The next few weeks saw a shift in Hui Na's sleeping schedule. Her long days of napping as a newborn were over, instead replaced by a fussy baby who tried her best to sleep during the day and cry all night. Neji and Tenten worked their best to keep her awake and engaged during the day, and get her to nap only after playtime.
Still, Hui Na often woke in the middle of the night and cried for hours on end, despite being fed, her diaper changed, and rocked. Tenten had begun napping when the baby was asleep, and Neji was sorely tempted to join in.
Unfortunately, Konoha's council had been reaching out to him again, trying to get him to go out and trace down Hinata. He had a feeling that Tsunade didn't really believe him when he told the Council he didn't know where she was, but she hadn't pressed him yet- which made sense, given that her apprentice had followed the Hyuga Priestess and was likely to be arrested alongside her.
They'd recently accepted that he would not pursue her, but now had begun sending him battle reports, with strong hints that they wanted him to review their strategies and work with Shikaku Nara to improve them.
In his opinion, the best option was to provide the Hyuga Priestess with the resources and manpower she needed as she struggled on the front lines to hold back the brunt of the evil magic seeping towards Konoha. Hunting her down to return was a waste of time.
Neji cast aside a sheet of paper with a sigh. He turned to look at Hui Na where she lay on a blanket, kicking her legs and staring up at the enchanted bubbles drifting idly over her head, produced by a charmed wooden tortoise that Gai had gotten for her. (Gai tended to impulsively buy gifts for Hui Na, and her still unused nursery was filling up rapidly. Neji only hoped that someone else had a baby soon, so his attention would be diverted.)
"They're very silly, Hui Na," he told her. "They still think Hinata's departure was because she betrayed Konoha, not to save it. Not even the Hyuga Clan elders believe Hinata would turn on us, and she's made many of them into enemies."
"Hnngh," said Hui Na, reaching for a bubble. She let out a shriek as it wobbled away from her hand.
"Yes," Neji mused. "The council should direct more resources to bubble making. Good point."
Hui Na babbled again. He turned to face her fully, moving her blanket closer so she could see his face and stretching out his legs on either side of her. Her eyes widened, and she wriggled excitedly with a soft coo.
"I must admit," he said, leaning over her with a smile. "Your presence makes getting work done seem like a waste of time." He reached out and allowed her to swat at his finger with her hand. "There are more important things, after all." She was finally starting to get fat, with her cheeks filling in and her legs and arms developing rolls.
"She's finally cute," Tenten had told him while they stood above Hui Na's bassinet one night. He'd smacked her rear in response, which made her laugh. (Hui Na had stirred at the noise, and they'd both frozen, waiting with bated breath until she fell back asleep. "Oh thank kami," Tenten sighed, while he flopped his head on her shoulder with an exhausted groan.)
Hui Na was getting talkative too, constantly entertaining herself with babbling and shrieks. According to the midwife, she was progressing physical skills at a faster rate than most babies who matched her physical age, which came as no surprise to Neji or Tenten.
"You want to spend some time on your tummy again, baby?" Neji asked Hui Na. "You seem to like it more and more each time." She had stopped paying attention to him again, trying her best to focus on another bubble.
Carefully, he slid his hands under her back and lifted her, then shifted her in his grip and set her back down on her tummy. She squealed- a little disappointedly, if he were to interpret it- and did her best to raise her head. They never kept her flipped like this for long, because it was a tough workout for her, but she'd been getting better at moving each time.
Now, she reached determinedly for the edge of her blanket, head wobbling up and down as she grunted with effort. He watched, a little amused. Hui Na did her best to grab the blanket edge, but upon realizing it was out of her reach and she couldn't move to get it, let out a series of screams.
It wasn't exactly crying, but she was certainly angry about it.
"My goodness!" Tenten yelled from the courtyard. "What on earth has that little girl so upset?"
"Her own lack of physical ability." Neji called back. He heard Tenten laugh, and a few moments later her footsteps padded down the hall. She entered the study with a grin, and watched as Hui Na screamed at the blanket to move closer. (The blanket dutifully ignored her.)
"Oh, you poor thing," Tenten chuckled, shifting down on her knees to press a kiss to Hui Na's cheek. "You desires unfortunately outpace your body's strength. Such is your tragic life."
Hui Na set her head down on the ground, her eyelashes fluttering closed. "I don't think so," Neji told her, moving her onto her back again. "We'd like you awake for another quarter hour, please." Upon seeing his face, and Tenten's next to his, Hui Na perked up again. She breathed excitedly and waved her arms, her eyes taking them in.
Tenten laughed in utter happiness. "Are you so excited to see us? Do you recognize your mama and baba?"
Hui Na let out a sweet baby noise, eyes glued to Tenten's face. Tenten leaned in and made exaggerated chomping noises as she gently pretend to bite at Hui Na's arms and hands.
Neji watched silently, keeping back a laugh. Tenten got very silly over her baby- but then again, so did he.
Tenten, seemingly aware of the scene she was making, turned to look at him with a grin. "How's the paperwork going?" she asked, rotating Hui Na to face her.
The baby let out an indignant screech at the movement, to which Tenten stuck out her tongue at her. "Tough luck, kiddo," she said cheerfully. "Unlike some people, I've got the fine motor skills to move things around as much as I want to- and that means you!"
She turned back to him. "Well, anyway. How's work?"
"It's not going very well," Neji replied. He watched as Hui Na became engrossed by a particularly colorful bubble. "I have a very cute distraction, and she's much more interesting than any battle report."
"Mm, can't argue with you there." Tenten grabbed Hui Na' hands in her own and tapped them together rhythmically. "Even if she's a little stinky and maybe needs a diaper change."
"I was talking about my lovely wife, actually."
"Your- ugh, Neji."
Hui Na was up all night for an entire week, sobbing desperately between bouts of exhaustion-induced sleep. The midwives and Healers could only say that everything was fine physically and magically, and that it was something that she needed to work out.
Both of them were struggling as well- it was hard to hear her cry all night, and not be able to help her. They were both very frayed, napping whenever they could and gratefully accepting Hiashi's offer to take care of Hui Na every once in a while during the day.
Naturally, they spent these few hours of reprieve snoring away in their bed. (Well- Tenten snored, but Neji was a good husband and pretended it was both of them.)
Neji woke up from a long nap to sun streaming into their room and Tenten's back tucked against his side. He pulled away gently and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, sitting there for a moment and allowing wakefulness to wash over him.
He stood up and stretched his arms over his head, rolling his shoulders and feeling part of his hair fall across his shoulder blades. It hung in a mess across his back and over his chest- he'd slept fitfully in the heat, before stirring himself long enough to shuck his shirt and pants across the room and falling back asleep.
He'd slept much better after that, but now had the added trouble of walking around in the nude until he found where he'd put his clothes- it was best not to pick up Hui Na from Hiashi's rooms as he was now, after all.
After half a minute of looking, he found his pants resting haphazardly on their dresser and pulled them on, then continued his idle search for his shirt. He interlocked his fingers behind his head and stretched his shoulders again as he looked- he must have slept in a strange position, because the muscles felt sore in an odd way.
He found a shirt (not the same one he'd been wearing earlier- who knows where it went) and slipped it on. Behind him, Tenten muttered, "Drat."
He turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye as he drew the fabric over his chest. She was lying across the bed, chin propped in her hands as she shamelessly stared at him.
She didn't even bother to meet his gaze, instead keeping her eyes fixed on his back and- a lower area. "Since when do you sleep naked?" she asked, slowly raking in his form.
He turned back to the front with a smirk (and a bit of a blush), slowly tying the ends of his shirt together. "It's hot."
"And yet somehow I'm still fully dressed."
He turned to face her fully, still smirking. "Perhaps you shouldn't be. Or perhaps you could learn to keep your eyes to yourself, and stop lusting after innocent men trying to dress."
"Innocent? Oh, there's nothing innocent about how you're built, honey. I could watch you stretch like that for hours."
It seemed that Neji had inadvertently put on a bit of a show for his wife.
He crossed the room in a few strides and raised her chin in his hand to press a scorching kiss to her mouth. She moaned against his lips, but unusually did not reach out to reciprocate. She broke away from him with a small exhale, her lips a puckered red.
"You have to go get the baby," she whispered breathlessly.
He raised her chin even higher so she was craning her neck to look at him, back arched and toes curling. Her pupils were blown wide, and there was tension trembling in every line of her body.
"We have time," he murmured, and descended.
Hui Na was very excited to see him again, wiggling the hardest Neji had ever seen her as he carried her back to their rooms in a sling.
She was being entertained by Hanabi when Neji had arrived to pick her up, while Hiashi watched on carefully, but at the sound of Neji's voice she had let out a loud series of shrieks and didn't stop until his face came into her view.
Hiashi had watched their interaction with something close to parental pride in his gaze. As Hanabi madly ran around gathering up the plethora of baby gear and toys that had scattered themselves around the room, Hiashi had filled him in on how the day had progressed.
Apparently, Hui Na ha been utterly charming, because Hiashi nearly gushed over her- in his own refined way, of course. To hear him speak of it, she'd been an absolute angel.
She seemingly liked to save her attitude for her parents, Neji thought to himself as she continued to do her best to hit him in the windpipe.
"You're a little bit mischievous aren't you, little bird?" The endearment spilled from his lips without a second thought. He turned down the last hallway towards their rooms and continued his lecture, "Well, I unfortunately won't be fooled by some cute babbling and big eyes." He pushed open the main door to their rooms and entered, setting aside the scrolls with the baby supplies.
"I'm your baba, Hui Na, which means that you'll never be able to fool me." He grinned down at her.
Hui Na stared at him with wide eyes, then smiled back.
Unfortunately, excuses along the lines of "my daughter has just started smiling, and I'd rather stay home and make funny faces at her" did not get a person out of being called to clan meetings.
Neji returned from the most recent meeting and undid his headband with a sigh, slowly massaging at the base of his neck. The meeting had been very standard for the Hyuga- a quick conference that summed up the internal affairs of the clan within the past few months.
It hadn't been all that normal for him, however, because his presence at the meeting indicated to the rest of the clan that he and Tenten would likely be joining them all again soon, and bringing their daughter out in public officially.
He'd been crowded by well-wishers once the meeting had ended, some of them sincere and others doing it for the sake of clan expectations. He'd treated them all respectfully enough, but excused himself as quickly as possible and all but sprinted back to their rooms.
He'd heard Hui Na stirring a few times, thanks to the sigil, but she'd seemed calm enough. Tenten was about to put her down for a nap when he'd left, so she'd been a little fussy as he kissed her goodbye. She'd had another tough few days. Thankfully she was sleeping better at night, but she'd started hating being swaddled or carried in a sling- anything that restricted her movement.
Tenten was reading away in the sitting room when he entered, and she looked up and smiled at him as he entered. "How'd it go?" She asked, pitching her voice low.
"Well enough," he responded quietly as he settled down next to her. "We'll have to present Hui Na fairly soon, I think, but that's not any different than what we were expecting." Tenten hummed in understanding, and Neji continued, "Did Hui Na go down all right? I heard her making noises, a few times."
"Yes, she did fine once I stopped trying to swaddle her. It's the oddest thing, she was fine with it last week."
Neji brushed his lips against her head. "Weird kid."
"Yeah, but at least she's cute."
After an accidental nap, Neji woke blearily from where he and Tenten were stretched out on the floor of the sitting room. He could hear Hui Na stirring in her room, but she hadn't started crying yet. It was still about time for her nap to end, so he stood to get her.
"Hello, little bird," he called softly as he entered the room. "Ready to get up?" It was still dark but he could just see her shape against her blankets. He paused to write a sigil in the air, and as the light lifted he turned his gaze to his daughter.
His eyes fell on the rotund shape of a dhole puppy, and she wiggled excitedly at him as she stumbled around her bassinet. Her eyes, when they met his, were as silver as his own.
He sighed. "Oh, Hui Na."
His daughter- for it was indeed her- barked.
Tenten thought the whole thing was hilarious. When he emerged from the bedroom, face flat as he held a squirming puppy in his arms, she'd stared at him with her eyes wide. Before long, however, short bursts of laughter came from her mouth, and she doubled over, watching Hui Na wobble around the room.
Hui Na, for her part, thought this was the best thing that had ever happened- suddenly she could move around in ways that she'd only dreamed of! She tripped and stumbled her way around the sitting room, crawling into their laps and nuzzling them before tearing away again.
Eventually, she tired herself out and settled next to Tenten, whining a little. Tenten wiped away a tear and finally said, "Oh my girl- what have you gotten up to?" Hui Na whined louder and pawed at Tenten's leg.
An idea occurred to Neji. "We normally feed her right after her naps- do you think she's hungry?"
"Oh, probably." Tenten paused to press a kiss to Hui Na's fuzzy head, then transformed into her own form as a dhole.
Hui Na startled back across the room, but then cautiously approached Tenten again. She abruptly seemed to recognize her and raced madly towards her, nuzzling at her until Tenten lay on her side.
Watching his wife nurse his daughter, both of them dholes, Neji remarked to no one in particular, "This is… odd."
Tenten returned to human form after feeding, but Hui Na either didn't know how or didn't want to- more likely the latter, Neji thought. Dhole puppies could move much more than human babies could move at the same age. Hui Na had finally attained the movement and freedom she'd been wanting, and refused to give it up.
After a brief discussion on the best course of action, Tenten resumed her own form and she and Hui Na raced across the courtyards, playing together as Neji sent a message to Tenten's father- the leader of her clan, an experienced shifter himself, and in all likelihood an expert in the situation, given that Tenten had discovered her own shifting form as a toddler.
Plus, it was about time he came to visit his granddaughter.
