The mission room was crowded, shinobi of all caliber were lining the walls, anxious to begin the meeting in an unusual display of calm and order. Normally one or two (Genma and Raido) were having some sort of contest or pushing and shoving each other or mock challenging Gai if he were there. Tonight, the laconic shinobi whispered quietly to one another or not at all, as they leaned against the peeling grey paint awaiting orders. Shikaku entered carrying a scroll under his arms, and then deftly called everyone to attention as he laid it down and unfurled it.
"About 6 hours run north of Konoha," the scared-faced man began, "an unknown number of rouge insurgents began to rally for support from local port towns," he brought out a picture of a older man, with a hidden stone insignia on his hitai-ate, who looked like he had broken his nose more than once time in his lifetime, and placed it on the table for all to see. "This man, Ranku, is said to be their leader, if he looks familiar, he should, he has been in the bingo book for more than 15 years. He is our main target. We need to take him out, which should disperse the radicals, as long as we can get them out of port towns. With out back up or assistance, they won't retaliate and take it out on the citizens of the villages along the coast. Their goal is to eventually take out Konoha, and we need to keep these small villages our allies, not to mention protect them. If Ranku turns the villages against us, it gives him a greater foot hold to attack Konoha when his forces are strong enough."
Everyone shifted silently, coming to grips with knowing their actions could create all out war with in the next few hours. Some one cleared their throat, and then Skikaku continued.
"We will be breaking apart from the assigned teams in order to maximize our effectiveness over the next few hours."
There will be four teams, Tsume, Kakashi, Hana, and Kiba will be the tracker leads for each team, Hinata, Neji, Ko, and Tokuma will each be assigned as eyes for the team leads. Every team will have a tracker, and every team will have a Huyga for eyes. Here is the breakdown of the teams…"
Shino was going with Kakashi and Neji, his team had been dispersed in favor of more experienced ninja being assigned on each team rather than keeping his together.
He noticed Tenten had not been assigned a team. Niether had Gai, Lee or Anko.
"You four," Shikaku looked up to see they had gathered around the table in an orderly fashion. "Gai and Lee will be branching off to the North East tonight, Anko and Tenten will be going North West. You four are our fastest shinobi, we need your speed to scout and then report back to these groups." The shadow user indicated that Gai and Lee needed to report to Kiba, and Tenten and Anko to Hana's team. He handed them their conscripts outlining their specific duties. Shino was uneasy about the mission, but at least he wasn't on the same team as she was. She would become a distraction, and Shino wasn't sure he wouldn't be able to stop himself if she got hurt. With a curt nod the four shinobi disappeared into the hallway, and Shino took inventory that Kakashi had slipped out with them, giving Shino a wink to him that he had gotten caught but was still going anyways.
Tenten quickly pulled Lee and Gai into the hallway, distracting them with a treat from the vending machine so that Anko and Kakashi could share their moment alone.
Half gloved hands cupped her pale face, the concern in his eye, the closeness to her body, it all spoke of how he wouldn't be able to breathe again if he lost her. She gave him a toothy grin, spoke reassuring words as she played with the zipper on his flack jacket, and winked at him to comfort him. He knew, all to well, front line duty, the scouts, sometimes never came back. She was tough, he knew more than anyone else, made of far sterner stuff than he, and he still couldn't help but hold her close, whispering, promising, how much he cared about her, wanting her to return safe. He squeezed her tightly, his arms trying to enfold over her body as if to protect it, his grip showing the frailty of his psyche if he would ever lose the hold he had on her. With a bit of protesting from her part saying that indeed, she wasn't going to die, he closed his eyes, still pressing her close and letting his forehead rest against hers.
"I'll be back terrorizing your apartment, ordering takeout, wearing your clothes, and leaving obscene messages on your mirror for you to find when your shower fogs it up before you know it," Anko promised as he stroked her cheek with his eye still closed.
"You look good only wearing one of my shirts," he muttered huskily, reminiscing about such things with a smile.
"We'll be fighting over the remote control before you know it," she promised with a smile of her own, for the first time, showing him how worried she was now that they were alone. He pulled his mask down and kissed her, pouring every ounce of his soul into it, leaving her with no doubt that he loved her beyond words, as if desperately grasping onto her in this last moment, because it very well could have been his last with her.
Tenten coughed loudly, announcing that Lee and Gai were turning the corner to come for Anko, so that they could all leave the gates at the same time. Tenten saw Kakashi slip inside as Anko checked her pouch for provisions and weapons. When Tenten left for training with Gai in the afternoon, she had no idea she was going to be pulled into the mission they were discussing at lunch. She would have made a better effort to talk to Shino if she had.
Front scouting. Tenten never imagined that her fast paced running would get her into trouble, not out of it. Statistics stated that front scouts for this kind of reconnaissance had a fifty-fifty chance of not making it back. Tenten fell back in sinc with Anko behind the boys, game face on, fully alert and ready to run.
"Get to say good-bye?" Tenten asked stoically, locking the scroll inside the confines of her pouch.
"Yeah," Anko stated decisively, setting her jaw in a firm angle. Anko suddenly turned to her friend, "you?"
Tenten shook her head as the two konoichi caught up to Lee and Gai marching out of the Hokage tower. She winked over at her friend. "Maybe next time."
The cool night air refreshed the shinobi as they exited the stuffy confines of the tower. Taking off to the gates, Tenten enjoyed the quiet moments of the city with its glowing low lights and hum of insects that hadn't quite made it to hibernating for the winter.
She hoped she would be able to return again, perhaps soon, to enjoy the fading taste of fall hitting the back of her throat now in full force. With a nod to her sensei and teammate, they parted mid-village to pursue different gates.
Gear in tow, the konoichi jumped to the trees and set off, with any luck they would make it to the port town before dawn and get a few hours of sleep before scouting out the town for more information.
Luck would have it: they weren't but an hour away before Anko and Tenten had stopped, now sensing chakra signatures up ahead. There were at least nine of them in a camp, spread out in groups of three, one group taking guard shift while the others slept.
Anko swore in a long stream that hitched between gasps of air.
Leaning up against a tree, the konichi paused to catch their breath and look at each other.
It was the look you give your comrade when you knew you were both going to die: the kind that led to huge confessions before going in guns ablazin'.
"Remember your boots you saved up for, the black leather ones that went up to your thighs?"
"How could I forget? I saved for five months for those puppies," Tenten responded grabbing a kunai and hoping to the opposite tree as their enemies approached.
Anko peered around the tree with a nod that they were coming, "I broke the chakra signature on them after I tried them on with out your permission," Anko nearly shouted as she defended a blow coming from her right, the enemy nin coming to attack swiftly and efficiently with no warning.
His partner launched himself at Tenten with out hesitation, and Tenten stepped off the branch in a jinx to her left, making her pursuer follow to a trap set below.
"I love those boots, Anko!" the Weapons Mistress called above her, flushing out the other nin who tried to grab her from behind. She flipped him over with inertia, and the black-clad ninja rolled neatly to his feet. He unsheathed a katana from his back and slowly made his way towards the younger ninja.
"Kakashi loves them too!" was her response, almost drowned out by the clinking of kunai and other weapons being thrown or clashed together in the treetops.
Tenten frowned at her opponent, who had a look on his face as if he had already won as he inched his way towards her.
"Ahh!" was Tenten's drawn-out disgusted response, although the ninja in front of her thought that she was upset over her current seemingly weaponless situation.
When he tried for a clean finishing blow, she directed him straight into a tree, slamming his face into the bark and breaking his arm cleanly as she took his weapon.
"I'm sorry they broke! I know you liked them!" her call was farther away, moving progressively from their camp. Tenten rushed up the tree tops to engage in another furry of attacks.
"Sit up and hold still," Tenten informed breaking the plastic so the chemicals could mix inside the clear tube. Tenten forced Anko's head against the tree trunk and quickly wiped the blood trickling down with a spare gauze pad before applying the glue to hold the skin above her brow together. The cut had missed her eye by only a few millimeters, bisecting her eyebrow and nicking the eyelid so that a dot of blood could be seen on the fragile skin covering.
"How bad is your hip?" Anko asked whoozily, now exhausted from lack of sleep, chakra and blood after their scuffle with the rouge nin. She continued to eye the split-lipped konoichi, but only half-lidded; the drip of blood from the gash in the Weapon's Mistress's side now an audible spat against the bark of the tree.
"Give me your arm," Tenten commanded, and hesitated at the gash along her radial bone, needing more medical attention than Tenten's skills had to offer. She settled for wrapping it tightly with the many bandages at her feet, unwilling to stop until her bleeding friend had all her major wounds wrapped to the best of her abilities.
"Sorry about your boots," Anko spoke languidly with dried, cracked lips, turning dangerously white from lack of blood.
Tenten smiled, revealing blood stained teeth next to her swollen bleeding lips. "They're still under warranty," she winked as she finished swathing her forearm, then pushed a blood pill into her friends mouth. Anko chewed without ferver; one could never get used to the sound or taste that near death always brings you. Haling herself up to sit next to her friend by the tree trunk, she lifted her shirt to assess the damage to her side. Tenten hissed and looked away, eyes closed tightly shut at the bloody mess that lay underneath her tattered new coat and shirt.
"That ain't good kid," Anko shifted her weight to help press some gauze to her side. "Lay down, hand me that kit, we are going to have to stitch you up the old fashioned way, we are both depleted of chakra."
Tenten held her shirt up and complied with laying down. She needed sleep, and it was almost morning. Passing out just seemed like the best thing to do at the time.