Chapter 7: The next step

Tenten

I never had a mother or father. I grew up as an orphan, living on my own for much of my life. Where people like Hinata and Ino live with their clan and their family, I live in a small, empty apartment. It's something I have accepted about myself. And it's really alright, because I have Team Gai.

Despite Lee and Gai-sensei being ridiculously crazy, I have grown to love them as I would siblings. Lee, Neji, and Gai were all there for the important moments in my life. They were there for my birthdays, when I made chuunin, every time I learned a new technique. They coached me and encouraged me and helped me develop.

I am forever grateful to them for their love and support, but even so, it's never quite the same, is it? I've never had a mother to tuck me in at night. I've never had a father to teach me how to polish weapons properly. I never had anyone to return home to after a long day's work.

Well, until Neji. My apartment is practically his now. He keeps spare clothes and supplies there. I often find him with scrolls spread out across the counter, researching. He chips in and cooks dinner often as well. I am forever grateful for him being in my life as a constant presence.

But it doesn't mean I still wouldn't give anything to be held by my mother, just once.

I spend most of algebra sifting through my new memories, the fake ones. Shikamaru, after correctly answering all of the teacher's questions (much to her frustration, might I add), leaned over his desk and promptly fell asleep. I was left alone to my thoughts. I have many new memories of this school. I find I can recite the first twenty digits of pi and can summarize the plot of A Tale of Two Cities. I can pick out the names of most of the students in the room. The further back I try to remember, though, the fuzzier things become. I can remember everything up to about four years ago, and then things get hazy. I guess that makes sense, since I don't actually belong in this universe.

What causes a shudder to run through me, though, is that I can faintly remember having a family here. I can picture kind eyes and a bright smile, my mother. I can picture a crinkled brow and a sharp nose, my father. In this world, I do have a family. I fight the tears that try and surface. Oh god. I've always wanted a family. All I've ever wanted is to feel like I belong. I inhale slowly, trying to stubbornly ignore the prickling in my eyes. These memories are fake, I remind myself. They aren't real.

I think I may have started snoozing as well, because I am startled awake by the blaring of the bell. Shikamaru blinks lazily beside me.

He must read something in my face, because he leans over and asks, "Everything okay?" I nod sharply, and he drops it. He seems suspicious though, so I doubt I've heard the end of it.

Algebra was our last class of the day, and we promised Shino we'd meet up afterwards. Shikamaru and I head towards the dorm. We agreed to meet in Shikamaru's room, as it's the closest to the school. Shino is waiting for us when we arrive.

"Well?" he asks.

"We saw your teammates, Ino, and Temari today. No sign of Neji though," I say as Shikamaru unlocks his door.

"I know he is here. I Have seen him on occasion," Shino adds. That soothes my nerves somewhat.

We all file in to Shikamaru's cramped dorm room. I collapse into the desk chair and Shino gingerly sits on the bed. Shikamaru leans against the closed door.

The room is silent for a few minutes as we all reflect on our day. I haven't seen Neji with my own eyes yet, and it's making me anxious. I've never liked being separated from my teammates for too long, especially Neji. Beyond that, I'm feeling a rising level of dread as I realize just how monumental a task it will be to try and get everyone to believe us.

"What do we do now?" I voice aloud.

"Good question…" Shikamaru grumbles.

"Well we know all of the lost people are here, now we just need to get them to remember. The trouble is, how? Most of them are pretty damn stubborn…" I muse.

"All of the people…hold on, where's Akamaru?" Shikamaru asks. I'm startled by the question. I hadn't even thought of the dog, but thinking about it now, it is strange Akamaru hasn't been sighted. "We've seen all the people who went missing, but Kiba never goes anywhere without Akamaru. Shino, Akamaru was with you on your mission, right?"

Shino nods slowly. Shikamaru is right. It's rare that the Inuzuka is seen without his stalwart best friend, yet I haven't seen or heard of a dog here. Akamaru must've been sucked through the rift, since he never showed up in Konoha. Which means…what exactly?

"What if Akamaru got stuck in a completely different universe? And what even is this universe? How are we even here? How long will the rift even stay open-"

"Tenten, calm down," Shikamaru sighs. "One thing at a time. There's no point worrying about the rift if we can't convince our friends to come back with us. That should be first and foremost on our minds. We should all be on the lookout for Akamaru, but it'll be easier when we have Kiba on our side to help look. The best way to explain the situation to our comrades is to get them all together. We can talk to everyone at once, and hopefully being around familiar people will be helpful. Now, how do we get everyone in one place? Any ideas?"

The room lapses in to silence again, all of us racking our brains for ideas.

"A party?" I ask. "Since they aren't our best friends here, a generic party might make them more inclined to meet with us."

"No, a party will be too big, with too many people."

"Detention?" I try. "We could be like the Breakfast Club!"

"How are we going to get 8 people into detention?"

"A club?" offers Shino, finally speaking up. Shikamaru and I turn towards him.

"A club?" Shikamaru echoes.

"Well, there are clubs for film and for cooking…they bring people with common interests together," he explains.

"Yeah, but how do we ensure that only they want to come to this particular club, and other people don't?" I inquire. "It'd have to be a pretty lame club for the rest of the students to not want to participate."

"Ok, let's think about this. We'd advertise for a club with posters, yes? So we want our friends to see the poster and be intrigued. But, as Tenten says, it needs to be unappealing to the rest of the students. So we name it something boring, but let's say we put some symbol or something from Konoha on it, as a gentle jog to the memory. Maybe that will catch their eye," Shikamaru rationalizes.

"Like the Konoha leaf symbol!" I exclaim. "When I saw it on my wrist this morning, I could tell it was something I should know."

"Exactly," Shikamaru says. "So what should the name of the club be?"

"Konoha club?" I volunteer.

"We can't explain that to the administration." Shikamaru drawls.

"Ninja club?"

"Who wouldn't want to join that, be serious Tenten."

"I'm-totally-from-a-different-universe-and-don't-belong-here-club," I bark with growing agitation.

"Look if you're not going to take this seriously-"

"History of the Japanese Shinobi," Shino says definitively.

Shikamaru and I look at each other. "You got a better idea?" Shikamaru asks me. I shake my head.

"History of the Japanese Shinobi it is, then."

We spent most of the evening finalizing our posters. Hopefully, the fact that history is in the name will deter most people. And using the term shinobi instead of ninja makes it seem less exciting too, I suppose.

It's late when we finish and call it quits. Shino and I retire to our respective rooms. Although my body feels entirely exhausted, I find sleep is still out of my reach. My thoughts drift, as they generally do, to a certain pale-eyed ice cube. I think about yesterday morning, before this whole mess had started.

Neji had woken up before me, as always, and quietly gotten ready for the day. He was already in the kitchen eating breakfast by the time I rolled out of bed. I had taken my typical frigid shower and dressed in my battle gear. Tsunade would be sending me out on a mission later today, and I had to be prepared.

Neji had a slid a large mug of coffee over to me when I sat down at the counter. He was reading some dusty old book that looked pretty dry to me.

"Going somewhere, today?" he asked me, noting my attire.

"Mission," I replied. He gave no outward indication that he had heard me, but I knew he was listening.

"Anything interesting?" he inquired.

"Not really," I lied. In truth, I would be going on a difficult kunoichi mission…as in a seduction mission. I never liked telling him about those. He generally got frustrated knowing I had to romance some stranger while he had to sit back in Konoha, wondering what slimeball was drooling over me at the moment. But I refused to let him accompany me on such missions. I generally went with Lee, and that only aggravated Neji more. I just didn't want him having to watch me do such a thing in the field…he respected my wishes, but I knew he was never happy about it.

"A seduction mission with Lee, hm?" he said, his voice still low and even, but I could hear the irritation in his tone.

"And how would you know?" I challenged. He took my rolled mission scroll from behind the counter and set in front of me. He was challenging me right back, and I could feel an argument coming on. I hated our arguments, as infrequent as they were.

"Been snooping through my stuff, have you?" I kept my voice level as well, trying not to inflame him more.

"Well it isn't like you tell me about these things." He hadn't even looked up from his book, the smug bastard.

"Well it isn't like it's really your business anyway."

At that, he slammed the book shut and glared at me. "You know very well that it is my business, Tenten."

"Not really, no," I spat. I knew by the way his brow furrowed that I'd finally struck a nerve.

"Considering we are in a relationship, I feel that it is my business when you go flirting with other men."

That did it. How could he compare my assigned missions to flirting?! It's not like I even wanted to go on these missions at all! "Funny, calling it a relationship, when all we do is sneak around and bone behind other people's backs. Soon the Hyugas will find you a nice, clan-approved wife, and I'll be thrown to the dogs. But please, continue being all up in my business. While you can." I felt a little bad after saying it, I really did. Neji was in a precarious situation, and I had always been understanding. It had been a low blow, and Neji's scowl proved that he thought so as well.

He stood up suddenly from his chair, grabbing his book and walking to the door, pausing only to slip on his shoes. He said nothing else to me and slammed the door on his way out. I rubbed my temples. He must've been very mad to just walk out like that. He hadn't even raised his voice. Usually our fights escalate to yelling before either of us walk out.

But I knew, that like always, he would burn his frustration out training during the day, and by the time I'd finished my mission he would come back and we would make up. It's what we always did.

Instead, though, he had walked out that door and disappeared.

That was the last time I'd talked to him.

Funnily enough, I never went on the mission that started the whole argument in the first place.

I finally drifted off to sleep sometime early in the morning, and woke up more exhausted than I'd been in a long while.