endless_scrolls (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
endless_scrolls) wrote2012-05-07 09:12 pm
endless_scrolls) wrote2012-05-07 09:12 pm
All for Nothing
Title: All for Nothing
Type: Fanfic
Fandom: AU!Naruto
Word count: 1238
Character(s): Tenten, Uchiha Itachi; brief mentions of Deidara, Uchiha Sasuke
Pairing(s): Implied Itachi/Deidara
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: I own nothing but these words.
Note: Randomly written fic inspired by the events and planned plots that took place at TheRisingSun. The headcanon wanted more. Who was I to deny it?
Dedicated to:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nothinglanguage and soliloquiii
With a brief and gentle kiss, he sent Deidara on his way to the academy, leaving the both of them to settle in the familiar tension their lives had thrived on for years. For almost her entire life. But there was an extra layer that had been recently added to their dynamics. It wasn't quite as obvious at first, and for some time she had believed it to be a passing whim for someone who... only held one person at the center of his universe. But as time passed, it had been nagging at Tenten exceptionally since her defection from the clan. Still, the young woman had been patient and loyal; compelled, as it was, to place her trust in him as she always had for so many years now. But then, without her connection with the clan, there was no more need for discretion. No more need to stay out of his affairs outside of family business. Not that one didn't have an effect on the other.
There was no reason to keep her tongue in check anymore. Itachi had shown her that she was every bit a casualty now that she was no longer associated with the Uchiha. And that hurt her the most.
"You're distrustful of me, and yet you gave him the keys to the castle so easily." Seated at the old piano as she always was, her tone and attitude remained deceptively neutral, almost too casual for the subject matter that was plaguing her mind. But he had known her for countless years as well. Everything that came from her mouth was as cool and calculated as anything he could ever devised. Tenten trusted that the elder brother knew and understood what rested between the lines of her words. "If I were the sort, I'd be hurt and offended right now."
Without ever lifting his head up from the page of newspaper held out in front of him, Itachi responded. "...But you're not, are you, Tenten?"
"Not yet." The look she gave him was hard and stern. And if it were anyone else, he would have felt the burn through his paper-thin shield. But Itachi had been born under such scrutiny; had grew up in it. He had been the one to teach her how to take down a man with nothing more than a stare. And he was an exceptional instructor who practiced what he preached.
Then again, he had always said that she was a very excellent student.
Adding a heavy tone to her steadily growing acidic demeanor, she continued. "I'm still waiting for the Counsel's rebuttal."
A soft sigh was all he gave in response. He would understand the reference, of course. Ever since his progeny was realized, he had been bred and shaped to become a legal cousel for the family. For the organization. And he would be one now, she was sure, if things hadn't turn out so wrong. All their lives would be different. Whether they would be better off, though...
It was another moment before he began folding up his morning paper, quietly setting it aside in the same soundless manner she had always known him to have. The same muted existence Itachi had always lived in. It was only in the way his brows knitted together that she Tenten knew - that she understood - that there were words to come after the hard stare and intent focus of his eyes. And in only a few second's time, he was up from the table and joining her in the living area.
"He doesn't possess the power to put all my planning to ruin." His voice was heavy, laced with burdens he had taken upon himself since the day Sasuke had been born. The same burdens Tenten picked up from the floor after Itachi had made his own departure. - A plan was a plan was a plan; he had his entire life mapped out for him since almost the beginning - It was the voice of a loving and dedicated brother.
But the young woman had seen the way Deidara and Itachi had interacted with each other; had felt the bond that radiated between them. It was not unlike the affection Itachi felt for his brother; that he felt for her after all the years of friendship. But there was more to what they had. And if Itachi believed otherwise, then he was only lying, both to her and to himself. "I beg to differ."
"With all due respect, Tenten, you are mistaken."
"You still have respect for me?" she scoffed, disbelief and irony filling her thoughts with a cool and even realization. Because only days before, he had implied that there would be harsh - fatal - consequences to her actions. A half-hearted threat, the young woman was sure, but no less possible. For his most important person, Itachi would do anything. And he was giving her one last warning to turn back on her decision before he acted. "Funny, you have a strange way of showing it."
Because she had always been so loyal and obedient since the beginning, even when she was too young to understand the meaning of the words she spoke or the promises that were made. Theirs was a history that spanned across decades of time and space. Of life and death. And when there was no one left for her to turn to after her family was turned to ruin, they had been there. Itachi and Sasuke. The Uchiha had always been there for her. And Tenten had been there for them, in turn, when their world was filled with nothing but darkness. A part of her would always hold to those vows.
"I may not work for the family anymore, but I wouldn't do anything to hurt him... or you." Here, she stood from her seat to move herself in front of the elder brother. And though he seemed to loom over him like a monstrous sentry, Tenten held her ground... if only for that moment. "We've been through too much and I'm not that petty..."
He had always seemed so strong, to her; so impossibly resilient and ingenious. There was nothing that Itachi couldn't do in her eyes; no problem he couldn't solve. Everything in the world had a solution, and if there was anyone who could figure it all out, it was him. And when the safety and happiness of his brother was involved, there was no limit to what could be done to ensure that Sasuke would get it. There was nothing more important to him than that, a sentiment that she understood and supported with all her heart. But in that moment where her gaze locked with his, there was a flash of uncertainty that gleamed in the dark shadow of his eyes.
"I know," was his soft response, "But the balance and the threat - red and blue, blue and red - one cannot exist without the other."
"...I know... Everything for Sasuke, right? I abide by that too... Even now."
She held the bitter resentment of a woman scorned as the words left her mouth. Even Tenten could not deny that. Years of discipline - years of loyalty - and now, after leaving it all behind, she still felt bound by the creed.
With grim acknowledgment, the young woman stared down at her hands and accpeted her fate. "...Everything for Sasuke."
Type: Fanfic
Fandom: AU!Naruto
Word count: 1238
Character(s): Tenten, Uchiha Itachi; brief mentions of Deidara, Uchiha Sasuke
Pairing(s): Implied Itachi/Deidara
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: I own nothing but these words.
Note: Randomly written fic inspired by the events and planned plots that took place at TheRisingSun. The headcanon wanted more. Who was I to deny it?
Dedicated to:
nothinglanguage and soliloquiiiWith a brief and gentle kiss, he sent Deidara on his way to the academy, leaving the both of them to settle in the familiar tension their lives had thrived on for years. For almost her entire life. But there was an extra layer that had been recently added to their dynamics. It wasn't quite as obvious at first, and for some time she had believed it to be a passing whim for someone who... only held one person at the center of his universe. But as time passed, it had been nagging at Tenten exceptionally since her defection from the clan. Still, the young woman had been patient and loyal; compelled, as it was, to place her trust in him as she always had for so many years now. But then, without her connection with the clan, there was no more need for discretion. No more need to stay out of his affairs outside of family business. Not that one didn't have an effect on the other.
There was no reason to keep her tongue in check anymore. Itachi had shown her that she was every bit a casualty now that she was no longer associated with the Uchiha. And that hurt her the most.
"You're distrustful of me, and yet you gave him the keys to the castle so easily." Seated at the old piano as she always was, her tone and attitude remained deceptively neutral, almost too casual for the subject matter that was plaguing her mind. But he had known her for countless years as well. Everything that came from her mouth was as cool and calculated as anything he could ever devised. Tenten trusted that the elder brother knew and understood what rested between the lines of her words. "If I were the sort, I'd be hurt and offended right now."
Without ever lifting his head up from the page of newspaper held out in front of him, Itachi responded. "...But you're not, are you, Tenten?"
"Not yet." The look she gave him was hard and stern. And if it were anyone else, he would have felt the burn through his paper-thin shield. But Itachi had been born under such scrutiny; had grew up in it. He had been the one to teach her how to take down a man with nothing more than a stare. And he was an exceptional instructor who practiced what he preached.
Then again, he had always said that she was a very excellent student.
Adding a heavy tone to her steadily growing acidic demeanor, she continued. "I'm still waiting for the Counsel's rebuttal."
A soft sigh was all he gave in response. He would understand the reference, of course. Ever since his progeny was realized, he had been bred and shaped to become a legal cousel for the family. For the organization. And he would be one now, she was sure, if things hadn't turn out so wrong. All their lives would be different. Whether they would be better off, though...
It was another moment before he began folding up his morning paper, quietly setting it aside in the same soundless manner she had always known him to have. The same muted existence Itachi had always lived in. It was only in the way his brows knitted together that she Tenten knew - that she understood - that there were words to come after the hard stare and intent focus of his eyes. And in only a few second's time, he was up from the table and joining her in the living area.
"He doesn't possess the power to put all my planning to ruin." His voice was heavy, laced with burdens he had taken upon himself since the day Sasuke had been born. The same burdens Tenten picked up from the floor after Itachi had made his own departure. - A plan was a plan was a plan; he had his entire life mapped out for him since almost the beginning - It was the voice of a loving and dedicated brother.
But the young woman had seen the way Deidara and Itachi had interacted with each other; had felt the bond that radiated between them. It was not unlike the affection Itachi felt for his brother; that he felt for her after all the years of friendship. But there was more to what they had. And if Itachi believed otherwise, then he was only lying, both to her and to himself. "I beg to differ."
"With all due respect, Tenten, you are mistaken."
"You still have respect for me?" she scoffed, disbelief and irony filling her thoughts with a cool and even realization. Because only days before, he had implied that there would be harsh - fatal - consequences to her actions. A half-hearted threat, the young woman was sure, but no less possible. For his most important person, Itachi would do anything. And he was giving her one last warning to turn back on her decision before he acted. "Funny, you have a strange way of showing it."
Because she had always been so loyal and obedient since the beginning, even when she was too young to understand the meaning of the words she spoke or the promises that were made. Theirs was a history that spanned across decades of time and space. Of life and death. And when there was no one left for her to turn to after her family was turned to ruin, they had been there. Itachi and Sasuke. The Uchiha had always been there for her. And Tenten had been there for them, in turn, when their world was filled with nothing but darkness. A part of her would always hold to those vows.
"I may not work for the family anymore, but I wouldn't do anything to hurt him... or you." Here, she stood from her seat to move herself in front of the elder brother. And though he seemed to loom over him like a monstrous sentry, Tenten held her ground... if only for that moment. "We've been through too much and I'm not that petty..."
He had always seemed so strong, to her; so impossibly resilient and ingenious. There was nothing that Itachi couldn't do in her eyes; no problem he couldn't solve. Everything in the world had a solution, and if there was anyone who could figure it all out, it was him. And when the safety and happiness of his brother was involved, there was no limit to what could be done to ensure that Sasuke would get it. There was nothing more important to him than that, a sentiment that she understood and supported with all her heart. But in that moment where her gaze locked with his, there was a flash of uncertainty that gleamed in the dark shadow of his eyes.
"I know," was his soft response, "But the balance and the threat - red and blue, blue and red - one cannot exist without the other."
"...I know... Everything for Sasuke, right? I abide by that too... Even now."
She held the bitter resentment of a woman scorned as the words left her mouth. Even Tenten could not deny that. Years of discipline - years of loyalty - and now, after leaving it all behind, she still felt bound by the creed.
With grim acknowledgment, the young woman stared down at her hands and accpeted her fate. "...Everything for Sasuke."