Welcome to Athame Kunoichi's APOLOGY HOUR!

(Audience applauds)

Host: So, what are you apologizing for this week?

AK: um, the length of time it took to update.

Host: Alright then. Ready… set… GO!

AK: imsosorryididn'tmeantobutschoolwritersblock,chapterdeleted,chaptersucked,triedmybest,procrastinated,sorrysorrysorry,peoplemockmeatschoolconfidenceshot,beensick,beenhanginwithmyposse,NOLEGITAMATEEXCUSESIMSORRY!(Takes a deep breath) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Sobs)

Host: Um…. So… uh… (sweatdrops) well, you forgive her, right?

(Please nod here)

Host: Alrighty then! On to chapter 5!

AK: (sniffles) enjoy! Oh, and I dun own Naruto.

EVANESCENCE IS THE GREATEST BAND ON THE PLANET!

4 8 ( l) 3 ph 9 l-l ! j l 1 /l/l l/l 0 9 q r 5 7 00 v l/l/ i

(If anyone knows what the above gibberish is, than you're very smart. If anyone asks me what it is, I won't tell.)

Just for your personal inner watches, Tenny ran away at about 3:30 pm

Chapter 5: More than one kind of monster

Rain continued to fall on Konaha, like tear falling from the sky, lamenting for some unknown tragedy.

But Neji could've sworn that the rain was for him, crying the tears he didn't dare let loose, for fear that if he began crying, he wouldn't be able to stop.

It was five o' clock already and he had been wandering around since Tenny left and still had no idea where she was. His leg was only getting worse, and he was getting dizzy from blood loss. Yet he continued his march around Konaha, searching for her.

His little angel.

He shook his head violently, shaking the thought from his head. He had to keep looking.

No distractions.

He took deep, labored breathes, and tried to focus. He tried to think of someplace Tenny might go, but he could think of nothing. After all, Tenny remembered Konaha the way it was 10 years ago, so there wasn't much that would be the same. And even it things were the same, he didn't know where she would go at a time like this. And with all the rain, and his leg the way it was, there was no way could track her.

It was a futile search.

He screamed suddenly, a horrid roar, drowned out by the heaven's torrent. He flumped to the ground, seething with rage, but crumbling under hopelessness on the inside.

Damn it… Tenny talks so much that it's hard to hear yourself think, let alone hear anyone else speak. Of all the random stuff she jabbers on about, she didn't bother to say anything about where she used to live or-

A thought struck him.

Tenny spent a lot of time with those Kunoichi last night. They probably talked about all kinds of stuff… maybe even the neighborhood…

He took a deep breath, and heaved himself up again, and started towards the Yamanaka residence.

Meanwhile…

Tenny stumbled, falling in a mud puddle for the thousandth time. She stood up again, gathering the mountains of cloth that made up Tenten's kimono. (Luckily it's just a spare.) She continues to scamper about Konaha, and after an hour and a half, she still couldn't find anything familiar about her surroundings. She felt as if she'd been here before, but she couldn't find a familiar landmark to save her life.

She shivered in the chilled wind, and her teeth chattered, grinding together as the lightning grew closer. She pushed onward, determined to find her house, to find something familiar.

To find something safe.

She jumped a good foot in the air as thunders roared through the sky, and she went scampering towards the forest, hoping that she was headed in the right direction.

The closer she got to the woods however, the closer the lightning struck, convincing her that it was chasing her. She continued a mad dash towards the trees, unaware that she'd run right past an old, metal sign, which read:

Condemned Shinobi Training Grounds

KEEP OUT OR DIE!

Meanwhile…

Neji knocked repeatedly and loudly on Ino's door, not stopping, even when 2 voices could be heard scrambling about inside, "Getting ready to greet Sasuke, because of course he'd answer the invite!"

Neji had a bad feeling.

The door flew open, and all at once, Ino and Sakura threw themselves at him, all dressed up in party dresses and jewelry.

"Well, Sasuke?" They shrieked. "Pick one! We've been waiting!" They both puckered up, until they realized that the person staring at them in revulsion wasn't Sasuke.

"Uhhhhhhhhh….. Ummmmmm…. Hi…" The girls jumped back. "What the hell do you want, baka!"

Neji didn't appreciate being yelled at, or being called baka.

"Do you know where Tenny lives?"

Ino and Sakura stared at him. "At Tenten's house?"

"No, I'm mean where did she used to live?!"

There was a long silence. Then Sakura shrieked.

"Holy-! What happened to your leg?"

Neji growled. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT HER HOUSE LOOKS LIKE? DID SHE MENTION WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE?!"

Ino shrugged. "She said it's pink. Traditional. In the woods. Something about a statue of an angel with a sword in the front yard. Why do you care? And where's Tenten? And Sakura's right, what happened to your leg?!"

Neji had already run off, and he had a hunch about where Tenny was headed.

(Too bad Neji knows where he's going and Tenny doesn't)

Meanwhile…

Tenny regretted coming here.

The lightning wasn't chasing her anymore.

But a pack of bobcats was.

(If that seems random, keep in mind that they have giant tigers at the chuunin exam grounds. These are just plain bobcats. Consider Tenny lucky. And yes, I am evil. Half the time. XD)

Apparently, Tenny held a resemblance to a friend of theirs. A friend named dinner. And they seemed to think she was that friend.

So Tenny, who couldn't figure out why she was having such a bad day, ran onward, wondering why 3 big cats like those would want to eat a cute little girl like her.

"Stop! Bad kitties! Go home! I'M NOT A FISHY!" Tenny yelled ferociously at them, waving her arms about and running for dear life. They didn't listen of course, too eager to taste this new human delicacy called chibi.

Tenny weaved in between bushes and trees, attempting a serpentine, but only succeeding in running through a rose bush, covering the kimono in thorns and getting roses stuck in her hair. She jumped across streams, over logs, and through mud puddles, not realizing that the cats were just trying to tire her out.

Finally, Tenny collapsed in a small clearing, exhausted beyond belief and in tears. As the cats circled in closer, Tenny shrieked.

"SAVE ME NEINEI-CHAN! I'M SORRY!"

There was a sudden twang, and a circle of shuriken surrounded Tenny. The cats hissed, not pleased that their prey was surrounded by sharp things, and whirled around to face the intruder.

Tenny glanced at her savior through her fingers.

"Neinei-chan?"

The figure ignored her, waiting for the cats to strike. Tenny squinted through the rain, and frowned.

"You're not Neinei-chan!"

Meanwhile…

Neji jumped over another pit, wondering whether Tenny actually used to live in the so called, 'Haunted Sword Forest of Konaha'.

It was fitting though.

It was just a small patch of woods, just outside Konaha, and in Nara clan territory. It hadn't always been so infamous, but after the murder that took place there 10 years ago, people had regarded it as a place of evil.

Neji pushed his way through a wall of shrubbery and found himself in an overgrown front yard, and felt like kicking himself in the head when he realized that there was a clear path through all that untamed nature. He glanced at the sun, which seemed due to set soon, so he guessed that it must be about 7:30. He frowned. This leg was really slowing him down.

He focused on the house though; satisfied that it fit Tenny's description. Pink, traditional, katana-wielding angel statue in the front yard. The only thing Ino had failed to mention was all the weapons scattered in the front yard. There were hundreds of kunai, shuriken, makibishi, Katanas, Sais, Kamas, Bos, Nunchaku and more sticking out of trees, the ground, and anything else solid, and they were all stained red.

And of course

The angel statue was covered in blood stains.

Neji walked carefully to the front door, and pushed it open, causing the rusted hinges to snap, and the door fell to the floor, sending up a storm of dust. When the dust settled, he wasn't surprised to see that the inside of the house wasn't much better than the outside. Lots of soot, and charred marks on the wall suggested someone had been using fire jutsus, which wasn't a smart thing to do inside.

(Kids, listen to Neji. Never play with fire unless you're a ninja. Or, you know, unless you're pretending to be one. Then, go ahead.)

Neji stepped inside, cautious of booby traps, until something cracked beneath his shoe. He looked at it, confirming that it was just a picture frame and not a trigger of some sort. He pulled it out from under his sandal, and rubbed the dust and blood from the glass, finally giving up and ripping the back off and examining the bare picture.

The picture had three people in it: a woman, a man, and a toddler. The man's head had been torn from the picture, seemingly on purpose. The woman had brown hair in two braided buns, and golden eyes. From her neck, dangled a shuriken shaped locket, with a blurry kanji carved into it. But although the woman seemed familiar, Neji barely had to glance at the toddler. He dropped the picture, averting his eyes from the smiling faces.

It was unmistakably Tenny.

Neji turned, and jumped when he saw the figure at the door, unhesitatingly attacking it. He was too tired to activate his Byakugan, but launched an excellent blend of punching and kunai stabbing that Lee and Tenten would have been proud of. The figure swore, and flashed hand signs that were hidden by the rain. With a few mumbled words, Neji was motionless.

He strained at the jutsu, but couldn't move an inch.

Can't stay here. Got to find Tenten!

Neji growled, and used all of his energy in one fantastic struggled, but he only succeeded in causing his leg to let loose more blood, and within seconds, the lack of said blood sent him to the ground.

The figure sighed. "Mendokusai. Crazy Hyuuga."

Meanwhile…

The strange figure was panting from their struggle with the cats. Tenny had snuck away to the edge of the clearing, not wanting to get killed, but unwilling to leave the sudden protection. But as the figure advanced, she started to have second thoughts.

When the figure stepped closer, Tenny got a better look at who it was, and started screaming.

"AHHH! ITACHI-SAMA! I DON'T HAVE ANY CANDY MONEY TODAY! GO AWAY!"

The figure paused, tilted its head, and advanced a little quicker.

Tenny took deep breath, and pulled a kunai from her pocket, tossing it at the surprised figure.

"UCHIHA ITACHI! YOU ARE A BULLY AND A MEANIE! GO AWAY OR MY MOMMY'L TELL YOUR MOMMY AND YOU'LL GET IN TROUBLE!" And with that inspiring cry for justice, Tenny ran for the hills.

Needless to say, the figure, AKA Uchiha Sasuke, went after her.

(FYI, in this fic, Sasu never ran off to Roachie. That's what my friends and I call Orochimaru.)

1 hour later…

Tenny flopped under a bench in Konaha Park, confident that she had finally escaped Itachi and his evil bully ways. But now she was officially past the point of no return, and she knew she was too tired to move without sleep. And so, as the sun finally set beneath the dark clouds that spread from horizon to horizon, Tenny fell asleep.

Luckily, those auto-adjustable knots that Tenten had instructed Tenny on when she changed into the kimono worked perfectly, so as Tenten's body regained its usual shape, the knots undid themselves, allowing the kimono to assume its normal size. Also, the mental box that Tenny had used to silence Tenten disappeared when Tenny fell asleep, so when Tenten became aware of the thorns still poking into her skin, she squirmed out from under the bench.

She looked about glumly, and started to trudge back home through the rain, hoping that Neji had enough sense to go to the hospital and get his leg bandaged. She kept stumbling and tripping though, exhaustion dulling her reflexes.

She hadn't even left town square when she stopped, realizing that someone was following her. She whirled around, but the person snuck up behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist, and bringing the other one up over her mouth.

Tenten kicked and waved her arms around fiercely, but only succeeded in making herself dizzy. The person started to drag her away, so she brought one leg up behind her, kicking them between the legs, hoping her attacker was male.

She was right.

Her victory was short lived though, since her attacker accidentally brought his chin down on her head effectively knocking her out cold.

The figure sighed. "I just don't get Kunoichi." With that, he hauled Tenten onto his shoulders, and headed off in the other direction.

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So, was that a lame chappie? I hope not. I'm so sorry, but school ate up all my time. I'll be quicker next time.

Well, R&R, unless you can't forgive me, cuz I hate flamers.

Even if you aren't a member, I love to hear from you. Don't worry, you just make up a name, and type up your comments in the window that comes up. You don't have to give your e-mail, and you won't be cookied, I promise.