The Dragon in Her Heart
Disclaimer: I still haven't mastered the transformation jutsu, therefore cannot transform myself to look like Kishi. So, I don't own it.
A/N: This chapter is considerably shorter than chapter one. The next few chapters will also be short, but the length will gradually increase. Length isn't that important of a factor, though.
Arc One: Another Shinobi War?
Chapter Two
The Mission Across the Land
A sixteen-year-old Tenten awoke for the day ahead of her. Looking through the single window in her humble home she saw that the sky was still a deep navy as she prepared for the day's mission. Sometimes it bothered her that her teammates were so much stronger than her; especially Neji Hyuga. Rock Lee and her sensei, Gai, were kind of weird though. They both dressed in green jumpsuits and they both had ridiculously bushy eyebrows. Neji specialized in gentle fist taijutsu, Lee and Gai sensei pulverized with hard fist taijutsu, and Tenten herself was skilled with weapons, but yet she couldn't keep up with the rest of her squad.
The kunai knife that was in Tenten's hand slid out of her finger's grasp. Her head- something wasn't quite right. Her eyes weren't functioning correctly. She was seeing something- people- in her room. But they weren't there at the same time. Two different images were being relayed to her brain at the exact same time.
The girl's knees failed her and she collapsed upon the floor.
The people were blurry, but she was able to make out several outlines. They were talking, but all Tenten could hear was an electrical buzzing in her ears. She covered her head in her hands and rolled to the side, trying to rid her senses from their abnormality.
A cold point pierced through the muscle on her arm; and it was deep. Tenten winced as a splotch of blood fell upon her floor. Nevertheless, the pain seemed to cure her dysfunction. She pulled the kunai knife from her arm and flicked it to the side.
Looking around, Tenten was relieved that she didn't see any more blurred people in her room. But it was odd; she also felt a little sad about it. Some things just never could be explained.
The kunoichi quickly bandaged her arm and put a few things in her tattered backpack, which she threw over her shoulder. She then exited her room and took a few more steps only to find her front door. She undid its simple lock and opened it, breathing in the early morning air. She locked the door behind her and left.
Today was the day she had been waiting for nearly a week; it was the day Gai sensei was going to announce their team's new mission.
Tenten started heading out for the meeting place of her squad. She always took the long path in hope that it would get her to be even the slightest bit stronger. But it never seemed to work. Instead, she used the time to think. She thought about her destiny, she thought about her fate, but at the moment she couldn't rid her thoughts of why she saw the people in her room. It was just strange; last night she heard knocking on her door, but when she came to see whom it was, no one was there. And now she was seeing things.
She was feeling oddly alien, as if she had a bizarre disease.
The sun slowly began to peek out from the gentle green horizon. The new light illuminated the fields of wheat and caused the summer weather to start for the day. Tenten's teammates would be waking up about now and she had to hurry up a bit on the way to the meeting place.
Her pace hastened slightly, but she was still walking. She preferred to enjoy life's simple pleasures instead of scheduling her day full with pointless things such as watching the television or playing video games. Life was meant to be enjoyed to the fullest; and Tenten was determined to do just that with her own, despite all of the hardships she had faced.
After soaking up the beauty of nature, Tenten had finally reached her squad's meeting place. The location had changed over the years for reasons such as fire damage and the fact that Gai sensei claimed that they were being spied on. But for now their meeting place was a small, unnoticeable, clearing in a cornfield that had several poorly built benches to sit down on.
Tenten, however, preferred to sprawl out upon the ground and avoid the benches, which were covered in fungi and animal droppings. Neji did the same, but Rock Lee and Gai sensei always used the benches.
Today, Tenten was the first to arrive at the meeting place. Usually Neji was the first but occasionally Lee and Gai were, since the two always arrived at the same exact time. It was just another reason why Tenten didn't like Rock Lee; he was Gai sensei's favorite student. Neji was the strongest, Lee was the sensei's favorite, and she herself did not have a title that was at all significant.
Neji Hyuga arrived about five minutes later. Like usual, he was silent and didn't talk at all. He was also the smartest member of their squad. Just another thing to make Tenten feel even worse, but it actually didn't bother her that much; she was nearly as smart as he was but she preferred to keep her intellect to herself.
"Hello, Neji," Tenten tried to start a conversation, still lying on the ground. "What do you think of the weather this morning?"
Neji didn't reply. He just sat down on the ground. But he did turn his head to look at her. Tenten gazed into his eyes, trying to read his emotions but failed to do so. She did, however, not notice that he was staring her. But then again, she was staring him as well.
"Well, I think it's wonderful," Tenten replied to her own question. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"
"I suppose," Neji answered after a few seconds. "And you?"
"I… don't know," Tenten answered. Her eyes fell down to the ground in shame. She didn't want to share the details about her 'disease' with one of the few people she could talk to.
"How do you not?" Neji asked. Even though she was no longer looking at him, Tenten could mentally imagine him raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I just don't," she casually replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Neji knew better than to press the subject further, so he just fell back to being quiet.
Tenten then resumed to gazing around at nature's objects. The pebbles that were nestled into the ground were glazed in the sunlight and glistened across the clearing. The corn stalks brightened in the newfound light and Tenten could have bet all the money in the world that she saw them grow taller.
After thirty minutes or so, Lee and Gai sensei finally showed up.
"What took you so long?" Neji questioned the two out of pure impatience. "You're almost as bad as Kakashi sensei." In the previous years, Neji had been assigned to go on dozens on missions with Hatake Kakashi.
"Well, you see, I thought that I set my alarm clock to 5:30 a.m., but it turned out that I set it to 5:30 p.m.," Gai sensei replied. "And you know how Lee always waits for me and all."
"But as soon as Gai sensei was awake, the two of us did fifty laps around the village to make sure that it doesn't happen again!" Lee enthusiastically replied. "And now, our youth will shine brightly today!"
"Whatever," Neji replied with slight annoyance.
"What is today's mission, Gai sensei?" Tenten asked, sitting up now. Her hand unconsciously covered the bandages wrapped around her arm.
"We will be starting our journey to Sunagakure no Sato; the Village Hidden in the Sand," Gai sensei answered with pride in his voice.
"But what will we be doing there?" Tenten asked.
"You shall find out when we get there!" Gai sensei replied. "But after we finish our business there we will be going to Iwagakure no Sato; the Village Hidden in the stones, then to Kirigakure no Sato; the Village Hidden in the mist, and lastly we will be visiting Kumogakure no Sato; the Village Hidden in the Clouds."
"Why are we going to all of the villages where the other Kages are located?" Tenten asked. "And wouldn't it be easier to go to the Village Hidden in the Mist, then the Village Hidden in the Clouds, then stones, and lastly sand, or in reverse order?"
"The order that has been chosen is not traveling distance purposes, Tenten," Gai sensei said in response. "The order has been chosen for more important reasons that should become apparent along our journey."
I hate it when Gai thinks that I'm the most unintelligent person on our squad! Tenten exclaimed in her head. He's always praising Lee and Neji and I never get any credit at all!
"Do you understand, Tenten?" Gai asked.
"Yes, Gai sensei. I understand," Tenten reluctantly replied.
"Good. We'll be leaving at noon so I want you guys to go home and pack right away," Gai spoke.
"Yes, Gai sensei!" Lee enthusiastically shouted.
Geez. It would have been easier if he told us to pack for that long of a mission before we came here, Tenten grumbled within her mind.
"Oooh! I know something we can do!" Lee shouted out. "Since we were late to the meeting place, let's see who run another fifty laps around the entire village and then race back here! The person who gets back here first will increase their daily youth!"
"Lee that is a great idea," Gai sensei spoke. "I'm so proud that you are my student. But let's make it fifty laps on our hands!"
"Just to make this clear; I'm not walking on my hands around the village in broad daylight," Neji announced in a very formal way.
"And I second that notion," Tenten said.
Neither of them could understand how Lee or Gai thought like that.
A/N: That's the end of chapter two… Basically, since this is a re-write, it was just a modified version of the original first chapter.
Thanks for reading and please review.
Question for all you people: Should I create a forum? If so, I could take a lot of different directions. I could make a nejiXtenten forum, just a general forum, or one primarily (though not entirely) focused on 'The Dragon in Her Heart'. If the last one, this would be where I could reply to my reviews, answer any questions you might have, explain some things maybe, or just talk about things in general like suggesting good fanfics to read and ect. I could also help anyone out with their fics and give advice and that stuff. You might also get deleted scenes for my fics or learn the basic knowledge about my next ones. Advertise for your stories as well. Discuss about the manga... By now you should get the picture. Anyway, let me know what you think.
B/N: Hello everyone! Shikyo no Amatsu Shinsei here! (You probably knew me as tenjichan earlier.) Anyway, as I am the Beta Reader of this story, I have the privilege of giving you guys chapter previews! Chapter 3 is really interesting…and I know what's going to happen…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-cough cough. Ahem, anyway, here's the long awaited…drum roll PREVIEW:
The team embarks on the first stage of their mission! Off to Suna they go! On the train ride, which is Tsunade's choice of transport for them, will Neji learn something strange about Tenten? And there are rumors of war, which is why Neji believes Tsunade is being so careful and only allowing the best ninja squads out of Konoha…What could possibly happen on the journey, that determines snippets of Tenten's FATE?!
Ooh, the suspense!
Anyway, that's all from me for this chapter, see you next time!
Important announcement from Crack God:
I'll be updating twice a week now! Expect updates every Friday and every Monday until specified otherwise!
