People seemed to like the first chapter so I therefore will write more!
It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who supports DeiTen; it's such a great pairing!
I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
The light in the room was dim and felt sterile and cold. Tenten groaned as shielded her eyes, even though it was not exactly bright. She was lying on a small bed with plain white sheets and pillow, and as her eyes adjusted to the light saw that there were various wooden shelves on the walls around the room full of all sorts of strange medical implements and bottles of liquid.
Her head felt like it was on fire, aching terribly. She blinked and tried to sit up, crying out as a sudden pain in her neck made her drop back down into the bed on which she lay. She put a tentative hand out and touched the source of the pain. She winced as it stung and drew her hand away, narrowing her eyes at the pale brown sticky substance that had rubbed off onto her fingers.
"I suggest you don't wipe too much of that away." A voice by her ear said.
Tenten spun around, causing another spasm of pain from her neck. Gritting her teeth, she focussed on the owner of the voice. A familiar shock of crimson hair told her it was Sasori. His cold mocking eyes looked bored and disinterested as he regarded her.
"What have you done? Where am I? Why have you brought me here?" She said, her eyes narrowing in anger.
"Stop with the questions already…and besides, don't get the idea I want you to be alive." Replied the puppet master, crossing his arms, "As far as I'm concerned, we should have left you there to die in the forest, but Leader thinks he can put a use to you. And as for where you are, you're in the medical room of the Akatsuki base."
"What…?"
"And as for the wound on your shoulder, if you rub away much more of the anti-toxin, you'll pass out again. The particular poison I used takes a little while to counteract. And it's only me here because I am the only one who knows how to use the cure."
As Sasori spoke, Tenten could see him becoming slightly more enthusiastic as he spoke about his area of expertise. Was that a smile?
"In any case, Leader will want to see you soon. I suggest you get some rest for now." He said nonchalantly.
Tenten struggled to sit up once more, her head throbbing painfully, and tried to swing her weight over the side of the bed so that she could stand up. She cursed at the pain, but Sasori intervened. She winced at a sharp pain in her forearm before looking to see that Sasori had injected something into her arm.
"That's to make you sleep. Just stay put alright? Or I'll make sure I DO kill you this time."
Tenten was about to reply, furious, but gradually felt her limbs numbing once more. She hated being o helpless, but was unable to move as she lost consciousness for the second time that evening.
The next time that Tenten awoke, she looked around and saw that the veins all around a surprisingly small wound on her neck were dark blue, standing out through her pale skin. She gave a sharp intake of breath in repulsion at what she saw.
"You should have seen yourself earlier." Deidara said with a grin as he looked at her where she sat on the small bed.
Tenten's gaze snapped up onto him, and her eyes narrowed in fury. She felt stronger than before, more than capable of loosing her temper and kicking this guy up his arrogant butt. With a wince that she quickly forced away, she leapt out of the small bed and crossed the room over to him.
"Whoa, now hang on a minute! I only came to bring you to Leader dammit, as Sasori up and left about an hour ago! There's no need to get all aggressive!"
"Oh, apart from almost killing me, kidnapping me and confining me in this place? Plus staring at me while I was asleep!"
"Yeah, exactly. Now come on, hmmm?"
Tenten instinctively reached into her pockets, but they were empty. This really made her mad, as her weapons were the most precious things she owned. She poured her life into them. She stared at Deidara, her brown eyes blazing.
"Where are my weapons?" She asked in a low but dangerous voice.
"Don't worry they're all safe. We merely took them as a precaution for instances like…this." Deidara replied, walking over to the door, seemingly unaffected by her demonic face, "Look, I'd settle down if I were you. Leader won't appreciate your bad temper."
Tenten clenched her fists but controlled her anger as she followed the blonde, trying to keep calm. If he teased her much more so would explode. She sighed, closing her eyes, and decided that the best thing to do for the moment until she found a way of escaping from this place was to learn as much as she could about her surroundings.
As Tenten followed Deidara through the corridor, she couldn't help but wonder where the base was located. Surely a building would draw too much attention? The walls that surrounded her more quite plain, with the occasional door that lead to other rooms.
"So, where is this place…?" She asked as she looked around.
"Hm? It's hidden inside a cave, although I won't tell you where just in case. Anyhow, it has layers and layers of protective and concealing jutsus around it so that no-one can find it. Again, don't think I'll go into detail, hm?" Deidara replied without looking at her.
"I see…" Tenten said to herself, thinking that as a result it must be almost impossible to break out of the place.
"Here we are." Deidara said with a grin as he stopped outside a wooden door that to Tenten looked exactly the same as all of the others.
He knocked on the door briefly before entering the dark room, Tenten following curiously behind him. The room was dimly lit and very plain, with grey walls and a wooden floor. At one end of the room stood a basic desk, upon which lay stacks of reports and documents of varying importance. As Tenten's eyes roamed around the room, she saw the figure of the Leader, at the far side of the room with his back to them. However, he couldn't have actually been there because all Tenten could see was some sort of hazy hologram. The projection flickered slightly as the Leader turned around to look at Deidara and Tenten.
"Deidara, you can leave. You," He said to Tenten, "sit."
The leader voice was low and yet unnervingly featureless.
Deidara nodded but looked as though he would rather stay. Tenten's gaze followed him out as he left the room, closing the door behind him. She then turned back to the shadow of the Leader.
"I apologize; I cannot be here at this moment. You are Tenten of the Hidden Leaf, correct?" He asked.
"Yes. Why have you brought me here?" Tenten asked, her eyes narrowing.
Even in her current predicament, she was still angry and wanted answers.
"I didn't. I was told that you could be of use to the organization. It was either that or to let you die in the forest."
"What? Who told you?"
"Deidara contacted me shortly after you were poisoned. He said that you used techniques that we possess few of currently in the Akatsuki. He also mentioned that you are quite an adept ninja."
Tenten went pink, and hoped that the Leader's projection didn't notice.
"What? Deidara didn't say anything like that to me!" She said quickly.
"Yes, well I doubted he would tell you. He is far too proud for that." Leader replied before turning to the haphazardly stacked pile of documents on his desk.
"In any case, I am not going to allow a Leaf Ninja into my organisation. Not straight away. You must first prove that you are of worth to Akatsuki."
"And how do you plan to do that?" queried Tenten, crossing her arms.
"We will pit you against one of us, naturally. Of course, whoever you have to fight will be handicapped, seeing as you are already injured." He replied.
"You mean you're going to make me fight without having healed first?" Tenten spluttered indignantly.
"Of course. If we wait it may give you time to try and betray us. And even if you do, we will hunt you down and make sure to kill you."
Tenten sat back in her chair with a sigh, closing her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. If she didn't show her worth in this stupid test, they would kill her. If she tried to escaped, they would kill her. If she somehow by a miracle passed the test, she would become an Akatsuki member…
"Look, Tenten." Said the Leader as he walked through the room so that he stood before her.
His eyes, the only part of his true self visible, burned into her. She couldn't pull her gaze away from the strange pattern that surrounded his pupil that looked like grey ripples widening from the centre.
"I know that this is better for you as well as us. Tell me; are you a truly valuable member of your village?"
"What the…of course! I mean…"
"Are you held in high esteem and respected?"
"You don't understand, I…"
"Do others recognise your skill and commend you for it?"
"…No…they don't. They never have. I guess…they always overlook me because I never do anything that gets noticed. I don't end up fighting the demon-kid in the chunin exams, I don't attract all the attention and sympathy by having a family curse mark confining me, and they're all to busy feeling sorry for themselves to notice me or what I try to tell them!"
As Tenten spoke, she grew angrier and angrier as she thought about her old team and her village, and how she was neglected and ignored, her abilities overlooked and left to tarnish.
"Exactly. You'll come around to us eventually…wait and see." Said the leader, walking away from her once more.
Tenten looked up at his retreating form, her eyes full of fury again. But this time, it was not aimed at the Akatsuki at all.
"Your test will take place in one hour. I suggest you be there, for your own sake. Konan will watch in my place and report back to me. She will deicide your adversary for you. You will find your weapons and scrolls in a cabinet back in the medical room; you will no doubt need them. You may go now, and prepare." He said in his featureless voice, conveying that the conversation was over.
Tenten nodded and got to her feet, taking one last look at the Leader's fuzzy silhouette before she left the room, closing her door quietly behind her. The corridor outside was deserted, and having no idea of where she was going, she decided to retrace her steps to the medical room and find her belongings. However, it was no easy task. All of the doors in the hallway looked identical, so she had to guess which was the right one.
After an indecisive couple of moments, she came to what she thought must be the door to the medical room. She turned her handle and pushed it open, expecting to be met with the clinical odour and shelves full of tools.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Roared a voice from within the room as she stared inside.
Tenten went as white as a sheet. In the centre of the room sat a pale man with slicked back silver-white hair. He was wearing the familiar Akatsuki outfit, but it was what he was doing that grabbed her attention. A long black spike was piercing right through his chest, protruding out the other side. All around him the floor was covered in a puddle of scarlet blood that also ran down his cloak and seemed to be drawn in a symbol beneath where he sat.
Tenten stepped backwards in repulsion as the man got to his feet with a grunt of pain, pulling the spike out of his chest with a sickening 'squelch'. Evidently this was not the medical room.
"How DARE you interrupt my ritual, bitch!" He snarled at her, clasping the black metal spike in his hand tightly.
He seemed unaffected by the fact that blood was spattering the floor from his wound as he advanced towards her, eyes narrowed.
"What on earth is he?" Tenten hissed in shock.
"He is not happy when someone walks in on his silly ceremony, hm?" Came a voice from behind her.
Deidara grinned as his looked down at her, his eyes full of amusement as he stepped in front of her and confronted Hidan.
"What has leader told you about scaring the newbies?" Deidara asked patronisingly, regarding the bloody mess in Hidan's room without looking taken aback in the slightest.
"Deidara, get out of here before I skewer you as well!" Growled Hidan, his eyes murderous.
Deidara laughed before shutting Hidan's door and allowing him to continue uninterrupted. He turned to Tenten expectantly.
"What, don't I even get a thank you, hm?"
"Thank you, hm. And stop stalking me." Said Tenten as she looked away.
"I am not stalking you!" Deidara replied.
"Uhuh, so that's why you seem to turn up weherever I go." Tenten countered as she tentatively opened the next door along the corridor, waiting for another psycho to try and kill her.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the white sheets of the medical bed and the medicines lining the walls. Crossing the room to the cabinet at the far side of the room, she noticed that Deidara had disappeared. She smiled, hoping that he wouldn't bother her again. He seemed to enjoy making her jump out of her skin, and went out of his way to make her feel uncomfortable.
"Annoying idiot." She said to herself as she gathered her various scrolls and weapons from the cabinet.
It was then that she began to feel a dull acing sensation in her stomach. Great. She was now hungry as well as lost and in mortal peril as a result of a group of criminals from whom she had no hope of escape. With a sigh, Tenten left the small medical room and headed out into the corridor once more. Fighting for her life on an empty stomach would not increase her chances of success. She guessed that it was time she located the kitchen.