Finally, some action! :)
Disclaimer: Characters are Kishimoto's. Plot is mine.
TenTen considered the map laid out in front of her, trying to make sense of the shaded in streets and the big x's that marked known hostile groups.
The map was labeled as a relic of sorts to her department—a piece of paper that detailed the condemned outer city of Sapporo. However, TenTen knew she couldn't rely on it too much—the map was dated to be ten years old.
"How does it look to you?" inquired Neji, peering at her bowed head.
They were in one of the station's little used conference rooms, preparing for TenTen's infiltration.
"Tricky," was TenTen's soft response.
Neji looked up from his strategy plans and raised his eyebrows.
"I can do it though," TenTen hastily amended, meeting his eyes.
Neji rolled his eyes.
"You're going to die," he muttered, glancing back down.
TenTen treated him to a sour glare that he easily ignored.
"If I die, it's on you. You're supposed to help me," TenTen retorted.
"I'm limited in my abilities. I can only help you while you're in the inner-city. After that, you're on your own. Which is why you should go tell Captain Nara right now that you can't do it."
TenTen shook her head. They had had this argument a million times in the past few days, and she would not be the one to admit that the task placed before her was practically impossible. Her pride was too great for that kind of embarrassment.
She was venturing out into the Great Unknown tomorrow morning. The mounting feeling of failure was imminent.
-xxx-
Upon waking the next morning, TenTen checked outside. True to the forecast, it was lightly raining outside, a dismal gray. An appropriate parting present.
TenTen sat back down on the edge of her mattress, thinking. She didn't know the next time she would see this room, sleep in her own bed.
TenTen blinked and stood up, stripping off her clothes. She pulled on her rarely worn casual clothes—she would have no need for the uniform she wore at the station.
As she was lacing up her boots, her phone buzzed with a call from Neji.
"I'm downstairs," Neji murmured when she picked up.
"Be down in a minute," TenTen replied.
She hurriedly grabbed her bag, throwing it over shoulders. She had packed a week's worth of clothes the previous night, a small bag of toiletries, a few cans of soup, and dried fruit. In the front pocket was a pistol, along with a small bag of bullets.
When TenTen arrived outside, Neji was waiting, staring out at the street.
"Good morning," TenTen greeted.
Neji glanced at her.
"Ready?" he asked.
TenTen nodded, pushing down the nervousness in her gut.
They were walking to the edge of the inner-city—the only transportation that ran these days were privately owned cars, which were rare, and motorcycles.
Their journey on foot was a silent one. TenTen suspected Neji was still angry with her for going through with this.
As they neared the border between civilization and wasteland, Neji began to speak, his tone slightly urgent, "Your phone should work in the outer-city, but they'll probably confiscate it from you as soon as you show up. I wouldn't be surprised if they take your pistol too."
Neji reached into his jacket and held out a small vial.
"What is this?" TenTen asked, taking it and peering at the liquid inside.
"It's cyanide. Captain Nara said I should supply you with some in case something goes wrong."
TenTen raised her eyebrows.
"You're not seriously expecting them to torture me," she said, surprised.
Neji shrugged.
"I don't know what they plan on doing with you. Better safe than sorry."
TenTen rolled her eyes, but carefully slipped the vial into her jeans pocket.
They walked the last few steps to the border and stopped, looking out at the decrepit buildings and the broken glass littering the cracked street. The guards at either end of the street looked at them curiously.
"If I don't hear from you in two weeks, I'll assume you're dead," Neji muttered, pulling his eyes from the destruction to look at his partner.
"You're dating my survival to two weeks?" TenTen posed jokingly.
Neji didn't laugh, his face remaining serious.
"Remember the part you're playing. You're a civilian who doubts the government's effectiveness. You're searching for something more. Did you leave your ID at home?"
TenTen nodded easily, shifting the bag on her shoulders.
"I guess that's it, then?" TenTen asked, glancing up at him.
Neji inclined his head, hesitation in his pale eyes.
TenTen moved forward, and looked back at Neji.
"I'll contact you soon," she said, feeling heaviness settle in her chest. "Can you do me a favor and check on Ino once in a while? She needs someone right now."
Neji blinked, but nodded in response.
"Okay." TenTen stared at him, wishing she could glean some sort of comfort from him.
Neji budged forward, his toes resting on the border line.
"Don't forget who you are and why you're there," Neji cautioned, letting a note of concern coat his words.
TenTen smiled clumsily at him and turned around, heading off into the wild unknown.
When she reached her first turn, several blocks away, TenTen threw a glimpse over her shoulder. Neji was in the same spot she'd left him, solid and unmoving.
TenTen held up her hand in parting and disappeared between the buildings, feeling her heart heave a small sigh.
-xxx-
Three hours later, TenTen consulted her map.
The rain had continued throughout the morning, and for the past half hour the sky had begun to darken with storm clouds.
TenTen wished she had brought an umbrella.
She had had little trouble in her journey so far, but the further she went into the outer-city, the more TenTen grew anxious.
It was eerie. The presence the streets held was ominous. TenTen felt like she was intruding on something wild, uncontrolled, and violent.
There were no signs of any human visitors. Decaying bodies that hadn't been recovered or found lied rotting in the streets, forever staring at the ruins of the city. The buildings that were still standing hung droopy; structures that were once booming businesses were exposed, their drywall and brick crippled. It reminded TenTen of a gaping wound, bleeding out, unable to heal.
Seeing the abandonment and devastation of the city washed TenTen in memories.
Her earliest memory of the war had been a bomb raid.
She had been young—no older than three—and she had been corralled into the basement of the orphanage she had grown up. The bombs had shaken everything to its core. TenTen remembered the fear well.
Even after the war, she recalled the senseless violence that happened.
Transgressors of the Intimacy Law were punished in public in the early years after the document had been signed—a scare tactic that established a no resistance, zero tolerance society that the NUJ was intent on obtaining.
It was terrifying to see men and women, even teenagers, beaten to death in the streets. And the worst part was that no one could do anything about it. In the NUJ, this behavior was expected. In the NUJ, murdering two people in love was justifiable.
TenTen blinked and let her recollections fade. She had no time to mourn the past now. She was on a mission.
Carefully, she folded back the map and put it in her jacket pocket, stepping forward onto a new block.
"Stop where you are," commanded a voice from behind, the flick of a safety cutting through the silence.
TenTen's eyes widened and she immediately put her hands up to assure she wasn't armed.
"Don't move," said the voice, distinctly masculine.
TenTen obeyed, running through a million scenarios in her head and dismissing each one. She was undercover. She couldn't act like a cop today.
A set of hands checked her bag, snorting at the small pistol in the front pocket before removing it from her bag.
"She's clean, besides the pistol," said a girl's voice.
"What's your purpose here?" asked the male.
TenTen swallowed.
"I'm looking for Snake Eyes. I was told I could find him here," TenTen answered, relying on the response Ino had told her to use.
TenTen heard a shifting of feet against the pavement, and she figured the two were considering what to do.
A moment later, the man inquired, "What business do you have with him?"
Again, TenTen replied with one of Ino's phrases, "I came to be taught justice and unlearn injustice."
Silence reverberated among the three, and TenTen wondered if perhaps they were about to kill her.
"Come on," said the girl, grabbing TenTen's arms roughly and forcing them behind her back.
TenTen's eyebrows rose. Even when arresting a prisoner, she had been forbidden to touch them without gloves on. These girl's hands were easily holding onto her wrists, as if it were normal.
She was forced to walk ahead of her captors; TenTen assumed they didn't want their faces to be seen until her fate was decided.
The walk was short. They eventually arrived at an alley and TenTen was pushed to a dead end, a brick wall, and forced to her knees.
TenTen's heartbeat grew rapid. Was she about to be shot, point-blank? Had she gotten the answers wrong? Ino had told her exactly what to say—
"Lie face down," instructed the girl, letting go of her wrists.
Apprehensive, TenTen obeyed, realizing she had no choice either way. If she reached for the cyanide, she'd be shot immediately, and the girl had taken her pistol. Hand-to-hand combat was an option, but really, what good were a few punches when a bullet could silence her instantly?
TenTen listened as two pairs of footsteps receded to the end of the alley, hushed voices following.
Were they going to leave her here? They would shoot her first, surely. She had entered their territory, uninvited, and she had to be punished. There would be no escapes, obviously. The first lesson TenTen had been taught about rebels was that they took no chances, so why—
Suddenly, a booted foot nudged her side, turning TenTen over onto her back.
Above her stood a raven-haired male, eyes dark as night itself, but lively.
"Where's Ino?" was his only question.
I'm sure you all know who that is. ;)
Review please.