a story that's basically a bunch of domestic family fluff. entirely plotless. four chapters total, updated throughout this week.

(it will contain some ~sexy timez~ between neji and tenten so there is that.)

i do not own Naruto.

Neji frowned at the document he had just printed, brushing his fingertip along the edges of the words where they had become light gray and streaked. "Tennie," he called towards the living room, "Can you bring me the new ink cartridges when you get a chance? They're on the counter."

"Sure!" She hollered back. "Might take a few minutes!"

"All right, thank you."

He crossed back over to his desk and sat down, picking up his pen and rotating it in his fingers as he read through the fax a client had sent. The pen had been a gift from Tenten and Hui Na for his 30th birthday- though of course, Hui Na was only one month old at the time, and likely hadn't been vital to the decision-making process.

He used the pen in the home office, because he knew Tenten liked to see him use it. It was a comfortable weight in his hand, and he'd become so accustomed to it that he often contemplated bringing it to and from work- but never did, as the risk of losing it in transport was too high.

A slight commotion to his side made him turn, expecting to see Tenten with the ink cartridges. "Thank you-" he began, only to cut himself off when his gaze didn't meet Tenten's. Instead, he lowered his gaze to look at Haruki as he plopped himself onto his bottom from where he had crawled to his father's feet.

"Hm. You're not my wife." Neji told him. Haruki's breath came in quiet pants as he stared up at him, drool running down his chin and onto his bib. He grinned up at Neji, and Neji smiled back easily.

"I'm glad we baby-proofed in here. Did you crawl all the way from the living room? You're getting pretty good at this." He scooped up his son and set him down in his lap, lifting the bib to swipe away some of the copious drool that Haruki was producing so much of these days.

After a moment, he noticed the objects stuck to the back of Haruki's onesie. He lifted one off and frowned at it, before calling, "Tenten, did you... tape the cartridges to Haruki?"

A loud peal of laughter sounded from down the hall. "Oh my god, did he actually crawl all the way down there? I didn't think that would work!" Tenten's voice could barely be heard through laughing fits, and Neji shook his head as he pulled off the last few ink cartridges. "Your mama's weird," he told Haruki.

Tenten shouted, "We're gonna have this kid so well trained!"

"Very weird," Neji amended, standing up and propping Haruki on one hip as he crossed to the printer, ink cartridges in hand. "Want to help me put in the ink, little man?"

Haruki's breath puffed against his ear, and he reached out to wrap his chubby fist around Neji's tie. "Oh, good," Neji said.

Haruki watched with vague interest as Neji swapped out the cartridges. He let out a tiny baby sigh and shoved his fingers in his mouth, then reached out the same drool-covered hand to grip Neji's hair.

"This is why your mama wears her hair up," Neji told him, teasing the strand out of his fist. "That, and because she's one of the only people who can pull off the two buns. Don't tell her I said that."

"I won't," Tenten said cheerfully as she entered the office. She blew a loud raspberry on Haruki's cheek, then looked up at Neji. "I'm going to go pick up Hui Na, you guys good?"

"Sure," Neji smiled down at Haruki. "We'll have a fun time looking over patents."

"You can make a boys' day of it," Tenten grinned. She leaned up and kissed Neji briefly. "All right, see you in a bit. Oh, you want me to pick up dinner on the way home, or do you feel like cooking?"

"Is that how it is?" Neji murmured to himself. To Tenten, he said, "If you feel like stopping, go ahead. If not, just text and I'll make something."

"Sounds good." Tenten kissed him again, then turned to Haruki. "Bye-bye love bug!" she kissed the top of his fuzzy head and headed out the door. Neji heard the garage door swing shut, and a few minutes later Tenten's car backed out of the driveway.

He turned to look down at Haruki, who was making little noises as he gummed at his fingers. "Well, little man, let me tell you about financial infringement."

Tenten came home with Hui Na, takeout, and the double trouble of Rock and Metal Lee. Metal was thrilled to race after Hui Na while she marched around the kitchen table, into the living room, around the room's perimeter, back into the kitchen, then around and around the table, over and over again, chanting about stomping work.

(That was her exact phrase- "stomping work". They weren't sure what it meant, but she had her brow lowered in her fiercest expression, which meant it was Very Serious.)

Haruki watched the pair with some interest, strapped into his high chair and slapping his hands down on the tray. Every once in a while when Hui Na clomped past him, he'd let out a soft noise, and she'd reach up and pat his knee.

Neji and Lee finished setting the table and called Hui Na over to wash up. Ever her loyal shadow, Metal followed a few steps behind, and let out a happy shriek when Lee presented him with a banana.

"Nanaaaaaaa!"

"Nanaaa!" Lee echoed, grinning widely. He lifted up Metal and plopped him down in his booster seat.

Hui Na plunked herself down at her usual spot (the head of the table, of course) and piped, "Uncle Sensei, how come Metal likes bananas so much?"

"Because they are full of potassium!" Lee said cheerfully, sitting down next to Metal and hastily peeling the banana as the toddler made grabby gestures with his hand. Lee cut off toddler-sized bites of banana and put them on the mat in front of Metal, who grabbed them and shoved them in the general direction of his mouth.

Tenten put a plate of take out in front of Hui Na, who clapped her hands together and bellowed up at the ceiling, "THANKYOUFORTHEFOOD!"

"Inside voice, Hui Na," Neji reminded her quietly as he sat down with Haruki's strained carrots. She'd had dinner at the Hyuga estate a few weeks ago with her aunts and great-uncle, and apparently picked up some of their traditions.

(Neji had fallen out of this particular habit a few weeks after he and Tenten moved into their first apartment together, as she nearly always forgot to say it and would look up at him guiltily, one cheek stuffed with food.)

Hui Na, having recently discovered the tradition, had evidently decided its true purpose was to test the capacity of her lungs, and got louder and louder each time. Neji and Tenten were not exactly thrilled with the prospect of her accidentally waking up Haruki from a nap some time in the future, and were hoping to curb the yelling before it became an issue.

Tenten nudged her way between Neji's seat and the chair next to it, leaning across the table to set Lee's plate full of food in front of him. Neji watched the movement as it stretched out her figure and drew her clothing across her body. He looked away before Lee could catch him, but Tenten noticed his gaze and gave him a little smirk.

She drew her hand across his shoulder blades as she walked past him, tangling her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck for a millisecond before grabbing the last few plates off of the kitchen counter and bringing them over. She set Neji's down in front of him and kissed his temple as she did.

Before she could pull away entirely, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her back down to kiss her mouth. Tenten made a small, startled sound at the action, but kissed him back eagerly enough.

"Hem, hem," Lee enunciated very carefully. They turned to look at him, Tenten with a slight blush but still looking determined, and Neji completely unrepentant.

"Some of us have spouses that are out of town, and it's rude to rub it in our faces," Lee told them pointedly as he offered Metal his sippy cup.

"Sucks for you," Tenten said cheerfully, and kissed Neji again.

Hui Na let out a dramatic sigh and stared up at the ceiling. "Mom, that's gross."

"Goss!" Metal bellowed. Haruki let out a little whine and stretched his hand out towards the container of carrots on the table. Properly chastised, Neji opened it and offered him a spoonful, which despite Neji's best efforts mostly wound up splattered across Haruki's fat cheeks. Haruki didn't seem to care, gumming happily and making little noises as he gleefully reached out for another bite.

Across the table, Hui Na was primly eating the bites of her rice, having finally mastered her chopsticks. Between bites- because around company she was a lady and waited to talk until she didn't have any food in her mouth, a courtesy she did not tend to give her parents- she chattered happily about the dojo, her school friends, and the icky bugs they had looked at in science class today, Uncle Sensei did you know that some caterpillars hibe'nate before they turn into butterflies? She liked butterflies but she still thought that caterpillars looked a lot like worms so she didn't like those as much.

Every once in a while, Metal would catch a word that she said and repeat it at the top of his lungs, grinning happily. Lee puffed up with pride every time he did.

Meanwhile Haruki was very focused on the carrots Neji was feeding him, reaching out to wrap his hands around his father's fingers as he spooned the orange goop into his mouth and complicating the process greatly.

Neji would try to take his hand back after a spoonful, but Haruki wouldn't let go, instead gumming at Neji's fingers and covering them in a mixture of baby drool and strained carrots. Any attempts to pull away were met with much distress. Haruki would then realize he wasn't being fed and begin to whimper, all the while clutching Neji's hand. Neji would have to break Haruki's hold on him and quickly get him another bite before Haruki started crying in earnest.

It was a process that Haruki repeated every time they fed him solid foods. They couldn't feed him fast enough, or let him play with their hands long enough. He cried after every meal- in his little baby logic, no longer being fed was absolutely the worst thing to ever happen in his entire universe.

Tenten was glad that Neji was taking this turn to feed him, because it meant she and Lee were able to catch up with each other- when Haruki and Metal joined their respective families, things had gotten a little chaotic on the whole "maintaining adult friendships" thing.

Between her own meal and conversation, Tenten offered Neji bites from his plate- an action he didn't seem to care for much, but he ate the food she gave him so really she was the winner in that particular situation.

Neji scraped the last bit of carrots from Haruki's cheeks with the edge of the spoon and fed them to him, then pulled his hand back warily.

Haruki gummed away happily for a moment, clenching his hands into fists and waving them furiously in the air, then turned his gaze onto the now-empty carrot container. His brow pinched.

"Oh, here we go," Hui Na cautioned, curious to watch the imminent hissy fit in the same way people were curious about looking at roadkill.

Haruki started to whimper, looking at Neji beseechingly. Neji reached out with a wet paper towel and began cleaning off the baby's hands and cheeks, a sign that the meal was really and truly over. Haruki let out a little sob.

He was fully crying when Neji started taking off his bib and pulling him out of his high chair, inconsolable over the end of his meal. Metal watched with wide, distressed eyes, then screwed up his face.

He was crying right along with Haruki a few moments later, turning to Lee and blubbering into his shirt (and smearing a mixture of snot and partially-chewed banana all over it.) Hui Na clapped her hands over her ears and muttered, "Loud."

"Here-" Tenten took Haruki from Neji's arms and settled him in her lap, bouncing him lightly as she shushed him. He slowly quieted, burying his face into her collarbone and gripping at her shirt with tight fists. She stroked her hand down the back of his hand in repetitive, soothing motions, and after a few minutes he fell quiet, cuddled against her.

Neji took the respite as a time to eat as Lee soothed Metal and plied him with more bites of banana. After a few minutes, the room was quiet again.

Hui Na cautiously took her hands off her ears. When there were no screaming babies or toddlers, she threw back her head and sighed. "Oh thank goodness."

Tenten grinned at her. "Don't act so high and mighty there, lovie. You were much louder than Haruki-chan when you were a baby."

"No!" Hui Na grinned and shook her head. "I wasn't never a baby, mom!"

"I have some stretch marks that would say otherwise."

"Setch!" Metal repeated (as best as he could, anyway). "Setch, setch setch!"

Hui Na blew a raspberry in response to her mother, which caught Haruki's attention. He straightened himself up and grinned at his sister.

Hui Na grinned back at him. "Mom, can I go hold Haruki-chan?"

Tenten raised her brows. "You haven't finished eating." She had eaten most of her rice, a bite of fish, and nothing else.

"I'm all full up."

"Eat your cucumber and your fish." Next to her, Neji and Lee had become engrossed in conversation as Metal munched away, radiating joy.

(That kid loved bananas, it was ridiculous.)

Hui Na huffed but complied. Tenten turned Haruki in her arms so he was facing the rest of the table, and he watched with interest as Hui Na poked at her plate.

Neji stood and began clearing away the finished plates, grabbing Tenten's and Lee's along with his own and bringing them into the kitchen. Hui Na shoved hers towards him hopefully, to which he gave her a skeptical look and a pointed nod at her fish. She pouted.

Twenty-five minutes and many slow bites later, Hui Na was finally excused and happily holding Haruki in front of herself as he roared with laughter over Metal and Lee running around the living room, wildly throwing fake punches at one another with loud sound effects.

Neji and Tenten were quietly conversing with one another as they washed and dried the dishes, in between fond looks over at the children in the living room (Lee included.)

Tenten walked behind Neji to put away the silverware in the drawer next to him and cheerfully groped his ass on her way back over to the drying rack. He startled a little and gave her a wide-eyed look, to which she tossed a saucy grin over her shoulder on her way to put the plates away.

He turned back to rinsing the last of the dishes, face flushed. Tenten grinned to herself and leaned over to wrap her arms around his waist and rest her cheek on his shoulder, humming happily to herself as he briefly stroked his fingers over the top of her hand in response.

She pressed a kiss to the bit of neck exposed by his low ponytail and drew away again to dry the last dishes.

Lee and Metal headed home soon after. Metal gave them all (including Haruki) a kiss on the cheek before he left, which was adorable, and then Lee did the same. (Which Tenten and Neji didn't like receiving as much, especially because Lee made a very big deal about it in order to make Hui Na and Metal laugh.)

Tenten took Haruki upstairs for bed at 7:00 PM, slowly working through the routine they'd established. He'd started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago and they'd all been enjoying it immensely, including Hui Na (who was having a "short" phase for the past three months where she'd make her way into her parents' room almost every night to sleep in their bed, then grump away when Haruki cried and woke her up. Neji had suggested that sleeping in her own room would be better, to which she'd politely told him, "No thanks!" She was so cute that they let her get away with it, but Tenten sometimes contemplated when would be the right point to cut her off.)

Haruki snuffling away, Tenten headed back downstairs and quickly grabbed the stack of student papers off of her desk in the office, then walked into the sitting area, where Hui Na was propping her head on her hands, elbows on the table, as she contemplated the shogi board in front of her. Neji, seated across from her in a meditative position, was smiling down at the top of her head and looking pleased and proud.

Tenten walked up quietly to them both and took a seat next to Neji, then pulled her phone out of her pocket to snap a secret picture of Hui Na as her cheeks squished under the pressure of her hands. She looked very serious, and also ridiculously adorable.

Tenten sent the picture to Neji, then settled back and drew the first paper towards her, pulling her reading glasses from her shirt pocket and putting them on. Neji slid his hand down her back and squeezed her hip- he always did kind of like the sexy nerd look, because he himself was definitely a sexy nerd.

"I go here," Hui Na announced, pushing her piece into place. She looked up at her father and gave him a "what are you gonna do about it" sort of look. He smiled. "Okay, why?"

"Because it stops your this piece from moving to there," she told him, pointing to what she meant.

"My lance," Neji explained. "And why is that a good idea?"

"Because now I can move my rook to here!" She pointed again, very excitedly. "But only after your turn."

"Good thinking, little bird." He gave her another proud smile.

Next to them, Tenten grumbled over a paper, then grabbed her red pen off the tabletop and started writing harshly in the margins.

"Hi mom!" Hui Na chirped. "Are you grading papers?"

"Yep." Tenten finished what she was writing and flipped the page. She continued on in a conspiratorial tone, "Don't tell my first-year students, but they're not very good at writing essays."

Hui Na giggled. "Okey dokey." She turned back to Neji. "Baba, your turn!"

"I'm going here," he said, moving his piece. "Why do you think I did that?"

The pair of them continued to go back and forth over the shogi board, with Neji patiently coaxing Hui Na's logic from her and explaining things she didn't understand. Hui Na's interest in shogi had been piqued when she last visited the Hyuga estate- the same day she learned the traditional thank-you before the meal. It had all around been a very interesting night for her. Hiashi had started to teach her, and when she got back home she'd begged Neji to do the same- to which he quickly and eagerly agreed. Now they played several times a week.

Tenten set another paper aside and slapped a quick post-it note on it explaining her reasoning for the grade, then picked up the next essay. It was from her (secret) favorite student, who was smart and cheerful and earnest and a little bit like what Tenten always thought Hui Na would grow up to be.

(Which was a thought that always made her both sad and proud, and Hui Na was only five.)

Tenten slowly wrapped up grading the last essay, actually enjoying parts of it and marking far fewer things for editing than the other essays. She put it in the "graded" stack and glanced back up at Hui Na and Neji, who were reaching the end of their game.

"Ōte," Neji said, pushing a last piece into place. Hui Na yelled, "What!" in exaggerated shock, puffing out her cheeks and wildly shaking her head at the board. Tenten hushed her, reminding her "Haruki-chan is sleeping, Hui Na."

"Sorry," she stage-whispered, abashed. "Baba, you cheated!"

"Did not," Neji said in offended dignity. "I'm just the smartest man in the world, is all."

"Oh, okay then," Hui Na said.

Suddenly, the slight nagging feeling Tenten had been having clicked into place. "Oh!" She (quietly) slapped her hand down on the table in recognition as Neji and Hui Na turned to look at her. "It's Hui Na's bath night!"

"That's right," Neji recalled. For her part, Hui Na seemed unbothered.

"Let's get you in the tub, lovie."

"Okey dokey," she agreed. "Then you gotta pick up the shogi, baba."

They all looked at the shogi board and pieces scattered around the table, then Tenten cheerfully said, "She got you there. See in in a bit, babe."

She threw Hui Na over her shoulder and they made their way upstairs, giggling conspiratorially over Neji's loud, put-upon sigh.