You know what's nice about Tenten? She can say almost anything, yet she isn't exactly out of character, because we have no idea what she is like! Moving on…I've finally updated…It's long…Please tell me what you think! I didn't say this before, but I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

UPDATE: Originally, I had some other song for the scene with Anko, but I realized I had to change it, so it isn't as good as before. The song played in Anko's class was written by my friend, Katri, just for that scene...Sure, she didn't bother actually reading the story, but whatever.

The Japanese terms in this chapter are:

-Hajimemashite: "nice to meet you" or "how do you do?"

- Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: said when you first meet someone, usually after you have said your name. It can also mean "I request of you".

- Gomennasai: sorry

-senpai: (term or honorific) someone that has done something longer; guides and protects kohai; implies mentor relationship

-kohai: (term or honorific) someone that has done something shorter; respects and obeys senpai; implies mentor relationship (This term is not used; it's here for the sake of completion.)

-Ohayou gozaimasu: good morning


X…Normal Point of View…X

He knew she was at school right now, but he couldn't help but search for her face among the many civilians his team passed. His teammates, surprised by his sudden interest in the village, had been exchanging glances he wasn't supposed to see, but he didn't care.

They didn't know about her, and he intended to keep it that way.

A lesser ninja might have told them and asked for advice, but he felt no emotions towards them, as he knew they were nothing but a sign of weakness...But Tenten, her delicate features lit up in delight

No, she was different. She had no connection to his dark past.

No connection to him.

Maybe, with him admiring from afar, she oblivious to this feeling rising within him, it was best that way; nothing to lose.

Nothing to gain.

Which freaking sucks.

Still, he knew it would be a huge, irreversible mistake if he told anyone, particularly his worthless teammates. Actually, he would've been as close to happiness without Tenten as he could be if he just ended his teammate's pointless lives right now, but he knew he mustn't.

Because of the life, the path that had forced upon him at a young age, his village would have completely freaked out if he unnecessarily attacked any of the other villagers.

He highly doubted Tenten would go for a missing-nin.

Then again, why would someone like her go for someone like him in the first place?

X…End of Normal Point of View…X

X…Hinata's Point of View…X

Wednesday, August 1, 6:55

Sitting at a long table/desk made for three by myself, waiting for Neji-nii-san's sensei to arrive, I'm trying to figure out the names of the other people in my class when I'm suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, Hinata-san!" I'm on a first-name basis with someone in this room? I look up, only to find that the owner of the voice has taken the seat next to mine.

She is wearing a pink, Chinese-style shirt, baggy capris, and has done her brown hair up into two twin buns. "A-ano…" She's on Neji-nii-san's team! What was her name…? She seemed to realize that I didn't remember her name.

"Tenten! Same team as Neji."

"H-hai! G-gomennasai! Ohayou g-gozaimasu, s-senpai." I could feel my face turning red.

"'Senpai'? Hardly! We're in the same class! It doesn't matter that I'm a year older. Just call me Tenten. No need to be so formal. Besides, we already know each other. Do we have any other classes together?" Tenten thrust her schedule into my blushing face. "A-Ano…"

"Right. Sorry." Tenten set her schedule down on the table. I placed mine next to hers. After a few moments, Tenten shook her head.

"Nope. Only this class and lunch. Still, it will be nice to have a friend to survive this class." I had no idea what she was talking about. Sure, Geometry wasn't easy, but she was talking about it like it was a war zone or something. Once again, she must have seen the confusion on my face, so she clarified for me.

"You've never met Gai-sensei before, have you?" She didn't wait for a response. "Trust me, you're lucky, Gai-sensei is completely-"

Suddenly, a gleaming kunai flew out of nowhere and embedded itself into our table, mere inches from my hand. "EH??!!" Tenten jumped up and stepped back, hands fluttering over her kunai pouch, posture showing she was ready for action.

The kunai disappeared into an enormous, billowing cloud of smoke, accompanied by a chorus of astonished cries from the class. When the smoke finally cleared away, most of the class had pulled out shuriken or kunai, ready to annihilate the foe with deadly accuracy.

On the table, replacing the thrown kunai, was Maito Gai, body twisted into a position not unlike one you might see on a Playboy cover. Gai's enormous smile sparkled at the class, seemingly unaware that most of them were holding kunai aimed at his throat.

"NANI??!"

"THAT'S HIM??? THAT'S GAI-SENSEI???!!"

"WHAT THE HELL??! GET OFF MY DESK!!!!"

Ignoring all but the last shout, Gai's powerful legs leaped off of the table, landing before the chalkboard at the front of the classroom. "YOSH!! I, Maito Gai, am your new Geometry teacher!!" He proclaimed, his fuzzy eyebrows doing a sort of wiggling dance.

As most of the class had not recovered from his disturbingly exotic entrance, this statement was left unchallenged.

"Learning each others' names is a waste of our limited youth! We'll start with something from Algebra, something easy! We'll begin today with…THE PATHAGOREAN THERUM!!!" No one in the class seemed able to work up enough - if any - excitement about the lesson, but that didn't discourage Gai. If anything, it seemed to encourage him. Had a student in the back row not raised his hand, Gai probably would've punched a hole in something because of his unwavering enthusiasm for the subject.

"You! A question?" Gai pointed at the student. Had Gai-sensei not pointed at the student, I wouldn't have noticed him. This student clearly spent most of his time in the background, as his choice of clothes reflected upon this. He wore dark sunglasses; no chances of seeing his eyes. His Konoha headband gleamed in the light as I took him in. The student's look with completed with large, flowing, gray trench coat kind of thing that covered up part of his dark pants and most of his face. It was someone I knew well, and I couldn't believe I had failed to notice him.

Calm and cool like the bugs he collected, Aburame Shino lowered his hand as Gai-sensei continued to grin at him, waiting for an answer.

"It's 7:07. In other words, we now get a three minute passing period to do what we wish." Shino's deep voice rang out through the classroom, gaining the class's attention, just the way most teachers wished they could do.

"Yes! That's right! Everyone, use your passing period to its fullest extend! Go with my blessings! I EXPECT ALL OF YOU TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING GREAT!!" Tears streamed down Maito Gai's face as a beautifully stunning sunset suddenly filled the background, earning Maito Gai many skeptical and disbelieving looks from his audience.

"Ano…Tenten-san, d-does h-he…?" Tenten rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, yes. He always does this. It's worse during practice because Lee usually joins him." Seeing my confusion, she added, "Rock Lee. Green spandex, fuzzy eyebrows, bowl haircut. In short, a smaller version of Gai-sensei, though he's just as strange. Like that one time! Okay, so we're on this mission and completely bored, when Lee turns to Neji and pulls out this hair braiding kit… "

X…End of Hinata's Point of View…X

X…Tenten's Point of View…X

"…Neji, of course, had no idea what it was, but he pretty much figured it out when Lee asked him what kind of braid he preferred! Then, Gai-sensei realized what was going on and started sneaking up behind Neji when…" I trailed off as I watched that guy who had spoken about the passing period get up and walk over towards Hinata and me.

Within seconds, he was quietly standing next to Hinata, rather closely, if you ask me. I gave Hinata my "are you okay with this guy or do you want me to kick his ass for you" look.

Hinata obviously got the message, as she mumbled an introduction. "S-shino-kun, this is Tenten-san. Tenten-san is on N-neji-nii-san's team, one y-year older than us. T-tenten-san, this is Aburame S-shino-kun. S-shino-kun is on my t-team." This Shino guy's head was turned towards Hinata as she said this, though I got the impression his eyes were looking lower than her eyes.

"Hajimemashite, Aburame-san."

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." He turned his head until he was facing me. "You-"

"7:10! I trust all of you had a productive break! SIT DOWN, YOUNG MAN!! THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME FOR YOUTHFULNESS AFTER GEOMETRY!" Gai's dramatically extended finger pointed at Shino, his enormous eyebrows pointed skyward.

However, instead of walking to the back of the room, Shino chose to simply occupy the empty seat on the other side of Hinata, which rather ruined Gai's effect. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than that to put Gai off, so he continued.

"Now we will embark on an epic journey that is…THE PATHAGOREAN THERUM!!"

The entire class moaned at the same time.

X…End of Tenten's Point of View…X

X…Sakura's Point of View…X

Fifth period, survival class, in the gym, Mitarashi Anko, no show.

The gym was behind the school, connected to the school by two large doors. It was roughly the size of a football field, with many dramatic bumps and dips on the surface of the dirt floor. In other words, it was a pathetic excuse for a gym, and it was rather obvious that it had been added to the school as an afterthought.

Well, to be fair, the overall effect wasn't all that bad. There was a small stand with a microphone. Speakers had been hooked up and placed around the gym so that all parts of the room would be able to hear whatever was blasting through the microphone.

In other news, exactly one half of the school stood waiting in the gym, gathered in clumps as they muttered theories to their comrades about why Anko-sensei wasn't here.

Because of the way the school system was designed, half of the school had Survival fifth period while the other half had it fourth period. According to Tsunade-sama this made "perfect sense", though I didn't see it why it matter.

"But, seriously, it's up at least 2.3 percent since last week…"

Whoa! I had totally forgotten that I was standing next to Naruto as he continued rambling on and on about the rising prices of ramen. Sometimes I completely space out like that, just trapped in my own thoughts.

"…If the prices continue rising like this, they'll be blah blah blah blah…"

It was kind of funny, really. If he applied this expertise to anything we were doing in school, he'd probably be the smartest kid in class.

"Hey, isn't that your friend?"

Once again, Naruto's voice broke through my thoughts. I looked towards where he was pointing to see Ino walking towards us. Her azure eyes narrowed as she smirked, her ponytail spreading out like a cape behind her.

"Well, well, well. Sakura. Still trying to do something about that forehead?"

"Well, well, well, Ino, still trying to change your name? I was thinking something that would describe you better. Wait, no, Ino-pig is fine!" Ino's eyes flashed with anger.

"You're so lame, Sakura. Have you seen my Sasuke?"

"You wish, Ino-pig. He's mine!"

"Eh? Sakura-chan, Anko-sensei's finally here!" That distracted both me and Ino. Sure enough, Anko-sensei, a boom box under one arm, had just walked through one of the large doors and stood before the class. This apparently signaled the class to immediately raise their voices and discuss her late arrival.

"About time! She kept us waiting long enough."

"I liked her entrance better than Gai-sensei's entrance."

"God, I'll need counseling after that one…"

"A boom box? She's carrying a boom box? What's up with that?"

"No idea. This should be interesting."

"Finally! I was starting to think I'd come to the wrong class."

"Then you're stupid! Look at all the other people here! You really think all of us would be stupid enough to come to the wrong place?"

"Well, if they're all blonds like you…"

"Shut up, forehead girl!"

"Damn Ino-pig!"

"Hm…I wonder what we'll do since Sensei arrived…"

"I've got new socks on!"

"Think we'll do anything interesting?"

"I don't see how the class can get anymore boring."

"Just you wait, it probably will get worse…"

"I don't know, Anko-sensei doesn't seem too bad."

"You're only saying that because you haven't heard her-"

ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!! SCILENCE, MAGGOTS!!" Anko-sensei's powerful voice shook the gym. More than one ninja flinched and instinctively grabbed at their kunai pouch. Anko-sensei grinned.

Naruto turned to me with a devilish look on his face. "She probably took the job just so she could freak people out…" He muttered, just loudly enough for me to hear.

Back at the front of the gym, Anko-sensei had placed the boom box on the small table with the microphone and was currently hauling bags of something from behind the door to inside the gym. After she had moved three large bags, she appeared satisfied.

"Okay, listen up maggots, because I'm only going to explain this once. In this class, we'll have units of varying lengths. Some will deal with aim while others will deal with strength. If you aren't working hard enough, you'll fail. It's as simple as that. Any questions?"

Several ninja raised their hands. Anko-sensei walked over to the one closest to her. He kept his hand in the air, waiting to be called on. Suddenly, she grabbed the hand in the air and twisted it behind his back, producing a kunai out of nowhere to hold up against his throat. "You're all ninja. You waste time asking questions, you die." Anko-sensei snapped, releasing the student as suddenly and quickly as she had grabbed him.

Leaving the student to massage his wrist and murmur something under his breath, Anko-sensei walked back to the front of the room and continued. "All of you would be wise to remember that. Ninja don't have time to stand around asking questions like some kind of freaking investigator. Don't bother wasting your breath asking things. If you have a question, answer it yourself."

"Now, I'm sure you've all been wondering what these are for." She nudged one of the bags with her foot. "It's our first unit. Everybody, take one!" Anko suddenly picked up the bag and swung it around, hitting everybody with the contents. I grabbed one and examined it. It was a piece of rope with two strips of cloth on either side. I tugged on one and was surprised to find it come off in my hand. Looking closer, I realized they had Velcro that made it possible to take them on and off.

"Flag belts. Tie them around your waist tightly enough so that they don't fall off, but loosely enough that you will be able to take them off later. Make sure the flags fall on the side of your legs. Trust me, boys, you'll be in pain if they fall anywhere else." Anko-sensei demonstrated, putting one on just like she had instructed. "Get into groups of six. I'll explain the game then."

Naruto turned to me, eyes shining. "Sakura-chaaan…"

"Fine, Naruto. We'll be on the same team."

"Shikamaru, we're on the same team!" I turned to see Ino talking to Shikamaru, who had appeared out of nowhere. "Troublesome woman."

"Shikamaru!"

"Nice to see you, Naruto. This is too troublesome."

"You four and these two are a group." Anko-sensei pushed two guys I had never see before towards us, and disappeared before anyone could voice any objections. The tall one with curly brownish-red hair, button-up blue shirt and matching blue pants said hello and introduced himself, though I forgot his name immediately. The short one with tall black hair, red eyes, and a flowing, black cloak said nothing. Naruto seemed like he was going to say something, but Anko-sensei began talking before he had a chance.

"Okay, everyone's in groups. Now, you're going to try to take the flags of the other people in your group. I don't care how you do it, just do it. If you lose both flags, you're out. Last person with at least one flag wins. You start when the music starts." Anko-sensei was standing by the boom box on the small table and turned it on. Everyone winced at the large amount of feedback. Frustrated, Anko-sensei shouted, "I'll fix that! Just start now!"

Without warning, Naruto leaped forward and grabbed one of the short guy's flags, victory evident in his eyes as we watched it fall to the ground. Naruto reached for the other one, expecting an easy win.

However, this guy wasn't about to stand there and let it happen again. He jumped back, sending a few whizzing shuriken heading towards Naruto's direction. Naruto ducked, then retaliated with a few of his own shuriken aimed at the still airborne short boy. There wasn't much he could do to stop them, so he settled for simply protecting his head. However, that wasn't what Naruto was aiming for; one of the shuriken tore through the fabric of the flag belt, effectively causing him to lose the game.

Simultaneously, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and I turned to face the other opponent, our intentions evident in our smirks. With four on one he didn't stand much of a chance, but he did manage to scratch me with a kunai and came close to taking one of Ino's flags.

With the latest threat out of the way, Naruto and I turned to face Shikamaru and Ino. It was obvious that none of us was going to turn on a teammate unless we had no other choice.

Meanwhile, Anko-sensei had finally managed to distance the boom box and microphone so that the least amount of feedback and the most amount of music could be heard. She smirked as the first few notes of a love song began seeping through the speakers.

Tensing up as I wait for our first date,

Everyone in the group jumped back, muscles tense, waiting for action.

I can feel the pounding tick of a far off clock

I studied the expressions of Ino and Shikamaru.

counting down the seconds he's late.

Suddenly, Ino did a rapid series of hand signs. I leaped into the air, pulling kunai out of my kunai pouch and throwing them at her.

The others are alive with smiles,

Naruto rammed into Ino from behind, sending her flying away from my knives, stopping her from completing whatever jutsu she was about to use.

While I sit here, jealous,

A smiling Naruto stood, holding one of Ino's flags. His smile fell when she landed, caught her balance, turned around and triumphantly waved one of his flags.

Wishing he would go the extra miles.

I landed near Shikamaru, fingers inches from his flag, only to find I couldn't move.

I look up, paralyzed at the scene before me,

He smirked. "Kagemane no jutsu is a success."

He's over there, kissing some other girl,

Shannaro!

I start to cry as I turn and flee.

X…End of Sakura's Point of View…X

X…Normal Point of View…X

Maybe, when she came home from school, he would approach her.

He could just ask her something trivial like the time, or maybe what school was like, or maybe he could say that he'd seen her around a few times and would like to know her name.

Of course, he wouldn't say he actually knew her name was Tenten, but it would give him a reason to say his name, and then she would know him, and then maybe she would think about him and even come to like him.

It would be completely out of character for him to do something like that, but he had been feeling differently since he had first seen her.

Considering the state she had put him in, it was a brilliant plan.

The only question: would she be able to accept him? If his teammates told her stories about him…

There was no way that would end well.

Then again, how could someone like him liking someone like her end well?

It just wasn't fair. Her unsympathetic teammates could spend all the time they wanted with her, but he didn't get one single minute.

If he could just have one minute of her time, he knew something would happen.

But what?

Would she reject him, only seeing the labels his village had put on him?

Would she accept him, realizing those incidents hadn't been his fault?

He wasn't sure. Maybe, he needed the opinion of…

Hey, kid. What's up?

It was The Voice. He hadn't heard it for awhile, so he assumed it had gone away.

Ever since one of his family members had done…that…he had heard The Voice.

Sometimes, it helped him get through the days no one would talk to him.

Sometimes, it tortured him.

He knew he wasn't supposed to hear The Voice, so he usually tried to ignore it.

What, kid? Didn't cha miss me?

Go away, he told it. I'm trying to think.

'Bout what?

Try as he might, he couldn't stop the images of Tenten from rising to the front of his mind.

Ooohh…Girl problems.

It's really none of your business, he told The Voice, trying to sound more confident than he was.

C'mon, you know I can help.

He had been betrayed too many times to fall for that.

Who am I going to tell?

Okay, The Voice did have a point. Trying to calm down, he told The Voice all about Tenten.

Ouch. That's tough. Well, the mission will end eventually, so we better get started.

We?

Not waiting for a response, The Voice quickly told him exactly how to get close to Tenten.

X…End of Normal Point of View…X