad I suppose.