A/N: I do not own Naruto.
Heart Broken: Chapter 21
Home Again
"I can't believe it," growled Naruto, shooting another dirty look in Kakashi's direction. "You had the man in front of you and you let him go."
Kakashi sighed heavily.
"Let it go, Naruto," he said, wearily, leaning against the doorjamb of the Hokage's office and burying his nose back into 'Icha-Icha Paradise'. "He got away. End of story."
"It's not the end of the story," shouted Naruto, flinging his arms out and knocking Shikamaru across the room.
"Idiot!" shouted Sakura, bopping Naruto on the head with her fist.
The blonde peered at her from the floor with a dazed and wounded expression.
"But, Sakura-chan," he whined, rubbing the goose-egg that was growing on his head, "we should be following that asshole and find Sasuke. This is our first lead in months."
"That's enough!" boomed Tsunade, leaning on her desk and focusing her piercing golden glare on the assembled shinobi "Team Kakashi, you'll be heading out to track Kabuto. From the preliminary information we've gotten from Ibuki, there should be a compound near the mountains bordering the Land of Fire where the children were taken. Be prepared to leave first thing in the morning."
"What?" screeched Naruto, "We gotta go, now! Right now! Before we lose the trail-."
"Naruto," said Sakura, shaking her fist under the boy's nose. He cringed back. "Shut up!"
"Oh, uh, yeah," said Naruto, falling back onto the floor, "but I don't want to waste-."
"We need to get more Intel from Ibiki before you leave," said Tsunade, firmly, "You'll leave tomorrow morning, first thing."
"Alright," grumbled Naruto, begrudgingly, standing up and rubbing his head, "I'll wait, Grand-ma."
The Fifth Hokage gritted her teeth for a minute, glaring at the most annoying teen in her life.
Shikamaru leaned on the wall he had landed against and crossed his ankles.
"What information do we have from the interrogation?" he asked.
Tsunade glanced over at Neji and Tenten, standing quietly at the back of the room.
"It seems Iwao was part of the assault team during your Chuunin exams. He took the opportunity to stay undercover in Konoha and worked out an arrangement with Kabuto to feed information back to Orochimaru." said Tsunade, sitting down and rubbing her brow. "He moved around a lot, until he found Tenten's foster family."
"The body," said Shikamaru, nodding to himself.
Everyone but Tsunade looked at him in puzzlement. She waited to see if he would elaborate.
Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the confused faces around him.
"The body we found in the tunnel," he said. They continued to stare at him.
He sighed again.
"It was the real foster parent," he said, "Iwao must have killed him and taken his place. I suppose he kept the wife quiet through intimidation and torture."
"That's about it," agreed Tsunade, "It seemed he had a taste for inflicting pain and thought he had a great set-up. He could have easy access to children and smuggle them out to Kabuto and be able to indulge his own sick games."
"Until Tenten," said Shikamaru.
Everyone turned to stare at Tenten.
She stared at the floor.
"Yes," said Tsunade, "until Tenten. He said that she was harder to break than the other children. He was angry that he couldn't 'finish' her, as he put it."
Tenten looked up at that, a stricken look on her face.
"If it hadn't been for Sakura," she said, humbly, touching the fading kanji on her wrist, "I wouldn't have been able to stop him."
"That's why we have teams," said Tsunade, "combinations of strengths and abilities that make us strong. Once you learned how to counteract the genjutsu, you were able to fight him."
"And if Neji hadn't gotten sick, we might not have found out about him," said Sakura. "Now we know about a genjutsu we weren't aware of and have a way to combat it."
"What about the children?" said Hiashi, from the only comfortable arm-chair in the room.
"And the mother?" added Hinata, in her soft voice.
"The children are fine," said Tsunade, "They've been returned to the orphan's home and are all in good shape. It seems Iwao was in a hurry to clear out of Konoha now that his secret was discovered. He wanted to curry favor with Kabuto so he snatched a whole group right off the playground, using that damned genjutsu." Tsunade turned to Hinata and smiled briefly. "The mother, Yamiko Kyo, will be fine, once her wounds have healed."
Tsunade paused and stared at Tenten for a moment, tenting her fingers and resting her chin on them.
"I wanted to ask you, Tenten," she said, "what you think I should do with her?"
Tenten looked up at the Fifth Hokage with a frown.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Kyo has asked that she be punished," said Tsunade, calmly, "she believes that she should have stopped Iwao from hurting you and the other children. You were there, Tenten. You know what happened better than anyone. What do you think?"
"No!" said Tenten, starting forward. She brushed off Neji's hand and stalked up to the Hokage's desk. "There was nothing she could do. She was not shinobi. She has no ninja skills. She was tortured and threatened. She put herself between me and that monster. That's why she got hurt. She should be treated kindly, not punished."
Tsunade studied the fuming girl standing before her.
She smiled.
"I agree," she said, "Now, get out of here, everyone. I believe that Tenten needs some help moving into the Women's Dormitory. Go!"
The group turned and shuffled out the door, Naruto complaining all the way.
Hiashi stood up and brushed off his robes.
It was the end of an interesting adventure.
He waited until the last member of the party had left the room. He crossed to the door and shut it.
He turned and looked at the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha, maybe even in the five hidden villages.
"Thank you," he said, quietly.
She looked at him quizzically, a tiny frown marring the smooth surface of her brow.
"Thank you," he said again, "for giving me an opportunity to serve my village."
She smiled a little sadly.
"You're welcome, of course," she said. She started shuffling papers around randomly on her desk.
He took a couple of steps towards her.
"Thank you for giving me a chance to see my family in a new way," he said.
She didn't look up.
"Oh, it's nothing," she said. The paper shuffling increased, some documents fluttering to the cluttered floor.
He reached the desk and stepped around it to stand by the window, looking at her. His heart was beating so loudly in his chest, that he was sure she could hear it.
"Thank you for getting me out of my house and letting me into your life."
She froze at the desk, her hands poised in mid-air.
"I'm hoping you will wish to continue," he said, quietly, hardly able to breathe.
She turned abruptly in her chair and stared up at him.
"Really?" she said, her eyes wide, "I thought-."
He reached down for her hand.
Slowly, she put hers in his and allowed him to pull her up into a loose embrace.
"I have become singularly attached to your lack of decorum," he said, his breath warm against her cheek. "I think it is my duty to be of service to Konoha to add to your consequence."
She put her arms around his neck and leaned against him, letting out a sigh.
"Far be it from me to stop anyone from attending to their duty," she murmured, enjoying the rumble of his low laugh.
Somehow or other, Neji had ended up hosting a loud and raucous party at his little cottage on the Hyuuga compound. He surveyed his usually cold living room with a resigned expression, wondering how he was going to get everyone to leave, now that they were all there. Probably not anytime soon, he reflected as kitchen staff carried in more trays of food to the cheers of his guests.
Naruto was doing some kind of strange dance in the middle of the room that involved flopping on his belly and undulating across the floor. Kiba had been released from the hospital and was sitting in an armchair with Akamaru by his side, talking loudly and trying to get Sakura to sit on his lap. Hinata was watching Naruto with a wistful expression on her face, while Shino stood quietly nearby. Shikamaru was avoiding Lee who was complaining bitterly about not being included in the fight while Gai was doing the same with Kakashi.
Everyone who had been in on the fight was there, celebrating their victory. Except for Tenten.
Where was she, anyway?
Neji looked around the room with a frown.
She had come back to the compound with them, after they had put her things in her room and visited her foster mother.
She had to be somewhere.
With a whispered, 'Byuakugan', Neji studied the rooms of his house, his worry increasing when he couldn't find her right away.
There, in the small private garden at the entrance to his house.
He stepped out into the cool night and stood on the porch looking at her.
She was sitting on a wooden bench under a sakura tree, leaning against the trunk and looking up through the branches at the starry sky.
He walked quietly over to her and sat down.
"I should have been able to stop him from hurting her," she whispered.
He could see the silvery trails of tears on her face, gleaming in the moonlight.
"How?" he asked, simply.
"I should have known he was using a jutsu," she said, her voice rising a little.
"How could you have known?" he asked, brushing his hand along her back.
"Isn't that what a good ninja does?" she cried, her voice harsh with pain. "Stop the bad guys? Save the village?"
"Isn't that what you did?" he said, his thumb making circles between her shoulder blades. "It seems to me that you did stop the bad guys and save the village."
She gasped.
"Not soon enough," she said, "I could have spared her so much pain-."
"Tenten," he interrupted, firmly, "why are you punishing yourself? You broke free from his jutsu, you rescued your mother and the little girl and five other children you didn't even know about. You did that. Your mother isn't complaining, is she?"
Her breath hitched.
"Can I tell you what I saw today?" he stopped his stroking and pulled her tightly against his side, "I saw an amazing, strong kunoichi take down an evil villain and stop a kidnapping ring."
He kissed the nape of her neck, "I saw my teammate take the lead on a successful mission."
He trailed more kisses along her jaw line, "I saw the woman I love taking back her life."
She turned and stared at him, her eyes wide and tear-soaked.
He kissed her on the lips gently.
"The woman you love?" she asked, her mouth trembling against his, "even knowing – what you do about me? You can love me?"
He deepened the kiss as his answer, pulling her into his arms and kissing her breathless.
The door to the house opened wide, spilling light and laughter out onto the shadowy path.
"Hey, you two," shouted Naruto, "quit making out and get in here. Kakashi wants to hear some of your music! Hey, Neji, did you make up something for our team? Because that would be so cool! I know, I know! I could help you come up with some music for us. I can't play any instruments or sing or anything, but I know I could – OW! Sakura! Why'd you do that?"
"Idiot!" shouted Sakura, "Leave them alone!"
Neji winced at the sound of something crashing.
Tenten smothered laughter against his shoulder.
"You better get in there, before the place gets destroyed," she snickered.
He sighed heavily, standing up reluctantly. He pulled her up with him.
"Only if you come, too," he said, wrapping his arms around her.
She melted against him, laughing as he jumped at the sound of repeated pounding.
"I'll come with you," she whispered, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
Hand in hand they ran lightly into the house to be with their friends.
The End
A/N: Finally finished. Boy gets Girl, Girl crushes evil Foster Dad, and all's well in Narutoland.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
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