One Long Mission

Tenten normally didn't mind coming home; in fact, she was usually the first one there, ready to greet the other two, or to grab Sasuke and go storming off to grab Itachi if the need arose. Tonight, however, she came back later than usual, after dusk. How was she supposed to go back to the way things were, after learning what she had?

Not only the fact that in the future, there would be a war, against an enemy powerful enough to unite the five shinobi nations, but that they'd be losing so badly that Neji...

She'd spent the time after parting from her other two teammates just aimlessly wandering the village, taking stock of all the little things she'd gotten so used to. Daily life, monotonous, peaceful... all of it was hard to reconcile with the idea that back home, eventually, they'd be plunged deep into war.

"I'm home." It was more of a murmur than her customary call as she slipped her shoes off by reflex and made her way through the house. She didn't intend to find any of the others; if she was lucky, she'd be able to head to the kitchen, grab a quick bite to eat, then just head to bed. Or pretend to be asleep, at the very least.

She kind of liked this place, now that she'd found it. The lighting was muted enough to keep the tables relatively private, and there was a counter to sit at instead of just tables! Not to mention, the sushi was great. A little tempted to order saké just because she didn't think the owner would say no, but... well, she'd stopped trying to imitate that facet of Tsunade-sama's when she was still a kid. Besides, she doubted it would be any fun to drink alone. Instead, she got the chef's special, a sushi platter with cider.

Maybe someone would join her, maybe not. Either way, something little like this was kind of relaxing~

[Edit: backdated to the day before Valentine's]

Tenten didn't have so many regrets as she had wishes. Even back in Konoha, she'd always made a point, if she wasn't on a mission during the festivals, to toss a piece of paper into the bonfire each day it was lit. The first night had been a wish for Itachi's health, the second for Sasuke to someday come back to the village, the third to beat that Neji, the fourth that he find happiness, and so on, and so forth.

As happy as she was here, she couldn't quite bring herself to wish that she stay. She cared for both of her Uchiha -- she still blushed to call them lovers -- but it just wasn't the same as spending even an hour with her team. Tonight's wish was to go home and let everything go back to the way it had been.

She offers a silent prayer with closed eyes, then she folds the wish into a paper shuriken like a child and flicks it to the edge of the fire to watch it burn. Though the white silk of her Chinese-style dress is lined with wool, her flesh prickles as she watches the fire consume the little shuriken and the smoke start to rise into the air, then with a sudden cry of surprise she brings both arms up, crossed over her chest in an X to guard as a sharp winter wind makes the flames gutter for a moment.

By the time she looked back, her shuriken had disappeared.