Alright, so I admit that my break was a little longer than expected - I made an inconsequential change to the story - the Tournament is only a few weeks long, instead of an entire month. Also, BFeraway and Guest, and all the followers and favouriters, I love you guys. That's all. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, unfortunately.
Tenten sniffed, pulling a waterproof jacket over her shoulders and fastening a pair of sturdy boots over her feet. The weather in the Tournament was supposedly mercurial, and preparation was something that both Temari and Gaara stressed over constantly. The morning was a solemn one, filled with a combination of heartfelt goodbyes, good lucks and competitive staring competitions.
Her temporary room had been stripped bare the night before; most of the other female competitors had congregated in their room too, for a girl's night in. They ended up falling asleep on the floor, barely zipped up in their sleeping bags and curled up against each another like sardines.
An indication of the excess stress and fatigue accumulated over one week alone.
Tenten greeted her captain at the front of the Academy with a cheerful salute. "Morning."
Temari only nodded, frantically going over the contents of her backpack with Sasuke checking off items as she read them out.
"Tenten," she barked suddenly, "did you pack your glob?"
She extracted a round metal ball from her bag and hummed in confirmation. All contestants were permitted to bring a single weapon of choice into the arena, as a way of displaying their full abilities. If the audience had thought they'd seen the extent of them during training, they were so very wrong.
Ino walked up to the group and smiled, waving a machete around in the air at Temari's sharp glance. The Sabaku patriarch made sure their abilities weren't limited to supernatural prowess.
"Where's Kanku-moron?"
"With Gaara - talking to Tsunade." The female Sabaku noticed Ino's questioning look. "He's our temporary diplomat's assistant, since Sasuke's helping me."
"Oh." She sheathed her weapon. The aforementioned duo floated by on a sand-platform.
"Are you all done?"
Tenten nodded when Temari didn't reply. "Where to now?"
Gaara calmly stepped off the platform while it disappeared into his gourd, sternly locking eyes with Tenten. "Forest of Death, in ten minutes."
The team lapsed into a contemplating silence. This was the day they'd been training for relentlessly since they were children. This was the Tournament that would determine the Kazekage's assessment of their abilities, but more so his children's. The other team had stronger, more compatible traits that would most definitely provide them with a leaping advantage - but they were sheltered, raised in an environment where living was more relevant than surviving.
If Suna was known for one thing, it was their sheer willpower against an opposing force.
"Well, team," Temari placed a hand on her hip, cocking it to the side, "Let's go out with a bang."
Being thrown blindfolded into a dark, gloomy forest definitely wasn't on Tenten's bucket list, but one needed to make lemonade out of lemons.
Their instructions were clear: find your teammates, find the unlabelled object that would take them to the next stage, and fight. It all seemed so easy at the time.
She threw her head back to look above and was met with a gnarled canopy that barely filtered any light through it. Fashioning a platform out of her metal glob, she swiftly raced past the shrieking bats nesting in trees and thorny branches poking out at odd angles until she broke through the inhibitory barrier separating her from the sun.
Only, there was no sun. It was the moon. Had time passed that quickly already? It'd only been the crack of dawn when they'd congregated in a cabin just outside the forest.
Even then, the principal had only clipped out brief instructions and blindfolded them. She could still feel Neji's piercing gaze on her, even through the impenetrable black sheets over their eyes. It'd sent shivers down her spine.
Tenten hovered around the canopy aimlessly. She enjoyed being around Team Konoha's leader - he was relatable, yet resembled the rigidity of Suna that both drew her in and repelled her. She missed home, that was all. That was all he was: a reminder of home. It was all so screwed up.
The brunette scowled. Why was she thinking about him now, of all times? Her objective was to find her team, and win the Tournament. They operated as a group, a family, and swooning over a rival team's leader would get her nowhere.
She swooped downwards. There would be time for romantic feelings later.
A sudden jolt in Tenten's mind paused her in her tracks. It eased into a slower throbbing in her head, and eventually a voice began trickling in. "Tenten?"
Ino?
"Oh thank god. Where are you?"
Tenten looked around her; shrubs and mangled trees as far as the eye could see.
No idea, can you meet me up top?
She waited impatiently for the blonde's response, but none came. Tenten jetted up to her previous position regardless. If Ino didn't receive her message, she'd find another way to locate the team.
She snarled when a hand seized her mid-flight, sending a sharp blade towards the perpetrator's arm. Tenten was met with a cloud of sand instead of blood, even though the blade had met her purpose perfectly.
"Gaara?"
His clone glared at her in response, rearranging it's limbs at the same time. He turned away and flew forwards on his platform, beckoning for her to follow.
They reached a tower after a few minutes. It was peculiar, like a shining beacon of light in the dark. Ino rushed out of the building and waved them down.
"You're here! Good. Come inside." Her usual lengthy flourish was plaited into an up-do, most likely for convenience. Tenten followed her, knowing fully well that Gaara was also inside, since his clone had exploded in a swarm of sand.
Sure enough, he and his siblings greeted her warmly in the centre of the room. There were four cans in front of them - probably their dinner.
"Here," Kankurou handed them over to Tenten, "more metal for you."
She grinned. "Thanks. Where's everyone else?"
"Sasuke and Sai are..." Ino bites her lip. "We don't know."
Tenten blanched for a split second before shrugging. "They're dramatic enough to signal their presence sooner or later. You can't reach them?" Ino shook her head.
"They're out of my range."
"We'll set up camp here for the night," Temari said firmly. "I'll take the first watch, we'll rotate in two hours."
Tenten murmured in agreement, settling herself on the ground with the others. The daytime would be a more opportune time to search for Sasuke and Sai, but in the meantime, they'd be more than capable of taking care of themselves.
Taking a rest, however, was easier said than done, and two hours passed by like the slow trickling of fresh honey. Gaara's shift was next; he calmly planted himself beside her.
"You worried?"
The boy blinked emotionlessly, as though worrying about Sasuke wa the last thing on his mind. And to be honest, it most likely was. "No."
Tenten watched him remove his gourd and stretch out his muscles. "They'll be fine."
He grimaced. "It's not them I'm worried about," he circled his sand around the group with a swish of his hand, "we can't use this as our hideout forever. It's a damned tower in the middle of a forest."
Tenten nodded serenely. "We only need to locate the object for now, so it's inevitable that we'll have to move." She closed her eyes sleepily, relishing in the peace Gaara brought with his presence. He was a constant, someone who'd understood her loneliness at a time few others tried.
And then there was Neji, who drove her to the brink of insanity and then back, who understood her pain in a way Gaara did not, despite them all being orphans. While Gaara steadfastly stood by her side and supported her every decision, Neji was the one to elicit fury, and envy, from her. It was an attraction born out of pure hatred, and formed within the space of a week. Tenten despised that.
She cursed herself for thinking about romance again. Neither of them loved each other in that way and never would. She felt his gaze on her and opened her eyes, not missing the way his flickered away from her face. "Gaara." He inclined his head. "Wake me up for the next shift."
Tenten didn't wait for his response, curling up next to Temari instead. Day one of the Tournament, and the matter that should have been furthest from her mind was at the very front.
There's no time.
She whispered repeatedly to herself, steadily drifting off into a light slumber.
There's no time.
The next morning brought a violent sandstorm that caged the entire team inside the building, and would have buried them alive were it not for Gaara's ability. He'd calmly manipulated the sand to circle around then instead of over, and needless to say they were heavily thankful that he was on their team. They trudged up to the sand's surface through a tunnel Gaara fashioned, ignoring the way the heat seemed to rise as they moved further upwards. Kankurou was the first to collapse.
"These fucking backpacks," he muttered under his breath, "they get heavier and heavier." Temari whacked his head with her fan angrily, spitting out the sand that flew into her face with the movement. Gaara rolled his eyes and opened the tunnel up for more walking space.
"If you weren't wearing so many clothes, you baka, you wouldn't be sweating as much."
So he stripped, folding his outer clothes into his backpack, and they all took a fraction of the supplies he was holding. Minutes later, they reached the top, and were greeted with the pleasant sight of Team Konoha holding Sasuke and Sai hostage. Hostage, meaning, tied up by vines and surrounded by visible shield. Temari hissed venomously.
"ASSHOLES," she screeched, revelling in their startled, almost frightened glances and running towards the rivalling team with a newfound ferocity. The sand sunk beneath her feet with each passing step, because even though sandy environments were their natural habitats (Tenten almost cried from the familiarity), there was nothing they could do about their physical limitations. Gaara lifted them off the ground with his sand before grabbing Temari and shooting them towards the team menacingly.
Tenten saw Sasuke look up from his sitting position and smirk.
"Hate to break up the party, Konoha, Sakura," he winked at the pink-haired girl; she snarled, "but we need to get going now." The vines around him ruptured and disintegrated with a small flash of lightning that streaked upwards to the top of Neji's shield. It broke down; Neji hunched forward with an uncharacteristic display of pain. Tenten hated the sigh of relief that escaped from her lips when Sakura placed a glowing green hand over her leader.
"Kankurou," she barked out, "I need a distraction - pronto!" He nodded before jetting out streams of sandlily poison from his hands - not too deadly, enough to paralyse someone for an hour, but they were immune from living with it everyday. Tenten darted forward into yellow gas the moment Gaara lowered them onto the ground, forming a metal barrier around her team members, and hauling them away from Team Konoha.
Neji grabbed onto her hand after her metal was dispelled, even though he should've been flailing around uselessly like the rest of his team. Drat, Byakugan. She tried wrangling herself out of his grip fruitlessly, so met his white gaze defiantly.
"Don't trust him. Sasuke. He's hiding something."
She shook her head and laughed maniacally. "We both know about the cloak, Neji, now let go-"
"It's not the cloak!" she silenced her laughter at the crazed look in his eyes, "When we found him, he was inside a cave, talking to someone. He attacked us." Neji lowered his face to speak louder. The poisonous gas was finally getting to him. "Find out what it is."
"Tenten!" Sasuke and Temari called out to her from beyond the gas, no doubt looking on helplessly. Tenten shook her head at Neji again. This was the same boy who'd quite literally been with them every step of the way. If anything, Neji was trying to sow discord into her team. He was clever like that.
"You're trying to break my team apart. Why am I not surprised?" His expression fell, scrunching up when she aimed a knee at his stomach. Tenten was torn between apologising and running away; she chose the latter."Save your own team!"
Later, when they were all settled down on a gigantic branch, Tenten would notice a nasty red mark on Sasuke that revealed itself the moment his collar was lowered. She'd think back to Neji's warning, wonder if he was correct with his accusations, and dismiss it.
Team Suna sticks together 'til the very end, like a family.
O supremi domini surgit, nam vos expecto. O supremi domini surgit, nam vos expecto. O supremi domini surgit, nam vos expecto.
Nine vessels lay beside each other, intricate runes in the shape of clouds etched into their bodies. The markings glowed, wriggling around the canvases of skin erratically. The bodies snapped, limbs bending at odd angles to cope with the pain, before crumbling into piles of dust.
Orochimaru threw his instruments to the ground, scooping up his experiments and caressing them. His life's research, null and void.
They called him a madman for playing around with the dead, for dissecting bodies and performing the deeds everyone wanted to, but didn't.
Stinking Konoha. Who cared about morality and justice, when endeavouring beyond the limits of man was so much more fulfilling? Hiruzen Sarutobi, definitely. But not him. Not Orochimaru.
He picked up his papers, gingerly scribbling over them, regrouping his mind. The very essence of science was experimentation and trial and error. He would try again.
If there was anything Orochimaru inherited from appreciated about his hometown, it was the will of fire.
O supremi domini surgit, nam vos expecto.
Haha, he's such a creep. Okay, so that's day one pretty much over. Let me know how you feel about it!
-misspandalily