Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a good friend's of mine idea.

A/N: Two chapters in two weeks? That's gotta be some kind of record! Thank you guys so much for reading and for supporting me. Your words and thoughts really mean a lot to me and thank you so much for them. I really hope you enjoy the next part of the story for that is why writers write.

X

The steps creaked loudly under their weight even as they crept up them as quietly as possible towards the louder noise. Tenten could feel her heart beat racing and there was a slight smile that tugged at her face. Maybe it was stupid to get excited over what could be a bad situation, but at least it was something to take her mind off their whole situation for awhile. Besides, while part of her was hoping to find something there was a strange security she'd never admit to having in knowing that nothing truly bad would be around the corner.

That is if Shino would let her see around the corner.

He held up his hand as they came to the top of the stairwell and she was tempted to push past him completely and race ahead. With their luck though, they'd wind up tangled together and falling down the stairs in a heap.

'At least phones would be less of a problem if we were knocked out.' she rolled her eyes, deciding instead of pushing directly past him, to edge her way up on the other side and move his hand back.

"Wait." Shino mouthed to her, but she only raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a nod with her head to the corner.

Sooner or later they had to make a move and if he wasn't going to do it than she was. Before she could move though, she felt him grip her arm and hold her in place. Instincts kicking in, she almost whirled around kicked him in the face with her knee, but stopped. There were more sounds to be listened for. Soft noises that didn't seem like they belonged, but at the same time were oddly familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but her hands clenched on reflex and finally she turned the grab around, pulling Shino up the final few steps.

They pressed themselves to the wall next to each other like they were spies in an old movie and edged their way towards the corner with Shino taking several quick steps in order to put himself ahead. Tenten snarled. She didn't need him to try and act like some kind of protector or hero. What did he think this was? If it was movie it certainly wasn't one of those where the male took all the leads and she would hang back defenseless.

Before she could say anything though, he held up three fingers, slowly dropping them one at time.

On the third one, a grin wide and ready, Tenten jumped out with him from behind the corner, her fists up and stance strong ready for a fight as a battle cry left her throat. Besides her Shino took a stance as well that showed at least some training in the martial arts and his glasses seemed to flash menacingly in the fading light.

All of which would have made more of an impact had they not found themselves standing at the end of an empty hallway, with only a few lockers collapsed on the ground. There were a few items scattered around that managed to escape and a huge chunk of wall attached to the metal backs, revealing the interior of the school and releasing a strong musty smell.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tenten dropped her hands as she went over and crouched besides the damaged locker. "I can't believe this happened again. I thought we raised enough money to fix this problem."

"You can raise all the money in the world, but if someone is incompetent at their job, or a single female termite more clever at hiding her eggs, there will be a problem." Shino said as he came closer, pushing up his glasses as he examined the broken items.

Tenten sighed, smoothing a hand over the wood as if that would reveal exactly what happened. She'd seen lockers pull away from the wall before a year ago, but she didn't remember it being quite like this. The damage, smell and the scattered items were the same, but there was something…odd about the wood this time.

"Tsunade-sensei's going to have a fit when she finds out about this, not to mention Ino."

"Hopefully she didn't have anything to valuable in her locker, and more importantly, I hope there's a way we can avoid getting blamed for this."

"Oh come on, Shino. We set fire to the chemistry room, got locked in a closet, locked in the school, and broke into the front office. Right now we're the poster children for causing problems." she chuckled, giving him a quick friendly punch in the arm.

She couldn't see his eyes behind his glasses, but she could tell from the slight twitch of his head that he'd shot her a look before turning his attention back. What was with him? Every time she seemed to get physically close to him he seemed to have some kind of odd reaction to it like he couldn't believe she was doing it. Anyone else and she might have suspected arrogance, but after everything that happened so far she wondered if it wasn't more embarrassment than anything else. She didn't know him that well, but he seemed to take things to heart more than normal.

"Yes. There is our new and less than glowing record to consider." he finally said, a slight smile on his face

"And at least it wasn't Neji's. He didn't have any homework this weekend so he put everything in his locker. Last year he had to pay for a few new books after Lee knocked him into the lake. I told him not to bring his books when we were there, but he's got a skull about as thick as they come." though she doubted any of the students would be personally charged for what happened here, Neji would have still had a mild panic attack over the crushed books, locker shelves and anything in his Judo bag that got broken open and leaked over everything else. At least it would have a nice scent to it though. She looked up, expecting to see another small smile on Shino's face or hear something about those he knew and what they'd do if it was their locker.

Instead he said nothing, his smile now gone and replaced by a look she couldn't put her finger on. She wasn't sure what caused the sudden change, opened her mouth to ask, then closed it for once. There was a gut feeling that told her not to press or he'd pull deeper into himself.

Then he broke the silence and ran his hand over the wood where her fingers had been only seconds ago.

"This doesn't look like the work of termites." he said.

Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?"

"I've studied them before and these aren't the kind of marks they make. They're to even and splintered at odd angles. It looks like it happened fast to rather than a slow chewing process over time. There's also no sign of any nest."

Despite the fact that Tenten wanted to argue, she found herself nodding. Something had seemed off when she first looked, though part of her had simply equated it to there not being a mass of bugs moving around on top. The more she looked though, the more she felt like she'd seen these kinds of breaks before and chewed her lip as she shifted through her memory.

"It looks cut." they both arrived at the same conclusion, their voices mixing together in a finality that added an extra degree of truth.

For a moment neither of them said anything as they continued to look at the damaged lockers, then Tenten stood up and began looking at where they'd pulled away from. There were no gouge narks at the side, more like a thin blade had simply slipped through the back and serrated it at the beginning. From there the weight of one falling had pulled the others down with it.

"Now the question is what happened." she muttered almost to herself, running her hand along the wall and trying to keep her thoughts from darker places.

"I'm not sure, but maybe over time someone has been working on it…"

"It doesn't look chipped though and who would be stupid enough or crazy enough to bring in a knife that could do this kind of damage?" she shot him a look. "And if you say anything about the swords I brought in for my history report last month, I'll smack you."

Shino raised his hands in what was almost a cheeky manner.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good…of course I'll probably get blamed for it all the same…or the Judo team will…"

"Except neither of you have any motivation. Whoever did this…there just isn't any sense to why. It's mindless destruction." he shook his head as he stood up and rubbed his hands against his pant legs.

"Well you know the seniors try to come up with crazy stunts to pull sometimes. Maybe they decided to try and take down all the lockers for redecoration." she tried to laugh, but it was hollow as she folded her arms and neither of them were saying what she knew they were both thinking. Was there anyway that someone could have gotten inside and done this? Was there a chance, no matter how slight, that they weren't alone in this school and that there was actual danger?

It was idiotic. Completely stupid to even consider, but at the same time, there was an unfamiliar knot in her stomach. Some would have called it fear, but she wasn't afraid. Not of something like this. Especially considering there was no way possible anyone could get in here. Whatever happened it was either some bad prank or they were wrong and termites really were trying to cave the school in on them.

There was a part of her that really hoped it was the later. Bugs could be dealt with easily. Students with weapons who had a grudge? Not so much.

"Maybe we should go see if the phones started working again?" she suggested. "Maybe they fixed whatever was wrong outside and we can get a connection now."

Shino nodded, but even as she spoke, neither of them made a move to leave for several more minutes. Finally, Tenten took a deep breath and shook her head, pushing hair from her eyes again and stepping over the debris, headed towards the stairs.

"C'mon, Shino. We'll figure this out later." she waved for his attention, and expected to have to fight him for a position in the front.

Instead he lingered a second longer, then moved behind her at a steady pace, his hands relaxed and at the same time ready to be brought up just in case. Obviously he was waiting for something, and like when they'd run up, trying to make sure he was in front of her if something were to come. She rolled her eyes, taking a step closer to the wall, and grabbed his hand to force him down on the same step with her.

"T…"

"You don't have to act like you're trying to be a hero. If anything does happen I can handle myself. Remember that." she said pointedly, but kept a firm grip on his hand to keep him from going back.

Another half hour passed as they wandered aimlessly around the empty school, the phones still down last time they checked. Tenten still felt like kicking herself for not charging her phone again and more than once was tempted to glare at Shino for his lack of one. At the very least some of the tension had melted away as they walked and any fears of boogey men running through they halls began to disperse. Now was when the acceptance that they could be trapped till Monday began to sink in and the noise their stomachs started making helped that further along.

"I guess if we can't do anything else we can make the best with what we have now." Tenten sighed, redoing one of her hair buns as they walked.

"I only hope our fathers decide to applaud our resolve rather than kill us when we get out." Shino said.

"Well between two teenagers being trapped in a school together for the weekend or being at some wild party, where do you think they'd rather have us? I mean sure we're all alone but what do they really think we might be doing?" she rolled her eyes just as a sudden coughing fit hit Shino and she smacked his back hard. "Hey, are you alright?"

He tensed briefly before nodding.

"I'm fine. Some air went down the wrong pipe is all."

Tenten raised an eyebrow, about to say something when a sudden growl from her stomach cut her off. Slight heat touched her face and she folded her arms. There wasn't much that could embarrass her, but she hated the sound that advertised to the world she wanted food.

"You know if we broke into the office, I'm sure we could find our way into the kitchen. We'd probably get in less trouble for that to. Why? Because I'm sure they wouldn't want to find us starved come Monday."

"I'm fine. Besides…" her stomach growled again, soon followed by Shino's and she palmed her face. "Alright, lets just head to the kitchen. There's nothing else to do right now and if a ghost is in here, the last thing we need is to give ourselves away like this."

"You don't really believe in ghosts do you?" Shino asked as they headed towards their new destination.

An annoyed look flashed across Tenten's face.

"What do I look like to you, some kind of idiot? Of course I don't believe in ghosts. They're just stories people make up to scare kids and sell books and movies. There's nothing real to them." she hoped he didn't bring up what happened in the bathroom earlier.

"I never said you were an idiot, but you do seem to refer to them a great deal. With what happened upstairs I was just…well if you did believe in ghosts, I wouldn't think you any less intelligent. Why? Because while I may not see logic behind it, there are those…who…" fortunately for him he trailed off as she shot him a glare.

Whatever there might be that she did fear in life, ghosts and legends weren't on that list. They were just ideas made larger than life by real people and nothing more. Neji might believe in fate to a certain degree and there was that summer she'd decided to try and learn to read fortunes, but it was all a joke. Nothing else proved that more than finding a toy makers stamp on the back of every fortune card she picked up.

Of course the sounds all around them sometimes made this hard to remember. During the day these were the norm, but as night came and shadows grew…

"I'm not afraid of ghosts." she stated suddenly as they ended up at the kitchen. "Or anything like it for that matter! In fact the only thing I do fear is probably my dad breaking my back with a hug, and that's more good sense than a real fear! So don't act like you have to protect me from something I'm not even worried about to begin with!" she gripped the handle of the door so hard she could feel the metal start to bite into her skin as she slammed her shoulder against it again and again. "And don't start with me about what I should be worried about or not feeling like an idiot. You said yourself there was no logic to it and if there's no logic then why should I care?" again and again her shoulder hit the door before she felt something gingerly touch her shoulder. She whipped around, nearly knocking it away and meeting Shino's gaze.

"I apologize. I wasn't trying to make you feel foolish or imply you were afraid of anything. Just that…this entire situation is stressful enough that if on some slim chance you were worried about…anything…you could…" his words became muttered after that as he rubbed the back of his head and Tenten dropped her gaze with a sigh.

Great. Here she was ranting and raving and getting angry when all Shino had wanted to do was make sure she knew she wasn't alone. Maybe he said she wasn't an idiot, but right now she felt like one. No. Not just an idiot. She felt like a jerk. Her emotions were all over the place right now and she knew she was taking it out on the only person she could…and as much as she wanted to have something to direct those emotions at, she knew it wasn't right to do that to Shino. He was probably just as freaked out and irritated as she was, but he actually had a reign on his temper and wasn't lashing out like a child.

"I'm…sorry, Shino." the apology seemed foreign in her mouth and it felt like a physical struggle to get it out.

The boy's eyebrows raised slightly, a question obvious on his face.

"I'm letting this whole situation get to me and I'm acting stupid. You didn't do anything wrong, you were just talking…I just…I kinda want to scream at everything right now and you've been an easy target and…" she shook her head and without giving herself a chance to rethink her next move, pulled a play from her dad's book. A split second later she had her arms wrapped around Shino's middle and gave him a hard squeeze. "I'm sorry."

For a moment there was an added layer of silence that seemed to drop over them like a blanket. She could feel Shino's entire being tense under her touch and she swore she could hear his heart hammering in his chest. Was he worried her hugs were like her dad's and she'd break him? Or was it something else? And why only now did it hit her how much taller he was than her?

"You can hug me back you know." she teased lightly, biting back a taunt about already having been groped and a hug being much more innocent. It was another few seconds before Shino awkwardly returned the embrace, then once they parted started helping with the door.

With the damage Tenten had already done and both of them working together, it took less than three minutes to break through the lock and find themselves standing in the kitchen. It was a large room outfitted with two older stoves near the back with a sink close by, cabinets on either side, some of which were locked and an island counter with a moveable middle in the center, creating a small alcove. Below that were more storage areas and a large old fridge stood nestled in one of the corners in back. There was a lock on that as well, but none of the locks looked too hard to break through. Some were only plastic ties and most importantly the power box looked like it could be gotten into. While the entire school ran on the same power supply, some rooms had been cordoned off as having their own in case of emergency shut down. The kitchen and chemistry room were two of them.

Even with this accomplishment of getting in and food within their reach, there was still tension in the air from what had previously happened and Tenten felt even worse than before. From the corner of her eye she could see Shino's shoulders had slightly slumped and he seemed to be looking everywhere but at her as he moved around. She really hadn't meant to bite off his head like that. It was just that she wanted to assure herself that she wasn't afraid and yelling was one of the best ways she'd found to do it.

Motivations though rarely changed the circumstances or the fact that she shouldn't have done it.

"You know I have an idea." she suddenly said standing a few feet behind Shino.

Shino looked over from one of the cabinets.

"What?"

"Why don't we play house."

Shino's jaw dropped.

"Don't tell me you've never played house before!" Tenten rolled her eyes in fake exasperation with a grin, her hands firmly on her hips. "I mean you have the part of being the protective 'husband and father' down. So why not just pretend? It can be like a game." why was it an idea in her head could sound so good until she opened her mouth? Even worse, why couldn't she drop the subject as soon as she saw the look on Shino's face?

"I…I honestly do not remember ever having played this kind of game before…"

"Even when you were little and the neighborhood girls dragged you around?"

"I can't say that ever happened to me." there was a hint of sulk in his voice and Tenten hmphed, her stance becoming more authoritative.

"Then it's time we fix that! And it's not like anyone else will ever find out, and you have to play house sometime in your life." she swore her dad must be throwing his voice and she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly unsure how to backtrack out of looking like a loon. "Well…you don't have to. It was just a silly idea for a game to help us forget for awhile that we're trapped. You know just…forget it. It's okay, it was…"

"Tenten?" Shino interrupted just as she turned towards the cabinets on the opposite side, then looked back over. She swore there was some kind of coloring to his face, but in this light it was hard to tell. "Since I have never played that game before and it seems like something everyone has…maybe it would be best not to waste this opportunity to learn?"

Tenten felt a grin spread across her face and before she could stop herself, she began giving out directions just as she had when she was seven.

X

He wasn't worried about Tenten. It was seven thirty and she still hadn't called, but he wasn't worried. There was no reason to be. After all she had probably caught up with Neji and Lee after school and lost track of time. Or was avoiding coming home for the moment to avoid homework and because he didn't bail her out of extra work.

That couldn't be helped though. Even if it was an accident, there were still consequences and ways it could have been avoided. Of course that didn't make the fact she could be mad at him any easier to swallow. Or the questions that grew along with the shadows that continued to grow and creep through the neighborhood.

His daughter could take care of herself, that much he knew. She had thrown enough people to the ground in Judo and once fractured a poor kids tailbone from how hard she slammed him to the ground. Not to mention she was infamous around school for nearly elbowing people in the face or stomach if they came up behind her unannounced.

The first time he had been called into the office because of the latter incidents, he hadn't known whether to reprimand her or burst with pride over her swift reflexes. Unfortunately a combination was probably not what Tsunade had been looking for, but if the boy had any sense of being a man he wouldn't have complained over what wasn't even a scratch.

Gai rolled his eyes. Maybe they should start making more Judo classes mandatory in gym. It'd be good for everyone and it would show the young men exactly what could happen if they tried anything with his daughter.

The red grading pen in his hand nearly snapped as sudden thoughts of boys, their intentions and Tenten's absence raced through his mind and his teeth grit. He was older now, but he still knew how it was to be young and have those fleeting inappropriate thoughts and intentions himself. Heaven only knows how so many resisted his smooth advances, but he was grateful they had so he could still walk with his head high.

Now he was on the other end of the spectrum in a way.

Tenten had a good head on her shoulder's, but she was still just a little spring flower. What if someone tried to abuse her nature and take advantage of her disposition? What if they talked their way into hand holding or kissing or worse? He swore if anyone was stupid enough to have tried something, they'd better have a will and gravesite ready because…

"Bah. Listen to yourself, you're letting your imagination run wild." he pushed back from the desk and stretched, his work clothes still on, though his tie now hung at an odd angle. "Tenten's probably just enjoying the company of her peers and at her age making such connections is a wonderful thing. There's nothing to worry about."

He was probably just edgy because he'd waited for Tenten in hopes after some of her work was done they could go on a quick trail run together. A sort of surprise after everything that happened. But as more time passed and he'd continued to wait, his energy building and building, she continued to stay away. Now he wanted to go out for a run, but there was no time if he was going to get all these reports graded by Monday.

From the corner of his eye, he looked at the cell phone on his desk, tempted to turn it on and try to call his daughter. Then he stopped. He'd lost the charger for it again and it was nearly out of battery life. If he had to call her, he could do it from the home phone and if she wanted to call him then after not getting an answer on his cell, she'd call the house. Or Lee or Neji would. Either way he expected to hear from her soon. At least by eight. After that he'd do the calling around and find out just what was going on.

But for now there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. So why was there still something twisting in his gut that had his sense's on edge as he looked out the darkening window?

To Be Continued…

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed the story and please let me know what you thought.

Hope you have a great day.

Be blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel