(A/N) New mission here we come! And for the record, I know nothing about writing romance, so you have been warned. If you don't need my vague attempts at writing romance I know nothing about, especially given I am ace/aro, leave now. If you're still here, great, the romance vaguely officially starts in like two chapters, have fun.
Two weeks later and Shisui was getting antsy again. Tenten was too, although she was better at hiding it. So they took another mission. Just a basic B rank escort mission. Not too hard, especially for two jounin, but it was a nice break. Plus more risk of bandits or low ranked missing ninja. Honestly, Tenten was hoping they'd run into at least one bandit set or low ranked missing-nin, she was itching for a good fight that wasn't just a spar.
They were escorting a fairly influential merchant person that seemed a lot more shifty than he really ought to be, plus he was very insistent about having the best protection. Hence her and Shisui being on the mission despite being two of the more powerful shinobi in the village.
It had really just been marked a B-rank because that was what the man paid for, and to warn anyone who took the mission that it'd probably be boring.
It was boring so far for the most part, but they were also only like a day from Konoha, and they were still in the area routinely patrolled by ANBU to keep bandits away from Konoha.
"So I had heard of pretty boy over there from this other guy," the client was explaining, making a gesture to point at Shisui. "And figured it was a good idea to ask for jounin."
"Hear that Shisui?" Tenten called over. "You're being called a pretty boy!"
"I am the prettiest boy!" Shisui shouted back.
"Good for you!" She said, laughing. That was something of a first. Usually boys would try and defend their manliness and insist that they were hot, instead of pretty. And then there was Shisui, who insisted he was the prettiest boy. Which wasn't incorrect, of course.
"You got quite the catch," the merchant said, smirking.
"Hm? Oh, no, we're not together. Not like that. Just friends at the moment." Tenten shrugged.
"Well, better catch him quick, I bet he's popular with the ladies."
Tenten snorted. She didn't think Shisui was the popular with the ladies that the merchant was referencing. He was more popular in the 'oh, look how cute' and little child kind of popular with the ladies. She knew from Mikoto that the day he decided he was too old for hair ruffles, was a day the Uchiha women had mourned. His hair was very soft though. She knew he probably took better care of it then she did her own hair.
She also knew for a fact that he spent a good five minutes doing his eyeliner on a regular basis, although he could do it in under thirty seconds if pressed. It just wouldn't look as good he claimed. Tenten thought it looked the same either way, but she knew exactly nothing about makeup, and probably never would.
Although considering it was fairly common knowledge they lived together, it was highly doubtful anyone would ask Shisui out.
"Woah, woah, calm down, I can't understand all of you when you're talking over each other like that."
Tenten glanced over at Shisui only to find him beset by birds, each squawking very urgently at him. He was trying to calm them all down, so Tenten went over to try and help.
"Something wrong?" She asked, carefully grabbing one out of the air and folding its wings against its body to hold it securely. She held it gently against her chest, smoothing down its head feathers with a finger. It calmed quickly, chiruuping quietly.
"I don't know, I can't understand them," Shisui said, sounding rather frustrated. "Guys, calm down. What's a day out?"
"Is it a bandit camp?" Tenten guessed, waving a vague apology to the merchant, who'd paused the caravan for them.
"No, they're too distressed for that." Shisui shook his head. "They're not usually like this, usually they know I can handle pretty much anything. It's making me concerned."
"We're both S-class, I'm sure we'll both be fine," she reassured him. "Whatever they're concerned about, I'll keep a metaphorical ear to the ground and my sensing going. I'll even summon a few falcons to keep watch."
She signaled the merchant that they were good to continue. "Take the front, I'll take the back."
"You're faster," Shisui said.
"Yeah, but the crows said it was ahead of us? So I'm faster to get to the front in the case of an attack from up there, and you're far from a slouch should we get attacked from the back. I'll have a larger falcon hanging around keeping watch just over the caravan too."
Shisui nodded reluctantly. "Alright. I'm going to send the crows out again, they warned us alright, even if they couldn't say what they were so concerned about. See if one of your kestrals can see anything."
Tenten nodded, biting her thumb and summoning three falcons and a kestrel. Two smaller falcons to go ahead and behind respectively, the larger one to stay above the caravan, and the kestrel to go with the crows and figure out what the issue was.
She issued orders, then assumed her position at the back of the caravan. Shisui headed up front, chatting quietly with the merchant while Tenten focused part of her attention on her sensing. She had to make sure whatever the crows were concerned about didn't sneak up on them and catch them unawares.
They continued on without an issue until sunset. The kestrel and crows reported back, but Tenten barely heard them. She'd finally sensed what the crows had been so concerned about.
It was a hard signature to forget. She'd felt it maybe twice before, but it was very very hard to forget. Especially with how unique it was.
"Shisui," she said, interrupting her friend's conversation with his crows. "I know who it is."
His attention was immediately fully on her. "Who?"
"Kakuzu. The S-rank missing-nin." She turned off her sensing, wincing at the headache she'd developed from using it too long. "He's stopped for the night as well, and even then he's a full half a day away. We should be alright to rest tonight, but we'll need to be on guard tomorrow."
"A shadow clone each?" Shisui offered.
Tenten nodded, making one real quickly. "And our summons."
"My summons. Not yours. You can resummon yous in the morning. You know mine don't take any chakra to be here. Yours do."
Tenten wasn't going to be able to argue with him, especially not with the headache pounding away in her skull. "Right, whatever. I'm going to sleep early, I'll eat in the morning. I have a bad headache."
"Feel better," Shisui replied, waving to her as she crawled into her tent. She collapsed into her sleeping bag and immediately passed out.
(A/N) Dun dun dun… For the record, I'm sorry about anything that goes down after this two chapter mission. I'm Aromantic and cannot be held accountable for my horrible romance writing skills because I have no romantic feelings and couldn't possibly say what it's like because I don't know. I don't know why previous me thought this was a good idea…
That is not saying I'm not continuing this, because I am, I'm seeing this to the end dangit, but do not expect any measure of romantic accuracy. Or any at all. Really, just kill me now and be done with it.
But yeah, bottom line, do not expect an inordinate amount of quality shipping material from the chapter after this next one on. I'm sorry.