Notes: I'm not dead, despite all appearances to the contrary. Anyway, this chapter went longer than I thought it would and didn't actually end up where I wanted it to. This is due to my excessive need to cover all the bases, have more detail than is necessary, and insert Original Characters. Which I then kill. Sometimes. I hope to have the next few parts of this out this weekend. I want to finish this piece, because I said I would about a month ago.

Goals: Coherency, continuation, relevance.

Warnings: Repetitive themes and possible cliches.

Temperature

Part 2

It started with the fire.

Tenten woke up in the middle of the night to find that she had instinctively rolled so close to the forge in her sleep that she was practically in it. And while that meant the front of her body was acceptably warm, her backside was freezing. She shivered and huddled deep into her blankets and jacket (which she had opted to wear to bed as extra fortification against the chill) and tried to think warm thoughts. Drowsily, she turned her head and looked at Shino, who was sleeping a few feet away on the other side of the fire. He was lying on his side as well with his face to the fire and his head pillowed on his arm.

Funny, she thought blurrily - she'd expected to see him stretched flat on his back with his hands folded, laid out stiff and formal with no regard for the temperature. She wasn't entirely sure why she'd expected that, but there it was anyway. She blinked to clear her sleep-fogged eyes a little and noticed that he'd bundled a couple of his blankets into a bulky roll and set it firmly against his back. Ah, she thought, very clever. He had given himself extra insulation for the part of his body farthest from the fires. Not much, since he kept most of the blankets for cover, but maybe enough to keep him from shivering himself awake as she had done.

Tenten considered doing the same, but she couldn't decide which blankets to sacrifice as a roll and which to keep as covers. She shivered again and with a sleepy, irritable sigh, scooted a few centimeters closer to the fire. Outside, the howling winds shook the reinforced shutters and slammed against the insulated walls, and just listening to the racket somehow made her feel that much colder.

What a waste of blankets, Tenten thought idly, to have them just bundled up instead of as cover. But without them, his back would be cold too. Huh. And then an idea came to her groggy brain with sudden clarity. Moving as quickly as she could, Tenten jumped out of her little nest and hauled it over towards Shino. She saw his shoulders stiffen slightly as the noise and movement woke him instantly. "It's me," she whispered reassuringly. "It's freezing in here."

"Use your chakra to warm yourself," he replied without moving.

"That's a field mission short fix. We can't do it the whole time we're up here," she replied, tossing her blankets down half behind him, half on him. He jerked his head up slightly in surprise, but before he could react further, Tenten grabbed his rolled up blankets, shook them over the pile, and promptly burrowed down into the nest and settled herself in their place against his back. It took a few moments for the little hollow among the blankets to heat up, but Shino's back was blissfully warm and after a moment Tenten stopped shivering and sighed in relief as the heat seeped through her. "Oh, that's way better," she mumbled into the soft blankets.

Granted, Shino was between her and the fire, but with his blankets added to hers and his body heat through the layers, she had no complaints. The only hitch in the plan was the extraordinary tension she could feel in his muscles even through both of their heavy jackets. "Hey," she shrugged a shoulder backwards to nudge him. "Ease up. It's hard to sleep with you all tense like that."

"Apologies," he said in a slightly edgy tone. "I was not expecting to be your personal heater."

"Hey, I'm more likely to keep your back warm than a couple rolled up blankets," she shot back. "It's not like this is a one way exchange."

"Hm," he grunted, but after a few more minutes she did feel him relax a little. Poor guy, she thought drowsily; I'm really not respecting his space at all. But she pushed her sock-covered feet against the backs of his knees anyway, enjoying the warmth that trickled through. It was hard to feel all that remorseful when the alternative was cold toes.

It seemed like she'd hardly closed her eyes when she woke again to Shino moving against her back. He rolled quickly out of the pile of blankets, deftly tucking them back around her shoulder, but it was too late, the moment he moved her back felt chilled, and even his body-warmed side of the nest couldn't replace his actual body heat. Tenten sighed grumpily and resigned herself to getting up for the day as well. It was still dark, but she was learning that daylight here wasn't really a good indicator of time anyway.

"The Blue Torch will be here shortly before nightfall," Shino crouched by the fire and threw some more wood onto it. "That gives you six or so hours to make an acceptable weapon for his inspection."

"Mm," Tenten rolled over to look up at him from among the blankets. He was studiously not looking at her, which probably meant he still felt a little awkward about her casual intrusion on his space. Tenten hunted for a way to dispel the awkwardness, and then grinned slyly. "Hey Shino," she said, propping herself up on one elbow. He looked at her over his shoulder, and she affected a serious expression. "You have bed hair," she told him gravely. "Just thought you should know."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yep. It's pretty crazy," she added, trying not to laugh.

He rose to his feet and stuck his hands into his pockets. "Thank you," he said solemnly. "I hope it is as impressive as yours."

Tenten's hand flew to her head, but all she felt was her usual two neat buns, with only a few escaping wisps. "Oh, very funny."

Tenten spent the first half hour or so of the day moving briskly from place to place within the forge, wolfing a quick breakfast and getting her materials gathered. After the biting cold of the morning air in the Glacier Country ("Motto: no one needs ten toes!" she laughed to Shino through slightly chattering teeth), the waves of heat pouring off the forge were sheer bliss. Tenten, in the interest of not setting herself on fire, reluctantly shucked off her heavy jacket and rolled back her sleeves. Fortunately, within the first hour she was working hard enough over the forge flames that she didn't need them anyway.

Shino vanished while she was busy melting down her alloys. He reappeared a few hours later with a few bags full of food, and handed Tenten a steaming hot roll of meat stuffed into thin bread with some sort of white sauce. Tenten downed it absently while she graphed her creation. "This is tasty," she remarked to Shino, frowning as a splatter of the white sauce dripped onto her paper and leaning over to swipe it off with her free hand. Hmm, she thought, looking at the figures under her sauce-covered finger. I better over-compensate a little for the shrink rule; the iron would harden faster in these ambient temperatures than she was used to seeing.

"The official will arrive an hour before sunset," Shino replied, catching her wrist before she accidentally dropped the rest of her meat roll in the forge fire. "You chose wisely," he nodded to her sketch. "I did a little research at Boss Yan's office. The Blue Torch official assigned to...deal with you has a predilection for exotic things. A weapon with unusual lines will impress him a great deal."

Tenten glanced up long enough to smile. "You know that was a little unnecessary. I've already got the alloy set up and the design plan, it's too late to start making anything other than a mahkaira now."

Shino inclined his head. "Then you may at least rest at ease that you were right to do so," he replied.

"And your reputation as a master of information-gathering remains unchallenged," she laughed and bent her head mockingly. "Okay, okay, I bow to your greatness and all." She stepped sideways and bumped him playfully with her shoulder. "Now get outta the way and let a girl work."

Shino moved to sit against the back wall again, slumped in the same chair as before and showing as little inclination to move. Tenten spared a moment to wonder if he was really sleeping in there – maybe he napped all the time like that. He could well be even lazier than Nara Shikamaru, with no one the wiser.

Then she saw that the alloy was developing a slight bluish-black hue, which meant the chemical composition was reaching the right acidity. After that, her head was full of comparative weights, compound ratios, and heat differentials. At some point she registered Shino getting up and going out the front door, and later he came back again with something else that was hot and filling that he put in her hand without a word. She muttered a vague thank you, but the hilt-joining reached a crucial conjunction and she didn't hear his reply.

Finally, she was finished. Whew, she thought, leaning back on her heels and surveying her work as it gleamed in the fading daylight. "Well, that's that," she told Shino, who had walked back in almost the instant she'd set the finished mahkaira down.

Tenten did a quick sensory sweep and noted that he had at least a dozen kikkai in her immediate vicinity to keep an eye on her, which explained his excellent timing. "So," she nodded to the curved blade. "Think the Blue Torch guy will like it?"

Shino stepped closer to the forge and examined her handiwork gravely. Then he shrugged. "We will soon know for sure. That's because he is on his way here."

Tenten jumped slightly. "What? You should have said something! Hang on -" she grabbed a rag and wiped vigorously at the blade, getting the few stray ashes from the forge off the hilt, and then chucked her forge apron in the store room. It was too late to change clothes or wash up, but she forced herself to stick her grubby hands under the cold water from the facet and get the oil and soot from under her fingernails.

"It is a fine piece," Shino said with what may have been a hint of amusement at her scramble. "That's all the official will care about. There is no need to concern yourself with anything else."

"Presentation is half the equation," she replied firmly, rubbing her now-cold hands vigorously on a towel and folding them tightly under her arms to rewarm them. "And you're the one who impressed upon me the need to sell myself to this Blue Torch guy," she glared at him over her shoulder.

"Perhaps," he chuckled, then abruptly walked to the back of the room and took up his favorite chair. "However, once you have impressed the official, you may wish to," he paused and glanced at the setting sun through the window, "reassess your timeline," he said at length.

Tenten stretched a stiff neck muscle and nodded. "I know. I can't take as long with my future orders if I want this mission to work. Fortunately, now that I have the design specifications and a better feel for how this forge works," she smiled fondly at the anvil-stone, "I can make lots of mahkaira in a much shorter time span. And if the Blue Torch really gets on me for time, I can substitute pig iron for alloy. Its lower quality, but it'll work for our plan."

She started to say more, but Shino held up a cautionary hand. A moment later, the front doors swung open, and a tall, thin man strode into the room, unwrapping his scarf to reveal sharp features. His eyes remained hidden behind dark sunglasses, but Tenten was already too acclimated to Shino to be particularly intimidated. What made her nervous were the four heavily muscled, heavily armed individuals who followed him in. They ranged themselves around the forge like professionals, standing calmly and impassively looking at nothing. They weren't shinobi as far as she could tell, but she was undercover and unable to fight back without blowing the mission. And just because they were not shinobi didn't mean they weren't very dangerous. She saw one of them wearing brass knuckles, another sporting several file-knives holstered on his jacket, and one even had a blood-stained cudgel hanging opening from his belt. All of them wore either dark glasses or strange headbands with wooden slats that could be lifted or lowered over the face, with little slits cut in them. Of course, Tenten realized; this was how they kept from going snow-blind in winter. No wonder Shino blended in so well up here.

Tenten focused back on the thin official; if he held the reigns on these thugs (and potentially many more like them), then he was the most dangerous man in the room. The official barely looked at her, however, reaching down gingerly to pick up the mahkaira and holding it up to his face. He turned it this way and that, studying it. "We will pay ten silver per knife," he said suddenly, still not looking at her. "Our initial order will be two hundred, ready for shipment by midwinter."

Tenten arranged her face into surprise and outrage. Shino had prepared her for this, of course, but she was playing the part of a simple, honest weapon-smith. "Hey, who do you think you are?" she demanded angrily. "You can't just walk in here with a bunch of," she swept the guards with what she hoped was an adequate mix of fear and bravado, "brutes, and expect me to make quality items for the kind of pittance you're offering. Ten silver? You have any idea how much that is worth? And even if I were willing to work for that kind of cheap change, there's no way I could make two hundred in a month." She huffed, wondering if she ought to attempt to kick them out or if that would be overkill. She wanted to look offended and naive, not stupid.

The official smiled. It was not a nice smile. Tenten felt a little chill go down her spine, and she didn't have to fake her involuntary step backwards. "You will either make two hundred knives, with ten silver per knife," he said, "or you will be cut two hundred times with a silver knife." He gestured, and the thug with multiple blades stitched all over his chest pulled a small, shiny dagger free. He whirled it with expert ease, then flung it at her. It took all of her concentration not to dodge or catch it and fling it back. Instead, she simply held herself still and allowed the sharp blade to slice her shoulder as it passed. She cried out and clapped a hand to the shallow, stinging cut.

"I…I can have the first order in three weeks," she mumbled, suitably cowed and compliant. "They won't be as well-made as this one, though." She said the last quickly, as if she were afraid to admit it yet still driven by her honor as a weapons-smith to do so.

The skinny Blue Torch official barked a short, brutal laugh. "That will do. In the interest of your protection," he laid a heavy emphasis on the word, raising a scraggly eyebrow at her over his dark glasses, "Our friend Shino here will be keeping an eye on you." He jerked his head over her shoulder, and Tenten heard Shino shift his weight.

"She is in my care," her fellow shinobi said quietly, but there was a deliberate note of menace in his tone. The Blue Torch official shot him a thin smirk of approval. Tenten bit back a giggle, feeling a bit like Shino had just let her in on a secret, right in front of a crowd. Quite the trick, she mused.

With a final warning glare at Tenten, the Blue Official yanked his head scarf sharply around his face again, and led the thugs out. They must have more people than we thought, Tenten reflected to herself, if they had enough spare muscle to parade around in front of newcomers like her. Unless this weapon-smuggling line they had going was more essential to their operations than Konoha thought. In which case, she would have to be extra-careful that the little something 'extra' she planned to add to the goods wasn't noticed.

"There are bandages in the kitchen," Shino said from behind her, startling her out of her reverie.

"Oh, right," she said, glancing at the blood leaking through her fingers on her shoulder. The wound was shallow, and she barely felt it after the initial sting. Good blade, she thought impassively. "Well, that went about as expected," she commented, turning and looking up at Shino's impassive face. "Seems I got the job."

"He is not normally a violent man," Shino replied. "At least, not directly. He prefers to have others do the work. I did not think he - " He paused, frowning. "His use of violence to frighten you was unexpected."

"This shipment must be important," Tenten nodded in agreement, pulling her shirt collar aside to reach the oozing cut. "Maybe it's just that they've been without a steady supply in awhile. They risk losing all their regular customers, if they can't provide regular weaponry."

"Hm," Shino grunted in what was probably agreement. He watched Tenten swipe away the blood from her shoulder and slap a bandage on, then took the box from her and set it back on the shelf. "In any case, we a re now poised to carry out the critical phase of the plan."

"You got that bug-juice stuff ready?" Tenten smiled at him to show she was joking, but he merely nodded.

"The scent-marker is prepped and ready. If applied while the knives are still being forged, the scent will become undetectable by any but my kikkai."

"Well, then it's perfect that you're stuck around here with me after all," she said cheerfully. "You can help me do it instead of me trying to follow your instructions or something. Which I bet you would have written in code, anyway."

Shino seemed about to reply, then abruptly turned away from her and vanished out the back door. Tenten stared after him, startled and wondering if she ought to be offended. A few seconds later, however, she heard voices outside the front door and rolled her eyes.

" – going yet, and anyway I want to see a maky-hair knife thing," a boy's voice, clearly irritated, carried through the door. Tenten sighed and straightened her shirt, wiping the last few drops of blood away. A moment later, the forge door burst open again and the boy from yesterday trekked in, the pretty girl in tow. Kam and Yula, Tenten reminded herself.

"Well, hello there," she said politely, stepping out of the kitchen and back into the forge. "Nice of you to stop by. Isn't it a little late in the day though?"

Kam scowled at her in what he probably thought was a very fierce and manly way. Tenten resisted the urge to laugh again. Yula, however, shot her a venomous glance through heavily-painted eyelids and then immediately turned her attention to the empty forge. "Where's Shino?" she demanded. "Cobby said he was just here," her voice took on a peculiar, low whine, as if she were a small child on the verge of frustrated tears.

"Um, Cobby?" Tenten hazarded.

"Tall, skinny torcher," Kam offered, still fixing her with a glare. He probably thought he was squinting at her with a steely-eyed stare, but really he was just making one eye look slightly wider than the other in an unbalanced sort of way. Tenten sighed. She did not have time for this nonsense. Plus…Cobby? The Blue Torch official's name had been Cobby? No wonder he hadn't bothered with introductions. That sort of name lacked the appropriate amount of fear and awe a gangster usually needed to inspire.

"Well, Shino's not here now," Tenten told them matter-of-factly, walking to her forge and gently but firmly pushing Kam out of the way. The boy stumbled in surprise, but swallowed the squawk of outrage quickly enough and contrived to look like he'd stepped out of her way on purpose. Tenten adjusted her sleeves and reached for the forge bellows, pumping the fire back to working heat.

"You should call him Mister Shino," Yula told her, turning to glower again. "He's not your friend. You can't be so familiar with him."

Interesting emphasis, Tenten noted. But she let it pass, turning to glance at Kam instead. "By the way, it's pronounced mahk-hair-a," she told him casually. "And it's sitting over there. Careful, it's still sharp."

"Where did Shino go?" Yula demanded, folding her arms as Kam sauntered a bit too eagerly across the room to examine the knife.

Tenten shrugged.

But the girl was relentless. "When will he be back?"

"Hey," Kam interrupted suddenly. "This is a good knife. You made this?" For once, his belligerent tone was gone, replaced only with surprise and a little bit of admiration. Tenten smiled at him over her shoulder.

"Put it down, Kam," Yula told him sternly. "It's not yours."

Tenten swung her melting pot back over the fire and added a handful of metal ingots to it. "You like it?"

"Yeah," he breathed, holding it up to watch the firelight glint on it. Then he seemed to shake himself, shrugging elaborately and making as if to flip it back on the table. "It's okay, I guess." But he didn't actually let it go, Tenten noted, watching from the corner of her eye as the boy flipped the handle around in his fingers a few times.

"Then it's yours," she said, and was rewarded by the shock and delight warring on the boy's face.

"Really? I mean, it looks really good." His face snapped suddenly into deep suspicion. "Hey, you're not trying to buy me off or anything, are you?"

Tenten did laugh, this time. "Let's call it my gift to you, for keeping such a good eye on me."

"You can't just give it to him," Yula protested. "It's not his."

There is a child with serious possession issues, Tenten thought to herself. Briefly, she wondered if Yula had ever had something of her own taken away. Then she remembered Shino saying that Yula was the youngest of six, and wondered if the girl had ever had anything of her own, period.

"Sure I can," she said, careful to sound nonchalant. "I'm about to make a lot more just like it, so he can have that one."

"You're making more?" Kam walked over, peering around her at the forge with new interest. "Exactly like this one?"

"Well," Tenten gently elbowed him back from the flames and her hands, "not exactly."

Kam blinked at her. "What'll be different?"

"Oh, the materials I use, mostly. And I've got a mold now, made from that original one. The others will just be copies of it. They'll be different from the original in a lot of little ways," she added carelessly.

For example, she thought, the original was just bait.

These are going to be the trap.