Chapter 3: Tenten’s Questing

Luckily for Tenten, Lee didn’t come to fetch her at 5 in the morning for more training.  And he didn’t come for her at 6, or 7, or 8, or 9, so when she woke up on her own at 10 she was feeling quite refreshed, although a little concerned that Lee hadn’t come for her.  She was sure when they’d parted the other day he had joyfully shouted that he’d see her tomorrow, and that they’d work on her speed.  She flexed her calf muscles, wondering if they were already stronger after the beating they had taken the other day.  She was almost afraid to try and stand, but took a deep breath anyway and flung her long legs over the edge of her mattress.  

Casting off her covers and sitting upright, she realized she was still wearing her clothes from the other day, and smelled terrible.  

Oh well, all the more reason I have to stand up, she thought to herself as she braced her arms and pushed her body up off of the bed.  Thankfully, her legs held strong, and although they were incredibly sore, carried her easily to the bathroom, where she washed away the stink of sweat and dirt and tree bark, then soaked in the tub for a good 30 minutes, allowing her muscles to relax a little bit more before putting them to the task of carrying her all around Konoha for more Sakura research.  

By the time she finished soaking, got dressed, and left her place it was a little past noon.  Due to the months of peace and the completion of the restoration of Konoha the streets were bustling with activity.  Although she loved her life as a ninja, there was also a certain joy in seeing the hidden village behaving like any other community.  Anbu members milling around like they’re just average villagers, lethal shinobi playing with their children in the park.  She grinned widely as she saw Asuma and Kurenai taking a leisurely stroll together down a pathway, his hand on the small of her back, her right hand protectively on her slightly bulging stomach. Godaime had started a pool on the new family, and people were placing bets on which of the two jounins would hold back from the shinobi lifestyle to raise their child.  Tenten personally had her money on Asuma playing the role of stay-at-home-Dad.  She knew Kurenai, even in her very pregnant state, often went out training with her team, while Asuma seemed more content to discuss baby names over barbecue with his group.  

A little further into the park she saw Kiba and Hinata playing fetch with Akamaru, the two chuunins clearly enjoying their time off.  She laughed a little as the full-grown dog leapt onto Hinata, paws on her chest, licking her face while the Hyuuga heiress laughed freely.  Tenten wondered if his human counterpart ever felt jealous over such signs of affection, and glanced back at Kiba, who indeed looked a little perturbed.  Maybe it was because he was ready to throw a stick with no one to fetch it, or perhaps it was due to his best friend’s tongue all over his girlfriend’s face.  It was impossible to tell, so she continued on with her walk, sure the trio would work it out.  

On the outskirts of the park she saw Shino diligently collecting bugs.  One would think he had enough bugs, but apparently not.  

She made her way over to the wooded area where he was working, but slowed down considerably as she approached him.  She herself had never exchanged words with the Aburame prodigy, and she knew he was quite anti-social, even among his own team.  Would Shino know anything about Sakura?  She found it very unlikely, and was ready to turn around when she realized he waiting for her to say something, as his sunglasses were level with her eyes and his hand hovered unmoving over the tree.  

Oh well, I’ve already disturbed him, might as well ask him.

“Hey, Shino.  I was wondering, would you by any chance know some things about Sakura’s likes and dislikes?”  She asked in a very cheerful, amiable way.  He just stood there, emotionless, unreadable, staring at her, or maybe not.  For all she knew he had fallen asleep in that position and she was moronically asking a sleeping man questions.

“She doesn’t like most bugs,” he said just as Tenten was ready to sneak away as to not disturb the possibly napping ninja, “but she likes butterflies a lot.”  And with that he resumed his work.  Tenten bowed, even though he was no longer paying attention to her, or maybe he was, who knew.  

She sat on a bench near the main street and pulled out her little pink notepad from her back pocket.  She thought it was appropriate for keeping her notes on Sakura information.  Fittingly enough with her newest information, there was a small, white butterfly embossed on the bottom left corner of the cover.

works at hospital under supervision of Tsunade-sama
likes perfume (flowery: lilac, lily)
doesn’t like bugs, except butterflies.

She jotted down the last line as her stomach rumbled loud enough to cause a small child to glance over her way.  With a start she realized she had completely skipped both breakfast and lunch and hadn’t eaten anything since early yesterday evening when Lee had generously allowed a 20 minute dinner break between the 500 reps of tree kicking and the 500 counts of jumping rope.

Not wanting to pass out from hunger (after her fiasco last night the embarrassment would be way too much to bear), she stood up and began walking west, going into the first restaurant she came across, which happened to be an all-you-can-eat barbecue place.  Due to her near-starvation, all-you-can-eat sounded really good to her at this point, plus she was a big fan of barbecue, and it smelled absolutely delicious once she had her head in the door.  

As she was walking over to an empty table she heard the unmistakable shout of Yamanaka Ino, her voice filling the restaurant like no one else’s could.  Turning slightly, Tenten saw the cause of the outburst.  Chouji’s chopsticks were in his mouth, his cheeks puffed out with a big smile on his face, eyes narrowed dangerously towards Ino as her own chopsticks were poised above the now empty grill in the middle of the table.  

“I was cooking that for ME!”  She shouted, now jabbing the chopsticks at her supposed lunch date.  

“No one will eat the last piece of pork but me!” He shouted triumphantly as he took the chopsticks out of his mouth and thrust them into the air.  Ino fumed, but Tenten knew she wouldn’t be angry for long.  Chouji would make up for it by buying her ice cream or taking her to a movie, but then would take one too many “tastes,” or eat all the popcorn before the show started, and the cycle would continue.  It was just the way they worked, and everyone had accepted it as another part of their lives.

“Hey Tenten!”  Ino was waving her over, “Sorry, did we disturb your meal?”

“No, I just got in here, I haven’t eaten yet.”  She answered as she trotted over.  Ino smiled widely.

“Why don’t you join us?  We were just about to get another helping.”  She asked, scooting over to the left of the booth and patting the seat next to her.  Tenten looked uncertainly from Ino to Chouji.  

“Thanks, but I don’t want to impose–”

“Impose on what?  It’s not like we’re on a date,” she looked pointedly at Chouji, “Men act like gentlemen on dates.”  She looked back up at Tenten, all smiles once more, “So come on and join us.  It’ll be fun.”  Chouji looked a little downcast, but nodded, indicating he knew he was in the wrong, and this was his punishment.  Not really wanting the wrath of Ino on her next, Tenten complied with the offer and sat down next to the blonde.  It took her a moment to appreciate what a perfect opportunity this was for her to get some more information.

“Hey, I’m, um, helping out a friend, and, would you guys know some of the inner workings of Sakura?”  Chouji, looked up at Tenten, then leaned back in his seat, hands behind his head as he watched Ino, whose eyes had gone wide with excitement as her face looked like it was about to burst with information.

“Well, she likes good looking guys, so she might be considered really shallow, but I think she likes guys she can help, or assist in some way, even more than hot guys.  She likes the chase more than being chased.  She loves daisies, which I find kind of funny because they’re rather common and plain compared to other flowers, especially concerning her taste in men.  

“She can be pretty cutthroat when she needs to be.  She’s not afraid to bleed for the people she loves, but I think she also likes it when people risk themselves for her too.  She’s not as vain as people think she is, but she still is kind of vain.  She really likes her hair.  She’s self conscious about her giant forehead, which is probably why she spends so much time preening herself.  She loves sweets, especially cookies, but she normally won’t eat them, but I think she really likes the gesture.  

“Obviously her favorite color is pink, all different shades of it.  She doesn’t like it when guys throw themselves at her (Tenten starred that one) but would rather they ease into her life.  She loves romance, all those smutty romance books, not that porn that Jiraiya writes, but the really romantic ones, she reads those all the time,” she trailed off as Tenten scribbled furiously into the little notebook.

“And she doesn’t eat enough.”  Chouji added, signaling a waiter to bring them more food to grill.  

Exhausted, Tenten fell back into her seat, looking at Ino, who wasn’t even fazed by her long winded explanation of the girl who was, wasn’t, and now might once again be, her dearest friend.  

The trio ate lunch, chatting about ninja business as Tenten’s quest seemed to have filled Ino’s gossip quota for the day.  They talked about the past jounin exam, who would be ready for the upcoming exam, what they were planning on doing once they became jounins, etc.  After eating her fill of the food she pulled out her wallet and tried to give Choiji some money for her meal, but he refused to take it, insisting that a gentleman never lets a lady pay for a meal.  She glanced over at Ino, who was smiling approvingly at the large man sitting across from her.

Before she stood up she realized she was missing one of the rookies in her quest, and in an attempt to go 6 for 6 on her info chart, decided she would hunt him down.  And if anyone would know where he was, they would.

“Do you guys know where I can find Shikamaru?”  The two shared a wide grin before Ino turned to Tenten.

“He’s been out on a “mission” strengthening our “friendly bonds” with Suna.”  She raised her eyebrows suggestively and bit her lower lip, indicating the relationship between their dear, lazy-ass genius and the brilliant fan-wielder of Suna was getting quite juicy.  Tenten couldn’t help but grin along with them.  A hot and heavy liaison was better than being interrogated any day.  She doubted he would have been able to give her any information anyway, and Ino had supplied her with more than enough fodder to feed Lee for days.  

Waving goodbye over her shoulder as she walked through the door, she heard Chouji call the waiter over for yet another helping of food.  It would never cease to amaze her how much Akimichis could eat.

She had barely stepped out of the restaurant before she heard her name being shouted out by someone behind her.  Turning, she saw the pink-haired girl she’d been pseudo-stalking for two days now running up to her with a large smile on her face.

“You’re looking better.  Good to see you on your feet again.”  She winked, and Tenten looked at her, confusion etching her facial features.

“On my fee- Ohhh,” her brown eyes went wide, “you mean last night?”  She said fearfully, knowing she wasn’t lucky enough to have had that situation gone unnoticed.  Sakura nodded, still smiling in her “good for you!” way that made Tenten’s stomach flop a little.    

“No, listen, no, Neji was just helping out an old teammate.  And carrying me home was the quickest way to go about doing things, so, that’s what he did.”  She hastily explained, not wanting word to get to Neji that people thought they were going together.  Sakura gave her a “suuure” look and smiled all the wider.

“Well, I thought you two looked like an adorable couple.  You should convince him to go on a date with you.”  She said, winking before bounding off, leaving Tenten alone with her mortification.  She couldn’t ask Neji out on a date, that was a ridiculous idea.  Not only would he turn her down, but he might even laugh in her face.  Not that Neji ever laughed, but such a concept might elicit some guffaws out of him at her expense.    

Not ten minutes after Sakura had left she ran into the man who was directly or indirectly responsible for everything in her life for the past few days.  

“Hey Lee, I was a little surprised you didn’t come get me for training today.”  She said with a smile that indicated she had been a little concerned, but at the same time was grateful for the break.  He simply shrugged his green-spandex clad shoulders.

“I was going to, but Neji came by last night and told me that we shouldn’t have training today.  At first I thought it was because he didn’t want us to become stronger, but then I realized that was silly, Neji would never hold us back.  He probably really wants us to become jounins so we can all be at the same level as him again.”  Tenten didn’t have the heart to tell him that they’d never been, and probably never would be, at Neji’s level, no matter how much they trained and worked.  Like so many other times she just nodded and smiled, preferring his upbeat outlook every time she agreed with him over his defeated attitude.

“So we’ll train tomorrow morning, and become stronger!”  He shouted, punching the air victoriously.  She nodded again, wondering when she should begin her own training of getting Lee groomed to meet Sakura’s standards.  As she watched her slightly outlandish teammate she believed those sessions might leave her more exhausted than Lee’s vigorous workout did.

It suddenly struck her that Neji had been looking out for her, making Lee cancel practice, giving her time to recuperate and regain her strength.  Was he concerned for her?  Could he possibly have feelings for her other than “there’s that girl that was on my team?”  Nah, he just didn’t want to get stuck carrying her home again.  That was all.  Wasn’t it?