peachpit: Hurray, Chapter Two. oo
Naruto: She still doesn't own me. Nor will she ever. Unless Masashi Kishimoto-sama goes insane and decides to give the series to a rabid 16-year-old Italian fangirl.
peachpit: squeal
For the next few minutes, all she could feel was the heavy breathing of her chest and the cold solid wall against her stiff back. This couldn't be real. None of this was really happening. Tenten took a deep breath as she looked around the crowded room again. She stood there in silence, for how long she did not know.
Suddenly, an unexpected slam caused Tenten to jump and glance to her right. A familiar figure was thrown out of a room, slouching over a bundle of clothes similar to the ones Tenten had earlier been instructed to put on. The trembling frame of one of her fellow kunoichi stood nearby, shaking and confused.
"Hinata!" Tenten gasped and she made her way to her comrade.
"Hinata!" She said again as she gently shook her shoulder. A pair of milky white eyes slowly looked upward to Tenten.
"Ten…ten-san?" Hinata whispered. Tenten nodded.
"What kind of place is this?" She choked shakily.
"I…I don't know, Hinata." Tenten lied. Hinata looked as if the last thing she needed right now was to know she was captured and placed in a whore-house.
Hinata buried her bruised face into Tenten's comforting grasp. Tenten began to slowly pat Hinata on the back and mutter small futile words of comfort that seemed to have no effect. She glanced upward at the dirty glass ceiling high above them, and could tell the rain had not stopped since they had gotten there.
Leading her to an empty bed, Tenten urged Hinata to sit down and take some deep breaths. Hinata's shaking hand wiped a small trail of tears that had welled up in her eyes.
Tenten was unsure of what to do. She didn't know how to comfort her seeing as they both were in the same position, but she assured Hinata that no matter what they would stick together.
This seemed to soothe the trembling Hyuuga a little, and she began to calm down a bit. As time passed, they were greeted by two fellow kunoichi, Sakura and Ino, who had been given the same treatment Tenten and Hinata had received.
That night they were instructed to sleep in a bunk that had each of the girl's names quickly written on it with a marker. Tenten observed there were several oter names crossed out already on each bunk, but she decided not to dwell on it. Exhausted, Tenten didn't protest to lying down on the small bunk. The person who was sleeping above her she had never seen before. Hinata and the others were close by, though.
Even though they were in her line of vision, Tenten felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life. The musty smell of the dirty sheets made her sick; She was tempted to just throw them on the floor and try to sleep without them, but the cracks in the glass roof let rain and wind seep inward, chilling her aching bones.
Several times she felt the need to either relieve herself in one of the lavatories or shift to one of her sides, but the room was so awkwardly quiet with the sounds of sleeping strangers she felt if she were to move, something horrible would happen.
She heard the girl above her shift in her sleep. Someone in the room coughed. With each sudden break of silence came a wave of fear jolt through her body. Surly the others were just as restless as she was. As fatigued as she was, she couldn't allow herself to fall asleep.
The itchy material she was given to wear forced her to move. The faded blue shirt seemed a little too big on her; while the matching pants seemed too small, they barely touched her ankles. Everyone seemed to be wearing it here, aside from the men she had been brought here by.
Closing her watery russet eyes, she fell into a fitful sleep listening to the sound of rain falling through the broken cracks on the glass ceiling.
She awoke to the sound of a man barking orders. She sat up quickly, her side began hurting once more. The same tall, burly man she had first seen walked in and ordered everyone to line up against the wall. Several girls groaned and got up, walking to the wall casually, while several others (like herself) hesitated and followed meekly after.
She stood awkwardly towards the end of the line, between a tall busty black-haired girl she had never seen and an unusually familiar girl who stood leaning against the wall with her hands on her hips. Tenten looked uneasily at her, trying to get a better look at her face, which was bruised and battered much like the rest of her body and several others around her. Where had she seen her before…?
Before she could place her finger on it, the man shouted at everyone so loud, it cause Tenten to jump slightly and face forward.
"Listen you little shits! Some of you are new here, so just so you know, My name is Akitaro Ginto."
Tenten blinked and shifted.
"As long as you are here, you will do everything I or Lucas says. We make the rules. We enforce them.You mess up, and we'll mess you up."
Tenten felt her face heat up. Akitaro went on,
"That room over there is where Kudo-sama works. You do not go in there unless you are told to do so."
Tenten glanced at the room he was pointing to. It was the same room she was shoved into yesterday. That man she met in there must be Kudo.
"Here's how things work around here. We get calls from customers who stay at the hotel next door. They specify what their needs are, and we chose the one of you who fits those needs best. You go over there and do exactly whatever he tells you to, or I will break your face. Got it?"
There was a silence aside from a few terrified whimpers. One of which Tenten saw came from Hinata.
Akitaro waited a moment before clearing his throat and continuing,
"I take roll every morning. I expect you to be in line the second the alarm goes off to wake you up. Also, if you look over there, there are-"
He went on for quite awhile, babbling about how and when to use certain facilities and when and how they would be fed. Tenten stood there, rubbing her aching side and wishing she would just wake up. Akitaro began making his way down the row of girls, checking off things on his keybored and asking the names of new arrivals. Tenten's face sunk as she tried her best to stay still.
"You're new here, aren't you?" The girl standing next to her said.
"Huh?" Tenten looked up.
"I said, You're new here, aren't you?" She repeated, not bothering to even look at her. Damn, she looked familiar…
"Er, yes. Yes I was brought here yesterday…" Tenten's chocolate eyes fell to the floor again. The girl turned to her.
"I've been here for a few weeks. Knocked clean over the head in my sleep." Tenten nodded, not knowing what kind of response to give.
"I've tried everything I can think of to get out of here. Bastards took away my weapons and they keep everyone here so drugged up on some sort of mid-dose tranquilizer they're to weak to move or fight or do anything."
Tenten's head shot up.
"Tranquilizer?"
"Yeah." She pointed with her thumb to a small red puncture in her neck. A ring of light red encircled it.
"They stick you when you don't expect it. Like while you're asleep or in the middle of eating or whatever. If you try to fight they sock you in the face." She turned her face to the side and pointed to a small purple welt on her cheek.
"Oh my," Escaped Tenten's lips.
"Got me the first day I was here," The girl said remorsefully. She faced downward.
"But…certainly, there must be some way to get out of here…?" Tenten said in a hushed voice.
The girl shook her head. Her spiky, blonde, shoulder-length hair swished lightly with her head.
"I've tried almost everything. Security is tighter than it looks. They got guys at every door. Not to mention the fence is electric. They even have guys waiting outside the door during jobs, too."
"…jobs?" Tenten questioned apprehensively.
The girl looks sympathetically at her with dark blue eyes. She didn't say anything, though.
Tenten faced the floor once again. Surly her teammates had realized her absence and were looking for her? Surly everyone here had someone looking for them…
"My brothers probably know I'm gone by now, though." The girl spoke up again, as if she had read Tenten's mind.
"Your brothers?" Tenten asked.
"Yeah. I have two."
"I don't have any siblings…"
"Hm. Your not missing much." Then girl paused a minute before turning to Tenten.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Tenten. What's yours?"
Before the girl could answer, Akitaro had made his way to the near end of the line where Tenten was standing. He turned sharply to Tenten and ordered her name. She told him. He nodded and wrote it down.
He took a step and face the girl Tenten had been talking with. His face turned to a cruel smirk. He wrote something down and moved on. She leaned inward and whispered,
"That's the ass who hit me."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Tenten couldn't think of anything else to say.
"After we leave the line, I'll show you around this place, allright?"
"Thank you."
"Oh, by the way, my name is Temari. I'm from the Sand Village."
peachpit: Please review. Oh, and thank you for reading. Arigato!