this is inspired by a review by Ami1010, who mentioned they'd like to see Hui Na's birth. thank you!
part two of this should be posted sometime this week.
i do not own Naruto
The light from the fire cast a warm glow over Neji's features, softening them and gently casting the divets in his collarbone into shadow as Tenten nestled against his shoulder, clasping his hand in both of her own and tracing over his profile with her gaze. Hopefully Gai and Lee weren't paying too close of attention to them, absorbed as they were in getting the chicken cooking over the campfire, because she knew her stare was undoubtedly sappy.
It couldn't be helped- Neji had woken her from her (now daily) late afternoon nap with gentle kisses and soft touches, plus a snack, and she was feeling very fond of him at the moment.
And also very hungry. Hopefully dinner would be ready soon.
She knew Neji was still a little wary over camping right now, what with her due date being in a few weeks and all, but so far the experience had been nothing short of pleasant. Gai and Lee, normally very extreme in dragging Neji and Tenten into their exhausting physical activities, were more than happy to let Tenten stay in the hammock and read her book (aka nap) while they dragged Neji into white-water rafting or something.
It was a win-win, as far as Tenten was concerned, because she and Neji could go for walks in the mornings after breakfast while Lee and Gai did their own thing, then meet back up with them for lunch. Then they could all relax for a bit before the three men departed to go be manly in the woods (or something). Tenten would nap, wake up to eat a snack, and then be up and perky by the time they came back.
Today the three of them had gotten back a little early, but Neji had spent all the extra time cuddling her in their tent and getting her in a very agreeable and snuggly mood. She pretty much trailed him around the campsite after that, clinging to his arm.
Even when he was building up the fire, which probably was very annoying but he was smart enough not to say anything. Then he had to help her stand up from her awkward crouch on the ground.
Lee and Gai had volunteered to cook dinner, so Tenten immediately plastered herself against Neji's side in Gai's ugly two-person camping chair and hadn't moved since. Every once in a while she tugged him down to kiss him. He seemed pretty all right with it, if his tiny smug smiles and gentle touches to her pregnant belly were anything to judge.
She was in such a good mood that she didn't even mind the touches, which normally made her roll her eyes and grouch a bit when anyone other than Neji did it.
(With Neji she bore it with more grace, given that he was like, the father of the baby and all that. Plus he knew she didn't much like it and limited his contact to non-invasive, short touches. Even so, she usually had to swallow her biting jibes- because Neji was sweet and thoughtful even though he was usually the unfair recipient of her bad moods and he deserved to feel their little spawn moving around if he wanted to.)
Neji wrapped his arm around her and brought his hand around to rest on the side of her tummy. She clasped her hand over his and held it there, smiling softly into the firelight as he dropped his head down to nuzzle her temple.
Lee studiously turned over a few pieces of chicken. "Almost ready!" He announced cheerfully. Gai, digging through the cooler in the car to get out the greens for their salad, cheered loudly in response. Tenten ignored them both, cupping Neji's jaw in her hand and holding him in place while she kissed him thoroughly and admittedly, rather loudly.
"Please stop," Lee said plaintively.
A week later (and one week closer to her due date), Tenten was feeling arguably the best she had felt for her entire pregnancy. Neji had helped her shave her legs that morning because she couldn't reach them any more and he was the best husband in the world, plus a bunch of the baby clothes they'd ordered arrived and were waiting in a package on the doorstep when she got home from work.
She dragged it inside and ripped it open eagerly, then spent the next half an hour sitting in the foyer happily blubbering over the tiny socks and shirts and onesies and pants.
I'm going to have a baby, she thought joyfully to herself, and it's going to be soft and fat and cute and my baby.
She paused to consider the mess around her, wiping at her eyes with the collar of her shirt. Neji would undoubtedly be anticipating opening the clothes just as much as she had, so she began to fold things back up and put them in the box for him to unveil. He probably wouldn't cry as much as she had though.
She left the box on prominent display on the kitchen counter, then headed upstairs to change into maternity leggings and an oversized tee. (Bless maternity leggings, honestly.) It took her an embarrassing amount of time to get her maternity pantsuit off and the casual wear on, but hey, she was almost thirty-seven weeks pregnant. The whole "moving around" thing wasn't easy.
She got back down to the kitchen to start on dinner and absently pulled her phone from her purse to find about ten billion texts from Neji checking to make sure she was home safely.
Oops. As she got closer to their due date Neji had gotten more and more tense about her safety, and it had become his norm to check on her at several key points throughout the day. If she didn't respond promptly enough, she could practically feel his blood pressure rising.
Luckily he hadn't called her yet, which always indicated peak worry. She sent a quick text confirming she was home, followed by 'baby clothes came today! got distracted opening them. srry babe xoxo'
'I see.' He responded. 'How do they look?'
'so small and cute. it's ridiculous.'
'Well, babies are small and cute.'
'omg u are truly a genius.'
'Don't be a smart ass.'
'why? you gonna punish me? :3'
'Don't you make three-face at me.'
':3 :3 :3'
'😑'
'hehe ❤️❤️'
When no answer was forthcoming, she tucked her phone into the waistband of her leggings and moved into the kitchen to look at what food they had for dinner- but not before snagging a bag of chips and ripping it open as one of many early evening snacks.
After a moment spent contemplating their food options, Tenten started pulling out the things she needed to make xiao long bao. She'd cooked up the chicken-based (part of her always mourned the fact she couldn't use fatty pork to make up a rich broth, but Neji didn't eat red meat and she loved him so much that she would sacrifice it) soup broth the night before to use in the next few days, so now she just needed to make up the filling and her dough.
She made the filling first, with a chicken (sigh) and shrimp base. There was a moment that she spent looking at the Shaoxing wine and thinking longingly about having a cold beer on a hot day, but she overcame it and quickly used what she needed and put away the bottle. Better not to think of lost pastimes.
She was just about to start adding the hot water to her flour for the dough when she realized what an imminent mess she was about to make and paused to grab an apron.
Once upon a time, Tenten had one single dark navy apron that fit adequately and functioned well. Then she moved in with Neji, who was a disaster in the kitchen if his meals went beyond chopping up vegetables or using a rice cooker. They'd quickly learned that they needed several aprons, because they had to wash them quite a bit. (He was better at cooking now, thank goodness.)
Also, once upon a time Tenten hadn't been pregnant and her aprons would go on and stay on with one quick loop and tie. Now it was a whole five minutes to get the damned thing on and tie it well enough to stay on.
The baby kicked at her ribs, seemingly catching her disgruntled train of thought and defiantly proving a point.
Making the dough was a labor-intensive and exhausting endeavor, and Tenten quickly immersed herself in kneading it into perfection.
She was concentrating so hard on the task that she didn't even hear when Neji got home. He walked into the kitchen after she didn't respond to his quiet greeting and froze, watching her rotund figure work at the dough.
After a moment, his eyes confirmed to him that yes, Tenten was barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen preparing dinner for her husband. Exactly the image she'd vehemently rejected in middle school and high school.
Tenten swore viciously in Mandarin at the dough. "WHY ARE YOU SO STICKY," she demanded of it. The dough had no excuse for its behavior.
Neji's soft chuckle caught Tenten's attention, and she whirled around, startled. Upon seeing him standing there, her entire face lit up, and the resulting leap in his chest made it difficult for a few moments to concentrate on the excited speech she immediately launched in greeting.
He tuned in again in time to hear her say, "-and I'm just wrapping up with the dough and about to get the steamer ready, if you want to go get changed and then help me fold up the dumplings?"
"Very well. But first-" Neji set his briefcase on the counter and crossed over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in for a kiss.
A few minutes later, he pulled away and met Tenten's dazed eyes. "I'm home," he told her.
She gazed up at him, looking starstruck, then let out a small, almost shy smile. "Welcome back."
Another week closer to her due date- it was just a few days away now- and Tenten was over it.
She was ready to have an actual baby to hold and to coo over and to urp on her and to cry all night- she wanted all of it, especially if it meant no longer being pregnant.
She sprawled out on the bed and glared up at the ceiling, absolutely furious over the mere concept of getting up and dressed and breakfasted and going to work.
"Neji," she said plaintively, "I'm ready to have this baby."
There was a loud clattering noise from the bathroom, and Neji called sharply, "What?"
She jerked a little at the frantic tone in his voice, then realized what she had said. "Oh-" She half-attempted to roll over a bit to look at him, but gave up fast. "I don't mean I'm in labor! Just tired of being pregnant. Didn't mean to make it sound like that, sorry."
She could hear Neji exhale in a gust. "Ah."
They were both quiet again for a minute, as Neji went back to shaving and she went back to doing her best impression of a beached whale (at least, that's what it seemed like to her. She couldn't even see over the swell of her belly into the bathroom.)
Neji cleared his throat in the silence. "Maybe you should take ma-"
"Nope." She called back promptly.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"You were going to suggest, again, that I take an early maternity leave. I'm not taking maternity leave until I go into labor or a week after our due date."
There was a soothing pitch to his voice when he next replied. "But wouldn't it be easier? You hate sitting at your desk all day, you'd at least be able to get up and do other things-"
"I do laps around exhibits with the tour guides."
"But you wouldn't have to worry about going to work, you could just focus on resting up and prepping for the baby."
It was tempting, and Tenten cupped her belly with her hand as she thought it over. There was a hopeful silence coming from the bathroom.
"Eh, nah," Tenten decided. Neji let out a whoosh of air.
"Tennie-"
"Come over here and help me up," she raised her arms in the air and flapped her hands at him.
He sighed again, and a few moments later she could see his head over the top of her tummy. He stopped at the end of the bed and frowned at her.
She let her hands fall down to rest at her sides on top of the bed covers. "Hey."
"Hello." He wasn't wearing a shirt. Neither was she, actually.
After a few more seconds of staring at each other, Tenten got a crick in her neck from craning her head to see Neji. She let her skull thump back against the bed.
"So, you're not going to help me up?"
"I like seeing you stuck on your back like a beetle."
Tenten let out a loud, startled laugh. "What?!" Neji didn't make jokes very often, and it always delighted her when he did.
She continued chortling as he smiled down at her, stepping closer to smooth his hand over the tight skin on her belly. He held out his other hand to her and she took it, allowing him to pull her into a sitting position.
She grinned up at him. "That was a good joke."
"Thank you."
Tenten leaned over and wrapped her arms around his waist, nestling her head against his stomach and humming happily as he put one arm over her shoulders and cradled her head in the other.
"I like you a lot," she told him, her voice muffled by his skin.
"I like you too."
"A lot?"
"Yes."
"Cool." She mused on it for a few moments, then said, "Then maybe we should get married and have a baby."
She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll have to ask my wife if she's okay with it."
"She probably will be. She seems pretty cool. A total babe."
His chuckle rumbled in his chest, and she fought back a shiver over the low pitch. "You have no idea," he told her, smoothing a lock of hair over her back.
He pulled away a few moments later and she pouted. "You need to get ready for work," he reminded her, looking regretful.
"Ugh, work."
Neji raised his eyebrows and a keen look came over his eye. Tenten cut him off before he could say anything. "Just because I complain about it doesn't mean I want to stay home!"
He sighed- he was always sighing, apparently he was too refined to roll his eyes- and was about to speak, so Tenten reached around him to grab his butt.
He choked off rather abruptly, eyes wide, and she grinned up at him. Her hands flexed as she dug her fingers in, enjoying herself immensely (Neji's butt was unreal. And it was her goddamn right to touch her husband's butt as much as her heart desired.) Neji stared blankly at the wall in front of him as his cheekbones pinked and Tenten gleefully kneaded away.
After a moment, she leaned over- both hands still gripping his ass- and mouthed at his abs. The muscles twitched, and when she glanced up at Neji's face through her lashes he was clenching his jaw.
Slowly, she drew her hands around to his front and lightly scratched her nails down his abdomen. Just above the waistband of his slacks, she paused, fingers tracing along the edge, then pulled away.
Tenten stood up cheerfully. "Well, I guess I should get ready for work!" She walked into the bathroom and started closing it with great relish.
She caught a glimpse of Neji through the gap. He was standing still, back ramrod straight, and scowling at the wall.
Tenten grinned and closed the door with a sassy little snap.
The day of their due date, both Neji and Tenten spent their time in a haze, flurrying over any movements from the baby and staying up for the entire night "just in case."
When dawn came and there hadn't been a single contraction, they realized that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea, because now they had to go to work. (And also what if the baby had actually come, or came the next day when they were sleep deprived? They had not thought that one through very well.)
Tenten just pitied anyone who had to interact with Neji that day, because the man got very grouchy without his beauty sleep.
Not that she was much better, but at least she had "imminent baby arrival" as an excuse.
Work was uneventful, which was a mixed blessing because it meant she didn't have to doanything, but it also meant she didn't have anything to do.
(It made sense and she'd fight anyone who said otherwise.)
Neji texted her constantly throughout the day, checking in on her and complaining about clients. They had a nice long phone conversation at lunch though, which perked up Tenten quite a bit and hopefully did the same for him.
Still, once quitting time rolled around and Tenten was faced with the option of leaving, she took it quite gleefully.
Rather than going straight home though, she took a little detour to Neji's building in downtown Konoha and rode the elevator up to his office floor.
Udon looked up at her in slight surprise, but gave her a polite smile. "Hello, Huang-hakase."
"Hi Udon-san. Tenten-san is fine," she reminded him. "Is Neji busy right now?"
"Nope, he's clear for the rest of the day."
Tenten stopped to lean against the reception desk, propping one hand on her lower back. "Was he in a bad mood today?"
"Er-" Udon had the grace to look a little uncomfortable at gossiping about one of his coworkers, even if it was with said coworker's wife. "Well, he wasn't in a great mood, but it's not like he took it out on anyone, really, except maybe Hatake-bucho, and he usually kind of deserves it..."
Tenten grinned. "Sounds about right. Is it okay if I head in, then?"
"Sure, Huang-ha- er, Tenten-san. Would you like me to notify him at all?"
"Nah, we'll see how snippy he gets before he realizes it's me." She waved to Udon over her shoulder and waddled over to Neji's office, knocking once before busting the door open.
He was sitting at his desk and scowling, eyes on the computer monitor and pen in hand over some documents. At the sound of the door opening his jaw clenched and he snapped, "What."
She snorted and closed the door behind her. "So it was that kind of a day."
He jerked his head up and stared at her in surprise. "Tenten."
"Yep." She crossed the room and grabbed one of the chairs in front of his desk, then swung it around to sit next to him. "Teach us to not adhere to our sleep schedule, huh?"
"An unfortunate time for such a realization, given that we are due for a baby any day now."
She gave him a wry grin and leaned in to kiss him briefly. "Well, I got off a little early today and figured I'd stop by. How were your clients from hell?"
"I've had worse, but they were… quite obtuse."
She leaned back in her chair, linking their fingers together and smiling up at him. "I'm all ears, love."
Four days after their due date and they were all ready for the baby to be born, including said baby. It had been doing somersaults for a few days and kicking up a storm, and while Tenten loved her little dumpling she was ready for the dumpling not do that anymore while she was trying to sleep.
Her obstetrician had recommended sex as ye old standby for inducing labor, so they'd been having a fun time with that, at least.
In fact, they'd spent the entire weekend, uh, trying to induce labor.
But as Sunday drew to a close and there was still no baby in sight, Tenten's frustration reached its all time high. She had a rage-filled crying session in her bath that night, furious over the fact that she was unwieldy and had swollen ankles and stretch marks and she couldn't always hold it in completely when she had to use the bathroom and her boobs were sore and she got shooting pains up her back and she didn't even fucking have her baby yet, the only reason she went through all of this in the first place.
Tenten scrubbed at her eyes, upset with herself for even succumbing to her frustrations. She could hear Neji quietly moving around in their bedroom outside the bathroom door and made an effort to be as silent as possible, not wanting to tip him off and worry him even more.
After a few minutes of calming down, she grabbed her body wash off the rim of the tub and soaped herself up, then rinsed off and started draining the tub. She did feel better now.
Tenten went into labor a little after 11:00PM that very night.