A/N: Alright, you guys, gomen, gomen. Sorry I had you all waiting for so long. I just haven't found the time to get on for so long (I know, that sounds so unbelievable) but it's true. Sorry again, I'll do a better job next time. Now, then, for the chapter . . .

Chapter 6: The Bitter Truth

"Tenten . . . " Neji snuggled his face into her hair, inhaling her unique scent, "I'm sorry . . . "

Her sweet breath tickled his hair as she whispered in his ear, forgiving him, "It's okay. I'm alright."

Then, her eyes closed and her exhausted, worn out body drifted to sleep, Neji holding her in his arms.

"Are you sure it wasn't him?" Lee paced the floor to the point of wearing a path through Hinata's room, "You're sure he didn't hurt her?"

Ino looked at Lee from her perch on Shikamaru's lap, "It's okay, Lee. It wasn't him." She shivered at the memory of the pain she saw in Tenten's face, and Shikamaru tightened his hold on her waist.

"If it wasn't Neji, then who was it?" Temari asked as she brushed Sakura's unruly pink hair from the pony tail it was thrown into earlier.

Ino bit her lip, shuddering involuntarily at the thought of what the soundnin did to the weapon's mistress, "It was a foreign ninja."

Gaara tensed, cursing under his breath, "Suna?"

Ino shook her head, "Otogakure."

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief, "What the hell was a ninja from the Sound doing here in Konoha?"

Sasuke's hand tightened around his cup of tea, causing the china to crack. Sakura leaned over and took the cup from his shaking hands, before the Uchiha crushed the porcelain in his fist, "Ino, do you know who it was, specifically?" Sakura asked her best friend.

Ino took a deep breath, "I don't know if I should tell you. Tenten may not want you to know."

"Ino," Shikamaru's voice rumbled behind her, "We are her friends. We are her comrades. We need to know."

Ino closed her eyes as memory of the pain flooded her senses.

I was only in her mind for a minute, and the pain was overwhelming. The terror was tangible. But, it was only a taste of what she felt. I have no idea how long he did that to her. No wonder she is suffering mental damage as well as physical damage.

"Ino," the blonde's other teammate urged her to tell.

"Chouji . . . I can't . . . " everyone could see the indecision on her face, "It isn't for me to say."

"Please tell us," all the ninja turned to see Neji come out of the bathroom, soaked to the bone, holding Tenten in his arms. The girl shivered against the towel wrapped protectively around her.

Ino bit her lip, still unconvinced at telling the others about Tenten's nightmare.

"T-Tenten will be going through a l-lot of pain now," Hinata looked around at her friends, "W-We must help her as she g-goes through this."

Ino nodded, but her eyes were glued to her lap. She felt Shikamaru's arms tighten comfortingly around her. Finally, she whispered the dreaded words, "She was raped by Kabuto."

The silence stretched in the room. The tension in the room magnified, stifling everyone and a chill ran through the occupants in the room.

Ino looked down at her lap, tears dripping down onto her legs. I'm sorry, Tenten, I had to tell them.

Shikamaru's arms tightened around his girlfriend as he pictured what Ino must have seen in Tenten's mind. Damn! No wonder . . .

Neji took in a sharp breath as he looked down at the girl in his arms. I'm sorry, Tenten. I was being an arrogant bastard, not able to help those closest to me. I am a useless shinobi.

Lee stopped, mid pace, staring down at the floor. He violated our blossom! Our youthful blossom is now scarred! We must not let him get away with such a disgraceful deed!

Sasuke's hands balled into shaking fists. That Kabuto bastard . . .

Sakura's eyes flew open, her hand covering her mouth in horror. No! anyone but him! That sick excuse of a medic nin . . . Oh, hell . . .

Temari's eyes widened a bit, snapping around to look at the towel clad girl in the Hyuga's arms, imagining the pain she must have felt. Damn! That must have been awful!

Kankuro stared at the wall, gritting his teeth in anger. No one should have to live through the type of hell that creep can think up!

Hinata's lips trembled as she gripped the hands of her teammates for comfort. P-Poor Tenten . . .

Kiba emitted a low growl from the back of his throat while Akamaru snarled at the name of their enemy. We're gonna hunt them down and make them pay. That's the way dogs are. We never let the enemy run away after he hurts one of us.

Shino's eyes glinted dangerously behind his sunglasses, feeling Hinata's crushing hold on his hand. Watch out, Kabuto . . .

Naruto was slowly becoming enveloped with red chakra as his anger triggered the Kyubi's power to rush out of him. I will protect my friends with my whole being! If I can't help a single friend, then I might as well stop trying to become Hokage.

Chouji stared ahead at space, his chips forgotten. That bastard . . .

Gaara stared at the scene, seething that his allies were hurt by the enemies. Hurt the Leaf, and you hurt the Sand . . .

Sai looked at the girl, feeling a twinge inside him. He didn't know what it was, but it is a feeling known to us as sadness. Him again . . .

Kabuto bowed to the Lord of Otagakure, "Lord Orochimaru!"

"Kabuto," the man sat on the chair in the front of the long, dimly lighted hall.

"The mission was accomplished," Kabuto raised himself, handing his superior several cards, "Their information was stored in these ninja info cards."

"Good," the older man smiled patronizingly, "It is time."

Tenten opened her disoriented eyes to see arms around her, holding her to a strong chest. Her heart began to beat erratically as a picture of arms pushing her into a wall involuntarily flashed into her mind. She tried to find her voice to scream out, but she couldn't.

I'm weak. I couldn't hide. I couldn't protect myself. I'm weak . . .

She struggled with her captor as she began sobbing, trying to get out of those arms that were holding her prisoner. She lashed out, her flailing limbs catching anything that came close to her. Then, a sharp slap brought her to reality.

Hinata stared at her hand, which was still stinging from the blow. She bit her lip, "I-I'm sorry . . . I-I didn't mean to . . . " her voice trailed off as the others stared at the timid girl.

"Th-Thank you," Tenten whispered to the girl, "You snapped me out of it." Hinata nodded, tears starting to fall, still feeling guilty about the blow.

Then, the kunoichi looked around the room, to find everyone staring at her. The looks ranged from pained to angry to downright scathing. The anger was not directed at her, but . . .

They know. Oh, God, they know.

She turned away, ready to face their wrath, but was instead enveloped by Hinata's arms. Sakura, Ino and Temari joined them, hugging the distressed girl.

"It's okay," Sakura smiled at the girl, "We're your friends. We'll be here for you."

Orochimaru glanced at his second in command, "You're sure this will work?"

The confident medic ninja nodded, "Yes. You won't have to keep changing bodies every 3 years after this."

"It had better work!" Orochimaru looked dangerously at his subordinate, who left immediately.

Tenten looked up at the pink haired girl through her tears. Sakura smiled gently as she stroked Tenten's dark hair, comforting the older girl. She looked around her, the other girls looked worried, but they were all trying their best to reassure her. No words were spoken, but the underlying tone was clear. They would be there to support her and to help her through thick and thin.

Tenten's eyes closed as she smiled weakly, but she was still unable to staunch the flow of tears.

"It's okay," Ino's blue eyes were sincere as she whispered to the girl, "We're here for you."

Neji looked on at the girls comforting a broken Tenten.

I could have prevented it! I could have saved her from this pain!

The pain on his face was obvious, and a hand clasped his shoulder. Lee glanced at his teammate, "Neji, it is not your fault."

Neji's hands balled into shaking fists as he sought an outlet for all the pain and the anger that was pent up inside him. Lee's firm hand led him out of the room and towards Neji's bedroom. In an unspoken agreement, the guys rose as one and filed out after them.

After Tenten calmed down a bit, Hinata stood up from the floor and went to her closet, rummaging around until she pulled out a set of clothes. She handed the neatly folded bundle to Tenten.

"H-Here . . . " the shy Hyuga girl smiled timidly at Tenten, "Y-You can wear these . . . "

Tenten smiled her thanks to Hinata, taking the proffered clothes from the lavander haired girl and heading to the bathroom to change.

"Neji, it wasn't your fault," Lee entered Neji's room, dragging his Hyuga teammate along with him. The other guys filed in silently behind the two, not wanting to disrupt the moment between teammates.

"It was my fault! I should have been there and kicked that bastard's ass! I should have been able to save her! I can't even look at her without feeling guilty about it!" Neji stormed over to the wall, leaning his head against the smooth, cool surface, "I feel like such a bastard for making her go through that! I doubted her! I thought she was double timing me when she was actually being raped by that bastard! Damn! Damn!!" The sight of the usually stoic genius actually acting out of character would have been amusing, if the situation wasn't this serious.

"Neji!" Lee snapped, stopping the young ANBU captain in midpace, "You could not have stopped it from happening. This is not your fault. Stop blaming yourself! Damn it!" The eyes of everyone in the room widened considerably at the usually well mannered boy curse, "Don't blame yourself! It's Kabuto's fault! Not yours! Tenten needs you. She needs you right now! And she needs you to help her through this, because only you can!" Neji stared at his teammate, but he understood. Tenten needed him. It's all that matters.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence after Lee's outburst. No one knew what to say, exactly.

"Well," Naruto broke the silence, "Should we tell Grandma Tsunade?"

"No!" A voice behind them spoke, making them all turn. Tenten stood in the doorway, flanked by the other girls, staring them down in defiance, daring them to object. Unfortunately, Naruto could be dense at times.

"But, don't you want Grandma Tsunade to send us after those bastards after what they did to you?" the oblivious blonde tactlessly raised the touchy subject, causing Shikamaru to shake his head in pity at the clueless boy.

"No," Tenten repeated herself, though softer this time, "I don't want anyone to know. Please!" she pleaded with them, "Look, you guys became all silent and different around me. I'm fine! I'm okay. I'll get over this. I will. But until I do, I do not want every person I meet to treat me like I'm a porcelain doll. I'm not breakable. I'm a kunoichi. There have been others who have suffered worse than this, and yet bore it patiently. I will be no different. Please don't tell anyone."

They saw that she meant this, and, one by one, the guys slowly nodded their heads. It wasn't their secret to tell.

Sakura looked to Neji's alarm clock, located on his bedside table, "Hey, it's 3 AM."

All of them looked momentarily stumped that so much could happen in so little time.

"H-How about we girls h-head back to my room?" Hinata asked quietly. No one objected, and the girls left the room. The guys looked around at each other, at a loss as to what to do.

"Ah, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, "It's too early to go out, but it's too late to sleep."

The others merely sat down wherever they felt comfortable. Chouji opened a bag of chips and began to eat. Shikamaru brightened a bit when he saw a shougi board in the corner. Sasuke challenged his fellow genius to a game, and they sat down on the different ends of the board. Soon, you all could hear from them was the methodical sounds of pieces being moved around the board. Kiba, Naruto, Lee and Chouji began to argue over different training regimens.

"First there's the 2,000 pushups, 1,000 leg squats and 1,500 jumpropes to loosen up. Then, it's 2,000 punches, 2,000 kicks, and 200 laps around the clearing." Lee outlined his morning training.

"Chouji! Eating cannot be defined as training!" Kiba snorted as Akarmaru barked his agreement.

"Well, jumping around through the trees, having Akamaru pee on the trees doesn't count as training either!" Chouji said through mouthfuls of chips.

"That's his Aerodynamic Marking! It's actually useful!" Kiba huffed.

"Well, I convert calories into chakra, so eating is useful too! Besides, without proper nutrition, you could die!" Chouji snapped, opening another bag of chips.

"Well, it's been a while since Pervy Sage trained me. It doesn't actually matter all that much, though. Whenever I went training with him, he would do his "research" and "accidentally forget" that he was supposed to train me," Naruto turned to Lee, ignoring Kiba and Chouji's bickering.

Shino, Gaara and Neji talked about politics and about boring meetings while Kankuro commented on how boring their conversation was. Sai sat and sketched random things as he listened to everyone around him.

"Bodies that I can switch in and out of at will?" Orochimaru mused, his eyes glinting, "Interesting . . . "

A/N: One of the dynamics I'm trying to protray here is the fact that all of the ninja have grown closer. They are now bonded really well and they all understand each other a lot. So, even those not on Tenten's team will be close to her because they will have been on the same missions at some point, or just known each other for some reason or another. Ha, just to let you guys understand it a bit more. Now, please review and I will put out the next chapter faster than this one came out. Sorry . . .