I do not own Naruto
"Ughhhhh." Tenten set down the last stack of papers on her desk with a thump and leaned back to massage her lower back, grunting in satisfaction as some of the aches lessened. It wasn't quite as good as when Neji did it for her, but he was accompanying Ino to a work event right now (Tenten wasn't sure exactly what happened, but Ino did talk at length about exes and saving face) and so Tenten was back-rubless for the night.
She felt the soft flutterings of movement underneath her skin and reached out to span her hand over her stomach, muttering to herself as she felt the baby stir against her ribcage. The quick Google search she'd done (very briefly, before she started scrolling through Instagram) on fetal infant movement suggested that at 12 weeks, Neji Hyuga's baby was already taking after its prodigy father.
Which meant that Tenten would be experiencing about a month of extra kicking to go along with her morning sickness and swollen feet, but a smart baby was a smart baby.
She sank down into her desk chair with a sigh, then stared somewhat forlornly over towards where Neji's desk sat empty. It sometimes surprised her how much she liked having a shared office with her husband- she and Neji had some very different ideas on tidiness, workplace noise, workplace hours, and… the workplace, sort of in general- but it was nice to just look up sometimes and see him working, brow furrowed in a way that she knew would give him serious crows feet by the time he was thirty-five.
(Sometimes he would tunelessly hum to himself- which he denied even after she showed him a video she'd taken of him doing it.)
Their office was a fairly large room. It had a large window overlooking their backyard directly across from the entrance, and another window across from Neji's desk that had a cushioned seat in front of it.
(There were several window seats throughout the house- something about them made Lee go apeshit when he went with them to look at a few open houses, and he'd eventually managed to get Tenten to his side too.
Lee, of course, did not live with them. But his energy was insuppressible, and he was persuasive in a very sneaky way.)
The wall behind Neji's desk had bookshelf of dark polished wood set into it, with filing cabinets built into the lower section. Neji cut a very imposing figure silhouetted against it, and Tenten had on more than one occasion cheerfully cleared off space on his desk so they could have sex on it.
Which made Neji cringe a little, but he did like the sex, so he would grump about it but succumb every time. Then he'd spend ten minutes carefully putting everything back where it had been before.
Tenten pulled herself from her thoughts and turned her attention back to her research notes with a sigh, pulling out her pens and highlighters to begin her annotations.
She quickly immersed herself in her notes, scrawling out annotations in the margins and typing out thematic observations onto her computer as she went. Her research had been going very well; she was actually ahead of the schedule she'd laid out in the proposal.
After a while, she noticed the pressure of her bladder was mounting and stood up with a sigh, stretching out her arms behind her and arching her back to get out some of the kinks. A quick glance at her watch showed that she had been at work for almost two and half hours now.
It was getting close to dinner time, but since Neji wasn't going to be home in time to eat with her Tenten figured she could just heat up some leftovers.
One bathroom break and microwave trip later, she was stretched out in front of the TV downstairs (which had their most comfortable couch in front of it- but it was also their ugliest couch, so Neji wouldn't let her bring it upstairs) watching whatever trash reality show came on with her plate balanced on top of her boobs.
One thing she was looking forward to in her pregnancy (besides, like, the baby and the prospect of motherhood or whatever) was the ability to balance things on the belly. Temari had done it constantly throughout her pregnancy, and Tenten thought it was a pretty neat trick.
Fifteen minutes into a documentary about alien abductions, she heard the garage door opening. Tenten checked her watch with a frown- Neji wasn't supposed to get home until 11:00 PM, and it was barely 8:00.
She heaved herself off the couch and headed upstairs with her plate, absently sucking on her fingers to get some of the sticky teriyaki sauce off of them. She was just putting it in the sink when the back door opened, and she called back to Neji, "Hello my love- I thought the event ran until like 10:30?"
"There was… a complication." He called back. Tenten paused mid-wipe of her plate.
"How so?"
Neji stepped into the kitchen, and a few steps behind him followed a tear-stricken Ino.
"Oh-" Tenten took them both in. Neji looked grim, and Ino looked- completely numb, as though all of the spark that she usually embodied so well had been entirely drained from her.
Hastily, Tenten crossed the floor to them both, instinctively reaching out to grab Ino's hands in her own. "- what happened-"
Ino stared at her blankly. Neji closed his eyes for a moment, weariness etched into the lines on his face, before he opened them once more and stirred himself into action. He reached out to rest one hand on Tenten's arm. "Can you take her to the guest bedroom and help her get settled in?"
"Of course." Tenten laced her fingers through Ino's and gave her a little tug. Ino followed her with heavy compliance.
Neji knocked softly on the door to the guest bedroom, then quietly opened the door when no one answered. The lights in the room were completely off but the blinds were open, and the light of the moon fell across the bed and over the figures of Ino and Tenten where they were nestled under the covers.
He crossed to Tenten's side and knelt by the bed, reaching out to gently stroke her face with the back of his fingers. She stirred slightly at the touch, unconsciously shifting so she was closer to him. Neji moved his hand to cup her cheek, running his thumb along the shadow underneath her eye. She hadn't been sleeping as well lately, which worried him quite a bit more than he let on- but Tenten was good at reading him and probably already knew.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes to peer drowsily up at him.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi," she breathed back, reaching out to hook one hand over the collar of his shirt. He smoothed back a lock of hair behind her ear and asked, "How's she doing?"
Tenten's peaceful expression faltered. "Not great. She took a shower and got changed, but wouldn't tell me what happened. She's barely spoken at all."
She hesitated, then asked, "Do you know…"
Neji was already shaking his head. "She had gone off to talk to some more people she knew while I was speaking with Sakura and Tsunade, and we lost track of each other. I went to look for her and found her out on a balcony just… crying. We left right after that but she didn't say anything about it."
Tenten bit her lip. "I'm worried about her."
"I am too," Neji confessed quietly, "but maybe she'll feel better in the morning, and speak up about it."
"Right." Tenten rubbed her thumb over his collarbone.
Neji bent his head down and kissed her softly. "Are you going to get ready for bed? It's getting late."
Tenten bit her lip somewhat sheepishly. "Here's the thing-" Neji sighed internally.
"I'm very warm and comfortable right now, and our bedroom is all the way upstairs…"
"Tenten, this is ridiculous."
"You can survive if I don't share a bed with you for one night. We've done it before, you'll be fine."
Neji grumped. "Fine." He kissed her again, slowly and thoroughly, with one hand moving to cup her belly over the covers. "Let me know if you need anything."
"Of course. Oh, hold on-" She suddenly ducked under the covers and there was a flurry of movement before she emerged again. "Can you put these in the laundry hamper for me?" She handed him her newly-removed bra and pants.
Neji sighed through his nose. Tenten was giving him her best puppy-eyed grin, which unfortunately for him was very effective. "I can't believe you," he told her flatly, even as he accepted her discarded clothing.
She gripped him by the back of the neck and leaned him down to peck his nose. "G'night."
"Good night," he echoed somewhat sullenly, standing up and exiting the room. He closed the door quietly behind him and started the walk up to the master bedroom, locking the front door and turning off all the lights on his way up.
Neji entered their bedroom and head back towards the closet to drop off Tenten's dirty laundry, then pulled open his dresser to pull out his sleeping clothes. He and Tenten shared a massive walk-in closet, one side each. Tenten's part tended to be in a much greater state of disarray than his own, with folded laundry piled on top of her dresser and sheets of paper- generally scholarly articles she had been reading- piled haphazardly around.
He knew she had really started trying to be neater after they first moved in together, because she knew how much the mess bothered him- growing up under the domineering scrutiny of the Hyuga family did not leave a person unscathed, but it was becoming easier for him to tolerate having a few things out of place every once in a while. (At one point, it had physically made his skin crawl.)
Tenten had pointed out to him that having a baby would definitely increase the amount of clutter in their home, especially because she already knew that he was going to be a hopeless sap for their child. Neji's reply had been along the lines of "absolutely worth it," which made Tenten go all soft and gooey on him.
Neji changed into his sleeping clothes and stepped into the bathroom, clipping up his hair to keep it out of his way as he washed his face and brushed his teeth. He took it back down as he exited the bathroom and turned off the lights, absently tousling it a little as he crossed the darkened room to get into the empty bed.
He was not sulking, he thought to himself. He was allowed to want his partner to sleep at his side.
He turned off the lights with a quiet click and climbed into bed.
Ino woke up in one of the most disorienting ways she ever had.
Someone laying next to her in bed had jolted out of it, smacking her ribcage in the process, and was darting desperately across the floor. Ino jumped at a door banged into the wall with a crash, the sound starting a headache blooming across her temples.
A few moments later, she heard the unmistakable sounds of someone retching into a toilet.
Well, okay. Ino could recognize the morning after a night out. Sakura usually was good at keeping things casual, but every once in a while she'd let herself loosen up all the way and drank like she had the best metabolism on the planet; that must have been her in the bathroom-
Ino opened her eyes and peered through narrowed lids at the room around her. The curtains were opened but there wasn't much sunlight in the room yet, most of it still falling over the softly budding carnations blooming outside the window. The room was tasteful but generic, with no personal decorations in it whatsoever.
Oh. Well, she had no idea where she was.
First order of business, find out if that was indeed Sakura puking her guts out.
Ino sat up and scrubbed at her eyes. They felt crusty and heavy, and Ino recognized the signs of a good long crying session. Her gaze landed on the chair in front of the desk, where she recognized one of her sexier evening gowns draped neatly over it, with the corresponding heels and jewelry resting beside it.
It triggered her memories of the night before, and she let out a groan as she buried her face in her hands. Ryuu…
She blew it, for sure- or maybe he blew it. Either way, fuck. Relationship over- really over, this time. At least they got closure, kind of, if a fight where they screamed each others' faults at one another counted as closure.
(She missed Sai- maybe that was the problem for the entire relationship, she was hung up on an ex. But she and Sai had decided they were better as friends, and so far that had been true.)
Ryuu had stormed out right after, and Ino had gone off to drink and cry, and then Neji had found her-
Shit! Neji had found her, Neji had brought her back to his and Tenten's home, Tenten had helped her scrub off and lent her some sweats- a quick check told her that they must be Tenten's sweats, because they were ugly in all regards but also very comfy- and then Tenten had cozied up with her and they'd nodded off to sleep, which meant that Tenten was probably the one still gagging away in the bathroom.
Seriously, it had been like five minutes, was she okay?
Ino stumbled her way into the bathroom to check on her friend. Tenten was huddled over the toilet and looking miserable, body heaving. Ino felt a rush of sympathy, followed by a wave of disgust as the smell hit her. God, the smell- this was why Ino switched to psychology instead of following Sakura to med school, less smells.
But she was a good friend, so she knelt next to Tenten and cautiously patted her shoulder. "Uh, hey."
Tenten waved one hand weakly before retching again.
"Oh, okay, uh-" Ino's mind spun. Tenten presumably wasn't hungover, so in all likelihood she was actually sick. Ino wasn're sure what to do besides wait it out with her and maybe get her a glass of water once things were wrapped up.
They sat for another minute or two. At one point Tenten flushed the toilet and Ino thought it was over, but it turned out she had just been preparing for round two. Ino was getting concerned- well, more concerned, because it seemed like this had been stretching out for a really long time.
In the middle of her panic, there was a quiet knock on the door, and Neji entered what Ino was stupidly only just now realizing was their guest bedroom.
"Oh thank god- Neji, she's dying help help help help help-"
Neji very calmly walked over and pinned back Tenten's bangs with a clip before stepping back and turning to Ino. "She'll be all right in a few more minutes. Would you like breakfast?"
Ino gaped at him. "You're just gonna leave her?"
Tenten pulled herself out of the toilet long enough to rasp, "I'll be fine, Ino."
"She'll be fine," Neji echoed. He cast a quick eye over his wife's pitiful form and added, "But she will need to put on pants at some point."
Ino's eyes dropped to Tenten's bare legs. She hadn't even noticed. Meanwhile, Tenten gave Neji a surprisingly saucy grin before turning back to her porcelain friend.
Neji looked at Ino and said, "So, breakfast?"
Ino had never actually eaten breakfast with Neji at his house before, and it would be even weirder for her to help him make it. So that's what she did.
Neji was a shockingly good cook, which was great because Ino couldn't cook for shit. She helped by preparing rice in the rice cooker, getting out a range of breakfast-y drinks, and setting the table for three.
Neji took care of the actual making of the food, cutting up bread for toast, preparing miso soup with tofu, green onions, and wakame seaweed, and cooking up some fish on the skillet. Ino was frankly shocked at his practiced motions.
"I had no idea you were so good at cooking!"
He coughed a little, looking almost bashful. "I wasn't, but when Tenten and I first started dating we started cooking together."
Ino grinned at him. "That's cute."
He blushed a little. "Hn."
The conversation lulled again, interrupted briefly as Tenten made her way upstairs to put on pants. (Did Ino stare at her legs a little bit? Maybe, fine, whatever, they were super muscley because Tenten worked out a lot and was the Bionic Woman, it couldn't be helped.)
(And also Neji blatantly looked at Tenten's butt while she walked past, so whatever. Really, Ino and Neji could bond a lot over how hot they both thought his wife was, but it was probably better that they didn't.)
Ino helped Neji put the food on the table as Tenten made her way into the kitchen, pants on. She paused by Neji to wrap her arms around his waist and kiss his cheek, then continued over to a chair and took a seat. "Morning," she chirped, helping herself to some food.
Ino eyed her dubiously. She was looking awfully cheerful for someone who spent the first fifteen minutes of her day over a toilet.
She said so to Tenten, who grinned. "Yeah, just a little morning nausea I guess."
Ino frowned suspiciously at her before dishing herself up some rice. She looked up just in time to catch the tail end of a conspiratorial look between Neji and Tenten.
She scowled at them. "Really, what's going on?" Tenten gave her an innocent look, mouth open to speak, and Ino hastily cut her off. "And no excuses! I can tell if you lie!"
Neji let out a disbelieving noise. "Fine," Ino amended. "I can't tell if Neji lies, but I can tell if Tenten does and I can use her body language and facial expressions to gauge if Neji is lying too."
They looked at each other again, seemingly having a conversation in facial expressions, before Tenten turned to Ino again. "No telling anyone."
"Okay," Ino said eagerly, leaning forward.
"Seriously," Tenten pressed. "This is huge, you can't tell anyone."
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Ino said dismissively, waving her hand. She paused. "Not even Sakura?"
"NO." Tenten said firmly.
"Please?"
"All right, I'm not telling you," Tenten snarked, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded.
"No wait! Tell meeeeeeeeeeee…"
"Too late. You blew it."
"I'll tell you," said Neji, rather abruptly. Tenten and Ino both looked at him in surprise. "You will?" they chorused.
"Yes." Neji leaned over by Ino's ear, and she shot Tenten a smug look. Tenten rolled her eyes.
A few centimeters aways from Ino's ear, Neji said in a monotone voice, "It's none of your business."
Tenten cackled as Ino started whining at him, shaking her finger at Neji as she lectured him on getting people's hopes up. Neji ignored them both, instead sitting down at the head of the table and calmly dishing himself up some breakfast. After a while, the two women joined him.
Tenten ate heartily, which made sense because she had just emptied her stomach, but also didn't make sense because she was super sick ten minutes ago. Ino stared blatantly at her.
She noticed and rolled her eyes. "Let it go, Ino."
"Hmmmmm."
Tenten turned back to her food. "Pass the jam please." Neji handed it to her, but just before she was about to spread it over her toast she paused. She held the container up to her face, lid open, and lightly sniffed at the contents.
She immediately screwed up her face and jerked the jar away from her. "Oh god, never mind."
Ino froze, about to bite into her own jam-slathered toast. "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," Tenten said hastily, "It's not expired or anything, I just don't want it."
"Why not?"
"The smell." Tenten wrinkled her nose. "Set me off, I guess."
Neji made a small, jerky movement with his arm that Ino just spotted out of the corner of her eye. Suspicion filled her again, and she raised her toast to sniff at the jam on it. It smelled completely ordinary.
She glanced at Tenten again. "It set you off, as in it made you nauseous again?"
Tenten looked like a deer in the headlights. "Uh, yeah."
Ino stared at her, then turned to stare at Neji. "Tenten," she said, darting her gaze back and forth between the two of them, "Don't you normally have coffee in the morning?"
She shrugged. "Not every morning."
"Mm." Ino turned to her own cup of tea and took a thoughtful sip, then placed it back down carefully. She straightened her back and put her hands down in her lap, waiting with all the decorum of a lady.
Neji and Tenten both looked at her blankly, then Neji said something in a string of Mandarin that Ino couldn't follow. (Had he seriously learned Mandarin since getting together with Tenten? Because that was so cute.) Tenten sighed. "Fine."
She turned to look at Ino again, looking a little trepidatious. "Well, um, you may have some guess about this, but-" She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and glanced at Neji, who reached out to hold her hand in his. "It's- we're expecting."
Ino threw her head back and screamed.
i'm going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so i won't be posting anything new for a while. that said, i have a few more pieces for this modern universe i've been writing so watch for that!