Chapter twenty-one.

I have a feeling that I'm not far from the end of this story now…but don't worry! I may be writing another one afterwards – not Naruto but Harry Potter, using the original characters my friend and I share from her story, Butterflies and Hurricanes. I know the wait has been huge for this chapter, but with my initial workload being seen to, I should start to upload more regularly again...

Please enjoy and review!

As ever, I do not own Naruto!

The clangs and clicking of the various locks that secured the door to Tenten's cell filled the air, before the heavy metal structure was pushed open unceremoniously to reveal a pair of surly looking guards. Neither would meet the condemned kunoichi in the eye.

Before either of them could approach her, she stepped forward out of her cell, unwilling to be seen as a coward who shrank away from her fate. At that moment, like a whip cracking into action, a pair of thin pale objects threw themselves from the floor towards her. Tenten could only blink in shock and surprise as they wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her torso like snakes.

Tenten's eyes widened as she realised what they were. They were long strips of paper, with symbols inscribed upon both sides. They were incapacitators, the jutsu sealed in each one capable of rending her completely unable of movement. She could already feel her arms losing feeling. She guessed they must have been set off by her stepping over the threshold of her prison on her own, in case she attempted to escape.

One of the guards ducked forwards and caught the ends of the paper strips quickly, before they could wind around her legs.

"Phew, you caught that just in time!" said the second guard, allowing himself a smile, "I wouldn't have wanted to carry her to the Sector! At least this way she can walk on her own."

The first guard grunted in reply and Tenten went red. The image in her mind of herself being carried tied up like a parcel to her execution was almost too much to bear. Even as it was, her arms had been rendered immobile under the belt-like straps pinning them to her sides.

The first guard gave her a hard kick to her back that almost sent her sprawling, her eyes screwed up tight against the pain, fighting the urge to yell.

"Move." He snarled close to her ear.

Tenten stiffened at the rancid smell of his breath and cringed away before standing straight, doing her best to look proud and resolute without letting any compromising emotions show up on her pale face. Instead, she looked around, seeing for the first time the interior of the prison block outside of her cell, from which she had been unable to see anything anyway.

The place had been designed in such a way to make the inmates feel as hopeless and inadequate as humanly possible, thought Tenten as she looked around. Gunmetal grey walls, grey ceiling, grey doors, and surprisingly, grey metal flooring as well. Tenten's sandaled feet scuffed against aluminium tread plait grills set into the floor, and if she narrowed her eyes she could make out more cells beneath them. She felt glad she had at least been incarcerated above ground. She wondered what the crimes of the poor souls down there had been.

A sharp tug on the paper belts that bound her brought her back into the real world and out of her day-dreaming. The guard didn't have to pull her again, as she was walking proudly past them, as they exchanged looks of confusion. Evidently, these men had never experienced a prisoner who would go to there death whilst retaining as much dignity as she seemed to be able to. However, that was not to say that they didn't stick to her sides like glue, making any sort of escape impossible.

The metal grills clanged under her feet as they made their way through the dreary prison block, the voices of incarcerated criminals around her filling her ears. Many of those below the ground under her feet were calling out as they saw people pass overhead. Some called out in anger, others in despair so overwhelming Tenten wanted to cover her ears. She shuddered wondering if she would be reduced to that if she had been imprisoned down there.

After a further few minutes of walking through the oppressive walkways and corridors, passing not only cells but offices and interrogation rooms, they cam to a large steel door that stood imposingly at the end of the corridor. Tenten guessed this was the exit, and the desire to breathe fresh air and see the sky above was so strong she felt a sudden burst of new energy.

A small rectangular piece of paper was attached across the seam of the door. Upon it was scribed a symbol that Tenten knew from her training in the Leaf was one of sealing and entrapment. The guards at her side nodded to a silent pair of custodians who stood at either side of the door. Tenten jumped, as she hadn't noticed them before; their attire the same dull grey as the walls – they even wore grey masks.

The door attendants turned, raising each of their right hands up so their palms faced out. Tenten squinted to see that upon the weathered skin was tattooed a mirror image of the symbol inscribed upon the paper seal on the door. As they each pressed their palms to the paper, it pealed away, fluttering down to the ground like an ordinary piece of paper, before they picked it up as if it was made of glass and a low hiss signalled the opening of the door.

Tenten's analytical mind told her that there was probably some kind of vacuum seal on the door as well as the numerous locks that somebody on the other side was now undoing. The door was pushed inwards from the outside, and light came flooding into the dimly lit corridor. Tenten bowed her head to the light to stop it getting into her eyes; she had not expected the brightness. She thought it was supposed to still be pre-dawn.

As she was adjusting to the harsh white light, the paper bindings were given another sharp tug, and she was forced to walk forwards, half blinded, into the unknown. Then, all of a sudden, the light was gone. Seeing stars, Tenten opened her eyes to see where it had gone. It had been a searchlight, sweeping the area in its patrol around the prison grounds. Mounted on a high platform, she watched as it swivelled around to look at another area of the centre.

The actual sky was still shrouded in the sleepy blanket of grey clouds and half-hearted light that purveyed the coming of the new day. Away to the east, over the mountains, fingers of blood red were crawling like veins over the sky. Evidently, the executioner was running late – whoever he was – as Tenten thought she was supposed to have been disposed of at first light.

Again, the bindings were pulled sharply as she tore her gaze from the sky and followed her pair of guards. Neither deigned to speak to her, and thought she even sensed a flicker of fear among them. This made her smile smugly to herself despite the situation, as she thought of herself as the terrible Akatsuki member she had been made out to be.

Eventually, one of them spoke.

"We will shortly be arriving at the Sector. Be aware that this area if crawling with guards and black-ops, so do not, I repeat do not, try anything stupid." The first guard informed her.

Tenten simply nodded in reply, as she knew by now that there was no hope of getting out of this place alive. She hated to admit it to herself, but she had given up. This yawning black hole of hopelessness filled any space where fear may have resided, and was almost worse in a way.

To distract her thoughts, she began to take in the scenery around her. After having longed for the outdoors since her imprisonment, she found it, to be honest, a little disappointing. Whoever had designed the interior of the prison had evidently designed the exterior; there was no vegetation at all, just concrete and steel throughout of the whole of the space.

However, the square buildings that must serve as housing facilities for some of the guards as well as storeroom and the like were getting sparser, and here and there Tenten could see wizened grass poking up out of cracks in the concrete. After the disaster with Orochimaru at the chunin exams all those years ago, Tenten guessed the budget had been directed elsewhere than maintenance on the site.

It was a further few minutes before her guards brought Tenten to an abrupt halt. The red of the sunrise had bled outwards from the east to make the sky blaze with colour, but Tenten didn't have the heart to marvel at the fleeting beauty quite at that moment.

"Sir, we brought the Akatsuki." Reported the first guard.

"Yes, I can see that, thank you." Growled a low voice that Tenten knew only too well.

Ibiki turned to face them from where he had been looking up at the dawn sky, and looked Tenten up and down, his scrutinising glare making her skin crawl. There were very few people present from what Tenten could see, but she guessed there were black-ops all around, blending in with the surrounds so that even she could not sense them.

Aside from Ibiki, there stood two more guards as well as those who had accompanied her, and tall man with his face hidden by an all-covering mask. He was tall and gangly with overly long limbs, reminding Tenten of a huge spider. Tenten set her face, allowing no fear or anxiety to give satisfaction to Ibiki.

There were no buildings in this part of the prison's land, and Tenten was slightly puzzled by this, as surely they would want to hide a scene of an execution out of view. What she could see was a square of steel, set into the concrete ground. There was a slightly raised cylinder in the centre that rose above five inches from ground level. That was all there was to the place, and Tenten thought that surely, the execution would take place somewhere else.

Suddenly, her guards yanked the paper chain that restrained her arms so that she followed them to the raised plate in the centre of the metal floor. Here, a strong hand was pushed into the small of her back with enough force to make her kneel upon it. She looked up with resentment as both of the guards walked away, the ends of the paper binds tying themselves automatically around two small rings set into the ground so that she was tied to the floor like some kind of animal.

The spider-like masked man now approached her, standing in front of her like he really was a spider, about to pounce upon its prey.

"Do you know how an execution of an S-ranked criminal is carried out, Akatsuki? We use a conventional but effective method to make sure you're really dead. After what we've seen of your organisation's abilities, we like to take no risks." Ibiki asked lazily from a few paces away.

"No," Tenten said, "They left that part out at ninja academy."

Ibiki smirked and crossed his arms, but spoke no more. It was as if he had allowed his prisoner the little indulgence of getting the last word in before her death.

The masked man took a step closer and unsheathed from his back a long Katana, with a curiously thick blade. She guessed that meant it must be quite the heavy weapon, but because of that it would doubtless swing with immense power. Tenten's interest in weapons however, was not that key at this moment.

As he gripped the blade tightly with both hands, Tenten could make out a slight blue glowing tinge to the metal, and it was then that it all made sense. He was running dense chakra down the metal; she could see where the blue reached up to his hand. Tenten sat completely still, her skin prickling for what was to come. She felt the ice cold of the blade as the executioner trained it against the soft pale skin on her neck. The traditional method of beheading would be more effective regarding the chakra abilities of some by far, as it would definitely kill its target.

Tenten found her breathing quickening as she knew in her heart they would be the last breaths she ever took. She found that her head was oddly empty. She didn't see her life flash before her eyes or anything like the tales she had heard from various shinobi through her time in the village, neither did she have any major flashbacks to her life before Akatsuki. She didn't wonder what she would be doing if she hadn't left, not that she'd had any real choice, and didn't even truly regret affiliating herself with the criminal organisation.

She opened her eyes and looked up when the blow didn't come. The masked executioner had stepped back and was conversing in hushed tones with Ibiki. Tenten strained her ears but couldn't make out what they were saying. Their voices were hushed and urgent.

"…just get it done before it's too late!" Ibiki growled, raising his voice slightly – as Tenten could see he was getting impatient, but not only that, but beads of sweat were standing out on his brow.

Too late? What did that mean? Had something happened? She remembered the look on Neji's face just before he turned to leave her cell, and couldn't help but wonder if he had done something extremely out of character and stupid to try and free her. Then she shook her head, sighing. No, he was far too sensible to risk his life and position for a common girl like her.

Then…what if…Akatsuki were coming for her after all? At the thought of this, Deidara's face appeared in her mind along with a rush of feeling. Maybe he cared for her after all…the thought was ridiculous, but her heart was beating fast just at the thought. She found herself longing for the freedom he offered her, the exhilaration of soaring through the sky by his side fresh in mind. Could it be…she loved him? With a gulp, she felt afraid for one of the few times in her life – afraid it may be true.

A sharp nick in her neck brought her back to the real world and she jumped.

"Keep still, or it will hurt more." Hissed the executioner.

He was back, the blade raised high behind his head. It was time. She would never know if her criminal returned her feelings for him, she would never see him or Neji ever again. She held her head high. She was going to die, but she would do so with dignity.

Suddenly, a swish that was definitely not that of the katana broke the tension, and Tenten opened her eyes. As the executioner turned to look to where the noise had come from, she saw a small white form dart towards the small group - a bird with two pairs of wings and face that seemed to almost smirk. Out of the blue, it dived, and before anyone could utter a word, the world exploded.