Chapter 9: Directions
The iron slams into a tree inches away from Anko's head and she rolls to the side, releasing a multitude of snakes from her sleeves as she does so. They impact hard, showering Tenten with chips of bark as they blast through wood and foliage. She is already on the move though, dragging the razor wire behind her as she weaves through the serpents.
"Tenten, eh? Thought you never missed?"
Tenten ignores the taunt. Had she wished it, her initial throw could have gone through Anko's head. She puts on an extra burst of speed as she crosses over the open road and is immediately assaulted by the older woman's reptilian familiars. Tenten pauses just long enough to tug sharply on her end of the cord and the toothed edge whips upwards to reduce several hissing heads into gushing fountains of blood. She dives the last few feet into the brush on the opposite side of the road, bracing her feet against the base of a tree trunk and kicking off in a new direction as several throwing needles pepper the area she used to occupy.
"You can't hide forever, kiddo," Anko crows, "You won't trap me with this without crossing a few more times, and you aren't that lucky. I'll get you one of these times."
Tenten grits her teeth and hopes that no one hears Anko's braying. They are a fair distance from the village, but she is loath to press her luck. She needs to end the encounter quickly, and finds herself regretting not planting her projectile into the vociferous woman's mouth. For the second time in as many days, she thanks the arrogant nature of her target; Anko has not seen it necessary to leave the loose rectangle formed by Tenten's thread. With a deft twist of her hand, Tenten severs the wire on her end and ties it to another looped spike.
She takes a steadying breath, braces herself, and yanks as hard as she can on her makeshift handle. There is a high-pitched shriek of metal on wood as her ductile saw slices through multiple tree trunks and she hears Anko curse as the rectangle suddenly becomes a triangle. The older woman tries to jump clear of the incoming strand, but Tenten runs the ensemble back and another corner falls, the tension translating into a snapping jerk that ensnares her target in a tight loop. Tenten keeps pulling steadily until she feels a resistance, whereupon she stakes her second spike into a nearby tree and doubles back.
"I know you're wearing chainmail," Tenten informs the woman currently restrained against the tree behind her, "But you pull hard enough on that or make any sudden movements, and it'll cut you clean in half."
"You're mental," Anko seethes, her eyes glaring heated daggers at Tenten, "You'll be declared a traitor, just like him. He's a lost cause. You don't know what the promise of power does to people like him. I know Orochimaru and how he works. Your boy is as good as gone."
"I'll be the judge of that," Tenten says flatly, producing a length of conventional rope.
"He'll kill you if you try to stop him."
Tenten falters. It is immature of her, but she takes great satisfaction in gagging Anko.
"Not if I kill him first."
【[_|[__§__]|_]】
Not if I kill him first.
Her own words echo in her ears as she travels, haunting her troubled dreams in the short and infrequent naps she takes. She knows her bindings wouldn't hold Anko forever; eventually, she will be able to work one of the anchors free and escape. Tenten has to keep moving, both to evade pursuit from Konoha and to catch up to Neji.
Neji. Could she really kill him? They had been together so long, through thick and thin. She had put her life in his hands on more than one occasion and her existence itself had become a testament to her well-placed trust in him. He had never let her down before.
But she also knows firsthand how much he hates the cursed seal he wears and the way it turns him into a caged bird. What if he really did just get tired of being enslaved to the main branch of Hyuuga?
Speculation, speculation. The time for thinking is over, though. Up ahead, in the crimson stained sky, she can see the familiar descending tunnel. What was the saying about red sky at night? Something fortuitous, she hopes. Already, her luck is looking up. The base is unguarded – likely still recovering from their previous mission.
【[_|[__§__]|_]】
"Glad you stuck around."
The red-haired woman whirls around in time to meet Tenten's fist. Her glasses shatter and tinkle to the ground like fairy bells and she joins the shards shortly after, bleeding from where Tenten's knuckles have driven the tiny crystal blades into her face. She grabs a knife and springs at Tenten, only to have her attempt slapped away contemptuously and receives another hook, this time to the ribs. Tenten shoves her bodily, smashing her into a desk and upending it. Books and paperwork carpet the stone floor, rattling in angry protest.
"Didn't think you were much of a fighter," Tenten growls. She reaches down and takes a hold of the woman's collar, lifting her slight frame up by one hand.
"If you're after the Hyuuga, give up," the woman sneers, "He's already left, a day before you, and I'll never betray Lord Orochimaru."
Tenten sighs.
"I actually don't have time for this," she grunts. With her free hand, she rights the overturned table and sets it down with a loud bang. Before the woman even registers the movement, Tenten grabs her right hand and pins it to the table with a pair of needles.
"This is what's going to happen," Tenten explains calmly through the woman's agonized shriek. She slaps her cheek lightly to regain her attention, noting with some disgust that the woman has begun to cry. This woman, hardly even qualified to call herself a ninja, is the reason Neji left Konoha? Quashing her anger, Tenten cajoles warmly, "Hey, hey you. Stay with me. I'm only going to say this once, all right?"
She produces a pair of butterfly swords and jams the tips into the table, noting with a sadistic sort of pleasure the way the woman's eyes go wide at the quivering blades. Good. Let her be afraid. It will make the process less painful on both of their accounts. Relatively speaking, anyway.
"These are called butterfly swords, you see? They're single-edged and usually come in pairs," Tenten says, freeing one from the desk's surface. She holds the familiar weight of the short yet broad sword in one hand, displaying the curved hand guard to the terrified woman and continues, "See this? It's usually used for defending against incoming attacks, but it can also be used as brass knuckles, for striking and the like."
Without warning, she brings the hilt of the sword crushing down on the woman's trapped hand and is rewarded by the crunching feedback of the woman's little finger breaking.
"I'm going to ask you some questions," she says, holding her prisoner's jaw shut with one hand to muffle her agonized articulations. It would not do to have her biting her own tongue off on accident or some such. She pauses for a moment, then finishes, "And you're going to answer them. Or I'm going to break more of your fingers. Understand?"
A frantic nod.
"Good. Name?"
"K-Karin," the woman chokes out.
"Karin. Hm. Where did you send Neji?"
"A-Another base. I-In the T-Tea Countr-try. Degarashi Port."
"Thanks. Look, we're almost done. Quit blubbering. Last question."
Tenten leans in close and says in a voice like liquid venom, "What did you offer Neji?"
A hesitation.
This time, Tenten breaks two fingers in rapid succession. She doesn't bother stifling the subsequent scream. There is no one around to hear, anyway.
"Let's try that again, shall we?" Tenten offers with a sickly sweet smile, "What did you offer Neji?"
Karin spits at her, but her saliva is blocked by the flat side of Tenten's sword.
"I'd rather die than tell you!"
"That wasn't very smart of you," Tenten snarls, "Well, I can find out from him, anyway. You've been most helpful. Goodbye, Karin."
She doesn't bother wiping off the spittle as she cocks her hand back. Karin closes her eyes, as though resigned to her fate. Something catches Tenten's wrist before she can start her decapitating stroke, though, and she stiffens. She can count on one hand the number of people who can stop her weapon arm mid-swing and are still alive, and she knows the feel of those half-bandaged fingers.
"Enough, Tenten."
She sighs and turns her regard on the person behind her.
"What are you doing here, Lee?"
Feedback is welcome.