Chapter 10
000
Two Weeks Later
Tenten sat in class diligently taking notes as Nao-sensei explained how to write down and work through the process of subtraction. Still the brown haired girl didn't strictly need to do so as she already knew how to subtract. Her parents had shown her when she was younger as part of teaching her how to run their business. Sure they had always known she wanted to be a kunoichi but in case that didn't work out they wanted her to have an idea of how they ran things at the shop. She was glad she already knew the lesson because while she made sure to look diligent she could afford to let her mind wander for at least a little while. It was hard to stay focused on classes all day long when part of her just wanted to go outside and play.
However instead of focusing on class her mind automatically came to focus on her current object of frustration. Rei Yamanaka was sitting next to her like she did in every single class. The girl was looking at the back of her hands as a few pebbles moved in circles on top of her skin. There were three on each hand, spinning in circles and periodically coming closer together before moving further apart again. Tenten had no idea how the girl was doing that and the brown haired girl had not managed to get up the courage to ask.
Rei Yamanaka was intimidating. There was something just a little bit off about her and most of the students could feel it. That she was the best at (nearly) everything while looking absolutely bored with the world and never paying attention in class didn't help matters either.
Tenten bit her lip and shifted nervously as she tried to examine the girl next to her without being obvious about it. She was a strange one for sure and it wasn't all in her attitude. Her honey-blonde hair was like no other hair she had ever seen before. It strangely curled in on itself and at times strands of her hair would curl into a corkscrew-like shape. No one else had hair like that. She would have probably been picked on for it if she had been anyone else.
Then there were her unusually colored lilac eyes. They were wildly expressive and easily the one thing that drew your eyes when you looked at her once you got past her unusual hair. Whatever she was feeling, bored, excited or angry it always showed up first in her eyes. Tenten couldn't explain it but there was just something in her eyes when she looked out at the world that wasn't like other kids.
Rei Yamanaka was a mystery and one that Tenten Hayashi was feeling increasingly frustrated by. If she had been any other girl in the class Tenten thought she could just ignore the oddness of Rei Yamanaka and focus on what was being taught and in making new friends. But she couldn't.
That was because in every single class Rei Yamanaka always sat next to her. Every. Single. Time. If the girl wanted to be friends that was one thing but the blonde heiress hadn't spoken a single word to Tenten since the first day of class. Still for some unknown reason the girl always sought her out only to turn around and act like she didn't exist.
Tenten was really growing to resent it and it was driving her crazy. Especially when some of the other kids seemed to be avoiding her because she was 'hanging out' with Rei or when others would come and ask her questions about the blonde that Tenten had no idea how to answer.
She also didn't like how Rei kept getting special treatment from Nao-sensei. Whenever anyone wasn't paying attention or goofing off Nao-sensei would quickly smack them with that leather switch of hers and she wasn't shy about using it. Not with Rei Yamanaka though. When Rei spend the whole class moving rocks or coins along her hands (Tenten still had no idea how she was doing that!) or with her head buried in a scroll that had nothing to do with class Nao-sensei just ignored it. Tenten didn't understand it. How was that in any way fair? Was it just because she was the Yamanaka heir? All the students were supposed to be treated equally at the academy!
Still Tenten knew that unlike other people she wasn't someone who could stay angry for very long. When she wasn't feeling irritated at the situation she was mostly curious. Rei was a puzzle box and she wanted to find out what was on the inside.
If only the girl spoke to her. Or if Tenten could muster up her own courage to start a conversation.
000
The hours they spent outside for fitness and taijutsu training were better for Tenten. She didn't have the cloud of the Yamanaka heiress hanging over her so she got to spend time with some other kids. There were a couple of groups of girls who would speak to her and tolerate her presence but she wouldn't exactly call them friends or anything. At least they always seemed to be a lot more friendly with each other than they were with her.
It didn't help that she was shy. Tenten knew that she was and wished she could be more outgoing but she couldn't help it. She wasn't very good at speaking up or making friends with people.
Instead she watched people a lot of the time while they were outside and, inevitably, her eyes would eventually wonder back to the heiress with the strange hair. There was just something different about her, like a cat sitting among a group of puppies and she always drew attention without even trying. Annoyance and curiosity tugged at her as she observed the other girl and tried to understand what she was all about.
She dressed in an old style battle kimono the color of her eyes with black highlights that Tenten thought would be more at home in a period drama about ninjas. People just didn't wear stuff like that anymore though she had to grudgingly admit Rei managed to pull it off. Knee length and with long voluminous sleeves she managed to look every inch the dignified ninja princess. At least she wasn't tacky enough to rub her status in people's faces. But how could she? The girl never talked to anyone.
Well that wasn't strictly true. The only one she spoke to was the other super smart, talented, aloof weirdo in the class. If Rei was an indifferent cat sitting among puppies then Neji was an angry badger, sneering and bearing his teeth at anyone who dared to come too close. Anyone except Rei that is. Rei Yamanaka was the only person Neji Hyuuga would tolerate anywhere near him.
They never stood too close and as far as Tenten could tell they didn't exchange more than a handful of words every day. However it was clear to everyone that they did stand together which was both weird and not seeing how much they were alike.
Tenten scrunched her face as she studied the two. How did those two get so good at everything anyway? It wasn't like they were the only clan kids in their class. Far from it in fact. She had heard the words "prodigy" and "genius" thrown about but what did that really mean? Is that how they knew all the stuff everyone else was just learning?
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a two girls walking towards Rei seemingly intent on talking to her. The two girls were from minor clans and they at least looked confident as they made their way towards the Yamanaka girl though Tenten wasn't so sure. In a way the girl with buns in her hair was already feeling sorry for them. She had seen more than one of her classmates try to get close to the… if not popular then eye catching blonde.
I don't think this is going to end well thought Tenten as she watched the girls approach with all the attention of someone who knew they were about to see a horrible accident happen.
Tenten couldn't hear the words, she was too far away for that. She could however see everyone's faces. One of the girls started speaking to Rei who didn't seem to hear her for a few long seconds before slowly turning her head to look at the girl who spoke. The same girl said something else and the other one spoke up right afterwards, gesturing emphatically, probably about the three of them hanging out together.
Tenten couldn't hear her but she clearly saw Rei mouth the word "no" and turn her head away from the girls and back towards other people practicing taijutsu. Instead of taking the hint like most would it seemed to make the two girls angry instead. Tenten watched in fascination as the first girl started speaking again, clearly unhappy and her friend folded her arms like she was annoyed. After a few more seconds of their chatter Rei turned her head to look at the girls again.
Maybe she had been watching too closely but there were a few things Tenten had noticed about Rei Yamanaka. One, she had a scary, scary glare. Two, whenever something got her mad her lilac eyes seemed to darken a few shades until they looked like twin hard chips of amethyst.
They never stood a chance.
The blonde turned her glare and hard eyes on the two girls and Tenten could see them visibly stiffen and immediately stop talking. The Yamanaka looked at them for a few seconds before speaking a few words too low for Tenten to hear. One girl seemed to pale and other's eyes seemed to widen. The blonde said something else that might have been "leave" and the girls did so, turning and walking off a little faster than was strictly necessary.
Tenten watched the scene and let out a frustrated sigh. Rei Yamanaka scared off everyone, was antisocial to everyone, and seemed to only care for the company of the one person that was ruder to others than she was. She drew attention without even trying but most of the time just seemed horribly bored with the world. She was a genuine ninja princess and could be the most popular girl in class if she put even an ounce of effort into it.
So why, why did that girl insist on sitting next to her in class every day?
000
The next day Tenten arrived to class a little earlier than usual. The girl had decided that today she wasn't going to sit next to Rei so she wouldn't be constantly associated with the girl. Tenten wasn't great at making friends already and this situation just made it harder. With one last longing look at her favorite seat in the back row Tenten looked around for a good alternative.
There. More or less in the middle of all the rows were two girls sitting one seat away from each other. With a breath for courage Tenten made her way towards that row and squeezed past one redheaded girl – Tenten thought her name was Muika – who gave her a faint smile before going back to working on her homework that was due at the start of class. Tenten sat down with a happy sigh even if the girl on the other side of her just gave her a glance and went back to sleeping on the desk.
The two other times she had tried to sit away from the Yamanaka the girl had always taken an empty seat next to her. Now there were no empty seats next to her so the girl would have to go somewhere else. Simple. Easy. With a nod Tenten congratulated herself on having a good idea.
Tenten decided to crack open a textbook and review for class. She had been at it for less than five minutes before the curly haired blonde walked into the classroom. Tenten hid behind her book but kept her eyes on the girl wondering what she was going to do. She watched as Rei looked around the classroom and finally spotted her. Tenten ducked behind her book to avoid meeting her gaze, feeling silly about it the whole time.
The brown haired watched with suspicion as Rei eyed the row Tenten was sitting in and started moving towards the steps purposefully. Her suspicion turned to dread as she turned into the row Tenten was sitting in. The brown haired girl was openly staring when Rei stopped right in front of Muika.
Muika noticed too. Turning and looking up her eyes widened in surprise when she realized just who was standing next to her desk looking down at her.
"Thanks for saving me my seat. As promised I'll give you the answers to all of next week's homework. I'm here now though so I'd like to have it back," said Rei with a perfectly straight face.
Tenten and Muika stared at Rei with equal looks of surprise and disbelief. It was ridiculous. Rei Yamanaka never spoke to anyone, much less asked them to save her a seat in exchange for homework!
"I didn't save you-" began Muika only to be cut off.
"Yes you did. I'd like you to give it back now please."
"But-"
"Emphasis on the now part. I don't want to have to tell you again," said Rei pleasantly with the ghost of a smile, but Tenten saw that her eyes were starting to do that darkening thing again.
Muika – the traitor – decided that it wasn't worth facing down Rei Yamanaka over a seat. She quickly gathered up her books and squeezed past Rei like touching the blonde would set her on fire. Tenten watched the redheaded girl leave like a woman at sea might watch a life preserver drifting away out of reach.
They Rei sat down, pulled out a scroll, and began reading like she hadn't just chased a girl away just to sit next to Tenten. The brown haired girl stared at Rei with disbelief. She couldn't believe it. Why would she go through all that trouble and not even look at her or say a single word to her?!
Tenten was at her limit. She knew she wasn't one to get overly angry or upset but the few times she did it was explosive. Tenten slammed her hands down on her desk, hard, making half the people in the look at her. Rei finally deigned to look at her with a faint look of curiosity on her face.
"WHY do you always sit next to me and never say anything?!" said Tenten loudly huffing with anger, "you don't even talk to me and it's weird. It's not like you want to be my friend or anything and you scare everyone else away. It doesn't make any sense and you just make it harder for me to make friends. I don't like you or your weirdness! I wish you would just – just go sit somewhere else and never bother me again!"
Rei looked at her with wide surprised eyes and a look of hurt crossed her features before the blonde schooled her face into something more neutral. At seeing that hurt look Tenten instantly felt guilty. She didn't mean to make the girl feel bad, heck she hadn't even thought the girl could feel hurt by anything. Tenten didn't even really want to chase her away but she was fed up and wanted, no needed some explanation.
Rei looked at her, scrutinizing, and Tenten couldn't help but wiggle in her seat a little under her gaze. Still there was something different in how the blonde was looking at her, like the girl was actually looking at her now instead of passing over her with a look of disinterest. Tenten felt increasingly uncomfortable as the girl seemed to be deliberating something. The brown hair girl was also aware more than a few students were watching their interaction.
In the end Rei finally spoke, the first words she had directed at her since she had introduced herself two weeks before.
"I guess it must have seemed a little odd to you, huh?" she said thoughtfully and Tenten thought she could spot a touch of sheepishness in her.
Tenten didn't say anything but just nodded. She was too tense to speak and the fact that Rei Yamanaka was actually speaking to her left her feeling tongue tied.
"Well…" said Rei, before crossing her arms and furrowing her brow like she was coming to some deep decision. Tenten held her breath and waited feeling one hundred percent sure the other girl was going to somehow do something horrible to her for blowing up at her like she did. The next words that came out of her mouth couldn't have left Tenten feeling more surprised.
"How about we have lunch together?"
000
Tenten sat nervously on a long picnic table outside where the students always had their lunch. It was a nice table to have lunch in since it was under a tree that had a decent shade in the warm afternoons. Rei sat across from her munching quickly from her bento box as Tenten followed suit and ate her own lunch at a slower pace. They were the only ones sitting at the table. Tenten was pretty sure the only reason for that had strange hair and was sitting right across from her.
Rei finished eating first and then sat watching Tenten while she ate. It made Tenten uncomfortable and so far while they had been sitting together they hadn't spoken a word to each other. The brown haired girl wondered what she had been thinking agreeing to have lunch with Rei. Come to think of it she had never seen the other girl have lunch before. During that time the girl tended to just disappear and go off to do who-knows-what.
Not enjoying the scrutiny Tenten spoke up. "You can talk while I eat you know. Or, you know we can talk I mean. You don't need to wait until I'm finished."
Rei made a humming noise at that and thankfully took the hint and spoke up. "You're from a civilian family right Tenten-chan?" asked Rei actually sounding interested for once if somewhat subdued. Tenten's cheeks flushed both from the nickname and from her more humble upbringing when compared to Rei.
"That's right," she said "but I've always wanted to be a kunoichi for as long as I can remember. It's kind of my dream you know?"
Rei made a thoughtful noise at that as she looked at her placidly. "Are there any other ninja in your family?"
Tenten shook her head. "No, I would be the first ninja ever in my whole family. They're proud of me," she said and couldn't contain her smile, "a little worried you know? But proud of me. They say it will be good for us and that it's an honor to serve the Lord Hokage." Tenten couldn't hold back her happy grin. She wasn't sure how being a ninja would be good for the family but fighting for honor and glory like all the ninja from the stories just seemed so incredibly amazing and she would get to fight for the Lord Hokage and for Konoha just like all the other heroes of the village. It all seemed so much larger than life and amazing and Tenten wouldn't want to do anything else.
Something unhappy flickered across Rei's face so fast Tenten thought it might have been her imagination. Then her face went back to neutral with a pleasant – if bland – little smile.
"So is your dream just to be a kunoichi?" asked Rei knowingly.
Tenten flushed for a second time. It was a little embarrassing but under Rei's intense light purple eyes she couldn't bring herself to lie. She mumbled the answer under her breath.
"What was that?" asked Rei leaning in a little.
"I said I want to be like Tsunade-sama!" Tenten blurted out. She felt her cheeks glowing red. Why did that seem to keep happening when she was talking to this girl?
Rei chuckled at that but it wasn't in a mean way. She seemed amused. "Well you and I have something in common at least," she said with a small genuine looking smile. She looked so much less intimidating when she smiled for real. Until that point Tenten had never realized all her other little smiles had been… not fake exactly but not completely honest either.
The brown haired girl somehow felt happy knowing that there was something in common between them. "You want to be like Tsunade-sama too?" asked Tenten a little excitedly.
"Well not exactly like Tsunade. But respected and feared all over the world? Yeah I could definitely go for that," said Rei, smile still on her face but her eyes suddenly got this far away look to them.
Tenten frowned a little at that. That wasn't why she wanted to be like Tsunade-sama. Tsunade-sama was super strong kunoichi who could stand up to anyone. She was famous for helping people and was considered a hero by everyone in Konoha. The goals of being "respected and feared" were too abstract for Tenten to understand.
The girl was snapped out of her musing when Rei spoke up again. "So what does your family do?" asked the blonde casually while scratching at something on the table.
Tenten perked up a little at that. Her family might not be a clan of strong and famous ninja but she was proud of what they did. "My family are weapon makers," she said with enthusiasm.
Rei's whole demeanor changed. Her body which had previously been turned a little to the side moved to completely face the other girl. She leaned forward with her elbows on the table and she cradled her chin in her hands. Her eyes glittered with interest and just a hint of excitement.
"Really?" she asked in a voice that was noticeably perkier than before.
Tenten nodded feeling happy that the other girl looked like she was really interested in what her family did. "Yup! My family has been in Konoha almost since it was founded. We were making weapons for generations even before that. Our shop is known for making the best weapons in the whole village," she said excitedly. "Sure other places are cheaper but if you want quality or a weapon more exotic than simple shuriken or kunai then Hayashi's is the place to go."
To Tenten's gratification the other girl looked suitably impressed. "That's really awesome. I don't know if I'll actually ever use anything other than kunai or shuriken but I think the idea of using a weapon is really neat. The only problem with weapons is that they don't leave your hands free to use jutsu but there have to be ways to work around that."
Tenten just nodded. She'd heard her parents and some of their ninja customers discussing that same thing but the girl only had a sketchy idea of what they were talking about so she didn't say anything more for fear of sounding silly.
"Hey Tenten?" said Rei suddenly.
"Yeah?" asked the girl a little apprehensively.
"How do you feel about getting out of here and doing some weapons practice?"
000
"I don't have any weapons," Tenten muttered after Rei had led her to a deserted academy training ground with plenty of scattered target posts.
Rei looked surprised. "You don't?" she asked.
Tenten shook her head.
Rei looked at her for a long moment before she shrugged. "You can have half of mine then. It just means we'll have to go pick them off the targets more often."
"Errr.. right," said Tenten nervously.
Rei reached into the pack discreetly tried at her hip and smoothly pulled out a half dozen kunai. She practically shoved them in Tenten's hands and the girl had to scramble not to drop them. By the time Tenten had a good hold on them the other girl had already turned away and was making her way towards another nearby target.
Tenten examined the weapons in her hands. They weren't from her store so they were somewhat lower quality. Then again kunai were considered mostly disposable so she had to admit it wasn't that big a deal. Then she noticed something surprising. They were…
"Rei!" Tenten called out a little hysterically, "these aren't training kunai. These are real!"
Rei turned to face her and looked at her like she had just stated that the sky was blue. "So?"
"So? So? It's dangerous to practice with these!" she said nervously.
For some reason Rei looked truly perplexed by what she said. "With your family and all, aren't you supposed to be good with weapons?"
Tenten felt a spark of irritation at that. "We make weapons, not use them! Sure we know the theory behind how they're used but not enough to actually use them ourselves. And I-I haven't learned all of that yet."
Rei blinked, and then her eyes widened. "Are you… are you saying you don't know how to throw kunai?"
"Of course!" she said in irritation, "How am I supposed to know? They don't teach us weapons until next year," she said and would have stomped her foot if she hadn't been worried about the weapons she was holding in her hands.
Tenten didn't understand why saying she didn't know how to use kunai left Rei looking like someone had slapped her with a wet fish. Then she shook her head like she was trying to shake bad thoughts out of her skull and muttered something to herself that Tenten didn't catch. When she looked up there was a look of determination in Rei's eyes of someone who had made a decision.
Rei gave her a cocky grin, something the other girl had never seen from her before.
"I'll teach you if you want."
000
A few days later Tenten was sitting by herself outside. They always did the teaching of physical activities in small groups so that left a lot of downtime for a lot of the kids. Some spent some of the time practicing taijutsu or something else but most took it as free social time. Rei was standing next to Neji some distance away just like she always did when they were outside occasionally exchanging a few words with him. Over the last few days Tenten had been forced to change how she thought about the blonde Yamanaka heiress.
She could occasionally be… somewhat nice in a way. The girl had followed through on what she'd said she'd do and the next day had given Miuka a week's worth of homework for "saving" her seat for her. The redhead had almost fainted when Rei sought her out to give her the papers. She had also been eating lunch with Tenten and actually being kind of fun to be around. Rei had loosened up some seeming to swing wildly between complete boredom and an unexpected streak of mischievousness and teasing humor. She liked to embarrass Tenten but never went so far as to make it mean or mean spirited. The Yamanaka girl was also teaching Tenten how to throw shuriken and kunai after they finished their lunches early. All in all it was something she would not have expected to happen in a million years just a handful of days before.
Yet Rei was still very much the same Rei in other ways. She still sat next to Tenten in class but completely ignored her, instead either devoting herself to what she had learned were called 'chakra control exercises' or reading scrolls on things Tenten didn't even understand. A Treatise on the Theory of Reducing the Number of Handseals Needed for the Execution of Jutsu? What in the world did that even mean? She also ignored Tenten in favor of Neji when they were out on the practice field.
She also still acted like a rich lady's cat towards anyone who wasn't Tenten or Neji. While the situation with Rei was undoubtedly better Tenten still thought she was going to have a hard time making friends. She could still make friends and talk to Rei right? She shouldn't have to pick one over the other.
Sighing Tenten looked down and picked at the grass between her legs. Who would have thought going to school would be so hard in these other weird ways? It wasn't something she had been prepared to deal with at all.
Tenten was interrupted from her thoughts when a large shadow was cast over her. When she looked up she gulped when she saw just who was looming over her. Masao Inuzuka was the biggest boy in class built more like an Akimichi than someone from the Inuzuka clan. His hair was short and brown and he had the clan markings on his cheeks done in orange. On either side of him were two smaller boys she didn't know they names of yet. They looked like civilians. That would make sense.
"So I've seen that you've been getting cozy with that stuck up princess with the stupid weird hair. Bet you think that means you're all that now don't you?" he sneered at her with a grating obnoxious superiority.
Masao was one of the few people in class, mostly boys, who had quickly gathered a small clique around themselves and started bullying people around. Tenten didn't understand why they felt the need to act so mean to people. Masao was so big and was from a clan known for being so ferocious that no one wanted to mess with him, Tenten included.
Why did he have to come after me? thought the brown haired girl with anguish.
"Look, Masao…" began Tenten moving to stand up. Before she could however Masao shoved her back down on the ground, hard. Tenten looked up at him with shocked eyes suddenly feeling a little afraid.
"I didn't say you could stand up, brownnoser. You like sucking up to people huh? You think being friendly with that girl somehow makes you better than other people? You're really dumb, you know that?" he sneered at her.
"But… I, it-it's not like that at all!" she protested feeling tears gathering in her eyes as the bigger boy loomed over her. His two friends moved to crowd in around her boxing her in. Tenten kept looking up at all of them with their superior smirks and felt afraid.
"It doesn't matter how much of a suck up you are, you're still going to be a nobody. In fact I bet she just feels sorry for you. After all you're so ugly even I feel kind of bad for you," he said and smiled like he was self-satisfied with his own cleverness. His followers laughed at that.
"That was a good one Masao," one of them said between giggles.
"Oh yeah?" said Masao looking pleased, "you haven't seen anything yet." He turned back to Tenten. "I think I can make her cry. Yeah I bet I can, an ugly girl like her is totally going to be a weakling too. Aw, look she already has tears in her eyes," he said cruelly.
She did have tears in her eyes. The girl didn't want anyone to see them so she rubbed her eyes furiously. Masao seemed undeterred and went right back on the attack again.
"Why do you wear your hair like that anyway? Trying to have weird freaky hair just like your precious new buddy? Well it makes you look like a freak. Not that it makes a lot of difference with how ugly you already a-"
"What do you think you're doing, trash?" came a girl's voice from behind Masao.
The boy froze and spun around angrily when he realized the voice had been speaking to him. Tenten saw him stiffen up when he realized just who was standing behind him. Rei stood there with an unreadable look on her face and her hands folded into her sleeves. The other two boys took an unconscious step back. There were a few seconds of absolute silence before the girl spoke again.
"I said what do you think you're doing mongrel? Trash like you should know better than to dick around with your betters," she said pleasantly. You'd think they were having a nice polite conversation if not for her words. Her eyes flickered briefly to Tenten taking in the state she was in and seeing the fresh tear tracks on her face. Rei then turned her attention back to Masao, her eyes narrowing and doing that thing where darkened and looked like hard chips of crystal.
Masao finally got over his surprise, and to Tenten it looked like his pride and anger momentarily overrode his fear of the girl. "Who do you think you're calling trash?" he growled, "and what is a m-"
"Mongrel?" she interrupted, "A filthy dog with no lineage who hasn't been housebroken. Which is precisely what you are which is why I called you that. Trash." The girl said all of that in perfectly polite tones and with an infuriatingly superior smile on her face that almost made Tenten want to slap her.
"You- Why- I'm gonna -!" Masao sputtered, his face turning red with anger, his fists clenched and shaking.
Rei's smile turned sharp. "What's wrong cur? The truth hurts doesn't it? It's not your fault, a filthy mongrel will always be a filthy mongrel. A good dog's place is to serve their betters, not to try and bite them. Why don't you come at me and I'll properly train you to sit at you master's side, naughty little dog."
Tenten was pretty sure Masao didn't know what a cur was but the message seemed to get across well enough. As she watched Rei's relaxed posture and that infuriating smirk on her face Tenten almost gasped as she realized something; Rei was baiting Masao on purpose. She wanted him to attack her! By Masao's sputtering wordless anger it seemed that he was close to it too. His buddies backed up a couple of more steps. The girl was sure the only thing stopping Masao at this point was some lingering fear of what Rei could do. That was when the blonde decided to push him over the edge.
The girl nodded to herself as if she had just realized something self-evident in an exaggerated mocking way. "I see. So you are terrified of me. As you should be, since you have as much a chance of laying a hand on me as you would on Kami himself. It's good when filthy little doggies like you know who their betters are. But that doesn't change the fact that you're a coward and your entire clan would shit on you for taking it like a bitch," then she paused and tapped her chin as if in thought, "or maybe it's that your whole clan is like you? Tell me Inuzuka are all you filthy mongrels cowards or is it just you?"
Masao was vibrating with so much anger Tenten thought it was a wonder he hadn't spontaneously exploded. She was shocked that he hadn't attacked Rei yet or walked away. Inuzuka were famous for their quick tempers and for never backing down from a fight. How scared was Masao of Rei if he still hadn't attacked after everything she'd said to him?
"Come on Inuzuka I'm waiting for my answer. Trash."
That was the final straw that broke the oxen's back.
With a snarl and a roar the Inuzuka charged the smaller girl with his fist cocked back for a punch. Tenten didn't quite see what happened next. There was a blur of movement and suddenly Masao stopped, choking and clutching his throat. Rei kicked him viciously between the legs, causing Masao to bend over almost completely in half from the pain, choking and moaning at the same time. In a flowing movement Rei crouched low, sweeping Masao's legs out from under him and making him crash hard on his face and stomach.
In a blink Rei had her knee digging into his lower back and one of his arms in a painful looking joint lock. The look on the girl's face made Tenten shudder. She was enjoying this and the look she gave Masao made Tenten think of the look a fox would give a chicken it had cornered in the henhouse.
I hope I never get on her bad side.
The pain and sudden brutality of his takedown seemed to have taken all the fight out of Masao not to mention the painful position he suddenly found himself in. His face was turned so Tenten could see it and it mostly registered pain and shock. Rei bent her head low and whispered something in his ear Tenten couldn't hear. The boy's eyes widened in fear at whatever the girl had told him. She stopped speaking for a few moments before saying something else to him which had the boy nodding furiously. Rei said a few more words to him and then finally got off him but not before digging her knee painfully into his back one more time as she got up.
Masao's 'friends' didn't dare approach and one look from Rei was enough to send them running. Masao scrambled to his feet and went after his friends, hobbling along and studiously avoiding looking at Rei. He need not have bothered since she was no longer paying any attention to him. Instead she walked over to Tenten and stopped right in front of her, holding out her hand to the brown haired girl.
"Are you ok?" she asked and for the first time that Tenten could remember the Yamanaka girl sounded genuinely concerned.
Tenten hesitated for a second before taking her hand. "Yeah, I'm ok I think. They didn't hit me or anything," she said as she allowed Rei to pull her up.
"They made you cry," said Rei with a frown.
Tenten wiped her face furiously. "No they didn't," she said roughly.
Rei smiled faintly at that. "No. Of course they didn't."
The blonde started walking and Tenten found herself following her without thinking about it.
They walked around the field in silence for a few minutes. Tenten could see and feel everyone staring at them. They must have seen the whole thing. At the moment Tenten didn't know how to feel about that… if she was honest she was just glad Rei had stepped in when she did. She had never been bullied before and it had been really scary.
Still there was something that was bothering her. "Did you have to be so… mean to Masao?" asked Tenten uncomfortably.
"What do you mean?" asked Rei.
"Just that… don't be mad or anything but… you know weren't you bullying him too? You didn't have to say all those things just to help me out did you? Not to say I'm not thankful, because I am! I mean… I don't know…" said Tenten trailing off. It sounded silly when she said it out loud. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. She didn't want Rei to think she was mad at her or that she was ungrateful or anything.
Instead of getting mad Rei surprised Tenten by giving her a wide grin. "Ah, but what I did was totally okay. See what he was doing was being a bully. I was being a counterbully. Conterbullying the bullies is fine. Good even. It's almost like a public service."
That… made sense. Kind of. Didn't it?
"I can see how that makes a difference," she said honestly. It was very different to, er, 'conterbully' someone rather than just being a plain regular bully.
They walked in silence for a few more seconds before Rei suddenly turned to her, eyes bright and another smile on her face. Tenten was instantly wary when she looked at her. There was something in Rei's face that was mischievous and just seemed to spell all kinds of trouble.
"You know what we should do?" said Rei excitedly, "we should do some preemptive conterbullying."
Tenten frowned. She didn't know that word. "What does that mean?" she asked.
"Weeelll" she said drawing out the word, "a preemptive strike is when you go after someone who you know is about to come after you anyway. So preemptive counterbullying is where we would go after the bullies before they had the chance to strike. Conterbullying would be a public service. We should totally start a campaign of preemptive counterbullying. Aggressive preemptive counterbullying even" she said with flourish, like she had just had the most wonderful of ideas.
Tenten wasn't so sure. "So that means we go after them before they actually do anything?" she asked dubiously.
Rei nodded. "You want to be a ninja right? Preemptive strikes and preemptive wars have been accepted doctrines for centuries. What could be wrong with that?" she said, irony filling her voice.
Tenten ignored the irony since she wasn't sure what it meant. Instead she focused on what was being said. "I don't know Rei," she said, "that sounds kind of like just plain regular bullying."
Rei seemed to deflate a little at that. "Maybe. But it would still be fun. We could plan ambushes. Herd bullies into kill zones. Practice our taijutsu. Plus keep in mind we'd only be going after known bullies. It's not like they wouldn't have it coming."
"Well, I'm not as good as you Rei so I don't think I'd be a lot of help with all of that," she said, silently vowing to get better, "plus I would feel like a bully doing that."
Rei examined her for along moment before sighing in defeat. "Yeah you're probably right," she said sounding down.
"Still," said Tenten thinking quickly, "we can still help if you see other people getting bullied, you know like you did today. I don't think I could help a lot right now but maybe I'll get better you know?"
It was then when Tenten realized she had somehow gotten roped into some kind of possible anti-bullying campaign. How and when did that happen?!
Rei smiled faintly at Tenten. "Well I guess that's better than nothing."
000
Were they friends? When she first asked herself that question Tenten found that it was harder to answer than it really should have been. Rei still ignored her during class when she focused on her "self-study" and out on the field when she spent time "making friends" with Neji. If Tenten really wanted to get her attention she could but it had better be for a good reason if she didn't want to deal with a moody, grumpy Rei for the rest of the day.
They spent all their lunches and free periods outside together though. After that first bullying incident Rei never failed to stand up for her. Everyone knew that Tenten was now officially off limits unless you wanted an angry Yamanaka cutting away all your self-esteem and self-worth with just a few words. If she goaded you into trying to take a swing at her it ended even worse. Rei always tried to teach her something new or help her out with school work, helping her to think about problems in different ways.
Tenten felt indebted and grateful to the other girl despite all the drawbacks of associating with her. She still hadn't made any friends other than Rei but she found she didn't mind so much anymore. Tenten wasn't much of a fighter but she knew if Rei was ever in trouble she would jump in and try to help her without the slightest hesitation. She felt she owed her that much and what's more… she would want to.
Did that mean they were friends? After thinking about it for a while Tenten concluded that the answer had to be yes. She guessed they were friends after all.
Tenten smiled. If she was going to have one friend she figured she could do worse than Rei Yamanaka.