It didn't take me 6 months to update this. Whaddya know:D Thanks for keeping on reading the story!

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Tenten meekly followed Neji silently as the latter led her to a series of hallways that somehow seemed just like replicas of each other. She reckoned that the giant maze that was the Hyuuga compound was a very dangerous place to get lost in, especially when nearing dinnertime.

As she passed by a mirror, she caught a quick glance of herself: a blue-haired wig with dark azure hues tinting its edges, floating above a riot of colors of fabrics. As usual, upon seeing her get-up, Neji had an unmistakable dark expression on his face. When he ordered her to find a more suitable and decent outfit, she immediately said that she had only two sets of clothes: the one she wore yesterday, and the one she was wearing today. This made him glare at her, but he opted against wasting any more words for her. He merely told her to follow her to Iji's quarters.

She laughed inwardly. It wouldn't take a sensitive Freud to analyze the Hyuuga's emotion towards her: it was simply disgust. And years of training with him made her understood the reason behind it—he disliked things and people that do not follow the structure of order; let alone those that dare challenge him.

She should know it more than anyone in Konoha—why not, since they parted ways because of that very same reason.

Her eyes gazed at his solid back, cold and indifferent as it had ever been. For a moment, she felt herself transported to a scene several years ago. Him and her, aged seventeen. They were both arguing in hushed tones that betrayed the magnitude of their anger. It wouldn't be of any use making Gai-sensei and Lee overhear their dispute.

"I can't be your sidekick and sparring partner forever, Neji. I want to become like Tsunade-sama! For that to happen, I have to stay here in Konoha and do missions." She had just turned down his invitation (that sounded more like an order) to join him in furthering his training in the isolated forests on the southernmost part of the continent, where the conditions would be perfect for rigorous training of his Byakugan.

"Missions," he sneered. "Hah! The real battlefield is outside the civilization, Tenten. Babysitting and fixing someone else's roofs would only make fun of your real abilities."

She cocked an eyebrow. So Neji DID acknowledge she had some…abilities. Whenever they spar, he would only notice his own battle skills. He would not recognize her efforts of keeping up with his combat skills that seem to improve in light years, and how hard she trains herself to maintain the sparring standard that her teammate wanted.

"I am not a ninja merely because I love great fights that test my strength," she replied coolly. "I am a ninja because I want to help people… even those who need help in taking care of children while their parents find work, or old people who had no one to rely on to fix their leaking roofs."

His lips were set firmly in an infuriated line, as if he wanted to give a heated rebuttal of his own. Instead, he turned his back on her. "Do what you want. But do not expect to see me again."

And the rest was history. That is, until today.

Had the Rokudaime not asked her to do this mission, she would never have expected to see her former teammate again. She knew him as someone who treated promises like fragile glass and kept them honorably. When he said she wouldn't see him again, she knew he would have done the next best thing to migrating to Mars—erasing his existence in the civilized world and living among the unnamed in the hostile parts of the continent.

A part of her still felt awkward seeing him again, but the part of her that silently cared for him since their genin days—the same part that worried greatly for his safety in his different battles and his emotional state when dealing with his issues—was very glad to see him again. Never mind if he didn't know her anymore. Perhaps, that would even be for the best.

"Ouch!" She bumped straight into the chest of Neji, who had previously turned to face her. "Hey, watch where you're standing!" she complained, rubbing her nose.

"What the—" He exhaled sharply. "And to think I would leave you the responsibility of looking after Iji."

"If you're worried about me bumping on Iji, don't worry. He's not yet able to stand—"

"Shut up, woman." He rolled his eyes. Why, oh why did he agree to this ridiculous idea of leaving an airhead to care for Hinata-sama's son?

Hyuuga Hiashi. Oh, right.

"—plus, there's a crib that stands between me and Iji, so I don't think I'll bump into him—"

"SHUT UP."

She was still all smiles. "Sure, no problem."

When he was given her precious silence, he continued to talk. "This is Iji's nursery." He led her into the room patterned identically after the other rooms of the mansion: brown, made of wood, and with little clutter.

She nodded slowly. "I thought it was a library."

Neji sighed. "A library? And where are the books then? I don't see any."

"Neither do I."

He fought the urge to strangle her slender neck. "So what made you think this was a library?" If IQ was readily for sale, he would have hoarded the store and gave it charitably to the babysitter, if only for poor Iji.

"It's…so gloomy. Boring too." She gestured to the naked chocolate brown walls. "I was thinking of bright cheerful rainbows and sun and clouds for the wall graffiti." She pointed to the crib that stood at the center of the room. "A mobile would be nice too. It would entertain Iji."

"And what, pray tell, would an infant know about entertainment?" he asked. The only mobile he remembered in his childhood was moving targets he was tasked to take down at all costs.

"Probably more than you would know," she said playfully. She earned a lethal glare from him. "Kidding," she said soothingly. Inwardly she added, not!

"Very well." He cleared his throat. "I would not hear anymore interior decoration tips from you. We are paying you to be a nanny and not to be anything else otherwise."

"Don't worry! I'm not charging my advice to my salary!"

He rubbed his aching temples. "Bloody hell…"

She went to the crib and peered inside. "Hey, where's Iji-chan?"

"He was taken out for a little sunshine and some fresh air, but he would be back anytime." Neji paused, wondering what to say next. He had forgotten the rest of his words when the nanny suddenly opened the windows of the bedroom. Sprinkle of dust and filtered sunlight fell into the room like a golden shower, partially surprising his very adept eyesight.

"What was that for?" he asked when Cookie faced him again smilingly.

"His sunshine and fresh air shouldn't need a schedule—he should have it everyday."

His eyes crinkled in annoyance. "Do you have any idea how thorough our housekeepers are in maintaining a sterile, dust-free surrounding for Iji?"

She shrugged. "Relax, Sir Neji. Too much of something is bound to be bad for someone—and that includes cleanliness. Give his immune system a battle to fight."

"If that is your logic, why didn't I just throw Iji into a pit of garbage, just so his immune system can be used?" he asked sarcastically.

He blinked when she suddenly gasped. "Don't do it!" she cried.

"Do WHAT?"

"Throw Iji into a pit of garbage, just so his immune system can be used!" she parroted.

"I AM NOT THROWING IJI AWAY!" His hold on his temper was fast vanishing into thin air.

"Oh? That's good."

The throbbing of his head now seemed even more real. He sat on a nearby chair and massaged his aching temple.

"Hey!"

He looked up warily when he saw the woman standing in front of him, her face bent down to look straight at him. "Now what?"

"Want me to massage your head?" she asked brightly.

"No," he said automatically, the curtness of his voice set in the same auto-defensive mode.

"Want to massage mine then?"

He did a double take.

"I figured that you were just feeling bad that if you do get massaged, it'll be only you who would be satisfied. So I thought we can work on each other so no one would have to be left out—"

"Step a meter away from me, Cookie, and shut your mouth, PLEASE."

"Oh." She paused thoughtfully. "Can your hands still reach me then? How will you be able to massage me—"

"Young Master Neji." Several aged women entered the room, abruptly ending their exchange. One of the women was holding an infant whose sun-baked complexion seemed to stand out among the pale skins surrounding him. What captured Tenten's attention the most were the clear blue eyes of the child—unquestionably the eyes of the Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto. The only inherent Hyuuga Hinata gene in the baby was the small tuft of dark hair on top of his head.

Her gaze turned to Neji, and she had to stifle a startled 'Oh!'. For the first time since they met when she was applying as a nanny, she finally saw the Hyuuga Neji smile tenderly. His eyes, softer than she remembered, were aimed at the direction of the infant, who seemed to recognize his uncle at once, based on its delighted laughter.

The woman holding Iji carefully deposited the little babe into Neji's arms before she and the other women disappeared from the nursery.

Moments later, Neji finally released a fully-blossomed smile at the baby and proceeded to rock him gently in his arms. She could only watch in awed silence, for how many people knew such warmth dwell in the seemingly glacial shell of Hyuuga Neji?

After a while, the little one had finally fallen into slumber, hypnotized by the rhythmic sway of his uncle's arms. Upon seeing this, the long-haired man walked towards the crib and placed the baby on the bed, with great care warranted only by the handling of the most brittle of china.

She felt a cold hand touch her heart. The Rokudaime would have wept if he had seen that his child that was shamefully called 'illegitimate' was cared for and cherished dearly by people no one would ever expect possess the humanity to love.

His eyes met hers, and then he signaled to the hallways just outside the nursery. She immediately followed him.

…………………………………………….

"Iji's mother died at childbirth," Neji began as they sat down the floor outside the sliding doors of the nursery. From their position, they could both see the right profile of Baby Iji peacefully asleep in his own nest.

She perked up curiously. This was the part that Naruto did not elaborate on, and one that puzzled her. From what she remembered about Hyuuga Hinata's appearance, she did look like someone whose body might snap into two when laboring—but then, she was never the one to give up, especially someone as important as her child.

The last time that they met in a place and date she could not remember anymore, her image of quiet strength and pride lingered in her mind. As she assisted her father in the talks with other powerful clans from other territories, Hinata represented a bamboo: of graceful might camouflaged by serenity.

Unbreakable.

"H-How did she die?" she finally asked, wondering if the woman had a congenital heart disease that made her pregnancy fatal.

"Painfully."

"Oh." Her eyes narrowed. She didn't know her humor was contagious. Neji's just happened to fall prey into the evilness of wrong timing per se. "What about Iji-chan's father?" She braced herself for whatever the Hyuuga had to say about the Rokudaime, since the Hokage himself told her that the caretaker of the baby hated him to his very bone marrows.

"What about him?"

"Where is Iji's father?"

Neji shrugged. "Speaking."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Iji doesn't look like you."

"He doesn't have to look like me in order for me to call him my son."

"Hmm…" He had a point there.

"But what you must understand, Cookie, is that Iji is someone important to our family." His face grew serious. "I must admit, I do not like you."

"Ouch."

"But since I couldn't defy Hiashi-sama's orders, I have no choice but to—"

"Like me?" she asked.

"—accept you." He cleared his throat. "What I am trying to point out is… Iji's not an ordinary child."

She nodded silently. A child of the Hyuuga heiress and a Hokage was inarguably beyond definition of ordinary.

"He may be an orphan by blood, but that should not give him reason not to take pride of himself." Neji gave her a scrutinizing look as if determining whether her apparent cluttered brain was readily taking all of these big pieces of information he was dishing out to her.

She maintained a brainlessly cheerful smile in response.

"Take good care of Iji. Love him. He must know that even if he was the result of unexpected circumstances, he is very much wanted by this world." He tilted his head sideward, pondering on whether he should say anything more.

"Don't fret, Sir Neji," she said in her most reassuring tone. "I'll be the best nanny that Iji ever had!"

"You are his first nanny."

"Um…yes! I'll be the best AND first nanny that Iji ever had!" she proudly declared.

A sigh of resignation escaped his throat. He was having second thoughts over entrusting her a responsibility as big as this, yet when he felt her silent and intent gaze on him as he was lulling Iji to sleep, something told him that Cookie somehow understood the unspoken importance of Baby Iji into his and his family's life.

"May I watch Iji-chan sleep?" she asked all of a sudden, startling him.

He blinked. She had a talent for unpredictability, that was for sure.

She apparently decided that his loss for words was due to his doubt on her, so she quickly added, "I promise not to join him in his crib."

Slowly, he nodded. This made her grin at him, and then gracefully, she got up.

Despite of himself, he found himself watching her pink and violet checkered blouse-clad figure walk towards the nursery in light, agile steps as her yellow-and-brown striped ankle-length skirt rustled behind her. Her blue wig crowned her fashion that even Goth clowns would reject ruthlessly.

Yet astoundingly, he could only recognize the beautiful fluidity of her simple movements—something he thought he would only see in one woman.

A woman gone forever, he reminded himself not without bitter sadness he was yet to acknowledge out loud.

"Sir Neji, Sir Neji! Look! I think Iji just raised a middle finger at me!" squealed Cookie from inside the baby's quarters.

Now that was something he had to see. His mouth twitched as he got up to see what the new nanny was making a fuss about.

……………………………..

to be continued