Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. No money was/is/will be produced from this page.
The second chapter. Thank you to Aoi Nami-cham, who reviewed my first chapter.
Author's Note: This is Leeten. The moment is short, but I like to think that its part of the reason Tenten eventually develops a crush on him.
You know how in Part I when Naruto has all those flashbacks to when he and Sasuke were alone as children, and they were playing on a playground? Well, this is the same playground.
I realize that Tenten's thought process is too mature for an eight-year-old, but in Naruto, kids are often way too mature for their respective ages, so this is almost canon continuity.
Twilight was descending over Konoha. The sky was alight with color, hues of pink and oranges trailing in the wake of setting sun. Tranquility settled over the village as wives cooked dinner and husbands arriving home from work, greeted by their children running to them excitedly.
The scene didn't change at all on the playground. Two young girls sat together on the swing set, the platinum blonde chattering on excitedly about her new kimono and how pretty it looked.
"Oh, Tenten, you'll have come over to my house and see it! The fabric is so silky, and it's patterned with cosmos blossoms- my favorite flower, out of all the flowers there are- "
"Ino, it's time to go home!" Ino's father called from park entrance.
"'Bye, Tenten!" Ino shouted before running and jumping into her father's arms. Ino's two friends, Shikamaru and Choji, gave Tenten cursory glances while following their own fathers back home.
The playground was now empty, save herself, and the silence was only broken by the creak of the chains on her swing as she rocked back and forth, not actually swinging, yet not completely stationary. Tenten felt weariness creep into her body, and she could feel dull hunger in her stomach, and was painfully reminded of how she had been driven from her home that afternoon. Tenten hadn't been given the opportunity to take any food before she had fled. She had money with her, enough to sit down at a restaurant and pay for a meal if she wanted, but she was worried people would question why an eight-year-old girl was out eating alone instead of with her family.
Yuuna, her father's wife, would rather allow a dog to come eat at the dinner table with her before accepting Tenten's company. The woman was bearable when Tenten's father was home; then she didn't dare do anything to harm his daughter, illegitimate as she was.
Her father's presence was enough to prevent Yuuna's irrational behavior, although he had little interaction with Tenten herself. He always had been more interested in Tenten's half-brothers: Yuuna's children, identical twins Hajime and Arata, older than Tenten by three years, and also training to be ninja.
But at times like these, when her father was away on business, Yuuna was a monster. If Tenten didn't leave her sight immediately, Yuuna would throw the closest objects she could find at her. Tenten smiled faintly; she was able to easily dodge Yuuna's projectiles. Unlike her, the woman had no accuracy when it came to pinpointing her target. However, Tenten's smile vanished as she remembered the blows she had received from Yuuna, which occurred only occasionally when she did not run fast enough.
Tenten tried to spend as little time as possible in her family's actual house, and often remained in the manor's gardens or courtyards for hours. A life of luxury meant little when you had to wait till midnight sneak up the servants' staircase in order to avoid your father's wife, who hated you because you were living testament to her husband's infidelity.
Yuuna had never allowed Tenten play with her brothers, perhaps due to some bizarre belief that Tenten was contaminated. Thus, Tenten had not known how to act around other children. She quickly learned to assimilate with her classmates at the Ninja Academy. The nail that stood out was the one that got hammered in the hardest, and Tenten soon realized that if she just stayed in the background and behaved as expected- even if she didn't honestly feel that way- her teachers and classmates left her alone. But this facade was wearing thin, and Tenten found herself wishing she had the courage necessary to be a person, instead of just the general idea of how a child should be.
Ino had initiated the friendship between them, so Tenten wasn't sure she actually comprehended what friendship was. To be honest, the only reason she was friends with Ino was because Ino indicated she wanted to be friends with her. Ino's mother was a first cousin of Tenten's father, thus Ino and Tenten were second cousins, and their fathers had been friends from their own Genin days. (1) Because Ino knew Tenten, she would often invite her to her home for dinner, or just to play at her house. If her father was home, Tenten would gladly return the favor. But beyond this, what was friendship?
Tenten looked into the sky, which was gradually growing dark. She sighed, knowing that sooner or later she would have to return to the manor. The prospect filled her with dread.
Tenten heard footsteps and saw motion from the corner of her eye. She glanced in the direction of the movement and realized that she wasn't alone as she thought she had been. A boy her age stood beside the swing set. The obsidian eyes and shiny black braid were vaguely familiar to Tenten; his name was Lee and he was in her grade at the Academy, but she didn't have any actual classes with him. (2)
"It's getting dark. Aren't your parents going to come and get you?" Lee asked.
"I'm supposed to walk home by myself," Tenten stated flatly.
"We could walk home together if you'd like," he offered benignly.
One of the few things Tenten had been taught about how to interact with people was not to trouble them unnecessarily. It was only polite, she was told, to assure that someone didn't go out of their way to help you when such aid wasn't needed.
She had been walking back to her home alone for months now. So, Tenten decided, if Lee lived in an area far away from her home, it would be impolite for her to ask him to walk with her.
This was not without regret, for Tenten would have appreciated some company.
"Which way do you go home?" Tenten asked Lee courteously.
"I walk through the marketplace," he replied.
"I live in the opposite direction," Tenten said dispassionately. (3) She stood and began to walk away, then paused. "But thank you."
It's when Tenten remembered Lee and his concern on her lonely walk home that she wished she understood what friendship was.
(1) In my background for Tenten, her father was a ninja who was injured on the battlefield. He recovered almost fully from the injury, which was in his leg, but this kept him from returning to life as a ninja. Instead, he took over the family business, and tripled the family fortune. (I'm planning on the family business being chain of upper-class hotels, although I don't think there are that many commercial hotel chains in Naruto-land).
(2) In part I, during Sasuke's battle with Naruto before he defects from the village, he has flashbacks during which his report card is shown. His grades show "1st of 30" and "1st of 90." I assume that means that at the Ninja Academy there are three classes of thirty students for a single age group. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
(3) In "Misfit" I use an adjective to describe Tenten as "dispassionate" at every given opportunity. I know I'm really hammering it in, but I'm trying to make a point that Tenten actually has feelings, but doesn't show them for lack of a person to share her feelings with. She isn't as socially backwards as Sai, thank goodness, because she is able to act as any person expects her to. Hence the line, "Tenten found herself wishing she had the courage necessary to be a person, instead of just the general idea of how a child should be." I'm going to try to show that her team brought her out of her shell, and helped her to be her own person.
I promise, next time there will be no annoying footnotes. I just felt like some of these things needed an explanation, because this is the beginning of a story.