Author's Note: This is a background/flashback chapter; I wanted to illustrate why Tenten and Allia were on good terms. I've always liked the idea of Tenten being quite a welcoming and protective person; the kind who'd look after the new student. Especially after reading Innocent-Rebel's fanfiction "Fractured Lotus" (Which is a fantastic read, by the way).

X

Tenten was a confident girl. She wasn't an overly popular student at the Ninja Academy, nor was she one of the shy loner types. She had a comfortably sized circle of friends, and was respected by her classmates for having above average talents in the various shinobi disciplines. She was however, slightly impatient, especially towards weak-willed and indecisive people. Tenten was also well respected by the teaching staff at the Academy for her ability to welcome newer students and help them find their place. It was this quality that led Izumo to entrust her with the task of looking after the hybrid girl when she first started at the Academy.

He called Tenten aside after class one day at the end of the school term. Izumo waited for the rest of the students to file out at the end of the day, before turning to her, and asking:

"At the start of the next term, we've got a new student joining our class from a different group. Is it all right for me to ask you to look after her until she settles in? She's slightly…different to the others."

Tenten smiled, and said, "Of course, Izumo-sensei, I'd be honoured. Who is she?"

"She's living with the Sugiyama family, a hybrid girl named Allia."

"Allia? That's an unusual name…" said Tenten thoughtfully.

"The members of the hybrid clan she was born into all have unusual names, from what I've heard. I think they must have come from a different continent altogether perhaps…"

"Would it be a good idea for me to meet her before the next term begins?" asked Tenten eagerly. Her parents had told her many stories about the hybrid clans and she was eager to meet a member of such a family. Hybrids were rare in the Leaf Village, and she'd never seen one before.

"Yes, I was going to suggest that myself, actually. I asked her previous teacher to keep her back today so that I could introduce you to each other."

X

Allia was feeling relieved. It was the last day of term, and the last day she had to spend in her current class. She waited behind as she'd been instructed when her classmates left the room excitedly, some of them firing a last few taunts and jibes at her as they passed.

Kotetsu smiled apologetically at her from his desk. "I'm sorry you've had to have such a rough time of it here. Hopefully, you'll be able to make a new start in the other class next term."

"Thanks for everything, Kotetsu-sensei." Allia replied. "I'll try my best in the other class."

The door slid open, and Izumo walked in, Tenten following closely behind. She looked round as Izumo began talking in a low voice to Kotetsu, and shot a warm and friendly smile at Allia. Allia couldn't help but return the smile from her seat. Tenten waved her over, and she made her way to the front.

"You must be Allia. My name is Tenten. Nice to meet you" greeted Tenten.

"Nice to meet you too, Tenten." Allia replied, bowing.

X

"Do you have any hobbies?" asked Tenten.

The two girls walked down one of Konoha's many streets. Tenten was chattering away, bombarding Allia with all manner of questions; what food she liked, what food she hated, her favourite colour. Allia answered each of them as they arrived.

"My favourite food is egg-fried rice. I hate fish. My favourite colour is green. I like reading comics, making things, helping out in Mum's shop, and training with my brothers."

Tenten led the way into her personal favourite sweetshop. Once they were inside, she began searching through the shelves.

"I heard hybrids have special powers, they can do things that normal humans can't," she said excitedly as she looked. "Is it true? Do you have any special powers?"

Allia blinked in surprise. "Ummm…Not that I know of," she replied, laughing embarrassedly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Maybe you just haven't found them out yet. Could I have two of these please?" Tenten asked the shopkeeper, pointing at two chocolate bars on the counter. Once she'd paid and received her change, she held one of them out to Allia. Allia's eyes widened with uncertainty.

"Is this for me?"

"Of course it is, silly," laughed Tenten, "I wouldn't buy two for myself now, would I?"

"Don't you want me to pay you back?" asked Allia, taking the proffered bar of chocolate hesitantly.

"No need. Consider it a gift." Tenten smiled again. "That's what friends do, right?"

Allia returned the smile. "Then I'll make sure to return the favour one day. Thank you, Tenten."

They left the shop shortly afterwards. The Academy always finished a few hours early on the last day of term, so they had some time to spare before they'd normally have to be home by. Tenten suggested going to the park to sit and talk for a while. On the way, Allia asked what the teacher and other students were like in Tenten's class.

"Izumo-sensei and Kotetsu-sensei are good friends, so I'm sure that if you liked Kotetsu-sensei, you'll like Izumo-sensei," Tenten explained, "As for the others, we have a lot of different kinds of people in our class. Neji, for example, is a genius. He's from the Hyuuga clan, and he's top in everything. He doesn't talk much though…And there's a girl called Kiku who's brilliant at Ninjutsu. Quiet as a mouse though. There's a small group of troublemakers in the class, but they're not too disruptive. Most of the time, they just make people laugh. They do all their work though…"

Tenten reached the park gate first, and Allia followed behind. They walked along a pebbled pathway that ran below a large number of cherry blossom trees. Eventually, the two of them arrived in a field that was available to the public for practicing martial arts and the like, that contained a number of benches around the edges and training posts and dummies in the centre. Tenten had suggested the area earlier ("Because the other fields are full of other people at this time,") and as she'd predicted, it was much quieter. They had no company, save for a young boy training on one of the many wooden posts in the centre of the field.

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened in your class that meant you've had to leave it?" asked Tenten as they sat down on one of the larger benches that had a table built into them. Allia sat opposite Tenten.

"Because of these." Allia raised a hand and pointed at the small cat-like ears that were just visible through her thick and wild lilac hair. The other hand reached behind her and lifted the end of her tail so that Tenten could see it better.

"Pssh. The people in your class are just stupid then. I think those are cool." Allia blushed a little at the compliment.

"So, wait, you don't have ears like mine then?" Tenten continued. Allia lifted the hair on both sides of her face. Sure enough, where ears would've been on any normal human was simply her hairline.

Allia laughed at the look of complete fascination on the other girl's face. Her attention was then diverted by a loud thud that came from the centre of the field. She looked over Tenten's shoulder to see that the boy who'd been training was now flat on his face on the ground. He stood up again, a little unsteadily, before starting to do a series of squats.

"What is he doing?" asked Allia, concerned. "He just fell on his face. Is he ok?"

"Oh, him. That's Rock Lee." Tenten replied, also looking round. "He's probably fine."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he's in my class."

"Is he normally like this…?" enquired Allia in disbelief, as she watched him finish the squats, pick up a skipping rope and started hopping from one foot to another with it.

"Yeah. He can't do any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, so he tries to make up for it with Taijutsu alone. Trouble is, he's not very good at that either." Tenten explained.

"And this is his idea of physical training? I've never seen anything like it…" Allia trailed off, a note of incredulity in her voice. She watched Lee put the skipping rope down, and began bobbing up and down as he started a series of push-ups. 'Does he ever stop for a break?' thought Allia.

"So what are your specialities, then?" Tenten asked.

"Specialities? You mean like Ninjutsu or Genjutsu and things like that?" When Tenten nodded in conformation, Allia closed her eyes thoughtfully for a few seconds, before replying, "I'm only really any good at Taijutsu. My brothers often train with me."

"So you're not so good at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, then? I'm sure you'll get better with practice!" said Tenten encouragingly.

"No, you don't understand. I can barely do any of either kind of techniques. My best attempts have pitiful results. That's one of the other reasons I had so many issues in the other class," said Allia somewhat resentfully, "People thought it was hilarious."

"Even so, I'm sure you'll manage it some day." Tenten stated again confidently. "Practice makes perfect, after all."

"Maybe…" Allia trailed off, unconvinced. "…Do people pick on him? You know, because of the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu thing?" she asked a few minutes later

"Are you worried you'll have the same problems as you did in the other class? Don't worry about it!" Tenten laughed confidently.

"That's not what I-" Allia began, but Tenten interrupted.

"Trust me. As long as you stick with me, you won't have any problems at all."