. Lucifer .
Naruto Fanfic by Sunshinegirl09
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. Only storyline.
Tenten
Chapter 10: Red Star
Tuesday mornings were pretty great. I loved them because when I wake up on a Tuesday, it symbolizes my survival of the Monday before it. And strangely for some reasons, at my old school we normally never had homework on Tuesday's, so the good karma of a Tuesday just rubbed off on me, I guess.
I tumbled out of my bed and stumbled into the bathroom. On the ground, lay my overused uniform. I put it on, sighing. The purpleness was getting to me.
After my uniform was put on, I put my hair into my two buns, knowing that Neji was just going to call me panda anyway. I then put in a purple clip that matched my annoying uniform ... more purple. After that, I put on makeup and brushed my teeth, forgetting that I hadn't even eaten.
I gathered my things and set them by the door, putting on my black, knee high socks on the way, tripping a few times.
Then, I crashed onto the fuzzy rug with my headphones in and jammed out the music as loud as possible, my phone in my other hand, though I hardly paid attention to it.
"You make me smile like the sun, fall outta bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head, spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night!"
I sang out loud, and this time in tune. Singing was one of my favorite hobbies that I enjoyed very much. I happened to be good too. Music was just me.
"You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe, shine like gold, buzz like a bee ..."
Oh music was in my soul, the contagious rhythm residing inside of my brain. It was implanted in me from the moment of conception in my mother's womb.
I rolled around a bit to wake myself up. It seemed to help roll the tiredness out of my body and made me want to get up and sing louder. So I did. I sprang upwards and started singing a new song.
"Come on, come on
Show me what you got
I swear, we're gonna tear it up!
Oh yeah, we can leave it all behind cuz ..."
I was dancing like a mad person, glad that I secured my hair tightly before because it would've been falling out by now.
"You've got it going on
and I've gotta say..."
My phone buzzed and I noticed it was Sakura. So I texted her while dancing.
"She's got the rhythm and I cant forget
She's gonna give in
We're gonna give it two more years
and oh my god
She's got the rhythm, she's got me waking up!"
Damn right I had the rhythm.
oOoOo
... So maybe I danced for an hour straight. So what? It was good exercise. But by 8:00 I had to stop so I wouldn't be late for school.
I put my phone in my book bag, smirking at the Death The Kid pin I accidentally bumped. He kinda made my life when I was a sixth grader. No lie. He and Soul Eater Evans, who I also had a pin of. Good old anime that I never get bored of.
Out the door I walked with my music blasting in my ears. I passed people I knew in the hallway and nodded. Since I knew everyone pretty much now, school became much more enjoyable than I had thought it ever could be.
"Ino..." I chimed, passing the blonde, smiling.
She nodded.
I also acknowledged some of my other friends, before reaching my locker in the school building.
oOoOo
In Algebra, we were working on our assignment and Asuma let us listen to music as an accomplishment of completing the first chapter of our math book. You can just imagine what happened. Yes. I took over and we did our assignment while jamming out to SHINee and Hirano Aya.
"Set me free ..." Hinata and I were singing, while dancing around and doing the algebraic functions.
Asuma shook his head, laughing at the same time.
Shikamaru was too busy sleeping to even notice us or listen to the music. Asuma noticed him slouching and not lifting his head.
"Shikamaru!" He scolded. "Have you even started the assignment?"
Shikamaru drowsily looked.
"Started? I finished it." He mumbled.
Unconvinced, Asuma grabbed Shikamaru's paper and looked it over. In about a minute he gasped.
"It's all correct. All thirty five problems!"
I looked over still humming to my music.
"It's Shikamaru," I said. "What do you expect?"
oOoOo
It was in Honor's Japanese that I wrote my most intense essay ever. It was actually a short story to prove a point. No one else wanted to do the short story but me, not even Ino. Except they didn't know that writing stories was one of my hobbies ... I loved it.
Ayako took in a breath and observed her surroundings carefully. There were certain things she took in and there were the irrelevant things that she left out. It was obvious she was stuck there but the forest was so thick she knew there must've been a secret way out.
It was hard to contemplate where the Owner had been because footprints weren't something that one see's in grass. Ayako knew this; she'd already tried to find traces of footprints. It was because he came and went so quickly that let her conclude a secret exit.
The only question remained was, where is it?
Ayako cracked her knuckles and began to punch the bushes around her, making sure he wasn't there, though in her heart she knew he was gone because his soul's presence had disappeared quickly from her mental radar that had tracked him this far.
It was only when she saw a tree looping over just above her head that she smirked. Ayako knew now how he escaped. Through the sky ... the broken tree branches made a hole upward. If the Owner had escaped through the sky it meant another thing. The forest went on forever not because it was a regular forest, but because it was a portal.
"I got you." Ayako announced, the triumphant sound in her voice pouring out her confidence.
Kurenai couldn't believe her eyes.
"This is one of the best short stories I've read during the "Observation" unit." She informed me, scanning the story once more.
The lesson we were on was thinking processes in stories and how characters observe things and mentally make mental notes.
"You've convinced me that there is a true story line also." Kurenai added. "I don't know who this, Owner is that Ayako is tracking, or what a porthole is. Yet I know you must escape through the sky to use one ... if anyone else read this they'd beg you to make the full story."
I smiled. Writing was a forte of mine.
oOoOo
It was in AP Geography that I was surprised. We were looking up locations in our Atlases and recording them in our Coordinates notebooks. My Totoro pencil rubbed against my chin as I searched through the book in boredom, trying to find a closeup of Qingdao, China and then Paris, France. That was when Hyuuga Neji calmly walked into the room, a darkness in his eyes.
"Excuse me, Sensei," Neji said, staring over at me. "I need to borrow Tenten."
Kakashi looked up from his book and nodded, shooing me over.
"You're excused." he informed me.
I glanced around and tucked my notebook and pencil under my arm, following Neji out the door.
"We need to stop at my locker." I told him quickly.
"Fine." He snapped.
Neji was angry.
We walked up and I desperately wanted to ask him what was bothering him so much. It was obvious there was something doing this to him that didn't involve me ... surprisingly.
"What's wrong?" I questioned, popping open my locker without the combo, not daring to let anyone else know I could do that.
"Nothing." Neji curtly replied.
I almost believed it but knew it was wrong.
"No it's not." I remarked, setting my notebook in there and putting my pencil in the upper cubby. Part of the metal spiral of my notebook wouldn't go in so I just pulled it out and wrapped it around my wrist.
"Excuse me?"
"I know you're lying." I informed him, slamming shut my locker and staring into his pale eyes. "So what's bothering you."
"It's none of your business." Neji answered, quickly turning and walking away.
I followed, realizing something odd.
Neji wasn't chewing any gum.
oOoOo
He led me to the bus stop where we then sat in the back seats when it arrived. Neji turned away from everyone, including me. I felt slightly hurt but knew I shouldn't take it so offensively, He was just mad about something. Otherwise he would've lied perfectly to my face and I would've been convinced it was nothing.
But it wasn't.
"Where are we going?" I didn't bother asking what we were doing. It was apparent.
"You'll find out soon enough." Neji remarked coldly.
I bit my lip and brought my knees to my chest, clutching my book bag that was hung over my knees. A sudden shiver ran through my body and I couldn't help but feel afraid. What if Neji wouldn't protect me? Because he was angry? The coldness and fear in my heart grew to a point where I felt like screaming.
So I pulled out my iPod and started to listen to music. The song Rest by Nevertheless.
"Hey, where have you been?
Where did you go,
Looking for innocence
Shame, is holding you down
Sellin' you out
Won't you come back again?"
I glanced at Neji, but knew he wouldn't glance back. I didn't want to assassinate anyone right now. I wanted to crawl in a warm bed and cry. It was the middle of the day yet it felt like midnight. I felt insecure and scare and there was something stirring in my stomach that wouldn't settle.
"Cause you found a way to go on for day's
Pretending to live
But you are not ok
With all of that weight
You need to give up."
Neji wasn't talking, I was hardly breathing, and this bus ride seemed to go on for hours. I really wondered how far away we were gonna go. Twenty minutes really already passed.
"Come now, just let it go
Let it fall down
Let it all flow, like,
The water that's rushing in over your soul
Till there's nothing left
Won't you come to Me and rest."
I wanted water to wash over my soul and free me of my anxiety and fear but no such comfort came to me ... just the sound of the road against wheels.
"Hey, I know that your scared
To look in my eyes
When you know that somethings wrong
I'll wait as long as it takes
For you to find grace
That's been here all along."
. . . Neji was mad and I couldn't do anything about. Was this what they called 'Depression'?
oOoOo
About an hour passed and I finally got the courage to speak up against Neji.
"Where the hell are we going?" I asked. "I missed lunch!"
Neji turned to me, sighing.
"We have about a half hour left, and then we're there." He said, the calmness in his voice was fake.
The song Quiet by Lights popped into my head and I played it, over and over.
It wasn't long though until I fell asleep on the bus. I nearly dropped. I guess I was more exhausted than I expected.
oOoOo
"Get up." A cold voice ordered.
I rolled off of something that was a bit hard. Neji's shoulder.
Did he let me sleep on his shoulder all that time? I didn't know because I was passed out but I sat straight up, trying to mask my embarrassment. Neji seemed to hardly care though how I felt at the moment. He grabbed my wrist and led me off the bus.
We were in an extremely crowded and dark city. I definitely slept longer than a half hour. It was already seven or eight at night.
I took out my cellphone and the time 8:45 PM flashed at me. It really was late. We were on the bus for about six hours.
"Neji ... where are we?" I questioned.
"Watanabe." He remarked.
"It's busy." I commented, an obvious understatement.
Neji scoffed.
"Come on." he pulled me and we fought our way through the busy streets.
"Are you going to tell me who we're killing?" I inquired.
"Not really."
"Can we at least get something to eat?" I continued.
"Later."
My stomach growled in protest, but I knew I couldn't detest Neji.
Despite the darkness, there was a faint glow of the city lights that lit the street and there was an intense body heat that surrounded the air because of the many, many people in such a small area.
"His apartment." Neji declared. "That's where we're going."
I followed him, knowing to trust him when it came to directions because the bastard always seemed to know where to go.
"There it is." Neji announced, pointing.
Above a old metal staircase, there was a rusted door with a red star painted on it, the paint wearing off.
"Red star." I muttered. I knew it from somewhere.
Taking out my iPod, I scrolled through my songs and nodded an affirmation. The song Red Stars.
Best of cruel intentions
Binding what they fail to mention
No truth
All pretension
Raise your hand to give attention
The words haunted me. That was why I loved the song, but thinking about them in my head here only sent a shiver down my spine.
You'd give it
We'd take it
You'd build it
We'd break it
You sign and we erase it
You'd feel it
We'd fake it
What did it mean though? My head was pounding as I stared at the star painted thickly on the door and then it hit me. I always knew what my songs were about.
Red Star was the Russian Military.
I gulped.
"Neji ... who are we killing?" I said fearfully. "Why is it someone from the Russian military."
Neji darkly stared at the door, furrowing his eyebrows and almost ignoring my comment.
"So I see you're not a complete idiot." He observed, but his dark expression showed that he was in no mood for teasing. "You now know that we are in a serious situation, don't you?"
I took in a shaky breath, nodding.
"Yes."
Before Neji could respond though, there was a shot overhead.
"Shit. He has a gun!" Neji exclaimed, grabbing my head to duck it down and quickly dashing under the metal stairs for cover, grabbing me with him.
I observed my surroundings trying to do it as in movies and books but I wondered how characters could stay so calm in these situations. I was terrified and couldn't understand how the person I wrote about wasn't tweaking out, then I remembered later that there wasn't a gun involved in my short story.
There was another shot and before I could scream I felt Neji's hand slap over my mouth. I squirmed under his grip but finally relaxed, knowing it was for the best. Neji obviously knew exactly where the Russian shooter was, otherwise we would've taken cover farther away. I didn't know how or why he could see him in the darkness though. Neji's eyes saw everything, didn't they?
Neji, with his other hand that wasn't covering my mouth, quietly took out a knife that he had concealed under his clothing and furrowed his eyebrows again, a more intense look displayed on his face.
His hand over my mouth pushed me back slightly but didn't release. He held the knife in front of him and got into a better crouching position.
Then suddenly Neji's body language showed a different expression. He flinched.
I was about to ask what it was, forgetting about his hand, but there was a tug on my elbow and I was pulled away from my partner and out into the faint light.
Neji leaped out from under the staircase.
I felt something pressed against my head and then realized it was a gun. Shaking all over, I noticed the person who had a firm grip on my elbow must've been our target.
"I know you can't see everything." He told Neji.
"Let her go." Neji said. "Why don't you want to kill me?"
"She works for the Devil too." His voice was so thick in a Russian accent, it was hard to understand his Japanese.
Neji's eyebrows stayed the same, his intense glare remaining.
My heart was thumping so hard ... I was having a hard time thinking. The only thing that was truly running through my mind was the thought of dying. Now that it came down to it, I really did not want to die. I didn't want my life to end. I wanted to live and not have it end this way.
But the gun was pressed so hard against the side of my head.
"The Devil will never infect the Russian Military again." The target said, his accent going through my head like a spike. "I know you must be here to kill me. Or enhance the Devil inside of me. I won't let you."
I saw Neji grip the knife and hoped he cared more about me and less about just getting the assassination done.
"Shall I kill her?" The Russian asked. "In front of you? Or kill you in front of her?"
My fist shook by my side and it began to hurt. Which was strange because it was only my right wrist ... I looked down at my arm, my uniform sleeve rolled up. Wrapped around my right wrist was the metal wire from my notebook earlier.
A plan was starting to devise in my head.
The problem was unwrapping the wire in a short enough time, subtly. I couldn't be noticed. An ex-Russian officer was holding me hostage, it wouldn't be easy to do something unnoticed like that in such a short amount of time ... about less than a minute.
I put my hands behind my back. The first move. The man didn't seem to notice that much. He was too preoccupied with an intense conversation with Neji about the Russian Military being controlled by someone who had the Devil inside take over him.
Second move. I started to unwind it from behind my back. It was a bit of a challenge, considering I couldn't see what I was actually doing. I kept my head down to try and act scared, concealing my true feelings. A small hope had risen inside of me.
I knew even the smallest of noises could rouse the suspicion of the ex-officer so I tried to be careful. It was a small wire but didn't refrain from making noises.
So I bit my lip each time I moved it, praying it wouldn't do anything too loud. Also I shifted my footing a little, hoping that the sound covered up the wire, but then again trying not to make it look like I was trying to escape every time I moved my feet.
I still had a few more rows to go. It would've been much easier if I could see my wrist and if I could make some noise while doing it.
"Neji," the Russian's words finally caught my attention. The heaviness of the gun left my head. "It's the end of you."
My heart began to panic and my brain was becoming dysfunctional. I bit my lip so hard the blood instantly dripped and I heard the click of the gun loading. My hands were shaking so hard that I was forgetting to unravel the wire. My lip quivered and my thinking was blurred.
If I didn't do something quick, Neji was going to die and then soon after, me.
"Goodbye, Neji."
My muscles moved on their own. I ripped the wire off my wrist in a jerking motion, causing it to bleed badly. With a firm grip I jabbed the wire into his neck, feeling the blood trickle down. Fear crept through my body as he crumpled in agony on the ground.
"Tenten!" a familiar voice shouted.
I turned, panicking as the Russian man raised the gun to me with shaking hands, while Neji threw the knife at me. And with a rush of adrenaline and without thinking, I plunged the blade into the target's heart before he could move his finger.
More blood gushed, covering my fingers and hands. When his body fell on top of me, it got over my white shirt, my skin my face. Everywhere.
"The blood ..." I murmured. "THE BLOOD!" I was shrieking so loud. The thought of murdering someone killed me on the inside.
I kicked his lifeless body off and started to shake violently, grabbing my head and screaming and crying at the same time. The feelings inside of me churned to the max. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think ... the only thing that was hurting me was the murder ... the blood.
Desperately, while loudly crying and screaming, I rubbed my hands over everything. The ground, the wall, the metal stairs ... the blood didn't come off easily. It hurt even more though when I glanced over and saw his body lying on the ground, motionless ... dead.
That brought out more spasms. I couldn't deal with killing a human being. It was something I just couldn't do.
On the ground I rolled, shouting ... yelling ... and screeching so loudly I thought that even my ears would fall off. How could I do such a thing? How could an innocent 15 year old girl kill someone? Sakura, Ino, or Hinata didn't occur to me at that moment.
"The blood ... the blood." I sobbed, rubbing my hands on many things.
A battle inside of me coarsed through my veins, strengthening my insanity. It was as if my Devil was doing this to me. But I knew it was also the shock. The feeling of his soft chest getting punctured by my own hands was eating away at my soul.
"Tenten ..."
I felt Neji's hands reach under my legs and arms. The ground left my feet, surprising me.
"No!" I shouted. "Why? Let me go!"
At the time, I didn't understand what was happening, so I just squirmed and fought against my partner, but he didn't drop me.
While sobbing and screaming and kicking ... I was tired and hungry. I don't know when it was, but sometime while I was in his arms, I doused off into a sleep, my first murder fresh in my mind.
A/N: Omo ... that was intense writing right there xD You guys like? Yeah I didn't update yesterday ... sorry. Duty calls you know =) Oh well. I kicked back with a NEW CHAPTER THAT IS EXTREMELY VIOLENT! Well ... not that violent ... but somewhat. Tenten kind of tweaking out as you can see. And actually, that would probably be my reaction too. I don't think I would have the guts to kill someone like that. Also sorry for any grammar mistakes. I try to type as fast as possible to make sure I can update quicker and fit my writing into my schedule but there are always typos. But anyway, PLEASE REVIEW CUZ I LOVE YOU!