A short intro to a fanfic I may possibly write with my favourite pairing: DeiTen.

If people like this, then I will continue…probably. If not, I'll leave it as a oneshot.

Oh, and this takes place in a universe where Sasori has NOT been killed, but escaped at the last minute from Chiyo and Sakura!

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, unfortunately.

Please enjoy and review!

"I'll see you when I get back, alright?" Tenten called to her team-mates as he walked slowly away from their camp.

It was be no means a clear summer night. Although it was mid July, and should by all rights have been a warm relaxing evening, it was anything but. The densely wooded forest drooped under the rain that fell continually upon it, turning even the driest patch of land into a quagmire. Not the ideal weather for an important mission, Tenten thought to herself.

She couldn't believe her bad luck, lately. Not only had they only just returned from their mission rescuing the Kazekage Gaara which had almost ending in a failure, they had immediately been sent out once more on a different mission. On top of that, this was almost certainly more difficult, and she was taken to wonder whether Lady Tsunade had been in her right mind to assign it to her team.

Their assignment had been to follow, track and report back on the Akatsuki duo that had killed the Kazekage and managed to escape. Sure, Lee and Gai-sensei were excellent when it came to close combat, but stealth? She rolled her eyes as she thought of Lee and all of the cock ups he would undoubtedly make. Neji on the other hand was able to be quiet and sensible, but could get so overbearing sometimes.

Tenten hated the way that he always assumed he was the strongest. She had the sneaking suspicion that Neji thought kunoichi could never be as good as Shinobi, and that drove Tenten mad. At first, she guessed she had liked Neji well enough, when they were younger, in the days of chunin exams. Now that he was a jounin, his haughtiness was getting hard to stand.

As for Gai-sensei, he blatantly ignored her, always referring to his protégé Lee or even Neji. But he hardly ever looked at Tenten. This was why she had given over almost all of her time when she wasn't training with them to train on her own. Every evening, she could be found flinging kunai, shuriken, katana or almost any other weapon at targets and dummies in the training ground at the village.

Tenten wanted to make herself better than any of her team-mates, better than anyone at all for that matter, so she could prove once and for all that she was superior. It had become somewhat an obsession. She would stumble into her room past midnight sometimes, stiff all over from exertion and just collapse then and there.

So much had she willed to surpass her team-mates and teacher, that she had started resenting them more and more for ignoring her so, indeed, she resented everyone for that matter.

Tenten stopped and turned her face to the camp she had left behind. Yes, she was a suitable distance away to start her nightly training now. She was out of hearing range and Neji's Byakugan shouldn't be able to reach this far into the dense wood. The rain would also help.

Tenten decided to start with the basics. She reached into her pocket and drew out a handful of kunai, smiling proudly as she eyed the razor sharp edges that she had kept so perfectly maintained.

At that moment, she spun around and threw all of them at once in the blink of an eye. There came simultaneous 'thud's as they all met their mark. Tenten grinned smugly as she walked over to the nearest one, regarding how it had sank so deep into the wood that its handle was only just showing. She had been working recently on infusing her chakra into the blades and weapons to give them more accuracy and power, and it seemed to be working.

All five of the kunai had hit the tree trucks at a level that would be equal to where the average enemy's skull would have been. Tenten always went for the kill these days.

Once she had gathered all of the kunai up again, she moved on to more interesting techniques. Removing a scroll from her bag, she threw it up into the air, allowing it to flap open and the parchment to flare out, displaying the symbols inscribed upon it for a second. There was an explosion of pale smoke, and when it cleared, Tenten held in her hands a pair of long scythe-like objects, both elegant and yet deadly.

She began to swing them around, so fast that they became twin dark grey blurs. They span in ever widening arcs as she gradually fed in more of the chain that was attached to them.

Tenten swiped one of them at a nearby tree, smiling widely with triumph as the crazily whirling blade sliced cleaning through the truck, felling it. The other was poised so it span around her, a perfect strategy that incorporated defensive and offensive at the same time.

After having reeled the pair of weapons back in and stored them away once more, she reached for the two scrolls that were most precious to her. They were the two she had used in that first chunin exam against Temari, and yet lost anyway. That incident had damaged her pride so much; it fuelled her to keep going no matter what.

Since then, she had made a couple of adjustments to her jutsu using these scrolls, and altered the scrolls themselves for that matter. She spent a lot of her time perfecting and adding to it, combining several different techniques, and even now was still not content with the final result. For a weapons mistress who strove for perfection, this had become a mission in itself for her.

She was just about to begin practising using it when a voice stopped her dead.

"Pretty slick moves for such a pretty cute girl." The voice remarked.

It was taunting and arrogant, and yet Tenten couldn't help the goose bumps it gave her. However, what whoever they were had said had bruised her pride, which made her furious.

"Who are you? Why are you spying on me?" She demanded, gripping the scrolls tightly.

"I believe it would be more accurate to ask why you are spying on us…" drawled another voice.

This one seemed less teasing, but was smooth and emotionless. Tenten whirled around, peering through the rain into the trees around her, positive that the voices had come from up there.

"What do you mean, spying on you…unless…" Tenten began.

Ah, hell.

"We thought it sensible to observe the enemy, and I must say I m reasonable impressed, hmmm?" said the first voice patronisingly, as though whoever-it-was washer teacher or something.

Tenten took a step backwards as she finally recognised who was speaking. She had only ever seen him once before, and had almost come off worse in that fight, and at that point she'd had Neji, Gai, Lee and others with her. It was only thanks to Kakashi's sharingan that she was even alive now.

"Akatsuki…?" She breathed.

"Smart girl…" said the second voice silkily.

There was a sound of branches moving and a dull 'thud' as her two onlookers leapt to the ground a short way in front of her. Tenten tensed. She had been right. In front of her stood two figures wearing the distinctive black and red uniforms of the Akatsuki organisation. One was slightly taller, and from what Tenten could see through the rain, had long blonde hair that fell over one eye tied into a half-ponytail. He was grinning. The other, slightly shorter, wore an emotionless expression with hair that was bright flaming red, evident even in the dull night.

"You…Deidara?" Tenten asked to taller one.

"Of course, hm?" He replied.

"And Sasori?"

The red-head nodded, but didn't speak.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. These two matched the mission documents that she had seen exactly. She looked behind her, wondering how long it would take to sprint back to camp and alert the others.

"Don't bother trying to run." Sasori said.

Tenten gritted her teeth. She had two options. Run, or fight. From what she had experienced, fighting was out of the question. That left only one alternative.

In that instant, Tenten bolted sideways, into the woods. She sprinted through the rain faster than she had ever run before, but with a sudden flash of inspiration, away from the camp. She didn't want to lead the two Akatsuki right on top of her team-mates. She was confident now that she was more powerful than most of them, but even so, they were unsuited to the enemy's style. She sped up, the rain stinging her skin as she dodged tree trunks and marshy areas where the rain had turned the ground to marshes.

"I told you that wouldn't work, hmm?" Deidara said to his team-mate with a sideways glance.

"Shut up and fly after her, brat." Replied his partner, looking away at the direction the girl had run.

"At once, Danna." Mocked Deidara, dodging a well aimed swipe from Sasori.

He grinned and looked at the mouth on his hand expectantly. It coughed up a small clay bird that unfolded its tiny wings as it stood in her palm. Deidara threw it up into the air and made a hand seal, watching with satisfaction as it grew to the size of a horse.

"See you later, hm?" Deidara said as he leapt onto the bird's back.

It quickly rose above the line of trees and flew off in pursuit of Tenten.

"Stupid girl…" murmured Sasori as he watched.

Meanwhile, Tenten was still running for her life through the forest. She looked up, and saw that the silhouette of a huge bird was just above her. She knew who it was from. However, she barely had time to think before noticing a smaller bird right by her side.

There was a noise that shook the ground as the model exploded. Tenten had jumped just in time to the side, but was still sent flying into a thorn bush. She dragged herself out, tearing her skin and clothes in the process. Her arms and face were covered in small cuts, and there was a deep gash on her arm. Blood quickly soaked into the white fabric of her shirt.

She was breathing heavily, and knew that running was useless. She reached for her favourite twin scrolls, knowing that she had to use them before it was too late. The shadow of Deidara's transport bird was still above her and he was no doubt preparing another bomb.

Tenten closed her eyes as she threw the pair of scrolls up into the air. She leapt up from the ground at the same time until she was on a level with them, and caught them deftly in her hands. She twisted her body lithely in the air, the paper from the scrolls whirling around her body as she did so.

Deidara smirked to himself as he watched, wondering what she was going to do. Well, she sure knew how to keep him interested. The way she was moving was so…artistic.

Tenten alighted on a branch behind her, her face cold. The scrolls glowed as once more she let them leave her hands. Her fingers formed a sequence of hand-seals, as her eyes snapped open.

"Ninja art, Dragon's Fangs Jutsu!" She cried.

At once, the air all around Tenten seemed to draw in the misty rain until it had a consistency like steam, or fog. It twisted around her, forming a snake-like shape that was about as thick as several of the tree trunks around her. It was whirling within itself, like it was a miniature tornado, as it rose above the line of the trees and bore down upon Deidara still atop his clay bird that no looked small and insignificant.

The long tornado's shape was changing once again, and for a second, Deidara swore it looked exactly like the face of a dragon with eyes as black as bottomless pits. The creature opened its maw, facing Deidara.

Deidara anticipated what it was about to do, and launched himself off of his clay bird just in time. Countless numbers of weapons, hundreds, maybe more, were blasted at the bird. It was instantly full of them, looking more like a pincushion than anything else. Within a minute it was over, and the clay object that was now anything but a bird dropped like a stone to the ground.

Tenten looked up. Had she got him?

She leapt down from the tree she had been standing in, crouching down. She was panting with effort, the jutsu having cost her greatly.

"Is he dead?" she asked herself.

"No, he isn't."

Tenten spun around to see Deidara standing over her, his eyes narrowed and a triumphant smile on his lips. She barely had any time to react before he slammed her back against the tree behind her.

She cried out in pain as his hands gripped her shoulders. His face was only a few inches from hers, those bright cerulean eyes were piercing right into her own soft brown ones.

"I certainly wasn't expecting that, Tenten, hm?" He said quietly to her.

Tenten struggled and kicked, but didn't have the strength to fight him off. He laughed at her and leant closer, enjoying her reaction to shrink back into closer to the tree, trying to get away from him.

"Deidara!" drawled a familiar voice from behind the blonde.

Deidara looked around.

"Danna?"

"I thought I told you to kill her."

"I was just having a bit of fun, hmmm?"

"Then allow me to intervene before you go and do something you regret."

Deidara looked at him team-mate quizzically, before he moved away from Tenten. The girl in question sank against the tree as soon as he left, breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide, and the cut on her arm throbbed painfully. There was nothing she could do, nothing. She looked up at the two Akatsuki members standing right in front of her, wondering what they would do.

Sasori undid his cloak until it revealed his chest and stomach. Tenten gasped in repulsion at the puppet body, and it froze her to the spot with shock.

"This won't hurt a bit." Purred Sasori as out of where the stomach should have been, a thin stinger unwound itself from around a metal pole.

It advanced towards her like snake preparing to strike, dripping with purple poison.

Tenten gave a sharp intake of breath as it shot forwards and she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Her vision started to blur, and she wanted to sleep. The last things she saw were the silhouettes of the two Akatsuki members looming in front of her, before everything went black.