OK, another chapter down, even longer than the last one.
Believe it or not, I don't own Naruto. Shocker, I know.
"So, what exactly are you going to have to do?" Asked Tenten.
Kankuro had rehearsed this to himself several times, but was still unsure of whether he should go through with it. He had been bouncing back and forth, convincing himself of either way several times. One minute, he would decide that he would go with Baki, and not see her again until he actually had to. Then, he would decide that, screw it, if she was going to die either way, he should just ignore him and try to spend as much time with her as possible beforehand. Than, he would convince himself that he would blow it if he stayed with her, and that his village came before anything else, before reconsidering that in the end, the village only had three more days to go, and that Baki or his father couldn't possibly care enough to do something about THIS before then.
Needless to say, he hadn't slept much. If it wasn't for his paint, she would have been able to see the bags under his eyes.
"Oh, well, you see, Temari kinda freaked out on me again yesterday, since she had to watch Gaara for the last few days, so now I'm going to be stuck with him." At this moment, he simultaneously felt two things. One was a certain degree of relief that Gaara hadn't actually heard any of that. The other was regret that he had chosen that as his decision.
"Alright. So then, can you tell me what the last step is, in case I don't see you again before you go."
"Oh yeah. Just do the same things you did with the one kunai, but with multiple." And with that, he turned and left. She watched him, as if waiting for something to happen.
There was something that was ultimately unnerving about that last comment. His tone of voice sounded, well, sad, which didn't really seem to suit him. She thought about going after him, trying to catch up, but before she had a chance, he had faded into a crowd.
She stood staring for a few more seconds, before heading off. She had her own training to work on, anyway.
Kankuro had almost everything planned out. But there was one thing that he, and apparently no one else, had ever bothered to think about. Downtime. The same thing that had caused everything had now been the one thing he had forgotten about. He couldn't go out and risk being seen by her alone, or she would have found out his lie. Of course, at the same time, he had no intention at all of being with Gaara. In essence, he had just locked himself into a small room for the next few days. Normally, he would have at least been able to open up karasu, take him apart, put him back together, and do it over again. He had done this several times, and could practically do it in his sleep. Now, however, he couldn't even do that.
He watched the ceiling, all 176 tiles of it. He had counted it at least three times so far, and it was starting to drive him insane. Eventually, in defeat, he got up and left. He had managed to spend approximately forty-five minutes in the hotel before giving up and forming a new plan.
If he couldn't stay there, he would just wander, like he had before, when he actually did ditch Gaara. And if Tenten ever see him, then he would just say the same thing that he did the first time.
She had managed to, with hours of practice, make no progress at all. It surprised her entirely that, after all this time, she still couldn't do what he had done effortlessly so many times. Sure, she didn't really use chakra much outside the basics, but it still amazed her that she was this BAD with it. Frustrated, she turned and left.
She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to at the moment. She hadn't really felt that hungry, but it was around noon, and she really didn't have anything else to do. She went towards the restaurant that was closest by, a small tea shop. Or rather, stall. She went around the corner, only to see someone already at the counter, someone she hadn't expected.
And someone that obviously didn't see her.
She snuck up directly behind Kankuro and reached up, slowly, towards his hat. She grabbed it by it's ears and, quickly, yanked it off of his head. He spun around, only to see HER, Tenten, standing directly behind him, holding his hat in her hand.
"Well, looks like your hard at work watching Gaara. Jerk." Said Tenten, obviously annoyed. He had to say something.
"Yeah, I ditched him again." She stared at him for a few seconds.
"...You realize that Temari will probably be more pissed at you now than before, right?"
He tried to think of a response. Luckily, he came up with something.
"No she won't, because she won't find out. She ran into him by sheer chance last time. I doubt that will happen. With any luck, anyway. And give me my hat back!"
She took a step backward, holding it up. "What, this? Why do you even where this, anyway? There's no real functional purpose in it, anyway." He dove towards her for it, but she moved to the side, causing him to miss completely.
"There is no 'functional purpose' in it. It's just a hat. It's called style." He finally managed to get it back, and unceremoniously put it back on his head. "Maybe someday you'll actually gain some, too. Seriously, buns and the worlds most generic ninja pants, mixed with the same sandals that everyone else wears. C'mon, your the most generic looking person I've ever met."
He regretted those words as soon as he uttered them. The look on her face quickly changed to a completely unemotional expression, which served to unnerve him more than he had thought that she ever could. She took a step towards him, and he quickly took a number back.
"You know I was joking, right? Of course I was." He chuckled to himself out of sheer nervousness. "You knew that. You're not really going to kill me, right? Tenten?"
She reached into her pouch and pulled out a weapon scroll. "Well, let's see, I suppose I don't really want to kill you, so don't worry so much." She said this in a surprisingly happy tone, which suddenly switched to a much more sadistic voice. "I'll injure you just enough that you won't need to go to the hospital." She opened the scroll, and probably would have continued had she not heard the voice of an obviously nervous tea shop employee.
"Sir, do you want your tea, then?" They each turned, and the man appeared to shrink back a bit. In his hand was two cups, which confused both of them. Kankuro decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Of course I will." He fumbled around his outfit, looking for money.
He wasn't entirely sure what force on earth or heaven had helped him out, but he was grateful for it. When he had went to the counter, there was a woman already there. After hearing her order, he simply told the worker, who was obviously new and probably only temporary for the sake of handling the sudden burst of people who had entered the village, that he would 'have that, too.' Either the kid was an idiot, which was a distinct possibility, or he somehow didn't hear the word 'that.' Regardless, by some form a fate, he was now holding two cups of what turned out to be really low-quality tea.
"Kankuro, why did you order two cups?" Said Tenten, utterly confused. Apparently, and Kankuro once again was forced to thank some unknown force, she had seemingly forgotten about his earlier comment. He did what seemed like the best possible option at that moment. He lied.
"Oh, well I was just going to go over to that place that you were when I thought, 'hey, I'll bring her tea.' Then I came here, had my hat stolen, and you tried to kill me." She took one of the cups, but kept staring at him.
"I thought I told you, I wasn't going to KILL you, I was just going to cripple you a little." She took a sip from the cup in her hand before sitting down at the bench in front of the stand. He silently sat next to her.
It occurred to him, at that moment, that he had no idea if what he was doing was smart or stupid. If he was somehow caught, then Baki would have to know this was just random chance, wouldn't he? He wasn't entirely sure if Temari would say anything if she saw them, but if she showed up, then he had a bigger problem to deal with, namely that their was a good chance that Tenten would try to kill him again. Or rather, 'cripple' him.
"So, do you usually come here?" Tenten shook her head.
"No, it was just close by." She looked at the cup. "And now I think I know why I don't."
Kankuro hadn't taken a sip yet, so her comment scared him a bit. "Is it really that bad?"
"Well, if I had to choose between this and, say, dirty tap water, I may have to flip a coin." He looked back to the cup in his hand. It didn't actually look that bad, and so, despite what she said, he had to try drinking it. He regretted it, instantly coughing it up. He could hear Tenten laughing.
"You baby. It's pretty awful, but it's not that bad."
"Not that bad! This stuff is barely even tea!" He threw the cup towards against a nearby tree.
"Jeez, you didn't have to do that." She walked over to where he threw the cup and grabbed it before walking back towards him, throwing it into a garbage can along the way, along with her own. "So then, what now?" She didn't really want to go back to the training just yet.
"Well, I still don't know this place that well. Mind showing me around?" She looked at him, curious.
"You've been here for almost two weeks and still don't know the place? What were you doing all of that time?"
"In case you forgot, there's this thing called the Chunin exams going on here. It's kind of a big event." She rolled her eyes.
"Liar. Your just trying to stalk me." Kankuro stood up, slowly.
"Oh really. Than please explain why your the one who snuck up on me."
"Please explain why you were buying me tea when I found you."
"Because...I..." He wasn't entirely sure how to respond. He obviously couldn't tell her the truth, that he didn't actually mean to, and that the idiot (He was sure by now that this was it) at the counter had gotten his order wrong, and that he was hoping to continue avoiding her. At the same time, he definitely didn't want to lose to her. However, it looked like he was trapped.
"Don't worry, its okay. Stalker." She got up and started to walk off, before stopping a short distance away. "You know, I can't show you the village if you don't follow me."
"And over there's the Hokage's Tower. Of course, if you couldn't tell that, your a complete and utter idiot." Said Tenten, pointing towards the largest structure in the village. "And those creepy faces in the rock are the Hokage Monument. Each of the faces is a different Hokage." He looked at them closely. He had seen them several times in his stay, but he wasn't entirely sure what they were of. Looking back, he felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner.
"So, when they run out of room on that mountain, what are they going to do?" He asked, knowing full well that they would never get to that point.
"I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I plan on being dead then. They'll probably start getting rid of the less important one's heads, or maybe they'll just make them smaller. It's hard to say."
They kept walking around the village, Tenten pointing out the various shops, stores, houses, and businesses along the way. They made their way in this manner up to the mountainside itself. There was a set of stairs at the base of it.
"These go up to the top of the monument." Said Tenten. "The view up there is amazing. C'mon, I'll show you." Before he could protest, she started to sprint up the stairs.
"Great. Worlds largest staircase." Mumbled Kankuro, following her up, but at a much slower pace. When he finally reached the summit, a few minutes later, Tenten was already waiting for him, sitting at a bench viewing the entire village.
"God, that took you long enough. I've been here forever." Said Tenten, mockingly.
"You also sprinted." Said Kankuro, sitting next to her on the bench. "It's not like it was a race or anything."
He looked out onto the village. From the height, the village looked even bigger than from the ground. He realized that he really hadn't been shown much of the village at all. In fact, he doubted he was even shown half of it.
"Isn't this view amazing? Whenever I want to get away from the village for a little while, I like to come up here. It's always quiet up here."
He watched her carefully as she said this. He saw as her expression went from her normal self to becoming much sadder, almost depressed.
"Are you alright?" He said, not entirely sure what to say.
"Sure I am." She said, doing her best to smile. "Why wouldn't I be?" He knew those words were a lie. He had used them himself, and it hadn't worked. She seemed to know that he saw through, because she started speaking again, no longer smiling. "...It's just that, when you leave here in a few days, will you remember me? Will I even see you again? Or is all this, just something weird that's happening in my head? My own thoughts? Or is this something more than that?" She looked directly at his eyes. "Kankuro, do you...what do you think of me? Really?"
He hadn't been expecting that, and honestly had no idea what to say. "I-I don't really know, to be honest. I hope I see you again." He knew he wouldn't. "I know I won't forget you." That was true. "I wish I knew what I thought about you." She seemed fairly satisfied with the answer. She moved closer, leaning against him. He glanced her for a second before returning his gaze over the village.
He returned to the hotel a few hours later, after dark. He had no idea what he should think, now. He had thought, previously, that what he felt towards Tenten, if anything, was just simple friendship. But something about her that day, something about her, the person, rather than her, the ninja, seemed...different. He couldn't really explain it, but for some reason she stayed on his mind, always on his mind somewhere, and for the first time since his arrival, he stopped thinking of the time he spent with her as killing time.
And for the first time so far, he questioned whether the invasion was really a good idea.
And this one is done. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(I have to stop writing at midnight)
Thanks to tammy for reviewing.
and to the anonymous reviewer aaa for writing nejiten repeatedly. I tried counting, but gave up at 550. Almost feel like there should be a reward for actually counting.
almost.
(I think this chapter may have single-handedly doubled my word count.)
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