To : FireDragonBL, twighlight16, RedClyde, wilwomg23, healing vision, harukakanata, micalily, Wendytigges, lele, dragonzair, bakusensei, and InuBecka
Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I'm so glad you're all enjoying this so much, and to those concerned about getting to the "good fluff," I like to build up to it. I think it gives it a little more 'ooomff' when it happens that way. and I'm a sucker for drawn out romances…
and to dragonzair, yes, you can call me Bee
Here's hoping I can still entertain you all with my silly little story…
And this chapter is super dedicated to Natsumi Ai, even though the whole thing is for her, she inspired me to write this specific chapter, and the title comes from one of her previous comments. so yay!
Chapter 4: Super Detective of Love
The next morning Tenten was up and ready by the time Lee showed up outside her window. She knew she owed it to him for giving her yesterday off.
They began training by running around the village walls ten times. She was already a decent runner, not nearly as fast as Lee (who was?) but she had good endurance and was able to keep up a quick and steady pace. Even after she told Lee she wouldn't be offended if he ran ahead he stayed back with her tempo, saying it was more fun to jog with somebody than run really fast alone.
She had to admit, it was kind of nice. The sun was just rising, it was cool without being cold, dew was glistening on the trees and blades of glass, and everything was still. Even Lee refrained from talking too much noise and just enjoyed the rhythmic pounding of their feet against the dirt.
It was a nice way to start their day of intense training, working Tenten's arms and legs through repetitive kicks and punches to trees and poorly-constructed dummies. He was turning her hands into weapons, not just a vessel through which her personal arsenal was thrown. Although she never left the session as weak as she had the first time, there was rarely much energy to spare.
This routine continued for a week before Lee thought Tenten was ready to begin sparring. She was a little shocked to realize in all their years on a team together she had never gone one-on-one with Lee. Probably because their fighting styles were so extremely different, but still, one would think Gai would have pitted them against each other at least once, if only to see what would happen.
Sufficient to say, she was terribly nervous as she got into the tai-jutsu stance opposite Lee, left arm behind her back, right hand extended in a challenging poise. His face looked intense, none of his usual cheerfulness present as they squared off. There was nothing playful about this spar, and she knew she couldn't hold back, although in the pit of her stomach she hoped he would.
He suddenly attacked, running and lunging at her with a roundhouse kick to the face. She blocked it, but not without staggering backwards a bit, knocking her off kilter. She regained her balance in time to dodge Lee's next attack and spot her opening. She attacked, but he easily blocked both feet and her fist, then tossed her to the side, where she quickly flipped and attacked again, this time from a different angle, and the same thing happened.
Her hands itched to take out a kunai, shurikan, scythe, anything to throw, but she resisted, and charged once again, determined to get at least one hit in before the match was over. Lee was mostly playing defense, throwing easy punches now and then to keep Tenten's awareness up, but that was it. It was very much like when Gai had taken them out on one of their first training sessions and demanded they came at him with everything they had, no holding back. Of course none of them had so much as scratched Gai, but he beamed proudly towards them at the end of the day, proclaiming they would become his elite warriors. Lee had been beyond thrilled, Neji had looked annoyed, and Tenten had smiled.
And now here she was in a situation so eerily similar to that one so long ago. Lee looked so much like Gai now practically the only difference was she was using hand-to-hand combat rather than her usual practice of long-range weaponry.
It was when she reached up to grab a tree branch and he slid under her that the spar turned into a disaster. While she firmly held the branch he wrapped his feet around her left leg and, not noticing her death grip on the branch above her, twisted it smartly. HE had expected her to spin neatly in the air before falling to the ground for a dramatic end to their spar, but instead they each heard a sickening crunch before she felt the pain shoot from her leg throughout her entire body. It took a great part of her not to scream as her mind throbbed with intensity.
"TENTEN!" Lee shouted, leaping up and taking her by the shoulders. "Tenten, I'm so sorry!" He bawled, gently hoisting her into his arms as she slowly released her hold on the branch, prints of her fingernails now embedded into its bark.
"It's okay Lee," she tried to say through gritted teeth, but she didn't sound very convincing. She winced visibly as he picked up her legs, but knew there was no other way to go about it.
He rushed her through the streets of Konoha, trying his best not to jostle her too much as tears leaked continuously from his eyes while he repetitively shouted "I'm sorry Tenten!" which of course attracted the stares of everyone they passed. She wasn't in so much pain that she didn't notice, and was actually able to ignore the pain for a brief moment as she fumed over the fact that she was once again unable to walk and being carried in the arms of a teammate.
"It's all my fault!" Lee shouted as he ran up to the receptionist at the hospital, practically laying Tenten on the counter as he sobbed and she looked apologetically at the woman behind the counter.
"We were sparring, and I'm pretty sure my leg's broken, possibly in two places," she explained. The woman nodded, then shouted for a nurse and a wheelchair as she began writing things down on a paper Tenten couldn't see. Within seconds a young man wheeled a chair up to them, telling Lee to gently set her in the seat. He did, so, crying the whole time. The nurse glanced from Lee to Tenten, no doubt wondering what exactly a girl like her was doing with a guy like him.
"Get her to a room," the woman instructed the nurse, handing him a piece of paper before turning to Lee and giving him a small stack of forms. "I'm going to need you to be a big boy and fill these out for your friend, okay?" She said in a very maternal voice. It was the last thing Tenten heard before she was wheeled down the white hallway and around a corner, down another hallway, and finally into a small, starch-white room.
"Someone will be with you shortly," he said as he attached the paper to the outer door, then, bowing quickly, ran out the door. She sat still, trying to not think about the pain coursing through her leg. She attempted to focus on how Lee was doing, filling out all her forms. She couldn't imagine him getting very far, seeing as he was infatuated with Sakura for years, yet didn't know even the basics about her.
A young woman who looked a few years older than Tenten came into the room. She looked very ordinary, but pleasant, with dark blue hair pinned neatly to her head and one of the most comforting smiles ever.
"Hi there, all the medic-nins are busy at the moment. But don't worry, I'm fully certified to examine you." She untied Tenten's forehead protector and placed it on the counter, then held the back of her hand against her bare forehead. Satisfied with her temperature gauge, she pulled up a chair and began gingerly touching the mangled leg, causing Tenten to squeeze her eyes shut in an effort to ignore the unintentional torture she was being put through. Finally the nurse stopped and looked up at her, a warm expression on her face.
"Lucky you. One break, pretty clean. I'll be able to set this, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait an hour or so for the bone-mending specialist. How's your pain tolerance?" Tenten forced open her right eye, "I'd say less than good," she grimaced. The nurse smiled kindly and stood up, rummaging through the cabinets on the far wall. She came back carrying a white rag.
"Here hon, bite on this while I set the bones."
There was a second of searing pain, causing Tenten to bite down so hard on the fabric she thought she might choke. But then the pain subsided to a dull throb, and when she looked down her leg looked straight again, no more nauseating bump in the middle of her shin. The nurse was beaming proudly at her.
"You took that very well," she congratulated as she fit a simple brace onto the leg, forcing her to keep it straight, then gently placed it back onto the wheelchair. "Now," she said as she took the cloth from Tenten, "I'll need you to just sit tight for awhile. Want me to go get a few magazines for you to read and some medicine for the pain?"
"Oh, that would be great! Also, there should be a boy with, um, a bowl cut and green body suit in the waiting room. If you could please check up on him, see how he's doing filling out those forms."
"Sure thing hon."
Tenten sat patiently, twiddling her thumbs, realizing how lucky she was it wasn't her arm that broke. Sure, the medic-nins could mend bones, but she wasn't sure how well everything worked once they were done. What if they accidentally crossed nerves or something, shorting out her trained fingers? Was that even possible?
"Here ya go, hon," the nurse said as she set a pile of magazines on the small blue table near her chair and placed 2 white pills and a glass of water next it, which Tenten immediately thanked her for and downed in one shot, causing the nurse to laugh a bit. "And your friend got all the forms turned in, so no worries there." She stared at the nurse in shock as she bowed and exited the room, but realized that Lee must have been wildly guessing for most of the information, unable to admit to the world he knew so little about his teammate. She should probably go check it out, she had plenty of time to kill.
When she opened the door she caught a glimpse of pink strands flouncing past. Poking her head out the door, it was quickly confirmed that Sakura had just walked by.
Eh, forms can wait, she thought as her hands gripped the rims of the wheels and she propelled herself out the door.
She moved along the hallway quickly but casually, not wanting to gather too much attention, but unwilling to lose sight of Sakura either. She found that her natural ability to throw and aim also extended to manually controlling wheelchairs. After a few moments she was quite adept at turning, slowing down, speeding up, and weaving through people.
On a whim she took her hair down, knowing it would be a little harder to recognize her without the buns. She could probably even blend in nicely, no one would take notice of the plain-looking renegade-wheelchair-bound girl roaming the halls, casually trailing a medic-nin in training. Besides, she really didn't want Sakura to know she was following, well, let's be honest, stalking her, especially while she was working. Besides, she needed to document the pink-haired kunoichi in her natural environment.
Sakura stopped every now and again to peek into rooms, ask how the patient was feeling today, generic, friendly banter. Tenten tried to assess the patients she talked to, but there was no set category. They were young, old, male, female, shinobi, civilians, and their conditions varied in degrees of seriousness.
I guess she's just an honestly nice and caring person, she rationalized as she continued to follow the medic-nin. When she got to the last room in the hallway Tenten noticed she stood straighter, knocked louder, and smiled brighter as she opened the door, then stepped inside the room. Tenten pretended to be busy reading the chart on the wall across from her as she waited for Sakura to come out. Every now and then she's hear a soft giggle come from the room. She definitely hadn't laughed with any of the other patients. As Tenten searched the walls while trying to hear what they were talking about without appearing to be eavesdropping, Sakura walked out of the room backwards, smiling and waving before continuing her rounds. Tenten praised her good luck as the door was left open and she'd be able to see who was able to captivate so much of Sakura's seemingly precious time.
Rolling by, she ever-so-casually stretched her neck to the right, pretending to work out a kink as her eyes drifted towards the god-among-men that was sitting in the bed before her, shirtless no less. Yes indeed, even slightly battered, Izumo was one hot tamale.
So Ino had been right, Sakura did like her men to be extremely attractive. And as much as Tenten loved Lee, if he ever really wanted to get Sakura's attention they would have to do a lot of work.
She continued discreetly following her until she went through a "Personnel Only" door. Perhaps if she had had full use of her legs she would have swiped a medic-nin outfit and tried her luck beyond the door, but with the wheelchair she was far to conspicuous. Dejected, she rolled back to her room before remembering her original reason for opening the door. She had to go and correct her forms.
Wheeling herself up to the desk, she smiled pleasantly towards the receptionist, who looked at her expectantly, showing no sign of recognizing her as the girl from before. Did she really wear her hair up that often that no one knew who she was with it down? She never imagined hair could have such a power.
"Hi, I'm Tenten, my friend handed some forms in for me, and I just wanted to make sure they were all correct." A sign of acknowledgment fell over the woman's face as she sifted through the papers and handed her a few, then smiled and went back to whatever it was she had been doing previous to Tenten's interruption. Probably a crossword puzzle or something.
Tenten rolled away a few feet then settled in her chair, preparing herself for much erasing. She was amazed to find almost everything was right, from her date of birth to her blood-type to her past injuries. Was he just a really good guesser, or did he actually know and remember all this stuff about her? Regardless, she looked over to where Lee was sitting silently, reading a Youth Today magazine, and smiled. When he saw her grinning at him his face went red and he slunk lower behind his magazine, as though to hide from her.
That's weird, she began to think before she heard the doors open.
"Lee, what'd you do? Where's Tenten?" Both team members swiveled their head to see Neji standing in the doorway, arms crossed, brows furrowed. Lee pointed towards the hallway he had seen Tenten pushed through rather than to where she was sitting in front of the desk.
"She's in a room back there. They said she'd be fine! They promised me everything was taken care of, nothing to worry about!" He said passionately, setting his magazine down.
"What'd you do to her?" Neji sounded almost venomous. He was never very warm towards Lee, but Tenten had never heard this tone of voice before.
"We were just sparring a little, and it kind of got out of hand–"
"You mean you forgot who you were fighting and just pummeled her?"
"No! I would never purposely hurt Tenten!"
She watched with wide, brown eyes as they argued back and forth about her. Didn't they realize she was right there? Could they not see her? She timidly touched her face to make sure she was still physically there.
"Dammit Lee, don't you ever think before you do stuff like that?"
"I did think! That's why I was training her!"
"Excuse me," the nurse who had been helping Tenten earlier was peeking around the corner of the hallway entry, "could you boys keep it down? You're distracting the medics. Oh, Miss Tenten, we'll be ready for you in about 10 minutes." She added when she saw the wide-eyed kunoichi next to the counter. The boys slowly turned to see what at first glance appeared to be an attractive young woman with wavy brown hair reaching a few inches past her shoulders, but a closer look at her face yielded Tenten's features.
"Tenten! I didn't even recognize you! I thought you were just a random cute girl smiling at me before!"
"Lee–"
"How's your leg?"
"It'll be fine in about 20 minutes Neji–"
"Wait! Where's your forehead protector!"
"In the other room Lee–"
"Are you letting her take a few days off from training?"
"I'll be fine-"
"I never make her do anything she doesn't feel ready for."
"That's ok-"
"Yeah, you just break her legs."
"That's IT!" Tenten shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "Neji, thanks for your concern, but I'll be perfectly fine. Lee's been a great instructor, and this was just a little mishap. And Lee," she turned her hardened glare from one boy to the next, "I'll be at training tomorrow. Now both of you go home." She said before swiveling her chair toward the hallway and rolling past wide-eyed nurses and medics back to her room, leaving Neji and Lee to stare after her a moment, then turn and glare at each other, neither showing any sign off leaving until the other one did.
Sorry to give Tenten a kind of Clark Kent/Superman complex, but I thought it could be funny, since we've never seen her with her hair down officially.
Please tell me your thoughts on this; like it, don't like it, OOC-ness and what not. I love reviews.