Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

False Confessions, Secret Intentions

Chapter One: Tenten's Moods—Sasuke's Behaviors

Tenten stomped through the streets of Konoha, downright irritated. Why was she so irritated? Simple. She had heard nonstop about Lee getting together with that Haruno girl, and she knew that the Haruno girl (Sakura, was it?) was just doing it out of pity, and though she held no real lovey-love, not even slight attraction in that way, to her spandex-wearing teammate, she certainly felt, as a teammate, that that pairing was not good. Lee was getting pity-dated, Sakura was unhappy, the world is chaos, there'll be pink haired green-spandex wearing kids running around all over the place and getting in the training fields and in the way of her weapons-throwing. With Lee's "youthful-youthfulness," he was bound to make them multiply fast—one hundred times as fast as any normal human being. And then poor, poor, POOR Sakura will have dozens, hundreds, thousands, MILLIONS of little pink haired green-spandex wearing kids running around. Which means that SHE would probably have to move out and live in solitude somewhere for killing a couple hundred of them.

And that Ino girl had gotten together with her teammate, Shikamaru. Ha, ha. That was laughable. They didn't even get along—Ino was a loud mouth who got angry a lot, and Shikamaru took a lot of naps and stuff. And now that she thought of it, when the Suna girl, Temari, was visiting, she did look rather pissed-off, too. Maybe it was the heat. The heat certainly was sweltering, and Tenten was drenched in sweat. She looked up. There were heat waves. Tenten sighed irritably. Great. LeeXSakuramillions of kids, another troublesome pairing, InoXShikamaru, and HeatAnnoyed Kunoichi.

"MAN! MY LIFE SUCKS!" Tenten yelled at the sky. Then she looked down. "Wait." She took her hands out of her pockets and started to count her fingers. "No life-threatening illness. No life-threatening or even annoying injuries from combat. Not poor. Training's all right. No love life—only a few annoying boys on my heels. A lot of weapons. The only bad things are my spandex teammates, other people's relationships I should probably just go and forget altogether, and the fact that I never have enough money to go see any new movies and buy new kunai anymore. Never mind, I TAKE THAT BACK!" she yelled again. "MY LIFE IS GREAT! THERE IS A GOD! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"What in the world are you screaming about?" Tenten looked at the direction of the voice.

"Oh. Sasuke. Didn't see you there."

"Apparently not." He looked at her. "What're you doing?"

"Counting my blessings, yelling my frustrations, etc. Did you know that Sakura girl got together with Lee? It's annoying. It's like, all he says at training is, 'OH! MY BEAUTIFUL, YOUTHFUL SAKURA!' And yelling her compliments, and Gai isn't better."

"I, uh, see…what about the Hyuga? Isn't he some support? Sane support? I would think, somewhat."

"Neji?!" Tenten said. "Yeah, he's all right. But he's this 'stoic prodigy look' going on. He's not that fun to talk to. You know?"

"Hn." Sasuke looked at her.

"Right. You've got the 'stoic prodigy look' going on, too. Forget I said anything." Tenten turned and started to walk away, whistling. "Now I've gotta think of some way to get those two apart…if I strike Lee with a rabies-infected dog, which I can probably get from Kiba, then it would be so easy…he would be isolated, he would die, problem solved! A couple of them! But then who knows who I'd get on my team…and I've learned to cope with the guy, somewhat—EH!?" Tenten looked beside her where she saw the prodigy Uchiha walking next to her. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm up for a conversation."

"I, uh, okay…" Tenten looked at him and blinked slowly. "Oh. I noticed you always have girls flocking you—what do you think about it? I've tried asking Neji, but he replies with looks. But I think he hates them and wants to kill them, that's the impression I get."

"Huh? Yeah, well, they're annoying…" Sasuke said, and looked away, and his eyebrow twitched. Tenten looked and tried to interpret this. She stopped, put up an arm, and pointed.

"You're in love with the Sakura girl, aren't you?! I mean, you say you have to 'restore your clan' and all that. Wait. Do you mean like, restore your clan's glory, or restore your clan literally, or restore your dead family members, or restore your clan's…weaponry?"

Sasuke looked back at her. "I don't know what I meant. I think that the guy just thought it would be a cool line, like, 'I have two goals in life. To kill Itachi and restore my clan.' Or maybe one wasn't enough. But anyway, no, no, I'm not in love with Sakura. She's a teammate."

"Fine. I'm no therapist, and you don't need therapy unless you're suicidal or something. And I'm not the person to ask about these things, anyway." Tenten began to walk away. "See you later." Sasuke watched her go silently.

Tenten, if anything, was even more angry now that she had talked with that Sasuke dude.

"He could be in complete denial that he loves that girl, but he really does, or he likes her, is attracted to her, or likes her as a teammate, or hates her." Tenten thought. A? B? C? D? D. Oh, yes, definitely.

Now that she thought of it, Sasuke seemed a bit more talkative than Neji. Coincidence? Maybe Neji had something wrong with his vocal cords—never mind, if anyone had anything wrong with the vocal cords, it was that Shikamaru guy, saying, "Hn," and, "troublesome," all the time. Tenten wondered what Ino and Shikamaru were doing. She shuddered at the thought. Of course, she had never been on a date, so she wouldn't now, now, would she?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid adolescence, stupid, stupid, stupid," Tenten whispered harshly to herself as she walked. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" this walk wasn't helping her mood. She perked up immediately. Ichiraku Ramen! Oh, yes, a good bowl of ramen would help now. She walked immediately to the stall and plopped down into a seat.

"One pork ramen, with an egg!" she said immediately. As she waited she looked around the stall. The Naruto guy was sitting a couple seats down, to no surprise, and as she looked to the other side she saw Hyuga Hinata, blushing down into her ramen. Now that she thought about it, ramen would not help the heat, but…oh well! Ramen was good!

"Here it is." The ramen stall owner passed her the bowl. She broke apart her chopsticks and dug in happily. She was halfway through when someone entered the stall and plopped down next to her. Tenten looked over. It was Shikamaru. She slurped up the noodle she was eating as Shikamaru gave in his order and then leaned down on the table, as if asleep. Tenten prodded her with the clean end of her chopstick.

"What are you doing?" she asked plainly. She noticed that Hinata was leaning over slightly and looking timidly in Naruto's direction. The shy Hyuga heiress hadn't touched her bowl.

Shikamaru looked up and cracked an eye at Tenten. He groaned lazily.

"I am sleeping because I am tired."

"Tired? Why are you tired? You're lazier than anyone I've met."

"I am tired because of my…annoying girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? You mean Ino?" Tenten picked up her fishcake and began to eat it.

"Hn…" Shikamaru said, and placed his head on the table again as his ramen was served.

"What's wrong with her?" Tenten looked at him, satisfied he wasn't making any sudden moves, and reached quickly into his bowl and took his fishcake and swallowed it in a single gulp.

"She is…annoying…she's troublesome, more so as a girlfriend. She requires…maintenance."

"Maintenance? Like machine maintenance? Weapons require little maintenance, you know…just clean them once in a while and they look and work good as new."

"Yes. She keeps me up all night, insisting I'm not treating her well enough, and all sorts of troublesome things…I am tired." He lifted his head up, broke apart his chopsticks, picked up a noodle, and ate it.

"I see. So she's one of those types? Never thought you guys were a good couple. Why are you still with her, then?"

"I have no choice. She would be…hurt if I, uh, broke up with her. Not to mention angry. She'd go on a diet, starve herself, then what happens to the Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji team?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, can't help you there. My only solutions would cause the same conclusion, anyway—dead Ino. Or dead Shikamaru. Whatever." Tenten got up, paid, and walked away. Shikamaru looked back after her. Hinata blushed as she looked quietly at Naruto.

Tenten raced through the streets of Konoha straight for her house to go and see if she had any ice in her fridge because she was burning up like a piece of bread stuck in a toaster.

"TENTEN! YOUTHFUL FLOWER!"

Tenten stopped short and craned her head toward the unwelcome visitor. Lee stood there, gripping Sakura's hand obsessively. Tenten's teeth gritted, her eyes flamed, and she was all but happy. This…this teammate was ruining her day. Her day off. And she was not happy.

"Hello, Tenten-chan!" Sakura said, wiggling her wrist. Tenten looked at that motion. She was trying to get Lee off. It was not working. Tenten looked at Lee and managed a forced smile.

"What are you doing, Lee?"

"Oh, youthful flower! I am taking Sakura on a youthful date so that we may enjoy our youthfulness together in youthful harmony!" Lee cried.

"LEE, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The fireworks and sunset ended and Gai slipped back to wherever he had come. Tenten had a vein throbbing in her forehead, and her eyes became twin bonfires. She reached into her weapons pouch.

"Lee, I'm very happy that you're so happy, now if you excuse me—"

"Tenten."

Tenten turned around and saw Neji standing behind her. Neji put a hand on Tenten's shoulder.

"Lee, we were just going to train. You can go do…whatever you want."

"LET US GO RUN YOUTHFUL LAPS, SAKURA!" Lee skipped away happily, dragging Sakura along, who waved a tentative goodbye. Tenten and Neji looked back. Tenten turned to Neji.

"Where'd you appear all of a sudden? And we're not going to train today, you said…it's the day off and you said you were going to train at the Hyuga place."

Neji sighed. "There's some business, and so...and also, I was passing by and you were going to kill our teammate. I saw those exploding tags, scrolls, and very sharp weapons you were getting out. You were just deciding which way you wanted to kill him."

Tenten sweatdropped. That was true—she ALMOST felt guilty now.

"Anyway, goodbye." Neji waved and walked away. Tenten stared.

"Well, he said goodbye," Tenten sighed and ran home.

With Ino…

Ino was definitely not happy. She stomped through the streets of Konoha, seething. Where in the world was Shikamaru? If he was her boyfriend, he should at least make an effort to make her happy and make the relationship work, a.k.a, be her personal slave. She was not happy. At all.

Ino stopped short when she saw Shikamaru, at the Ichiraku ramen. Shikamaru was sitting there, next to Tenten, and Tenten was…flirting with him. Ino gaped. Tenten had never been the romantic type, and this was a sudden change, but…THEY WERE TALKING AND SHARING RAMEN. Oh, yes. Definitely flirty. No, not flirty, definitely DATING. This was bad! Shikamaru was being downright ungrateful for her being his girlfriend, and he was cheating her besides! Ino's eyes flamed. This was war. DEFINITELY war.

Ino stopped, and decided not to disturb their…friendly conversation, and slipped into the crowd and let her beautiful long, luscious blond locks down and covered her face. People passed and thought that she looked quite like a madwoman, and her hair made her look like a hideous blond witch as Ino stared at the two. Tenten left after paying and headed back home. Ino got up abruptly and started to contemplate the situation, then decided to…follow Tenten. Follow. Not stalk. Follow.

Ino started to follow, making sure that her hair was well proportioned over her face, tripped because she had failed to proportion her hair to allow her to see, and fell flat on her beautiful face. She screamed in agony.

"MY FACE! MY FACE! SOMEONE, CALL AN AMBULANCE! MY FACE! AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

"Ino? Why are you acting paranoid?"

"Uh—wha?"

"I said, why are you acting paranoid. Duh."

"Ah…hahaha…hi, Kiba! And Shino! How are you?"

"…better than you. You, uh, your nose is slightly swollen…"

"H-H—UWWAAAAHHHHTTTT?!!?! DO SOMETHING, YOU FOOLS! MY SENSITIVE FACE WILL SUFFER PERMANENT DAMAGE—MOVE IT!"

"Judging by her…energy, I'm thinking she is fine," commented Shino.

"I'm with you there."

With Tenten…

Tenten sighed and looked up at her door. It was lonely, sort of, going into an empty house every day. Tenten sighed again, heavier this time. And what gave her these weird chills down her spine…?

"Hello, Tenten."

"UU—EEEYYYYYAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!" Tenten jumped five feet in the air, successfully cracked the overhang, and emerged with a huge swelling purple bump on her head. She turned, her eyes telling someone she was NOT in a good mood—actually, something like this…

"YOU! YOU IDIOT! WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU ARE GOING TO BE SO DEAD! YOU ARE GOING TO BE DEAD IN A SECOND! I AM SO NOT HOLDING BACK! THIS KILL IS MINE! I DON'T CARE ABOUT JAIL! I'LL BECOME AN EXILED NINJA! YOU IDIOT—YOU FOOL—YOU STUPID—YOU—Sasuke!"

"Hello. Um…what…pretty language."

"Uh…ha…ha..." Tenten sweatdropped. "Sorry, you scared me. Anyway, what do you want? I, uh, didn't know you knew the way to my place…" On the inside…

"THIS GUY IS A STALKER! STOP HIM NOW, TENTEN, WHILE YOU'VE STILL GOT THE OPPURTUNITY! OH, YEAH! PLAY THE 'GOOD GIRL!' WHEN HIS GUARD'S DOWN, YOU CAN REALLY QUICKLY GET INTO YOUR WEAPONS POUCH AND—"

"Tenten? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Huh? Uh, uh, yeah!" Tenten said. "Anyway, what are you here for?"

Sasuke surveyed her. "I wondered…are you free tomorrow night?"

"Huh? For what?"

"…a date."

Tenten's skin sprouted cold sweat. Her eyes bugged out and her vision got blurry. Her throat was as dry as a desert.

THE UCHIHA? ASK ME OUT—NO, ASK ANYONE OUT? Impossible. This isn't him—this guy is too weird—this…THIS MUST BE AN ENEMY NINJA FROM ANOTHER VILLAGE! THAT HAS TO BE IT! Is he trying to get information from me…? No…I don't know any high-value information. Wait…am I really on a mission? Am I caught in a genjutsu that erases my memory? This…this is too weird…this is not normal…OH, HELP!

"Tenten? Are you okay?" Sasuke reached out a hand toward Tenten. Tenten eyed it with eyes as large as her whole weapons collection, and sped away as fast as her legs could carry her. "Tenten?"

"HELP ME TSUNADE-SAMA!"

"Hm?" Tsunade sipped her sake.

"T-Tsunade-sama…" Tenten gasped, out of breath. "Y-You have t-to…y-you have t-to h-help me…"

"Hm? What is it?"

Tenten burst out. "UCHIHA SASUKE IS ACTING LIKE—LIKE A MADMAN!"

"Really? What evidence? Has an enemy ninja infiltrated our ranks?"

"Y-Yes, I think so. Evidence? Well, uh…" Tenten's voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "H—He asked me out. He even said it. He called it…he called it…a date."

"Oh? That's all? Well, I have your answer…" Tsunade turned around on her chair and started to sound mysterious and cool. "Well…even Uchiha Sasuke must go through this…phase too."

"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Tenten trembled. A fake? But she called it…a phase. What did she mean? Tenten stared at Tsunade, waiting for her answer.

"Indeed…this phase. For you see, it is a period called adolescence. It does happen around this age. Have you had the talk yet? I will use…hm…guinea pigs as a example. When the male guinea pig likes a female guinea pig, the male wants to capture her attention. After he successfully captures her attention, they make babies…"

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Tenten yelled. "Have you had too much sake? Uchiha Sasuke will—and will never—go and do that. Something is terribly wrong. Can't you understand?"

"Hm?" Tsunade was too busy sipping sake.

Tenten wobbled out of the room, dazed and shaken and dizzy from shock and exhaustion. Even her idol was of no use! What was going on—

"Hello, Tenten."

Tenten jumped and nearly screamed. Sasuke??! The Uchiha?! The thing?! IT COULDN'T BE IT COULDN'T BE IT JUST COULDN'T BE. She cracked her eyes open a little. Familiar eyes. Neji.

"What are you doing? I heard your conversation. What was that about?"

Tenten started to feel dizzy again. "Uh, I think that the Uchiha has been replaced by something of the unknown. An enemy ninja. Or this could be a genjutsu. Or the Uchiha needs to be in an asylum. Or something…"

"Hm? Asylum? Enemy ninja? Genjutsu? I don't think it's any of those…"

"What do you think it is, then?"

"Hm…I merely think that his liking in you is merely caused by adolescence, which proves that I am cooler than him, and more resistant."

"EH?!" Tenten began to cry. Not even her sensible, down to earth teammate, Neji, who always was the smart one with the plans and things, DID NOT THINK ANY OF THE "SOMETHING-IS-WRONG-WITH-SASUKES." This was not due to mere adolescence. It was due to…something much more. Tenten knew this.

"But the fact that he has an attraction…to you is…not good. I will not have my teammate interacting with him. However, I could use this to my advantage…"

Tenten was not listening. Spotting someone she knew, her eyes glistening with hope, she ran away. Neji was pulled out of his thoughts.

"Tenten? Where are you going? Tenten! You need to help me defeat the Uchiha! TENTEN?!"