peachpit: Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had some things going on. In responce to the mighty mighty m, This story is fairly long, and beleive it or not, I have cooked up a semi-exceptible excuse for this. However, I do ask that you read with an open mind, just for fanfiction's sake.
Naruto: SHAME ON YOU! YOU SLOW UPDATER!
peachpit: Gomen...;.;
A set of terrified opaque eyes stared dead set on the wooden floor. Tenten opened her mouth to protest, but the man's death glare made her reconsider starting trouble. He turned and grabbed Hinata's trembling wrist.
"Now come along quickly, and you both get back to work!" He barked. Hinata could only allow herself to be dragged down the hall and out of sight. Tenten's heart sunk as she saw the pleading look on Hinata's face before disappearing around the hall. An ominous silence tantalized the room for a moment.
Tenten's head sunk. They had to get out of this place. She turned her eyes solemnly towards the open window. Where were her teammates?
Temari had finally decided to let Tenten in on how the system worked. After continuing their work shortly after Hinata had been taken off, Temari hesitantly brought the subject up.
"Tenten, do you know how a brothel works?"
Tenten stopped wiping the wooden floor and thought a moment.
"No," she admitted finally.
Temari sighed. That wasn't the answer she had been hoping for. Tenten waited expectantly; She was still on her knees and leaning on her palms which held her rag.
"Well," Temari said as she draped her rag over her apron pocket. "I'm sure every brothel is different, but this one uses a catalogue system." Temari paused.
Tenten blinked.
Sighing, the blonde kunoichi continued, "Well, if you remember when you first came here, someone took pictures of you and asked for your name and stuff, right?"
Tenten nodded.
"Okay," Temari began again, "Well, all of that information was recorded into a catalogue. You see, the customer picks out what he wants specifically, or just gives us a price he's willing to pay."
There was a short beat.
"How…" Tenten ventured. "…do they determine someone's…er…price?"
Temari thought a moment.
"I guess on looks and build and…other stuff." She shrugged.
Tenten nodded and silently turned her attention back to the floor. After a moment's pause, she finally broke the silence.
"Will Hinata be alright?"
Temari slowly placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Tenten met Temari's reassuringly sympathetic gaze.
No more words were exchanged between the two as they finished their work for the rest of the day; but an uncomfortable thought chewed mercilessly in the back of Tenten's already troubled mind.
How much had they priced her for?
The rain kept falling. Kankuro frowned. All this time and still no luck. Shaking his head, he jumped forward onto a large branch. The weather was horrible. He squinted his already slit-like eyes. He couldn't see a thing.
"Damn it all," he muttered begrudgingly under his hot breath.
He was in desperate need of civilization. His body was weak and his clothes were rank. The heavy weight of fatigue hung on his sore muscles.
Jumping down, his sore feet met the soggy earth. He took a few exhausted steps before grasping the low branch of a tree for support. He needed somewhere to rest, and something warm to eat. With all this rain, he wasn't even granted a fire.
Kankuro pulled his cap off and wiped the sticky beads of sweat from the back of his neck. However, when he lifted his head back up, a curious sight was before him.
A light?
In the forest?
He rubbed his eyes.
That wasn't just a light.
There was a building attached to it!
Quickly, he threw his cap back on and thanked his lucky stars for such good fortune. However, when he came to the gate, his ninjistic senses came back and he halted. He was being stupid. He could be walking into a trap, he was in foreign country after all.
Glancing around for any sign of a threat, his eyes fell upon a sign.
"Konohagakure Blackwood Inn"
There was more, but it was illegible. Kankuro could barely make out the words "bed and breakfast"
A cattish grin spread across his face. He knew what those two words meant, and it had been exactly what he had been looking for. Without thinking twice, he pushed open the gate and made his way to the entrance.
"Tenten, hand me that bucket, will you?" Temari asked as she stood up and brushed herself off. Tenten complied before getting up herself.
"We're all done for today, all the halls are done. Let's go check out."
Tenten followed Temari, carrying an empty bucket in her hand. As they walked down the hall, Tenten spotted the restroom.
"Temari, would you mind taking mine and going on ahead? I have to go, I'll catch up." The blonde sand-nin nodded and continued down her way until she was out of sight.
Tenten hastily made her way the bathroom. After relieving herself, she took a drink from the seemingly ancient rusting sink. The brunette kunoichi splashed a few waves of cool liquid onto her heating face. It felt cool and refreshing, like a cool breeze on the beach.
Suddenly her ears perked up. Was that voices she heard? She poked her head outside of the door. There were two men standing at the front counter.
The first one Tenten recognized as Lucas, the tiny rat-like man he was. She felt the immature urge to stick her tongue out at him, but she managed to refrain. The second man was slightly taller, and was almost completely dressed in black. He looked completely filthy as well. Bits of the outside was sticking to his damp clothes, and a slight stench of sweat and dirt drifted over to her.
His dirty blonde hair hung messily on top of his head like a mop. It was definitely hat-hair, Tenten guessed. Sure enough, in his hand was clutched a small mess of black; Tenten could only assume it was his hat. At first she thought she saw a glint of silver in it, but was quickly distracted by the large oblong object he had draped across his back.
"What on earth is that?" She wondered.
"So, you said one room for the night. Would you like to look at the…room catalogue?" Tenten caught the conversation as Lucas began speaking.
"Uh, no. That's alright. Just give me the best I can get for this," The second man said as he dumped some silver into Lucas's hand. He observed it before finally saying,
"Alright, this is good. I'll get someone to show you to your room."
It was that moment Tenten picked the worst possible time to sneeze.
Lucas looked up.
"Ah, Miss Linlin, will you show our guest to Room 305?"
Tenten froze and stood up bolt right. She didn't even bother correcting the man of her name before nervously cursing herself inwardly for making herself noticed.
He grew impatient.
"Hurry up, don't keep him waiting."
Tenten had to suppress the urge to jump on him like a tiger and rip out his colon. She was reminded of her position when she felt the sharp jolt of pain in her neck.
"Um, right this way…sir." She managed. The stinky man followed her down the hall.
As Tenten almost robotically made her way down the hall, she couldn't help but feel a pang of discomfort coming from this stranger following her. She paused when she came the stairs.
"It's on the third floor, sir." She said.
"Well, I kind of figured that when he said Room 305."
The pang quickly turned to anger.
What a jerk!
"What I meant was…" She said, struggling to keep her cool. "…that, fi you have any luggage you don't want to carry up the stairs, I'm supposed to do it for you."
He shook his head. Tenten was relieved. Like hell she wanted to carry this guy's crap for him. As she struggled to maintain a clam stride, she began walking up the flight of stairs.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally got to the room. She groped blindly in her pocket and pulled out a ring of keys and began looking for the correct one.
After clumsily opening in the door, she stood to the side and waited.
He didn't move.
She waited some more.
He didn't move.
"…well?" she asked, trying to hide the frustration in her voice. He looked at her with dull eyes.
"…aren't you gonna give me a spare key?" He asked,
Tenten's face turned red with embarrassment. Fiddling with the keys, she located the spare and handed it to him.
"Anything else, sir?"
"Yeah, bringing in some extra pillows." He said as he made his way into the room.
peachpit
"Anything else? Your slippers in and a pipe, maybe?" She muttered, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice.
"Yeah, actually that sound pretty good. Bring that up, too." He said with a sick grin.
Was he making fun of her?
She didn't even know the guy and he already pissed her off.
Scornfully, Tenten stormed down the stairs to the closet where they kept the pillows.
peachpit: Thank you for sticking with me this far. I am determined to finish this story, I beleive the way I have it planned, it's going to be 18 chapters...;
Naruto: R& R, reviews keep her going!
peachpit: OH! And I've discovored this convient line thing! XD