They crashed at Tenten's place. Here were no parents, no family-members, no one but them and her downstairs neighbour, who'd make his presence known by occasionally banging against his ceiling.
She unlocked her door and let Ino and Choji in, searched her fridge for something to offer her guests, but couldn't find anything, while they waited for Kiba to join them.
Three of seven, she thought, and prayed that they wouldn't be diminished to six anytime soon. A rap at her door, and she teared her eyes away from Ino who all but vanished in Choji's massive arms – and yet Tenten wasn't entirely sure if she really was the one who was being comforted.

Kiba brought enough alcohol to get eleven young shinobi drunk (for absent friends), and after a while they started to get past their mutual mournful silence, whispered at first but eventually regained their voices.
They found a welcome distraction in the topic of Kiba's and Sakura's recent break-up (to which Kiba most willingly contributed) and soon a heated discussion arose regarding the likeliness of her truly having an affair with Kakashi. Tenten didn't pay them much attention. She did not feel the need to share any of her knowledge in this matter, nor was she very interested in the speculations the others had. Her attention was fixed to the door, to the hallway in front of her apartment and any sound coming from there that might announce another visitor.

No one came.

"Say, why isn't Neji here?"
It was past midnight when Ino asked this. She cowered down next to Tenten, leaving the boys to themselves and their drinks.
"I don't know", Tenten admitted. Her voice was thin and unsteady, and it wasn't solely the alcohol's fault. This was all wrong, Tenten thought when Ino handed her a napkin to dry her eyes. If anything, she was supposed to comfort Ino, not the other way around, and yet she was the one who was crying.

When Tenten awoke the next morning, it was with a headache that had her believe her skull was actually breaking apart, and very little recollection of the previous night.
Next to her, she noticed, lay Ino (though it was mostly her hair, which was visible), her legs partly entangled with that of Tenten.
Careful not to wake her Tenten climbed out of bed, took in her mostly undressed state, and looked around for the boys, but apparently they had been able to find their way home. She staggered to the bathroom and into the shower, let cold water pour over her and tried to clear her mind enough to string together so much as one single thought. It took her some time until she managed to do that, but when she did she let out a loud curse.
For a second all thought of a hangover was forgotten, as she wrapped herself in a towel and headed to her room, pulling fresh clothes from her wardrobe, went back to the bathroom and got dressed.

She wrote a note for Ino, tore it apart, wrote a new one, trashed that as well and lastly settled with writing nothing but: "Sorry, had to leave", before she went out the door and over the rooftops.
(It was hard to decide whether the cold breath helped more than the fast movements made her feel sick.)
She landed back on the ground a few meters from the Hokage's residence, fought against the urge to actually be sick with all the willpower she currently had at hand (which seemed to be sufficient) and made her way past the gates and into the mansion itself.
Standing in front of Kakashi's study she hesitated. Not because she thought she'd get into trouble for being late, nor because she felt particularly uneasy about facing her colleagues in her current state (well, maybe she did, but she was professional enough to ignore it), but because she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it, were it only Sai and Kakashi on the other side of the door.
She was still contemplating whether it would be easier to keep her dignity by simply running away, when the door was slid open from inside and she was greeted by Kakashi. "We've been waiting for you", he told her. Tenten was sure that she could see his nose twitch beneath his mask, but other than that he kept a perfectly neutral expression.
"I'm sorry", she bowed (which made her feel slightly dizzy), and – holding her breath – followed him inside.

She hadn't noticed how tense she had been until she had entered the study and had set her eyes on the figure sitting next to Sai. It was Neji – she could tell, even though his face was hidden underneath the rim of the hood he was wearing. Tenten wondered what that was about, but before she had a chance to ask, Kakashi had resumed to tell them that Madara was only capable of possessing him during a full moon, which left them with one and a half week to figure out what countermeasures to take.
"He won't be easy to kill, though, as he doesn't have a physical form – unless he's taking possession of me", Kakashi added.
"It's hard to kill an idea."
"One question", Tenten interrupted.
"The time he possessed you by that cave – it wasn't a full moon."
"If the cave is a soft-spot, as he suggested himself", Neji answered in Kakashi's stead, "he may not need the moon to be full around there."
Tenten nodded her understanding, and Kakashi continued to explain what Shikamaru had told him.
According to him, the only way to kill Madara as to do so while he possessed Kakashi's body.
"In which case you'd be killed as well", Sai stated.
"Right. The alternative would be for me to try and cross back. But", Kakashi replied "doing so would enable him to take full possession of me easily. Provided that I am able to cross back without killing myself at all."
They all looked at each other in silence. Then Tenten voiced what everyone had been thinking.
"So, basically, the only way to stop him is to kill you?"
"Hmmm...", Kakashi nodded slowly, "Though I might have figured out a way around that."