"CHIDORI!!"

Tenten barely dodged his attack when her legs were suddenly knocked right off the ground. She fell on her back and gasped for air. Moments later, Sasuke's electrified hand was inches in front of her face.

She tried to get up, but it was a fruitless task.

"Stay down," he demanded firmly, his muscles quivering as he struggled to not finish the job.

Tenten gritted her teeth, not wanting to give up, but knowing that there wasn't much else she could do. He had overwhelmed her once again.

"Well done, Sasuke-San!!" Lee praised, giving him a thumb up. Sasuke said nothing, and instead lowered his lightly sparking hand down to his side. Tenten winced and sat up, watching him as he walked to a nearby tree for shade and his water bottle.

'That bastard,' she thought, gritting her teeth as she forced herself on her feet. 'Always, ALWAYS walking away like the asshole he is instead of helping.'

As if he heard her thoughts, Sasuke glanced at her before smirking.

Lee helped Tenten up and said, "You did really well today, Tenten. You're getting better at dodging his Chidori and Kusanagi."
Tenten smiled slightly at Lee before saying, "Thanks, Lee. You're not doing so bad yourself."
Lee grinned and said, "We're getting stronger together. It's taken some time, but we've excelled thanks to Sasuke."

Tenten would have loved to believe that having Sasuke on the team was a smart move to make. However, the past month or so has merely shown how much of a bad omen Sasuke Uchiha really was.

It's not like he was really a teammate; he barely participated in teaming up with Tenten or Lee, and they still weren't getting any missions. Training and bonding was the only thing Tsunade wanted the team to focus on, and although everyone was getting stronger, the bonds stayed the same.

Whenever Tenten tried to get Sasuke to talk, he would throw her off or simply nod and/or grunt. Tenten found his actions infuriating not only because he wasn't trying to bond, but because his actions simply reminded her of how Neji used to act and react.

To Tenten, Sasuke was just another version of the irritant, insulting Neji that she had to put up with ever since she became a team with him and Lee.

Only instead of Neji eventually letting up, Sasuke had seemed to be closing himself up from the world.

And it didn't help that only a week after Sakura and Tenten had the talk about giving Sasuke time, Naruto and Sakura kept devising plans to get Sasuke to talk to them. Tenten felt that Sasuke needed time more than anything, but when she tried to talk Naruto into leaving Sasuke be for a while, Naruto would always turn her away.

Tenten and Lee had agreed that they had to do everything in their power to assist Sasuke in getting the time he needed, including butting in on conversations and luring them elsewhere so Sasuke could leave.

However, it had put a strain on their relationships.

Sakura and Naruto stopped talking to Lee and Tenten as much, and even though they were assisting him, Sasuke never said thanks, never smiled, and never seemed to care if Sakura and Naruto got upset with him.

And as if that wasn't enough, once in a while a nightmare would pop up; ones filled with rampaging Uchiha and dead Hyuga that kept her awake every other night.

Hinata had refused to speak to Tenten ever since Hinata took off from Tenten's home, and either excuses herself when Tenten walks to her or simply looks at her before walking elsewhere.

Tenten was starting to lose sight with what really mattered.

And no matter how hard she tried, the light was starting to fade from her.

To Tenten, she had almost nothing but bad dreams, depressing memories and fractured bonds.

~

On one particular day towards the end of August, Team Guy was to assist Team Kakashi with sorting through Akatsuki member files. Itachi and Kisame were called in as well.

As Sasuke was looking through a box, Naruto walked towards him and said, "I've never seen these files before. These guys look pretty mean-looking."

Sasuke didn't reply; he simply continued pulling files out of the box. Naruto chuckled a bit before grinning and saying, "I guess if you didn't come back, you'd join them huh?"

Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto grinned before saying, "This blue-haired lady seems like your type, doesn't she?"

Sakura pouted and said, "She looks like she's in her forties. She's not pretty at all!!"

Tenten glanced at what they were saying before taking the file out of Sasuke's hand, to his slight surprise. Tenten looked down at it with a raised eyebrow before saying, "Naruto, you knucklehead. Only Sasuke would know his type. And it says that she's thirty-five."

Naruto said, "Aww come on, I was just playing around, ya know!!"

Tenten sighed in slight irritation as she said, "As nice as that sounds, we were called here to get this done, not to joke around."

Lee nodded in agreement and exclaimed, "Let this be a test of youthful patience!!!"

Tenten giggled at Lee before going back to her own box, dropping the folder of the woman known as Konan on lady Tsunade's desk. Naruto jokingly said, "Hey Sasuke, maybe we should go the bathhouse and see if your type is there." Sakura picked up a box and slammed it on top of Naruto head.

"Knock it off, idiot!!" Sakura screeched, glancing at Sasuke and smiling even though he was paying no attention.

Itachi shook his head before pulling up a file of himself. Kisame laughed and pulled up his own file, saying, "I wonder if they will burn this now." "Probably not," Kakashi replied, going through several sheets of paperwork, "considering we don't know what will happen in the near future."

Itachi glanced at him and said, "You don't trust me."

Might Guy patted Kakashi on the back and said, "I know I trust you and Kisame. And whether he knows it or not, Kakashi has a bad sense of humor."

Guy laughed wholeheartedly, and Tenten sweatdropped, shaking her head in the process. Kakashi smiled sheepishly under his mask and said, "Not exactly what I meant, but that might be the best way to explain it."
Tenten giggled softly before grazing her hand over an unnamed folder. She opened it up and almost went pale.

It was a folder all about Yoru.

Sakura, who had noticed Tenten's faint expression, said, "Tenten, did you find something?"

Tenten closed the folder and said, "No. Nothing important."

She tossed the folder into a box before going to look in another. Sasuke raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. Sakura shrugged and glanced at Sasuke before blushing and saying, "So... Um, Sasuke, if you weren't busy later, would you mind-"

"My team has yet to train today," he said flatly, a bored look on his face as he looked in another folder.

Sakura pouted a bit before saying, "Sasuke-Kun, you're always trying to avoid me-"

"I'm avoiding everyone."

Tenten looked at the both of them but didn't bother to intrude. To her, it seemed like he had the situation under control. "But Sasuke-Kun!" Sakura pressed, "We're still teammates!! Won't you say anything to me?! Like, how my day was doing or if everything's going alright with me!"

Sasuke sighed and set a folder down, turning towards her with a cold look in his eyes. "We stopped being teammates a long time ago, Sakura. Don't make it a large issue."

Naruto said, "That's a bit harsh, Sasuke! We've always been teammates, and three to five years doesn't change that!"

Sasuke almost chuckled as he said, "So narrow-minded and hopeful."

Tenten glanced around before tossing a pencil and hitting Sasuke upside the head with it. He turned towards her and asked, "Yes?"
He said it with such an edgy tone that she almost shivered, but instead she said, "Talking won't help us clear out these boxes. Hurry up and find something on Pain or whatever."

Kisame chuckled at her, and Sakura and Naruto retreated back to opening scrolls and folders.
Sai glanced at them before going back to reading a scroll.
Yamato shook his head and said, "We're not making headway here. There's got to be something we're missing."

"We only have three more members to go, Yamato," Guy said happily, "We'll find them in no time."

And right he was. As they continued looking in the boxes, it was Lee, Kakashi, and Kisame who had found the last three folders and scrolls on the members. With them found, the group of shinobi could start cleaning up the mess they made.

As Sasuke started putting scrolls and folders back in, Sakura cooed and clung onto his shoulder, saying, "Sasuke-Kun, maybe we can train together, huh? We could tag-team Tenten and Lee."

"And what about me?" Naruto blurted out, "I have an idea! Let's fight one-on-one, Sasuke!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth slightly and said, "I decline."

Sakura pouted and said, "Come on, Sasuke, just one brawl? Then maybe we can go out and chill out."

"I said I decline," Sasuke repeated, becoming irritated.

Sakura said, "Sasuke, it's not like I'm asking you to take me to the moon-"

"You are so annoying and infuriating Sakura. You don't know when to quit it. I don't care for your damned puppy love, and I certainly don't care for you." Sasuke cut her off.

Naruto gripped onto Sasuke's sleeve and demanded, "Take that back, Sasuke." When he didn't say anything, Naruto gripped onto Sasuke's shirt cuff tighter.

"Take. That. Back."

Tenten, who couldn't take anymore, shoved them both apart from one another and said, "Enough of this, already!!"

"Tenten get out of the way!!" Naruto snapped, hands balled up and ready for a fight. "I don't like how he's always bad mouthing Sakura, as if she had done something terrible to him!!!"

Sakura said nothing, and everyone else seemed to be minding their business. At that point in time, it was normal for Tenten to step in. However, Naruto had a different approach to Tenten's interfering. He grabbed her shoulder with the intension of shoving her aside, but Lee was quick to get in the way and grab his wrist on time.

It was as if time itself had frozen over.

Everyone in the room had dropped their papers to pay attention to the scenario.

Sakura said, "N-Naruto!! Tell me you weren't about to-!"

Kakashi stood up, prepared to step in if he had to, and Yamato had his hands together just in case they needed to be separated. Naruto gritted his teeth as he looked at Tenten with an unknown rage. "Why? Why do you always interfere every single time?!"

"It's my job to!!" Tenten snapped, "I can't expect you all to get along!! And he's my teammate as much as he was in yours, whether we like it or not!!"

"Turn the other way then!!" Naruto growled, "If he's got beef with us, then we need to settle it right away!!"

"I can't allow that!!!" Tenten yelled, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. Lee let go of his arm and sighed, shaking his head. Naruto glared at Lee and asked, "And what of your opinion Lee? Why do you step in?"

Lee was taken aback by the question. However, he smiled softly moments later and said, "A teammate is a teammate. Comrades shouldn't fight one another, because it's our job to stop the fighting, not start it."

Tenten nodded in agreement and added in, "And regardless of what Lee or I personally think about Sasuke, he is our teammate. We didn't turn Neji away, so I don't see why we should turn Sasuke away."

"But Sasuke isn't Neji, Tenten!!" Sakura exclaimed, walking up and standing next to Naruto. Tenten looked Sakura in the eye and said, "You don't think I know that?"

Sakura caught the tone in her voice and said, "Tenten, that's not what I meant-!"

"I know exactly what you mean, Sakura," Tenten said in a tight voice, "I don't think of him that way. I despise Sasuke Uchiha and everything about him. The ONLY reasons I'm putting up with him is for the team, and for his brother, because they BOTH need a new start in life without trouble!!!"

Sakura went quiet.

Guy said, "Tenten, that's enough."

"No Guy Sensei!!" Tenten snapped, "It'll never be enough!! Never, never EVER!! Do you think I like having Sasuke in my team?! Do you think I'm glad that Neji is dead?! I'm not glad, I will never be glad!! But what I want has nothing to do with it!!"

Tenten was close to hyperventilating and tried to stand upright, but her legs wanted to cave in. "I just want everyone to get along damnit," Tenten said tightly, "because you don't know when someone's going to die. You don't want to end up having regrets."

Naruto said, "Tenten, no one is going to die-" "You don't know that, Naruto!" Tenten gritted her teeth as she started shedding tears. "You don't know... You just don't. You got lucky. Your comrade came back. But mine never will."

Naruto went quiet at this point, feeling guilty more than anything else. Sasuke glanced down at Tenten coldly and said, "Crying over him won't bring him back."

Tenten glared at Sasuke. "And crying over your parents at night won't bring them back either, Sasuke U-chih-a." Sasuke gave her a death glare, and she knew that she had pressed a button. However, she couldn't have cared less.

"Yes, I know. I walk out to get a breather at night, and I hear you crying in your sleep, calling out for your poor momma and papa. It feels nice to cry over something you'll never get back, doesn't it?"

Not a moment later, and Sasuke had slammed Tenten up against the wall; his hand tightly gripping her neck. Kakashi gripped his right arm and demanded, "Let go of Tenten!!"

Itachi, who was on the other side of Sasuke, said, "It's not worth it, Sasuke. She's just hurt. Just let her go." Tenten and Sasuke locked eyes as she gasped for air. Eventually, Sasuke lowered Tenten down before scoffing and turning around.

"At least I never hoped that they would come back. When I cry, it's out of my control. My dreams and past self resurface. I couldn't care less about them returning; they no longer exist. When will you start feeling that way for Neji, Ten-Ten?"

Tenten gritted her teeth and watched as Sasuke walked out of Tsunade's office, just as she had come in.

Tsunade looked around and asked, "What on earth happened here?!"

Tenten stood up as best as she could, breathing easy as she looked Tsunade in the eyes.

"Just a mess, Lady Tsunade," she said flatly, "We'll have it cleaned up soon."

~

EYYYYYY, AN UPDATE! This one was mostly on a scenario because why the hell not. Timeskips are a thing for me, but so are long situations and conversations.

Working on a slow computer, so an image will be added later on.

Until the next Update!

~Nimo #IFanonNotCanon