The Scroll

The Scroll

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            In her bedroom, Tenten stuffed a satchel full of various scrolls, preparing for tomorrow.  With her was Rock Lee, who had insisted on walking her home since it was already after dark.  Very few times, she had let any boy up to her room, wishing to keep things orderly; and Lee was a prime example of why she enforced that rule.  While fitting another summoning scroll into her pouch, she ground her teeth.

            “Tenten, if you moved your bed over a little bit and took out this dresser,” Lee lectured, tapping the small drawer that she stashed her makeup for special occasions, “you would have enough room to put in some dumbbells to work out with in the morning.  We have to take advantage of our springtime!  Gai-sensei said…!”

            “Enough, Lee!” Tenten exclaimed, spinning around to glower at the bodybuilder ninja.  “I like my room the way it is.  If you have a problem with it, stay out!”

            Not taking offense, Lee held up his forefinger pointedly.  “But you were the one who invited me in.”

            What strength it took not to summon out a kunai and throw it at him at that moment.  Tenten snarled, and went back to work, managing to fit the last roll of paper in the bag.  “There, the last one,” she said with a sigh, now fully prepared for tomorrow’s event.  Tomorrow, the Rookie 9 and Team Gai had arranged a united training exercise – a ‘team versus team’ spar.  Being one to show off when the opportunity presented itself, Tenten chose almost all of her weapon scrolls to really shine on the battlefield; she would also take her larger scroll, which contained most of her artillery, but the smaller ones contained a wider range of her most useful and unique tools.  Pumping her fist subtly to hype herself up, she murmured, “I can go all out.  I’ll show up Sakura to prove that Tsunade-sama could count on me…”

            “Oi, Tenten,” Lee called in a raised voice, pointing at an empty bowl tucked halfway underneath her bed.  “Does this belong in the kitchen?  You should keep your room clean.  If I accidently leave even a spoon in my bedroom, I do five-hundred push-ups; and if I can’t do that, I do…”

            Nerves worn by Lee’s incessant rambling, Tenten snatched the dish from him when he picked it up.  “If it’ll make you feel more comfortable, I’ll go put it in the kitchen.”  She stormed off, grumbling about how annoying he was.

            Lee looked around for any more untidiness, and then saw the bottom drawer of her makeup dresser.  To his dissatisfaction, he saw that a spoon was sticking halfway out of the drawer.  He pursed his lips tightly and pulled the compartment out.  “Tenten needs to keep more organized,” he observed, but by pulling the drawer out too far, he caught a glimpse of something in the back.  Curiosity made him peek in, and his face lit up as he reached for the object.  “Another scroll,” he mused, holding it up to inspect more thoroughly.  It wasn’t marked with any lettering, leaving the contents unknown; all that was on it was the color pink and a lovely heart.  Figuring it was one of Tenten’s favorite summoning – with an endearing heart and all – he slipped it in with the rest of her arsenal.  “Good thing I looked,” he said, proud of himself for looking out for his teammate.  He held up the spoon.  “Now to take this to the kitchen…”  He flipped upside down to do a handstand.  “With my feet during a handstand!”  As he scurried down the stairs, he began rambling off more conditions.

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