Chapter 15:

Tenten was silent. She had spent her whole life wanting to know what had happened to her parents. But when the time came, she wasn't sure whether she really wanted to know or not anymore. From the look of Tsunade's face, it didn't look good. And what if the story was so terrible it ruined her?

But she knew that someone would always be behind her to keep her from falling so she swallowed and nodded to tell Tsunade that she was ready.

Tsunade looked almost disappointed but nodded. She knew that it wasn't fair for her not to know.

"When I was young." She paused. "When I came to this school." She corrected. "I became friends with your mother. She was such a happy girl. She was like the sun of our little group, no one hated her, or rather no one could hate her." Tsunade smiled a little, but barely. "Later, I befriended Orochimaru, or Jiraya did. Anyway, I decided to introduce him to the group. When he was introduced to our group though, he instantly fell in love with your mother, Ryuuko."

Tenten flinched. It had been a while since she had heard anyone use that name and it made her uncomfortable. But she stayed silent waiting to hear more, secretly praying that it wouldn't be that bad.

"It wasn't a big surprise at first. Almost every guy in our school had liked her at least once. Well a few exceptions." Jiraya drifted into the lady's mind.

'She's cute, but why bother? All the other guys have tried and failed. It's a waste of time.' Jiraya, at about Tenten's age said smiling at a younger Tsunade. 'I'd rather just talk with you than moon over a girl who will never return or notice your feelings for her.' Jiraya said shrugging as if it was logic. Tsunade blushed when she heard him say he would rather spend time with her than with Ryuuko. She felt a bubbly feeling going through her, it was so great that she might overflow, but she held on and followed Jiraya as they walked to their next class.

"Tsunade-sama...?" Tenten asked hesitantly after staring at Tsunade who seemed to be lost in a reverie. Tsunade blinked. She stared at Tenten for a second and then realized what had just happened.

"I'm sorry Tenten. I got lost in thought for a second." She said waving it off and getting ready to continue. But she bit her lip for a second. This reminder had brought back some feelings to her she wanted to hide. She felt like stopping right then and there so she could run from everyone. But she regained control after a few deep breaths and continued trying to keep the memory from her mind.

"But eventually, I started to notice something burning behind his little small crush." Tsunade rested her chin on her hand. "A burning passion. The kind of love that could drive someone insane. Like the love of...Romeo and Juliet I guess?" Tsunade said trying to give a good example. But she honestly wasn't sure. She hadn't read or watched 'Romeo and Juliet' to begin with. But seeing that Tenten seemed to understand, she continued. "I swear that at that time, she was the only important thing to him. For him, with his cold and sad childhood, Ryuuko was a ray of sunshine that brought hope. He didn't want that possibility to get away. He wanted the snow to melt."

Tenten started to feel a little sympathy for Orochimaru. She may not know what had happened in her past, but they were a little similar. For her, her first ray of sunlight had been Temari.

"I understand that feeling." Tenten interrupted, remembering how attached to Temari she got after that. People often asked, if she jumped off a cliff would you go after her? Tenten had answered yes at the time, thinking it was obvious that you would jump in to save the person if you held them so dearly.

"...But." Tsunade started again after seeing that Tenten wasn't going to talk anymore. "Ryuuko fell in love with Tetuya. Tetuya was more like the moon though. He gave off a light that made everyone calm rather than happy and excited like Ryuuko. But they both brought light in and were thought to be suitable for each other. Everyone congratulated them, well all except one." Tsunade's face was cold from thinking back to those painful times of her life, the times she had shut out for so long.

Tenten didn't need Tsunade to say anything. She knew who it was. She saw Orochimaru, the clouds above him closing in to block the rays of sun. But one second before the clouds closed in, seeing the sun giving its light to the moon. Not to him, but to the moon. She saw his expression; it looked as if he had been stabbed by the very person millions of times. Tenten closed her eyes pushing the thought out of her mind quickly. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think that her parents were the reason that Orochimaru could never be happy again.

That couldn't be it!

Mother and Father didn't do such a thing!

They couldn't have!

Not my loving parents!

There must be something else!

Something!

Thoughts raced through her mind as she tried not to think about it. It was painful, even so because the experience resembled hers in a way too. She remembered her lonely years, all because her parents weren't there. It was the same for Orochimaru, except he only needed her Mother.

But, she noticed, even if her pain was caused by her parents, it wasn't because they wanted to torture her, it was because they didn't have a choice. Death was an inevitable thing.

But how about with Orochimaru? What had happened their? Was it love? After all, Tenten knew, sometimes love was also an inevitable thing. They couldn't stop themselves from loving each other when they were fated to meet.

Tenten jumped to her own conclusions before the thought of her parents ruining someone's chances at life gnawed at her heart, which was thumping so loudly that it echoed in her ears.

"...That drove Orochimaru insane. He was furious at Tetuya for taking his girl. But he didn't kill him. It was good for me since the thought had tortured me all through the night. He did still love her, after all this. He couldn't gather the strength to kill him, knowing that all of her rays of sunshine would be gone. Then there was no chance of ever seeing the snow melt, and that was too scary for Orochimaru to deal with."

Tenten's eyes filled with sadness. But she knew nothing could be changed. What was done was done. And it seemed truer today than any other day.

"But he couldn't like without Ryuuko, which made him mad. He started to thirst for power. He thought that maybe if he grew stronger and outshined Tetuya, he would win and he would have Ryuuko all to him self." Tsunade shuddered at the idea. Tenten didn't quite know why though. "That was when Sarutobi, former Hokage at this school told me to be the next one. He was going to teach me all the necessary skills to be one before he passed on, or so he said. I was ordered to keep it a secret. I did, but I was careless. I brought some paperwork home to work on it, but didn't hide it when Orochimaru came to visit. He found them and when he found out about the world of ninjas."

'This is it! This is the power that I have been looking for!' Orochimaru shouted happily as he threw the papers around Tsunade's room. Tsunade stood by the corner of her room, her mouth moved but she couldn't form words quickly enough.

'What are you planning?' Tsunade's voice was hoarse from fear.

'What?' Orochimaru asked turning around.

'What are you trying to do?' Tsunade growled and glared at him fiercely, not letting her eyes waver. 'Don't even think about it! I'm going to do my job, and that happens to be 'protecting' Orochimaru.'

'So, you don't like what I'm planning...' Orochimaru's lips curled into a smile that scared Tsunade, making her want to run. 'Well, there's nothing you can do to stop me, nothing!' He said and grabbed a few papers before leaving the room cackling.

There were beads of sweat on Tsunade's forehead. She stood stunned for a second. But as soon as she could move again, she called Sarutobi to report.

'Sarutobi?'

'...Sarutobi...?'

'Saru...'

Tsunade lifted her eyes open and looked up at Tenten who was still staring at her, wondering what she was doing.

"A trip down memory lane?" Tenten asked forcing a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, and that gave her away to Tsunade. But she decided it would be better off if she was pretending to be okay.

"Sometimes I wish I could just pack up and go back to the present." Tsunade replied. She rubbed her temples with such a harsh manner that it scared Tenten. She swallowed hoping that this wasn't too much for her to take.

"After, taking the papers in, he found test subjects from the school, here. Students started to disappear from the school suddenly without warning. I knew who it was, but I couldn't bring myself to stop him. A voice kept repeating the same words in my head.

"'If you hadn't insisted on making him join our group this wouldn't of happened.'

"Those were the only words that voice ever said, but it kept me from stopping anything he did. I'd ruined his life enough, let him be. I told myself. But one day, it went too far." Tsunade took a deep breath. This was the part of her past that haunted her the most. The memory that kept coming back no matter what she did.

Tenten closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for anything she threw at her while in the back of her mind, a voice was panicking saying all the possibilities of what she might say, listing them all. All of them were terrible. Tenten didn't want to hear any of them, but she knew she had to. She wanted to know what had happened to her parents, and she would hear it, she knew someday she would look back on it and be glad she knew.

Or would she?

She ignored the thought and waited.

"...Orochimaru killed your Father, and then your Mother."

Tenten stood still. She knew what Tsunade was going to say that. It wasn't a big surprise; she had been suspecting it. But when the thought was confirmed, it hit her harder than ever before; it would've knocked her down if it had been possible. She clenched her teeth and held her hands in a tight fist, trying to get a hold of herself. She felt something wet slide down her cheek. First just one, but soon more came sliding down. They hit the ground making such a small noise that no one could hear it.

Tsunade looked away from Tenten. It hurt her a lot too, but she knew that it was hurting Tenten a lot more. She almost wished she hadn't said anything at all. That she hadn't brought Tenten up in the first place. But her thoughts soon changed.

"...I'm sorry." Tenten muttered.

"Don't be sorry." Tsunade said quickly, her lips quivering.

"...Orochimaru had gone through so much." Tenten said wiping her tears off with the back of her hands.

Tsunade nodded, glad she understood.

"..." Tenten knew she couldn't change anything. What happened happened.

"...Why, why didn't he kill me too?" Tenten asked. She thought it might be so much easier if she was up in heaven with her parents. Why couldn't he have just let her go after her parents?

"Because, he realized you would be good for the plan, his plan. He thought it would be better if he kept you alive, for future needs." Tsunade replied. It was logical. She hadn't known anything like her parents probably had.

"Tsunade-sama..." Tenten started.

Tsunade looked up wondering what she was going to say next.

"...I think I know what Orochimaru's planning."

Okay, well I explained a lot over one chapter and it almost scared me. I also tried to make my vocab a little more colorful. (It's ok if you didn't notice.)

It's like, over 2,000 words long.

Ok, on to what's going on with the awesome Higura Natume:

I am in MAJOR love with Edward.

I am in MAJOR hate with Jacob.

Screw it if what I just said doesn't make sense, you get the idea.

I just finished New Moon (yeah, I'm slow) and most of the book pissed me off so much.

Most of the time, these were my only thoughts.

'Jacob, get your hand OFF of Bella!'

'Edward, you retard! Come back!'

'Don't get near Jacob Bella!'

And

'Edward is going to kick Jacob's ass if he finds out what happened while he was gone.' (Smirk)

Anyway, until near the end, it was really annoying to read. But I'm glad I read it, because it's totally awesome.

And I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THE MOVIE!!

Okay, I'm done now. Bye bye!