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50 Shinobi – Prompt 17 (Hopscotch)
The stupidest, or perhaps smartest, thing Gai-sensei had ever proposed to his team was one of his many ‘bonding’ exercises. His ‘bonding’ exercises tended to range from cooking to, oddly enough, playing a prank on the current Hokage. Of the all the exercises they conducted, the pranks never tended to end well. Neither Tenten, nor Neji, nor Lee, nor Gai, were any good at pulling a well orchestrated prank. it was usually either a lame prank or they got caught doing the prank at the worst possible time. Over time, Tenten and Neji became clever enough to find a way out of the training exercises, but in the beginning they were forced along.
One of his few successful exercises was rather impromptu and proposed back when his team was still undeniably at odds with each other. It had began with the end of a rather unorthodox training session in which Gai-sensei had them work on how long they could hold their breath while sparring using only taijutsu. Tenten lost almost immediately. On average she was okay in her taijutsu, combine that with holding her breath and it spelled disaster. Although, she was the best when Gai-sensei allowed them to use weapons while holding their breath; but without weapons she failed miserably. Lee lost about twenty seven times to Neji before finally winning one, though Tenten attributed the win to the fact that Neji was getting exhausted and Neji just didn’t hold the same resilience Lee did at that time.
Lee would eventually surpass Neji in taijutsu, but at the moment, Lee was still lacking in everything but heart.
“Can I go home now?” She had complained to Gai-sensei once Lee had finally bested Neji. “You know, since we’re done?”
“But we must train harder!” Lee protested.
Neji just sat there stoically.
It was at that interval that Gai-sensei seemed to find it appropriate to try to unite them closer as a team once again. Tenten had told him constantly to quit trying. She, Lee, and Neji were far too different to ever get along appropriately. But Gai was just as hard-headed as Lee – they both refused to ever give up on anything.
“I know what youthful exercise we can do!”
“Please no.” Tenten pleaded at the same time Neji sighed in aggravation.
“Let us play hopscotch, my young students!”
Tenten felt her eyebrow twitching. “Hopscotch?” Of all stupid things, Gai had picked hopscotch? She wondered yet again if someone had hit him too hard in the back of his head in a mission. He had to be mentally unwell in some retrospect.
“I have to–” Neji tried to wrangle out of it, but Gai-sensei hushed him with another long monologue on how hopscotch would surely light the inner fires of their youth.
Tenten had no reservations about telling her sensei to shut the hell up, but she’d long since realized that doing so only made his monologue longer. So rather, she picked herself up from the comfy spot on the floor and started digging a kunai into the grass so that the lines of the hopscotch squares were clearly evident by the brown lines of dirt through the brightly colored grass. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.” She interrupted, hoping this would, in effect, shut him up.
Neji hesitated. “I don’t know how.”
Tenten yawned. “How what?”
“How to play.”
It took her a few seconds to register the information, though seemingly it seemed she was the first to understand. Lee gaped at Neji in astonishment and Gai looked a cross between a child who’d just had his candy taken away and a child who couldn’t understand where his mother had gone when peekaboo was being played.
“How can you not know how to play?” She asked baffled. “Doesn’t every kid play hopscotch? Hell, I’m poor as dirt and have no parents, and I’ve played the game.”
He scowled. “Well, I’ve never played.”
She straightened, realizing that she may have inadvertently offended him. She blinked, “Look, I didn’t mean…It’s just…It’s weird okay? I didn’t expect that, especially from you.” Without as second thought, she took his hand in hers and dragged him over to the game she’d just dug into the grass. “Okay, look, there’s these squares.”
Lee seemed to have regained his composure and moved to stand beside her. “They are numbered.”
Tenten nodded. “Right. And the object of the game is really just to get through all the squares and back, but you have to hop through them.” She hopped through her design, “Just like this.” She showed him again coming back.
Lee picked up a pebble. “And you throw a rock to get to the right square. If you do no’t get it in or if it touches the line, you lose your turn.” Lee tossed the pebble in example.
“Also, if while you’re hopping on a single square your other foot touches the ground it’s a violation. Your turn is disregard and you go back to where you lst were. Same thing happens if you hop on a line.” Tenten showed him what she meant.
Neji frowned. “Well, it’s a pretty easy game for a ninja wouldn’t you say?”
Tenten analyzed her rudimentary design. “Now that you mention it…”
“What if we play on a mountain?” Lee suggested.
Tenten nodded. “Yeah…Oh! And instead of a pebble we use a kunai, but we also draw a target on each square where we have to get a bulls-eye or else have our turn skipped!”
“I know!” Gai interrupted, finally falling out of his revere, “We also separate the squares by 25feet!”
Neji’s eye started twitching. “How about between five and eight feet?”
Tenten nodded. “Yeah, five or eight sounds good.” Twenty-five was just ridiculous.
Thirty minutes later, they finished constructing their game of hopscotch on one of the steepest mountains in the village. Despite Tenten’s initial disinclinations to the game, she found herself having fun. “Hey! Cheater!” She accused, pointing her finger at Neji. “You toed the line!”
“I DID NOT!” He protested.
Tenten turned to Lee. “You be the judge. Did he or did he not?”
Lee shook his head. “Tenten, I did not see him touch the line.”
“Gah!” She protested bitterly. “You’re both in cahoots.”
“Who says ‘cahoots’ nowadays?” Neji smirked.
“Who says ‘nowadays’?” She shot back.
“Bitter.” He smirked.
“Cheater.” She snapped. “EP! STOP!” She yelled at Gai.
Gai froze, halting before going to the next jump. “What?”
“You cheated.” Neji explained.
“Exactly.” Tenten harrumphed.
“I did not cheat!” Gai protested.
“Lee?” Tenten inquired.
“Gai-sensei,” Lee said smiling, “you touched the line.”
“Ha-ha!” Tenten grinned. “Told ya!”
Neji rolled his eyes. “It’s about time one of your accusations proved to be true.”
“Hey,” She protested, sticking her tongue out at her teammate. “They were all true; this is just the first time I could get one of you pinned.”
“Sure.” Neji said. “Suure.”
Somehow, that rather strange game of hopscotch made friends out of strangers and teammates of outsiders. As friends, they would always be called the oddest bunch, but that day Tenten found, it really wasn’t so bad. Being friends with them was rather nice, because beneath their skin they were rather different. And it was special to be able to say that she was one of the few who could see it.
Also, it turned out that their modified version of the game of hopscotch became not only the most popular game among shinobi, but one of the only ‘fun’ training exercises that senseis could use to mold their students.
Hunh, they were starting trends. And all because Gai-sensei had another harebrained idea.
50 Shinobi – Prompt 45 (Ribbon)
It was a well known fact that shinobi were often times required to do things of the unsavory nature. Things that left the shinobi reeling with guilt or disgust at some times. She thought the ones that had worst were those who’s justus were specifically designed to kill in stealth; like Shikamaru or even Neji. They could kill someone before the person even realized what was occurring. Tenten wasn’t a stranger to these acts. She’d seen more than her fair share of blood and heard enough screams to last her a lifetime.
Every time she came back from one of those missions, she would despair. She would sit and wallow and cry to her heart’s content. Shinobi aren’t supposed to show their emotions, but when the mission was over, she had to let it out, or else she could never go back. It was all for the best, she knew, but that didn’t make it any easier.
That night, Tenten crouches underneath a large oak tree trying to will away the memory of the day’s actions. She can still hear her scream and see the crimson blood stain the landscape. After the deed, Tenten had wiped and washed and polished the murder weapon forty-seven times. It was the cleanest she’d ever seen it, but everytime she really looked at it, the image of blood dripping around it would not disappear. Killing was one thing, not something appealing, but easy enough to do. Killing your best friend was entirely another.
Tenten had had to kill the only friend she’d had when she was a young girl. She had been kind and affirmative — not the type you’d expect to be the heir to a crime stream. It hurt. It was all for the good, but it still fucking hurt.
There’s a rustle in the leaves and suddenly Neji and Lee are in front of her. Lee frowns in concern. “Tenten?”
She turns just the slightest bit, not even caring that they can see the tears pooling down her face. “Yeah, Lee?” She never liked for others to see her cry, but she was in no mood to pretend it didn’t hurt when it was tearing her apart inside.
Lee opens his mouth to talk, but Neji silences him with a hand on the green-clad boy’s shoulder. Silently almost unbidden the boys sit next to her, one on either side. Lee holds her hand gingerly and squeezes it in comfort. “I’m sorry, Tenten.” His voice holds none of his usual perkiness and overbearing resilient tone, instead he’s comforting and empathetic. She thinks he really means it when he says he’s sorry.
Neji brushes the damp stringy brunette strands out of her face, and braids them gingerly. Neji’s never really done anything like that before and Tenten finds herself more than just a little shocked. “It won’t feel so bad tomorrow.” He says quietly. “We’re here for you.”
It’s then she lets herself break down completely. Neji and Lee sit there beside her. Not condescending, not pushy, not anything. They’re just there for her, and she’s never felt better.
She wakes up at some point her head against Lee’s shoulder and Neji’s head on hers. She stirs, trying hard not to disturb either of her two friends. The sun is rising over the horizon tinting the sky an array of pink and red. There’s still a gaping hole in her chest, but she feels a lot better.
White ribbon dangles in her hair from the braids Neji had done in her hair. Tenten fingers the ribbon carefully and settles back into her previous position. Yeah, shinobi often times have to do things, they would really rather not do. Shinobi often left their completed missions feeling with guilt and shame; but in retrospect, it was really alright. Someone had to do the horrid deed, and someone was always there to help them through the misery.
Since that day, Tenten always tied up her hair into her customary buns with the white silk ribbon Neji had tied her braids with. Through every deed she’d ever done, the weight of the white ribbon reminded her, that her friends would always be there for her. That she was not alone, even when it felt like it.
50 shinobi — #12 Tadpole
Best friends are totally aware of how stupid you are, but still manage to be seen with you in public.
Tenten sat comfortably on the ledge of the building looking down at the passerby. She always sat on the ledge of some building every Saturday morning to think. She believed if one didn’t sit down to contemplate things in their life they might miss something important. She only had one life, might as well think about it even if it was just a little bit, right?
Today she was settled on the top of her favorite bakery staring up at the sky. The sun plagued by timidity, was barely showing the tip of it’s head to the sky. In return, the sky blushed a pink and orange array at her lover’s reemergence.
Tenten imagined someone would surely question her sanity if they ever knew she compared the sky and sun to lovers. With a heavy sigh, Tenten leaned forward and rested her head on her upturned palms. Soon enough she’d have to move, the pressure of her elbows on her thighs was something she could only put up with for so long. Her elbows were just so damn bony.
Not too far away she could see a green awkward looking creature jumping and running about. The creature seemed to be exercising.
Tenten jolted out of her revere as the slamming of doors and voices below her punctured the lofty silence.
Her vision cleared and the objects resembled what they should resemble once more. The green jumpy thing off in the distance, she noted, turned out to be Lee exercising. “What a youthful day!” He cried in jubilation.
Tenten wasn’t sure if she would smile at his enthusiasm or wince in embarrassment for her friend. Lee really never was embarrassed, sometimes that in itself proved embarrassing for her.
“Ugh!” A girl complained from somewhere below. Tenten shifted just enough so she could look down at the events occurring right at the foot of the building. “Won’t he shut up?” The girl complained. Tenten knew her well enough. She was the skinny, pretty, dark-haired civilian who worked in the bakery she was currently settled upon some days. On average, Tenten really didn’t like her. She was too jittery, gossipy, and flirty. Tenten found most civilian girls tended to be that way: savage without really getting their hands dirty. Words did alot more damage than people ever gave them justice for.
“He’s such a freak.” The dark-haired civilian gossiped savagely.
“Incredibly so.” Another girl agreed with her heartily. “How he ever became a ninja is beyond me.”
“Doesn’t he remind you of a frog?” Another voice chimed.
“No way! There’s no way he could possibly even be a frog! He’s more like an ugly warty toad.”
“A fly!”
Tenten tuned out the rest of the conversation, feeling more than just a bit annoyed. Just like them to talk about things they knew nothing about.
“Are he and that kunoichi dating?”
“The one with the two buns on her head?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” The bakery worker laughed, “she’d be smart enough to stay away from a dork like him.” She grinned viciously, “I bet it’s just pity. I mean, just look at him. Who would be friends with that voluntarily?”
Tenten bristled. Truth be told, on more than one occasion, she’d been accused of liking Lee or Neji. Apparently, being teammates with two boys meant she had to shack up with one of them. Also on more than one occasion they’d accused her of not liking either of them.
That accusation was more on the mark than the previous one. Upon getting assigned, she had made it painfully clear to Neji, Lee, Gai, and anyone else stupid enough to cross her the day the teams were assigned, that she did not like any of them. She’d told Lee he was an utter dork. She’d told Neji he was a poor excuse for a human being. And she’d told Gai she didn’t want him an idiot for a teacher.
By nature, Tenten was easily embarrassed. Lee and Gai were the walking talking incarnation of embarrassment; and Neji, to put it simply, he was just a jerk.
She was a jerk too.
She knew that now, and had done everything possible to rectify her original cruel statements.
Yeah, Neji was mean, but he was also nice when he let the walls down.
Yeah, Lee was a dweeb, but he was a very good person.
Yeah, Gai was weird, but he was an excellent teacher.
She swung off the building, landing right before the group of chittering girls. “Oh, buzz off, flies. Lee’s a really nice guy.”
“He’s a freak.” The bakery worker said cheekily.
Tenten leaned into the girl so her lips hovered right above the cocky girl’s ear. “Better than a bitch, wouldn’t you say? At least freaks are worth a person’s time.”
The girl flushed red and seemed ready to start yelling at her, but Tenten simply turned away from her. “Hey, Lee!”
“Tenten!” He belted out cheerfully. “Have you been having a youthful morning?” He asked cheerily. His eyebrows then creased together in worry. “Do you still have cramps?!”
Tenten groaned and bopped him fiercely on the head as she reached him, trying her hardest to avoid any passerby’s eyes. “Remember how we said that certain things should never be repeated to the general public?”
Lee rubbed his head as if it were to take away the pain. “Yes…”
“That was one of them.” She knew her face was that disgustingly bright red it tended to turn when she was horribly embarrassed. “You know, Lee,” She mentioned casually, trying to will away her embarrassment, “Sometimes, you’re really embarrassing.”
Lee looked crestfallen.
If she were to designate every person she knew as an animal, Lee would be a tadpole. He didn’t look like much and he wasn’t very nice looking, but one day he’d surprise everyone. He was already surprising her. “But I’m glad you’re my friend.”
He grinned happily. “Let us run ten laps around the village!” He proposed in excitement.
She scowled, “Hell no.”
50 Shinobi Prompt 41– Rivals
It was in that moment that Tenten feared Lee had started to rub off on her. The rough and bossy Suna bitch stared at her, no lingering remorse on her expression. It probably should’ve disturbed Tenten that Temari didn’t even bother to apologize for her last action or even garner the decency to look sympathetic. It simply didn’t, in fact, she surmised that if the blonde tried to apologize, she might very well be tempted to hit her. Instead Tenten was satisfied with the reaction if not pleased. The frightening thing about this for her was Temari had beat her up horribly and instead of hating her like any normal person would, she liked her. Just like Lee liked Gaara. It also seemed Temari liked her, just like Gaara liked Lee.
Apparently beating people up (some cases to the point of near-death) was the equivalent of ‘Hi, let’s be friends.’ in Suna speak.
“Don’t fuck up this time.” She said obnoxiously
It would’ve been nice for Tenten to be able to say she hated her or even wanted to beat her silly, but she found no trace of hate or lingering vengence in her bones. Which, she supposed, had to be a good thing. She didn’t want to end up like Sasuke after all…
“I’ll make Chuunin, Blondie.” Tenten responded haughtily.
Her lips quirk into a smirk, a challenge, “Only if you don’t go against me.”
Tenten snorted. “Shikamaru made Chuunin last time and he went against you.” Tenten found herself relaxing with this fierce blonde woman.
“Any fool can get lucky.” Her hands brushed blonde bangs from her eyes. “Do make Chuunin.” She commented seriously, “If Pinkie and the mind-swapper hack it and you don’t, I’ll be gravely dissapointed.”
Tenten scoffed. “If your brothers hack it and you don’t I’ll consider you a disappointment to all females.”
She smirked, “I do hope I go against you again. Apparently, I didn’t kick your ass well enough.”
“Any fool can get lucky.” Tenten smirked.
As they both stood smirking at each other one coherent thought occurred to Tenten: Lee was really starting to rub off on her. Temari was starting to sound alot like that odd ‘rival’ relationship Lee claimed to have with Neji.
Oh, that would be just ghastly.
But…it would also be nice.
xXxXx
“Breathe.” Shikamaru whispered into her ear as he held her tighter. Her body shook in his arms. Never before had he thought of her as fragile until now.
Swallowing breaths and shaking fingers. Temari clutched at his clothing her fingers digging into the
cloth. With her eyes squeezed shut and heart in her throat she couldn’t think. All she knew was that she was tired.
She was dead tired.
“Breathe.” He repeated again. “Just breathe.”
Temari fingers clutched him tighter. She wasn’t even sure if she remembered how to breathe.
xXxXx
It was all blood.
Blood stained her hands.
Blood stained her soul.
What was she supposed to do with all the blood?
Without a word, Lee took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. “Tenten, it will be fine.”
Fine.
Fine.
How can…How can anything be fine?
“Tenten.” Lee’s eyes search her. “Say something.”
Behind him Neji watches her in apprehension too. He’s worried. Tenten looks at her hands. Is she in such a state that even Neji can look worried? Is she so…
What’s with all the blood?!
Arms wrap around her.
Words are murmured to her.
Someone squeezes her hand.
It will be fine.
Can it? Can it be fine?
xXxXx
Kankurou stares at her.
How could she understand? How could a stupid girl like her ever understand? “Go away.” He tells her. Like he’s told her countless times before.
This time, instead of heading his command she kneels before him. Her pale fingers wrap around his hands, her head bowed, dark brown bangs covering her brown eyes. “I’m here. You matter. I’m here.”
“You don’t know anything.”
She squeezes his hands. “Then tell me.”
Her eyes connect with his.
Tell me.
Blood and sacrifice is matted around his heart. Around his soul. He doesn’t know what’s right anymore. He doesn’t know…He doesn’t know anything but duty anymore.
“Tell me.” She whispers. “Help me understand.”
He knows she isn’t a saint. But he doesn’t want her to carry his troubles on top of her own. “Go away.” He whispers again.
Shinobi are such fragile things. They break so easily.
She nods. “But you know, regardless of how many times you tell me to go away,” She smiles lightly, “I’ll always be here.”
xXxXx
She cranes her head at him. “I think, it’s not so bad.”
He’s aware that he’s shaking. “You think.”
“I think.” She confirms.
The world turns on it’s axis and runs and walks and talks as if he is of no consequence. As if…What does it all matter?
