Chapter 9: Beast

As was her wont, Tenten's internal clock woke her up at 4:30AM. It was still dark, and she could tell she was alone in the room. Kakashi was probably out training already. He pushed himself as hard as Gai, after all, even if he wasn't as showy about it.

Tenten meditated for a while, a standard practice among shinobi in developing mental fortitude which of course had been meted out in double amounts by Gai for his students during training. It really did calm the mind and soul, and made Team Gai particularly durable, considering one member opened Gates that caused excruciating pain, while another regularly used explosives and sharp, pointy ninja tools that took trial and error before they could be wielded safely. Lee and Tenten were used to dealing with a lot of hurt while mastering their respective skills and not developing traumas or phobias from repeated failures. They persevered, and overcame.

After meditating, she packed up her bed and went out to scope the town before breakfast.

It seemed like a quiet village.

Every day like the one before.

It was a small town, full of normal people, waking up to say-

"GOOD MORNING TENTEN!"

She first caught sight of the feet in orange legwarmers waving in the air, then looked down at the ground where Lee was grinning up at her from his handstand training.

"Lee? What are you doing here?"

"I am glad you asked." His teeth 'ping'ed! He was upright in a flash, giving her a thumbs up gesture, and Tenten couldn't help but smile back. It was always a comfort to see Lee, even if he used to worry her all the time. He and Gai-sensei were her constants in life.

"There is a curry festival being held here and I wished to sample all of the different flavors and styles being offered!"

Tenten gulped. "Oh. Where's Metal?"

"Ah, staying with his mother for a while. She is back from her business trip and wanted some quality time with her son," Lee crossed his arms and nodded to himself, as if approving how the newer generation had both parents present in the lives of their children, unlike him who was apparently raised solely by Gai for much of his life, through hellish training.

Then, he asked, "And why are you here? Did you also hear about the curry festival?"

Tenten raised her hands defensively to preempt being dragged into something she would later regret, "I might check out the festival later, but no promises. I'm on a C-class mission no one wants to take, to watch the musical written by someone from our village who retired from active duty to become a playwright."

"Ohhh, you mean this?" Lee pulled out a flyer. Tenten looked it over and nodded confirmation.

The production by the noted dramaturge Shikrabappu was on a limited run in this town, a musical adaptation of a certain classical play that Tenten had never heard of. Still, it was something about a war and the struggles of a soldier, so perhaps it was worth watching.

"After I complete my training, would you like to join me for breakfast at the inn where I am staying?" Lee asked.

They exchanged information about their respective accommodations, then Tenten waved goodbye to her team mate as he launched off once more to do laps around the village on his hands. She returned to the room she and Kakashi were renting and left the latter a note about where to find her and Lee for breakfast.

She had told herself she could skip training while she was on an official mission, but knowing Lee and Kakashi were still honing their skills despite being on vacation grated on her.

She liked to train hard, and laze about during the intervals so her body and mind could rest. But maybe a light training session wouldn't hurt.

She found a small mountain nearby similar to the size of the Hokage Rock and practiced her chakra control to run up to the very top of the vertical face as she flung out her scrolls to release a new weapon she'd copied from one of the worlds Osh had shown her.

"Ha, it works!" she crowed as the projectiles circumnavigated the rocky outcropping according to her calculations of the mountain's circumference and spun their way neatly back into the scroll.

They were called batarangs, according to the man dressed in a cape with Kankuro-ears atop his head. They were super cute, in her opinion. The man wasn't so bad-looking either, from what she could tell from his reverse-Kakashi style mask.

The weapons were essentially oddly-shaped shuriken and could probably be utilized to confuse opponents if she added some decoy tags to make them think there was something more to them than their funny shape.

They weren't actually boomerangs, but she had been able to curve their trajectory and added some chakra to ensure they made the trip around the whole mountain. It was all in the wrist.

It was amazing how the man wearing a ninja toolbelt - oh wait, he had called it a utility belt - had tried speaking to her in different tongues until he'd chanced upon her language. He seemed very smart and capable, if a bit brooding, but she was used to that in the tall, dark and handsome types, and she'd chattered away at him while showing him her different ninja tools until her time was up and she'd had to heed Osh's calls for her to return.

When offered the thing he called a batarang, she had gripped it easily, feeling its heft and weight, then thrown it round and caught it with exuberant laughter. She then returned it with thanks, saying she couldn't bring things back with her. She offered him a kunai of her own, but she was pretty sure it had also disappeared when her shadow clone had dispersed. That short encounter had inspired her to try crafting some prototypes and she thought she'd gotten pretty close to what she'd seen.

Oh, speaking of other-worldly encounters…

At the top of the mountain, Tenten sat on a ledge and brought out the scroll.

Hi, Osh, she wrote.

Hello, Tenten. Did you sleep well? Have you eaten?

I slept well. Am having breakfast with Lee and Kakashi soon. I'll be watching a musical later, adapted from a play called Cyrano something or the other. Do you like musicals?

I love musicals. Tell me about it afterwards.

Okay.

Tenten tapped the wooden tip of her brush against her lip.

Osh, are you by any chance an alien from outer space out to conquer my world?

Tenten had never been very subtle.

That is the most boring plot I could ever imagine and, to answer you directly, no, I am not. I have no ill intentions towards you or your world, Tenten.

What do you want, then?

To be candid… I want to be where the people are. I want to see… want to see them dancing…

Tenten frowned at the scroll. Osh, is that another song from another world that you're butchering?

Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun, wandering free…

I'll write to you again tomorrow, Tenten firmly wrote over the space that would have continued with Osh's never-ending text.

Till then, Tenny-Cutie.

Tenten stared at the sunrise, wondering at the sudden nickname.

===/===

The inn where Lee was staying had a nice homey feel about it. With so many establishments modernizing their appearances, this place still felt like an old-timey place with rustic trimmings and décor. She made her way to the common dining hall for stay-in guests and walk-in customers alike, and easily located her team mate and Kakashi sitting at one of the tables.

"Yo."

"Yosh!"

"Yosh..inoya," Tenten lamely joked. She was hungry and didn't have the rapier wit to parry the greetings this early in the morning. All she had were actual rapiers, and they were in her other scroll at home.

"I got you sesame dumplings!" Lee eagerly pointed to a plate next to his and made room for her on his side of the bench.

Across the table, Kakashi lightly patted the seat beside him, an invitation.

Tenten got a strange feeling.

The two men were watching her reactions a little too closely, awaiting who she would choose to sit next to.

Hmph. So it was a contest, was it? And she was some kind of trophy?

She slid onto the bench beside the former Copy Nin, raising her cheek expectantly for a kiss. Kakashi actually blushed but gave her a quick peck.

"TENTEN!"

She realized that she inadvertently shared quite a few things in common with her green team mate, including drawing inordinate attention to themselves in public dining areas.

Lee was on his feet, mouth open, eyes bulging at her and Kakashi. She hadn't quite been that loud or attention-grabbing in the frou frou café, but the burning self-consciousness she felt was the same.

"Hush, Lee. I have to stay on this side. Your wife is super jealous of me, remember?"

He plopped his butt down on the bench, still stupefied. "But you… the Sixth just…"

The retired Hokage waved his hand, "It's just Kakashi now."

Tenten pulled the plate of dumplings to her, "We're dating, Lee. I'm sorry that you're already the third to know. I told Gai and Ino before I left the village yesterday."

Well, technically, he might be the fourth, because that ANBU last night had seen enough to draw the same conclusion.

"I am sorry I was not around to defend your honor, my precious teammate. What did you do to force her, Kakashi?"

Kakashi blinked. Tenten nearly spat out her dumpling.

"What makes you think I forced her?" the Sixth asked.

"I have seen how you look at her. Like a ravenous wolf, ready to pounce upon an innocent rabbit!"

Tenten stared at Lee, then at Kakashi, who was turning ten different shades of red and sweating buckets. She wondered if she really just was that similar to her generation's Green Beast that the both of them considered Kakashi to resemble a wolf. Must be all those 'Son of White Fang' phrases they heard about the man while they were growing up.

"I… never…" Kakashi gathered himself, recovering from his initial shock, "She confessed to me first!"

Tenten nodded, sipping on some tea, "The ravenous wolf speaks true, Lee."

Kakashi's hand was on her knee, giving a squeeze of warning. The Sixth Hokage could stare down enemy shinobi and political adversaries with no problem whatsoever, but it seemed he could not bear even the lightest teasing about stalking Tenten.

"Blink twice, Tenten, if you are being held hostage," Lee hissed at her as if Kakashi could not hear.

"Be happy for us, Lee," Tenten relented as she covered Kakashi's hand with her own, reassuring him that she wouldn't make too much fun of him later on for supposedly slavering after her behind her back. "It's all consensual. Besides, you'd be committing treason against the village if you attacked him."

"I would risk it," Lee started aggressively shoving beef into his mouth, still eyeing Kakashi suspiciously. "I know you handled all your other pesky suitors just fine but if it is Kakashi, even you would have trouble fending off his advances."

Tenten nodded, sipping her tea again. "It isn't like that. Kakashi makes me feel very safe and cared for. He's funny, he's kind, and he's sweet. I like him a lot. Be nice, ok?"

Lee's ferocious shoveling of sustenance into his maw slowed, and he began to smile around his stuffed cheeks. "Okfh."

Tenten beamed at her team mate, then looked at Kakashi, and found him staring at her.

"I like you too, Tenten."

She blinked at him wordlessly for a moment.

"You're…welcome," she had no idea what she was saying.

"I'm welcome?" his eyes crinkled at her.

"… To have some of these dumplings," she suddenly could not look at him, even if his mask was still on, pushing the plate between them.

"Thank you," the amusement in his voice was evident.

Lee's reaction to the Sixth's pulling down his mask to eat was quieter than Tenten's, but no less dramatic.

Tears silently poured down his cheeks as he was confronted with irrefutable proof that there was one contest his beloved sensei would never win over Kakashi.

"Lee, don't cry…"

===/===

Lee insisted on paying for their breakfast, declaring it was his treat to congratulate them on their new relationship status. As he stood to pay at the cashier, Tenten said in a low voice to Kakashi, "I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?" Kakashi's voice was monotone.

"Lee doesn't handle alcohol very well. He might accidentally eat curry spiced with wine or some other liquor at the festival later and create a scene."

'Creating a scene' was an understatement. Lee could destroy the entire town after just a few drops of alcohol in his system.

"Would it be possible for one of your ninken to scope out the stalls before the festival opens and flag which ones Lee should avoid?" she asked.

Kakashi regarded her, an odd expression in his eyes, "Still babysitting your team mate even after all these years?"

"What?"

Kakashi crossed his arms, and directed a gloomy look at the young man in green who was animatedly talking to the somewhat disconcerted cashier.

The entire breakfast had consisted of Lee chattering with the same gusto and verve as his sensei about the curry festival, with Tenten alternately shushing him because he was disturbing other customers, or smiling at him indulgently and nodding as if to appease a small child.

She had lectured him a bit about overdoing it as usual. He and Tenten had tried including Kakashi in the conversation but the older man only gave short responses, reminiscent of how he used to interact with Gai.

Kakashi was much warmer now around his eternal rival, but Lee was not Gai, and Tenten had felt a weird tension in the atmosphere between her team mate and the former Copy Nin.

"Are you pouting again, Kakashi?" she tried to sound playful.

His voice was quiet, "I can understand how Lee's wife feels about you. You're very close to him."

"Huh?" Tenten was quizzical. "Of course. Modesty aside, I think, together with Neji, we made the best team in Konoha, Ina-Shika-Cho notwithstanding."

"I might actually hate him," Kakashi murmured.

Tenten had never heard the usually aloof Kakashi say anything like that before. She'd heard him describe people as trash based on their actions, but never a personal hatred against someone for no good reason.

She became aware of a strange sensation, as if she was standing too close to a live wire, and realized Kakashi was giving off a very faint trace of his lightning affinity.

She took a chance and placed her hand on his arm. "Hey, look at me."

The numbing sensation dissipated. The Sixth Hokage gave her an inscrutable look, then stood, dislodging her hand. "Good luck on your mission. See you after the play."

===/===

Lee was confused. "Where is Kakashi?" Now that Tenten was dating the man, he considered honorifics for the Sixth Hokage unnecessary.

"He seems to be jealous of you," Tenten told him with some wonderment.

Lee scratched his head. "Why?"

She shrugged, standing up, "We're too close, apparently. How did you explain things to your wife when she said she was jealous?"

Lee's face took on a determined look, even as he clasped his hands behind his back and walked with her to exit the dining area, "I still do my best to reassure her every day, Tenten. I write letters and I give her gifts. Perhaps you should do the same for your beau."

"Really?" Tenten had been mostly on the receiving end of such gestures of affection when she was being courted. But she had always believed that women could do anything that men could, except maybe pee standing up, "I can do that. But you still treat me the same. You didn't push me away to make her feel more secure."

"You are my team mate and friend, Tenten. That will not change," he gave her what for him amounted to a side eye, though his eyes were still very round, "You have become more distant lately, though."

"You noticed, huh," Tenten felt the strongest temptation yet to tell Lee about what was bothering her with her new weapon. Lee was her closest friend. They hadn't had many chances to hang out since he married. Romantic relationships made things awkward and she had done her part to reassure Lee's wife that she wasn't a threat, but jealousy was often not a rational thing.

Tenten was certain at her core that her friendship with Lee would survive the strain, though.

They had secretly agreed it was a covert mission-challenge that could last the rest of their lives. Protect Lee's marriage to assure his wife of his devotion and also maintain his strong bond with his team mate Tenten!

"I will wait for you to talk to me about it when you are ready," Lee gave her a bright smile. "Your taking on these c-class missions show that you are working things out on your own, and I will respect that. I am always here for you though, Tenten, if you need an ear to listen."

Tenten gave him a formal bow, and Lee grinned and bowed to her in return. They were not bothered that they had to maintain their distance from each other during social interactions. They had arduous sparring sessions up until now, and both regularly ate dirt when the other would use them as a grappling dummy for throws and takedown techniques. They did not lack for close physical contact. Tenten and Lee had worked hard to honor Neji's spirit by continuing to be an effective team.

"I think I triggered Kakashi's resentment when I asked him to send his ninken to find out which curry stalls used alcohol in their curry," Tenten remembered. "He thinks I'm still looking out for you until now, which I am, of course. Just be careful, ok Lee? Ask about their ingredients before you eat anything. Better yet, even if they say there isn't, check their actual ingredients to be sure."

Lee gave her a thumbs up, and she gave him a wave of goodbye in return as she left the inn.

Letters and gifts, huh?

Tenten decided she could fit it in her busy schedule.

===/===

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A/N: 01/22/23 – Happy Lunar New Year everybody! Am so full of lotus rice cake, I could burst. I thought it a fitting date to upload a chapter featuring two Naruto characters designed with a Chinese theme to their appearance, even if China does not officially exist in that world and there are many other things that don't really bear up under close scrutiny. We love it anyway.

I also imagined Team Gai was trained in the same way children who are dedicated to the Shaolin Temple are, hence the incredible amount of training and discipline. And given that it's Team Gai, they must have surpassed the hardships real-life warrior monks undergo by a level of over 9000! I still don't know where the green jumpsuits came from (maybe Bruce Lee). Again, we mustn't look too closely at such things, and just love what we love.

I want Lee to be happy. He is not only Gai's protégé in terms of physical strength but emotional and psychological fortitude as well. Lee is a good guy.

So I gave him an amazing wife who not only loves him but actually thinks every other woman must want him too. In my personal infinite Tsukuyomi, Lee married way, way, way up. She was a billionaire client who he guarded and saved numerous times from dastardly villainous criminal organizations during a mission, and they fell into passionate, youthful love with each other.

She looks like the prettiest exotic little doll and loves her husband and son very much, but she's very busy running a successful business empire and trusts Lee to bring up their child in the way of the shinobi. She has anxiety attacks that Lee taught her to overcome using breathing exercises and this tendency to be anxious was inherited by Metal, who is still learning to dealing with it in his own way.

Her name is Grunge. Rock and Metal, get it? Okay, I'll show myself out.