Chapter Seven: Androgyny Hour: I Can't Tell!

When Tenten woke up, despite being uncomfortably situated in a smelly old closet, she felt excited. The infamous Nazuki-sama was supposed to pay her a visit today, which would hopefully give her the last of the information she desired. And perhaps she could figure out the gender of the androgynous character who was Ren's and Nonako's "fearless leader."

Yesterday, Tenten had met the third occupant of the small building that she was being held in during on of her bathroom breaks. They were careful to keep her away from the windows as they pushed her down the hall, but Tenten couldn't fail to see that there were a great deal of trees outside. But noticing these details had been superseded by the large man sitting on a worn sofa, reading Gods knew what sort of book.

When she had called a friendly greeting to the heavily tattooed man, he had brutishly told her to "shove it." Nonako had then quietly told her not to talk to him because, "Tomui doesn't like strangers." This led Tenten to believe that Tomui, as he was called, was probably a bit slow and used mostly for his strength.

Tenten had thus in only about twenty-four hours of consciousness gathered the following information about her present circumstances: Her kidnappers intended to use "Kuma" for some sort of evil purpose; she was imprisoned in a building that was, if not completely entrenched in forest, isolated; Ren and Nonako could easily be led into a distracting argument; and Nazuki, whichever gender the leader claimed, would be a formidable enemy if he-she could pull off such complicated kidnappings. She had learned a few other things as well, but these facts seemed to be the most important to her.

She did not have very long to wait for the very punctual Nazuki-sama. Tenten had eaten and been allowed to use the bathroom. She had hardly been staring at the wall for five minutes when the door of the closet opened revealing a heavily shrouded stranger.

So this is the all-powerful Nazuki-sama, Tenten thought, taking in the sight of the rather tall figure, draped artfully in a long black cloak and apparently any other black garment Nazuki could get his-her androgynous hands on. Tenten resisted the urge to say something ridiculously stupid like, "Haven't you heard, green is the new black?" She was glad she didn't say anything, because looking up at Nazuki's shadowed face—the only feature of which she could really distinguish was a pair of glittering dark eyes—she could tell that this "fearless leader" wouldn't be the sort of person Kuma would stand up to even on her best day. At least not right away.

"I trust you are comfortable, Kuma," Nazuki said.

Tenten cringed at the flutey sounding voice. It was the weirdest thing she had ever heard and certainly offered no clues to Nazuki's gender. "Not really," Tenten replied.

Nazuki laughed, sending a new sensation of unpleasantness up Tenten's spine. "They never told me about this frank honesty of yours. But I suppose you never really know someone until they're desperate. Are you desperate, Kuma?"

"Not at all," Tenten replied weakly. "Shou will come save me and make all of you pay."

"How endearing," Nazuki said. "Your faith is touching. Like a romance film. Only this is real life, Kuma. There are no fairy tales in the real world."

"I know that," Tenten said. Boy did she ever.

"So then you should prepare yourself because you are about to become very desperate, my dear."

Get to the good stuff, Tenten thought. I'm sick of the mind games you think I'm playing. "Consider me prepared," Tenten said icily.

"Spunky too," Nazuki mused. "I suppose by now you've been told that you have a hidden power within you. Do you have any idea what it could be?"

Tenten shook her head.

"It's called 'chakra.' It's a power that ninjas use in their special attacks."

"I'm not a ninja," Tenten interrupted.

"No, but your ancestors were." Tenten gaped, her shock utterly genuine. If what Nazuki said was true, then Kuma would have enormous amounts of latent chakra within her. Latent chakra, of course, was more potent than active chakra, especially if it was dormant for such a long time. It was no big deal for a ninja child to release their chakra for the first time because they were so young, but if Kuma had enough chakra in her system it just might kill her if she wasn't handled properly.

Tenten masked the extent of her fears as Nazuki continued to speak. Kuma wouldn't know anything about chakra after all. "This chakra has been dormant within you for a long time, making it very powerful." So he understood, almost. "I can harness this energy and use it."

"Use it for what?" Tenten breathed. What is this bastard trying to do?

"Now why would I tell you all of my plans? All you need to do is provide me with the power to realize my goals."

"Will I… die?" Tenten asked, complimenting herself on her acting.

"That depends on your will to live," Nazuki replied ominously.

Dirty liar, Tenten thought. This sort of chakra extraction would absolutely kill her. She thanked the Gods that her chakra, since it was active, could not be tapped against her will. The only problem would be when the extraction failed and Nazuki realized that she was not Kuma at all.

Tenten idly wondered if Neji had figured out as much as she had, but those thought quickly became painful and she shoved them away. She could remember vividly the last conversation she had with Neji. He had been about to kiss her—and that was a wonderful experience—and she had stopped him. Is he suffering or relieved that I'm gone? she wondered.

"Well, this has been fun," Nazuki said, interrupting Tenten's thoughts with that horrifying voice again. "Is there anything I could get you to make you more comfortable?"

Tenten paused. "If I could get a new change of clothes? This dress is meant to fit a woman half my size." She was still wearing that horrible dress from the night of her abduction.

Nazuki left without a word, leaving Tenten wondering if she really was going to get a change of clothes.

"In the end, it looks like the happy couple will get what they want," Neji told Lee in the privacy of the room Artsuma Takeda had graciously, or perhaps reluctantly, allotted for their own use. "They've got a one-way ticket to Konoha from the looks of things."

Lee nodded in agreement. "By the Gods," Neji continued, "I never expected to find so much chakra in her."

"Neji my friend, do you suspect that whoever is after Kuma knows how much chakra she really has?"

"I don't know," Neji admitted. "Even a smaller amount of untapped chakra would give whoever it is a lot of power. It's clear that the kidnapper understands the nature of dormant chakra. That's likely the goal rather than any particular amount of it."

"Then why not target a ninja child?" Lee asked.

Neji laughed. "Don't you realize how impossible that would be? It would be easier to find someone like Kuma and for the most part her disappearance would go unnoticed by comparison."

Lee nodded again.

"Anyway, this talk isn't getting us any closer to Tenten," Neji said. "We've got the sketches. We should start looking for those people."

"So fewer sheets to write on," Lee sighed, mourning the loss of his poetry paper.

"It's a good thing, Lee. In more ways than one," he added softly to himself.

"Did you set up the proper precautions for Kuma?" Lee asked.

"Yes. I've got every protective seal I know on that room," Neji said. "And Artsuma's got half his body guards up there."

"Then let us go, my friend! To rescue Tenten!"

"To rescue Tenten," Neji echoed softly.

To her astonishment, a few hours after the androgynous Nazuki left her, Nonako entered Tenten's closet bearing a few garments of the loose-fitting variety. Tenten could not contain her grin as Nonako undid her bonds and stood watch as Tenten changed. It was an interesting process for all the while Tenten had to conceal all the weapons that had been hidden on her person.

For the most part, her blades were hidden in the folds of her sash which remained out of sight as long as Tenten titled the fabric in a certain direction and let it fold the right way as she placed it on the ground. The more creative task was keeping the kunai strapped to her leg out of sight. The remedy though turned out to be very simple. If she just put on the pants Nonako had given her without take the dress off first, all would be well.

Nonako quirked an eyebrow at the strange behavior though. Luckily, Tenten came up with a quick excuse. "I have horrible stretch marks. My hips grew wider really fast when I was a teenager."

Sympathy registered on Nonako's face. "Ah, I know how it is. They'll fade eventually and lotion helps."

"Oh, wow. I hadn't thought of that," Tenten gushed. "Thank you." She quickly tore off the dress, realizing that when it was off, her breathing improved immensely. "Ah." Careful to keep up the image she began with the deliberate folding of her sash, Tenten reluctantly treated the dress in a similar fashion. And so she could keep her sash of joy and wonder, Tenten added it to her ensemble which admittedly reintroduced her curves that had been lost in the shapeless tunic.

"Could you please pass my thanks along to Nazuki-sama?" Tenten asked, holding out her hands to Nonako to bind again.

Nonako nodded. "Ren ought to be bringing you a meal soon."

The Red Monkey hadn't been the only seedy bar in town and considering the way Neji had made a scene in the previous drinking establishment, he and Lee selected a larger club to go hunting for information. Neji hesitated outside the entrance, glancing at his spandexed friend. "Um, Lee, don't take this the wrong way, but I think you should wait outside."

"Ah, I see," Lee replied exuberantly. "You want me to stand guard! You can count on me, Neji!"

"Yes, let's go with that."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Just wait here for me. This shouldn't take long." Neji walked in before he began to feel guilty. He certainly didn't look as out of place as Lee would have. Neji hadn't exactly been taking the best care of himself as of late. His hair was somewhat unkempt and a layer of stubble had grown over his once smooth chin. Overall, he looked a bit rumpled. Yes, he blended in quite nicely indeed.

He approached the bar at a leisurely pace and took a seat at the end. "What can I get you?" the barman asked gruffly.

"Sake is fine," Neji replied. "More importantly," he continued, watching the barman pour out the alcohol, "I'm looking for information."

"Information?" the man echoed quirking a brow. "Then you've come to the right place."

Neji pulled out Kuma's sketched and placed them carefully on the bar. "Can you tell me anything about any of these three people?"

The barman studied the papers carefully. "I can tell you who will know," he said at last.

"Who?"

"I've got a friend who owns a bar, The Lantern, in a town called Onashi about twenty miles west of here. Says every week these thugs who sound a bit like these fellas' come in and get completely trashed. Ask for Nagano and tell him Muzichiro sent you. He'll tell you everything you need to know."

Neji downed his sake and, placing a considerable sum of money of the bar, left, uttering a quick, "Thank you," as he went.

He found Lee standing alert as ever by the door. "Come on, Lee. We're going to Onashi. If we leave now we should get there by nightfall."

"Shouldn't we tell Artsuma Takeda?" Lee asked, running to catch up to Neji's swift pace.

"I don't give a shit about the man," Neji replied. "They're safe for now anyway. I'm not their babysitter."

"Yes, but still—"

"Let's go," Neji said impatiently.

"Neji," Lee argued loudly. "When we find Tenten, she will want her scrolls and weapons which are currently located at the Artsuma mansion!"

"Oh," Neji said stupidly. "Right."

"So we'll stop back for a few minutes," Lee said. He paused a moment, a look of worry written across his expressive face. "Neji, are you alright?"

"No. And I was worse before you got here and we started getting leads. I'll be better when we find Tenten." Neji stopped to take a breath, wondering if he should continue.

But Lee chose to speak, cutting off Neji's brief impulse. "Okay. We will find her."

"I know. I just need to see her is all," Neji said so softly that Lee didn't hear him as they turned down the hilly path that led up to the Artsuma mansion.

Author's Note: Hey, Everyone. Sorry it took me almost an extra week to get this chapter out. I had a freak out moment earlier when I ought to have been posting this, but then I realized that there's another month between September and November. It's called October. Yay October. So anyway, you have my deepest, most humble apologizes for the extra-long wait, and I hope this chapter makes up for it. I'll try to stick to my standard week for Chapter Eight. Please review.