(A/N) Hi! Miss me? Sorry Tenten. I love you, I promise.
Tenten loved her life with her dad. She'd never had a mom, hers had died in the Kyuubi attack when she was only about one, but her dad talked about her often. She'd been a jounin, an ANBU, and a good one at that. Tenten loved hearing about her.
Tenten also loved helping her dad in the shop. She'd been doing it for as long as she could remember, getting up early to help start the forge, to help gather the scrap metal and ready everything for the day. She liked helping tidy up the shop in the mornings, making sure everything was in its proper place.
As she entered the academy, her dad started teaching her, how to bend and break metal, how to heat and cool it, and most importantly, how to make seals.
She'd grown up around seals, had known not to touch the explosive ones, not to push chakra into the storage ones unless she wanted to get something weird from them, and not to put the reinforcement seals on anything she didn't want reinforced. Luckily their walls didn't mind a few extra reinforcement seals while Tenten learned that last lesson of what not to do with seals.
But now she was learning them! Was learning all the kanji needed, all of the cool arrangements for them, how to order them to do things.
She also got her first pair of metal working gloves, so she could help her father in the forge.
She forged her own set of kunai not long after. They weren't quite right, their edges a bit wonky, and they didn't fly straight, but they were hers. Her first ever set made all by herself.
Her second set was better, but still not quite right. They flew straighter, were sharper, but still weren't ready for any sort of training. The tips a bit too heavy, the edges just a bit too dull, and in a way they couldn't be sharpened.
She didn't get to make her third.
It was the morning, the morning she'd get to try again, to forge her own set of kunai. Once she succeeded, her dad promised to help her train with them, to teach her to throw with the accuracy her mother was known for.
She padded downstairs, already dressed, her hair up in its usual twin buns that kept it up and away from her face. Tightly secured so no one could grab it or use it against her.
She paused at the drying brownish red liquid coming from the underside of the door to the forge. Had something happened? Where was her dad?
"Dad?" Tenten called cautiously. "Are you in there?" At the lack of answer, Tenten slipped on her forge shoes, stepping around the drying liquid to open the door.
The door swung open without resistance, as it always had.
Tenten stopped dead. "Dad?" All she could see was the massive blade, it must have been a secret project or something, embedded in his chest. It was shining silver, freshly made. None of the nicks or scratches that would come with use.
Her breath hitched, the air quivering in her chest. "Dad?" She raced to his side, knowing it was futile but feeling for a pulse anyway. "Dad!"
The body wasn't warm, hadn't been for a while, even with the nearly oppressive heat of the forge. Not here, not with the blade soaking up the heat, not with the floor absorbing any trace of warmth it could get its hands on.
"Dad," Tenten whispered, hand falling from his wrist, the other from his throat. "No, no please."
She knew he was dead, she knew he wasn't coming back, but some little kid in her wanted to plead hopelessly to give her father back. To see his chest rise and fall, his fingers wrap around her hand, his arms wrapping around her for a hug.
It was a customer that found her like that hours later, soaked in his blood and some of her own where she'd accidentally brushed up against the sharp sword, crouched over a cold body.
They led her away, led her to the Hokage. Condolences were offered, but she didn't hear them, long gone numb.
She was led back to the empty house, someone having cleaned up the body and the blood. She was pushed to clean up, to change, so she did, showering quickly, although leaving her hair down, and bandaging the cut she'd gotten across her shoulder and back. She had to continue on. Even if she'd never see him again, never hear him laugh, never get to make her third kunai set, never learn to throw like her mom. Never hear about her mom again.
Tenten scrabbled for tissues, not particularly wishing to get tears everywhere. She had to continue, had to move on.
She did what was needed, packing up what she could, taking the books stored in the bookshelves, the weapons sets he never got to give to her. She moved quickly, drawing up the storage seals she'd practiced a dozen times with him, sealing away what was necessary, what she could, what she wouldn't let anyone else have.
She only had a single bag in the end, albeit full of sealing scrolls. She got odd looks, but she'd manage. She'd live, she'd survive. She had to.
They were moving her in with the orphanage, where the others were. She'd get to see Lee more often, which she supposed was a bonus.
Tenten liked her friend, as odd as he was. He was sweet, and very kind. She'd hated seeing him fade as his parents got sicker and sicker, hated seeing his bright eyes dull and his voice go silent. As far as she knew, he hadn't spoken since the incident, hadn't to her at least. She didn't even know when he stopped talking, stopped using anything but SSL. She wished she'd been a better friend.
"It's fine," she murmured to worried kids, new friends surrounding her. "I'm fine."
They called bs, whatever that meant, but didn't push further, only leading her to where she'd stay. She was with the three girls, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata.
Ino only pulled her into a hug when she saw her, whispering quiet apologies. Tenten bit back tears, not wanting to get the other girl's shirt wet.
Sakura, with her bright cherry blossom pink hair, tugged her over to a bed and helped her unpack each of the scrolls, setting them oh so carefully in a dresser.
Hinata, all pale eyes and meekness, made the bed, offering a hug which Tenten took. She didn't speak, not even when Tenten couldn't hold back the tears any longer, not when Sakura and Ino slipped out at the dinner call, not when they came back bearing offerings of food.
Tenten was grateful. She was grateful to all of them. She'd repay it. Some day.
(A/N) This is the second to last child I promise! Only one more but it's Sasuke, so yeah… There's some cute fluffy stuff between now and then though! This was a 'I'm so sorry small child' chapter for those writers who might be wondering, haha. The other option being '*mad cackling*'. Possibly demonic screeching too. I might have made myself cry at the end there though.
So, Greetings. It is that time. I have loads of empty update spots, and here's the poll to vote! Check my ao3 fics for the link. My Ao3 is Flux_Uchiha.