Hidden Secrets

Genre: Drama

Info: Tenten is currently dating the famous Uchiha Sasuke and THE Hyuuga Neji is her best friend. What could possibly go wrong with two prodigies there to protect her and care for her? With pressure from Sasuke and the other girls, she develops a complex eating disorder called bulimia nervosa and begins to purge her food.

Warnings: Eating Disorders and possible OOC.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Wow, I am so sorry for the late update! I've been really busy, and I haven't been able to work on this story. This is the 2nd chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Also, I know that I said that the last chapter was the prologue, but I decided that I wanted to go more in depth with Tenten's explanation of the past and how the current situation came to be, I think that it will help with the flow of the story more, and help to make upcoming events more understandable.

Also, mad props to my readers and reviewers. I think all of you are awesome! I'd like to give special thanks to Kimberly (anon.), WeaponsMistress, xSodapopxxYa dig, Rukia Chan9, GeishaBabe192, Tsukiko Yuki, nejitenrocks, 0-TenteN-0, Blossoms of Spring, and Matahari for reviewing! Now, on to the story…….


As I sat on the cool concrete park bench with my eye lids closed, a gentle breeze blew by, causing fallen stray strands of my hair to float softly in the wind.

For a moment, it was silent, except for the occasional bird chirping or children's laughter. And then, once that moment passed, a loud, slightly obnoxious feminine voice came, "Tenten, we are so glad to see you! We have so much to catch you up on."

It was Ino, as she had said this, the blonde put both of her hands onto each one of my shoulders, causing me to jump a little in surprise. I shrugged her palms from my shaky shoulders, responding with a smile and a "Hi Ino."

I looked to the side of the medium height girl, and saw two other girls with smiling faces. "Hey Hinata, Sakura!" I spoke, once again adorning my round, but not too round, face with a cheeky grin.

"Hello Tenten-c-chan." Hinata stuttered out.

"Hey Tenten!" Sakura said excitedly.

These girls, they were a year younger than me, yet over the years, we managed to become really great friends. I suppose it was because my friends, who are the same age as me are always away on missions when I'm not, and vice versa. It seems that our schedules just didn't fit, resulting with me always hanging out with my guy friends, and an extreme lack of girl talk on my part.

When Neji got over his hatred toward the main family, I instantaneously became friends with Hinata, since it seemed like I was always at the Hyuuga Compound. She ended up introducing me to Sakura and Ino.

Anyways, back to what happened then.

"So, what's been going on lately?" I questioned enthusiastically.

"O-oh," Hinata spoke while handing me a beige envelope with the Hyuuga seal on it, "th-this is from N-Neji-ni-san. He asked me to give it to you."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

"Anyways," Ino cut in, "So a few days ago, Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru, Shika is the team leader, went on a mission to get Sasuke back."

"Back, when did he leave?" I asked innocently.

"Oh, well when you were 'getting better', Sasuke ran off with a group from the sound village." Ino said smoothly, as if it was just another piece of gossip meant to be dished.

I looked over to the other two girls in the group, Hinata looked like she was concerned, probably for Naruto and Kiba, and Sakura, well, she seemed to have a blank stare on her face, pointed in the direction of the ground. The expression on my face turned from a carefree one to a concerned one that was directed toward Sakura.

After a few moments, Ino sensed the awkward silence and directed her gaze back to us from the space around at which she was looking at. She saw Hinata's face, then mine staring at Sakura's, and finally, she too noticed the blank look on her pink haired best friend's face.

The blonde's hard face then melted into one full of sympathy, her blue eyes held an apologetic gaze.

"Sakura," she spoke softly, "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to pinch a nerve. I-I can s-stop if you want." Ino finished up in a very Hinata-ish manner.

"No, don't, it's okay, Tenten should know, so go ahead and tell her." Sakura cut in.

"B-but Sakura, it's not my story to tell. It's yours."

"It's okay, go ahead and tell her."

"Are you sure?" asked the somewhat confused mind transferring kunoichi.

"Yes." the pinkette released in a low soft voice.

I looked up toward Ino who was standing right in front of me, somewhat eager for her to continue, and continue she did.

"Well, a few nights ago, as I have mentioned, Sasuke left with four shinobi from the Sound Village, who call themselves the sound four. Supposedly, he left that night to seek greater power to defeat his older brother, Itachi. He left in the middle of the night, since normally, most people were asleep already, and he figured that way, there wouldn't be such a big fuss about his departure, however, one person was up and currently taking a walk around the village, and she spotted him." she breathed in deeply and paused for dramatic effect, "and that girl was...Sakura." Ino looked toward Sakura for a second, who nodded in consent to let the melodramatic narrator continue.

After seeing the nod from Sakura, Ino had continued, while I sat quietly, listening intently, as Hinata did the same, recalling what she had been told earlier.

"Sakura already had a gut feeling what Sasuke was doing up so late…rather early, upon seeing the backpack placed on his back and the direction he was walking, her suspicions were confirmed. He was indeed attempting to leave the village. She walked out in front of him, blocking his current path, he simply side-stepped her a few inches and walked right pass her as tears came threateningly close to falling. As he went farther, the pent up tears seeped from her emerald eyes. She spoke with a soft voice, asking him to stop, then in a more serious intense tone she said that if he went any further, she would scream. For a moment, it was as if time had stopped as more tears rolled slowly down her face and a light breeze blew by their still bodies. Within seconds, Sasuke was standing directly behind her. He slowly breathed the following words into her ear," Ino took another pause for intrigue, then continued in a voice worthy of imitating the Uchiha prodigy's, "'Sakura…thank you.' With those words said, he knocked her unconscious, and two shinobi carrying paperwork found her lying asleep on a cold, hard concrete bench nearby the next morning, with Sakura," she paused and looked over to Sakura, "awakening and screaming Sasuke's name. From there, she was brought to the Hokage's office to tell the tale. So that's what happened."

"Oh." I managed to let escape from my slightly rosy lips.

"Yeah, so that's when Sasuke left and why the boys left on the mission."

"Oh, I see," I spoke, "well," I turned and gave a comforting look to Sakura, "I'm sure they will get him back. After all, they do have some of the best shinobi on the case. Well actually," I said a bit skeptically, "they could have been done by now if they had us with them, after all, they are not as good without the kunoichi's on their team, eh?" I questioned as I gave all three girls a humorous wink.

At may antics, Sakura laughed, then smiled as she said, "That's true, if we were with them," she points to each of us, "Sasuke would be back already." At her statement, we all laughed.

Once again, the mood was returned to the light-hearted one that was there earlier before Ino explained the whole situation.

"Hey Ino, I didn't know you could be so good at describing things" I sputtered out then continued, "and did I hear you call Shikamaru, Shika? What is that, a pet name?"

"No, it most certainly is not!" the blue-eyed girl defended.

The lavender-eyed Hinata and pink-haired Sakura snickered along, earning a minor glare from Ino.

"Besides," Ino said changing the subject, "I have some major gossip to dish about. Who care's about that lazy freak?" Hinata, Sakura, and I exchanged looks.

"Hey," Ino spoke as she pulled us off the bench, "I saw that! Anyways, let's go grab a bite to eat, I'm starved. You know, the Barbeque place finally got salads, and I hear they have a great raspberry vinaigrette dressing."

"Ino, I just got out of rehab, I would rather eat something more than a salad, I haven't had a proper meal in months. I'm majorly craving some carbohydrates and protein - I.e. meat," I said.

"Well, it's not my fault that you decided to go on that anti-food path," she said jokingly, "plus, it's a B-B-Q restaurant, meaning BARBEQUE as in MEAT, or have you forgotten that BBQ restaurants have meat while you were in the loony bin?"

I gave her a half-hearted offended look.

"Tenten, have you forgotten that I'm such an awesome actress that I can spot when someone is acting?" She asked boastfully, while quirking up an eyebrow. "Plus, your heart wasn't quite into the act this time."

She knew how good of an actress I was, in fact, they all know now, for over a year, I had managed to fool everyone into thinking that I was all right, even though I wasn't. In fact, I was so good, I had even fooled myself.

I shrugged off the thought about my past, and just decided to deal with what was to come, although at that time, I didn't expect what happened in the past to happen again in the future.

Anyways, once again, back to the story.

"Hey Ino," I exclaimed, "so what was that gossip you were dying to tell me?"

"Oh gosh," she ranted as the four of us walked to the restaurant, "Well, you know Shojo Takara, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, she goes out with Somoti Mohiro."

"Really, but isn't she like 16 and he's like 12?" I questioned with pure interest.

"Yeah, well, evidently, since her 'Anbu boyfriend' got sent on a mission, she was left dateless for the upcoming festival, and Mohiro just happened to be the first boy to ask her after she heard the news of her boyfriend's departure."

"Wow. She went from dating an Anbu black ops to a newbie genin, all because of a festival?"

"Yep." As Ino had spoken that particular bit of scandal, we arrived at the BBQ restaurant and walked in.

End Chapter 2.


Chapter 3 Preview

As I was about to lay down on my bed, I had suddenly remembered the letter Hinata had given to me. I pulled it out of my pocket, I gently unflapped the Hyuuga seal, then broke it, opening the envelope and pulling out the letter, which was written on fine Hyuuga stationary.

The letter read…

Dear Tenten,

And to this day, I still have that letter sitting in one of my old antique jewelry boxes.

A/N: So, how was it? Tell me what you think. I hope you didn't find this chapter too boring, more action will come as the story progresses. I just had to set the story up for the action. Also, in the next few chapters or so, I'm going to start writing in the time period the fic is supposed to be taking place in. Anyways, please R&R. Thanks for reading. By the way, no, this story is not going to end up being Sakura-centric even though there are going to be parts that have to do with her.

-Wise Angel192