Re-edited. Thanks for everyone's patience with me! I love every follow/favorite notification and every review. This isn't quite yet the end of Tenten's story.


Unbeknownst to even her closest confidantes, Hinata had a secret. Kiba, as well as he knew her, lacked the emotional depth to discover it, despite his place as her dearest friend. Shino had suspected she held something guarded closely to her heart, but he had died never knowing. Hanabi-chan did not understand her very well at all, despite their newfound rapport. Even Ino, able to dig out obscure information with hardly a hint to set her off, did not know. Neither did the Elders, or Hyuuga Ko. To her knowledge, Temari-san was ignorant as well, though it was possible she was merely an excellent diplomat in more ways than one.

It had begun innocently enough. After Uchiha Sasuke had first defected from the Leaf, and she'd so rashly followed her friends and teammates, she has been grateful and unsure of how to express it in person. As did all clan-raised shinobi, she was able to construct not only intricate codes, but a well-written correspondence, since she was both a kunoichi and a well-bred young woman. Thus it began.

She had written to Suna no Gaara, fervently thanking him for the kindness he had shown her and Tenten. Even while writing it, she had quaked with fear and anxiety: fear of him, and anxiety concerning sending a letter to the man who'd caused Rock Lee's death, whether that had been intentional or not. But she'd merely given them to Shizune; she was sure the Hokage's assistant had read it before sending it, to ensure there was nothing illicit in her mail. Send it she had, however, and a few weeks later she had received an equally respectful response, befitting the semi-royal status that family of Kage's enjoyed. Though the Sand was not as well off as Konoha, Suna had one of the most extensive libraries in the world; fascinatingly enough, it was underground, where much Kage business was conducted. They'd taken to discussing some of their favorite works, recently, and she found that Gaara was one of the most thoughtful, philosophical individuals she had ever encountered. Even his references to Temari implied that she was as well-read as he, and when he mentioned Kankuro, he discussed how - while not an avid reader - he was a master of many skills that required a good deal of studying and practice. An odd picture to reconcile with the haggard pair that had appeared for their first chuunin exams, but she was glad she had learned so much about them.

It made her feel... close to him. Ninja bonds were forged deep and strong, Hinata thought, tapping her pen against paper. Her life had taken many unexpected turns, and as a kunoichi, she'd experienced a good deal of tragedy. As valiantly as she tried, she was often unable to look at the brighter side of things. Pein's attack was hardly a week ago; the wound was still fresh.

She now had her own courier to deliver messages to him, though she was wary of giving away too much information. Regardless of their relationship, she was the head of her clan and he was the Kazekage. She mustn't tell him anything the Hokage would disapprove of.

Still, slowly they'd grown more intimate. With very few meetings over the years, it was difficult to gauge her true feelings. But she knew him better than herself, had told him her innermost feelings, discussed with him all of their individual triumphs and tragedies.

A shame, really, that they would meet perhaps a handful of times in the future. Her responsibility was to the Hyuuga first and foremost. His was to his hidden village. It was not practical for either of them to go on extended visits, except for official business. She had longed for so long to make her father and her clan proud of her, and she had accomplished gaining the respect of her clan, and she firmly believed she had bettered it in many ways. As the years passed, she would continue her efforts to do so.

Yet a part of her wondered what it would be like to hold the hand of Sabaku no Gaara, to feel carefree on a date, and watch the sun set over the dunes of Suna.

x

Each step was carefully calculated to throw off her balance. Occasionally, she was lifted into the air, to confuse her further. Additionally, she was not familiar with Genma's side of the village, and any new infrastructure was utterly beyond her. Essentially, ANBU did their job. They stepped through the air with an ease that made her stomach queasy. She'd only used this technique while training or in an emergency. This was pure mastery of a skill; she was practically flying, being supported by two strong arms and nothing more.

All her life, she'd thought of herself as a mediocre kunoichi. Her background and Academy marks had lent to that. Now, she realized with a quivering stomach, that she was anything but. Uzumaki Tenten: ex-Akatsuki member; rehomed nuke-nin; sister of the kyuubi; friend to the Uchiha; summoner of Dragons. She was not dismally average. Indeed, she was not even average. All her life, she'd been trapped in mechanisms beyond her control, seemingly leading her down a path she was not quite certain had an end. Part of her wondered if she would not have been better as merely the Weapons' Mistress. Would it not have been easier to be a regular chuunin, with friends and a shot at a normal future? Her parents had been normal; her mother a talented kunoichi, and her father a contentedly ordinary shinobi teacher, albeit from what had once been a fine bloodline. What had they expected from her? What could she have become with them by her side?

Betraying herself, her mind wandered to Obito's strange jutsu; the wedding to Neji that she'd imagined, or he'd imagined she'd want. Then, she'd been so certain she didn't want what he was offering. Now, a small part of her really wished it could be true.

She remembered what Kakashi had said when she'd accused him of knowing her background. 'Our libraries burned. Houses burned. You're underestimating the sheer destruction that occurred.'

Her cheeks itched, recalling the paint she'd once placed there. Her feet itched, longing for solid ground. Her stomach ached, longing for answers.

Eventually, she got one of her wishes. She was maneuvered to the earth with the utmost care, invisible hands guiding her. She stepped forward, but was stilled. She wanted to tap her feet. Was this part of the torture part? She was antsy.

New hands touched her - many at once. Some large, some small, some rough, some firm but gentle, some quick, some lingering, searching for weapons she wasn't currently authorized to have. Then they withdrew in unison, and she was drawn forward. The air immediately cooled, signalling her entrance into the building. She prayed in gratitude to her blindfolded training with Gai-sensei. It smelled musty, like there were no windows; but cool, not humid. Perhaps underground?

She was led along a corridor. There was utter silence except for footsteps and soft breathing. After an interminably long walk, she finally was placed into a sitting position. The chair was relatively comfortable, meant for a good deal of sitting, which disturbed her because it meant that what was to come would be entirely mental, and thus entirely worse.

She waited, her anxiety skyrocketing even as she knew that this was a technique to heighten her senses, to sharpen her mind. Tenten tried to quell the uprising of her rebellious stomach, but to no avail. She thought that perhaps she was going to puke from sheer anxiety. Not a very ninja-like reflex.

Then, finally, a door opened and closed, and two chairs loudly squealed and sawed against the floor. A sign. Someone had come to end her torture. Or at the very least, begin it.

"Uzumaki Tenten," a voice intoned, obviously much lower than its natural cadence. "We are here tonight to research through your memories, in order to discover your allegiances and history. Your consent is not necessary, though we will attempt to be as painless as possible, with as little discomfort we can manage."

A more soothing voice interrupted, much more easily: "Don't worry. I'm going to sift through the important memories. She's going to sort of decipher the important bits, like a three way connection. The strongest ones first, until we find our answers. We are trained professionals, and this information remains confidential between the three of us, and the Hokage council."

She cringed. They were going to see Genma. It was such a girlish horror that almost it amused her for a moment, until she felt him enter her mind. It was the most alien, intimate sensation she'd ever experienced. It was far less repellent than Obito's mind jutsu, or Pein's intrusion. It was as if she was sitting in a room with a shadowed stranger, though a rather unthreatening one, watching a large screen, one surrounding them, as if her mind were on film.

As promised, the stranger, Ino's cousin Touma, most likely, was utterly professional, skipping through tidbits like the state of her bowels, her personal hygiene, and Genma. The first large thing he found, it was as though he paused it and zoomed in, until it consumed them. Almost like a film that they were watching, skipping and playing and pausing.

Hoshigaki Kisame leaned forward, glaring at Hidan, a gleeful hint of murder that matched the masochist's. "Touch her again, zombie boy, and I'll have to fight Shisui for a chance to rip you apart you."

"She's fucking freaky," Hidan spat, licking his lips. "I don't give a shit about the Uchiha brat. He's not nearly as powerful as that clansman of his, and even Itachi got beat by those punk bitches in the Leaf."

"Shunshin no Shisui, vessel of Pein or not, could make you wish you'd never acquired your interesting little hobby."

"Jashin is not a hobby!"

She didn't remember this. Was it possible her body had retained these memories? She was stunned at Kisame's defense of her, of the reference to Shisui - and what the hell had Hidan been doing?

The irritating thought brought up a wealth of memories, and she watched them flow through her mind, lighter, less corporeal than that memory; Kiba, the time he'd told her she stank of iron; Shikamaru, calling her troublesome; Neji, furiously ripping into her for braiding his hair. Touma skipped past these lighthearted memories, though she was sure he took note of them. Proof of emotional allegiance to Konoha.

They paused again at the memory of Tobirama scowling at his brother, sitting criss-crossed, the only source of light or smell or sound or presence for miles. Hashirama too, just across from her, smiling sheepishly, his hair moving in wind that did not exist.

She could hear Touma's surprise - as much as he was in her head, she seemed to be able to recognize his presence. It was an odd, surreal feeling, reminding her of the original chuunin preliminaries, when Ino had gotten inside Sakura's head. Was that how Sakura had felt? Unable to control the guest in her mind, but acutely knowing of their presence?

The flitting of memories felt an awful lot like rifling through a photo album - even as flashes of memory hit her, forcibly, they felt distant and apart from her… at least, until Touma began to dig deeper.

Her prowess within and outside the confines of the village were well known, at least to those in power. She reviewed with him her old assassin days, her Akatsuki errand-girl days - though she'd been in Pein's control, with most of her soul far away, so those memories were mostly faraway, unclear. He seemed to work through a stream of consciousness; one memory leading to another, not even a little bit in chronological order. She thought often of the Senju's, and where they might be. She thought often of Neji and Shisui. Even Genma appeared. Mostly, however, it was Naruto. Even memories where he was not present or mentioned, he was there. Naruto-colored glasses, Shisui had once teased her while they were still Deidara and Sasuke's captives. Those memories were especially drawn-out. Perhaps proof that she'd been coerced.

There was Naruto crying, Tenten telling off mothers, little children staring in awe. There were school teachers, but mostly Umino Iruka. There was blood. There was a lot of blood, and the smell of metal permeated all of her memories. He saw enemies made of bone, of mud, of hate, of clay. He saw glimpses of assignment scrolls that simply told her to kill, flourished with the Godaime's signature. He saw Gai and Kakashi, two of the village's finest jounin, quibbling like children. Rock Lee, dancing about after he'd cut his long braid, feeling the freedom of his signature bowl cut and iconic green suit.

Touma had been hard at work all week. Yesterday he'd examined Uchiha Shisui, and learned a good deal not only about the Uchiha clan and the Akatsuki, but Tenten herself. She was a frequent visitor; he saw through Shisui's eyes the possession, the mind-boggling jutsu they'd been under and her particular mental absence, the odd circumstances of her return. Of course, at the end of this process, he'd use a memory-storage jutsu. This information was classified, and needed to be properly accounted for.

Also, he didn't want to live with the memory of Shiranui Genma's dick. Nor the murders and trauma, but mostly Genma's dick.

Years of doing exactly this job had hardened Touma. T&I was no easy place to work. The first time he'd seen a little boy murdered in someone's memory, he'd gone home and vomited. He'd seen several children dying in the Uzumaki girl's memories, and remained unaffected. Not bored, just... used to it. Ninja had harsh memories. Even the most loyal, straight-laced, emotionally adept shinobi had done things that would permanently scar the average person. And he saw it all. In minute detail.

Next to him, his partner, an older woman named Hirono, filtered out his notes. He sent the important memories over her way, to be interpreted and recorded. She worked easily and quickly, keeping up with his pace. They made a good team, working in sync after many long hours of practice. Before him, she'd worked with other Yamanaka clan members, and was very experienced with their style. He appreciated her expertise. It made his job, while incredibly taxing emotionally, technically very easy.

Concentrating, he caught on to another wisp of memory. The Sandaime's funeral. It had rained that day, Touma recalled, trying to banish his own memories of the event from tampering with this one. But hadn't he seen her with the kyuubi?

The issue with his kekkei genkai that really made Hirono's job so important was the way other people's memories could color his judgment. When he was in someone's brain, experiencing their memories, he understood everything. It made sense to kick that kitten on the side of the road, to assault a rude civilian, to abandon that mission. He had felt it intensely yesterday with the Uchiha, and it lingered now. He felt deeply for this young woman's plight; how she tried and tried to do the right thing, but machinations interfered. How she'd been left as an orphan by terrible, unorganized village policy, how she'd been ignored by everyone but a select few adults, the abuse they'd faced at the hands of fearful civilians and asshole kids.

It was surprising that she hadn't grown up worse, really.

He flicked through more, but what really intrigued him was her relationship with the Hyuuga clan and with Shimura Danzou. Hirono scribbled dutifully, but Touma paused and rewound and hunted through those memories, paying particular attention to those occurrences.

He'd come to his conclusion. Now he'd have to meet with Moreno-san and Yamanaka-san to discuss his findings. Well, Hirono would do the talking, but he was the primary reference here.

By the end of this week, everything would change for her.

Releasing his jutsu, he watched as Tenten suddenly slumped forward, exhausted.

"Kami," she said fervently, her voice making her seem much older that he knew her to be. "That was… awkwardly intimate."

Smiling a little at her blase attitude, Hirono reassured her: "We won't be keeping these memories. They're far too confidential."

"Sorry about… you know," she coughed, blushing a little. "I was trying to keep it from you-"

"You can't keep much from us," Touma responded drily. "Not your fault. I would've seen it regardless. I pretty much have your whole life story right now." At Hirono's nudge, he became instantly more professional. "You will shortly be escorted from the building to await your hearing. Thank you for your cooperation this evening."

With that, he departed. Each time he headed to have his memory purged, he felt the same relief and freedom as the first. He wanted to forget what he'd seen. It was the weakness in him that made him so suited for this position. After he did this, he was given the privilege of ignorance. Tenten would never again know the same sanctity and purity of mind.

x

Senju Tsunade looked at the information in front of her. Sakura was crying, silently, staring at the same pages. Even Shikamaru was transformed from his usual apathy to horror.

There were occasions in which the callousness of shinobi life was proven. It was easy to normalize it, to internalize their culture, to accept what they'd been taught since birth. Even now, she looked at her two most trusted confidantes and felt shame. She had chosen the newest generation of shinobi to guide her. Why? Because she was immature, an escapist, found she could relate well to these child geniuses. That is what they were, she reminded herself for the first time in a long while. These two marvels of the village were children. They'd been bred as child soldiers. Despite everything her grandfather and Tobirama had done, this village was not where it should be. Not even a little bit.

"It says she spent three years inside the belly of a Shinigami," Shikamaru breathed, having quickly flipped through the other reports and finally made it to Tenten's. "Can that be possible?"

"It's difficult to know what isn't possible," Sakura answered distractedly, still reading Itachi's file. Tsunade had warned her that if she got too emotional, she'd be removed from his case. Her relationship with him was already unseemly, and not great for public approval. Those who thought of Uchiha Itachi as a traitor found her disgusting. Those who trusted Sakura implicitly knew it meant that there was more to the story than what they'd been told.

One of the greatest regrets of Tsunade's position was that every time she turned around, she found a decision the Sandaime had made that she disapproved of. She hated it; she hated that she hated it. Her mentor, her sensei, the man who'd sculpted this village out of the mold the Senju brothers had given him… had let them down immensely, on many counts. It wasn't his fault. Hiruzen had retired before having to retake the mantle of Hokage, with the same old ancient councillors he had for decades.

But Tsunade wished that they'd found another Godaime first. But there had been no one ready, nobody legendary enough, nobody with a reputation that struck down enemies before their chakra signature was felt. But then Uchiha Shisui had risen to fame within Konoha's walls, a legend second only to Namikaze Minato.

Then he had disappeared. Or died. Or whatever exactly had happened to him. And the massacre had happened. And it seemed as though Hiruzen was constantly putting out fires left by Orochimaru, and Danzou, and even Koharu and Homura, unable to focus on actual changes or progress within the village policy, because he was constantly dealing with distractions and disaster.

But now she was left with the mess, and seemed as though she had only succeeded at making things messier. But Shikamaru's comment interested her on many levels. They'd hardly begun to look at the files, but before that could be handled, Tsunade held up a hand, summoning Shizune to her side.

"What is it, Tsunade-sama?"

"Get Uzumaki Tenten over here," Tsunade said slowly. "I want to ask her some questions. Informally, so don't send a whole ANBU squad over to get her."

Within half an hour, Tenten, messy from being awoken from a deep sleep, but not at all sluggish, was in front of them. And she was nervous.

"Uh… hey there, shishou," she said, smiling, though it was clearly forced, just like Naruto when he knew he was in trouble. Tsunade wondered how she'd managed to behave so smoothly in the face of recent events. Was it genuine? Tenten had always been well-adjusted, despite her history. Was it everything, or simply being summoned?

"Tell me about the shinigami," Tsunade said simply, and both Sakura and Shikamaru were rapt.

Tenten blinked, but her smile became more genuine. "Well, it's a messy story, and I'm sure you got most of it from the Yamanaka."

"I want to hear it from you. I have questions." Tsunade stated, fully authoritative and none of her usual, warm self, despite the half-empty bottle of liquor that she was making little attempt to hide from Shizune.

Tenten sighed. "I feel like Shisui should be here to help me tell this story. He knows as much as I do."

Waving a hand towards Shizune again, Tsunade hurried her assistant out, to her disgruntlement, and was back with Shisui in less than ten minutes - surprisingly quick, but he was an early riser. Relieved to have him by her side again, she automatically sidled closer to him, excited to see his messy hair in the corner of her vision. To her, it had been years since she'd seen him, except in the recesses of her memory. The lunch didn't count. This could almost be normal. Like two teammates reporting to the Hokage.

"Shisui and I… I don't know how, but we became Paths of Pein. Kind of like a possession. Cool powers, but it's like a constant interrogation. Well, I guess I wouldn't know that well, because pretty soon after it happened, I got captured. By Baki," she added wryly.

Shikamaru did not appear surprised by this information, she noted. Temari might be a little more loose lipped than the Nara heir claimed. He avoided her sharp glance.

Shisui nodded sagely. "He had several, primarily corpses. You recall the other redheads we were with when he attacked the village. Through his jutsu, he was able to control them. Since all of them were dead, except for Tenten and I, he was always able to essentially regurgitate them when they were destroyed, with no lasting damage."

"That explains how he was able to just... make everything better," Sakura said quietly, her large green eyes kind. Tenten remembered how, barely hours after escaping the village, she'd helped heal Shisui's eye like it was nothing, like Tenten hadn't just broken out of holding and a dead man had come to life.

"So I kind of tried something stupid," she admitted, feeling her shoulder bump Shisui's. It was comforting. "I knew it was stupid then too, but I was kind of desperate. It was lonely, in my head, not really being able to control myself. And seeing Gaara… I was willing to try anything. I think if I had died, it would've been okay too. So I tried the hiraishin no jutsu, kind of wondering if I could maybe get out of the whole thing, or escape the prison, which was very pleasant, as far as they go, but… I was hoping I could unseal myself, basically. It didn't work, and I ended up being swallowed by the Shinigami. I think maybe a small part of my soul was still there - I didn't want to use too much chakra, in case I screwed up really bad, and I was there. In the belly of the beast," she quipped.

Absorbing that, Sakura opened her mouth to ask questions about the technicality of what Tenten had been attempting, but before Sakura could fire off rapid-fire questions, Tenten held up her hands.

"Listen, Sakura," Tenten warned, in the tone of someone who'd suffered quite a good deal of indignities in a very short period of time. "Not now. Later, if I don't get killed or exiled. That jutsu really did a number on me. While I was there, I was there. But now I'm having all these super fun dreams about what Pein was doing with my body while I checked out."

Tenten's words were superficially casual, but Tsunade saw the strain behind her eyes. She clearly hadn't slept well. Shisui noticed, giving her a soft expression that seemed out of place in the conference room.

"You were there with the Senjus," Tsunade diverted back to the main focus. "I want to know everything."

At that, Tenten seemed to light up a little. "Yeah, right? Small world. During Orochimaru's attack, he apparently summoned them - with one of Tobirama's forbidden jutsu - to fight the Sandaime, who sealed off Orochimaru's arms - and them - into the Shinigami. I got to know them pretty well. They're… pretty incredible," she admitted. "That kind of power… it's unimaginable, unless you feel it yourself."

Everyone gaped at that information, shocked to the core, both at Orochimaru's knowledge, the coincidence of Tenten residing within a Shinigami and coming out to tell the tale, the concept of two Founders of the first hidden village just casually hanging out within a place only legend dared ponder.

"Well?" Tsunade prompted, wishing she could get inside Tenten's head just as a Yamanaka could, pouring another cup.

Suddenly perceptive, Tenten narrowed her eyes at the Hokage, her messy hair and missing hitai-ate not detracting from her ninja skill. "Why?"

Unwilling to admit her insecurity in the face of three teenagers without more alcohol in her blood, Tsunade sighed. "Our village was just destroyed and reincarnated, thanks to your brother, Tenten. I want to know if you talked to them, what they had to say."

"Mostly, we exchanged life stories. Thrice over," Tenten grinned, still obviously amazed and impressed by the occurrence. The Founders of Konoha! And she'd spent years with their souls, learning them inside out.

"How did I not know this?" Shisui wondered.

"Well, we haven't really had time to catch up. I would've told you immediately," Tenten promised him quietly. It was true - it was impossible to keep anything important from him. The concept of secrets was ludicrous. He was the only one who could really understand what it was like, to have sealed oneself away out of sheer desperation.

"I want to know everything," Tsunade pronounced once more. "Begin from the point in which you left the village, Tenten, and I expect a full inclusion of your history, Shisui."

"Don't you have our files?" Tenten wanted to know.

Waving out Sakura, Shizune, and Shikamaru, Tsunade waited for the door to close with a solid finality before she grinned. "Those are just for our records. I want the whole story. Out of your lips!"

Seeing the Hokage grinning a little tipsily this early in the morning seemed to shock Shisui. He grinned, awed by her careless power.

"What, you're too good for a little sake?" Tsunade wanted to know, pouring two more cups and shoving them over, spilling a little. "Come on! I need to know everything. In order to fulfill my Hokage duties," she finished haughtily, her expression suddenly regal despite the twinkling in her eyes.

Amused, they began.

x

Stumbling drunkenly, and with the help of Izumo, Tenten made it all the way back to Genma's before passing out on the couch. She woke up two hours after arriving, to Sai staring at her.

"You look terrible," he observed blankly. Self-consciously, Tenten touched her face, feeling the imprint of lines from pressure and dehydration. It was a mistake, however, because as soon as she lifted her head she began to feel queasy and her head pounded.

"Tact, Sai," Genma reminded him, his voice coming from farther away.

Sniffing back the mucus that had built from the alcohol and her awkwardly angled sleeping position, Tenten let the smell of ramen waft over her. She wasn't hungry - indeed, she felt more hungover than anything - but it still smelled nice. It reminded her of Naruto.

"I feel terrible," she answered Sai, not taking offense. "Tsunade-sama was plying me with drinks."

Wincing, Genma walked in and handed Sai a bowl. "I wouldn't be able to keep up," he admitted with a grin. "Want some?"

"It smells amazing, but the thought of putting food in my stomach makes me want to die," she admitted weakly, standing carefully before rushing to the bathroom to puke.

"I'm not going to take offense, since I didn't make this," Genma teased, walking in. Sai followed, peering in curiously as Tenten hung her head over the toilet. "How did last night go? You got back late and I left early."

"Awful," Tenten moaned between bouts of vomiting. "I got to relive every awful memory I've had since becoming a shinobi, and then some. Also, I think a Yamanaka saw your dick in my memory."

Nodding knowledgeably, Sai opined: "I bet he was intimidated."

"Go away," Tenten groaned, half chuckling. Sai obeyed, retreating easily to the living room.

Genma was not so easy to get rid of. "So?" he prompted, waiting for her to continue.

"Make yourself useful and get me some water," she half-commanded, half-begged. "How does she live like this?"

"Crippling depression," Genma answered wryly, filling up a cup with tap water and handing it to her. "Stop stalling."

"I told you, I got the joy of reliving every embarrassing social interaction, every killing intent, and every bad bowel experience I've ever had. Also the murders. Lots of murders. Some I didn't even know about until last night. So that was fun. Nothing like being an evil overlord's puppet. Also, Hidan probably tried to rape and torture me like six times, and only Kisame stopped him. So I have that to reconcile with. Hoshigaki Kisame as my champion."

"Even some of the worst guys have their own... skewed code of honor," Genma conceded. "Sai said you were summoned to the Hokage's office after that?"

"Yeah, after three hours of sleep," she sighed. "I swear I've never had nightmares like that before in my life. I can't believe I didn't scream myself awake."

Sai had reported back to Genma; Tenten had been rigid and stiff, gasping instead of snoring. Screaming might have been better. Outright meltdowns were straightforward. Bottled up terror was complicated.

"What'd Hokage-sama have to say?" he pushed some more, rubbing her back as she puked, snorted, spat, coughed.

"She wanted to know about where my consciousness was for three years. She called Shisui in too, to talk about his undead shenanigans. Now we have to work with her councilors for a few weeks, discuss their theories with them, and recount to some librarians how exactly I accidentally summoned a shinigami and didn't die, and how exactly Shisui managed to seal away his entire body, and how I managed to bring him back."

"You also subconsciously freed yourself... from yourself," Genma pointed out, thoughtfully rubbing circles on her back.

Choking out another heave, Tenten managed to say: "Bully for me, since I'd probably be catatonic with the sixteenth of my soul left in my body when Naruto finished off Pein. Being alive is nothing to spit at, I guess."

Tenten was being irritable. Not towards him, so he didn't mind so much, but irritable all the same. She was drunk. Well, she was hungover and drunk, but she was also angry. She'd missed three years of her life. Granted, she'd spent that time learning invaluable lessons from two of the most incredible shinobi that had ever lived, but she was now in a strange body, in a strange circumstance, and she'd just spent the last evening getting interrogated. And Naruto had been the one to fight Pein!

She was proud. He'd done something unimaginable, something she could never have possibly comprehended. But she also ached, because it meant that he'd seen her at her worst, at her most absent, and it meant they'd gone years without speaking at all. Had anyone known, besides Shisui, what had been wrong? Had Kisame guessed?

Did this make her weak? Emotionally, mentally, was she a failure, who couldn't even deal with the consequences of her decisions? Was she a runaway?

In every sense of the word, she supposed she was.

"Give me specifics," Genma continued rubbing soothing circles in her back.

"The Senju brothers were in the Shinigami with me. I got to hear their whole life story. Stories? The Yamanaka who was in my brain told her. She wanted to know everything. Their stories, through their words, what I'd think they feel about the village now and its policies, that kind of stuff. She kicked everyone out of the room. Even Shizune."

"Sounds like a long day," Genma grinned. "You probably should eat though." Standing, he washed his hands and began puttering in the kitchen. "You can't eat in the bathroom."

Hawking and spitting and brushing her teeth, Tenten stood, a little shakily. "Can I puke on the floor?"

"That's gonna be a no," Genma answered. "But Sai has a really flattering picture of you hanging over the toilet."

It was... homey, to be here. It didn't feel odd, or off putting. But Tenten wondered if this... being back, as if everything were normal again - could be a permanent thing.

Despite the painful squeezing around her heart, she doubted it.