Sasuten VI
A/N- I feel much more confident now. After hours of research, I feel that I now have a good grasp of Sasuke's character. And I'm sorry about the late update; I've just had a bunch of make-up work to do at school because of my absences.
Please enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer- Naruto is not mine.
Chapter Six. Revelations.
Tenten woke up in a strange bed.
The sheets where white and crisp. Like she was the first person to ever sleep in them. And for another thing, everything was silent.
Usually in the mornings she could hear the kids in her apartment building playing outside. Or even the gossiping old women who lived across the hall. Instead she heard nothing.
Not even the chirping of birds. So she knew this wasn't Neji's house, because he loved to keep birdseed on his windowsill for the creatures. And they had often been perched upon Neji's windowsill shirping away.
Of course this isn't Neji's house Tenten! Neji's been dead for half a year!
Tenten sat up and looked around the room. It was definitely a traditional style Japanese bedroom. With tatami mats and everything. How strange, because her apartment was totally Americanized with green carpet and plentiful closet space.
A window even revealed a small lake. Was she in some strange dream where her apartment had gone Japanese on her? Because that was the only logical explanation.
Then Tenten saw that she was still in the dress that she had worn the night before. Oh god! What had happened?
She racked her brain for what was going on. She remembered Naruto's party, and talking to Hinata and Sakura. Then it was all a blur. Had she been kidnapped?
Then she looked up at the doorway and saw Sasuke Uchiha standing there.
Tenten screamed.
Sasuke immediately reached up to cover his ears. He glared at Tenten for disturbing the perfect serenity of the place.
But Tenten liked having some of the silence lifted.
"What is going on?" Tenten asked after she screamed.
Sasuke glared. But he progressed into the room and handed Tenten a glass of water and some pills.
"Here, take these." Sasuke said. "They'll help the headache."
Tenten took the glass of water, she was terribly thirsty. "I don't have a headache." She said. "Where am I?"
"You're in my house." Sasuke said. "And you got really drunk last night, so you're bound to have a hang-over."
"I don't drink!" Tenten said. Then she took a big gulp of the water. "But I am really thirsty. And how did I get in your house?" She handed him back the pills. She'd learned not to accept medicine from other people. After she's been almost poisoned to death on several undercover missions.
"I had to carry you out of the party." Sasuke said.
"Now I know that's not true. I've never gotten drunk in my life." Tenten said haughtily.
"Kiba spiked your drink." Sasuke said.
Tenten's mouth hung open. "He wouldn't do that! He's a kind person, why would he-"
"He didn't know that the adult punch had alcohol in it." Sasuke said. "He's lucky; if he'd been really trying to take advantage of you I'd have killed him."
Tenten smiled. "You're a good friend. Protecting my honor and everything. Now can I have more water?"
Sasuke grinned slightly. "Follow me."
Sasuke POV
This isn't fair.
That thought rang through Sasuke's head as he led Tenten to the kitchen. How come she can handle her alcohol so expertly and he can't?
She didn't have a hangover. She'd drank quite a bit last night, and she was suffering no side-effects.
Sasuke had drunk a lot in his years away from Konoha. The alcohol had helped him forget the woes of his life. The alcohol had helped numb his memories of a happy life in Konoha and of his elder brother. But he'd had to give up the drink after suffering multiple hang-overs.
But Sasuke could not deny that she was obviously suffering a lot emotionally too.
Sasuke watched how she sat at on one of the barstools in his kitchen and happily drank from a cup of water. She looked sort of cute right now.
Sasuke shook his head to keep these thoughts from surfacing. Tenten wasn't even his teammate, she shouldn't be called cute. She was a professional ninja, and deserved Sasuke's respect.
Sasuke and Tenten shared a relatively simple breakfast. Just some egg sandwiches and lots of water for Tenten. Then she bid him farewell and went back to her apartment.
Tenten POV
Tenten strolled back to her house. It was a really long walk from the Uchiha compound. Sasuke had offered to walk her home after they had eaten breakfast, but Tenten was afraid if someone saw them together. She was in the same clothes as last night, and rumors had probably spread about them leaving together. She would die if rumors spread about her and Sasuke hooking up.
But Tenten couldn't help but grin when she thought of Sasuke's kindness. It was so thoughtful of him to help her home after Kiba had accidentally gotten her drunk. She never thought that the Uchiha avenger would help her out in a situation like that. It really showed his real character.
After a shower, Tenten was wringing out her black hair and sitting down on the couch in her living room. It felt strange sitting in her apartment after being in the Uchiha compound. She could hear the couple next door to her bickering about something. Compared to the silence of the Uchiha compound, their bickering was totally maddening.
Tenten smiled sadly. When she and Neji had been together there had been no arguing among them. They would always sit and talk through their issues, and then they would be solved. And then Tenten and Neji would kiss furiously.
Tenten smiled as she remembered those days. Neji Hyuuga may be dead, but he would never be far from memory.
A Few Days Later
Tenten was leaning against a tree. She and Sasuke had just completed a rather vigorous spar. He'd used some gen-jutsu on her, but she had been able to easily break it.
Sasuke sat a few feet away from Tenten with his eyes closed.
Tenten admired how the sun reflected off his black hair, it was very pretty. Then his voice interrupted her musings.
"I noticed that you have bags under your eyes." Sasuke said. "Are you not getting enough sleep?"
Tenten unconsciously reached up to touch the soft tissue under her eyes. It was a little more swollen, but then again she hadn't really been sleeping all that well.
Tenten tried to laugh it off to Sasuke. "It's really nothing; ninja's don't really need sleep anyway." She said.
Now Sasuke looked interested. "Ninjas need a lot of sleep. To be able to keep up with all our physical activity, sleep is a necessity." He said.
Tenten looked away from the Uchiha avenger. "I just find it so hard to sleep alone." She murmured, thinking of Neji.
"Then I should sleep at your house." Sasuke said.
Tenten's eyes widened with shock. "Excuse me?" She said with a voice as cold as steel.
"I said that I should sleep at your house. Just so that you aren't alone." Sasuke said. "You've already slept at my house, so it's only fair if I sleep at yours."
Tenten sighed. "Fine. But my apartment is a lot different from the Uchiha compound."
Sasuke smirked. "I'll be over in an hour." Then he sped out of the training area.
Tenten watched him go. I hope he is showering. She thought. He was really sweaty from their spar.
Tenten hurried back to her apartment and began cleaning. She showered, picked up all her dirty clothes, washed the few dishes that were dirty and then surveyed the tiny rooms for any mess.
It was perfect.
Later
"I don't know why I agreed to this…" Tenten muttered as she let Sasuke in. He had a bag and had freshly showered.
"Maybe I want to see if it's true." Tenten said to herself.
"Did you have someone to sleep with before?" Sasuke asked as he set his bag down on the couch.
"I did." Tenten said.
Tenten watched as a long forgotten emotion passed over Sasuke's eyes. She knew that she had seen the emotion before, but she couldn't pinpoint it.
But Tenten had other things to worry about.
The couple that lived next door had come home mid fight. Sasuke turned slowly toward the wall and stared at it in wonder. The two people were angrily yelling at each other.
"I can hear every word!" Sasuke exclaimed quietly.
Tenten smiled with embarrassment. "Yeah, I did warn you that my apartment was different from the Uchiha compound."
Sasuke shook his head. "This is deplorable. Have you thought of hitting the wall with a broom? Maybe they'll get the message and be quiet."
Tenten laughed. "It works both ways, Sasuke. I accept them on their loud days, and they accept me on my loud days." She smiled. "And they can probably hear everything we're saying."
"It's been a while since I've been to an apartment building." Sasuke murmured. "But even when I lived in one, there wasn't this much of a privacy problem."
"Try not to act so snobby. It's very unbecoming. Anyway, I spent all afternoon cleaning, and I'm hungry. Let's have some dinner." Tenten said.
Sasuke stepped into the kitchen and set a parcel down. Evidently he'd been hiding it in his bag. "I brought you dumplings." He said.
Tenten couldn't help suppressing the smile, but then it was followed with a frown. "How did you know I liked dumplings?"
"You wouldn't stop mentioning them when you were drunk." Sasuke said.
Tenten smiled as she rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I did? Wow that is so embarrassing!" She said. Then she scarfed down the Chinese delicacy.
Later
Tenten dreaded this moment.
It was time to go to sleep.
Sasuke was waiting at the doorway of her bedroom. He had a smirk on his face. Tenten wanted to die.
Plus the couple next door seemed to have solved their issues and was now moaning nonstop.
"You can sleep in my bed. I'll just take the couch." Tenten said.
"I can't let you sleep on the couch in your own home." Sasuke said. "That would be quite impolite of me."
Tenten walked calmly into her bedroom. "You can sleep in the bed with me then. I hope you have no qualms." She couldn't make Sasuke sleep on the couch for much the same reason. It would be rude.
Sasuke smirked and settled himself comfortably in the covers. Her bed had soft and warm flannel sheets, they were a nice feeling compared to the cold temperatures she kept her house at.
Tenten flipped the lights off and made her way over to the bed. Her heart was beating furiously. She hadn't slept in the same bed as a man since the time of Neji's life. This felt wrong, but she couldn't deny that it was nice to know that someone else was there in the dark.
Sasuke shuffled slightly as Tenten slid into the bed beside him. He had to give himself credit. The last time he had shared a bed with a woman had involved sex. Tonight would be a nice refresher from that.
"Sasuke?" Tenten asked in the darkness.
"Hn?" Sasuke murmured.
"I've been wondering this for a while, why did you return to Konoha?" Tenten asked.
Sasuke tensed a little at the question. It brought back many uncomfortable memories.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's just that Sakura had said that you were so consumed with hate, and then one day you weren't. So what happened?" Tenten asked.
Sasuke cleared his throat before answering. "It was because there was nothing left for me outside of the village. I was only avenging Itachi, but now he is gone."
"He was gone before you decided to stop."
Sasuke turned to face her. He could barely make out her form, lying on the bed facing him.
"I had a dream about him. In it he told me that he had sacrificed everything to keep the village safe, and that I had no right to destroy everything he had worked so hard for." Sasuke said seriously. "I decided to take Naruto's offer to return after that. And I've been in Konoha ever since."
Tenten didn't know how to respond to that. "I heard it was because you wanted to return to Sakura." Tenten said.
Sasuke snorted as he tried to contain his laughter. "No. I would never return solely for her. It is nice to be on my old team again, but I never could love her back. I view Sakura Haruno as the sister that I never had."
"Plus she's engaged to Naruto." Tenten added wryly.
"Yes, I could never shack up with my best friend's girl." Sasuke said. Then he abruptly switched topics. "What about you? Why are you still here?"
Tenten paled. "What do you mean? It is a ninja's duty to protect their village. I could never quit."
"I don't mean that. I mean why are you still risking your life doing it? In my eyes you've done enough. You've lost the only man you've ever loved, and you never had any other family to begin with." Sasuke said.
Tenten fidgeted with her fingers. "Neji sacrificed himself to save Naruto. It was Neji's way of making sure that the village would have a wonderful leader in the future. Neji was simply doing what was called upon him as a ninja. He has also inspired many Hyuugas to become more active in ninja dealings."
Tenten smiled then. A real genuine smile, it was a nice feeling. "I want to be like him. I want to be so dedicated to my life as ninja and to protect as many people as possible. So that maybe, after I die I'll have people at my funeral. Maybe I'll have people remember me. And maybe I can inspire other people, orphans like me to become ninjas."
"That is a very noble cause." Sasuke said. "I can't say that I would do the same in your situation."
Tenten wondered if this counted as pillow talk. Somehow it must be it, even though sex was absent, they were lying in bed discussion things that she wouldn't tell anyone else.
"I think Itachi is proud of you." Tenten whispered.
Sasuke experienced a strange sensation in his chest as she said that. "I think Neji would be proud of you too." Sasuke said.
"Thank you." Tenten said. "That means a lot."
Later
Sasuke woke up to a foreign feeling. He was unbearably warm. And he was more comfortable than he'd ever been.
Tenten was wrapped completely around Sasuke. Like she'd been used to sleeping this way previously.
A blush tinted Sasuke's cheeks. Tenten must not realize what she was doing. Sasuke had never experienced this before. Usually whenever he had sex with a woman, she wouldn't remain to sleep beside him. So he had actually never slept with a woman like this before.
Somehow this moment with Tenten felt more intimate.
A/N- I'm not totally pleased with this chapter… Something just feels off. But, I really liked the last part. Because I've read lots of stories on here where the girl wakes up with the guy all wrapped around her, and I just wanted to mirror that. I thought it would be funny.
Please let me know what you think. And have a spectacular day!