A/N: Hey, guys. First off, thanks so much for all the reviews and followings and stuff! They really mean a lot to me. There seemed to be a little confusion about "Asuma and Kurenai got pregnant" as well. I meant it in the sense that Kurenai got pregnant with Asuma's baby… I've heard couples say things like, "We got pregnant!" and such, so, uhm… yeah… Also, I forgot to mention last chapter: there will be random anime references in this story, such as Detergent(Bleach). Yeah… with different names… and stuff… Aanyways, on to the story.
Chapter Seven
I stayed in bed for a while, gloomily contemplating my social life and how it always seemed to roll downhill.
"Maybe I should just give up on everything." I groaned, rolling over on my stomach. "Or maybe I should just stop being so stupid all the time."
I shook myself out of my brooding attitude and decided to wash my face and re do my buns. Maybe if I got cleaned up, I would feel a lot better. I slid out of my bed and started towards the bathroom, grabbing my Heart Muncher pajamas on the way. I slammed my head in to the door, forcing it open with the momentum and found myself walking in to a bare chested boy with golden hair in a half pony tail injecting some sort of needle into his forearm.
"What the hell?" I screamed, striking a defensive pose. "One, why are you here! This is a girl's dorm! And two, why is that needle in your arm?"
He seemed panicked, his single showing eye wide with fear. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He hissed, pulling the needle from his arm. "You'll blow my cover!" His voice sounded like a girl's, with a pretty and melodious undertone.
Calming down a little, I repeated myself, voice a little softer but still just as firm, "Who are you, why are you here, and what is that needle?"
"My name is Deidara," He started, obviously more relaxed at my softer tone, "I'm a male-to-female transgender."
I nodded, that explained the needle. "But why are you here? Shouldn't you still be in the boy's dormitory?"
"My therapist says it would be a good idea to start identifying as a girl, to get used to it."
I sighed in relief. It was good to know that this boy- well, this girl, was not a rapist, burglar, or murderer. Seeing my reaction, Deidara laughed a bit.
"So are you Tenten?"
I nodded, smiling. She must have met Temari earlier.
Deidara peered at my red eyes, swollen face, and raw nose. "Have you been crying?" She asked, putting a finger to her mouth.
A little ashamed, I nodded, lowering my face a little. The blonde delicately tilted my chin up to examine it, hemming and hawing at my expression.
"It's about a boy, isn't it?" She asked.
I was stunned. She was good. Seeing my expression, Deidara laughed again. "I want to be a psychiatrist when I grow up. My therapist has sort of been coaching me on the human mind. Shhhh, don't tell my mother." Here, she winked, a light smile on her face, "She thinks that me being a trans is bad enough. If I don't become a lawyer, I'm disowned." She laughed, her voice sounding like millions of jingle bells. "But, anyways, what's this all abo-"
She was cut off by the sound of my stomach rumbling. Blushing, I clutched my pajamas to my abdomen and apologized profusely.
"That's fine, you must be starving! The food here sucks! Hey, why don't you get changed and come into my room. I think I have something to fix that. And we can talk about the douche that made you cry." She gave me another wink, blowing her hair out of her face. I wrinkled my brow in confusion; what did she mean, she could fix my hunger? I shrugged and began taking the pins out of my hair, letting the buns down as Deidara backed out of the bathroom. As soon as my wavy, brown hair was down from their tight perch on my head, I immediately felt immensely better. I quickly threw on my pajamas, with the ever-so-sexy Heart on the front, and walked out of the bathroom.
Deidara was sitting in the midst of a feast, consisting of Oreos, ramen, and Chef Boyardee. My eyes widened at the amount of food she had and my mouth gaped open, making me resemble a fish out of water.
"How…Where..?"
Deidara laughed, "I came to this camp last year- as a boy- and, well, I was a little more prepared for the terrible food this year!"
"Jesus, woman! How do you stay so skinny?"
"High metabolism? I dunno, I eat junk food like an American pig!"
We both laughed and she patted down a spot next to her on her bed.
"Now, sit down and tell Doctor DeiDei what's wrong." She commanded in a somewhat teasing voice.
I jumped onto the bed and explained everything to her. Maybe it was the fact that I knew her big secret, or maybe it was that I really needed to talk to someone, but suddenly, everything that had happened in the past twenty four hours came spilling out to her. From meeting Lee to Neji's comfort, I told her everything, tears beginning to spill from my eyes yet again.
Deidara nodded in understanding at my situation, handing me an Oreo and a tissue, and began her to work her therapy magic.
"Tenten, would I be correct in saying that before Lee, you have never had a crush on anyone?" She asked gently, her arm inclosing me in a sort of motherly hug.
And with that simple question, I broke down yet again, telling her about my life before camp, how I had never had a true friend. How the only friends I had stabbed me in the back. How I still heard the taunts every night, Tenten is weak, Tenten is stupid, Tenten is nothing.
She listened through all of it, not interrupting even once, just hugging me and gently stroking my arms the entire time. Eventually, my voice gave out and I could no longer speak. There, I just sat there sobbing into Deidara's chest.
"Would you like me to sing to you? When I was younger, my mother used to sing to me when I was crying. It may make you feel better." She asked, still holding me in a warm embrace.
Still unable to speak, I managed a weak nod against her chest, listening to the sound of her heartbeat.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..
At the tune of the familiar song, my sobbing began to cease, burning out into light hiccups and quick breaths. Deidara had a beautiful, if a little creepy voice. It reminded me a little of the female singer from Skillet. Her light, melodious tone carried throughout the room, bouncing off the walls, making it sound a little demonic. By the end of the song, I had completely calmed down, and, being able to speak normally, I asked her if she was in the School choir. She laughed, and I could still hear a trace of the creepy and melodious voice in the undertone.
"Of course!" She exclaimed, "All singers are required to be in the choir!"
Soon, the two of us were laughing and scarfing down Oreos like two sisters. That was how Ino found us, sitting on Dei's, as she told me to call her, bed and eating Oreos.
"Oh, my goodness! Do you know how many calories are in that?" She screeched, knocking the Oreo out of my hand.
"No, and to be honest, I really don't care right now. I'm hungry and this is food." I said, annoyed with the fact that she had ruined a perfectly beautiful Oreo. And maybe with a little of the fact that she was Sakura's friend.
Ino sighed. "I'm sorry," she said, "It's just that my boyfriend is a little chubby and I have been helping him lose weight. I guess it's just a force of habit, now, to freak out at other people eating unhealthy things."
Dei and I nodded in forgiveness and I walked through the bathroom back to my own room, giving Dei a hug and Ino a wave before I left. I found Temari sitting on her bed with her earphones in and iPod in her hand, looking a little confused. I waved at her to get her attention and when she pulled out the earphones, I asked her what was the matter.
"Nothing at all!" She said, a cheerful smile on her face. "What makes you say that?"
If it wasn't for the very subtle upward intonation in her voice, I would have believed that the confused look on her face was a hallucination. But the sound of her voice made me wonder if her words were true.
"Nothing, I guess." I said suspiciously, climbing into my own bed and pulling out a book and my own iPod. I would figure it out tomorrow. But right now, the wonderful vengance of Jean Valjean awaited me along with the thrilling music of Breaking Benjamin.
"Tenten?"
I was startled out of my reading by Temari's abnormally timid voice. I pulled my earbuds out and set my book down before looking up into her confused eyes. I knew I wasn't imagining it!
"Please, be honest with me. Am I fat?"
I was shocked that she would even ask such a question. Temari, although curvy, was most definatly not fat. She had thick legs, but they looked strong, not flabby. And her large presence was made up more of her bone structure than body fat.
"Of course not!" I exclaimed, flicking my wrist, "What makes you say that?"
She shrugged her shoulders and stuck her earbuds back in. Slowly following the suit, I lifted my own ear buds to my ears, staring at her suspiciously. Ignoring the nagging feeling I got in my sstomach that something bad was about to happen, I picked my book back up and sank into the world of Jean Valjean's vengance and Cosette's love once again. I must have read about ten chapters before realizing that it was well past midnight and I needed to get to sleep. I glanced over at Temari's bed to see that she had already laid down, her back facing me and her face to the wall.
Turning off the lamp at my bedstand, I also snuggled under the covers. Immediately, my brain began to run through the events of the past twenty four hours. Amongst all the heartbreak, friendship, and guidance, the two things that stuck in my mind were Neji's comforting words and Temari's anxious ones.
Am I fat?
Her question range though my mind, and I wondered what had happened to make her so quiet. In the morning, she had been so cheerful, so noisy, but now, she seemed so anxious and worried. With that in mind, I drifted into an uneasy sleep.
oO0Oo
The next morning, as I made my way to the cafeteria, ear buds in and volume turned up to full, I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I found myself facing the smiling face of Deidara.
"Do you want to sit with me and my friends today?" she asked, "It would probably be really awkward with the boy and your friend…"
Gratefully, I nodded at her and followed her to a table without grabbing any food. Realizing this, Dei snatched a candy bar out of a red haired boy's hand, prompting a "Hey!" and a glare, and handing it to me.
Ignoring his angry look, she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and introduced me to the people sitting at the table.
"Guys, this is Tenten. She's sitting with us today." She said in a matter-of-fact way. The group nodded and began introducing themselves.
"I'm Sasori," the glaring boy said, "And I want my Snickers back." Deidara snorted and shoved him, telling him to shut up and that she would share hers with him later. This prompted a giggle out of the black haired, eyepatched boy sitting next to Sasori. Still snickering, he introduced himself as Tobi.
"Tobi is a good boy." he said, earning a smack from the boy next to him, who was wearing a green hoodie that looked like it was about to eat him.
"Ignore that. He just does it to piss people off. I'm Zetsu."
Next to him, a guy who looked a lot like Sasuke with longer hair nodded in my direction, introducing himself as Itachi and gesturing to the older looking boy next to him woth gills tattooed onto his neck.
"That's Kisame."
The boy gave me a large smile, showing off a row of sharp teeth, and turned away, doodling into his notebook.
"There are usually four others, but I guess they're not here yet. Pein and Konan are probably off sucking face somewhere, and, uhm… Her, Danna, where are Hidan and Kakuzu?"
Sasori shrugged, looking uninterested, and leaned his cheek onto his fist, eyes cast at the floor. At that moment, a teen with white hair slicked back stormed over to the table, shouting profanities over his shoulder to anther boy with striking green eyes and stitches drawn on the sides of his mouth. Noticing me, the white haired boy glared and sneered, "Who the fuck is this?"
"Tenten." I squeeked, before sitting down at the table next to theirs, as the two boys took the last two seats.
"Don't be such an ass, Hidan." Deidara said, sitting down next to me and diging through her bag for her candy. Seeing that I still had not eaten mine, she grabbed my wrist and shoved the sweet snack to my face.
"Eat it!" she laughed, "Sasori won't mind!" She broke her own candy bar into two halves one slightly bigger than the other, and handed the smaller half to Sasori. He took the candy with a grumpy look on his face and Deidara stuck the tip of her half into her mouth. The red head looked from his smaller piece to Deidara's larger piece and slowly stood up, unnoticed by the blonde until he was standing right over her.
"Whadda you wan'?" She mumbled, words garbled by the candy in her mouth, face bright red and eyes narrowed.
"Your half is bigger." The red head mumbled before swooping his head downlevel with hers and biting the tip of the chocolate bar off, brushing her lips with his. Deidara's already red cheeks lost all their color and her face turned pale white, and I could see Sasori smirk at that.
"Your girlfriend won't like that." Deidara grumbled, an angry look on her face.
"Screw her." He whispered, still leaning over the blonde.
"You do every night." She snapped, abruptly standing up and pushing him out of the way and storming off. I looked back and forth between the staring group and the retreating blonde, and, feeling sufficiently awkward, I jumped up and sprinted after her.
"Dei! What happened?"I asked, finally catching up with her, panting a little.
She snapped at me, "It's nothing."
I put my hands up in an I surrender gesture, but did not bak off until she finally snapped.
"If you must know, I'm in love with Sasori and have been every since I met the stupid boy."