Special thanks to FruitySmell, miakasango and Ichigo-chan, I Can Hear The Sea, and marionne345 for their lovely reviews. :)
Hinata eyed her roommate warily.
It wasn't every day one got to meet and have an energetic conversation with the industrious Rock Lee, and neither was it common to be greeted with a flashing smile and a bone crushing hug by Konoha's Green Beast Jr., or in his case, maybe it was. But strangely enough, Tenten seemed to take his overpowering presence surprisingly well in comparison to Lee's past meetings.
They usually backed away from him nervously or thought up an excuse to get away, the latest being a hastily put together explanation of how pleated skirts were currently in season, and were only $5 each ("How bizarre", Hinata had said to the pale boy, "a boy wearing skirts? And how odd that you just quoted that billboard over there! Isn't that funny, ha ha ha!).
But, to be honest, Hinata had also found his spirited attitude greatly overpowering at their first meeting, but could not bring herself to decline his efforts to be friendly and hurt his feelings, so she patiently listened to his boisterous words and declarations of love to Sakura-chan and eventually became accustomed to Lee's boldness, tight green jumpsuits and sparkling white teeth. He was a comfort to be around at sad times as well, Hinata discovered one day.
It was the day Naruto left the village to train with the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya, and she was silently mourning to herself at the Ichiraku Ramen stand. She woke up extra-early that day and rushed to Ichiraku's immediately, waiting for Naruto to drop by - at least to say goodbye to the stall he loved so very much. Instead, she saw him walk past the shop - past her - to a grumpy Sakura-chan with a smile that she yearned to be directed at her one day.
Lee had found her crying to herself at the very same spot Naruto had departed from - the village's front gates. She sobbed morosely into his spandex shirt over the loss of her mother, Kana-chan, and finally, Naruto. She didn't register his stiffening upon hearing the second name, as he was continuously patting her back soothingly.
He told her, in an assortment of youthful words, that she could try to improve herself in order to catch Naruto's attention - what was stopping her?
From that day onwards, Hinata resolutely changed her mind. She wanted to impress Naruto, prove to him that she wasn't a demure and timid girl like her clan thought she was. Though, admittedly, choosing to train day in and day out with Lee wasn't her best decision. His work-out was clearly built for those similar to his physique, which Hinata was not, and determination. She decided that she would train with Neji instead and Lee agreed profusely - after all, who better to teach her Hyuga Gensho techniques than the first one himself? Fortunately, Neji concurred with her request.
Nonetheless, Tenten handled Lee's dynamic salutations quite well, opting to return his hug and stammer out her name. Hinata always knew when Lee took a liking to someone, it was difficult as he took a liking to ninety-nine percent of the people he met, and when he didn't - he either continued talking to them animatedly or leapt up and declared loudly to them that he was going to begin an intense workout. In this case, Lee immediately took a liking to Tenten, and Hinata felt a beam of happiness surge up within her, now that Lee had made a new friend without scaring her away.
"Lee-kun, I think she's finding it hard to breathe right now," she said with an amused expression. Lee dropped a suffocating Tenten to the floor at once and looked down at her, startled.
"Forgive me, Tenten-chan!" She looked up at Lee, who was apologising to her profusely for "being too caught up in your youthful beauty", in a flustered manner and shook her head, laughing. Hinata let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. A loud whistle suddenly echoed through the room, diverting Hinata's attention to a man with a scraggly black sideburns running down his face to an unkempt beard, perceptive brown eyes darting back and forth between the faces of the competitors.
"Listen up everyone," he began gruffly, "you may have spent the past few years training your arms and legs off to get into this event, and now that you have, don't get too cocky. Millions of people would kill for your positions, so if I or the other instructors catch any one of you breaching the rules, you'll be booted off your team faster than you can say shinobi. Do I make myself clear?"
Hinata's eyes widened as she nodded vigorously and cringed in dismay afterwards when she heard a loud "tch, troublesome" pierce the rigid silence. The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Shikamaru, but if he felt any need to punish him, she didn't know.
"Now that that's out of the way, we'll begin with introductions. My name is Sarutobi Asuma, and I'll be in charge of your survival training."
Sarutobi...Asuma. The Hokage's son? Temari raised an eyebrow, impressed. From all the profiles she had studied (and memorised) months before the Tournament, his was the most notable. Every one of the instructors in this room, she noticed as she recognised their faces from their ID pictures, were more than qualified to train them for the next week, but one thing - one crucial aspect - that made Sarutobi Asuma more unique than the other mentors was that he wasn't a Gensho warrior, but a ninja - and an extremely adept one at that.
His expression when addressing them for the first time was grave and tense and his eyes had had a stern glint to them. Everything about him now - the beard, sideburns, pipe and shinobi headband - were identical with what she saw in his ID picture, though his facial expression in that was playful and warm. It was a complete turn around, and one she was used to seeing in her teachers back at home. But then when she saw his eyes flicker over to where Shikamaru was standing (I can't believe he said 'troublesome' after a lecture, that idiot), she could've sworn that underneath the layers of suspicion, there was a hint of amusement and love - the fatherly type of love she'd never received from her own.
She shook the thoughts of her father out of her head and focused her attention to the other trainers. There were three in total, Asuma included. One was a man in a darkly-coloured mask that covered his face up to the bridge of his nose. His face was turned to the side, mainly because he was fully immersed in a conversation with a man in a green jumpsuit standing next to him. Temari winced, he looked exactly like that hyperactive boy who hugged Tenten earlier. The masked man sensed her gaze on him and turned his head to look back at her.
She stood frozen in shock for a split second. The shape of his eyes, droopy and heavy-lidded, didn't shock her, and neither did the jagged scar running down his right one. It was the pupil of his right eye, a revolving black wheel in a sea of red, that sent a jolt of fear up her spine. The sharingan, a kekkai genkai inherited only by those in the Uchiha clan of Sunagakure; yet, here it was, safe and out for display in the eye of one of Konoha's Gensho warriors - Hatake Kakashi. Temari didn't see this in his ID picture, his eye in that was black in colour. So the rumours were true then, Kazekage-sama.
She held his stare until he seemed to lose interest and turned back to his companion. She nervously tilted her head downwards to where Sasuke stood beside her.
"Did you see that?" she whispered under her breath. It was a vague question, but then again, Sasuke was always a quick thinker. She looked at him, and though he was smirking, arrogance evident in his features, his shoulders were tense, his expression strained.
"Yes," he hissed, but stopped when Asuma cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention. They ceased their conversation.
"To my right is Hatake Kakashi. He will be in charge of your Gensho training, and Maito Gai, your fitness mentor. We three will be supervising you and your training for the next week or so, in and out of training, so feel free to ask us any questions you want."
Kakashi's gaze drifted around the faces of the competitors lazily, but Temari knew better than that. She'd heard rumours of his lethal abilities on the battlefield - Copy-Cat Kakashi, he'd been nicknamed, and now she knew why. The notorious Hatake warrior didn't observe the crowd like a casual onlooker, he scrutinised them with his sharp, deceptively lazy eyes and measured from a glance how well and how quickly he could take down his opponent, give or take a few weaknesses. He was, after all, a well-known closet pervert.
"Neji, Tenten, Lee, Gaara, Ino," Asuma called out the names on his list, jolting Temari out of her thoughts, "you five will form Group One. Please make your way over to where Gai-san is standing, you will begin your training with him every day." She watched her three teammates step forward and march to Gai (in Lee's case, leaping forward with springy steps and starry eyes), Gaara sticking to Tenten like glue in an effort to make her walk faster, and Ino gracefully walking behind them. Temari squinted her eyes. She could've sworn Neji took a few quick steps to catch up with Tenten, but given how wide his steps were when he walked, that was probably her imagination.
"Group Two: Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sakura, Sai, Kiba - you will be with me." She rolled her eyes when Sasuke playfully draped an arm over Sakura's shoulder, much to the ire of an energetic boy standing behind her. Three other boys completely different in appearance - and probably personality - ambled behind them ("Tch, troublesome.").
"I guess that leaves me with your four.," a masculine voice spoke up, "Shall we make our way up to The Loft?"
The Loft, as it turned out, was short for The Leaf's Official Training Faculty, and was probably shortened to Loft for a) convenience's sake, and b) the fact that it really was a loft, albeit larger and much more technologically advanced than the average storage space. They should've called it a penthouse.
She and the others had followed Kakashi out of the school's gym and through several brightly-lit corridors before he stopped at an elevator, punched in a numbered password and stepped in, motioning for them to follow. They had stood in the lift, awkwardly making small talk and introducing themselves to each other - it wasn't like she needed it, reading all their files beforehand definitely came in handy. She knew, prior to arriving in Konoha, that Uzumaki Naruto was a cloning master capable of performing some ninja techniques and Hyuga Hinata was an empath and the shy heiress of her clan. What she didn't know, and deduced in a matter of seconds, was that the late Fourth Hokage's son was the object of the heiress's affection, and he was completely and utterly oblivious to it. For how long, she had no idea.
"Oi, Temari," Kankuro whispered in her ear, "how long are we gonna be in a group with those two?"
"About a week."
"A what?"
"A cat. We'll be with them for about a cat," she responded sarcastically. Kankuro glared at her.
"That Naruto kid's giving me a headache. How can you stand being his roommate?"
Eyes rolling,"I'm the elder sister of two psychopathic idiots." He glared at her again and turned his attention over to Hinata, whose lavender eyes caught his stare. She blushed lightly.
"We're here." Kakashi spoke up. He was strange, Temari mused to herself. She'd read multiple accounts from her father's desk about The White Fang's deadly son, how he could pinpoint a person's weakness at first glance and obliterate them in a matter of seconds. Yet here he was, walking out of an elevator like an ordinary citizen, that was, as ordinary as a citizen could get - he'd been reading that ridiculous red book ever since the journey to The Loft had begun.
'Here' was a large training room the size of a regular swimming pool with so many windows lining the walls that artificial light was only needed to illuminate areas where natural light didn't. The floor was padded with black judo mats and crates full of head-guards and protective body gear sat neatly in a corner of the room.
They sat down cross-legged on the judo mats as Kakashi stood before them. She didn't like sitting down like this; it gave her a feeling of being treated like a child. She hated being treated like a child.
"I'm assuming that you're all highly-skilled students and have near-perfect control over your abilities." They nodded confidently. "Near-perfect isn't good enough." Temari heard Hinata draw in a sharp breath. "The Tournament wasn't designed for wimps; you've all spent years refining your abilities through cold sweat, blood and tears, then were hand-picked by the toughest of trainers for a good reason. Over the next week, you'll be honing your abilities even further, training in rain, sleet, snow, drought - you name it." He held all their gazes.
"You'd be lucky to make it through this Tournament with only a few broken bones."
Time seemed to stand still when he enunciated his last sentence.
"We start at nine - sharp - every day. You'll meet me in this room, and I trust that you can warm up yourselves. We train for three hours, and with every three-hour interval, you'll switch over to the next instructor - and according to my timetable, you all have gym with Gai-sensei next. Do you have any questions?"
"When's our lunch break?" Naruto piped up.
He gave Naruto a dry look. "At noon, for one hour."
She knew Kakashi was looking at every one of them, and though he continued to speak clearly through his mask, she couldn't shake off the feeling that his sharingan kept its attention on her everywhere he went. Temari shivered, and knew that it wasn't just from the cold.
Tenten ticked her name off under the 'Treadmill' checklist and crouched down to her sports-bag. Drawing out a clear water bottle, she stood back up again, leaned back against the wall and took a long swig out of the bottle just as a red-haired boy in a black tank top and shorts ran up to her. He ticked his name off and slung a yellow towel over his shoulder. She watched him take several gulps out of his bottle before splashing the rest of the water onto his head. Some droplets clung to his spiky hair in glittery baubles whilst others trickled down his toned arms in tiny, crooked rivers. Tenten blushed and looked forward again.
"This workout is...quite vigorous, huh?" she asked him, "What do you have next?"
"Laps," Gaara cringed openly, "200 of them. If I don't finish, Gai-sensei will make me do 300 pushups. How about you?"
"Ouch, I finished that a few hours ago - it's not too bad. Next is yoga, with Kurenai. Apparently the Principal decided Gai wasn't suitable enough for yoga." She kicked her right leg upwards and held onto it with her hands, balancing on her standing one. "I like him."
Gaara looked at her in a surprised manner.
"He has so much energy for someone his age, if only Kazekage-sama was like that - a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, a bowl c-"
"I'd rather not visualise my father like that."
She giggled at him, and released her leg. "I'm going now, have fun running!"
"I'll try."
Tenten jogged across the gym to where a bushy-haired woman with her hair tied back in a high ponytail sat in front of a large window. She was easing herself into a splitting position on top of a yoga mat, and when she looked up, Tenten could see that her eyes were a brilliant red against a pale-white and dainty face. Kurenai grinned and motioned for Tenten to sit on the yoga mat before her.
"Hello," she greeted with a warm smile, "Yuhi Kurenai, pleasure to meet you."
"Tenten," she replied, "it's nice to meet you, too." She settled herself into the same position facing the older woman and leaned forward to touch her toes. Tenten winced when she felt her calves stretch; Gai's routine was a pain to bear, especially with his self-motivation techniques. She had dutifully completed everything on her exercise schedule in order to avoid doing another thousand pushups, but in the end, Tenten realised these kinds of workouts were clearly built for people like Gai and Lee.
"Kurenai-sensei."
"Ah, Neji! You've finished Weights?"
"Yes, this is my last station."
She waved a hand to the yoga mat beside Tenten. "Excellent! Please make yourself at home next to Tenten. Oh, silly me. Tenten, dear, this is Hyuga Neji, our top student, and Neji, this is Tenten."
Tenten straightened up from her stretching position and looked up at Neji. "Oh, we've met."
Kurenai looked mildly surprised, but shook her head and laughed. "Of course you have." Standing up, she brushed the invisible dirt off her trousers. "Now stay here and cool down a little. I need to grab a few things."
As she left, Tenten stood up to face Neji. "You look like a girl." And it was true - Neji's hair was tied up in a long ponytail at the nape of his neck, a far cry from his usual low knot. She felt a twinge of jealousy; he's prettier than Ino, and that's saying something.
"You could look like a girl." Tenten felt her left eye twitch. She'd heard that from many girls back in Suna - oversized black tees and an assortment of jeans weren't girly or trendy, but they were comfortable and she liked comfortable. Even at this moment, twin buns slowly unraveling themselves and body glistening unattractively with sweat, she would rather be dressed appropriately and ready to train than scantily dressed, like Ino currently was. Call me conservative, but at least my boobs aren't falling out.
"That depends on what you call a girl."
"I could use the same token on you, Tenten-san."
Drat. "You were right," she said, hastily changing the topic, "Lee's quite eccentric."
He looked at her with an I-told-you-so expression. "I've always wondered how he was able to earn a place on Team Konoha." In the distance, Lee grabbed Ino in a tight hug and spun her around in circles. Neji grimaced slightly. "He was a late developer, and his lack of Gensho ability until he was 17 baffled both his kind and shinobi alike. Ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu are a ninja's lifeline, and because Lee-san never displayed any prowess in those fields as a young boy, the village elders were convinced enough to make him give up his life as a warrior. I, personally, agree with them."
Tenten's eyes hardened. "I can see that fighting is akin to breathing for him - it's his life and soul. If no one believes in him, he'll work hard day in and day out to achieve his dreams, to make people believe. Giving up wouldn't have been an option for him - he'd rather die than do that. It's the quality I look for in a team leader and a warrior, Hyuga."
Neji scoffed. "Who are you to talk? You couldn't even hold back your rage when I requested a simple thing from you. As far as I can see, you lack the steady control of your ability, and the composed air that a fighter should have. A warrior definitely must have certain qualities to be successful in their careers, but what if they have no skill, like you?"
She glowered at him, fists trembling in anger at her sides. "Look, Hyuga, you're no better than I am. Remember when you slammed me into a wall the other day? Making irrational assumptions and leaping generalisations is your thing, not mine."
He stepped off his mat and walked off, having been silenced by her words. She was right, in some way, but he didn't want to admit it.
Neji didn't like being proven wrong, even when he knew it.
"You summoned me, Principal?" Kurenai stepped into Tsunade's office with Asuma, Kakashi and Gai trailing in behind her. The blonde woman was sitting at her desk with a sake bottle in her hands, her face gaunt and tired. Shizune stood in front of the desk with Tonton in her arms, a worried expression pinching her delicate features.
"It seems we have a problem, Kurenai. He has returned."
She looked at her boss, confused. "Him? But why? After all these years?"
"Forgive me for my impertinence, my lovely Principal, but which youthful figure are you referring to?"
"I still can't believe it," she continued, ignoring Gai's inquiries, "why did he choose now, of all times?"
Kakashi spoke up, "Have you pinpointed his location yet? Perhaps his motives?"
She looked at him incredulously. "If I knew, I'd be storming up to the old man's office and telling him to send troops out there to bring that old snake in for interrogation," she snapped, "a traitor of our village is a traitor, childhood friend or not."
Just then, a burly man threw open the door with a loud crash, red-faced and carrying a neatly-wrapped, brown package in his hands.
"JIRAIYA. If you tell me that you were 'gathering information' again, I swear on Kami's name that I shall make sure the village's shelves are stripped of your vulgar porn books, whether Sensei agrees or not!"
"You love me far too much to follow through with that, Breastless."
"Oh? Are you willing to test that?" she replied snarkily. He quivered slightly, but laughed it off.
"Haha! Your humour sure has improved over the years!" Jiraiya's expression suddenly turned grave as he strode over to his teammate's mahogany desk with purpose. "Last night I received word from my sources notifying me of strange, paranormal activity taking place around our borders. They told me that they were going to go in and investigate. I haven't heard from them since."
"That's certainly suspicious," she tapped her bottle several times, "more, please. Thank you, Shizune. But what does that have to do with why I summoned you?"
Jiraiya sighed. "When he first disappeared, I also sent my troops after him. They never returned."
"I dislike reflecting on past events, Jiraiya," she replied impatiently.
"Normally, when my troops are killed in action, I can track them down, give them a proper burial. The only time I couldn't was when he was involved."
Tsunade's eyes widened. "Are you telling me that our old teammate, who has all but vanished from the face of the earth until yesterday, is currently lurking somewhere outside this village?"
"Yes." She sat back in stunned silence, not noticing Jiraiya's shifty exchange of the rectangular, brown package with his white-haired friend ("My latest edition. It's a masterpiece, I tell you.").
"What do you propose we do, Boss?" Asuma broke the silence with an eyeroll at Kakashi. "With the Tournament taking place, wouldn't it cause too much hastle among the civillians?"
Tsunade blinked. "Of course. You're right. We can't afford to risk this Alliance... You four," she barked out, "keep training the competitors, but stay vigilant. We need to preserve every fighter we can.
"Jiraiya and I will notify the Hokage."
"Yes, ma'am." All four Gensho instructors stepped out into the hallway at Tsunade's dismissal, refusing to speak about the impending crisis facing their village - perhaps the entire world.
"So... Let me get this straight. You want me, the one and only me, to stalk Tenten, one of the strongest members of our team, because - why?"
"Not 'stalk', protect. I want you to protect her."
"I repeat, 'one of the strongest members of our team'."
Gaara gave Sasuke a hard stare. "Her skills are certainly far more superior than many in our team, but she is emotionally incapable of handling herself under pressure."
"Then, you obviously don't know Tenten well enough. I've seen her experience more emotional trauma than the average bear. She may have appeared to crumble under pressure, but there's more to that than what you see. Give her some credit, Lovey."
"How many times have I told you not to call me that ridiculous word?"
"Sai's a nicknaming genius, Lovey, give him some credit too."
"Just eat your food."
Sasuke smirked into his bowl of soup and took a whiff of its scent. "I hate tomato soup."
"That's your problem."
"Ooh, grouchy aren't we? Look, I think we can make a deal with this. You can eat everything that contains tomatoes for me, and I'll stalk - don't even deny it - Tenten for you, updates included."
Gaara seemed to contemplate Sasuke's proposal. He sat back on his chair, taking in the decor of the restaurant they were currently dining in. Akimichi's was themed orientally, its walls intricately decorated with drawings of fierce dragons battling tiny men in dark suits. The tables and chairs were carved out of bamboo, sanded down and polished to perfection. Brightly-lit lanterns hung about on the ceiling above them, though Gaara wondered how they were able to remain so perfectly intact with all the commotion happening at ground level.
He could tell that it was an extremely busy restaurant on a normal day - the smooth, flowing movements of the waiting staff made that obvious - but this wasn't a regular day, especially with both Teams seated at one long dining table. The press flocked around them in swarms of flashing cameras and microphones, fangirls screamed outside the doors for 'UCHIHA SASUKE!', and the overuse of the restaurant's Korean Barbeque grills made the air stuffy and uncomfortable. Even the plastered smiles of the staff was more strained than usual.
Stuffy and uncomfortable? He looked over at where Tenten sat, on the opposite side of the table, beside the stuffy Hyuga boy. He'd tried to keep them apart during their training times, and was pleased to see her tossing a piece of paper at him while he was running laps, but when they switched over to train with Kakashi during the last three hours, the Hyuga boy and Tenten were inseparable and demanding rematch after rematch. Gaara hated the bubbles of jealousy that rose up within his chest. The only thing keeping him from marching up to Hyuga Neji and challenging him to a duel was that Tenten talked to the boy out of spite, not love or fondness.
"Deal, she's getting far closer to him that I'd like to admit."
"Oh? Was that...jealousy?" Sasuke glanced sideways at him curiously, amusement flickering in his eyes.
"Don't tell me... that you're in love with Tenten?"
Disclaimer: Still owning nothing.
A little sudden, this love declaration, but keep in mind that Gaara and Tenten have known each since they were children, and Gaara can be overly-obsessive with love and all things related to it. Please feel free to leave a review, or some feedback!
-misspandalily