Chapter 4: The Cost of Deception
Six months after being discharged from the hospital and resuming her official duties as a jounin instructor and her unofficial work as an enemy spy, Tenten stood in the office of the Hokage, summoned there along with the other jounin sensei who had genin teams with at least a year's experience out of the academy.
"This year's Chuunin Exams will be held in Kumogakure in three months' time," Orochimaru informed them. "I await your decisions on entering your teams."
They answered in order of team number, as was tradition. "Team Two's answer," Ebisu said as he stepped forward and placed a sealed envelope on the table. Anko, standing beside the Hokage's desk, took it and read the contents.
Under the Sandaime Hokage the instructors had announced their team's participation openly. Orochimaru had a different system, a test within a test. Jounin instructors informed him of their decision secretly, and after that the genin teams and their sensei had to try and figure out who else from their village they'd potentially be facing in the exam. Ebisu will enter his team, Tenten decided. Ebisu's genin, lead by Sarutobi Konohamaru, the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, had shown promise.
"Team Three's answer," Genma announced, depositing his envelope with a swish of the senbon gripped in his teeth. They will definitely be entered. Genma had received one of the most unusual genin teams in recent memory, but no one denied they had been shaped into a formidable heavy combat unit. It was rare for relatives to be placed on the same team, but Genma's genin were identical triplets, scions of the Inuzuka clan. The three boys had been eerily in tune with each other since they were toddlers, and their clan combination techniques, now backed up by the three ninken the brothers had bonded with, made them too powerful together to split up.
Expectant gazes turned to Tenten. "Team Four's answer," she said, handing Anko the envelope with the form entering her team in the exam.
Anko's eyes flickered, but she said nothing. Tenten had expected skepticism. After her capture Rock Lee had taken a leave of absence from the academy to train and watch over her students until a new jounin instructor could be found. They hadn't been able to take missions for months since Lee hadn't been a jounin at first. He'd actually passed the jounin exam towards the end of Tenten's captivity and would have become their permanent sensei if she hadn't returned.
Ken had been thrilled to have Lee as their sensei, but Tenten's first visitors in the hospital after her family had been Amaya and Kaede, who – after reassuring themselves that she was all right – begged her to save them from Konohagakure's second Green Beast. Apparently Lee and Ken's "youthful" embraces were just as visually disturbing as Gai and Lee's man-hugs had been.
Left to her own devices Tenten would have played it safe and not risked her girls in an exam in a foreign village without another year of seasoning, but Kabuto had passed on orders from Sasori last week; he wanted her in Kumogakure for the Chuunin Exams. Ultimately, despite their youth Tenten was confident that her students were capable of meeting the challenge. Amaya had activated her sharingan on their first mission after Tenten returned to active status, a nasty fight with some bandits and a pair of chuunin-level nuke-nin who lead them. Kaede had been receiving extra lessons from her clan in the use of her kikai bugs, and Ken had flourished under Rock Lee's tutelage, opening three Inner Gates by the time Lee was done with him. The time hadn't improved his fashion sense any, but he was a skilled taijutsu specialist, and unlike Lee Ken had normal chakra coils and could perform basic ninjutsu.
Nara Shikamaru, the only other jounin Tenten's age who currently had a genin team, handed over his envelope, referring to the whole process as "troublesome". Tenten honestly didn't know if Shikamaru would enter his team, which consisted of a young man from the Yamanaka clan, a kunoichi from the Akamichi clan and another boy from one of the minor clans absorbed after the fall of Takigakure. They weren't much older than her students, and Shikamaru was impossible to get a read on, always had been.
"Team Six will not compete," Sarutobi Asuma growled with a look of irritation on his face, not bothering to hand over an envelope. After a moment of stunned silence, some jounin protested their exclusion while others looked relieved.
Asuma's genin were fifteen and the most experienced of any team under consideration. They were Hyuuga Hanabi, a byakugan user; Moroshi Tanai, a green-haired boy from a newly formed clan of Grass kekkei genkai users, and Nara Shimi, one of Shikamaru's shadow-wielding cousins. Tenten met Shikamaru's eyes and then both of them glanced at the room's last occupant, standing by the door.
"Asuma has withdrawn his team from competition in Kumogakure at my request," Hyuuga Hiashi stated firmly. "The Raikage has coveted the byakugan for decades, and I will not send my daughter or any other member of my clan into his grasp." Those who hadn't understood before did now. Hiashi had lost his twin brother to Cloud's schemes when his eldest daughter was an infant.
Orochimaru spoke up. "As we are of course sensitive to the security concerns of the Hyuuga clan, we will conduct a private evaluation of Asuma's team here in Konohagakure after the exams, and promote his students internally as appropriate."
Asuma still looked annoyed on behalf of his students, and Tenten could understand why. While merit promotions internal to the village produced most chuunin (and all of the jounin), the Chuunin Exams were more than just a means of being promoted; they were a chance for aspiring elite shinobi to showcase their skills. The audience would include the daimyos, as well as the wealthy nobles and merchants who dispensed many of the most lucrative contracts to the villages and frequently requested specific shinobi. Forming connections with those prospective clients could land shinobi lucrative repeat business, or even prestigious and well-paid positions in the daimyo's personal guard. Asuma himself wore the white sash of the Twelve Guardians and had served as the Fire Daimyo's guard in his youth.
"Those of you who have chosen to compete, make your squads ready for the exams. You all know the penalty for failing to reach the Final Round." Another of Orochimaru's rules once he became Hokage was that any genin team that failed to reach the Chuunin Exam's Final Round couldn't compete the following year, and any jounin sensei whose teams failed twice in their career was barred from further instruction of future genin, a source of significant income and prestige. "We leave for Kumogakure in two months. Dismissed," Orochimaru instructed them. The jounin commanders filed out of the room.
Tenten met her genin on Training Field Fourteen that afternoon. Ken showed up first, falling into his usual routine of habitual exercise until Amaya dropped from the trees, and Kaede strolled out of the forest, hands in the pockets of her voluminous overcoat.
"So did you enter us in the Chuunin Exams, sensei?" Amaya asked straight off.
Tenten raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha. "What makes you think the entries have been decided?" The teams from Konohagakure entered wouldn't be announced publicly until the start of the exams.
Amaya rolled her eyes. "Half the village has heard Konohamaru bragging, going on about how he's going to win the Chuunin Exams and prove himself worthy of being Hokage."
"The Inuzuka brothers have also been quite… vocal in congratulating themselves on their participation and predicting dire fates for their opponents," Kaede added quietly.
Ken was frowning. "You have to enter us, sensei! I can't let Konohamaru get ahead of me! He's my rival in becoming Hokage!"
"Ken…" Tenten said patiently. "Do you think Konohamaru and the Inuzuka boys are being wise, announcing to everyone that they've been entered in the exam?"
"Well… yeah. Everyone has to acknowledge them as the strongest genin in the village if they're going to the exam!"
Amaya's eyes lit up in understanding. "They're not being smart, sensei. They're not the only Leaf teams going, are they? Now everyone else who's going knows to prepare to face them."
Kaede nodded. "They've been so loud that word might actually reach the embassies of the other villages, and then the foreign genin would be told, too."
"That's right," Tenten said, pleased. "The entries are secret for a reason, and those boys have disadvantaged themselves for the sake of their pride. What place does pride have in a ninja's life?"
"None," all three genin answered. It was something Tenten had drilled into them from day one: confidence in one's skill and self-knowledge were essential for a ninja, but unwonted pride and arrogance were dangerous. The graveyards of hidden villages were full of the remains of proud young ninja.
"So did you enter us?" Ken asked.
Tenten looked at all three seriously. "You know your abilities, and you know the other genin teams from our village. You should also know that this year's exams are being held in Kumogakure, a village that doesn't allow its own genin to complete until they've been in the field for three years, minimum. Every other team in this year's exam will be older and more experienced than you. Do you think you can perform well enough on a field like that to reach the final round? Remember that if you don't make it to the final round, you'll be barred from competing in the next exam. Next year's exams will be here in Konohagakure, with a more favorable field of contestants."
Amaya looked at Kaede, who nodded, and Ken, who gave her a thumbs-up. "Our youthful strength will see us through!"
Amaya grimaced at that statement, but looked at Tenten steadily. "I do. We're a team, and we've had great teachers."
Tenten smiled. "Good," she said quietly. "Now I need all three of you need to look really disappointed, like I just told you that I didn't enter you this year." Ken's dismayed and confused look was completely genuine. Amaya on the other hand, got it instantly and killed a grin, instead crossing her arms angrily.
"But sensei, we're ready for the Chuunin Exam! You know we are!" Amaya's high voice carried clearly to the trees.
"This is a mistake," Kaede said with a note of disappointment in her voice. Tenten noticed a handful of kikai bugs dropping out of Kaede's coat and flying away low to the grass.
"We don't get to go?" Ken said, puzzled. Amaya stomped on his foot. "Ow! What did you do that for- oh," he said as he finally got it. "That's not fair, sensei! If Konohamaru becomes chuunin before I do, I'll never catch up to him!"
Tenten let the genin argue and complain, replying to their shouts with observations that their emotional reactions proved they weren't ready. Eventually, her sense of two nearby hidden presences faded, and some of Kaede's bugs returned. "They're gone, sensei. It was Udon from Konohamaru's team, and one of the Inuzuka boys' dogs."
"Good work," Tenten congratulated them.
"So we are going to the exams?" Ken asked hopefully.
"You are, yes, and your first assignment for the exams is to make sure no one finds out you're going. As far as anyone is concerned, even your families, I held you back from the exams. I am going to train all of you in preparation, but we're also going to maintain the pretense of being a normally operating team that isn't participating, so we'll take a few short missions to deflect suspicion. We're also not going to travel to Kumogakure with the Hokage's procession. That means no big parade and no servants setting up comfy tents, but it also gives us more time to train, and it means that your fellow Leaf genin won't know you're in the competition until they see your names on the roster. Meanwhile, you'll all be preparing to face them, and the foreign shinobi you're likely to encounter."
Tenten reflected on the advantage they wouldn't even know they had, thanks to the Akatsuki. When Sasori had ordered her to take her team to the Chuunin Exams, she'd requested information on the competing genin teams from other villages. Sasori had delivered, and Kabuto had handed her some sealed folders just two days earlier, currently hidden in the safe in her apartment that ANBU didn't know about. She'd be able to prepare her students for everyone they'd face, not just the other ninja from Leaf.
Amaya and Kaede exchanged a glance. "I don't know about the Aburame, but now that my sharingan is active, my clan is expecting me to go to the exams, and they'll be upset with you if I tell them I'm not going. I don't want to cause trouble for you, sensei. If I tell them it's a secret they won't spread it around."
"I'm not trying to impugn the honor of your clan, Amaya, but as shinobi you need to understand the only secret that is safe is one that's shared by as few people as possible. Chuunin are privy to secrets that they can't share with their families. I know you trust your relatives, but do you trust all the servants on the Uchiha compound? The people who work underfoot are easy to forget, but they have eyes and ears, and a coin in their hand can buy what they learn." Amaya frowned, but nodded reluctantly.
"As for the ire of your relatives, let me worry about that," Tenten reassured them. "Now, I want to know how each of you is planning to prepare for the exams."
"Yosh!" Ken exclaimed. "I will run five hundred laps around the training ground! Then I will do a thousand push-ups! Then I will spar with Lee-sensei! Then-" he trailed off when Tenten shook her head.
"Ken, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that your physical conditioning and taijutsu are better than just about any other genin out there. That doesn't mean you need to stop practicing, but you need to think about what's going to happen in the final rounds if you find yourself facing an opponent who doesn't fight head-on. What are you going to do against a Mist ninja who's a genjutsu specialist without Amaya there to break the illusions? What if you have to fight genin from Iwagakure who can disappear underground, or a long range specialist from the Cloud village who's going to try and fry you with lightning jutsus before you ever get close enough to hit him?" Tenten couched them as generic examples, but she knew from Sasori's reports that genin with those abilities would be in the exams. The other villages were fielding a strong batch of genin, but at least no one was entering any jinchuuriki this year, like they had for Tenten's first Chuunin Exam.
Ken was looking troubled and thoughtful once she was finished. "So… I should focus on other abilities?"
"That's right. I'm going to work with you on resisting genjutsu. You actually have an advantage over Lee, since you have the chakra to break illusions on your own, but you're going to need to get better at recognizing them." Tenten paused. "I've also asked my former sensei, Maito Gai, to meet with you next weekend and evaluate your suitability for learning one of his special abilities."
Ken's eyes got big. "I get to train with Gai-sensei?" he asked eagerly.
"If he decides you're capable of learning what I've asked him to teach you, yes. Make sure you get some rest before you go to see him."
"Yosh!"
Tenten turned to Kaede. "What about you?"
Kaede didn't reply right away. "I will seek advanced training for my kikai bugs from my clan. I will tell them that I wish to improve myself so that my sensei cannot deny me a space in the exams next year."
Tenten nodded. "That's good. Spreading misinformation and training at the same time. The kikai bugs are useful in a wide variety of situations; Shino's have saved my life more than once. What will you do against an opponent who neutralizes your bugs? Mist and Cloud ninja can produce wide-ranging water or lightning attacks to damage large parts of your hive, there are Rock ninja who exhale clouds of poison gas through earth element techniques, and of course you may encounter Leaf genin like Amaya capable of using fire jutsus to simply burn your hive. The bugs also lose many of their advantages if an opponent gets close to you. You can't always rely on Amaya and Ken to keep opponents at a distance, and they won't be there for you in the final rounds."
Kaede considered that. "I am not the first Aburame to be faced with these challenges," she reasoned. "I will inquire as to how my elders have dealt with this situation."
"That's a good idea," Tenten told her. "Ask your uncle Shino for a demonstration of the weapons he keeps up the sleeves of that coat of his. Once you've talked to them come see me and we can plan out how to spend our time over the next few months." Kaede nodded silently.
Tenten's eyes turned to Amaya. "You've had the most time to think about it, Amaya. How are you going to improve?"
"I want to perfect my chakra control within a month," Amaya said confidently. "I was hoping you could help me, sensei."
"I'd be happy to assist you with that, but I'm curious as to what your end goal is. Chakra control by itself is useful in battle only as a means to an end."
Amaya told her with an impish smile, and when Tenten was done laughing, she agreed without hesitation.
That evening, Tenten sat on a stool at one of the bars frequented by jounin, nursing a beer and trying to look worried. It seemed to be working. Ebisu and Genma had already stopped by to let her know that they felt she had made the right decision in holding her team back from the exams. It was hard not to laugh in their faces, but if her students could keep up the act, so could she. The talk with Shikamaru had been far more nerve-wracking. He'd heard the rumors too, but was more curious about how she intended to handle the reactions of the Uchiha and Aburame. They'd played a game of shogi over bar peanuts, Tenten lost with good grace, and Shikamaru left without Tenten being any closer to figuring out of he had entered his team or not. When Tenten had ordered her genin to keep their entry secret even from their families, it hadn't been because she was worried about Ebisu or Genma finding out; she wanted to keep Shikamaru in the dark, and even with all the precautions she gave herself no better than even odds of succeeding.
The crowd was thinning out when a new arrival tapped Tenten on the shoulder. Looking up, she saw Anko leaning on the bar with a twisted grin on her face and a drink in hand. "Come sit with me," the purple-haired woman said, jerking her thumb to one of the private booths in the back. It wasn't a request.
"Of course, Mitarashi-sama," Tenten replied, picking up her drink and following the Hokage's wife. Sliding the curtain aside, Tenten slid into the private booth opposite Anko. They were alone.
Anko winced at the formal mode of address. "Tenten, unless we're in the Hokage's office it's just Anko." Tenten nodded in acceptance. "Now, I'm a little put out with you," Anko continued, "I had a pair of irate Uchiha clan elders in my office earlier this evening, demanding that their granddaughter's genin team be placed with a different jounin sensei, one who would enter her in the Chuunin Exams, since her current and 'obviously unfit' sensei had not." Tenten held up one hand apologetically before Anko could continue, and made three quick hand signs, surrounding their booth with a privacy jutsu. Anko leaned across the table, eyes narrowed. "Two hours I had to listen to them bitch at me, Tenten. You're lucky I'm forbidden from talking about the nominations submitted by the jounin sensei or I would have told them the truth just to get rid of them."
Tenten took a long drink to keep herself from laughing. Anko looked annoyed enough already, and Tenten reminded herself that the other woman had a short fuse and poisonous snakes up her sleeves. "I'm sorry that happened, Anko," Tenten said, trying to sound sincere and suppress the mirth in her voice. "They were supposed to come to me with their complaints."
"Oh, they will," Anko said, sounding satisfied. "I informed them that the Hokage would not be reassigning any genin teams to new instructors until after the exams, so if they wanted to change any mind, it would have to be yours." Tenten had a moment to be relieved that Anko wasn't mad anymore before she saw the malicious glint in the older kunoichi's eyes.
"What else did you do?" Tenten asked suspiciously.
Instantly, Anko was a model of affronted innocence. "I would never stoop so low as to seek revenge on one of my cute subordinates for siccing her student's irate grandparents on me to conceal her team's entry into the Chuunin Exams," Anko proclaimed, before ruining it with a malevolent smile. "Just like I wouldn't mention in passing that I was meeting that cute subordinate for drinks after work and let said grandparents follow me."
Blinking, Tenten was suddenly aware of a pair of substantial and angry chakra presences; they were nearby and coming closer. "You didn't," Tenten said, eyes widening. She was edging for the exit to the booth and mentally evaluating escape routes when she felt something cool and scaly wrap around her calf, binding it to the leg of the bench under the table. An alarmed glance revealed it to be a snake. Tenten checked the colors. Yup, it's poisonous.
"Ahh… Anko?" Tenten asked, feeling the first beads of sweat on her forehead.
"Oh, don't mind Kasumi, Tenten," Anko said with an evil smile. "She's just likes being affectionate sometimes. She'll be on her way in a few hours, and she probably won't bite you… as long as you don't move much." With that, Anko got up from her seat. "Have fun." With a cheery wave she was gone.
Feeling a growing sense of desperation, Tenten glanced back under the table. "I don't suppose I could bribe you with some live mice or something if you let me go," she said to the snake. If it had a name, it was probably a summoned animal and intelligent enough to understand her. "Anything in the pet store, really. Just let me get out of here and it's yours."
The snake looked amused as it shook its blunt head. "You're going to have to listen to them too," she warned the reptile. It let out a resigned hiss, but didn't loosen its grip. "Fuck," Tenten muttered. She'd known she would have to deal with Amaya's relatives, but she'd hoped to put it off and handle them in a more official setting. Preferably in public, with witnesses. She was pretty sure they wouldn't kill her with other people watching.
The private booth's curtain moved aside, and a pair of dignified, gray-haired Uchiha slid into the opposite side of the booth where Anko had sat. "Elder Taka. Elder Chihuya. What a pleasant surprise."
A waitress came by, and the pair ordered some tea. When the curtain closed again one set of sharingan started spinning, then the other. "Why hello there dear," Elder Chihuya said in a matronly voice that was about as soft and cuddly as a katana blade. "I'm so glad we caught up with you. You see, we've heard the most disturbing rumors about the entries to the Chuunin Exams, and we wanted to make you aware of them. It wouldn't do for a simple mistake to cost our granddaughter and her sensei their chance at future advancement." The old harridan's tea arrived, and she sipped contentedly from the small cup. "It is incorrect what we've heard about Amaya's team not being nominated for the Chuunin Exams, isn't it?"
"No, you heard correctly." Tenten winced at the wave of killing intent that crossed the table, and set out trying to get her favorite student to the Chuunin Exams unnoticed without being murdered by the girl's relatives.
By the time she made it home, Tenten was sufficiently exhausted that she was actually opening her front door before it registered that there was someone inside her apartment. The lanterns were lit, and there was noise coming from the kitchen. Drawing a kunai, Tenten edged along the wall, peering around the corner.
"Good evening, Tenten," Neji said from his spot in front of the stove without turning around. He tossed the contents of the wok he was holding over the flames, making the contents sizzle.
On her first mission in the field as part of Team Gai six years earlier, Tenten had expected to end up doing all of the cooking as the only female in the squad. To her surprise Neji had taken on half of the food preparation without complaint. Lee and Gai were both hopeless at cooking, but they were happy to fetch firewood and fresh water in the evening, so it worked out well.
Neji had reacted to Tenten's shock that a Hyuuga knew how to cook with a bitterly amused smile. "Members of the main family like Hinata don't know how to cook, Tenten. In the branch family, though, we don't have servants. We learn to cook, clean and do our own laundry."
"Neji!" Tenten exclaimed with surprise. "You're back early." Making the kunai disappear back into her pouch, she strolled into the kitchen. "That smells great," she commented.
"Thanks," Stirring the meat and vegetables in the wok, Neji shrugged. "We caught a lucky break, the nuke-nin they sent us to deal with were easier to find than we thought. They were pushovers, some degenerates wearing old Hoshigakure headbands, but they didn't have any of the meteor power they were famed for."
Tenten leaned back on the counter. "I see," she said. I'd be surprised if they did, since Kumogakure took their meteor almost thirty years ago, she thought, but kept that to herself. After all, Neji didn't know she'd seen the ruins of Hoshigakure and knew exactly how brutally the Cloud ninja had butchered their former neighbors down to the last woman and child they could find.
"You look exhausted," Neji commented as he took the food off of the stove and divided it onto two plates.
Tenten nodded glumly as they sat down at the table. "I'm still alive, and I consider that a victory." Damn you, Anko… "I spent the last few hours being alternatively lectured and threatened by Amaya's grandparents."
Neji raised an eyebrow. "You decided not to enter your genin in the Chuunin Exams?" he asked neutrally.
"Their families and everyone else think so, and that's how it's going to stay, no matter how many creepy sharingan they point at me. They'll get over it once they actually attend the exams, and maybe they'll stop thinking they're the only ones who know what's good for Amaya," Tenten declared before digging into the food. "Neji, this is delicious!"
Maybe it was a bit hypocritical to tell Neji after forbidding her students from telling anyone, but she knew Neji would keep the secret, and she couldn't say the same for every member of Kaede and Amaya's clans. Ken was easy at least; he'd become a ninja to help provide for his civilian family, and they had no clue about or interest in the Chuunin Exams.
Neji laughed, and shook his head. "So basically, you invited it on yourself?"
Tenten growled at him, but it lacked feeling. "Apparently I invited it on Anko, who chose to retaliate by trapping me in the jounin bar, out of uniform and beer in hand and alone with the pair of them. Not the setting I had wanted to have that conversation in."
Neji winced. "Nasty. Still, the worst is over, unless the Aburame decide to retaliate. You may want to check your bed for bugs tonight."
Tenten shook her head. "I never had a chance of keeping it secret from the Aburame. I know how many of the insects flitting around the village report to that clan. Shino and Shibi, at least, already know, but they'll respect my intention to keep Kaede's entry a secret. I just didn't want her spreading the news all over her clan compound."
Stirring her food, Tenten frowned. "The only person I'm worried about is Shikamaru. I have no idea if he entered his genin, but if he did he'll be on the lookout for which other teams are entered. I don't think he can read me any better than I can read him, but no one's 100% certain what goes on in that man's head except Ino and she has two advantages I don't." Neji looked at her curiously. "One, she's sleeping with him, and two she actually can read his mind." He snorted in amusement.
When they were done with dinner, Tenten cleaned the dishes, and the pair of them sat down on the couch. Neji picked up the book they had been reading together on the rare nights when they were both in the village and free from duty, a romance of star-crossed shinobi from enemy villages, and they read together by lantern light. After a while, Neji's arm slipped around her shoulder. A little while later, during a particularly touching passage in which the young man soliloquized his devotion to his beloved, Tenten was already starting to nod off when Neji's face grew closer to hers. She looked up, and before she fully realized it their lips met.
Tenten stiffened and pulled away. "Neji, I… I can't. I'm sorry," she said quietly.
He drew back, taking his arm from her shoulder, shaking his head. "No, Tenten I should be the one apologizing. That was thoughtless of me." He took a deep breath. "I should go. I'll see you later?" Tenten nodded wordlessly. Neji rose to his feet, headed out onto her balcony, then leapt onto the rooftops and was gone.
Alone, Tenten let herself flop down onto the warm spot on the couch he had left, rubbing her face with her hands. "I am the worst person ever," she whispered to herself.
Neji had been her first, back when they had both been chuunin, and they had been 'friends with benefits' for years prior to her capture by the Akatsuki. Back then, it had been Tenten who wished the relationship could be more than it was, but the realities of clan politics interfered: Neji may have been a branch Hyuuga, but he was also the strongest Hyuuga in a generation, and as such his marriage would be decided by his uncle and the clan elders, and it would not be to a clanless kunoichi whose father was a blacksmith. She'd already figured out they would never be more than lovers when he'd apologetically explained it years ago, and she'd accepted that.
Her time with the Akatsuki had changed everything. Tenten understood now that what she had felt for Neji was a combination of youthful infatuation and the allure of a safe harbor in a village where a young kunoichi couldn't trust most of the men around her. More importantly, her heart now belonged to another, a man who was undertaking dangerous work nations away – a man who wore a black cloak with red clouds.
However, maintaining her cover meant that upon Tenten's return she had been forced to pretend that her feelings hadn't changed. She knew that even after being cleared by the Yamanaka that she was still on the ANBU's watch list, and would be for years. As such, she had to be above suspicion. Unfortunately, during her absence Neji's feelings had only grown stronger, and he was more committed to her than ever. It was problematic, since Tenten was strictly a one-guy kind of girl, and Neji wasn't that guy anymore. Tenten had needed a reason to keep Neji at arm's length without arousing the suspicion that a breakup without an explanation would create. Any abrupt change in her life after returning to the village would be put under a microscope.
At first, the cover story of imprisonment and torture Tenten had concocted to facilitate her reinsertion into Konohagakure had seemed to provide a solution to the problem it created. The wounds she had been found with had all been real of course, but suffering them had been her idea. Sasori, Deidara, Hidan and Konan had all tried to talk her out of it, accepting the plan reluctantly because they didn't have an idea with a better chance of success for how Tenten could return to Konohagakure without being executed out of hand by the famously paranoid Hokage. Tenten hadn't actually been raped any more than she had been truly tortured; Kakuzu, the Akatsuki's expert on torture, had inflicted the wounds on her back and broken bones as professionally as he could, and Konan had reluctantly helped Tenten simulate the internal injuries with the aid of a blunted rod.
But Neji and her other friends in Konohagakure believed she had been violated by her captors, so when she shrank away from his slightest touch after returning home he accepted it, hiding the hurt she saw flash in his pale eyes. She'd expected, had hoped, that he would give up on her as damaged goods and move on, but she had badly underestimated his resolve. Half a year later he was still a perfect gentleman, almost moving into her apartment to look after her when she'd left the hospital, spending time with her, cooking meals for her, and rarely initiating any physical contact. That brief kiss was as bold as he'd been in the last six months.
Tenten could see how much he cared, and how much her feigned fragility hurt him. She still cared about him as a friend, and her escape from intimacy with him had become torture for both of them. She was beginning to wonder what she could do if he didn't move on soon. She wanted to believe that enough time had passed that she was above suspicion, but she still saw ANBU out of the corner of her eye too often to believe that.
With those cheerful thoughts in her head, Tenten tried to go to sleep. She had a lot to teach her students in the next three months, and she couldn't let her cover and her perfectly messed up relationship with Neji distract her from that, as much as she wanted to curl up into a ball of shame just thinking about it.