Author's Note: Grooowwwlll... My head... hurts... Mom said, "Enough, it's already midnight..." So... the next update... I don't know if I can do it. Anyway, I just wanna say that I wrote this story using different song from Naruto OST, almost in every chapter. You're clever if you know what song that I listened to when wrote this chapter.
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, if I do... There'll be more Tenten in the scene!!
Chapter 4
A soft sound of hum filled the night air. Tenten carefully placed a wet washcloth on top of Naruto's head, watched when the boy wriggled at the sensation. She continued her hum softly, correcting the place of the washcloth. Akamaru laid down beside Naruto, his tail wagged to the rhyme of the hum. Kiba poked the wood of their campfire, watched the whole scene quietly. Shikamaru sat under a tree not so far away, leaning to the trunk and already deep in slumber. It was hours after the ambush and the night sky sparkled by the light of the stars.
"Can he move tomorrow?" asked Kiba slowly, placed a pot on top of the campfire. Tenten smiled and said, "He can. Don't worry. He will have a fever tonight because of the reaction of the antidote, but he will be as good as new tomorrow."
Kiba added a few herbs inside the pot and stirred it carefully. He sniffed for any odor from the pot. None. Good, odor will only make the enemies spot us. Fire's bad enough.
"Is the soup ready?" asked Tenten, cleaned Naruto's wound. Kiba groaned and said, "Why must we cook this soup anyway? We can just eat food pills."
"Because I don't want to harm Naruto. His poison will make it impossible for his cells to digest the heavily condensed food pills."
Kiba raised his eyebrow and said, "Gosh… Ya really care for him, do ya? Take care of his fever… thinkin' of how he must eat…"
"Hey… Don't misunderstand me, Kiba," Tenten raised her hands. "I'm the only one who've been taught about medication by Tsunade-sama here. I have the responsibility to make sure everyone's OK! You make it sound like I'm cheating on Neji!"
"It looks like that!"
"Oh, come on! I'll do the same to you and Shikamaru!"
"And different to Neji?"
"Of course it's differ…" Tenten stopped abruptly. She blushed. "Hey! Neji's a different matter, you see?!"
"Oh… yeah…" Kiba grinned mischievously. "I really should get a camera! Or maybe a video recorder! Hehehehehe… Neji and Tenten under the moonlight. All share the same passion and when they touch each other, they feel the flame of their…"
"Now, now! Enough, Pervert!!" Tenten threw the wet washcloth to Kiba who dodge it easily. It successfully landed on top of Shikamaru's face; made the pineapple headed man jerked forward in shock. He shouted, "What was that for?!"
"Dinner's ready!" said Tenten lazily. Kiba cackled loudly; an uncharacteristic smile formed in his face. A vein popped on Tenten's head; she knew what that perverted dog user thinking about. "Kiba! Snap out of it already! Don't act so Jiraiya-ish! Just prepare the dinner! Gosh, your head needs some clean up!"
"Naaa… don't be so mad!" Kiba smiled apologetically. "It's natural for men!"
"Unnatural if you keep thinking about it like there's nothing more to think about!" snapped Tenten. She took a full bowl of the soup and tasted it a little. "Hm… not so bad, Kiba. Shikamaru, come on! Don't just stay there! Get up and eat!"
Shikamaru grunted under his breath. Oh… it's sooo far away! Even my arms couldn't reach it from here… My body just won't move. How troublesome…
"Don't tell me you're too lazy to get it," Tenten placed her hand on her hip. Shikamaru scratched his head and yawned. "My, my! You guys are annoying, don't you know it?"
Tenten passed a bowl of soup to Shikamaru, who lazily accepted. She took another bowl and went to Naruto's side.
"Naruto, time to eat," She said softly. Naruto groaned, his head throbbed when Tenten straightened him to a sit. "It's Ok. Open your mouth, you'll feel better."
Kiba watched as Tenten patiently brought each spoonful of soup into Naruto's mouth. He sighed loudly and said, "Neji's really lucky. Ya know, that?"
...66666666...
The stars were twinkling brightly up in the night sky. It was a very clear night, and no moon was seen—perfect for star viewing. A pair of cocoa brown eyes watched the stars silently. She smiled when a blonde boy lay down beside her.
"Feeling better now, Naruto?"
The boy grinned widely and said vigorously, "Yeah!! As good as new!! All thanks to you, Tenten!!!"
Tenten smiled when she heard that shout. Naruto equaled vigor and stamina. He didn't match the image of a sick boy curling inside the blanket. Hearing him shout again was an assurance that he's alright now.
"No problem," replied Tenten. She closed her eyes. Actually… I want to repay you for all the things you've done to Neji. Thanks to you… the caged bird now starts his attempt to open his cage. Can't thank you big enough for that…
"Does Neji like to watch the star too?" Naruto placed his arms under his head. "It seems boring. Eating ramen's more interesting as a hobby."
Tenten chuckled a little. She smiled and answered, "Nope. Neji will meditate when I watch the stars… He never really likes it. But… at some occasion, he will lie down beside me and watch them with me… just to be with me, close… Sweet, ne?"
Naruto examined Tenten keenly and said, "You really love Neji, do you?"
"Does it seem like I don't?"
Naruto grinned. He said, "I guess you two match each other. Hinata always telling me how lonely Neji is after his father's death. She said when Neji turned an orphan, he never smiles anymore. With you, I'm sure Neji won't feel so lonely. Neji must be really happy to have you."
Tenten glanced at Naruto briefly. She looked at the bright and honest cerulean eyes of the Kyuubi Container and smiled.
"I'm the one who really happy to have him," said Tenten softly. She watched the sky once again. A distant look appeared in her soft brown eyes. "Really, really happy…"
Naruto soon remembered that same distant look. It appeared… when Kiba called her a good sister.
"Anything wrong?" Naruto said slowly. "You look sad."
"Do I?" Tenten smiled. "Why did you say that?"
Naruto scratched his head. He could never accustomed with 'answering by question' things that people used to do. He looked at Tenten and asked, "Do you have a sibling?"
Tenten stunned for a while. She turned to look at the boy, a surprise look in her eyes.
"And why… again, did you… say that?"
"Because you look sad when Kiba called you a sister," said Naruto lightly. "Are you? And why don't you tell us all? But… I never see you with any one you called sibling… And why are you sad? I don't understand at all."
Tenten looked at Naruto for a while and then closed her eyes, smiling faintly. She lied down again.
"Do you… really want to know?"
Naruto nodded vigorously.
"Why, Naruto?"
Naruto paused his entire move. He scratched his head, thinking.
"I… don't know…" said the Kyuubi boy. "Perhaps… I just… don't want to see you sad. You're so good to me… and to the others. You look so happy, so content… Now I just… don't want to see you sad. That's all."
Tenten looked at Naruto. She smiled and then rubbed the boy's blonde hair affectionately. Naruto fell wordless by the move. It felt like… a sister indeed.
"You're… just like him," said Tenten gently. Her eyes softened. "Really like him."
"Him?" Naruto gave his fox-like thinking stance (you know, with his eyes closed like a fox and arms folded to think). "Who's him? Neji?"
Tenten chuckled and shook her head. She lied down again and then gestured Naruto to do the same. Naruto stunned for a while. He then lied down beside her. After a few minutes of silence, the brunette finally opened her mouth.
"You know… I am… an orphan, Naruto… Just like you."
Naruto looked at Tenten quickly. He never knew that.
"The caretaker said… they found the newly born me at the orphanage's door in one rainy night," Tenten looked at the stars again. "They gave me the name Tenten, just to make it easy to call, easy to remember. They also said it means heaven or sky, to remind them about how I came to the orphanage… how the sky cried for me that night. I was abandoned when I was born… Ah, you realized I have no surname, right? Anyway… since the beginning… I have no family whatsoever."
Naruto felt a nudge in his heart. One more person with the same fate as he was…
"When I grow up… I realized I have to survive on my own," Tenten took a deep breath and suddenly her eyes became so wounded that Naruto could feel his own pain. "I refused to cry like other children. Instead, I become a cheerful and energetic girl—just so I can forget everything in the world and started every day anew without regretting my life. I refused to remind myself that I am alone… that I have no parents. I want to be strong so I can live on my own, depend on myself. Unlike any other girls in the orphanage, I went to the Academy. I learned about many kinds of weapon and how to use and to create them. I developed the willing to analyze every single thing, so in the future I can use that for my own good when I become a shinobi… That time… it looked like I was a strong girl… but I wasn't. Inside my heart, I'm still crying… I want to have a family. I want to have someone to love and love me… somewhere to go home to… no matter how I refused it… I still felt lonely."
Tenten pointed the stars in the sky. Naruto followed his hand, looked at the brightest one.
"If I look at the stars at night, they make me wonder if one of them is my parent… When I look at them, see how bright they shine in the darkness… It brings a lot of questions in my head… Why are they shining? Why are they so bright? And why… when I'm here, looking at them… I forget all my sadness?"
Tenten put her hands behind her head. She smiled.
"I guess… the stars are just like me. They're alone in the darkness… but they're shining and why is that? And why I feel content when I see them? I could never answered that… not until a boy came into my life and gave me the answer."
Naruto watched as Tenten threw another painful distant look.
"His name is Shizuo… I used to call him Shizuo-kun. He's years younger than me, and he used to look at me when I'm training. He grew really close to me… and I really fond of him. When the orphanage can't take any more children and decide to give me my own home, he insisted to be with me. When I asked him why, he said… 'You look lonely. I just don't want to see you sad. That's all.'"
Naruto blinked. That last sentence rang a bell. Tenten smiled when she saw the look on Naruto's face.
"I was eleven the time when I had my own home and he was six. He… I… I was… happy that time, so happy when I… I realized his place as a 'family' in my heart. Especially when he looked at me with those eyes and called loudly, 'Anee-chan!'"
Tenten closed her eyes. That one word buried deep down in her heart.
"He called me like that… every single day… He used to looked at me when I trained and asked me to train him… I usually refused because I'm afraid he will hurt himself… I'm afraid he will be wounded… And I… I really love him, Naruto… He's my brother, my family… He called me Nee-chan and… and he loved me. I'm not lonely anymore… I have someone…"
"He used… to tell me that I'm strong. That I'll be as strong as Tsunade-sama… that I'll… I'll protect him until the time he protect me as a man. He said, as sibling we must take care of each other. He also said that I'm not alone… and that I never was…" Tenten glanced at the stars again. "He said… that he believed one of the stars is my parent, just like one of them is his. He said that the stars twinkling because they want to reach each other, because nobody can stay alone. He said that I feel content because the stars reached out for me too, to light my own darkness. He said… those stars are deceased people who once have the same pain and the same happiness with us. They want to tell us they're there, that we're not alone. They want to remind us… even in the darkness of the night, there's light, many lights… Lights of hope…"
Naruto smiled at the saying and said, "That's so nice, Tenten! Now where is he? I want to meet him!"
Tenten's hand slowly pointed to the sky, to the stars. Naruto blinked and said, "Are?"
"He died when I was twelve…" said Tenten slowly. "He was killed… in front of my eyes… and I could do nothing that time…"
Tenten took her old kunai. She twirled it between her fingers, eyes tracing its ragged handle with painful look.
"He always said I was strong… but that time… when those… those Rock-nins caught him… I can do nothing… although I've tried… I tried… With my scrolls, my kunais, my shurikens, my everything! But I… I was so weak… I… I just… stared… STARED, Naruto… I looked at how… how he… how he was killed…" Tenten pressed her left hand to her eyes, gritted her teeth. "And under his last breath… he still called me 'Nee-chan'…"
A soft sob was heard. Naruto looked away. He didn't like to see someone crying.
"I was so weak! I can't protect him… and he died there in my arms. When the Anbu arrived, he was gone… He was dead and nothing that I can do to protect him… I was not strong enough… Those nins easily killed him… I can't protect the only family that I have… I'm alone again… and I'm weak… So weak…"
Tenten gritted her teeth, tears slowly fell down her cheeks.
"I trained like mad… Day and night… and when I… when I finally met two boys that I love dearly… I realized I can't protect them too, no matter how hard I train… They don't need me. They can protect themselves and I was left to be protected. I… I can do nothing when Gaara crushed Lee. I can do nothing when Kidoumaru almost took Neji's life away. All I can do is watch, Naruto… I never be any used to those I love…"
Naruto opened his mouth but closed it again. He understood that feeling… just like when he tried to save Sasuke…
"I create a barrier, Naruto… So I won't love anymore… and I won't lose anything if I have nothing… It leaves me empty inside, although I covered it with my smile… I… I was hopeless that time… but… Neji understands me… He gives me a chance to love again. He assured me that… that he'll protect me and I'll protect him. We trained together and I tried my hardest to catch up to him… But then again… I… I'm still too weak to protect him… I can't even reach him… But he loves me… He doesn't leave me and stay there with me… He… He is my boyfriend… He is my lover… He protect my heart but… There's still a hole that he cannot cover… a hole that will be there still… a hole that a brother left for me. A brother… that I could never protect… my only family… and now I have none…"
Tenten took a deep breath. She looked at Naruto with her chocolate eyes briefly and said softly, "You know, Naruto? I never wished to be home since Shizuo-kun's death. Why? Because it's not my home anymore… There's no trace of family there… No love that was shared there… It never feels the same again… It was merely a place for me to sleep after a hard mission… but I never feel like having any home… No one that call me Nee-chan anymore… No family that greet me… no one that love me there… Once again, Naruto… once again I have no family… and I have no home… I have no where to go home to…"
Author's Note: I don't like the idea Tenten's an orphan but since no other character that fit in... That leaves her. Maybe I'll wrote Sai next time. Ja ne! See ya in the next chapter!