Bitten

ii

2.

Tenten started dreaming of disciplining people - or as her dream self called it "biting people to death" - when she was five years old and about to start in the academy.

It was terrifying at first.

After all, witnessing relentless, bloody violence and experiencing a certain amount of unholy glee in proving her dominance with what her counterpart called "herbivores" were unnerving even in the kind of society she lived in.

Normal kids didn't dream of beating people up until they're unconscious, broken or pleading.

There must be something wrong with her.

At least, that's what she thought initially until she realized that she would be expected to do something like that in the future.

It was a harsh wake-up call for Tenten. She was just a girl who was starting out in her supposedly heroic and fantastical journey of protecting the village with this so-called "will of fire". She was still enamored with the idea of being a strong and beautiful kunoichi like Tsunade-sama.

A healer.

A protector.

Not someone who took lives and maim people needlessly and without reason.

Not a monster.

Without proper context, no could really blame her for arriving to that kind of conclusion.

And Tenten would have stuck to that opinion if not for a particularly memory that changed everything.

A memory where she realized several things.

First, her dream self wasn't a she. Her name, or his name in this case, was Hibari Kyoya and he had a famiglia - a cause and something to protect.

Second, even with all his strength and the respect he garnered, he wasn't...he wasn't very happy.

It struck Tenten as lonely that even with all the people around him, even if it was by choice, he didn't have anyone barring that weird puffy-haired man and spiky-haired brunet.

They didn't even know who he really was.

It was actually quite heartbreaking when she realized that third and last, there were times when her seemingly invincible counterpart could feel weak and helpless.

He was beating himself up, and other people in the process, when the spiky-haired brunet, Sawada Tsunayoshi, slowly died from an incurable disease - an enemy that he couldn't really take on and fight against.

Hibari Kyoya only knew how to break things down.

He didn't know he would regret not knowing how to build things up.

It changed Tenten when her dream self thought that.

It made her want to be better.

To be like Tsunade-sama not because of her beauty, fame or legend.

To be like Tsunade-sama because she didn't want to feel helpless when it's her own precious people on the line.

That was the moment when Tenten began to dream a dream that, on the surface, wasn't really that important in the grand scheme of things.

To protect those she called hers and strive for peace.

To be a legendary kunoichi - no, a legendary person of her own right.

(This small - almost unnoticeable change changed everything, and thus the timeline diverged and a new path was made.)