A/N: Ahhhh...Chapter two done. I was originally planning on this being a three-shot, but judging by the length of my planning, it'll probably be at least five chapters long, four if I start writing longer chapters. I've been spending the last few weeks reading NejiTen fan fiction over and over...So when my Internet crashed yesterday, and I reread the fics I had saved on my hard drive five times, I finally decided to start the next bit. :)

I've already reread this chapter three or four times to check for mistakes, and I've used my Word spellcheck and 's spell check, but there might still be a couple mistakes here and there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Obviously. If I did, Neji and Tenten would have been canon the moment Shippuden came out. Or at least by their first appearance in Shippuden.

Bittersweet Tragedies

Chapter II - Negotiations

byakuxhisa4eva

"We request the immediate release of all captured Rain nin, as well as the body of the current head of the Hyuga, which we were denied before."

"That's ridiculous!" The Rokudaime shouted, a fist slamming into the hard wood table, the force creating a slight dent in once smooth material. "You honestly can't expect Konoha to lose so much for the safe return of one woman, no matter how important!"

The head Rain ninja shifted back slightly in his chair, bring his arms up to his chest, a smug smirk plastered on his deeply scarred face. "Obviously we can, as your efforts to retrieve this one woman has called upon the attention of Konoha's high council, and the leaders of the Hyuga clan."

Those seated around the table exchanged worried glances, all thinking the same thought.

"And if we refuse?"

An odd dozen heads swivelled to look at the source that vocalized what they were all no doubt thinking. Naruto bit his lip, his hand clenching the edge of his desk tightly, and glared pointedly at usually silent man on his left side.

"Then the woman dies, and this war resumes without fail. Konoha's resources have greatly weakened from the previous war. Shinobi are being overworked to the maximum extent. If this continues, both you and I know that the Village Hidden in the Leaves will meet its downfall."

"I do not believe the situation in Rain is much better," Naruto shot back, locking steely gazes with the man across from him. "You seem to be putting everything on this last trump card. You cannot possibly expect Konoha to return so much of the Rain's military power in exchange for one life."

Beside him, a fist clenched tightly in the sleeves of traditional white robes. The enemy ninja, despite the underlying threat in the Rokudaime's words, appeared to be amused.

"We are not fools, Hokage-sama, and this one woman can bring about the downfall of Konoha, given sufficient time, and expose one of the Hidden Leaf's most carefully protected secrets." The evident belief that he had this all but settled in their favour showed on the Rain nin's face. Apparently, the great Hokage had not been notified of the details of the current situation. "The secrecy of the Byakugan has always been associated strictly with Konoha, and in the centuries since it's founding, the Hyuga clan has always done it very best to lock these secrets within the clan," Deep blue eyes flickered over to the silent figure on the left. "As they did during the last war."

A brow creased, and cerulean blue eyes turned to glare at the head of afore mentioned clan beside him, eyes narrowing, before glaring harshly at the Rain nin.

"You think that the capture of a woman, though bound to the Hyuga by marriage, will expose the secret of the Byakugan, when she herself does not possess this kekkei genkai?"

The wide smirk only widened further, as dark eyes seemed to glint in anticipation at this sudden discovery.

"You mean you do not yet know? It is not the woman herself who will give us this secret." His tone was superior and mocking, "It is what she carries within her."

Naruto growled, his irritation at lack of provided information evident.

"Dammit Neji," his chest rose and fell heavily with each breathe, words directed at his long-time comrade, "What the hell is he talking about? You can't mean..."

Hyuga Neji did not meet his blank gaze with the fuming Hokage beside him, instead adverting his line of sight to the council of advisers seated around him – the Konoha twelve, all familiars faces he had grow up with – confirming their fears.

"She is with child."

And those of the Rain were all too pleased with the affirmation giving by the Hyuga. The mutual acknowledgement of dangerous liabilities served only to worsen states of the mind.

"And we have the next heir to the Hyuga. With him the unsealed secrets of the Byakugan."

Hinata paused in her storytelling, glancing over at her young charge, wondering if, perhaps, he was thinking the same thing she most likely would have thought, had she been told this story.

"I was this unborn child." It was not a question, Hinata noted, but a statement, one that did not take great thinking or rationality to conclude, given the situation.His tone was heavy, and though the young child did not voice it, the underlying guilt was evident. I was the unborn child that threatened Konoha with my very existence.

The child that whose life was saved instead of his mother's.

"This is absurd! Ridiculous! We will not have centuries of secrecy exposed by a foolish clan leader who failed to alert his clan of his wife's condition!" An wrinkled fist, heavily marred by age was raised at said leader, and heavily breathing chest gasped for air.

"Hitoshi! Sit down! This meeting will go nowhere if we do not act and think rationally!" Another elder barked, then glancingtoward the center of the room. "Nonetheless, Neji-sama, he does bring to light a good point. Your wife failed to notify us of her condition, as did you. The birth of a Hyuga, the heir no less, is a matter of utmost importance. She should not have gone on that mission."

The silent leader, like so many before him, did not immediately speak, instead opting to think over the correct way to address the current situation.

"It is unlikely that she was aware of her condition herself, it is too early in the pregnancy. The subject of her mission does not require discussion – there is little point – as she has already been...captured." Neji felt his throat tighten, as if the vocalization of this fact only re-established the fact that she really was no longer with him. The very thought of her, of Tenten, Konoha's famed Weapons Mistress, in the hands of another, another prisoner among numbers possibly in the hundreds, did little to sooth his bitter anger against the Rain.

The hatred coursing through his veins pounded stronger with every heartbeat, and Neji couldn't quite help but remember the consequences of the actions taken last time. He had already lost his father, he couldn't afford to lose Tenten, not Tenten, and his child...his son...his heir...

The genius prodigy laboured over the situation in his mind. If they agreed to the demands, chances were Konoha would lose the war. Like the Rain had said, Konoha's already diminishing power, and the return of more than half of Rain's ninjas, was too much for Konoha to forfeit. Had they only asked for his corpse...

The irony of the situation frightened and worried him to no end.

The decades old scandal with Hiashi and Hizashi's death was fresh on his mind. But this time, a fake body could not be offered, as Neji was certain he had no physical double.

It was not the fear of death that made this decision so hard – for a ninja lived with the threat of death with every mission, everyday – and he, for the sake of his son, for Tenten, would willingly give up all claims on life, but he knew the Elders would never approve of that plan. Former branch member or not, he was still the Hyuga head, and therefore not expendable.

To add insult to injury, the thought of Tenten raising their son on her own, a single parent, worried him. Tenten was a capable kunoichi, and a more than capable woman and mother. But as mother to the heir to the Hyuga, and the entire Hyuga clan on her back, without Neji's protection, she would have a very hard time raising him normally.

But still, the secret of the Byakugan...the Hyuga clan's most carefully guarded secret, the kekkei genkai that set the Hyuga clan apart. If Rain did keep the child, his child, they could no doubt harness the powers for themselves, study and analyze its abilities, its weaknesses –

"Neji-sama! Are you listening?"

Snapping out of his reverie, he glanced around to see five sets of pearly white eyes staring questionably at him.

"Yes, I'm listening," He motioned with his hand for them to continue, giving them no reason to doubt him.

Assured the focus of the room was on him, the speaking elder ploughed on. "As I was saying, I think we should –"

All eyes turned to look at the shoji door, and the soft noise of someone rapping softly on the wooden door frame.

"What is it?" The elder barked, clearly annoying at being interrupted once again.

A middle-aged woman, one of the more senior Hyuga maids, slid open the screen and bowed courteously, speaking in a firm, clear voice. "You have a visitor. Hokage-sama is here to see you, Hyuga-sama."

"Thank-you, Sachiko-san, I'll take it from here." A new voice sounded out behind her, and Sachiko shuffled backwards, bowing, revealing a new face.

Neji's face didn't betray his surprise at this unexpected visit, as did the rest of the elders. He inclined his head slightly at Naruto, and raised a dark eyebrow; inquiring in his own way his curiosity at his arrival.

Naruto nodded firmly, not before turning around and shutting the door firmly behind him, nodding at the maid still behind it. At Neji's questioning glance, he simply took a seat in a vacant chair at the opposite end of the table they were seated at. "It's best that we're not heard. I've posted several ANBU squads around the compound. No one but us and the Anbu know I'm here."

The elder who had been interrupted by the sudden visitor spoke up. "Hokage-sama, I do not mean any disrespect, but we are in the middle of a very important meeting. Perhaps you could...?"

Naruto held up a hand, pausing him in his speech, his bright blue eyes burning fiercely, his mouth set in a firm line. "The secret of the Byakugan is not something that Konoha can afford to lose. Returning a further forty percent of Rain's captured nin – a good portion of them high-ranking jounin – is also not an option. Even so, I will not have Neji killed, even if for the sake of Tenten and their son."

Neji narrowed his eyes, locking pearl and sapphire gazes, much like their first battle during the Chunin exams years ago. "Where are you going with this Naruto...?"

Naruto leaned forward, resting his chin on the linked backs of his hands, eyes glinting brightly in the dim light.

"I have a suggestion."