Naruto - Three Strikes

- The first time, she had been following her head.

It had seemed like the most logical choice at the time, and even to this day she could pull up all the facts and figures of why it would've worked out for them. She had already known him for a number of years; they had been in the same class all throughout their Academy days. Granted, Tenten never recalled ever speaking with him for more than a word or two in between lessons, Neji preferring to keep to himself while the whole world continued to revolve around his excellence. But at the very least, it seemed as if he held some tolerance for her that the young boy did not appear to give to any of the other girls in their class. And that was saying something. The prospects only increased with their eventual graduation because, by some stroke of luck or providence, she had been assigned to his team.

Neji quickly became her pillar of sanity and strength amid the endless speeches of Youth and diligence that Gai-sensei insisted on lecturing them about, words that Lee found it impossible not to repeat time and time again as the days passed. Unconsciously, they found logic and solace in each other where none could be found with their other teammates. It made perfect sense. They made perfect sense. In theory.

When it was put to the test, though, reality proved to be much different. And what started out as love slowly turned into a childish infatuation she was more than willing to leave behind.


- The second time, she had followed her hormones.

It was a natural course of things to fall for the young Uchiha, or so she had reasoned at the time. They had both been raised on the principle of companionship and reliance that had been the foundation of the Leaf's teachings. And with the whole of Oto purposely avoiding direct contact with them, they could only find a strange sort of camaraderie with each other. Sasuke was Orochimaru's beloved pet, after all. Damage to him meant dire consequences for the culprit in question. Which left Tenten off limits by association as the young man's sparring partner.

After spending weeks of their time together, both in spar and in conspiring to overtake the Sound Village, she could not help but find the attraction in his hidden personality. Sasuke was a man of many faceties, and a dark charm that drew upon both her loneliness and a primal inner voice that soon took control after months of restraint. It was only a small, lateral jump from being his partner in crime to sharing his bed. And neither party were making complaints about the arrangement.

What started as a mere convenience quickly turned into the sort of love she could never build a life with, not while he still had a goal to achieve, or while she had her loyalties. And so, their brief union was ended the moment the Snake Lord Sannin was defeated and Sasuke kept his promise to set her free after helping him overtake the Sound Village. There were nights afterwards, though, where Tenten allowed herself to wonder if it couldn't have worked out after all, particularly when the truth about Itachi's role in the Uchiha Massacre was revealed and the young heir chose a different path to follow than the one that had been carved for him.

But some things were simply not meant to be.


- The third time, she followed her heart. And finally got it right.

It had certainly been unexpected. After the first two failed attempts, Tenten had simply stopped searching for love; had never really set out to find it for herself in the first place. Emotions meant death for a shinobi, after all. It held no place or purpose when the world was at war and death was constantly knocking on her doorstep. Their doorstep. But things tend to happen unpredictably, for better or for worse; such was the course of life and it's many pathways. And that, perhaps, was why things fell into place so easily when it came searching for her.

He was far from what she had ever pictured for herself. Quiet. Reserved. Private to a fault, and almost achingly analytical to rival her own love for knowledge and research. But ultimately, and much to the kunoichi's surprise, that was part of Shino's charm. And what he lacked in social comprehension, he more than made up in tradition and an unspoken level of consideration. Spending a majority of her life surrounded by those who focused their time and energy on the big picture as well as the end results, it was a nice change of pace to find someone who took a perchance into the smaller details; who enjoyed the journey as much as the destination, if not more. Much like she often would. And thus, theirs was a slow and steady path, giving plentiful opportunity for exploration and mutual understanding.

In the end, it was his willingness to compromise rather than demand that captured her interest and her heart. And it was the deep bonds that formed from their lingering efforts that kept him in possession of it.