Suigetsu was in his element, hacking around wildly, ANBU members unable to understand his kekkei genkai, positively thriving, teeming with bloodthirsty joy as the bodies fell with heavy thuds. He would get Kubikiribocho, and then he would get them all! Kisame had been very helpful on his quest to find the rest of the swords, his indifference and amusement at Suigetsu's boyish manner and homicidal tendencies. But he was not searching for a fight today, as fun as they were. And he had to be quick - Pein's battle was quickly getting serious, and it was not on Suigetsu's list of priorities to be stuck in the middle of that. He watched the lifeblood drip from a purple-haired ANBU and wondered why, if you wore a mask, your hair was still free. Not even a light henge? Or perhaps it was a henge. He didn't have time for such silly thoughts.
He'd slowly gleaned from Tenten's weirdly stiff self that, if destroyed, a lot of her scrolls would simply undo the jutsu that held them safe, and they'd appear, seemingly out of thin air. At least, that was the impression he got, between Shisui's translation, Hidan's interruptions, Kisame's mockery, and Konan's amusement. Though of all of them, Hidan was his favorite. Nobody else could take a punch like Hidan. It was a fetish, which should have been gross, but Suigetsu found himself intrigued.
Somewhere around here, lying under rubble, was his sword. Tenten had told him as much, and her scrolls that had been left on her person when Deidara had attacked had come back to Konoha. Suigetsu cackled, finishing off the last of his enemies and slinking down, becoming water, moving quickly before he was too dehydrated, searching for the weapon he'd spent the past three years waiting - itching - to get his hands on.
And finally, he found it.
With a triumphant cackle, he lifted it - and nearly fell over. "Cripes," he wheezed, feeling the intense weight of his victory. To taste his long awaited success… well, no wonder Hidan was such a freak. This was orgasmic. Summoning all of his strength, he hefted the enormous sword. It was dusty now, chipped. All he had to do was draw a little bit of blood, and the - his - sword would be back to normal.
x
"It's okay, calm down," Iruka crooned to the little child Konohamaru had brought to him, cradling him in his arms. Definitely not old enough for the Academy, if this was even a child who would enroll. Hardly five years old and sobbing. Well, now the tears were drying up a little, but he remained draped comfortingly in Iruka's lap.
"I want my daddy," the boy said to Iruka's neck, dampening it a little with saliva and mucus and tears. Iruka did not mind.
"We'll find him soon," Iruka lied, hoping that post-adrenaline exhaustion would knock the kid out sooner or later. Katsuyu-sama had reported the child to have a clean bill of health, but Moegi and Konohamaru looked frantic with worry. They hadn't seen Udon anywhere today, and they'd were supposed to meet him to plan the elaborate prank Konohamaru had planned.
Moegi had saved the child - Sota - but they'd been unable to find anyone else. So they'd done the next best thing - Iruka-sensei always knew what to do.
They were wrong on that count. Genma had dropped Iruka off - his left side too badly injured to be helpful - and Konohamaru, as unerringly as usual, had found him. It almost made him smile. In any other circumstance, he would be fighting back a smile. Not today though.
There were flashes of light down where the Hokage Tower had once been. The demon and the other creature had disappeared, though Iruka hadn't the faintest idea what that had been about.
"Iruka-sensei, is Naruto okay?" Konohamaru burst out in a flurry of movement, standing as if to go run towards his senpai. Moegi yanked him back to a sitting position.
"Don't you dare," she warned him, her little-girl voice powerful and commanding. "This is serious, Konohamaru! You aren't anywhere near powerful enough to even touch that!"
Rather than taking offense, as Iruka expected, Konohamaru obeyed. "I know," he said, his tone defeated. "I just wish I weren't."
"I'm not, either," Iruka told him. "I know you feel helpless, but Naruto has been training for this."
"Only because Tenten joined them! She's a traitor!" he spat, real anger in his words.
Iruka's heart shuddered for a second at that. He was sure it would disturb Shota, but the frightened child merely curled into him further. What could he say to that? As much as he wanted to shelter his students, he could not. Someday, they'd be more powerful than he. Far more. His life had not set him up for arduous battle. He was a teacher. He was a builder; he believed firmly in the power of education. But they were not of the same stock as he. Moegi seemed just as impatient and terrified as Konohamaru, but she contained herself bravely, sensing the chakra around her. As Konohamaru said Tenten's name, her gaze flicked over before returning to the faraway scene. Likely she was observing Tenten's chakra patterns as they spoke.
"Things are more complicated than they seem," Iruka said weakly, torn between wanting to defend the girl and being unable to refute the truth. "For a shinobi, the truth is wrapped in layers and layers of deceit. We must be able to perceive what lies beneath."
"I know, the hidden meanings in the hidden meanings," Konohamaru brushed it away and silenced. Yet it was a silence of grief, rather than fear or anger. Here, they could only wait and see.
x
Shisui had seen Naruto's fist coming. So he'd blocked it - with his entire body. Tenten was still injured, but she wasn't dead, which could've happened if she'd faced the full onslaught of Naruto's ridiculous power. Shisui himself was no slack, but the raw chakra emanating from him was inhuman. Neither he nor Itachi had ever reached such heights.
Opposite to what he'd first thought, he could see how much it hurt Naruto to even try to hurt Tenten, who hadn't even yet acknowledged Naruto. Though he hadn't acknowledged her either. But he did what he must do to defeat Pein, and Tenten was in the way.
They were lying, arms and legs tangled, buried deep in the earth, throbbing from the blow, dust settling around them. Shisui felt a hole in his mouth where his teeth had sliced against the soft skin. But they were alive. Pein's presence was gone from him; but the levels of chakra were quickly expanding, and at this rate, desperate times would call for desperate measures, and they'd bring out jutsu that would flay the two of them alive just by being in proximity. They'd gotten flung pretty far away, but there was another battle in the distance - Hidan and Kisame against - was that Sai? There were a few others, but the sight of their friend got Shisui's heart pounding. He wished desperately for Sai to succeed, to defeat his enemies… but mostly he wished he could get up.
Tenten's body was heavy and limp, though she was looking at him, a modicum of her old intelligence in her eyes. "Shisui," she breathed, before suddenly going blank again. It was too much to be borne, the way she could just suddenly come back and go again.
"Stay with me! Damn you!" he yelled at her, suddenly furious at her for leaving him behind. "Tenten!" Damn Pein, and damn her too! He was tired of being alone!
Too far for anyone to hear, Shisui slumped down, feeling the warmth of her leg over his torso and her hot, slick blood on his shoulder that definitely was not his. They weren't in any danger of dying… from these wounds. He wasn't sure who would help him. Or who he wanted to help him.
A sudden quaking in the earth sent Shisui's eyes up. Sasuke and Itachi… going at it again. But that hadn't been them. Who on earth had enough strength to shake the very ground? He was distracted from the far more menacing, far more distant battles by a pair of legs that ran up to him.
"Did I interrupt something?" a leering voice asked, and Shisui looked up, only to see Shiranui Genma, senbon in his mouth, which was twisted in something that was both a grin and a scowl and utter amazement but also acceptance. Shisui understood. Honestly… shit had gotten weird.
"Just the usual," Shisui attempted humor, but Genma's smile was gone as he purveyed them.
"How badly injured?"
"I am fine - maybe a few broken ribs. Naruto did not pull any punches. Tenten is fine, but she is bleeding, so maybe some medical attention would not be amiss."
"You still talk the same when you're anxious," Genma whoofed, a large sigh that was part amusement, part exhaustion. "You gotta drop that weird, shit, dude…" he stared, losing his train of thought. "I can't believe it's really you. I almost thought Sai was wrong, but I felt your chakra… but it feels different than it used to."
"Comes with the brainwashing," Shisui confessed.. "Tenten… has not been herself… not for quite awhile."
"Seems like we should get out of here before things get really ugly," Genma noted. "Even that fight over there is breaking up," he gestured in the distance, at Kisame and Hidan's retreat. Which only meant that Pein was gearing up for some destruction. Like, now.
"Tenten was supposed to be bait… make this easier," Shisui tried to extricate himself from her, but they were folded over one another like origami, and he didn't want to her hurt, or himself. "I hoped it meant… minimal injuries for all parties. I was... obviously... wrong."
With tenderness never before seen from the usually casual, indifferent ninja, Genma moved Shisui around, untwisting their limbs, and picked up Tenten, whose eyes were open, intelligent, canvassing him. "You in there, kouhai?" he asked, his voice soft and filled with emotion that Shisui could not immediately define. "I just wanna know you're okay."
Shisui was flooded with jealousy. Foolish, foolish jealousy. But it was uncontrollable. The way he looked at her could not be denied. He loved her. As a little sister, as a friend… as a lover. It did not matter. Shisui's inner green monster did not wait for explanation. "Only sometimes," he answered for her laconically.
As if summoned, her long, thin hand reached up and touched Genma's cheek, leaving a spidery mark in her own blood. But she did not speak.
"Can you stand?" he asked Shisui, his focus immediately back. "I know a place we can hide out until some of this dies down. But we gotta move fast, man."
"I should stay… help…" Shisui looked over at where he thought Itachi and Sasuke's battle was coming from. But Pein did not understand his abilities, and thus, he was more injured than he should have been, with more chakra depleted. In short, the great Uchiha Shisui had been rendered useless. He remembered teasing Sasuke, telling him that he and Itachi had argued about who was stronger… the boy had been furious at the implication that it was Shisui. Though, at least at the time, it had been true. A million years ago. Crap. What a cute kid Sasuke had been.
"I only asked if you could stand," Genma said drily, shifting his hold on Tenten to free a hand. Awkwardly, Shisui took it, but at Genma's strong, firm grip, he suddenly felt a rush of euphoria, of camaraderie. "Yup," he grinned. "We should go."
Quickly, they left the scene, Genma moving slowly so Shisui could keep up. They ended up in a strange old temple, which had hardly escaped the wreckage. It was leaning dramatically, but it would serve its purpose. The wood was old, and rotted… and there was no one there. They were safe - for the time being.
"So, what's going on with you?" Genma asked conversationally, setting Tenten down on her feet, sliding her down his chest. She'd grown much taller in three years.
"Nothing, just some casual reanimation after a fuinjutsu gone wrong, being forced to join Akatsuki, hanging out with Tenten," Shisui grinned at him, suddenly buoyant. What if Naruto really was able to defeat Pein? Things seemed much more positive than they had before. "How is Yugao? Iwashi? How is Itachi?"
"Yugao is alright. Her boyfriend died a while back, messed her up pretty bad. Iwashi is boring. Itachi? As well as could be expected," Genma shrugged, observing as Tenten began pacing, absently studying the artifacts. "Is she okay?"
Shisui shrugged mournfully, flinching from a huge burst of chakra behind him, shaking the wooden building. "It really is almost as if she… dunno, like she is on autopilot… Occasionally, she comes back, in flashes, but for the most part... There is nothing up there. I have been trying to study what it could possibly be, but no luck thus far. It can be difficult with a tyrant in your mind, punishing you for your thoughts. I thought the Sharingan was bad, but… The pain, the suffering. You..." he looked at Genma seriously. "You can't imagine it. It's unbearable. I've never felt anything so agonizing."
Genma nodded as Tenten perused the selection of masks on the wall. It was a little known fact that little Shisui, graduated so young, so advanced, so incredible… had struggled with a speech impediment. His focus to not use contractions were a part of his focus to exercise his mouth. "This is an Uzumaki temple. Yugao showed it to me. Pretty cool."
Still wearing their Akatuski cloaks, Genma mused that they made quite a scene. The amiable Shunshin no Shisui, harbinger of death, watching his kouhai with such protective eyes, curled in the corner, his gaze never once moving from her pacing. She was different now. Older, obviously, but he could see every inch of what she'd been through. Scars and stiffness and distance.
She'd become a pretty thing, too, he noted. Surprising, since she'd never really showed signs of becoming a genuine beauty. Not like Yamanaka Ino or the crippled Hyuuga clan leader. There had been a point, right after Hyuuga had died, that she'd blossomed rapidly. This was different, though. That was effort. This was reality; she was harder; sharper; gaunter. He had no doubt she was faster, too. He wondered how well she could spit a senbon. Ladies loved when he did that. Sexier than chewing a cherry stem.
"You love her."
It was not a statement. Genma raised a brow at Shisui's decidedly angry tone and almost smiled. "Sounds like I'm not the only one, eh, old buddy?"
Shisui blinked owlishly. "Well," he began peevishly, but Genma interrupted him.
"She's hard not to love. Cute too, now that she's legal." Genma enjoyed the expression on Shisui's face immensely, though it was too mean of him. Sure, she'd grown up to be pretty hot, but she was a kid, and she was his friend. He'd never entertained a single thought in that direction. But it was fun to tease him.
"You're far too old for her," Shisui informed him self-righteously.
"Maybe you're too prudish for her," Genma jibed, enjoying getting the younger man hot and bothered. While Shisui had always been one of the finest shinobi Genma had ever known, he was on-par with Izumo and Kotetsu when it came to shenanigans - but it was too easy to induce blushing with this one.
Before Shisui really got furious and murdered him, an act he was sure he was capable of, Genma hastily informed him: "I do love her. But you're right. I'm too old for her. She was a kid the last time I saw her. I don't have any designs on her. Despite how well you think you know me, I'm not a total creep."
"Well… that's a relief to hear," Shisui told him.
"Though I'm flattered you think I'm competition," he grinned. "My kouhai would find that endlessly hilarious, you know."
"I think… that we know two very different Tentens…" Shisui murmured, his gaze finally moving to meet Genma's. "Even before… she's faced a lot of pain. Even I can't relate sometimes."
"We all have," Genma answered quietly, feeling the earth shudder. "But you're right… she's had it pretty rough. How did you get caught up in this mess anyhow?"
Shisui, the king of subtlety, the constant enforcer of justice, told an incredibly abbreviated version of the story that left Genma more confused and demanding answers. While they were distracted, however, as if she knew precisely what she was doing, she lifted a mask off the leaning wall and placed it on her face. Then another. And another. Until she found the right one.
Neither man noticed until Tenten turned around, blood dripping down her abdomen. She'd found what she'd been subconsciously looking for, though, as usual, she'd been overzealous in her efforts. She'd found the Uzumaki's Shinigami Mask, and cut herself open; thus opening the stomach of the demon she'd been trapped within for years. It was uncanny; first, she'd freed him, as if by accident, on the Nanako. Now, here, she did the same for herself, a soulless vessel that had still managed to rescue herself with zero assistance. How had her body known? Muscle memory? But she'd never been here before, of that he was certain. Inherent Uzumaki knowledge? Or perhaps there was more of her soul left than just the dregs. She used to spend a good deal of time at the library.
Not that Shisui consciously knew this. He just saw her in a mask. He did not see the Shinigami, only the intelligence in her eyes.
"Tenten!" Shisui yelled, and Genma roared: "Fucking damnit!"
But she grinned, a real smile, like the curious genin Genma remembered. "Hey senpai. I'm back."
Then she passed out.
x
Sighing in fury, Kisame dragged Hidan by the foot. The man had been cut to ribbons, and was complaining every step of the way. After a few miles, they came across Suigetsu, who was grinning in wild anticipation. "Look what I've got!" he shouted gleefully.
"I don't care. Where's Konan?" Kisame wanted to know.
Suigetsu shrugged carelessly. "Ame? Pein's gonna get smashed.
"So we regroup. But we'll go by a different way." Kisame highly doubted Pein had actually been killed. But they had lost; it was time to return back to base. He wondered where Itachi was - perhaps Konan was retrieving him. He'd sensed Itachi's chakra in the distance, but he'd felt Sasuke's too. There was no way he was getting involved in that. Perhaps, since Itachi knew that they'd come, he'd escape and return. It was a pleasant thought. He vastly preferred Itachi to Pein or to even Konan. And if Hidan didn't cease whining, he'd leave him behind. Ever since Kakuzu's death three years prior, the man had been transformed from irritating to insufferable.
"Come on, this is getting bad. We should get out of here," Suigetsu said nervously, twitching at a bright spot of light in the distance.
x
Tenten woke a few hours later… feeling completely well. She felt… odd. Different. Of course, other than the sudden return to her body after Kami knew how long. Another kind of different. A good kind. Except her mouth. She was more dehydrated than she could ever remember being in her life. And her breath stank! But she felt hale and whole, moreso than she'd felt in longer than she could remember.
"Where am I?" she wanted to know hazily, smacking her mouth, trying to make the sounds come. Her mouth did not seem to want the make the movements necessary for speech.
Shiranui Genma grinned at her. "You're alive, just like every other damn person in the village. The kid did it. Your brother, Uzumaki Naruto saved the village. Everyone is alive."
"What?" Tenten didn't understand. Save the village from what? Why was she with Genma? Was she a prisoner again? She hoped not. Being a prisoner was beginning to get on her nerves. A flash of memory came to her - Shisui taking a blow for her. Then nothing. She tried to concentrate, but that never worked. Focusing on memories just made them harder to grasp.
"Pein's reign is over, Tenten," Shisui said, looking buoyant… and older. When had he gotten so old? He was a real man now. A fully grown adult.
"Come here," she ordered him, and he obeyed eagerly. She reached a hand out and stroked his face. "Why do I feel so amazing?"
"He's gone, Tenten." The easy contraction in his speech threw her off. It changed the entire timbre of his voice. Her stomach hurt. But not, stab wound hurt, more like… a cramp? An influx of… bile? She wasn't sure.
Blinking, she shook her head, still not quite able to collect herself. Why was she so groggy? "I'm gonna need a better explanation."
"Cripes, were you really gone? Where'd you go?" Genma demanded, rounding on Shisui. "Where the hell did she go?"
She shook her head at the ridiculous question that came to her tongue. "Genma?Can we discuss this later? Where are we? I have questions!"
"The edge of Konoha," a new voice answered shortly.
"What the hell?" she wanted to know, sitting up, before a hand smacked her back down.
"First of all, how unbelievably stupid was it for you to cut yourself?" Haruno Sakura railed. "You do realize you're in my custody! You're going to be tried as an adult. Naruto is going to kill you, just so you know."
"Sakura's gonna kill us all. She's on a rampage," Genma confided. "Itachi let Sasuke kill him."
Finally adjusting to her surroundings, Tenten glared at the circles around her. "Can someone here please give me a straight answer? One that makes sense?"
Then, she realized with a belatedness that attributed to her failure as a ninja, that Shisui looked… normal. As in, both eyes. Normal eyes. Regular eyes.
"What the hell!" she demanded. No piercings, nothing. He looked, for all the world, like a regular Konoha shinobi. He sent her a devastating smirk, and this time her stomach hurt… but they were friggin' butterflies. Wow! He was handsome! Since when?
She realized someone was holding her hand. Turning her neck - which ached - she stared. Snowy-white, neat. "Sai?"
"Hello, Buns," Sai gave her a blank look. "Please sit still while Ugly makes sure you have a clean bill of health."
Genma burst back into laughter and Sakura gave a murderous expression to Sai, who merely cocked his head.
"What's this about Itachi dying?"
"Nobody is dead anymore," Shisui corrected. "But it happened."
"What the fuck does that mean?" she demanded in frustration. Sakura stepped back, taking with her the strange feeling. It had been healing chakra she'd felt.
"Where were you for three years? Do you remember anything?" Shisui moved close to her, his stance protective.
"Three years?" she asked, shocked. "I was… I messed up a jutsu. Bad. In a Suna prison. I wanted to see if I could…" she shook her head sheepishly. "It was stupid. I can't believe I'm alive."
"C'mon, kouhai, can't just say that and not continue," Genma urged. "What'd you do?"
"I summoned a Shinigami," she admitted. "I didn't mean to - I didn't even use all my chakra. But Pein was in my head… and I wanted him out. So I played with hand signs and chakra pressure - obviously, I didn't have a book on me… and then I only remember being in the Shinigami. It was… boring. But…" she hesitated, looking around the circle that had gathered. "Two people were already there."
"Dead? Or living?"
"Dead," she confirmed, to all of their immense fascination. Well, except Sai, who was simply attentive.
"Anyone relevant?"
"Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama," she admitted, wondering if they would think she as a liar.
All of them gaped. Tenten, unaware of her transformation to clinically cruel acolyte to… the old Tenten, continued chattering on about the Impure Place, the loneliess, the casual attack that had sent her flying. "I learned a lot from them," she admitted. "But it made me realize… as strong as I think I am, as strong as I've become… I'd never seen real power before. It was incredible."
"Did you miss what happened out there?" Sakura gaped. "Shukaku was here! There was a giant monster fighting it! Pein destroyed the entirety of Konoha before Naruto stopped him! The entire Akatsuki were here!"
"Uh," she shook her head. "I guess I missed that."
That was a lie, however, as a flash of memory came back. Naruto, positively glowing with chakra, ranking up there next to Hashirama and Tobirama, his intensity unrivaled and his strength and power godly.
"Itachi let Sasuke kill him… and was thusly returned to life when Pein completed a jutsu to return to life all he killed," Shisui was utterly irrepressible right now. "Sakura is going to lose her mind."
"Sasuke is going to lose his mind," Sakura corrected. "He had a breakdown the second Itachi let him land his chidori. He knew Itachi let him. I've never seen anyone so bereft."
"So, he finally had some sense banged into his head?"
"I don't know. ANBU took them under custody. The only reason you and Shisui aren't is because Genma, Sai and I are here."
"We're war criminals," Shisui reminded her, suddenly the picture of sobriety. "We will face a council. They'll decide what to do with us."
"Fuck it," Tenten shook her head. "I quit being a ninja. This is some real bullshit."
"What?" they all demanded in unison. Tenten stood and stretched, feeling her joints pop.
"I said I quit! I didn't sign up to play god! Do you realize what we're playing with here? The kyuubi and reanimation and Impure World and possession and sealing souls? This is ridiculous!" she really got fired up, beginning her rant. "It's impossible! We live in civilized times, people, so why is our external affairs department so terrible, first of all, and secondly, how come we have to make people suffer so much? How can you hear of the plight of the Uchiha or Sai or the Hyuuga and feel anything but horror? We're still scrabbling like this is the Warring States period!"
"To protect the village," Shisui murmured, though she knew that his innate fairness and intelligence allowed him to understand her point perfectly. "Individuals do not matter."
"I wholly agree that the greater good is more important than the individual," she said wearily. "But we keep hurting our own so badly that there is no greater good, just a pile of bodies. The theory is right, the practice is wrong."
Perhaps part of her emotional reaction was being alive again. She never wanted to face something as retroactively terrifying as being trapped in another realm, with her body moving outside of her control, aging. Three years! She was tired of being traumatized, damnit!
Genma looked awed. "You really did see some shit in there, didn't you?"
Tenten only shook her head. "Are we under arrest yet? I could really use a shower."
x
Genma kept banging on the shower door, threatening to break it down, to join her in the shower, to make Sai join her in the shower, but Tenten ignored them, selfishly using all the hot water. In the interest of keeping technical war criminals separate, Tenten was staying with Sai and Genma - at Sai's insistence, which pleased her profoundly - and Shisui was with Sakura. Itachi was also staying with her, having been fully pardoned, and the two were catching up on what Shisui declared to be "much needed best-friend time".
As for Tenten, she was staring in the dirty mirror at the dirty sink, staring at herself. Her scars were all there - the massive one on her chest, the one on her calf, the one from Kakashi's chidori in her middle. Her ANBU tattoo was there, somehow. But other than that… it was as if the past - what was it, four years now? Had been erased. Her eyes were light brown with gray flecks. Her vision was perfect. She mourned the loss of Neji, but appreciated having her full vision. Her hair was long and lank - she badly needed a trim. The dark auburn hanks fell nearly to her waist, and even freshly washed, it hung limply. Not a trim. A hack job.
Tenten took a kunai that was sitting next to Genma and Sai's toothbrushes and methodically began cutting her hair. It was a sharp kunai, which helped, but the job would be uneven regardless. When she'd managed to get the ends reasonably straight, hanging just above her shoulders, she smiled with satisfaction and cleaned her mess, for a strange and almost eerie moment, believing she was back in her old apartment with Naruto and cleaning up after his disgustingness. Once she began wiping the toilet and found definite pube hairs, far more likely to be Genma's than Sai's, she quit. No thank you.
There was lotion, which was likely less about healthy, supple skin than it was other healthy body functions that she did not need to imagine either man participating in, but she used it anyway, enjoying the scent of the fragrance-free stuff. The mirror wasn't full length, but she stood on the edge of Genma's tub and analyzed herself.
Three years.
Her breasts were bigger - one of her last memories before her stupid failed jutsu was Kankuro jeering about her about her cup size. Chauvinist pig, definitely. But they were a modest handful now, nothing that would need to be bound away on missions, but there was potential there too. For what, she wasn't sure. She kept forgetting things were decidedly not normal.
Her body was tauter, with plenty of muscle, and even a little extra flesh that broadcasted her as healthy rather than out of shape. Her face was much thinner and longer, her eyebrows more pronounced, her nose a little bigger, her resting expression… pretty bitchy, but a good kunoichi face, she supposed.
Utatane-sama, one of Danzou's old buddies and the advisor to the Sandaime, had been pretty beautiful. Tenten almost thought she resembled her with her hair twisted back, and darker from the water.
Finishing her ritual, Tenten picked up the pile of clothes they'd scrounged up for her. One of Sai's crop tops, which fell just past her belly button, and a pair of Genma's oldest, rattiest pants. The finished product wasn't terrible, but it was just nice to be in soft, sweet smelling clothing. To be whole. To be alive.
Exiting the bathroom, Tenten moved to the general living space. Genma looked up from a scroll he was studying. Sai was in the corner, sketching, papers strewn around the room. "Holy crap," he complained, standing. "I've had to shit for like half an hour."
"You could've come in," she pointed out. "I didn't lock the door. I grew up in a one bathroom apartment with Naruto."
Sai didn't look up from his sketching, so she merely watched him. He was still so oddly mechanical and blank, but his pencil moved furiously across paper. She stood closer to see what he was drawing.
"I have made extensive progress," Sai informed her. "I know now that it is strange and unwelcoming for a person to observe another while they are focusing on something private. However, this is not private, and I am glad to see you, so we shall ignore protocol."
"Speaking of private, Gai stopped by while you were in the shower."
Tenten froze. "How is he?" she asked, hating how her heart thumped so anxiously.
Sparing her a kind smile, Genma sat back down at his couch, patting for her to join him. "He said he'll come by again. Well, he didn't say it like that, but the day I'm quoting Maito Gai is the day they lock me in the looney bin."
"Speaking of locked up…" Tenten murmured, curling against him and continuing to observe Sai, his skin glowing brighter than his paper in the bright sunlight. "When is the hearing going to be?"
"One week from today," Genma told her, and then he shoved her off him. "So… what the hell?"
It was a testament to how much things had calmed down that he was able to be so cavalier. This was not gentle, serious Genma. This was her pissed-off friend who needed answers. "What do you want me to say?" she demanded. "I got in over my head. Ever happen to you?"
"Yeah, but I don't end up dead in purgatory with the Hokages!"
"Not all of them," she corrected. "And honestly, that is by far not the worst thing that's happened to me."
"What do you consider the worst?"
"Fighting Danzou with Hinata!"
He nodded. The beginning of it all. "She's clan leader now. The Hyuuga are thriving. Hanabi-san has been training with Gai, too."
"Jeez. What else has changed?"
"Sakura is basically dating Itachi and the whole village is on fire about it," he informed her, enjoying the way her eyes lit up in delight.
"Okay. I'm riveted. Please continue," she begged him, grinning.
"Well… Tsunade-sama sustained really bad chakra exhaustion, which is the bad news," he clarified. "So right now… acting Hokage is…"
She was literally on her toes, gripping him in mock-anticipation. "Come on, you bastard, I'm on the edge of my seat!"
"Nara Shikamaru."
"Holy shit," she gasped, even more delighted. "No friggin' way. I bet he's about to stage a coup."
Genma grinned merrily. "Sakura and Temari-san are babysitting him. Naruto is absolutely rolling in jealousy. Nara Yoshino and Shikaku are the proudest parents I've ever seen."
Tenten laughed at that, and when it died down naturally, she looked at him. "Can I go out?"
"Innocent until proven guilty, kouhai. Sai'll be here, but I gotta leave soon for my shift."
"Wait, so I can just wander around until the hearing?" she demanded, too fearful to be excited.
"Well, I mean, you have to sleep here. And Sai and I," he grinned ironically; "Do family dinners when I get home, so be home for that around midnight."
"Wow," she grinned with dawning understanding. "Sai has domesticized you. Do you cook?"
"I cook, but I draw the line at cleaning," he quipped, and Tenten grinned, rolling her eyes.
"I'm leaving," she said, and with the sheer pleasure of using a skill for fun, she disappeared and was replaced by a swirl of leaves.
The exercise of shunshin was simple; she couldn't remember the last time she'd used chakra just because it was a part of her body, like running to feel her legs, stretching to crack her back, exercising because she had a body able to do such wonderful things.
Completing a few more hand signs, Tenten summoned Ryuusei.
The tiny dragon curled against her ear, settling around it, her tail resting in the shell. Tenten shared everything, her long absence, her pain… and Ryuusei simply listened, searching her mind carefully and kindly, glad to be reunited with her friend.
Her presence at Lee's grave did not go unnoticed. Soon after her arrival, none other than Hatake Kakashi slouched forward, hands in pockets.
"Yo," he said from behind her. She wanted desperately to look as cool as he always had, to not even bother and move his gaze. But she turned, regarding him with a soft smile.
"Hey," she said quietly. "Seems like we're doing this backwards?"
Kakashi stood there and did not respond.
"So, are you my babysitter?"
"Hey, don't knock it. Sasuke is stuck with Ibiki."
Smiling despite herself, she turned fully to face him. "Let's go see Rin," she suggested.
The two of them walked side-by-side, Tenten enjoying the air on her face. Even if she lacked the memories, her body remembered. There had been so much rain, before. She'd been in drippingly moist Amegakure, blisteringly bright Suna, bone-chilling Kiri… and none of them could compare to… she almost thought home, but it didn't taste quite right. The sun was bright and warm, but not so much that it hurt to be outside. There was a light wind, and just enough humidity in the air that it felt good to take a deep breath. Ryuusei uncurled herself and floated next to them, enjoying the breeze as much as Tenten did.
"I need to go see Gai-sensei," she warned him. His mask contorted a little, and she smiled. "You don't have to come in. I'm sure he'd be an excellent guard."
"Gai is at the Hyuuga compound today," Kakashi said.
It had been too long. Their interaction was strained. As much as she wished things could be normal, they never would be again. Genma managed it because he was Genma - he was relaxed to a fault. Kakashi knew what she had become. An ex-Akatsuki member. A rouge-nin. A famed murderess. She didn't even know the extent of the atrocities Pein had committed while in her body.
She was lucky to be alive, she supposed. And she was grateful, truly. Within all of the horror she'd felt and the strange, unearthly happenings, there were great joys, incredible happinesses. Moments of closeness. Regardless of what happened at her hearing, just being here, now… it was humbling. She didn't deserve so many chances from the universe. It made her wonder what was next.
"I don't know if I'm ready for that," she admitted quietly, hating her fear, disgusted with her anxiety.
"Do you want to see Naruto?"
Shakily, she put a hand over her heart, feeling it pound. "I'm… very not ready for that," she said, not even recognizing the tiny squeak of a voice that came out of her.
Kakashi peered down at her. "Tenten…"
"I know… how he is. And I remember a little bit… I remember him attacking me. I probably did the same to him. But it's probably so confusing for him… I can't-"
"He's grown up a lot."
"I hurt him. So bad, so often. Just by existing, I hurt him."
"You could say the same for half the village. You know Naruto."
She did. Or she had. He was strong. He was resilient. He was everything wonderful in the world. Forgiving, kind, energetic, ambitious, kind… but she wasn't ready to be forgiven. Tenten was unable to forgive herself and couldn't handle it from anyone else. Kindness might really kill her. "I'm not ready," she insisted, hating the bratty lacing of anger in her tone.
"I understand," Kakashi said quietly, because he did, and she flung herself at him, feeling like more of a kid than ever. He allowed it. He may have even hugged her back. Just a little. Just enough to know she wasn't alone.
As she aged, she looked less like Rin. She was older than Rin would ever be, and the comparison was gone. She was gaining Nohara Botan's sharp features, her imperious expression. Was that nature or nurture, Kakashi wondered to himself, seeing less of his teammate and more of her sister in every moment. She had grown taller than he'd expected. Taller than Sakura. Much taller than Rin. He was afraid that was really the end of his frame of reference. She'd become leonine, no longer waiflike. Good. A ninja could use as much help, and sometimes a little extra padding could save a life.
"We can go to the old training grounds," he offered.
"Yeah, an old man like yourself needs young opponents to stay in shape," Tenten mused playfully, before leaping off.
Kakashi thought to himself that he probably wouldn't be able to read his book.
x
Every moment of her reprieve was amazing. Having a babysitter at all times didn't even bother her. After her match with Kakashi, he'd disappeared, leaving behind Izumo and Kotetsu, who proceeded to get her very, very drunk. Then Iruka, Genma, and Sai had showed up, and they'd proceeded to get drunk. Suddenly, it had become a party. Kiba was there, and Hana and Yugao.
After an hour, Sai left with Iruka, because the older man absolutely refused to allow Sai to remain in Izumo and Kotetsu's presence without him, prophesying darkly of the horrors that could come from their influence on the boy. Tenten still wasn't sure what was so terrible about them; she found them to be hilarious. The pair of them were constantly in trouble, and though they were good men to have in a tight spot, their endless antics meant they were always interesting.
"We were with Itachi and Shisui earlier," Yugao said casually. "Iwashi and I."
Kiba was distracting Tenten from the conversation, goading her into a wrestling match, which she was very much losing, but that immediately retained her interest. Crowing with victory, Kiba slammed her on the hardwood, before finally collapsing on top of her.
"Get off me, perv," she wriggled out of his bear-like grip and they stood. It was nice, though. That Kiba could just be normal. He'd said nothing, not about Hinata or Neji or her strange return. "How's Iwashi?" Tenten asked innocently.
"Iwashi is boring," Yugao rolled her eyes. "But Itachi and Shisui… that's a grown-up dynamic, huh?"
Hana grinned wolfishly. "I always thought they were both so cute, but as a duo? Devastating."
"Well, you have my full attention," Tenten said expectantly, before Kiba accidentally kicked her, knocking her over, as he wrestled with Izumo. He was drunk and hyperactive and funnier than he'd ever been. His charm - or lack thereof - had never worked on any of the Konoha Eleven, but he insisted on practicing on her. Hinata was out of the question, Ino was out of his league, and Sakura's surname was practically Uchiha, and had been since they were ten. Drunkenness did little to make his already cheap moves even weaker, but Genma and Izumo and Kotetsu found his efforts to be riveting. She'd acted out several scenes for them all. "What if Kiba did this? Well, what if he said that instead?"
It was an amusing name, but she had been drinking for hours and was ready for bed. Mirroring her thoughts, Genma pushed back from Izumo and Kotetsu's kitchen table, putting his empty cup in their sink.
"C'mon, kouhai, tomorrow is my day off, and I plan on not being hungover all day."
"Too late, your ass is gonna be in bed all day." Hana grinned knowingly. "One drink and you're out for the count, dude. Your fate is sealed."
"Tenten knows healing jutsu," Genma replied smugly.
"But she can't wrestle for shit!" Kiba called back.
"Shut up, Kiba," Hana said, absently. It was essentially her stock response whenever her younger brother spoke, much to Kotetsu's delight.
"I haven't healed shit in years," Tenten warned him as they exited the apartment. "Don't hold me to that."
"Just banter. Can't let Hana have the last word. Hm, actually, we probably should take Kiba home."
At Tenten's puzzled expression, he grinned. "Hana and Izumo are…" he looked around conspiratorially, leaning low and whispering in her ear, knowing full well that Hana and Kiba could hear if they were paying any sort of attention, deepening the tone of his voice and nearly nuzzling her ear to illustrate his point. "Having dirty... nasty, wild gorilla sex."
"And Yugao and Kotetsu are having vanilla missionary intercourse?" Tenten wondered, grinning and shrugging him away from her.
"Nah. Of the two, Kotetsu is definitely freakier," Genma confided with confidence. "Yugao needs someone to break her back out of her shell. Bring out her inner child and shit. Besides, Hana likes the double-dating. Says its cute."
"Or bring Kotetsu's inner child inside her," Tenten muttered. "Seriously, was it me or was she harping on Itachi and Shisui? Trying to make Izumo jealous?"
"Impossible to make him jealous. His life partner is Kotetsu and that's the only commitment he's ever needed."
She hadn't been drunk in a very long time. She was enjoying the floaty feeling and how funny this conversation was. She was enjoying the normalcy. She was enjoying Genma's company.
"Kiba has a thing for you, though, huh?"
She rolled her eyes. "Kiba has a thing for women, and you know it."
"He was trying to copulate with you on Izumo's kitchen floor, though Kotetsu wouldn't have minded. Izumo's a germaphobe though. Bet you he's scrubbing the grout as we speak."
"My kind of foreplay," she smirked.
They quickly reached Genma's own apartment. Sai was fast asleep in his room, door shut, lights off. Tenten began setting up the futon bed, arranging pillows and blankets she stole from Genma's room.
"Hey," he complained, seeing her drag his stuff into a pile in his living room. "I need those."
"You have like, eighteen pillows and ten blankets! You definitely don't need them all."
Looking offended, Genma spit his senbon, where it embedded into a picture of Raidou Sai had drawn. "I do so! This pillow," he began, picking one up, "Goes between my legs."
"Gross."
"Please, my thighs are muscular and I shower daily. This pillow is for my neck," he shook his head. "That one is my head pillow! Those two matching ones go behind my back -"
"Holy shit," Tenten stared at him from amongst the cuddle puddle she'd built for herself. "You're a cuddler! You're a baby!"
"Shut up," he responded succinctly.
Tenten threw a pillow at him, laughing. "No, it's actually adorable. Does Raidou know? Oh my - does Hana know?"
"Sai knows," he said with dignity. "It's perfectly normal to want comfort while sleeping. I can rough it with the best of them, but when I'm home in my bed, I want it the way I like it."
"These were perfectly organized. Do you make your bed every day?" Tenten gaped at this discovery. "Do you bring women to your bed, Shiranui Genma?!"
"Ew!" he threw the pillow back at her, whomping her in the face. "Don't say it like that, it makes it sound so creepy. For your information, I haven't had a…"
"Lady caller," she prompted.
"Ew. I haven't had anyone over since Sai moved in. Didn't wanna poison his mind."
Crooking her finger in between gales of silent giggles, Tenten summoned him. Genma perched at the edge of her stolen booty, eyebrow cocked in bemusement at her hilarity.
"I saw the lotion in the bathroom," she giggled in a low voice. "Now I know whose it is."
"A man has needs," Genma said, the picture of bruised dignity.
Cracking up, Tenten leaned forward, clutching her stomach, trying and failing to contain herself.
Genma allowed her to have this moment. She'd been through a lot in the past forty-eight hours. They all had. Expecting things to just go back to normal was unrealistic, but at least her emotions were exiting like this, rather than crying. He would hate to see her cry.
They hadn't overindulged like Kiba, but it was their slightly loosened inhibitions that allowed Genma to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Tenten froze the second his fingers made contact with her skin; first her temple, a light, dragging touch, scooping the hair back in his scarred, capable fingers, curling it around the back of her ear, letting his knuckle and thumb scrape against the shell of her ear.
Tenten stopped laughing the second his wide, rough fingers touched her. His expression was soft, tender. There was no reason for her to catch her breath. This was Shiranui Genma - she'd never entertained a thought about him that way in her life. He'd been her tutor; he was fifteen years her senior. But there he was - and he'd been there. From the days where he'd dragged her around by the collar of her shirt because he thought it was funny, to all of the lunches and dinners they'd bought one another, the hours they'd spent together… to the time he'd hugged her goodbye when she'd escaped prison. Now she wasn't even a prisoner, and her reprieve was a week. An entire week to just be a normal person.
It wasn't enough. It never would be. But it was more than she'd ever expected. The moment she'd joined ANBU, she'd accepted she wouldn't be normal anymore. But this was different. This was normal.
For a second, nothing else mattered. Just her, curled up in a cocoon of the blankets that smelled like Genma, with him there, strong and wide and handsome. It was more his expression than anything; his calm demeanor quickly turned sensual, and Tenten felt detached from herself as she simultaneously felt every single one of her nerves tighten. His hand had not moved, but at Tenten's shaky exhale, which felt so loud despite her concerted effort to keep it silent.
At the sound, his hand twisted suddenly, wrapping gently around the base of her neck, his rough thumb rubbing the soft skin beneath her hairline. It felt so good; she shuddered. Genma's eyes were dark. Even looking into them sent her stomach flip-flopping.
Just as it had come though, his hand had moved.
"Sorry," he said shortly.
"Don't get weird on me now," she warned him, grabbing his hand and yanking him back down, the angle at which he was standing and turning and the force of her pull sending him backwards onto her lap.
At that, he chuckled. "Still scrappy, huh? I'd say it's gonna get you into trouble sometime, but I think you've reached your trouble quota for life."
"You started something just then," Tenten demanded, unafraid of rejection. "What was that? And… why did you stop? If you say trouble, I'll knock your teeth out."
Genma quieted, smiling faintly. "Shisui's in love with you."
Tenten jerked at that. She'd sensed it, maybe even reciprocated… but hearing it that plainly frightened her. The last time she'd gotten so close to someone was Neji. Shisui had seen all the worst parts of her and still admired her, still liked her. But the feelings Genma had just inspired in her with a single touch… she wanted more of that. She wanted to explore that.
"It's not a betrayal of him," she answered him. "You know - you're a shinobi. What's the best way to affirm you're living? Once, you said: 'When captured birds grow wiser, they try to open the cage with their beaks. They don't give up, because they want to fly again.' Well, I'm a captured bird right now, and I need to fly to affirm my life. I'm trying to be wiser, and you're being a cage right now."
"Going to a funeral," he supplemented dryly, not dignifying the rest of her statement with a response. He was now sitting up so that he was wholly in her lap. He was warm and heavy. She liked how large he was.
"Having sex," she answered smugly, liking saying it, liking his reaction.
"Oh, so is that what you're trying to do now?" he asked so coolly that she almost laughed at its resemblance to Kakashi.
She impulsively leaned forward and planted a kiss on his temple.
Genma froze, much as she had, before, with the lightning quickness of a shinobi from the Hokage Guard, maneuvered so that suddenly the blankets were gone and it was just her, leaning back into the futon, and him, holding himself over her so that they did not touch. If he lowered himself even a little, they'd be touching. It was wonderful and a little intimidating how much her body suddenly craved him, to feel the length of him along her.
"Is this okay?" he asked her, and that he even bothered to ask filled her with so much joy that any inhibition she had felt suddenly flew from her. She was going to fly, damnit! She could be faced with banishment or death or imprisonment… and this was her chance to live, to be real, to be normal.
"Nothing has ever been more okay," she assured him, and he heavily dropped himself on her, which she would have berated him for in any other context… but now, he just felt so good. The heavy, solid warmth. It was as though he radiated heat, and yet, he lacked the sweatiness she was used to in most other shinobi. Even earlier, Kiba had been damp.
Gathering her hair back from her face, Genma let one hand stroke her neck while the other tangled itself in her hair, rubbing her scalp a little. She moaned a little from the shooting pleasure that seemed to vibrate through her entire body. Even her feet relaxed, awash in sensation.
"Stay with me, kouhai," he grinned into her neck, his breath eliciting much the same response as his hands. "I wanna know what you like."
"Right now, I like everything about you," she admitted, realizing belatedly she'd been doing absolutely nothing. "What do you like?" Drawing her hands up and across the sides of his chest, feeling the taut flatness beneath his shirt, soft from many washes, Tenten was pleased by Genma's reaction, the hitch in his breath.
"It's been a long time," he grinned, and kissed her.
Never had Tenten imagined Genma kissing her. Never had she imagined that he'd be so skilled, either. It thrilled her, and she responded, not even a little bit shy. Freeing her arms, she wrapped herself around him, fitting herself to him as closely as she could.
Jerking back, Genma groaned a little, but she clung on. "C'mon, Tenten, cut me some slack. Like I said, it's been a while."
"So, we're going slow?" she grinned at him, before flipping him over - and knocking them both off the futon.
"As hot as this is, floor sex pales in comparison to bed sex," he said, sending a devastating grin her way, moving smoothly and effortlessly to a standing position, even while holding her.
Even just the word had Tenten melting. What was this strange, sudden attraction? The buzz was slowly wearing off, but Tenten found that sobriety only heightened the sensations he was stirring within her. There had been no buildup to this, had there? She was quite certain that she never could have imagined the things they were doing together.
Leaving behind the blankets she'd stolen, they moved into his bedroom, and Tenten realized with a little thrill, as he closed the door, that she was the only person to have been here in a very long time.
Tossing her on the bed with all the grace of a flour sack, Genma took off his shirt. The curtains were half-open, and in the moonlight she watched with shameless fascination. While most shinobi were physically and fit, and thus attractive, there was something intimate about this moment. His scars, birthmarks, the shape of his abs, the length of his shoulders, the light hair that covered his chest. It was uniquely Genma.
"I should've carried you," she commented. Pausing as he kicked out of his pants, he sent her the same sensual smile as before.
"Why's that?"
"So I could've undressed you," she said daringly, loving the appreciative glance he shot her way.
"You can undress yourself," he offered, his grin as feral as one of Kiba's.
Bounding up, Tenten practically ripped off Sai's shirt.
"Wait, stop," he said. Obeying, Tenten tossed the shirt to the floor. Looking up at him expectantly, Tenten was nearly bowled over by the heat and the hunger in his eyes. "You look good in my pants."
"I do not," she snorted, but she took those off more carefully, sliding them down the skin of her thighs until they were just in their underwear, facing one another.
"You could wear Naruto's orange jumpsuit and still be hot," he promised her, laughing a little as he drew her close to him, laughing harder, trying unsuccessfully to quiet himself when Tenten launched herself in his arms eagerly.
Planting kisses on his shoulders, she smiled."I like your hair," she told him, feeling the fine strands against the skin of his back, running her fingers through it.
"I need a cut," he grunted, gently leaning back into the bed, letting her fall back with a soft bounce on to the bed.
"You're perfect," she assured him, opening her arms for him to dive into. He did, scoffing at her, unable to hide his grin, lopsided as it was from years of chewing on his trusty senbons.
