A/N:

Here's chapter 2! Please enjoy!

Tenten woke up late the next morning. She was embarrassed to find that Shino was already awake and ready to go, dressed in a dark blue yukata and sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. He seemed to be meditating.

"I'm sorry I didn't wake up sooner," she muttered, her voice tired and drowsy. He looked up slowly, adjusting his dark-tinted glasses. She wondered how he could even see with those things in such a dark room.

"It is no problem. I am an early riser, and I thought it best to let you sleep longer."

"Oh." She still felt guilty, but there wasn't much to do besides move on and try to have a productive day. She sat up and stretched out, realizing that she had fallen asleep in the clothes she'd worn the day previous. She guessed she really had been wiped out from their long journey. She stood slowly, groaning as she stretched out her stiff muscles, and made her way to her luggage to find something to wear.

She eventually settled on a simple teal-colored kimono and a dark green ribbon. She padded into the bathroom to wash her face and change.

Shino closed his eyes once again, continuing to meditate, feeling his bugs quietly pulse underneath his skin. Truthfully, he hadn't seen the point in waking her up. Most of the people of Kurohara, especially those who spent time at the Main Inn, were late-risers, choosing to stay up all night to drink and engage in all types of depravity. If he and Tenten had awoken early to scout the place, they may have drawn unnecessary attention to themselves.

He heard the water shut off in the bathroom, and the sounds of Tenten tinkering around and getting ready.

"Um, Shino-san?" She paced back out into the room, holding her half-tied obi behind her back. He already knew what she was going to ask. "Sorry to ask you again. Could you help me tie this?"

"Of course."

He made quick work of her ribbon, making sure not to tie it too loose or too tight. She was holding her hair out of the way to avoid letting it get caught up in the knot.

"There," he said, stepping back to inspect his work.

"Thanks! I can tie the knot, it's just a little hard to do it on myself."

"It is no trouble, but you must learn how to tie it on yourself in case I'm not here to help you."

The corner of her lip twitched. He'd said something wrong-that was a habit of his, he supposed. Thankfully, it didn't look like she was going to call him out on it. She gave him a tight smile and went back into the bathroom to continue getting ready.

Shino sat back down in his chair, thinking. It had been obvious to him since the beginning of this mission that Tenten was clueless when it came to dressing up. It wasn't that she had a terrible sense of style, but she just didn't have the know-how for traditional clothing. There had been several instances when it had been necessary to give her advice on how to tie an obi correctly, or let her know that her hair was falling out of its updo. It seemed that the only style she knew was her own, like no one had ever taught her how to do her hair in anything other than twin buns, or dress in traditional clothing. He wondered why that was, but he wasn't Kiba—he knew better than to ask a girl why she didn't know how to dress.

"So, what are we doing today?" she asked.

"Today we observe. First, we'll eat breakfast together downstairs in the hotel restaurant. Then you will scout the hotel and make note of convenient escape routes, weak points, and suspicious areas. That includes the bathhouse." He could see her eyes light up at that suggestion. He continued, "I'll go outside and scout the district to see if there is anywhere that looks suspicious. However, I suspect that any clues to be found will be here."

"Sure thing," she said with a nod, finishing her hair and smoothing out her kimono. "I'll be able to draw a map for you by the end of the day. I'll talk to some of the staff, too."

Shino opened the door of their room, ready to assume the identity of Souza Nakamura. "Shall we go downstairs for breakfast, Nanami?" he asked, letting her lead the way out the door.

"Of course, thank you, Nakamura-san," she said with a playful smile. They walked side-by-side, searching for the hotel café and carefully observing their surroundings. The hotel was almost a completely different place in the daytime. There were very few people around, with most guests choosing to sleep the morning away. Anyone who was awake was probably among the hotel's staff, preparing for the afternoon and evening.

As they walked, he felt Tenten slip her arm into his and he nearly jerked in surprise. His kikkai certainly did, buzzing under his skin and sending him dizzying signals. They weren't used to people touching him so casually, although it really was only natural that two lovers would walk together like this.

He looked down on her, feeling that familiar sickening fear that he'd had since he was a child: what if she was disgusted by him? He had no doubt that she could feel the insects bustling right underneath his skin, but her face showed no sign of revulsion.

She was either very professional, or too polite to say anything. Perhaps she was both.

After a substantial breakfast, Shino left her to her own devices. He planned on taking a few hours to explore the area around the hotel, although he doubted there would be anything of use to the mission around town. It would mostly serve to give his partner time to herself; she was probably itching to get away from him after being in such close quarters for over a week.

He found himself outside in the hot sunlight. There weren't many people out even though it was early in the afternoon. Shino silently commanded his bugs to investigate the area discreetly as he wandered throughout the market nearby.

Shino had never seen a place like Kurohara. On one side of the street there could be a normal farmer's market, and on the other side there would be a brothel where the girls were standing out on the porch and calling him over. It was a place where public drunkenness was nothing out of the ordinary, where promiscuity was expected and encouraged. He knew that prostitution was a reality, but he'd never been so boldly faced with it.

He made note of where the red light district began and ended. He pondered possible escape routes from the village in case he and Tenten ever ran into trouble and had to flee, and was somewhat troubled to discover that the only safe way to go was by coach. They would have to be careful. If they had to make a last-minute escape, it wouldn't be impossible to navigate the mountain trails by foot... but it would be exceedingly difficult.

After about a half hour, Shino began to notice more people milling around. The inhabitants of Kurohara were mostly awake now. He sat on a bench and people-watched for a while.

Many of the women he saw were dressed in fine silks and satins, with jewelry and hair ornaments to accessorize. Heavy make-up caked their faces, covering up the natural beauty that might have been hiding underneath.

The men seemed to enjoy them, though. Gentleman from all walks of life strolled up and down the streets, entering and exiting brothels, buying food and booze and flirting with the women-for-hire.

"Are you waiting for someone, darling?" a smooth voice jolted him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see one such woman. Gliding as smoothly as silk, she joined him on the bench.

"I'm afraid not," he said easily, examining her face as he spoke. She was dressed in a pink kimono with red flowers decorating the material. Her neckline dipped very low and her leg peeked ever-so-slightly through the slit in her dress. Her black hair was long and hung past her elbows, and her lips were painted a bright red.

"Just waiting to see where the night takes you, hm?" she sighed with an easy smile. "My name is Suki. I think I saw you last night with a lovely foreigner. Are you staying at the Main Inn?"

"Why do you ask?" he evaded, making sure to give her a smirk that he had learned from Kiba. She mirrored his grin.

"I noticed the two of you instantly," she said, snaking an arm around his elbow and getting close. Shino willed his kikkai still with all his might. "At first I thought, 'why would a man wear those sunglasses inside?' But then I noticed your companion."

"And just what did you notice?" he asked, keeping his tone light but becoming increasingly suspicious.

"How pretty she was." That statement was so far from what he'd expected that he almost let his kikkai move under her touch. She continued, "Tanned skin, dark hair. I would have come over to you if I hadn't been so busy," she rubbed his arm lightly with a delicate hand. "I thought that the three of us could get together sometime and see where the night takes us." This last part was said lowly, close to his ear.

"Your offer is very tempting," he replied coolly. "But I'm afraid that Nanami-chan is taking up most of my money on this particular trip."

"Do you mean she isn't your girlfriend?" Suki asked with surprise, withdrawing her hand. Shino relaxed the hold on his bugs and they buzzed angrily for being repressed.

"She's an... acquaintance I picked up on my way here," he said, "I hadn't planned on taking her with me, but I suppose she caught my eye."

"How romantic," Suki said, leaning her head on her hand. He breathed a sigh of relief; she seemed to believe the story. "It's a shame, though. I would have loved to get to know the two of you better." She stood and gracefully smoothed her kimono, seeming distracted by something, or someone, across the street. "I have to get going. But I suppose I'll be seeing you and your Nanami-san tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Oh, of course, you just arrived!" Her lips stretched in a red smile. "I suppose you haven't heard yet. Tonight there'll be a feast for the guests in honor of our mountain spirits."

"I didn't know Kurohara had mountain spirits," Shino said with a raised eyebrow.

"We don't," Suki laughed with a careless wave of her hand. "We here in Kurohara will find any excuse to party."

"I'll look forward to it," he said with a nod. She grinned and waved goodbye.

He watched her discreetly as she made her way across the street to a man that had been waving her down. He didn't look like a potential customer… perhaps a fellow employee at the Main Inn? He looked like he'd been running to find her, and before he signaled for her to follow him, he took a glance at Shino.

Intriguing. Shino narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, filing the information away for later use.

Tenten sighed as she sunk into the hot water in the bathhouse, thankful that there had been separate sections for men and women. She knew that that was normal in most establishments, but she'd never been to a brothel. How could she know what was normal in these kinds of places?

She'd spent most of the day exploring the Inn. She'd made a map in her mind and memorized it, and she planned on drawing one for Shino when she caught up with him later. There were a few places in the main building that she thought looked a little shady, but she hadn't opened every door. There were too many, and she'd been wary of walking in on something she didn't feel like seeing.

From what she could gather, most of the people who stayed here were either brothel workers or maids. There was the odd man or two, but most of the staff consisted of women. That fact didn't surprise her.

What did surprise her, however, was how very busy everyone was. It seemed like all the employees were working on full-steam. Tenten knew that the Main Inn probably didn't have very many slow moments, but everyone seemed so… rushed. Housekeeping cleaned at an impressive pace, rarely taking breaks or even talking to each other.

When Tenten had asked for directions to the bathhouse, the workers had sounded hurried and out of breath, almost devoid of the politeness and professionalism of most hotel concierges. She'd tried to strike up friendly conversation with the other people of the hotel, hoping to get some clues about how the people of Kurohara lived, but she'd had no luck.

"Nanami-san, would you like more hot towels?" The girl who was attending the women's side of the bathhouse interrupted Tenten's thoughts.

"I'm alright," she replied, looking up and turning so that her arms were out of the water.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything," the attendant said cheerfully, turning to leave.

"Actually, could you wait a second?" Tenten asked, her voice taking on a sweet tone. "Maybe I would like a hot towel, if you don't mind." The girl picked a steaming towel out of a basket and handed it to her.

"Is that all?" the younger girl asked, looking nervously for another patron who might need her help. The bathhouse was mostly empty but for Tenten and a scattering of relaxing women.

Tenten smiled up at her. "That's all I needed, Miss… what was your name?"

The girl looked surprised by the question. "I-it's Akane," she stammered.

"Thank you so much, Akane-chan," Tenten said with a friendly smile, putting the other girl at ease. "Everyone here has been so busy, you know? It's just so nice when someone can stop and talk to you." Akane's face softened.

"Are you from the country?" she asked, relaxing her shoulders and setting down her basket of hot towels.

"How did you know?" the brunette asked, happy to finally snag someone into talking to her, even if it was for a few short moments.

"I'm from the country, too. It was hard for me to adjust to how fast-paced everything is in the city," she admitted.

"Where are you from?" Tenten asked. She inwardly rejoiced. Finally, someone who would talk to her! Now all she needed to do was build a rapport and go from there.

"A tiny village not too far from these mountains. Just a little place no one's ever heard of," the other girl replied with a wave of her hand.

"What brought you here to Kurohara?"

"Just the excitement of the city, I guess," she said with a blush. "How about you, Nanami-san?"

"I'm from the Hiroshi Swamps," Tenten lied easily. "This trip was actually so spur-of-the-moment… my Nakamura-san whisked me away, in a sense."

"So you really are from Hiroshi?" Akane asked with interest, leaning toward Tenten conspiratorially. "Because we heard… well, in the dorms there was a rumor. Kano-sama told us that there was a man who was bringing…" The girl blushed, like she'd said too much already.

"Don't worry, Akane-chan, it's true," Tenten laughed. "Nakamura-san came to visit our brothel in Hiroshi. We spent some time together and he decided to bring me along to Kurohara with him."

Akane's eyes went wide. "So it's true? Some of us thought there was no way... You must be pretty important there, to be allowed to go wherever you want…"

"Akane!" another female voice sounded through the bathhouse. Akane jumped straight up and grabbed her basket.

"Sorry!" she apologized with a bow.

"Are you bothering her?" An authoritative-looking woman appeared, holding her own basket of hot towels. She didn't look happy.

"Oh, no, she's fine," Tenten said quickly, not wanting Akane to get into trouble. "I was asking her about the hotel."

"Alright," the woman said, not sounding convinced.

"Sorry for bothering you, Nanami-san," Akane said again, hurrying away to greet her superior. If Tenten hadn't had the sensitive ears of a shinobi, she may not have heard what the unhappy woman was muttering to Akane: "Are you stupid? If Jin-sama caught you slacking off like that, we'd all get punished!"

Tenten sunk into the warm water once again, committing that name to her memory. Jin. Was that their boss? The owner of the brothel, maybe? Whoever he was, the staff was scared of him.

However the workers felt about their boss, Tenten could now be sure of one thing. Rumors spread fast in the hotel, just like they did in any workplace. The idea of a rich playboy bringing a working girl along with him to a brothel was interesting enough to Kano, the attendant that had met them when they'd first arrived in the city. So naturally, he told the girls who worked there the story to scandalize them. They'd have to keep an extra-low profile to avoid being gossiped about.

She spent a few more moments in the hot water before growing restless. She scrubbed her skin and washed her hair before stepping out of the large bath and wrapping a robe around her body. More and more women were starting to come into the bathhouse, and even though they all shared the same parts Tenten didn't feel like sticking around. She tousled her hair with a towel to dry it off a little before stepping out of the bathhouse to find her way back to the room she shared with Shino. Hopefully he'd be a little while longer so she'd have time to get dressed…

She was lost in her thoughts as she walked back to the room, but not so lost that she didn't notice movement at her side. There was a man stopped in a connecting hallway, as if he was waiting for her to pass before moving along to their destination.

"Excuse me," she said with a short bow, determined to continue on her way. She was stopped, though, by the look on his face. For a moment his eyes glanced over her robe-clad body, only looking surprised for a moment before his face fell back into a controlled, stoic expression.

He was tall, and dressed in fine, dark green silk. He had straight, neat, black hair that was tied in a short ponytail and wore thin glasses that rested just on the bridge of his nose. He continued to stare at her and she pulled her robe a little tighter around her chest in discomfort. Seeing this, his eyes settled on her face.

"Are you enjoying your stay?" His voice was deep and smooth, his rigid posture as stiff and stoic as Neji's.

"Yes," she answered, holding her clothes close to her body. "Thank you."

"If you need anything, be sure to ask."

"O-okay…" she replied nervously. She took one last glance at him before continuing to the room, feeling his eyes trace her until she turned the corner and escaped his line of sight.

She continued walking, although she was suddenly feeling anxious. Who was that guy? she wondered, picking up a faster pace. She swung the room door open and almost jumped when she saw Shino sitting on the bed.

Shino had barely sat down when the door practically slammed open. In came his partner in all her glory, covered only by a loose-fitting robe that barely reached her knees. Her hair was wet and her face was flushed like she'd been running. He averted his eyes before her robe opened up too far for decency. His bugs shuddered in alarm and he was tempted to suppress them again for their unruliness.

She was careful to shut the door slowly, so it wouldn't make too much noise, and she tightened her robe. She nodded toward him in greeting and slipped into the bathroom to change her clothes.

It wasn't long before she reemerged from the washroom fully clothed and getting ready to go.

She was brushing her hair out with her fingers, using something that smelled sweet to detangle it. He was almost mesmerized for a second. Rarely was he privy to the beauty routines of women—his clan was notorious for being reserved and discreet, and that especially applied to the women. One of the very relevant females in his life, Hinata, was very private as well, and on overnight missions he and Kiba almost never saw her right after she'd bathed (not for lack of trying on the Inuzuka's part). The same went for Kurenai-sensei.

He'd noticed that Tenten wasn't as careful about these kinds of things as other girls he knew. She certainly wasn't immodest… she was just comfortable. Perhaps being on Team Gai had done away with any bashfulness she may have had about her body. She had mentioned that she'd even slept in the same bed as her teammates. Perhaps Team Gai had achieved a level of physical comfort with one another that Shino couldn't imagine—he'd never dream of sleeping next to anyone, especially when he knew that most people were creeped out by his always-shifting bugs.

"How was town?" she asked, pulling him away from him distracting thoughts.

He told her about the lack of convenient escape routes and the general outline of the town square that the Main Inn sat in the center of. She took out a notepad and a pen and listened to him as she drew a rough map of the Inn.

"I also met a woman who works here," he said, watching as she drew her blueprint.

"Outside?"

"She was… looking for customers."

"Ah."

"She said that there's a feast tonight for the guests of the Inn. I think it would be prudent to attend."

"Feast? You don't have to tell me twice," she said with a smirk. She wasn't surprised when he didn't laugh at her joke. She was getting used to the seriousness, even if he had a worse sense of humor than Neji Hyuga.

He was all business. "It's important to go to this feast. Why? Because we can meet and mingle. Perhaps we'll find some information about the staff."

Tenten raised her eyebrow at the word 'mingle', but she didn't say anything about how absurd it sounded coming out of his mouth. She simply nodded in agreement. "Here's the map," she said, changing the subject and handing him her picture. "There's the main building, and there's the bathhouse. To be honest, there were a few places I couldn't go. But I do think there would be room somewhere here for a missing team."

Shino nodded as he looked over her map. It indicated weak spots, escape routes, suspicious areas… it was impressive. "Did you find anything else?" he asked.

"The employees probably aren't happy, no surprise there," she said, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "They have a boss named Jin who's pretty hard on them. I don't know if that means anything, but that's all I gathered."

"Jin," Shino repeated, not sure if the information was useful, but still glad to have it.

"Also… I think the guy who met us last night told the staff about us. Kano was him name. I know that's nothing out of the ordinary, but the workers here do gossip, if that's any more motivation to keep a low profile."

Shino thought of the woman he'd met earlier that say, Suki. The thought had crossed his mind that she had approached him on purpose to scope him out. He suspected this even more so now, knowing that the employees here knew and talked about them. He adjusted his glasses and stood, immersed now in his own deep thought. It was too early to tell whether this gossip was harmless or something more threatening.

"We'll have to be even more careful now," he said after a moment. "There's a chance we're being watched." He saw her tense from the corner of his eye at that statement.

"Alright," she said. "I don't have any problems. Are you good, mission-leader?"

He gave her a terse nod. "Yes. Are you ready for a feast?"

"Let's go."

A/N:

Okay so what do you all think? I've been working hard on this because it's actually the only story I'm feeling inspired about right now. Hahaha. I'm just so tired that all my other fics are on the backburner. I am just kind of blowing off some steam here.

I hope everything makes sense so far and that you are all enjoying this story! I just cannot wait to get to the nitty-gritty parts of this fic. 8) There is so much more to come!

I hope no one feels like they are OOC. I'm trying my best to keep them in character, but they are undercover, so there will be moments when they are not themselves (because they are pretending to be other people).

So here is my train of thought… I am trying to build a relationship with Shino and Tenten from the ground up. I'm exploring their personalities (Shino's especially, in this chapter) and just trying to figure out their stories, which is I think is important for romance. At the same time, there is some shady stuff going on. What is up with the employees? Who is this Jin guy? Why was that man staring at Tenten (besides the fact that she's a total babe)? What's going to happen at the feast?

Stay tuned to find out! Things will get hot in no time! ;)