.
.
Hold me, tie me, don't let me go
Tell me to love you forever
Because it's all I know how to do
Let me come back to you
.
.
Hourglass
Chapter 3: Deus Ex Machina
.
.
Why… did I come out here?
Despite what he had told Tenten, he himself did not know the answer to the question. Why didn't he just send Yaoki or Korobi to get her?
But what was done was done. Gaara turned his head subtly and stole a short glance at the girl walking a few paces behind him. She had her eyes closed, nose scrunched, and tongue sticking out at him. Gaara frowned, but kept walking. He couldn't deny it― he was curious about her, from her temporary banishment from her village to just about everything else in general. He couldn't, for the life of him, remember anything about her, though there was a vague sense of familiarity about this Tenten. He had tried, unsuccessfully, to gather information from his past experiences in Konoha about her and yet―
The Chunin Exams; had it been his sister she fought in the preliminaries or some other person? But Temari had won her match… What kind of battle strategy did this girl use, then? The weapons he had seen scattered about her earlier indicated as much. But he couldn't recall any of her moves. Had she been in the Chunin Exams at all?
And then there was the time when he had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. He couldn't say for sure, but he had a feeling that she had been there also… Gaara vividly remembered Naruto and his pink-haired teammate and their sensei. Lee and his sensei had been there too, and the Hyuuga―
Wait. Could she be the kunoichi of their team?
Gaara's frown deepened. How was it that he couldn't remember anything about this girl? He fought away a strong wave of annoyance at his lack of knowledge about her. How can she have been so invisible?
He chanced another backward glance and caught said girl in the act of making a rather ugly piggy-nose at him. When he caught her glance, she dropped her hand and blushed. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, noting with disapproval how she began to fidget nervously, perhaps thinking he was going to reprimand her.
He thought carefully about his next words. "Were you…"
Were you in the Chunin Exams? How about that time when the Akatsuki…?
Gaara paused in mid-speech. No matter how he decided to phrase his questions, he knew that it would nevertheless be offensive. He brought the logic back to his brain and backtracked. If Lee and the Hyuuga are, indeed, her teammates, then there would be no doubt that she had been in the Chunin Exams. There would also be no doubt that she had been with her team when they had come to retrieve him.
Why the hell couldn't he remember her?
He, Temari, Kankuro, Kankuro's opponent, Naruto, the Hyuuga, the Uchiha, and that lazy one― what was his name again?― had been the ones to pass the preliminaries. So Tenten had lost. But to who…?
"Um, was I…?"
The sound of her voice brought him back to the present. Tenten was shuffling her feet now in addition to biting her lip, a habit of hers that he had picked up on. It seemed his prolonged silence had done nothing to ease her nerves.
He dropped his gaze and turned to continue their walk back to the Kazekage's building. "Nevermind."
He could almost feel her resume the piggy-nose with increased intensity behind his back.
.
.
There were no forests or private clearings in Suna. Tenten had checked, double-checked, and made sure. She was presently walking down a dirt path in the middle of the village square, shielding her face from the sandy winds with one hand and twirling a kunai absently in the other. Sweat was pouring down her back and forehead as the sun radiated its strongest heat during the last two hours remaining in the day. It would be setting soon and Tenten knew, from experience, that the sudden night chill would come once the sun had gone.
Gaara had left her almost three hours ago on the doorsteps of the Kazekage's building. He had given her permission to do as she wished― the time she was left with after her duties was her own, so long as she stayed within the borders of the village. She had thanked him sourly and turned to march right back the way they had come. She wouldn't deny it; she was still a little bit annoyed with all the secrets she felt everyone was sharing with one another but her.
A big, flashy sign posted on a window display caught her eye and she grimaced with a sort of disdain. There were many puppet shops selling tools and parts catering to the puppet-masters of the village, but she had yet to find a weapons shop.
Turning her back on the building, Tenten continued her walk. She was mildly surprised with her surroundings. Suna was no more different than Konoha― the vendors, the community, the people, the houses. For some odd reason, Tenten had always considered the Sand Village to be considerably smaller than the Leaf. Then again, perhaps it was because she had never really gone exploring in Suna. The few times she had found herself in the village, it had been because of a mission. The houses and buildings generally blended in with the sandy terrain… Or maybe she just hadn't really thought about the village itself at all. Maybe it was because the sand hid the buildings so well that they needed a second look to be seen. Whatever the reason, Tenten knew enough to judge that Suna was roughly the same size, in both borders and population, as Konoha. Possibly even a little bit larger.
Her feet stopped and she suddenly found herself staring at a big arch leading to what could only be described as an empty, walled-in, arena.
What's this? thought Tenten, letting curiosity get the better of her. It looked almost similar to the Academy's training grounds. After a brief hesitation, Tenten walked under the arch and peeked in, her eyes widening only slightly. It is a training grounds! Suna has an Academy too? Since when? Tenten thought, feeling considerably happier. She almost skipped on her way in, her hands already busy loosening her scrolls when she saw that it was occupied― a brown-haired girl, probably a couple of years her junior, stood panting by the left-edge of the grounds holding what Tenten recognized at once as a johyo. She looked completely winded.
Making her footsteps loud on purpose, Tenten approached the girl, grinning in a friendly-manner when she looked up from her training.
"Hey there!" Tenten called out, practically on edge with excitement, "can I join you?"
The girl's eyes flickered with uncertainty. She looked ready to bolt. "Um… y-you mean you want to train here? I can go if you want…"
Tenten frowned. "No, I was looking to spar, actually…"
As if her worst fears had been confirmed, the girl straightened abruptly and brushed off her clothes, looking away. "I… I don't think I'm ready…"
Tenten watched as the girl shuffled her feet. She looked so unconfident and unsure that Tenten felt an unsympathetic twinge of annoyance. Being in a hardcore team like Team Gai for years, Tenten could not stand seeing the girl's pointless distress. "Hey now!" she scolded, making the young girl jump, "You've gotta do it sometime! Besides, how do you even know that? You don't even know if I'm good or not, you're just giving up before you try!"
The girl's wide eyes flared with something like determination and Tenten couldn't help but feel a sort of pride for her. She let down her tough demeanor and smiled. "I'm Tenten, by the way," she said, holding out a hand.
The other girl took it gently but shyly. "I'm Matsuri… I'm still a genin."
"That doesn't mean I'll go easy on you, you know," Tenten said with a devious grin as Matsuri's face looked stricken. Laughing, Tenten took out the scroll from her left thigh holster and took several steps back. Her eyes flashed challengingly. "Come on Matsuri, hit me with your best shot!"
.
Barely twenty minutes had passed since they started and Tenten sighed, looking down at the completely defeated girl that lay upon the ground before her. She had to admit that she had the upper hand in this challenge; she was Konoha's infamous Weapon's Mistress, after all. She had mastered just about every single weapon known to mankind, and of course she also knew which weapon was best suited against which and vice-versa. To make matters easier, Matsuri's only weapon happened to be her johyo, along with some standard kunai and shuriken.
At first, Tenten had opted to use her non-poisonous senbon needles to see if Matsuri could dodge them. She had dealt with it fairly well until she realized that her johyo was no use against the small weapons and panicked completely. Next, Tenten decided to use her bo-staff, purposely giving Matsuri the advantage for her johyo. However, the girl's aim was not precise and Tenten ended the pathetic round by knocking the unsuspecting girl from above with the staff. Currently, Tenten was using one of her favorite kodachis, another weapon that could be easily snatched with the johyo.
Tenten watched as Matsuri struggled to sit up and bit her lip, frowning. No matter how much she wanted to, she just didn't have the heart to perform her Soshoryu. There was no doubt in her mind that the girl would not be able to dodge her projectile weapons. Neji, on the other hand―
No! Damn it! Stop thinking about that loser!
Tenten shook her mind clear, and offered the younger girl a hand and a small smile. "You're getting there," Tenten said, pulling Matsuri up to her feet with little effort. "Let's end it here for now. But remember: practice makes perfect! Just think about your goal."
Matsuri groaned, feeling her sore muscles. She coughed and rubbed the side of her stomach gingerly. "My goal?"
"Yeah," exclaimed Tenten, grinning. "Wanna hear mine?"
Matsuri nodded slowly, her eyes wide and attentive with some sort of awe. Tenten's insides squirmed uncomfortably and she briefly wondered if this was how the jounin felt when they were assigned a squad of genin graduate students.
"Well, my goal's pretty simple," said Tenten, placing a hand on her hip and beaming, "to be stronger than I was yesterday!"
Matsuri's wide eyes widened even more. "Stronger… than yesterday?"
"Yup!" said Tenten, smiling fondly at the sky as she remembered her genin days. "In fact, two of my… best friends… share the same goal."
At this, Matsuri started, her fatigue forgotten. "Can I―" she began hurriedly, eyes lit with a fire that Tenten knew all too well. Matsuri lowered her voice slightly, and continued on shyly, "Can I borrow that goal… Tenten-sensei?"
Tenten's eyes widened, speechless. Did she just call me…?
Matsuri blushed when Tenten continued to stare at her. "I-I mean… if it's okay to call you that…"
Tenten brought up a free hand and scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I guess it's okay…"
The younger girl's eyes brightened. "To borrow your goal or to call you sensei?" she asked happily, seemingly shedding her inhibitions.
Tenten laughed. "Both," she replied, both flattered and amused.
"Yes!" Matsuri exclaimed, bouncing on the tips of her toes and pumping a fist up into the air. "That makes you my second sensei! Ever since he became the Kazekage, Gaara-sensei hasn't been able to teach me anymore!"
Tenten blinked slowly before the weight of the younger girl's statement settled upon her. "Wh― HUH?"
"Thank you for everything today, Tenten-sensei," said Matsuri, unaware of the older girl's bafflement. She bowed lowly and politely before straightening up again, smiling. "Can I meet you here again tomorrow, sensei?"
Her eager question was only met with a barely conscious, "Uh… yeah… sure…"
Matsuri squealed and seemed to refrain herself from outright hugging the older girl. "I'll practice all day tomorrow, sensei, so that I can be stronger than I am today!"
"…Yes… Okay…"
"See you tomorrow!" Matsuri called, already under the archway in her haste to leave and prepare for the next day.
Tenten remained where Matsuri had left her, frozen on the spot. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Gaara had been her sensei? Did he teach her how to use the johyo then?… But wait… does he even know how to use the johyo? How come…?
Her head was swimming with a multitude of unanswerable questions. She knew why the little tidbit of information surprised her greatly― she was still under the impression of the "previous" Gaara… the one with the eyes of Death. Try as she might, Tenten knew that it would take time for her to get used to this "new and improved" version of Gaara. All this time, she'd only been hearing second-source tales about him, but to actually witness the change and hear it from first-hand accounts… it was a little bit more than startling.
Tenten sighed and stretched, realizing that she had been standing there for more than a couple of minutes, a fool, alone. She stowed her kodachi back into her scroll, at the same time gathering her scattered senbon needles by using her chakra strings.
This is one hell of a day, Tenten thought, smirking slightly to herself and thinking about the previous events of the hours past. It had started out normally enough with her waking up and washing and dressing― but then Gaara had come out of his room and practically ordered her to stay in his own forbidden hallway, then she'd had a friendly argument-filled tour with Temari and some sort of weird heart-to-heart with Kankuro, then later both of them disappear to go on some mysterious mission to Konoha so she was picked up by Gaara of all people… and now… now she had somehow become someone's sensei.
Shaking her head in amusement, Tenten wondered whether she'd ever had such a day back in Konoha. She never knew so many things could happen in a span of twenty-four hours.
A small gust of wind brought her attention to the sky. The sun was setting and darkness was falling. Tenten wondered with a small sense of longing whether Temari and Kankuro had reached the forests yet. A small wave of homesickness washed over her and Tenten rolled her eyes at herself.
Girl, it is way too early to be homesick, she scolded mentally. But the damage was done; she had let the feeling overcome her and her mind drifted to memories of her friends, her sensei, her apartment, her Neji―
"Damn!" Tenten growled angrily. Stop making me think about you!
Blinded with anger and frustration, she reached for her smaller scrolls and activated them with her jutsu, sending them flying into the air. Tenten jumped after them, positioning herself in between the two unraveled scrolls of parchment. "Soshoryu!" she yelled, spinning rapidly in midair and speed-summoning and firing her weapons by the hundreds, casting metal rain upon the ground until she couldn't summon anymore. She fell back to the earth with her empty scrolls, glaring at the silver scene before her.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
She reached behind her for her big scroll and was about to toss it up and do her ultimate Heavenly Chain of Destruction technique when the sound of soft footsteps froze her on the spot.
How was it that she already knew who it was without looking?
"Don't show that move to Matsuri." It was the low, quiet voice she seemed to be hearing a lot lately.
Tenten turned to face her intruder. In one day she had familiarized herself with his chakra and sense of presence. That only meant one thing to Tenten: she's been seeing him too much. Far too much. Don't these types of guys usually have better things to do locked up inside their empty rooms? she thought, annoyed. She felt guilty for the thought, but her bad mood was overpowering her senses.
But it's true, she tried to reason guiltily, stubbornly defending her wrong, take Shino, Sai, Sasuke, and N―
"What are you doing here?" she retorted sharply, inwardly cringing at her tone. She needed to get her thoughts as far away as possible from the "N" word. And Ten-chan? came the dreaded inner from the back corner of her mind, it's his freaking village. He can do whatever the hell he wants.
Tenten could have slapped herself.
Gaara stared at her impassively for a few seconds before decidedly ignoring her queries. "She's afraid of weapons."
Tenten stilled at his words, momentarily distracted. "Afraid of weapons?" she repeated, her voice sounding incredulous even to her ears. She couldn't even try to imagine having a fear of weapons. Tenten loved weapons. Loved them with a passion. Probably loved them even more than N―
"ARGH!" she yelled, kicking a kunai implanted into the ground beside her and sending it flying several feet.
"Does it upset you?"
Tenten looked up, almost jumping in surprise when her chocolate brown eyes met blue-greens. She bit her lip nervously. "Ahaha… no, no, I'm sorry. I was thinking of something else…"
He was staring at her intently, as though waiting for an explanation. Tenten cleared her throat and made a silent vow to stop acting like an airhead around him. "So, really? Matsuri's afraid of weapons?" she began, reverting back to the original topic rather smoothly. "I never would have guessed. I used senbon needles and a bo-staff… Heck, I even pulled out my kodachi and she didn't say anything… But then again, I guess that would explain the johyo."
Tenten knew she was rambling, but she felt the instinctive need to keep talking. If not to distract herself, then to distract Gaara from trying to ask about her earlier outburst. "G-good choice, by the way," she complimented lamely, her voice sounding strained. "She told me you used to be her sensei, so I assume you taught her how to use the johyo?"
"Yes."
"Ah. I thought so."
An awkward silence passed over them. Tenten began to draw her scattered weapons using her chakra strings for lack of anything better to do. He watched her with a frown on his face for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.
"…I remember that move," said Gaara slowly, as if trying to remember something with great difficulty. Tenten shrugged her shoulders in a careless gesture and sighed.
"Yeah. I bet you saw it during the Chunin Exams, right? But that was the lame version back then, I improved it a lot over the years," said Tenten, smiling a little to herself. She didn't know why she was talking so freely to him now. Perhaps her bad mood was good for easing her nerves. She took an armful of her weapons and dropped them fondly into a big, unorganized pile atop one of her scrolls. "I'd like to see your sister try and wave her stupid fan at them now! Hahaha!"
There was a flash of recognition in his eyes that did not go unnoticed by Tenten. She frowned. "You didn't forget that I fought Temari, did you?"
He looked away and she was almost certain that she saw a pale, pink flush on his cheeks before it vanished. Tenten put her hands on her hips, offended. "Wait a minute― you did, didn't you? You actually forgot!"
He remained silent, exercising his individual rights. Tenten crossed her arms and huffed. "I can't believe it… am I really that forgettable?"
She said the last few words mournfully as a flash of white orbs and dark brown hair burned in her mind's eye. Her bad mood just turned ten times worse. Gritting her teeth, Tenten turned back to cleaning her mess.
"…What upsets you so much?" Gaara asked from behind her, and for a second Tenten was startled by the mere fact that he was even asking. Had Gaara always been so talkative or was this also a new development?
She glanced at him and bit her lip. "How about this… I'll answer your question if you answer mine?"
When he didn't say anything, she continued. "What are you doing out here? I thought you went back to your―"
"No, I followed you."
Tenten blinked. Well, that was straightforward… should I also ask why?
He didn't give her a chance, however, as he stepped closer towards her, his face looking serious. "Now answer mine," he demanded. There was unmistakable authority in his voice, and Tenten immediately reminded herself that he was the Kazekage.
"Um… I shouldn't trouble you with it… it's really nothing important," she began, starting to fidget with the hem of her orange hoodie. When his expression betrayed annoyance, Tenten continued hastily, "It's really stupid, but there's this… this someone… that I know. And― argh! Where should I start?"
She scratched her head in frustration and took a deep, calming breath. "Well anyway, I guess all you really need to know is that we went out, we broke up, and now we're basically pretending not to know each other!"
It was a bitter declaration of the truth, but it hurt so much more after she spoke it… She saw the confusion on Gaara's face and felt that he was trying to make sense of her words in his mind. Tenten had an inkling that she had lost him somewhere and it dawned upon her suddenly― did Gaara even know what "we went out, we broke up" meant?
Tenten cleared her throat gently, hugging herself tight. "That is to say, I loved him very much, and I thought he loved me too," she admitted in a whisper, her voice breaking, "but… but I guess I was wrong. He― he left me."
She waited for the tears to flood her eyes, but none came. She was all cried out. After all, she had cried rivers of tears in Konoha prior to her departure. But it was the only thing that was missing― although the tears were not present, the hurt was. Tenten felt a sudden headache and sickness wash over her and sat down on the cold, hard earth with a sigh. The sky was a dark purple now― the prelude to the night.
She didn't understand why she suddenly felt warm despite the obvious chill of the cooling air when Gaara lowered himself to sit beside her, but she was glad all the same. She didn't think she could stand to be alone right now.
"…Why did he leave you?" His voice was soft, and Tenten turned her head to see his face. He was looking at her with such intensity that she immediately remembered the words she had spoken to Kankuro.
It's like when he looks at me, he can see everything that I'm made of.
Tenten sighed sadly, lowering herself onto her back, trying to find stars in the sky. It was something she had a habit of doing; Just like Shikamaru watched the clouds during the day, Tenten watched for stars at night. The coolness of the ground made her shiver. "I guess I just wasn't good enough."
Gaara seemed troubled, but said nothing. He settled back to watch her watch the stars, offering his silent company.
To Tenten, it was enough for now.
.
.
It was well past eleven and she was making her way slowly to her room, having just finished her solitary dinner in the kitchens. She stopped at the fork at the end of the main hallway, facing three tall, solid doors and abruptly turned to open the one to the right.
It led to a short, dark hallway, about twenty feet long and with two doors on each side. Her room lay behind the door to the far left. And the door opposite hers…
Tenten let a small frown on her face. He was such an enigma.
A small creak to her right made her jump and her eyes found the unmistakable red hair and blue-green orbs in the semi-darkness. She certainly was seeing a lot more of him recently.
He was peering out from behind his door, through a small sliver of space. Tenten could tell he had been waiting for her, because when he spoke his words were measured carefully.
"I had a similar experience… but with a family member," he said, his tone sounded somewhat fragile but his expression was set and impassive. "I too believed that Yashamaru abandoned me."
He paused while Tenten wondered who the hell Yashamaru was.
"But I found out that… he really did care about me."
Tenten bit her lip. She didn't know what kind of expression she was showing him, but Gaara's face softened at seeing it.
"Maybe yours will have a happy ending too."
He managed to catch her smile before he closed the door.
It was enough for now.
.
.
The next three days passed by without incident and unlike the action-packed first day, Tenten barely saw Gaara outside of coincidental meetings around the Kazekage's building. She busied herself with her mission, exploring the village, sparring with Matsuri, and just basically finding ways to entertain herself. Tenten had also begun to take note of the blue folder Gaara seemed to habitually carry around with him, but lately he also seemed to be carrying something else. A slip of paper maybe?
Perhaps it was lucky that Tenten waved it off as "Kage" duties and was uninterested about the entire affair.
.
He sat in his darkened office, staring at the words he had read a hundred times.
Gaara fingered the wrinkled note in his hands and frowned, laying it to rest inside the blue folder. It was troubling him immensely. A carrier pigeon had arrived early the day before, bearing the small scrap of paper with what was unmistakably his brother's hasty scrawl―
No matter what happens, don't let Tenten out of the village. Don't let her come back here. We'll explain when we get there. Kankuro.
It was not enough. Not nearly enough.
But he knew the answers would come soon.
.
.
.
You were the one who said that
There's no such thing as forever
So don't cry, don't hurt, don't run
My love has come undone.
.
.
End Chapter 3.