Tenten fidgeted anxiously as she watched Naruto puttering around his greenhouse garden. She wanted to go out and play with her special happy super awesome new boom boom tags, maybe with two or four of her teammates. After all good things should be shared, shouldn't they?
She shouldn't complain though, Naruto had been spending his free time with her nearly non-stop for the past week, it was only fair that she return the favor. She just couldn't understand how he could be so into something so... BORING! Touching the soil at the base of the plants, running a finger along the underside of a leaf, adding a touch of water here, muttering a few words there. It was all so dull, but yet Naruto was engrossed in it beyond any comprehension Tenten could fathom.
Looking at the little plant next to her, one Naruto hadn't visited yet, she sighed and touched the water at the base carefully. It felt moist to the touch and a little gritty, about right for a plant she thought, but some needed more water didn't they? Frowning in thought she turned over her hand to rub the underside of the leaf trying to figure out what that was about.
She hadn't expected it to be fuzzy, but it was. In fact it kinda tickled her as she continued stroking her finger over the plant. She leaned in and laughed lightly as she cooed at it like a baby. "Coochie coo! Oh you're just the fuzziest little plant ever, aren't you?"
"Lamb's Ears are like that..." Naruto's voice from directly behind her danced with mirth. "That is one of my new ones... it's supposed to spread out and serve as ground cover."
Tenten blushed as she turned around, having been caught in a rather weird position. "I... Uhh... you didn't see that, right?"
Naruto smirked and stepped around her to check the plant next to the Lamb's Ears, humming softly as a bee settled on the back of his hand. After a moment Naruto seemed to finally see it, before singing lightly, "Hey there little friend... is your hive warm enough?"
Tenten marveled slightly as the bee danced around on Naruto's hand and flitted off to the hive. Tenten watched as it joined in the milling swarm there, visiting a lot of the flowering plants. "What'd he say?"
"Drones are females Tenten," Naruto answered as he added water to a small tray, where a few sprouts were pushing forth from the ground. "And she let me know they were fine."
The weapon's mistress nodded absently as some of the spouts seemed to straighten right before her eyes. "Is there a reason you sung for her?"
The blonde's reaction was a soft chuckle before putting up his tools. Kneeling down next to a sprawling leafy plant, he plucked off two leaves and offered her one, popping the other into his mouth. "It's simple Tenten, they're a musical creature. You should hear the Aburame singing to them sometime, it's amazing."
Following Naruto's example, she popped the leaf into her mouth, and enjoyed the minty flavor it had. The idea of the Aburame clan singing amused her for some reason, maybe it was the fact that no one outside of their clan could accurately describe one of their faces, or that they talked in monotones normally. Whatever it was, it made her day brighter, just like this mint leaf.
Her musing was interrupted by the introduction of a new element to her physical body. As she quickly pulled on her battle gloves, she figured it might be a good idea to pay attention when walking out of the greenhouse and into the cold weather.
The two walked along silently for a stretch, Naruto taking the lead. For the first time she took the chance to observe him while his mind was distracted by other things. His body language was relaxed and peaceful, but there was a whiteness in his knuckles, a pain lingering in his eyes, and a stiffness in his shoulders that belied that. It seemed as though he wanted everyone to think he was at peace, only to have a whirlpool of pain under the surface.
Whirlpool... wasn't he supposed to be a lost prince of the Land of Whirlpool or something? Would make his Uzumaki surname make a lot more sense.
The turmoil in his shining blue eyes hurt, but it was often drowned out by the oddly too natural smile he was wearing, bearing all his teeth. It took her a moment to realize that he was asking her something, so she just caught the end. "... get some from the shop?"
"Yeah, that sounds good..." Tenten replied, blushing slightly at having been caught staring. She was acting more and more like Hinata did around Naruto. Soon she could just imagine herself poking her fingers together and passing out.
To her surprise, they bypassed Ichiraku's ramen, which was closed for the holidays she saw, and instead entered into another soup shop. Naruto ordered himself a couple bowls of red bean soup to go, before looking at Tenten expectantly. Looking over the menu quickly, she ordered some egg drop soup to go. Once again, before Tenten even had a chance to reach for her coin purse, Naruto had paid for and started carrying the soup containers.
"Come on, let's go see what they left for you today," Naruto offered with a teasing tone. "Maybe it'll be nine geese a laying, or nine red roses..."
"Nine kings ransoms, nine battle axes, nine Gai-suits..." Tenten countered, causing both of them to start laughing at that mental image. After a moment Naruto cleared his throat and indicated her apartment door.
"Shall we find out if your admirer has fuzzy-brow's fashion sense?" Naruto teased.
Tenten smiled warmly at Naruto, before unlocking and opening her door calmly. There was the dummy of the day, the tags dancing merrily off the arms, the stones worn as a crown this time, the kusarigama served as a belt, the shuriken were stacked on a pointer finger, the swords where sheathed across its back, the ingots served as a footrest to give the dummy a rather heroic pose, the gloves were in place, and the kunai was resting against the back hip note dangling down.
Naruto set the soups on the table, while she looked for the new gift. After a few minutes she shrugged and read the note. "Dearest Tenten-chan, Today your gift is not something to be given openly as this dummy would. However, if you look to the HEART of the matter, you will find it. A little RELEASE is all you need to receive the gift. My True Love"
"Why are heart and release in caps like that?" Naruto asked curiously while peeking over her shoulder.
"I don't know... maybe it's clues to get the rest of the gift?" Tenten offered while looking at the dummy. "Let's see... the heart is... right here..." Tenten continued, poking the chest of the dummy. "I don't see a catch or anything like that... maybe I have to pump chakra into it?"
"Just a little bit..." Naruto corrected.
Tenten lightly brushed her hand over the chest where the heart was, lightly trickling her chakra into it. A few seconds after she did, the dummy's chest slid down, revealing nine scrolls. Catching the one falling out of the cavity, she unrolled it partially before letting out a squeal of joy.
In her hands were copies of the rare scrolls of the weapon's master Mishamoto, said to have perfected over thirty weapons, in all their styles. The one in her hands was for kusarigamajutsu. She wasn't sure, but Naruto would swear that she was glowing, at least until she threatened to coat him in exploding tags.
'My True Love' must have spent years hunting through the library's archieves, to find these, and then years to copy them over. This was awesome!
