"Did you miss me Doc?" Tenten breathed as she stowed away into his apartment in the dead of night, crawling over him as he was already in bed, silent as a shadow seemed to be her default.

It had been going on like this for months now. She would show up when she could, sometimes fully conscious, sometimes covered in someone else's blood, sometimes covered in her own blood, and Shino would simply clean her up, patch her up and bring her to bed.

They weren't dating, dating involved going outside and meeting with each other's friends and parents and planning dinner dates and talking on the phone or even knowing where they spent their time, or even what their job was.

But on the other hand they did sleep beside each other, they kissed, and shared meals where she boxed up the left overs for him to take into work and to eat for dinner, and had inside jokes, and spent hours just talking and smiling at each other.

They were something he didn't even have a word for.

"Of course; I missed you; why?" the Aburame replied honestly. His arms pulling her down to be flush against him. "I; worry; for you."

Usually she would make a joke and brush his concern off but then, this time, she did something she had never done before, she clung to him, nearly crushing him in the sheer power of her hug.

"I missed you too Doc," Tenten whispered grazing her lips over his in a barely there kiss. "I worry about you too. I wish I could be here more. See you more. Look after you more."

He rolled them over and pulled her into a deep kiss then and she responded in kind.

When she was asleep in his arms, after making love or having sex, or something else, he didn't know what she called this, holding his arms around her, Shino's face pressed into her neck he had a moment of clarity.

He was in too deep, he cared about this dark and dangerous woman who played with knifes and ended life's too much. This could only end in his heart being broken or his body.


"Your apartment is being watched."

He turned then from the bathroom mirror, toothbrush still being held in his mouth, to see Tenten there, knife in hand, back against the wall, peering out the curtains of his bedroom window before gritting her teeth and closing them quickly.

He quickly spat out his toothpaste into the sink, dropped his toothbrush and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth before speaking.

"What? Why?"

"Don't leave the building," she ordered coming to stand beside him, looking nervous but calm, controlled, like he imagined any criminal organisation member to act like under life threating situation. "Don't order anything to come here. I will take care of this Doc."

"But; why?" He asked again. "Why would they; care; enough; to watch me?"

"My boss wants me to marry his son, and I was more than happy to until-"

The mafia member cut off to look slightly lost then, but it was quickly squashed as she jolted her head to the side and gritted her teeth again.

"Until; what?"

She dropped her knife and flung herself at him to wrap herself around him then, with enough force he actually stumbled, his back hitting the wall behind him.

"I like you Doc," she whispered into the column of his neck, in a voice so thick with emotion he felt his breath catch. "I care about you, a lot, I-I lov-"

Tenten's grip tightened, almost becoming enough to bruise.

"-you make me want to be a better person."

The bun haired woman's hands moved to cup his face then, his own hand covering hers on instinct.

"And it's that kind of thinking that's going to get us both killed."

She, somewhat reluctantly, pulled back then. The fierce, harden, battle ready criminal reappearing.

"Stay here. I will sort this. Tonight. I won't let them hurt you."

"I; do not; wish for them to hurt you; either," the doctor told her, and she worried him with the steady, understanding look she gained.

"I'm not sure that's possible anymore."

With a kiss, a long drawn out peck of lips, a whispered "goodbye Shino" and a look filled with more emotion than he had ever seen on her face she was gone.

It was the first time she'd ever called him by his actual name.


He was planning on calling in sick to work for a few days, to do as she told him, but all available doctors were called to assist in a large number of casualties and deceased that were suddenly pouring into A&E. He told himself adamantly it was nothing to do with Tenten. That she was safe and coming back to him that very night.

As soon as he got to the hospital he met up with his team and quickly found his father to get their instructions on where they were needed.

"What; is the situation father?"

"Gunshot; and bomb; victims. A massive ordeal downtown. We have more DOA's; coming in. Shino; will you and your team; handle; the deceased? Help with; IDing; the dead in the morgue?"

"Yes; of course father," he turned to Hinata and Kiba then. "Let's go."

"What the hell happened down there?" Kiba asked after taking the fingerprints of his fourteenth body for identification.

Hinata only continued to look distraught as she herself was in the double digits of bodies she had taken fingerprints and dental moulds of. "This wo-woman can't be a-any mo-more than twen-twenty."

"We have; nearly; completed our task," Shino spoke then, trying to be comforting.

He pulled back a sheet for the next DOA and immediately flung himself backwards with a low choking sound.

"Shino?" Kiba asked as the Aburame grabbed the gurney to stop himself simply collapsing on the ground. "What's wrong? What happened?"

It was her. It was his Tenten.

Her beautiful face and skin covered in blood and dirt and grim; her clothes torn and burnt but it was definitely her.

So, this whole thing was her doing, the logical side of his brain knew it, knew it as soon as they had got the call, but his emotional side had stomped it down firmly.

He took a terrified scan of the room then. Was every DOA they received a mafia member from her old gang?

Wherever the gunshots came from must have been her boss's headquarters. She had gone directly to the source. To cut off the threat to his life at its head.

But Tenten was smart and cunning and fierce, she must have known that was a suicide mission, going into the lion's den with nothing but two knives and a noble cause.

His stomach turned and he had to swallow down a sob at the realisation.

She went there knowing she was going to die. She died. She died willingly. She died willingly to protect him. Trying to keep him safe from those who would hurt him because she cared about him. She wanted him safe. She wanted him to live.

"Hey man's what's up?" Kiba looked down at his, his, Tenten then. "Did you know her or something?"

"Yes," he whispered defeated, torn, utterly, truly, broken. "I; knew; her."