Sorry for such the long wait! I haven't thought much about this story until I started updating Fighter and Perfidy. But! I have a plan for this, and I don't want to abandon it like I've done so many other stories. All I ask for is your patience as I figure it out.
Also, this is not my best chapter. If it seems rushed, I know. My apologies. But I was anxious to get the story going.
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns the characters. The plot is mine, mine, mine.
"I have a proposition for you."
Shikaku glanced up from the folder on his desk. Yamaguchi TenTen was standing before him, eyes narrowed.
"And what would that be?" drawled the police captain.
TenTen swallowed and made herself unclench her hands.
"You gave Neji and me a list of rebels. We determined the best way to capture them would be surveillance." TenTen took a breath. "I want to go undercover as a rebel."
Shikaku raised his eyebrows and reached for an unlit cigar, waiting on his desk.
As he withdrew a lighter, he said, "How well have you thought this through, Yamaguchi?"
TenTen crossed her arms in an attempt to seem more certain and less desperate.
"I've been thinking it over ever since we captured the pregnant girl. I've been speaking to her and I think she would be willing to get me in with her faction."
Shikaku stared at her and inhaled deeply.
"What makes you think they'll accept you, even if you were able to get in with them?"
TenTen responded, "Captain, I may not look it, but I'm a splendid actress. I will make them accept me."
"And if they don't?" prompted Shikaku. "At the very least, this department could have a hostage situation. I don't have the funding or the force to pull something like that off."
TenTen mulled this over for a second before shrugging, careless.
"Don't bother then."
Shikaku exhaled smoke in her face.
"I won't have you throwing your lot in with the rebels, only to be found dead on the streets a few weeks later. Where's Hyuga? He can't possibly agree with this."
Shikaku reached for his phone to page Neji's desk.
"He told me that if you agreed with it, he would also," TenTen interrupted.
"Well, I don't, so that's that, isn't it?"
TenTen's jaw tightened.
"Captain, listen, I know that this seems like an outlandish request, but I know what I'm doing. I know the risks and the dangers of this, but I'm prepared to do it to weed out these damn rebels for the good of Sapporo.
"The only reason you haven't allowed this before is because of the funding, but I don't need funding. I want to go in alone, with no strings from the department. I'm prepared to do this alone."
Shikaku rolled his eyes.
"Stop trying to be such a savior, Yamaguchi." Shikaku settled deep into his chair, considering her. "This has to go before Tsunade, before anything can happen."
"So, you're approving my request?" TenTen questioned.
Shikaku sent her a glare.
"Get out of my office. I have phone calls to make."
TenTen obliged and went to her desk, hoping her plan had worked.
She ignored Neji's suspicious eyes as they watched her. He suspected she was up to something, but TenTen wasn't planning on telling him until Shikaku approved her wish.
If he found out before her mission was approved, she knew Neji would try to stop her.
"What were you doing in the Captain's office?" Neji asked a few moments later, tone flat.
"I needed him to sign something," TenTen replied simply.
She turned away from him, focusing on the mound of paperwork situated in the corner of her desk.
Neji narrowed his eyes at his brunette partner and wondered what reason she would have to lie to him.
-xxx-
It took Shikaku five days to get back in touch with TenTen. When she was called into his office, it was more than just the police captain waiting for her.
In Shikaku's desk chair sat Tsunade, the Chief Superintendant of the entire police force in Sapporo.(1) Shikaku was exiled to standing behind her.
"Yamaguchi TenTen, I presume," said Tsunade.
TenTen nodded.
"Sit, please," Tsunade instructed, gesturing to a chair in front of Shikaku's desk.
TenTen obeyed, surprised by the Superintendant's presence. The only time she visited individual departments was when someone was in trouble.
"Captain Nara has informed me of your plan," Tsunade began without preliminary. "What a foolish idea."
TenTen looked down at her hands, sighing.
"Going undercover as a rebel has not gone unheard of among the Sapporo forces before, but obviously no one has the balls to carry it out. Do you know why this is, Officer Yamaguchi?"
TenTen shook her head.
"Because even an idiot wouldn't venture into a den of hungry lions," Tsunade concluded, studying TenTen sharply. "Why do you want to prove yourself an idiot, Officer Yamaguchi?"
TenTen answered, "I'm not an idiot, Chief Superintendant. I know what I can do, and I have information at my disposal. I can do this."
Tsunade sniffed and waved it away.
"You're young. You don't know what you can do. Have you ever undergone a mission like you're suggesting? Undercover is not easy, and it takes a lot of careful planning and funding. I have neither the funding nor the man power to get you out if things go wrong, which they probably will."
"With all due respect, Chief Superintendant, I never pegged you as someone to play it safe," TenTen murmured.
Tsunade raised her eyebrows and Shikaku glared at his officer.
A few seconds passed before the corner of Tsunade's mouth lifted slightly.
"You and I resemble each other somewhat, Officer. We both have rash tendencies," Tsunade said. She turned her eyes to Shikaku. "Approve the mission. I leave the planning in your capable hands."
Tsunade stood and spared TenTen a glance before she left the office.
"Let's hope that your attitude will be enough to gain you success in this endeavor."
-xxx-
Neji listened attentively to Shikaku and TenTen as they discussed her undercover mission. Honestly, he had no idea why he was even present; the two of them seemed to have everything figured out.
Shikaku eventually posed, "What do you think, Hyuga?"
"I can't believe you're letting her do this," Neji replied.
TenTen glowered at him, displeased, but Neji didn't care. She was being careless.
Shikaku just shrugged.
"She volunteered, and Tsunade herself approved it. I have to deliver results."
"Results?" Neji snapped. "She's going to die!"
TenTen's nostrils flared in anger.
"You doubt my abilities?" she retorted hotly to her partner.
"Frankly, yes," Neji responded.
TenTen rolled her eyes.
"You haven't done this kind of mission before; you don't know what's going to happen."
"And all of the training and exams wasn't enough?" TenTen said. "I've been prepared for undercover."
Neji shot back, "A simulation in the Academy is very different from real life, TenTen."
TenTen stared at him for a while, judging his expression before she turned to Shikaku.
"Remove him from the mission. If he doesn't have faith in me, then I can't work with him on this," she demanded.
"Request denied," Shikaku said, sounding bored. "Stop yelling, both of you. It's settled. Yamaguchi is going undercover, and you, Hyuga, will be her outside contact. Deal with it."
Shikaku dismissed them, and the pair angrily left the office.
"You won't succeed," Neji imparted to her.
"And it will partly be on your head if you let me fail," TenTen rejoined.
She swept past him and sat roughly at her desk, face red.
Neji exhaled and carefully walked up to her.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" he inquired softly. "With the way you've been feeling lately—"
TenTen sent him a sharp look.
"If you think that I'll let my personal feelings get in the way of the mission, don't worry. I know how to keep myself under control. Besides, that's why you're my contact. You're the one who has to keep me straight."
Neji shook his head.
"You don't even know if she'll tell you what you need to know to make contact with them," he said.
TenTen grinned up at him.
"Leave that to me."
-xxx-
The next day, TenTen came to the station dressed in her civilian clothes. She went straight to the holding cells and retrieved Ino, and led her to an interrogation room.
The girl's pregnancy was progressing. Where there had been only a slight bulge two weeks before, now there was a distinct bump.
"I came to tell you that I'm taking leave from my job for a while," TenTen began.
Ino raised her eyebrows.
"What for?"
TenTen sighed.
"I've been thinking a lot about what you've said, and I'm trying to figure out how I feel about it. My captain has let me take some leave."
Ino mulled this over, staring at TenTen.
"What are you going to do?"
TenTen shrugged.
"I don't know. I just—I feel like there's more, you know?"
Ino nodded slowly.
TenTen allowed her to think about it, and was not surprised when the younger girl leaned forward.
"I can help you, if you're truly interested," Ino spoke softly.
TenTen's forehead creased.
"What do you mean?" she asked the blonde.
"My family—they can help you figure it out. They can show you the truth."
"How?"
Ino exhaled and seemed to take a chance.
"Do you have a piece of paper?"
TenTen nodded and provided a small piece of paper and a pencil.
Ino scratched out a small message on one side and an address on the back.
"You'll find them in the outer city, obviously. I wrote down the address of headquarters. You'll have to be careful at first, but once they read this message it should be okay."
"Thank you," TenTen said, accepting the slip.
Ino nodded, fixing her blue eyes on TenTen.
"I'm really sticking my neck out for you," she informed. "If you betray my trust, you won't have me to answer to—you'll have the rebels, and they don't take kindly to government dogs regardless."
TenTen nodded and stood.
"Why even take a chance on me?" TenTen asked her as she led her back to the holding cells.
Ino attempted a smile and looked down at her stomach.
"I believe in a world where children may exist without worry of being killed in their infancy, and where people may question things freely without being murdered. There are things in this world that we can't control, but I believe in altering our reaction. We shouldn't react in fear when things happen. We should react with confidence and strength and perseverance. I'm taking a chance on you because I believe you can help us make it happen."
Ino flushed and met TenTen's gaze.
"They'll show you. They'll show you there's a better way of doing things."
Ino nodded to herself and walked into the holding cell without assistance, her fingers spread over the skin that held the growing baby inside her.
(1) Chief Superintendant is a title used in the Japanese police force (adopted from Britain) to describe a senior rank police officer who commands divisions of police. Kind of like quadrants.
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