chapter two! i had words to say about it but i forgot all of them, so.

Neji knew that his hastily scrawled note to Hinata would not address all of his cousin's questions, but he lacked the inclination to write out a more detailed explanation, too anxious to return to his family's side.

His family. The word had a new meaning now, shifted from grim, white-eyed faces and constant, crushing expectations to narrow in on the tiny, unbelievably important human sleeping in the next room with her mother resting beside her.

Resting, and watching the actions of the midwives with a wary gaze. Neither he nor Tenten trusted them not to whisk their daughter away to the scrutiny of the Hyuga Clan Elders.

She was mere hours old, still red-faced and furious to be in this unfamiliar world. The Clan could not claim her yet, and if he and Tenten had their way, they never would.

He entered the room silently, taking in the drawn curtains and enchanted koto that was playing a low melody. Neji crossed to where his daughter was asleep, her face pinched and hands curled into fists. She looked particularly unhappy, and amid his exhaustion- it had been a long labor- he felt some amusement that she was already showing the same strong-headed traits of her parents.

Tenten, who had visibly relaxed once he'd entered the room, shifted further into her bed. She yawned widely and her teeth seemed to glint in the dim lighting. Everything about Tenten seemed sharp to him, even now after she had become a mother.

Tenten stirred slightly and spoke in a voice slurred with tiredness. "She's ugly."

Neji couldn't help the laugh that burst through him, causing one midwife to throw him a dark look as his daughter stirred at the sound. "She'll get cuter."

"Mm. Given her father's traits, I suppose that's an inevitability." She yawned again, reaching out blindly to tug him onto her bedside and down towards her.

"Make everyone leave," she murmured, disguising the action with a soft press to his cheek. He nodded minutely in understanding, smoothing his fingers over the creases of exhaustion lining her eyes.

When he returned from sending the midwives and Healers away- much to their displeasure, but the anger showing in his stance had scared off the more easily intimidated and the rest had eventually followed- Tenten was rolled slightly onto her side, one hand reaching down to rest next to their daughter as she watched her sleep.

He slipped into the bed next to her. Her waist and belly seemed to give in a shocking amount under the light pressure of his hand, after months spent spanning over skin stretched tight, feeling the flutters and thumps of their daughter as she constantly moved. He'd told Tenten, early in the pregnancy, that their child would crave restless freedom the same way she did, because she was never still.

(Tenten had pressed a careless kiss to his palm in response, then asked him to please, please go get her some more daifuku, and would he please prop the door to the outside open on his way out so she could feel the breeze?)

(He did both, to her beaming pleasure.)

Now, their daughter lay still except for tiny breaths and the movement of her hands as her fingers moved in her sleep.

Tenten rolled back over to rest her back against his chest, eyes slipping closed as she finally allowed herself to sleep with their daughter secure under his watch. Neji pressed a lingering kiss to the top of her head before tucking her under his chin as he turned his gaze to where his child slept in the world for the very first time.

The next day, they napped until well into the afternoon, waking only to care for their daughter and themselves. It was not until after lunch that Tenten shook off her lingering lethargy and went to use the washbin they'd brought into their room, scrubbing herself down and slowly stretching.

Neji watched her mutely from where he sat cradling their daughter, stroking the soft dome of her head as she slumbered quietly. She'd been an easy sleeper so far, sleeping for long stretches through the night and day.

She had opened her eyes a few times now, never for very long. Her irises, when they had peeked through her sparse eyelashes, had been silver, which elated and terrified them both.

"We still need to name her," Tenten murmured, walking up to him and bending to press a soft kiss first to their daughter's round cheek, then his hand. She straightened back up and made a face, a hand moving to rest on her lower abdomen.

Neji was instantly concerned, reaching with one hand to offer her support. "Are you all right?"

She waved him off. "Just sore. I had a baby yesterday, you know."

Neji had a brief moment to recall the low, pained noises that had come from his wife almost involuntarily, and the terrifying moment when the room had fallen completely silent before the wail of a newborn could be heard.

He raised his eyes to meet Tenten's. "Yes, I do recall."

Their daughter stirred in his arms with a whimper that quickly escalated into a full-grown cry. "I bet she's hungry," Tenten said over the noise.

Neji made a small noise of assent. "Go get comfortable and I'll hand her to you."

He bobbed her slightly to calm her as Tenten settled into their rocking chair, pillows propped around her. "All right. Give me the baby." She paused, lips lifting in a smirk. "Although technically you already did."

"Tenten. Don't be so inappropriate."

"She's one day old. She can barely even poop, much less hear. She's fine."

"We need to start cutting out that type of language now, so when she's old enough to understand it-"

"For heaven's sake, my baby is starving and you're trying to have a conversation with me about sex jokes."

Neji huffed and settled their daughter in her arms. The room fell silent as she nursed, a tiny fist wrapped around Tenten's finger.

Neji watched the two of them quietly. An overwhelming feeling rose in his chest at the picture they made, Tenten gazing down tenderly at their child. She glanced at him and gave him a confused but gentle smile. "What is it?"

He shook his head, the feeling settling into his lungs and heart. "Nothing. I just… I never truly believed I could have something like this."

Tenten gave him a soft look, reaching out a hand to him and twining their fingers together. "Well, you're stuck with us now, sucker."

Neji laughed quietly and leaned down to kiss her, carefully moving around their daughter as he cupped Tenten's face in his hand. He felt a small hand thump against his ribs and stood back to stare at his daughter. She glared back, throwing out her hand again to hit against his abdomen, then Tenten's collarbone.

Tenten laughed. "Well, she certainly has your attitude."

Neji frowned, affronted. "My attitude? Which of us pulled out a bo staff on a visiting diplomat for a single, mildly catty remark?"

She rolled her eyes dismissively. "I was pregnant-"

"Tenten, in the very first week we met, you held a kunai to my neck and told me that if I didn't fuck off you'd castrate me."

She lowered her face next to their daughter's so their cheeks squished together. "Well, aren't we so glad that I didn't?"

"Very." He leaned down and blew a raspberry on both their cheeks. Tenten snickered, and their daughter kicked a leg and screwed up her face.

Tenten laughed and brought her back down to be cradled in her arms. "Oh, she did not like that." She bobbed her up and down gently. "Did you, my ugly girl?"

"Stop calling her ugly."

"I'll stop calling her ugly when she stops being ugly. Until then, nothing but the facts."

Neji turned away with a sigh. Absently, he straightened the blankets on their bed and surveyed the rest of the room. Between their bed, dresser, his desk, and now the rocker and their daughter's bassinet, their room was getting quite cramped.

Ideally, they'd have another week and a half or so to pack everything away and settle into their new rooms, but their daughter's early arrival had thrown them off their plan. Even so, most of their non-vital items were packed away and sitting in their new home, awaiting their eventual arrival.

Behind him, Tenten cooed softly over the baby, a sound that she would be sure to deny ever came out of her. Neji turned back towards them and asked, "What do you want for lunch? I'll send an order to the kitchens."

"Mm, no, not the kitchens." Tenten frowned thoughtfully. "I want crap ramen from Ichiraku's."

"Don't say 'crap'. And seriously? Ramen?"

"Yep." Tenten grinned. "Oh! With sake!"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard in my life."

"Well, you're welcome for gifting that to you." She threw a rag over her shoulder and began burping the baby firmly. "Go on, lover. You can get herring soba for yourself. Now that my pregnancy is over, maybe it won't make me nauseous."

"And what if it does?"

"Then I'll eat outside while you watch her. C'mon, Neji."

"Fine." He pressed a kiss to her mouth and straightened. "I think Hiashi and Hanabi will want to stop by soon. Are you willing to see them after lunch?"

"That's fine." With an urp, their daughter spewed all across her shoulder. "Aww, how cute. Just like her father."

"I have never thrown up on you."

"That you know of. You've gotten pretty drunk at some festivals before."

"I would remember if I-"

"Weren't you getting lunch?" She smacked his rear. "Get going."

True enough, Tenten was fine around his soba, and munched away happily at her ramen as he ate quietly next to her, their daughter in her bassinet. She'd had a single sip of sake before pulling a face and dumping it back in the tokkuri.

She ate her ramen and broth before "helping" him finish off the last few bites of his soba. She threw him an impish grin as she did so, and he couldn't help but press a kiss to the dimple that formed with the expression.

After lunch, they continued packing away their clothes, leaving only a few essentials and all of their baby gear. Tenten was highly irritated by Neji's habit of nudging her away from anything that would be laborious to lift.

She threw an errant teacup at his head. "Cut that out! I can handle this!"

He prodded at the shards with his toe, examining them. "That was part of the set that Gai-sensei got us."

"That particular set hasn't been doing very well, I'm afraid. Somehow they keep getting broken. It's the strangest thing. It's like that obnoxious green color makes the floor just call to them."

Neji looked up with a laugh, but cut it off short at the sight of Tenten edging back towards the boxes with a furtive look in her eye.

"Tenten!"

She whirled to face him, hands in the air in nonchalance. "Nothing!"

He opened his mouth to- well, not exactly reprimand her, that implied a certain authority over her and neither of them would ever tolerate that- to point out the very real dangers that accompanied her straining herself, but outside their rooms there was the rapid thumping of bare feet on tatami mats, which cut off abruptly just in front of the entrance.

The shoji cracked open, and a set of silver eyes peered in, looking sheepish. "Sorry," Hanabi said in a theatrical whisper. "I forgot the baby might be sleeping."

Neji glanced over to where his daughter laid in her bassinet, stubbornly asleep despite the noises of shattering porcelain, their argument, and now Hanabi's loud steps. "It's all right," he told his cousin. "She seems to be very good at ignoring things."

Hanabi brightened, opening the door and stepping into the room. "Oh, it's a girl?"

"Yep!" Tenten called cheerfully from where she'd been sealing the last box into her scroll. "The ugliest girl I've ever seen. You want to hold her?"

"Yes! Why is she ugly?"

"She isn't ugly-" Neji tried to interrupt.

"She's ugly because she was born a day ago, and she still looks kind of pinched and red. Here, sit down and get settled so you can hold her."

"Okay!" Hanabi threw herself onto their rocker, her feet kicking excitedly where they dangled above the floor. "How should I hold her?"

"Like this." Neji walked over and rearranged the pillows so Hanabi's arms were propped up. "Make sure you keep her head supported in your elbow."

Hanabi nodded, her eyes fixed on Tenten has she lifted their daughter from the bassinet, murmuring gently to her as she fussed. She crossed the room and lowered her onto Hanabi's lap.

Hanabi went the stillest that Neji had ever seen her, every muscle tense as she stared with wide eyes at the baby. Their daughter stared resentfully back, her own eyes just barely open. She let out a grunt and thwocked a fist against Hanabi's abdomen.

Hanabi whipped her head up with a grin. "Ha! She's just like Tenten!"

Neji threw back his head and laughed as Tenten whined about how she really wasn't that violent, and they all had horribly false opinions of her.

Hanabi wasn't having it. "Didn't you once break Lee-sensei's nose?"

"We were sparring-"

"That's not what he said! He told me it was because he accidentally tore one of your scrolls!"

Tenten scowled. "He was careless!"

Even while she was yelling (very joyfully, she always liked spending time with Tenten and Lee because she could drop her carefully upkept Hyuga mask), Hanabi held carefully still. Neji took a glance at the baby, and she had actually been able to fall back asleep despite all the noise.

The shoji door slid open once more, and this time Hiashi stepped through. With his presence, the other occupants of the room stilled- Hanabi guiltily, Tenten with a sort of defiance, and Neji because he wanted to see what would happen next.

"Good afternoon." Hiashi regarded them all carefully, before his gaze came to rest on the bundle in Hanabi's lap.

She noticed his attention and piped up, "Otosama, do you want to see Neji-niisan's ugly baby?"

"Excuse you," Tenten said grandly. "She's my ugly baby too."

At this remark, Neji turned away with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll make tea," he said to no one in particular.

He pulled the tea set out from where he'd insisted to Tenten that they keep it, despite her insistence to pack it away. As if he wouldn't serve their guests tea. Behind him, he could hear Tenten chatting away at Hiashi as she hoisted their daughter out of Hanabi's arms.

"Oh, my love," Tenten called from where she was situating their daughter in Hiashi's arms. "I moved the scroll with the water spell over by the bed."

Neji stared at her. "May I ask why?"

"No."

Hanabi chirped, "Tenten-obasan, may I ask why?"

"Sure."

"Tenten-obasan, why did you move the water scroll to over by the bed?"

"Because I took a nap earlier and I knew I would be thirsty when I woke up."

"Oh, okay."

Neji looked up at the small group huddled around the rocker and caught the end of the slight smile on his uncle's face. He gently hefted the baby towards his face and drew down the blanket covering her chin so he could get a clear look at her.

Hiashi noticed her eyes and blinked twice in quick succession, his only indication of surprise. "She may have the byakugan, then."

"We have rather mixed feelings on that," Neji murmured. The corners of Hiashi's mouth thinned, but he said nothing.

Next to him, Hanabi clung to the arm of the chair to peer down at the baby. With a quick glance to her father- she always tried to only show him the stoic Hyuga demeanor he expected- she grinned down at her, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes.

The baby didn't seem to care too much, clenching her eyes shut and letting out a yawn.

"Have you decided on a name?" Hiashi asked smoothly.

"We have a few in mind," Tenten replied. "Nothing decided yet."

"I see," Hiashi replied. "It's best to do it soon. The Elders can only be held off for so long."

Somber silence filled the room after his statement. Hanabi deflated against the chair, and Tenten's face went carefully neutral.

The tea kettle whistled, and Neji poured out four cups. Tenten took their daughter from Hiashi and placed her in her bassinet as he and Hanabi sat down for tea.

"Hui Na," Neji said abruptly.

Hiashi frowned. "Pardon?"

"We're naming her Hui Na," Neji said with finality.

Hiashi's frown deepened. "That's not very traditional."

"No," Neji said softly, meeting Tenten's tender gaze over Hiashi's head. "It's not."

"Hui Na" is a chinese name. basically, neji is choosing to name his child after his wife's family and culture, so OOOOOOH SNAP