Chapter ten here!
Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing this story, it means so much to me! With any luck, there'll be some proper DeiTen soon, but hey, these things take a while! I can't decide whether to bring Sasuke into this or not. If I do, be warned: I am a Sasuke-hater.
Anyways, enjoy!
I do not own Naruto.
The earth all around her crumbled away and fell along with her as her fingers lashed out desperately for a handhold. The echo of the pieces of floor that had collapsed before her hitting the bottom of the pit filled the corridor as she swung around to look into the deep hole into which she was descending.
Tenten had to force herself not to yelp as she saw a mass of pointed stakes racing towards her, a couple stained dark brown with old blood from previous victims. With seconds to spare before she was impaled, she collected her mess of thoughts and angled her slender body so that she fell between the sharp points and to the bottom of the pit. She hit the ground hard but remained quiet, employing all of her skills to keep herself silent.
Bruised and aching, she stood shakily up and looked around. She appeared to have fallen about thirty feet, but had somewhat softened her fall buy swinging her bag underneath her at the last second. For once, she was intensely glad she carried weapons in the scrolls and pouches at her hip than in her rucksack. She was lucky to have gotten off so likely from a fall like that.
The pit stank of old blood and death, but being a kunoichi she was trained not to be bothered by such morbidities, it was after all, all part of the job description. Looking up at the raised stakes, she was lucky to have reacted in time, as they were quite densely packed and if her reflexes hadn't been any quicker she would have been skewered.
Wouldn't that have been the end of a brilliant criminal career?
She smirked momentarily at the thought, getting more and more used to the idea of being a missing-nin. Bringing herself back to reality, she sighed, highly surprised if the crash of falling masonry hadn't alerted the whole of Orochimaru's liar. In any case, she was not staying in this pit any longer; she still had her mission to attend to at the end of the day.
Reaching for the scroll containing her prized twin scythes, she threw it open and clenched the weapons in both hands. She spun around, imbedding the tip of one in the wood of the nearest stake. She followed suit with the other, and proceeded in this fashion, pulling her weight up the vertical surface until she emerged from the pit and stood panting against the wall. It would have been so much easier just to use chakra to walk straight up the side of the hole, but due to the density of the stake, there had not been enough room.
Wiping sweat from her brow, she continued along the corridor, now doubly as cautious for any more hidden traps. Judging by the blue prints she had been given, she must be getting close by now. As a result, it was highly probable that the traps would also increase in number as well. Tenten sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
Deidara was tiring of this game now, as he sent yet another guided missile into the swarm of subordinates below him. Did they ever stop coming? They were like ants, milling around down there.
His mind drifted towards Tenten, and he wondered how she was doing. At the thought of that Orochimaru capturing her, his face contorted with rage, as fury bubbled up in his chest. Then, he checked himself. Why was he feeling this way? Sure, she was pretty he supposed, but not extraordinarily good looking. Then his mind wandered to his memories of their first battle, her slender form twisting through the air like it weighed as much as a feather, and that cold but proud stare. She was pure artistry in ever sense of the word, from her soft pale skin to that disdainful gleam in her eye.
The missing-nin shook his head and smirked. He guessed that was why he found it so amusing to tease her the way he did, just so he could provoke that high and mighty attitude of hers.
Momentarily preoccupied, he suddenly snapped back into focus as the 'whoosh' of a flying object woke him up from his daydream. He dodged a second too late as a long spear shaped weapon flew through the air towards him, whistling through the wind. There was a soft sounding 'squish', as it ran right through the centre of the clay bird and only missed him because he rolled out of the way just in time.
Clinging to the bird's leg with one hand, Deidara clenched his teeth and cursed for being so damn careless. With the weight of the spear-shaft added to it, the clay bird began to dip in the air, swaying drunkenly as it fought to stay aloft. The rest of the forces below were gathering around, some preparing more weapons and jutsus in his moment of weakness. His clay creature looked as if it was going to right itself for a moment…before it shuddered and plummeted down towards the ground.
Deidara's lips curled into a wide smirk. This was finally getting exciting!
Tenten crept silently as ever through the maze, her fingers still lightly touching the cold wall by her side. Suddenly, she whipped around, both hands full of shuriken. She could have sworn she had heard somebody right behind her for the briefest of moments just then…
She ducked just in time. A heavy fist swung through the air where her head just been, skimming the top of her hair. The kunoichi grinned, glad of some action after skulking around for hours, and rolled sideways before gathering herself to her feet, her long robes swirling gracefully around her.
Her deep mahogany eyes locked onto the enemy as her mind instantaneously ran through tactics and plans she could use. This was an enclosed space indeed, but she could use that to her advantage.
"Am I to assume that you are a guard in this place?" Tenten asked, surprised at the commanding tone of her voice that she had rarely heard from herself before.
"I'm not telling you anything, Akatsuki!" Snarled her opponent.
The man was of a heavy build, with wiry muscles that were evident to the naked eye, and his face reminded Tenten of Pakkun, that ninja hound summoning Kakashi had used on the Kazekage retrieval mission. He wore the usual sound-village headband on his brow, casting a shadow into his deep set eyes.
"Wrong answer." Tenten hissed.
The kunoichi danced to the side before her enemy could react, her feet noiseless on the hard floor as she twisted out of the way of a well thrown volley of shuriken aimed for her head. Evidently this subordinate wasn't as weak as she had imagined.
Taking a quick step backwards from him, she drew two handfuls of kunai out of her hip pouches, and hurled them at the sound ninja. He grinned and ducked before charging towards Tenten, eyes full of triumph.
Tenten gave a small smile, as with a wide gesture, the kunai swung around in mid air and threw themselves at the sound shinobi once more. As he turned to dodge, he noticed that they were connected with a thin chakra string, explaining her control over them. This time, he was too late, and a deep gash was opened on his right forearm.
The sound ninja grunted with pain as rivulets of blood dripped down his arm, but he didn't slow down. Tenten flipped to the side as she evaded a powerful flying kick sent her way, and leapt up into the air to return a kick of her own. It connected with the man's jaw and he stumbled backwards clutching his face.
In that instant, the man's form shimmered and collapsed into a puddle of water.
"Dammit!" hissed Tenten.
It had been a clone all along. The brunette kunoichi was suddenly pulled backwards and slammed into the wall at her back. Her face contorted in pain as her head banged against the hard surface and lights danced before her eyes. The sound shinobi pinned her by her throat, his grip tightening. She wanted to flinch away from his hot and disgusting breath on her face, but forced her features to remain impassive.
"What a shame to waste such a pretty prize…if only I had been off duty then you and I could ha-"
Tenten had opened a scroll by her side whilst the man had been preoccupied. A demon windmill shuriken appeared in her outstretched palm and she brought her arm up in a wide arc to slice off her captor's head. The sound shinobi caught her wrist and the shuriken was sent flying off behind him.
"Why you little bitch! I'll make sure you don't try anything like that again!" he snarled.
At that moment, Tenten ducked quick as lightening right down to the ground out of his grip as a metallic clang sounded behind her captor. The shuriken hit the opposite wall and came ricocheting back towards them. There was a wet sounding 'squitch' followed by a thud, and all was still.
The kunoichi stood up and brushed the dust off her robes as she looked disdainfully behind her. The demon windmill shuriken had sunk deep into the sound ninja's back and some way into the wall in front of him. His eyes were open but glazed over and unseeing as blood spurted from his back, mouth and chest and ran down the wall to form a scarlet pool on the floor.
"Don't worry," Tenten said, "I won't."
She sighed and massaged her throat where he had almost strangled her.
A damn shame I couldn't have learnt some information from him…oh well, you can't have everything, I suppose…
She approached the corpse and gripped the demon windmill shuriken with one hand before wrenching it out of the man's body, wrinkling her nose as blood spattered onto her robes and skin. Cleaning the weapon carefully with the cloth she had purchased for the job many months ago, she stowed it in its scroll once again and put the scroll away.
The fact that she had met a guard in the first place evidently meant she was nearing her destination, as security was bound to be tightened beyond this point. Even so, it still unnerved her slightly that she had only run into one guard. Not that she was complaining, but she wondered whether it was supposed to goad her into a false sense of security.
Tenten took out the blue printed once more and smoothed them out, studying them closely. It appeared that the door to her right in about one hundred yards would take her through another, smaller, corridor and at the end of that she would find the research room she had been looking for. She was glad of this, as the unchanging dark brick-red walls with than hypnotic swirling pattern was starting to unnerve her somewhat.
Stowing the blue-prints back in her bag, she stood up straight and began walking silently forward once more. She looked briefly back at the corpse, wishing there was some broom cupboard or something to hide it in. Could it be any more obvious? She decided to break into a run on the basis that once the corpse was discovered, all hell would break loose in this eerily silent base.
She soon reached the closed door. It looked just the same as all of the other doors in the place, but she was sure it was the right one. She looked up and down the corridor briefly before slipping thin senbon needle that had an intricate twist at the end into the lock of the door. There was a quiet 'click' and she twisted the door-handle, grinning as it opened easily. Tenten replaced the senbon needle into her hip pouch, and made her way into the corridor on the other side, closing the door behind her. She looked up as automatic lights flickered on to illuminate the narrow passage.
"Ah, hell…" She breathed.
The corridor was filled with Orochimaru's men, from those with that glazed look of drug-induced stupor to others who looked like they were loyal by trust. Either way, they all looked like sizable opponents. As if one body, they all turned to stare at the kunoichi who stood before them. Tenten quickly dug around in her hip bags and withdrew two handfuls of kunai.
As she launched herself forward, so did her closest enemy with a long katana clenched in one fist. Tenten transferred all the kunai to one hand, gripping them skilfully between her fingers as with her now free hand she withdrew her own katana and parried her opponent's thrust.
Whilst holding him at bay, she threw the kunai as hard as she could over the heads of the enemies so they landed near the back of the men, buried in the ground. However, these were no ordinary kunai, as each had a pre-prepared explosive tag tied to the handle.
The heads of the sound shinobi turned and their eyes widened as the tags began to glow, and Tenten ducked suddenly as a blast that would have made Deidara very proud shook the small space. Yells and screams filled the dusty air as the heat expanded from the point of detonation, just falling short of Tenten herself.
The katana wielder and couple of others, though badly blistered, were still on their feet, if not looking the worse for wear. Catching her first opponent off guard, Tenten drove the point of her slender katana clean through his chest. He gasped and blood ran down from the corner of his mouth and he slumped forwards onto her, dead. The kunoichi pushed him off, and looked up at the remainder of the sound shinobi.
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow any of you to live to tell Orochimaru that I'm here." Tenten said calmly, wondering secretly how she could be so composed after killing so many human lives…what was she turning into?
The three men still standing made no comment to this, but all ran forward robotically to attack as were there apparent orders. Within half a minute, two were dead, and the last was pinned against the wall by Tenten's katana, his blanched face covered with spatters of crimson blood. Sweat stood out on his skin and his was breathing fast, knowing the end was near.
"Aheh…heh…heh…he already knows, kunoichi. You have no hope of escape, as you speak he is coming. I hope you know what you're in f-"
Tenten stopped him in the middle of his sentence, a shuriken embedded in his chest.
"Thank you for that little piece of information." Tenten replied.
She replaced her katana and the various weapons strewn across the scarlet soaked corridor into her bag as she picked her way across the piles of bodies, some still smoking ever so slightly. What that last guy had said had set Tenten's nerves on edge. Was it true? Was she being hunted down at that moment?
She shook such pessimistic thoughts out of her head, focussing on the mission at hand. With a sigh, she placed her fingers around the door-handle at the end of the narrow corridor, and slowly turned it as the door opened.