The first time Tenten met Kisame, he wasn’t actually there.

The clone that held her captive in a sphere of water grinned when he caught her admiring his massive sword. “A weapons specialist, eh?” he said, chuckling and baring rows of sharp, white teeth. “Not bad at all.”

He leaned in to study her, and she met his ferocious gaze defiantly. She learned later that he was the infamous Hoshigaki Kisame, Monster of the Hidden Mist, a man who could have killed her on the spot and enjoyed it. But he didn’t. For now, as she hung there slowly drowning, he was content to lean against his sword and grin.

“I enjoyed your exploding tag tricks,” he said, his wide mouth moving slightly to form the words and his small eyes gauging her reactions. “Very clever.” A bubble of air escaped her mouth as she choked from the lack of oxygen.

“Having trouble breathing?” he asked with a vicious smile. Tenten focused her chakra into her lungs to keep herself from losing consciousness. He laughed and made a few strange movements with the hand inside the water sphere. She felt the burning in her chest lessen slightly. “That should keep you around for a while longer,” he said, glancing over his enormous shoulder at the main battle across the lake.

He made the same one-handed seals every time she came close to passing out until Neji finally broke free of his own water prison and sent two of the clones melting away into oblivion. Tenten’s captor laughed as he watched her teammates destroy the other copies.

“I’ll like these memories a lot when they get back to me,” he said, turning to look at her and giving her a suggestive wink.

More bubbles escaped Tenten’s mouth as she growled at him in spite of the water.

The clone grinned at her one last time while Rock Lee came charging at him full tilt, and his small, predatory eyes twinkled with malicious glee. “I’ll be seeing you around, little girl,” he said. He vanished in a burst of water as Lee broke him apart with his Konoha Dai Senpuu and Neji caught her in his arms.

A/N: KisaTen is my new obsession. I’m going to try and convert all of you in twenty short chapters or less.