And here we have another chapter.
If anyone has any plot ideas I'd be happy to hear them, although I already have a basic plot outline sorted.
I do not own Naruto!
The piercing sound of the metal on metal made Tenten wince as she cut the deep slash in the symbol on her headband. She sighed and looked at it, but instead of feeling sad was suddenly overcome with an immense feeling of pride. She had done what few others dared to do. Left her village and made it plain for the world to see. She found a wide smile on her lips and looked up at the rest of the Akatsuki watching her. Tenten lifted the slashed headband and tied it once more around her forehead.
"Very well. Welcome to the Akatsuki orginistaion, Tenten," Konan said in her bland voice to the brunette kunoichi in front of her, "understand that now you are a rogue ninja, your village will hunt you once they find out. Your friends will try to kill you and there is no going back."
"I have no friends." Growled Tenten, her eyes dark.
"Aaaw, that's a shame…you'll be just like Deidara-senpai; he has no friends!" Tobi piped up.
"Tobi!"
"Just kidding senpai! I'm your friend!"
Tenten fought back a smile as she watched Deidara try not t lose his temper. She felt an overwhelming sense of freedom upon her, now that she had broken all of her ties and bonds with the village she had called home for seventeen years. With a sigh, she closed her eyes as the situation sank in. she would never be able to see Lee, Neji or Gai ever again, and if she did they'd be enemies. However, she was surprised she didn't feel more remorse than she did.
"In any case, a uniform and a room will be prepared for you. Unfortunately it will not be ready by tonight. You will either have to share a room or find somewhere else to sleep." Konan continued, ignoring Deidara and Tobi.
"What?" spluttered Tenten as she looked up at the darkening sky.
"You heard me." Said Konan in a warning voice before turning and disappearing down the corridor.
Tenten narrowed her eyes. There was no way in hell she was sleeping in the same room as any of these guys; she hardly knew any of them, and definitely didn't trust a single one of them. With a sigh she decided she'd better come up with somewhere else to sleep.
Deidara grinned, seeing the pained expression on the kunoichi face. After his downfall during their match and his damaged pride, he felt an urge to irritate her as much as possible. He crossed his arms smirking and walked over to her as the other Akatsuki members filed back inside the base. He then leant towards her silently, his piercing blue eyes full of amusement.
"Hey, kunoichi, you can sleep in my room if you want, hmm?" he said in her ear.
Tenten jumped, having been too caught up in her own thoughts to realise Deidara was there, standing right beside her with his face inches from hers. Her cheeks went pink but her eyes were angry as she walked away from him, not replying.
Suddenly, a little way into the cool darkness of the corridor, she stopped, an idea forming in her mind. So, he wanted to humiliate her did he? She would throw it right back at him.
"That's very kind of you, Deidara, thank you." She said in a voice that lacked some of her usual defiance and character.
Deidara stared at her, completely stunned. He should have noted the change in her voice, but was too surprised to realise. He hadn't actually expected her to agree at all, and found he was rather at a loss at what to do. He composed himself and shrugged, grinning all the more. Perhaps he would enjoy having another female Akatsuki member after all…
"No problem, if you would just follow me, hmm?" He said.
Tenten scowled once he had drawn ahead of her and could not see her face. She hated to come across weak like this, but it was essential to her plan.
"Thank you, again." She replied, thinking that she was beginning to sound like Hinata.
Their footsteps echoed through the stillness of the corridor, and as they walked she wondered what was behind most of the other plain doors she had seen on their way. She guessed that some of them would belong to the various Akatsuki members, and perhaps they ad others that acted as storerooms.
After a few minutes they came to a halt outside a solid wooden door, that Tenten noticed had a long burn mark down one side. Probably from Deidara testing a new explosive technique, Tenten supposed.
The blonde shinobi unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping inside before turning and allowing Tenten to come in. The kunoichi looked around her in interest as she made her way inside. Deidara's room wasn't very large, but a comfortable size. There was a plain single bed up against the far wall and that was it as far as furniture went, other than some shelves that adorned the walls.
Tenten looked up to see that the room had a very high ceiling, and that the plain shelves carried on right until the top. On these stood an array of Deidara's various explosives. No two were the same, all made from his detonating clay. Tenten thought that this must be where he stored various prototypes.
Deidara followed her gaze, looking at the models with a critical eye. He didn't like keeping his art in this state; it was after all, designed to explode in its true artistic fashion. However, he kept these as emergency back ups incase the base ever fell under attack and he was separated from his clay supplies.
His attention swayed back to the kunoichi.
"So where are you planning to sleep? I for one will not sleep on the floor, hm." Deidara said, smirking at her once more, leaning towards her.
Tenten remained silent, looking up at him until he was barely inches away. Suddenly, she smiled graciously.
"Actually, I was planning on something else." She explained before crossing the room to his bed before he could react and puling off the duvet and pillows.
Tenten was at the open door to the room in second as Deidara began to move forward, her intentions sinking in. His eyes narrowed as he realised he had been tricked.
"You get back here with those dammit or I'll kill you!" he growled.
"No can do." Replied Tenten with a grin as she vanished down the corridor.
Deidara clenched his fists and ran after her, cursing like Hidan.
Tenten's eyes now became serious as she concentrated on the doors she passed. Eventually she saw what she was looking for. This door was paler at the edges and the grain of the wood had expanded slightly with the presence of water. Praying her hunch was correct, she opened the door, still clutching Deidara's pillow and duvet under one arm. She grinned. She had been right.
Hearing Deidara's oncoming footsteps, and his furious voice, she turned and shut herself inside the bathroom, locking the door from the inside.
"Heh, a lock won't stop me, I'll blow the bloody door off!"
"Uhuh, I wouldn't advise it, I've set up a trap inside. You'll be skewered left right and centre as soon as you step inside this room."
"You're bluffing!"
"Try me."
Deidara snarled with frustration as he stood outside the door, feeling like an idiot. On one hand, he could risk it and blow the door up. Then again, he could use an explosive that would undoubtedly blow up whatever counter measures she had put up inside. However, he knew that Kakuzu wouldn't be too happy with another blown up door, or having half the bathroom destroyed for that matter.
He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. He consigned defeat and strode furiously back up the corridor to his room, collapsing onto the bed, fuming. He had to admit she had won this particular battle, but she wouldn't win the war.
"Oh, and tell the others not to try and come in here unless they want to be turned into a human pin-cushion!" yelled Tenten as she heard Deidara walk away.
The kunoichi smirked to herself, leased that her ingenious plan ad worked. She decided that it would probably be wise if she actually did set up a trap in the doorway, just in case. Removing a scroll from her bag, she set up a complicated trap of trip wires, exploding tags, shuriken and kunai that looked like a spider's web surrounding the doorway. She stepped back to admire her handiwork.
If anyone tried to gain entry, the numerous trip-wires and hidden trip-wires would detect the enemy and cause the small exploding tags to go off, blinding the enemy with smoke from their explosions. In that time, the large kunai and shuriken would shoot at the intruder each with trailing wires that would wrap around the enemy from both sides to immobilise them, before a pair of katana sliced in a cross motion where their head would be. In any case, even if the trap failed to trick the enemy, the noise would almost definitely wake Tenten up.
With a sigh the kunoichi look away from her trap at the bathroom that was to serve as her temporary accommodation.
It was very plain, with a wooden floor like all of the rooms and blank white tiles on the walls. There was one shower, one toilet, one sink and a bathtub in the room, and Tenten was surprised to see that they were all very clean.
However, the kunoichi was too tired to question this and padded over to the bathtub, throwing Deidara's pillow at one end and climbing into it, wrapping the duvet around herself, still wearing her clothes from the day.
It was by no means comfortable, but better than sleeping on the bare wooden floor, and although she tried to resist it, she soon fell asleep, the pain on her wounded shoulder still throbbing slightly.
Luckily, the night remained quiet and no-one tried to get into the bathroom. Tenten slept silently, but tossed and turned in a dreamless sleep until she sat bolt upright, her eyes snapping open. Having no concept of time in the hidden Akatsuki base, she guessed her inbuilt natural clock had woken her up in keeping with when she had always awoken each morning back at home in Konoha to report for her duties.
She stood up and stretched, sighing as she looked at her dishevelled appearance; her clothes with dark burn marks from her fight, the slash in the shoulder of her shirt from where Sasori had stabbed her two days before.
Tenten dismantled her trap carefully, checking each individual weapon before storing it in her bag or in scrolls. She hoped that she would get her own room today and not have to go through the palaver again.
She stepped out into the corridor, clothing the bathroom door behind her, and immediately jumped in surprise. Konan had been waiting for her. The blue-haired Rain Village kunoichi looked at Tenten without disclosing whatever she was thinking. Konan then held out a dark bundle to Tenten, who accepted it cautiously.
"Here are your robes, and also some new clothes for you. I had to guess your size, but I'm confident they'll fit. I suggest you change into them and head to the kitchen for breakfast before your first mission briefing, during which you'll be assigned your cell members." She explained.
Konan turned and walked away down the corridor, disappearing around a corner. Had it been she who had told the others not to go into the bathroom that night? Tenten thought it was unlikely. She retreated back inside the bathroom, and laid out Konan had brought for her. There was, of course, the Akatsuki cloak, adorned with those striking scarlet clouds. There was also a pair of trousers similar to her current dark burgundy ones, but instead they were slate blue, with the strength tight white stockings that when underneath and a white belt that had various pockets attached for her scrolls and weapons. As well as this, there was a pair of black open toed boots, more feminine than the ones the others wore, but not as long and slender as Konan's.
Lastly, she saw a shirt like her own, except the neck was slightly lower and the top was looser fitting and dark blue, with black tags that fastened the shirt. Underneath was a tighter short-sleeved top that was paler blue. Tenten found herself thinking that she rather liked the outfit.
With a sigh, she quickly dressed in the new clothes, pleased that they seemed to fit at least as well as her old ones. As she fastened the last button on her Akatsuki cloak, she turned and saw herself in the bathroom mirror, suddenly struck with how natural the criminal's uniform seemed to look on her.
Tenten shook her head, clearing out the last vestiges of sleepiness before walking out into the hallway. It took some time before she once more found the kitchen, but she was flushed with pride at actually having found it in the first place.
She pushed open the door and slipped inside, but was immediately met with a bright orange mask.
"Good morning, Tenten!" said Tobi as Tenten back away in shock.
"Uh, good morning Tobi." Tenten replied.
She crossed the kitchen quickly, trying to cover up her surprise before she opened the cupboard door to see if there was any edible breakfast in there. Luckily, the cupboard was devoid of human limbs and she drew out an old looking box of cereal.
With a sigh she sat down at the round wooden table, realising how hungry she was.
"Heh, I heard about what happened last night with Deidara." Came an arrogant voice from the other side of the room.
Hidan stepped out of the shadows, holding a piece of bread in one hand and bacon in the other. For some reason, the sight of an s-ranked criminal eating his breakfast was one of the weirdest things she had ever seen in her life.
"Nothing happened last night with Deidara, other than if you mean my threatening to slice his head off." Tenten retorted defensively.
She looked down at the bland contents of her bowl, shovelling cereal onto her spoon and wolfing it down as if she had never eaten before in her life.
"Yeah, that's what I meant. Hah, I wish I could have been there, it'd be hilarious to see that stuck up prat get humiliated for once."
"Well, as long as he doesn't try anything again, there won't be a need for it." Growled Tenten in a voice that told Hidan plainly that the same would go for him as well.
At that moment, the door swung open once more and a tall raven-haired Akatsuki member entered the kitchen. His crimson eyes swept the room with his emotionless expression before resting on the brunette kunoichi.
"Tenten, Leader has summoned you for your first mission briefing. I suggest you follow me right away." Itachi said.