Chapter 2 The Tests of Tenten's Resolve!
Tenten kept all her wits about her as she sharpened her senses to the utmost.
She was in a hot, humid jungle environment, and she had become aware she was being hunted after only a few minutes of exploration.
Sweat plastered her bangs to her forehead and she felt a prickling at the back of her neck.
She couldn't see whatever was hunting her, but caught the faint sound of clicks and crackles that definitely sounded otherworldly.
The ginormous retractable shuriken that nearly decapitated her was extremely exciting, and she retaliated with a trio of her own hira-shuriken towards the direction it had originated from to flush out her attacker. The air rippled like a heat illusion, revealing the outline of a huge bipedal creature that deflected her weapons with quicker moves than she had credited it for.
She evaded the wire mesh net that was fired at her, eyes widening at how the spiked edges embedded themselves into a tree a few meters away and began to contract the net until it cut grooves into the bark.
She then dodged a discus with serrated edges that inexplicably began to follow her movements, altering its course mid-air to hurtle towards her repeatedly. She somersaulted through interlocking tree branches while the disc sliced through them like a high-velocity rotating saw, unerringly following her ever-changing trajectories.
Then a pair of parallel blades was suddenly slashing down behind her head and Tenten found the hunter almost on top of her, finally uncloaking its camouflage and revealing a featureless metallic mask and… dreadlocks?
While Tenten was not as fast as Lee or Guy, there was no way an attack like this could touch her. She could counter with some explosive tags, but she didn't. She was only sight-seeing, after all, and it was satisfying just to observe the unique weaponry her opponent was utilizing.
Three red dots of light appeared directly on her forehead protector, and she heard a sound coming from the hunter's shoulder, like a gear adjusting.
Tenten blinked. Then, the jungle was gone, and she was lying flat on her back in a featureless space. The journey had ended as abruptly as it began. Nausea overtook her.
It wasn't her first time exploring a new dimension, though, and she was prepared. She quickly sat up in time to dry-heave into the bucket beside her as she reoriented herself back into being in her body.
===/===
"Was it to your liking?"
Tenten nodded, feeling drained but elated. She replaced the asymmetrical blade back into its sheath with care, smiling at the polished gold hilt, which was pure and clear enough to easily show her own reflection, but instead reflected the image of dark amber eyes that were as sharp as the sword itself gazing back at her.
"The weapons that the hunter used were amazing," Tenten gushed. "It had wrist blades, a tracking disc, a cloaking device, and there was a wire mesh net that it could fire at quarry at high velocity and the net would tighten to constrict the prey till it was completely immobilized!"
"I'll show you an even better world next time. Just give me a little time to gather up ambient chakra again."
Tenten fondly brushed her fingers on the hilt, "You're amazing, Osh."
"I aim to please."
===/===
Tenten always felt terrible after world-hopping, but she passed it off as boredom at the weapons shop. She could count on being left alone here. Unless they really needed a weapon, no one went to her store. And these days, there was hardly any need.
"Yo."
Except for this bozo. Was he coming around more often lately?
Tenten forced on her patented shopkeeper smile. "Welcome, Kakashi."
"Ah, so nice to hear just my name without the titles," he sighed with relief. "So I have this kunai…"
He prattled on about something about how it just didn't have the right feel and it didn't speak to him, as a proper weapon should. Tenten made suitable sounds of understanding and commiseration during pauses in his monologue and set about presenting Kakashi, yet again, with her inventory of kunai to choose from.
She hardly felt the need to mention her current obsession with a weapon that actually could speak to her.
"So I like this one, but the size of the ring handle is too large and slips off when I spin it around my finger…"
Tenten kept a bland smile on as the nausea began to fade. She'd always thought her sensei's eternal rival had a relaxing voice, and it was helping to ground her in her current reality. When she felt well enough to focus, though, she realized he was still going on about size and how it mattered.
Tenten's lips tightened to a thin line. A Kage who could not adequately adapt a weapon to their needs was inconceivable. Sure, she was probably faster at figuring out and utilizing new and unfamiliar weapons than even Kage-level ninja, but her skills were very specialized in that realm. And they were talking about a plain kunai here. It simply should NOT take this long for Kakashi to find one he could work with.
He had never said the weapons she sold were sub-par, only that they just weren't The One he was looking for. It was a kunai! His excuses to come by the shop were getting as lame as his excuses for being late when he was still Team 7's sensei. And it was starting to inconvenience her.
Well, she was going to put a stop to it.
"Kakashi."
He paused mid-ramble and raised an eyebrow as she took out a different scroll and came around the display case and waved him over to a wide table where she normally laid out the larger weapons for examination. Unfurling the scroll on the tabletop surface, she unsealed a set of beautiful custom-made kunai. He hadn't seen work as fine and precise as this since Naruto and Hinata's wedding.
"Pick one. On the house," she told him.
"Oh? Why the special treatment?"
Tenten took a deep breath. Here went nothing.
"You've been visiting for months. It's made me so happy. I think, little by little, I've started to fall for you. You've become a precious person to me. I want to give you a small token of my affection."
Love-Attack Deployed!
Unlike her physical weapons, which always hit their targets, she fully expected her Kakashi-shaped target to evade this particular assault and finally leave her in peace.
Girls in love should blush, right? Tenten was just doing her best not to look constipated.
Hm… the Kakashi-shaped target was unmoving. Was in fact, staring at her, dumbfounded. Not ideal, but perhaps a follow-up attack would do it.
She stepped closer to the 6th Hokage and wrapped her arms firmly around his torso. "Thank you for everything, Kakashi," she murmured.
There was a satisfying tensing of his body, borne of many years of near phobia of physical intimacy. Any moment now. He would 'poof!' away into nothingness and her troubles would be over.
Then, his arms came around her shoulders and he returned the embrace, and it took everything for Tenten not to stiffen in shock as well. She grit her teeth and held on grimly, squeezing a bit more to bring the message across that this was not a "companionable" hug, and counting down the seconds till he freaked out and made his getaway.
He squeezed back, comfortingly. Understandingly. Perhaps, she realized with dawning horror, even encouragingly.
She could feel his heart pounding, as well as her own. There could be so many ways to interpret that. It could be the excitement of infatuation. It could be agitation at being in such close proximity, but also being fired up not to back down from this challenge. It could be a heart attack. Tenten definitely felt the third possibility was imminent for her, but she was also stubbornly clinging to the second. She would hug Kakashi for the next three hours if that's what it took to frighten him off from bothering her.
The bastard sighed and relaxed, convincingly, against her. One hand stroked the back of her head. His heartbeat slowed as he emitted waves of contentment.
"EeeAurgh!" Tenten broke. She stepped back, flailing her deadened arms to allow blood flow to circulate through them again. "How could you stand it?! I was sure you would hate a blatant show of affection like that!"
Kakashi gave her a mild look, "Naruto regularly hugs me. He's really affectionate. He goes for the neck choke too, so yours was much tamer."
Tenten sputtered. "Well, those were friendly hugs. Mine was a romantic hug, you understand? I've fallen head over heels for you."
Kakashi blinked. "Yes, you did say something to that effect. But are you sure? You look.. angry."
"Yes, I'm sure. I hereby declare my undeniable attraction to you."
She glared at him, her hands clenched at her sides and the rest of her body in battle position.
Kakashi's mask hid many things, but the crinkling at the corners of his eyes gave away how cute he thought this all was.
"Do you want to know if I return your feelings?"
"What?"
"Do you want to know-"
"Well, of course you don't! You're much older than me! You're the Sixth Hokage! I think you even have a girlfriend!" Tenten wanted to stamp her foot. She'd heard a name from Gai once long ago of someone who would write to Kakashi from far away- Bayo? Bocayo? Anyway, a long-distance relationship of some sort.
"But your feelings are so intense that, despite all that, you still wanted to confess to me that you have fallen for me, is that it?"
"Yes, yes," she was beyond annoyed at this point. This seemed like a conversation that should have been happening when she was a gawky teenager, not a grown woman.
In fact, if she recalled correctly, she actually had a similar conversation with him in a past mission, and he had been a lot kinder about letting her down gently back then.
Was he taking her seriously now that she was older? What was up with that? No, he had to be testing her resolve!
She lifted her chin, going for the 'distraught but dignified' look. "This is very embarrassing for me, of course. To avoid being awkward around each other I think we should limit social interaction for the time being. If you need me for a mission, I'm there. But otherwise, I completely understand if you give me space to realize the folly of my emotions."
"Huh," Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and Tenten had the feeling that he saw right through her.
"How about dinner?" he asked. Oho. So this was a Test of Tenten's Resolve! She would prevail.
"I have plans," she responded automatically.
"You're turning me down?"
"It's best to make the break quick and clean so my heart can mend faster." Tenten placed a hand on her chest and affected a tragic expression. She was not above employing melodrama. She'd grown up with a very melodramatic team.
Kakashi, however, had been sensei to the very pinnacle of team melodrama. "I'll take care of your heart, Tenten."
They looked at each other. After a moment, she picked her jaw off the floor.
"Seven PM?" he suggested.
She nodded. There was nothing more to do.
"I'll drop by here to pick you up." He waved and made his exit.
Result of Test #1: FAILED.
Tenten stared at her set of custom kunai after he left. He'd chosen the best one out of all of them without even taking more than half a second to decide.
===/===
He had picked her up at seven, on the dot, surprisingly punctual despite his reputation. It further cemented her suspicion that this was Another Test of Tenten's Resolve!
Tenten picked at her food, trying not to sulk. This was starting to look like an expensive plan of action. This wasn't just yakiniku or a ramen stand, this was a proper restaurant. It really was a date-level place.
Tenten idly considered some of the weapons she could have purchased instead of paying for the cost of this meal. She had made sure she had brought enough money to pay for both of them. She wouldn't put it past him to take advantage of her declared affections to use her as a free meal ticket.
"Thank you for not trying to sneak a peek at my face while I was eating." Kakashi sounded cheerful, dabbing a napkin on his lips, which were already covered by his mask, making the napkin-dabbing highly unnecessary. "That was the most leisurely meal I've shared with someone in a while."
Tenten shrugged, still not looking at him. She hadn't raised her head the entire meal because: a) she was trying to look shy and demure and b) she was reining in a growing urge to hit him.
She really had no motivation to respond to his attempts at conversation, but a thought occurred to her in passing, so she commented offhand, "You probably look like your father. I've seen pictures of him. He had kind eyes, like you do."
Another prolonged silence ensued, and made her finally shift her gaze to find him staring at her. Tenten mentally bonked herself on the head.
Kakashi's father had been disgraced in the eyes of the village at one point, but she also knew from Gai that Hatake Sakumo had been a true hero to his friends. It's what prompted her to look him up.
In the pictures she found in the archives, the White Fang of Konoha had merely looked- fatherly. And Kakashi had looked every inch a brat in the photos with them together. It had been cute, very normal. It was strange to think that Kakashi had been a child once too. But Tenten had liked that insight into the eternal rival of her sensei.
It wasn't something to bring up at a first date though. Probably a touchy subject. She should have gushed about how she thought Kakashi totally beat Gai in the looks department and that she greatly respected his desire to keep his devastatingly handsome features only to himself and his chosen special someone. Or something like that. More lovestruck, less busybody.
She opened her mouth to apologize for being so gauche, but Kakashi covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze, before calling for the check. They split the bill.
She feigned a 'feminine emergency' and rushed home.
Result of Test #2: For evaluation?
==/==
The day after her Declaration of Undying Love, Tenten woke to a feeling of optimism, a good night's sleep improving her mood from yesterday's. She was sure the dinner last night had just been a whim of Kakashi's to tease her. It wasn't anything more than that. She could pretend to wait and pine away quietly for unrequited love, and Kakashi would be way too busy giving advice to the current Hokage and helping shape the future of Konoha to pay her further attention.
After her regular morning training, she bounced back towards her home, ready for a shower and a wonderful time exploring strange new worlds with her nifty new blade.
As she was unwinding her hair ties, she pushed her front door open, and caught the aroma of something savory wafting throughout her abode.
What. The. Hell.
Tenten stopped right at the entrance of her own home, where she could look directly across her living room, past the dining area, into the kitchen to see a tall man with a shock of white hair puttering about.
"Ah. You're back." Kakashi set down two plates on the dining table. "I made breakfast. Thought you might enjoy some pampering during your time of the month. Seems like Gai really instilled the discipline in you of maintaining a regular training regimen even during red days, hm? Commendable. Sit down."
Automatically obeying a direct order from the former Hokage, Tenten slowly sank onto a dining chair, watching him place rice, omelet, miso soup and sausages in front of her. The sausages were cut so four octopus arms seemed to wave at her in a friendly way, begging to be eaten.
Kakashi took a seat across her. Studied her nonplussed appearance, "You look nice with your hair down like that."
So, this was The Third Test of Tenten's Resolve…?
This was kind of scary. Scratch that, really scary. Tenten stared down at the table, willing her fingers not to clench. Calm breaths. Kakashi was... a formidable opponent. But she would win this. Because deep down, she knew he was a decent guy. And she would use that to her advantage.
"Creepy."
Kakashi's pleasant expression vanished. "What?"
"You're creepy," Tenten raised her eyes to meet his, "I didn't invite you into my home, never have. You're using my love confession to take liberties that should be properly earned."
He blinked. Once. Twice. "I thought you might like breakfast."
"Not at the expense of my privacy." Granted, he could abuse his seniority and just order her to let him into her home whenever he wanted, but again – he was a decent guy. "You ought to know ninjas hate surprises."
He crossed his arms, considering. "How about yesterday, when you hugged me? You didn't ask my permission to invade my personal space, did you? It was quite the surprise." Aha, his eyes seemed to say. Gotcha.
Aha, she wanted to retort. I still don't understand why you didn't run for the hills. You're much more protective of your privacy than I am.
She pressed her lips together, "My bad. I won't do it again. I was just... overcome with emotions."
"Yeah," he scratched his neck, "That was creepy too, wasn't it? I didn't call you out on it though."
She nodded, a trifle desperately, "This is, altogether, a creep fest. We should stop."
His eyes narrowed, calculating, "That would be a waste. I'd like to explore this possible relationship more, if you're ok with it, Tenten. Maybe surprise breakfast was too forward. Are you ok with surprise visits?"
She shook her head.
"How about surprise serenades? I've always found it a romantic notion to hire a mariachi band and show up outside the window of a lady to play beautiful music to win her heart."
She stared. It might have been because it was early morning, and she was still unable to process what was happening, but the idea of Kakashi strumming on a guitar wearing a sombrero broke through her defenses. Her mouth twitched, "You wouldn't."
"You don't think I would?"
She had to look away and smother a laugh into her hand, "Can you even sing?"
He looked affronted, "I have many talents."
That was it. Tenten was chortling. She covered her face with both hands and tried to regain her composure. "No. I wish- no."
"You wish—?"
She really, really, wanted to see Kakashi serenade her with a mariachi band, dammit. She was weak. But her privacy was extremely important. "I wish I could be comfortable with that kind of public display. It does sound romantic. But no."
Oh the things she sacrificed for her weapons fixation. She lifted her face out of her hands to find Kakashi giving her a shrewd look.
"It could be a tiny mariachi band. Summoned mice. We could sing very quietly and-"
Tenten burst out laughing. She waved her arms to make him stop, nearly tipping over her chair. His arm shot out to steady her.
"No surprise serenades. No surprises, period." She wheezed. "When in doubt, ask."
"All right," he conceded. Another, pensive blink, "This sure is a very well-discussed courtship we are embarking on."
"Yes. It's my fault. I'm a difficult person to get along with, socially. High maintenance, in fact. Extremely tiresome to deal with."
"It could be worse. You could be Gai."
Touché. Tenten repressed a grimace. She would never come close to Gai's level of clamoring for Kakashi's attention. And Kakashi actually seemed to enjoy the demanding nature of Gai's friendship.
They stared at each other again, for a long minute, before Tenten's stomach grumbled. The borborygmy sound trailed off into the silence and neither made a move to indicate they had heard anything. Tenten opened her mouth to speak and her tummy grumbled again. Louder.
"Er." She picked up her chopsticks. "I'll eat what you prepared, then. Thank you. Just give me a heads up next time you want to drop by."
"Understood," he nodded, taking up his own chopsticks.
She didn't look up at his face during the meal.
Results of Test #3- She hadn't the faintest idea anymore what was going on.
==/==
The problem with her strategy, Kakashi thought, as he watched her eat, was that she threw too much into it. It was similar to her early fighting style. However, she'd learned to finesse her ninja skills over the years, choosing the right weapon for the job, pulling back when necessary, instead of throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. At the end of the war, and with the many missions she had been assigned afterwards, Tenten had earned enough experience and devoted sufficient study to have a competent grasp of proper battle strategy.
In this scenario though, she was pretty hopeless. She had done her level best to rebuff him through over-the-top declarations of love, just as Lee had proclaimed his affections to Sakura in the past, much to Sakura's horror.
Kakashi particularly enjoyed Tenten's consternation at his lack of expected reaction, and even active encouragement yesterday. She looked like she was on the brink of coming clean with him at any moment, but was too stubborn to concede defeat. It was a team Gai thing, probably.
Her reactions were also completely at odds with her words. For a woman who professed to be madly in love with him, she had no interest whatsoever in seeing his face. She didn't even blush at his compliment on her hair. Which was nice, by the way. Another Team Gai trademark – lustrous, shiny hair, despite being the most taijutsu-heavy team in Konoha.
Kakashi drummed his fingers on the table. Nope, she wasn't looking up. It was kind of insulting, really, her indifference to the best-kept secret in all of the shinobi world.
"Um. Thank you for the meal." She set down her chopsticks and addressed the table formally.
"It's nothing. It was nice to feel kind of domestic. I'm liking the idea of settling down with a wife soon."
He watched her expression morph into horror directed at an empty miso bowl.
"It's funny, really, how I never realized until yesterday what I was missing," he said, "The companionship of a lifelong partner, someone to share my joys and sorrows with, a person who would mean everything in the world to me, and I would mean the same to her. And then you came along, and told me how you felt. It was a real eye-opener, Tenten. I think I'm ready for this next stage in life."
He cleared the table, cheerfully humming as she sat frozen on her seat.
In her inward spiral into full-blown hysteria, it occurred to Tenten, briefly, that no one had prepared breakfast for her in years. And never exclusively for her, only when she was with groups for missions.
Then the reality crashed down on her, that this impertinent man was MOCKING her. She snapped her head up to glare at him. He had finished cleaning up and was wiping his hands on her pink dish towel that had the words, 'Screen time? What's that?' embroidered on it.
Tenten narrowed her eyes. Time to counter-attack.
"You're so cruel to be making fun of me, Kakashi," she stood up with a theatrical sigh and gave her very best exaggerated pout. "You shouldn't be stringing a girl along like this."
And suddenly, he was the in front of her, all serious, all business. "I would never do that, Tenten." His hands were on her shoulders and he was in full honorable shinobi mode. "I want to cherish your feelings and give them the weight and consideration they deserve."
Oh, now he was baiting her.
"Yes, my feelings deserve great weight and consideration." In for a penny, in for a pound, as Osh had once told her. Tenten didn't know what a penny was, but apparently it meant going all in. And having been on Gai's team, she understood the concept about going all in. She eyed him with open challenge to describe how he would 'cherish' her feelings properly.
Kakashi's eyes welled up with emotion as he stared into the distance, envisaging the days of romance to come.
"In order to explore the potential of this relationship, I want to do ALL the things couples do." He began to tick items off his fingers, "Hold hands. Watch the sunset. Frolic on the beach…" He started to get overexcited, "Hold hands watching the sunset while frolicking on the beach…".
"Who ARE you and what have you done with Kakashi?" Tenten squawked, panicking as she thought she could see hearts begin to form in the eyes of the former Sharingan user.
She produced a squeaky toy mallet from somewhere and quickly bopped herself on the head. Wheekik! Nothing. She put her forearm between her teeth and prepared to bite down, hard.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi yanked her arm away from her mouth just in time as her teeth clicked on empty air.
"I hate inflicting pain on myself but I hate this genjutsu more. This is just evil, Kakashi," Tenten growled at him. She tried slamming her forehead against his but he evaded easily.
"It's not a genjutsu. Something tells me that this is the beginning of something wondrous and sublime."
"Oh gods, are you QUOTING from Icha Icha Innocence!" Tenten shrilled.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "And how would you know that was a line from the book?"
She stared at him. "You seriously don't remember?"
At his quizzical look, Tenten huffed. She beckoned him imperiously to follow her and marched to a little alcove full of shelves and drawers.
"THIS," she pointed to one particular drawer labeled "BAKA" in ornate font, "Is where I keep the scrolls of missions that you assigned that were Absolutely Ridiculous." She rummaged through the rather voluminous assortment and retrieved a particular scroll. She paused suddenly as she was about to give it to him, and seemed to reconsider, but Kakashi nimbly swiped it from her before she could pull further away.
"There should be no secrets between us, my dear," he quoted again from that infernal book, while unrolling the scroll. He perused the contents and nearly dropped paper in shock, "I sent YOU on this mission?"
"I couldn't believe it either," she said dryly. "I understand you couldn't send any of the genin, since it was a mission to guard the actress set to star in the third Icha Icha movie from stalkers and perverts, but I really didn't think you'd volunteer the services of a ninja bodyguard for free when you heard they were starting to film."
Kakashi leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. "Ah. I remember now. Your report was exceptionally meticulous-"
"You specified that you wanted to know every single detail of what happened!"
"—and, in fact, you completed the mission admirably, defending the young miss's honor and privacy with utmost diligence and professionalism –"
"— Creeps were trying to break into her trailer every day, it was the decent thing to do—"
"—But they eventually canceled the project indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts." He sighed with regret. "I must have blocked out the memory of this mission due to my disappointment."
Tenten wished she could do the same. "So there. I was with the actress day in and day out for weeks. I helped her rehearse her lines, hell, I gave her notes. We read all the novels together to get a better insight into the character's motivations and childhood issues that were subconsciously affecting their life choices in adulthood. I know the Make Out series like the back of my hand. Don't even think of trying any cheesy one-liners from those books on me."
He regarded her with a hurt expression. "Cheesy one-liners? Those books formed my entire outlook on romance, Tenten."
"No wonder you're single." Tenten blurted before she could stop herself. "I mean… It's a wonder you're still single. You're such a catch, with your coolness, your status, and…" a vein started to throb in her temple - it was so hard to lie sometimes, "excellent taste in novels."
He was looking at her again like he was trying his best not to laugh. "You fluctuate between such wild extremes, Tenten. It's not exactly classical literature, but I enjoy it."
Tenten closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded in defeat. She realized that he was never going to call her out on all the crap she had been spouting. He was enjoying this too much.
"Start over." She gave him a flat look. "I have confessed my feelings, and you have not rejected me. In fact, to my everlasting surprise and disbelief, you wish to 'explore' the possibility of our being together. Same page so far?"
He nodded genially.
"FINE," Tenten exploded, "Ask me out again! No, wait! It's my turn! Kakashi, will you go out on a date with me?"
They said that Hagoromo originally distributed chakra into the world so people could learn to understand each other better.
And so Kakashi could tell what Tenten was thinking, loud and clear, despite her keeping iron control over her facial expression. 'Let's do this! You think you can win this game? You picked the wrong opponent, buddy. I learned from the best! I WILL beat you!'
He took her hand and pressed his mask-covered lips to the tips of her fingers. "I look forward to it."
===/===
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A/N: My love for this ship is absolutely titanic. It shall never sink.