Wide Awake

It was a beautiful dark night. The storms off in the distance promised rain as the lightning lit up different beautiful patterns in the sky amongst the clouds. Akki Senju sat on the rooftop of her childhood home. Her family was fast asleep, yet Akki Senju was wide awake! Being back in Konoha, Akki knew what she had to do.
She slid back into her home through the attic, then went down the stairs to head out the door! Akki had to go rebuild the Konoha lab her sister Megami and her used in their younger years.
The storm was rolling in slowly as Akki left her home. She pulled her cloaks hood up as she used the darkness of the night to travel through the dark streets of Konoha! She stayed in the shadows of buildings and streets to avoid being seen. The thunder rolled across the village as the shadows crept across the ground in the flashes of lightning!
Akki saw the abandoned district and stopped running. Slowly she strolled through the street as memories flooded back. Akki almost passed the building, but thank goodness she caught it in time!
Looking up, Akki noticed the clouds were almost completely over her at this point. Maybe it would rain! She walked up to the door and tried to open it, but couldn't get it open! She jiggled it over and over again until she finally got it open.
"About damn time!" Akki said as she walked into the house. Still empty still abandoned! She bent down and pulled the rug off the floor revealing the sliding panel floor. "Long time no see. Let's see if the codes work" she said as she popped open a small panel on the floor. Typing in a password, a small panel flipped open on the bookcase. Akki walked over typed in another password and the panel on the floor, over a staircase leading down stairs opened up.
"Still got it!" Akki squealed as she ran down the stairs and flipped in the light!
"Needs a little cleaning but still good looking!" Akki said as she looked around. The room looked dusty and old but she knew she could fix it up.
"Guess I need to get started." She smiled as she sat down to go through some papers.

Tenshi sighed as he walked through the lonely and cold streets of Konoha. It had been a particularly boring day for him, he had a few hours of patrol just before and nothing exciting took place, which was probably for the best considering how intense his prior patrol had been. It was always good when nobody died while he was on watch after all... He had just checked out of his shift and was walking home when he noticed the incoming storm clouds, that would explain why it was so much darker as walked further.

He had ended his patrol in a rather unfamiliar part of town, it was a lot less populated than what he was used to, residing primarily in the Uchiha district which was quite popular as of recently. A bit too popular if you ask me... Tenshi thought to himself as he remembered that his clan's sacred home district had recently become host to many more outsiders than usual. He grit his teeth as he tried to supress the internal frustration he felt from this.

He continued to push forward in the direction of his home when something occurred to him. He had already known this area was fairly quiet, but it was more than that, he did not see a single person around. Was he in the deserted district? Perhaps he had gotten lost on his walk? There were empty looking buildings all around him by now, giving him the impression that he was correct about his assumption. Tenshi knew nothing about this area, not even knowing where to move to get back to his home. Well then, I had better get some altitude to help out with that...

He quickly leapt to the nearest building wall, using the surface walking technique to make his way to the top of the broken down home. At the top he was finally able to see whether the centre of Konoha was, making him realise he was going in the wrong direction. As he was about to head home, a flash of lightning made something catch his eye, a figure darting about in the shadows.

Although it would be normal for someone to be moving quickly to avoid getting hit by the rain and wind accompanied by a storm, this person was clearly attempting to avoid being seen. Having just come from a patrol, Tenshi's instincts kicked in, and he decided to take a detour, following this mysterious person from the rooftops.

After a short while of tailing, the mystery person finally stopped in front of an abandoned looking building, they took a moment to get the door open, which Tenshi found curious. He kept his head low to avoid being seen as he observed the person entering the building, they had apparently forgotten to close the door behind them. Either an accident or they were setting a trap. Activating his three tomoe Sharingan, Tenshi quietly descended from the building opposite, before making his way nimbly towards the open door.

With the assistance of his ocular prowess, he was able to observe the person as they moved a rug over and fiddled with the floor boards. He could their voice slightly, but he was too far to make out what was being said, was somebody else with them? He slowly edged closer when, all of a sudden, a noise came from a nearby book case. He was just outside the front door now, with his head the only thing sticking out so he could continue watching. He heard the voice of a woman come from the figure, she clearly seemed excited about something, perhaps it was the mysterious and suspicious set of stairs that had just been revealed.

As he watched her descend, Tenshi quietly sighed and thought to himself, Well, I guess I may as well check this out... When the coast was clear, he subtly followed her down the stairs, walking into a lit up room. When he arrived inside the dusty and dirty space, the woman was looking through some form of documents with her back to him. Was she perhaps a spy? Maybe he should sneak away for backup? Oh well, he was already there.

With a gentle voice, he spoke up about 10 m away from here, his Sharingan still active and his arms folded in front of him. "Well that was a nifty little trick. I wonder, why is somebody out sneaking around in the abandoned district on such a glum night?"

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WC: 750

Akki hadn't been as cautious as she should have been! Who else besides her is up this late at night? Okay, well maybe a lot of people. Especially other trained ninja, but in this district? Wasn't it supposed to be abandoned? Akki screamed in fear as she turned around and saw the person behind her! She just stared at him! No words, yet…. Suddenly the rain just began to pour! She could hear it hitting the abandoned house above her lab.
"Who are you? Why were you following me?" Akki finally managed to say! This isn't the first time she had been caught her, she had been once before. But she thought she had been more conscious and kept a better watch this time! So much she should be saying but she would wait. She didn't even know who this was.

Tenshi was shocked when the woman turned around, she was staggeringly beautiful. Tenshi did not know everyone from Konoha, but he was certain he would have recognised someone that looked like her. From her blue hair to her bright eyes, she was quite unique. Had she snuck in? No surely not, the village's defence system was second to none. Perhaps she had been allowed entry for some reason. She had clearly been caught off guard by his appearance, something that would work in Tenshi's favour.

"What am I doing here? Funny you should mention that. I was actually on my way back from a patrol when I caught sight of a very suspicious individual dashing around the abandoned district. That raises questions you see..." Tenshi's words were playful, but his face and voice were not. "I am Tenshi, of the Uchiha clan."

His three tomoe Sharingan was scanning the vicinity, when his eyes came across an interesting design on the woman's neck. This woman was not like any Senju he had seen before though, just who exactly was she?

"Tell me, what is a member of the illustrious Senju clan doing sneaking around here at this time of night? Who are you and what are you doing in my village?" With no signs of backing down, Tenshi would prepare for any potential attempts of attack or escape by the woman, she may have been beautiful, but something seemed off about her.

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WC: 241
TWC: 991

As the thunder rolled through Konoha the lights flickered in her lab. The scenario was set in an almost sci-fi horror atmosphere. Something Akki herself was use to! She eyed the man who was checking her out. She had never seen him before either, but then again she didn't even know everyone here when she lived here ten years ago.
An Uchiha? She hadn't seen an Uchiha clan member, except Primmy, in some time! This man wasn't too bad looking, as a matter of fact he was very handsome. A small blushing crossed her cheeks making them a light pinkish red. Akki looked away smiling for a brief second! She cleared her throat before speaking.
"Yes, I-I am Akki Senju. This is mine and my sister's lab, it was…created by my sister Megami and a friend of ours Sephora. About 10 years ago. It hasn't been used in about four years! I was asked to shut down use of it when my cousin Jason Senju was kage many years ago. But I decided to try to discreetly use it again since I have returned to Konoha! That's why I use the cover of night, during the day someone would notice. Looks like someone did see me." She said trying to not trip over her words. Pull yourself together Akki Marie Senju! Just because he's cute doesn't mean to drop your guard and embarrass yourself. Stay strong. she said to herself.
"So what is an Uchiha doing following me instead of reporting me to whoever took over patrol?" She asked, stepping closer to him. This didn't bother her considering she could get a closer look at him! The rain was coming down harder outside now, she could hear it hitting the windows of the house upstairs, as the lights flickered.

[300]

It was getting louder outside, this storm looked like it was going to be quite a big one. Tenshi did not take his eyes off the woman as the lights flickered, his luminous red eyes flashing as it happened. He imagined it looked like something out of a scary story that his clan elders used to tell him about, stories that once made him cower in fear under his sheets at night.

Suddenly, Tenshi’s Sharingan noticed small twitches in her face as they happened. At first he thought she was about to make a move, only to realise that something else was happening. She was… blushing? He raised an eyebrow as he saw her looking away for a quick moment, perhaps she was not feeling well? No that was not it, he felt like he knew what was on her mind for a moment.

Tenshi listened silently as the woman introduced herself as Akki, becoming more concerned as she told her story. Wait a minute… Did she just say her cousin was Jason Senju? As she took a moment, Tenshi would speak. “Pleasure to meet you, Akki Senju, or at least I hope it will be. I must admit that I clearly did not pay much attention in history class, or they probably just never supplied us with the family tree of the Sixth Hokage.”

Two other things that Akki had said stuck out to him, something that caused him some concern. “Well I am going to get the obvious question out of the way. What exactly did you and this sister of yours do that required a super secret underground laboratory? Those last four words alone would set off alarm bells in anyone’s head. You also mentioned that this place was forced to shut down, what exactly were you cooking down here that needed to be stopped?”

Gorgeous relatives of an old Kage, abandoned buildings and shut down underground laboratories… Tenshi had to admit, he actually found this all to be quite interesting. The young Uchiha was about to ask another question when Akki suddenly spoke once more. His eyes narrowed as she began to approach him now, clearly she was getting over her previous nerves.

He let out a little chuckle in response to her question. “Perhaps this Uchiha is more than capable of handling any dangers that a mysterious Senju running around at night may pose to him?” That was when something clicked inside his head, something that he should have focused on at the very beginning when the two spoke.


“Speaking of which, my eyes are capable of gauging your Chakra network. You are clearly a Shinobi but I have not heard of you before. You are not currently a Shinobi of the Leaf are you? You are a Missing Nin, correct?” His instincts told him he needed to be careful here, if it turned out that she was indeed a Missing Nin, she may be far more dangerous than she led him to believe.

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WC: 499
TWC: 1,490

With his eyes still watching her closely and she could see his Sharingan was active. The notorious eyes the Uchiha clan is infamous for! She knew a few ninja who killed for them and she never understood why, after all every ninja was capable of achieving things with their own abilities. She could tell at this point Tenshi was harmless, as long as she didn't try anything.
Akki stepped back and hopped up on the table, crossing her legs to get comfortable and folding her arms across her stomach as she decided to tell the young Uchiha everything.
"Since you asked I shall answer." At this point the power flickered out! No problem, Akki was sitting next to two candles and a lighter along with a bunch of junk in a box. She lit the candles sat them in  the edge of the table and looked back at Tenshi!
" I am from Konoha originally! Iwas placed in an orphanage at 2 because my parents were murdered. I have no memory of them. At 7 I was adopted by the Kuoga clan along with Megami Kuoga so we became sisters. Now Megami is a very scientific person. She's into doing experiments, to make it easier on her we found this basement after a friend mentioned it to us! So her and I went to work into turning this into a lab. We basically work with medical research DNA things like that! Nothing really bad. A few years ago I transferred out to Volcano village with my team and well Volcano got destroyed and I came home. There's a lot more but I don't want to bore you with details! " Akki basically laid out her entire story to the man before her. Nothing really left to hide, after all everyone will find out eventually. She couldn't help but notice his features looked a little different in the candlelight. The eyes, Sharingan or not, eyes tell stories and she could tell the man had plenty!
"Are you going to turn me in or is this our little secret?" Akki asked with a smile to lighten the mood. "I guess this is kind of odd, I know it seems strange me sneaking around at night but as I said before a little difficult to do this during the day." She added. The storm continued to rage on outside. Besides, the doors at this point are locked shut because the power went out we are stuck here at the moment. "Why don't you tell me about you Mr. Uchiha?" Akki added pointing towards the door then motioning for him to join her on the table. " I promise I don't bite…not hard anyway." She joked.

(449)

Tenshi watched as Akki decided to instead back off and sit on a table, trying to avoid checking her out as she did so. He could not allow himself to form a crush on someone he was attempting to 'interrogate', that would be a slippery slope to a kunai in the back. He tensed up for a moment as the lights went out, preparing himself for the attack that never came. Instead the Senju woman simply lit a couple of candles. The candlelight gave her a mysterious glow as she began to speak, and speak she did. Tenshi listened in silence as she began to give her life story.

Her story surprised the Uchiha, he did not know much about the Volcano village, but the name did ring a bell. He found it difficult to remain suspicious of her, there was an honesty in her voice that appeared to be very sincere. Perhaps it could be true that she was indeed not lying to him? He found her back story to be quite interesting, you could learn a lot about a person who is willing to share their history with you.

Tenshi finally let out a chuckle at her next question, it was expected of him to report something out of the ordinary like this. But Tenshi was tired, it had been a long day and patrol had exhausted him. "I am still making my mind up about that, but for now I will not..." It was at that moment that Tenshi finally learned about the locked doors behind him. Well it seemed like the two of them were not going to be leaving just yet anyway.

He took a moment to think to himself, before finally relenting and walking up to Akki. Tenshi sat himself down next to her, at this point he was sure that she would not try anything nefarious, or at least he hoped so. The Uchiha was not really in the mood for a fight tonight, he was simply craving a shower, hot chocolate and his bed, but those things would have to sadly wait.

"Very well, since you have been so open with me, I may as well share a little with you." He raised an eyebrow at her last comment, a very slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth for a second before he hid it again. He would need to be careful with what he said, he did not want to divulge vital information that could get in trouble, so he decided to only focus on his own history.

"I was born and raised in this village by my mother, Tonari Uchiha. She was also a Shinobi, she was the reason I have decided to walk down this path myself. She raised me well, I have no complaints in that regard, unfortunately... Unfortunately she lost her life on a mission when I was still a child. It almost broke me as a kid, but I decided to persevere and aimed to become the man she told me I could be." Tenshi did not know why he was telling this woman about his tragic past, but it felt like she was someone he could talk to, perhaps it was her own willingness to do the same with him.

"Well anyway, there is not too much to tell after that. I trained like a boy possessed almost daily. I entered and then graduated from the Konoha Shinobi Academy well enough. I became a Genin and joined a team, although our team captain seems to have vanished. Since then I have continued to push myself to be the best version of myself, I still have a way to go though. Unfortunately, I can not say much about a social life, being a Shinobi can be quite lonely, although I am sure you know all about the Shinobi life, don't you Akki Senju?"

He would look her in the eyes as he spoke, occasionally blinking as the words left his lips. Akki did not seem like a bad person, he would hope that she was not here for any nefarious reasons, but only time would tell. "So now that you are back home, what do you plan on doing? Surely a great Senju does not plan on spending the rest of her days here sneaking in and out of a secret underground lab every night?"

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WC: 731
TWC: 2,221

Akki watched the Uchiha closely and listened to his story. Even though it was by candle light she could see his facial expressions. She knew what it was like to not have parents but she was way too young when hers passed away to really remember it. She could only remember what she was told. She reached out and took his hand as the thunder once again rolled through Konoha causing vibrations through the underground!
"I'm sorry for your loss, I can only imagine how it felt to lose a parent at such a young age. I can't remember mine passing away, I was really too young to remember much." She said as she reached out to embrace him. Akki was a very gentle hearted person and was very empathetic!
And she could tell this young man, who was very powerful, was also a gentle soul.
If nothing prevents it, she embraces him in a hug.
"I have a few plans, I was thinking of maybe being a medic or something along those lines. Working in a lab has inspired that side of me." She said as she pulled out of the hug. "Being a Senju I believe I can be useful in the medical field!" She explained with a smile! "I had to use the cover of night! What would someone think if they saw me during the day walking to an abandoned building?" She said trying to lighten the situation And as this happens the candles flicker out leaving them in the dark.!With just the sound of the rain coming down above then.
"You know how easy it would be for me to run right now?" She asked jokingly not really moving a muscle! Realizing at this point she could have run and hid and maybe had gotten away ...oh wait that's right, the doors are locked until the power comes back on. Well, this is quite a situation! At least he was a nice guy and really cute. "At least I am stuck down here with a cute guy. " She said not even thinking she had said it out loud. Luckily the lights were out and he couldn't see how red her cheeks had turned. "Uh…where did I put that lighter she said as she began to feel around on the table to find the lighter.

WC:390

Tenshi was surprised when the Senju woman touched his hand with her own, the rumbling of thunder coming from outside the building beginning to get on his nerves now. Her words were kind, perhaps Tenshi had been wrong about her when he first approached the situation. "I appreciate your words, but what is done, is done. I prefer not to live in the past anymore. I only look back so that I may learn how to look forward once more."

His face hardened as he spoke, so when Akki came in for a hug Tenshi finally snapped to his senses. He would move away from her, getting down from the table and walking back towards the door as she continued to speak. "Your ambitions are truly honourable Akki Senju. I wish you luck, this village could use more Shinobi with your mindset."

He chuckled at her next comment, the Senju was clearly having some fun here. "I suppose you are correct, you caught my eye while trying to be sneaky. Perhaps try looking less like you have something to hide next time, also the pretty hair gives you away a little too easily." The candles flickered out at that moment, as Tenshi was in the middle of the room. He smirked at her comments, his activated Sharingan allowing him to see exactly where she was, it was clear she was simply bluffing.

As Akki began fumbling around for her lighter, Tenshi heard the sound of power being restored upstairs, with that the door behind him unlocked quietly. For some reason, the lights in the basement had no yet been restored , perhaps there was an issue with the fuse?"You may run at any time, but I am sure that our paths will cross again in the near future, call it a hunch. It was a pleasure meeting you, pretty Akki Senju." If Akki found her lighter or the rooms lights turned on, the Senju would see the room empty aside from herself, with the door now open.

Tenshi was walking home from the random encounter, a small grin on his face. The night had taken a turn that he had not seen coming. It was not every day you meet the mysterious laboratory operating cousin of a prior Hokage. The young Uchiha had a sneaking hunch that this would not be the last time their paths would cross. He looked forward to the next time...

Exit Thread

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WC: 404
TWC: 2,625

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