notes: This was requested anonymously on LJ, a Sasuke/Tenten with the prompt "jealousy". Let's see… Sasuke and Tenten should be over twenty in this story, and this is set years after Sasuke's (hypothetical) homecoming. Whoever you are, Anon, I hope you like it!

misconception
a side of me you didn't know

.

The missive on the dining table was a pale, salmon pink, adorned with obnoxious red hearts and imprints of lips. The block letters that ran through it left deep, deliberate impressions on the paper, making it painfully clear that the writer had put much effort and care into his words. Several phrases jumped out from the page, almost taunting: my love for you is stronger than the sun and deeper than all oceans; eyes like rainbows; admirable, lovely kunoichi that all women should aspire to be.

"Alright," Sasuke said, after spending a futile moment trying to decide if what he felt at the badly written poetry was closer to fury or extreme annoyance, "We're moving next Sunday."

His declaration, spoken in a purposefully flat, impassive tone, failed to stop the grin that was tugging on Tenten's lips. She picked up the letter and cradled it between her hands, fingertips softly caressing the obviously expensive paper. "That doesn't seem like the best solution."

"It is," the black-haired man insisted. "We'll just move and not tell anyone."

Amusement dancing in her eyes, she set the letter down on the table. "Again, not the best solution."

"Tenten." He gave her a look. "It's a love letter."

"I'm aware."

The space between his brows creasing, Sasuke frowned at the woman sitting across of him. Her lack of concern was extremely disturbing. "It's a love letter," he repeated, his baritone dipping low with emphasis, "from someone unknown—someone who leaves this dastardly improper, juvenile thing on our doorstep, hiding his chakra signature. Do you really not see a problem with this?"

Shaking her head, Tenten suppressed a smile and tried her best to look serious. "Not really."

Obsidian eyes narrowing, Sasuke fought to keep his patience. "Tenten, this… this criminal has sent you a variety of things for the last five days. Human-sized stuffed toys, silk scarfs, shortbread cookies—"

"Where are they now?"

Sasuke leveled his gaze on hers. "I disposed of them. All of them," he replied calmly, in a smooth manner that told Tenten he crushed the items with his bare fingers, attacked them with Chidori, and burned them to ashes before actually throwing them to the bin. The house had suspiciously smelled like lightning when she got home. "They were cheap ones. I can buy twenty boxes of better quality shortbread cookies if you let me." Seeing the expression on her face, he scoffed the way only Uchihas knew how to: prideful and rather condescending. "Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that this guy can be dangerous. I don't feel safe knowing someone is lurking around our house, waiting for the right moment to—"

"You don't feel safe," Tenten snorted. "The Uchiha Sasuke, not feeling safe at his own home, even with all the traps and defenses he set up himself. Sure, I believe you."

The glare that he fired at her sarcasm made the temperature cool. "Alright," he acknowledged. "It's not that I don't feel safe, it's that I don't want this someone, whoever this is, to keep sending you letters like this. I think it's annoying to come home every single day to find something on the doorstep that may or may not be dangerous. Is that so wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know," she murmured after a moment of deliberate silence, her tone mild, "Is it so wrong to just admit the fact that you are, well, jealous?"

"I'm not—" Sasuke stopped himself short of his automatic denial. "I'm not—" he tried again, frustration gnawing the insides of his chest, both at his own inability to speak and the infuriating smile that curled her lips, "I'm just—"

"Jealous?" Tenten offered when all sound died on his tongue.

"If… if you absolutely have to put it that way," he conceded grudgingly, "then yes. I suppose I may have felt an insignificantly small bout of… jealousy." He spat the last word.

The light in the dining room caught her brown irises and raised the flecks of gold in them, shadowed under long, thick lashes, and Sasuke knew had this been a battle, he would have been cornered, pinned to the ground, one second away from defeat. "Well, now," her voice was velvet, pitched low, her lips curving into an astonishingly brilliant smile that made him realize maybe he had already lost from the very beginning, "Was that so hard?"

"You—"

"You don't have to worry about the letters or the gifts," she interrupted, "I know who sent them."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

Tenten only smiled. "First clue: you know the person a lot better than I do."

"Naruto," he guessed quickly, "Sakura. Tsunade. Kakashi. That old woman who always gives me extra eggs whenever you send me to shop for groceries."

The weapon mistress shook her head, the corners of her lips rising even higher as she rose to her feet. "Second clue: you can't detect this person's chakra signature because he's been here before. A lot." His stare calculating on her face, she reached up and untied her buns, red silk ribbons dangling limply from her fingers as brown hair spilled onto and over her shoulders, some unfaithful strands curling gently at the nape of her neck. When she passed him, she leaned down and swept a quick kiss on his cheek. "Third clue: you spoil this person way too much. Even Naruto agrees."

Comprehension dawning, Sasuke grabbed her wrists. "You must be joking."

"Confirm it yourself. Me, I'm just going to take a long, warm, relaxing bath." A bubble of wicked, teasing laughter in her eyes, she added, "By the way, you're more than welcome to join me."

About ten kilometers away, somewhere in the Hokage's office, twelve-year-old Uzumaki Sora erupted into a violent fit of sneezes as his hand stopped moving on the pink piece of paper he just began writing on. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and smiled secretly to himself. He could definitely use these sneezes as an excuse to spend his lunch break with Tenten-sensei tomorrow at the academy. She would be concerned, and he would have her all to himself.

It was a good plan, Sora decided. His father would be proud.

As he made his way to join Tenten in the bathroom, Sasuke decided that he would make a visit to the Hokage very, very soon.

There would not be any 'spoiling' in the foreseeable future, that was for sure.

.

end.

notes: It's my first time writing Sasuke and Tenten as a pair, and I hope I did that convincingly enough. Thanks for reading!