* slowly peeks from my shell *

Hi...it's been a month but I managed to get a semblance of inspiration back so more chapters I guess? Or not. Anyways thank you for sticking with my inconsistency. Enjoy the chapter!

***

"I hate you too!"

Tenten's annoyed yell and the slam of her front door followed him as he walked out. Geez, what an irritable woman.

***

Tenten soon forgot about her encounter with the mysterious woman on the ship to Konoha and had settled fairly well. Yukimaru's absence was painful but she was getting used to it. She had no choice but to get used to it. However, Tenten had a very eventful life full of unpleasant surprises so it didn't take too long for drama to find her after the incident with Yukimaru and Guren.

It started when one afternoon, Tenten met a familiar dark haired man at the Curry of Life. She was coming back from an outing with Ajisai when she ran into the dark haired thief from Shojoji Tekushu's jewelry exhibition. She had stolen the first Long Juanzhou piece from him.

There was no indication from him that he recognized her so Tenten kept her face carefully blank as she passed beside him. He was coming from the top building, where both hers and Neji's apartments were. Did he steal something? Tenten stopped walking suddenly and turned around to scowl at the stranger.

"Give my earring back, thief." She demanded unimpressed by how fast he was to rob her of her father's earring just as she passed by him. The dark haired pickpocket also stopped and turned around, a smirk gracing his face as he dangled the earring in front of him.

"It's good to know that your sharpness is not limited to mission nights alone, Meigui."

Tenten's face remained blank under the thief's scrutiny but internally she wondered how he recognised her despite the mask her vigilante alter ego's wore that day she confronted him. As if reading her mind, the thief spoke.

"You should consider not wearing the same earrings you wear on a mission on a normal day or you'd get into trouble for it." He tossed said earring up and Tenten moved to catch it. He was faster though, and taller so he easily caught it and maneuvered his arm so that she couldn't grab it.

"What you want with me?" Tenten growled angrily after she failed to get her earring back.

"Did you sell the Dragon Jewel? If you did it certainly doesn't show in your lifestyle." Of course this would be about her precious heirloom. Tenten cursed under her breath.

"You track me because of that?" She asked somewhat incredulously. If he did track her down it was far too late to collect the jewel back, not that she planned to give it anyway.

"Hn." The thief grunted. "I don't give a shit about you. The ruby is not with you or the police, that's what matters." At this Tenten's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"And how you know it's not with me?" She baited, he took it with a sly smirk.

"Your house isn't so secure, Meigui. Anybody can gallivant into it. Your neighbor for example."

Somehow, Tenten knew that the thief in front of her hadn't stepped a foot into her house despite coming from that direction when she saw him. There was another thief and this thief came to visit that thief. She cursed her luck.

"Bingo." The dark haired pickpocket sang at the realizing look on her face. Tenten's scowl deepened. "You have been marked Meigui, there's no escaping us-" The thief's words were cut off as his knees suddenly buckled.

Tenten kicked the younger man behind his knees, forcing him to his knees, and she took her earring from him. She then marched upstairs to give a seriously needed piece of her mind to one particular somebody. In her anger, she missed Sasuke's amused words as she went.

"Not half bad, Meigui, not half bad."

-

Tenten met Neji at the mini hallway between the doors of their apartments. It was like the other was awaiting her arrival because he was leaned back on his door with his arms crossed. He gave a knowing smirk the moment he saw her storming in which only fueled the girl's fury.

"You. Are. A. Thief!" Tenten accused hotly when she got within proximity of him. He didn't deny it. Instead he even seemed amused.

"I see you met Sasuke downstairs." Neji replied coolly, as if being a thief was a thing to be proud of.

Tenten mimicked crossing her arms over her abdomen and leveled him with an intense glare. The other thief, Sasuke as Neji called him, had said that she had been marked. For what? But she couldn't concern herself with that now. She was more bothered by how much Neji had broken into her home than anything.

"You rob my house. What you steal?"

Neji scoffed disdainfully at her accusation. "There's nothing worth robbing in your house, Meigui," he smirked at the way Tenten's eye twitched at the mention of her alias, "but you do intrigue me so I moved here to monitor you and see whether I should recruit you into my gang."

Tenten balked at his blatancy, the way he made his intentions clear as a summer day like she was just going to nod her head and say 'yes, I will do as you say!'. "I will never join you to steal. You are a liar and a thief." She spat and turned around to leave when Neji's words halted her motion.

"Like you're any better."

The speed at which Tenten whipped around could give her a windlash. Still she balanced on the balls of her feet and leveled Neji with a very harsh glare. The long haired man took it in stride. He was expecting such reaction from her and it amused him when she didn't fail to deliver.

"What?! I am no thief." Tenten spat indignantly to which Neji raised a brow. How dare he lump her with himself? Tenten fumed. That was preposterous!

"Hello pot, I'm kettle." Neji replied coyly. It only served to make Tenten's eye twitch the way it normally did when she was irritated. She took a step forward.

"I no steal." She gritted.

"I believe the Dragon Jewel Sasuke acquired from Morena did not just develop legs and walk out of his zipped up pocket." The dry rebuttal to her words made Tenten sputter to a halt and release a drawn frustrated groan. This again?! To others she stole the jewels even though they belonged to her and she was just taking back what was hers.

Tenten decided that Neji was not worth her time so she left his presence. Or, she would have left had Neji not interjected her with his next haughty words. "I have decided on what you are going to do for me. But first I would have to hire your services as a bodyguard in the nearest future."

Tenten could only blink rapidly in bafflement for the next few seconds as verbal articulation suddenly became lost on her. She stared at him like she was expecting him to change his mind or tell her he that he was joking. Neji stared back at her seriously. It was not a joke. "Ah?!" She finally managed.

Neji remained unfazed by Tenten's reaction to his words. "You heard me. You are going to be my personal bodyguard for the next few months until further notice." He repeated dryly.

"I refuse." Tenten finally spoke after moments of silence.

"You have no choice here, Coconut, you are going to be my personal bodyguard. Period." So haughty. So demanding. So unnervingly annoying. This was the person she was going to be forced to put up with for months.

"I still refuse. You no make me." Tenten crossed her arms stubbornly above her abdomen, daring Neji to make her do as he said. But Neji was a coy manipulative bastard; she stood no chance against his wittiness.

"Really? I'm sure people would love to know that vigilante Meigui apparently stole Morena Tekushu's Dragon Jewel necklace. A nice image to create for your alter ego, don't you think?" Neji threatened her with the one leverage he had against her.

Tenten cursed in her mother tongue under her breath, frustrated. "I no steal the Long Juanzhou." She gritted. Neji's brow only raised disbelievingly.

"Really? And you didn't steal Yukimaru's either?"

"Ugh!" Tenten threw her hands up hopelessly. "Fine! I be your slave for the rest of the year!" She exclaimed irritatedly. It wasn't like Hyuga was going to believe her if she told him that the rubies were hers in the first place.

"Don't be so overdramatic. I hate you but I would not go as far as to overwork you." Neji clicked his tongue distastefully at her petulance and turned around to leave.

Tenten huffed out an immediate 'I hate you too!' in response and went into her apartment, making sure to slam the door loudly behind her to get her point across. She quickly dressed down into a simple shirt and rafia skirt and grabbed her money purse.

It was about time she locked up that godforsaken door that was in between her apartment and Neji's for good! She was heading to a tool shop to buy a security lock. Tenten was mumbling curse words in Lusen tongue and storming out of her house when her peripheral vision caught sight of something or someone in her living room.

In her rage, she had missed the figure sitting on the futon in her living room when she came in but now that she noticed it she instantly became angrier. That cursed door! It was so easy for Neji and his cohorts to jaywalk into her apartment like it was some traditional theme park.

Tenten walked over to the unmoving figure and was about to knock the person out with a roundhouse kick but stopped immediately when she noticed who it was. Sitting with her head tucked between her knees and hugging her legs was none other than her neighbour's sister, Hinata.

Somewhere at the back of her mind Tenten knew that she shouldn't trust the sister of the newly revealed thief but something about the way the dark haired woman sat forlornly in her apartment softened Tenten a bit.

Neji might've also been lying to her about his occupation for all she knew, and even if the possibility of Hinata being her brother's accomplice was high she hadn't done anything to make her believe so. So, Tenten decided to trust Hinata with a watchful eye and sat beside her.

The other woman did not seem to register her presence even when she stormed in and not when she sat beside her either. Her long midnight blue hair draped over her knees, hiding her face and trembling hands from sight.

"Ne shenme, Hinata?" Tenten asked softly when she gained no form of acknowledgement from her. They stayed like that for several long minutes, in tense silence and worrying on Tenten's part, before Hinata finally raised her head and revealed her blotched face. She had been crying and if the large wet patch that was revealed on Tenten's futon was any indication, she had been at it for a while.

"How do you do it?" Hinata's whisper would have been unheard if Tenten wasn't sitting so close to her.

"Do what?" Tenten asked in return. She kept her expression in check but she was already getting uncomfortable with Hinata crying in front of her. Tenten didn't know what to do when people cried next to her and she could definitely not offer comfort of any sort.

It was sad to say but Hinata chose the wrong person to reach out to. Tenten would still try her best though, because Hinata was a good friend and she didn't want her condition worsening.

Meanwhile Hinata struggled to keep herself together albeit unsuccessfully. While it seemed like her previous life at The Cage did not affect her other than physically, deep down Hinata was a wreck.

At first, being around other people that were not the sex slaves and slave drivers she grew up with was exhilarating. Hinata was happy to be free from that life where people used her body for their sick pleasures as often as they came and went. She was glad to be free from the shackles of torturers in disguises of being doctors. She could eat when she wanted and talk when she wanted. It was good.

But her life as a slave still bore heavily on her. In her sick mind of minds, Neji was her new master and she was just fulfilling his fantasy of having a sister. She would randomly slip into her headspace and starve herself without talking simply because Neji did not give her the permission to do so and freeze up in the company of other people, especially men.

Staying at Granny Sanshō's helped her to remember who she was but the times when she was alone left her insecurities unhindered. Her therapy sessions were not working simply because Ibiki's rough external appearance reminded her of the 'doctors' at The Cage.

Hinata only complied to the therapist because she was afraid of what he might do to her if she refused and she was afraid of making Neji, who still remained Eve-sama in her mind despite what she called him, angry with her.

She was fucked up through and through. Hinata could laugh at her inner thoughts had she the energy to do so. There was no bit of cleanliness or sanity left in her. Her body and mind had been marred by The Cage. She was worthless as an individual and was poor at everything except things that concerned the bedroom.

Hinata Hyuga- she wasn't even sure if that was really her name- was thoroughly broken. She was broken but still she yearned to be normal like the people that surrounded her. She wanted to laugh from her belly and stay around other people for hours without breaking down.

She did it once when Temari invited her for a play date with the other women, why could she not do it again? Why was she a nervous, broken and second handed wreck?!

In her desperacy to find a semblance of reality to cling on to after waking from a particularly bad daydream when Neji was not at home, Hinata had crawled her way into Tenten's apartment and cried till this moment.

The familiar sound of her ringtone reached her ears from Neji's apartment. Tenten had arrived just moments after the man did so he hadn't gotten any real chance to enter the apartment and notice her absence until now. She was making him worried but Hinata had no energy to face Neji at the moment.

Tenten and Hinata both heard Neji curse and walk out of his apartment worriedly when his calls for Hinata went unanswered. The older looked at the crying one questioningly and Hinata shook her head, a silent plea not to let Neji know about this.

Tenten reluctantly agreed to what she knew would tell on the ravenette and even herself later and did not alert Neji that she was in here. The two of them passed the next hour in silence. Tenten wondered what Hinata was going to ask before Neji's frantic search for her interrupted them but didn't push it.

It was just good to know that somebody found her presence comfortable enough to take sanctuary in. She was not good at it but if her place gave Hinata some sort of protection against whatever nightmare she was going through, she Tenten didn't want to keep it from her.

Neji might bust into her house uninvited but like he said, there was nothing worth robbing there anyway. And that was how Tenten ended up never buying a lock until one incident happened that involved a very conflicted (and very naked) Neji and a super flustered Tenten. That's a story for another chapter.

Hinata left her apartment when Neji came knocking and asking if Hinata was in there with her. She replied yes on the younger woman's approval and watched as Neji fussed over his younger sister. For a thief, he sure was a doting brother. Yes, Tenten is going to forever hold this thief thing against Neji, no questions needs to be asked.

-

Seated on the sidewalk beside the paved road that one would cross to get to the busy bank on the other side were two innocent looking high school boys sucking on twin Popsicle sticks. It was a hot day so one of them had his shirt in hand, leaving him in just his undershirt while the other stared disdainfully at him for his lack of decorum.

"Are you going to eat that or not?" The one without his shirt, Naruto, asked his companion, pointing at the melting popsicle in his hand. Sasuke handed the melting icicle only because he was not a fan of sweets, not out of the goodness of his heart, and watched as Naruto immediately gobbled it up.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in disgust as he tried to shake off the sticky liquid sugar that had dripped on his hand. When he failed he rubbed it off on Naruto's shirt.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled and snatched his shirt from the other. Sasuke gave him a coy smirk and returned his gaze to the bank across the road. The forerunning of their grand heist had already begun with the first step; wrecking havoc.

"We do not want the ANBU force to be prepared for our arrival. We want them busy and on their toes, giving them barely enough reaction time on the day we finally strike our target. With about half of the police indispensable, our escape has a higher guarantee."

The Birds were at their home base, reverently listening to the words of their leader and taking notes for future references.

"The best way to do this is to wreck havoc. I release you to do as you want for this month. Leave clues behind that lead to nowhere, confuse them and frustrate them. Let their guards be up and rickety at the same time. Also remember to never be alone during this waiting period."

"Why?" Shino had questioned for the majority that liked doing their missions solo.

"It is best to do this in two's." Neji replied simply and the meeting came to a close.

-

"Think we can shred it?" Naruto gestured to the bank with his chin. People stared at the strange boys that sat on the roadside as they but if they noticed, they ignored it. They had better things to do than to mind what people thought of them.

Sasuke scoffed as if Naruto's question wasn't worth asking, which it wasn't. They had taken bigger organisations than this without breaking a sweat, that was why they were Birds. This was as easy as swatting a fly.

"It's almost four o'clock. Let's move." Sasuke instructed instead and stood up, slung his empty backpack over his shoulder. Naruto did the same thing beside him. They both crossed the road and entered the busy bank.

"What are you here for?" A security guard asked when they showed up at the entrance.

"Bank transactions. There's something wrong with my student account." Sasuke answered smoothly.

"You?" The guard turned to Naruto.

"I lost my credit card." Naruto replied with a sheepish grin. "It's weird having to hold a piece of plastic instead of actual money, being newly independent and all." Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blond's theatrics. Could he not just tell a lie straight without going into a winded story about himself and having the other person sympathising with him for no reason?

"Ah, to be young again. I feel you."

Absolutely not. Naruto would forever be Naruto.

"I remember the time I lost my first credit card. You would've thought I lost my job that day." Both Naruto and the guard laughed. Sasuke was getting dizzy from the amount of times his eyes had met the ceiling and rolled back. "Personally, I like to keep my cash in hand but with technology advancing what do I do?"

"We just have to get used to the freaky changes." Naruto gave a heart warming smile. The guard instantly liked the blond.

"I don't want to keep you back. You can go in." The man said and Naruto grinned wider.

"Perfect! You're a good man dattebayo. Please accept this tip." He handed the money to the security and he and Sasuke (finally!) went inside the bank.

"Dobe, you just had to tip him with his own money." Sasuke shook his head but there was a smirk pulling at his lips.

Naruto laughed cheekily. The guard didn't know that he had been pick pocketed and that the tip he was given was from his own wallet. "Don't get too jealous that I beat you to the punch." Naruto taunted and Sasuke hn'ed.

"Customer service please." The raven told the woman who was directing people to the place to go. She smiled professionally and pointed the place. There was a small waiting queue because the bank was busy. Not that he was bothered by it. "Thank you." He appreciated and went away.

"What about you?" The woman asked a constipated looking Naruto. Her smile dropped for a moment when the blond held his stomach and bit his lip.

"Toilet please!" His yell attracted eyes to the both of them and Sasuke face palmed.

"Keep gaining attention, why don't you?" The raven seethed under his breath. He wondered why he didn't choose Shino to partner with him instead of this dobe but the damage was already done.

Naruto sped down the hall to the comfort room and slammed the door closed. He slipped on a beanie he brought along, making sure to hide all of his hair, and once the bathroom was empty he slinked out and made his way upstairs, to the more intricate parts of the bank. He pulled out his phone when he got there and texted Sasuke.

'Oi, I'm ready.'

He was instantly replied.

'Do it.'

Naruto grinned, withdrawing a lighter from his pocket, and walked to the nearest trash bin to him. He set its contents (paper and a few plastic bottles) ablaze and went on to the next. And the next. While doing this he made sure that his face was hidden from the cameras above.

Then he went to the fire alarm and jammed the button. The reaction was immediate. The moment people heard the siren and saw the smoke chaos ensued. Workers and customers alike ran to the fire assembly point while the sprinkler systems did their jobs and Sasuke slipped upstairs to join Naruto.

With the amount of times they had robbed a bank, they both knew where newly deposited money would be kept and they broke in. Needless to say, their empty backpacks were stuffed full. Sasuke left a post it note for the police when they arrived. It was a cheeky drawing of a smiling face. He groaned when Naruto added a tongue to his drawing but had no time to yell at the usuratonkachi. They had to run.

And run they did. Nobody noticed them in the whole frenzy and even if they did, they had nothing to go by to describe them to the police. For one, Naruto had concealed his scars before going to the bank and for two, Sasuke's anonymous features had things working for him.

Like Neji had instructed they left clues that led nowhere for the police to chew on and their own insignias, just how they liked it.

"That was fun!" Naruto cackled once they were safe and headed to their drop base, where they assigned to keep trinkets from the havoc they wrecked at. Neither of them had any need for the money they stole, they were going to give it to the people that actually needed it.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

Their happiness, however was short lived when they heard sirens coming from behind them and looked back to see that they were being followed by the police.

"Oh shit, they're fast today!" Naruto yelped.

"Dobe, run!" Sasuke fled for the other direction while Naruto went the opposite way.

Some officers got down from their cars and gave pursuit by foot, which Sasuke grunted at distastefully. He could outrun the most of them but doing that with a heavy bag of money was going to be tasking.

Still Sasuke sucked in a breath and ran through the alleyways, trying to shake the officers off his trail. They whistled and yelled for him to stop as if he would actually do as they said. If he were the usuratonkachi, he would yell profanities at them for their absurd request.

"Shit." Sasuke cursed as he ran into a dead end. The ANBU officers soon ran into the corner he turned at so it was too late to turn back. His next line of action was to scale the fence blocking his exit. There were trashcans here and it stank but it would work sufficiently for Sasuke's good.

He quickly climbed the bins and made his way to the top with practiced ease. "Don't move!" An officer yelled behind him, pulling out a gun but Sasuke was already at the top. He smirked and jumped down.

A popular statement vaguely registered in Sasuke's mind after he had jumped and realised that an old peddler was passing by just at that moment- look before you leap.

"Fuck!" The raven screamed as he collided into the man's cart and broke through it, landing harshly on the ground in a pile of broken wood and apples. He had no time to recover from the fall though because he could hear that the officers had not given up on coming after him. Not after his fall.

The old man who had fallen from the crash rose up on shaky legs only to turn pale at the horror that faced him. "My apples!" They were strewn everywhere across the floor and absolutely destroyed.

"My apples have been ruined by you! Kids nowadays have no common sense not to play extravagant games! What are you going to do about my apples?! A month's worth of hard labour growing these fresh apples have been wasted!"

"S-sir I have no time to waste-" Sasuke grunted in pain when he stood to his feet and a sharp pain flashed through his leg. Well damn. He kissed his teeth as he hurriedly unzipped his backpack and brought out a few notes. "Here, I'll pay for all of these with my pocket money just please let me go!"

The old man was shocked at the urgency at which Sasuke slapped the neat bills into his hands and proceeded to run off, but what was he expected to use the ruined apples for? Fertilizer? He grabbed Sasuke. "Young man!"

Sasuke groaned loudly. The police men were getting closer to him with every passing second but this old nitpicker wouldn't leave him alone!

"You paid for the apples! I wouldn't want to drag a heavy cart of ruined apples when I could just carry the money alone! Take them!"

"You're such a meddlesome, haggard nitpicker, aren't you old man?!" Sasuke seethed angrily as he stuffed the apples into the nylon bags provided hastily. When he had picked a bag full he snatched the one the old man was filling up and took to his heels.

"You didn't pick everything, you disrespectful nincompoop!"

The aggravated shout followed Sasuke as he went but he dared not look back. Enough time had been wasted with the peddler already and his ears could already pick up some officers getting close.

Every step hurt like hell. Surely he had been trained not to bat an eyelash to pain like this but there was only so much pain Sasuke could ignore. Damn, he was going to feel this in the morning but he couldn't stop. He had to keep running with his bad leg until he got to the more crowded parts of the community.

Only then did Sasuke take a break, allowing himself to slow down a little bit. Neji was going to be pissed. Seriously pissed. It wasn't part of the plan to get injured before the heist but he had already gone ahead and reduced his performance rate.

"Hn." The raven grunted. There was only one place he could go to without being questioned and double checked. Oh how he hated the idea of it. Still he boarded a taxi that took him to the teaching hospital that was the pride of the whole town.

Sasuke stopped the driver at the dormitory for medical students and staff some meters away from the hospital itself and got down, thankful that this driver was quiet and minded his own business.

The raven sighed at the sight of the place. Oh how he hated to do this. He trudged himself into the dorms, answered a few embarrassing questions just to verify his identity and get in, picked the lock of the door to his destination and sat there in awaiting.

How long was this going to take again? A glance at the apple shaped clock told him that it was just past six in the evening. One more excruciating hour in waiting. Oh how he hated this.

At exactly seven'thirty, the med student he was waiting for showed up in the room, surprised and ragged from her long day at the hospital. A pink brow raised at the sight of Sasuke so comfortably sat on her couch, eating apples.

"When I got a call that my boyfriend was waiting for me in my room, you were the last person on my mind." Sakura deadpanned.

"Hn. It made me gag just saying it loud but I had no other option." Sasuke replied sharply. Sakura simply sighed, too tired to take on a verbal duel with him. Instead she dropped her bag and got out of her lab coat. She eyed the eaten apples on her coffee table distastefully. "Really?"

Sasuke shrugged. "You know what they say, an apple a day keeps fake doctors away." He marked his point by throwing a new addition onto the table, making sure it missed and landed at Sakura's feet instead.

The rosette sucked in a breath for strength to deal with Sasuke's antagonism. "Why are you here?" She managed to ask calmly.

Sasuke pointed at his bad leg which Sakura had failed to notice in her frustration and tiredness. It was already swollen and purple, and twisted in an ungodly angle that had the doctor wondering how Sasuke wasn't writhing in pain at the moment.

"Let's see what you got, doctor." Sasuke mocked. "If my leg gets paralysed from your treatment, I will end you."

No. Sakura had no strength to deal with Sasuke's antagonism. None at all. "Shannaro." She cursed her poor luck.

***

Do I hear a SasuSaku bell ringing?

How was today's chapter? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Votes and reviews make me a happy writer! So please don't hold them back. Thanks for reading. Tune in again for another chapter next week by God's grace.

Bye!

-Star.