Odd One Out

Most people didn't know much about Tenten, and she preferred things that way. -Supplement to Belletrist Word Salad's "Wicked Game." Gift fic. Pilot based. Rated for language.

Maybe it was a cruel thing to think, but in all honesty, if Tenten had the testosterone to do so she'd voice that she just didn't care. Naruto and Sakura had left the village indefinitely, oh whoop-de-freaking-do! It wasn't her business; she didn't care.

Maybe she was the outsider when it came to the Mt. Oinari Twelve, but that was just how she preferred things. Tenten was a very private person, and she hadn't formed any bonds with anyone outside of her team; hadn't stood around like an idiot in the middle of battle preaching her past to all spectators like some self-righteous, adrenaline-driven, sob-story obsessed, prick. Maybe it was because she was the only ninja amongst them that could be called anything close to "normal." What would she talk about with girls and boys her own age? Killing strategies? Hopeless romance? Hah, yeah right!

Everyone had some sort of bizarre, obsessive quirk: Lee had his taijutsu(the boy was some kind of masochist, definitely); Neji had his "destiny" (even if he was in control of it now); Choji had food; Shikamaru was lazy; Ino had a temper; Hinata was a coward(nice, but still a coward); Kiba had some sort of bestiality fetish (try to convince her otherwise, just fucking try); and Shino… well Shino took hiding his identity to a ridiculous level.

Sai used art to make up for his social ineptitude; Sasuke was completely and totally obsessed with revenge (of one sort or another. The guy seriously needed Prozac).

Naruto had orange and ramen and sex—the flaming lecher— and then there was Sakura.

Ugh. Sakura.

Sakura developed unhealthy dependencies on other human beings. The girl couldn't function without being attached to someone—first Ino, then Sasuke, and now Naruto (and to a smaller degree, Tsunade).

Tenten was polite enough whenever they crossed paths, but that didn't mean she liked the pink-haired woman. Tenten was the one that adored and admired Tsunade; she had grown up hearing stories of the woman's incredible strength and healing abilities, she was the one who worked her ass off from day one with the hope of one day becoming Tsunade's apprentice.

But Sakura was Naruto's teammate, and Tsunade was soft on Naruto so Tenten's efforts to appeal to the Godaime and become the Sannin's apprentice herself were completely overlooked and pushed aside.

So, she really, really didn't give a kunai's butt end what happened to Sakura and Naruto. In fact, she was glad they were gone. Well, mostly just glad that Sakura was gone (Naruto leaving too seemed inevitable. When it came to those two, wherever one went the other followed).

Tenten wasn't sure what her quirk was; her weapons collection maybe, but she was a ninja and that sort of hoarding wasn't in any way abnormal when you spent your life killing and avoiding being killed.

Sai and Sasuke were brooding (or maybe weeping like a pair of pregnant women; Inari knew why), Tsunade was failing to hide the telltale drunken flush of her cheeks as she spoke (not the image of the powerful, beautiful kunoichi Tenten had dreamed of for so many years), and Tenten realized she didn't even want to be Tsunade's apprentice anymore. The woman was as politely insane as the rest of the ninja population. Tenten wondered if associating with such people negated her "normal" status.

Then again, being normal in a group of crazies really made her the odd one out.

End

I can't even begin to describe how effing fun it was to write bitter!Tenten! This just exploded out of me within, like, 20 minutes.

Tenten isn't too looked over in the fandom, I think, but I DO think her personality is too... sweetened up. We don't know much about Tenten, barely anything on her past, her hobbies, etc., and she's barely a supporting character. I've never seen her interact with anyone outside of Team Gai (excluding fighting). I think we all DO remember, though, her declaring her adoration for Tsunade during one of Lee's flashbacks in the Chuunin Exams. Then suddenly I thought "hey, I wonder how Tenten feels about Sakura getting an apprenticeship with her idol?" I think she'd be downright jealous.

Fun, fun, fun.

Read, review, and all that jazz,

Megii