Naruto 1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Also, the idea of Gai adopting Tenten and Tenten's past in general, is based off of a good friend of mine's idea.

Author Notes: Hey guys, not really sure what to say here, except…here's another ShinoTen story. So buckle up your seat belts, cause here we go and please enjoy, for that is why writers write.

X

Even through his sunglasses, the bright light streaming in from the window made Shino wince and force his face closer to the page he was working on, trying to ignore the laughter and chaos around him. It was their last month of school at Sarutobi High before summer and once again, everyone was acting like bees let loose in a garden, long before it was time. A month was a month. Something both he and the teachers wished the others would understand. Not that Shino hated summer, or would rather be in school, but the general madness caused by his classmates was something he wanted no part of.

"Hey Shino!" a familiar voice greeted him as a hand clapped him on the back a little to hard. "Are you comin' with us to the festival tonight or are you shuttin' yourself in again with another experiment?"

Shino looked up at his friend and sometime rival, Kiba. The teenager was shorter than him by a few inches, with a slender build, wild brown hair and red markings on his cheeks that were traditional for all members of his family. He was also wearing a grin that made Shino want to do nothing more than run his chair back over Kiba's foot.

"There is no festival tonight. And even if there was, I wouldn't be attending, and neither should you. We're still in school."

"No festival officially. We're having an...improvised one over at Ino's. Besides it's the weekend. You don't have to worry about any of this until Monday." he waved off his friends concerns, before shooting the paper Shino was currently working on a glare.

"Can you explain to me how waiting till Monday to worry about homework is helpful? You can't, and I don't suspect anyone else here can either." he said, sweeping his gaze over the class and fighting the urge to roll his eyes as Ino held a piece of something out of Chouji's reach, forcing him to whine and fight for it against the hand planted on his face.

A snort was the answer he received as Kiba shook his head.

"You're letting yourself get old, man. All this worrying about work and getting it done on time? The teachers know what's coming, and you've been among the top since you started here. They'd cut you more slack than anyone...you could even tell 'em you just lost it, and they'd probably give you a pass."

"I think you're confusing me with the Judo team. Besides, not all teachers are that easily sated. Our homeroom teacher for one, would not appreciate that." his glasses flashed as if to emphasize his point. Out of all the teachers here, Kurenai-sensei had to be among the toughest, if not the harshest when it came to grades. There was no excuse short of an illness that required the hospital, or death in the family, that would convince her to give someone an extension on a paper. Even then, Shino wouldn't have been surprised if she made the student in question bring in the actual doctor, or death certificate.

"Whatever, but you know...if you don't come and she's there, there's no one to really stop me from making a move." Kiba put an arm over his shoulder and his grin turned predatory. "You know she'd...OWE!" he yelped and jerked back as Shino slid his chair back roughly over Kiba's foot, securing his shoe to the floor even as Kiba stumbled backward and hit the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see your foot there." Shino said as he stood up, and collected his papers.

"Man Shino! Calm down, would ya? I was just saying if you're not gonna make a move, why shouldn't anyone else? She's not your girlfriend. She doesn't even know you like her." Kiba yelped again and cursed as Shino stepped back on his foot before Kiba pulled it back.

"I've told you not to bring that up. You will not, bring it up again." his eyes flashed and he stuffed his papers in his bag as the bell rang signifying the end of the day was near and he started walking away. "And just so you know, upper classmen rarely do pay attention to those lower than them." he added without looking back, as he headed out into the hallway, and then brought his hood up before anyone could tell his face had a slight tinge of pink to it.

Of all the low strikes Kiba had taken over the years, mentioning her to try and get him to come had to be the lowest. He knew better than anyone, that there was no chance to be had with an upper classman. Even if they were only a year apart, and in some of the same classes, that wasn't enough to build a relationship on. Besides, his competition was more than ample when it came to her.

Speaking of which...

Shino pushed himself into the small groove in the wall where the water fountain stood and his eyes narrowed. There was his main competition. Hyuuga Neji. He was the captain of the Judo team and hailed as a genius of martial arts, as well as top of his class in most subjects save for math and history, and in terms of looks, he was what Shino heard girls describe as 'everything they wanted'. If it weren't for her, Shino would have just rolled his eyes and let the upper classman be. But Neji was always around her. Or maybe she was always around him. They smiled often in each other's presence and seemed to enjoy many jokes, as well as with the other boy she was always around. Though whether he was actually competition or more like her brother, Shino wasn't sure. He was always ruffling her hair or teasing her about one thing or another and usually getting growled at, slapped upside the head, or shaken for his troubles. Though there was always an underlying begrudging affection in the way she did it.

Now though, she was nowhere to be seen, leaving the two teenagers to talk and Neji to slap his friend upside the head in her place.

He waited another minute to see if she came out of any class nearby or was walking down the hall to meet them, before finally Shino forced himself to move on and tried not to glare at the Hyuuga as they entered their last class of the day: Chemistry.

The chemistry room was larger than most others in the school, but with oversized blacktop tables spread out, scorch marks on the floor, the low ceiling and tiny windows overhead, it felt more like a holding cell to most. Shino didn't mind that though. In a way, the room eased his nerves and made him feel as if nothing could be hidden from his gaze. Every note passed, every cheating glance made, every 'subtle' attempt to grab the attention of the opposite sex, he saw it all.

As he took his seat in the back though, and watched from behind his glasses, the one person he actually wanted to see never came by. The seconds turned into minutes and despite the few glances he gave to the door, he could see no sign she was coming. The few girls she hung out with were already here, and Lee and Neji were already at their seats…come to think of it, he hadn't seen her in math or history either…

Was she alright?

Shino sat back in his chair, watching as the clock continued to tick by as he tried to think of where she might be, and if there was anyway he could find out. Maybe if she needed assistance he could be the one to get there first and help her, or if she was sick, then use the front of bringing her the assignments. He inwardly sighed as the ideas bounced back and forth in his head. As much as he wanted at least one of them to come true, he knew none of them would. Not only because of the age difference, but he had seen her turn down help enough times to know she wouldn't accept his, and if she needed her work, there were already those who could bring it to her. Not to mention her father worked here.

So why hadn't he seemed concerned…

Thinking back to his history class, Shino couldn't remember Gai even giving a hint that something was wrong. Until they started talking about the war that is and Shino thought he was going to give them a reenactment of the one of the battles to emphasize his point. If Kakashi hadn't been involved with something else at the time, Shino was sure he would have.

What was she doing then?

His gaze wandered over to Neji and Lee, then away and towards some of her other friends and narrowed. He could get information from them easier and there'd be less of a chance they'd call his ruse. Taking a deep breath, he stood up with a few minutes to spare before the bell and walked over to one of the tables where two girls sat. One had black straight hair that reached the middle of her back, and kept fiddling with a pen. The other one had obviously dyed blonde hair, and was the one who caught notice of him first. Her eyes widened before narrowing suspiciously.

"Can we help you?" she asked.

Without missing a beat, Shino stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and shrugged.

"I hope so. I lent Tenten a page of my notes a few days ago, and I was wondering if either of you had seen her so I could ask for them back."

Sensing this wasn't a come on towards either of them, the blonde's eyes lost their glare and she shrugged.

"We saw haven't seen her either, but I think that's because she's working on something."

"Early admissions." the black haired girl said. "Most of us are seniors next year, but even getting an appointment for a pre-admissions test is murder. Sometimes it seems like you have to know someone to even get on a list."

He nodded, giving a slight smile that was half at them and half at himself for the information he'd managed to receive. He could imagine Tenten getting started on her entrance exams early…and maybe, just maybe…that was something he could help her with. Or he could at least drop hints about ways he was finding to make things go faster and start a conversation.

"Well thank you for your…" he started only to be cut off.

"Tell me about it. I'm still trying to just get a hold of someone, but the most I get is more forms to fill and then standard letters. I'd bet money they have the exam building guarded."

"Wouldn't surprise me. They're so picky now about who they'll even test! I know why they do it, but…"

Shino's eyes rolled behind his glasses as he turned on his heel and headed back to his desk, already forgotten by the pair. Any other time and he would have interjected his thanks whether they wanted to hear it or not before leaving, but there wasn't time. Nor was it a surprise they had forgotten him even as he stood in front of them. He was used to that, and there were days he didn't mind being able to blend into the background. Still…there were moments where the sting surprised him and he'd feel like bashing his head into a wall for even approaching someone in this grade. Besides that, if her friends thought so little of him they couldn't even receive his gratitude…what were the odds she'd care?

He pulled out his notebook and flipped to a new page just as the bell rang. Ten minutes later, their teacher Hakate Kakashi finally arrived, looking bored as usual and with yet another explanation for why he was late.

'_Pondering the meaning of life…that's a new one.'_ Shino growled to himself as the lesson began, and despite his efforts, his eyes kept wandering to her empty seat.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Thank you guys for reading, hope you enjoyed it so far, and please let me know what you think.

Have a great day!

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Also, the idea of Gai adopting Tenten and Tenten's past in general, is based off of a good friend of mine's idea.

Author's notes: First off, thank you guys so much for your support and kind words. It really means a lot to me and makes me really happy that you're enjoying the story so far. Secondly, I want to give a big thanks to Rellie, for helping me with one part of this chapter. I usually don't, but for some reason I had a hard time writing Gai for this and she gave me some really great critique and help. Thank you so much Rellie! You rock! Well here's the next part. Please let me know what you guys thought, but above all, I hope you enjoy the story. For that is why writers write.

X

Tenten's pencil tapped absentmindedly against the stack of papers as the words blurred and she felt like slamming her head into the table. She had been working on this ever since school started and it felt like she'd barely made any progress at all. Maybe she should have waited to try for a place in the upcoming entrance exams. After all, this was just her third year, and unless someone's grades were exceptional, hardly anyone got past this stage.

But she knew there wasn't another option at this point.

"_The earlier the applicant applies, the more time we have to look over their records, and deem if they qualify for financial aid." _memories of the prep book she'd read pushed her pencil forward, and she watched as the characters took form almost on their own.

She had stayed up till two in the morning last night preparing for this and it wasn't even an entrance exam itself. Just the paper she had to write in order to make it to the first one.

Tenten fought back a groan as she finished her sentence and started on another. From the looks of those around her, they were all suffering equally. They were nestled inside a small corner of the library, where return carts cluttered one wall, a window stood with it's blinds closed, the librarian's desk sat as if purposely to intimidate them and the shelves of books reminded Tenten more of prison bars than anything else.

"Eyes down!" the librarian shouted and Tenten nearly jumped, managing to keep her eyes from rolling as they refocused. For someone who was normally just a bitter old lady, Chiyo had turned into an absolute nightmare. Every few minutes she'd shout out another order, or let them know what happened to cheaters. Considering they were just writing papers though and had so much space between them, there wasn't any reason to really 'cheat'. Part of Tenten wondered if the woman was just trying to scare them.

She bit her lip to keep from smirking at the memory of Naruto mouthing off to her a month ago and then the way she pretended to just slump over. No one told him she always did that and she thought he was going to hyperventilate while he tried to 'save' her and demanding someone call an ambulance. They'd all watched and fortunately for the boy, the old woman came back before he was subjected to starting mouth to mouth.

Her lip started to bleed from how hard she bit it to keep from laughing and she shook her head to try and get the image out and replace it with more somber thoughts. That only worked when she thought about all the work she'd missed today. Even if their teachers excused them, they were torn between doing this, and needing to get back to class. Tenten's watch told her chemistry had already started.

The sound of her pencil became deafening as it made more marks, and tried to make her ideas to come to life, while she tried not to bash her head into something. If Lee and Neji were here it might not have been so bad, but Neji had already done this months ago and Lee was scheduled for another day.

As the minutes ticked by, several people made moves to finish before their time was up and slid their work into large brown envelopes that they handed to Chiyo. She took them without noticing and fifteen minutes later it was just her and a boy who she thought had slept through most of it. Then he got up and handed over his paper and left with a smug expression.

"Five minutes." Chiyo called like the room was full and Tenten felt her face heat up at the tone. Did this senile old bat have to rub in the fact she was behind everyone?

Still, five minutes later, she finished her last sentence, slid it into the envelope and handed it off before grabbing her backpack and stalking down the aisles towards the door. She couldn't believe it had taken her this entire time to write that, and she wasn't even sure it made sense! Maybe she could slip back some time when Chiyo was gone and punch it up? Or maybe it'd get lost in the mail and she could think of this like another rough draft? Or maybe, they'd think it was brilliant and she didn't even know she'd stumbled across the secrets of the universe itself!

"And while I'm at it, dear Santa, I'd like you to arrange a meeting with the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny for me." she rolled her eyes as she opened the door and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden arm around her shoulder and her fist was already rearing up to strike the underside of a chin when a large hand clapped over it.

"So how did it go?" her dad asked and Tenten's eyes widened before narrowing.

"Would have been better without the heart attack at the end." she muttered pushing his arm off.

Gai rolled his eyes as he ruffled her hair and she batted his hand away.

"That bad huh? Unfortunately Chiyo-san does seem to go out of her way to make any event as unpleasant as she can, something I think would improve that negative disposition is if she got out more! Last time I suggested that though, she threw a stapler at my head, and I'm pretty sure she was the one who tried to run me down in the parking lot..." he furrowed his brow as he tried to remember, then laughed. "At least if she tries again, I'm ready for it! No one can dodge an oncoming car, faster than, Maito Gai!"

Tenten shook her head.

"Mighta actually preferred that to this." she gave a hollow smile as they walked down the hall, while she did a few quick takes to make sure no one was around. It wasn't that she was embarrassed of her dad, despite his hair, strange taste in ties and his constant need to make everything a little brighter, but she didn't want anyone to see them talking like this. Just in case he hugged her, and she actually hugged back instead of pulling away. Right now, she really wished he'd do that too. For one of the few times though, he simply gave her hand a squeeze.

"Ah now, what kind of attitude is that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You don't understand, it wasn't just her! It was that entire paper. I tried to rough out the whole thing yesterday, and I thought I had it! I even went back over it and the grammar made sense!" and considering how late it had been, that was a feat. "But back there…I don't think the words even matched up…"

Anyone else and she would have bluffed her way out the door, and told them how she had handled it and it wasn't that big of a deal. Unless it was Lee and then she might have tried to freak him out just a little. Though he had it coming for the incident in Judo last week. With her dad though…it was different. Despite the fact she was adopted, it had never felt like that. Like she had to hide things from him, and keep it all bottled up.

"Well did you try your hardest?" he asked. "Did you give it everything you had and then more? That's how you have to take these kinds of tests! You have to stare them right in the eye, without fear, and let them know, they've been outclassed! And that is something you can definitely do!"

"I stayed till the last minute if that's what you mean..."

"Anyone can stay till the last minute, my little flower. It's what you do with the time that makes the difference." he smiled encouragingly, and Tenten nodded with a sigh.

"I did my best…but I don't think that'll be enough this time."

"What makes you think that? If you gave it your best, then there's nothing to be ashamed of, and they'll see that! With enough hard work and passion anything's possible!" he grinned and Tenten inwardly cringed, silently pleading with him not to go into any long speeches. Fortunately he just rested his hand on top of her head, giving her hair another light rustle. "And this is something you really want right? That you're willing to work for come hell or high water?"

She nodded.

"It is."

"Then you'll make it! As long as you're willing to put the work in, you'll make it! And one day, I'll be seated at your graduation, watching as you walk across the stage to take life by storm!" from the misty look in his eyes, it was obvious part of him was already there and if possible his grin got wider.

Despite the eye roll, there was still a smile on Tenten's face as well and she didn't push her father's hand away as it moved and draped her in a one armed hug. Sometimes she just needed to hear that someone else believed in her, and as much as she still doubted her work, the fact that her dad didn't, made it easier to deal with.

"And speaking of work, don't you have a class to be in now..." he asked suddenly, coming out of his daydream and Tenten's face deadpanned.

"But…I just…you actually want me to go to another class after that?" she was all for pushing herself, and had it been any other class she would have gone. But chemistry? That was her worst subject, and she didn't expect Kakashi would have any mercy despite what her brain had already been through. If anything, he'd probably rub in the fact that she was late!

"Of course I do! I know this isn't your favorite, but you can't run away from it! Besides the more you miss now, the more you'll have to make up over the weekend, and I don't particularly feel like pulling any teeth." he gave her a pointed look with a raised eyebrow and Tenten barely bit back a groan.

Alright, so she wasn't the greatest when it came to doing her homework, but she wasn't failing any class and even if it was rushed, at least she handed most of her stuff in. Maybe he'd let her off just this once? After all, she was his little flower.

"But, Dad…"

"No buts! You can't allow yourself to fall behind…and you can stop looking at me like that, because I don't care how big your eyes get, you're not missing class!" Despite his stern voice, he was still grinning as he gave her a gentle nudge in the other direction. "But don't worry, I have something special waiting for you after school to reward all your hard work. I found out about a new trail they opened and since it's the weekend we can check it out, and after your homework is done, we could go for a longer run or even camping!" he called over his shoulder with a wave, as he disappeared around a corner of lockers.

"And here I thought you were above bribery." Tenten muttered, kicking at nothing on the ground as she headed towards Kakashi's classroom. The smell of sweat still clung to the muggy air as she walked through the narrow halls, hoping she could just slip in. There was always an empty seat by this one boy in the back, and considering how quiet he was, there was a chance he wouldn't rat her out to the teacher. Then again, his marks always set the curve but he didn't seem like a suck up or teacher's pets either. Though with the teachers here, it was probably impossible to become a pet at all. Even her dad didn't hold back grading her work, and all of them got frowny faces with a bad mark along with positive encouragement.

The closer she came the more she could hear from outside the door and cocked an eyebrow as she looked through the small window. Normally Kakashi's class was quiet, and he didn't go out of his way to make complicated than they needed to be. There were hardly any group projects and unless someone had a serious question, he didn't suffer talking easily. From the looks of it though, this was one of those rare days he'd have to endure it, and must have assigned a project. Which meant that there was a good chance she wouldn't have a partner now…

"Planning on joining us, or just observing?" Kakashi's voice came from inside and despite his mask, and covered eye, she could make out a smug expression through the window and felt like opening the door so it pinned him to the wall. Unfortunately, he was standing on the wrong side for that. "Never expected you to be late. Usually you're always so demanding of my promptness that I thought you would lead by example. Ah well, sometimes even the greatest fail."

"One time out of the entire year isn't failing. Especially when you have something else to do that doesn't involve getting lost." she glared as she stepped inside and if it hadn't been during the school day, would have stepped back to try and crush his foot.

Kakashi knew it to, and seemed to take enjoyment out of the fact that she couldn't do anything of the sort in this setting.

"Well your tardiness aside, you do have a project to get working on." he said and Tenten nodded looking around the room for who might be free.

She felt her stomach drop as she glanced around. From the looks of it, there was no one. All of her friends had partnered up, either with each other or the boys they liked. Lee was working with the class slacker, probably because Kakashi knew he'd keep the other boy working, and Neji…

Tenten couldn't help but smirk and send her friend a sympathetic look. His partner was a tall slender girl with layered brown hair, and eyes that she constantly changed the color of via contacts. She also sat behind him in most of their classes and used every trick in the book to try and flirt with him. From the look he was shooting her back, it seemed like Neji would rather be having his head slammed into a car door than endure it.

Maybe Kakashi would let her tack onto that group and help him out. Then again, it was slightly entertaining to watch him suffer like that.

"But don't worry, I didn't leave you without hope of passing. You're partner is right over there." he pointed over to the boy Tenten had considered sitting next to. He was currently working on something by himself, and seemed…almost lost in a different world. "He volunteered to wait for you when everyone was choosing, and hey, better than leaving you to work by yourself or tack you onto another group." he smiled.

Tenten felt her eye twitch. Did everyone have to point out her study habits today? Was it some kind of national holiday? And why him? She didn't dislike the boy, she didn't know him well enough for that, but why hadn't Neji or Lee said anything? Maybe they had and Kakashi said no or were lost in the confusion? Before she could say or ask anything though, Kakashi was already moving back towards his desk, and she assumed his favorite book. Shaking her head, and hoping her brain didn't quit on her for this, she headed over to her new partner.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: Hope you guys liked it. Please let me know what you thought, and have a great day.

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Also, the idea of Gai adopting Tenten and Tenten's past in general, is based off of a good friend of mine's idea.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry the update is a little late in coming, but thank you so much again for your support. It really does mean a lot to me, you guys are awesome. So here's the next part, please let me know what you thought, but most importantly, I hope you enjoy the story. For that is why writers write.

X

He had kept his eyes down and strained his ears during the entire conversation Tenten had had with Kakashi, but he hadn't been able to pick up much over the noise. Only that she hadn't thrown a fit at being his partner, and was coming over. He felt his heart starting to pound and forced himself to keep breathing normally. He wasn't sure what made him volunteer like that.

Maybe it was Kiba's constant taunts, or the fact that once summer started he wouldn't see her for at least two months, or maybe he was just hoping he could somehow impress her. Whatever the reason though, when Kakashi had announced the project and except for a few, told everyone to pick their partners, he'd gone right up to Kakashi's desk and said he wouldn't mind waiting for her. His excuse was that he had to get his notes back anyway and they were partners in another class so he could fill her in on what happened then as well.

Whether or not Kakashi believed him, he didn't know, but he doubted the man would actually have any interest in checking. And he had beaten Neji to it, so that was a plus.

Still, that left him feeling like he'd swallowed a bottle full of ants as he waited to see if she'd come and what her reaction would be.

Right now though…he wasn't exactly sure what it was as she dropped her backpack and plunked down next to him, resting her head on the table.

"Sorry I'm late." she said. "Word of advice, if you take an early entrance exam, make sure you don't stay up half the night preparing for it."

Shino nodded, trying to think of something engaging to say.

"I can't imagine that would be helpful, but at the very least you managed to finish. Most can't manage even that."

That was the wrong thing to say from how her head turned and she lightly smacked her forehead against the table, her brown hair coming loose from the two buns it was in, before she picked her head up.

"Hopefully it gets lost in the mail, but right now lets just work on this. What are we doing exactly…" she trailed off and furrowed her brow before her face turned slightly red and she tried to look over at his papers as if that would answer her.

Shino bit back a sigh. He didn't blame her for not knowing who he was since they had never really talked before, but it did make him feel slightly lower on the food chain than he had a few seconds ago.

"Aburame Shino." he offered with a slight bow of the head.

"I knew I knew that name! Just trying to match it up with the face. Maito Tenten." she grinned, returning the gesture, and for a split second Shino wanted to say that he knew that. That she was impossible to miss, at least for him, and ask if she was planning on attending Ino's 'festival' tonight.

Fortunately common sense caught up to him, and he realized just how overbearing that might sound.

"So what are we doing?" she continued.

"We have a few choices actually. One, we can make glowing water. Two, we can use these chemicals to make different colored fires and see if there's any different in the ash they leave. Or three, which of common materials make the most pollution and smoke." he said, watching her eyes for any sign of what she might prefer and hoping it wasn't the water one. He'd glanced over it, and for all the pretense and expected pain, it was relatively easy, and would take the least amount of time to actually do. They might even finish it up with the remaining class time they had, and then the lab would only take fifteen minutes to write. There went his big, and possibly only chance, of interaction then.

Maybe she knew that to though and that was why she was looking over at it.

"Making glowing water would probably be a lot of fun. Especially if you can drink it…" she shot a glaring smile over at Kakashi and he could see the wheels turning in her head. "But between fire and water, I'd rather play with the flames, and light something up. What about you?" she asked.

Shino bit his cheek to keep from grinning and looked over the other two, trying to see which one would take the most time, and beat back the nagging voice in his head that told him to let her know what one would be harder. Because out of the two fire ones, there was still one they could finish within the class itself and not need to use the workday on Monday. Still…

"The one where you burn common materials might take less time, but it's just setting things on fire. The other one looks more interesting, as you actually have to work to get the flames to change color. How often do you see a red fire? Not…"

"Hardly ever. I say we do that one." Tenten grinned as she made a move to grab the container with the needed supplies and Shino inwardly beamed. With his conscious somewhat appeased, he had a feeling that things were taking a turn for the better as they moved the other containers and began.

Twenty minutes later though, he wasn't sure that things could be going any worse. Maybe it was just the fact that chemistry wasn't her thing, or that he had purposely been trying to make things go slower and hadn't shared leadership that well, or maybe it was that she liked to argue about everything, and while never playing the 'upperclassman' card, still seemed to balk at any help or critique he offered.

"I know what I'm doing, Shino! You don't have to point out every little detail." she growled as she mixed the chemicals together.

"You're using to much though. If you keep using that amount, then the flame will get to big…"

"Have you ever done this project before?" she asked.

He shook his head as he moved his own small dish of chemicals farther away from hers.

"No, but…"

"Then you don't actually know the flame will get to big. And we need a decent amount to actually burn."

"Decent amounts vary from project to project and that's to much for this."

"I thought we agreed that we'd split the project? You work on your half and I'll work on mine!"

Shino wasn't sure when he had first felt attracted to Tenten, only that it had begun at the end of last year when they moved him into one of her math classes to see how he did at that level and continued to grow throughout this year. And it was shallow, he knew, but the first thing that did draw his attention to her was her appearance. The way she moved and spoke, and how she seemed to fit like a missing puzzle piece in this world. Then the more he saw of her, he started to realize it wasn't just physical attraction, but her personality as well. How easy she was with people, and the way she cared but never seemed to enjoy showing how deeply she did. He'd watched how she interacted with others, and even those in his class, never looking down on them, and when a challenge was presented, she never shrank back from it. Nor did her world seem to revolve around trivial things as other girls her age did.

One thing he didn't enjoy now that it was unleashed on him though, was her absolute stubbornness and flaring temper.

"I don't remember ever agreeing to that. This is a group project. We're supposed to work on it together, and part of that is following the directions." whatever he felt for her, there was no way he was just going to be a pushover and let her blow them up because she felt like doing things her way.

"You know what Sh…"

"Umm…Tenten, may I borrow your scissors please?" a voice from behind cut off her tirade and they both turned to look at the boy standing behind her.

Lee's large grin seemed made to break up the battle and Shino watched as Tenten let out a sigh and nodded.

"What happened to yours?"

"I lent them to Neji. The last time his partner 'dropped' them on the ground, the centerpiece came out and they broke. Kakashi-sensei won't let them near the glue either…"

"Probably because he knows Neji would wind up with his hand glued to Natsuka's and she'd try to say they were dating."

Lee laughed.

"Well you have to admire her determination at least!" Lee smiled, and looked over at Shino before sticking out his hand instead of a standard bow. "Rock Lee! I do not think we have met before, but if you are Tenten's friend then I think we will become great ones as well!"

Shino cocked an eyebrow at the hand and then the teenager who offered it, and from behind his glasses, tried to discern if this was some kind of joke in the making. Another part waited for Tenten to correct Lee and say they weren't friends.

"Haven't you ever shaken a hand before?" she asked instead, and Shino bit back a growl as he took it.

"Aburame Shino. I'm in a few of your other classes."

"Which ones?"

"Math, history, and gym." he said.

Lee furrowed his brow and looked up to the left as he tried to remember, then shrunk down a little with a sheepish grin and shook his head.

"I am sorry…I do not remember ever seeing you there…"

"I wouldn't feel bad, Shino. Lee would forget his head if it wasn't attached." Tenten teased and Lee humphed.

"I just came over to ask if I could borrow some scissors and introduce myself, not for a lecture!"

"Don't think of it as a lecture." Tenten said as she handed him the scissors. "Just think of it as someone pointing out an area you need to improve in."

From the look on Lee's face he hadn't been expecting that and before Shino could blink a smile larger than before took over Lee's face and he tackled Tenten in a hug from behind making her jump a little.

"Thank you for your concern, Tenten! It means so much to me that you want to help me improve!"

"Ack! Lee! Let go!" Tenten growled, but there was laughter underneath as she pushed her hand against his face, and after a minute he backed off, thanking her for the scissors over his shoulder.

It wasn't until he left that Shino felt the heat of jealousy take over and actually wondered if Neji was his largest competition for her. It had seemed as if they were just friends, but with that kind of closeness…he wasn't sure.

"Before you even ask, yes, Lee is always like that. And sugar or any kind of caffeine, makes it worse." Tenten grinned after her friend.

"How long have you known him?" Shino asked, deciding that wasn't an invasive question.

"Since I was eight. We went to the same elementary school and sometimes my dad would bring him home when his mom was working late. Neji would tag along to since otherwise he'd have to had waited for an hour for someone to come get him." she shook her head, a look of fondness at the memories melting away the traces of her anger. "I think when I asked Santa for a little brother one year, I wound up getting Lee instead."

So he was just like a brother then. Shino felt some relief and his eyes softened to mere acknowledgement instead of anger after Lee. Maybe there was a way he could use this to his advantage? He knew what he told Kiba earlier but…

Any thoughts he had were cut off as an offensive odor began to tickle his nose and he and Tenten whipped around at the same time. The chemicals they had been working with had been left sitting to long, and Shino realized had been moved too close together. With the amount Tenten had made up, and the fact that they were starting to mix in the air…

Before either of them could say a word, the two dishes burst into bright blue and red flames that shot up towards the ceiling and began letting off colored smoke.

"Everyone out!" Kakashi yelled louder than anyone ever remembered as Tenten and Shino jerked back from the table and nearly stumbled to the floor. Kakashi was already moving to stop the flames and the fire alarm had started along with the sprinkler system, but this only seemed to encourage the fire.

A split second later, a piece of scorched ceiling fell, crashing onto the table, knocking over both chemicals and sending the flames over the entire tabletop.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Probably not the class Shino was hoping for, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please let me know what you thought, and have an awesome day.

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Also, the idea of Gai adopting Tenten and Tenten's past in general, is based off of a good friend of mine's idea.

A/N: Hey all, sorry this chapter is coming up so late. School has been trying to eat me, and on top of battling writers block, I was actually sick for awhile. Thank you guys so much for your awesome reviews and all your support. I can't tell you how much that means to me, and I'm so happy you guys are enjoying the story. Also I really want to thank Rellie again for helping me get over my writers block when it came to this chapter, and just being a great support and friend. You rock girl! I hope you all enjoy what's coming up next, and please let me know what you thought. Most of all though, I hope you enjoy the story, for that is why writers write.

X

"You know…I've taught this class for a few years now, and I've seen some things that not even those in the teacher's lounge believe." Kakashi sighed as he folded his arms and shook his head. "But I have never, seen a team set an entire table on fire and blow a hole in the ceiling on top of it. You two, are by far ahead of the curve."

The two teenagers ducked down at Kakashi's words and more than anything, Tenten wished she could turn invisible. Of all the days for this to happen, it had be on the day she'd already been put through hell, in her worst class, and not only was Kakashi there, but most of the teaching staff as well. Including her dad.

When the fire alarm had first sounded, chaos reigned as everyone headed for the door, while some of the teachers herded them outside, and still others came back to help Kakashi. Her dad had been one of those, along with Anko and Ebisu. It hadn't taken much to stop the initial fire, but with as many chemicals around as there had been, part of Tenten knew they were lucky it didn't spread.

Though that hadn't stopped her dad from nearly breaking her back in a hug when he'd found her and nearly sobbing as he tried to find out if she was alright. Once he knew she was, that was when the lecture started.

Now they were all back in the room with the rest of the class looking as if they were ready to kill them. Even Lee and Neji looked irritated at being held at least a half an hour past when they were supposed to start cleaning, meaning it'd be at least another hour before they got out of here. It was only fortunate that most of the after school groups didn't meet on Fridays, and none of those who did, were in this class.

"However," Kakashi continued. "I am at least grateful that no one was injured, and that you two didn't blow out any windows. Still this is your fault…"

"Actually…" Tenten sighed, kicking at nothing on the floor as she shot a look over at Shino, whose own mouth was open as if to speak. "It's not…Shino's fault. Not really anyways. If he hadn't been trying to tell me what to do this probably wouldn't have happened, but…"

"Yes, because using to much of a substance is the perfect way to avoid a fire hazard." he muttered, and Tenten shot him a glare, but he was looking away.

"But, I was…"

"I should have been more careful in relating the directions." Shino cut in. "She's never worked with these kinds of chemicals before. I should have explained the hazards better and…"

"I can read, you know. You don't have to explain…"

"But you didn't read the directions."

"Because I knew what was I doing."

"Clearly." Shino indicated with his hand to the charred blacktop, and the pieces of lab equipment that were now fused with it. Their backpacks were both being slowly crushed by their toppled over chairs, and a good deal of both their contents were spilling out. Tenten could see one of her papers in particular, glaring at her from the pile with all its red marks, and felt her right eye twitch.

Didn't he know, she was trying to cover for him? Sure this whole thing wasn't her fault, but she had never shied away from taking responsibility for her mistakes. He was one of this classes star students, if not at the top, and as much as she hated to admit it, she should have listened to him on this. Instead, she helped cause an explosion, that wasn't even big enough to get them out of school without a lecture. Or maybe he knew exactly what she was trying to do, and was trying to do the same for her.

The thought made her want to slap him upside the head.

"Well while you figure out whose most at fault, you two, and only you two, are on cleaning duty for this classroom, both your homerooms, and the bathrooms on this floor."

Tenten's face deadpanned.

"What? But Kakashi-sensei, that'll…"

"And, I expect a lab on my desk, by Monday. The one that goes with the water experiment if you don't mind."

Their faces darkened at the stifled chuckles from the group and approving glances from several students as well as the staff. Still, Tenten hoped her dad would object, and shot him as pleading of a look as she could with everyone around. Normally, she hated any idea that she was treated differently because she was a teacher's daughter, but right now, she wouldn't object to her dad, at least getting them out of the lab. She'd rather clean all the bathrooms than be stuck with another assignment.

Unfortunately, the look he threw her back clearly told her, she was in this for the long haul. She could almost hear his, 'youth comes with mistakes, but we must always face up to them' speech.

Maybe Shino would protest? After all, he always seemed to leave so quickly, even on days clubs didn't meet. He must be busy enough that he could come up with a legitimate excuse.

He made no move to do so though, instead simply nodding.

"We'll have it done before we leave."

"Even better." Kakashi smirked and Tenten felt like slamming his head into a wall.

"But if we're going to get it done along with the cleaning, shouldn't we start working now? I think we should." he said and their teacher nodded.

"I was just about to suggest that. Alright, everyone else, grab your belongings and head out…and no one stay behind to help them. This is a punishment. Not a social hour." his visible eye rested on Lee and Neji in particular, who seemed to be on the verge of offering to do just that when they were cut off.

Tenten sighed as she looked over at her dad as the class once again came to life with everyone swarming and hurrying to collect their belongings; all of them watching the door as if it'd disappear.

"Ahh, don't look so down, Tenten!" Gai smiled as he came over and clapped a hand on her back. "It's not the worst punishment in the world, and hopefully it's something you can learn from. After all…"

"Even something bad can be good if you learn from it." she finished. "But I don't see how this falls into that category! It was just an accident. You should all be thrilled we weren't blown through the window!"

From the way Gai's eyes widened she knew that was the wrong thing to say, as he could clearly see it happening in his mind and before she could move, had her locked in another iron hug and a nearly choked sob came.

"Of course I am grateful for that my little flower! Harm is not something I ever want to come to you! I would sooner swim with sharks wearing steaks around my neck than anything happen to you!"

"Dad…it's alright." Tenten wheezed at the pressure. "I'm fine! I was just…saying…" she started, but it wasn't getting through his proclamations of how grateful he was nothing had happened to her, and in the end, she found herself just giving him a quick tight hug of her own. This seemed to get through at least a little bit. "I'm fine. Really. You don't have to worry, it was just a stupid mistake. I mean, it's high school. It's not like there's any real danger. Just…fire hazards."

Gai sniffed, but smiled all the same as he smoothed down her hair, and finally let Tenten go. Unfortunately, those still in the class had saw his outburst, and she realized the amount of teasing awaiting her on Monday.

"I know that…just the idea that something could happen to you…" he shook his head and cleared his throat, oblivious to the smirks thrown their way. "But at least this way, you will learn to read directions before jumping into something! I'm thrilled you're finally getting so excited about schoolwork and I can see our talks have not gone unheeded! But there are times when looking before you leap is the best course of action! Particularly, when that involves fire." he smiled, and she took a step back just in case he pulled her into another hug. "Also, this could be a good review in what it means to work with and listen to your partner." he added as he rested his hand against his chin.

She looked over her shoulder at her current partner in question and inwardly sighed. He probably felt just as kicked around by this as she was. Even more so, considering he hadn't even protested. And he had been right about the chemicals, and trying to help her. Still, she wanted to slug him for suggesting they'd have the lab done before they left.

"Yeah, I know." Tenten sighed. "I'd better get over there, so we can get started. I still want to go on that hike this weekend."

"That's my girl! And if you can't cleanup and get your lab done in only an hour then…"

"Then I'll bang my head against my locker until I leave a dent." she smirked as she waved him off and headed towards the table. That probably wasn't the promise her dad expected her to make. Then again, from how he rolled his eyes and laughed, it probably was.

Right before she got there, Shino pulled up the chair that had been on her pack, and she dropped down next to him to begin picking up her things, with a nod. Though she wasn't sure whether to thank him for trying to help her, or glare at him for him for his suggestion. Her annoyance won out.

"You know, you didn't have to tell him we'd get it done before we left today. That just adds more work."

"Wouldn't it be wise to get it done as soon as possible though? I think it…"

"It's not like we couldn't have met over the weekend to get it done." she sighed. "We could have just as easily met somewhere. Who knows, my brain might actually be turned on by then."

The silence that followed was only broken up by shuffling papers, and a few called out goodbyes from classmates, including one that had her throwing a paper ball at Lee. Then Shino spoke.

"Wouldn't that have been more of an inconvenience to you, though? Considering you'd have to…" he trailed off as Tenten looked at him. He shook his head, as he adjusted his glasses than continued to pack up his own papers.

With his glasses, it was hard to tell what his expression was, or what might be behind it. Sometimes she wondered why the teachers even let him wear them indoors, but considering some of their teacher's choices in accessories, it wasn't hard to believe they would. Even without his glasses though, Tenten doubted she'd be able to tell much about what he was thinking. From what little she knew about Shino, he seemed like a very stubborn, private, and calm…

"That's mine!" he blurted out just as her hand grazed a black book and she nearly jumped at the volume in his voice.

"Wha…"

"I'm…sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. It's just…I've nearly lost it several times before, and it has my notes in it from nearly every class…" the words spilled out of his mouth, and Tenten picked up the book, cocking an eyebrow as she noticed a small lock on it.

"You lock your notes?"

"…Yes." the way Shino said it, she wasn't sure if that's what he expected everyone to do, or if it was just him. Then again, he also asked questions and then answered them, and enjoyed science class. This was just another one of his quirks, and she handed it over without another thought. He took it away in a blur, and had it stuffed in his backpack before she could blink. "Thank you."

"No problem." she shrugged, and after making sure they both had everything, got up, and quickly decided that the best thing to do, would be to start working on the project, and then start cleaning the now empty rooms.

X

Tsunade bit her lip as she continued listening to the radio, her head in one hand as she wrote bits of information down, and swore under her breath as a commercial came on.

So far, today had been nothing short of a disaster. First she was late getting in because she overslept, then she'd slammed her hand in the door, had to haul at least three kids into her office for fighting, and on top of that, two idiots in chemistry, started a fire. At least no one was hurt, but it had been more than enough to make her want to strangle whoever let them anywhere near something flammable. Fortunately for Kakashi's neck, the minute she turned on the radio in her office, her mind was on something else entirely.

Looking over the notes she'd made already, Tsunade shook her head and ran a hand through her blonde hair.

This wasn't good. She knew a day like this might come. She had been preparing for it, for years. As Principal she even upgraded the school's security system to something that almost bordered a military bunker. At least compared to other schools. Still, that didn't make knowing that day was here, any easier. Especially since nothing could be done about it.

A knock on her door caught her attention and she looked up as Shizune walked in. The woman's face was grim, and she carried the stacks of paper with her like a shield.

"I just heard on the news…Tsunade-sama are you going to be alright?" she set the papers down on the older woman's desk and put a hand on her shoulder.

Tsunade nodded curtly.

"I'll be fine. This is nothing I wasn't expecting and I've taken all the necessary precautions."

"You don't think he'd actually come after the students do you?"

"I don't know. I doubt it. That's not his style, but…" she trailed off, her brown eyes swarming with mixed emotions as she looked out the window, and clenched her fists. "I've done everything I can. There's no way he'd be able to get inside, and if he does find a way, there's no way out. Besides that, there's nothing I can do. The police are already doing everything they can, and you know they won't patrol this area. Especially over the weekend, with no students here."

Shizune shook her head.

"It's not just the school I'm worried about. What if he comes after you? He could find where you live…"

"He probably already knows." Tsunade waved it off, then felt something clench in her gut as she saw Shizune's face, and felt her hand tighten on her shoulder. Most of the teachers, herself and Shizune included, had fought in a war years ago, and after this school was reopened, it seemed like they were still fighting to keep it that way. Often times taking on classes they never thought they'd teach, or acting as coaches and leaders for after school activities without additional pay. Shizune's jobs included secretary, assistant nurse, health and first aid teacher. All of this had kept them working in close vicinity through the years, and the sister-like bond they'd formed in the war and because of Shizune's deceased uncle, was only strengthened. And she hated worrying the woman.

Not that that was particularly hard to do.

"I'm sure I'll be fine though. It's not like I need someone to save me. I can handle myself." she smirked, but the tension didn't ease in Shizune's face, and she sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, that's one thing the police are doing. They said they'll send someone to keep an eye on me at home, just in case he gets any stupid ideas in his head."

She couldn't tell whether this eased the woman's fears at all, or just made the situation seem even more dire. Either way, Tsunade wasn't going to allow herself to be frightened, and she didn't want Shizune, or anyone else to be. Though she had to admit, stupid wasn't usually a word she'd associate with this man. He was always planning. Always looking ahead at his next move. Always looking for a weakness. And from the update now coming from the radio about the prison break, it sounded like he had a partner.

"Don't worry Shizune. I'll be fine, alright? This school and everyone here, is perfectly safe. There's nothing to worry about."

To Be Continued...

A/N: Hope you guys liked it. Please let me know what you thought, and I hope you all have a great day.

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Also, the idea of Gai adopting Tenten and Tenten's past in general, is based off of a good friend of mine's idea.

A/N: Hey all! Once again I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get the next chapter up. School's been kicking my butt along with other stuff. But I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story. It really means so much to me and I just want to thank all of you for your support, and kind words. Once again I also want to thank my awesome beta-reader, Rellie who helped a great deal with this chapter and keeping me going! Please let me know what you thought, but most of all, I hope you all enjoy the story, for that is why writers write.

X

"I think we should split the cleaning up." Tenten said as they finished the last line of the lab, and Shino watched as she all but slammed it down on Kakashi's desk. A broad triumphant grin spread across her face. Normally, he would have found the grin infectious, and have to bite his cheek in order to keep from mimicking it and looking like a fool. Now though, he wasn't so sure if the reason for the split was efficiency or if she was tired of him.

It had been a long day for both of them, and being called into the office halfway through their second lab to explain to his father over the phone what happened, hadn't helped. But despite all that he thought things had been going well. They'd managed to smooth out what happened earlier during the fire, taking the blame equally, and even managed to work on this project with relative peace.

Although it had taken them a good five minutes after deciding they would each do one bottle, to decide who went first. In the end he won out only because he was able to remember more of the directions than she was. A brief rematch followed, but the outcome was the same, and the whole project had led to surprisingly interesting conversation. Oddly enough it had centered around science and why he enjoyed it so much and why she detested it like she did.

"_I'm not stupid! If it was just memorizing and applying I could do that. But I don't see any point to it. I'm never going to use this stuff past college, and I'd rather spend my time learning about the stuff I will." she said, watching as the red water swirled around as it was mixed._

"_Anyone who believes you to be stupid is a fool in their own right." Shino looked up at her through the dark plastic, and wanted to tell her exactly how smart he thought she was. How smart. Beautiful. Wonderful. But he had more common sense than that, even as she smiled. "But do you not also enjoy history?"_

"_My dad teaches that. I have to. And I like gym more than I like that…but don't tell him alright? He'll try to get his job switched or pick up something else." _

_He wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, though he truly doubted she was._

"_Besides, if you don't know history, you won't have a future. There's a point in learning about that stuff."_

"_And if you never learn science, it's possible you will have no future as well. Why? Because everything is constructed of chemicals. Each of our cells is more complex than any machine we have ever made and possibly will ever make. But they're delicate as well. That's why my father is so careful with the medicine he allows his company to put out. He understands everything that has to be considered." he had explained before why he loved science. Discovering new things, and connecting dots that no one else had seen, and the ability it would give him to help others. Though he had also mentioned that in the wrong hands, the greatest of science could be used for the greatest of evils and there were some who warped it for their own desires. _

"_Yes, but you see your dad is actually in the business, so he needs to know, thus proving my point that if I don't need to know, why learn it?"_

"_Because one day you may need to identify the difference between a chemical that can cause a fire, and one that can put it out." the joke slipped out before he had a chance to stop it and he tensed up only to find her laughing. _

"_Alright, so there is some use for it! But next time something like this happens, lets aim to at least make sure it gets us out of class."_

"_What do you mean by next time?" he raised an eyebrow, hoping to hide the pounding of his heart._

Now though, he wondered if it had been more simple pleasantries than anything else, and the thought made his stomach sink.

"We have the bathrooms to clean, our homerooms, and this one. If we split up it'll go faster, and no offense, but I really don't want to see exactly how your bathroom looks." Tenten smirked as she finished zipping up her backpack, and Shino once again made sure his black notebook was pushed to the bottom of his bag. There was no way he was letting himself loose that. If he did, it'd be a disaster.

"No offense taken, but it hardly makes sense to split up just yet then. Why? Because there are only two bathrooms on this floor. It would make more sense to clean together as a team now, and then split up at the end." he set his bag on the floor and a thought hit him before Tenten had a chance to speak. "Or we could split up now, and meet back here in order to cover more ground. It may seem as if we're covering less, but if we're working together, than each room will only take half the time. Speaking of which, that particular element is not on our side."

His eyes settled on the clock overhead as it ticked, then traveled down to Tenten's face. For some reason, Tsunade had decided that she was leaving the school early today and therefore when she left, everyone else had to be out as well. This wasn't a problem for any of the teachers, some of which had fled long ago. But for them, it posed a few particular issues, and at the same time presented him with a wonderful opportunity. Gai had stopped in not that long ago, to ask if Tenten wanted him to wait around till she was done, but she'd said she'd be fine and take her normal route home. Concern had been evident on her father's face, but after some convincing, reminding him she wasn't five, and a back breaking hug that included tears about how old she was getting, he conceded. Of course before he left, he'd thrown Shino a gaze that clearly stated if one thing happened to Tenten, all his bones would be broken.

If anything though, that had actually been motivation. Now the plan was that when they were through cleaning, he would casually ask her if she wanted him to walk her home, explaining that Kiba's house wasn't far from hers, and he needed to ask him something. It was hard not to get lost in the daydreaming about what their walk could be like, the points he'd make with her father, and the reality that sucker punched him.

"Yeah…I guess that makes sense…" Tenten conceded. "And if we get kicked out before then, at least we'll have the important rooms done…and hopefully Kakashi-sensei sits on a wad of gum on Monday."

"There are certainly drawbacks in not having a scheduled cleaning crew." Shino said, and Tenten grinned, her eyes narrowed into slits. As devious as she looked, he still felt it hard to keep himself from smiling in response, as a plan was agreed upon, and they parted ways.

About half an hour later, Shino bit back another growl as he finished mopping the floor and nearly slipped backwards once again from the slick surface. It had taken him longer than he thought it would to get the few stalls and urinals cleaned, and more than anything he wanted to apologize to those who did this for a living. He was also more than grateful that Tenten had decided to split up, and not come in to see this.

He shook his head, trying to push away her imagined reaction as he put the cleaning supplies away in the bathroom storage area, closed the door and locked it, pocketing one of the keys Kakashi had left for them. Sometimes he didn't understand at all how this school was constructed. Or at least why. Most schools their size had one general storage area for cleaning supplies, and another for anything else that was needed. Sarutobi High however, seemed as if it wanted to make each room independent of each other.

Shino adjusted his glasses as he made his way out, the smell of bleach followed him as he hurried back towards the chemistry room, his footsteps squeaking on the floors. Halfway there, another set of footsteps joined his, though with more of a clicking, and without thinking he picked up his pace, determined to meet her there. He wasn't sure why the idea was suddenly so important, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the extra time that meeting in the hallway would give them, and perhaps if he lightly bumped into her…

Unfortunately as he turned the corner, it was more than just a bump and he slammed hard into something that vaguely registered as soft before he and the other went staggering backwards with half gasped yelps.

"Aburame!" Tsunade snarled as Shino skidded to a backwards halt, his arms shooting out for balance and his face draining of all color save for red. It took all his might to focus on his principal's face.

"I apologize, Tsunade-sensei…I didn't see…"

"That's because you weren't looking!" she snapped and Shino fought the urge to swallow hard. Tsunade's wrath wasn't something he'd wish on anyone. Well, perhaps Neji. "What are you still doing here anyways? I told you to get out!"

Shino blinked and pushed up his glasses as he finally stood straight.

"I was not informed we had to leave immediately, only that we had to leave when you did. Why? Because our punishment is not yet complete."

"We? Oh yes, Tenten's still here too then." she massaged her temples with a sigh. "Look, just clear out in the next ten minutes alright? I'll let Kakashi and your teachers know I had you leave, but I need to lock up as soon as I can!" her expression was hard, but there was something else lingering in her eyes that made the hairs on the back of Shino's neck stand up and every nerve felt on edge.

"Tsunade-sensei, I normally don't pry into personal affairs, but are you…"

"I'm fine!" her tone was like a whip cracking, and he saw her fists curl slightly as if ready for an attack. What concerned him most though was the worry in her eyes. Never had he seen her look anything less than confident. Stressed, enraged, even drained, but nothing ever seemed to break past her wall of strength. This was one of those times he was once again reminded of how old she really was.

He nodded despite himself.

"I apologize again for interfering."

"Just find, Tenten and leave." she brushed past him, her heels clicking on the floor and Shino felt more heat rise to his cheeks. This time for mistaking the sound of her shoes for that of Tenten's. "And no more running in the halls! If you break your leg…"

'_The school doesn't have enough for you to sue for.'_ Shino mentally finished her often yelled comment, and headed back to the classroom at a slightly slower pace. Though he couldn't stop himself from looking back over his shoulder at the principal's absence. He shouldn't be worrying. It was probably nothing. More than likely she'd lost another bet, and either had another blind date, or lost a chunk of her paycheck. Still…something told him there was more to it…

Whatever his thoughts were on the subject, they quickly dissipated as he took a deep breath, and opened the door, fully expecting to see Tenten there. Instead, he was greeted with the days lingering smell of sweat, chemicals, soot, and silence.

"Tenten?" her name came out before he could stop it, and he looked around, carefully surveying the room, and even glancing under desks. As soon as he did so, he wanted to slap his face. She wasn't childish enough to hide underneath something to avoid him. What if she left already though? Maybe Tsunade had found her…but that didn't make any sense.

Not only from what Tsunade said, but her things were still here as well. His eyes shot up to the clock again, then to the window in the door, watching for any movement. There was nothing as far as he could tell, meaning Tenten was taking longer…and since he didn't have to leave for another several minutes…

His eyes moved to her backpack and he felt his stomach flip. Would it really be so wrong if he looked inside? It wasn't as if there would be anything that personal in there and what there was might give him more of a clue of what to say to her. But things were going just fine as they were right now. Not that they were where he wanted them, but they were covering ground, and he was learning through talking to her.

How much longer would he have to do that though? After this, they probably wouldn't talk again, except for casual pleasantries, and then it would be summer. And there went any excuse to talk to her again. He couldn't rely on random chance to run into her either, though her house was on his way to Kiba's.

The memory surfaced of what he had once seen there and he felt heat touch his cheeks. It had been an accident. He hadn't meant to see what he had, but her window was open when he was walking by and once he had seen her undressing. Fortunately, her undergarments were still on, and she didn't see him, but the guilt of what he saw and not looking away at once, stayed with him. Part of him knew the reason he hadn't looked away was because he hadn't wanted to, and it turned his stomach that he had invaded her privacy like that. Even if it was an accident, he still felt horrible about it. Suddenly the idea of walking her back home made another knot settle in his insides, and he was only so thankful there was no way either her or her father would ever find out about that.

The memory also kept his hands from touching her backpack, but he couldn't move his eyes away either, and he found himself tilting his head as if to get a guilt free look at the contents.

As the clock ticked though, he became increasingly aware of her absence and that for whatever reason they were no longer welcome here. He needed to go find her.

What if the reason she was so late though was because she was changing? It was possible she brought her home clothes to school. What if he walked in on her and saw more than what he did last time? Or…

His face heated up as he moved through the hallways and he bit his cheek hard enough to draw blood in order to push the images away. He wasn't going to let his mind go there. It was hard, but he wasn't going to allow it. Besides, if that did happen, he was sure they'd find his body on Monday, and it wasn't as if he was just going to burst in.

Still, when he arrived at the entrance, he found himself hesitating outside the door, and without thinking knocked as hard as he could.

"Tenten? Are you in there?"

There was no answer.

"Tenten?"

He waited another thirty seconds, before easing the door open with a soft creak. His eyes slammed shut as soon as he peered inside the room, and he forced them open. He wasn't doing anything wrong. It wasn't like this was during school hours and he was being a pervert. Though Kiba would have loved this any time of day. Once again he found himself surveying the room, trying to find any sign of her as he stepped in.

The girl's bathroom was much like the boy's, in terms of size, design, and the wear age brought to any room. But at the same time, it was far cleaner than even the way Shino had managed to get his, and it looked like there was some kind of flower arrangement near the sinks.

There was also a particular dispenser on the wall that made him nearly choke, as he began searching the stalls, lightly knocking on each as he called out. Again, no answer, though this time he heard a muffling from behind him. He whirled around, but no one was there. Just the closed door to the storage unit. The key was still in the lock.

She wouldn't have…

Taking a step forward, Shino knocked on the thick wooden door.

"Tenten, are you there?" he pressed his ear to the door.

"Shino?" her voice came through and his eyes widened. "Thank God! I thought I was going to be stuck in here till Monday! Get me out!"

"How did you get locked in?" he twisted the key.

"That's not important!" the embarrassment was evident in her voice. "Just don't laugh when you open the door!"

"Why would I laugh?"

"Just get me out!"

"I'm…trying!" he grit his teeth as he twisted the key, desperately searching for the click that signified the door would open as he pulled hard on the knob and twisted for all he was worth. Nothing. The key was jammed and it seemed like the harder he tried, the more entrenched it became. He had to get her out of there though. Somehow, he had to get through, and there was no way he was looking for Tsunade to help him.

Pulling back, Shino took in a deep breath and quickly released it as he brought his leg up and slammed the side of his foot against the doorknob in an attempt to break it off. His kick was powerful, but unfortunately all it managed to do was bend the key.

"Shino, what are you doing?"

"Trying something." he grit his teeth, as he grabbed hold of the key and knob again, and twisted as hard as he could, throwing his entire body into it. He felt the bent key start to turn. "Almost have it!"

"Hurry up!" she snapped.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. There was no amount of comfort from being trapped, but it wasn't as if she was alone anymore. Maybe she was claustrophobic? The idea had never occurred to him and the fact that she could be masking fear and panic with anger made his grip tighten and his strength seemed to double as he finally wrenched the key all the way down, twisted the knob and flung the door open...

His eyes nearly popped out his skull as Tenten's backside greeted him and he saw she was suspended up in the closet, with her legs dangling, and her upper body more or less hanging on the overhead shelf.

For a moment it felt as if all the air rushed from his lungs, and every blood cell he had shot to his face as he stared and he bit his lip to keep his jaw from dropping. It wasn't that he had never looked at this particular feature of hers before. Whatever he felt, he tried to be a gentleman, but there were times it was hard. And never had he expected it to be so displayed, or her skirt to accentuate it as it did.

"Shino? If you're staring at my butt, I swear I'm going to…"

"How did you get up there?" he changed the subject as fast as he could.

"There's a long story, but I'll give you the short answer." she growled, but there was also something pained in her voice. "I was trying to reach the paper towels up here, and couldn't, so…I used the mop bucket to balance. Unfortunately…"

"That didn't help."

"No…" she sighed. "And when I started to fall, I just grabbed on and held on and…" her voice trailed off, and Shino fought to keep his eyes focused anywhere but where they wanted to go.

"What?"

"I…"

"Did you hurt yourself?" was that why she hadn't dropped already?

"No! I'm…promise you won't laugh!"

Laughter was the farthest thing from his mind.

"I promise."

There was a moment of silence, and Shino shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unable to keep his eyes from her figure.

"I'm stuck."

As soon as the words left her mouth, laughter suddenly wanted very much to be at the forefront of his mind and he covered his mouth as if hiding the grin would hide the chuckles.

"You're…"

"I can hear you laughing, Shino!" she snarled and cursed.

"Well…it's not everyday…"

"Just shut up and help me down! And if you even think of looking at my butt, I swear I'll kick you so hard you won't be able to see anything for a week!"

"I am not in the habit of doing such, and your threats really have no impact. Why? Because currently, there is no way you could carry them out." he was trying to keep the humor out of his voice, though her threats mixed with her current position made it nearly impossible. The more he tried to keep it from coming, the more he felt it building inside his chest and he had to cough to disguise the louder chuckles.

"You just come a little closer and say that when my foot hits you in the face, smart boy!"

"At least you admit I'm intelligent."

"Just help me get down, and we can yell at each other later!"

He nodded as he came forward, unsure of how to go about getting her down and his hands reached up towards her waist, then stopped and he pulled back.

"What is it that you want me to do?" he wasn't sure where to touch her. He wanted to, but at the same time, he wanted control of where his mind went and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"I need your shoulders."

"…What?"

"Look, I know this is…well…it's not exactly comfortable for either of us, but I need to borrow your shoulders. If I sit on something, I think I can wriggle free."

If it was possible for his heart to stop and speed up at the same time, Shino was sure that's what was happening now, and he wondered if this was some kind of dream or a twisted nightmare. She wasn't serious though. There was no way she would want him to do that. To touch her like that. Though in her eyes, it really wasn't anything, and she admitted it was uncomfortable. Before he could stop himself he was moving forward and carefully easing himself up under her legs as they draped over his shoulders. He felt his hands ache to touch her legs, but kept them at his side.

"Are you alright?"

"Define alright." Tenten groaned. "This is so embarrassing…you're not…going to tell anyone about this?"

Of course not. This wasn't something he was going to tell anyone. Besides, he doubted he could bring it up without incriminating himself in that he wasn't exactly eager for it to end.

"No. There's nothing to tell, and who would believe me even if I did?"

He saw a small movement that indicated she was nodding.

"Thanks…I'm gonna pull now okay? So hold on."

His hands grabbed onto her legs as if they had a mind of their own.

He wanted to say something along the lines of not letting her fall, but instead he only signaled he was ready. After what seemed like eternity, he suddenly felt her jerk backwards and was instantly grateful he made no promises of letting her fall as he staggered back. She yelped, and told him to hold on tighter. He did as he was told, trying to keep his balance as she jerked back and forth, her stomach ramming into his head as a little progress was made. He flicked his head back to keep his glasses on, and she snarled at the impact. There wasn't time to apologize though before she tried again, and this time with a loud rip of fabric, shot backwards.

Unfortunately, Shino went with her, their weight throwing them back with a cry, as Shino tried desperately to get a foothold. With the floor as wet from mopping as it was though, that was proving to be difficult, and Tenten's arms were flailing as they went back and she grabbed the sides of the doorframe. Her head cracked against the top though, jerking them another way and her legs tightened into almost a chokehold around Shino's neck.

"Shino!"

"Tenten…"

Both yelped as gravity won the fight and both of them pitched forward. Again, Tenten smacked her head on the shelf, but Shino was no better as he toppled into the brooms and spare mops and containers with a loud crash. Tenten's legs lost all their grip and she fell backwards off his shoulders, plummeting down and landing smack on top of him as he tried to turn over and slamming hard onto his lap. Shino bit back a gasp of pain as she nearly hit something very important. What was worse was that through all the chaos they'd created caused the door to begin closing and before either of them could move, it shut with a final click.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Hope you guys liked it, please let me know what you thought.

Have a great day

Be blessed

your friend

innocent-rebel


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a very good friend of mine's.

A/N: Hey all! Sorry about the delayed update yet again. Writers block, school, and work in general kinda jumped on me. But thank you so much for your encouragement and kind words. It really means a lot to me and definitely helps keep me motivated in writing this story. I'm so happy you guys are enjoying it. Once again I'd like to thank my awesome beta-reader, Rellie who was an excellent sounding board, and a great help in general! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and I hope you enjoy the story. Here we go.

X

"_You're sure he's not getting out?" Tsunade asked, her mouth dry as she walked beside the lawyer, and hating the fear that coiled inside her. It felt like some kind of snake was trying to kill her from the inside out. At least the trial was over, but now there was another fear that lurked inside her mind._

"_I'm positive. He's staying where he belongs, and even if his lawyers managed to get him an appeal on one charge, there'd be two dozen more to get through. And those are only the crimes we know of that he's committed." the man said, then sighed softly. "If we still had the death penalty I'm more than certain he would have received it."_

"_It's no less than he deserves, but…"_

"_Tsunade-san," he stopped walking, turning fully to face her. "I promise you, he's not getting out. You're safe now."_

"_It's not just me I'm worried about. Where I'm starting to work…well I wouldn't put it past him to go after them." her voice was soft, slightly thick till she swallowed._

"_Going after school children hardly seems to be his type of crime, but I do understand your concern." he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and Tsunade felt some tension melt away. Over the course of preparing the evidence, practicing her testimony and the trial itself, they had become good friends. He was one of the few prosecutors she'd met that could leave his shark like qualities inside the courtroom. Even then he was an honest shark. There was also no ulterior motive on his part either. Not even a hint of desiring more in his touch. "Trust me on this Tsunade-san. He's not ever getting out. Over my dead body."_

Tsunade swallowed hard as she rested her head against the coolness of the lockers as the memory surfaced. The prosecutor had been found dead a month later. Slumped over in his chair at his desk. A single bullet to the back of his head. Security on the now escaped man had been doubled, but there wasn't a need for that. Her friend had simply been the message. Whatever he did to her, would be personal.

She swallowed again. Forcing herself to take in a gulp of air. There was nothing to worry about right now. She'd made sure of that over the years in case something happened. What mattered most was protected. On top of that, the police were scavenging every possible and impossible site for him, and she was under protection as well. As a former member of the military, that brought more mental peace than physical. In a physical fight she had no doubt she could win. Even if weapons were involved she would still stand a chance. But there were no rules when it came to this man. It was the mind she was worried about and the mind she knew he would attack. After what she'd seen and lost in the war, her mental state had become her weak spot.

A shudder ran up her spine like a deranged spider as she forced herself to push the memories of red away. She had to pull herself together now.

"Just breath." she took in a small deep breath, resting her hand over her pounding heart. "Just breath. It's going to be alright. The important thing is the students are safe. The school is clear. Everyone's safe."

After running into Shino, she'd decided to make one more round just to make sure everyone was gone. Save for a few neglected backpacks, and forgotten coats in various classrooms, it was all clear. There had been a noise though. She wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from all around. Up in the vents and swarming around her. A low beating sound. Dull. Painful. It made her hands shake. More than likely it was just the vents and noises an old school made. But it felt like more. The sound came at odd intervals. Faster, then slower. Harder, then softer. There was no way to identify where it had come from, and at times it seemed like there were voices intermixed.

They weren't voices she recognized though. They were faint whispers. As if ghosts were back and hissing at her. After hearing them for the first time it took ten minutes for her hands to stop shaking and she didn't even bother closing the art room door; let alone locking it. She'd have to yell at the club on Monday for forgetting to lock up themselves, but right now, it was her turn to leave.

Then she heard it again.

Pulling away from the lockers, she heard the beating start again and her hand tightened its grip over her heart. Maybe that was where the sound was coming from all along. Then the hisses started again. Her mouth felt dry as ash. This time there seemed to be understandable words.

'_Out.'_

Brown eyes widened and it seemed as if the voices rose around, engulfing her.

'_Out! Get out! Run!'_ she knew those weren't the words, but it hardly mattered. Before she knew she was moving, the clicking of her heels on the hard floor only amplified the sounds and need to run as she tore down the hall. Her blond hair flying behind her and she stumbled as she rounded a corner, almost going to the ground. She recovered in time, pushing herself off a wall. Keep running. That was what was important. Just keep running. Don't look back. She half expected to see him there if she did.

'_Don't stop! Don't you dare stop!'_ the scream rattled inside her head, but as she neared the door, she knew she needed to. Unless activated the security for the school was pointless.

It took all her self-control to stop at the double doors. There were two small pads that sat to the left of them, one a small rectangle, the other a square. That was one she went to first. Her fingers aching as she rapidly punched in the number and letter sequence, listening as security measure after measure was activated. Then a small red light appeared on the rectangle pad and with shaking hands, Tsunade took a card from a chain around her neck and slid it down the pad's side. The red light shifted to green and there was a soft click as letters appeared on the screen: system armed. If only it was armed with something more lethal.

Once done, Tusnade opened the doors and the warm air hit her like a refreshing glass of water. For the first time since she'd heard the news it felt as if she could breath again. The smell of leaves, flowers, and the city both calming and fueling her adrenaline. Outside, she felt like an idiot for letting noises get her to like that. Fortunately no one had seen. Now calmer, she took a strangely shaped key from the same chain that held the previous card and pulled the doors fully closed behind her. Then she inserted the key and with a hard turn left, two turns right and a full turn all around, she heard another click and thick bolt sliding into place. Again she took in a deep breath and turning around felt even more relaxed. There was a police car waiting near her own, an officer she'd met with before stood at attention and ready.

A shaky, almost sheepish smile crossed her face as Tsunade ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back as she walked down the stairs.

Everything was fine.

X

"Well this is just perfect." Tenten groaned as her fist gave another half-hearted punch to the door. Trapped in a closet on a Friday night…in a bathroom. Out of all the horrific ways for this day to end, this was the last one she'd have expected. Actually, she never would have expected it. This was insane. If Tsunade spent a quarter of the money she spent on security on replacing doors they wouldn't have this problem. Maybe they should have a fundraiser.

'_Baked goods for bathroom doors.'_ she felt like slamming her head as the slogan ran through her mind.

"Hard as it is to believe, this could be worse. How? At least there is some room in here, and getting out is not impossible." Shino said, his hands in his jacket pockets. In the dark it was hard to make out anything at first. The location of supplies was mostly found by stumbling around. Now their eyes were adjusting, and thanks to a sliver of light at the bottom of the door, it was easier to see. Though blurry outlines seemed to be the extent of what they could make out.

Or maybe that was just her. Tenten wondered if Shino could see anything with those glasses of his.

"Yeah, because we're doing so well at finding a way out now." she sighed as she slid down the door. "There has to be some way out of here! I refuse to spend my weekend locked in a closet!" why didn't anyone hear them? Tsunade should have heard something or someone. Then again it took Shino actually being in the bathroom to hear her and even then it didn't sound like he'd known right away. Still, there was a small vent and she hoped that would carry some of the sound out. No one came though.

Even when Shino joined in her yelling. For someone who was usually so quiet, he could be quite loud when he chose. It was more like a roar than the boom of her dad's voice, and there was no lightness or air to it.

Tenten allowed half a smile as she looked up at Shino's outline. At least she wasn't trapped with someone prone to panic. She could only imagine being in here with Hinata or some of the girls from her class. They'd be dead.

"Perhaps we could try the hinges." Shino suggested and Tenten cocked her head. There was something in his voice that she couldn't place that hadn't been there before, but she looked past that for now.

"Hinges?"

"Most of the time the hinges are on side the door opens to, but other times, for whatever reason, hinges are on the opposite side. Did I notice any hinges when opening the door? I didn't notice, but…"

"But if they're on this side then we could pry them off and take the door down! Shino you're a genius!" she shot to her feet and before she could stop herself, Tenten had tackled him in a hug. She didn't realize till then just how much shorter she was than him, and she felt him stiffen slightly under her touch, causing her to pull away. "Sorry! Sorry! You're probably not that big on hugs…blame Lee and my dad. They're starting to get to me." she rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"I…"

"It's fine. Anyways, lets start working on a way to get out of here! I'll see if I can find the hinges and something to break them off with if we do."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It was your plan." did he have short term memory loss?

"No, I mean it makes no sense for you to do both things. There are two of us here. Logically, one of us should look for the hinges while the other searches for something to disable them. You don't have to do both things." he said. "Besides that, I refuse to simply stand here while you do all the work. It's half my fault we're trapped inside here."

"No it's the doors fault completely." she rolled her eyes, glad for the shadows that hid her face. It was so simple, and at the same time so stupid, but she hadn't even thought to have him help with one of the two things. Aside from banging on the door, trying to kick it down and yelling for who knew how long, she hadn't actually thought about him taking part in a plan to get out. Then again, she didn't tend to think about anyone ever helping her in what she was doing. At least he didn't say she needed help. Just that he wanted to do his part in getting them out. He probably had plans of his own he wanted to get to just as much as she did hers. Or at least get out of here.

"Be that as it may, I'll start looking for the hinges while you find something to break them off with." he started to move forward.

"Why do you get to call the shots?"

"Because I'm taller. If they are here, I can reach those at the top."

"You're not that much taller." she growled.

"Enough it makes a difference." there was a smirk in his voice and Tenten felt like kicking him in the shins. Still, he had a point and right now she was sick of fighting. She just wanted to get out, get home, then leave a prank phone message for Kakashi telling him that Tsunade found one of his favorite books and she was not happy.

Focusing on the goal of getting out, Tenten began rummaging through the closet's contents. Grasping at anything she could and pulling up anything that seemed hard enough and small enough to use. If they'd had more room, a broom handle might have worked. Five minutes later she found several containers with what sounded like liquid inside and grinned.

"Shino, what about this?" she looked over her shoulder and heard what sounded like the grinding of metal. Her eyes widened and her smile broadened. "Did you find the hinges?"

"Yes. They're…a bit rusted…but I think I'm making some progress." Shino grunted and then a muffled curse slipped out as the outline of his hand slid against the side of the door. Before Tenten could ask anything, Shino had brushed his hand on his pants and turned to look at the bottle she held.

"I don't think that's going to work. We'll need something stronger, not something that will puncture the minute we hit it."

"Yeah well…use it to make the hinges slick then! You can force them apart easier if you have something to grease them with." she all put pushed the bottle into his hands, and watched as he unscrewed the cap and took a quick sniff. A soapy smell tinged the air.

"This could work, but be careful with these…"

"Why are you afraid something in here is going to explode?" he didn't have to treat her like a child. She knew to be careful and it wasn't like she was stupid enough to drink anything they found in here.

"I just meant that you don't know what they are. If you were to open a bottle of bleach or ammonia, wouldn't that cause problems? Considering what they are and what they can do in even a well aired space, I think it would." he said as he began pouring the soap over the hinges and Tenten felt her eye twitch.

"You were the one who smelled the stupid thing. Besides, I'm not just going to crack open every bottle I find, but if I do, it'll probably be over your head." so he wasn't treating her like a child, just talking to her like she was an idiot. Though she had suggested that they use the bottle to break against the metal hinges without knowing what was in it, but that fact was easily pushed from her mind as she continued looking for something harder.

"Then wouldn't you have two problems on your hands? Being stuck in the closet and an unconscious body?"

Tenten fought a shudder as the image ran through her mind. Not at even her and Shino, but the image of being trapped inside a small space with someone that was hardly more than a shadow. Memories of ghost stories filled her head and she still couldn't believe her dad thought a book of ghost stories was a good present for a seven year old. She wasn't afraid, but…

"Tenten?"

The sound of her name nearly made her jump and she looked over.

"Wha…"

"Are you alright? You went silent all of a sudden I thought I…"

"It's nothing, I was just remembering an old story I read. Well it's really more like an urban legend. I don't know if you've ever heard it, red cape and blue cape." she started and before Shino could ask for an explanation began the story. "It's stupid I know, but there's supposed to be this…phantom thing that hangs out in girl's bathrooms and when no one else is there he comes out. He asks if you want to wear a red cape or a blue cape. Choose red, he slits your throat. Choose blue, you get strangled. But he only comes out when someone's alone." it was stupid. There was no way anything like that was even real, and if someone had been that sick than it was more than likely a serial killer without anything supernatural about it. Still there was a part of her that wondered 'what if', that she fought to push away. Surprisingly telling someone else helped ease the building tension.

"Was that a reason you were so frantic when you were first locked inside?"

"No!" more brooms and cleaning supplies fell as she searched. "It's a stupid kids story, and I wasn't frantic at all. I was stuck in case you didn't notice." there was nothing to be afraid of. And all the killings in those stories took place inside the stalls, not inside closets. Besides if something did happen she knew she could handle herself. Her dad taught her and the rest of the judo team how to disarm someone with a weapon, and escape a chokehold. There was nothing to worry about.

Her hands curled all the same as she waited for Shino to push the subject and try to make it sound like she was afraid. While ghost stories were his least favorite thing as well, Neji had often hassled her about them. Lee didn't understand what either of them became jumpy about. In his mind, there was nothing they could come up against that couldn't be beaten back and sometimes was stupid enough to call what she and Neji had an outright fear.

Surprisingly, Shino said nothing of the sort, and what he did say surprised her.

"I'm glad you're not afraid of something like that then…and that any discomfort you did feel was not my fault." the last part was more like a whisper and Tenten raised an eyebrow, now on her knees and pushing away more bottles.

"Why would I be uncomfortable around you?" the question seemed to catch Shino off guard and for a second she didn't know if he would respond. Again, it came out more like a whisper.

"Lets just say that…when it comes to those who could find themselves in this situation, I am one of the last people they would want to be with. Most find me…a bit creepy." there was no self-pity in his voice, only something that sounded like hard fact. There was something else as well. Something again she couldn't place.

"Creepy?" her eyebrow shot up further. That didn't make any sense to her. Sure he was quiet, smart and a little bit weird right down to how he spoke. But that didn't make him creepy. Then again people had an odd definition of creepy at times. She knew there were a few people who found Lee's hair style and constant outpouring of affection and proud statements to be creepy. Again, they were simply odd. In her mind, creepy was something darker. Something completely strange with no rhyme or reason that was barely there. Like a shadow with long reaching fingers.

Just as the thought entered her mind, her own hand ran over something and she all but jumped up, cutting off anything else Shino had to say.

"Found it!" she beamed and turned to face him with a large metal wrench in her hand. There were a few right near each other, and Tenten had chosen the largest, chalking up their presence to the constant need for repairs. More than once all the teachers played handyman around here. Instead of handing it to Shino though, she moved in closer right under one of his arms and after finding a partially moved hinge, brought down the end of the wrench.

Shino jumped in surprise at the loud noise and nearly stumbled backwards into the supply pile.

"Ten…"

"I can do this! Just give me a minute!" again and again and again she beat the wrench against the opposing metal until finally it fell off with a triumphant clunk. "Yes! We're gettin' outta here!" she thrust her hand up in triumph soon Shino was helping chip away with another smaller tool. They worked on the higher ones together and twenty minutes later, the last hinge fell to the ground.

They were finally free.

Or at least they thought they were. Amidst the shared smiles and Tenten giving Shino a friendly punch in the arm, they were presented with another problem. The door, now loose and supposedly free, wouldn't open more than a few inches. They pushed and kicked and pounded with their fists, but it only served let in a little more light before it seemed stuck.

"No. No. NO!" Tenten slammed her fist into the door with each word.

This was not happening. It couldn't be happening. They had done so much to try and break off the stupid door and in the end it was still stuck. Tenten didn't believe in fate, but right now she would have liked something more personal to rip into.

"There has to be something else we can do." Shino pushed his shoulder into the door and continued trying to open it with no success. If anything it seemed like the higher part of the door wanted to move while the further down it went, the more it was stuck.

"Of course there is! I'm not going to let some stupid piece of wood that couldn't hack it as a tree beat me! Now open!" Tenten rammed her side into it, then stumbled back a bit. That hurt. And didn't do anything. "There has to be something else we can use in here. Something I couldn't find before."

With the added light she could see what she was doing better, and Shino began looking on the top shelf. She could see more detail and the outline of his body stretched as he searched. There didn't seem to be anything though. Just the tools she'd found, more cleaning supplies they couldn't use, rags and brooms. Looking at them now, she realized they wouldn't have even held up to one hit against the door.

"What if one of us struck at the bottom while the other aimed at the top?" Tenten suggested.

"If there was room that might work." Shino turned back towards the door as if studying it would reveal some new idea. His hands trailed down the sides. "What we need is something powerful that can strike all areas of the door. If we can get that…"

"Well I don't see anything in here that can! We could ram it."

"I don't think that's going to work. We'd need a running start for it to count."

As more suggestions were made and more were shot down, Tenten felt the heat in her face rise and her fists curl. There had to be something they could do. Anything to get out of this stupid hole. Maybe if there was a way for one of them to crouch down and give the other more room for a full ram. She wasn't sure but it was the best idea she had. Turning towards Shino, her mouth opened to explain just as Shino turned around and moved as if to start helping her search. With his hands outstretched in order to avoid running into anything, his left hand made contact with something neither expected.

Tenten felt her body go rigid as she looked down at the gentle touch. In the faint light, she could make out Shino's hand against her chest. What she could see of Shino's face was a mix of horror and shock.

"I…"

"Move. Your. Hand." her jaw tightened.

"I…I didn't mean…I…ummm…" he was stuttering, but his hand wasn't moving. No part of him was moving and it seemed as if he were frozen in place as he continued talking. "I…Tenten I didn't mean…I am…"

"If you can't move I'll do it for you!" Tenten yelled and a split second later reared her fist back and slammed it into Shino's face sending him crashing backwards, flailing and smacking right into the door with a heavy thud. That seemed to be the thing needed and the door broke open at a sideways angle with Shino falling backwards and smacking onto the floor. Light instantly flooded their vision and had it not been for the relief at getting out, Tenten wasn't sure she wouldn't have continued with the beating. Shino was starring up at her, his face still a mix and a deep dark red, his glasses slightly ajar.

For a moment there was silence between them as Tenten snarled and clenched both her fists. Shino pushed himself up onto his elbows, his face tilted downward now.

"I…I apologize. I didn't…I didn't mean to…I was simply trying to make sure I didn't run into anything. I didn't even think…I…" he continued on, and Tenten rolled her eyes, grabbing him by what was once the offending hand and helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. It was an accident." now stable, she grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and pulled him closer. "But if it ever happens again, I'll rip your arm off and beat you with it! And don't even think about telling anyone about it either! Both for my sake and yours!"

"Mine?" the word was more choked than anything else as she pushed him away.

"Yes yours. If my dad ever found out about that, he'd snap you like a twig. Now lets get out of here!" despite what happened she couldn't help but grin as she burst out of the bathroom door. Never before had the sight of these halls been something refreshing, but right now it felt as if she could hug the lockers. Or at least she didn't feel the urge to kick any of them as she headed towards the chemistry room to grab her backpack. Shino was soon behind her. The clock showed it was a quarter till six, and while later than she wanted, at least they hadn't missed that much of their weekend.

The knowledge and freedom was almost enough to make her skip out of the classroom and down the hall towards the large doors. Then she remembered not wanting to look too much like her dad, and settled on walking as silence settled between them. Shino broke it, looking over at her.

"Tenten, I really am sorry for what happened. I wasn't…"

"Forget it." she rolled her eyes giving him a playful shove, trying to ignore the slowly growing bruise on his cheek. "I meant what I said about telling people, but the point is we're out and hey at least we have a story. Now if we ever get one of those stupid 'what did you do' essay questions, we can tell people about how we escaped the closet of death! Dress it up enough, and we could go down in this school's history as a pair of Houdini's." she winked, then sighed as she saw evidence of guilt still on his face. "And if it makes you feel any better I'll feel up your chest when you're not expecting it so we'll be even."

Another shade of red ran across Shino's face and Tenten chuckled, shaking her head. Well at least he wasn't like other boys who would have already started bragging about it. Of course a larger issue was explaining the door come Monday, but it was Kakashi's fault they were stuck here later anyways. He was the one who got the bright idea to assign them the project in the first place and then the punishment. If anything their experience was a result of his failed teaching methods. At least that was the story she planned on giving. Hopefully she could convince Shino to take that approach as well.

Before she could even mention it they reached the doors and her eyes narrowed as she pushed on them and nothing happened.

"What…is going on?" she slammed her shoulder into the large door, but nothing moved. Nothing even creaked or gave a hint that she was there. Again she started calling out for someone to hear them and unlock the door. This wasn't funny. All she wanted to do right now was go home and forget today ever happened. That was it. She'd put it on her Christmas list if she could.

"Tenten." Shino's voice caught her off guard as she turned, her head resting on the door, towards where he was pointing. Off to the side there were two panels with various buttons on them, and one with an all to ominous message.

_System Armed._

Tenten felt her face drain of color. She knew what that meant. Everyone did. With their school's security system they had all been warned about the dangers of staying after they were supposed to. Especially those in clubs that tended to go overtime. When that message came on it meant there was no way into the school from the outside, and no way out of it from the inside.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll have the next chapter up a lot sooner than I had this one. Once again I hope you guys enjoyed the story, and please let me know what you thought.

Have a great day.

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a very good friend of mine's idea.

A/N: Hey guys, I am so sorry this chapter has taken so long to get up. I really thought it wouldn't be that long before I posted the next one and I feel so bad it's been as long as it as. My only excuse would be work, school and slight writers block that kept kicking me in the face and was a very bad combination with the other two issues. But now I'm done with school and I want to thank Rellie for being an awesome beta reader, and her unending patience and encouragement in helping me with this. Thank you so much. And thank you to everyone whose been reading the story, reviewed and waiting for the next chapter. That really means a great deal to me and I hope you enjoy the next chapter for that is why writers write.

X

It had taken a few minutes for what happened to sink in for the teenagers, during which they had both started calling out the principal's name and anyone else's that might have stayed late. Tenten even ran throughout the halls and Shino poked his head in a few classrooms praying that someone would be there. There had been a few sounds when they were split up again that made him hope, but in the end there was nothing. After about five minutes they both found themselves back at exactly where they started, desperate in front of the double doors.

"I can't believe this." Tenten sighed as she slid down the wall. "First we set a fire, then we get stuck with cleaning, then we get locked in a closet and now we're trapped inside the school." she ran a hand through her hair, pushing loose strands from her face.

"There has to be a way out." Shino said, tempted to take a seat next to her, but pulling back at the last second. There was a small hormonal part of him that was grateful for the situation and extra time he now had with her. A part that wanted to play the hero by finding a way out and leading her home with an arm around her shoulders to steady her from the experience. The larger part however was currently trying to smother the idiotic ideas floating in the back of his brain.

"How? We looked to see if there was another door and except for fire exits that are pretty much bolted shut, there was nothing. We couldn't break any of the windows…"

Shino's eyes widened behind dark plastic and he felt his jaw drop a bit.

"You tried to break a window?"

"I'd break ten if that's what it took." Tenten nodded, a look in her eyes just daring him to challenge her before she slumped further back. "But the chair just bounced off like the window was rubber. I guess it makes sense if an explosion couldn't take out one of the windows that a chair wouldn't work, but I was hoping…"

As her voice trailed off, Shino stuck his hands in his pockets, his mind racing as he tried to think of a solution. He wasn't a locksmith by any means, but he did know a thing or two about computers and mechanized locks from his cages at home.

"Maybe there's a way to override the lock." Shino said, taking a step closer to the door and studying the panel.

"You think?" Tenten's head popped up and as she came closer, Shino wished he hadn't said anything.

"Possibly…" he rested his thumbs on the side, searching for a way to pull it apart and reveal wires, despite the fact he wasn't sure about what he was doing.

He was sure Tenten could hear the way his heart had started to pound from being this close to her, and the fact he felt like a useless fool. One close look was all he needed to know that this wasn't something he could break into. The thing seemed completely seamless. Nothing more than a piece of metal that had been created from the inside out and the more he looked…

"OWE!" he jumped back as a shock pulsated through his fingers and Tenten leapt back in response, her fists flying to a defensive position automatically.

"Shino, what…"

"Apparently that machine was made to make sure no one could tamper with it without the proper means." he wished he could have stuck his fingers under water, but instead gave them a light shake to try and lighten the sting.

Tenten shook her head, her fists curling and red touching her cheeks.

"Of all the rotten luck…of all the days this could have happened…" before Shino could say anything she whirled around and kicked her backpack like a soccer ball. The sound echoed throughout the halls along with her beginning rant. Of course Kakashi was first to receive blame, then Chiyo for making the day a nightmare, then her father for not vouching for her and finally Tsunade. "I mean who secures a school like this? What does she think is going to happen anyways? That some psycho is going to break in here over the weekend and wait for us all to come back and then pick us of?"

"Thieves perhaps?" Shino offered before he could stop himself, adding fuel to Tenten's flaring temper.

"What is there to steal? Our donated gym equipment? Our five year old computers that barely run? Our books? Or maybe they're after the desks and chairs! I bet that's it! You know the firewood market is probably in need of supplies so why not just use that?" she threw up her hands in exasperation. "I respect Tsunade-sensei, but sometimes she is so paranoid about this school that…I just…ahhhh!"

Another sharp kick was delivered to her pack sending it up and spinning across the hallway before landing with a thud and contents spilling out as it skidded to a stop. Shino felt as if he were frozen in the wake of her outburst, only glad it wasn't directed at him. Then he saw her shoulder's slump as she stared at the mess she'd made.

Before she could move, Shino felt his limbs moving as if on autopilot and he knelt down, gently picking up the spilled items. There were scattered papers, faded ticket stubs, a few CD lyric booklets from bands he didn't recognize, magazines on Judo, weaponary and other martial arts, note pads, some pencils, pens, schoolbooks and two smaller books with fabric covers on that hid their titles.

"Shino, you don't have to." she started, trudging over and crouching down next to him, trying to grab as much stuff as she could. "This is my mess, don't…"

"I want to help." in his head the words were only a whisper, but when voiced came out surprisingly strong as he pushed in a few books as if solidifying his point. Then he swallowed hard as he met her eyes, waiting for her to push him away or tell him to mind his own business. Instead she simply turned back to the task at hand.

"Fine. I don't need help, but if it makes you feel better…" there was a strange tone in her voice that Shino had never heard before. Even in the closet. He couldn't place it right away, but it didn't fit with what he knew of her. Least of all with the outburst he'd just witnessed.

"I'm sure we'll find a way out. After all our father's are sure to notice our absence soon and there's really no other place we…or…well I would be." Shino said.

Tenten raised an eyebrow, scooping up a handful of papers.

"Weren't you invited to the 'festival' at Ino's?" she asked.

Shino looked up, unable to stop the temporary shock that crossed his face. For all the worrying he'd done over asking her about the event, she hadn't hesitated to bring it up. Nor seem shocked herself at the idea he wouldn't have been welcome.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up…"

"I was invited, yes." he finally managed to get out. "But I don't normally attend those kinds of social events. Why? Because there are other things I have to do and those particular gatherings are…"

"Not your thing?" Tenten laughed. "Mine neither. At least not like that one will probably turn into."

Shino wanted to ask what it was she meant by that, when suddenly they both froze. Their eyes widening as they stared out among the few remaining things on floor, and focused in on a small light blue rectangle the size of Tenten's hand.

"My phone!" her cry cut through the silence like a blade and Shino barely had time to steady himself as her arm lunged forward and she grabbed at it. A large contagious smile on her face as she briefly hugged it and then flipped it open. "I can't believe I didn't remember I had this before! We would have been on our way out of here if I did…yes!" she pumped her fist once in the air, then began hurriedly moving about the area with her arm up.

'_Looking for a signal.'_ Shino nodded to himself, both relieved and stupidly disappointed there was now a way out and grateful he hadn't looked into her bag earlier. Now he not only got to know what was inside, but there was no guilt attached to the knowledge. He tried to remember the name of the bands he'd seen as she searched, hoping maybe he could spark some conversation with that while they waited, while another part planned for Monday. Let Neji beat him out for Tenten's attention with an experience like this…

"No, nonononononono!"

The sound caused Shino to whip around so fast he nearly fell as his thoughts were cut into and he hurriedly got to his feet.

"Can't you get a signal?"

"Just barely, but my batteries almost out." Tenten began punching in the numbers, both her hands in the air to keep reception open. "I haven't charged it since yesterday and since I used it as an alarm clock I didn't turn it off all night and…"

"Forgot to turn it off during the day." Shino finished.

She nodded, chewing on her lip, a desperate look in her eyes as she finished punching in the number. From where he stood, Shino could just make out the waning battery sign before she jerked the phone to her heart.

"C'mon, c'mon! Pick up! Please, please, please pick up!" her entire body seemed to tense with the plea and Shino did his best to ignore the way this added another degree of physical appeal. Did she have any idea how attractive she was? Was she like a butterfly with no knowledge of what other's saw?

Seconds later her body relaxed as the call went through, although even then Shino struggled not to notice how her chest rose and fell in relief, before the tension returned. The words 'answering machine' were growled out through clenched teeth, along with threats concerning the length of her father's voice on the machine. Twenty seconds later, pinching the bridge of her nose, she was finally able to speak.

"Dad? Finally, this is Tenten! Well you probably figured that out, anyways! I really need your help! I'm here with Aburame Shino and we're alone and lo…" her sentence stopped cold and her jaw dropped as she lowered the phone as if in shock.

"What is it?" even before she said a word, Shino knew the answer.

"It went dead."

Another explosion was what he expected, but instead there was only a kick at nothing as Tenten slid the phone into one of her skirt's pockets and rubbed her temples.

"Try calling your dad. Maybe your battery is actually worth something."

Shino felt frozen as she stared at him and found his eyes drifting to his feet as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He could feel the heat creeping up from his stomach to his face and struggled to keep it from showing.

"Shino?"

"I…"

"Please, please, don't tell me you forgot your phone at home." there was genuine desperation in Tenten's voice.

"I wouldn't have been able to forget my phone even if I wanted to. Why? Because in order forget something one must first have it." he said, his voice trailing to little more than a whisper and he wished there was a locker he could crawl into. Out of all the things to admit to in high school in this day, not having a cell phone was perhaps one of the greatest social sins. Now it was one that might prove to be fatal.

"You don't have a phone? How do you not have a phone? Ten year olds have them!"

"It never seemed like a necessity. If I was going to be somewhere where there might be need for one, I'd simply borrow my father's, or just let him know in advance. Neither of us saw the need for something that could easily become a distraction."

Tenten looked seconds away from strangling him and right now he couldn't blame her. Not only must this kick him down a notch on the totem pole, but a phone was the only thing that could have gotten them out of this mess. Now they were trapped…or at least they were till a thought flashed in his mind.

"What about the phone in the office? I know it's locked, but the doors inside are nothing like these. I'm sure we could…" he trailed off again as Tenten stalked past him, grabbing his arm and jerking him along.

"Fine! Then lets hurry and as soon as we're out of this talk to your dad about getting some kind of communication even if it's a walkie talkie. And I want your number or frequency by Monday as proof!"

Jaw dropping against his will, Shino found it hard to breath for a moment let alone speak. Fortunately before she turned to look at him, he regained some composure and managed a nod as he pulled his arm back.

"I'll be sure to do that."

There was nothing but silence between them after that their footsteps squeaking against the floor and the day slowly fading beyond the windows as they made their way towards the office door. Unlike most schools where the office stood at the front of the building only separated from others by a desk, the main office and others behind it, were separated by a wall with window carved into it. Currently a metal shutter was closed over the hole and the physical door leading in was further back. Whether this was another attempt at security or just odd building design, Shino wasn't sure. He only hoped they were able to get in once they arrived otherwise Tenten might really kill him.

Then he'd have to his father to face when they finally made it out. More than likely he was already coming up with various ideas of punishments for Shino's absence and failure to contact him. As more time went on though, the teenager knew the ideas of punishment would soon disperse into theories about everything dangerous that lurked in the shadows.

Hopefully his father wouldn't get the police involved.

Once they found the door it took nearly five minutes in order to break through and both of their shoulders were aching from the pressure put on them.

"Now we just have to hope they didn't decide to lock the phones up in a glass case on us." Tenten muttered, as she rubbed her arm then abruptly dropped her hand like nothing hurt.

Shino opened his mouth, then closed it and shrugged.

"I doubt it. Even Tsunade-sensei wouldn't go to that kind of extreme."

"It'd make it to hard for her huh?" Tenten smirked slightly and Shino felt some tension from earlier melting away. These mood swings of hers from anger and frustration to a sense of humor were a bit more than he'd expected, but at least she wasn't mad at him anymore. Or maybe she never had been and was more angry with the situation. That'd make more sense…or at least he hoped that was the case.

Both pairs of eyes quickly began surveying the room and large desk as they looked for any sign of the black phone that would get them out of here. Eventually Shino found it seconds before Tenten did, almost blending in with one of the black plastic shelves and his hand shot out to grab the receiver as if it had a mind of it's own. He ignored the glare she shot him from behind and the hand she held out clearly telling him to give her the phone. Instead he held the receiver to his ear, his fingers ready to dial when he froze.

Raising an eyebrow Shino quickly hung up the phone and waited several seconds.

"Let me…"

"Wait." he raised a finger, then picked up the receiver again and felt his breath freeze in his lungs. Nothing but deathly silence greeted him on the other end. "There's no dial tone. There's nothing." Despite the almost stoic expression on his face, Shino could feel his heart begin to pound harder and harder and his mouth went dry. Why wasn't the phone working? Was it all of them or just this one? What was going on? Memories of old ghost stories played through his mind before a more logical voice was able to push them down. Whatever else happened he was not going to give into fear about imaginary specters. It was probably a loose wire and nothing more. Still there were other things that lurked around. Things much more real than ghosts with motivations beyond simply scaring someone. His father had told him often about the enemies he made in an attempt to make sure Shino was always aware of those around him.

This couldn't be them though could it? They weren't around anymore or at least they had gone quiet. Then again it was when enemies became quiet and learned to use stealth that they could be most dangerous. What if they had done something to the phones? What if this was a ploy to get him alone to use against his father and now that Tenten was here she'd be pulled in as well…

'_Stop it.'_ he growled at himself, his breath finally evening out. _'You're letting the situation and your father's worries get to you. Something is probably wrong with the connection or Tsunade-sensei didn't pay the phone bill. No one is looking to kill you.'_

From the corner of his eye he could see Tenten's had momentarily gone wide before narrowing and her fists clenched automatically as if she were expecting an attack herself. Then they relaxed and she looked away as if her reaction hadn't happened. Even so, Shino found himself trying again and again with the phone only to wind up with the same result each time. There was something said once about this being a kind of insanity. Trying the same thing over and over again only to get the exact same result.

"Maybe it's not plugged in?" Tenten suggested and dropped to her knees in order to crawl under the desk for a better look.

For a split second Shino felt his eyes dart away from the numbers, and his mind from worries and towards Tenten's bent figure. The fact that the long skirt covered her did nothing to hide her shape as the folds fell in line with her body and he felt heat start to rise to his face. He had to get a hold of himself and his hormones. This wasn't the time for that, but he couldn't get the image of what happened in the closet out of his head and the fact that she'd sat on his shoulders and…

He bit his cheek so hard it bled in order to turn the thoughts around and his vision elsewhere.

"See anything?"

"Nothing. It all looks good here. Must be some kind of problem with the outside wires or phone lines." she cursed and slapped the ground hard. "With our luck some idiot dug up a cable and it won't work again for hours!"

"Lets see if we can find another one, or a key to get into Tsunade-sensei's office. She has her own line, maybe…"

_CRAAAAAAACKSSS!_

A sudden noise from up above sent them both jumping and the sound of Tenten cracking her head underneath the desk echoed throughout the room before she pulled herself out. Shino offered her a hand up, but she ignored it and stumbled to her feet rubbing the back of her head. Both of their eyes were focused on the ceiling.

"What do you think that was?" Tenten growled.

"I don't know. It sounded like wood breaking or something large falling." his eyes narrowed as he spoke and he found himself taking a subconscious half step in front of Tenten. Whether she noticed or not he couldn't say, but she made no move to push him away.

"Hmmm…well we won't know by just standing here. Lets go see what happened!"

Before Shino could turn to face her, Tenten had already bolted ahead and grabbed his arm again to give him a pull in the direction she wanted him to go before releasing her grip.

"Tenten." Shino hissed after her, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get her to stop or even slow down. Taking a deep breath Shino picked up his speed till he was several feet in front of her as they headed towards the stairs. He didn't need to turn to know she was glaring at him or that she was picking up speed herself, but he knew no matter what he had to stay in front of her. Everything inside told him there was nothing to be worried about, but on the off chance there was, he didn't want her to be the first one to run into it.

X

It was almost seven o'clock and Shino still hadn't contacted him.

Shibi ran a hand through his hair, trying to focus on his experiment and not keep glancing at the phone every few seconds. It wasn't as if the sun had even gone down yet or Shino had nowhere else to be. He was probably at Kiba's and was trying to talk his friend out of some insane plan or was in the process of being a witness so Tsume couldn't kill him. At least that was what Kiba often claimed his mother would do if Shino wasn't there.

There were times Shibi had to wonder just how much he was exaggerating.

Even if that was the case that was still no reason not to check in. He liked to think of himself as someone who had a fairly easy time trusting others, especially those that had earned it, but his son was still a teenager.

Pushing up his glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose and slowly counted backwards from ten. Yes. Shino was still a teenager and all teenagers, no matter how smart or responsible, usually wound up doing one stupid thing in their lives. However this was far from being that simple of a matter. There were reasons Shino had to check in like he did if he was going to be late, and so far he had only forgotten to do so once.

"He's alright. Nothing's happened to him, he's alright." Shibi muttered almost to himself, watching the liquids he was working with slowly turn colors as he mixed them in a beaker. His voice echoed softly from the walls of his home laboratory and part of him realized just how big a house could feel when the only thing to fill it with was questions.

His dark eyes darted to the phone again, then to his cell phone on the stand next to him. Maybe he should have gotten Shino his own phone by now. After all, there was only so long that using other's and calling from payphones, landlines and borrowing his could work. Especially if something…

It took everything he had not to grab the phone and call the police to make sure those who had tried to harm him and his son were still in custody. For someone whose entire life's goal had been to help people and make sure medicine was exactly what it was supposed to be, he had made a lot of enemies. Then again, hardly anyone would thank someone for exposing an expensive problem to them and the government.

His hands started to shake as more thoughts entered his mind of what could be happening to his son and where he could be before he put the tools away and got up from his desk. He couldn't focus right now. Until Shino called he didn't think he'd be able to breath properly.

'_Pull yourself together.'_ he hissed at himself. _'He's not five anymore, he's sixteen. He probably just went to the library and lost track of time talking to a girl.'_

There was one girl in particular he had found out his son had feelings for after her father and one of his teachers had come for a home visit. Not that Shino would ever admit to it that is.

Even if it was that girl though, Shibi hoped his son was prepared to spend the first month of his summer vacation grounded for this near heart attack. At the same time though as he left the lab, he felt his eyes drifting to the shrine for his deceased wife and something twisted inside of him.

One more half hour. That was all he'd give his son before he began calling around and if he had to, involve the police.

'_Please be with that girl, Shino. Please…just be alright.' _

To Be Continued…

A/N: Alright people we're getting started to the real grit of everything and I hope you enjoy it and that you liked the chapter as well. Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you thought.

Have a great day

Be Blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a good friend's of mine idea.

A/N: Two chapters in two weeks? That's gotta be some kind of record! Thank you guys so much for reading and for supporting me. Your words and thoughts really mean a lot to me and thank you so much for them. I really hope you enjoy the next part of the story for that is why writers write.

X

The steps creaked loudly under their weight even as they crept up them as quietly as possible towards the louder noise. Tenten could feel her heart beat racing and there was a slight smile that tugged at her face. Maybe it was stupid to get excited over what could be a bad situation, but at least it was something to take her mind off their whole situation for awhile. Besides, while part of her was hoping to find something there was a strange security she'd never admit to having in knowing that nothing truly bad would be around the corner.

That is if Shino would let her see around the corner.

He held up his hand as they came to the top of the stairwell and she was tempted to push past him completely and race ahead. With their luck though, they'd wind up tangled together and falling down the stairs in a heap.

'_At least phones would be less of a problem if we were knocked out.'_ she rolled her eyes, deciding instead of pushing directly past him, to edge her way up on the other side and move his hand back.

"Wait." Shino mouthed to her, but she only raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a nod with her head to the corner.

Sooner or later they had to make a move and if he wasn't going to do it than she was. Before she could move though, she felt him grip her arm and hold her in place. Instincts kicking in, she almost whirled around kicked him in the face with her knee, but stopped. There were more sounds to be listened for. Soft noises that didn't seem like they belonged, but at the same time were oddly familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but her hands clenched on reflex and finally she turned the grab around, pulling Shino up the final few steps.

They pressed themselves to the wall next to each other like they were spies in an old movie and edged their way towards the corner with Shino taking several quick steps in order to put himself ahead. Tenten snarled. She didn't need him to try and act like some kind of protector or hero. What did he think this was? If it was movie it certainly wasn't one of those where the male took all the leads and she would hang back defenseless.

Before she could say anything though, he held up three fingers, slowly dropping them one at time.

On the third one, a grin wide and ready, Tenten jumped out with him from behind the corner, her fists up and stance strong ready for a fight as a battle cry left her throat. Besides her Shino took a stance as well that showed at least some training in the martial arts and his glasses seemed to flash menacingly in the fading light.

All of which would have made more of an impact had they not found themselves standing at the end of an empty hallway, with only a few lockers collapsed on the ground. There were a few items scattered around that managed to escape and a huge chunk of wall attached to the metal backs, revealing the interior of the school and releasing a strong musty smell.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tenten dropped her hands as she went over and crouched besides the damaged locker. "I can't believe this happened again. I thought we raised enough money to fix this problem."

"You can raise all the money in the world, but if someone is incompetent at their job, or a single female termite more clever at hiding her eggs, there will be a problem." Shino said as he came closer, pushing up his glasses as he examined the broken items.

Tenten sighed, smoothing a hand over the wood as if that would reveal exactly what happened. She'd seen lockers pull away from the wall before a year ago, but she didn't remember it being quite like this. The damage, smell and the scattered items were the same, but there was something…odd about the wood this time.

"Tsunade-sensei's going to have a fit when she finds out about this, not to mention Ino."

"Hopefully she didn't have anything to valuable in her locker, and more importantly, I hope there's a way we can avoid getting blamed for this."

"Oh come on, Shino. We set fire to the chemistry room, got locked in a closet, locked in the school, and broke into the front office. Right now we're the poster children for causing problems." she chuckled, giving him a quick friendly punch in the arm.

She couldn't see his eyes behind his glasses, but she could tell from the slight twitch of his head that he'd shot her a look before turning his attention back. What was with him? Every time she seemed to get physically close to him he seemed to have some kind of odd reaction to it like he couldn't believe she was doing it. Anyone else and she might have suspected arrogance, but after everything that happened so far she wondered if it wasn't more embarrassment than anything else. She didn't know him that well, but he seemed to take things to heart more than normal.

"Yes. There is our new and less than glowing record to consider." he finally said, a slight smile on his face

"And at least it wasn't Neji's. He didn't have any homework this weekend so he put everything in his locker. Last year he had to pay for a few new books after Lee knocked him into the lake. I told him not to bring his books when we were there, but he's got a skull about as thick as they come." though she doubted any of the students would be personally charged for what happened here, Neji would have still had a mild panic attack over the crushed books, locker shelves and anything in his Judo bag that got broken open and leaked over everything else. At least it would have a nice scent to it though. She looked up, expecting to see another small smile on Shino's face or hear something about those he knew and what they'd do if it was their locker.

Instead he said nothing, his smile now gone and replaced by a look she couldn't put her finger on. She wasn't sure what caused the sudden change, opened her mouth to ask, then closed it for once. There was a gut feeling that told her not to press or he'd pull deeper into himself.

Then he broke the silence and ran his hand over the wood where her fingers had been only seconds ago.

"This doesn't look like the work of termites." he said.

Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?"

"I've studied them before and these aren't the kind of marks they make. They're to even and splintered at odd angles. It looks like it happened fast to rather than a slow chewing process over time. There's also no sign of any nest."

Despite the fact that Tenten wanted to argue, she found herself nodding. Something had seemed off when she first looked, though part of her had simply equated it to there not being a mass of bugs moving around on top. The more she looked though, the more she felt like she'd seen these kinds of breaks before and chewed her lip as she shifted through her memory.

"It looks cut." they both arrived at the same conclusion, their voices mixing together in a finality that added an extra degree of truth.

For a moment neither of them said anything as they continued to look at the damaged lockers, then Tenten stood up and began looking at where they'd pulled away from. There were no gouge narks at the side, more like a thin blade had simply slipped through the back and serrated it at the beginning. From there the weight of one falling had pulled the others down with it.

"Now the question is what happened." she muttered almost to herself, running her hand along the wall and trying to keep her thoughts from darker places.

"I'm not sure, but maybe over time someone has been working on it…"

"It doesn't look chipped though and who would be stupid enough or crazy enough to bring in a knife that could do this kind of damage?" she shot him a look. "And if you say anything about the swords I brought in for my history report last month, I'll smack you."

Shino raised his hands in what was almost a cheeky manner.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good…of course I'll probably get blamed for it all the same…or the Judo team will…"

"Except neither of you have any motivation. Whoever did this…there just isn't any sense to why. It's mindless destruction." he shook his head as he stood up and rubbed his hands against his pant legs.

"Well you know the seniors try to come up with crazy stunts to pull sometimes. Maybe they decided to try and take down all the lockers for redecoration." she tried to laugh, but it was hollow as she folded her arms and neither of them were saying what she knew they were both thinking. Was there anyway that someone could have gotten inside and done this? Was there a chance, no matter how slight, that they weren't alone in this school and that there was actual danger?

It was idiotic. Completely stupid to even consider, but at the same time, there was an unfamiliar knot in her stomach. Some would have called it fear, but she wasn't afraid. Not of something like this. Especially considering there was no way possible anyone could get in here. Whatever happened it was either some bad prank or they were wrong and termites really were trying to cave the school in on them.

There was a part of her that really hoped it was the later. Bugs could be dealt with easily. Students with weapons who had a grudge? Not so much.

"Maybe we should go see if the phones started working again?" she suggested. "Maybe they fixed whatever was wrong outside and we can get a connection now."

Shino nodded, but even as she spoke, neither of them made a move to leave for several more minutes. Finally, Tenten took a deep breath and shook her head, pushing hair from her eyes again and stepping over the debris, headed towards the stairs.

"C'mon, Shino. We'll figure this out later." she waved for his attention, and expected to have to fight him for a position in the front.

Instead he lingered a second longer, then moved behind her at a steady pace, his hands relaxed and at the same time ready to be brought up just in case. Obviously he was waiting for something, and like when they'd run up, trying to make sure he was in front of her if something were to come. She rolled her eyes, taking a step closer to the wall, and grabbed his hand to force him down on the same step with her.

"T…"

"You don't have to act like you're trying to be a hero. If anything does happen I can handle myself. Remember that." she said pointedly, but kept a firm grip on his hand to keep him from going back.

Another half hour passed as they wandered aimlessly around the empty school, the phones still down last time they checked. Tenten still felt like kicking herself for not charging her phone again and more than once was tempted to glare at Shino for his lack of one. At the very least some of the tension had melted away as they walked and any fears of boogey men running through they halls began to disperse. Now was when the acceptance that they could be trapped till Monday began to sink in and the noise their stomachs started making helped that further along.

"I guess if we can't do anything else we can make the best with what we have now." Tenten sighed, redoing one of her hair buns as they walked.

"I only hope our fathers decide to applaud our resolve rather than kill us when we get out." Shino said.

"Well between two teenagers being trapped in a school together for the weekend or being at some wild party, where do you think they'd rather have us? I mean sure we're all alone but what do they really think we might be doing?" she rolled her eyes just as a sudden coughing fit hit Shino and she smacked his back hard. "Hey, are you alright?"

He tensed briefly before nodding.

"I'm fine. Some air went down the wrong pipe is all."

Tenten raised an eyebrow, about to say something when a sudden growl from her stomach cut her off. Slight heat touched her face and she folded her arms. There wasn't much that could embarrass her, but she hated the sound that advertised to the world she wanted food.

"You know if we broke into the office, I'm sure we could find our way into the kitchen. We'd probably get in less trouble for that to. Why? Because I'm sure they wouldn't want to find us starved come Monday."

"I'm fine. Besides…" her stomach growled again, soon followed by Shino's and she palmed her face. "Alright, lets just head to the kitchen. There's nothing else to do right now and if a ghost is in here, the last thing we need is to give ourselves away like this."

"You don't really believe in ghosts do you?" Shino asked as they headed towards their new destination.

An annoyed look flashed across Tenten's face.

"What do I look like to you, some kind of idiot? Of course I don't believe in ghosts. They're just stories people make up to scare kids and sell books and movies. There's nothing real to them." she hoped he didn't bring up what happened in the bathroom earlier.

"I never said you were an idiot, but you do seem to refer to them a great deal. With what happened upstairs I was just…well if you did believe in ghosts, I wouldn't think you any less intelligent. Why? Because while I may not see logic behind it, there are those…who…" fortunately for him he trailed off as she shot him a glare.

Whatever there might be that she did fear in life, ghosts and legends weren't on that list. They were just ideas made larger than life by real people and nothing more. Neji might believe in fate to a certain degree and there was that summer she'd decided to try and learn to read fortunes, but it was all a joke. Nothing else proved that more than finding a toy makers stamp on the back of every fortune card she picked up.

Of course the sounds all around them sometimes made this hard to remember. During the day these were the norm, but as night came and shadows grew…

"I'm not afraid of ghosts." she stated suddenly as they ended up at the kitchen. "Or anything like it for that matter! In fact the only thing I do fear is probably my dad breaking my back with a hug, and that's more good sense than a real fear! So don't act like you have to protect me from something I'm not even worried about to begin with!" she gripped the handle of the door so hard she could feel the metal start to bite into her skin as she slammed her shoulder against it again and again. "And don't start with me about what I should be worried about or not feeling like an idiot. You said yourself there was no logic to it and if there's no logic then why should I care?" again and again her shoulder hit the door before she felt something gingerly touch her shoulder. She whipped around, nearly knocking it away and meeting Shino's gaze.

"I apologize. I wasn't trying to make you feel foolish or imply you were afraid of anything. Just that…this entire situation is stressful enough that if on some slim chance you were worried about…anything…you could…" his words became muttered after that as he rubbed the back of his head and Tenten dropped her gaze with a sigh.

Great. Here she was ranting and raving and getting angry when all Shino had wanted to do was make sure she knew she wasn't alone. Maybe he said she wasn't an idiot, but right now she felt like one. No. Not just an idiot. She felt like a jerk. Her emotions were all over the place right now and she knew she was taking it out on the only person she could…and as much as she wanted to have something to direct those emotions at, she knew it wasn't right to do that to Shino. He was probably just as freaked out and irritated as she was, but he actually had a reign on his temper and wasn't lashing out like a child.

"I'm…sorry, Shino." the apology seemed foreign in her mouth and it felt like a physical struggle to get it out.

The boy's eyebrows raised slightly, a question obvious on his face.

"I'm letting this whole situation get to me and I'm acting stupid. You didn't do anything wrong, you were just talking…I just…I kinda want to scream at everything right now and you've been an easy target and…" she shook her head and without giving herself a chance to rethink her next move, pulled a play from her dad's book. A split second later she had her arms wrapped around Shino's middle and gave him a hard squeeze. "I'm sorry."

For a moment there was an added layer of silence that seemed to drop over them like a blanket. She could feel Shino's entire being tense under her touch and she swore she could hear his heart hammering in his chest. Was he worried her hugs were like her dad's and she'd break him? Or was it something else? And why only now did it hit her how much taller he was than her?

"You can hug me back you know." she teased lightly, biting back a taunt about already having been groped and a hug being much more innocent. It was another few seconds before Shino awkwardly returned the embrace, then once they parted started helping with the door.

With the damage Tenten had already done and both of them working together, it took less than three minutes to break through the lock and find themselves standing in the kitchen. It was a large room outfitted with two older stoves near the back with a sink close by, cabinets on either side, some of which were locked and an island counter with a moveable middle in the center, creating a small alcove. Below that were more storage areas and a large old fridge stood nestled in one of the corners in back. There was a lock on that as well, but none of the locks looked too hard to break through. Some were only plastic ties and most importantly the power box looked like it could be gotten into. While the entire school ran on the same power supply, some rooms had been cordoned off as having their own in case of emergency shut down. The kitchen and chemistry room were two of them.

Even with this accomplishment of getting in and food within their reach, there was still tension in the air from what had previously happened and Tenten felt even worse than before. From the corner of her eye she could see Shino's shoulders had slightly slumped and he seemed to be looking everywhere but at her as he moved around. She really hadn't meant to bite off his head like that. It was just that she wanted to assure herself that she wasn't afraid and yelling was one of the best ways she'd found to do it.

Motivations though rarely changed the circumstances or the fact that she shouldn't have done it.

"You know I have an idea." she suddenly said standing a few feet behind Shino.

Shino looked over from one of the cabinets.

"What?"

"Why don't we play house."

Shino's jaw dropped.

"Don't tell me you've never played house before!" Tenten rolled her eyes in fake exasperation with a grin, her hands firmly on her hips. "I mean you have the part of being the protective 'husband and father' down. So why not just pretend? It can be like a game." why was it an idea in her head could sound so good until she opened her mouth? Even worse, why couldn't she drop the subject as soon as she saw the look on Shino's face?

"I…I honestly do not remember ever having played this kind of game before…"

"Even when you were little and the neighborhood girls dragged you around?"

"I can't say that ever happened to me." there was a hint of sulk in his voice and Tenten hmphed, her stance becoming more authoritative.

"Then it's time we fix that! And it's not like anyone else will ever find out, and you have to play house sometime in your life." she swore her dad must be throwing his voice and she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly unsure how to backtrack out of looking like a loon. "Well…you don't have to. It was just a silly idea for a game to help us forget for awhile that we're trapped. You know just…forget it. It's okay, it was…"

"Tenten?" Shino interrupted just as she turned towards the cabinets on the opposite side, then looked back over. She swore there was some kind of coloring to his face, but in this light it was hard to tell. "Since I have never played that game before and it seems like something everyone has…maybe it would be best not to waste this opportunity to learn?"

Tenten felt a grin spread across her face and before she could stop herself, she began giving out directions just as she had when she was seven.

X

He wasn't worried about Tenten. It was seven thirty and she still hadn't called, but he wasn't worried. There was no reason to be. After all she had probably caught up with Neji and Lee after school and lost track of time. Or was avoiding coming home for the moment to avoid homework and because he didn't bail her out of extra work.

That couldn't be helped though. Even if it was an accident, there were still consequences and ways it could have been avoided. Of course that didn't make the fact she could be mad at him any easier to swallow. Or the questions that grew along with the shadows that continued to grow and creep through the neighborhood.

His daughter could take care of herself, that much he knew. She had thrown enough people to the ground in Judo and once fractured a poor kids tailbone from how hard she slammed him to the ground. Not to mention she was infamous around school for nearly elbowing people in the face or stomach if they came up behind her unannounced.

The first time he had been called into the office because of the latter incidents, he hadn't known whether to reprimand her or burst with pride over her swift reflexes. Unfortunately a combination was probably not what Tsunade had been looking for, but if the boy had any sense of being a man he wouldn't have complained over what wasn't even a scratch.

Gai rolled his eyes. Maybe they should start making more Judo classes mandatory in gym. It'd be good for everyone and it would show the young men exactly what could happen if they tried anything with his daughter.

The red grading pen in his hand nearly snapped as sudden thoughts of boys, their intentions and Tenten's absence raced through his mind and his teeth grit. He was older now, but he still knew how it was to be young and have those fleeting inappropriate thoughts and intentions himself. Heaven only knows how so many resisted his smooth advances, but he was grateful they had so he could still walk with his head high.

Now he was on the other end of the spectrum in a way.

Tenten had a good head on her shoulder's, but she was still just a little spring flower. What if someone tried to abuse her nature and take advantage of her disposition? What if they talked their way into hand holding or kissing or worse? He swore if anyone was stupid enough to have tried something, they'd better have a will and gravesite ready because…

"Bah. Listen to yourself, you're letting your imagination run wild." he pushed back from the desk and stretched, his work clothes still on, though his tie now hung at an odd angle. "Tenten's probably just enjoying the company of her peers and at her age making such connections is a wonderful thing. There's nothing to worry about."

He was probably just edgy because he'd waited for Tenten in hopes after some of her work was done they could go on a quick trail run together. A sort of surprise after everything that happened. But as more time passed and he'd continued to wait, his energy building and building, she continued to stay away. Now he wanted to go out for a run, but there was no time if he was going to get all these reports graded by Monday.

From the corner of his eye, he looked at the cell phone on his desk, tempted to turn it on and try to call his daughter. Then he stopped. He'd lost the charger for it again and it was nearly out of battery life. If he had to call her, he could do it from the home phone and if she wanted to call him then after not getting an answer on his cell, she'd call the house. Or Lee or Neji would. Either way he expected to hear from her soon. At least by eight. After that he'd do the calling around and find out just what was going on.

But for now there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. So why was there still something twisting in his gut that had his sense's on edge as he looked out the darkening window?

To Be Continued…

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed the story and please let me know what you thought.

Hope you have a great day.

Be blessed

Your friend

innocent-rebel


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a good friend's of mine idea.

A/N: Hey guys. Sorry it's taken so long to get another update to this story, but thank you so much for your patience and your kind words. They really mean a lot to me. A big reason this chapter came when it did though, is actually thanks to my awesome friend and Beta Rellie. I was having a really hard time getting things to feel right and over thinking things and such and she really helped push and encourage me. So for everyone who enjoys this story, go check out her works as well and send her virtual hugs. She's a wonderful person and has helped me a ton. Now onto the story! :D Please let me know what you think, but most importantly I hope you enjoy the story, for that is why writers write.

X

If there was one thing Shino had learned from the old horror movies he used to watch, it was that teenagers locked in anywhere together for an extended period of time was just asking for trouble. However in all those films he had never seen someone dealing with what he currently was.

"Tenten…I don't think you pour in the rice after you start boiling the water. You're supposed…" he started, looking over from one of the drawers he was currently searching for a can opener.

Tenten huffed, paused mid motion in pouring in the rice as she met his eyes.

"You know I know when we got married you probably expected that I'd become a lot easier to understand, but I still bring with me cooking secrets of the ages. Now let me make dinner while you help and tell me how work was and what your new assignment is." she smiled then dumped in the rice as Shino turned his attention back to the draw, trying to keep the heat and smile from his face.

They had been playing this game for nearly twenty minutes now while they looked for anything they could borrow to eat and it still hit him whenever she talked so casually about being his partner. Maybe it was the fact that he had never played this game before growing up, or perhaps that he had never had any girl want to be more than a cautious friend, let alone this, but it was hard to keep at least a slight grin from his face. Every time he let it slip though, Tenten assumed he had thought of a joke he refused to share and would start threatening to hug him.

_"You have a real aversion to those you know? I think I need to tell my dad so he can talk to yours at Christmas when the families get together."_ she had teased, but there was an underlining threat as well and Shino could only silently plead with his ancestors that Tenten didn't breath a word of it to her father. He doubted the fact they had been alone together at night would be a fact she mentioned, but Shino knew her father had no problem embracing people. Especially ones he thought were unhappy or discouraged in some way.

"I still don't completely understand why you insisted I apply for a position at a…ninja firm." he said raising an eyebrow to himself. The words sounded strange on his tongue. "I would think ninjas would be a bit…outdated nowadays don't you think?"

"Of course not. Being a ninja you get to travel, meet new people, there's always someone who wants a 'message' sent, and you get constant access to amazing weapons! Not to mention, I of course, can come along on any assignment I choose." the way Tenten said everything made Shino wonder if she had ever considered becoming a ninja herself or at least joining the police or military. It would make sense with how much she enjoyed martial arts, and at times seemed to look for a fight but at the same time Shino couldn't see her in those fields. Maybe it was the fact that they all involved physical and mental risks he didn't want her to take, though by now he knew enough to keep that to himself. Still, he hoped whatever path she took it would lead her somewhere safe…and foolish as it was, he hoped it was somewhere he was as well.

"So we can spend more time together?" it was more a statement than a question despite how it was phrased and he was surprised at how his insides seized up slightly. Even if it was in the context of a childish game, it still mattered to him how she responded.

"Well that would be the point! Besides…" she turned to him, suddenly serious and as Shino looked over his shoulder, part of him wondered if something wasn't truly wrong. Had she decided that this game was no longer fun? That it was more work than it was worth to pretend she was attracted to him? " I think it's time we started talking about children."

The words hit Shino like an unexpected blow and he stumbled against the open draw, nearly pulling it out and sending several pieces of silverware and utensils clattering to the floor. Heat shot to his face without control and his mouth went slightly slack before freezing as he tried to regain some sort of control. However slipping on a fallen spoon only made things worse and his legs shot out from under him, landing him hard on the ground and trying not to yelp at the sudden pain in his thigh. Looks like he'd found the can opener.

"Shino!" Tenten's eyes were wide with a mix of shock, amusement and concern as she started to come over to him.

He held up his hand, hoping desperately his brain would start to function again.

"I'm alright. But then why did I fall? There appears to be a wet spot over here where something was spilled." his words came out in a tumble and he could only hope she didn't come over to check.

"You know for a ninja you really need to work on your balance." she laughed, ignoring his attempt to keep her at bay as she came over and grabbed his arm to help him up. He tried to pull away, but there was a definite shake in his legs that her touch only amplified. He felt like an idiot. Here he was supposed to be impressing her and his brain decides to shut down on him. His father would have never have done something like that. But then again, his father's mind probably wouldn't have shut off to stop it from thinking about how children were conceived. He shook his head finally regaining his full balance and pulling away as quickly as possible, positioning himself to keep Tenten from investigating his story further as he scooped up the fallen objects.

"So like I was saying," Tenten started again and Shino felt another dose of heat rush to his face. "What do you think about children? I mean we've been married for three years and if I have to get the 'grandchildren' speech one more time I'm gonna stick my head through a wall."

Shino tried to speak, but found his mouth had tried up almost completely. Swallowing hard, he tried again.

"It is…definitely something to talk about, but…wouldn't that cause trouble for us if we were to both leave on a mission?" he said, resisting the urge to run to the bathroom and douse himself in ice water. Even if it was just a game he wondered if she knew what this was doing to him. It wasn't that he minded the idea of being that close to her. Far from it. But did she know that's where his mind went? That he was struggling to keep this game in perspective?

Tenten folded her arms in mock irritation.

"We could make it work. And it's not like we couldn't get one of our fathers to watch them. They'd love it!"

"Them?"

"Of course! We can't just have one, we'd have to have a few so they could play with each other, and always have a ready alibi and…it's more fun having two." her grin was wicked and there was a slight change in how she stood, cocking her hips slightly. "After all you expressed interest earlier while we were cleaning the closet out."

"That was an accident!" Shino blurted out before he could stop himself. "I didn't mean…" but it wasn't as if the sensation hadn't felt nice. Even if it was interrupted by her shirt, it still felt…

Once again he bit down on his cheek, wincing at the growing sore in his mouth. He really needed to come up with another way to keep his mind from completely disintegrating.

Another huff came from Tenten as she turned on her heel towards the boiling pot of rice on the stove.

"You know Shino, if I didn't know better I'd say you had commitment issues." she tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear, and shot him a dramatized glare. "I mean every time I bring up this subject suddenly you love your job and…"

"It's not that I would not want…" he tried to keep his voice even. Whatever else was happening, he had to remember this was a game. Just a game and if he made anything more out of it, then the remaining time they were stuck in here would be miserable. He could still remember the first girl he'd ever admitted to liking when he was a child. She had been a good friend up till them, but after that wouldn't even talk to him. Even if it happened years ago, it still stung and loomed over him. "It's not that I don't wish to…expand our family. It is simply that you expressed interest in wanting to come with me and once there are children it would make it harder for you."

"So you're being selfish and want me all to yourself?" she raised a teasing eyebrow.

"It appears so." Shino managed a shrug and smirk himself, trying to keep his breathing even. "But after a few missions together it is something we could talk about again." he added.

Tenten grinned and pumped her fist in victory before she started to laugh and shook her head as she adjusted the burner.

"What?"

"Just thinking is all. You know I haven't played this game in so long I forgot how much fun it could be." her grin seemed to grow brighter and the way it played in her eyes made it hard to look away.

"Well…you're very good at it. And it is more enjoyable than I thought it would be." Shino admitted, grabbing one of the cans of vegetables they had found and the can opener as he came closer to her. There were several other things in the fridge and cabinets they would have rather had, but neither felt right about taking much more than the bare minimum they needed.

"I still can't believe you never played it before. If I had you known as a kid I would have dragged you along with Neji and Lee and made you play to."

As soon as the Hyuuga's name was mentioned, Shino felt his focus sharpen and something dark twisted in his gut as the can open bit into the metal top. Stupid as it was, he wished the Hyuuga wouldn't be mentioned now. This was their time together and the last thing he needed was competition from someone who wasn't even there.

"Were you going to drag them to the party tonight as well?" the question came before he could stop it, but after everything so far it didn't sound as invasive as it would have earlier.

Tenten wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"You mean the one at Ino's? No. Lee and Neji were planning on going, but I wasn't. I like going out and being with people, but parties like that one was bound to turn into aren't my thing, you know?"

Shino gave her a blank look.

"You know the kind where suddenly everyone is pairing off and the music and food and dancing is just for show? If you're going with someone it's not much of a problem, but…" she shrugged. "I haven't been in that situation since last year and I'd rather avoid a repeat of what that was like."

For a brief moment the fun and games were put on pause as a slightly serious note tinted the mood, and Shino cocked his head a bit looking over at her. There was no sadness on her face. Not even regret. But there were memories there. Things on the surface she didn't bother hiding anymore. He considered nodding and letting it drop. After all if she didn't want to talk anymore about it on his own then who was he to pry? They had really just started talking today after all and what had happened was personal.

But he couldn't stop himself.

"If I may ask…what did happen?"

Several tense seconds passed as Tenten stirred the rice, scraping the spoon up and down on the inside of the pot and seemed lost in thought. Before Shino could say anything though, she spoke.

"Last year was when Neji and I started dating." she started, and Shino was grateful his glasses hid his forming glare. "It was fun at first. We had been friends for so long that that kind of progression just seemed natural. We were always together anyway along with Lee, but Lee was always like our little brother. Eventually…we thought maybe there was more and when I was six I had had a crush on him to." she laughed, but it was different than how she'd sounded before. "So we started seeing each other and…it was good for awhile. But then things started to change. The more we were together as more than friends, the more we started to realize just how different we were. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to date a carbon copy of myself, but it just seemed like we started to disagree more and more. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit stubborn and Neji is no better. So compromise was…lacking you could say." she rolled her eyes.

Shino nodded, unsure whether to say something or simply let her continue when she was ready. Before he could decide, she continued.

"So there was that along with the general awkwardness that never quite left, and it changed everything. Whenever we all hung out together we could tell Lee began to feel more and more like a third wheel. He was never sure when we were on a date or when we were just all friends and it wore on him. He didn't want to be the reason we couldn't have time alone together so for awhile we started to see less and less of him. Neither of us liked that." this time there was pain in her tone, but it wasn't for herself. The way she spoke about Lee, it sounded more like she knew how he was feeling more than anything else. Replaced. Rejected. Unsure of where he belonged after that.

He hardly knew Lee at all, but from what Shino had seen he had no trouble believing Lee would have done that. He didn't seem like the kind to put his feelings above others, even if it hurt him. In a way, he reminded Shino of Hinata and how she would react whenever Naruto put more emphasis on impressing Sakura than even acknowledging her. She'd bear it, but it still hurt.

"Didn't he feel responsible though when things ended between you two?" Shino asked.

Tenten nodded.

"He did for a bit, but there were other reasons to. Mostly it was just…the initial spark we felt died out, you know? I think we were mistaking a great friendship for something else and it seemed like everyone expected us to hook up to. We were always together and Neji was…well Neji, so of course I should be attracted to that and want nothing more than to be with him." she snorted, making Shino wonder how many times she'd been hassled about the issue. "But once we were together it seemed like most of the girls were even more interested in what we were doing."

A bit of guilt twisted in Shino's gut. It seemed like in high school everyone wanted the person they couldn't have. Either because of someone else, status or simply lack of acknowledgment by the other and even he wasn't immune. Still the guilt he felt was far outweighed by the fact that from how Tenten was talking, it seemed as if any connection between her and the Hyuuga in that way was severed.

"Then they engaged in a bit of sabotage?" he managed to keep his tone from betraying the bit of gratefulness he felt.

"They tried that's for sure. Everywhere we went at least one of them showed up. They were always trying to hang on Neji in front of me and it was a nightmare at school. I've never had that many people notice how my uniform didn't look right or hung wrong, or 'is that a scar'?" Tenten put her hand to her face, doing a high pitched voice impression before sticking her tongue with another eye roll.

"Why didn't they listen when Neji told them he wasn't interested though?" Shino fished, asking two questions in one.

"Because he didn't." Tenten sighed and Shino's hand froze mid turn. Part of him had been hoping for that answer to prove how little Neji cared for her feelings, but at the same time he hated hearing it. He hated hearing that someone hadn't stuck up for her, and forced her to be in that position. He hated hearing that Tenten had needed someone to be there for her, and the person she was counting on had let her down.

Tenten added a bit of salt to the rice with an angry movement, before pulling the pot off the burner a bit to get the boiling down.

"Of course it's not like whatever those girls were hoping for it was going to happen. Neji wasn't about to pull some stupid stunt like cheating on me with them, probably because he knows I'd have snapped him like a twig." she muttered the last bit. "But he didn't understand why I was getting upset either. He took it as me not trusting him and letting little things get to me. They were being fools and I was only feeding them by reacting. So he just brushed them off and ignored them, but…" Tenten shook her head. "He didn't understand what it felt like from my position. Suddenly I was the target of everything, he wasn't helping and…we just drifted apart."

Shino wanted to say something, but managed to keep it himself by literally biting his tongue. The words were burning to get out though. To accuse Neji of being the fool who didn't know what he had, and a burning anger started to swell in his chest. How could Neji not have said anything? How could he have let that happen? Was it that he just didn't care or was he to wrapped up in himself to really notice? Maybe he liked the attention. Maybe he liked the fact he could get whoever he wanted and wanted to rub Tenten's face in it. He had seen it before, especially with those like Neji who had the world at their fingertips. They loved flaunting it over people.

"Eventually…we just decided being friends was easier. It was a pretty mutual decision so I wouldn't even say one of us broke up with the other one. It just ended." she shrugged. "And sometimes I wonder if everyone hadn't expected us to be together in the first place if we would have been together at all."

"And now?" he prodded gently, finally getting the can to open.

"Things are better. We didn't see each other for awhile after that and it was hard when we did, but things smoothed out eventually. Plus Lee did all he could to try and help to." she laughed, this time loud and long and it reached her eyes. "I can't even count the number of times he forced me and Neji into a group hug at random. There are still moments when things feel weird, but we're friends…just gotta roll with it."

"You're handling what happened far better than most girls would in your situation." Shino finally said, and Tenten's slight smile encouraged him on. Maybe Tenten was somewhat blind to the others sin's, but after hearing this he wasn't, and his tongue slipped. "After all it did seem truly cruel that he didn't say anything in your defense. Why? Because he should have been more honorable about it, and it amazes me you're still friends with him even after he pushed you away like that."

He expected her to agree with him. To confess that they were more friends out of habit now than anything else and it was mostly for Lee's sake. Instead he could almost feel how the mood in the room changed as she looked over at him, a glare on her face that could freeze fire. Shino swallowed hard.

"No, Shino. He didn't push me away." her voice was more of a bite and he resisted the urge to take a step back. "Neji didn't do anything wrong. Neither of us did. We went out for awhile, things happened and we realized it wasn't working like we thought it would, but it'd be stupid to end a ten year friendship over something like that. Sure it was awkward at times and I told you there are still moments when it is, but we get through it. That's what friends do." she nearly jerked the pot off the stove with how hard she had begun stirring. "And the next time you decide to talk about Neji, keep that in mind."

For a moment it felt like he had been slapped and Shino wasn't sure what to say. He'd picked up on enough of what people said about the Hyuuga, how he acted cold and above others, that he was ready for almost everything Tenten had said and more. Stories of how Neji had hurt her, was controlling, never made time for her, or worse. At first what he heard confirmed his suspicions, only for Tenten to completely pull the rug out from under them again. He felt like an idiot. Tenten had just given him a measure of trust and he'd twisted it so that it fit into what he wanted it to be based on rumors.

Looking at it logically it was high school. There were rumors about everyone, but that didn't make them true. For all the rumors he'd heard about the older boy and how he could be perceived, Shino knew there were those that thought he was just as cold. Just as strange and to 'high and mighty' to be bothered with. They weren't right, so why did he just assume any rumors or assumptions about Neji would be?

Deep down, Shino knew exactly why. They were true because he wanted them to be. He wanted Neji to be the villain of the story while he was the hero and cut off any competition or old ties he might offer. Shino wanted to forget he even had a connection to Tenten at all. That couldn't be done though. Because whatever he wished, whatever his own insecurities screamed, that wasn't fair.

Neji had been Tenten's friend long before he had even spoken to her, and it wasn't right that he try and paint it otherwise. Especially since right now all he and Tenten seemed to be were potential friends…and even that was teetering on the edge because of his big mouth.

"I…apologize. I didn't mean to offend you…" he started, his eyes focused solely on his work that had ceased as he tensed and waited for her to lay into him again.

"Forget it." Tenten dismissed with an irritated hand wave, her overall body language still telling him he was in trouble. "Whatever problems we've had, he's still my friend and I won't put up with anyone trying to make him into something he's not."

He nodded almost to himself, finally moving and pouring the vegetables into one of the bowls they had found. Great. He'd really blown it.

"Of course I guess that means now I'll have to start threatening people when they call you creepy." a slight smirk pulled at Tenten's face that she seemed to have given up restraining.

Shino's eyes widened and a flush of color touched his cheeks as he looked at her and tried to process that simple sentence. According to what she'd just said before that…that must mean that she didn't think he was creepy. She thought he was the opposite of creepy. Alright maybe it didn't go that far, but still. And it had to mean they were friends. That even if she was angry with him, she didn't hate him.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He looked away trying to pull his grin back.

"Nothing. Just…suddenly thought about what a classmate of mine would give for this opportunity of being in the school at night. It would be chaos before morning was halfway here."

"You're talking about Kiba right?" Tenten's laugh broke the remaining tension and Shino raised an eyebrow himself. "Last semester we had a co-ed game of dodge ball in gym. He was on my team, and did more harm than good. But it was pretty entertaining when he and Naruto got into it and sensei cracked them both over the head with his clipboard. Good times."

So that's why Kiba had been so excited about that day and wanted to tell him about it. He'd gotten to play on Tenten's team. He thought his friend just wanted to talk about how he'd almost snuck into the girl's locker rooms or how he was absolutely undefeatable and all the carnage he'd caused. That had been one of the few days of school Shino ever missed due to an accident with one of his experiments. One of his gloves had had a hole in it when he was handling a rather dangerous beetle and while at first the contact had gone unnoticed, the next morning he was wheezing, delirious and his hand had swollen to twice it's normal size. That was the one time Kurenai-sensei gave an extension on homework without a doctors note, since she could see the swelling when he did return and he couldn't even grip a pencil with his fingernails.

If he had known he could have been in the gym at the same time as Tenten though and maybe playing on her team, he would have crawled here. Or at least wrung all the details out of Kiba and put the fear of the school's founder into him on the off chance he tried anything.

The heat on his cheeks grew more intense as he tried to keep himself from thinking about that day and how she may have looked in her gym uniform. The tight shirt clinging to her body, her small shorts hugging her hips and…

"Shino…"

"I wasn't!" his eyes were wide as he looked at her and Tenten tilted her head.

"I was just going to ask you to hand me the lid…nice to know you weren't though."

Was there a comfortable place he could crawl into and die now?

He handed her the lid that she slid onto the rice and noticed her face screw up.

"You know I just started to think about what everyone's going to say once they find out we spent the weekend together."

"Probably nothing. It's not as if either of us will advertise it."

"It'll be pretty hard to hide it though. I'm never here before first bell and we'll be wearing the same clothes as today." she said.

Part of Shino wanted to be offended at what she was saying. That spending two nights with him would be something to be ashamed of…but he knew that wasn't true. The part that wasn't attached to his ego knew what rumors she was afraid of. For all of her nonchalance and seeming not to care what others thought, what they might say could still hurt. If they thought they were together in anyway besides a completely platonic sense, she would be demonized as an 'easy mark' and he would be glorified. He knew it. He had seen it happen before.

But that was one thing he would make sure didn't happen to her.

"They probably have spare uniforms stored somewhere, it wouldn't be hard to get one. And no one would have a hard time believing that I stayed so long I got myself locked in. They don't have to know you were ever here."

Unless of course their parents had called everyone in the city asking where they were; then it could be harder to cover their tracks. He inwardly groaned as he moved to put the bowl in the microwave. That's probably what their parents would do to. He didn't even want to think about how his father would react when he finally got home.

Tenten nodded, but there was still a bit of worry on her face. It soon smoothed though and she shrugged.

"We'll figure something out. And hey, as long as nothing else gets broken, we shouldn't get into that much trouble."

Shino opened his mouth to say something, his hand paused over the microwave buttons when there was a loud crash outside that reached kitchen and both their eyes went wide.

"What was that?" Tenten asked as they shot towards the door and peered out the small window. Neither was sure what they expected to find, but several images from horror movies reared their heads as they looked.

All they saw though was a dark empty hallway…then Shino's eyes narrowed as he caught the flicker of something.

"Wait here…" he said pushing the door open softly.

"Yeah right! If you saw something, I'm going with you." Tenten grabbed his arm, pulling him back in as she slid open one of the drawers they'd pried open and pulled out several knives and skewers. She handed a butter and steak knife to Shino, while she held the skewers like firing needles between her fingers and a carving knife.

Shino could feel his face deadpan.

"Te…"

"I know what I'm doing."

Every fiber in Shino's body doubted that, but he forced back a sigh and headed back towards the door. Though he wished she had given him one of the skewers instead of the idiotic butter knife.

Nudging their way out into the hall, they looked left and right, then right and left, and headed further into the darkness. As soon as they were completely out of the doorframe, they were back to back. Slowly turning, they made their way towards where the sound seemed to come from.

_'What are you doing? You're acting like a scared little ladybug!'_ Shino growled at himself as they moved, and the further he went, the more he felt like kicking himself. Kiba had always loved horror movies and dragged him to them as much as he could. When he was little and had a crush on Kiba's older sister, Hana, he would watch anything as long as she was there. Looking back, they were all completely idiotic, pathetic, and the absolute perfect way to kill brain cells. And he felt exactly like one of the teenagers in the movies that he now silently hoped would die so their whining would cease.

Something had fallen over. That was it. However they tried to dress it up, this school was still over a hundred years old. Things fell. Floors cracked. Roofs leaked, and just today an entire set of lockers at fallen away from the wall, even if there had been something odd about it, it couldn't be anything more than general wear.

There was no need for them to be walking around with…

"There!" Tenten roared and before Shino could blink she had launched the skewers at a shadow and jumped forward, the carving knife held high and catching a faint glint of light from outside.

Shino was right behind her. Adjusting the butter knife so he could use it more like a dissecting blade as he raised the other in front of him as they turned the corner…

And saw a very terrified looking family of rodents huddling near the wall.

"Rats." Shino stated, straightening up.

Tenten's face went slightly red as a sheepish grin crossed her face.

"Well…at least my aim's good."

"And that you missed by a few inches. Otherwise…"

Tenten nodded. That was a mess neither of them wanted to envision, much less clean up.

"Let's get back. There isn't a need to…Tenten?"

She was staring at the family and then slowly moved to pick up the skewers.

"Are you alright?" bugs might not scare her, but maybe rats did.

"I'm fine. Something just…whatever that crash was, I don't think it was the rats. It sounded farther away and…I mean look at them! They're hardly bigger than your hand…"

"But even a fly too many can break a weak spider web. They must have run into something that was already breaking down and then run away." as soon as the words left his mouth, he wasn't sure what sounded more insane. The idea that what he was saying could be true, or that someone or something was in here with them. His mind kept going back to the lockers upstairs and as much as he wanted to attribute their breaking to termites, and rationalize it, he couldn't forget the marks.

"Well lets just hope these really are flies and not spiders in disguise." Tenten said almost to herself as she held the skewers in a clump like a stake and gripped the knife hilt tightly.

Shino nodded, surprised at the analogy she'd made from his, as well as half worried about what she was thinking and half irritated about the chill that was running up his back.

_'She's just being paranoid. Don't let her get to you.'_ he thought.

"Do you want to see if we can find the source of the crash?" he asked.

Tenten bit her lip looking further down the hall, then finally shook her head.

"It's probably just something else like with the lockers. We can investigate later, but I left the burner on. We should probably head back." she said, but she moved slowly as if expecting an attack before turning and walking at an even pace with Shino.

Neither said anything else as they headed back to the kitchen, and their footsteps echoed softly off the peeling walls and the linoleum floor as they walked. Something wasn't right. Something Shino didn't understand, and something that made his heart pound. He wasn't sure if he was just letting the adrenaline get to him, or if the fear of being somewhere he wasn't supposed to be and the consequences were starting to loom over him…or if it was something else. If it was something worse.

He shook his head as his gut twisted. Whatever he was feeling was nothing more than excess hormones and fight or flight instincts.

Several minutes later, he was breathing calmer as he focused on how impossible the situation was, and who he was with. As soon as they approached the kitchen door however, there was a strong odor and once they entered the kitchen, all his survival instincts came flooding back.

"GET DOWN!" Shino grabbed onto the back of Tenten's shirt, jerking her to the floor as the rice pot rattled and the lid shot off, crashing into the light up ahead as he brought his arms up to try and shield her from the glass only to find she was trying to help him as well.

"Under here!" she grabbed onto his shirt and tried scooting backwards towards a moveable counter top that when up acted as a small alcove.

Glass rained down on them. Lights flickered. The hissing of steam could be heard as the water boiled over and looking at the pot, Shino felt his jaw drop.

"How high did you have it?"

"I left it just as high as I did when I first started making it."

"You're supposed to boil it then let it go to a simmer." he hissed. "That's why you put the rice and water in together."

"Well forgive me Oh Rice Master, I didn't know!" Tenten snapped.

"It's common sense."

"It wasn't on the directions."

"But you didn't read the directions. You…" his lecture was cut off as clumps of white along with water spilled over the sides and hit the side of the stove with a sizzling sickening sound.

"Let me guess, you used the entire bag didn't you?"

"Rice is little!" Tenten growled. "I didn't know it'd make this much!"

More clumps of slushy rice rose over the side, sliding underneath the pot, down into the burner, and a minute later, just like in chemistry, flames burst into existence.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Someone should just stop letting these two near anything with potential to cause a fire. But hey, it's fun for us! I hope you guys like it. Please let me know what you think, and rest assured the next chapter will be up very, very soon. It's is pretty much totally written and I just have to go over a few things.

Have a great day

Be blessed

your friend

innocent-rebel


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a good friend's of mine idea.

A/N: An update not at least a month apart! Has to be a record for sure. Anyways I just want to once again thank you guys so much for all your kind words and reviews. Every single one means a lot to me and keeps me encouraged and excited for this story. You guys are awesome. So here's the next chapter. Let me know what you think, but most of all I hope you enjoy the story. For that is why writer's write.

X

Tenten couldn't remember a time her eyes had been wider. How had all of this happened so fast? It was just rice. Just little grains of things that didn't break teeth if they were put in water first. She didn't think they could cause a fire.

But they had, and the longer they waited to do something the worse it would get. Glass was still coming down like snow overhead. The pot lid had long since hit the ground but its affect carried on as lights popped and stray wires from deep inside sparked. If they didn't do something soon they could blow the kitchen up. And with what happened in chemistry earlier, along with whatever was disconnecting the phones, she doubted the fire department would even know about this _till_ a wall blew out.

"I'm going in." she said, yanking open a low cupboard door and pulling out two metal baking trays.

"You're not going into that!" Shino grabbed her arm with one hand while he pulled out another tray with his free one.

"Yes I am. This is my fault, and I'm going to fix it. Now let go, or you'll find yourself being hit in a place with these that no boy wants." she glared, and watched as Shino raised an eyebrow.

He made no move to let her go though.

"Just wait a second. If you rush into things, you're only going to get hurt. The lights need dealing with as well, and as such you'll have to use the fire extinguisher."

"But the sinks closer…"

"I know, but I'm going to see if I can disconnect the power somehow and while I'm doing that any contact with water wouldn't be good." his tone was serious, and despite the arguments building, Tenten nodded. Almost every room in the school had an independent power box that controlled both electricity and the water. She wasn't sure why that was, but someone said it was a security precaution.

"Fine. So what do you suggest to get the fire extinguisher?"

Shino was silent for a moment then lifted his eyes.

"Let me go first. I'll head over towards the power box and kick it over, then you go…"

"Forget it! I don't need you to act like some hero. I can do just fine on my own, besides…"

The smell of burning rice and metal grew stronger and the flames taller. They looked like they could spread at any second, and Tenten felt her gut twist as she nodded. Much as she hated relying on anyone else, she knew Shino had a point in this. They'd moved the fire extinguisher closer to the kitchens power box because there had been several electrical problems lately and they wanted to be careful. Now they needed it and it would make more sense for Shino to kick it over, then for her to run to where he'd already be and then back to the stove.

"On my mark." Shino held up two fingers tightly pressed together as he got up into a crouch and then sprinted towards the power box, the tray clinking as glass fell down. Tenten watched for the signal, her knee bleeding from a bit of glass she'd scraped it against while getting up and seconds later, Shino dropped the extinguisher to it's side and then with a powerful kick, sent it rolling full force towards the stove.

His hand outstretched and Tenten shot up like a cork, using one tray to protect her head and the other she hurled at the pot, knocking it off the stove so more rice couldn't fuel the fire. It hit the ground with a loud clang and two of her fingers were burned as they brushed over some of the contents as she scooped up the red canister. The pain didn't register though. All she could think of was putting out the fire…and realizing she needed two hands to work the thing.

With a curse her dad would have washed her mouth out with soap for, she dropped the tray, pulled the pin from the neck, held down the black handle and began spraying wildly at the stove; Covering every inch of not just the fiery burner, but the other three as well in case an ember had leaped over and even turning her attention to the counter and stove next to it. She wasn't about to let any flame leap up and surprise her.

Unfortunately the glass didn't stop coming down as more lights popped, and several long gashes ran down her arms, cutting into her rumpled uniform and sticking in her hair. One long painful minute later, she was satisfied with the fire control, dropped the cylinder, grabbed the two trays and whipped around to see why Shino hadn't stopped the power yet.

Her mouth fell open in horror at the answer as Shino reached for a final wire with burning hands and jerked it out. There was one loud final pop overhead before all the lights went out, but it was nothing compared to the mini explosion that sent Shino backwards several feet towards rather large pieces of glass. Tenten shot forward again, but this time she threw both trays forward to knock the larger pieces away, and nearly ran face first into Shino's back as she skidded up behind, caught him under the arms and dragged him back to the counter.

The smell of blood and burned flesh was in her nostrils.

She eased Shino up against the counter wall and instantly began feeling his pulse. His head was slumped down, his chin resting on his shoulder as she moved it gently, and his glasses were held up by one ear before falling off.

"Shino? Shino?" Tenten lightly patted his face and wished she had one of Lee's gym socks with her. They'd had to use that once to revive someone after he'd knocked them out cold in a Judo match. Worked better than any smelling salt that was for sure. But she also didn't want to put Shino through that. "Hey, wake up. You did it. The powers out! Things are safe now! Shino!"

Half a minute later the teenager groaned softly as he managed to open his eyes a crack and Tenten cupped his face to keep him from looking away and blacking out again.

He muttered something unintelligible as he blinked, but he didn't seem to be showing any signs of slipping back.

"You know you really shouldn't rush into things. You could get hurt." Tenten tried to smirk, and a soft one played on Shino's face.

"Good advice. Must have been a very wise man who gave it."

"Or a very foolish one." Tenten said as the last bits of glass fell and she carefully slung Shino's arm over her shoulder.

He hissed in pain and nearly brought them both down after they'd moved into the open and Tenten tried to help him up.

"Steady. Just lean on me for now. We're not that far from the nurse's station."

Shino opened his mouth and tried to lean away, but Tenten's grip tightened and he winced before nodding.

"I didn't think…that was going to happen." Shino muttered as they made their way out the door and Tenten tightened her grip on his waist to keep him from slipping. "I thought it was risky to grab the wires…but there was nothing else that would work."

"You could have asked for me to throw you the tongs." Tenten rolled her eyes, trying to hide the concern she felt with harsh words and glares.

"Aren't they metal though?" Shino asked.

Tenten sighed as if the answer was obvious, but he still should have asked.

"You're just lucky you weren't completely electrocuted. I can treat burns, but I don't know how to treat burns inside." she growled then thought. "No wait, I take that back. You make them swallow the cream and then shake them until it's all mixed and evenly coated."

It was Shino's turn to roll his eyes, but there was a smile as well and without his glasses Tenten could see he had rather nice eyes. They were almond shaped and while she wasn't sure of the exact color because of the light, they looked somewhere between brown, or a strong gray. Maybe a mix? She couldn't tell. They could even be dark blue for all she knew. But it was nice to see what was beyond the dark plastic, and in a way they had an almost comforting affect.

"Just…remind me to never allow you anywhere near a stove again…" Shino hissed as more pain built up and Tenten was nearly dragging him through the last stretch of hallway towards the infirmary.

"Our home ect teacher said the same thing. But despite this little incident, I can still make a mean bowl of soup." alright so it was from a can and she used the microwave, but at least she tried. From the time she was little she had always enjoyed mixing things together, but never really cared for reading instructions and once when she'd made an apology cake for Kakashi when she was five…he'd had to have his stomach pumped. This had all led to her enjoy the idea of cooking without the patience or ability to actually do it.

"I believe it would be very mean. Possibly lethal and out for world conquest." Shino muttered, but there was a playful quality to his tone and Tenten managed to lightly flick his side making him wince.

"Shut up." she sulked as she leaned back and began kicking at the nurses door. Ten minutes later, it finally broke open and she nudged it wider as she eased Shino inside towards the cots and helped him onto one.

"This isn't necessary you know." he said as Tenten began pulling out medical supplies and looking through cabinets and using odds and ends to break open drawers. "It's only a few burns. Ice water would be fine."

"Didn't you pay attention in first aid? Never directly submerge burned skin into cold water." she repeated.

"That's only for second and third degree burns. Not these…"

"Your hands beg to differ."

Despite what she was saying though, Tenten wished it was that simple and that she had paid more attention in class. She remembered bits and pieces, such as how to do CPR, some techniques had had name changes, and if someone was having a seizure it was dangerous to hold them down or press their tongue with a spoon. Other parts though she only had a vague recollection of. Treating burns was one of them.

"Wrap the burned area loosely, do not apply antiseptic at first…" she muttered what she remembered as she gathered supplies and despite Shino's protest and even attempt to brush her away, she still grabbed hold of his arm.

He winced and tried to pull back.

"I'll only hold tighter if you struggle." she warned.

Shino narrowed his eyes at her, but she didn't give him the chance to protest before she began wrapping around an area that wasn't burned first, then loosened the pressure when she came to a place where it was. Even if Shino said they weren't second degree, they sure looked like it. Ugly, black and charred, they looked like a dragon had used his wrists and hands for a chew toy.

"To tight?" she asked as she tied off the first one.

He shook his head, still wincing and Tenten wondered if maybe some water wouldn't help take out the sting. She pulled out a small rag from one of the drawers, turned on the facet and soaked it under cool water for a minute, then dabbed at the burn before wrapping it. Shino tried to pull away the most on that one, but once it was dry and wrapped, he nodded almost to himself.

"Thank you."

"I can redo the other one…I never remember if we're supposed to put water on it or not."

"I think its ice." Shino said, catching her off guard "You're not supposed to put ice directly on it. Or so I've heard."

"Just heard? Guess we know the class you've been sleeping in." she laughed and from the look on Shino's face if she hadn't been rebandaging his hand, Tenten had a feeling he'd have said something.

Instead he shook his head.

"I haven't had that class yet. I was supposed to take it this year, but it was pushed back."

"Why? Didn't you want to take it?" sure it wasn't the most interesting class all the time, there were plenty of tests, boring repeats, and the constant pressure of knowing that if something didn't work in a real life situation, the person was dead. But it was still something that made her less dependent on others to save her, and even if she'd never admit to it, she enjoyed learning about the different poisons. What they caused, where they were found, and what if any, good purposes they had. Besides a few plants though, she hadn't come across any.

"Yes, but I've taken enough science classes that I didn't need it to pass this year."

Almost anyone else and Tenten would have assumed they'd cheated or paid off a school official to get that far ahead. Considering he was actually in her science class and working on what would be his junior year though, she knew that wasn't the case, and his marks were usually the ones that set the curve. While breaking the rest of the class's spirit.

"You know if you ever get tired of that brain, I'd be more than happy to take some." she half joked, half growled as memories of her last grade surfaced.

"You are more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. I've seen what you can do when you apply yourself."

Any irritation Tenten felt dissolved at his words, and she felt a grin settle over her face. Then it fell when he continued.

"You just don't seem to do it much when it comes to science. You could be very good, but you don't seem that focused."

Her right eye twitched and she held his wrist a little tighter than she needed to. Stupid smart jerk. It wasn't her fault that science wasn't her strong suite. Or maybe it was. After all, no one was forcing her not to study, or holding a knife to her neck so she'd forget to do her homework, but she didn't need constant reminding either.

"Well Mr. Focused, what do you do with all that free time you must have without classes?"

"Different classes." he said managing a slight shrug. "Not all of them are academic mind you, but I still have several things to attend to."

The list he gave after that was something that left Tenten wondering if he'd edited it down to make it seem like less, and when he actually found time for sleep. She liked being active and preferred filling time rather than just sitting around, but she wasn't sure how he kept going. Science club, math club, debate team, independent study with experiments that sounded like they took a week each, world politics, astronomy club, judo…

"How come I haven't seen you in Judo then?" she cut him off.

"That's not something I'm actually in a 'group' for. My father is teaching me."

"Cool. Maybe your dad could come give a lesson sometime. You should come to, and even if he doesn't maybe you could start dropping by. It'd be fun to have you there."

Shino's eyes widened slightly before he looked away with another wince.

"You would…want me to come?"

"No. I just told you, so you'd feel bad." she rolled her eyes. "Of course I want you to come. We're always looking for new members, and I think you'd have a lot of fun. Besides don't tell me you don't want to see the look on people's faces when you show 'em what you can do." considering Shino's slight build, his quiet nature, science fascination and grades, most people didn't consider him a threat. Though there was a menacing air about him at times, and more than once she had seen one of the schools wannabe thugs start a confrontation with him then back off. But it'd still be interesting to see what he could actually do. She just hoped Lee didn't try to find him a 'rival' or squeeze him to death in a hug because he was so happy that Shino had joined them and go on about how they would become great friends.

"That could be interesting…and of course…you would be there."

"Everyday. It's not like it's a date though." she laughed. "There are other girls there you could talk to. Some even from your class, though I think most of them show up just to see the boys." she gave an exasperated grin, but when she looked back at Shino she saw a slight change. His shoulders were more slumped than they had been a moment ago, he was looking away and something like self-anger and regret settled in his eyes.

What was wrong? Was it something she said? Maybe there was bad blood between him and someone in the club and he wasn't planning on coming now…maybe he'd wanted to…

"Shino?" she finished bandaging his hand and set it down before taking a seat next to him. He looked over with a start as if lost in a dream, the emotion in his eyes gone now in exchanged for a wall. "You okay? You know you don't have to come if you don't want to. I was just letting you know we'd like to have you."

He nodded.

"And I appreciate the invitation. I was simply trying to discern if I'd have time. I would enjoy coming, but I might not be able to…"

"What if you dropped another activity? Just for a day?"

"I don't think that'd be appropriate. I've made commitments to each, I don't think it would be a very good show of character to simply back out." he said, making a move to push his glasses up then stopped and sighed. "They're still in the kitchen."

"Well considering you were almost charred to death, I can get them." Tenten started to get up, but he put a bandaged hand lightly on her arm.

"That's alright. I can walk now and you might want to clean your own wounds before they become infected." his words directed Tenten's gaze to her knees and arms, and suddenly the stinging became very real.

It wasn't just about that though. Something in his mood had changed, and she had a feeling that he wanted to go on the walk back because wanted to be alone. So she nodded and let him go. Watching for any sign he was still hurt as he headed out the door and it shut behind him with a soft click.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Poor Shino. I don't think Tenten quite realizes what he's subtly trying to say or imply. Anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter, and please let me know what you think. Next chapter is coming up very soon, and I think you'll like what's in it.

Hope you all have a great day!

Be blessed

your friend

innocent-rebel


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Tenten's past is based on a good friend of mine's idea.

A/N: First off, I want to once again thank you guys so much for all your reviews and encouragement. I say this a lot, but it really means so much to me that you're all enjoying the story so much and it's really keeping me going. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome. And once again a big, big thanks to my awesome Beta-reader Rellie, who helped me get to this part. Because I've had it written for awhile, but getting the connecting pieces was the challenge. But now we're here and I really want to know what you guys think about this chapter, because so far it's my favorite and where things really get going. Most of all though, I hope you enjoy the story. For that is why writer's write.

X

"You're sure you haven't at least heard from him?" Shibi asked, his free hand clenching as the woman on the other end of the phone spoke and he tried to keep his breathing even.

"I've already told ya, no! I haven't seen, Shino all night. Kiba, told me he was spending the night at your house, but since that's obviously not the case they probably both snuck out on us." Tsume growled, and Shibi was sure that when Kiba reappeared he'd be in for it from his mother.

Not that Shibi blamed her. Because if that's what Shino had done…if he had done something so completely stupid, then the last punishment he received for not calling would look like summer camp. Seven-thirty had come and gone with absolutely no word from his son and as soon as that happened, Shibi began the search. So far though nothing seemed to be coming from it. His son didn't have many close friends let alone ones that he would be out doing something with late at night without letting him know, so instead of contacting Shino's peers first, Shibi decided to call the police.

Their reaction still left him boiling inside. Apparently his missing child wasn't a priority for them, and it didn't seem like his son would become one anytime soon.

_'Look I understand you're worried, sir, but you did say your son is a teenager. It's only seven-thirty, not even the most respectable places kids hang out these day's close till nine. I'm sure he's fine. In the meantime we have two convicted murderers we're looking for and the sooner we catch them, the sooner it's safer for you and your son.'_

The patronizing tone had been enough that Shibi felt like making a trip down to the station, hauling one of the detectives out by his shirt and forcing them to look. However brute force and violence wasn't going to get him anywhere. And the forty five minutes on the phone just to get to that point had been enough time wasted.

Now he was scrambling to contact anyone he could think of.

Half an hour later no one had been of any help. At least not directly. One thing they all had in common though, save for Hiashi who put Hinata on the phone, none of the children in Shino's class were home. And Ino's parents hadn't even picked up.

Shibi's mind raced as he tried to think like a teenager once again and put the pieces together. Something wasn't right, but more importantly, something was happening where no one would suspect it.

"Tsume-san, have you heard anything about the Yamanaka's?" he asked.

"Why? You need their number?"

"I was just wondering if perhaps Kiba might have mentioned something about them to you. I couldn't get a hold of them and was wondering if they were out of town. Since I was planning on calling again I just wanted to make sure I didn't waste the time."

There was silence on the other end of the line and Shibi felt his mouth dry and chest tighten. This might be the lead he needed. If he could pinpoint where Shino could be, this nightmare had a chance of ending. All he needed was confirmation. Just one person to throw him another clue.

Finally, Tsume spoke.

"That sneaky little…" she trailed off into descriptions of her son that made Shibi's eyebrow shoot up. "I'll bet that's where they are right now! He didn't mention anything to me directly, but I did overhear him muttering about something today to do with Ino and he did seem more concerned with his appearance before he left. I figured it was nothing and just left it, but…"

"Thank you Tsume-san. That has helped me more than you know." he cut off another slew of curses. "Now I think I'll be…"

"Heading over and tearing them a new one? I'm right there with ya. But if ya want my advice, the best way to make 'em fry is to wait for the right moment!"

Shibi didn't need to see the sinister smile to know it was on her face.

"The right moment?" he couldn't help himself. He had known her ever since their sons became friends several years ago, but he still didn't understand this woman. She seemed to care about her children and at the same time keep her distance from them. Or at least that's how it seemed to be with her son.

"You know. When they've got a lot of people around them or are gettin' cozy with a girl, or even better, they're the center of attention. That's when ya pounce!" she laughed and Shibi shook his head.

"Thank you for the advice and all your help, but right now I think I'll just stick to getting my son home safe first, and then killing him." it might have been considered rude, but he didn't give her a chance to say goodbye or offer another word before he hung up, grabbed his keys and darted for the door; a mix of emotions rolling around inside of him.

Part of him was outraged that Shino would do something this stupid and was already coming up with suitable punishments for his son. Whatever it was it'd have to be drastic and possibly emotionally scarring to drive the point home. Whatever it was though, there was no way it could compare to what Shibi had gone through these last hours. Hadn't he raised his son better? Hadn't he raised his son to have more common sense than this? He understood Shino was still a child, and this was a confusing age for even the most stable of people, but still. It was that age when one's peers often had more influence over them then their parents, and there was no doubt in Shibi's mind that if his son was at whatever was going on, then Kiba was the one that talked him into it.

He wasn't one of those parents that thought his child did no wrong, or was a model for perfection, but at the same time he knew his son. Large social gatherings weren't one of Shino's strong points and even as a small child, he'd never enjoyed them. Whenever they'd had to go to a company event, Shino always pleaded to stay home. If it had been allowed, Shibi would have let him. Now once again, Shino was being dragged into a situation he probably didn't want to be in and way over his head.

A sharp chill went up Shibi's spine that had nothing to do with the cool night air as he got into his car and slammed the door with more force than necessary. As angry as he was though, there was a part of him that was relieved and praying Shino was at Ino's with everyone else. If that was the case he could write it off as a serious, but stupid, mistake that every teenager was bound to make. But if he wasn't there…if his son was absent…

His fists clenched around the steering wheel as he nearly whipped out of the driveway and nearly gave the car a small jump, putting as much pressure on the gas pedal as he was.

Out of all his emotions, terror was the prevalent one. He could still remember two years ago after one of the trials where he helped expose some underhanded dealings, someone had taken a shot at him. It had only grazed his arm, but the scar and uncertainty were still there. Of course the worst had happened when whoever they were involved his son. Shibi had found out that same day that several suspicious men had approached his son on his way to school. Shino had told him they tried to say they were friends of his father and that something had happened to him. They needed him to get in their car so they could take him to the hospital. Instead, Shino only pretended to comply, then ran to the nearest home to call the police.

A hard lump settled in Shibi's throat. They already had who must have hired those men in custody, though no evidence to prove it, but the actual thugs themselves were still out there. Was it possible that somehow they'd been contacted again? That his son had been taken and later he'd receive a call…

"Get a hold of yourself!" he snarled, barely coming to a stop at a red light as his tires screeched and other's honked behind him. He had to breath. He couldn't let his emotions rule him like this. As frightening as it was, he had to take a breathe and realize the odds of that happening, against his son going to what was probably a party.

"He's a teenager. They do stupid things like this. Why? Who really knows, but I'm sure he's alright. Probably just with a girl, or intoxicated or…" Shibi felt like slamming his head against the wheel. Great. He could either imagine his son illegally intoxicated or in someone's trunk. Parenthood had to be some kind of divine purgatory.

Another deep breath and light change later, and Shibi shot forward again, his mind racing as he tried to remember his way to Ino's house. He had only been there a handful of times to meet with her father for something both their companies were working on, and when dropping Shino off to do various school projects. He'd find it though. Even if he had to drive all night he'd find it.

As fast as he was going though, he caught something on the sidewalk heading the same direction he was in the review mirror and his eyes widened slightly. Maybe the night was playing tricks on his eyes, but he swore that was one of the school's teacher's, Maito Gai. The man had been over once for an in home meeting and Shibi had seen him several times at the school, but could that really be him? And if so why was he running outside at nearly nine? The more Shibi looked though, the more he knew there wasn't any doubt to the man's identity. The bowl cut hair, strange tie now flung over his one shoulder without care, and from the looks of things two different shoes. Then it clicked in Shibi's head, and he began slowing down at the next light, and rolled down his window.

"Gai-san? Wh…" he started only for Gai to bolt right past him with a wave over his shoulder.

"I'm afraid there's no time to talk! I have to get to Ino-chan's now, and possibly commit a felony that includes embarrassing my daughter to death for not telling me where she was going!" he said this all in a huff, his face streaked with sweat and Shibi leaned out his window a bit to call after him.

"If that's the case then let me give you a ride. I'm headed over there myself."

Gai came to a nearly audible halt as he looked back. Any other time and Shibi had a feeling Gai would have challenged him to a race and and come up with an insane promise if he didn't win. For a split second it looked like the man was debating it, but with his daughter at stake, that soon passed and Gai hurried back to accept the ride.

"Thank you for your generous offer, Shibi-san! I'm actually surprised you're the first parent I'm running into!" he said as he buckled his seat belt and ran a hand through his sweat drenched hair causing it to stick up in random places.

"Yes well I'm sure the other children at least gave their parents a reason why they were going to be gone. Ours just decided we weren't privileged enough for this kind of information." Shibi growled under his breath as the light turned and the car moved forward again.

Gai raised an eyebrow and cocked his head.

"Shino-kun, went?"

Shibi met his gaze, his mouth pulling into a frown. As much as he was surprised himself by Shino's actions, that didn't mean it should be so shocking to others that his son was socially active. Before he could even begin to speak though, Gai's eyes narrowed and he pulled Shibi over by the cuff of his shirt causing him to jerk the wheel and almost putting them in another lane. Horns blarred and Shibi swerved hard to avoid oncoming traffic.

"Gai-s…"

"He took her then didn't he?" Gai barked. "I knew I shouldn't have left that boy alone with her! I knew I should have set some ground rules, but noooo, I just blindly trusted that nothing would happen and now…"

"What are you talking about?" Shibi jerked out of Gai's hold and steadied the wheel, his heart pounding. Maybe this had been a bad idea to pick him up.

"What am I talking about? Your son seducing my precious innocent daughter of course!"

Shibi's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped.

"What?" he knew this man was considered stable enough to teach, but right now he was beginning to doubt how they figured that out.

"Your son, and my daughter! They were left alone at school working on a project and now they're both gone, and…and…"

It took every ounce of self-control Shibi had not to throw the man out as he took another sharp turn and nearly jumped the corner. The fact Gai hit his head on the ceiling helped ebb the anger a bit.

"My son, would never do such a thing." his tone had a calmly dangerous quality to it. "Despite whatever delusion you're living under if anyone is to blame it's probably your daughter." granted Shibi had no proof, but if Gai was going to be blaming his son for something just because they were left alone, he had no problem turning it back on him.

Gai's face darkened.

"My daughter?"

"Yes. She's older than Shino. Obviously someone who can influence him, and he's never once done something even remotely this irresponsible. More than likely she convinced him…"

"And why would she do that? I'll have you know that she would never take advantage of someone like that! Nor would she ever do something this reckless unless she was taken advantage _of_!" if possible, his voice rose further, and his face became a deeper shade of red.

"Shino, would never take advantage of anyone's daughter!" least of all, a crazy person's.

"Well when we get there we'll let the evidence speak for itself, and if he's laid one finger on her…"

"Don't you dare threaten my son."

"Then tell your son to keep his hands off, Tenten!"

"He hasn't put them anywhere near her."

"That you know of!"

"Exactly." why did everyone assume when something happened that it was automatically the male's fault? In the insect and animal world it was often the female who was the most conniving and manipulating of the genders. Some even fed on the bodies of former lovers.

"Well for his sake I hope your right! Being young includes making foolish decisions, but not all of them come with consequences easy to bear." Gai's knuckle's bulged and Shibi's eyes narrowed behind dark plastic.

"If you make any more threats towards my son, teacher or not, I will throw you out of this car." he looked over at the man as he stepped harder on the gas. "While, it's still moving."

Gai grabbed the door handle and glared.

"I'll tuck and roll, and still beat you there!"

Shibi bit back a snarl, and resisted the urge to take him up on the offer. They were about fifteen minutes further from Ino's, he could last until then. Besides, the rational part of Shibi's mind was certain Gai wasn't serious. There was no way he could be. More than likely he was simply feeling exactly what Shibi was, and looking for someone to blame. Overall his behavior wasn't that unnatural. Still, the parental part of Shibi wanted to make sure that none of those threats could ever be carried out, no matter by whom.

The rest of the trip was spent in silent fuming and as soon as they were came up to Ino's house, Gai unbuckled his seat belt, wrenched the door open and jumped out before the car even came to a complete stop. Unfortunately, he hit the ground wrong in the initial tuck and flipped head over heels, and nearly slammed into another parked car."

"You should have just waited for me to stop." Shibi said as he stepped out, but the man was already up, and shooting towards the house, with Shibi right on his heels.

X

Shino wasn't sure what he was expecting to come out of Tenten's invitation. He knew they were just talking, and the fact that she even wanted him to come thrilled him. But she also pointed out it wouldn't be a date and talked about him meeting other girls. He shook his head and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets as he walked.

This night wasn't going anything like he'd hoped it would. Well…that wasn't exactly true. They were both getting to know each other better and he was spending more time with her than he ever thought he would have a chance to. Upperclassmen simply didn't hang out with those below them. Yet here they were, and she hadn't treated him like an underclassman either, or demanded anything more than the respect anyone would want.

Still at the rate things were going it seemed like all they'd ever be was friends.

_'What are you expecting? That she'll be overwhelmed by your charm when you haven't even made a move?' _he inwardly hissed, wincing as he opened the kitchen door and once again saw all the damage they'd caused. He had a feeling that even if it wasn't their fault they were locked in they'd still wind up with detention for this. He wouldn't put it past any of the teachers to order it during summer either.

Glass scattered and crunched underfoot as he walked further in and kneeled down under the alcove, pushing back tiny pieces of debris as he looked for his glasses in the dim light. If it wasn't for the window on the kitchen door letting some in from the hall, there wouldn't be any at all. A few minutes later with his thoughts still spinning, he found his glasses. The lenses were scratched with one side of the frame chipped, and the other bent and breaking, but they were fixable and could still be worn. Pushing them on, Shino then pressed his back against the side and slid down to try and collect his thoughts.

What would his dad do in this situation?

His mother had died giving birth to him and besides lighting incense at her shrine and some small incidents she was hardly mentioned. Sometimes it seemed like his dad was trying to forget her. Or maybe forget why she wasn't here. He must have had other romantic ventures though. And if he wanted something he always went after it.

When it came to anything but this that's how Shino was as well. With this situation though…he didn't think he was scared. Not exactly. Just experienced. Growing up had taught him what to expect from most girls whenever these feelings came up, and more than once he had seen some underclassmen's heart become a stomping ground for others. With what little friendship they'd built so far to…could he really risk that? Especially with how he'd almost ruined it earlier? Tenten didn't seem like the kind who would laugh in his face, or just ignore him and walk away, but what if she thought he was joking? Or just a 'cute' second year who didn't know what he was talking about?

Shino sighed as he rested his head in his hand. The question of what would his dad do repeated itself even louder inside his mind. He knew what his dad would do…but he wasn't sure if he could do it.

_'At least she doesn't think you're creepy. That's something you can work with.'_ he thought. And unless there were any unknown players, there wasn't anyone directly vying for her affection. Considering that he had a lot going in his favor. Now he just needed to act on it.

Sudden footsteps outside caught his attention, and he started to get up to see what Tenten was looking for, then stopped when he saw two tall figures outside. Slowly he lowered himself back down just as the door opened and the scattering glass sounded like warning bells as two men stepped inside.

"We should just eliminate them before they have a chance to catch on to our presence!' one of them growled. He was tall with a strong slender build, dressed in black, with narrow cold eyes, pale skin and slicked back silver hair. There was something large on his back wrapped in black cloth, and he kept touching a pendant around his neck with a downward triangle in the center of a circle.

"We are not here for your entertainment, Hidan. And if you hadn't thrown tantrums earlier, they wouldn't have the faintest idea that anyone was in here with them." the other sneered. This one was tall as well, but more muscular than the other, also dressed in black, with sickly tan skin, dark green eyes, and strange markings around his exposed wrists. His mouth was obscured by the collar of his shirt, and the top of his head was covered by a strange hat that seemed formed to his skull, while at the front stood a small triangle. There was also a large brown satchel over his left shoulder.

Shino fought the urge to swallow. Who were these men?

"That…thing!" Hidan spat. "Was a blasphemous piece of trash. The fact that they would even have a shrine to that man is unforgiveable! It had to be…"

"You can destroy things on your own time, but while you're with me learn something called tolerance." the other rolled his eyes.

"With an attitude like that I won't be surprised to find you in hell one day. There is no tolerance for those who do not convert to Jashin's way."

Jashin? The church of Jashin? Shino felt like someone had just delivered a sucker punch to his gut before throwing him into ice water. If someone from that was here…could they still around? He fought to keep his breathing steady. If he held his breath he'd only wind up taking in deep gulps later and they'd hear that. He had to keep calm.

"The point is!" the other finally snapped, and his hand grabbed onto his cohorts throat. "That dead bodies draw attention! Which is the last thing we need right now, which is why you're still breathing!"

"You know your promises of death only make me happy Kakuzu-chan. And I long for the day you finally do snap." Hidan gasped with a grin before Kakuzu threw him back a few inches.

Shino furrowed his brow. Hidan and Kakuzu. Those names sounded familiar. From where he couldn't place, but it didn't matter. What did was that they were here, and even if he didn't know who they were, he knew who they were talking about killing. It took every fiber of control he had not to let fear take over as he thought about Tenten. It didn't sound like they found her, or that they even knew she was alone. The way they were walking into the room now, kicking away the pot lid and trays, he doubted they knew he was here.

He watched as they came closer to where he was. His heart pounding so loud he was sure they could hear it. Were they coming to the counter he was under? Did they see him? He didn't think so, but if they looked down…if they looked for him, he was completely exposed.

They weren't bluffing about killing either. From how each of them spoke he knew they'd both done it, and Hidan in particular seemed impatient to do it again.

They had to get out of here. Shino didn't know how, but that thought kept pounding in his head like it was driven in with a mallet. They had to get out of here. He had to get Tenten, and they had to find a way out.

How though? The windows were bullet proof, the doors locked, there was no power for any of the phones, and the fire earlier was proof that fire alarms weren't working. Even if they were though, if he pulled one it'd alert these two and they'd either kill them before the firemen arrived, or worse. It wasn't hard to imagine these two waiting inside for the men to come in and turn it into a slaughter. Again he fought the urge to swallow hard.

How did they even get in here? If he could figure that out maybe he and Tenten could get out that way? Shino shook his head. Right now the first step was getting out of this room.

"Any reason we're actually in this hole to begin with?" Hidan asked and Shino watched him lean against a counter on the opposite side of the room. His hand now clutched around the strange pendent.

"If you mean the school, I've explained it. If you mean the kitchen, it's because this would be the last place those brats would come tonight after the damage they caused."

Were they watching what happened? Or had it just been instinct to blame them? Shino didn't know. He didn't care at this point. His focus was settling on the door, and his entire body was tense. First step towards survival was acting. Those that didn't act were always picked off first. But would running now be the right thing to do? There was no doubt they would see him. He could wait until they were gone. They wouldn't stay in here for the entire night…but then what? If he waited until they left then he had no idea where they were, and they could wind up right where he was going. If he left now though would it provoke them? One already wanted them dead. What if they went after Tenten? What if he ran and even if he got away, he couldn't get to her but they did? He didn't know. There was nothing he knew right now except that he had to get out, and get out now.

Quietly as he could, Shino got to his feet, took in a deep breath, and made a silent prayer to his ancestors for any kind of help. Then he shot up and bolted straight for the door.

The instant he was out of hiding the pair whipped around, shouts were exchanged and he could hear at least one of them running behind as he burst through the door and then tore down the hall. It was a struggle not to hold his breath against his instincts, and his hands sliced through the air as he swung them with even strokes, trying to ignore the sounds behind him.

"I love it when they run! Their struggle always makes the end that much sweeter!"

So Hidan was after him.

Shino swallowed back a wave of fear as he reached out, pulling down the few trash cans he passed behind him and throwing the small amount of change he had in his pocket at the man in an attempt to blind him. It didn't work. Looking over his shoulder, the added obstacles only made the man that much more determined. His face was twisted in a kind of euphoric glee and again Shino was reminded of old horror movies. This monster though was far more terrifying than anything he had ever witnessed on the screen. Or maybe that was because he was now at the center stage of it with no one to yell cut.

He was almost to the nurse's station; trying to block out the laughter and taunts that were closing in behind him. Should he stop? Maybe it'd be better to lead him away from Tenten. Yes. That's what he would do. He wasn't going to lead this madman right to her.

Just as he made up his mind though, the nurse's door opened a few feet in front of him and Tenten's head poked out.

"Shino what…" she didn't have time to finish before he skidded around the door, and pulled her out just as a large sickle like blade pierced through the wood, sending an explosion of splinters after them.

"Run!" he ordered and for once without complaint, Tenten complied running as fast as she could beside him. His hand tightened around hers as if fearing she'd slip away at any second. Over his shoulder he could see the man was still farther back, but his weapon was now unsheathed and as he ran past the door it slid out like a knife from hot butter.

"Two little birds. Two little sacrifices! This night will mean something after all!" Hidan laughed. "Unless you accept. You could accept and I might not kill you! But then again I might. After all that is the highest form of obedience!"

Neither teenager said anything as they continued to run. Their hearts pounding in unison at the realization that no matter how fast they were they couldn't win this way, making them run even harder.

Then Shino's eyes locked onto an open doorway, and his grip tightened painfully on Tenten's hand.

"Here!" he burst into the room, nearly throwing Tenten as he spun around to slam the door, but just as it started to close the sickle pierced through by Shino's head and their pursuers face came into view as his hand slipped inside. The look in his eyes was almost demonic, and as Shino slammed his shoulder into the door catching Hidan's wrist, it looked like something from an even deeper level of hell. The howl was both painful and pleased, and prolific spilled from the man's mouth as Shino continued pushing. Hidan was pushing back though, and as strong as he was, Shino could feel himself slipping.

"I'm going to teach you both a lesson! One you little heathens will never forget as you tumble into death!" Hidan's laugh was loud, then cut off by a battle cry from behind and Shino turned just in time to see Tenten running at the door with everything she had before throwing herself into it at the last second, barely avoiding the sickle. There was a sickening crack, and a scream of pain, but the door closed a little.

"Again!" Shino yelled, taking in a deep breath and slamming as hard as he could into the door himself and bracing his body against it.

Tenten was already moving back, and though from a shorter distance this time, repeated the process of launching herself into the door. Throwing her back, hips and shoulders into it. Again, the hand slipped further back, as the cries of pain became even louder.

"You think this is pain? You think what you're causing now is anything compared to what true agony is? I will show you! I will show you both!"

The man screamed as Shino pushed and saw a black object from the corner of his eye on a shelf. He grabbed it and feeling the heavy weight of the stapler, slammed it down with all his strength on the man's fingers. Another howl filled their ears. But Shino didn't listen. He brought the stapler back again, and again. Beating the hand and fingers with the solid end as Tenten continued to slam at the door before he finally opened the stapler and bashed it down with enough force that staples settled in white flesh. Blood leaked out in small trails that soon expanded as Shino focused on striking the same places over and over.

Two minutes later, the last bit of eye that could be seen was rolled up into Hidan's head, and his hand was more of a bloodied mangled lump when it finally slipped out and the door closed with a heavy thud. The sickle still remained firm inside, but Shino paid no attention as he twisted the lock and looked over at Tenten to tell her to find something to barricade it with.

She was already on the other end of the teacher's desk pushing it forward. The chair that had been near toppled over with a crash, and several baskets of paper fell off as she snarled and growled and pushed while Shino kept his full weight against the door. They could still hear Hidan outside. The sickle began jerking and twisting bit by bit.

When she was only a few feet away, Shino hurried to help and twenty seconds later they slammed it against the door just as the handle started to rattle.

Without a word they both went for the long tables that had been set up. Both helping to heave them on top of the teacher's desk and wincing as various memorabilia fell to the floor. Some simply hitting the ground, others shattering or making a clean break. They'd apologize later, but right now,they'd do whatever they had to too survive.

Five minutes later, they had all the tables either on the teacher's desk, or braced against the door, with chairs on top of them the filing cabinets pushed up against the sides, and large rack of construction paper at the very end, along with other odds and ends.

"Shino…" Tenten finally wheezed. "What…was…that?"

Shino sucked in a few breaths, suddenly feeling as if he were going to throw up as the pain in his hands exploded and his head spun. After a minute, he managed to answer.

"I'm not entirely sure. They were in the kitchen…I think they broke into the school somehow. Someone would have noticed if they were here before…"

"They?" Tenten's eyes widened. "How many is 'they'?"

"Two, I think. At least it seemed that way. The one that chased us was referred to as Hidan, and the other one was Kakuzu." he took in another shaky breath, trying to remember where he'd heard those names and how to breathe properly.

"Why would they break into the school though?" Tenten asked.

Shino shook his head, pushing his glasses up farther.

"I don't know…" he said, as he looked around. There were large windows on one side of the room, letting in enough moonlight he could see the brightly colored walls clearly, along with the various copies of art that hung from various places, supply rooms at the far ends of the room and looking over his shoulder, the scattered art books on the floor all told him they were in the art room. He silently thanked the art club for forgetting to close the door. "It's not as if we have anything that valuable here. Even the building isn't worth much. Figuring that out is the least of our worries though. They know we know now, and they probably both want us dead."

"So what do we do? Now we're not only locked in the school, we're locked in this room with two men who want us dead, and no way to let anyone know what's going on." she wasn't so much asking a question as thinking out loud and from the sound of it, ready to stick her fist through a wall.

Once again, Shino felt like an idiot for not having a cell phone of his own.

"Maybe we could try to break one of the windows again…" she continued to muse. "I know they're bullet proof, but maybe one of the cabinets…"

"Wouldn't do anything." Shino interrupted softly, drawing a glare. "Right now as much as we want to do something else, I think we'll have to wait. At least till this one…" he trailed off, listening for any sounds outside. The sickle was still in the door, but it was quiet now. Somehow that made him feel even worse. At least if there was noise they'd know where he was. Would they be stuck in here until Monday? Would they make it till Monday?

He shook those thoughts away and looked over at Tenten as she jumped up on one of the table ends and sat looking out the window. The way the moonlight caught her skin, giving it an almost celestial glow nearly caught his breath, and the pieces of glass still in her hair looked like tiny diamonds. Her lips were slightly parted as well. As if speaking in either a language or volume that no one could understand, and he noticed the way her shirt clung to her body, hiding its shape almost teasingly. Shino could almost hear Kiba telling him about a 'good' way to pass the time and along with the blood rushing to his face, he felt like punching his friend in the stomach.

Swallowing, he folded his arms and came to lean against the table.

"Are you alright?" he finally asked.

Tenten nodded.

"For being trapped in school with two homicidal psychos? Yeah. I'm fine." she sighed, before smiling a little. "At least the companies nice."

Shino looked away keep from grinning like an idiot. Before he could return the compliment though, she continued.

"I really wonder why they're here. Like you said we don't have anything of real value, but maybe if we know what they want we can figure out a way to get rid of them, or maybe how they got in."

"Possibly it's only a personal grudge." Shino said not sure he believed it, but it could be. "Most of our teachers were involved in the war not that long ago. It could be directed at one of them, or perhaps the school itself."

"Why?" she looked over at him.

"I'm almost certain the crash we heard was that of the school's shrine to its founder. Hidan…the one that followed us…did you see anything strange about him?"

"You mean besides the weapon and intent to kill? Not really."

"In the kitchen, he spoke about the Church of Jashin…and was wearing a strange pendent. The shape looks like something a follower of that wears. Like rosary or prayer beads. But…" he trailed off as he saw Tenten's expression change.

For the first time, there was genuine fear in them. They'd all learned about the Church of Jashin in history class. It was founded by a madman over three thousand years ago. Unlike most religions and beliefs though, this one glorified chaos, and destruction. Jashin encouraged whoever followed him to revel in death, blood and pain. Especially those of others. Even his own followers weren't safe, and hundreds both in and out of the order were killed by his hand's. Often times he would keep their heads as a souvenir. All on his weapon like a human kabob before starting a new one. He and his closest followers were eventually killed when they were lured into a large village where every man and woman attacked them. A quarter of the village was killed, but Jashin and his followers died as well. It was rumored that their school's founder was descended from the man that cleaved Jashin's head off, and then cut the body in half to make sure he was dead.

After that the group became scattered and all but faded into legend itself. Those few that still believed Jashin was some kind of dark deity were deemed insane, and usually wound up in prison, or a mental ward for minor crimes.

This one however…he proved those serious about it were still out there.

_"Two little birds. Two little sacrifices!" _

The memory of Hidan's laugh sent a chill up Shino's spine.

"We really are in trouble then." Tenten whispered almost to herself, and her entire being seemed to tense as if steeling against fear itself. It was there though. The same kind Shino felt.

Whatever fear they felt…at least they were together, and he wouldn't let her deal with it alone.

She'd probably kill him for this, but Shino eased himself up next to her and after a minute put his arm around her shoulders giving a light squeeze.

"We'll be fine. For all we know he's just trying to use the name to scare us. The kind of people devoted to that are so rare…it's highly unlikely that one is now in our school." he said while he tensed and waited to be pushed off the table and told to keep his hands to himself. Instead she seemed to lean into his hold just a little.

"It's also unlikely that people get themselves locked in schools." Tenten sighed. "But thanks. It's nice not to be with someone who's not curling up on the floor in a fetal position screaming we're going to die. Nice use of the stapler to."

Shino chuckled, and bit down on his tongue before he could make a stupid joke. Catching the time on the clock overhead though proved to be an undoing with that.

"It's ten O'clock, do you know where your children are?" as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like beating his head into a wall. Surprisingly Tenten laughed.

"Not where they should be, but about to become a great news headline." she grinned before it softened into something Shino couldn't place. "My dad's probably kicked down the door of everyone in the phone book by now trying to find me. Good time to be unlisted."

"Your father certainly seems the type to do it." Shino said. He only had Maito Gai for History, and once whenever the normal coach was out he would sub in gym. He was also the sensei for the Judo team. Still, from what little Shino knew about him, Gai seemed very…excitable and beyond whatever wall he was off. He was still a serious instructor though, and woe to anyone caught cheating or slacking in his class. But…there were moments Shino had a hard time believing he'd raised Tenten and she wasn't insane. For a split second, he almost pulled his arm away as he remembered the look Gai had given him when he'd popped in the chemistry room before this all happened and asked Tenten if she wanted him to wait for her for a ride home. The look he'd thrown Shino after Tenten said no, clearly said: 'I know where you live and how to hide a body!'

"Well he did something similar once before." Tenten rolled her eyes. "I got lost in a store when I was seven and…well we're still not allowed back because of everything that happened. Guess me pulling the fire alarm just because it was there didn't help, but…"

"All his fault?"

"Yep." she laughed, before sighing. "I don't like worrying him though. There's enough going on and…" she trailed off and Shino tilted his head, silently prompting her. Nothing more was said though, so he used words.

"You've been a family for…ten years?" he remembered hearing something about it a few times, and Tenten nodded.

"Really though it's been eleven. Kinda accidental to. When I was five I ran away from the group home I was in. I was mad about something, I think I didn't want to share a teddy bear. It was something stupid like that." she waved it off. "Before I knew it I was completely lost and for all my ideas about adventure…it didn't really work out that way. I remember telling someone he was my dad when a policeman asked me where my parents were, and he covered for me. He was only nineteen then…I think I kinda scared him."

Shino raised an eyebrow. It was hard to imagine Gai was scared of anything. Though whether that was insanity or bravery, Shino had no idea. Maybe the lines were blurred with that man. That'd make sense.

"I wouldn't tell him where I belonged for awhile after that. I liked him and thought if I kept quiet he'd have to keep me and I'd never go back."

"You had to tell him though?"

"Eventually, and he did bring me back. But…I don't know. We just made a family and I think it even surprised him when he started the adoption process. And it wasn't like there was a line of families that wanted me either, so after a year…it became official." there was no pity in her voice, only fond amusement at the memories, and hints of relief.

Shino nodded. He had an idea why they'd probably allowed Gai to adopt then, despite being young, and Shino assumed, single. The war had created so many orphans that the system was past its breaking point, and overwhelmed to the point no one knew how to fix it. A simple background check, and probably anyone could have adopted.

From the look on her face though, Shino had a feeling there was more to the story. Something she wasn't telling him, and something he knew better than to push on.

"How about your dad? How do you think he's handling things?" Tenten asked.

"If your father is kicking in the doors, my dad is probably leading the interrogation of anyone he deems suspicious. Kiba is absolutely terrified of him." Shino smirked. There was nothing like watching his overly cool and chaotic friend be stopped dead in his tracks simply because his dad asked how their day went and if they'd stayed out of trouble. His dad knew he scared Kiba to…and there was a small amount of pleasure he took in it.

Now Shino just hoped that same look wasn't turned on him. He'd stayed out late before, but his dad always knew where, who, and would lend him his cell phone in case of an emergency or if he'd be later than originally believed. And if he didn't call…well he had learned the consequences of that once.

In a situation like this one, Shino wasn't sure what his dad would do. Call the police definitely, but he wasn't sure how much they could actually do. His father said that once when the Uchia clan had been in charge, the police ran smoothly, and there were more than enough officers to handle the districts under their wing. Then something happened, and a good many of them disappeared leaving only a few behind, and for awhile there had been such animosity between the veteran Uchia and any newcomers that it was hard to get anything done. Only in the recent years had they managed to really pull together. And if anyone was caught badmouthing them, or even questioning something they did, they found themselves on the ground via one of Sasuke's tantrums.

He rolled his eyes at the memories.

"At least we'll have an interesting story for them. And considering everything that's happened, perhaps we can avoid them being angry with us."

"Maybe we could even sell it as a 'love of learning' that kept us." Tenten laughed, then yawned as she stretched and accidentally pushed Shino's arm off. She seemed to wait, as if expecting him to put it back, but before Shino could, she slid off the table and walked to the window, resting her head against the glass.

"I can keep watch if you want. You could…"

"I'm fine. Besides, you got hurt the worst. If anyone's taking the first watch it's me." she turned with folded arms, but Shino met her look with one of his own, biting back a sigh.

Did she have to argue about everything?

"How about we play for it? A quick game of Rashambo. Loser sleeps. Winner takes first watch."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, before sauntering over and settling her hands on her hips in front of him.

"Bring it on. But I warn you, I've never lost."

After ten minutes, Shino was convinced the only person she'd ever played against was her father. Shino had caught enough 'challenges' that Kakashi managed to weasel out of by suggesting this game and every time to date, Kakashi had won. Just as he did again, and again, and again.

Tenten's eye twitched as she glared at their hands and obviously about to demand another round when Shino cut her off.

"You've lost twenty matches in a row. Wouldn't you call that a victory? I would." Shino smirked.

A growl rattled in Tenten's throat, but after another five minutes she finally honored their agreement with a large sulk.

"Fine! But don't you dare let me sleep the entire night!" she pointed her finger at him.

Honestly, Shino had thought of doing just that, but the look on her face told him that if he did, a dead fly would be more alive than him come morning.

"Promise." he said and Tenten nodded before sliding down one of the walls and curling up on the ground using her arms as pillows.

As soon as she was down, Shino slid off the table, and took off his jacket settling it over her shoulders.

She looked up surprised.

"You don't have…"

"Just take it. It'll get cold soon." he said.

Tenten was silent a moment, then smiled as she settled back down.

"Thank you. You can take it back if you get cold."

Shino simply shook his head as she closed her eyes and he couldn't help but smile as he slid down the wall next to her. Kiba had told him to come to the party tonight to spend some time with her. But if he had planned on going and tried to rush leaving, this wouldn't be happening now. Not just the bad things. But any of it.

If he had gone to the party, he was sure he wouldn't have even spoken to her, just watched and sulked. Here though…as much as he wanted it to be instantaneous, the way things were going were more than he could have logically hoped for. After all of this, there was no way they were going to die now. Nor was there any chance that he was going back to how things were on Monday.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I had so much fun writing this chapter! I really hope you guys enjoyed it and please let me know what you thought.

Hope you have a great day!

Be blessed

your friend

innocent-rebel


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